The Mane 5 try to solve the magical problems of the new earth pony magic, while Sonic starts to face shadows from his past as he, Tails and Knuckles try to find their way back home.
Magic has finally returned to Equestria thanks to Sunny Starscout and her new friends! The pegasi can fly and the unicorns can use levitation again… and the earth ponies have activated their own special magic for the very first time in history. It’s a whole new world! Which is exhilarating… but, well, also a little scary and strange. And now that Sunny is an Alicorn with powers, there’s a lot to figure out. In the middle of all of this, the past begins to haunt Sonic as he, Tails and Knuckles search for a way to return home, reactivate the Chaos Emeralds and find the ones they're missing, as well as stop Dr. Eggman's plans to take over the magical land of Equestria.
It was a quiet morning in the magical land of Equestria. The creatures of the forest ran freely, the birds flew and sang with joy and the flowers danced with the blowing of the wind.
But that peace did not last any much longer, since a blue blur passed right where those animals were, which fled scared and confused. Soon, a pair of red sneakers with a white stripe in the middle was seen speeding off at full speed. Those sneakers jumped over a canyon, then started running across the grass again. Little by little the figure became clearer, until seeing a big blue hedgehog with green eyes and a confident smile, running freely through the magical land of Equestria.
Come light the fuse, he's a rocket, and he's ready to go 'Cause now the count down has started and he's ready to blow He's got the the dope sounds pumpin' in his stereo(-eo) Kicking ass fast, putting on a show
Sonic ran through a field of flowers very familiar to him, since it was the place where he landed when he first arrived in Equestria. He began to run in Zig Zag, sliding and strolling on a side that had many dandelions, which immediately flew away.
Come on and get yourself together, there's no time to rest And if you put the time in, he'll put you to the test He's like a running man, in his world, more is less And if you wanna test him best bring your best
He entered the Bridlewood forest, while touching the crystals that were there and running avoiding the unicorns of the place. She brushed past Alphabittle with a smile.
"Morning, Alpha B!" Sonic greeted.
"Morning, Sonic!" Alphabittle greeted back.
You can't stop now, lock and load Don't stop now, come on and rock and roll!
In this world (His world- Gotta make your own way!) Where one is all In this world (His world- Life is just a game you play!) Never fear the fall
He came out of the forest and ran at top speed over a river that connected with the mountains that led to Zephyr Heights, his next destination. He usually ran with his hands balled into fists behind his back, but this time he gave in to the feeling of freedom and spread his hands as he closed his eyes and lifted his head, inhaling the fresh air.
When you leap without a net you'll find It won't be there all the time So watch your step, now watch you step don't fall!
Now he was running over the mountains, still heading towards the city of the pegasi. She ran through the streets and buildings of the site at high speed, while greeting various pegasi and complimenting them. When he was walking along a path near the castle, he happened to see Queen Haven and her escorts Zoom and Thunder.
Damn, you can see the budget drop in animation quality, Sonic thought to himself, Otherwise these two wouldn't be the only Pegasi they would animate guarding the Queen.
"Good morning, ma'am!" Sonic greeted Haven, "You look amazing today!" he complimented him.
"Oh Sonic!" said the Queen. "You are a charm!"
"Zoom, Thunder" greeted the hedgehog in a military pose. "Keep up the good work!" he told them, and then shot off towards Maretime Bay.
In this world (Gotta make your own way!) Where one is all In this world (Life is just a game you play!) Never fear the fall
When you leap without a net you'll find It won't be there all the time So watch your step, now watch you step don't fall!
He started running through the flower field again, this time even faster, while he hurried to get to the place on time. He decided to take a shortcut, so he headed towards the ocean and ran through the water at full speed, while zig zagging and fiddling around a bit. Once he saw his destination, he accelerated further until he passed the beach, careful not to hit any ponies and sand castles.
Watch your step, watch your step! Don't turn around! Watch your step, watch your step! Don't turn around! Just watch and look back again! Don't fall!
Finally, he ran a little through the streets of Maretime Bay, until he spotted a group of 4 ponies that he knew quite well. After all, it was with those ponies that he restored magic to all of Equestria, reunited all ponies, and gained new friendships. Also, he had been living with them for the last 6 months, while trying to find a way to gather all the Chaos Emeralds and return home.
"What's up, everypony!" Sonic exclaimed with a smile, as he walked next to Hitch. "Sorry to get late for the party. Did I miss something important?" he asked.
"Nothing, actually. We're still waiting for Zipp to get here with Pipp's microphone" Hitch answered.
"Okey..." Sonic said in a doubtful voice, while he looked at Pipp shuffling back and forth in desperation.
"Where is she? I though she would have returned already!" Pipp cried out in frustration.
"Um... Pipp? Aren't you struggling yourself way too much over a microphone?" Sonic asked, finding Pipp's attitude a little too dramatic.
But Pipp looked at him with a frown and a deadly stare, as Sonic felt goosebumps all over his body.
"Haha, I'm danger!" he said with an awkward smile.
In the middle of the same green field Sonic appeared in Equestria, the piece and quiet of the place was disturbed by a strange portal. This portal started to drop many big yellow metallic peaces, and it dropped some blueprints as well. And then, an anthropomorphic yellowish fox with gloves, red and white shoes, blue eyes and two tails he used to fly, crossed the portal and started to pick up the blueprints from the ground. His name was Miles Prower, but everyone called him Tails.
And then another anthropomorphic creature crossed the portal. This one was a red echidna with red shoes with a yellow stripe in the middle, big white boxing gloves with two spikes on the knuckles, pink eyes and a frown, since he was running towards Tails. His name was Knuckles the Equidna, and not only he was the guardian of a powerful gem called the Master Emerald, he was also the last of his own kind.
"I got them!" Tails exclaimed with a smile, charging all his blueprints with him.
"Okay, now let's go back before…" Knuckles tried to say, but he noticed a bunch of Tails things and materials crossing the portal and coming towards them.
Knuckles ran to Tails to cover him. "Uh oh..." was the only thing the younger said, before being knocked down by the Echidna.
Soon, various materials fell on them, and the portal closed completely, now leaving them stranded in another dimension as well. Knuckles brushed the rubble off of him, and looked around, discovering that he was now on a field with a giant cherry tree in the background.
"Great. Now we're in another dimension too…" Knuckles said, then analyzed what he just said and gasped. "Which means..."
"That we can look for Sonic!" Tails exclaimed excitedly. "Quick, help me lift some of these things!" he pled to the Equidna.
"Okay. What do you have in mind?" Knuckles asked curiously.
"We will build a plane like the Tornado, and we will look for Sonic" the younger replied with determination.
"Sounds fine to me, but don't you think we should find out were are we first?" Knuckles asked and suggested.
"Maybe, but who knows how much time we will waste not looking for Sonic" Tails said, as he was picking up some materials to build the plane.
"... I know you want to look for him, and after all these months, I gotta say I want to find him too... but..." Knuckles stopped midsentence since he didn't want to say the next part.
"But what?" Tails asked with curiosity.
Knuckles sighed, and the shook his head in negation. "Nothing. Just a silly idea that I know it's not gonna happen. C'mon, we have a plane to build up" he said as he picked more materials for the plane.
Tails looked at Knuckles with doubt, but decided to let him be and keep gathering the pieces of the broken machine Tails made to look for Sonic.
I can't tell him that Sonic might want him to stay strong and keep going without him Knuckles though to himself, I already lost his trust once, I can't lost it again for something so polemic.
After a few hours of picking up pieces of the machine, and other materials that crossed the portal as well, Tails and Knuckles stand next to each other, looking at the big pile of materials they would use to build a replica of Tails' plane, the Tornado.
"So, how much time do you think we would last to finish this plane?" Knuckles asked, still looking at the pile.
"Maybe a week. Or just 5 days if we do it quick. I think we should look for a place to stay for the moment, and then start to build the plane tomorrow" Tails suggested.
"I like the sound of that" Knuckles said with a smile, but it faded away. "The problem is... we don't know where we are..." he pointed out.
"... True... but that doesn't mean we can't search" Tails assured with a smile, and the flew to the cherry tree.
Once he arrived, he felt curiosity on why the tree was so big, so he started to inspect the trunk. After a few minutes of searching around, since the tree was very big, he felt that he could push a part of the trunk, as if it was some kind of door.
"Hey Knuckles!" Tails called out to the Equidna. "Come take a look at this!" he asked.
Knuckles quickly ran towards the younger, and stared confused at the part of the trunk Tails was pushing. "Uh, what are you doing?" he asked in confusion.
"There's some kind of door here..." Tails explained. "Here, touch these part..." he requested as he pointed the same spot he was pushing.
Knuckles doubted for a second, but decided to listen to his friend anyways. He touched the spot Tails was pointing, and just like him, he felt that he could push the trunk like if it had a hole. "Ey, it's true. There must be something inside this tree. Let me just..." Knuckles said, and then started to move his arm in circles while he prepared to punch the trunk.
Knuckles made the punch, and then a hole was made on the three. Both Tails and Knuckles poked their heads and exclaimed "Wow!" in awe at what was inside. It was some kind of tree house that was made once of crystal, but now it looked rusted, although it was pretty much intact in everything else. It also had conveniently enough space for both of them to stay and build the plane. The two friends looked at each other and smiled.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tails asked the Equidna.
"Oh, I bet some grapes I do!" Knuckles stated, as they both started to move all their materials to the inside of the tree house.
Once they moved all the materials, Tails quickly builded a door with the trunk pieces knuckles broke, and then closed the hole of the tree to stay hidden.
Outside one of Dr. Eggman's basements on Mobius, many robots and machines were shooting at a target that was running towards them. However, those shoots bounced on his body, and the figure somehow teleported behind the robots and disabled the machines with kicks and punches. The figure landed on the ground, and slowly walked towards the main entrance.
Once he stood in front of the giant metallic door, he grabbed a device from his quills and putted it on the scanner. He pressed a few buttons on the device, then turned around with his arms crossed and waited. After a few seconds, he heard the system of the door failing, causing the door to open suddenly. He took the device out of the scanner, and boosted out running inside the basement.
Once inside of the building, he ran so fast that he created a barrier in front of him that destroyed the machines that were trying to stop him. After running trough the place for a while, he reached a big room with a computer, and many capsules with copies of Metal Sonic body.
"This is Agent Rouge from G.U.N. to Shadow the Hedgehog" a voice spoke from his communicator. "Shadow, do you copy me?" the voice asked.
"This is Shadow the Hedgehog to Agent Rouge from G.U.N. I copy" Shadow replied, walking towards the computer.
"Did you manage to enter the basement?" Rouge asked.
"I did, I even had a very warming welcome from the doctor's machines" Shadow replied. "But just like I expected, this place is empty as well. No sign of Dr. Eggman here" he added.
"This is the 17th basement with no clue of him. Wherever he is, it's not a place we know about, that's for sure" Rouge said with frustration.
"I said there's no sign of him, I never said there's no clue" Shadow pointed out, turning on Eggman's computer.
"What do you mean?" Rouge asked confused.
Shadow started no navigate trough the computer files, and he found something that caught his attention. "Project Equestria" he whispered, as he opened the file and started to read some of Eggman's notes. "Dimensional travel? What's the doctor planning on doing exactly?" Shadow asked out loud.
"Shadow, you do know I'm still here, right?" Rouge asked, since Shadow apparently forgot he was talking with her.
"I'm gonna send you this so you can check it yourself" Shadow replied, as he started to quickly write a mail and send to Rouge the same file he was looking at. "The doctor was searching for a way to travel trough dimensions" he pointed out.
"It seems that he was looking for some kind of magical power source for a big machine of his" Rouge added, as he read the article Shadow sent to her. "Why am I not surprised?" she said sarcastically.
"He was looking for a place named... Equestria" Shadow added. "A place full of magic and... talking horses?" he said with a little confusion.
"After traveling to the future multiple times and visit a parallel dimension just for the Olympics, a magical world with talking ponies doesn't sound weird at all" Rouge pointed out.
Shadow suddenly stopped talking when, among the notes, there where several videos of this place. However, the one that genuinely caught his attention was a video that showed Sonic on the thumbnail, something he hasn't seen in a long time. He decided to play the video, and then his jaw dropped once he saw the full thing: it was a montage on everything Sonic has done on Equestria, as well as show Sonic training a little with his new electrical powers.
Shadow had no words to describe what he was feeling. And even if he had, he was so stunned to the recording that he could not talk at all.
"Shadow?" Rouge called from the communicator. "Shadow, what's wrong? Are you there?" she asked, but still got no response.
Shadow slowly came back to reality, he shook his head and he answered. "Rouge... I now where's Sonic... and it seems the doctor it's with him as well. Perhaps Tails and Knuckles ended up there too" he replied, then turned the communicator off. "I may not be a friend of yours, Hedgehog, but I'm gonna bring you back, even if it's the last thing I would do" he stated, then teleported out of the basement.
In the skies of Equestria, a group of birds where emigrating peacefully, until somepony passed really quick and made one of the birds twirl around until he stopped, accidentally flying headfirst now.
The pony who passed trough the birds was a pegasus mare. She extended her white wings with purple feathers, while the wind blew over her tail and her mane. This pegasus was no other than Princess Zephyrina Storm, or simply Zipp for her friends, who was also wearing a bag and a radio on it, as she flew on the skies.
She hided behind some clouds when she saw some pegasi coming towards her, but they didn't noticed the pegasus mare since they were focused on their phones and talked to each other. Once they flied away, Zipp poked her head out of the clouds, now having some on her mane, but she shook it to make the clouds fade away, and continued her journey.
She arrived to Zephyr Heights, and flied up hight to a window of the Castle. She started to strike her body against the window, but it didn't opened. Zipp decided to lay on it, but once she touched the window slightly with her hoof, it opened completely, and Zipp fell into the ground of the Castle.
"So did you get it yet, Zipp?!" a voice asked with worry trough the radio on her bag, the voice of her sister Pipp.
"Almost..." Zipp replied with a little annoyance.
"Well, hurry uuuuup!" Pipp cried out desperately.
"On it!" Zipp assured with a smile, as she stood up. "Maximum sneaky engaged!" she stated with confidence.
But then she noticed Zoom and Thunder, the only royal guards the animators choose to animate because they're lazy, walking with frowns towards her direction. She flied high to not be spotted, as the two guards closed the window and looked at each other in confusion, as they left and Zipp sighed with relief.
She flied over a hallway, and then landed on the ground as she started to act sneaky while made some flips, looking for a room in specific. She then noticed a portrait of she and her sister when they were fillies with their mom hugging them. "Hey mom" Zipp joked while looked at the portrait, and then looked at the door of the room she was looking for.
She walked over the scanner at the side of the door, and put her hoof on it, as the door opened and she went in. She was at Pipp's old room at the Castle, looking for a her lucky microphone because she didn't take it with her when they left to Maretime Bay for some reason. Zipp finally spotted the microphone and took it, then she put it on her bag.
"Mission accomplished!" Zipp announced on the radio, as she started to run on the same hallway, ready to leave back to Maretime Bay.
"Good! Now fly fast!" Pipp demanded on the other side.
Zipp giggled and smirked, as she approached the exit. "No problems with that!" she stated, as she went out of the window and flied freely around Equestria, making her way to Maretime Bay.
Hey! You gotta let it glow Hey! You gotta let it shine
Oh, let's make our mark together Just riding on forever Just keeps on getting better, better, better Hey!
Everypony, everywhere You can feel it in the air Find your spark and just glow and shine Make a mark that you can share Hoof to heart, you know we care Oh ponies, come on, let's all unite
After flying all over Equestria, Zipp arrived to her destiny, as she watched all the ponies going on their day by day. But she suddenly heard two fillies screaming, and when she turned to see them, two pegasi fillies crashed into each other and started to fall to the ground. She immediately took action and flied over to them, catching the fillies in the air.
"Heads up, everypony!" she announced, as she landed on the street and putted the fillies in the ground.
"I'm so sorry..." one of the fillies apologized, then looked over at Zipp. "Thank you, Princess Zipp" she thanked.
"Zipp, just call me Zipp!" she pegasus pled with her ears down and an awkward smile. "And don't worry about it" she assured, now with a normal smile. "The Magic from the Unity Crystals in the Brighthouse is new to all of us" she explained, as she looked at the Crystal Brighthouse, which had in the top of the building the Crystals spreading a rainbow light for all Equestria to appreciate it. "It takes practice!" she added, without knowing that the Crystals moved on a strange way back in the Brighthouse, as if they were failing.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Mane 5 and Sonic were waiting on the street for Zipp to arrive, as Pipp pointed the camera of her phone to look at Sunny.
"Should I start now, or...?" Sunny asked, a little nervous since she was about to talk to ALL of Equestria.
"Ugh... Where is she?" Pipp asked with desperation, as Izzy and Hitch looked at her worried, while Sonic was just with his arms crossed and stomping the ground with on feet with a frown, since he though Zipp should have been here by now. "I really wanted to use my..." Pipp tried to say, but somepony else finished for her.
"Lucky microphone?" Zipp finished for her sister as she landed with a smirk next to Izzy, who was smiling of happiness to seeing her friend. Hitch smiled a little as well, as Sonic stopped stomping and smirked a little.
"Talking about the Queen of Rome" Sonic whispered to Hitch, as he giggled a little.
"There she is!" Izzy exclaimed with happiness.
"What took you so long?" Pipp asked with frustration as she rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you were sneaking around the palace again..." she said, as Zipp winked at her with a smirk and walked over to Sunny. "You know you can just enter through the main doors! It's our house!" Pipp pointe out.
Zipp gave Sunny the microphone, then looked at her sister. "But if Mom knew I was there, I'd get stuck doing one of her random princess lessons" she pointed out as well.
"Good point" Pipp replied, as Zipp walked back with the group.
"Makes sense to me" Sonic said with a neutral expression, as he looked at Sunny. "Okay then, Sunny. Just remember: pretend you're talking to us and not, like, all of Equestria, and you'll be fine" he assured as his putted his thumbs up. "Okay, good luck, you'll do great. Pipp, honey, work your magic please" he said to Pipp as he winked at her, making the pegasus blush a little and nervous, but she focused quickly as she pointed her camera at Sunny.
However, Sunny was feeling nervous and anxious since she didn't know how to react exactly. "You’re live…" Pipp announced, then pressed the record button, "... Now!" she shouted.
"Like, 'now' now?!" Sunny asked, still nervous, as Pipp nodded to her. "Uh... Hey, everypony! I'm Sunny Starscout, and I live here in Maretime Bay with my friends!" she started, as Pipp switched the camera to point only at her, Izzy, Zipp and Hitch, then switched the camera back to Sunny. "A lot has changed around here in the past few months. Maretime Bay used to be the place just us Earth ponies live, just like how unicorns always stayed in Bridlewood and Pegasi never left Zephyr Heights. But when we found the three Unity Crystals and brought them back together, it brought us back together! All pony kinds were reunited in friendship! Now anypony can live... anywhere! And... we have magic again!" she squealed excited.
The camera pointed to a unicorn levitating some bags with apples, but then a pegasus flew way to low and dropped the bags and the apples. Then, Izzy grabbed some apples with her magic, "To do, well, what unicorns and pegasi do!" she said, as she dropped the apples in the air and they fell down, with one landing on her horn. "Ta-daa!" she exclaimed with a smile.
"Oh, and don't forget our little friend from other dimension too" Zipp miraculously said, stepping into the camera. "It's thanks to him that the Magic came back as well" she pointed out, as Pipp moved the camera over to Sonic.
He was with his arms crossed and with his eyes closed, but he somehow felt the camera on him and smirked, while opened his eyes and putted his hands on his hip. "I just did what was best for all!" he stated, as he winked at the camera.
In both Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights, many mares where fangirling over Sonic since Pipp posted a lots of things and photos about him. Of course, Sonic didn't knew since he was not that attached to social media, but let me say that he wouldn't care if he ever found out. And when he winked at the camera with his smile, many of those mares also fainted.
Back in Maretime Bay, Pipp pointed her camera back at Sunny, although she was also fangirling over her crush on the inside, but she knew how to control her feelings. "Hey, Sunny-bunny, why don't you show off a little of your magic?" Sonic suggested to his friend.
"Oh, yes Sunny!" Izzy agreed. "Show everypony what you can do!"
Pipp joined to the idea as well. "Ooh, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah! Turn into an Alicorn!" Pipp pled, while she pointed the camera at herself. "That's an earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn all in one!" she explained, then aimed the camera back at Sunny, who was feeling nervous.
"Uhhh... You know it doesn't really work like that, guys" Sunny pointed out, since she didn't knew how to control her alicorn powers yet. "I can't just, uh... Anyway! The point is, magic powers or not, I think everypony can agree that our lives are way more magical now that we're together again!" she stated with a smile, as Pipp popped out from the side.
"You know iiiiit!" she sang, then looked at the earth pony mare. "Okay, Sunny! Do the thing!" she said, as the style on the phone changed to promotions.
"Do you like super fun times? Are you interested in learning more about earth pony traditions and tasting local treats? Do you want to see ponies sing in a big concert?" Sunny asked with an announcer voice.
"Yes! You bet! And yeeees!" Izzy jumped in, as she started to dance a little, while the camera switched back to Sunny.
"Then you should come to our annual Maretime Bay Day Festival! For a day of fun in the sunshine! It's going to be a blast! And I'm not just talking about the fireworks show. All pony kinds are welcome!" Sunny kept announcing with a smile.
Hitch then came over and grabbed the phone. "Oh! Oh! I love Maretime Bay Day! You gotta come check it out! The live Maretime music! The sand castle contest! The caramel ponycorn! Ah! It's the best!" he shouted excited.
What none of they knew, was that Hitch animal crew where listening to the sheriff, and when ponycorn emoticons appeared on the phone's screen, one of the birds licked his lips and flew over the sheriff
"Um... I'm gonna need a little context..." Sonic said with a confused look, since he didn't knew what Maretime Bay Day is. "What's..." Sonic tried to ask, but in that moment, the bird took Pipp's phone and flew away.
"Hitch, my phone!" Pipp yelled in panic, as they all sins Sonic started to follow the bird.
"I'm gonna ask later, this is a chase I don't wanna miss" he exclaimed with a smirk, as he stretched a little and prepared to ran off. "Here.. we... GO!" he yelled, as he boosted to keep it up with his friends to chase the bird.
They started to follow the bird all around Maretime Bay, as they dodged the ponies they passed by. Zipp almost caught the bird at one point, but the animal passed trough a Train Cart, and Zipp almost crashed with the pony driving the cart, but she just crashed with their hat, so she throw it away and kept chasing the bird.
Since they were now leaving the main town, Sonic took advantage of nopony on sigh and ran faster. Once he was close to the bird, he jumped high, and once he was on the same height as the bird, he used his 'boost' ability on air, but the bird dodged him easily, and that surprised him. "Oh, c'mon!" he yelled with frustration, as he turned into a ball and softened his landing, with Izzy passing by him. He stood up back and ran again after the unicorn.
The bird slowly lost its grip on the phone and dropped it, causing Izzy to activate her magic. She managed to catch the phone, but it wasn’t fully working. She accidentally tripped and slid forward into the garden that sat at the front of the house.
"Got it!" Izzy exclaimed, as the group caught up with her and laughed, since her face was covered with leaves.
"Izzy, made us all favor and never change the way you are" Sonic pled with a smile.
Izzy smiled back and blew the leaves away, as she was still holding the phone. "Oh, hey, look! It's still on" she called out to the phone still streaming, as levitated back to Pipp's hoof.
"See you at the festival" Pipp said, as se ended the recording.
"You okay, Izzy?" Sunny asked to the unicorn, who stood up.
"Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I mean, a little ground glitter never hurt anypony" Izzy replied while took off the remaining leaves in her mane and giggled.
"Well, thank hoofness for magic!" Sunny commented with a smile.
"Oh yeah!" Izzy said in agreement.
"Definitely" Pipp replied.
"Oh sure!" Zipp added as well.
"I have no magic, yet I gotta agree!" Sonic added too with a smile.
"Well, I for one do not agree!" another voice said, and the group turned towards the door of the house they were near by. The voice turned out to be Posey Bloom, who looked at the 6 friends with anger.
"D'uh, Posey..." Sonic whispered to himself as he facepalmed in frustration.
"Is this about your flowers, Posey?" Sunny asked, as she and the rest got away from them. "It was an accident, but we'll fix them right away" she assured, as Izzy nodded. Sonic whoever, was looking at her with a bored expression and his hands on his hip.
"No. What I meant was that I wish magic had never come back. And I'm not the only pony around here who thinks so" Posey clarified with a frown.
"Uh, what do you mean?" Sunny asked, as she and the others sins Sonic looked at her confused.
Posey rolled her eyes. "You Pegasi are always flying too fast! O-Or too low! Or too high up!"
"What's wrong with flying high up?" Pipp asked, as she and Zipp looked at her confused.
Then, Posey got into her face. "Ugh! I just don't like it, okay?!" she yelled, then moved to Izzy. "And every time I'm at the market, there's some smug unicorn using their magic to shop!" she complained, as she remembered something that happened to her. "I almost got hit in the head by a bag of floating apples yesterday!"
Well, excuse me, princess of flowers, but the world doesn't revolve around you Sonic though, still with his boring expression.
"Magic is not very safe. At least not for the rest of us ponies who don't have it" Posey stated, then ran up in front of Hitch. "Right, Sheriff Hitch?" she asked him.
"Uh... I don't know if I would say that..." Hitch replied, as he scratched the back of his head with a hoof.
Posey growled angrily, since she didn't get the answer she expected. "Everypony's just... still learning how to use it. That's all, magic takes practice!" Sunny tried to explain.
Posey who had faced away from them, grew a snarl. "But that’s not the worst part... What about him?!" she asked, as she pointed to Sonic.
The hedgehog was looking at his left hand like if there was a clock in there, while stomped his left foot, and once Posey pointed at him, he stopped stomping. "A minute and thirty seconds. I thought you would complain on me way earlier" he simply said, still with a boring expression.
"You just keep running around our town and doing some weird tricks that can put somepony in danger!" she yelled at him.
Sonic, whoever kept his boring expression still as he answered her. "Oh, who would have guess..." he said with no emotion while rolled his eyes. "She hates me because I'm being me..." he finished.
Sonic's completely relaxed attitude made Posey explote. "Ugh! This is what I mean!" she yelled at him, then started to list some of the things she and many others though about Sonic. "You're reckless, too optimistic, too relaxed, you always get in the middle of the things and you're just a giant blue rat!" she yelled out loud.
The others gasped at everything Posey yelled, but Sonic's reaction was different. While Posey listed all of those things, Sonic kept his bored expression and crossed his arms, while numbered the 5 things with his right hand, as if he already knew everything she was gonna call him. Well, to be fair, he did knew it. "You know what, I'm gonna send Eggman's number to your Email. I know you two would get along if you ever met each other" he simply replied, still with the bored expression, but smiled. "Ponyfied Karen" he finished, which made Posey to growl, then she turned around and walked back to her house.
"Well then, go do your magic somewhere else other than my garden!" Posey yelled, as she slammed the door behind her.
The group stared at the door in shock for a few seconds, except for Sonic who was just unamused. "Charming" he let out, as he stretched his arms and put them on his back. "Anyway, if we're done loosing our time with this mare, I'd suggest we should go back to the Brighthouse" he added, as he started to walk away while whistling.
"Okay, wow! She was really nice, right guys?" Izzy asked, which made Zipp and Pipp felt uncomfortable, and they decided to follow Sonic back to the Brighthouse as well, with Hitch following afterwards.
Izzy quickly fixed up the flowers while hummed to herself. "Oh! Come on, Sunny! Let's go home!" Izzy called, as she fixed the mailbox and ran away to catch up with the rest.
Sunny watched her unicorn friend darting down the path, then she looked through one of the windows of Posey’s house and saw her staring at her, then Posey closed the curtains angrily. "Don't worry, Posey. I'm gonna find a way to show you and everypony else just how awesome magic can be" she assured, as she walked back to catch up with her friends.
The rest of the group where following Sonic, who was walking relaxed while hummed to himself. Pipp, however, didn't get why Sonic was so relaxed after all the things Posey said about him, so she decided to make the big question.
"Sonic, how can you be so... you after Posey said those things?" she asked in a worried tone.
"Is it because she call me a blue rat?" Sonic asked, as she nodded her head saying yes. "Meh, It's not the first time someone calls me like that. And I know for sure it won't the last one..." he replied in a very calm tone, like if he didn't care at all.
"Are you sure?" Hitch asked, also worried about Sonic. "Those were very harsh things..."
Sonic stopped, and turned around to face the rest, although Pipp was still by his side. "Look, I've been called worst in the past. And I don't really care because all of those people get karma, and Posey won't be the exception" Sonic explained with a neutral expression. "Besides, it's not worth the shot to try and resonate with somepony that thinks the world has to work the way she wants, so the best is to let her be and wait for karma to attack her" he finished.
Sunny arrived at the moment Sonic mentioned that discussing with Posey wasn't worth it, and she frowned a little. "Well, I think we can try and show her all the good things of magic" she stated with confidence.
"I'm not saying you can't try, I'm saying it's not worth it because it's not going anywhere. And if there's really more ponies who thinks like her, don't get surprised if they give us a treat similar to Posey's" Sonic warned with a little frown, since he knew a kiss and a hug won't made them change their opinion just like that.
"I think it is worth it, and who knows maybe they end up enjoying magic!" Sunny said with a smile.
Sonic sighed and putted a bored face. "Okey then. You can try, but when it doesn't work, don't look at me with the sad puppy eyes" he warned once again. Then his expression changed to a surprised one as he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I got something I wanted to ask before the bird took Pipp's phone: What the heck is Maretime Bay Day?" he asked with a confused look.
The rest gasped and looked at him surprised. "You don't know what's Maretime Bay Day?!" Hitch asked, being the most shocked of them.
"Well, I may have been living with you for 6 months, but Sunny said it a few weeks ago: we're all still learning about everypony's holidays. And I just recently learned about T.U.E.S. Day, so pardon me for being a bit ignorant" Sonic replied with a little sarcasm and his arms crossed.
"Well, it's a day were we celebrate the earth ponies. But now, that magic's back, everypony else is welcome!" Sunny explained with a smile.
"A day to celebrate earth ponies, and now everypony else as well... Sounds fun!" Sonic said as he smirked. "Count me in!" he stated, willing to help and participate on the holiday.
The rest cheered up to him, happy that he was going to be part of the celebration. However, Pipp reminded something. "But what about your home? You're still not near to find a way back, right?" she asked with worry.
Hitch panicked a little as he looked at Sonic, knowing that he actually did have a way back, but it wasn't working, and there were other things like the 'Opaline's Castle' location they haven't found yet, and the other two Chaos Emeralds that neither Opaline nor them had yet. Sonic looked at Hitch as well, but he was really calmed, then he looked back at Pipp.
"No... I haven't found a way back yet..." he lied, but nobody seemed to notice that. "But knowing Tails, he's probably trying to find a way to look after me. If he isn't fighting Eggman, of course" he explained with a little smile. "And Knuckles will always be a knucklehead, but I now he's looking after him while I'm out. So even if I don't find a way back, they probably will" he finished, now with a big and confident smile.
"Well, I'm glad you're joining us for the celebration!" Sunny exclaimed, as she got close to him. "Now come on, everypony, we have a celebration to prepare!" she shouted with excitement, as the others sins Sonic and Hitch cheered and ran back to the Brighthouse.
Sonic and Hitch, however, stayed back to have a little talk about the Chaos Emeralds thing. "I hate to lie to them, but there's lots of things we haven't figured out yet..." Sonic spoke first, with a worried expression.
"Yeah, keeping this to us has been hard, and lately they had been close to discover us..." Hitch added, remembering that they almost got caught a few times. "Maybe it's time we tell them... we can't keep this as a secret forever..." he suggested, since he also hated ti lie to their friends, specially to Sunny.
"... You know, I think you're right, sheriff. We have to tell them... but not now" Sonic stated, looking at the mares in the distance. "They are really excited with this Maretime Bay Day thing, and I don't want to take that away from them with a lot of information. Let's wait until the festival ends so we can tell them, ok?" he pled to sheriff.
"Ok, but if you feel like you have to say it at some point, just do it" Hitch assured with a smile. "Now let's go, they're gonna need our help!" he stated as he ran after the rest.
Sonic stood on the same place for a while. "I have a strange feeling... like something's wrong, but right at the same time... Guess time would tell me what's going on" he said to himself, and then ran after his friends back to the Brighthouse.
The Mane 5 and Sonic walked slowly towards the Crystal Brighthouse. The main door opened and they all got inside, as Zipp flied around and Sonic ran towards a couch. Izzy started to jump excited as she looked at Pipp.
"Pipp! Pipp! Pipp! I want to show you something!" Izzy said, as Pipp walked alongside her to the bedroom with Pipp humming.
Once they were both on the bedroom, they stopped at Izzy's bed. "So, what did you want to show me?" Pipp asked with a smile.
"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but I consider myself a bit of an artist" Izzy replied with a smile.
"Of course I noticed!" Pipp exclaimed, as she sat down on Izzy's bed. "All of this beautiful stuff was made by you!" she pointed out. "You're so creative Izzy" she complimented with a smile. "And you're amaze at making new thing out of old things" she added, the gasped excited. "What do you call it again?" she asked as she hugged one of Izzy's pillows.
"Oh yeah, Unicycling!" Izzy answered as she twirled a little with a smile.
"Unicycling! Yes, yes, that's it!" Pipp exclaimed with joy.
"So, the other day, when I was searching for my box of googly eyes in the basement, I found this!" Izzy explained, then started to look out for something on a box as she throw some stuff, and finally took out Sunny's lamp, but now it was looking in a really deplorable state.
Pipp gasped with a smile, and got down of Izzy's bed. "Is that Sunny's old lantern?" she asked.
"Well, her dad made it for her when she was a filly!" Izzy explained. "So, I thought..." she started, then looked at Pipp as she gasped in surprise.
"That you'd fix it up for her as a Maretime Bay Day present?!" Pipp finished, as she jumped a little in excitement.
"Yup!" Izzy replied with a smile, but then shushed her. "It has to be a surprise!" she whispered, but the she yelled the last word excited. "Sorry!" she immediately apologized.
Pipp squealed excited. "I love surprises! Your secret is safe with me" she assured as she flapped her wings.
"Hoof to heart!" both Izzy and Pipp whispered, as they touched their hooves and put them on their chests.
