8. Father of the Bridlewood
On her Dark Castle, Opaline seemed to be meditating.
The Fire Alicorn has remained pretty quiet ever since she was defeated 8 months ago by Sonic and the Mane 6, and also since both Misty and Dr. Eggman betrayed her.
Now she has less dragonfire because she has been using her power to increment the force of the fire barrier that protects her castle from anyone to ever get inside. She was a target now, a very powerful one still, but soon it wouldn't be the case since she's running out of dragonfire.
If only she had seen Eggman's betrayal coming faster, none of this would've happened... But now here she is, limiting herself to sit on her throne and watch her enemies being so happy and joyful.
It boiled her blood seeing her enemies being so relaxed, not scared in the slightest by her, and actually being scared from Eggman instead. He made a really good show with his Death Egg Titan, after all, and he recently went to the Starfall Islands as well, but failed all the same.
Why was he more memorable than her? Perhaps because Eggman made sure to be remembered big time. He called enough attention to make everyone fear his power, fear what he's capable of...
But it should be her instead! She literally has the power to burn it everything down just by thinking about it! What did Eggman had she lacked? Why was everyone more aware and careful with the doctor than with her, an Alicorn? Why has she been forgotten by time?!
Her horn lightened up in fire as her thoughts suddenly got in her, so she shook her head and took a deep breath, which made her horn 'turn off' again.
Complaining isn't going to change anything. She had to take action. She had to, for once, follow Eggman's example and leave a big impression. Of course, she couldn't just leave the liar just like that. She needed a plan, and she needed to make sure it had little to no flaws.
But there was a tiny little problem: As much as she hated to admit it, she was a terrible planner. If anything, Eggman's schemes were always close to success because he calculated all the possibilities.
Her? She just attacks. No time to ask, to time to breath. Just act. That's why she always failed, and so did Misty.
"... I cannot just leave the lair and attack those ponies." Opaline told herself with an annoyed frown. "What am I supposed to do after that? Scaring them isn't enough. I need to be splendid, to be unpredictable, to be... Better than a Queen."
But just when she thought that she'll had a hard time coming up with a plan, something clicked in her mind, and that finally made her grin in a sinister manner. It's been quite a while since the last time she grinned like that, but what she had in mind might be what she needs.
"Why bother on making a plan on my own?" Opaline said, then she stood up from her throne and approached the pool, making an image of Zephyr Heights show up. "I know that Ivo has a spare lab in here. And when he's ready to use it... I'll be ready to take his plans away!"
Her idea was that simple, actually: Instead of making a plan on her own, she's gonna take Eggman's plan. Whatever it is doesn't matter, as long as she can rule over Equestria and beyond.
In Bridlewood, outside the Crystal Tea Room, things were quite happy.
Zipp and Pipp were talking to their mother, after some intense lecture of course, while Misty and Alphabittle were catching up for their lost time.
"Oh, I can't believe it…" Alphabittle said, still bursting in joy. "My daughter, Misty, has returned! Hoo!" He exclaimed happily. "Well, back then, I used to call you Misty-Wisty, be we can retire that nickname if you like."
"Oh! Um…" Misty said surprised, since she didn't remember that. "I'd like that very much. For now at least."
"Okay, Misty-Wisty! I mean… Misty." Alphabittle corrected himself with a smile. "Ah, there's so much to catch up on…" He stopped when he remembered something. "Oh, uh… I gotta go get something." He then walked back into the Tea Room.
Seeing this, Queen Haven laughed. "How wonderful is this!" She said to her daughters in joy. "Oh, I wish I didn't have to fly off so soon to attend to some royal duties!" She said, then she flew between Misty and Alphabittle, who was carrying a box with some things in it. "I'm so happy for you both! Nothing beats having a daughter. Except maybe having two." She joked, as she and Alphabittle laughed, then she brought the two Unicorns in a hug, and then walked up to Zoom and Thunder, who were waiting for her. "Well, I must be off! Ta-ta!" She said, then the three pegasi flew off.
Meanwhile, Alphabittle brought out a red nose from the box and put it on. "Remember when we went to the circus and you thought this was the funniest thing ever? Huh?" He asked Misty with a smile.
Misty looked at Alphabittle confused with a sheepish smile, since she couldn't remember that at all.
Alphabittle took off his clown nose and looked at the box again. "Oh, and you loved this painting from the Unicorn Art Museum!" He said as she brought out a picture of a white unicorn with a grey helmet and blue mane with light blue stripes.
Yes, guys, that's Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle's brother. Misty had a good eye, eh?
"I must say, you had incredibly advanced artistic taste for such a young filly!" Alphabittle told Misty with a smile.
See? Even he agrees!
"Oh, um…" Misty said nervously. "Those memories are a little fuzzy for me, Alphabittle."
Yet, Alphabittle smiled and placed Shining's picture away. "Hey! No more Alphabittle here. From now on, call me 'Dad'."
"Okay, Dad!" Izzy said suddenly, which confused everyone else as they looked at her. "Oh, you meant just Misty. Got it!"
Sunny and Hitch shook their heads with smiles and looked at each other, Sonic rubbed his face stressed, Tails pointed at Izzy as if saying 'Bro, are you seeing this crap', while Knuckles facepalmed with a smirk, and Amy shook her head amused as well with an eye roll and a smile.
"Sorry, I don't remember… um… Dad." Misty said with a small smile.
"We just need to jog your memory, kid." Alphabittle declared with a smile. "I know! Let's have the most incredible father-daughter day. Then I guarantee it'll all come flooding back. What do you say?"
"I would love that!" Misty answered happily. "Wow… first my Cutie Mark, and now this." She noted, then hopped around happily. "I'm so over-the-luna-moon to be reunited!"
After that, Misty did what Pipp and Tails would call 'Smiling with the eyes', and Alphabittle returned the gestured.
"Adorbs." Zipp said, as she looked at the scene along the rest of the Mane 6 and Team Sonic.
"So cute!" Pipp happily said.
"Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry..." Knuckles repeated to himself, as he hardly closed his eyes.
"Aw!" Sunny, Amy and Tails exclaimed at the scene, while Hitch wiped off his tears of joy, and Sonic limited himself to smile at the reunion.
Then, as Misty and Alphabittle touched hooves, Izzy hopped to them. "I am just feeling so many emotions!" She said, while the others exclaimed happily and laughed at her.
Alphabittle then moved the box while thinking on something. "Where to begin with re-connecting and re-membering?" He asked himself. "You were always better at coming up with games and fun things to do…" He told Misty.
"I was?" Misty asked surprised.
"Yeah!" Alphabittle confirmed with a smile. "That's the whole reason I play games in the Crystal Tea Room! Because of you."
The others all shared a collective "Aww!", while Hitch sobbed harder, and Knuckles was starting to fail on not to cry.
"So thoughtful. I can't take it!" Sunny exclaimed heartily.
"I don't remember that… or the last time I even played a game!" Misty replied a bit confused. "Unless you count 'The Evil Plotting Game' where you have to strategize and take over the whole world and all of ponykind?" She asked while pacing around. "Opaline and Eggman surely love that one."
The rest looked at her concerned, and Zipp even frowned a bit, while Alphabittle looked at her confused.
"That sounds like the lamest game ever." Knuckles deadpanned.
"Wait. That's not a real game… is it?" Misty asked in embarrassment.
"If it was a game, then we've been playing the counterpart for years. 'The Kicking Your Evil Ass Before Conquering The World Game', to be specific." Sonic deadpanned as well.
"It also sounds lame." Knuckles frowned, and Sonic rolled his eyes, while Amy facepalmed and Tails snorted.
"We know you've been through a lot, Misty." Sunny said softly, as she approached her. "There's still so much to unpack."
Then, Alphabittle chuckled. "Seriously! I got another twenty of these Misty memory boxes." He stated, gesturing to the box he brought out.
"Twenty boxes?!" Tails exclaimed in shock as he zoomed in. "You were a busy kid, Mist."
"I guess." Misty replied with a sheepish smile.
"I mean, more mentally and emotionally, but yeah, those too!" Sunny said with a smile.
"Speaking of, mind giving me a hoof, daughter?" Alphabittle asked Misty with a smile, while he levitated the box.
"Oh. Anytime dad-a-bittle…" Misty said before, she realizing her own words. "Heh, I mean, Alpha-dad!" She said, and then smiled sheepishly after saying that wrong again. "Uh. Sorry, still getting used to it!"
"Well, I'd love to stay and see how Misty bonds with her newfound father, but I gotta go." Tails said with a sheepish smile. "Team Dark's gonna head off soon, and I was thinking on starting up a project I've been wanting to work on for a while. Also, in that way, no one leaves the Crystals alone! Peace out!"
After saying that, he kissed Zipp on the cheek as a goodbye manner, making her blush, then he spun his tails and elevated over the trees, before turning around and boost towards the Crystal Brighthouse in Maretime Bay.
"Wait... Team Dark is heading off?" Sunny asked confused.
"Shadow said something about looking after Eggman's lair to caught him off guard and stop his plan before it even starts." Sonic explained. "I find it odd as well that what Eggman wants is so quiet lately, which is why Team Dark's heading to a second quest to find him. Oh! That reminds me that I have to go, too. I've gotta get an altar!"
The rest looked at him confused, but before he could explain himself, Sonic kissed Pipp in her cheek as a goodbye manner as well, and then he boosted away.
"I have to go, too." Knuckles said. "I promised to help out the orchestra in Maretime Bay's school for the next Bay Day."
"And I have to go back with Jazz to Mane Melody." Amy added with a smile. "I promised her to help look after exotic plants for Pipp's new line."
"Oh! Don't forget to sent me pictures, Ames!" Pipp reminded her with a smile.
"I won't!" Amy winked back, then she climbed on Knuckles' back, while the echidna boosted away at top speed.
Soon, the rest but Zipp and Sunny followed Misty and Alphabittle inside the teashop, while Zipp turned Sunny to face her.
"Did you hear what Misty just said?" Zipp asked suspiciously.
"Yes!" Sunny replied with a smile. "Dad-a-bittle? Ha! Too funny!"
"No, no, not that." Zipp denied with her head. "About Opaline taking over all of ponykind!" She pointed out. "Maybe this game they played can give us clues to her plan?! Then we get ahead of her! What are we really doing to protect Equestria? The Mobians have been putting their efforts on this! Tails with his drones to search for Eggman, Sonic running around, and Team Dark actually going out to look for Eggman's location. We still have to do our part to protect our home!" She stated, then turned to the Tea Room. "I have to ask Misty right now."
"Zipp, you are a brilliant detective. But you should 'detect' that this isn't the time to interrogate Misty!" Sunny pointed out, placing a hoof in front of her to stop her from moving ahead.
"Sure it is!" Zipp said with a smile.
