First Assignment
Princess Celestia stood outside of Canterlot Castle, looking at the blue sky above. The morning was over and it was early in the afternoon. Today was the day. She and Luna were finally going to announce that they were going to step down and name Twilight the new ruler of Equestria. She couldn’t help but feel immense pride in her former student’s accomplishments, although at the moment, she was also feeling something else that she shouldn’t be feeling: worry.
The last time they’d spoke, before they left, she had told Twilight and her friends not only what day the ceremony was going to be held on, but also what time they should arrive. She had said to arrive early in the afternoon so they would have ample time to inform the nobles in Canterlot and get everyone and everything ready for the ceremony in the evening. They were expecting it to be a big one; a number of the guests they had invited were coming from far away to see Twilight take the throne. It was going to be a perfect day, so why was it already starting to seem like it wouldn’t be?
There’d been no doubt in her mind when she woke up this morning that, regardless of how much she’d been stressing over it, Twilight would be punctual and arrive in Canterlot on time if not earlier. Despite that, she still decided to send a message reminding her what day it was and when she expected to see her by, mainly to see how she’d react. When she tried to send it to Spike, though, something unusual happened. The scroll changed into magic sparkles like usual, but instead of flying away, it almost immediately changed back and fell on the floor. Celestia tried sending it again, only for the same thing to happen. She was at a loss; her scrolls always reached Spike, even when he wasn’t feeling well, and aside from early mishaps, her spell had never failed like this.
The Princess returned her attention to the sky, looking in the direction of Ponyville. Her spell hadn’t worked, there was no word from Twilight, and it was starting to look more and more likely that she wasn’t going to arrive on time. “Something’s not right,” she thought. She looked back down at Canterlot, “But I can’t leave the castle now. Someone needs to be here to greet the dignitaries if they arrive early, and it wouldn’t be right to wake Luna and thrust this on her.” She remained where she was for about a minute longer before she turned and made her way back into the castle.
Soon, in Ponyville
Starlight was in the foyer of the Castle of Friendship cleaning when the front doors swung open. She looked up to see three pegasus Royal Guards step inside, all of them standing tall and attentive as they walked forward. Starlight set down her spray bottle and rag and walked over, meeting them about a third of the way down the rug. She bowed her head slightly to them, “Hello.”
One of the pegasus guards spoke, “Good day, Miss Starlight. We’re here on behalf of Princess Celestia. Is Princess Twilight here?”
Starlight raised her head and answered, “She is. Unfortunately, she’s not in any condition to see anypony at the moment.”
The guard said, “This is an important matter. The Princess has insisted she come to Canterlot Castle as soon as possible.”
Starlight replied, “Yes, today is a big day, not just for the princesses, but for all of Equestria. But I’m afraid Princess Twilight is not feeling well. She’s been working herself to the bone to sort out everything before she leaves, and it finally caught up with her today. Spike as well. He’s been very diligent in helping her tie up her loose ends, and there were a lot more than they expected. There’s no way they’re getting up anytime soon.”
One of the other pegasus guards spoke, “Well, that’s not good. What are we going to tell Princess Celestia?”
Starlight said, “I’m sorry. Twilight wanted to get up and fly all the way to Canterlot herself even though she woke up feeling exhausted and sick. I had to explain to her that it probably wouldn’t be a good start to her being the new ruler of Equestria if she collapsed from exhaustion in the middle of her coronation, or that she wouldn’t make a good first impression being sick when a lot of ponies and other species were all packed close together. You have no idea how much insisting I had to do to get them both to stay in bed and rest.”
The third pegasus guard couldn’t help but chuckle, “That sounds like Twilight, all right.”
Starlight spoke, “Since Spike isn’t feeling well enough to use his fire, I’ll be the one to send Princess Celestia any updates on how they’re doing. Can you please tell her to send any scrolls directly to me and that I’ll be taking over Twilight’s duties here until she’s better?”
The first guard replied, “That’s not what she’s going to want to hear, but we’ll be sure to pass along the message.”
Starlight bowed her head again, “I’m very sorry.” The guards turned to leave and Starlight raised her head to watch them walk away. After they left and closed the doors, her mouth stretched into a smirk and she chuckled, “What good soldiers they are.” She turned and made her way out of the foyer.
She made her way to the throne room, where Trixie was seated in Rarity’s chair, her forelegs behind her head and her hind legs on the Cutie Map. The showmare looked up when Starlight entered the room and asked, “So? How did it go?”
Starlight replied while she made her way around the circle, “They bought it. Pretty much without question. Don’t know how Princess Celestia is going to take it, though.”
Trixie replied, “Trixie is sure she won’t question it. She wouldn’t doubt the words of her own guards. That takes care of that, then.”
Starlight said, “Only for now. Celestia’s not going to be satisfied with that for long, and she’s not the only one who’s going to come around asking questions. I’ve already had to convince the Cakes and Applejack and Rarity’s families that they had to leave with Twilight for royal business, and the animals that Fluttershy takes care of are starting to get agitated without her, especially that horrible bunny.” She sat down in Twilight’s seat and looked over at Trixie, “This is probably going to be the best time to start making plans. What’s a good way to herald that big changes are coming to Equestria?”
Trixie looked up in thought for a couple of seconds before looking back down and suggesting, “Let’s give them a show. The greatest show Equestria has ever seen, and the last it will ever see.” Starlight settled back into the chair, seemingly considering Trixie’s idea.
________________________________________
Tempest stood still as Cream, Tina, and the blue dog known as Hip put the finishing touches on her new uniform. They’d shown her what it looked like already: a bodysuit that was the same color as her cloak that had short sleeves where her forelegs went and went all the way down to just above her back hooves. It reminded her of her old Storm King uniform except it had less armor and a zipper that ran down the front of the uniform as well as two short white stripes next to the zipper on the right side of the chest. The last several days had been about getting acquainted with the Resistance and how things worked, and now it looked like she and the others were ready to get out there and join the war effort.
She heard several clicks as they attached straps with pouches to her uniform about a minute later. The three of them then stepped away, with Tina going over to a nearby table to grab two pairs of black and gray shoes that were sitting on top. She brought them over and knelt down to set them on the floor in front of Tempest. “All right, Miss Tempest. Here are the new shoes; let’s see how they fit,” she said, looking up at the unicorn. Tempest looked down at her while she was talking and then shifted her attention to the shoes. She raised her hooves and set them into the circular holes, finding they fit quite comfortably. “What do you think?” Tina asked.
“Not bad at all,” she remarked, taking a few steps in place to get a better feel. “So, you all worked together to make this?” she asked once she felt satisfied.
“Cream and Tina deserve most of the credit for this. I just did the shoes and gave your uniform some personality,” Hip said.
Tempest looked at him, “Personality?”
Hip started looking over the straps as he replied, “If someone wants to wear the typical Resistance uniform, I’m good with that. If that’s what they prefer, I’m not going to argue. But if they want to wear something a little different, then I feel it’s gotta be something made for them. Take yours, for instance; I decided it would feel more you if it included something similar to the magic tattoos you ponies have.”
Tempest glanced back and noticed that the uniform had a red Resistance Double Star on each of the flanks, right where her cutie mark would be. Another similarity it had with her Storm King uniform. “Clever,” she remarked dryly.
Hip replied, “Hey, we’re the Resistance, after all. I think that includes resisting taking cues from the boring, lifeless colors that Eggman is so fascinated with.”
Tempest turned her attention to Cream, the young rabbit holding her cloak and Grubber’s tabard in her arms as she said, “I’ll be sure to get yours and Mr. Grubber’s clothes fixed, Miss Tempest. My mother taught me how to sew.” Tempest noticed there was some sadness in her voice when she mentioned her mother.
She replied, “That’s very nice of you to offer, ah, Miss Rabbit, but I don’t want you to push yourself. You must be very busy; I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
Cream brightened up a little as she replied, “Oh, it’s no trouble at all. This won’t take long to fix. And Mr. Grubber seemed to be excited about trying on something new.”
Before Tempest could respond, they all heard Grubber call, “All right! I’m ready now!” The door to the nearby walk-in closet opened and Grubber leapt out before saying, “Check this out!”
Tempest turned slightly to get a better look at him, and her expression instantly changed to one of bewilderment. “Grubber… what IS that?” she managed to ask.
“I think it’s called a t-shirt, Tempest,” Grubber innocently replied. Indeed, the green garment the hedgehog wore was most definitely a casual top, even though it looked like he had selected a shirt that hugged him a little tightly. What had caught Tempest’s attention was what was on the front: it appeared to be a very poor, almost child-like, drawing of Sonic the Hedgehog. Tempest couldn’t help but stare at it. It just looked so unpolished, so twisted, so… surreal.
She managed to pull her eyes up to look at Grubber’s face and, after pausing momentarily to select the right words, asked, “Grubber, are you sure you want to wear that?”