Meanwhile, in the first floor of the Brighthouse, Sunny and Hitch gathered some materials to make some pizza for them to eat. Zipp was sitting on the table with a long face, and Sonic... he wasn't even there.
Sonic decided to walk a little around the town. Yes, you read right, he was walking, not running, since he though it was better for him to go slow and make his thoughts a bit more clear.
"I know I shouldn't be lying to them, but man, what am I supposed to do? Look at them and tell them 'Hey, I lied. I do have a way to go back home that doesn't work!' and hope they understand?" he told himself, while looked down to the floor. "Geez, I never though this would be so difficult to elaborate... Maybe I should be totally honest with them, but I don't think that's gonna work out very well..." he pet saying.
Suddenly, he felt someone was looking at him, so he turned to the side to see the buildings and the ponies passing by, but he didn't saw anyone looking at him. Still doubtful, Sonic kept walking, but the sensation of somebody looking at him was still there.
And suddenly, some kind sixth sense shouted "Look out!" on his head, and he moved to the right left.
What happened next was on slow motion: a robotic version of Sonic passed right on front of him, while Sonic was still in the dodging process. Sonic looked with horror at the metallic version of him, as the robots red eyes looked straight at him with anger. Once everything went back to its normal speed, Sonic stopped hardly, as he looked better at his robotic self. The robot, on the other hand, stopped flying and kept his distance while looked at Sonic, ready to fight.
"M-Metal Sonic?!" Sonic yelled in fear. For the very first time in 6 months, he was genuinely scared, because of Metal Sonic was there, then Eggman was in Equestria as well. And if Eggman was around there, all the peace he felt in the last 6 months would fade away, and the days were he chased the doctor to destroy his plans.
"Missed me, Hedgehog?" a voice talked trough Metal Sonic, but it wasn't the voice of the robot since he didn't had one. The voice was from Dr. Eggman, and Sonic knew this well, because he frowned and closed his hands on fists.
All the ponies around them where seeing the scene confused and scared, as they could feel the tension in the air between the hedgehog and the robot. Sonic started to run on his place really fast, as his feet turned into the shape of an 8, while Metal Sonic decided to charge up his rockets. After a few seconds, they both blasted between each other, crashing on their heads while speeded up.
"How did you got here, egghead?! How much time have you been around here?!" Sonic asked with anger, as he tried to push Metal Sonic only with his head.
"Oh, you wished I tell you, Sonic. But I'm afraid those details aren't of importance" Eggman answered trough Metal Sonic.
This just made Sonic growl, and he awakened his electrical powers, then punched Metal into his chest and send him fly away from Maretime Bay. Sonic immediately ran towards his direction, ready to destroy Metal Sonic for the good of the ponies.
Metal Sonic landed on his feet in a green field, far away of Maretime Bay. Metal shook his head, as he looked to Sonic, who was running towards his direction, and stood up to fight.
Sonic tried to punch him, but Metal dodged and hit him with his foot on the back. Sonic yelled in pain, but landed on his feet and ran against Metal again. Instead of trying the same thing, he fooled Metal by making him think he would repeat the same attack, and instead kicked him once he moved aside.
"Six months without a good fight, yet I still got it!" Sonic cheered, but he quickly focused back on the battle.
Metal tried to quick Sonic, but the hedgehog grabbed his leg and threw the robot to a tree. Sonic instantly charged his homing attack against Metal, but he made the attack stronger with his electrical powers, and boosted against the robot. Once Metal stood up, he was punched by Sonic's homing attack, and got trough the forest, as his systems started to fail a little.
"What... is this power?" Eggman asked trough the robot. "He never have used something like that before... I've saw him using electrical shields, but electrical powers of his own? That's something I never though it could be real..." the doctor said in awe, but Metal Sonic was not in the mood to heard the doctors theories, because he blasted against Sonic again.
The robot was very persistent, and if Metal Sonic was know for something, is that his objective to destroy Sonic and become 'the one and true Sonic the Hedgehog' made him kept fighting, even when he knew he lost the battle. And Sonic always took advantage of that, although this time he needed to get some information first.
Metal crashed his hands with Sonic's, and they started to push to see who could get the advantage first.
"Alright, Eggman. Spell the beans: how did you get here? How did you find me?!" Sonic demanded.
"Well, if you're so interested to know, then I'll just say I had an alley. And it's thanks to her that I'm here in Equestria" the doctor explained trough the robot.
"So you really are obsessed with that stupid Eggman Empire thing, huh?" Sonic yelled with anger. "You truly are an evil genius for trying to bring the same pain in the ass you are for me to these ponies!" he shouted.
"Why, thank you, hedgehog. You're gonna make me blush!" the doctor mocked, "But I also have been looking at you. I've discovered you made some new friends, hehehe" he listed, which made Sonic growl with anger. "Let me see: Sunny Starscout, too dreamer to be fair; Hitch Trailblazer, too right to my taste; Izzy Moonbow, too happy to be truth; Zipp Storm, too much like you. And finally, Pipp Petals, too fancy for being your friend" he finished.
For some reason, the fact that he made fun of his friends, but specially Pipp, made him even more angrier, as he charged his electrical powers against Metal Sonic, which system started to fail. Sonic then punched him into the chest, and Metal crashed against a tree again. But the attack didn't stopped there: Sonic landed another punch that sent him flying into a nearby mountain. Metal didn't have time to react, because Sonic came at full speed and began to sweep the mountain with his body, while he kept running up.
Once at the top, Sonic launched Metal Sonic into the sky, and then he jumped until he was the same height as Metal. He charged his spindash with his electric power and delivered a very powerful SpinDash against the metallic body, starting to fall back to the ground. Just before crashing, Sonic stopped and walked away from Metal, as he listened as the robot's body crashed to the ground, leaving it badly damaged and decayed.
Sonic came close to the whole where Metal's body was laying. "You won't get a single hair on my friends, Robotnik. Or else, you would meet me genuinely angry" he warned to Eggman, not willing to let the doctor hurt his friends.
However, the doctor started to laugh like a maniac, and the robot came out flying, still damaged, since he lost his entire right arm. "I'm afraid out little encounter has to finish here, Hedgehog" Eggman talked trough Metal Sonic. "But don't worry, you'll have news on me soon enough, hahahahaha!" he finished, as the robot boosted away with his rockets.
"Don't you dare to touch them, egghead!" Sonic warned once again. "OR ELSE I'M KILLING YOU, YOU HEAR ME?!" he shouted, really mad at the doctor.
He looked back at the whole, and noticed Metal's arm and grabbed. He look closely to a zone that was usually covered, and it had the face of Eggman with a sinister smile. Sonic growled at this, and looked back at the direction where Metal Sonic flied away.
"It seems like we're going to the old habits, huh?" he said with a deep serous voice. "At least it's good to know that he isn't causing trouble back home, but appearing like this, out of nowhere... What are you up to now, Eggman?" he asked to himself, as he boosted back to Maretime Bay.
Back in the Brighthouse, the Mane 5 were baking some pizza for lunch, except for Zipp, who was still with the long face on the table. Sonic, who arrived recently, was laying on the wall with his arms crossed and a frown. He was thinking on the fight he had with Metal Sonic and what could Eggman be planning. He decided to not tell anything about the return of Eggman, since he still though that they should be focusing on Maretime Bay Day, and not on his problems. But even thinking, he could still heard the rest.
"Zipp!" Pipp called to her sister, but she didn't replied. "Zipp!" she called again, but Zipp still didn't heard her. "Zipp!" she shouted, jumping straight to her side.
"Huh?" she said, then looked at Pipp with an awkward smile.
"I have been asking you if you want extra cheese on your pizza for like 10 minutes!" Pipp explained while rolled her eyes. "What's up with you" she asked with worry.
"Oh, sorry" Zipp apologized. "Just... thinking about something weird that happened earlier" she explained.
"The thing with Posey?" Pipp asked.
"Oh, uh... Yeah! That!" Zipp lied with a smile.
Even if Sonic was more focused on his thoughts, he could felt Zipp was lying. Zipp, of all the ponies, which made him frown even more.
"Same here!" Sunny exclaimed. "How could she not love magic?" she asked in disbelief.
"Earth ponies have never had magic before" Hitch spoke, while he was flattening a pizza dough. "Maybe Posey's jealous" he suggested.
"Jealous?" Pipp asked with confusion, as Sunny and Zipp looked confused as well.
"I know I am" Hitch confessed a little embarrassed. "Magic seems a little scary, but it would be pretty cool to be able to levitate things" he explained with an embarrassed smile.
"Like this?!" Izzy asked, as she levitated one of the pizzas with her magic and made it twirl in the air. But she got distracted, and stopped using her magic, so the pizza fell into her horn and face. The others laughed at this, even Sonic giggled a little, and Izzy licked a little of sauce that felt into her nose. "Worth it!" she said.
"Ah, you're right, Hitch" Pipp said with a smile, as she walked to him. "That is so much better than flying" she stated.
Zipp stood up from her sit and walked towards Sunny. "So, have you figured out the whole magical wings and horn appearing at random times thing yet?" she asked her, since her alicorn powers have been appearing out of nowhere.
"No..." Sunny confessed with her ears down. "And it's been getting worse..." she said, as she remembered how the other day she was attending to her smoothies stand as usual, but her wings and horn came out of nowhere, and as she tried to figure out how they appeared, she tripped with a smoothie that fell into the ground, and overturned the whole stand.
"Maybe Posey has a point" Zipp declared. "Magic is unpredictable" she stated with a little smile.
"Hate to be the party pooper, but I gotta agree with Zipp on that" Sonic finally spoke, as he stood next to Zipp. "Magic's dangerous if its user can't control it. And as much practice as you have, that does not avoid the fact that, at some point, that magic can to something unexpected" he added.
Sunny turned around a little down, then heard the timer of the pizza being ready and walked to get it out of the oven. "It may be unpredictable, but it's not dangerous!" she stated, as she took the pizza and threw it in the air.
She didn't even listened to me, did she? Sonic thought while he rolled his eyes.
Izzy used her magic to grab the pizza and then divided into 6 pieces, one for each of them. "We just need to show the earth ponies that magic is nothing to be afraid of" Sunny said, while Pipp bitted her pizza slice, and Sonic grabbed his slice but eat it completely. "It makes Equestria a-a better place" she added, as Hitch and Izzy bitted their slices."And... it's fun!" she finished, as she ate her slice as well.
"Wow! Are you ponies thinking what I'm thinking?!" Izzy asked excited, as Sunny and Hitch got close to her.
"I think I might be!" Sunny said with a smile.
"Alright, everypony. On the count of three" Izzy said, as she counted down to three. "Floating parade! Right?" she yelled and asked with a smile while looked at her friends.
Sunny blinked a little, but then smiled. "Not exactly, but close!" she answered, then moved to the other side of the room to face all her friends. "We're going to use Maretime Bay Day as our chance to show off all the amazing things magic can do!" she explained with a big smile. Pipp and Zipp looked at each other in confusion, Izzy smiled, Hitch looked at Sunny confused and Sonic had a frown since he didn't thought this was a good idea. "Then everypony will remember just how special it is that we have friendship and magic in our lives again!" she finished. "Are you ponies in?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah!" Izzy stated first, with a big joyful smile.
"Definitely, definitely!" Pipp said next with a smile.
"I'm in!" Hitch spoke out next.
Sonic was thinking if he should help his friends, or leave them and search for Eggman. He was worried about the doctor being out there, but he also wanted to stay and help his friends. His mind was a mess of emotions right now, but in the end he choose his friends over his enemy. "Meh, screw it. What do I have to loose? Count me on board, captain!" he said and joked, as he stood on military pose, looking at Sunny.
A lot. You have a lot to loose, Sonic a voice said on his mind, but he decide to ignore it.
Suddenly, Zipp's phone started to ring, and once she saw who was calling her, she growled and went upstairs to answer the call. The only ones who noticed her change of attitude were Sonic and Sunny, with Sonic following after her immediately.
Zipp went to the top of the Brighthouse, where the Unity Crystals were floating and projecting the rainbow light. She looked that the call was from her mother, Queen Haven, and answered the call.
"Zephyrina? Are you there?!" Haven asked, while she was trying to adjust the camera angle of herself. "He-Hello?! I can't see you..." she said, while still trying to adjust her angle.
Zipp rolled her eyes and smiled. "Hi, mom" she said on a dead tone voice.
"Oh!" Haven said, as she finally adjusted the right angle and chuckled. "There you are" she said.
On Zephyr Heights, Haven was sitting on her throne with Cloudpuff at her said barking, being guarded by Zoom and Thunder. "It's been ages since I've seen my fillies!" she said dramatically. "At least Pipp answers her phone when I call her. You never do!" she said, implying that Zipp didn't wanted to talk with her. "And you haven't visited Zephyr Heights at all!" she pointed out.
Zipp felt nervous since her mother didn't knew she did visited, but for a very short moment. And it was more of a heist than a visit. "Nope, you're right!" she lied, then walked outside to the balcony. "I definitely have not been to Zephyr Heights" she still lied.
"Well, it's not like you can't fly now, darling" Haven pointed out. Then Cloudpuff came in the middle of the phone call and licked the camera. "Oh! Cloudpuff wants to say hi!" the Queen said, and then she started to pamper him with her nose, until she realized she was still at the call. "You were saying?" she asked, looking back at the phone.
"Oh, it was just––" Zipp tried to say, but her mom cut her off.
"Listen, Zipp, dear" Haven said. "I called because I'm going to need you to move back home, okay?" she stated, while Cloudpuff barked at her side.
"What?! No! No way!" Zipp denied with her head, not wanting to leave Maretime Bay.
"I know you've had fun with your new friends and all, but you're a princess, darling. You're going to be Queen one day!" Haven pointed out.
"I know..." Zipp said while rolled her eyes. "What about Pipp, though?" she asked with a little worry.
"Well... your sister has her little salon project, and while I do like the idea of you being there to keep an eye on her, let's face it, she livestreams everything, so that's not really necessary" Haven pointed out again with her ears low. "And also, I talked with Sonic, and he assured me that if something happens to Pipp and she can't pick her phone, he would look out for her" she added with a little smile. That caught Zipp off guard, but decided to not question it. "You're the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family!" Haven said, decided to not let Zipp stay away anymore.
"But I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave just yet..." Zipp replied with a sad tone.
"And why wouldn't you be?" Haven questioned her daughter.
"Um..." Zipp tried to come up with an excuse. "There's a festival soon?" she simply said.
"Hmm" Haven said, while started to think about it. "I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne" Haven said, finding the idea actually good. "As Queen, you'll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties..." she started to list.
Zipp then mimicked static and ended the call, not wanting to hear her mother anymore. She then walked a little further on the balcony, watching Maretime Bay in the distance.
"Just for the record...." Sonic said suddenly, arriving at Zipp's side along with Sunny. "Your mom again made me promise to keep and eye over Pipp, so don't look at me with a frown when I'm close to her" he explained with a neutral expression. "Got some mommy issues?" he asked with a smirk.
Zipp smirked back at the joke, but it faded away. "Is everything okay?" Sunny asked next, rising an eyebrow.
"Yeah" Zipp lied again, and now Sonic frowned. This was the second time she lied in the day, which was very weird because she never lied before. "It's just that... I love it here in Maretime Bay so much..." she explained, as they all looked at the town. "I don't want to leave yet..." she said.
"Leave?" both Sunny and Sonic asked in shock and worry.
"Go back to Zephyr Heights..." Zipp added with a sad look.
"But you just got here!" Sunny pointed out.
"I know. I'm not ready to become a full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet" Zipp confessed, feeling that she wasn't going to be as good as her mother. "Not the way my mom expects me to be, anyway..." she said with a frown. "But... I'm not sure if I fit in here either..." she almost whispered with a sad look.
"Of course you do!" Sunny assured her.
"Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?" she asked, as she flew over Sunny and Sonic.
"It's what you love to do!" Sunny replied with a smile.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna quote Izzy on this one: 'It makes your sparkle shine really bright!" Sonic quoted, as he tried to imitate Izzy.
Zipp smiled a little, but then she frowned again. "I don't know..." she replied. "Maybe my mom is right. Maybe I should just go back to Zephyr Heights and really try to be the kind of princess everypony is hoping for. I'm going to have to do it someday..." she finished.
Sunny looked sad at the idea of Zipp leaving. Sonic, however, felt like this was enough. "That's it! I'm not hearing this anymore!" he said with a frown. "Zipp, look at me" he requested, as the pegasus looked at the hedgehog. "Look, you cannot escape your destiny to be the Queen of Zephyr Heights, let's face it. But you do can change one thing: being a Queen like your mom or the rest want you to be? Screw them" he stated.
"What?! I cannot just..." Zipp tried to reply, but Sonic cut her off.
"You... are an athletic pony who loves speed and flying; you like to find solutions to any problem, rather is as big as the Brighthouse, or small as a tiny little piece of salt; and most importantly, you are loyal and honest, two of the most important things of a leader" Sonic exclaimed, then he stood up on the balcony. "Zipp, you are never going to be a Queen like your mother, you're gonna be even better! Training, or not training" he finished with a big confident smile.
Zipp looked at Sonic with her jaw drop, since she never though that Sonic, of all people, would say some word like those. Sunny smiled at everything Sonic said, and then looked at Zipp. "At least stay until Maretime Bay Day. The you can decide" she pled to her pegasus friend.
"And, whatever you choose to do, we'll respect it" Sonic assured, still smiling.
Zipp though about it for a moment, then smiled a little. "Okey, yeah. I guess I can't miss that" she said, now feeling a little better.
"Now, come on! We have a festival to plan and it needs your magic, too!" Sunny stated, as she walked to the elevator. Sonic, however stayed back.
"By the way, Zipp. Lying to your mother to not get in trouble is understandable" Sonic said, and Zipp smirked a little. "But lying to your friends? I don't know if that's the same Zipp I know..." he know looked at her with a frown.
"Lying? What did I say that was a lie, exactly?" Zipp asked, a little nervous.
"That you were worried about Posey?" he simply said, raising his eyebrow a little.
"Oh... that... yeah... sorry. It's just, I have no proofs of it yet" Zipp replied with doubt.
"Well, then what's bothering you that you need more proofs of?" he asked with curiosity.
"I wish I could tell, but..." she tried to say, but then both she and Sonic heard screams, and they saw to pegasi falling with their phones. They both gasped and tried to help, but the pegasi flied away as if nothing happened at all. "Weird..." Zipp said. The Crystals moved like a glitch behind them, but they didn't notice it.
"I was going to say the same" Sonic replied. "Wait, that's not the first time I have seen pegasi falling, then flying again out of nowhere..." Sonic randomly said.
"What?!" Zipp exclaimed. "What do you mean that's not the first time?" she asked with interest.
"On my way here earlier, I saw some pegasi falling like that too. And not only them, I saw a unicorn trying to levitate something, but he's magic wasn't working" Sonic explained.
"... So it wasn't my imagination" Zipp whispered, but Sonic did heard.
"What exactly?" he asked.
"Sonic, I think something's wrong with the magic, and now you're telling me that you saw some magical problems. But... I don't have enough proofs yet..." she said, as she tried to think.
"I will like to help, but... I have my own problems to deal with..." he said with a frown and his fist closed.
"What kind of problems?" Zipp asked on curiosity.
Sonic didn't want to tell her, but he knew that it was best for at least somepony to knew. "I'm telling you if you swear to keep it as a secret, the same way I'm not saying anything about the magic thing" he pled.
"My lips are zipped" the pegasus joked.
"I see what you did there" Sonic smiled, but then he focused back on what mattered. "Eggman... he's... he's here in Equestria, Zipp" he let go the bomb.
"What?!" Zipp exclaimed in surprise. "The Eggman that you been defeating for years?" she asked.
"That same egghead" Sonic replied with worry. "He attacked me earlier with by Metal Sonic. You know, the less handsome robotic copy of me" he explained and joked a little. "I want to look after him, but I want to help you guys as well..." he confessed.
"Yeah, I got you. I want to help them too, but I also want to discover if something's really wrong with magic..." she said, as she looked at the Crystals.
"Well, I say we should try to do both things. You know, so they don't suspect we're looking into something else" he whispered to her.
"I like the sound of that" Zipp replied. "Let's try it out!" she stated, as both she and Sonic got back to the main floor.
Tails and Knuckles builded up some improvised beds with the materials they had, as well as some food that conveniently crossed the portal as well. Tails was trying to find the perfect model to build up a plane that didn't explode in mid air while they tried to find Sonic. However, none of the blueprints was convincing him, so he scrapped down at least 3 models in the last few hours. Knuckles was laying on the floor and felt bored, since Tails was taking too long to complete the plane's blueprint.
"Okay... I think I'm finally getting the final model!" Tails exclaimed with joy, and with his hair a little messy.
"Tails... you'd been saying that for the last 3 hours..." Knuckles pointed out with a frown and his arms crossed.
"Oh, but this one's the definitive one, Knux" Tails assured with a smirk. "I already made all the calculations, and this model has no chance to explode or to be compromised at the air!" he assured again with confidence. "That is, of course, if no bird crashes with the propeller of the plane, or if Eggman doesn't attack... But he's not in this place, so that won't be a problem!" he stated with a smile.
"Great, can we build up this thing now?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression.
"Almost, I just need to finish some details..." Tails replied, and Knuckles growled in annoyance.
While Tails finished some details on his blueprints for the new plane, Knuckles decided to go and explore the tree house a little bit.
Knuckles had some good sense to find treasures, or at least gems and rocks that could be considered as such. And he could tell that the structure was made of some kind of diamond. Yeah, the place was rusty and pitiful, but he knew that with enough and careful cleaning, the place could shine bright once again.
He came trough what it seemed like a bedroom. But it was a huge bedroom, because it had 6 beds and many different mirrors and closets. Knuckles decide to look a bit further: under she dusty bedsheets, under the mattress', inside the closets, but he didn't found anything that he considered worth it.
He left and entered to some kind of studio. There was another closet, a desk and another mirror. "Geez, how many mirrors and closets are there in this place?" Knuckles asked himself. Once again, he didn't found anything worth it, except for some kind of open diary, but the words were pretty much unreadable, so he passed of trying.
He moved now to the top, and found himself in a balcony. From there, he could saw that there was natural light entering, which meant that there was a whole in the tree. Knuckles used his knuckles to climb up a little further, and he gasped when he saw that the whole bas really big, big enough to take the plane out of the tree without harming it, so that part of their plan was already solved.
However, Knuckles noticed something else, something shiny and purple that caught his attention. He decided to take a closer look by gliding towards it. He landed on some kind of little cave that was in the trunk of the tree. But what he found made him gasp even more: the purple Chaos Emerald was right in front of him. Knuckles stared at the gem in shock, and then took the Emerald, but once he touched, the Emerald stopped glowing.
"Huh, weird..." Knuckles said to himself. "That never happened before..." he pointed out, and then glided back with Tails in the ground.
"Wow, where did you come from?" Tails asked, as he though Knuckles entered trough the main door of the tree house.
"From the top of the tree house. There's a giant whole where the plane could get out perfectly" the equidna explained. "Say, Tails, I found... this" he said, as he took out the Chaos Emerald and showed to Tails.
"A Chaos Emerald?!" Tails asked, as he took it from Knuckles hand. "But how?! I thought we lost them with Sonic!" he exclaimed.
"I guess they ended up here too. And it seems like they have some power left, because this one was shining" Knuckles theorized.
"But it's not glowing anymore... I guess the more time they spend apart, the more power they loose" Tails though. "But let's worry about the Emeralds later. First thing first..." he said.
"Right, let's build up this plane of yours so we can find Sonic, and we'll worry about the Chaos Emeralds with him" Knuckles stated, as the younger nodded.
Tails began to explain the plan to build the plane, and what pieces they were going to need. But none of the two creatures noticed a bird standing at a tree's branch, looking straight at them with the camera of his eyes.
"Hmm... this could complicate things a bit..." Eggman said, as he watched both Tails and Knuckles on his computer screen, in the throne room of Opaline's Castle.
"A bit?!" Opaline yelled with anger. "Those two are just like Sonic! They can destroy our whole plans!" she pointed out, since she knew that Tails and Knuckles could take care of Eggman's schemes, even without Sonic.
"Maybe... but our main goal is to get rid of Sonic. With his friends here, not only the Equestrian ones, but also the Mobians, the Hedgehog has lots of things he can loose. This is actually perfect, Opaline. We have all that Sonic can loose if he does not cooperates" Eggman explained with an evil smile. "And that's not all, they have no idea of where they are, nor imagine that I'm here as well! This is spectacular!" the doctor yelled with excitement.
"You may have a point. But what do we do with them? We can't just let them build that device and wait till they get Sonic" the alicorn complained.
"We would do nothing... yet" Eggman said. "Yeah, they can be a pain in the ass too, but without Sonic, Tails is just a scared kid that cannot fight back without his 'big bro' to protect him!" he mocked, as he putted a video where Chaos 1 appeared behind Tails while he was trying to fix Omega, and Tails lay down asking Sonic for help.
Opaline laughed at this, and the doctor couldn't help but laugh as well. "Oh, that was hilarious!" she said.
"Now, Knuckles, he can be a little struggle. But with Metal Sonic's update, he won't be a problem anymore" Eggman stated, as he turned to a corner where some machines where upgrading Metal Sonic. "Isn't it right... Neo?" he asked with an evil grin.
Metal Sonic now looked taller and bigger, with some white stripes around his legs, arms and quills. He was also wearing some kind of cape now. And most importantly, he could actually talk this time. "Why of course, doctor" Neo Metal Sonic replied. "My upgrades would make those so called 'heroes' regret the day they messed up with you... and me" he declared, impatient for going back and kick Sonic'c butt, specially after almost getting killed by his new powers.
"Hmm..." Eggman said, while started to think on something. Those powers... they're nothing I've ever seen before... the doctor thought to himself. I have saw him using many types of shields, and become almost immortal thanks to the power of the Chaos Emeralds. But besides his sonic speed and boost abilities, I never though he would have something like electrical energy going trough his body... He then looked at Opaline. "Dear, you don't happen to now if there's something more magical than those Crystals?" he asked with curiosity.
"There used to be, many moons ago. But now, much of those things don't work anymore, not even with the magic of those ponies back" she explained. "Why? Do you have something in mind?" she asked.
"No..." Eggman replied. "I just thought that maybe Sonic's new powers were awakened by something else... but maybe he always had them, just never really use them. Whatever the case is, I don't care, I'm gonna destroy his blues ass once and for all, one way or another. Now, let's focus on make a blue hedgehog very unhappy, hehehe..." he stated.
Opaline wasn't really convinced, but decided to let the subject die there. Spending two months with the doctor made her realize that he was brilliant, but sometimes he looked in the wrong direction, although it didn't matter now since things were working out really well. Also, they were partners in crime, and Eggman won't betray her at the last minute... right?
Back at the Brighthouse, Sunny, Izzy and Pipp were looking for some decorations for Maretime Bay Day.
"Ribbon Wreaths are the traditional decoration of Maretime Bay Day" Sunny explained, as she hold one of the Ribbon Wreaths and show it to Izzy and Pipp. "We hang them on our front doors, on Mane Street, everywhere!" she stated, then we see that many of those Ribbons are all around the Brighthouse.
"Cuuuute!" Pipp sang and grabbed a Ribbon, but then coughed because of the dust. "A little dusty, but cute" she still tough.
Izzy then gasped as she remembered something. "I once made a wreath out of old teaspoons!" she said as she levitated a teaspoon.
"Loving that idea, Izzy" Pipp replied with a smile, and then gasped when she had an idea. "Maybe we can add some unicorn and pegasus flair to these ones, too" she suggested.
Izzy gasped excited, and then ran to the kitchen, threw some things, and then returned levitating some teaspoons, while also had some on her mane and mouth. "Now... where did I leave my suitcase full of glitter?" she asked, as she walked away to look for her suitcase.
"Uh, anypony seen Zipp and Sonic?" Sunny asked a little confused. Pipp was holding a Ribbon again, but once she heard Sonic's name, she worried.
"What's with all the spoons?" Zipp asked, as she arrived along with Sonic.
"Don't tell me you were planning a tea party and didn't invite us" Sonic joked with a smirk.
"Oh, we're unicycling these old decorations!" Izzy exclaimed with a smile. "Do you want to try?" she asked them.
"Sure! Sounds fun!" Sonic said, as he walked towards Izzy. He really wanted to go after Eggman, but he though that helping his friends was more important than deal with the guy he's been dealing with for years, so for now he won't focus on the egghead, unless he attacks again.
Zipp, however, wasn't too attracted to Izzy's idea. "Uhh... Decorating things isn't really my strong point" she said, then turned around and walked towards the exit.
"We could do something else!" Sunny said, as she stepped in front of the pegasus. "What about baking Bay Day treats?" she suggested with a smile.
"I'm not very good at baking either" Zipp complained, them moved aside and kept walking to the main door.
"Or write a song for the big concert!" Sunny suggested again, trying to convince Zipp to try and do something.
Then Pipp arrived flying and landed at Zipp's side. "Ooh! Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me!" Pipp squealed.
"I don't think so" Zipp negated again, which hurt Pipp a little.
"Oh, wait! I'm sure we can find something that you'd like to do!" Sunny insisted.
But Zipp wasn't going to listen. "Uh, maybe later! Bye!" she said, and then got out of the Brighthouse.
Sunny looked a little down, since she though Zipp was growing apart from them. Behind her, Izzy was levitating many more teaspoons with a smile, and Sonic was also holding some teaspoons with his hands.
"Uh... Izzy? Are you sure you need all these teaspoons?" he asked, a little confused on why they needed THAT much teaspoons.
"Yup!" Izzy replied, then walked back to her crafting spot, with Sonic following behind.
At Maretime Bay, Hitch was walking towards the police station to work on his sheriff duty.
"Good morning station!" Hitch greeted to the building, as he entered the main door. "Sheriff Hitch here, reporting for duty" he stated with a smile, and then sat down on Sprout's old desk. He saw his animal crew standing in front of him with military poses. "At ease, deputies! Sos what do you say?" he asked with his hooves on his hip. "Which Sheriff-y things should we do today in Maretime Bay?" he asked again whit a singing voice, then twirled around on his chair.
"Uff. Are you trying to rhyme?" Zipp asked with cringe, entering to the station.
"Oh, hey, Zipp" Hitch greeted to his pegasus friend. "Yeah! What did you think?" he asked her for a second opinion.
"Way too much" she replied with honesty.
"Cool, cool. Just trying something out. Didn't work. Good feedback! " Hitch said with a smile, then cleared his throat to take his sheriff position. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked, now on a more serious tone.
"I came by because, well..." Zipp tried to find the right words. "Have you seen anything strange lately?" she asked him with worry.
"Strange?" Hitch repeated, as he grabbed a pen and McSnips came in front of him with his notebook. "What do you mean?' he asked, then started to write down.
"Well, I was in the balcony earlier with Sonic when..." Zipp was about to explain, but then thought about what Sonic said of not saying a word about what they talked there. "You know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it" she said, then chuckled nervously.
"Wait! I know what this is about..." Hitch though as he stopped Zipp, who looked at him with surprise.
"You do?" she asked, as Hitch just nodded his head.
But what he said wasn't exactly something Zipp expected. "You're... bored!" he said with a little smile, while Zipp putted a bored expression. "But you don't have to be shy. We're pals! We can totally hang out!" he pointed out, still thinking that Zipp was just looking for something to do. "I know, let's order fries from three different dinners and then decide which ones are the best!" he suggested, as he got close to a cabinet and opened for nothing, because he close it immediately and gasped. "Or maybe a puzzle!" he suggested next, and Zipp actually smiled at that idea, but then the phone ringed, and Hitch smiled.
"A call?!" he said, as he answered the phone. "Sheriff station" he said on a deep voice again, then wrote something down on his notebook, once again hold by McSnips. "I see... Really? How strange! At the beach? Well, I'll be right there!" he assured, then finished the call and kept writing. "It appear we have a code 8-18 at the beach. Want to come on a trot-along with me, Zipp?" he asked, but the main door closed, meaning that Zipp's answer was clearly a no. "And... I'm talking to nopony..." he said with a little sad tone and his ears down.
At the end, Hitch ended up on the beach to see what was the problem. At first it all looked normal, but then he heard a discussion between an earth pony filly and a unicorn filly. Apparently, the unicorn was holding an umbrella, but her magic failed and it fell into a sand castle made by three earth pony fillies. Of course, none of them believed that it was an accident and not something done in purpose. Hitch tried to calm thing down, but it just get more and more complicated as the fillies kept discussing.
Zipp was spying the whole thing from a little distance, since she was investigating the magic problem. Why did she decide to go anyway when she rejected Hitch's invitation? I don't know, blame the lazy writers of this episode, not me. Suddenly, Zipp's phone started to ring, and she saw that her mother was calling again, but she wasn't in the mood to hear her mom, so she ended the call and then turned on some kind of tape recorder on her phone. "Thursday. Noon. Beach. Second magical mishap: levitation glitch" she recorded. "Unicorn drop umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. Must investigate further..." she finished recording, and then stepped backwards.
Zipp tried to fly away, but her wings glitched and she landed with a worried face. "Oh no... Please no!" she begged, since she didn't wanted to go back to the days were she couldn't fly. She tried again, but landed in the ground once again. She looked worried at her wings, and then looked at the light of the Brighthouse, that was also glitching. She gasped in surprise and worry, then tried to fly again, and this time it worked. She cheered, but then focused again and flied to the Brighthouse.
She landed in the front door, just in the moment Sunny open it. "Zipp! There you are!" she said with happiness, as Izzy and Pipp came too.
"Oh, hey!" Izzy greeted. "Coming to town with us to gather more supplies for the new-and-improved Maretime Bay Day?" she asked with a smile.
"Oh. Wish I could, but––" Zipp tried to came up with an excuse.
"Why can't you, exactly?" Pipp asked with a frown.
Zipp smiled nervously and her ears went down. "Because... I'm working on my own surprise thing for Bat Day! Yeah!" she lied and walked backwards. Pipp didn't believe her at all, and Sunny didn't buy it either, but Izzy was smiling so she pretty much believed on it. "Haven fun!" Zipp said, and then ran up to the elevator.
Sonic was on the bedroom, with the map of Equestria he's been using to track down the possible location of the two Emeralds that neither 'Opaline' nor him had found yet, as well as trying to locate the Castle, which have been difficult for some reason. Now, he was using the map to try and find a possible location for Eggman to be hiding.