"I mean, your tactics with Misty lately have been a little 'extreme'." Sunny explained.
"Pssh, what are you talking about?" Zipp asked confused.
Misty was with Grandma Figgy and Sparky on Figgy's place.
There, Hitch's grandmother was showing Misty the photo album of Hitch's pictures where he always repeated the same Cookie Cottage, while Sparky sat next to Misty and eat a cookie.
But then, Zipp suddenly appeared and pushed the book down. "So about Opaline…"
"Ah!" Misty yelped startled, and she fell on her back.
Now we go to the Sheriff Station.
There, Misty was stacking some cards into a pyramid with Hitch's animal crew, as she levitated two cards to the top.
But then, Zipp appeared beside her. "About that Opaline…"
"Ah!" Misty yelped again and fell to the floor, while the card pyramid collapsed.
And finally, we move to Sunny's Smoothie Stand.
There, Misty just bought a smoothie from Sunny, but then, Misty's cup began to shake and popped open to reveal a drone, which caused her to scream.
"Hey Misty!" Zipp spoke through the drone, so Misty tried to run away from it until she saw in front of Zipp. "Tell me about Opaline right now!"
Just in that moment, Tails - who back then still had the same look from the previous stories - arrived and spin his tails on her face, making Zipp fall backwards and spin her head dizzy, while Tails facepalmed and looked at Misty with a sheepish smile.
"Don't mind her, Mist." Tails said with a nervous chuckle, before looking at Zipp behind with a deadpan.
Once Sunny finished explaining, Zipp's eyes were open wide in realization.
"I guess I have come on a bit strong." Zipp admitted, seeing Sunny's point.
"Right now, she just needs our support." Sunny said with a smile. "When she's ready, she'll tell us everything we need to know. Maybe we can do some more digging on our own?"
"Great idea, pals!" Izzy cheered from behind a crystal, as she jumped from behind it. "We Unicorns always say, 'the past is the key to the present'." She said dramatically, then switched back to her voice. "It's very important to understand the history of somepony, for everypony's choices echo in time… time… time…" She repeated the world while spinning on her hind legs.
"Echo in time?" Zipp asked confused.
"Yes, time." Izzy confirmed. "And I know just the pony you need to talk to. Or rather–– The Echidna!" She smirked.
"Huh?" Both Sunny and Zipp said confused.
"Echidna? You mean Knuckles?" Zipp asked, and Izzy nodded happily. "No offense, Izz, but most of the time Knuckles is a... What's the less offending way I can say it?"
"A Knucklehead?" Izzy asked, weirdly enough, with a cheery smile.
"Yeah. That's the perfect word to describe him." Sunny said with a sheepish smile. "I mean, I'm up to ask for a friend's help, but why would Knuckles be the key to help us discover more about Opaline?"
"He met a dragon that was around Twilight Sparkle's reign, remember?" Izzy pointed out with a smile. "He said he was called Spike, and he also said he told him a lot of stories of his home when they met. Maybe he told him about Opaline!"
"Well, I guess you have a good point." Zipp rubbed her chin, but then smiled. "If anything, we might learn more about Ancient Equestria, even if we'll learn nothing of Opaline. Right Sunny?"
However, Sunny's eyes were widely open for some reason, and she then zoomed to Izzy while grabbing her from her shoulders. "Izzy, what did you just said?!" She asked in shock.
"That the dragon told Knuckles a lot of stories––" Izzy tried to reply.
"No! The other thing, before that! When you said the dragon's name!" Sunny corrected herself.
"Oh!" Izzy said, before smiling again. "He said that the dragon was called Spike."
"Spike..." Sunny muttered, then she let go of Izzy, who slowly fell on her back in the ground. "Twilight Sparkle's dragon friend and number one assistant was named Spike... KNUCKLES MET SOMEONE FROM TWILIGHT'S ERA, AND HE NEVER TOLD ME???!!!"
Sunny's scream was literally echoing all over Equestria, and her friends stared at her with wide and confused eyes, but Hitch seemed pretty nervous, like if this wasn't the first time she has done that.
"Oh no..." Hitch said with concern. "I don't know what Izzy told her, but that awakened Sunny's geek side."
"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Pipp asked concerned.
"WHY DID YOU SHUT ABOUT THIS, IZZY?!" Sunny said, grabbing Izzy and shaking her violently, then throwing her away. "In fact, why are we standing here?! Come on, Zipp! We've gotta ask a few questions to an echidna RIGHT NOW!!!"
Zipp tried to say something, but before she could do so, Sunny dragged her away, galloping as fast as her hooves allowed her towards the Marestream.
"... Does that answer your question?" Hitch asked Pipp with concern, while the pegasus looked ahead anxiously and nodded with a nervous gulp.
In another side of the Bridlewood forest, Team Dark was wondering around.
In front, Omega was scanning a lecture he had from this specific place. Tails did received a sign of Eggman being around on his watch, but he didn't told Zipp since he knew she was going to loose control and bomb at him with questions about his location.
The sign came from Bridlewood, but he only told Team Dark about it because he wanted to finish the problem with Eggman ASAP before Zipp went ill on attacking Misty with questions she can't answer... again.
"Any luck so far, Meg?" Rouge asked the robot.
"Negative." Omega replied. "Lack of signal in this forest. Might take a while before we can find––"
Yet as Omega spoke, Shadow rolled his eyes annoyed, since he didn't wanted to wait for so long, and Rouge frowned concerned at Omega's answer... But the robot cut himself off when his scanner detected something on the ground, because his sensors beeped loudly.
"... Never mind." Omega said, then he smashed with his fist the zone that sent his sensors wildly, and instead of punching dirt, he punched something hard and metallic.
Rouge and Shadow approached as well and removed dirt and some plants over that were working as a cover for the metallic structure underground, and once they spotted Eggman's logo, Team Dark looked at each other.
Then, they all nodded with determinate looks, and then Shadow and Rouge stepped back, while Omega went over to open the door to the place under them. He simply started to smash the ground as fast as his fists and arms could move, until he finally damaged it enough.
So, Shadow delivered the final blow by launching himself in a Spin Dash and making a hole in the ground, allowing both Rouge and Omega to enter as well.
Once inside, they checked the walls around this new place... And for the very first time in six months, they finally found something different from the other hidden labs: They didn't landed inside a corridor, but instead on a control room with several badniks deactivated.
There was also a computer near by, and Rouge wasted no time on going over it to hack it over and see what was hidden in this place, while Shadow and Omega looked around.
"This place is different than the other labs." Shadow pointed out. "It actually feels like a place Eggman would use to experiment instead of just trick us again."
Omega then scanned the place around, and he detected something strange. "My sensors detect a mysterious new life form in this building. I can't tell what is it yet."
"... But I can..." Rouge spoke, and both Shadow and Omega turned to her confused.
Soon, the bat showed them images of plenty of the tests Eggman made with the Metal Virus. They witnessed how Eggman killed several critters from around Bridlewood, as well as some exotic plants. The numbers 1, 67, 91, and 153 appeared on the corner of each video, indicating the try number.
While used to see stuff like this, Team Dark was still petrified to see everything Eggman seemed to be doing with the animals and plants from Bridlewood.
"... What the heck is that thing?" Shadow questioned with anger.
Rouge stepped forward and tapped more on the computer in front to see that information.
When it finally popped up, she gasped. "... It seemed to be something called... Metal Virus." Rouge replied. "If this data is correct, the doctor's been working on it ever since the very same day that Izzy shoed us the Lumi-Bloom from this place."
"Metal Virus..." Shadow muttered. "How weird. Why do I feel like we have passed through this before? Or rather, that we lived it in other life, in another universe."
"As weird as your talkery sounds, I actually also feel familiar with this two words together." Rouge confessed with concern.
"Agreed. I even feel my head wants to fly off my body for some reason." Omega commented. "But that's the least of our worries. Whatever this Metal Virus is, if is unleashed, it might be bad for those citizens out there."
"Omega is right." Shadow said. "That thing must be Eggman's next move. Let's check out the rest of the place, and if we can't find Eggman nor the Metal Virus, we'll go back with the rest and warn them about this thing."
Rouge nodded in agreement, but just when they both headed to the exit, they didn't heard Omega following, so they looked at each other confused, before turning back and notice that Omega was frozen on his place and not moving forward, and that confused them even more.
"Meg?" Rouge called out. "Are you okay?"
She approached the robot and moved him a bit, but Omega not only did not replied... He also leaned a bit to the side and fell. It wasn't until now that they both noticed his eyes suddenly shut down.
"Crap!" Shadow said with anger.
"What the heck?!" Rouge exclaimed confused.
Shadow startled to grow, and then, the door to this room closed behind them. "This is not good... This must be––"
Yet before they could speak, a green gas was released inside the room, and that made them both cough. Then, it didn't took long for Rouge to fall unconscious in the ground, while Shadow by instinct tried to move around the room and use his abilities to get out.
Yet the effect of the gas was starting to make it's work on him, and he eventually kneeled on the ground, while the door of the room opened, and a pair of red and metallic feet appeared in front of him.
Shadow frowned and weakly looked up to see Metal Sonic face to face, standing there and looking down at him with the 'pathetic' expression from that cat meme. Shadow growled and tried to stand up and punch the machine, but Metal was quicker and kicked Shadow on the face.
That made him fall backwards and immediately unconscious, while Metal approached the computer in the room and tapped on the keyboard to say something to Sage, since he cannot talk verbally.
"I'll inform father that the subjects for the Virus are here." Sage informed after getting her brother's message.
Somewhere else in Bridlewood, Alphabittle and Misty walked through the forest as well.
Behind them, Pipp, Hitch and Sparky followed way behind, with Pipp recording everything that Misty and Alphabittle were doing together.
"How wonderful to take a stroll with you down memory lane today!" Alphabittle said to his daughter happily. "You used to love this place."
"I did?" Misty asked surprised. "What's it called?"
"Memory lane!" Alphabittle answered with a smile, then he saw something. "Oh! And look there." He gestured to a tree with a heart carved in it with a picture of Misty and Alphabittle together. "We carved this together! With the tree's permission, of course. I've passed it every day since you've gone missing." He said fondly while looking at the carving, which made Misty smile at it. "Oh, I can't wait to start full-time dad-ing again!"
After saying this, both Misty and Alphabittle kept moving forward, while Pipp, Hitch and Sparky stood behind.
"I have never seen this grumpy guy act so happy." Hitch commented. "Not even with Queen Haven!" He added, and Sparky babbled in agreement.
"I've never sene Misty this happy either!" Pipp said with a smile, still recording Misty and Alphabittle.
"Maybe we should let them reconnect in peace?" Hitch suggested with a smile.