The hedgehog replied, “Yeah, sure! I was looking through the closet and couldn’t find something I liked until I found this in the back! It even still had tags on it! I don’t know anything about this Mt. Fuji place, but there must be some great people working up there!”
Tempest got an idea at this and said, “Well, if it’s so unusual, that must mean it’s very valuable. It wouldn’t be good if something happened to it.”
Grubber looked down at the shirt and raised a hand to his chin thoughtfully, “Hmm, you think so? You know, you’re right. Guess I’ll find something else so this stays nice.” He turned around and walked back into the closet, pulling the door closed behind him.
Hip leaned close to the left side of Tempest’s head and whispered, “Yeah, we keep it back there for good reason. I don’t even know how those shirts ended up in there.” Tempest turned to look at him in disbelief at that.
She soon looked to her right when she heard Tina say her name, the hedgehog standing next to her holding up one of the Resistance’s Miles Mobiles in her right hand. “Where’s a good spot for you to be able to easily reach this?” she asked. Tempest responded by reaching her left foreleg around, placing her hoof just off to the side on her back, and tapping the spot. Tina nodded and placed the device in a holder before attaching it where Tempest’s hoof had been. “Okay, I think that will do it,” she said as she stepped back.
Grubber came out of the closet soon afterwards, this time wearing a purple T-shirt with two upward-pointing blue arrows on the front. “How does this look?” he asked.
“I think that’s better. It seems more appropriate,” Tempest replied.
Hip said, “Well, I’d say you two are good to go, then.”
Cream spoke, “I’ll be sure to sew these up and return them to you both soon.”
Tempest replied, “Thank you. We really appreciate it. Now, if you’ll excuse us.” Both she and Grubber turned to go, the doors opening and shutting as they left the room.
As they walked through the base together, they made a detour to pass by the infirmary on their way to the meeting room. They got close enough to make the doors slide open, but they didn’t step through them. There was no need to; they could see Twilight’s bed from the entrance, the bandaged alicorn still lying on top of it in the same position they’d seen her last. They could also see Terv and Windra trying to get Spike off the bed while the baby dragon protested. It was difficult to pry him away from her for any reason, even if it was for a bath. He was determined to remain by her side until she woke up. She watched the scene for a few moments more with a sad smile before continuing on her way, Grubber quickly following her.
It didn’t take them long to reach the meeting room, where they found Knuckles, Silver, Amy, the Chaotix, Techni, the teal swallow known as Trish, and the rest of their friends from Equestria already in the room. Like Tempest and Grubber, some of their friends decided to switch things up a little and wear something new. Tempest wasn’t surprised to see Rainbow Dash had decided to wear the standard Resistance uniform, though she had added a pair of matching goggles that sat atop her helmet. Rarity had clearly decided to maintain her classiness despite the state of the world as she had on a gray overcoat with a red scarf inside the collar. It was a little harder to discern what Pinkie had been thinking as she wore a Resistance helmet, but also a white apron. Tempest couldn’t tell if she was going to be assigned to the kitchen or the front lines.
As they were stepping through the door, they saw Techni was working at the front of the center table with a new keyboard and screen that hadn’t been there the other day, the frame around the screen looking nearly transparent. They stopped inside the room and watched her work along with everyone else, noticing that the station seemed to be connected to the computer console since her typing and clicking showed up on the large screen. The cat stopped typing after a minute and said, “That should do it. The new terminal’s all synched up.” She looked up and noticed Tempest and Grubber standing by the door and waved them over, “Hey, come on in, you two. Feel free to join in.”
The others turned to look at them as well. “Looking good, Tempest! You too, Grubber,” Rainbow remarked.
“Thanks!” Grubber said while Tempest simply nodded in reply.
“Has that been planned for a while?” Tempest asked as they walked over to the table, indicating the terminal.
Techni replied, “No, but our old one shorted out recently and it took longer than expected to put this one together. We’re trying to keep things clutter-free as much as we can; we used to have more monitors and towers taking up room in here.” She turned and walked over to the computer console to unplug the wired keyboard while Amy took her place at the terminal.
Vector spoke, “Gotta take what we can get. It hasn’t been easy; no matter what we do, Eggman’s army seems unstoppable!”
Amy looked up from the keyboard and started, “And Sonic… Do you think…?”
Rainbow was quick to say, “No! No way, Amy! Don’t even say it! If Sonic was gone, Egghead wouldn’t be able to shut up about it! You know he would, so he’s gotta be okay!”
While Techni headed to the back of the room with the keyboard under her arm, Silver said, “I want to remain optimistic too, Rainbow, but we can’t ignore the reality we’re in. We haven’t found anything in the last six months that could clue us into Sonic’s whereabouts, not even a loose quill. And Tails… If he’s still okay, then he’s trying to stay hidden from everyone.”
Fluttershy spoke, “But he should know where his friends are and how to reach them. Why would he want to do that?”
Silver replied, “I don’t know, Fluttershy. There’s so much going on that either we don’t know or just doesn’t make sense. We should be making progress, not still wondering who that guy is.”
Espio put his hand on the hedgehog’s shoulder, “Your frustration is understandable, Silver. We’ve been hoping for a sudden major shift in our favor and perhaps our friends from Equestria, new and old, are it, but that doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. Everyone’s terrified of Eggman’s army, so we all have our work cut out for us, but that’s to be expected in a war.”
Knuckles nodded, “Exactly. Things may look bleak, but we can’t let it get to us. We’re all alive, we’re here, and that’s a good start. We have to keep rallying for our cause, and right now, the best way to do that is to show them that it’s not just strength that determines the winner. We have to keep fighting back and keep everyone’s spirits as high as we can because the planet’s not going to save itself.”
Applejack asked, “So where are we supposed ta start?”
Charmy answered, “We’ll start by introducing you to our newest recruit! Today’s his first day as an active member of the Resistance!”
Tempest asked, “Who is he?”
Silver answered, “He’s the only survivor of an attack that happened in the city a few months ago. It was led by that guy that took down Sonic.”
While typing, Amy continued, “The experience left him pretty shaken up for a while, but he’s been getting better since and he’s determined to aid the Resistance. He’s shown that he has proficiency with the Wispons and has offered to help test the new ones we’ve been developing, and he’s been working on some gadgets of his own that he’s ready to field test.”
Pinkie said, “He sounds like fun! When do we get to meet him?”
Amy looked up, “Very soon. I just contacted Hip; he’s coming here with him now.”
Vector added, “You might have seen him around the last few days. I think your presence has already given his confidence a bit of a boost.” Almost immediately afterwards, the door Tempest and Grubber came through slid open and everyone looked to see Hip standing with his hand on the shoulder of the red wolf that they had indeed seen around the base, but he looked better equipped now. He wasn’t wearing a full uniform, but he had swapped out his beaten-up gloves and shoes for the dark green and black gloves and boots as well as a radio headset on the left side of his face. He also had a black band of some sort on the wrist of his left glove, a tan set of pouches, and black square-shaped glasses on. He was looking down towards the floor when they saw him, but glanced over at Hip for a moment when the dog patted him on the back and then held his head up as they stepped into the room.
Knuckles walked around the table and over to the two as he said, “There they are. Thanks for bringing him over, Hip. This brave kid survived the city attacked and managed to find us himself. I’ve decided to have him be with you guys to start.” As he finished, he slapped the wolf on the back, causing him to let out a grunt as he bent forward and unintentionally took a step.
“With us? Commander, bravery and motivation are all well and good, but you were saying that we would be involved in particularly dangerous assignments. Are you sure sticking someone who just joined up with us is such a good idea?” Tempest asked.
Charmy buzzed over to the wolf as he straightened up and remarked, “Yeah, he kinda doesn’t look like much.”
Knuckles smirked, “Neither do you, Charmy, but I still manage to find good use for your pointy butt!” Charmy couldn’t help but giggle at that.
Applejack spoke, “Back ta what Tempest was sayin’, y’all really think he’s got what it takes already?”
Trish, who had been mostly quiet up to this point, spoke while still leaning back against the wall, “I’ve seen the kid while he’s been working. He’s got spirit, and he’s got talent. He just needs some help bringing out both as a member of the Resistance.”
Knuckles said, “He does have some learning to do, and he’ll be learning from not only the best in the Resistance, but also the best Equestria has to offer.”
Rainbow started, “Well, there’s no doubt about that, Knuckles, but, uh…” She spread her wings and flew over to the wolf, stopping and hovering just above his head. She took a closer look at him, noticing he suddenly seemed a bit nervous, before continuing, “I mean, I’m worried about this kid, this… rookie. Sounds like he went through something awful. Is he really ready to go out there? Is he gonna freeze up in a fight like Fluttershy facing a full-grown dragon and need to be saved? That’s what I’m wondering.”
Knuckles asked, “Can anyone ever really be ready for war, Rainbow? I know it’s not ideal, but we can’t hold everyone back because of that. The people need hope, and they’re not going to get it if we all stand around doing nothing.”