"C'mon, Sonic, think!" he said ho himself, as he looked over the map to find a possible spot. "Zephyr Heights would be the most obvious option since it's the most advanced on technology, but he wouldn't be that idiot. He's an egghead, but I know he's not that stupid either. Maybe Bridlewood? He would totally hide on some place that has little to no technology to make me look on that place last... then again, Eggman isn't that predictable with the hideouts..." he said.
He then growled and closed the map with frustration. He hid the map on his quills as usual, and then lay down on his bed. "I don't get it... why everytime I finally have some peace, Eggman has to appear with some stupid scheme? I wish I could just ignore it and keep going with my life, but... As long as he tries to hurt innocents just so he can rule the world, I'm afraid I have to keep fighting..." he said to himself. Then, he stood up and took a chest from under his mattress. The chest was brown and small, with a carved pattern of an emerald on the front. Sonic opened the chest to reveal the three Chaos Emeralds he found, with four empty spaces for the rest of the Emeralds.
He put the chest on his bed, and looked at the 3 Emeralds. "I don't know where's the rest, but I know that I'm gonna find them. I know Eggman's out there, so I think the best I can do now is look for the two Emeralds left, get back the two Emeralds this Opaline has, and then catch Eggman and his partner!" he stated with confidence, then closed the chest and hided under the mattress again. "Now, how would I do it? I have no idea..." he say, but still smiling for some reason. Suddenly, he saw the rainbow light that go trough the elevator glitching, and he worried a little. "Guess the Crystals are failing after all" he said, and then ran to the elevator.
Without surprise, Sonic found Zipp running to the place too. Zipp looked at the Hedgehog waiting for her. "Did you saw it too?" she asked him.
"You mean the rainbow glitching? Yeah, I did saw it. Want to check out if the Crystals are failing?" Sonic asked with a smirk.
"Oh, you bet I want!" Zipp stated, and then they both got into the elevator.
Once they reached the top, Zipp started to look to the Crystals with a frown.
"Something seems wrong to you? Because I see them pretty much the same..." Sonic pointed out, since the Crystals didn't seem to have anything wrong.
"No. But that doesn't mean that nothing bad's gonna happen" Zipp answered, then took out her phone and started to record another audio entry. "Thursday. 12:15. Crystals, normal. Prisbeam energy, intact" she recorded, then put her phone back on her wing. Sonic looked at her with a confused look.
"Uh... where you... narrating?" he asked, still confused.
"No. I'm recording everything I'm seeing of the Crystals. At least it could count like evidence, right?" she explained, while sonic just nodded to her question.
"Wish we could say this to our friends... But the less they know about the bad news, the better, right" Sonic tried to sound optimistic.
"Right..." Zipp replied, then approached to the balcony and sighed with frustration, while Sonic also sighed, and looked back at the Crystals.
Meanwhile, Hitch was still trying to solve the problem with the fillies. But things were still not going anywhere, and the straw that broke the camel's back was when a pegasus filly asked if magic was not allowed on the beach. Hitch didn't knew what to answer exactly, since he knew that whatever he said, somepony was going to keep complaining. So he just said that he had something else to do, but that he would be back soon to solve the problem. Totally out of character, I know, but then again, blame the lazy writers of the special, not me.
Hitch walked away of the ponies, when he suddenly found something on the sand. He approached to get a better look, and it turned out to be a pink colored egg. "Huh..." Hitch said, "You don't belong here, do you?" he pointed out, as he looked at the egg with curiosity. "I've never seen an egg like this. Have you?" he asked to his animal crew, but they nodded their heads in negation. "What in Equestria are you?" he asked, but suddenly then the tide came in and carried the egg away. The egg could have crashed into a rock, if Hitch hadn't caught him at the last second. "I'll take care of you, little one" Hitch assured, as he panted the egg. He then looked back at the fight on the beach, and started to walk back to the town.
Once he was on the station, Hitch putted the egg on a red blanket and a lamp at the side, inside of some kind of closet he had there. "That's better" Hitch said while turned on the lamp to give the egg some warm. "All roasty and toasty. I'll just keep you safe here until we can find who you belong to, okay?" he assured to the egg.
Suddenly, the door of the station opened and Posey entered the station. "Sheriff Hitch?" she asked, as she looked around her. Hitch quickly closed the closet with the egg and his crew inside, and then ran to the side of the desk while hold and panted a plant. "Who where you just talking to?" Posey asked, confused since she didn't saw anypony else in the station.
"Nopony! Nopony at all! " Hitch lied with a nervous smile. "How can I help you, Posey?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"I was just trotting down Mane Street when I noticed that my hooves were stuck to the sidewalk!" she explained with a frown. "I tried and tried to move, but I couldn't for like a really long time! I think somepony's pranking me. Probably one of those unicorns" she said, while looked at the outside with anger. "I'd like to file a complaint!" she stated.
"Okay!" Hitch assured, still with an awkward and nervous smile. "The complaint box is over there on the wall" he pointed to the complaint box, that was not only full, but it also was throwing some complaints on a trash can.
Posey saw the complaint box with annoyance, then looked back at Hitch. "Well, I'd prefer if you took it down yourself" she pled with a bored expression.
"I would, but I'm late for an important meeting at the Brighthouse. Duty calls!" Hitch replied, then he putted the plant back on his desk, and opened a little the closet to talk to his crew. "Keep an eye on that egg for me, would you, Deputy?" he asked to the bird with a can as a hat, and the bird replied with a military pose.
Hitch then closed the closet, passed at Posey's side with a nervous laugh, and then got out of the station, leaving Posey confused and a bit angry for not wanting to help her at all.
A few days later, Sunny, Izzy and Pipp were at the kitchen of the Brighthouse, baking some treats for the festival.
"Maretime Bay Day is going to be great with these treats!" Sunny stated with a smile.
"How could it not?" Pipp asked, while se flied down the slide and landed at the floor. "We've literally though of everything!" she stated with a smile. "And, I've been working on the all new anthem for Maretime Bay Day! Woo!" Pipp said in an excited tone. "You want to hear it? Too late! Doing it anyway!" Pipp said, as Sunny and Izzy nodded at each other.
Pipp then started to sing out a different lyric from the Maretime Bay anthem. Although she actually just sang the word 'something' too many times in different tones.
She then looked at Izzy. "Uh... Yeah. I don't like it... I love it! What?" Izzy yelled with excitement.
Hitch arrived at the time, humming the melody Pipp sang since he find it catchy. "Yup, very catchy. She's good!" Hitch complimented to Pipp.
Then the sound of something ready at the stove was heard, and Sunny put some kind of cupcakes on the table. "Mmm! Miniature Glimmerberry tarts!" Sunny said with a smile. "Great idea, Izzy!" she complimented, as Izzy giggled a little.
Izzy then putted some kind of horns on the tarts. "Oh, ta-da!" she exclaimed with a smile. "Ooh, now they're a true work of 'tart'!" Izzy joked.
Hitch grabbed one of the tarts and immediately eat it, enjoying the flavor. "But how do you make them taste like magic?" he asked in awe.
"The secret ingredient..." Izzy said while shook her tail. "Magic!" she whispered.
"We have to make Cloud Candy next!" Pipp pointed out, as she showed the recipe of the treat. "It's Zipp's favorite!" she also added, then putted the recipe down, and frowned a little. "Um, where is she, by the way?" she asked, as she looked around.
"Not only him, where's Sonic as well?" Hitch pointed out, as Sunny and Izzy grunted, not knowing exactly where those two could be.
"Am I the only that feels like Sonic and Zipp are... growing apart from us?" Sunny asked with a sad tone.
"Not to mention, we barely have seen them these days" Izzy pointed out, strangely with a smile.
"Yeah... Sonic usually arrived to the station some mornings to talk with me about some... let's call it 'manly' stuff, but he hasn't showed up in the past few days" Hitch added with a worried face.
"Manly stuff?" Pipp questioned, but she decided to ignore the comment. "Whatever. You're right, Sunny. Those two are... really apart from us recently..." she pointed out with a sad look. But why you, Sonic? Pipp tough to herself. I get it with Zipp, she's been like this for a very long time, but not you... why are you parting away from us? From me?
What they didn't knew is that Sonic was listening, hiding behind the balcony of the second floor. He liked how Pipp sang, even if it was mostly the same word on different tones, yet he found her way to sing... cute. But those thoughts faded away as he remembered what they just say about he and Zipp being apart from them. He felt guilty for lying and trying to solve the problem with Eggman on his own.
But he knew it was for the best, the less his friends where involved on his personal problems with Eggman, the better. This was his war, not theirs, and they were close to a celebration, so he didn't wanted to ruin that too. This is the best... for all of them Sonic though, before running to the elevator and reach the top.
Tails and Knuckles where having a lunch break after spending the whole day working on the plane. It was looking really good so far, it only was missing a wing and the sits.
"According to my calculations, we should have this thing ready for tomorrow" Tails stated, while bitted a sandwich that Knuckles made. "Man, I didn't knew you were good at making food, Knux!" Tails confessed with a smile.
"I may spend most of my time guarding the Master Emerald, but I got some hobbies too" Knuckles explained, as he bitted his sandwich and ate some grapes. "Gotta say, I'm impressed on how fast we build this thing. I honestly though it would take us more time" he confessed, as he looked at the plane in progress.
"I have to say, I'm impressed too" Tails added, also looking at the plane. "I guess my determination to find Sonic has made go a little wild... and not only with the plane... but also with my entire life back home..." he said in a sad and guilty tone.
Knuckles noticed this, and frowned a little. "Hey, you just did what you though was right..." he tried to say in a comforting way, but Tails cut him off.
"Exactly, I did what I tough was right, but in the process: I lost care of myself, I lost Cream's friendship, I made Amy feel like she was totally alone on her pain and I treated you like you were guilty for Sonic's disappearance, but you aren't because Sonic told us to not help him..." Tails pointed out with a frown. "I get that you want to help me feel better, but... I can't just act like if I wasn't a jerk..." he replied, looking down with sadness.
Knuckles wanted to say something to make him feel better, but when it comes to comfort someone, it was Sonic who could easily make the job. Him, however, wasn't exactly the kind of guy ho could say something and make someone feel better. "I... I wish I knew what to say... just that I'm sorry... for not taking better care of you, Tails..." he apologized.
"Hey, It's fine. Again, It's me who has to apologize, so don't worry Knux" Tails assured with a comforting smile, and Knuckles smiled back.
Suddenly, the Chaos Emerald that Knuckles found started to glow on Tails' desk. Both creatures noticed this, and got closer to the glowing artifact.
"It's glowing..." Knuckles said. "But why?" he asked in confusion.
"Maybe it recovered its energy... but how do we try out?" Tails questioned. "We don't have a connection with the Emeralds the same way Sonic does" he pointed out.
"... And if we both use it? Together, I mean" Knuckles suggested. "Maybe we can both use Chaos Control and see what happens" he told to the younger.
"Well, we can try, but I'm not so sure if it will work..." Tails warned, and then grabbed the Emerald.
They bot hold the Emerald with one hand and shouted 'Chaos Control!' as the Emerald glowed intensely and blinded them. When they recovered their view, on Tails desk there was a Map. The same map that Sonic had with all the locations of Equestria. The only difference was that besides Sonic's Emeralds', 'Opaline's Emeralds' and 'Remaining Emeralds', now there was another text that said 'Tails and Knuckles' Emeralds'.
"A map?" Knuckles questioned.
"It says 'Land of Equestria'. I guess that's how the place's called" Tails theorized. "And also there seems to be notes with some names... Sonic and ours included. I have no idea of who's opaline, or where any of these places are, but this is very useful. Besides, the big tree were we are now appears here, so we can have some direction once we finish the plane and get out of here" he pointed out with a smile.
"Sounds good to me. I'm gonna put this thing somewhere safe" Knuckles said, as he grabbed the map and rolled. He then putted the map on one of the empty spaced of the plane were one of the sits should be, and then looked at the Emerald that stopped glowing after give them the map.
Weird... Knuckles though to himself. Whatever's happening with the Emeralds can't be good, because they never, never, stopped glowing before...
At the top of the Brighthouse, Zipp has been staring at the Crystals for the last couple of days to see if more glitches happen. However, there hasn't been anything happening, and Zipp started to feel sick because of that. And Sonic, who got there like 30 minutes ago, has been trying to keep and eye on her, but he also had been running around Equestria to keep looking for Eggman's hideout, with no success.
"Hour five. Still nothing..." Zipp recorded on her cellphone with a tired voice. "Hour five and one minute. Still nothing..." she recorded.
"Counting today, how many hours have you been staring to the Crystals exactly?" Sonic asked, laying on a wall with his arms crossed.
Zipp stood up and putted her phone under her wing. "87 Hours and 31 minutes..." she replied and then yawned.
"Okay, that's it" Sonic said, quickly standing in front of her. "Zipp, you have to clear your mind from this!" he exclaimed with a frown. "I get it: you're worried that magic might disappear again because of the many magical accidents we've been having in these days, but it would end up eating you!" he explained.
"Eating me? What do you mean?" Zipp asked in confusion.
"The more time you spent watching over the Crystals, the more your life goes straight up to hell" Sonic yelled with a neutral expression. "You see, you're focusing so much on solving the magic problem, that you're growing apart from everything else. Your life, your friends, your mom, your sister! You're wasting your time in this, and your life!" he stated.
"But this is important for everypony's sake!" Zipp pointed out, but Sonic sighed heavily.
"I know, Zipp. But again, the more time you spent on this, the more it would suck on your life. I live by a philosophy: to live every second of our life's as if it was the last. And right now... you been wasting your time by looking at 3 floating gems for days!" he said, while pointed at the Crystals, as Zipp turned around to the balcony. "Think on all the time you could have spent with your friends, with your family... wasted because you're afraid. Sorry to be this harsh, but... I think you had to knew it..." he finished, as Zipp sighed and sat down.
"I think you're right, Sonic..." Zipp spoke out with guilty. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there's no pattern to it. Just a glitch..." she finished on a dead tone.
Sonic was about to say something else, but then a sound called his attention, and he gasped in surprise. "Holy chilidogs!" he cried out in awe.
Zipp stood up and turned around, just to see that three weird auras of blue, pink and orange colors where 'powering' the Crystals. "What in the wing feathers?" Zipp exclaimed, as both she and Sonic saw the Crystals getting brighter. They also noticed that those auras were coming from the lower floor, probably it came from their friends.
And just as they thought, those auras were coming from Izzy, Sunny and Pipp. The three mares were at the kitchen, laughing as they putted the Miniature Glimmerberry tarts on boxes, and Pipp even ate one just for fun. Apparently, the harmony between the three friends was powering the Unity Crystals, and the only ones that where witnessing the moment where Sonic and Zipp, who looked the auras and the Crystals in awe.
Suddenly, the Crystals shined bright, and the earth pony crystal glowed on a green color, as the in walls of the room started to grow some plants drawings, as the earth pony crystal kept shining bright. Both Sonic and Zipp looked in awe at the room, but mostly Zipp, because she never saw something like that before.
"I don't believe this..." Zipp said, still surprised of the sudden reaction of the Crystals.
"Wow..." Sonic said. "This is... like some kind of new magic..." Sonic theorized. "Zipp, quick! Get the others before it fades away!" he told the pegasus. Zipp nodded, and the trotted to the first floor trough the elevator. Sonic stayed, looking in awe at the walls. "This is incredible... I never though magic could do things like this. I'm so used to it hitting me in the face or something..." he said, as he remembered the bad experience he had with Erazor Djinn.
Meanwhile, Zipp arrived with the group in a hurry. "Everypony, quick! Come upstairs! You have got to see this!" she stated.
"There you are!" Pipp replied with a frown.
"What happened?!" Hitch asked confused.
"Zipp, bright them here now! This thing is fading away!" Sonic shouted from the top.
"Just hurry!" Zipp pled, as she ran with the rest towards the elevator.
Sonic, on the other hand, watched how the symbols of plants in the walls started to fade away.
"Oh no, don't you dare!" Sonic pointed at the Crystals. "Don't you even dare!" he shouted again, but the symbols faded away. And right at that moment, the Mane 5 arrived on the elevator. "Oh, c'mon!" Sonic yelled at the air, as he facepalmed in frustration.
"Wow!" Izzy said, as she jumped to the front. "What are we looking at?" she asked, still smiling.
"There were all these vines growing on the wall!" Zipp said with worry. "And they were glowing!" she added.
"Not to mention, the Crystals were shining more than usual" Sonic pointed out with a neutral expression and his arms crossed.
The others, however, were doubtful about what Zipp and Sonic told them, as Izzy and Pipp looked at each other. "Glowing vines?" Pipp questioned.
"Yup" Sonic answered.
Zipp then sighed and turned to see the rest. "Okay. I have a confession. I've been monitoring the Crystals and I think something is wrong with them" she finally revealed, as she turned to see the Crystals. Sonic felt surprised that Zipp decided to tell, and kinda admire it too, since he had some secrets on his own that couldn't tell yet.
"What? No there isn't" Sunny assured with a smirk, and once again, Sonic frowned at her.
What the hell is going on with her? Sonic thought. Ever since our little incident with Posey, I feel like Sunny's trying to avoid something. But what?
"None of you have noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately?" Zipp asked, as she turned to face her friends. "Like it keeps switching off, or something" she added.
"Hmm... Nope!" Izzy said with a smile.
"Me neither" Pipp replied, sitting on the floor.
"Really?" Zipp asked in disbelief.
"Sorry, sis" Pipp said, as she took out her phone.
"You gotta be kidding me" Sonic said with a deep voice, as he shocked his head in disappointment. Pipp noticed that, and felt a little bad.
Zipp the remembered something. "Hitch?" she called, as she looked at him. "I saw what happened at the beach the other day! Didn't you take––" she tried to ask, but Hitch acted very defensive.
"What? I didn't take anything at the beach!" he denied with a nervous chuckle.
Zipp blinked with a frown at Hitch's attitude. "... down a report?" she finished to ask.
"Oh! Right, a report" he said, a little more calmed now. But then got nervous again, "Actually, that reminds me, gotta go file that report!" he excused himself, then stood on the elevator.
"Hey, you wait a second!" Izzy complained, as she and Pipp got down with Hitch. "You were gonna teach us how to make life-sized gummy bunnies! she pointed out.
Now, the only ones left with the Crystals were Sunny, Sonic and Zipp.
"I know it sounds weird, but I know what I saw! And what I've been seeing" Zipp told Sunny.
"Be grateful you're not the only one who has saw the magic failing" Sonic pointed out, but he just looked at Zipp, he completely ignored Sunny.
"Like the other day, when I was flying back from Zephyr Heights, these two pegasi crashed into each other and I think it––" she tried to said, but Sunny cut her off.
"I'm sorry, Zipp" Sunny apologized. "I've been so caught up in all the festival planning"
"Which only reflects that you care more about minor things than real problems" Sonic mumbled to himself.
"What was that?" Sunny asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing. Just thinking out loud" Sonic replied in a dead tone.
Sunny decide to ignore him for the moment and looked back at Zipp. "This is all my fault" she said, looking at the floor with sadness
"That magic is glitching?" Zipp asked confused.
"Uh, magic is not glitching!" Sunny assured with a smile.
Sonic was starting to loose his patience over Sunny. He wouldn't mind in other circumstances, but she had all the proves right there, yet she was still denying it.
"But you said it yourself!" Zipp pointed at Sunny. "Your alicorn magic keeps appearing randomly! You don't find that strange at all?!" Zipp questioned, not being able to believe that Sunny was being so nescient.
"No, I-I think that's just because I'm still learning" Sunny said, not really convinced on herself.
And that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Sonic. He's fist was charged with his electrical power, and he hit a wall and growled in frustration, making the whole room shake a little. But Sunny and Zipp stared at him, confused and - at least in Sunny's case - scared.
"Zipp..." Sonic said with a deep voice. "Leave me alone with Sunny. I have to talk with her" he requested calmed, but his voice was warning her.
"But..." Zipp tried to reply.
"Now!" Sonic ordered this time. Then he softened his look a little. "Please" he said.
Zipp hesitated, but nodded and left the place flying. Sunny, on the other hand, looked at Sonic in fear, because when he wasn't joking around and started to talk seriously, It was time to fear. She gulped as Sonic though a little before speak again.
"Let me tell you something, Sunny" Sonic started, still with his deep and serious voice. "There's these pony who was been... worrying me, to put it in someway. She is very close to her friends, and loves to have fun with them. But whenever she sees a problem, or hears about one, magic related or not, she does everything she can to solve it. Does that story sounds familiar to you?" he asked her, in a very sarcastic way.
Sunny gulped, then nodded in response, since she didn't wanted to say anything... mainly because she didn't knew what to say.
"Now, lately there's been several magical problems around" Sonic kept explaining. "Some pegasi are falling out of nowhere, and some unicorns magic is not working. Even the earth ponies have some problems, because they seem to be stuck to the floor for many minutes. Heck, even hours!" he revealed, which make Sunny to gasp. "Two of the best friends of that pony I mentioned told her about the glitches. And what did she do? Did she tried to find a solution? Look the problem by herself? Give some support to her friends? Amazingly, no. She denied that there was a problem, and made up a vague and unbelievable excuse!" he yelled with anger. "Do you understand now why I'm worried about this pony, Sunny?" he asked with a frown.
Sunny didn't knew exactly how to react, because he was clearly talking about her. She sighed and then finally looked at Sonic. "I... I do" she replied. "I've been trying so hard to make Maretime Bay Day a great celebration for everypony, that I didn't realize something was wrong... I still want to believe that we're all still learning, but... I don't know what to think anymore..." she confessed.
"... I... I have some secrets of my own... things that I've been hiding because I wanted to solve them before tell... but... I don't think I can hold it anymore..." Sonic confessed, still a little mad at Sunny for keep trying to deny there's something wrong, but now a little more calmed now that he knew she was just distracted. "Yet, I don't want to tell you either. It feels so personal that... I'm afraid I will drag you and the rest to trouble..." he added.
"You can tell us anything, Sonic. We're your friends, and I'm sure that whatever you're holding for yourself, we can all understand it" Sunny assured.
"... Yeah... I know, Sunny. I'll tell, but not now. Maretime Bay Day is two days ahead, and I think we should all enjoy that for now. We should leave the magical problems and... my things for the end of the festival" he suggested, smiling a little, while Sunny smiled back, glad that Sonic could think a little clear now. "And sorry for how I reacted earlier... I just couldn't take that you were trying to chill out so much. I'm supposed to be the 'fun and faster guy', not the reasonable one..." he apologized.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm not mad, and I kinda deserve it. So, no hard feelings" Sunny assured with a smile. "I'm going back down to keep baking some treats. Wanna join us?" she asked.
Sonic looked at the balcony, then looked at the Crystals and finally at Sunny. He wanted to keep his distance in order to not talking more than he should and tell about Eggman being in Equestria and the Chaos Emeralds thing. However, he also remembered the sad look on his friends because of not being there to help them, specially Pipp's reaction, that hurt him a little bit more than the others for some reason. He made up his mind and looked at Sunny with a smile.
"I have grow apart from you guys, haven't I?" he asked with a little smile and an embarrassed look.
"I would say a little to much" Sunny replied and giggled.
"I gotta say, go out and run to clear my mind sounds great... But making bonds with my friends after being a little - too much - apart from them sounds funnier!" he stated with a smile.
Sunny then gasped a little. "Does that mean that...?" she tried to ask, but the excitement didn't let her finish.
Sonic became a ball and rolled until he got at Sunny's side on the elevator and stood up again. "Let's bake some treats for a festival, baby!" he yelled in excitement, as he put his arm around her neck and winked.
Sunny's smile grow bigger, and the elevator went down to the first floor. Sonic still wanted to go out and follow track of Eggman, however, he thought that let him aside for one time wasn't a bad idea. After all, he's been chasing Eggman to destroy his plans his whole life, so getting a brake for once wasn't going to hurt... right?
Eggman was analyzing a map given by the two Chaos Emeralds that Opaline found. They just started to glow out of nowhere and gave him the same map Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had.
"Interesting..." Eggman said to himself. "It seems that the Hedgehog has three of the Chaos Emeralds, and his little furry friends have one as well. With two of the Emeralds in my power, there's just one Emerald left that no one has found yet... and its curiously the one that I discovered it existed after what happened at little planet..." he said. "Finding the Emeralds should be a priority... but I think messing around with Sonic and his little friends has to be my main goal now. Once they're out of the equation, I'll get their Emeralds and then find the remaining one" he stated.
Now, about Opaline... I have to find a way to get rid of her the doctor though, since the alicorn was close to him, talking with a unicorn mare she had as an assistant. Once she gets those Crystals and all the Magic of those colorful talking horses, I have to make her disappear, or else my master plan won't succeed at all...
"Doctor" Opaline called out, while Eggman came out oh his thoughts and turned from his computer to look at Opaline. 'How was he called again? Um, 'Neo' says he wants to have a little chat with you" she said with a neutral expression.
"... I knew he would want to request something. And I'm afraid I know what it is..." Eggman said with a worried tone.
"Should I be worried, Ivo?" she asked, not being so formal this time.
"No, my dear Opaline" Eggman replied. "Leave Neo to me. I may not like what he wants to request, but I know how to bend him while he remains at our side" he stated. He then walked alone to the corner where Neo Metal Sonic was being reconstructed, while Opaline stared at him with a frown.
"Doctor" Neo spoke out. "I see your partner gave you my message" he pointed out.
"Indeed. She told me that you wanted to have a little chat with me" Eggman mentioned.
"And I have the sensation that you already know why, don't you, doctor?" Neo asked rhetorically.
"You want something in exchange of helping me destroying the Hedgehog and his friends, or should I say, you want freedom after killing them" Eggman replied with a frown.
"I see, you're not so stupid after all" Neo mocked.
But for his surprise, Eggman smiled at him. "Oh, I'm just not celebrating my victory yet, that's all. I'm determined to not repeat the same stupid mistakes I've made so many times in the past. There's still many things that can go wrong, so that's why I'm doing everything step by step" he explained, as he started to walk around Neo.
"Sounds like you're taking things serious for once" Neo mocked again.
Eggman laughed, and this just confused the robot even more. "Mocking me isn't going to work this time, Neo" Eggman stated, as he stopped in front of the robot. "Because no matter what you say or do, you won't be free ever again" he stated with an evil grin.
"I see..." Neo replied. "So you won't be freeing me if I help you, huh?" the robot stated.
"That's another thing, Neo. You have no choice" Eggman pointed out, then pressed a button on a panel as some robotic arms started to open Neo's head.
"What the...?! What are you doing?" the robot asked, as the hands hold his head and his whole body, while one hand stood there, waiting for the doctor's orders.
"I learn from my mistakes, Neo. You were a brilliant creation of mine, yes. Whoever, I lost count on how many times you stabbed me in the back, but no more. No more 'Neo', just Metal Sonic" Eggman explained. "In other words: you'll be just like the other machines, a robot who follows my orders with no hesitation. Metal Sonic will be just your nickname. From now on..." he started to say with an evil grin.
"Wait! Stop it!" Neo begged, but Eggman didn't listen.
"You'll only be..." the doctor keep saying
"STOP IT! NO!" Metal Sonic shouted.
"MS Project: Model 2.0" the doctor finished with his evil grin.
"NOOOOOO!!" Neo shouted, and then the robotic arm on his head switch a button that made Neo go back to his 'default settings', and now he was just a robot who followed orders, just as the doctor said.
"If it makes you feel any better: you're still the most powerful of my machines, hehehe" Eggman mocked, and then turned around back to his computer.
Opaline saw everything with her assistant, and they looked at each other worried and afraid of what Eggman was capable of doing if something didn't go the way he wanted.
Zipp was walking near Mane Melody with a bored expression and feeling frustrated. After Sonic ordered her to leave him and Sunny alone, she decided to take a walk to clear her mind. She was sure that, at the end, Sonic was probably going to be on Sunny's side and would keep helping with the festival. And she was mad that none of her friends sins Sonic, since he was there with her, believed on what happened with the Crystals at the Brighthouse.
The simple fact of remembering it made her groan, and she took out her phone. "Report. Nothing new to report" she started to record. "No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or Crystal glitches..." she said, but her phone suddenly started to sound because of a call incoming. She saw that, again, her mother was calling her. Zipp groaned in frustration, and answered the call. "Hi, mom" she greeted with annoyance.
"Zipp! There you are!" Haven said with a smile. "Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?" she asked, now with a frown.
Zipp smiled nervously and lied. "No, no. Just busy, mom!" she replied. "I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go" she added and then chuckled nervously.
"Well, I can't wait to see them!" Haven said with excitement.
That confused Zipp, who was about to end the call "See what?" she asked.
"The decorations!" Haven pointed out. "Oh, didn't Pipp tell you? I'll be attending this Maretime Bay Day festival" Haven replied calmly.
"You will?" Zipp exclaimed with surprise and fear. "Why?!" she asked, as she opened her wings.
However, Haven didn't answered her because she was about to give a treat to Cloudpuff. "See you there, darling!" she said to Zipp before ending the call.
Zipp putted her phone back on her wing and rolled her eyes. "Come on!" she yelled with frustration. "There's gotta be something" she said, and then started to look all around Maretime Bay in search of something unusual. "Everything on Mane Street appears normal" she analyzed, but then she saw Hitch entering the station on a sneaky way and grabbing a bag with something. "Hmm... except that" she pointed out.
Inside the station, Hitch was still taking care of the egg he found on the beach. "Here you go, little one. I brought you some sand to make you more comfortable. I thought maybe you'd like that" he explained, then he putted a plushie of a crab at the left side of the egg, while McSnips appeared at the other side and patted the egg. "Lookin' rosy and cozy! Now, who wants to hear a story?" he asked to the egg.
"I do!" Zipp replied, appearing behind of him.
"Ahh! Zipp!" Hitch exclaimed in surprise, as he closed the closet quickly. "Wow, you are sneaky!" he pointed out nervously. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a nervous smile.
Zipp looked at Hitch with a bored expression. "I had an instinct, so I followed. And I was right" she yelled with a grin. "You have been hiding something!" she said, then se flew over Hitch and landed above the closet and opened. She saw the egg inside, and giggled a little. "So, uh... what is it?" she asked confused.
"No clue. I saw it on the beach and I just knew it needed help" Hitch explained, as he looked down with his ears down. "I just––"
"Had an instinct and followed it?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
"Yeah" Hitch confessed with a smile. Zipp then landed at Hitch's side, as he looked at her. "Hey, uh... would you mind keeping this between us for now?" he requested.
"Sure, I can Zipp it" Zipp joked, but assured to not tell to anyone about the egg. Heck, how many secrets are there gonna be in this story? Anyway, the pegasus looked at Hitch with a playful smile.
"What?" Hitch asked confused.
"So... you're gonna read us that story now, or what?" Zipp asked on a mocking tone. Hitch smiled embarrassed, but before the conversation could continue, Zipp heard her phone making a sound, and when she took it out, both she and Hitch read a message of Pipp and gasped. "Oh no..." Zipp said, and the two ponies ran as fast as they could to the Brighthouse.
Once they arrived, they founded Izzy sitting on a little bench, Sunny and Sonic standing next to each other and Pipp standing in front of them. "We rushed right here! So what's the emergency?" Hitch asked with worry.
"Well, everypony seems really stressy lately" Pipp pointed out, looking at Zipp and Sonic since they both were the most apart lately. "We clearly need a break, and luckily, I know just the place" she added with a smile. She then inhaled and jumped on her place with happiness. "I planned a surprise for you! You're welcome!" she finished with a smile, which Sonic again found cute.
Man, I must be sick or something... Sonic though, still looking at Pipp. Why do I lately found Pipp and every single little thing she does... cute and adorable? She's just being the same, so why I keep... smiling at everything she does?
"Ooh!" Izzy said, feeling curious on what would be Pipp's surprise.
"Sounds good. What's that surprise of yours, Little Pipp?" Sonic asked with a little smile.
Zipp, however, had an idea of what kind of surprise her sister had planned. "Please don't let it be makeovers, please don't let it be makeovers" she begged.
And of course, Pipp's surprise was to do makeovers, at least to Zipp, Sunny and Izzy, since Jazz was filing Hitch's hooves - or trying to do so because Hitch was laughing as he felt tickles - and Sonic was on a massage seat having the most relaxed time of his entire life.
"I knew it..." Zipp said with a boring face.
"But this is so relaxing!" Izzy said with a smile, while she and Sunny were reading some magazines. "And informative! Did you ponies know that there are over a thousand different kinds of hermit crabs?! Cause I... did not!" she yelled with happiness.
Zipp rolled her eyes, and then looked at Sonic with a frown. "Thanks for asking, Sonic..." she said with a very evident sarcasm.
Sonic, however, was enjoying the massage seat a lot. He even had some kiwis on his eyes and a mate on his hand. "I regret nothiiiiiiiiiing" he said with a smile, as his voice vibrated because of the seat.
Pipp laughed and blushed a little at his attitude, as she then walked towards the mares. "Don't you ponies love it here at Mane Melody?" Pipp asked with a big smile.
"Yeah-huh!" Izzy replied with a smile.
"Mm-hmm!" Sunny said smiling.
"You beeet!" Sonic replied, then slurped from his mate.
Rocky then noticed that Zipp was with a long and worried face. "What's wrong, Zipp?" he asked, as he pulled out comb. "Not a fan of Mane Melody?" he asked again.
"No, no. It's awesome" Zipp assured, smiling a little. "Pipp has done a great job here" she added with pride.
Pipp arrived at her sister's side and gasped in emotion. "You really think so?" she asked on disbelief, as Rocky walked away to give some space to the sisters.
"Yeah, I do" Zipp replied, and then her ears went down. "And hey, I'm sorry if I haven't been helping out" she apologized for getting apart. "My mind's just on other things" she added.
Sonic heard that, and he immediately turned off the massage chair, putted the mate down and grabbed the kiwis from his eyes, as he stood up and walked towards Pipp. "Yeah, I'm sorry too" he apologized as well. "I have my own problems to deal with, and I felt like I should just solve them alone. I didn't wanted to drag you all on it" he confessed with a little frown.
"Hey, It's fine Sonic" Sunny assured with a smile. "Just, tell us about them when you're ready" she stated once again.
Sonic smiled kindly at Sunny. "Thanks, Sunny. I will" he assured. "Also, I have been helping Zipp with some of her 'things'" he confessed with a neutral expression.