"I can't understand why we should…" Pipp argued and kept recording, but then Hitch cleared his throat and deadpanned at her. "What? She'll want this later! It's adorable!" She said in defense, but Hitch's deadpan intensified, and she realized what he meant. "And I guess a little invasive. Fine!" She turned off her phone, and Hitch smiled in approval.
"We're gonna head out so you can have some quality family time together!" Hitch told the two unicorns with a smile.
"And privacy!" Pipp added. "But don't ask why I brought that up. We're just a phone call away if you need us!" She finished, then she trotted off after Hitch.
"Did you hear that? Family time. Just the two of us." Alphabittle said happily, as he placed a hoof on Misty's cheek, while said unicorn mare smiled. "Like it used to be!"
After that, Alphabittle neighed and started hopping forward happily like a foal, while Misty laughed at her father happily and hopped as well to follow him.
Back in the Crystal Brighthouse, Sonic placed an altar not so far from Izzy's crafting corner.
Over said altar, Sonic placed some candles and turned them on. Next, he decorated the altar with flowers, more specifically with lobelias, since they used to be his mentor's favorites. Then, he placed the same framed picture of Longclaw from Wishday on top of the altar.
Finally, he placed Longclaw's scarf an a metallic plate over it, while Sonic smiled after being done with this, as he read the metallic plate, which said 'In Memory of Longclaw the Owl, beloved mentor, mother and friend'.
Sonic let out a sigh and then smiled, since he've been wanting to do this is a way to remember Longclaw for a while.
Soon, Tails and Pipp arrived to his side, the former having seen Sonic making up the altar minutes earlier, and the latter just arrived in the Marestream along the rest of the Mane 6 but Misty, with Sunny and Zipp looking for Knuckles the moment they stepped out of the vehicle.
"I know is not the prettiest altar ever, but... Is the way I can remember her, and that's enough to me." Sonic smiled.
"Well, I think is perfect." Tails said with a smile. "Is just what Longclaw would've liked us to do."
"And don't worry, Blue Star." Pipp told him as well with a determinate look. "We'll make sure to be careful and respectful about it."
"Careful and respectful on what?" Hitch questioned as he arrived with Izzy, while Tails boosted away from the Brighthouse, and Sonic and Pipp moved aside to let their two friends look at Longclaw's altar.
"Oh." Izzy said, not as cheerful as she usually does.
"Yeah, it makes sense why Pipp said that thing about being respectful over it." Hitch confessed, but then he looked at Sonic with a smile. "But she's right! We'll respect and be careful around it."
"Yup! I'll try to be less wild with my unicycling projects from now on, considering how close the altar is to my crafting spot." Izzy stated with a cheerful smile.
"Thanks, guys. I mean it." Sonic said with a smile. "Hopefully, this will help me finally be at peace with my past self for almost making something I swore to her I'll never do."
After saying this, he placed the owl statue the breezies gave him at the very bottom of the altar, then he sighed sadly but with a smile after seeing the altar almost done.
But then suddenly, the doors of the Brighthouse bursted open, and Tails rushed inside, while carrying a beaker under his left arm that had a yellow substance inside. Then, he came to Izzy and carefully took a stray of hair from her mane.
"Ow!" Izzy exclaimed painfully.
"Sorry, Izz!" Tails apologized, before going with Pipp and carefully take off a feather from her left wing.
"Hey!" Pipp groaned painfully as well.
"Sorry, Pipp!" Tails apologized again, before rushing with Hitch and take a stray of hair from his mane.
"Ow!" Hitch exclaimed painfully too.
"Sorry, Hitch!" Tails apologized one more time.
After that, he placed the beaker on the kitchen's table, then poured the feather and hair strays on the it and mixed it with the rest of the contents, before rushing to the fridge and take out some orange juice.
He poured the juice inside the mix, then grabbed some salt and poured it as well. Now, he grabbed a bit of pepper and placed it in the mix too. However, he seemed to be missing something, but when he saw Sonic with the rest, he smiled and boosted towards them.
"Uh, Tails?" Sonic called out confused, same feeling the three ponies felt towards him, but when Tails came by and pulled a quill off his head, he groaned in pain. "Man, what comes?!"
"Sorry!" Tails apologized quickly.
Then, he made a bit of electricity appear on his fingers, then he touched the tip of the quill, which turned on its electrical powers, and then he threw the quill in the beaker with a smile.
Now, he used a stick to carefully mix the content inside the beaker, while Hitch came to his side with a deadpan.
"Tails, what the heck are you doing, and why are you running all around without explaining yourself?" Hitch asked.
"Yeah. You've been running around ever since we arrived." Sonic pointed out as well. "What areyou making?"
"Can't tell you yet. Is not ready." Tails replied, as he finished mixing the content on the beaker.
Then, he rushed outside and placed the beaker in the floor, far from the Brighthouse, before rushing back inside and close the doors, then check a digital countdown that appeared as an hologram on his watch. Once the countdown reached zero, a slight explosion was heard outside.
So, Tails opened the door and rushed outside, then grabbed the beaker, which was releasing a bit of smoke now, and then walked back to the Brighthouse.
Once inside, he closed the door again using a leg, and then placed the beaker on the counter.
"It's ready!" Tails said with a smirk.
"What is ready?!" Pipp asked out loudly, running out of patience since Tails hasn't explained himself.
"My Mobian Transformative Substance!" Tails replied. "Is like the Pony Transformative Substance, but with Mobians."
"Transformative Substance?" Izzy asked confused.
"Wait... Is that weird liquid that turned us into ponies that one time, but now it turns anyone into a Mobian?" Sonic asked.
"Precisely!" Tails replied. "Of course, this is still a prototype, and unlike the one with ponies, this one has a shorter effect. It lasts at least 2 or 3 hours."
"Wait... So if a pony drinks this, it turns into someone like you?!" Pipp asked in excitement, as she approached along Izzy and Sonic to him.
"Yeah! Yet I'm still trying it out. This is just my third attempt, and I hope it went right this time around..." Tails said. "Let's just say that the first two attempts went very wrong, and... I don't think my initial guinea pig will accept to test the substance out again."
"What happened, exactly?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You don't want to know." Tails replied with an anxious expression. "No, seriously: You don't want to know!"
"So... Do we know this thing works, or...?" Hitch questioned.
"Again: I have no idea." Tails replied. "I still need to find someone else to try it out, but I don't know who to ask."
"Oh! Then what about us?" Izzy suggested with a cheerful smile.
"Eh..." Tails smiled sheepishly and looked around, not sure on how to say what he wanted to.
"What's the matter?" Sonic asked with a smile. "I think Izzy makes a good point!"
"I agree! I'd be lying if I said I'd never wondered how it'll feel to walk in two hooves and pick things up with fingers!" Pipp said excitedly.
"Um... I'm not really fond of the idea of changing my whole aspect, but if it helps, I don't mind!" Hitch said with a nervous smile.
"Well..." Tails stuttered, because he was afraid about the possible side effects that it could cause on them. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea... Keep in mind that if you do help me out, once you drink this over, there might be secondary effects I cannot control during the process. You'll have to wait 2 or three hours before going back to normal, so you'll have to stick with whatever it comes. Are you absolutely sure you want to do it?"
The three ponies looked at each other, and each one of them started to think better about this before making their final decision on helping Tails out or not.
"Well, I really like how I look." Izzy said, before smiling. "But a little change for 2 or 3 hours doesn't sound so bad!"
"Ditto!" Pipp said with a smile. "I love my style, but I seriously wonder what it'll be like to look like one of you! It'll be something fresh for a while!"
"Can't really say I have imagined myself looking like a Mobian." Hitch confessed with a sheepish smile, also scratching his neck nervously. "But I guess there's a first time for everything. I'm down!"
"Me too!" Both Izzy and Pipp said at the same time, and they laughed after realizing this.
"Well, seems like they made their minds up." Sonic said with a smirk, before looking over at Tails. "Seems like you have no choice, buddy!"
Tails was still not so convinced with the idea, but then he groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll let you make the test."
That made Izzy and Pipp cheer loudly in happiness, while Hitch only smiled, and Sonic chuckled at the mares' attitude.
In Bridlewood, Alphabittle lead Misty to his tree home, or their home, since it was Misty's house as well.
"Welcome back to your home, kid!" Alphabittle said happily, then he opened the door for them to enter, while Misty looked around at her real home. "I want to make everything as comfortable as possible for you."
Misty entered the house and gasped as she looked around, noticing three doors and a couple of trophies on the walls with some books shelved. She seemed pretty happy to be home.
"Oh, wait!" Alphabittle said. "Wait till you see the best part!" He lead Mist to a door and opened it. "Ta-da!"
Misty looked around with a smile, seeing a bed with animal plushies and pink and yellow pillows, a window, and some toys that were either in place or spread across the room.
"Wow… is this…" Misty wanted to ask.
"Your old fillyhood room!" Alphabittle announced, which made Misty gasp with a smile. "Left exactly as the day you went missing…" He said concerned, since the last thing he wanted was to loose his daughter again, while Misty looked around her old room and her old stuff. "... But with more dust bunnycorns now I guess."
Misty came up to her bed and saw her animal plushies longingly, then she picked up a bunnycorn plushie.
"I'll just call up Dusty, the cleanup pony, and hire her to help out." Alphabittle stated, as he walked out of the room to let Misty enjoy it. "I promise, it will be in mint condition soon. Do you still like mint?" He asked, before shrug it off and come back to Misty. "Anyway, now that you're settled, let's get to the fun stuff!" He announced, walking into the room. "I've been waiting for this moment my whole life! Who-hooo!" He said happily, then walked out of the room again.
Misty watched her father go with a nervous chuckle and a smile, before looking at her plushie. "He has no idea who I am now!" She said to the plushie with concern. Years apart of her father have changed her, and since she has little to no memories of her fillyhood, Alphabittle is almost talking to a stranger. "But I have to go along with it. I want this to be the best day ever for him."
She squeezed the plushie, and then she smiled with a determinate look.
"Okay, Misty, you've mastered the fake smile, so use it. And go!" Misty told herself, putting the plushie down and waving her hoof in front of her, now forcing smile with her teeth showing. "Heh.. Ow, ow… It hurts."
After whatever the hell was that, she walked out of her room with a fake but really wide smile.
Tails poured the mix of the beaker in three cups.
He was still hesitant at the idea of his friends being the test subjects for this new prototype, and he only agreed to do it because of the pressure of the three ponies insisting.
The only good thing he could think of about this was getting the proper results he wanted. Hopefully this will turn out well, and they will turn properly in Mobians. Now, will Izzy and Pipp gets clothes on? That was hard to tell, but if they did, then it was a good thing, and if they didn't...
Let's not think on that for now. Hopefully they will get clothes on.
Once he made sure that the cups were not melting nor near to explode, he nodded, then he extended one to each one of the ponies that were going to test the substance out.