Grubber commented, “Man, what a rough spot to be in.”
Pinkie added, “If only we had some super important mission that Wolfy could go on that would really give him a chance to show how good he can be!”
There was silence for several seconds. During this time, Techni made her way back over to the table after putting the keyboard back in one of the crates. She was halfway there when a sudden beeping sound from the computer console caused her to stop, ringing for several seconds before stopping and sounding again a second later. “What’s that?” she asked as she made her way over to the terminal.
Amy looked at the terminal screen for a moment before looking up and saying, “It’s a call! It’s from B.B., Knuckles.”
Knuckles turned to look at the large computer monitor as he said, “Patch it through.”
While Amy typed on the keyboard, Rarity asked, “Who is ‘B.B.’?”
Trish came over to the table and said, “Pretty sure you know her. You’ll see.”
Amy soon finished typing on the keyboard and turned to look up at the monitor as it changed to static, everyone else in the room doing the same. After a few seconds, it faded and changed to show the upper body of a familiar-looking bat who was currently turned to the side, looking towards the snow-covered landscape and white and gray skies in the background of what they could see.
She turned her head to look at the screen a second later and they saw she was indeed Rouge, though she, like Amy, had undergone a wardrobe change since the last time the ponies saw her. From what they could see, she was wearing a new black outfit with purple lines that looked like they might go all the way down the front of her legs and purple edges on the collar, though as she turned to face the screen completely, they saw it was unzipped at the chest and she seemed to have her usual top on underneath. Her arms, which were crossed below her chest, were covered by the black outfit all the way to her hands, though she also had on white and purple fingerless gloves over them. Her eyeshadow was dark purple and she had a light blue scope next to her right eye that was currently closed.
“Hey there, kids. Knuckles, can you hear me?” she asked as her image went up and down a little, which was likely from whatever device she was using to communicate with them.
“Rouge. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you. I… well, some of us were starting to get worried,” the echidna said.
“Hmm. Well, as your detective crew might tell you, this kind of investigative work takes time,” Rouge replied.
Rarity took a few steps forward and said, “Rouge! It’s so good to see you again, dear, as well as your wonderful fashion sense.”
Rouge looked at the unicorn while she was talking and gave a small smile and wave as she spoke, “Hey there, Rare’. I heard some chatter that you and your friends showed up out of the blue. Looking pretty good if you ask me.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow, “So tell me, what does ‘B.B.’ stand for? ‘Beautiful Bat’?”
Rouge ribbed, “Who says a girl can’t have looks and smarts? Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, hon’.”
Rainbow asked, “Uh, yeah, it’s great to see you and all, but you were calling for another reason, right? Can we get back to that?”
Rarity glanced back at her with her eyebrow still raised, but Rouge replied, “Right, of course. This is important; you all need to hear this.” Everyone looked at her expectantly at that. “It took cracking into Eggman’s top secret files to do it, but I can now confirm: Sonic is alive.”
Everyone looked surprised and began murmuring at that. “No way! That’s excellent news!” Silver gasped.
“Oh, thank goodness! What a relief! I knew it! I knew it!” Amy exclaimed.
“I’m guessing Dr. Eggman tried to bury the information as deep as he could?” Tempest asked.
“Yes and no. Eggman was actually smart in trying to keep him hidden, but the way he did it was also classic Eggman in a way.” She raised her right hand to her scope and moved the square-shaped glass over her eye. She tapped her side of the glass with her thumb, causing images to appear on the Resistance computer’s screen. At first, an image of Sonic appeared, but after a moment, he morphed into a brown hedgehog with brown hair wearing clothes and wide glasses. Noticing the looks of everyone present, Rouge said, “Yeah, that’s what he did. He messed with a picture of Sonic and filed him away under the name ‘Nicky’. It’s not a name that’s shown up on any of the prison lists we’ve recovered so far, but looks like he wanted to make sure he was hard to find anyway.”
Vector spoke, “That’s a pretty cheap trick. Did Eggman really think that would be enough to keep us from trying to find Sonic?”
Espio remarked, “You have to admit, it likely would’ve thrown us off at first, Vector. The name might sound similar, but that doesn’t really look like Sonic.”
Charmy said, “Yeah, he seems like a totally normal guy!”
Pinkie added, “He looks like he could secretly be a superhero!”
Amy looked back up at Rouge, “Do you know where Eggman is keeping him, Rouge?”
The bat nodded, “I sure do.” She tapped on her scope again and an image of a spherical station in space appeared on the monitor.
“Is that the Death Egg?” Espio asked.
Rouge replied, “That’s right. I was able to pull up some blueprints from Eggman’s database while I was at it.” She tapped her scope several times, causing the blueprints to appear below the image, “From what I can tell, it’s not as heavily armed as his previous Death Eggs, but that’s because he’s been using it as an off-planet prison. He didn’t want us to know about it since that’s where he’s holding Sonic and a number of other prisoners.”
Rainbow growled, “And he’s been torturing all of them all this time, like Rarity said.”
Rouge raised an eyebrow, looking in the fashionista’s direction, “‘Torturing’?”
Rarity answered unsurely, “W-Well, I said that after we heard that Sonic hadn’t been seen in months. Considering how Eggman feels about him, it does seem like the kind of thing he might do, don’t you think?”
Rouge nodded, “I suppose I could see how you’d think that. Well, I can reassure you that Eggman hasn’t sunk that low yet. Or, maybe more accurately, he’s tried to and it hasn’t been working for him.”
Trish asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Rouge shrugged, “You be the judge.” She reached up to her scope again and gave it a few presses. A new window opened on the monitor, one that almost filled the entire screen. It was black with a short red line inside of a longer white line, both of which went around in a circle. After several seconds, a video loaded. The first thing it showed was an older rabbit in a dress that had a number of tears in it kneeling down over a green hedgehog in an orange jumpsuit who was lying on the floor facedown, his face turned away from the camera.
“That’s Cream’s mother!” Amy exclaimed before a monkey and a female wolf who was taller and leaner than Aventura with gray and white fur leapt in from the sides to stand in front of the two, both of them wearing orange jumpsuits as well. They held out their arms as if to protect them further, but they both looked nervous as well. Vector was initially surprised when he saw Vanilla, but now he was starting to look angry as he realized this video was coming from the perspective of one of Eggman’s robots and it was beginning to move closer. And from the sound of the footsteps, there was more than just the one.
Suddenly, there was an explosion and the camera quickly turned to the right, revealing a lone Egg Pawn with a smashed head and a pair of blue legs in beaten-up shoes standing on top of it. Sonic leapt off the robot, sending it crashing to the floor, and the camera followed him as he landed in front of the monkey and the wolf and turned to face the robots a moment later, an angry look on his face. “Hey! You guys want to know how much trouble a guy in ‘cuffs and shackles can cause?!” he asked. It took them a moment, but while he was speaking, the wolf and monkey turned and helped Vanilla get the green hedgehog to his feet.
As they began to lead him away, the screen suddenly changed to a red tint before the Egg Pawn charged at Sonic. In response, he hopped back once before suddenly leaping forward, meeting the Egg Pawn head on while swinging his arms. His handcuffs connected with the robot’s face, static obscuring the screen somewhat as it was thrown to the floor. Before the video ended due to the system shutting down, amidst the static everyone could make out Sonic standing his ground as the rest of the robots began to close in on him.
Knuckles couldn’t help but chuckle, “That’s Sonic, all right. Leave it to him to keep him smashing Eggman’s robots while imprisoned.”
Vector added, “At least when it makes him look like a hero.” Although he said that, he was actually glad to see Sonic was still himself despite being imprisoned, and of course he was happy that he had protected Vanilla. It gave the crocodile hope that he’d see her again.
As the window on the screen closed, Tempest remarked, “Have to give him credit, I suppose. Being shackled apparently isn’t enough to stop him completely.”
Rouge replied, “Mm-hmm. That’s just one of the things he did that got him moved to try to break him, but he still managed to make waves. Take a look here.” She called up another video, this one showing an overhead corner view of Sonic sitting on a stool in a dark room that was illuminated by a single light above his head, almost like an interrogation room. Zavok stood a short distance in front of him while his fellow Zeti Zazz and Zeena stood behind and beside him respectively. Zavok was standing patiently with his arms crossed while the other two mocked and jeered Sonic, poking him and making kissy faces while he sat looking bored out of his skull. It seemed like the only part of him they were killing was his brain cells.
After about ten seconds, Zavok uncrossed his arms and spoke, “Enough!” Sonic, Zazz, and Zeena looked up at him at that. “Are you starting to feel it now, Sonic? The despair? That crushing feeling of hopelessness? An overwhelming desire to submit and be done with it?” the red Zeti questioned.
“Nope. It’s the same as every other time you’ve dragged me in here. It was boring the first time and it’s boring now,” the blue hedgehog replied simply.
Zazz burst out laughing for a moment and then started poking Sonic’s right cheek as he spoke, “You hear that? Isn’t this guy so cute? So hilarious!”