"Like the Crystals?" Pipp asked.
"Something weird is going on" Zipp reaffirmed, with a thinking expression.
"Yeah, I wasn't talking about the Crystals at all... there's something even bigger than that" Sonic said with a frown.
"Ugh, you two worry too, too much" Pipp stated with a smile.
"Oh, but I have reasons to be worried" Sonic stated, again on that deep and scary voice.
"And if something happens to those Crystals, we'll lose magic again for good!" Zipp pointed out. "Then it'll be no more flying and––" she tried to add, but Pipp cut her off.
"Sis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis. You need to chill!" Pipp pointed out, she then looked at Sonic. "And you too, Sonic. Nothing is going to happen" she added with a smile. Then, she whistled and flied over the stage of the salon, where Jazz and Rocky where standing behind a golden microphone. "We've got our friends back, we've got magic back, and we've got..." she announced.
"Music!" Pipp, Jazz and Rocky sang in unison.
"At Mane Melody..." Pipp said first.
"We sing!" Jazz spoke next.
"While we style!" Rocky added.
"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Sunny, Izzy and Hitch yelled together with Smiles, while Sonic and Zipp looked at each other with disapproval at their friends attitudes.
"What's going on with everyone acting like problems are just avoided these days?" Sonic asked with a frown.
"I'm asking the same thing, partner" Zipp replied.
Sunny heard the little conversation between Sonic and Zipp, and looked at them a little sad that they were still worried.
"This one goes out to my paranoid big sis and my handsome hedgehog friend: Zipp and Sonic!" Pipp announced, which cause Zipp to look confused and Sonic bored.
"In other circumstances, I'd be flattered" Sonic whispered to Zipp.
Pipp, Jazz and Rocky: Shoop, shoop! Uh-huh! Shoop, shoop! Shoop!
Pipp: I know you're feelin' like there's somethin' wrong But don't you worry, I have just the song for you (Mm-hmm!) So kick those hooves up in this comfy chair And you'll forget about those cares in a minute or two Yeah! That's what you'll do-ooh-ooh
Jazz: You've got a lot on your mane, and that's kind of tragic But with a little bit of caring and a touch of magic
Rocky: You'll feel brand new And you'll forget what's been troublin' you
Pipp: So put your hooves up high 'Cause we're feelin' all right (hey!) Every day is awesome in Maretime Bay So put your hooves up Put your hooves up (hey!) Everything is gonna be okay!
Zipp spent most of the song watching happy at her sister, that was, until she sang the last part of the song. And Sonic, well, he always saw Pipp's singing as something fantastic, but now, it was different. He saw it as a great show that he was glad he hadn't missed, and he spent most of the song smiling at the pegasus. But when she began to fly around the room in a genuine and elegant way, that was when something clicked in him. However, that 'click' disappeared upon hearing the last sentence of the song, and his frown and serious posture returned.
"You don't get it, do you?" Zipp yelled, tired of all this nonsense. "We can't just sing a song and ignore everything. If we lost magic this time, we may never get it back again!" she explained with a cracked voice. "And it'll be our fault" she finished, looking down with worry.
"What's she talking about?!" Izzy questioned in confusion.
"Lose magic?" Sunny asked afraid.
"Whose fault?" Hitch asked, just as confused as Izzy.
"Hate to be that guy, but Zipp's right, guys. We can't just shout 'Everything's gonna be fine' and call it a day!" Sonic pointed out. "And as much as I like to hear you sing, Pipp, this wasn't the time to do so" he added with a frown, which hurt Pipp a lot.
Suddenly, they all heard a thud outside the salon, and the Mane 5 and Sonic quickly got out to see what was happening.
They found two earth pony stallions, one unicorn stallion and Windy laying on the ground. Apparently, Windy was flying just as usual, when her magic started to fail and she fell onto the stallions. At first it was just the unicorn mad at Windy, but then Posey - to surprise of no one and annoyance for Sonic - arrived and began to fan the fire. She said thing like it wasn't fair that non magical ponies had to deal with accidents of the magical ones because they were not good at controlling their magic.
And the more angrier the earth ponies got, the darker the sky got all of a sudden. And when they heard a thunder, they all ran away from the place. Everypony except for the Mane 5 and Sonic, who looked at the storm with worry, and Hitch's crew hided behind his legs in fear.
Sonic, however, looked at the clouds with a frown and anger. "And like that, the storm finally begins" he whispered, knowing that, from here, things were going to get worst.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, the Mane 5 and Sonic were at the top with the Unity Crystals. At least, the Mane 5 were, because Sonic was on the balcony, thinking that it was time to tell the truth about Eggman and the Chaos Emeralds.
"I think I finally know what's happening to magic, why it's glitching!" Zipp said.
"You do?" Sunny asked with a little hope.
"It's the Crystals! They might be... powered by ponies!" Zipp explained.
"What?!" Hitch said with confusion, while Sonic came inside and stood next to him.
"Okay, check this out" Zipp smirked, as she walked towards her sister. "Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you!" she confessed.
Pipp gasped in surprise and anger. "I knew it! You got me grounded like 12 times!" she yelled with anger as she opened her wings.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And guess what? I don't like karaoke! It's the worst!" Zipp continued, as she growled to the idea of karaoke.
Pipp gasped in surprise, and Izzy decided to step into the conversation. "Hey, you take that back!" Izzy yelled with anger. Yup, Izzy was mad, something you never see. "Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!" she pointed out with a frown.
You know things are getting wild when Izzy, Izzy of all the ponies, gets mad Sonic though. He also noticed Pipp's hurt expression, so he decided to give her some comfort. He was about to do what he always does: put a hand around her neck and smile, but once Pipp noticed Sonic, she immediately attached to him in search of comfort. Sonic's heart started to beat faster than ever, even faster than when he runs, and he putted his hand on her mane, and then looked at Zipp with a frown. "Zipp, I get you want to prove your point, but you're crossing a line" he warned, while his eyes turned blue for a second.
"Zipp's allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something, doesn't mean she has to!" Sunny decided to step into the fight to try and calm things down.
But Hitch wasn't helping on that aspect. "Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy and Sonic were just trying to stand up for Pipp!" he pointed out with a smile.
"Don't call me huffy!" Sunny complained offended and with a frown.
"Ugh! I didn't call you huffy, I said you were being huffy! There's a difference!" Hitch complained back, trying to justify his words.
While Hitch and Sunny were busy arguing like a married couple, Zipp got close to the Crystals. And as the fight between the two earth ponies kept going, the Crystals started to glitch again. But this time, they were all there to see it.
"Whoa!" Hitch exclaimed seeing the Crystals, which caused that everyone else looked at them as well.
"Sweet Chaos..." Sonic exclaimed, since he never saw something like that.
"You... you were right!" Sunny exclaimed in awe, looking at Zipp.
"So when ponies aren't treating each other with kindness..." Izzy spoke first.
"When we aren't vibing..." Pipp said next.
"The Crystals get weaker" Zipp finished. "And the more unstable magic becomes in Equestria!" she added with worry.
"Which causes pegasi to lose their flight and fall on other ponies!" Sunny stated with worry.
"And unicorns to drop stuff onto sand castles" Hitch added.
"Not to mention earth ponies getting stuck on the ground out of nowhere" Sonic said as well.
"And weather changes..." Pipp added, looking at Sonic, and then she gasped. "Like a rando thunderstorm?" she asked, while Sonic nodded looking at her.
"Yup! Everything is all out of whack!" Zipp said with a frown, pointing at the Crystals.
"I wonder if this had anything to do with why the Crystals were separated all those years ago" Sunny wondered. "Or why I still can't seem to figure out my alicorn magic"
"I think Eggman found out about Equestria because of these things being separated" Sonic spoke. "He must knew that there was no magic here, so by sending me with the Emeralds out of power... he'll leave me stuck here with no way back" he pointed out.
"I don't know. I want to find out" Zipp said, looking at both Sunny and Sonic. "But if we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page" she stated with confidence.
"Zipp's right, we can't give up" Sunny added, now willing to follow Zipp's plan. "We can still make Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be" she stated with a smile.
"A day of friendship!" Izzy yelled with a smile.
"And harmony!" Pipp sang with a smile, and once again, Sonic found it adorable.
"Yeah!" the others yelled in excitement
"Let's do it!" Pipp stated.
"Hoof to heart!" they all said while putted the hooves - hand in Sonic'c case - together.
While the Mane 5 decided to go back to the main floor, Sonic stayed on the top and went our to the balcony, just so he could see the view of Equestria.
"I know you're still out there, Eggman. And once Bay Day is over, I'm coming for you" Sonic whispered to himself. What's happening with me when I see Pipp? he though suddenly. I must be sick or something... I guess I just find her amazing and that's it. Now, about the other thing... I don't have to hide it anymore. "I'm gonna tell them, I'm gonna tell them everything" Sonic said with determination. "If they hate me, or if they get mad at me, then it will be okay, I deserve it anyway for hiding something like this. I can do this. Yeah, I can do this!" he yelled with excitement.
"I can't do this!" Sonic cried out with panic, now on the bedroom of the Brighthouse with Zipp and Hitch. "I know those three well, they're gonna hate me after I tell them!" he yelled, still with panic.
Hitch and Zipp looked at each other in worry. Sonic decided to tell Zipp first about the thing with the Chaos Emeralds. At first, Zipp didn't knew how to react since it was a lot to get in, and then, well, she felt a little mad at both Sonic and Hitch for not telling her nor the rest about that subject, although she kinda understood why they did it. At the end she accepted Sonic's apology, but she warned him to not do something like that ever again, and same with Hitch.
As for the sheriff, Sonic told him first about his encounter with Metal Sonic and that Eggman was now in Equestria. The fact that Sonic has told stories about everything Eggman's capable made Hitch felt worried, since he was sure Eggman could send an attack to Maretime Bay all of a sudden. He reacted a little panicked, but Zipp was able to calm him down, at least for now, because the one panicking a lot was Sonic.
"Hey man, I think you're worrying too much" Hitch said. "If anything, they're gonna react like Zipp: they'll be mad at you, and at me too, but at least they'll understand why we didn't told them" he added.
"And about Eggman, I think they will understand too... except for Pipp, I'm sure she won't take the fact that a Robot that looks like you almost killed you" Zipp added.
"Why Pipp, specifically?" Sonic asked confused. "Anyway, I'm not sure what to tell them exactly. Like, I'm sure the Eggman thing won't be that much of a trouble because it was a few days ago. But the thing with the Chaos Emeralds... that was 5 months ago, of course they're gonna hate me for not telling them!" Sonic pointed out in frustration.
"Again, they won't hate you. They're just gonna be mad" Hitch reassured.
"And even if they hated you, I'm sure you can do something to make up for them" Zipp assured with a smile.
"Man, I have fought a literal god that was going to destroy an entire city, yet I feel more nervous about telling my secrets than killing a god" Sonic pointed out with a little smile. Then, he walked over to his bed, raised the mattress and took out the chest with the 3 Emeralds he found so far. He sighed heavily, then looked at Zipp and Hitch. "If I'm gonna tell them, at least could you help me out? After all, you two know pretty much many of the details, if not all of them" he asked with a little embarrassed smile.
Zipp and Hitch looked at each other, then smiled and looked back to Sonic. "Of course we'll help you, buddy" Hitch assured.
"Yeah, although you have to talk the most, you know that?" Zipp pointed out.
Sonic smiled and nodded, then breathed deeply and carried the chest with the Chaos Emeralds. "Okay then, let's finish this over..." he said, as he started to walk back to the first floor with Zipp and Hitch following him.
Once he reached the main floor, he saw the three mares having fun by packing some more treats on boxes. He looked specifically to Pipp, at her smile, at her mane, and his heart started to beat faster again. However, he then saw the other mares, also smiling, and he focused back on what he had to do.
Pipp was the first one to notice their three missing friends arriving. "Oh, hey guys!" she greeted smiling, as Sunny and Izzy turned to see the rest and smiled as well. "What took you so long?" she wondered.
None of them answered, and Sonic put the chest on the table. He was incredible nervous, and Izzy noticed that the most, since she noticed his sparkle wasn't shining at all. "Uh, what's on the chest?" Sunny asked.
Sonic sighed heavily, then looked at Zipp and Hitch, who nodded at him with smiles, and Sonic smiled back. Then , he looked back at the other three mares with a serious expression. "Girls... I... I have some things to confess... and this chest is part of it, but I'll get to that later" he started to explain. The three mares looked at each other confused, then looked back at Sonic. "I will start saying that... Eggman, somehow, has managed to find me. He's now out there, hiding somewhere... here in Equestria" he let the bomb finally explode.
"WHAT?!" the three mares yelled in unison.
"A few days ago, Eggman sent Metal Sonic to kill me" Sonic revealed, which caused Sunny and Izzy to gasp, and Pipp to cover her mouth with a hoof. "I managed to kick his robo-butt, but knowing that Eggman was here... it scared me. The idea of any of you getting hurt because of his obsession to get rid of me made me sick, so... I just decide to keep to me and not tell you. I felt that Eggman was my responsibility, and you were so excited with the Bay Day that... I just thought the best was to deal with this myself" he added, looking at the ground with shame. "I'm sorry to bring that up just now..." he apologized.
"That thing tried to kill you?!" Pipp yelled with worry, the she started to fly around Sonic, checking on him. "Are you hurt? Injured? Dying?!" she exclaimed, looking now at his eyes.
"Pipp, don't worry!" Sonic assured with a comfortable smile, which managed to calm her down a little. "Look at me, not in the eyes only, all of me" he requested, and then Pipp looked at his entire body, now with more patience, and after a few seconds, she sighed in relief. "See? I'm fine. As I said, I got rid of him. Wish I've had destroyed him, but..." he cut off on midsentence, then ran upstairs and came back in less than 1 second. "... at least I ripped his arm off" he said with a grin, as he putted the arm of Metal Sonic in the table.
"Ooh!" Izzy exclaimed with awe, while the rest stared at the arm in disgust, and Pipp stared at it with anger. "Mind if I unicyle this thing, buddy?" she asked to Sonic, still looking at the arm.
"Suit yourself, Izz!" Sonic replied, pointing at the arm with his hand.
Izzy levitated the arm with her magic, and ran towards her crafting spot. "I'll be right back!" she yelled.
"So, what's the other thing you wanted to tell us?" Sunny asked.
Sonic's smile faded, and he looked ashamed at the ground. "That's... not gonna like you, I can tell you that" he warned, then he grabbed the chest from the table. "Remember that I told you about the Chaos Emeralds? You know, those things which power Eggman used to get me here" he asked the two mares in front of him, as they nodded while Izzy came back. "Well... this is where you're gonna hate me... I found 3 of them... 5 months ago" he said, then he opened the chest to reveal the red, blue and green Chaos Emeralds. As it's been happening, they were not glowing, but they were impressed enough to make the mares look at them in awe.
"Wait a second... 5 Months ago? Didn't you said that maybe finding these Emeralds was gonna help you go home?" Sunny questioned.
"They should, but Oh surprise! They don't work!" Sonic replied sarcastically. "This whole time, I've been trying to find a way to activate their power, but nothing works. And the only time the did shone again, they just gave me a map of Equestria, with a place called 'Opaline's Castle' that I have no idea where it is because everywhere I go, it's a dead end. And this 'Opaline' has 2 Chaos Emeralds too, which means there's 2 Emeralds missing. I only told Hitch about this, and made him stay quiet. I kept this a secret... because I was scared that I will give you problems from my world. Even now, that I'm telling you, I'm scared that Eggman would attack and hurt you... I'm sorry for not telling you before" he finished, with an ashamed expression. "I will understand if you hate me after this, or even if you want to hit me. I deserve it" he added.
Sunny was processing everything she just heard, Izzy didn't understood everything but wasn't ignorant either, and Pipp had a frown looking at Sonic. The three mares were mad at Sonic for keeping something this big and important as a secret, but Pipp was mostly mad because she felt like Sonic didn't trust them at all. However, she knew that wasn't the case, otherwise he wouldn't have told them about this a few seconds ago.
Pipp was the first one to react, she walked at quick steps towards Sonic. "Oh no, here it comes!" Sonic said, but instead of running, he just closed his eyes and waited for the pegasus to slap him. Big was his surprise when she just hugged him, and now he didn't knew exactly how to react. "This is... unexpected. I'm not complaining, tho" he said with a little smile, hugging Pipp back.
"Sonic, I think I talk for Sunny and Izzy when I say we can't hate you" Pipp spoke while broke the hug, and both Sunny and Izzy nodded their heads at her statement. "But please, NEVER kept something this big again!" she pled. "You are our friend, and we'll love to help with any problem you have, no matter what kind of problem it is" she added.
"Yeah, no cool keeping something this important eating your mind" Izzy spoke next.
"I know you didn't wanted to worry us, Sonic, but next time you discover something that seems important, tell us" Sunny requested as well with a smile.
Sonic looked in disbelief at his friends. "I... guess I'm too loyal to those that matter to me. I wanted to protect you, even if that meant that I had to lie... and I'm sorry. From now on, no more secrets, Hedgehog's honor!" he assured with a smile, a hand on his chest and the other one raised.
The three mares smiled at him, then looked at each other and nodded. Before Sonic could ask anything, the three mares lunged at him, knocking him down to wrap him in a hug. The three mares laughed as Sonic sat down on the floor with a smile. He noticed that Zipp and Hitch where looking at them laughing, and then smiled.
"Come on, you two!" Sonic told to the ponies staring at them. "Don't just stand there watching, join us!" he said.
Both Zipp and Hitch looked at each other, then smiled and lunged at the rest, joining to the group hug and laughing.
"Now THIS is what I call a good job!" Tails exclaimed with a smile, looking at the finally finished plane that he and Knuckles would use to travel all across Equestria and look for Sonic. After a week of arriving to this place, and after spending that time building the plane, they were finally ready to look out for Sonic.
Knuckles whistled at the view. "Not bad. This is indeed a fantastic work" he pointed out with a smile as well. "Should we put it a name? Like we did with the Tornado?" he asked to Tails.
"Hmm... How about... Cyclone?" Tails suggested. "I mean, to keep the 'natural disaster name' tradition" he pointed out.
"The Cyclone... I like it. Yeah, let's work with that" Knuckles stated with confidence.
"And now that the Cyclone is ready, let's pack up everything we need and look for Sonic!" Tails stated, as he ran towards his desk to get what he needed ready. Knuckles already had everything he needed - just some grapes, the map of Equestria and the Chaos Emerald - so he just sat down on his seat. Tails arrived after a few minutes, and he looked at Knuckles with a smile. "Ready to travel trough the skies?" he asked to the Equidna.
"You know it!" Knuckles replied while rising his thumbs.
Tails nodded, and turned up the Cyclone. The propeller started to spin around until the plane's motor made noise. The Cyclone began to move on the ground, until it gained enough speed to lift off the ground, and Tails lifted the plane towards the top of the tree. He dodged some branches of the tree house, and finally reached the top of the tree, climbing out of the tree and finally beginning his trek through Equestria to meet Sonic.
"We did it!" Tails exclaimed with joy.
"Way to go, infant prodigy!" Knuckles yelled with pride. "Well, you're not a kid anymore, but you get it!" he corrected himself.
"Hehe, yeah! I'm glad it actually worked" Tails cheered. "And now that we're out of that tree, could you look at the map and tell us were to go?" he requested to the Equidna.
"Sure" Knuckles replied, and took out the map. "Alright, let's see... we were on this tree, and the mountain in the distance seems to be the same on the map... apparently, there's this place called 'Zephyr Heights' on that mountain over there. I think it could be a good place to start looking for him. Besides, it's the closest one according to the map" Knuckles suggested.
"So, to the mountain?" Tails asked, and Knuckles nodded. "Alright then, hang on tight!" he warned, as he moved the Cyclone faster and directed towards Zephyr Heights.
"You know, after a week of darkness and isolation on that tree, seeing so many colors and light is giving me a headache" Knuckles confessed, looking at the view of Equestria.
"Yeah, I'm having a hard time adapting to the light as well, but at least I can fly the Cyclone" Tails replied. Then, he noticed a black point that became bigger when they were getting closer. "Hey, whats that?" the younger asked, looking at the point that started to get clear and clear the closer they get. And then Tails saw the face of Neo Metal Sonic flying towards them. "Holy mints!" he exclaimed, and quickly moved the plane to one side, dodging the robot.
"For Chaos sake! What the hell was that?!" Knuckles asked in confusion.
"I-I don't know, but I swear it looked like Metal Sonic!" Tails explained.
Knuckles then turned around to see at the thing coming back, but this time at their backs. "Um, Tails, it is Metal Sonic..." he revealed with a frown.
"What?!" Tails cried out in surprise and worry. "But then... that means... that Eggman's here too!" he yelled with worry.
"Oh great! Whenever it seems like we got rid of him, he comes back to be a pain in the ass!" Knuckles yelled with anger and frustration. "And it's about to get worst! Incoming!" he warned Tails, since Metal Sonic was about to crash against the plane.
Tails began to maneuver the plane evasively, dodging Metal Sonic's attempts to ram the plane and bring it down. Knuckles held on at all times, and prayed inside that nothing bad happened to them. He didn't doubt Tails' piloting skills, but he never hurt to be cautious. Metal Sonic started shooting at the plane, fed up with trying to ram it and fully ready to take out Tails and Knuckles.
"That's it!" Knuckles yelled, as he stood up on his seat. "Tails, keep driving this thing and don't you dare to stop just to help me, understood?" he ordered the younger.
"What?!" Tails cried out with surprise and worry.
"Don't. You dare. To stop!" Knuckles yelled again, and then glided towards Metal Sonic. He crashed with the robot, who stopped to shooting at the Cyclone, and Knuckles started to punch his face and back. "We spent a week building that thing!" he started to yell, still punching Metal Sonic. "And we're not gonna a let a piece of junk like you to destroy our hard work! We will find Sonic, defeat Eggman and go home!" he assured.
But suddenly, Metal grabbed Knuckles from his neck and started to cut off his breath. "No, you won't!" Eggman spoke trough Metal Sonic, and then launched Knuckles back to the Cyclone.
The Equidna landed on his seat in the plane, and Tails turned to look at him worried. "Knux, are you okay?!" he asked, but he got distracted checking on Knuckles and didn't noticed that Metal Sonic shoot at one of the wings, and the plane began to fall down. "Woah!" Tails yelled.
They were falling straight to a place that looked like a landing track, but they were falling so fast that Tails didn't had time to pull the plane up, and they crashed really hard on the ground.
Metal Sonic arrived at the place and scanned the entire area, which was only covered by parts of the now wrecked plane. Metal Sonic detected no signs of life, so he flew away at full speed.
Tails and Knuckles came out of the plane, relieved that Metal wasn't there anymore. Tails looked at the plane with sadness and sighed. "Well, there goes a week of work..." he said in disappointment.
"What in the name of Equestria is going on here?!" a female voice said suddenly, making Tails to turn around and find... a pony.
"Huh... a talking horse with wings..." Knuckles said a little surprised and very confused.
"It's called a pegasus, Knuckles" Tails corrected him, "And it seems like they're mad at us..." he pointed out, since there were two pegasi there with frowns.
The two pegasus decided to escort Tails and Knuckles to their Queen, since they 'invaded' the pegasi territory and destroyed the landing track for the royal guard pegasi.
"Well, this sucks" Knuckles complained with a boring expression.
"At least we're now at Zephyr Heights" Tails pointed out, trying to be a little more optimistic.
"Yeah, but this was a short visit to ask about Sonic, not to stay and talk to the royalty!" Knuckles complained again.
"Well, at least we will ask about him, and also explain our little incident with Metal Sonic" Tails explained.
"This is just what I said before: Whenever it seems like we got rid of him, he comes back and mocks us with another stupid scheme!" Knuckles yelled in frustration.
"Look, let's deal with Eggman later, okay? Right now, our priority has to be find Sonic" Tails pled to Knuckles, and he sighed in frustration and nodded.
They finally arrived to the Throne Room of the Castle, and looked at the Queen of Zephyr Heights flying down, until she sat down on her throne.
"Thunder, Zoom" she greeted to the guards that escorted Tails and Knuckles, as the pegasi guards kneeled at their Queen. "Please, tell me what's so important that you had to interrupt my free time moment" she demanded for an explanation.
"Queen Haven, your majesty" Zoom spoke out. "We found these two creatures on the now destroyed landing track" she explained.
"Now destroyed?!" Haven asked in panic. "What happened?" she asked.
"Um, excuse me, your majesty?" Tails called out, and Haven looked at him, in awe since she felt a little deja vu. "My name's Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails, and the big guy here at my side is Knuckles the Equidna. We're really sorry for destroying your landing track, it was an accident!" he justified.
However, after looking at both Tails and Knuckles for a few minutes, she gasped on disbelief. "Two creatures, standing on two feet, with gloves and shoes? Again?" she yelled in surprise.
That made Tails and Knuckles look at each other confused. "Again?" they both asked in unison.
"Excuse me, your majesty. This isn't the first time you look at creatures like... us?" Knuckles asked.
"Of course not!" Haven stated. "You don't happen to know a guy named Sonic, do you?" she asked with curiosity.
That was all Tails and Knuckles needed to hear to feel happiness like they never felt before. Tails acted like a little kid yelling 'Yes!' with joy, while Knuckles closed his eyes and sighed in relief. They were more close than ever to reunite with Sonic now.
"Yes! we do know him!" Tails replied directly now with a big smile. "He's our friend, and we came here to fin him!" he explained, still trying to process the fact that Sonic was close.
"We arrived a week ago, and we build up the vehicle that we accidentally crashed on your landing track" Knuckles added. "You see, there's this guy that––" he tried to explain, but then a big noise was heard from the outside.
"What is happening now?" Haven asked confused.
And then, another pegasi guard entered to the room in a hurry. "Your majesty!" the guard kneeled at his Queen.
"What's going on, Heracles?" Haven asked to the guard.
"It's Sonic the Hedgehog! He's at the landing track, he's been attacked by... some kind of robot that looks like him!" Heracles explained with worry.
"What?!" Haven cried out, now worried too.
Tails and Knuckles frowned and then looked at each other. "Metal Sonic!" they both yelled in unison.
"That robot is the reason why our plane crashed onto your track, your majesty!" Knuckles explained.
"And now he's hurting Sonic, we have to help him!" Tails stated.
"Then don't stand there, you two! Go out there and help him!" Haven ordered.
Both Tails and Knuckles nodded, and immediately ran out of the Throne Room, ready to bring Sonic some help.
A few Hours before Tails and Knuckles finished their plane, Sonic woke up with a little frustration since he loved to sleep on Wednesday's, but he knew he had to help his friends with the final touches of the decorations for Maretime Bay Day and, of course, a plan to make all the ponies get along in order to keep magic.
They were a day ahead of the festival, and as Sonic expected, the rest were already up because no one else was on the bedroom, and there where noice's and laughs from the first floor. Sonic growled and stretched up, then he quickly got his bed done, putted his shoes on and fixed his quills. He decided to take a little moment to relax at the top of the Brighthouse, and once again, enjoy the amazing view of Equestria.
He liked the peace and quiet that land had, although he knew that it wouldn't last longer since Eggman was now there too. But until he decided to make a move again, he was just going to stay and enjoy the peaceful scenery.
"So here's where you were hiding" a voice said at his back, a voice that has been music to his ears the last few days.
"Morning, Little Pipp" Sonic greeted to his pegasus friend with a smile. "What brings you up here?" he asked.
"To be honest, I was looking for you" Pipp confessed with a little blush. "You know, since you were a little apart this days because of the guy that's bothering you and all" she added.
"Yeah, again, sorry for not telling this before. I was scared something could happen to all of you" Sonic apologized again. "I know Eggman, and he's willing to kill innocents just to get what he wants..." he added with worry.
"At least you told us, and that's what matters" Pipp said, putting her hoof over Sonic's hand, which make Sonic blush a little as well. "But please, don't hold back more secrets to us... to me..." she pled to him with sadness on her eyes, which broke Sonic's heart as he quickly talked to comfort her.
"Hey..." he started, as he turned his hand and grabbed gently Pipp's hoof. "I promised I won't hide anything else, and I will keep my promise, you know that I kept my word at any cost, right?" he asked with a smile, as he putted his other hand on Pipp's cheek, who smiled softly at him.
Suddenly, Sonic's ear twitched, and he turned his head around at the direction of the sound, letting Pipp's check and hoof go in the process. This confused and worried Pipp, since Sonic was now frowning. "What's wrong?" she asked with worry.
Sonic didn't replied immediately, he just closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound he heard before. Pipp took that as a sign to stay quiet for the moment. Sonic didn't heard anything at first, but suddenly, he heard what it was like rockets, and he opened his eyes in fear, turning his whole body into the direction of the sound. "You gotta be kidding me..." he said with his deep voice.
"Sonic, what's happening?" Pipp asked worried.
"Metal Sonic" Sonic replied with a frown, and Pipp gasped while putted a hoof on her mouth. "Eggman must have upgraded him, and now he must be coming towards me" Sonic theorized. "But I'm not letting that happen!" he yelled, and then prepared to run towards the woods.
But Pipp flied quickly in front of him and stopped him. "Wait! Last time you may have won, but if that Eggman guy really upgraded him, then maybe you won't have the same luck!" she pointed out with worry.
"Maybe, but if I don't try to stop him now, someone can get hurt in Maretime Bay, and I cannot allow that!" Sonic protested.
"Sonic, I don't want anything to happen to you!" she replied, then blushed at what she just said and tried to correct herself. "A-And I know our friends don't want that either!" she added.
"Look, I get it Pipp, you don't want me to get hurt or something worst, and I appreciate that you worry about me, but I have to stop him or else there won't be a Maretime Bay Day tomorrow!" Sonic pointed out, but Pipp didn't wanted to let him go. He sighed and softened his look at her, "Listen, give me 10 minutes to bring that piece of junk down, and If I don't come back in that time, tell the others and go look after me, okay?" he stated with a calm voice and a little smile.
Pipp was at the edge of crying, however, she knew she won't convince Sonic to stay, so sighed defeated and looked at him. "Okay... Just, one more thing before you leave" she said. She gulped as she flied to be at the same height of Sonic's face, as he looked confused at her. But before he could ask anything, Pipp grabbed his neck with her hoofs and she kissed Sonic's cheek softly for a few seconds. Sonic felt like the entire world around suddenly disappeared and felt his heart beating faster than ever. If he already suspected he was having feelings for Pipp, her little action just confirmed his suspicions. "Be careful out there, Sonic" Pipp said to him with a blush.
Sonic looked at her, not knowing what to say since he didn't expected something like that, but he heard Metal Sonic again and focused back on the task. "I will, Pipp. And I promise I'll come back!" he stated lastly, before finally ran off towards his enemy.
Pipp stared at the direction where he boosted out running, and her worry growed even more. "Sonic... please come back to me..." she whispered to herself.
Metal Sonic was flying over a field of flowers towards Maretime Bay. Now that he 'eliminated' Tails and Knuckles, he was going to destroy Sonic once and for all, since he wasn't an IA anymore and he only followed orders with no hesitation.
However, Metal's system detected an attack incoming, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge it and got hit by a blue ball. The ball landed in the ground and stoop up to reveal Sonic, mad at the robot and ready for the second match.
"Ready for round two so soon, Egghead?" Sonic mocked with a little smile.
"Well, but if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog! Glad I'm gonna see you... for the last time!" Eggman stated, and even though he couldn't see him, Sonic knew he was smiling.
"Say, isn't Neo supposed to be its own thing?" Sonic asked, confused that Metal Sonic had his 'Neo' form, yet he wasn't talking.
"Neo is one of my biggest mistakes. Do you think I'm fool enough to upgrade him without restrictions?" Eggman asked with sarcasm. "He's nothing but another robot that follows orders now! I disabled his AI for good, so he can't turn against me! " he explained as he laughed like a maniac.
Sonic growled, summoned his electrical power and launched himself at Metal Sonic. But this time, Metal raised his metal hand and caught Sonic in a ball, and with his other hand hit him, making him fall to the ground somewhat dizzy. Sonic shook his head and glared at the robot. Metal was the one to lunge at Sonic now, and though Sonic was able to dodge the attack at the last minute, Metal somehow managed to move nimbly and grab Sonic by the foot and launch him into a mountain.
Sonic got stuck on the mountain, sore from the impact his back received from the blow. He tried to get out of the mishap of him, but Metal came flying quickly, grabbed him by the neck and took off upwards, dragging Sonic down the mountain and applying karma to him for doing that to him days ago. Once the mountain was over, Metal threw Sonic into the air and began to land multiple punches all over his body, finally landing one that sent him flying and landing at Zephyr Heights' landing track.
Now, Sonic was laying with pain all over his body because of Metal Sonic. He slightly moved his head to the side, and noticed that he was surrounded by debris, but not far away he also saw a plane in pieces. "A-A... plane?" Sonic asked weakly, as he coughed some blood.
Metal Sonic landed soon, in front of him, and looked on the same direction Sonic was looking at, then looked back at the hedgehog. "It appears that you have found your little furry friends airplane. A shame that even if I left now, the only thing you would found it's the corpses of them" Eggman mocked, since he didn't knew Tails and Knuckles weren't dead.
"W-What... are you... t-talking about?" Sonic asked, still feeling weak and sore.
"Oh, you didn't knew?" Eggman mocked with a grin. "Tails and Knuckles came to Equestria to look after you, but they already have met their fate, hehehehe" he 'revealed'.
That made Sonic's eyes grow big and look at Metal Sonic with horror. "What?!" he asked on disbelief.
"Your friends wanted to see you, but thanks to Metal Sonic, they won't be a problem anymore" Eggman replied and started to laugh like a maniac.
All Sonic could do now was feel anger, which grew and grew and grew, until it made him explode. His whole body was covered with electricity, he got up from the ground and tried to hit Metal Sonic, but Metal Sonic grabbed him by the neck again and began to cut his breath.
"Listen to me, Hedgehog" Eggman warned. "After 21 years of humiliations and defeats, I finally have the key to get rid of you" he explained, while Metal Sonic took one of Sonic's quills, and kept it in a compartment that he hid in his back, and disappeared surrounded by for a purple aura. "But it's no use explaining everything to you. Just knowing that I have 2 Chaos Emeralds and a legion of machines ready to end this world I say more than enough" he declared.