"Remember, guys: Any secondary effect that you get, you've gotta tell me. How you feel, if you can move normally, if you still preserve your magical abilities after the change..." Tails explained.
"Wait... Does that mean I may conserve my wings, even after I transform?" Pipp asked, as she held her cup.
"Same goes to me and my horn?!" Izzy asked excitedly.
"And my Earth Pony Magic?" Hitch added.
"Is the idea." Tails nodded. "Oh! One more thing: Drink it slowly. Swallowing the whole thing so fast could, um..."
Instead of replying with words, Tails just made explosion sounds with his mouth, also moving his fingers around. Despite the weird way he did, his explanation was very clear for the three ponies: They could explode if they drank the substance really fast.
"Okay. So slowly it is. Got it." Hitch said with an anxious expression.
"Are you sure they'll be fine?" Sonic asked, since he was there too, and he was worried for what could happen to the ponies, specially to his Little Pipp.
"No. Which is why I need to write down all possible side effects." Tails replied with concern.
That just made Sonic stare at him anxiously and with a twitchy eye. "You were supposed to comfort me, not make me more afraid, man."
Tails rolled his eyes a bit, then looked at the ponies. "Well... If you guys are ready, go on."
Pipp and Hitch were hesitating a bit on drinking this. Izzy, on the other hand, waited for Tails to give the sign, and she slowly started to dig in the substance, which surprised everyone else.
Yet seeing her going for the dig, Pipp and Hitch looked at each other, then nodded and started to slowly drink the substance as well. Sonic was biting his nails nervously, while Tails already had his Miles Electric to note down what was going to happen... But he was also concerned for his friends.
Finally, the three ponies finished drinking the whole substance from their cups, and they decided to stop a moment so they could taste the flavor of it.
"Mmm! This tastes like that pearnana and mangopple smoothie Sunny did a while ago!" Izzy said with a smile.
"Yeah! I was expecting it to taste a bit bad, but it was actually delicious!" Hitch agreed with a smile as well.
"Agree! Although I feel the exact same. Maybe is not ready yet?" Pipp said a bit confused.
But right after she said that, the three ponies' bodies began to glow on auras colored as their skins.
"I just jinxed us, didn't I?" Pipp deadpanned.
"Don't panic, guys." Tails told them. "The glow is completely normal. Nothing to worry about."
"I really hope so!" Hitch cried out in panic.
"Wee! Our bodies are shining!" Izzy said cheerfully.
The glow then become so bright that it made everyone close their eyes. Sonic and Tails had to cover their faces as well, and when the glow faded away, all they could see was dust where the three ponies used to be, but before any of them could say anything, they heard the ponies coughing.
Both Sonic and Tails sighed in relief, since it meant that the ponies were fine, but now they were concerned to see if the experiment worked, although Tails was also concerned if Izzy and Pipp got clothes or not.
Yet when the dust faded away, the two Mobians gasped, and Sonic even felt his cheeks burning in red.
Was the transition successful? Well: Yes, the three ponies now had Mobian-like forms.
The only big and noticeable change is that they stand in two legs and have hands now, since everything else seemed to be the same... But thankfully, there was also other detail, and is that they all had clothes. Well, Hitch only had his belt around and a pair of brown, military shoes.
As for Izzy and Pipp? The former was now wearing a white dress with flowers, a belt on her hips with her name, a purple shirt with long sleeves that had a draw of her Cutie Mark, and white boots.
Pipp, on the other hand, had black heeled boots with very large black socks, a purple mini skirt with her Cutie Mark printed on it, a black jacket with short sleeves, and golden bracelets on both of her hands.
One one hand, Tails was glad to see that his experiment worked, and that his friends were just fine, as well as to see that Pipp and Izzy did got clothes on... But on the other hand, he was still trying to process the fact that it worked, and he wondered how would Zipp look as a Mobian.
Sonic, on the other hand, had no so healthy thoughts once he saw Pipp as someone that looks like him, and he felt his heart racing at top speed.
The ponies, on the other hand, slowly started to wake up and recover their senses. Pipp was the first one to open her eyes and look ahead, but when she tried to reach something to stand up, she extended her arm... Which allowed her to see that now she has hands instead of hooves.
That immediately made her yelp in panic and surprise, as she fell backwards, but then she sat down on the ground and noticed her boots, as well as the rest of her clothes, and then she looked at her fingers anxiously.
"... O-Okay... This is weirder than I thought it'll be..." Pipp muttered concerned, now managing to kneel and look at her hands, moving her fingers in an attempt to try and get used to them.
Izzy was next to notice the body change, but unlike Pipp, she didn't find it any weird. "Ooh! This clothes are pretty!" She said, then she levitated herself with her magic and tried to stand on her new feet, but it was here where she had some trouble, because she was loosing her balance, and Tails had to rush over and catch her before she fell.
"Well, I don't need to be an expert to notice the first side effects: Difficulty to adapt to fingers, and some lack of balance." Tails said with little smile, as he helped Izzy to lay on the counter for stability.
"How about a third effect?" Hitch called out, as he stood up and showed himself not having so much trouble in standing on two feet, nor having fingers. "I'm naked! I only have my belt, my badge, and a couple of boots, but I'm naked!"
"Dude, I don't know if you have ever noticed, but... We are always naked." Sonic pointed out with a deadpan.
"But I have nothing to cover me! I feel naked!" Hitch complained.
"Hmm..." Sonic muttered, then he rushed upstairs, and soon came back to put some brown gloves on Hitch, who looked at his hands confused. "There! Feeling better?"
"... Actually, yeah... Huh. Is kinda weird that just a pair of gloves make such a big difference." Hitch smiled.
"I know." Sonic said with a smirk, then he went over and extended a hand down to Pipp. "Need a hand, Princess?"
Wether if he was mocking her or being flirty, Pipp blushed and puffed her cheeks, then sighed and carefully placed her new right hand on Sonic's, while the Blue Blur helped his girlfriend to slowly stand up, and just like Izzy, she almost lost her balance if Sonic didn't caught her with his chest.
He chuckled down at her, and she blushed again. She always felt that she was falling in love with him for the first time again everytime he stared at his eyes, so green and bright like emeralds.
"If you two are done being the Beauty and the Beast, can we focus?" Tails deadpanned at the couple, which deadpanned back at Tails, although Pipp had some struggle as she held onto Sonic. "Well, beyond the fact you have to find some balance with your new feet, how are you guys feeling? Any headache? Stomachache? Nausea?"
"Well..." Izzy said, as she slowly started to stand on her new feet. "Besides the fact that I barely can keep my balance, I feel almost the same. The clothes are gonna get some time to get used, though."
"Well, I feel a bit scratchy on my hooves–– I mean, my feet and hands." Hitch said. "But I honestly have no trouble with my balance, nor having fingers. I just feel the same."
"Well, I can't seem to find a way to use... these..." Pipp cringed, as she kept moving her fingers a bit weirded out.
But then, Sonic's hand carefully and gently grabbed hers, making her blush a lot, while her heart raced like in a marathon. The way Sonic grabbed her hands was just out of kindness, but she knew he also just wanted her to feel comfortable with her new form.
"It's okay, Pipp. We'll make sure you and Izz get used to your new bodies." Sonic assured her with a smile, which only made Pipp's heart melt. "Right, buddy?" He looked at Tails.
"Yup. I was planning to do it for research purposes, anyways." Tails replied, taking out a notebook and a pen.
In Bridlewood, Misty and Alphabittle walked across the town, meeting with other unicorns.
"This here is my daughter, Misty! Remember her?" Alphabittle said happily at the ponies around them. "Say hello to my little filly!" Then, they walked up to a random unicorn stallion. "Hey! This is my long-lost child! Giver her a hoof!"
The stallion lifted his hoof to Misty, and she did the same embarrassed, then they tapped hooves, and the stallion moved on.
"Alphabit… I mean, Dad." Misty said embarrassed. "Could we maybe, uh, tone it down? I'm not sure I love all this attention on me."
"Oh! Uh, of course!" Alphabittle nodded. "I'm so sorry. You used to love when I pranced around and did this." He explained with a smile. "I'll dial back on the shouting. But not on the pride!" He stated, and Misty smiled at him. "Oh! I've got something really exciting in store."
"What is it? Maybe a trip to the unicorn library?" Misty asked a bit excited. "I've never been to one of those before. Or is it…" She trailed off when Alphabittle stopped, and she gulped. "We're… at a playground?" She asked confused, since there are some foals playing in the playground.
"Exactly! We have so many fond memories together here." Alphabittle said to his daughter with a smile. "You used to love the seesaw."
"Wee…" A foal said with boredom, while he was with his friend on the seesaw.
"And going down the slide." Alphabittle continued as he gestured to the slide.
There, a filly slide down. "Wee… Oh..." She said in disappointment when she reached the end.
"And the spinning on the filly-go-round!" Alphabittle added, and this time, he gestured to a grown stallion on the merry-go-round. "How about you give it another ol' spin, with the ol' stallion? Please?" He asked with puppy eyes.
Misty felt weird with this, but since Tails has shown puppy eyes to her several times in the past, she simply couldn't refuse them from anyone else anymore.
"Heh… Of course." Misty said with a fake smile, then she walked up to the merry-go-round. "Um… do you mind if I borrow this?" She asked the stallion nervously.
"Aren't you a little old to be using this?" The stallion asked.
"Heh. Yeah, but… wait… Aren't we the same age?" Misty asked confused.
"Oh what about it?" The stallion asked again, before Misty grabbed the merry-go-round and stopped it, making the stallion flinch a bit.
"Listen, after being filly-napped and brainwashed for years, I am feeling so many feelings right now and I just really need this, okay?!" Misty explained frantically to the stallion.
The stallion looked at Misty unamused. "Feelings…" He started sniffling, and then looked in a distance. "I understand those well." He placed a hoof to his chest.
Misty just raised an eyebrow confused. She has seen weird things, but this was the cherry in the top.
"May the turnstile of emotions guide you from eternal darkness to light." The stallion said to Misty, then got off the merry-go-round and walked off.
"Sure, okay." Misty said weirdly, then sat on the merry-go-round, while Alphabittle walked up to her. "Ready!" She said with a smile.
Alphabittle smiled, and then pulled the merry-go-round so hard that it started spinning her really fast.
"Wee!" Misty screamed, before she started retching, as her cheeks turned green, then she screamed again, just before her face turned completely green, because she was getting dizzy. "Alright, that's enough!"
Alphabittle stopped the merry-go-round, and Misty got off while feeling dizzy, as she moved around and tried to keep her balance, while her eyes spin.
"Hmm. You used to have a stronger stomach." Alphabittle said, while Misty tried to keep her lunch in. "Maybe that's enough playgrounding for today?"
"I'm fine! Hah. Totally fine." Misty assured, lying a bit since she didn't wanted to ruin this, even though she's still looking green, but her color eventually came back. "That was super fun. Yay!"