Zavok said, “So it’s excitement you desire. Perhaps we have been too lenient on you. It may be time to end these games and simply end you.”
Sonic turned his head to look at Zeena at that, the green Zeti noticing after several moments. “What?” she asked. It was hard to see on the camera, but a smirk started to creep onto Sonic’s face at that. “What?!” she asked again, sounding irritated.
“Well? Aren’t you going to listen to your leader? You gonna show that those pipes of yours are good for more than just complaining?” Sonic asked, his smirk getting a little wider.
“Excuse me?!” Zeena demanded, turning to face him fully.
“Haven’t you heard? It ain’t over ‘till the fat lady sings!” Sonic cheekily replied.
Zeena grabbed him by the shoulders and got close to his face, “Did you just call me fat?!”
Sonic took a moment to look down her body before looking back up at her angry eyes and saying, “You know, you’re right. That’s not right at all.” He then smirked, “‘Ugly’ fits a lot better.”
Zeena’s rage was boiling over at that point. “Oh, why you… YOU…!” she snarled as she took a step back before she suddenly swung her left fist at his face. He managed to move enough to avoid it and continued to shift and move in his seat to evade the punches and swipes she continued to throw at him.
“Come on, don’t you know how to swing? Or did you get soft since the last time we fought?” Sonic asked as he continued to evade her.
“That’s enough!” Zavok ordered after a moment, but Zeena didn’t heed him.
Zazz suddenly placed his hands on Sonic’s shoulders, squeezing them and holding him in place. “Here. You clearly need some help with this guy,” he sneered at Zeena. She didn’t respond, instead taking the opportunity to punch him in the face several times. Sonic didn’t resist, instead taking the hits and staying still. Zazz watched him, his head directly behind the hedgehog’s.
After a few more punches, Zeena stopped and took a moment to wind up before throwing her right fist at Sonic. At the last second, he suddenly jerked to the left, causing her punch to connect squarely with Zazz’s face instead. The pink Zeti quickly took his hands off Sonic’s shoulders and placed them on his face, crying out as he staggered back a bit. Before Zeena could react, Sonic sat up straight again and suddenly swung his legs up, his feet hitting her under her chin and pushing her backwards while he leaned back, tumbling out of his seat and managing to roll back onto his feet. He then leapt backwards a few times, crashing into Zazz and knocking him down before he left the camera’s sight.
Everyone could still hear him, though. “Hey, your aim’s improving, Zeena!” he cheekily called. Soon after, Zazz rolled over onto his front and crawled on all fours towards where they’d last seen Sonic, stopping before he left the screen completely. They could see him start hopping left and right after a few moments, no doubt due to whatever Sonic was doing, and after a couple of seconds, Sonic suddenly came sliding underneath him, using his cuffs to whack the Zeti’s right leg and throw him off balance. Once he stopped sliding, he pushed himself up and began jumping forward. It looked like Zeena was going to get back at him, but Zavok swiftly and suddenly moved in front of her, swinging his left fist down at Sonic. He hopped to the left and Zavok ended up smashing the stool flat instead. “Aw, look what you did! Now it’s broken!” Sonic said.
“Which is nothing compared to what I’ll do to you!” Zavok retorted, raising his arms over his head, his hands clenched into fists.
“Bad idea, Zavok!” Sonic said, bending his knees before jumping up towards the Zeti, bringing his legs up to plant his feet firmly against his chest. Zavok grunted at this and he began to lean further back and flail his arms while Sonic landed on his rear on the floor. Zeena turned to run as he continued to lean back further, but wasn’t fast enough to get out from underneath him. She was pushed to the floor, her upper body sticking out as she let out a loud scream. Sonic got back up and leapt up on top of Zavok’s chest, leaning over to look at her as he remarked, “Bet you’re wishing you were fat now.” Zeena let out a growl, but was unable to pull herself free.
They all heard a laugh and saw Zazz rushing towards Sonic. The blue hedgehog noticed him coming and turned to the right, jumping as he was about to reach him and leaving him to crash on top of Zavok, pushing the red Zeti back down onto the floor. As Sonic kept jumping and left the camera’s view, Zavok growled, “I’ll deal with you two later!” He then turned his head to the left and pointed in Sonic’s direction, “And you’ll get your punishment right now, you blue insect! I’ll kill you!”
They heard Sonic call back, “First off, no you won’t! And second, totally worth it!”
As she closed the video, Rouge remarked, “Like Tempest said, gotta give Big Blue some credit for adapting.”
Trish said, “Well, I’m sure he won’t mind going back to the way things were before.”
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah! Now that we know where he is, we’re gonna rescue him!”
Rouge spoke, “Yeah, you need to. I didn’t just call because I happened to find out he’s alive and where he is; this is also an urgent matter.”
Applejack asked, “What do ya mean?”
Rouge explained, “I managed to sneak a look at Eggman’s daily operation files while I was in. He’s planning to send Sonic into deep space so that he’ll never be able to return.”
Amy, Silver, Rarity, and Pinkie all gasped, “What?!”
Rouge said, “As I said before, whatever Eggman intended to do with Sonic has not worked out like he expected, and the arrival of our Equestrian friends might have made him decide to move forward sooner. The file only said that he would be doing it soon, but knowing Eggman, ‘soon’ could mean ‘today’, so…” She stopped and looked to her left, taking a few steps away from the camera. In the background, everyone could hear something stomping, sounding like it was getting closer. Rouge came back after a moment, grabbing the camera with her right hand before saying, “The clock is ticking, boss.” She then clicked something and cut the transmission, causing the normal blue screen to appear on the large monitor after a few seconds.
Silver looked at the others and said, “We can’t let Eggman throw Sonic into space!”
Rainbow flapped her wings and hovered above the table, “So what are we waiting for? Let’s go get him out of there!”
Applejack spoke, “Hang on there, Rainbow. How are we supposed ta get to him? The Death Egg’s in space, remember? Ya can’t just fly up to it!”
Knuckles said, “Not like that, no. But there is a way we can get up there.”
Vector and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Knuckles, the former saying, “Sounds like you have a plan, Knuckles.”
The echidna replied, “Enough of one. Rouge was contacting us from West Side Island, which is where the answer is.”
Hip rubbed his chin with a hand, “Right, Eggman’s old Chemical Plant…”
Tempest asked, “Chemical Plant? How is that going to help us?”
Rarity added, “Please tell me you’re not thinking of having us cover ourselves in things that Eggman created. I only trust products that I know what they’re made from.”
Amy spoke, “The Chemical Plant’s been left to rot ever since Sonic stopped Eggman’s first Death Egg. It probably already had leaking chemicals and weakened structures before, but when Eggman took over West Side Island, our spies reported that he was focusing much of his efforts in the region on the Chemical Plant, though not to rebuild it. He’s left it as is; he actually built a spaceport at the edges of it.”
Tempest looked at Knuckles, “I think I’m starting to see what your plan is.”
Knuckles nodded, “He keeps shuttles for transporting prisoners at the spaceport. We’ll ‘borrow’ one and use it to get to Sonic.”
Rarity said, "But that still leaves one question: who's going to fly it? None of us know how to fly a craft, and certainly not one of Dr. Eggman's."
Trish spoke, "I do." When the Equestrians looked at her, she explained, "I've practiced on the simulators. It's not the real thing, but it's meant to help prepare for that. I can do it."
Techni said, "I'll be going too. We're going to need a clearance code to land in the Death Egg no doubt. I'll take care of that little detail."
Knuckles nodded, "All right, we have a team going here." He looked to the left and noticed Hip was heading for the door. "Hip? What about you?" he asked.
The blue dog stopped and looked back. His sunglasses hid his eyes well, making it hard to tell how he was feeling, but he evenly replied, "Eh, not sure yet, Commander, but I'm going to spread the word around, let everyone know about the mission. I'm also going to grab something; I think Sonic's going to need it when he gets out." He resumed walking and left the room.
Espio remarked, "Well, we should have a team together soon, then."
Knuckles nodded, "Yep." He looked at the Rookie, "So who's up for an old-school style jailbreak?"
________________________________________
Tempest stepped up behind Amy and Grubber to peer out of the red canopy of the ‘borrowed’ Hover Unit, Amy sitting in the pilot’s seat while Grubber played co-pilot. Behind the unicorn, Rainbow paced around in short circles impatiently while Applejack, Aventura, and the Chaotix tried to pass the time with a game of cards. The sleek white and silver egg-shaped craft flew low over the water with another Hover Unit on its right carrying the rest of their small team. Tempest had no reason to doubt her own abilities, but she quietly hoped that their group would be enough for this mission.
Even with the red tint on the glass, it was easy to see the weather outside go from relatively clear skies to gray and overcast as they got closer to West Side Island, the mostly white covered mountains coming into view not long after. “We’re almost there. You’ll have to pick up the game later, guys; we’ll be landing in Emerald Hill soon,” Amy called back. Rainbow stopped pacing and Applejack and the Chaotix looked up at that. Charmy moped that he’d been winning, but he got to his feet as well. It was time to get to work.