"D-Damn old son of a..." Sonic tried to say, but Metal Sonic tightened his hold on him.
"It's a shame you won't be here to witness it anymore" Eggman assured, and then Metal knocked Sonic to the ground and aimed a plasma beam at the Hedgehog, ready to kill him once and for all. "Now, prepare to die!" he announced.
Sonic just closed his eyes, and waited for his fate to arrive... but he heard then a growl and something punching a metallic object. Sonic opened his eyes confused, hardly stood up and opened his eyes with surprise: Metal was a few meters away, and in front of him there was Knuckles, standing with his fists raised.
"K-Knux? I-It's that you?" Sonic asked, still feeling sore for the fight.
Knuckles turned around and looked at Sonic. "Hey there, pal. Long time no see!" he greeted, as he extended his hand to Sonic.
Sonic took his hand, and feeling the touch of the Equidna confirmed that he wasn't hallucinating: Knuckles was actually there, and Sonic smiled with joy. And then Metal Sonic got hit by a yellow SpinDash, and then the hit of a plasma weapon. The one who made those attacks was Tails, and that just made Sonic's smile grow bigger.
"T-Tails!" he tried to exclaimed. He was feeling happy, but he was still sore as well.
"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed happy, and immediately hugged Sonic. "You have no idea of how much I missed you, man!" he said, still hugging Sonic.
"I-I missed you too, little bro..." Sonic assured, hugging Tails back.
"Guys, I hate to be the party pooper, but let's save the 'happy reunion moment' for when Metal Sonic is nothing but junk, okay?!" Knuckles called out.
Tails then looked at Sonic with worry. "Think you can fight?" he asked.
"E-Everything hurts... but when its about kicking Eggman's machines metallic buts, no pain can hold me back!" Sonic assured, as he walked slowly towards Knuckles' side. Tails smiled and stood at Sonic's side. Metal Sonic looked at Team Sonic with anger, as the group of heroes stared back with the same hate towards the machine.
Sonic positioned himself to run, while Knuckles cracked his knuckles and Tails reloaded his plasma weapon. Metal Sonic fired his rockets and shot towards Team Sonic. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles decided to charge at Metal as well, with Knuckles matching Sonic's speed and Tails flying at the same rate as them.
Once they were about to collide with Metal Sonic, Sonic slipped under the robot, while Tails and Knuckles separated in opposite directions. Sonic then began to run at full speed around Metal Sonic, creating a dust storm that blocked his view. Metal Sonic began to look in all directions, but couldn't see anything. Suddenly, Knuckles burst through the dust storm and slammed his fist into Metal Sonic's screen, blocking any chance of detecting his enemies' attacks.
But it didn't stop there: Knuckles climbed on top of Metal Sonic as if he were a wild animal he wanted to tame and started hitting his head harder and harder; then he got down and hit the legs with all the force that his fist gave him, then hit his chest and shoulders until they were completely shattered. "Yes!" Knuckles exclaimed happily, "I haven't had a good fight in months!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Come on, Tails, it's your turn!" he yelled at the two-tailed fox.
Tails decided to mainly use his plasma weapon and shoot at his arms, then use his tails as pincers and rip one of his arms off with them. He repeated the same process with the other arm, then smiled victoriously. "How about those attacks, Eggman?!" the minor scoffed. "Sound like something a coward would do against human trash like you?" he added as he did a SpinDash against Metal Sonic's chest.
Now that Metal Sonic was lying on the ground, Sonic decided to step in to deliver the killing blow. With the help of Tails, he propelled himself into the air, and once he gained enough height, he summoned his electrical power, charged up his SpinDash and launched himself towards the ground, piercing Metal Sonic's chest, and doing a backflip, landing on the ground. Side of Tails and Knuckles, who did not know whether to see the robot with pleasure for not being a hindrance anymore, or to see Sonic impressed by his new power.
"Okay... now that he's out of the way... can we have our emotional and happy reunion now?" Sonic asked looking at Tails and Knuckles.
They both looked at each other, smiled and then lunged at Sonic, hugging the hedgehog with joy after not seeing each other for 6 months. "Don't you ever scare us like that again, Hedgehog!" Knuckles said, still hugging Sonic.
"I though we'll never see you again!" Tails exclaimed with joy.
"I missed you guys a lot, like you seriously have no idea!" Sonic replied with a big smile, as he and the rest stood up. "There's a lot we have to talk about, I know, but first..." he said, as he looked around with an awkward smile, "... I think we should clean this mess up..." he pointed out, as Tails and Knuckles looked around as well, and gulped. "And also, find a doctor... my whole body hurts..." he said as he fainted in the ground.
Several hours later, after cleaning all the mess they caused with Metal Sonic and the now destroyed plane, as well as put some dangers signs at the request of Queen Haven so pegasi don't land there, and give Sonic some medical attention, Sonic Tails and Knuckles decided to talk about everything they lived in the last six months before Sonic took Tails and Knuckles to Maretime Bay.
"So you had quite an adventure with those ponies" Knuckles said, while the trio walked out of Zephyr Heights. "And you found Chaos Emeralds that aren't working either, huh?" he pointed out with a frown.
"Yeah" Sonic replied with a smile. "If it wasn't because of those 5 new friends I made, I'll probably be dead by now. And as for the Emeralds, I've been trying to find out why they don't seem to work. To tell the truth, the connection I always felt with them faded away ever since I found them" he confessed.
"I guess Eggman's Emeralds are failing too, since ours doesn't work either" Tails pointed out, looking at the Emerald on his hand. "I wonder if this has something to do with the Emeralds being on another dimension or something..." he wondered.
"I doubt it. Even if were not home, I still feel my connection with the Master Emerald" Knuckles revealed. "Maybe the Emerald we're missing has the answer..." he theorized.
"Speaking of the Emeralds, now I know that 'Opaline' is Eggman's partner, cause he mentioned that he had two Emeralds. At first I thought he was talking about the ones we were missing, but after you showed me yours, I guess the connection became clear" Sonic stated.
"So, if we found 'Opaline's Castle', we found Eggman and those two Emeralds, right?" Tails asked, as he took the map of Equestria out and looked at it.
"Right" both Sonic and Knuckles replied.
"Let's just hope that, once we got the seven Emeralds, we can go home" Sonic said with a little frown. "But let's focus on one task at a time. First: you seriously treated Knuckles like an enemy for six months when I told you to stop trying?!" he asked to Tails on disbelief.
"Yeah... sorry about that..." Tails apologized with shame.
"Hey, Sonic, chill. I feel like he's right, I should tried to do more..." Knuckles stepped in the conversation.
"No Knux, none of you two has the fault of me ending in this world. I was the one who thought that using the Emeralds was a good idea, but I fell right into the lion's den" Sonic assured. "None of this is your fault, but if something like this happens again, let's hope not of course, you two work together and DON'T FIGHT!" he warned.
"I mean, we solve it at the end, but sure, you have my word" Knuckles assured.
"Me too" Tails assured as well.
"Ok then. Now, the second thing, let me present you my new friends!" Sonic yelled with excitement. "Try to keep up!" he yelled as he boosted out running towards Maretime Bay.
Knuckles sighed and shook his head in delight. "Some things never change, eh?" he said and chuckled.
"Yeah. New dimension, same old Sonic!" Tails said, as both he and Knuckles decided to boost out and follow Sonic.
Back in the front of the Brighthouse, the Mane 5 where resting for looking around the town for Sonic, since he hasn't appeared in two hours and Pipp did just what Sonic told her to do.
"I can't believe he's doing all this reckless stuff and then acts like nothing bad's happening!" Sunny yelled, both worried and angry.
"I should have tried better to stop him!" Pipp cried out in frustration.
"I know he wants to protect us, but he's starting to cross a line he shouldn't!" Hitch added.
"Hey, come one guys, let's save our anger for when we find him" Zipp requested.
"Found who, exactly?" Sonic asked, appearing right in front of them.
The Mane 5 sighed in relief for Sonic finally showing up, apparently in one piece. But the first one to react mad at him was Pipp. "What the hoof is wrong with you?!" she yelled at him.
"Is this because instead of coming back in 10 minutes, I lasted 2 hours?" he asked rhetorically.
"YES!" the Mane 5 yelled at him in unison.
"Okay, fair enough" Sonic admitted. "Sorry I didn't told you before, but you guys won't believe what just happened to me!" he exclaimed in surprise.
"Pipp told us about this robot copy of you" Hitch stepped in first. "What happened?"
"A lot of things, but I think the first one - and most important of all - is that I got some friends of mine I want to present you" Sonic explained. He then turned around and whistled at the air. The Mane 5 looked at each other confused, but then they saw a yellow fox flying down from the sky, and he landed on Sonic's back, hiding in there since he was a little shy. They also saw a red Equidna gliding until he landed on Sonic's side. Sonic turned to see the fox and smiled. "Chill, little buddy, it's okay. Guys, remember my friends back home I talked you about? Well, say hello to Miles 'Tails' Prower and Knuckles the Equidna!" he said, as he presented his friends from his own dimension to the Mane 5.
"H-Hi..." Tails said, still a little shy for meeting new people.
"Sup!" Knuckles greeted with a confident smile and his arms crossed.
"Say what?!" Izzy exclaimed excited, as she ran towards Knuckles. "Wow, your hands are big!" she said with a smile.
"Uh, thanks?" Knuckles replied, not so sure on what to say.
"Wow..." Zipp said, getting close to Tails. "I-I heard from Sonic about a two-tail fox, but looking at you for real its... just wow" she said in awe, since she never expected to see an actual creature with two tails.
"U-Uh... yeah... I-It's form birth that I have them..." Tails explained with a little blush of embarrassment.
Sonic got a little apart as he saw his new friends meeting his old pals. "So, they ended up here too..." Sunny said, getting at his side.
"Yeah... I'm glad to know they're okay..." Sonic replied with a smile, that faded away slowly. "But now Eggman knows they're here too..." Sonic replied with a little worry.
"What happened?" Sunny asked with a little worry as well. "With Metal Sonic, I mean" she added.
"We'll tell you everything later. For now, let's make Tails and Knuckles feel welcome to Equestria" Sonic stated with a smile and winked at Sunny.
Sunny smiled at the idea, and she quickly told the rest of the Mane 5 to go in, as Sonic took both Tails and Knuckles from their hands and dragged them inside the Brighthouse.
After a day of telling stories and knew each other better with the Mane 5, Tails and Knuckles decided that they would stay in the Brighthouse with Sonic and the Mane 5 until they could go back to Mobius. The only thing was that they'll had to sleep on the couch since the Brighthouse could not be restyled with two extra beds... for now.
And so, the next morning, Maretime Bay Day finally arrived.
Izzy was the first one to got up, and gasped with excitement. "It's here!" she exclaimed on Sunny's bed, as the earth pony mare stretched and smiled at Izzy's attitude. The unicorn moved now to Pipp's bed while scatted. "The big day is here!" she whispered at Pipp's ear, as the pegasus yawned and woke up. Then Izzy ran and got into the middle of both Sonic and Zipp's beds. "The big day is here!" she yelled excited, as Zipp woke up a little worried, and Sonic woke up too, with his quills made a mess but also excited as well. In a flash, he was ready and immediately went down stairs.
Zipp, on the other hand, went to the top of the Brighthouse and looked at the Unity Crystals, then sighed. "Don't worry, I got you" she assured to the Crystals.
At the main door, Sonic Tails and Knuckles boosted running to the town while laughed. Izzy noticed that, ever since Tails and Knuckles where there, Sonic's sparkle was shining brighter than ever, and that made her smile with joy because his sparkle wasn't shining a lot lately.
As Pipp and Zipp came out of the Brighthouse as well, Izzy decided to stop Sunny before she left too. "Sunny, Sunny, wait!" the unicorn called out to her friend, as Sunny turned around to face Izzy. She took out with her magic a gift on a box and gave it to Sunny. "Happy Maretime Bay Day" Izzy said with a smile.
"We don't usually exchanged gifts" Sunny pointed out, but took the gift anyways.
"I know, but just open it!" Izzy pled with a big smile.
Sunny decided to open the gift box, but once she saw what was it, she had to find some strength to not cry. "It's... it's the lantern my dad made for me..." she said, again, trying really hard not to cry, although the lantern was very different now, because it seemed like Izzy just made the lantern from scratch. Then again, if you want to blame someone for this decisions and changes, go blame the writers, not me. "I-I thought it was beyond repair!" Sunny exclaimed with a smile. "Thank you so much, Izzy" she thanked with joy.
"Sometimes, when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anything" Izzy stated with a smile.
Sunny's smile just grow bigger by hearing that. "You're right! Now let's go add some magic to today and fix this" she declared with confidence and a smile, holding the now repaired lantern that Izzy gave to her.
On Maretime Bay, the celebration already began, and some ponies were participating on carnival games and winning prices, as well as some were 'admiring' the new decorations made by Izzy. And speaking of her, she was with the rest of the Mane 5 and Team Sonic while ate an Ice Cream, when she noticed that many pegasi and unicorns arrived as well.
"Oh, look, look, look! Ponies showed up after all!" Izzy pointed out with a smile. "And there's the Queen!" she said excited, as Queen Haven landed in town, alongside with Cloudpuff and escorted by Zoom and Thunder. "Hello, Your Majesticness!" Izzy greeted, as she walked towards Haven, followed by Sunny, Hitch and Team Sonic.
Pipp, as always, was looking at her phone, but then se finally noticed her mom's arrival and gasped. "Mom!" she yelled excited, and ran towards her.
Zipp, however, the moment she looked at Haven, turned around and ran as far as possible. A while later, Sunny and Hitch where greeting everypony passing by as they stood behind some of the carnival games.
"Happy Maretime Bay Day, everypony! Welcome!" she greeted with a smile, as she waved her hoof.
"So far so good" Hitch whispered at her, waving his hoof as well.
"Now we just gotta keep it up!" Sunny cheered.
Easier said than done.
Posey, Dahlia and an old mare where complaining on the decorations that Izzy made since they were not the ones they were used to. Sunny and Hitch heard that, and while Hitch frowned a little, Sunny looked at ground with sadness, because it wasn't going to be easy to have everypony in the same line.
At the beach, many ponies - specially foals - where participating on a Sand Castle competition. Izzy was looking around in awe at the many works, but the gasped amazed at one big Castle that was made by Windy... mainly because of her wings. A unicorn was one of the judges, and he gave the first place trophy to her. And of course, Posey and her little group didn't last much to complain against Windy and how she cheated by using magic.
The discussion just growed and growed, and then thunderstorms where heard again. Zipp and Pipp where there to see te competition as well, and while Pipp looked a little scared at the darkening sky, Zipp looked as well with a frown, and then tried to think on someway to fix things up.
Back at the town, some foals where participating on the carnival games. Team Sonic was participating too, and as weird as it sounds, no one was actually complaining on them, not even Posey. Yeah, maybe she didn't liked how reckless Sonic could be, and she wasn't a big fan of having two creatures similar to him, but they weren't harming anyone. Just three friends hanging out and having fun at the festival, nothing wrong with that.
"So, what do you guys think so far?" Sonic asked to his friends.
"If we ignore the stares of the earth ponies to the rest..." Tails whispered at his ear, "I actually like it here! It's very charming!" he complimented.
"It's not bad, I recognize that, but I feel this is kinda child- OH MY CHAOS, IS THAT COTTON CANDY?!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he immediately ran towards the Cotton Candy stand.
"Kinda childish, huh?" Sonic said with a smirk. "Say, Tails. Wanna spend our money on all the candy you can eat?" he asked to the fox, as they both smiled with complicit smiles.
"Do I?" Tails asked rhetorically, as he fist bumped with Sonic.
Again, the problem for the earth ponies wasn't Team Sonic, their problem were the unicorns and pegasi, but specially the unicorns. The earth ponies tried some treats the unicorns made for the festival, but they hated the flavor and threw the treats into a trash can. A unicorn stallion didn't wanted to waste the treats, so... well... he started to eat from the trash can.
Two earth ponies saw that with disgust, and tried to eat from their Cotton Candy, but the wind of the storm was so strong that it took away the two Candies.
"Oh no!" Pipp exclaimed, as she tried to fly and get the Cotton Candy, but she immediately fall and grunted into the ground. "My wings won't work!" she cried out with worry.
Hitch was there too, and he tried to help to get the Cotton Candy, but his hooves were stuck in the ground by some kind of sticky purple and pink goo. "Neither will my hooves!" Hitch cried out in panic.
Sunny saw that other earth ponies were stuck on the ground as well, until they suddenly were free. "What's going on?!" one of the earth ponies asked in panic, as Zipp passed by them.
"The glitches... They're getting worse..." Zipp cried out with worry.
The storm was getting just worse and worse since the earth ponies didn't had a very peaceful attitude towards the unicorns and pegasi, and the attitudes of those two races wasn't helping at all. Now, everypony was reunited in front of the stage for the big concert that Pipp planed to perform.
Behind the curtains, Sunny and Tails were looking at the crowd with worry, and Sunny got behind the curtains again.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sunny asked to Pipp. "Nothing has gone to plan today" she pointed out with disappointment.
"Yeah, the crowd seems a little tough if you ask me" Tails added with a worried face, as he got to Sunny's side.
"I have to give it my best shot!" Pipp said with determination. "We still need all the positivity we can get, right?" she asked, trying to be optimistic.
"I like the sound of that! The more positive, the best!" Sonic stated with a smile.
"Maybe this will help" Zipp said, as she hold Pipp's lucky microphone to her.
Pipp gasped in surprise and took the microphone "My lucky mic!" she exclaimed, as she smiled at her sister. Now, with more motivation than before, she started to sing vocal warm-ups. "Alright. Showtime!" she declared.
"Break a hoof, Pipp! But not really! Actually, be really careful!" Izzy said, whispering the last sentence with worry, as Pipp flied to the top of the stage, and Sunny went out to talk with the crowd.
Sonic, however felt his quills lifting up in surprise, something that just happens when a bad thing was near to happen. "Oh boy..." he exclaimed, as he saw his quills with worry.
Out with the crowd, Sunny announced that Pipp was going to sing a rearrangement of the Maretime Bay Day anthem, and of course that got the earth ponies angrier than with anything else. Pipp felt hurt that they were not going to give her adaptation a shot, and Sonic, who watched the scene from behind the stage, felt mad at the crowd, with his electrical powers coming out.
"Um, Sonic? You're quills are glowing..." Tails pointed out with worry.
"I know" Sonic replied angry.
But then he saw that the storm become worst, and then some lightning started to fall, with one of the lightnings hitting the unicorn's horns.
And back at the Brighthouse, the lightnings touched the Crystals, which where glitching once again, but once a lightning fall into them, the Crystals began to broke.
Since things were not getting better between earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, the rest of the Mane 5 decided to step in the middle, while Team Sonic got out of the curtain but stayed back.
"Things are getting out of hand here!" Knuckles pointed out with a frown, as he looked at the sky.
"If these ponies refuse to work together, the storm's gonna get worse!" Tails cried out with worry.
"We have tried to make them understand, but they are stubborn as mules!" Sonic yelled with frustration, as the thunderstorm kept going, since nothing that the Mane 5 said was calming the earth ponies down.
"We know that magic returning hasn't been easy for everypony, that Equestria is really different, but that's a good thing! It's so much better now that––!" Sunny tried to explain, but then she saw that the rainbow from the Crystal Brighthouse was vanishing at the distance. "No, no, no! The magic! It's dying!" she cried out in panic.
Hitch saw a lightning falling into the station's entrance, and he remembered something and gasped. "Eggie!" he yelled, and then ran towards the station.
And then suddenly, a lightning fell in front of the stage, and a black hole started to grew and grew, consuming the stage and the ground itself.
"Um, you guys didn't asked for a sink hole, did you?" Sonic said as he, Tails and Knuckles got close to the Mane 5.
"What is that thing?!" Queen Haven asked, holding Cloudpuff and pointing at the hole.
"It's some sort of void!" Zipp pointed out with worry.
"Everypony, get back!" Sunny ordered.
The crowd didn't think it twice, and they started to run away in panic. However, the Earth Ponies got stuck in the ground again, and this time they couldn't get out.
"Let us go!" an earth pony mare begged to a unicorn mare.
"It's not us!" the unicorn mare replied, since her magic was failing and could not use it at all, and then suddenly a thunder destroyed a bush.
Posey was groaning, trying to get free, and Windy decided to stop at her. "Can't you ponies with magic do something?!" Posey asked on desperation.
Windy tried to fly, but it was useless. "Our magic isn't working!" she cried out, as she started to try and let Posey go from her sticky situation, as Team Sonic, Izzy, Pipp and Zipp were trying to free some earth ponies as well.
"Ah! I do not like this! No, I do not!" Hitch complained, since he was also an earth pony and got stuck on the ground as well.
However, the void growed more and more, and it swallowed Posey and Windy, who fell into the void.
"Posey! Windy! No!" Sunny shouted with fear, as she looked in panic at the void.
Sonic heard that, and saw the void where the mares just fell into. "Oh no, no one's getting hurt while I am here!" he stated with a frown. "Come on, Tails!" he called out to his best friend.
Tails helped Knuckles to free an earth pony, who ran away, then turned to see Sonic. "On it!" Tails said, as he twirled his tails and flied quickly with Sonic.
He looked at the void and smirked, as he prepared to jump.
Izzy, Zipp and Pipp arrived at Sunny's side, and then Pipp noticed Sonic. "What is he doing?!" she yelled with worry, as the other mares looked at Sonic as well.
"The most reckless thing I've ever done since I got here!" Sonic replied, still smirking.
He then jumped until he was over the void, and charged his SpinDash in the air... but he boosted the attack towards the void, and the mares gasped. "SONIC!" Pipp shouted in fear, but they lost sight of the hedgehog.
Tails then arrived and boosted flying towards his friend, loosing sight of him as well.
"Come on, alicorn magic! Work!" Sunny begged, not willing to left 4 innocent people she knew to get lost on that void.
"But the magic! I-It's gone!" Zipp pointed out.
Sunny felt desperate, since she had to save the one's that fell into the void. "Then I'll have to try without it! I'm going in" she stated with determination.
"Not without us!" Izzy stated, having a hard time to keep her magic.
And then, Zipp finally realized what to do. "That's it! The magic will come back to us if we can work together!" she explained with a smile. "Come on, unicorns! Come on, pegasi! Help the earth ponies!" Zipp pled, as the unicorns and pegasi started to help the earth ponies get out of their situation. Even Knuckles decided to help, despite being worried about Sonic and Tails. Izzy helped an earth pony stallion to get free with her magic, and Pipp and Zipp helped Hitch get free as well. "It's working!" Zipp announced excited, as Hitch got away holding the egg. "You got this, Sunny!" she cheered.
"It's too dark in there! Take this!" Izzy said, as she tried to give Sunny her lantern with her magic, but then her magic vanished, and the lantern was about to fell into the void.
Sunny ran towards the lantern, and grabbed with her mouth, as she felled into the hole with the lantern. Izzy, Zipp and Pipp saw this in shock, but thankfully, Sunny's Cutie Mark started to glow, and her golden wings and horn appeared, as she smiled and flapped her wings, grabbing the lantern with her hoof, and flying straight into the darkness.
Meanwhile, Posey and Windy kept falling into the void while screamed, until they saw a blue ball getting straight to them. The ball turned back to normal and Sonic was now trying to reach Posey and Windy. He was closer and closer now, and then he could finally grab Posey from her waist with one hand, as his other hand was grabbed by Tails, who used his tails to carry the two of them back to the surface.
"I've got you, Posey!" Sonic said. "But... Windy!" he realized that he didn't saved the pegasus. Then, some kind of golden shield passed at their side, and Windy got trapped on it. Sonic was confused, then he looked at his side to find Sunny on her alicorn form. "Way to go, Starscout! Sorry to made you come here" he joked.
"I wasn't going to let you hanging in the darkness, silly!" Sunny joked back.
In Maretime Bay, Windy got back to the ground thanks to Sunny's magic, and Tails lifted Sonic and Posey up, as Sonic putted Posey down, and he landed as well. However, Sunny didn't came out of the whole, and everyone looked at the void with expectation and worry.
"Sunny?" Izzy called out in fear.
Suddenly, a rainbow crossed the sky, as Sunny got out of the hole that finally closed, and the rainbow landed at the top of the Crystal Brighthouse, as the whole building started to glow the same vine symbols that Sonic and Zipp looked at a few days ago. Those symbols kept growing, until they grew on the Unity Crystals as well. The Crystals were repaired, and they glowed up more than ever, as they drew the vines symbols all around the Brighthouse, and those symbols kept growing, until they reached the town and the earth ponies, which hooves started to glow in color green.
Even Hitch's hooves glowed, as he started to laugh by the sensation. "That tickles!" he said, as his crew came out of their hiding spot - a box - and cheered at him. "I know, I know! I totally agree with everything you guys are saying" Hitch replied to his animal crew. And that was the weird thing, he understood the animals. "Did you just talk?!" he yelled at him with shock and surprise. "Did I just... understand you? What?!" he yelled on disbelief, since a few minutes ago, he couldn't get a dingle thing on what his animal friends could say.
One of the birds started to chirp excited, since this was the first time in centuries somepony could understand them.
"Wow, that's a lot of information" Hitch replied with a smile. "Well, nice to meet you, Kenneth. I'm Hitch!" he greeted to the bird, now that he knew his real name, as the bird chirped with joy.
Meanwhile, both Posey and Windy were looking at Posey's hooves, that were glowing on a green color. Posey decided to step her right hoove in front, and then some flowers grew in the middle of street thanks to her new magic.
"Flower power?!" Posey exclaimed with a smile, looking at what she just did.
The rest of the earth ponies decided to try out their new magic as well, and together, they restored the bush that the lightnings destroyed before.
Yup, just like you're reading: the Unity Crystals created earth pony magic.
Hitch was standing at the front of the station, smiling with the egg he found at the beach, as the rest of his friends got close to him.
"Earth pony magic?!" Sunny exclaimed with a smile.
"But that's never happened before!" Izzy pointed out, as she jumped to Sunny's side.
"When we work together... maybe we can invent new magic" Zipp theorized.
"You're right Zipp" Sunny replied. "Actually, you were right about everything. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I should have been a better friend and listened. I was just so focused on hoping magic was okay that I lost sight of everything else" she pointed out and then walked towards Zipp. "Can you forgive me?" she asked.
Zipp chuckled and then looked at Sunny with a smile. "Obviously" she replied, as she and Sunny hugged each other with Sunny laughing.
Meanwhile, Pipp decided to have a little talk with Sonic, but not without first hug him with relief. Sonic felt the pegasus, and didn't knew how to react exactly, but he could not do it since Pipp spoke out. "Don't you dare to scare me like that ever again!" she pled, since she didn't wanted to see Sonic do something like what he did before to save Posey and Windy.
"Yeah... I can't promise that" Sonic confessed. "As long as someone gets in trouble, I can't just stand and wait for a miracle to happen. Nothing starts until you take action, and I just did what I knew was right" he explained. But Pipp's worry didn't decreased at all, so he sighed and kneeled at her "Look, I'm sorry for worrying you, Pipp, but this is the kind of stuff I do almost every day. I won't ask you to like it, because I know that won't happen, but I would ask you to... understand that this sense of duty I have is something I cannot ignore, even if I tried" he explained. "Again, I'm sorry for worrying you" he apologized again, as he stood up.
Pipp looked down with a frown and though on everything Sonic just told her. After a while, she sighed, flied until she was at the same height of Sonic's face, and once again kissed his cheek, which caused Sonic to froze on his place, not knowing how to react. "Okay, but try to be more careful, Hedgehog" she said with flirtatious smile and a wink.
Sonic's face blushed and he shook his head, finally recovering, while scratched his head and looked away nervously. But his embarrassment grew when he saw the mischievous looks of Tails and Knuckles, although he rolled his eyes.
"Zephyrina! There you are!" Haven called out to her daughter, as Zipp turned around and looked at her mother with fear. "My hoofness, what an ordeal!" she exclaimed. "Gather your things, we need to hit the sky if we're going to make it back to the palace by sundown" she pointed out.
Zipp walked towards her mom and sighed. "Mom! I'm not going back with you" she stated with confidence.
Haven looked surprised at he daughter, and then frowned. "We agreed that you were to resume your studies" she pointed out.
"My place is here in Maretime Bay with my friends. I just need more time to figure things out" Zipp pointed out, since she wasn't ready to be a Queen yet. "To investigate magic! To explore who I am before I take on my royal duty. And you know what? I think who I am is somepony who likes figuring things out" she said with a smile.
Haven ended up smiling softly at Zipp. "Yes, you certainly are, my little princess investigator" she replied, as she hold Zipp's chin.
"Mom? Would you do me a favor?" Zipp asked.
"Anything, darling" Haven assured.
"Would you mind just calling me Zipp for now?" Zipp requested a little nervous.
"Of course... Zipp" Haven smirked at her daughter.
Suddenly, Cloudpuff walked towards Hitch and barked at him. "I'm sorry, it's a what?" Hitch asked with surprise, looking at the egg.
"Huh, I haven't seen a dragon egg in a while..." Knuckles said suddenly, looking at the egg Hitch was holding.
Sonic's eyes widened after hearing that. "That thing it's a what now?!" Sonic yelled, looking at the egg.
The egg began to shake, until it hatched into a turquoise baby dragon with purple eyes.
"A dragon?" Hitch asked on disbelief.
"But dragons haven't been seen in Equestria for generations!" Sunny exclaimed.
The baby dragon laughed and hugged Hitch, as the mares stared at the creature tenderly.
"He's so cute!" Izzy said.
"Adorbs!" Pipp commented.
"Aww!" Tails exclaimed as well.
"You don't see a dragon's birth everyday" Knuckles said with a smile.
"I still don't get how you knew it was a dragon egg..." Sonic pointed out.
Knuckles stared at him with a neutral expression, and then putted on hand on his shoulder. "You live better without the answer" he simply replied.
Sonic stared at him with confusion. "Okey..." he said, not really convinced on the answer.
"Hey, everypony..." Posey stepped in the conversation. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted" she apologized. "I think I just felt..." she started.
"Left out?" Zipp asked with a smile.
"Jealous?" Sonic asked with a smirk.
"Yeah! Exactly" Posey replied with a nervous smile.
"We'll make sure that doesn't happen again. Right, guys?" Sunny stated, as the rest agreed with her, even Sonic.
"Pipp?" Posey called out a little shy, "Would you mind singing your new Maretime Bay song?" she requested.
"I will, on one condition, if you'll sing it with me!" Pipp replied, as she hang her lucky mic to Posey.
"I'll do the harmony!" Posey said, as she grabbed the microphone.
On Opaline's Castle, Opaline herself was watching trough a screen all the recent events at Maretime Bay.
"Ha. Those little ponies finally figured out how to stabilize the magic. Took them long enough" Opaline said, as she then looked at her assistant. "And now that they have, it's time to take back what is mine!" she stated, as she started to laugh like a maniac, ready to make her next move. Then, she suddenly stopped to laugh, "Of course, if the doctor does not mess up again..." she tried to point out, but she got cut off.
"For the last time, Opaline. Metal Sonic's purpose was to fail at his task, he just never knew" Eggman explained.
"How's not destroying your worst enemy part of your plan?!" Opaline yelled with frustration.
"Ever since I discovered Sonic's new power, I decided to study it thoroughly" the doctor began. "I needed one of his quills, and thanks to Metal Sonic, I got it!" he yelled, as he showed the quill to the mare. "Now, you may think this quill has nothing special, but once I connect it to the machines..." he explained, as he putted the quill inside a robot that hasn't turned on in weeks.
The robot immediately got up, and started to scan his surroundings, until he stopped at Eggman and waited for orders. Opaline watched in awe at this. "W-What kind of magic is this?!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
"The amazing magic of science!" Eggman shouted with a grin. "Although it's also just the power of the quill. And here's the best part: this single quill has unlimited power" the doctor revealed, as Opaline stared at him with her jaw drop. "With this single quill, I can build an entire unstoppable army that could take over this lands in less than a week! But not only that, I can use Sonic the Hedgehog's own power against him and his little group of friends, that now is bigger with the arrival of Tails and Knuckles" he explained forward with a sinister smile.
"So, we have a unlimited source of power with us that we can use against those little ponies and your enemies..." Opaline summarized.
"Bingo! And not only that, but once they put their guard down, we can make our next move, my dear. And you would take what rightfully belongs to you, as I would finally kill that blue rat!" he stated.
"Oh, this is gonna be a blast!" Opaline replied, as both she and Eggman started to laugh like maniacs, preparing for their next attack.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Sonic took out the chest with the three Chaos Emeralds he found, as he putted another one on it, the one Tails and Knuckles found on that hided tree house.
"Four down, three to go" Sonic said, looking at the chest with the Emeralds.
"I still don't get why they're not shining anymore" Tails mentioned with worry.
"At least we know they still have energy, otherwise they wouldn't had any color, right?" Knuckles stated.
"That doesn't quit the fact that we still haven't found a way to reactivate them, nor another way to go home..." Sonic pointed out with a frown. "And I still have to find out why my connection with them also vanished suddenly. Knux, do you still have your connection with the Master Emerald?" he asked to the Equidna.
"Yeah... but it feels a little bit far compared to the last time I checked" Knuckles replied. "I guess the more time we spent here, the more weak my connection will get" he theorized with worry.
"And we have to worry not only about Eggman now, but also his little partner Opaline, which Castle's location I haven't found yet in the last months..." Sonic complained. "And even worst, those two have two Chaos Emeralds with them. Whatever Eggman's up to now can't be good if someone with magic is helping him" he stated with a frown.
"Well, even if Eggman founded the remain Emerald, we still have the high ground" Tails pointed out with a little smile. "I think we should spent some specific days to find this Castle, and the rest just try to relax, but take a closer look to our surroundings as well" he suggested.
"Sounds good to me" Knuckles replied with a smile, as Sonic nodded in agreement. "My only complain is that we have to sleep in the couch, tho..." he pointed out while crossed his arms.
"Yeah... Sorry for that" Sunny apologized, as she got close to Team Sonic. "If we could redecorate the place and give you two space, we would do it with no hesitation. But, well, we're still learning how to use magic and––" she tried to explain, but suddenly the rainbow light started to shine brighter.