"Why don't we try something else?" Alphabittle asked with a little smile.
"Yes! I'd love that." Misty said with a smile, feeling relief that their skipping the playground.
"I'm between cave-exploration or extreme tree-climbing." Alphabittle listed, before smiling at another thought. "Or, maybe we can get back into fire-swallowing again."
Misty's eyes shrunk uneasily at the last part her father suggested, then she blinked a bit and smiled nervously, but also gave a panicked look, deep down screaming for help.
Back in Maretime Bay, Sunny and Zipp were waiting outside of the town's school.
Since Knuckles said he'll be helping out the school's orchestra, it was obvious to wait for him here. Besides, they could already hear the orchestra inside of the school, and they were actually making a great number so far, for both Sunny and Zipp's surprise.
Then, the bell that rings the end of the day in school ringed, and all the foals immediately left the building, with Sunny and Zipp waiting up for the teachers and Knuckles to get out of the building.
Speaking of Knuckles, the echidna's laugh was heard as he exited the school along Primrose, who was also laughing.
"Is always a pleasure to have you around the school, Deputy Knuckles." Primrose said with a smile.
"Oh, please. Just Knuckles." The echidna replied with a smile as well. "I'm off-service for the next 10 minutes. And even if I wasn't, I still just want to be referred to as Knuckles, 'kay?"
Primrose giggled and nodded. "Thanks for the help today, Knuckles. See you next week!"
"I'll see you then!" Knuckles saluted, then happily walked towards the Sheriff Station while whistling a melody to himself.
However, on his way there, Sunny and Zipp rushed towards him, with the latter managing to take him off guard and tackle him in the ground, surprising the echidna.
"KNUCKLES!!!" Zippp called out with a huge smile. "We need you to tell us everything that Spike told you, like right now!"
Knuckles, however, felt dizzy and shook his head, then he opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Zipp. "Huh? Older Princess? Starscout? What's going on?" He asked confused.
"Sorry, Knux!" Sunny apologized, then levitated Zipp off him with her etherial horn, while Knuckle stood up and cleaned himself off, and Sunny made her horn disappear. "What Zipp is trying to say is: You think you can tell us some of the stories that the dragon you met shared with you? We think he's the very same dragon that was raised by Twilight Sparkle so many moons ago!"
Knuckles raised an eyebrow again. "You mean Spike? Well, he did told me he was born long time ago. I'm daring to say he's even older than my own people. But what do you mean he was with Twinkie, or however she's called?"
"Is Twilight." Zipp corrected with a bored expression. "And we think he's the same Spike because of the description you shared from him."
"Yeah! He's a purple dragon with bat-like wings and green scales, right?" Sunny asked with a smile, and Knuckles nodded. "Then he must be the very same spike that became Twilight's Friendship Ambassador, the one that saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, and the very same one that stood with Twilight 'will the very end!"
"Hmm... Actually, now that you mention it, some of Spike's stories match with what you're telling me." Knuckles said with his arms crossed. "He definitely mentioned something about saving an empire from an evil king when he was so young that he was my size."
"Then he definitely is the same Spike!" Zipp said with a smile. "You said that he left your island through a portal he made appear with his fire, so that's definitely the way he travelled there!"
"That makes sense. But why do you two want me to tell those stories?" Knuckles asked confused. "I would've been asking to an elder of any of the tribes instead. They have more knowledge about ancient Equestria than me––"
"But you were told stories from Spike the Dragon himself!" Sunny pointed out, not being able to hide her excitement. "There must be something you know!"
"Yeah! Maybe there's something about Opaline on any of the stories that Spike told you. And if there isn't, well, at least we're learning more from Equestria's history!" Zipp pointed out as well with a smile.
"Hmm..." Knuckles muttered, rubbing his chin in deep thought, then he looked back at the two mares and grinned. "Well. I'm willing to share with you what I know."
"Really?!" The two mares asked with smiles.
"IF!" Knuckles kept going, and Sunny and Zipp's smiles faded away. "You girls do something for me first."
"Huh?" Sunny said confused.
"You're asking us a favor?" Zipp asked with a slight frown. "But we're friends!"
"Nothing is free in this life, Princess." Knuckles replied with a mocking smirk. "Don't worry, I won't ask for anything that pushes any of you to your limits. I just require magical assistance, that's all."
"Well, if it's not a big deal, I guess we can help." Sunny said with a smile.
"But Sunny––" Zipp tried to argue, but Sunny kick her on her rib with a hind leg, and Zipp had to contain a painful groan, before looking at Knuckles with a forced smile. "Sure thing. We'll help you out."
"Very well. Follow me, ladies!" Knuckles stated, before turning towards Canterlove Studios and boost ahead.
"I really hope he's not going to push our limits..." Zipp deadpanned.
"Just one way to find out. Come on!" Sunny said with a smile.
With that, the two mares proceed to follow Knuckles to Canterlove Studios as well.
In the Crystal Tea Room, Misty and Alphabittle entered the place.
As they did so, Onyx was reciting a poem, while Dapple played the bongos for percussion.
"The injured cat says, meow-ow." Onyx started.
"Me-ow-ow." Dapple finished, and the crowd clapped to them, while Misty and Alphabittle came up to the counter.
"No doubt this will bring back memories." Alphabittle said with a smile, while Misty sat down on the table, and an armadillo passed by with a tea cup that she grabbed. "A specialty special-tea tasting at my Crystal Tea Room!" He announced, then rubbed his chin in thought. "Now, let's see if I remember…"
Then, Alphabittle started tapping on some things on his stand: Some bottles, turning tea kettles, setting a clock time, grabbing two controllers, moving the handles, and even playing a tiny piano with a drumstick.
After that, something was heard clicking at the bottom counter. It was a secret door, that appeared and left a compartment with a bowl that has a pink vase in it, and Alphabittle sighed in relief.
"Phew. It still works." Alphabittle said happily, then he opened the vase and put some tea leaves in Misty's cup, then he brought out a tea kettle and poured some hot water in it.
Misty gulped nervously and looked at Alphabittle, who was smiling giggly at her, so she forced a smile and drank the tea, which made her eyes widen at the taste. It tasted like crap for her, but she forced a smile after shaking her head, because she didn't wanted to hurt Alphabittle's feelings.
"Mmm, yummy." Misty said with a twitchy eye.
"I knew it!" Alphabittle cheered. "You still love 'Misty's Mys-tea-ry'. I named it after you and haven't let anypony drink it since." He explained, but he didn't saw Misty coughing and then tossing the tea away before turning back at her. "But I can't remember for the life of me what's in it!" He then noticed Misty's empty cup. "Gone already? Wow!" He said, while Misty still forced her smile. "Looks like you need another cup."
Misty panicked and pushed her tea cup away with a forced smile. "I'm all tea'd out, Alpha… uh… Dad." She quickly corrected herself, then leaned on her cheeks casually. "Any chance there's something else, anything else, on that list of yours?"
"In fact, there is!" Alphabittle said with a smile, then he tapped his hoof on the ground, and a light turned on over Onyx and Dapple.
"Ow-owl, says the injured owl!" Onyx declared.
"Oh! Owl…" Dapple finished, and the crowd clapped to them, while Alphabittle and Misty walked next to the stage.
"Slam poetry! Your favorite!" Alphabittle said to his daughter. "Remember when you won the youth slam with your performance of 'Reflections of Glowpaz Crystal'?"
"No. I do not." Misty said confused. "That actually sounds awful––" She was cut off when Alphabittle gave her a side hug and startled her.
"Awfully cute?" Alphabittle guessed with a smile. "I know! It was! Here." He pushed Misty to the stage.
"Wait, I…" Misty tried to explain, but she was pushed over the stage, right in front of Onyx and Dapple, with more lights shining over her, and she looked at the ponies watching her.
Of course, being the incredibly shy pony she is, she got nervous, and right now, all she wanted to do was disappear.
"Uh… Um… Uh…" Misty stammered, as she stood up and was about to speak through the microphone, but stopped since she had nothing to say. "Uh…" She repeated, and the crowd looked at each other confused.
In Maretime Bay's Sheriff Station, Knuckles took a deep breath.
There he was with Sunny, Zipp and Sparky. The former having her Alicorn form out, the middle having her Z-Googles ready, and the latter being there to be in custody by Knuckles, since he was previously being dragonsit by Hitch's animal crew.
"Alright, girls. Let's do this one last time!" Knuckles declared. "On your marks, set... GO!"
After shouting that, Zipp and Sunny started to work together so they could organize Hitch and Knuckles' pile of papers first and in a short amount of time. Sunny was using her magic to float the papers around, while Zipp was using her googles to scan every single paper.
Once she scanned them all, she told Sunny which papers to organize alphabetically so she could place them all back into their respective cabinet.
Knuckles was taking their time with a sand clock, and once he saw until the very last paper on its place organize, he grinned and stopped the countdown. "Times' up, ladies!" He announced, and Sunny stopped using her magic with a relieved sigh, while Zipp sighed and smiled.
"So? How did we did?" Zipp asked with a smile.
"33.4 seconds." Knuckles replied with an impressed tone. "My record is 32.1 seconds."
"Darn it!" Zipp groaned. "We were so close this time!"
"Guess that means we have to organize them... again." Sunny said exhausted and a bit disappointed.
"Actually, that won't be necessary." Knuckles said suddenly, and that called the two mares' attention.
"Huh?/What?" Sunny and Zipp said confused.
"I said I'll give you what you want if you organized those papers in the shortest time possible." Knuckles pointed out. "I never said you had to beat my mark. Why do you think I said you could've done better and insisted on doing it again?"
"But you also said you wouldn't push us!" Sunny pointed out.
"Rule number one: When someone tells you that you won't be pushed, always expect to be really pushed." Knuckles declared. "Reverse psychology."
"What? That..." Zipp tried to argue, but then her eyes widened, and she tilted her head a bit. "Huh... That actually makes sense."
"I'm not the smartest one out there, but I'm not an idiot, either." Knuckles said with a smirk, then he went to grab Sparky and walked out of the station. "Now come on! We've gotta look for a more comfortable zone so I can tell you what you want."
Knuckles exited the station with the baby dragon on his head, while Sunny deactivated her Alicorn form and tried to leave as well, but Zipp stopped by placing a hoof in front of her.
"Sunny, are we sure we can trust Knuckles with giving us this kind of information?" Zipp questioned. "It is one thing to translate something we might not understand, but actual Equestrian history? I have my doubts about it."
"I know that Knuckles can be a little difficult sometimes..." Sunny recognized with a sheepish smile. "But Izzy made a point before. He met Spike the Dragon himself! The very same dragon that was raised by Twilight Sparkle when she reigned around! I say we give him a shot."