The Hover Units soon reached the island and flew through the Emerald Hill area, flying behind several taller hills before setting down in an open area. Espio poked his head out to look before stepping out into the snow, taking another look around for any signs of trouble before looking over at the other Hover Unit to see Salten doing the same. They nodded to each other and Espio stuck his head back inside to say, “All clear.” He, Vector, Charmy, Amy, Rainbow, Applejack, Tempest, Grubber, and Aventura disembarked at that while Salten let Techni, Sona, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Trish, Rookie, and Terv off before getting out of the way so Matka could get out.
As both groups began to spread out, Rarity walked over to Applejack and Rainbow and said, “And you two said it was silly to pick out a coat to wear. Well, I had a feeling we’d have to put up with some dreadful weather sooner or later, so I prepared in advance. See, even Amy knew to pack extra for this venture.” The two looked over and saw the pink hedgehog adjusting the blue windbreaker she slipped on.
Rainbow glanced up at the top of a snow-covered coconut tree and said, “This place looks more like Winter Hill than Emerald Hill. Why is there so much snow here? It looks like it should be warmer.”
They heard Sona say, “It used to be.” They looked over and saw the rabbit looking at the hills in the distance, her hands in her coat pockets and an angry look on her face that they couldn’t see due to her back being to them. “These hills used to be vibrant, green, and full of life, but now… First South Island, then here… Warzones are bad enough, but these environmental changes Eggman has caused are unbelievable,” she said, anger creeping into her voice.
Aventura walked over and put her hand on the rabbit’s shoulder, saying, “We’ll get him, Sona. We’ll dismantle his empire one piece at a time, and this should be the start of taking out a big piece of it.” Sona turned her head to look at the wolf, but didn’t say anything, instead adjusting the bag on her back.
The two turned to look when they heard crunching in the snow and saw Pinkie bouncing around while Charmy watched her curiously. Looking past the two, they saw Rookie getting a feel for his White Wispon sidearm, looking it over and aiming with it, while Terv and Matka offered him a few pointers and Amy, Espio, Vector, Tempest, Techni, and Trish all going over the plan one more time while Salten stood nearby with Fluttershy and Grubber, the cat keeping an eye out for trouble. After a minute, everyone reconvened and began to leave the area.
They didn’t get far before Rainbow stopped and looked back at the Hover Units before looking at the others and asking, “Uh, I know what you said about Eggman’s radar and that’s why we’re not taking them all the way to the Chemical Plant, but isn’t it a bad idea to leave these things sitting out in the open like this? Shouldn’t we cover them with snow or move them into a cave or something?”
Everyone else stopped and looked at her, Aventura saying, “You’re not wrong, Rainbow, but I don’t think covering them is going to be much help. Snow piles that big in a clearing would look pretty suspicious.”
Applejack asked, “So what should we do, then?”
Techni spoke, “We’re going to do a field test.” Everyone turned to her and saw she was tapping her fingers on her Miles Mobile, which was in its holder on her left wrist. “We’ve been working on a new stealth system for these to help keep them hidden from Eggman. Seems like as good an opportunity as any to see how well it works.”
Salten said, “Well, if you’ve had a hand in it, Techni, I’m sure it’s gonna work perfectly.”
Techni kept typing, not looking up as she absently replied, “Hm.” She finished after a few moments and turned her head to look at the Hover Units as did everyone else. All of a sudden, they seemed to completely vanish into thin air, surprising the Equestrians. “Yep. Looks like it works. That should keep them from being found by any patrols. As long as nothing bumps into them, the trackers can be used to find and retrieve them later,” Techni said. With that, the group continued moving.
Not much later, the group was partway through a cave when they heard a metallic stomping noise ahead of them. Moving quietly and carefully to the exit, Amy, Espio, Vector, Tempest, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie peered out. They saw three tall bipedal robots patrolling the area, all of them mostly black in color with some gray in spots, two spikes on the side of their arms, and a red visor-like spot where their face would be showing where their optics were. “Wh-What are those?” Fluttershy quietly asked.
“They’re Swat Bots. Real old Badniks from what I’ve heard. Wouldn’t exactly call ‘em vintage,” Salten said.
“So that’s what they look like,” Rainbow murmured, remembering the Badniks being mentioned when they asked about the Hover Units.
“If they’re so old, how come Eggman still uses ‘em?” Applejack asked.
“And why do they look so not-old?” Pinkie added.
Techni replied, “Seems there was a time when he built his Badniks to last. These things sure were; their armor is pretty tough, which makes them great for keeping trespassers out. They can take a lot of punishment before they crack.”
Espio said, “True, but like most things, they have weaknesses, and one of them should be fairly easy to take advantage of here.”
Amy nodded, suddenly holding her Piko Piko Hammer up in her hands, much to Tempest and Grubber’s surprise. “Blind ‘em, then beat ‘em. Get ready to rush them. They just need to be set up.” She looked at Espio and he nodded before he camouflaged himself, his location briefly discernible by the prints he left in the snow before they stopped, leaving the Equestrians wondering where he was though they remained ready to attack like their fellow Resistance members.
The reason Espio's footsteps disappeared was because the chameleon had jumped onto the wall and was crawling up to get to a better vantage point while watching the Swat Bots. He stopped after a minute and turned to look at the Swat Bots while using his left hand to hold onto the wall. He then started to throw kunai daggers at the ground, the sounds catching the Badniks’ attention and luring them where he wanted them.
Once they were in position, he leapt away from the wall and landed roughly in the middle between the Badniks. He then decloaked and stood up, both hands behind his back, and said, "Hello there." The Swat Bots turned almost immediately at the sound of his voice. As soon as he saw the red eyes, he brought his left hand out and threw a shuriken at the one in front of him, hitting it in the eye, before whirling around and hitting the other two in the same spot with the two shuriken he had in his right hand. While they were stunned, he knelt down on one knee and closed his eyes for several seconds, at which point the stars exploded.
As soon as the explosions went off, Amy and Vector yelled, “Attack!” With the exception of Fluttershy, Techni, and Trish, everyone moved to join Espio, gravitating towards a Swat Bot as they ran. Amy, Rarity, Matka, Aventura, and Sona took one, Rainbow, Applejack, and the Chaotix took another, and Tempest, Pinkie, Terv, Salten, and Rookie took the last one.
The Equestrians quickly learned that the head of the Swat Bots was their most vulnerable part, not being quite as armored as everything below, and with all of them working together, they were able to make short work of the Badniks. Matka was able to get behind the Swat Bot and wrap her arms around it with Rarity joining Aventura and Sona in firing up at its face to further immobilize it, allowing Amy to leap up and crush its head with her hammer. The Chaotix group couldn’t pull a similar trick with their Swat Bot, but Rainbow, Charmy, and Espio’s quick movements past it kept its damaged vision from being to lock onto them, allowing Vector and Applejack to go for the head. The Rookie got into a bit of a dangerous spot when he revealed his grappling hook, firing it directly into the Swat Bot’s eye and being dragged up to it without really doing anything. Fortunately, he did block its vision and Pinkie helped him by bouncing onto its head, Tempest leaping in after he fell off and thrusting her horn into its eye before unleashing her magic. Once the three Badniks fell on the ground, they called for Fluttershy, Grubber, Techni, and Trish before they continued on their way, keeping an eye out for more Swat Bots.
The group was able to avoid crossing paths with any more Swat Bots as they made their way through Emerald Hill and soon found themselves standing on a hill that gave them a good view of the Chemical Plant. The Equestrians were surprised not just by how big it was, but also that Amy hadn’t been kidding when she said Eggman hadn’t been trying to rebuild the plant. From where they were standing, they could see that some of the plant’s structures hadn’t been maintained, their supports collapsed and pieces missing. They could see that reaching the spaceport was going to be a bit more challenging than they had thought.
Rainbow squinted and asked, "Is that the spaceport over there, where all the lights are?"
Amy, who was looking at her Miles Mobile, replied, "That's right. That's where all of you have to go."
Applejack looked at her, "Us? What about you?"
Amy looked back at the mare, "I'll be providing support from here. The signal is clearer out here, so it'll be easier to stay in touch with the Resistance and monitor the Chemical Plant and make plans if someone stays behind. Remember, getting a ship is only part of the mission here; we still need a clearance code to actually land in the Death Egg."
Applejack nodded, "Fair enough."
Amy looked at everyone else and said, “Listen up, everyone. You’ll all enter the plant together, but once inside, you’ll split off into groups so that you’ll be able to travel faster. You’ll all meet up again at the spaceport, but remember that we need to give Techni time to get the code. Matka, I definitely want you with her. She could use the protection.”
Techni crossed her arms, “Not complaining; just saying I can defend myself just fine.”