At the top of the Brighthouse, the Crystals were glowing, and then a white flash made Team Sonic and Sunny to cover their eyes for a moment. When they all opened their eyes again, their jaws dropped to the ground: two new sections and beds appeared specifically for Tails and Knuckles, since one had weights and other exercise equipment, as well as a red sheet on the bed and several posters with waterfalls and a giant green emerald; the other had a yellow sheet on the bed, various tools and construction materials, as well as several of Tails' inventions that came to Equestria with him and Knuckles.
If you want to know how the Crystals brought that there, the answer is magic, okay? No need of logical explanations here.
"No way!" Tails yelled with excitement, as he flew over his new bed.
"Sweet!" Knuckles said, as he launched himself over his bed. "Now this is what I call a warm welcome!" he joked, as he enjoyed how comfortable his new bed was.
"B-But... What? When? How?!" Sunny asked, not understanding where the other two beds came from.
"Well, it's just like Zipp said, magic is unpredictable" Sonic pointed out, then he smiled and putted a hand on Sunny's shoulder. "But I say we shouldn't brake our minds on finding out why the Crystals make this or how, let's just go with the flow" he suggested. Sunny smiled, and then they both walked towards Zipp's area of the bedroom, where she was putting some of her things back on place since she packed up, thinking that se would have to leave back to Zephyr Heights after all.
"It looks brilliant!" Izzy said with joy.
"You think so?" Zipp asked, as she turned to face her friends.
"We're so glad you're staying in Maretime Bay, Detective Zipp!" Pipp cheered with a smile.
"Me too" Zipp replied, smiling back at her friends. "We have a lot to learn about magic and how it works" she said, while looked at a detective badge she recently made. "I'm just glad I'll be here to figure it out with my best friends" she stated.
Sunny, however, still had many thing on her mind. "Well, I definitely still have a lot of questions" she confessed. "Like why does my alicorn magic disappear?" she exampled.
"Yeah!" Hitch exclaimed, as he hold Sparky on a bag on his back. "Like why do I now have the magical power to understand every animal except for this adorable baby dragon?" he asked, as he got close to the dragon, who grabbed strongly Hitch's nose. "Ow, ow, ow..." he said in pain.
"Or who's this Opaline girl, and why did she decide to help Eggman find me here in Equestria?" Sonic added with his arms crossed.
"Or why does the Chaos Emeralds aren't working anymore ever since they arrived on this dimension?" Tails exampled as well, arriving at Sonic's side with Knuckles.
"Or... where did magic come from? Who made the Crystals, anyway? And how did they get separated? Why didn't earth ponies have magic before?" Zipp listed a few more questions, while Knuckles started to feel a headache.
"Man, this many questions are gonna melt my brain..." Knuckles said, as he shook his head and scratched, getting a bored look from Tails and an eyes roll from Sonic.
"Well, at least we already know one thing for sure" Sunny assured with a smile.
Izzy gasped and got close to Sunny's face. "What's that?" she asked with a smile.
"No matter what lies ahead, we'll face it together!" Sunny stated.
Then the entire group, Team Sonic included, started to cheer at the statement, ready to face whatever the future hold for them.
That night, while everyone else slept, Sonic got to the top of the Brighthouse once more to enjoy the view of the night in Equestria, but with one more question on his mind.
"Eggman said he discovered word beyond my imagination... but now that I think about it, we already have visited other worlds in the past. Sure, they were just short visits, and in Mushroom Kingdom's cases, it was for the Olympic Games" Sonic told himself. "And I visited Hyrule once, and even Yoshi's Island when I was trapped on the Lost Hex. Not to mention Pac-Man parties on his birthday. So, what's Eggman talking about when he says he discovered new worlds? Was he talking about visiting places that have no idea we exist in the first place?" he whispered with worry. "Man, why does stopping this guy has to be so difficult all the time?" he asked to the air, as he looked up to the moon. "I wish I could always have this peace, whenever I need it..." he whispered again with sadness.
"As long as Eggman's free, I'm afraid peace isn't an option" a voice said at his back. Sonic turned around and found Knuckles, laying on a wall with his arms crossed and a smirk. "Can't sleep either?" he asked, as he walked towards Sonic's side on the balcony.
"No. My thoughts won't allow me" Sonic confessed, looking back at the sky. "Eggman's always a pain in the ass whenever it seems like I can relax for a while..." he said with frustration.
"That's how life pay us for being good. Pretty sure if we were from the other side, things would work out as we want" Knuckles joked.
"Heh, yeah. But what's the point of being able to do whatever you want if you only cause pain and destruction?" Sonic pointed out. "I don't want to live like that. That's why I help people, because it feels good, I genuinely feel great when I see the smiles of the lives I saved" he confessed with a smile.
"I agree with you there. I also enjoy seeing people go home with smiles, knowing that they would leave to live another day" Knuckles confessed, smiling as well.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, until Sonic came up with a question that's been on his mind for a while now.
"Knux..." Sonic called out, as the Equidna turned to see him. "Do you think... locking Eggman on a cel's gonna stop him?" he asked nervously.
"We did that while you were out, actually, and... well... Opaline helped him escape two months ago, so... yeah, locking him isn't a good option after all" Knuckles explained with a frown.
"So he's been here for two months only, huh?" Sonic said with frustration. "Well, at least he does not know a lot about us..." he pointed out with a smile. But then he got another question on his mind, and his smile faded away. "Do you think that... after everything we've been trough, after all the stuff and trouble he has done... do you think... we should... kill him?" he let out, with his voice almost cracking.
That question made Knuckles eyes widened, as he looked at Sonic with worry. "What?!" he whispered in surprise.
"Knux, there's this voice that keeps shouting I should kill Eggman directly" Sonic confessed, as he started to feel anxious. "I've been hearing this voice for days now. It tells me that I should just get rid of him on the hard way, that I already gave him enough chances to redeem himself, that is finally time to get rid of him for good..." he said, as he started to cry. "I-It says that the best for everyone not only in Equestria, b-but also back in Mobius is to kill Eggman, t-that he deserves it... a-and the worst part is t-that I don't hate the idea at all..." he confessed, as tears fell from his eyes.
"Sonic..." Knuckles whispered worried, since he never saw Sonic on this state.
"A-Am I a monster for that?" Sonic asked, now looking to Knuckles straight at his eyes. "D-Does wanting to kill a man t-that only causes trouble makes me a m-monster?" he asked again. "A-Am I a terrible person for––" he tried to ask again.
However, he was cut off by Knuckles, who decided to stop playing as the cool guy and hugged Sonic directly. That calmed the hedgehog down, since the tears stopped and he felt he could clear his mind now. Knuckles broke the hug and looked at Sonic.
"I cannot tell if killing Eggman's gonna solve something" Knuckles confessed. "But you aren't a monster for wanting him dead, Sonic" he clarified. "We all want that old man to kick the bucket and let us alone for good, trust me, we all do, so if you ever feel bad again for wanting him dead, just remember everything he has done so far to us" he suggested with a little smile.
Sonic tough on what Knuckles told him, and then smiled a little. "Thanks, knucklehead" Sonic joked. "I really needed that" he confessed.
"Anytime, Hedgehog" Knuckles replied, as he fist bumped with Sonic.
None of them knew that someone heard the whole thing, and she was crying in silence so they couldn't heard her sob.
"Oh my hoofness..." Pipp whispered to herself. "Sonic... I-I have to help you..." she stated, as she quietly flew back to the bedroom, before Sonic or Knuckles could notice her.
"Well, at least he does not know a lot about us..." Sonic said with a smile.
Opaline and her assistant were sleeping, while Eggman was hearing at Sonic and Knuckles conversation, slurping some coffee he made to spent the most time awake he could. He laughed when he heard Sonic saying that he did not knew things, when he actually knew everything about them.
He then noticed that Sonic's smile disappeared. "Do you think that... after everything we've been trough, after all the stuff and trouble he has done... do you think... we should... kill him?" Sonic let out, with his voice almost cracking.
That question made Eggman spit his coffee away and cough a little, since that question took him absolutely off guard.
"What?!" Knuckles whispered in surprise.
I was about to ask the same damn thing... Eggman though to himself
"Knux, there's this voice that keeps shouting I should kill Eggman directly" Sonic confessed, and the doctor noticed that he was looking a little anxious, something weird since its Sonic we're talking about. "I've been hearing this voice for days now. It tells me that I should just get rid of him on the hard way, that I already gave him enough chances to redeem himself, that is finally time to get rid of him for g––" he kept saying, but Eggman decided to turn off the screen.
I... I've heard enough for one day... the doctor though, then turned around and started to walk towards an empty place of the Castle.
Eggman always believed that Sonic would remain bound by his morality for life, because despite all the atrocities he has committed in the past, Sonic seemed to continue to fight and let him go alive and well. But if now it was Sonic himself who was beginning to think that it was best to kill him directly, then it was time to worry, because Sonic would never kill someone, not even if his life depended on it.
If Sonic of all the people thinks killing me it's the solution, perhaps I do have to use my backup plan after all... Eggman though, as he stopped in front of a wall.
Eggman ran his hand along the wall, until his index and middle fingers stopped in a specific area, and then he pressed two buttons, which opened a secret corridor that Opaline apparently knew nothing about. Eggman walked through this corridor until he reached a secret room with a computer bigger than the one in the throne room, with 5 capsules where there were 5 pony-shaped robots inside the capsules.
"I truly didn't wanted to do this, but since Sonic's moral codes are starting to broke, I must use the unlimited power of the quill to feed my new babies, since the two Chaos Emeralds I have are now on some kind of recharging state" Eggman stated, as he looked at the capsules. "My masterplan is far from being complete, but once these 5 beauties unlock their full potential, they would make chaos wherever they go. And the best part is, that once they left the scene, those stupid ponies would confuse my creations with the original ponies they're based of!" he exclaimed with an evil grin. "I mean, if back home G.U.N. confused Sonic and Shadow, with those two being two completely different guys, I'm pretty sure these ponies are dumb enough to confuse the 'Mane 5' with my Metal Mane!" he stated, as he looked at the robots.
These new machines were copies of Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Zipp and Pipp, with similar traits as the original Mane 5 and with the same abilities, but of course, there was the little detail that they were robots that only followed orders from their creator.
"Soon, Equestria will be mine!" Eggman assured, as 'Metal Sunny' turned on with her red eyes glowing, ready to take action against the ponies.
In the magical land of Equestria, all ponykind are having a peaceful morning, going on their daily lives, hanging out with their friends.
Kenneth was flying around Maretime Bay, and he ended up landing on a pile of many things in front of the Crystal Brighthouse. That pile was being made by Izzy, who's Cutie Mark was shining bright and she was wearing round glasses and muttering to herself while kept putting stuff on the pile.
"And a little more of this, and less of that, and this piece makes no sense, unless it's upside down!" Izzy sang, while she levitated a spatula and turn it upside down, then putted on the pile again. "Now we're cooking!" she exclaimed and laughed, then she jumped over the top of the pile and levitated some things with her magic.
Zipp arrived and flew around Izzy and the pile with her phone on her hoof, looking at Izzy's work a little confused. "Hmm..." she muttered to herself.
Hitch and Knuckles also arrived, with Hitch having his baby dragon on his back, while the three looked at Izzy's pile confused. Zipp landed on Hitch's side, while Kenneth said something to Hitch.
"Good question, Kenneth" Hitch replied. "Hey, Zipp, so you know what's Izzy doing up there?" he asked to the pegasus.
"Not. A. Clue" Zipp replied with confusion.
"I've helped her with some of her Unicycling stuff, but not even I know what's she doing..." Knuckles confessed, crossing his arms.
The dragon got down from Hitch's back and ran towards the pile to climb it up.
"Hitch, uh, what's your dragon doing?" Zipp asked him.
"This is going to be the best birthday present for a friend I've ever made because I finally have a friend and it's her birthday!" Izzy said, sitting on the top of the pile.
Zipp decided to flew over Izzy and record her with her phone. However, what she was recording was Izzy's Cutie Mark, that was shining bright as she kept working on her pile.
And then, Izzy noticed Zipp flying over her. "Hi Zipp!" she greeted the pegasus, but then the pile tilted a little, and at the bottom of the pile, the baby dragon pulled out a ball of yarn. And with that removed, the entire pile fell down and Izzy started to fall as well.
"No!" Hitch shouted, and his Cutie Mark started to glow as well.
"Izzy!" Knuckles shouted too, and he immediately ran to catch her. He jumped in the air and glided, then he grabbed Izzy in bridal style and landed in front of the Brighthouse.
However, Hitch's hooves also glowed in green and pushed him a little. He ended up crashing against Knuckles and Izzy, which caused the three of them to be one over the other.
Zipp sighed in relief, and then looked at Hitch's Cutie Mark. "More glowing Cutie Marks. And random earth pony plant magic" she said, while she recorded everything. "Also, somepony's going to have to clean this up" she pointed out.
"Don't worry Izzy, you're safe now" Hitch told her with a smile.
"I know" Izzy replied with a smile. "I was just screaming 'No' because I lost my crafting glasses" she said, then jumped off of Hitch and Knuckles and looked around for them. But the glasses ended up falling on her face, and she smiled at this. "Double yes!" she said with a cheery smile.
"I wish I could figure out earth pony magic" Hitch said with frustration. "I don't like how crazy it is" he added.
Hitch tried to got up, but then his baby dragon jumped over him, holding the ball of yarn from before, and Hitch fell again on Knuckles.
"And I wish you got off me" Knuckles said, laying on the ground with Hitch over him.
"Oh, right" Hitch said with a chuckle and stood up to give Knuckles some space. "Sorry for that, Knux" he apologized.
"Eh, no biggie" Knuckles said as he got up and cleaned some dust of his body. "But please control the little one, pal" he requested.
And then Izzy sighed with sadness. "But not triple yes" she said with a sad look. "I didn't get to finish my amazing birthday tower of friendship for Sunny!" she added, and then kicked the pile a little. This caused the pile to tilt again, and it dropped a bracelet on Izzy's horn. She looked at the bracelet and smiled brightly. "Accidentally awesome! It's perfect!" she said, and then gasped when she saw Sunny coming out of the Brighthouse with a tired expression.
"Did anypony heard that?" Sunny asked her friends. "It shook the whole Crystal Brighthouse!" she added, still looking tired for some reason.
"Happy birthday, friend!" Izzy greeted Sunny with a smile, still with the bracelet on her horn. "And happy first-time-saying-happy-birthday-friend to me!" she added. "I made you a present!" she said, and then levitated the bracelet from her horn and gave it to Sunny.
"Aww, Izzy!" Sunny said with a smile, looking at the bracelet with joy. Then she putted the bracelet on her mane, while Izzy looked on with a smile. "This is the most amazing birthday present ever!" Sunny said, and then she hugged Izzy as a way to thank her. "I need to show it off!" she added, and then gasped as she got an idea. "Wanna go to the Maretime Bay Craft Fair?" she asked Izzy.
"With my friend on her birthday?!" Izzy said with a joyful smile. "Of course I want to go to that!" she said with a little hop.
Then, a paint can passed running in front of Sunny and Izzy, with Hitch chasing it around until the can tripped and revealed to be the baby dragon, still holding the yarn ball for some reason.
"Alright, you two have fun" Hitch said, once he stopped in front of the baby dragon. "Sparky, Knux and I will clean up all... this" he pointed out to all the mess around. The dragon, Sparky, then sat down with sadness, since he didn't wanted to clean up.
"It's okay little buddy" Knuckles told Sparky with a smile, then he grabbed him and putted on his head. "Once we're done cleaning up, I'll play around with ya" he assured, which made the baby dragon to giggle and smile.
Sunny and Izzy left giggling as well, while Zipp came closer to Hitch, Sparky and Knuckles with her phone. "One case solved: Hitch and Knuckles are going to clean all this up" she said with a confident smirk.
"Zipp will help too" Hitch said suddenly with a smile.
"Right, Zipp?" Knuckles asked with a mocking tone and a smirk as well.
Zipp rolled her eyes and landed. "Okay, fine" she said with annoyance. "Note to Zipp: Leave and then take notes" she told herself and recorded on her phone before putting it away.
Then, Knuckles looked on confused. "Hey, didn't we celebrated Sunny's birthday, like, three weeks ago?" he questioned.
"Yeah, well, since Sunny needs to work today, on her actual birthday, she wanted to celebrate it before" Hitch explained. "That's why me made her birthday party back then, but we're going to do a little party later today as well" he added with a smile.
"That... Actually, that kinda makes sense" Knuckles simply replied, since he didn't wanted to think to deep on it or else he was going to have a mental breakdown.
On the Brighthouse room, Tails was preparing a yellow machine for a test, with the machine being powered by Sonic. He was trying to reconnect Sonic's link with the Emeralds for them to fully work again, as well as testing if his powers could make the portal work at all.
"Um, Tails?" Sonic called out. "When you mentioned 'Quill power' for the phase two of the portal creation, I did not expected you to refer to this..." he said with a worried tone.
"I need to test if your new powers can power up the Emeralds. Now that they're shining again, maybe it would work this time" Tails replied. "And don't worry about what might happen to you. All you need to do is activate your electrical powers, and I'll do the rest" he assured with a smile.
"Please tell me that I won't blow up, even if it's a lie" Sonic begged.
"You won't blow up" Tails told him as he rolled his eyes. "And it isn't a lie, you are going to be okay" he reassured.
"If you say so..." Sonic said with worry, still not to confident on this plan.
"Alright, everything is ready. Now, just activate your powers and let me work my magic" Tails requested.
Sonic nodded, still unsure about this, but decided to help anyways. Sonic closes his eyes, and his body turned on blue while his electrical powers came to life. Tails pushed a green button that activated the machine, and since Sonic had multiple cables connected to his body, the electricity of his body was redirected to the Chaos Emeralds, that were resting over some pedestals were the other side of the cables connected to Sonic ended. Once the electricity reached the Chaos Emeralds they started to glow again and float a little bit in the air.
"Tails!" Sonic called out, still with his eyes closed, but also with a smile. "T-The connection... I-It's back!" he said with joy. "At least with this Emeralds, but still!" he said.
"Great!" Tails replied with a smile as well. "But now hold on, Sonic. I need to make sure that the power of just these two it's enough to activate the portal" he added, and then he pushes some levers and pressed a blue button, which made the Emeralds to twirl around Sonic.
After twirl for a few seconds, the Emeralds got together and started to open a small blue portal. It wasn't anything big, but it showed something from the other side. Tails could not see what it was since the light of the portal was too bright, so he putted on some googles he made and made zoom to the image at the other side of the portal. "Wow! That's Sunset Heights!" he cried out with surprise and joy.
"Really?!" Sonic asked as he opened his eyes.
Big mistake.
Since he wasn't focusing anymore, the portal immediately disappeared and the Emeralds starting spinning around him again... but this time, they entered his body. This confused both Sonic and Tails, but nothing prepared them for what came next: Sonic's body shone a little before turning on a pink tone, while his eyes became red and his quills lifted up a bit.
"What the–?!" Sonic exclaimed confused. "What's the meaning of this?!" he asked a little panicked, just for the Emeralds to come out of his body and land in the ground, still shining a bit, while Sonic landed on his back in the ground with a thud and a growl.
Tails decided to turn off the machine by pressing a red button, took of his googles and then ran towards Sonic to help him get up. "Are you okay?" he asked, extending his hand to the hedgehog.
"Y-Yeah..." Sonic replied, taking Tails' hand and getting up. "That was... totally strange... It felt like my body had the power of the Emeralds, but it was different then the other times..." he explained, shaking his head a little since he was feeling dizzy.
"What I found weird is that the Emeralds even got into you" Tails said. "We only have four of them, Eggman has two and we don't even know where's the last one..." he pointed out, then putted a finger on his chin. "Maybe these Emeralds have recovered after your little boost... how's your connection with them right now?" he asked.
Sonic closed his eyes again and focused only on the Chaos Emeralds energy, and surprisingly for him, the connection was still there. "It's totally back" he said, opening his eyes again. "At least for the Emeralds we have, the rest are still dead for the moment. But hey! It's a big progress!" he pointed out with a smile.
"Yeah... but still, I need some questions to answer... like why they stopped working in the first place? Why did they only shone when that crystal was broke on them? Why they didn't worked out before Knuckles and I came here? Nor when you and him used Chaos Control?" Tails kept questioning. "And most importantly: where does this new powers of yours came from?! Did you born with them but you never knew, or did they just appeared here in Equestria?" he kept saying.
"Tails!" Sonic called out to him, while Tails finally stopped asking around and deep breathed. "Chill, man" he told him with a smile. "Look, I also have questions of my own. There's a lot we don't understand of this world, like how their magic works, or how it affects the Chaos Emeralds. But I know that we would find out the answers we are seeking, we just have to be patient" he added.
"Says the guy who cannot wait around for more than 10 seconds" Tails said with a playful smirk.
"Oh, shut it!" Sonic said with a smile, punching Tails softly on his shoulder. "I'm trying to be a wise brother here!" he added with a little chuckle. "But seriously, we'll get to the bottom of this, we just have to wait" he finished with a smile.
"Right... but I do want to research more... can you give me one of your quills?" Tails asked with a nervous smile.
"Um, sure..." Sonic said, as he took one of his quills out and gave it to Tails. "But why, tho?" he questioned with confusion.
"I have some theories on your powers, and I feel like this quill can help me to test them out!" Tails explained with a determinate look. He then moved to his desk and putted the quill on some kind of little capsule, and his computer started to analyze the quill automatically.
"Well, if you need me, I will be on town with Pipp for a Craft Fair or something. See ya later!" Sonic said with a smile, then boosted out of the room.
"Um, actually, I was wondering if you could..." Tails tried to request, but Sonic already left when he turned around. Then he looked at the machine made a mess again and the Emeralds still on the ground. He then sighed in disappointment and his ears fell. "... Okay then... bye, I guess..." he said with sadness.
While they walked towards Maretime Bay, Sunny and Izzy also talked to each other along the way.
"Thank you again, Izzy" Sunny thanked her unicorn friend. "I love this custom mane-cessory so much" she said with a smile.
"And I didn't even know that's what it was!" Izzy said with a smile as well. "How awesome is that?" she asked.
"Better than awesome. It's Izzy-tastic!" Sunny joked.
Both mares started to laugh at the joke, while Izzy's Cutie Mark kept shining. But none of them noticed a unicorn mare coming out of the bushes. She had a light blue fur with some pink parts around, a curly mane both purple and aquamarine, a blue and pink horn and - the most surprising of all - no Cutie Mark. She was staring at Sunny and Izzy with her binoculars, then she zoomed to see Izzy's Cutie Mark shining bright.
She pulled out some kind of magical mirror to talk with Opaline. "It's true!" the unicorn said to the alicorn. "Magic has returned to Equestria like you said!" she added.
"Excellent" Opaline replied. "Then we shall proceed with our plan" she added with an evil grin.
"Did I told you, or did I told you?!" Dr. Eggman said somewhere behind the alicorn.
"Not now, Doctor!" Opaline replied angrily.
The unicorn mare closed the mirror with a little frown and walked towards Maretime Bay with an evil grin as well.
In Maretime Bay, Sunny was at her smoothie stand, while Izzy was trotting around, looking at the crafts of the Fair with awe.
"Howdy, Sunny!" an old earth pony stallion greeted. "Got your smoothie parts ya ordered" he told her.
"Oh great!" Sunny replied with a smile. "Uh, just drop them in the bin" she told the earth pony, but then she heard som thuds outside the stand. She came out and found the fruits on a bigger size than usual. "Earth pony magic just keeps getting... bigger!" she said to herself, then chuckled a little since she found the joke funny.
Meanwhile, Izzy was still trotting around the Fair. "Wow, look at that!" she said, looking at some flowers. "Oh, and that!" she said again, looking at something else. But since she wasn't looking where she was going, she crashed onto Pipp. "Oh!" she said, but then realized who se ran into. "Pipp!" she said with a smile.
"Izzy!" Pipp greeted, smiling as well.
"You knew about the craft fair too?!" Izzy asked with surprise.
"It's the only place to be!" Pipp pointed out, as she looked back at her phone. "That's what I've been saying on my socials" she added, then turned her phone camera on and started to record the fair. "That's right, everypony! The Maretime Bay Mane Street craft fair is the only place to be for the hottest craftables, wearables and snackables!" she pointed out, recording all the stands of the fair, then she stopped once Izzy entered on her camera's vision. "Tell them, Izzy!" she said.
"Couldn't say it better myself, 'cause I don't remember what you said!" Izzy said with a cherry smile.
"And post!" Pipp said, finishing the recording and posting it on her social media.
And then, a blue ball rolled around the Fair, until it stopped in front of the two mares and straightened. It revealed himself to be Sonic, who cleaned up some dust from his body and then settled his quills. Pipp looked on with a blush, while Izzy just giggled at her friend's blush.
Once Sonic finished fixing his look, he looked at Pipp and Izzy, and smiled softly. "Aha! Just the pony I was looking for" he said, walking towards the two mares. "And of course, Izzy. I'm not surprised to find you here, to be honest. After all, the Craft Fair must be some kind of paradise to you" he said with a little wink.
"Yup!" Izzy replied with a smile. "I wanted to come and make Sunny some company on her birthday!" she added.
"On her birth–– You know what? I'm not even going to ask" Sonic said with a bored expression. "And sorry to get late, Little Pipp, but Tails was testing something with my powers and the Emeralds. You know how he gets when curiosity gets over him" he pointed out with a smile.
From the moment Sonic started to talk, Pipp was able to broke from her little fantasy world with Sonic and replied. "N-No problem, Big S!" Pipp said with a nervous chuckle. To make sure her blush gets away, she looked at Izzy and started to walk towards Sunny's smoothie stand. "S-So, Izzy. Are you here to shop, or browse, or––" she tried to ask Izzy, but then she stopped her and gasped dramatically. "Oh my hoofness!" she exclaimed, looking straight at Izzy's gift on Sunny's mane and getting out her phone to record it. "What is Sunny wearing?" she questioned with excitement.
"The birthday present I made her!" Izzy replied, stepping in front of the video. "It was a bracelet, but she put it on her mane. So it's that now" she whispered to the camera.
"It's everything!" Pipp sang. "I'm calling it: this mane-cessory is the trend of the day" she stated with a smile.
Sonic whistled, looking at Izzy's gift. "Nice job, Izz!" he complimented her. "Little Pipp's right: this is going viral for sure!" he added with a smile.
Pipp then turned the camera around so it could show herself. "Come on down to the craft fair and get one for yourself, Pippsqueaks!" she told her followers, and then turned the camera again to face Sunny, who putted a giant strawberry on the blender, and then fell backwards, getting one of the recipients with the straws on her head, as she got up and giggled.
"Look at all of these likes, guys!" Pipp told both Izzy and Sonic, showing them her phone were the video of Izzy's gift for Sunny went viral. "And look at that" she said, looking at all the new clients Sunny got thanks to Pipp's video. And of course, it meant that many of them wanted Izzy to give them something similar.
"When I said 'this is going viral', I didn't meant this..." Sonic said with a worried expression, while Izzy chuckled nervously and gulped, since she didn't think the video would get that viral.
Back in the Brighthouse, Hitch, Zipp and Knuckles finished cleaning up, since Sparky was too busy playing around.
"So you know how my hooves glowed when the ground moved and the I heroically saved Izzy?" Hitch asked to the other two, pushing a cart with some things inside the Brighthouse.
"I saved Izzy, Hitch. You just crashed into us" Knuckles corrected with a bored expression, pushing three carts thanks to his strength.
"Heroically" Zipp added sarcastically.
"Well, that's how I remember it" Hitch said with a smirk, being followed by Sparky. "You think that all this earth pony magic stuff is safe, right?" he questioned to Zipp.
"Of course!" Zipp assured with a smile. "You earth ponies can grow plants with your hooves! How could that be bad?" she pointed out.
"Yeah! And what's the worst that can happen?" Knuckles added with a smile. "Besides, some growing plants haven't kill anyone!" he pointed out as well.
"But I'm still investigating what else our powers can do..." Zipp added with a thoughtful face. The three grown ups got away from the closet to bring more stuff, and then Sparky got inside the closet and started to bring some things out. "I do know one thing's for sure: whenever anypony's 'sparkle' really starts to shine, their Cutie Mark glows!" Zipp added, showing Hitch and Knuckles some pictures of ponies' Cutie Marks glowing.
"But why?" Hitch asked, grabbing another box to put it on the closet.
"Still a mystery" Zipp replied, as she started to fly backwards and looking at her phone. "But I can't wait to figure it out!" she added with a smile.
"Wait a second, are you telling me that those tattoos on your butts shining isn't something normal?" Knuckles questioned, looking at Zipp genuinely confused.
"Um, no that I'm aware of... why?" Zipp asked back with a raised eyebrow.
Knuckles suddenly frowned and made his knuckles bump into each other. "Sonic, you big son of your owl mother!" he said with frustration. "Man, keeping the PG-13 rating is hard for me..." he muttered to himself.
"Knuckles, what are you talking about?" Hitch questioned.
"Sonic has been seeing your Cutie Marks glowing ever since he helped you to restore your magic!" Knuckles confessed. "He said it was normal when Tails and I finally noticed it, but if you have no idea why it does that, then––" he tried to explain further, but he got cut off.
"HE SAID WHAT?!" Zipp shouted to Knuckles. "Are you telling me that he KNEW this happened ever since we restored magic, BUT HE DIDN'T SAID ANYTHING?!" she shouted again with anger.
"Oh no, don't you dare to release your anger on me!" Knuckles warned her. "If anything, it's Sonic you should be mad with, he's the one who supposed that this was normal!" he pointed out.
"Guys, let's calm down here!" Hitch said, putting Knuckles and Zipp aside before they did something they would regret. "Let's focus on other things first" he begged. "Like: Zipp, can you figure out why everything we just put away isn't put away?" he questioned the pegasus.
Every sign of anger both Knuckles and Zipp felt left immediately when they noticed the empty closet. Zipp then turned around and putted a bored expression, then made both Hitch and Knuckles to look on a certain direction, and they all saw Sparky carrying all those things away.
Hitch gasped and looked at his baby dragon a little mad. "Sparky Sparkeroni! That's not helping!" he said with disapproval.
Zipp snorted a bit when she heard Sparky's full name. "Sparky... Sparkeroni?" she questioned with a smirk.
"Yup. Named him myself" Hitch replied with a pride smile. "Good, huh?" he questioned, while Zipp looked at him not convinced on his last name.
"I keep insisting that put him your last name is a better idea. He's your son!" Knuckles pointed out.
"I don't know, Knux. I thing it's better to gave something more original than just gave him and existent last name" Hitch tried to resonate.
"Actually... despite what happened a few moments ago, I have to be with Knuckles on this one" Zipp confessed. "You better give him your last name, sheriff" she said with a bored expression.
And then, Sparky started to cry out loud, which made Knuckles to growl on annoyance.
"This baby dragon needs a nap!" Hitch stated with a soft tone.
"Please!" Knuckles said on a begging tone.
"You guys wanna keep putting this stuff away while I tuck him in? Thanks" Hitch said, just to immediately walk towards Sparky, grab him and put him on his back. Sparky almost immediately fell sleep on Hitch's back, while the sheriff walked away from the Brighthouse.
"Seriously, man? Using your baby dragon as an excuse to stay away from work?" Knuckles said with annoyance.
"Ugh..." Zipp said annoyed as well, taking her phone out again. "Another mystery to solve: How do I always end up cleaning?" she questioned, looking around to the mess with annoyance.
"You think this is bad? I have to clean Sonic and Tails' mess back home! And I don't even live with them!" Knuckles complained.
Back at Mane Street, where the Craft Fair kept going, Sunny kept attending her stand, giving a smoothie to Toots while her Cutie Mark was shining.
"Here you go!" Sunny told toots, extending the smoothie to him.
Toots took the smoothie and slurped from it. "Your smoothies are the best!" he complimented her. "What's your secret?" he asked.
"Well, first I take a really big strawberry and then––" Sunny tried to explain, but she got cut off by Izzy, who poked her head a little from the lower part of the stand.
"Psst. Sunny!" Izzy called out, and then she suddenly dragged Sunny to the ground with her.
"Whoa!" Sunny said out in surprise. "Izzy! Why are you hiding?" she asked her friend.
But Izzy shushed her with a worried expression. "Pipp told everypony how great the gift I made for you is and now everypony wants one!" she explained in whispers with concern.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Sunny asked in whispers.
"No! I made that one for you. It was lightning in a glue bottle!" Izzy replied. "What if I can't make another one?" she questioned with worry.
"Aw, you don't have to be afraid to share your special talents with everypony!" Sunny pointed out with a smile.
"Right?" Pipp said, suddenly poking her head from the outside of the stand, while Sonic decided to poke his head as well. "We pegasi always say 'let your creativity fly'!" she sang the last part and then giggled. "Come on, I'll show you" she told Izzy, and then grabbed her to take her out of the stand.
"Whoa!" Izzy said with surprise.
"I'm gonna take my usual, Sunny" Sonic said with a wink.
Once Sunny gave Sonic his smoothie, he catch up with Pipp and Izzy, not knowing that they were being observed by Opaline's unicorn assistant from a bridge not so far from their location.
"Oh, you're over thinking it, Izz" Pipp told Izzy, as she flew by her side. "You don't have to make anything new, you just make the same thing, but better!" she added with confidence.
"Like... I just have to copy myself?" Izzy questioned with innocence.
"Basically" Sonic added, since he was with them too. "There's a lot of things I could gave an example, but I think Little Pipp can explain it better" he told Izzy.
"Mhmm. You just had to add a twist!" Pipp said, as she flew over a small stage and brought her phone out. "That's what I do with my songs. Like this one!" she told, while Izzy came closer to the stage, Sonic ended his smoothie quickly and dropped in the trash can so he could listen to Pipp as well. Also Seashell, Glory and Peach Fizz got close to the stage as well to hear Pipp perform.
First thing's first, you gotta look for the spark That bit of magic way deep down in your heart
You gotta follow your beat (beat, beat) And then soon you will see (see, see) You won't have that far to go Until your song starts to grow All you need is your beat (your beat, your beat)
All you need is your groove (groove) Hey, come on! To get them stomping their hooves (hooves) And then the next thing you'll know Imagination will flow All you need is your beat All you need is your beat (beat) Woo! (All you need is your beat) Ba-da-da, ba-da-da
After Pipp finished, the crowd applauded to her, and Sonic even whistled in excitement.
Meanwhile, Pipp was panting a little after her performance. "So? What do you think?" she asked as she moved her wings like arms. "Do you like the song?" she asked again.