"Well... When you put it like that, I guess it is worth to try and see what he has to say." Zipp ended up smiling.
"Hey! Are you two coming or what?!" Knuckles' voice called from outside, catching the two mares off guard.
Still, they looked at each other, smiled widely and chuckled, then exited the Sheriff Station as well.
For the next 2 hours and a half, Tails tested out all the possible effects that the substance could had on his friends.
Yet nothing seemed off: Their magic was working just fine, since Pipp was able to fly still, Izzy could levitate stuff and even used her hands in case her magic wasn't enough (which barely happened), and Hitch could still talk with animals and use his Earth Pony magic.
With some practice help from both Hitch and Sonic, Izzy and Pipp were now getting better at walking around, and now Pipp even got used to her fingers, to the point that she could use her phone again normally.
She even said that fingers helped her to scroll faster than with hooves, meaning she liked them a lot better.
As for Tails? Well, he's on the living room, deadpanning at the results he's got so far, while Sonic listened to him.
"Well... These results are... Something, I guess." Tails said with a raised eyebrow. "Is not like when we turned into ponies. Back then, I could study and understand everything the ponies go through by being one. This time? I haven't heard anything new. Your magic works, you have no pain, and you move around freely." He deadpanned. "Guess I'm just trying to dig for a mystery where there's none to begin with."
"Well, at least some result is better than none, right?" Sonic said with a smile, as he approached and pushed him on the shoulder slightly, calling his attention. "Besides, if the substance did nothing wrong, shouldn't that mean it is a massive success?"
"Well, yeah, it is as success..." Tails admitted. "I guess I'm just a bit disappointed that they reacted so... normally about it. Like, we were amazed by looking the way we did, but they didn't seemed to feel so different, beyond the fact that Izzy and Pipp almost tripped several times 'cause they were not used to walk in two legs yet."
"Perhaps you're just thinking this too much, bud." Sonic said with a smirk. "Like, what can you learn from being a Mobian when you've been one your whole life?"
Tails' eyes widened after hearing that, and he slammed his face on the table in frustration, which made Sonic chuckle.
"I'll be with Pipp upstairs to see how much she's getting used to her body." Sonic said with a smile, as he walked upstairs. "I'll tell you of any changes if I see one!"
Tails just mumbled something, probably agreeing and Sonic choose to shrug it off, so he went upstairs and entered the bedroom, where he found Pipp sitting with her legs crossed on the bed while checking her phone.
If you wonder where are Hitch and Izzy: They're both downstairs, the former in the Critter Corner with the critters and Sparky, since Knuckles quickly came and gave him back to Hitch, not even questioning why he was a Mobian; while the latter was on her Crafting Spot.
Back with the couple of the year, Sonic approached Pipp in a sneaky way and hug her from behind, also kissing her cheek with love, which made his girlfriend giggle from the gesture.
"Can't resist me even as a Mobian, can you, Blue Star?" Pipp asked playfully in a flirting manner.
"You'll look pretty even is a reindeer, and I'm saying it in a good way." Sonic replied with the same kind of tone. "Well, I also might have looked at that fan art of you as a reindeer, but eh. Details."
Pipp rolled her eyes with a chuckle, and then kissed Sonic on his cheek.
"So? How you feeling being one like me, Little Pipp?" Sonic asked her with a smile.
"Well, it took me a while to get used to walk, but it wasn't so hard thanks to your help!" Pipp said with a smile, as she lay and put comfy over Sonic's chest. "And why did you never told me how great it is to have fingers?! I can totally pass through so many icons, apps, scroll down ten times faster... I've been missing this my whole life, and I didn't knew it!"
"You seem really happy with your new form." Sonic said with a smile, before grinning and bite his lower lip. "And honestly? You look very sexy with that outfit~"
Pipp blushed slightly, since she could tell he was insinuating something else, and she hit him slightly in the shoulder, although that only made Sonic smile and nuzzle with her, which made Pipp pout a bit, but she eventually gave in and nuzzled back at him.
"Would you say learning to walk was harder than pretending to be your sister for a whole day?" Sonic asked curiously.
"Actually, being Zipp for an entire day was more exhausting, and it made me realize that I shouldn't minimize what anyone does, even if I feel is less important than my own stuff." Pipp replied with a smile. "Besides, Milkway returned us to normal after we learned our lesson. Everything turned out fine in the end!"
"Yeah... I'm just thankful that she didn't made something as creepy as making me have a crush on Zipp." Sonic said with a cringed expression. "Milkway was a weirdo, but at least she was nice enough to keep our relationships intact. Could you imagine all the chaos that could've been caused if she swapped that, too?!" He shivered at the thought. "I get goosebumps just at the idea..."
"Yeah. I'm really glad she didn't switched that, either." Pipp said with a sheepish smile. "I seriously cannot imagine myself being the way I'm with you with Tails... Or with anyone else in general. I just... I love you too much to picture myself with someone that isn't you."
Sonic felt his cheeks burning a bit after hearing that, but he still smiled and kissed Pipp's forehead. "Well, I cannot picture myself with anyone but you either, Princess. Pony, Mobian, or even a freaking dinosaur! I love you for who you are, Pipp, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Who cares what anyone else says? If we're happy together, I don't see why we should change it."
Pipp felt touched by his words after hearing all of that, and so, she smiled, before putting her phone down and kissing hims on his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck, while Sonic wrapped his arms around her hips and kept her close.
They spent some time like that before braking the kiss and stare at each other with loving gazes.
"You know... We still have some 20 minutes before I turn back into a pony... Wanna spend that time?" Pipp asked while bitting her bottom lip, and Sonic knew what she wanted to do.
"Seriously? Right now?" Sonic asked her with a playful tone and smirk, but also with a raised eyebrow. "You've been quite needy lately, Princess Petals."
"Is almost that time of year for Pegasi." Pipp replied, still bitting her bottom lip. "Besides, I know you want to see me without these clothes on~"
"W-Well... I-I never said I didn't..." Sonic tried to argue, but then he was tackled on the bed by Pipp.
You know what happened next... I don't think I need to say, do I? Hopefully not.
Back at the Crystal Tea Room, Misty was still frozen with nothing to say.
"Hu-huh. Rad." Dapple commented, while Onyx turned to him. "Such a dedicated choice."
"Uh…" Misty kept going nervously, before finally snap. "I'm sorry! I can't do this anymore!"
"Huh?" The audience said confused as Misty ran out the door, but then, the crowd started clapping to her, thinking she actually made a poem, while Alphabittle got over the stage confused.
"That was… brilliant!" Dapple cheered.
"I am overwhelmed with emotion." Onyx said naturally.
"What… what was it about?" Alphabittle asked Onyx, since he got nothing from what Misty said.
"It was a commentary on the loss of identity." Onyx explained.
"Imbued with undertones of fear about a newfound, fragile father-daughter relationship." Dapple added, clapping his hooves together.
Alphabittle cleared his throat when he heard that. "You, uh… got all that?" He asked, while Onyx and Dapple nodded. "I see."
After that, Alphabittle looked with guilt and left the stage to go and check on Misty
"She also could have been saying something about um-bellas." Onyx commented.
"Yeah, that too." Dapple agreed.
In Alphabittle's home, Alphabittle entered the place.
There, he heard Misty crying in her old room, and that immediately made him feel bad, so he entered and saw Misty on her bed crying her tears out, which only made him feel worse.
"I thought you might be in here." Alphabittle said, entering the room and sitting over the chest in front of the bed, since he's to big to sit on the bed. "What happened? You love performing."
"No, I don't!" Misty cried out, turning to him. "At least, not anymore. I hate the spotlight. I hated the playground!" She cried out, and Alphabittle flinched a bit. "I'm sorry, but… this whole day has been a struggle." She said, holding her bunnycorn plushie.
"You didn't like any of the things we did?" Alphabittle asked surprised.
"No, I didn't." Misty said, turning away sadly. "The truth is… I don't actually know what I like! Or even who I am…" She looked at her own hooves, and then held her plushie again. "I haven't really had the chance to figure it out yet."
Alphabittle looked up in surprise. "Wow, Onyx and Dapple were right." He then looked at his daughter with sympathy. "I just want you to feel at home."
"But I don't feel at home." Misty said, gesturing to her old room. "I barely know this place. I barely know myself!" She pointed out, then she turned to her father. "And you barely know me. So much time has passed, so much has happened. Whatever filly you used to love isn't here anymore." She looked at her plushie and buried her face on it. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She muttered through the plushie.
Alphabittle looked at his daughter with guilt for not knowing how she felt. "I didn't realize… I was just trying to show I cared. But I understand. You want to be alone."
After that, he stood up from the bed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Misty looked at her plushie sadly, tears dropping from her eyes, but then she quickly rushed to the door and opened it to her father. "No! I don't want to be alone anymore. That's all I've ever been and ever felt." She said, which surprised Alphabittle, as he turned to his daughter in surprise. "And now I have you. I somehow have you. My dad!" She smiled, and then she rushed up to him.
Alphabittle caught Misty, and they shared a warming hug as Alphabittle held his daughter. "Oh… my Misty-Wisty!" He said joyfully. "You're right. I've been holding onto the past. Onto the pain of losing you, which made me hard-headed." He broke the hug and looked at Misty. "You just ask anypony in town how grumpy I've been all these moons…" He nuzzled with her. "Let's start over. My name is Alphabittle, and I am your father." He said, which made Misty smile tearfully and heartfelt, so she wiped her tears. "Though I know nothing about you, someday when you're ready, I want to hear all about your life and experiences and who you are now."
"It's a pleasure to re-meet." Misty said with a smile. "I'm Misty. Tea for short." She said playfully, moving in a circle.
"Tea?" Alphabittle asked with a chuckle. "I like that."
"I do too. I just made it up!" Misty said cheerfully.
"Hey, there's still a little bit of the father-daughter day left." Alphabittle said with a smile. "What would you like to do?"
Misty thought for a moment before she smiled at her father.
Shadow slowly started to recover his senses, opening his eyes with a painful grunt.
He stood up on his site, and felt a bit disoriented, but just when he began to look around, that's when his eyes widened in panic: Wherever he was, it was clearly one of Dr. Eggman's labs, since he could see a computer with his logo not so far from his place.
Speaking of which, Shadow realized he was trapped inside a capsule. By instinct, he tried to teleport out of there, but just when he was about to charge his Chaos Energy to do so, he was electrocuted and stunned in place.
Shadow fell on his knees in the ground and groaned, but then he heard a maniac laugh, and that made him frown and look ahead with anger, slowly standing up again: He saw the chair in front of the computer turn around and show Eggman himself, grinning sinisterly with his hands together.
"Greetings, Mr. 'Ultimate Life Form'!" Eggman said with a mocking tone. "Hope you slept well. It might have been your last nap forever!" He laughed like a maniac.