Amy replied, “I know you can. Better to be safe than sorry. As for everyone else, I trust you’ll be able to decide who you’ll want to stick close to without forming too large a group. Remember, try to avoid detection as much as possible. We don’t need them locking down the spaceport before we have a way to reach Sonic.”
Tempest thought about what she said for a moment before she looked down at Grubber, "Grubber, stay here."
The little hedgehog exclaimed, "What?! But you're going to space, Tempest! I want to go to space too!"
Tempest replied, “Perhaps there will be a better opportunity for that later. Right now, I don’t think you going down there is such a good idea. You’re good at this kind of support, so stay and help Ms. Rose ensure this mission goes smoothly.”
Grubber uttered while twiddling his fingers, “But I want to stay with you, Tempest.”
Tempest maintained her composure as she said, “I have no intention of not coming back, Grubber. Be patient; we’ll be back before long with good news.” Without another word, she turned and started making her way down the hill, everyone except Amy and Grubber following her. Grubber still looked a little downhearted about being left behind, but he perked up a little when Amy knelt next to him and placed a hand on his back and gave him a reassuring smile.
As they approached the Chemical Plant, everyone checked that they would be able to communicate before they split up, Applejack, Pinkie, and the Chaotix taking the walkways with Matka, Techni, Trish, and Salten before they split up further, Matka’s group looking for a point where Techni could connect to the Eggnet while Applejack’s group headed for the spaceport. The others followed the large blue pipes that were near the walkway and followed them into the plant, Rookie, Sona, Rarity, and Fluttershy taking the upper path while Tempest, Rainbow, Terv, and Aventura took the lower path.
As they all continued moving, Knuckles radioed in, “Come in, everyone. Give me a status update.”
Tempest clocked in, “Tempest here, Commander. My team is moving quickly. We haven’t encountered much resistance on our path.”
Matka radioed in next, “Matka reporting. We’re still looking for a spot for Techni to hack into the Eggnet from.”
Espio’s voice followed, “Espio here. We’re approaching the orbital tunnel. It seems unusually quiet…”
Rarity spoke, the sounds of shots being fired audible in the background as she said, “It’s Rarity. We’ve run into some, ah, Egg Pawns, but they’re being dealt with. I don’t believe they’ve alerted anyone.”
Espio started, “Good, we…” He stopped and gasped suddenly, “No, wait!”
Knuckles asked, “Espio, what is it?!”
The chameleon responded, “It’s him! The masked one!”
Tempest stopped in her tracks and growled, “He’s here?!”
Rainbow asked, “Where is he?! I’ll be right over!”
Amy spoke, “No! Do not do that! Unless… Espio, has he seen you?”
Espio peered out from behind the wall while Vector and Applejack held onto Charmy and Pinkie and said, “No, he didn’t spot us. …It almost looks like he’s looking for something. And not necessarily intruders.”
Knuckles spoke, “Everyone, keep your distance. Do not engage him unless he attacks. We can’t risk the spaceport being locked down until we have a way to reach Sonic.”
Tempest gritted her teeth, but responded, “Copy that, Commander.” She then gave Rainbow a look and the pegasus landed after looking back at her for a moment.
Vector spoke, “Stay focused, everyone! Let’s find a shuttle and get out of here!”
Not long after, Techni radioed in, “I’m picking up a communication tower nearby. I should be able to access the Eggnet from there.”
As everyone continued on their way, Amy and Grubber kept track of them on the former’s Miles Mobile, the device able to track the Miles Mobiles of the others and display them. “Well, so far, so good,” Amy remarked, noticing that Espio’s group was steadily moving again.
“Yeah,” Grubber nodded. He then pointed to something on the map, “Hey, what’s that?”
Amy held up the Mobile to take a closer look for a moment before saying, “I’d say it’s a road or track, probably for a supply route. Maybe for a train?” She blinked a moment later and said, “Must be a train. Looks like Rarity’s group hitched a ride.”
She was correct; Rarity, Fluttershy, Sona, and the Rookie had indeed gotten themselves onto the top of the second car from the front of a supply train, with Sona currently watching as Rarity and Fluttershy helped the Rookie back on top after he nearly slid off upon landing. They managed to get him back up after a few seconds and the two mares sat back to give him room. “You okay, kid?” Sona asked. At the wolf’s nod, she said, “Good. Bit slicker than we thought, but good on you for helping us catch the express. You got some talents.”
Fluttershy murmured, “That was a bit scary. We were going so fast, and without wings…”
Rarity turned to her, “It’s okay, Fluttershy. We’ll see how close this puts us to the launch pad and then get off at a more reasonable pace. Hopefully…” She wasn’t able to finish her sentence when a loud noise from the front of the train caught everyone’s attention and they looked to see a familiar changeling queen on top of the engine, raising herself up to her full height a moment later. “Chrysalis!” Rarity exclaimed, Fluttershy huddling close to her as the queen grinned at them.
The Rookie stared at Chrysalis as he lay on his belly. He was intimidated and a bit scared, but he was also analyzing her. What the others didn’t know was that his new glasses were no ordinary glasses; they had sensors overlaying the lenses and small processors built into the frame, and he was using them to try to gather more information on her. His tech was still in the early stages, though, and while it was gathering and displaying data to him, it wasn’t working as fast as he would’ve liked it. In the middle of his scanning, Sona called, “Come on, Rookie! Don’t just sit there! There’s not enough room for her!” He looked up to see her pull her White Wispon out of her coat and take aim. He nodded and got up, moving to stand next to her as he grabbed his own White Wispon.
Chrysalis began to advance on them as they began to fire their Wispons. In response, she used her magic to create a force field in front of her as she continued to walk, their shots hitting the field and seemingly doing nothing since she didn’t slow down. She made it to the middle of the car adjacent to them before she came to a stop, letting out a chuckle before she was suddenly engulfed by green flames, causing her force field to drop. Rookie and Sona stopped firing and stared as the flames died down to reveal she had taken on the form of Sonic, the grin on her face getting wider at their shocked expressions.
“She’s trying to confuse you! Don’t be fooled!” Rarity exclaimed. For a second, they still seemed too stunned to react as Chrysalis began moving again, but in a flash, the Rookie suddenly put his White Wispon away and grabbed his Red Wispon, unleashing a stream of flames before the changeling could react. She yelled in pain as the flames pushed her back, almost going over the edge of the space between the cars. Rookie stopped firing as he and the others watched her flail her arms, trying to keep her balance. She seemed to regain it after a moment and glared at them, only to get shocked when what looked like a cyan shot hit her in the side of the head, knocking her onto her side, almost off the train, and causing her disguise to disappear. Rarity looked to the left, where the shot seemed to have come from, wondering, “Who did that?”
Sona spoke, “Never mind that right now! More trouble!” Rarity looked forward and saw what the problem was: the train was quickly approaching a structure that it would have to go under and they’d be knocked off if they stayed where they were. Everyone began looking around for a place to get off the train. Rookie’s eyes locked on a crane to the right a little further ahead, mere seconds before they’d be knocked off from the look of it. He pointed it out to Sona and she said, “Yeah, that’ll work.” She looked at Rarity and Fluttershy, “Let’s go!”
Chrysalis recovered from the surprise shot and growled as she looked up at the group, which had moved to the edge of the train car and were holding onto each other as they waited for their chance. They saw her getting up, but Rookie tried to stay calm; everything was telling him they weren’t in range yet. Chrysalis growled and jumped at them as the Rookie raised his left hand and fired his grappling hook at a large pipe, snagging it and narrowly pulling everyone away in time. Chrysalis glared at them before turning and seeing the structure a moment before she crashed into it.
Despite hitting the metal structure and falling on the tracks, Chrysalis recovered surprisingly quickly and glared after the group, which was currently swinging on the crane to make it back to solid ground. She was about to follow when she was hit from behind by a pink shot. She immediately whirled around and snarled as she glared up at the top of a nearby building. Forgetting the Resistance for the moment, she flapped her wings and flew to the top of the building, landing and looking around for the sniper.
She heard a sound from behind a nearby pole a second later and whirled her head around to look, only to see a glowing blue hammer head swinging towards her at an angle. It struck the left side of her face and then struck her sideways on the right side of her face before an upward swing knocked her off her hooves backwards. She landed on her side not far from the edge of the building, hearing the same sound a moment later as she recovered. She then looked towards where she’d seen her assailant, only to not see anyone. She looked around for a moment before looking up at a nearby pole upon hearing the sound again. What looked like a bazooka was pointed down at her, an orange rocket being fired a moment later that blew her off the building.
Her attacker, a female wolf with biscotti-colored fur and a brown muzzle wearing a black cloak over a beige top and gray pants, black gloves with gray palms that ended in claws, black combat boots, an ornate mask above her right eye, and her hair in a ponytail, closed her eyes so much that she looked like she was squinting as she moved her umbrella-like Wispon to her side, panting a bit. She leapt down from the pole a moment later and moved to the edge of the building, peering over the side and seeming satisfied when she didn’t see Chrysalis anywhere. She was still breathing a bit heavily, something several Wisps noticed when they floated up behind a few seconds later. She turned to them and, after a moment, gave them a reassuring nod.