"Pssh! Are you kidding?! It's exactly like the last one, but better!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile.
"Yeah. What can I say? I know my brand" Pipp replied with a smug.
"Sure do. You always manage to outdo yourself, Little Pipp" Sonic told her with a soft smile and a wink, while Pipp blushed a little and laughed nervously at the sign.
"And now I know what I have to do" Izzy said with a smile. "But I'm gonna need to go to the Crystal Brighthouse for supplies!" she added.
"Oh, I'll go too, I need to write a new hit!" Pipp said with a bright smile, flying over to the Brighthouse.
"I'll go as well. Gotta make sure Tails doesn't take the place down with his little projects" Sonic said, as he boosted to the Crystal Brighthouse as well.
Once in the Brighthouse, Izzy started to make a mess by taking things out of the closet that Zipp and Knuckles recently cleaned up.
"Need this" Izzy said, trowing some things behind. "Oh, gotta have this" she said while both Zipp and Knuckles looked at her in annoyance. "And this is extra-necessary!" she told herself, holding a boat and trowing it back.
"You have to be kidding me..." Knuckles muttered both to Zipp and himself.
"We literally just finished putting all of that in there" Zipp pointed out with annoyance.
"Has anypony seen my crafting glasses?!" Izzy asked with worry, not noticing that she had them on her forehead. Knuckles rolled his eyes and walked towards her, then putted the glasses over her face again. "Never mind! Got 'em! Thank you, Knuckles!" Izzy thanked the equidna.
"Yeah yeah, anytime kid, now can you move so we put everything on place again?" Knuckles said with a bored expression and his arms crossed.
"Sure!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile, moving aside from the closet so Zipp and Knuckles could clean up again. "Time to get to work!" she told herself. "Okay, okay, okay, okay. Now it's time to make something that's better than another thing" she said, levitating a yarn ball and analyzing it.
On the other hand, Sonic was looking on his phone to some pictures of Pipp since he wanted to surprise her with something, but still couldn't find what to do exactly. And then he looked at Zipp was in front glaring at him. "Hi, Zipp" he greeted with a smile.
"You knew about the Cutie Marks glowing this whole time?!" Zipp shouted at him.
"Uh... yeah? It's something that happens whenever you guys are really happy or doing unity stuff and things like that" Sonic explained, a little confused on why Zipp was mad at him. "But that's everything I know. Why? Did something related to Cutie Marks happened?" he questioned.
"No! But you knew this for months and didn't said anything! I though you said 'no more secrets'!" Zipp complained with a frown.
"What? A secret?! But I though you knew! I was sure it was something normal!" Sonic defended himself.
"Seriously?! You could have asked!" Zipp pointed out. "And even tho everything you know about them is everything I know about them, that doesn't skip the fact that you knew this for months!" she yelled at him.
"Ok, I admit that I screw it by assuming you knew, and I'm sorry. But If everything I know it's everything you know, why complaining in the first place?" Sonic pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
Zipp tried to reply, but nothing came to her, so she just closed her mouth and sighed in defeat.
"Well, if you two finished fighting like 5 year olds, can someone help me clean up, please?" Knuckles requested to both Sonic and Zipp.
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!!!" Tails voice was heard suddenly.
"I'm gonna check out on Tails" Sonic said quickly, and then ran upstairs.
"What?! No, wait! SONIC!" Zipp yelled out with a frown, and then growled in frustration.
Tails was still running some tests on Sonic's quill and the Chaos Emeralds, while Pipp was on her desk trying to get some inspiration to write a new song.
"Fascinating!" Tails muttered to himself. "These Chaos Emeralds have recovered at full thanks to my tests with Sonic's quill. But I still don't know where these powers came from, or how powerful they are considering he's like a walking battery now..." he added, rubbing his chin with curiosity. Then, his computer made a noise that called his attention. "Oh, the full results are up. Just in time! Now, let's see..." he told himself, as he read trough the analysis of Sonic's quill.
Meanwhile, Pipp was wearing headphones and singing to herself to find some inspiration and write a new song. "No, no" she told herself, then started to sing a tune again. "That is not it! Ugh!" she complained, then wrote down something on her notebook when suddenly her phone chimed. "Oh, oh, a message!" she said excited, grabbing her phone to check it out. "I guess I can take a teensy break" she told herself. "'When's your next new hit drop'? Ugh!" she read and complained, since that's what she's trying to do. "I'll respond to that later. What I need now is... am... a snack!" she said with a smile, then she threw her phone to her bed. "Then, make the new hit, then––" she tried to say, but...
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!!!" Tails voice shouted out, which startled Pipp a little. "B-But that's not possible! This is just a quill! It's just 0,0000004% of Sonic's body! If just a quill has this much power, then Sonic's basically invincible!" he stated with panic, not believing what the results said.
"Uh, Tails?" Pipp called out, walking towards him. "Are you okay?"
"Tails!" Sonic's voice was heard, and then he came quickly into the room. "I heard you shouting, are you okay? Did you got hurt? How many fingers I'm showing?" he kept asking, then showed Tails 4 fingers.
"Physically, I'm fine" Tails said, a little bit calmed before panicking again. "Mentally, I'm not so sure anymore!" he confessed. "The results of my analysis on your quill are here, and... YOU HAVE NO LIMITS!!!" he shouted in disbelief.
Both Sonic and Pipp looked at each other confused. "Um, Tails, elaborate please..." Sonic requested, while Pipp just nodded in agreement.
"You have unlimited power!" Tails finally revealed. "You're like a battery that never runs out of energy! I-I cannot find out how you got this powers or when yet, b-but if this thing is not lying, you're like the most powerful creature in the world right now! You're as powerful as an alicorn for this world!" he added with both shock and worry.
Now both Sonic and Pipp's jaws dropped. Sonic was having a hard time realizing that he was probably - emphasis on this word - more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds together, and that one of his quills didn't even had a quarter of his power.
"Someone gave me a chair or something because I'm about to..." Sonic tried to request, and just when he was falling backwards, Tails quickly moved a chair so Sonic could land on it. He started to breath heavily, while Pipp use one of her wings to gave him some wind so he could calm down, while she also putted a hoof over his hand to gave him some comfort. "I'm as powerful... as an alicorn... in this world..." he muttered to himself.
"Sorry to said it just like that, but... well... I had to..." Tails apologized.
"Don't" Sonic told Tails. "Don't apologize. I'm not mad, but this is... wow..." he said. Pipp rubbed her hoof over Sonic's hand, while Sonic opened his palm to accept her hoof and rubbed a bit as well.
"I, um, I think I'm gonna call it a day for now" Tails said, putting all his research stuff aside. "After this, I think I'm done looking for answers for now. I'm gonna take a bath" he added, then flew out of the room.
Pipp stayed with Sonic, and she decided to gave him a hug for more comfort. Sonic accepted the hug, returning it as well. "You know I'm here if you need to talk, Sonic" Pipp told him with a soft voice.
"I know, Pipp" Sonic replied. "And thank you" he added, braking the hug and smiling at her with a blush.
Pipp smiled back, blushing a bit as well, and she kissed his cheek softly. "Anytime" she said, and then flew out of the room as well, since she knew Sonic needed a little time alone.
Once she flew downstairs, she heard Izzy complaining. "Ugh. No, that's not it!" Izzy cried out.
Pipp flew closer and landed on Izzy's side. "What's up, Izzy?" she asked her with worry.
"Oof! I can't decide what to make!" Izzy complained, trowing a bush away with frustration.
"Ah. I know what's wrong" Pipp told Izzy. "You have creative block" she explained.
Izzy gasped, and looked at Pipp with fear. "Is it permanent?" she asked in panic.
"Well, lucky for you, I have the solution!" Pipp assured with a smile. "You just need to listen to your fans and do what they want" she explained.
"Okay, that's, that's brilliant!" Izzy complimented with a smile. "Did you come up with that when you had creative block?" she asked Pipp.
"Me?" Pipp asked, pointing at herself. "I've never had creative block" she confessed.
"Well if you ever do, then you should listen to yourself, because that totally helped" Izzy assured with a smile. "Now I just have to figure out how to bring all these supplies to the Craft Fair so I can find my inspiration from pony fans!" she said, holding two hoof fans that had a random pony face and Pipp's face respectively. "Because these... did... they didn't work" Izzy said a little disappointed, putting the fans aside and looking for something else. "Don't know why" she finished.
Pipp, however, grabbed the hoof fan that had her face on it, and made a bit of wind to herself. "Okay, what do I do?" she asked herself. "I'm so good at solving other ponies problems, but not my own..." she pointed out. "I should just listen to..." and then she remembered what Izzy just told her with a gasp. "Myself! That's it! I gotta go to the place that makes my heart sing to find my sound!" she told herself, then she flew away singing to herself, while Izzy looked at her a bit confused.
At Mane Melody, Pipp tried to made some vocals for her new song, but she kept singing off-key, which made both Jazz and Rocky to cringe a little.
"That was... almost it?" Jazz said with an awkward smile.
"You're sweet, but that was so not it" Pipp said on her microphone with panic.
"But you'll get there!" Jazz assured, now with a normal smile while Rocky nodded in agreement.
However, Pipp was panicking a lot on the stage, trotting back and fort and trying to come up with something. "Wait, wait!" she said suddenly. "What was that great advice Izzy gave me that I gave her?" she asked herself. "Oh yeah! Listen to what the fans want!" she said with a happy smile.
Pipp took her phone out to cheek on some suggestions. However, that wasn't helping either. "Oh! Make a new hit!" Peach Fizz said on a video.
"Like the old ones!" Glory said on another video, flapping her wings.
"But different and better!" Seashell said in the last video.
Pipp looked on with a bored expression. "That didn't help" she told to herself, putting her phone aside. "At least Izzy is having better luck" she finished, hoping Izzy was doing better than her.
Not true.
Izzy was having trouble as well, since she was not able to make something that the rest of the ponies liked. Knuckles decided to make her some company, since he didn't liked to see Izzy down.
"I am just not feeling it" Izzy said with frustration, playing with a yarn ball at her side.
"Hey, don't give up now, kid" Knuckles told her with a soft smile. "You just have to find something that makes your sparkle shine again" he assured.
"No, but it's not about me" Izzy said suddenly, with her enthusiasm returning. "Gotta make stuff to please everypony else!" she stated with determination, levitating some yarn balls in the process.
"Uh, I don't know Izz. I think you should take a break so your mind can come up with the ideas" Knuckles suggested, but Izzy wasn't listening at all. "Or just keep doing your thing..." he said with a bored expression.
Meanwhile, Sunny was giving a group of earth pony friends some smoothies. "Here's your berry cantaloupe, a tootie fruity and a jicama-pear-shake" she told the ponies, giving them their respective smoothies. "Do you like your smoothies?" she asked them with a smile.
"Big flavors!" one of the ponies said.
"Yummy fruit!" said another one with a smile.
"Delicious!" the last one stated.
"Tastes like magic!" said an old earth pony stallion behind.
And suddenly, Sunny saw Izzy levitation lots of stuff and Knuckles carrying some boxes, which made her felt curious on what were they doing. "Uh... Be right back!" she told the clients, and then got out of her smoothie stand to check on Izzy and Knuckles. But once she approached them, Izzy fell on her table with disappointment and sadness.
"Uh, do I look desperate?!" Izzy asked Sunny and Knuckles, as her face clearly showed that she was desperate since she gave an awkward smile and her left eye twitched.
"A little!" Sunny said with a nervous smile.
"Very" Knuckles said with a neutral tone.
"Good, because I am super desperate!" Izzy confessed. "And I have no idea what I'm doing! I mean, even my piles aren't towers anymore! Doesn't that say it all?" she finished with a sad face.
"Don't you see?" Sunny asked her. "Nopony does it like Izzy does it!" she stated.
"Yeah! You're the best on everything you do!" Knuckles added with a cheery smile.
"Making mess of thing?" Izzy asked innocently.
"No!" both Sunny and Knuckles told her.
"We mean that you can dream up such unique creations because of who you are" Sunny told her.
"Couldn't say it better myself!" Knuckles said with a smile. "The only one who can top Izzy's creations is Izzy herself. So cheer up, kid, you just have to find your inspiration!" he assured to her.
"Exactly!" Sunny said, agreeing with the Equidna. "Dig deep and just... go back to your roots!" she added with a smile.
And then, Izzy gasped excited. "Sweet sauce horseshoe toss!" she exclaimed. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?" she asked to both Sunny and Knuckles.
They looked at each other confused before reply. "Um... Yes. Yes, we are!" Sunny ended up saying.
"Sure thing, whatever you think it is..." Knuckles said with an awkward smile.
Izzy chuckled a little and then reunited Sunny and Knuckles for a hug. "Thanks, guys! You're the best!" she stated to both of them, and then looked at Sunny. "Also: Happy birthday, friend! Oh, that is so fun to say!" she added, before breaking the hug and walk away with her stuff.
"I'm gonna make sure she doesn't get in trouble" Knuckles told Sunny, before following Izzy. "See ya later, Sunny!" he waved her.
Meanwhile, Sunny returned to her stand to keep going with her work, not noticing that Opaline's assistant was near the stand and putted the magic mirror in front of her. With an evil grin, the unicorn mare left, hoping that Sunny would eventually realize what she has on her stand.
On Mane Melody, Pipp's fans where waiting for Pipp to release her new song, that wasn't even made yet.
"The Pippsqueaks are waiting!" Jazz said with panic to Rocky.
"But we can't rush her process!" Rocky pointed out.
"Ohh, how about a power ballad?! No, that'll never work!" Pipp told herself, still trying to find what to do with her new song.
And then, both Rocky and Jazz noticed her Cutie Mark stopped shining. "Oh no, oh no!" Jazz said with worry, as she and Rocky looked at each other worried.
Pipp starting to panic and sobbing as well. "I'm finally out of hits!" she said with sadness and her ears low.
Back in Opaline's Castle, Opaline herself was sitting on her throne, while Dr. Eggman was checking the camera of his robotic bird to check on Sonic, but got nothing interesting yet. And then, Opaline's assistant entered the room while Opaline smiled a little.
"So nice of you to come home, Misty" Opaline told the unicorn. "You've been gone so long I thought you got lost..." she said with concern. "... like the time I rescued you as a filly!" she pointed out, getting up from her throne and opening her wings. "So kind of me to do that" she complimented herself, while Misty looked down a bit nervous and Eggman rolled his eyes, although none of the mares noticed that. "Well, what have you found?" Opaline asked Misty.
"Uh, uh I think... the stronger magic has something to do with the Cutie Marks, Opaline!" Misty replied.
"Don't 'think', you sound foolish!" Opaline scolded her.
"M-Maybe... if I had one I could figure it out and––" Misty tried to suggest, but Opaline cut her off.
"Enough!" Opaline shouted, startling Misty.
Eggman was the kind of guy that also treated really bad to his 'assistants', mostly to Orbot and Cubot, but for some reason he didn't enjoyed when Opaline treated Misty the same way. Probably because he knew that Misty was there because she owned her life to Opaline, but if it wasn't for that detail, Misty could perfectly leave and never come back. For the first time since he had memory, Eggman felt... emphatic for a living being that wasn't really evil nor a machine.
"How could the magic have anything to do with Cutie Marks?" she questioned.
"They glow when it happens!" Misty replied, while Opaline gave the unicorn her back and faced some kind of boiler. "And the earth ponies, they can control the plants!" she added.
"Hmm..." Opaline muttered, then she made her horn glow to make the boiler work. "New magic? Well then..." she added, making some kind of projection of Maretime Bay appear. "Even more reason to begin the plan" she stated with an evil grin.
"So you do will make something after all" Eggman said suddenly. "And here I though I was going to do all the hard work" he added with a mocking tone.
"Oh, shut it, doctor" Opaline said. "You haven't done a single move in the last two months, it is time that I do something about it" she pointed out.
"Unlike you, I wait for the right moment. It's taking a lot, that's true, but I know how to make sure they never see it coming. So, in the mean time, have fun!" Eggman replied with a grin.
"Oh, I'll surely enjoy this, doctor" Opaline assured with a smile. "And when we're done..." she paused to face Misty, who stood at her side. "You'll get your Cutie Mark. And I'll be even more powerful than I was before!" she stated, and then laughed like a maniac.
Eggman looked askance to the mares, and again he felt bad for Misty. Whatever this feeling is... I hope it goes away, because my masterplan can't be interrupted by stupid human feelings he thought to himself.
Back in Sunny's smoothie stand, she gave a smoothie to Jasper, who levitated the smoothie with his magic.
"Mystic Melon, from me to you!" Sunny told Jasper, who slurped from the smoothie and walked away. And it was at that moment that Sunny noticed the mirror, wrapped on a pink bow. "Aw, Pipp must have left me a surprise birthday gift!" she said, thinking that probably Pipp gave her the mirror.
She decided to end her job for the day, but just when she closed the stand, she noticed something that caught her attention. She putted her cart of smoothies on her back, and then walked towards the beach. From the balcony of the main town, where the beach could be seen, Sunny noticed Sonic looking at the horizon, lost in his thoughts and worried as she could tell. Now that she was closer, she noticed that Sonic was, indeed, worried about something, and she wanted to know what was upsetting him.
"Hey there, Sonic" Sunny called out, which made Sonic to look at her for a moment before returning his sight to the horizon. "It's something wrong?" she asked, now worried about him.
"I... I don't know..." Sonic replied, which made Sunny's worry increase. "Hey, um, Sunny... how do you feel about... about being the Alicorn?" he questioned her. "You're like... the most powerful being in Equestria, and yet you seem... so chill about it... How do you live with it?" he asked more.
"Well... it was very scary at first... and to be honest, I'm still terrified at the idea that I'm really powerful, yet I don't know how to control my powers at all..." Sunny started to explain a little down, and then smiled. "But... seeing that my power helped bringing unity back among ponykind makes me realize that, powerful or not, I'm still the same Sunny I've always been" she finished with a smile. "Just because I have so much power doesn't mean I have changed. Why are you asking?" she questioned Sonic now.
"Well... I, um... Tails told me that my electrical powers have no limits... which makes me as powerful as an Alicorn..." Sonic explained a little concerned.
Sunny gasped with surprise and a smile. "Really?!" she asked. "But that's great! It means that you can face that Eggman Guy and Opaline more efficiently, right?" she pointed out, hopping a little with excitement.
"Well, yeah, but... I'm afraid that at some point this powers corrupt me... never happened before, thanks to Chaos, but the chances are never zero, unfortunately..." Sonic explained his concern. "What if one day I just wake up and... I'm not myself anymore? What if I harm any of you? What then?" he questioned. "I'm just scared that all this power gets in my head and... turns me into something I'm not..." he finished talking before sigh heavily.
Sunny stared at him for a moment, worried about all the things he pointed out. She didn't knew what to say at first, but then she smiled and looked at him again. "If any of that ever happened, I will do anything on my power to help you get back" she assured him. "And not only me, all of our friends will. Sonic, you're not alone on this, and you'll never be as long as we're your friends" she finished with a soft smile.
Sonic looked at her with a neutral expression at first, but then smiled a little after hearing her. "I know, Sunny. And thank you, for listening. I really needed to take that out of my system..." he thanked her.
"Anytime!" Sunny said with a smile. "And whenever you feel down, remember you can count on any of us to help" she remind him.
"I will write it down on the list" Sonic joked. "Oh, and Happy Birthday by the way" he added with a smile. "Better tell you later than never, right?" he questioned with a smile.
"Thank you!" Sunny said. "I was going to the Brighthouse to prepare for our little celebration at sunset, actually. Wanna come?" she asked him.
Sonic smiled at her and stood up. "That sounds nice, I really could get my mind off this right now" he said.
Both Sunny and Sonic walked towards the Brighthouse, and they found Zipp in the front door checking her phone.
"Hey, Zipp!" Sunny greeted her friend, putting the cart with the smoothies aside. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at a note on the front of the brighthouse.
Zipp putted her phone aside and looked at the note. "Izzy left a note" she said, grabbing the paper to check what it said. "'B. R.B.' Uh... 'F.B.B.B.'" she read, and looked at Sunny and Sonic confused. "What do you think that means?" she asked them.
"I don't know. Izzy's a whole new language that most of the time not even I understand" Sonic confessed with a smile.
"Yeah, I have no idea either" Sunny said with a smile. "But I hope it's 'Izzy code' for being inspired again" she said.
"I wonder were's Knuckles... Haven't seen him since this morning" Sonic said, entering the Brighthouse with a curious look.
Izzy and Knuckles were running towards Bridlewood, since Izzy took seriously Sunny's words.
"Sunny was right!" Izzy said. "All I need to do to find my creativity again is go back to my roots, tree roots. To Bridlewood!" she said with a smile.
"Actually it has sense, what better place to inspire again than the place were it all started?" Knuckles said with a smile.
"Yeah, this is great!" Izzy replied. "Nothing like a Creative Walk to cure Creative Block!" she added with a chuckle. "Fresh air! Fluffy clouds! Birds..." she listed, looking around, but then gasped after seeing a bird passing by. "Birds! Bird hats! Hats for birds?" she asked to the bird that stood on a branch, and then flew away. "Yeah, you're right. That is not it" Izzy said with sadness.
"Hey, kid, don't worry" Knuckles told her, softly putting his hand around her. "You have a big imagination, something would came eventually, you just wait and see" he assured her with a comforting smile.
Izzy smiled back, but since none of them where looking were they were going, they crashed against something metallic and fell backwards, with Izzy's glasses flying off.
They both stood up, and Knuckles rubbed his forehead in pain, while Izzy just shook hers and putted her glasses again. "Oh no, another creative roadblock!" Izzy said with worry.
"My head hurst a lot!" Knuckles complained. "What do we even crashed into?!" he questioned annoyed.
Once they looked at what they crashed into, Izzy opened her eyes wide. "Whoa!" she exclaimed in awe: they apparently crashed into an old motor-scooter that had no wheels and was very rusty. "I mean, I mean, oh yes!" she corrected herself, making her horn glow.
Knuckles noticed that her Cutie Mark was shining again, which meant that her creativity was coming back, and he smiled at this. "Oh yeah! Your sparkle is shining again!" he told her with joy.
"And it seems like we found an actual roadblock!" Izzy said, looking at the scooter using her hooves as a way to focus. "I can work with that!" she said happily.
"Say, didn't you already had a scooter?" Knuckles asked confused.
"Yeah, but It got destroyed accidentally" Izzy said with a sheepish smile. "Don't ask me how" she begged him, while Knuckles just looked at her confused, but decided to obey and don't ask a thing.
Izzy then got closer to the scooter and tried to levitate it, but since it was too heavy, it made her grunt and let the scooter go.
"Let me help ya, Izz" Knuckles said happily, cracking his fists and easily lifting the scooter. "Okay, I got it. So, where do you want it?" he asked her with a smile.
Back in the Brighthouse, Sonic and Sunny helped Zipp to clean up all the mess Izzy made before, since it was a lot for only her and Knuckles, and when Knuckles left, Zipp just gave up, but now Sonic and Sunny decided to help her out. Tails was also there cleaning up, since he was still a bit concerned about Sonic's unlimited power.
"You really didn't have to help me clean up Izzy's stuff, guys" Zipp told Sunny, Tails and Sonic, while she and Sunny pushed some carts with Izzy's things.
"After I basically ran away? I had to" Sonic told Zipp, cleaning around some of the things and putting them on the carts, then he stopped in front of the mares. "I owe it to you, Zipp" he added with a sheepish smile.
"I just like to help!" Tails said with a smile.
"And I don't mind at all" Sunny told Zipp with a smile as well. "I got to spend time with you!" she added, but then she heard a plastic cup falling from one of the carts.
The cup landed in front of Sparky, who picked the cup up and putted over his head as hat. But then the cup fell, and Hitch approached Sparky to pick the cup up. "Where is Izzy? She really should be the one to pick up her stuff" he pointed out.
"Dunno, she left a note" Sunny replied, giving Hitch the note that Izzy left.
Hitch grabbed the note and read it. "'B.R.B.F.B.B.B.'? What?" he said with confusion.
"Let me see that..." Tails told Hitch, grabbing the note and trying to find some kind of logic on it. "Well, 'B.R.B.' it's the acronym for 'Be Right Back', but I can't decipher the rest" he said a little upset.
"Sometimes, Izzy's a total mystery" Zipp said with a smirk, and then she brought out her phone. "Note to self: Learn to speak Izzy code" she recorded, and then the whole group ended up laughing at the joke.
Suddenly, Sparky sneezed and let out a bit of his dragon breath, which turned Zipp's phone into a pizza. Sparky grabbed the slice and tried to bit it, but he sneezed again and the pizza turned back into Zipp's phone. Sparky let the device go and started to cry out loud. "I know, Sparky. You love Izzy, too!" Hitch told to his baby dragon, not knowing what happened recently.
"And where's Knuckles? I haven't heard of him either" Sonic pointed out with his arms crossed.
"I saw him left before with Izzy, so they must be together?" Tails told him.
"Yeah, he said something about checking she doesn't get in trouble" Sunny added. "Maybe we should check on them to see if they need any help?" she suggested.
"I'm on it!" Hitch said suddenly, calling to his animal crew. "Deputies, keep an eye out for Izzy and Knuckles!" he ordered them, while his animal crew saluted and left the Brighthouse, except for the turtle since, well, he's a turtle. "Uh... maybe you stay here and be our eyes in the ground, Curtle" he told the turtle.
"Really? 'Curtle'?" Sonic asked with a mocking tone. "It's his name Curtle Turtle or something like that?" he added, obviously joking.
"'Curtle', yes" Hitch replied with a smile. "But Turtle is his family name" he added.
"... I never though that being sarcastic would make the situation I was being sarcastic about actually a thing, but here we are..." Sonic said on disbelief.
"New mystery: Why did that actually make sense to me?" Zipp recorded on her phone.
And then, the doors bursted open and Pipp entered with worry and panic. "I feel terrible!" she cried out loud. "I gave bad advice to Izzy!" she said with worry.
"What?" Sonic questioned. "About the 'copy herself' thing?" he asked again.
"About everything!" Pipp replied with frustration.
"Dammit!" Sonic said to himself. "I focused on my existential crisis and forgot about her!" he complained with a frown.
"Guys, you were only trying to help a friend" Sunny told to both Sonic and Pipp. "I'm sure she would come back soon" she assured with a smile.
"Oh no!" Pipp cried out with panic again. "She's not here? She's probably avoiding me..." she said with a down town and sadness.
"Okay, that is not true, Little Pipp" Sonic told her with a neutral expression, walking towards her and kneeling while putting a hand over her shoulder. "Although she does have her way of being imposing, she's not the type to feel remorse for someone" he assured her with a smile. Pipp smiled a little back, and she miraculously didn't blushed. Sonic stood up and looked at his wrist like if he had a clock. "She should be back... now!" he said, pointing at the door that opened and both Izzy and Knuckles came inside.
"So it turns out bird hats are not a thing, but guess what I made!" Izzy told the rest.
"Izzy!" all the others said with joy.
"H-How did you––?" Zipp tried to ask Sonic.
"Hedgehog Magic!" Sonic said with a smirk. "Nah, just kidding, I'm just good with timing" he said, conserving his smirk.
Curtle pointed at Izzy with a smile, and Sparky quickly came to her and hugged her leg.
Izzy chuckled a little before reply. "No, I didn't make Izzy, sillies! I am Izzy" she pointed to herself.
"They didn't mean it like that, Izz" Knuckles told her with a smile.
"Where have you been?" Sunny asked both Izzy and Knuckles.
"Didn't you read my note?" Izzy asked them.
Sunny took out the note and Pipp gasped before read it. "'B.R.B.F.B.B.B.'?" she questioned.
"You left a note?" Knuckles asked her, while Izzy just nodded. "I've never noticed, let me see" Knuckles called out, as he grabbed the note and putted on some reading glasses. "'Be Right Back From Bridlewood, Best Buddies'" Knuckles translated perfectly.
"Oh!" all the rest sins Izzy replied in surprise.
"Yeah, I was never gonna crack that one" Zipp confessed with a sheepish smile.
"Me neither, but I'm happy I decipher at least half the message" Tails said with a little smile.
"I don't know why you guys couldn't read it, it's pretty obvious!" Knuckles said, pulling off his glasses.
"Since when do you learn to read?" Sonic asked to Knuckles. The equidna smirked and took a book out of his quills that said 'The reading guide for dummies'. "Never mind, I didn't asked" Sonic said with a little smile.
"And I realize I had to be more creative about being creative!" Izzy said with a cheery smile, now carrying Sparky on his back. "And I needed more supplies" she added as well.
"So it wasn't something I said?" Pipp asked a bit confused.
"It was everything you said" Izzy replied, looking specifically at Sonic, Sunny and Pipp. "You three taught me that in order to feel all sparkly and creative, I just need to be Izzy!" she explained with a smile.
"We did?" Sunny, Pipp and Sonic said together, still confused.
Now Izzy looked at Hitch, Zipp and Knuckles, who stood at Hitch's other side. "And you three made me realize that I had outgrown that little closet" she said.
"We didn't mean to say you weren't welcome, Izzy" Zipp told her a little worried.
"Yeah, kid, sorry if that was the message you got" Knuckles apologized.
"We just didn't like all your junk everywhere!" Hitch said with a smile. At that, Zipp kicked him on the flank and Knuckles punched his neck 'softly'. "Oof!" Hitch complained with pain. "Sorry..." he said.
Tails leaned a little backwards and faced at you. "I didn't appeared that much on this episode, so I'm not offended that she didn't learned anything from me. Just so you knew" he whispered to you, the audience, and winked, then returned his gaze to Izzy.
"You guys were right" Izzy told the rest. "My style was cramped, and so it cramped yours too" she added, while Knuckles walked towards the exit to help Izzy with her surprise. "Sometimes a pony needs open spaces for maximum craftability!" she stated with a smile, while all the rest looked at each other with smiles. "Look!" Izzy told them, guiding the group to the outside of the Brighthouse. "Presenting: Izzy does it!" she exclaimed with joy.
"Does it, does it!" Knuckles whispered, imitating echo.
While the rest of the group looked on confused, Sparky immediately applauded to Izzy's new creation.
"Didn't her scooter got destroyed?" Tails whispered to Sonic. "What is it doing here?" he questioned.
"I was about to ask the same thing..." Sonic whispered back.
"I love it!" Pipp said with a nervous smile. "Ah! It's perfection, like wow!" she added with a little giggle. "Wait, what is it?" she whispered confused to Zipp at her side.
Izzy did heard her, but she smiled and sat on her scooter. "My Unicycling cart!" she said with enthusiasm, and use the honk of the scooter. Then, Knuckles opened the trailer that became taller and revealed various boxes and crafting tools, while Izzy came by to show the rest. "My trailer of treasures!" she showed. Then, with her magic, she pulled out a hidden table and opened it. "My wagon of whimsy!" she revealed. "My––" she tried to reveal something else, but...
"Carriage of creativity?" Sunny asked with a smile.
"Boom! Zing! You got it!" Izzy said with excitement.
The rest sins Knuckles laughed at her attitude. "Ooh" Pipp said suddenly, approaching to the cart. "What's this?" she asked, pointing to some kind of bag over the 'wagon of whimsy', and Izzy levitated the bag and putted on her.
"My Crafty-Sash!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile. "Glasses? Check" she said, pulling her glasses out and putting them on. "Tape? Check" she said, taking out a tape and then throwing it away. "Glitter? Whoo!" she cheered, trowing some Glitter in the air. "A-check" she finished with a smile. Then she levitated some other things to put them on her cart. "And a lot of other things I need on the go. Or even on the stay!" she said, putting down a portrait of Hitch and Sparky.
Sparky immediately ran towards the portrait and started to clap around excited. "So cool!" Pipp said, taking out her phone. "I need to post about this" she stated, ready to take a picture to Izzy's cart.
But then Izzy gasped and stopped her. "Pipp! You just inspired me" she told her with a smile, and then she took Pipp's phone away.
"You inspired her to steal?!" Hitch asked in panic.
"I'm just borrowing!" Izzy shouted.
"That's okay, then" Hitch said with relief.
"Yeah it is. Everything's okay" Sunny said with a smile, then she walked towards Pipp. "And Pipp, I almost forgot. Thank you for the mirror! I love the alicorn design" she thanked Pipp for the gift.
However, Pipp looked at Sunny confused. "Mirror?" she questioned.
"The one you left at my cart this morning!" Sunny said, pulling out the alicorn mirror of her bag.
Pipp stared at it confused, since she definitely not gave Sunny that. Sonic immediately noticed that Pipp didn't knew what to say, so he decided to make a quick move and help her out.
He moved at her side and putted his arm around her neck. "Yeah, Pipp was excited to give it to you, but probably the situation with Izzy and her creative block made her forgot, right Little Pipp?" Sonic asked her, giving her a look that made Pipp understand that she had to play along.
"Y-Yeah!" Pipp replied and chuckled nervously. "That mirror! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Uh, Happy Birthday, Sunny!" she told her nervously.
Once Sunny turned around, Pipp let out a sigh of relief and looked at Sonic with a smile. "Thank you" she whispered to him, while they winked at each other as a sign of complicity.
Zipp noticed this and looked at them suspiciously. "Note to self: Pipp forgot something she bought? And Sonic helped her cover it up? Suspicious" she recorded on her phone.
"Well, try it out, Sunny!" Pipp told her, as she opened the mirror.
"Looks great!" Sunny said, while she looked at it with the rest of the Mane 5 and Team Sonic around her and they all started to laugh.
Now that Sunny finally opened the mirror, Opaline could see the Mane 5 for herself, in better quality than Eggman's machines cameras.
"So these are the weak little ponies that brought back magic?" Opaline asked on disbelief. "And those three must be Sonic, Tails and Knuckles..." she added, noticing that Team Sonic was there as well.
"Almost like anypony could do it" Misty commented.
"Sure. If they have a Cutie Mark" Opaline replied, which made Misty look at her flank in disappointment, since she didn't had a Cutie Mark yet.
Eggman decided to interfere before she did something to Misty. "Don't let their aspects trick you, Opaline" the doctor told her. "If experience has taught me something is that no one near Sonic the Hedgehog can be considered weak. Not even the ones who seem like they couldn't kill a fly" he assured her with an annoying tone.
And then Sunny closed the mirror, which returned the image to and outside look of the Crystal Brighthouse. "What?! No!" Opaline shouted. "Why did it stop?!" she demanded for an answer.