"I'm not in the mood for your ticks, doc." Shadow said with a frown, then tried to make a Chaos Spear, but it ended up on him getting electrocuted again.
That made Eggman burst out laughing, even cleaning off some tears of joy. "Oh, this is quite a spectacle, alright! I mean, not as exciting if you were Sonic instead, but a Roasted Hedgehog is still a Roasted Hedgehog!"
Shadow groaned and lay in the capsule he was trapped in, then he frowned at Eggman. "W-What's the meaning of this? Why can't I use my powers?"
"Because that capsule is modified, duh!" Eggman replied mockingly. "I programmed it to electrocute you if it detects even the smallest sign of Chaos Energy rising on your body. Which means that you won't get out of there!"
"I have my ways, Eggman." Shadow said with anger. "How about you explain me what the hell is the Metal Virus? Or where is my team?!"
"Rouge, you'll find out soon. Omega is being guarded by Metal Sonic in my machinery room." Eggman replied, then grinned sinisterly. "As for the Metal Virus... I won't tell you a thing. Everytime I explain my plan detail by detail, everything goes to hell. This time around, my lips are sealed on that regard... BUT, I do plan to show you exactly the result of my plan coming together!"
Shadow growled when Eggman stood up from his seat, but when he approached to the other capsule in the room and turned the light from inside, his eyes widened, and his blood became very cold.
Inside the other capsule, Rouge was... Not her anymore. Her body seemed more pink and metallic, her eyes were red, her iris yellow, her fingers looked more like claws, some spikes seemed to grow on her elbows and on her boots, while her wings seemed to look like blades.
Whatever was in there, it looked like Rouge... But it wasn't her, and Shadow knew that. He knew that the thing inside of that capsule once were Rouge, but now it was something Eggman made.
Or rather, something Eggman corrupted.
"W-What..." Shadow tried to say, still stunned at the sight, but then he looked at Eggman grinning with joy, and he felt anger running through his body. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"What I'm doing to you right now!" Eggman replied with a grin, then pressed a button on his panel control.
That confused Shadow at first, but then, a vent opened over him and released part of the Metal Virus on his body. Shadow shook his body on a desperate attempt to get the virus off... But it only kept spreading across his body, and despite his efforts, he ended up infected as well.
"Fun fact! Omega actually watched Rouge getting infected, but he could do nothing about because I immobilized his body to watch the whole thing painfully!" Eggman said with a maniac laugh to Shadow, who's body was pink and metallic now, his wrists and ankles got spikes, his fingers grew to look like claws, his sclera was red now, and his pupils were yellow, while all his teeth sharpened. "But of course, you wouldn't know that. You're just a mindless zombie that looks like a robot now... Ooh! A Zombot! I like the sound of that!"
Eggman laughed maniacally once more, while Zombot Shadow just looked at him completely lifeless.
In front of Canterlove Studios, there was the giant tree from Hitch's 'no magic' rule incident.
Knuckles was staring at the tree with a smile and his arms crossed. He usually comes here whenever he feels a bit down or nostalgic for missing Angel Island, since the tree is very similar to the one from Angel Island, which at the same time was similar to the Wishing Tree.
"Knuckles?" Sunny called out first, as Zipp and her looked at the echidna confused. "What are we doing here, exactly?"
"No better way to start telling you about Equestria than coming to a place like this one, where I know I can tell you quite a story." Knuckles replied, turning to face them. "There's a story about a bat that Spike told me one time, but it actually has a completely different meaning once you tell the story in a not metaphoric way."
"Finally…" Zipp said in relief, as both Sunny and Zipp sat down in the ground. "Here we go!"
Knuckles then brought out a matchstick and turn it on fire, as he stared at the flame. "A long time ago, there was a powerful creature, with wings that literally burned in fire." He began to narrate. "This creature, surrounded by others like them, always stood aside and refused to get along with others. Because this creature had only one goal in mind: Be as powerful as they could be, and take over everything and everyone."
After saying this, Knuckles crushed the matchstick, and then his fist was set on fire, which made Sunny and Zipp flinch and panic, but before they could ask if he was fine, Knuckles did something unexpected.
The echidna warrior guided the fire on his hand thanks to his electrical powers and started to make silhouettes of his own narration with his bare hands, which surprised the two mares a lot, as they saw the creature he was talking about moving away from the other creatures like them.
"So, this creature attempted to take all the power from everything and from everyone only to themselves." Knuckles told, as his fire silhouettes showed this. "But the creature had a big ambition. They wanted more than just their alike's magic, so they went further beyond and started to steal the magic of the dragon's fire breath, in a desperate attempt to become more powerful in the quickest way possible before taking over everything else."
The silhouettes showed the creature stealing the dragon's magic dragonfire, which worried the two mares, as Sunny's ear s dropped in sadness and concern, while Zipp frowned with only the latter emotion.
"The creature, however, never counted that the others like them and the dragons would team up to stop their plans before they could even get any further." Knuckles kept narrating, as he showed a war between the creature and the dragons teamed with the others. "In the end, all settled down to a fight between Spike, his mentor, and the creature, one battle that sent the creature to a zone where they were sealed away for thousands of years."
The silhouettes ended showing precisely what Knuckles narrated, with the creature being sealed far away from Equestria. After Knuckles was done with his story, both Sunny and Zipp stared at the echidna with their jaws dropped, completely impressed by everything he told them.
"Knuckles... That... That was incredible!" Zipp said with a huge smile.
"I know, right? I recently learned how to control fire with my own powers. Perhaps is because they're half magic." Knuckles replied with a smirk, thinking she's talking about what he did with the fire silhouettes.
"No! Well, yes, that was cool, but we mean the story!" Sunny pointed out with a smile. "It is exactly what we were looking for!"
"Yeah!" Zipp nodded in agreement. "If we change the creatures with ponies, then the one that wanted all that power was definitely Opaline!"
"And Spike's mentor must be Twilight Sparkle!" Sunny added with a smile. "It all connects! Thanks for telling us this, Knux!"
"Anything for a friend." Knuckles smirked, then he looked back at the tree behind. "I'm sure the good o'l Together Tree enjoyed the story just as much as you two did."
That got the two mares attention. "Sorry… what?" Zipp asked confused.
"The Together Tree!" Knuckles repeated. "This fella over here is a Together Tree. The one we helped Misty make grow is also a Together Tree. Heck, even the Wishing Tree is one! Just a lot older than the other tow trees."
"What's a Together Tree?" Zipp asked again.
"Very powerful trees." Knuckles replied with a smile. "Only created when a group of individuals come together through true friendship. Together Trees communicate and connect magically to each other, through their roots underground. They're like silent protectors that watch over us. And we, in return, must protect them and watch over them." He stated, as he approached the tree and gently touched its trunk.
"Whoa!" Sunny and Zipp said amazed, and Zipp jumped a bit.
"Knuckles, thank you so much for teaching us that." Zipp said gratefully. "I-I didn't thought you'll know this much about Equestria!"
"I owe Spike all of that, except the part of the trees." Knuckles replied with a smile.
"Huh?" Sunny said. "Then how did you learned about the trees?"
"When investigating about the mysterious tree where I met the breezies along Sonic, Tails and Amy; I eventually found info about the trees in my tribe's ancient scrolls." Knuckles replied. "I barely checked those things as a kid, but when I did, I surely learned a lot. Come to think about it, I didn't found the possibility of talking ponies with magic any weird because of Spike's stories, and because of my ancestor's scrolls."
"Well, I'm glad you learned!" Sunny said with a smile. "Because now we know that Opaline is the creature in search of power, and that she seeks for both dragonfire and magic to take over."
"And with that much power, she could even reach Mobius with a fire portal, like the one that Spike made to visit your island." Zipp said with concern, and Knuckles nodded with a frown. "Well, thanks again for telling us this, Knux!"
"Anything for my friends!" Knuckles replied with a smirk.
Back at the Crystal Tea Room, Misty and Alphabittle returned.
There, Misty was on the counter, making something the best she could, while Alphabittle sat on the table with his eyes closed and two armadillos next to him.
"Oh, I know I said I was a patient stallion, but I cannot wait to see what you've up your sleeve." Alphabittle said in excitement, while Misty finished making a tea and placed it in front of Alphabittle.
"Okay, open your eyes!" Misty said, waving her hoof.
Alphabittle opened his eyes and looked down at what Misty did. "Tea?!" He said surprised, then inspected the cup. "Hmm, tea."
"Not just any tea." Misty said getting her dad's attention. "A new bled designed and crafted by me. Try it!"
Alphabittle smiled, then took a sip of the tea and smiled widely. "Ah! Delicious." He said, then started to spin on his chair "At first, it has a bitterness. But then, it softened into a warm, comforting cup."
"My tea-metaphor for you." Misty said with a soft smile.
"Aw… It's like poetry!" Alphabittle smiled. "I am so grateful to get this second second-chance with you. You're home!" He touched Misty's hoof.
Yet Misty looked a bit sad after hearing that. "Honestly, I still don't really feel at 'home' here. I'm not sure why."
Alphabittle thought on something, then smiled and stood up. "I know just what to do. Just need to make a little phone call." He stated and walked off, while Misty looked at him confused.
Later, at sunset, Misty and Alphabittle arrived at the Brighthouse, stopping at the front door.
"Ta-da-da!" Alphabittle said with a smile. "Get it? Da-da?" He chuckled.
Misty did smiled at his joke, but then looked back at the Brighthouse confused. "Huh? The Crystal Brighthouse?"
Alphabittle and Misty entered the bedroom in the Brighthouse.
Misty was still confused, but then she heard something or someone squeaking, so she turned to see the source... And she saw something that made her gasp in surprise.
Misty was seeing that Izzy, Hitch, Pipp, Sonic, Tails and Amy were setting up all the things from her Bridlewood bedroom on her section of the room. Since she previously only had a spare mattress from the basement, as well as some sheets and pillows that were not even hers, this was something completely fresh and new, because it actually belonged to her.
Besides her bed there was also a pink curtain covering her bed, purple sheets, the same bunnycorn plushie from her old room, and a series of tables pilled together where more stuff was supposed to be.
Well, and the butterfly window as well, but that's been there for months.
"Hey!" Pipp said once they saw Misty, and she put down a box she was carrying. If you wonder, she along Hitch and Izzy already turned back to ponies a few hours ago. "Sorry we don't have everything unpacked yet. You have some…" She tried to lift the box again, but it was pretty heavy and made her grunt in effort. "... heavy stuff." She finished, but then she flopped to the floor and panted a bit.
"What the hell's in this that's so heavy, anyways?" Sonic questioned, as he kneeled and opened the box.
Once he did so, the couple got startled when they saw Sparky inside the box with some barbells, as he babbled and tried to lift one up, but it was pretty heavy for him. Soon, Hitch look inside the box with Sonic and Pipp.