The jump from the swing off the crane managed to get Rookie, Sona, Rarity, and Fluttershy to another part of the Chemical Plant, not far from the landing pad they were aiming for. While they were calming Fluttershy, Trish radioed in, “Techni’s finished hacking the Eggnet. We’ve got our code.”
Terv answered, “Good! Then let’s stop wasting time and get to a shuttle before something happens.”
As Rarity’s group started moving again, Silver called, “Amy, how are things looking?”
The pink hedgehog replied, “All quiet at the launch pad for now. We can still get away before anyone notices!”
Charmy cheered, “We’re almost there!”
Rainbow chuckled, “We’re already there! And looks like there’s a ship just waiting for us to take it!”
Tempest said, “There’s a few patrols. We’ll relieve them of duty.”
Vector replied, “Perfect! I’m sure they won’t miss a ship.”
Knuckles ordered, “Get a move on, teams! Once everyone’s on board, get out of there!”
Amy and Grubber continued to monitor the teams until a few minutes later when all the trackers gathered at the launch pad’s location. “Looks like they’re all ready to leave, huh?” Grubber asked.
“Yes,” Amy nodded. She stood up and started to turn, “We should…” She stopped when, upon turning around, she almost bumped into someone and she leapt back with a start. Fortunately, she realized it was Rouge after a moment.
“Hey there,” the bat said cheekily.
Amy sighed before saying, “Don’t sneak up on me like that, Rouge.”
Rouge let out a titter and said, “Looks like you two are ready to leave. Mind if I take the other ride?”
Meanwhile…
In a corner of the city that had escaped the Resistance’s surveillance, Tails had his toolbox and his tools spread out on the ground behind him as he tried to repair Omega. The walking arsenal was scuffed up and deactivated, seemingly left to rust in the city streets. Tails was hoping to at least reactivate him and find out who did this to him. He finished up his repairs and flipped a switch in his back compartment to take his systems off standby, but nothing happened.
“Hmm, that should have done it,” he uttered to himself. He walked around to Omega’s front and held the robot’s head in his hands as he said, “I couldn’t figure it out for you, buddy. I’m sorry I wasn’t smart enough.” What the two-tailed fox wasn’t aware of was the pink-purple glow over his pupils. It wasn’t just that he lacked the knowledge to fix Omega; his entire mind was hazy and he was unaware that it was being messed with. He currently had no memory of the Resistance or just how bad things had gotten in the world. All he could remember was Sonic being defeated and that’s where his memories became fuzzy. His head and senses were being messed with, but not so much that he wasn’t aware of what was going on around him as he heard a noise behind him and turned to look.
“Whoa! Chaos!” he exclaimed, seeing the watery being finish rising out of a nearby manhole and go from being a puddle to walking upright. It began to walk towards him slowly and Tails cowered back. He was already feeling the effects of its fear aura and he couldn’t muster up the strength to try to run away. It looked like this was the end. “Sonic, help me!” Tails cried out as he cowered. Chaos began to extend his right hand towards the fox…
Suddenly, the air shook and their surroundings seemed to distort for a second, a shockwave causing Chaos to stop and take a step back as his body sparked red and causing Tails to look up, the glow around his pupils fading and his mind clearing. “Wait, Chaos doesn’t project an aura of fear. Why did I ever think he did? What have I been doing all this time? Where… The Resistance!” These and many other thoughts filled Tails’ mind, no longer being held back by whatever power had been in his head. He and Chaos looked over to their right to see a swirling pink-purple portal forming, both of them noticing something coming from it after a few seconds.
A blue blur suddenly shot out of the portal and slammed Chaos into the wall behind him, Chaos breaking into a smear on the wall as the blur bounced back and uncurled to reveal Sonic, although something was different about him. He turned to Tails, the fox looking him over as he spoke, “Sonic? Wait… Oh, I know! You’re the other Sonic I know! Do you remember me?” Sonic smiled and nodded in reply. “How did you get here?” Tails asked, Sonic shrugging in response.
Before they could continue, Chaos began to resolidify, the water that made up his form continuing to gather as he stepped away from the wall. Tails and Sonic were quick to notice his footsteps and they both got ready to fight. “Let’s get back to this after we stop Chaos,” Tails said. Sonic nodded and they both leapt back as Chaos extended his arms to punch them. Upon landing, Sonic curled up for a Spin Dash and shot forward, hitting Chaos in his brain and making him break apart.
He reformed after a few moments and looked at Tails for a moment before extending his arms out to the sides. He then began spinning in a circle, his hands leaving water on the ground and spreading it around as he spun several times. Tails flew up to avoid getting hit while Sonic ran around to avoid getting hit. He stopped after a minute and retracted his arms, holding them up in front of him before swinging them out. In response, the water began to freeze, Sonic jumping up to avoid having his feet frozen. He slipped when he landed, though, and it was clear he couldn’t get any traction when he got back up, falling over again when he tried to run.
Seeing this, Tails flew down and grabbed his hand, lifting him off the ground. Chaos watched him fly up for a few seconds before he reached for them again, his arms easily able to extend up to them. Tails flew around, dodging Chaos’ reach and trying to find an opening to attack him from. After a minute, Sonic reached up and tapped Tails’ shoulder and, when he looked down, pointed down at the at the edge of the ice. “What? You want me to throw you down there, Sonic?” he asked, the hedgehog nodding in response. Although he was confused, Tails dodged another punch from Chaos before doing as he was told, throwing Sonic down at an angle to the ice. As he went down, Sonic began spinning in midair and landed in a Drop Dash, shooting swiftly across the ice and hitting Chaos again, causing him to break apart again and the ice to shatter.
Tails landed next to Sonic as Chaos reformed again, his body hunched over as red lightning sparked across him. He shook for several moments before he stood up straight with his arms out at his sides, his body growing until his head was above the nearby buildings. He looked down at Tails and Sonic. He could’ve stomped them easily, but instead water began to spill out of his body with no visible effect on him. It spread across the square, forming a circle that Tails and Sonic were in before it suddenly lifted up, forming a sphere the floated up until it was at the level of Chaos’ torso, the water god’s body in the middle of the bubble.
Sonic and Tails flailed a bit, disoriented by what had happened and the bubble shaking them. Tails managed to right himself and looked up, noticing Chaos still stood motionless. He then swam over and grabbed Sonic’s hand in both of his before gesturing up at Chaos’ brain. Sonic nodded and Tails used his namesakes to propel them both through the water towards the top of the sphere despite the shaking. As soon as they managed to break the surface, Tails quickly spun Sonic around several times before throwing him towards Chaos’ head, Sonic crashing into his head next to his brain and spinning quickly to vibrate the water enough to give him the push he needed to launch himself at the brain again.
He managed to hit it hard enough for Chaos to take a step back before he broke apart again, water from him and the bubble spraying across the area. Tails quickly flew up and grabbed Sonic and they stayed up there to survey the scene below them. Most of the water dried quickly, the little bit that was left draining back under the manhole cover Chaos had come from. It seemed like the fight was over.
Tails set Sonic down before he landed next to him. “Way to go, Sonic… Ugh!” He suddenly fell forward, holding himself up with his knees and right hand while his left hand clutched his stomach. Sonic blinked and held his hands out towards the fox, worried. “Uh… I guess I didn’t notice earlier because of Chaos, but my head feels funny and I feel kind of sick. Did I get affected by whatever power Eggman has?” he wondered.
Sonic placed his hands on Tails shoulders and got him to look at him, the concern evident in the hedgehog’s expression. Tails took a couple of deep breaths before nodding, “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay, Sonic.” He got to his feet and looked around before looking back at Sonic and explaining, “Sonic, the one you met before, was overwhelmed and beaten by Eggman… some months ago. It didn’t take long for a war to break out. I… I don’t know how I got here. The last thing I really remember was encountering that guy that helped Eggman take down Sonic. Nearly everything after that is fuzzy at best, but…” He stopped and closed his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts before looking at Sonic again and saying, “We need to find a way to contact the Resistance, to let them know where we are. And maybe get a better handle on the situation as well.”
He had a thought and turned, running over to his toolbox while Sonic walked after him. As he got closer, he saw Tails hold up his Miles Electronic. “Good. I still have this, and it’s still working.” He fiddled with it for a minute before saying, “Hm. Some of my programs are missing. And I can’t seem to pick up anything from the Resistance. Signal’s a bit fuzzy; maybe if we move out of this area, it’ll clear up.” He looked over at Sonic, who was looking over at Omega. He looked at Tails after a few seconds and gestured to the robot. “I couldn’t reactivate him, and he’s too heavy to move. We’ll have to leave him here until we can get some help,” Tails said, knowing what he was getting at. He gathered up all of his tools and tucked his toolbox under his arm before turning back to Sonic, “I think we should get moving.” Sonic nodded and they set off, heading into the ghost town the city had become.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
877 users online
633,596 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Will be getting more of the CMC and diamond tiara in the story right?