"Sparky, put those down! You'll stub a claw." Hitch scolded, and Sparky sighed disappointed.
Izzy picked up the barbell Sparky was holding, but then he sneezed and fell to the floor on his back, while the sneeze released one of his dragon fires and turned the barbell Izzy was holding into three balloons.
"Well, that's just another good sign that Sparky is feeling better!" Tails smiled, as he turned and picked up the baby dragon with his tails, spinning them slowly to entertain Sparky, which made him babble in happiness.
"What is all this?" Misty asked confused to her father with a smile.
"Well, your pal with two tails told me that you've been living here for a while." Alphabittle replied with a warm smile. "They'd love for you to stay permanently, if that's what you want."
Misty turned to her father surprised, then turned to the others with a smile. "Really?!" She asked happily, while her friends nodded with smiles, making Misty laugh and ran up to her bed while jumping on it. "I do!" She exclaimed, while the critters came to join her fun.
"I just made the bed!" Hitch cried out, shaking his head in amusement before calm down, while Sparky joined Misty. "Heh, whatever!"
"Just relax, Hitch, Let her have this moment." Amy said with a smile.
Then, Misty got off her bed and came to her father. "You don't have to live with me in Bridlewood. You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Alphabittle said with a smile, sitting down and grabbing Misty by the shoulder, while she smiled at him as he held her cheeks. "You're a grown pony, now. Not my baby filly. And that's okay." He said tearfully, then sighed and let her go. "Just promise you'll call me every week. Also, I filled the fridge downstairs with healthy meals. Oh, and you were so good at making that tea, I left you a giant box full of dry herbs and flowers so you can make your own blends at home!" He listed out, gesturing to one of the boxes with herb and flower pictures on it.
Pipp was near by moving a box, but when she saw the box that Alphabittle was gesturing, she felt nervous. "Um… fun!" She said, fully aware that the box was pretty heavy.
"I'm going to miss you so much!" Alphabittle said to Misty with teary eyes and a smile.
"I'm going to miss you too, Dad." Misty said with a smile, then she hugged her father, and he returned the gesture happily.
"Still got it." Alphabittle said happily.
Just then, the three ponies and three Mobians joined in the hug while exclaiming with joy.
"We want in too!" Pipp said joyfully.
Knuckles was walking ahead of his pony friends, inhaling the fresh air with a happy smile.
"Nothing like the North Wind to bright my noon." Knuckles said, as he walked towards the Brighthouse along Sunny and Zipp. "That actually reminds me of a story that Spike told me, about the North Wind going against the South Wind in a 1v1 match that turned into a tornado! Or was it a dance-off? He told me two versions of the story, so I don't remember precisely which one I liked the most."
"A dance-off? Sounds like some story!" Zipp said with a smile, and Sunny at her side chuckled with a smile.
"Is there some deep, hidden message to decode in this one?" Sunny asked her echidna friend.
"There's always messages in the wind, girls." Knuckles replied with a smirk. "If you fly directly into on a Thursday, you'll see what I mean." He winked at them.
"I really own you an apology, Knux. Maybe you're not the smartest out of us, but you definitely know what you talk about when you do so." Zipp said with a smile.
"Yeah. I'm very impressed with how many stuff from Equestria's past you know." Sunny agreed.
"I just like to take action more than stop to think about anything." Knuckles said with a smile. "Perhaps that's why I crash with Sonic so much. We both jump to action and conclusions before actually talk things out. Let's just say words are not our thing when it comes to take on a good fight."
"Yeah, we noticed!" Zipp said with a chuckle, and both Sunny and Knuckled chuckled along, then they entered the Brighthouse.
In the back of the Brighthouse, the group was laughing and drinking tea together.
Just then Knuckles, Zipp and Sunny came from the door to them.
"You're back!" Izzy cheered.
"Took you guys long enough!" Sonic said with his iconic smirk.
"Hey, pals!" Hitch said with a smile.
"What took you so long?" Amy said playfully.
"We missed you!" Pipp added, turning away from her phone.
"How was your day?" Tails asked.
Sunny then gasped when she saw Misty and Alphabittle. "Yay, Misty's here!" She cheered.
"Welcome home, Mist. Greetings, Alpha B." Knuckles told them with a smirk and his fists on his hips.
Then, Zipp came to them with excitement. "Hi, Alphabittle! You'll never believe what we learned." She said to their friends, then they turned to Knuckles. "Knux, would you like to do the honors?"
Knuckles raised and eyebrow confused at Zipp. "You want me to tell them about the fire creature?" He asked.
"No! Not yet, at least." Sunny shook her head with a smile. "She means the other one. The one with the tress!"
"Oh! Yeah, that makes more sense." Knuckles realized with a chuckle. "So Together Trees. Well.. They're all magically connected…"
Yet, as Knuckles said this, Sonic looked on a random direction, and his eyes widened when he saw Cyber Sonic again, holding a flower that he smelled, before exhaling relaxed... And then crush the flower with his bare hand, slowly turning to see Sonic with hate on his eyes.
"How long can you stay this quiet, Hedgehog?" Cyber Sonic asked. "In the end, this will consume your whole being... And so will I."
Sonic frowned and shook his head, then looked away from that direction... But this time, Cyber Sonic didn't left. He stood there, staring at Sonic and feeling glee at his scared expression.
Sonic just tried to ignore his presence, but it was difficult to do. Hopefully, he would leave him alone soon enough.
Eggman was staring at his first two successful Zombots with glee.
Along Sage, he tested out all the capacities the Zombots had, like super strength, regeneration thanks to their liquid-like bodies, strength reinforcement that made them more durable with each attack they receive, and most importantly: The ability to infect other living forms.
With this last ability tested out in some critters that, along Shadow and Rouge, are now infected with the virus and more than willing to obey Eggman, he knew that the experiment was a massive success.
"My beauty..." Eggman said happily. "You see this, Sage? This is why I love to scheme! Because the glee of seeing your efforts paying off is priceless! Of course, the virus could get out of control, which is why I developed a cure. It's still a prototype and needs to be finished, but I know for sure that I'll have it ready before releasing the virus to Equestria."
"A virus, you say?" A female voice spoke behind... one that made Eggman's eyes widen in panic and horror, and when he turned around, he found Opaline, right there, on his lab. "I'm interested to hear more!"
"You!" Eggman said with anger, before trying to take out a plasma gun and point it at Opaline, but that plain failed when Opaline levitated him and made his hand release the weapon.
The Fire Alicorn approached Eggman and looked at him with a grin, while the doctor sweat nervously and looked around helplessly. He never heard her coming, his alarms never sent any sign of intruders... And now, he was trapped on her magic, with a high chance of getting his ass burned.
"Hello, Ivo." Opaline said with a sinister grin. "Long time no see!"
Cliffhangers! My favorite thing in the world!
Honestly, this chapter took me a while to finish because I had lots of ideas for it. Now that I'm finally done with it, is time to share some important details about:
Let's start with Eggman. Like I said, his lack of attention would pay off, and we still have the next chapter before moving to the big Season Finale. He has finished the virus, but it seems that Opaline has him between a rock and a hard place, 'cause I don't think he'll be able to finish the cure.
As you saw, I changed the entire thing with Sunny and Zipp, removing Elder Flower and replacing her with Knuckles. He has knowledge of Ancient Equestria thanks to Spike, and with this episode, I believe this Season is as much of Tails and Misty as it is of Knuckles. He deserved some spotlight, after all.
Sonic keeps hallucinating with Cyber Sonic, and with Shadow infected as a Zombot, the only one that could have make him talk is out, meaning he'll keep his mouth shut for another episode.
The thing with the ponies becoming Mobians was just a fun gag I wanted to make. I know is not the biggest deal of all, but hey, we saw three Mobians going ponies the previous Season. Why not see the reverse effect?
Finally, this is my favorite episode of MYM Chapter 5 because of how realistic the reconnection between Alphabittle and Misty is. She's been gone for years, and Alphabittle can't come to accept that at a 100% yet. I like how things turned out for them both.
Anyways. Next chapter: We'll see what's Opaline been up to, and why she didn't acted until now.
See ya! 
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
993 users online
1,267,282 hits today, 2,073,628 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.®
...So Opaline's gonna hijack Eggman's plan? Because if that's the case, we're f*cked.
One one hand: I love the reference Omega did about feeling his head coming off his body after learning about the Metal Virus, since this actually happened in the comics.
On the other hand: While a bit pointless, I like that we still got to see some of the ponies turning Mobians. It was their turn, after all, because Team Sonic sins Amy already went through this the previous Season.
Wow, awesome chapter, and amazing alterations, while Misty and Alphabittle reconnected, tails create potions to turned ponies into mobians, which they found interest and looks like Pipp and sonic enjoy the moment as them in their own way while knuckles explained sunny and Zipp about how he met spike and his knowledges on the together tree and history of equestria and looks like shadow and rouge now infected by the metal virus, oh boy and Opaline has showed up in eggmans base, what a twist, anyway, awesome job here, keep up the great work!
Well, I know what Tails will be doing tonight. Or more who with that new potion of his.
Onto more important things, did not expect Knuckles to have met with Spike more than the first time. Nice to see him get a chance to do something more since I feel he really hasn’t done much other than complain about Pipp that one time.
And of course we have the big reveal at the end where it turns out Opaline is hijacking this season from Eggman. Guess that’s karma catching up with him big time.
With the virus claiming its first victims (that survived) and Opaline having plans for revenge, only one thing can be said.
camo.fimfiction.net/54IBtJYH0TKmO_xqt31FZqmAVsgxKcKxBugwpzdgRbs?url=https%3A%2F%2F64.media.tumblr.com%2F60c4d9180eb633d237e6d4bec223dc37%2Ftumblr_pa2n2lPuha1wt3ocko6_r1_540.gif
Oh, god… Opaline is trying to use the Metal Virus?! Jesus Christ!
11744286
Yup. Like Paul0504 said, we're f*cked.
11744292
No kidding! That stuff was capable of nearly wiping out an entire planet, and she’s trying to use it?! She’s gonna get us all killed…
11744357
Yup.
11744292
11744357
So how f*cked are we exactly in a scale of 1 to 10?
11744859
11/10
11744860
As a wise, fat Italian man once said.
11745154
media.tenor.com/551UXO_M05cAAAAC/culture-man-of-culture.gif
Wha-
11745825
Yeah, that happened. Not officially in the show, but someone did made a fan-art of Pipp, Zipp, Izzy and Sunny as reindeers.
WHA-
11745828
64.media.tumblr.com/6e96302e3cf85055a36c34fc4ed2b452/tumblr_inline_o2luscd3wX1rzas5e_400.png
11821409
Yeah, I know.
you think the angel island tree knux found is a together tree?
11872523
Who knows.