Going good so far but When is the next update for the eqg crossover
Been waitin for this. Lovely writing as usual!
Sweet! Can't wait for Sonic get free and teach Eggman a lesson. Then beat all the Equestrian villains as he always have a way to make the impossible become possible.
So wait... When did they meet Classic Sonic since Classic wasnt in your Generations story?
10614421
During the "Adventures on the Friendship Express" side story.
Nice to see the sort of shenanigans Sonic gets into prison and I loved him smack talking Zeena. I do wonder if these are the real Deadly six or just phantoms like in the game.
It was really nice to see Whisper my favorite IDW sonic character make an appearance and it was very fitting for her to fight Chrysalis considering her own villain in the comic.
I also like the explanation for Tails being MIA and his reaction to chaos. It helps expand Infinite’s abilities and make him a bigger threat. I really wished he messed with peoples heads a bit more like he tried to do with Shadow in that virtual reality level in episode Shadow.
While I like Forces I gotta agree with people that it was extremely disappointing that Chaos didn’t get a proper fight in the game. Easily the most disappointing thing in the game. I like that you made a unique boss fight and that it took some things from the lego dimension boss fight. I really liked that they added more elemental attacks to chaos. It’s a really cool idea.
Good chapter can’t wait for more!!!
Are any IDW original characters going to appear?
10614772
Whisper doesn't count?
10614779
Oh I didn’t realize that was her. If she’s here, is Mimic the Octopus here too? (I don’t read Sonic comics).
10614810
I don't know yet who else will show up here, but anyone could show up in the future.
I was surprised to see Vanilla the Rabbit be a prisoner. What happened to G-merl?
Awesome been waiting for the next chapter and it’s a very good one at that. I like how you portrayed the rookie as a shy yet brave character just like in the games but with more In depth personality. Also like the uniforms you thought of for the pony’s. Thanks so much and I hope you had a happy new year greensonic21!
10615257
Suffered the same fate as Omega and is similarly unaccounted for.
Well Tails found Omega, you think he can find G-merl? When it comes to taking back the planet, you need all the help you can get.
Once again, excellent chapter!
I like all the nods in this chapter and I liked that the reason why Tails was MIA because he was influenced by Infinite's ability. It is definitely a better excuse than just Tails simply "lost it" in the original game. Definitely looking forward to the next chapter!
And I hope you have Happy New Year too Greensonic21!
Will Sonic and his friends at least hear about the CMC getting their marks and Diamond Tiara becoming nice?
This won't be your last Sonic Crossover, will it?
10614694
That is a good question about the Deadly Six. Makes you wonder how he tried to reign them in.
10619000
Maybe Infinite ( The Jackal Leader of the Jackal Squad/'Team' Jackal) himself help Eggman 'convince' the Real Zavok and his Deadly Six Group to join them once again? But with Loyalty to Dr. Eggman and NO betrayal whatsoever from the Deadly Six. Or their just Fake Cop Illusions?
Also, does anyone of you think that the Phantom Ruby itself is kinda like some of the Infinity Stones themselves in the Marvel Comics/MCU? I mean it's eerily similar to the Reality Stone, and the Mind Stone mix together. With a little dash of the Space Stone for the teleporting powers, and might even have the Time Stone Powers to sent Original/Classic/Mania Sonic to the Modern World Sonic Timeline. I don't know if it has the last Two of the Power Stone or the Soul Stone Powers?
Luckily the Phantom Ruby itself has the Water Down or little Nerfing Versions of the Infinity Stones. Otherwise, both Sonic and his Friends in the Canon Sonic: Forces and Sonic: Mania Games. And even Twilight, her Friends, Spike, and Tempest Shadow would be Super Screwed by Infinite at Full Power!!!!
10620515
Those are some interesting theories. Personally I am hoping they are the real deal. It would make things more interesting.
10620515
Tell you this, they could use an army of Pokemon to help out.
10620518
Well considering that Sonic and Dragon Ball/DBZ/DB GT/DB Super has similar ideas and concepts. Having Marvel's OP Six Colorful Gems/Stones got their own Sonic Universe's Versions become fused by a single OP Ruby like the Phantom Ruby itself. It will make Infinite SUPER OP than his 'Canon Game' Counterpart.
Only the Author might like my idea that the Phantom Ruby Powers reminds me of Water Down and little Nerfing of the Reality Stone/Mind Stone mix together. With a little Space Stone/Time Stone added as a bonus. And I don't know if the Phantom Ruby even has something like the Power Stone and Soul Stones Powers???
10620526
I was talking about the Deadly Six, not the Infinity Stones.
10620528
Oh. I do agree with my theory of the Deadly Six being Real or not. And I just like to still talk about the similarly of the Phantom Ruby and the Infinity Stones.
10620524
Sadly this is not a Pokemon crossover.
Just Sonic: Forces Storyline with our Heroic MLP Characters helping Sonic and his Friends once again.
10620535
It was a joke.
10620536
Oh. You could have said so in your previous comment you were just joking about it. No Offense. 😐
10620537
See the joke was based around the Pokemon/Sonic crossover from the interquel story since Classic Sonic got involved then.
10620518
If I could butt in here...
I was thinking to myself about how restrained Zavok, Zazz, and Zeena are shown while I was writing. I kind of have to wonder if they are the real deal. I kind of wonder if they would even be able to hold themselves back when Sonic is at their mercy, regardless of any alliances they may have.
10620548
Are you trying to confused us yourself? So we can't accidentally somehow spoil your story with our theories? Or are you even confused yourself IF the Deadly Six can really hold themselves back against a captured Sonic? Your the Author after all, and this is your Sonic/MLP Story??!!
10620560
Maybe you're trying to confuse me. I just think the real Deadly Six wouldn't show restraint to their biggest enemy.
Or... would they?
images.shoutwiki.com/lego/a/a8/LavertusTaunt.png
10620595
Lego Chima Reference??!!!
Also, King Lagravis is not amused by his brother's antics. 😏
static.wikia.nocookie.net/legolegendsofchima/images/2/2a/Screenshot_2016-07-19-09-42-01.png/revision/latest/top-crop/width/300/height/300?cb=20200605185712
Hi there! Are you going to have Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Capper, and the pirates take part in the story as well?
Would any Archie characters appear? I would love to see the Iron Queen just show up out of nowhere just to say "I exist" or for the Metal Sonic battle have Shard show up and smack the fake of a fake for being even faker than a fake. There doesn't even need to be a valid reason other than 'Phantom Ruby'
10652043
Sorry, but I disagree. There does need to be a valid reason, and "Phantom Ruby" is not one to me, especially when it's supposed to be on Eggman's side.
10652284
Uh can you clarify that a little more?
10652284
What if it wasn't Infinite's Phantom Ruby and instead was one of the prototypes (or maybe even the original from Sonic Mania)?
10652634
I feel like it doesn't make sense to use that as a reason to just do anything. I know the Phantom Ruby is capable of doing crazy things, but going with that feels like I'm saying "I'm just gonna do whatever I want regardless of what it actually does to my story because Phantom Ruby's gotta Phantom Ruby." If I'm making Archie characters suddenly appear out of thin air, then why not Mario? Or Transformers? Or the Ghostbusters? I had to set limits before in FiT and Adventures; I'm going to do the same here.
10652665
Almost all of the prototypes are destroyed by the time Sonic gets released. And have you read the "Sonic Forces" digital comic?
10652822
And the one that's supposed to be found by the Avatar? Or just bring the Universalamander into this for fun
10653729
It's not clearly stated in the English version, but all the prototypes were one-use only. This includes the one the Rookie found. That's not going to work either.
"For fun?" Look, I know what I want to do with this story. I'm fully willing to take suggestions and work them in, but if you want to suggest something, you could try to make an effort to convince me to really consider it. And honestly, you haven't done anything but say names.
10652822
Maybe Archieverse characters could come from another reality. It could tie in with the "Into the Mania/Into the Spider-Verse" thing I mentioned a long time ago.
10654695
Yes, I would much rather prefer that to "randomly created by the Phantom Ruby."
But just so we're clear, that's not going to be explored. Not here, anyway.
10654895
That's okay. I don't read Archie comics anyway. Well, except for the Sonic/Mega Man crossover story that is.... for obvious reasons of course.
Hey greensonic21 question? What happens to discord? Did infinite capture him and drag him to Sonics world where’s he imprisoned? Or is he still in equestria injured? Cause I’d be happy to see discord meet sonic, and they both tell each other what’s been going on with the life since the last battled.
10659441
He's trapped in his own little private beat down fest thanks to Infinite.
10659792
Ok but where? In equestria or in Sonics world?
10660172
He never left Grogar's Lair.