"They went inside" Misty replied. "Maybe the Crystal Brighthouse won't let us watch?" she suggested.
"Did you just make that up?" Opaline asked her with anger.
Before Misty replied, Eggman talked first. "Actually, she's right" he said, which made both Opaline and Misty look at him: Opaline looked with disbelief and Misty with a thankful look. "The little lectures I managed to get from the Crystals says that there's some kind of magic shield blocking any kind of... let's call it 'negative energy' to enter the place" the doctor explained. "In other words: we can only see the inside when Sunny opens the mirror, but I'm telling you Opaline: Sunny isn't an alicorn like you, so don't expect her to look at the mirror very often" he warned her.
"If you're not going to help with your words, then don't talk, Ivo" Opaline glared at him.
"Fine, but don't complain when she doesn't look at herself" Eggman warned again, before stepping back and keep watching in silence.
"If the Brighthouse won't let me see the inside from here... then one of my allies must find a way in" Opaline stated with an evil grin.
"Me?" Misty asked with a little smile.
"Don't be presumptuous, Misty. It's unbecoming" Opaline warned her, walking away from the room.
Misty looked down with disappointment, and then stared at the image of the Brighthouse. Eggman decided to stand at her side.
"Let me advice you Misty: I believe you do earn you Cute Mark, or whatever is called" Eggman confessed with a neutral expression. "But Opaline needs you to prove that you deserved it, so prove yourself to her, and you'll get that Mark before you realize" he told her, still being really neutral, but also sounding as positive as possible.
Misty looked at Eggman on disbelief, but then she smiled and looked back at the Brighthouse, now with a determinate look. "I'll prove my worth to her!" she stated with confidence.
Eggman looked at her again, and that weird feeling of pride grew in him. No, Ivo he thought to himself. You're an evil genius, and no human feelings can change that...
On the Brighthouse dinner table, the group of friends sins Izzy were eating some cake and having a good time celebrating Sunny's birthday again.
Sunny herself squealed excited. "This has been the best birthday in moons!" she said with a joyful smile. "Thanks, everybody!" she thanked her friends. "And I'm so happy Izzy's back and inspired again!" she added.
"So am I!" Pipp said with an awkward smile that faded away as she sighed dramatically. "But there's still one problem..." she confessed.
"What's that?" Hitch asked.
"I haven't figured out my new hit song" Pipp explained with a down expression. "It just hasn't clicked" she added.
"So, you have a creative block as well..." Sonic pointed out. "And I'm gonna guess that following your own advice didn't worked..." he said with a worried expression.
"No..." Pipp confessed.
"Pipp!" Izzy called out, entering to the Brighthouse with a modern record player attached to her phone. "Try this out!" Izzy suggested with a smile.
"Huh?" Pipp said with a smile, flying over the record player. She pressed the play button on her phone, and the same song she sang earlier that day played on a remixed version. "Izzy–– It's my old song, but it's..." she tried to finish, but then faced Izzy with a smile.
"Oh yeah!" Izzy replied.
"Unicycled?" Pipp said with a smile. "Um, genius!" she stated.
"Sing it, Pipp!" Izzy told her with a smile.
Glowing hooves, all the earth po-onies Unicorn lights beneath the trees
The rest decided to approach so they could dance around the living room, while Pipp sang the remixed version of her song. Even Sparky started to dance around on the dinner table.
We're not just one (not one, not one) It's you and me (it's you and me)
While Pipp flew around as she kept singing, the others just danced around and had fun, with Sonic making some break dance moves as well.
(Ponies living large) In unity-ty-ty-ty (Ohh oo-oh) All you need is your beat
Tails still had lots of questions, specially about Sonic's new powers and the mystery attitude the Chaos Emeralds had before they got restored. He could not explain exactly what was going on with them, nor why only the four Emeralds they had were working, while the rest were still half dead.
"I don't know what happened to the Emeralds, nor where Sonic's powers came from, but I'm getting to the bottom of this, even if it's the last thing I'm gonna do!" Tails stated to himself. "And as long as Sonic doesn't gets too excited with his new powers, we should be fine" he added, before leaving the room and return to the party.
Hitch was having another tired day guarding up Maretime Bay, specially since the earth pony magic seemed to be overwhelming him a little.
"I just hope things got more 'normal' eventually" Hitch told himself. "Now I just have to make Sparky sleep, clean all the mess I know he made and then fill up my paperwork... yay" he said on a dead tone. He finally reached the station and entered. "Alright, let's see what's up for..." he stopped in midsentence at what he saw: the station was clean and shining bright, while Sparky seemed to be sleeping over the desk that should be the deputy's desk and he found that the pile of papers, usually covering all his desk, was smaller and organized, something he never saw before since, well, Sprout didn't helped that much and he was alone.
Then, one of the piles was lifted and putted on the ground, and Hitch saw Knuckles sitting on his desk. Once Knuckles returned his gaze up, he noticed Hitch looking at him. "Oh, hi Hitch!" Knuckles greeted. "I hope you don't mind that I'm organizing your stuff... again, but I saw that you had a lot of work and decided to give you a hand or two" he explained with a smile.
"Um, sure, I don't mind, but..." Hitch tried to find the right words. "You've been doing this for a while now, Knux" he said a little concerned.
"Organize your paperworks?" Knuckles asked confused.
"No... Well, yeah, but not only that" Hitch corrected himself. "I mean that you've been entering the station when I'm not around and help me with things that I didn't asked for" he explained. "It's not that I'm not grateful, I really appreciate the detail, but... I don't get why are you doing it, Knuckles" he finished a little worried.
"So you have noticed, huh?" Knuckles said with a sad smile.
"You've done this at least twice a week for the last month, and it's pretty hard to ignore" Hitch confessed.
Knuckles let out a big sigh and stood up from Hitch's desk, then he walked towards the sheriff with a sad frown. "Well... the truth is that I've been trying to feel useful again..." he confessed with sadness.
"What?" Hitch asked with confusion. "What do you mean?" he added.
"Back home I'm known as the guardian of the Master Emerald, one of the - if not the - most powerful artifacts in the entire galaxy" Knuckles began to explain with pride. "As its guardian, it is my duty to keep safe from anyone who attempts to put their claws on it and used it for evil purposes. Dr. Eggman tricked me many times on thinking that Sonic wanted the Master Emerald, and I even lost it because of a bat thieve that's a pain in the ass... But I managed to remain as its guardian anyways..." he paused for a moment, feeling a little down again.
"But?" Hitch asked, knowing that Knuckles would say that next.
"But ever since I ended up here, that connection I have with the Master Emerald has being dying slowly, and now I feel like it just keeps growing apart every day I spent here" Knuckles kept going. "If I'm not guarding the Master Emerald, or helping Sonic and Tails to kick Eggman's butt, I feel... useless" he confessed with sadness. "That's why I hang out with Izzy sometimes, and that's why I help any way I can around, so I can feel I'm doing something important again..." he finished.
"What about Sonic and Tails, tho?" Hitch asked him.
"Sonic just runs around all day and daydreams over Pipp and Chilidogs, while Tails spends most of his time making fancy tech or investigating about things I don't understand" Knuckles said with disappointment. "And Eggman hasn't showed up in a while, so I'm not required on the battlefield either..." he added with sadness. "Sonic got new powers that outmatch the Chaos Emeralds, and Tails is big enough to take care of himself, so... I guess I'm afraid that I'm not needed for anything..." he finished.
"You just want to feel that you're doing something for the rest... right?" Hitch asked him with a little smile.
"Yeah, that's a way to put it" Knuckles said.
Hitch though for a moment. He wanted to help Knuckles out for real, not just cheer him up so he could feel better, no, do something. And luckily, he didn't had to think about it too long: Knuckles could make Sparky sleep, he cleaned up the station and even did some paperwork. Also, they both had something in common: the loved to lift up litter and made other ponies do so. "Well, Knux, I think I have the solution" Hitch stated with a smile.
"To what?" Knuckles asked.
"You want to feel like you're helping, and you want to help others in need, just like me!" Hitch explained. "Also, you love to lift litter the same way I do, so I have the perfect solution for you: Knuckles the Equidna, what would you say to be my fellow deputy?" he asked with a smile.
Knuckles eyes widened as he looked at Hitch in shock. "W-What?!" Knuckles cried out surprised. "Me? Your new deputy? No way! I mean, yeah, I would like to, but you know I won't stay here forever, right?" he pointed out.
"Yes, I do" Hitch assured with his smile growing. "But I think you'll be a perfect deputy for the time you stay on Equestria" he stated. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you'll get used to be called 'Deputy Knuckles' with time" he said jokingly.
"Oh, please no. I won't mind doing the job, but I don't want to be called 'Deputy' with my name everywhere I go..." Knuckles confessed a little concerned. "I'm good with them just calling me Knuckles" he assured with a smile.
"Okay, the 'Deputy' part can be ignored, but are you up to the task or not?" Hitch asked, now on a mocking tone.
Knuckles looked at him with a frown and a smirk. "Sheriff Hitch, Knuckles reporting to duty, sir!" he stated in a military pose, meaning that he accepted the job.
"Very well, then!" Hitch said with his 'sheriff voice', bringing out a belt with another badge smaller than Hitch's and putting it around Knuckles. "This is your uniform. Whenever you come to the station, you must be wearing but the belt and the badge. Understood?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sir, yes sir!" Knuckles replied with a salute.
"Okay. We can quit the act now, Knux" Hitch told him with a smile. "Tonight was the private promotion, tomorrow will be the official announcement of Maretime Bay's new deputy!" he stated.
"Oh yeah!" Knuckles said with a joyful smile, as he grabbed Hitch and gave him a big hug. He even lifted him from the ground, which made Hitch chuckle a little. "Thanks for the chance, Hitch! You won't regret it, I promise!" Knuckles assured.
"I know, Knux, I know" Hitch said with a smile.
The next morning, Hitch was trotting towards the station very early, since the sun was recently rising in the horizon.
"It's another beautiful day in Maretime Bay where the sun is shining, the pegasi are flying..." Hitch narrated to himself, as he greeted some ponies along the way. "And practically nothing could go–– Wrong!" he shouted suddenly.
In front of the station, Knuckles was pulling out some vines from the entrance that Dahlia accidentally made grow.
"Oh, sorry, Hitch..." Dahlia apologized to the sheriff. "I was actually trying to open the door for you" she explained with a little chuckle. "I know you don't like magic..." she pointed out a little ashamed.
"What? Me not like magic?" Hitch asked with a sheepish smile, pointing at himself. "Pshh! I'm totally cool with it now!" he assured with a confident smile.
Dahlia smiled at him and left, while Knuckles keep trying to remove the vines. "I know you're lying, but I won't comment anything on that" he told Hitch, who glared at him. "If anything, magic is a good thing as long as no one gets hurt" he added, ripping another vine from the station.
"Uh-huh..." Hitch replied with a bored expression. "Look at that, your first official day as my deputy and you're earlier than me" he pointed out with a proud smile.
"Hey, if I'm going to be your deputy until I go back home, the least I can do it's take the job seriously" Knuckles pointed out with a smile. "That, and also I'm used to wake up earlier since, you know, guardian of the Master Emerald thing" he added.
"Well, I'm, glad you're taking the job serious!" Hitch said, still smiling. Then, he heard Kenneth chirping at him. "What, Kenneth?" he asked the bird, while the animal pointed at his wing like if he had a watch on it, and Hitch got the message immediately. "Oh, you're right! I'm already late for my morning rounds!" he said in panic, and then trotted away.
Knuckles didn't knew what to do exactly, if keep pulling the vines from the entrance, or follow Hitch. At the end, he decided to follow Hitch since he had to learn the routine anyways, so he would keep pulling vines later.
"Ready to take action, sheriff Hitch!" Knuckles said, once he reached Hitch's side. "So, what do you exactly do every morning?" he questioned him.
"I see you're willing to learn the route as well, huh?" Hitch said with a proud smile again. "Seriously, where have you been my whole life?" he said jokingly, while both he and Knuckles chuckled a little. "Okay, so first things first, I..." but before he could finish, he got startled at something.
Knuckles looked at the same direction at him and got confused. "What the...?" he whispered.
"Good morning, Sheriff Hitch!" Seashell, Glory and Peach Fizz said in unison.
The three fillies were stuck on a weird vine that Seashell accidentally made grow with her magic. "Uh, um... Gah-reat job, Seashell!" Hitch told her with a sheepish smile.
"Come on kids, let's get you down from there" Knuckles said with a smile, while he helped Seashell and Glory to get down, while Hitch did the same with Peach Fizz. "There we go!" Knuckles said happily.
"Thanks!" Seashell told both Hitch and Knuckles. "We were actually stuck" she explained.
"Magic is pretty wild, huh?!" Glory pointed out.
"Too wild if you ask me" Hitch said on a panic tone, looking at the vine behind the fillies.
"Oh no! Are you upset?" Peach Fizz asked worried.
"Me? Upset? About magic? Never!" Hitch assured with a nervous smile, which Knuckles noticed, and he knew that Hitch wasn't telling the truth at all.
"So we can use all the magic we want, then? No rules? No holding back?" Seashell asked excited with a chuckle.
"You were holding back?!" Hitch asked in panic.
This time, Knuckles decided to step in. "Okay, let me be clear here: you can use your magic? Absolutely, no doubt about that" he started to explain. "But you do have to hold back, unless you want someone to get hurt" he pointed out. "Other than that, sure, have fun!" he added with a smile
But then Hitch screwed it. "Um... yeah, sure..." he said to the fillies.
"Hitch said 'Use all the magic you want,' don't hold back, everypony!" the three fillies shouted out loud so everypony in Maretime Bay could heard them.
Knuckles had to cover his ears for a moment, and then he looked at Hitch. "Is 'screw it up' part of your routine?" he asked sarcastically with a bored expression, while Hitch chuckled nervously as an answer.
Outside of the old Canterlogic factory, Sprout was along other two ponies doing his Community Service, since it was really taking time for him to get done with it. "My magic's probably the most powerful in the 'Bay. Wanna see?" Sprout told the other two ponies with an egocentric smile, while the ponies looked at him with annoyance.
"Does it involve sweeping? If not, then no, Sprout" one of the stallions told him with annoyance.
Sprout looked at them mad, and he stomped his hoof softly on the ground. But nothing happened, and the other stallions looked at him with smirks, knowing he only wanted to show off. "Honest! Just need to warm up" Sprout assured, but the stallions walked away. He looked mad again and stomped even stronger this time, and it made a berry bush behind him grow until it made the berries gigantic. "Uh-oh, that's a new feature" Sprout said a little worried. And then one of the berries fell from its root, which made Sprout to run away while the berry rolled behind him. "My magic is too powerful! Run!" he shouted, passing between the two stallions from before.
When those stallions turned around, they started to run as well. "It's everypony for themselves!" one shouted in panic.
"I'm just saying that being strict with them isn't a bad thing, no matter if they're just kids" Knuckles pointed out to him.
"I know, Knux. But everytime I try, I panic and... well, things like that happen" Hitch explained. And then, both of them heard screams from Sprout and the other two ponies, and saw the giant berry rolling towards them. "Berry attack!" Hitch announced.
"This is not a drill!" Knuckles announced as well, as they both ran on the opposite direction.
Hitch pushed a filly that was passing by on her skateboard to keep her safe, and Knuckles used his speed to move objects and ponies aside so they couldn't get hurt. Meanwhile, Sprout manage to climb into a building to stay safe while Hitch announced the few ponies left on the road to move aside. But then he tripped on a little cart and started to move around town. At the end, the cart tripped with some books that were on the ground and Hitch landed with a thud on the ground.
The Berry was coming towards him, and he screamed in fear. Knuckles noticed that after pulling some fillies aside and looked at the berry in shock. He felt anger and ran towards the berry at a speed similar to Sonic. However, he was feeling a bit more anger than usual, and he didn't noticed that his body was starting to let some red electricity came out, and his eyes turned fully red as well. He jumped over Hitch and, without knowing it, he charged some electricity on his fist and punched the berry, that immediately exploded and left a mess behind.
Knuckles landed and then looked for a moment to his hand, noticing the red electricity. "What the heck?!" he muttered to himself with widened eyes. He looked at his body, and at one of the quills that was on his shoulder: they were all more red than usual and had some electricity as well. But then it slowly faded away, and Knuckles looked around at the ponies staring at him in awe. "Um, it's everypony okay?" he asked with a nervous smile, which made the ponies around to cheer at him.
Knuckles thanked Chaos that his skin was red, or else he would be blushing right now. Then he noticed Hitch on the ground with a bored expression and covered with the berry's juice.
"Ugh..." Hitch groaned with annoyance.
"You okay there, sheriff?" Knuckles asked him with a smirk.
"Yeah..." Hitch replied sarcastically. "Just another beautiful day in Maretime Bay..." he added with frustration, laying on the ground while Kenneth stood over his head.
Later that day, Sunny arrived to her stand alongside Tails so they could make smoothies and Tails would deliver some of them. Then, they noticed both Knuckles and Hitch walking towards the station, with Hitch still covered on berry juice and Knuckles had some on his hands since he helped to clean out. Both Sunny and Tails chuckled at Hitch's aspect, and they walked towards he and Knuckles.
"Oh, wish I had been around earlier!" Sunny told Hitch with a mocking tone. "Sounds like you made a real impact!" she added with a laugh, while Tails chuckled a bit as well.
"Ha-ha. Laugh all you want, Sunny" Hitch told her with annoyance. "But fruit juice funk can stay in your mane for weeks!" he pointed out with frustration.
"Not to mention how sticky it is..." Knuckles added, trying to het some juice off from his gloves.
"This plant-powered magic is something special" Sunny said with a smile. "Growing stuff at the stomp of a hoof? Incredible!" she said, looking at the vines still covering the station entrance.
"I may not understand the science behind magic, but I really like everything you ponies do with it!" Tails confessed with a smile.
"Make that two with me!" Knuckles said with a smile as well, finally getting rid of all the juice on his gloves.
"Ugh. It's more like incredibly unpredictable!" Hitch said, still a bit annoyed and pulling a vine off the door. "I mean, we don't even know all that it can do yet..." he pointed out.
"Well, we know enough" Sunny said. "Like you seem to be the only pony who can talk to animals" she pointed out with a smile. "But have you tried to grown anything yet?" she asked him.
"He's too scared to do it" Knuckles replied instead of Hitch, pulling off the vines from the station's door.
"Hate to admit it, but Knuckles is right" Hitch confessed with concern. "And after this morning, it scares me more..." he added with worry.
"Aw, come on, man" Tails told him with a smile. "A mistake can happen anytime, and just one accident isn't enough to say something is totally dangerous" he pointed out.
"Tails is right, Hitch" Sunny said on agreement. "You can't judge all earth pony magic on one little mishap!" she pointed out.
Since Hitch was pulling out a vine of the door, he ended up pulling out and flying backwards. He crashed on his back against Sunny's stand, and then the superior part the usually showed the stand being close came down and crashed on Hitch's head. Sunny, Tails and Knuckles cringed at this, while Hitch pulled the superior part up and sighed in defeat.
"Maybe you just need to see the scene of the slime for yourself" Hitch told both Sunny and Tails.
"You go on, guys" Knuckles told the other three. "I have to fill the paperwork for this accident" he stated, pulling off the last vine from the entrance and entering the station.
"Uh... fill the paperwork?" Tails questioned.
"Isn't that Hitch's job?" Sunny pointed out confused.
"I'll explain you later" Hitch told Sunny and Tails. "Follow me" he added, walking towards the Canterlogic factory, while Sunny and Tails looked at each other confused and followed Hitch.
Meanwhile, in the Brighthouse, Sonic was sitting on his bed, still desperate to make something up for Pipp.
"Oh, come on! There has to be something! Anything!" Sonic complained. "There's no way that I've been living with her for 9 months now and still don't have an idea of what to give her!" he shouted in frustration.
"Um, Sonic?" Zipp's voice called out from the bedroom door.
Sonic shouted and his phone flew a little. He tried to catch it before it tripped, and although it almost did, he managed to catch it just in time. Sonic sighed in relief that his phone didn't broke and sat on the bed again. "Zipp, please stop being so sneaky, it's really annoying" he told her with a bored expression.
"I don't promise anything" Zipp told him with a smirk. "So, I heard you complaining from downstairs. What's going on, dude?" she asked him.
"I'm just... looking for a gift, but I got nothing!" Sonic complained. "As far as I look, I have no idea of what to give her..." he said with frustration.
"'Her', huh?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
Sonic's eyes widened and he facepalmed, knowing that he said to much. "Dang it!" he said.
"So, what are you looking for?" Zipp asked curiously. "And who is the lucky lady?" she added with a mocking tone. At that last question Sonic looked at her with a bored expression, shouting 'Really?' with only his face. "Wow! Wait a minute, Pipp? Really?" Zipp asked again, still smirking.
"No shit, Sherlock" Sonic said sarcastically. "Yeah, I want to give something to her... why? Not even I know it, I just... want to show her how important she is for me..." he explained with a blush and a smile. "Ugh, but I can't find anything!" he complained once again, now laying on his bed. "What am I supposed to give a spoiled rich girl who probably has everything?!" he cried out in frustration.
"Dude, you're overthinking this way too much" Zipp said with a smile. "I know that her attitude says otherwise, but Pipp is very grateful with everything they gave her, it doesn't matter how small or big it is" she assured him.
"I can tell that, but I want to do something special. Something that she'll never expect from me..." Sonic explained, once again sitting on his bed.
"Hmm..." Zipp said, putting a hoof on her chin. "Something she won't expect from you..." she repeated, as she started to fly around the room to think better.
"I could give her flowers? Nah, very old fashioned. Maybe some new makeup? But she makes her own stuff, so it won't work either..." Sonic listed some things he could give her. "A new microphone? Headphones? Or maybe a new tune..." he kept listing.
And Zipp stopped suddenly when she heard the 'new tune' part. "A new tune... That's it!" she shouted, and flew over to stand in front of Sonic. "Pipp can expect anyone like Izzy or Sunny to make a song for her, but she would never expected from you!" she pointed out with a smile. "A guy who loves speed and adventure cannot sing that much, and she would be surprised and flattered that you made it!" she added, still smiling at Sonic.
"Write... a song... for Pipp?" Sonic questioned with a soft voice. "I mean, it can work, but I'm terrible at writing songs. I was like 10 when I did one for the last time, and it was to calm Tails down from thunders..." he explained, not really convinced on the idea.
"Come on, man. You can try it out" Zipp cheered with a smile. "I know Pipp would love to hear something coming from you" she said.
Sonic blushed a little at the idea, and smiled as well. "I'm terrible at this stuff, but since I have no other options, I'm going to give it a shot" he said, now with a little more confident smile.
"That's the spirit!" Zipp cheered. "And don't worry, Sonic. I won't tell a thing" she added with a soft smile, extending her hoof to him.
Sonic got the message and smiled back, touching her hoof softly with his hand. "Hoof to heart!" they both whispered, putting their hoof and hand on their chests.
Then Sonic deep breathed. "Okay, I'm gonna give it a shot, but I'll need some inspiration first..." he pointed out.
Back in Maretime Bay, outside the Canterlogic Building, Sunny and Tails were alongside Hitch, listening to Sprout explaining what happened earlier.
"I swear I don't know what happened!" Sprout was explaining. "All I did was stomp like this" he said, and once again stomped the ground with his hoof. That made the giant berries behind him to sparkle again, and Hitch immediately panicked.
"Stop the stomping!" Hitch told Sprout, who looked behind, and then looked back at Hitch with a sheepish smile.
"It's better if you don't do that again, Sprout" Tails told him a bit nervous. "We had enough accidents for a day, and it was only one" he pointed out.
Hitch sighed annoyed and looked at the rest of the town with worry. "First, Maretime Bay was shook up with magic, and I said nothing" he said with concern.
"Uh, that's not true" Sunny said. "You actually said a lot" she pointed out.
"Then earth pony magic came! Now I'm saying something" Hitch stated with a determinate look. "I keep this place safe and it's too dangerous without rules!" he said.
"Rules are required when someone does something wrong. Making a plant grown by accident isn't something you can control at all, Hitch" Tails pointed out, while Sprout decided to get back to work.
"And if our magic can produce produce this perfect, there might be no limit to what we can do!" Sunny added with a smile.
"Right! And you shouldn't cut off a whole new planet of possibilities just like that!" Tails added as well.
"More like a cosmos of calamities" Hitch said with a frown.
Sunny groaned at Hitch's attitude and rolled her eyes. "But how are the earth ponies gonna grow and learn... and learn to grow with restrictions?" she questioned Hitch.
"She's right, man" Tails said on agreement. "You earth ponies can take lots of advantage with your new magic, and you want to take that away from them!" he pointed out with concern.
While they discussed, Sprout was pulling some dust away, but he got some on his nose and sneezed. The sneeze caused his magic to activate again, and the berry root grew a bit more, which made a piece of the fence to break and hit Sprout on his head.
Sunny chuckled awkwardly and looked at Hitch. "Uh, just consider what we're saying before you jump to any conclusions" she pled him, while Tails nodded with a sheepish smile.
Hitch sighed before replying. "I'll think about it" he said. "But the safety of ponies in Maretime Bay is my top priority" he stated, while Sunny came close to him and took some of the fruit juice from his chest with her hoof. Hitch turned around and walked towards the station, while Sunny ate the juice she graved from Hitch.
"Um, Sunny... you have a little something in your..." Tails told her with a smile, pointing at his cheeks to tell Sunny where she had some juice left.
Sunny took out her alicorn mirror and opened it to see clean up the juice with her tongue.
"Misty, quick!" Opaline called to the mare on her Castle, seeing that Sunny opened the mirror again. "That alicorn is using the mirror we gave her! Soon her magic will be––" she tried to add, but then Sunny closed the mirror and the image changed again. "Teasing us as it trots away" she finished with frustration. "Why has she barely used it?" she questioned with frustration. "If it was me, I'd have checked my pout every minute on the minute!" she pointed out with, smiling egocentrically.
"Oh, if someone had told you that Sunny isn't like you... Oh wait, I did!" Dr. Eggman said from the other side of the room. "I told you that Sunny Starscout isn't an alicorn like you. She doesn't care about power, she only wants rainbows, and friendship and all that good-for-nothing nonsense!" he pointed out. "I don't even get why you gave her the mirror in the first place..." he questioned with both disappointment and confusion.
"Silence, Doctor" Opaline told him. "At least I'm trying to do something here, while you're just sitting there, waiting for something to happen!" she complained.
"Patience is the key to victory, Opaline" Eggman said calmly. "You lost yours, and now you're on a treasure hunt you won't win, while I keep waiting for the perfect time to attack. Besides, I'm busy tracking something that might help us to get what we want" he added, walking towards his computer.
"Keep wasting your time, doctor" Opaline told him with a glare. "Misty, now it's time for me to tell you to do something else" she stated, while Misty looked on nervously.
Meanwhile, Eggman reached his computer and turned it on. "Now, let's see how are the Metal Mane doing with their research..." he whispered to himself.
He gave the machines the mission to look all around Equestria for the 7th Chaos Emerald before Sonic could find it. The images that he was looking were not very satisfying, but he did saw something from his interest. "Ohohohoho! Now look at that! Seems like Metal Sonic has decided to keep doing his own stuff" he said with an evil grin. The image of 'Metal Izzy' showed Metal Sonic flying near by, on his way to Maretime Bay apparently. "Although these images are from days ago, I'm glad to see that Metal Sonic's still loyal to me, even if he tries to reveal every time he can. Let's send a little hi to him..." he said, pressing some buttons that gave Metal Izzy new orders: to find Metal Sonic and deliver a message.
Back at the station, in Maretime Bay, Hitch finally removed all the fruit juice from his body and was trying to schedule some things to do.
"Creating an inventory of all magic types?" Hitch listed first, putting a card on a board. "Limiting magic to the magic hour of dusk? A card that's bit in half–– Hey!" he cried out once he realized the card on his hoof was bitted in half.
Then he heard someone chomping something, and when he looked at his back, he found Sparky on the ground, chomping one of the cards with a smile.
"Sparky!" Knuckles called out to the baby dragon, grabbing him and pulling the card away. "That's not eatable! You can get sick! And your tummy hurts when you eat paper, remember?" he told the baby dragon with a worried look, but Sparky just laughed and jumped from Knuckles arms.
The dragon ran towards Hitch's desk and climbed it up, trowing some things in the process. "Sparky, careful!" Hitch told him, while Knuckles launched to grab the things before they fell and brake in the ground. "Sparky, come here!" Hitch called out to the Baby Dragon, but he hid behind the board. "You won't be in trouble, I promise!" he assured to the kid.
"Liar!" Knuckles hissed to Hitch. Sparky, however, did trust him and walked towards Hitch, but he accidentally let the board with Hitch's papers organized fell.
"Ah!" Hitch cried out in panic, and Sparky tried to run away. "Sparky, wait!" Hitch told the dragon, and grabbed him in the moment he let go a small amount of his dragon breath. "Sparky! No dragon fire!" Hitch scolded him. Once he had Sparky, he let out a sigh, and Sparky looked at him playfully while moving his hands. "Aww, I can't be mad at you, Mr. Sparkeroni. You're just too cute!" he said with a smile.
Knuckles putted everything on place, the board included and walked towards Hitch. "He's really adorable, yet he causes trouble by accident... ironic" Knuckles said with a smile, panting Sparky a little bit.
Then, they heard the station door open, and Sparky jumped from Hitch's hoof. The dragon baby quickly ran towards the trash can that was full of litter. "No, no, no!" Hitch cried out.
"Sparky, don't do it!" Knuckles shouted to him with worry, but Sparky grabbed the trash can and lifted in the air anyways. The can landed on Hitch's head, with litter falling in the ground and Knuckles looking at the litter with a twitchy eye.
"Love being a dragon dad..." Hitch said sarcastically with the trash can over his head.
"Serious question: Can I be his uncle?" Knuckles asked, pulling the trash can off from Hitch's head.
"Whoa!" Izzy's voice called out, since she was looking from the door. "That was... so funny!" she cheered with a smile. "And also, you may need some help?" she asked innocently to Hitch and Knuckles, looking at Sparky playing with the station's phone and the mess around the station.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Hitch asked with a bored expression. "Sparky's been excitable lately" he explained picking up the phone from Knuckles' desk since Sparky got down and ran around Izzy. "He was a hoof-ful already..." he started saying.
"And now he's literally chomped trough my desk!" Knuckles cried out, grabbing a chomped part of his desk. "What Hitch meant is: yes, please gave us a hand!" Knuckles begged with desperation. "Or hoof, since you're a pony, you know" he corrected himself with a little smile.
"Aww, he's just adding his flair to the furniture, aren't you, Sparky?" Izzy told them with a smile, levitating a chair that Sparky was chomping. She then levitated the chair towards Hitch and Knuckles, while Hitch grabbed Sparky and Knuckles putted the chair away. "You know, if you ever needed a dragon-sitter, I'd be happy to look after him!" Izzy suggested with a smile.
"Wow! Really Izzy? That'd be great!" Hitch told her with a smile.
"And just in time, look" Knuckles told Hitch, pointing at the ponies reuniting at the outside of the station. "It's showtime!" he stated with a smile.
"Okay then... Time for my Town Hall!" Hitch said with a smile. "Thanks, Izzy!" he thanked the unicorn.
"Yeah, thanks kiddo. You're the best! And this helps us a lot" Knuckles told her with a smile.
"If you need anything for Sparky there's a comprehensive list of do's, don'ts and potential threats and dangers. See you later, I'll be outside!" Hitch told her with a smile, getting out of the station.
Knuckles looked at him with a bored expression, while Izzy just looked on confused. "Potential threats and dangers?" Izzy questioned. "What's so dangerous about you?" she asked to Sparky, who erupted a dragon flame in response.
"You would be surprised, Izz. Just don't let him chomp anything that can make him sick and you'll be fine" Knuckles told her with a smile, then he looked at Sparky. "And you be a good boy with Izzy, okay?" he told the baby dragon, panting him a little before walk out of the station. "Have fun, you two!" he told to Izzy and Sparky.
Outside the station, many ponies were reuniting to hear Hitch's Town Hall. Sunny, Zipp and Pipp arrived too, and Tails carried Sonic trough the air before Sonic landed on the ground, with Tails landing at his side. They saw Hitch standing in front of a microphone, while Knuckles was at his side with his arms on his back and looking around for weird activity.
"Hello" Hitch greeted the ponies around. "I know we started the day with a pretty disastrous––" he started saying, but at the last part he corrected himself when Knuckles glared daggers at him. "I mean, magical morning" he said, then cleared his throat. "Now, today's incident made me realize two things: the first one; Knuckles braveness by confronting danger and helping ponies around the 'Bay made realize how useful his help is around our town. So, instead of giving him some kind of reward, I made something that adds more to him: Maretime Bay, say hello to Deputy Knuckles!" he announced.
Surprisingly for Knuckles, all the ponies around cheered at the news of their new deputy. Even Sonic and Tails cheered at him, and Knuckles allowed himself to smile a little at the town, before returning ti his 'deputy' position.
"So Knucklehead is deputy now. I feel things are about to get more interesting from here!" Sonic said with a smirk.
Hitch cleared his throat again, making the cheers to shut down and gaining everyone's attention again. "Now, our second thing: After surveying the recent magical changes in Maretime Bay and the messy ways they've disrupted our daily lives, I have decided there will be... No use of earth pony magic!" he announced with a frown, which made the crowd to gasp dramatically. Hitch looked at his cards again and finished, "Whatsoever!" he added, and the crowd gasped dramatically again. Knuckles stopped acting like a deputy and looked at him on disbelief, since Hitch never told him anything about that, and Sunny and Tails looked worried from the crowd too. "Until I've collected enough data from all of you to form proper regulations and guidelines!" he added with a smile.
The crowd gasped dramatically again, and even one of the ponies fainted. "This goes against everything we told him two hours ago!" Tails complained in whispers, as he facepalmed on disbelief.
"I assure you, this is all for your own safety" Hitch said with determination. "We don't know what's possible with earth pony magic yet. Until I've taken proper inventory of every flight, float, flora, and fauna power, magic is off limits" Hitch stated. "That is all" he finished with the Town Hall with a smile.
The crowd groaned, some in disappointment, some in annoyance and some with anger. But then there was Sunny, who was mad at Hitch like she never has been before.
"I swear I hear her pressure rising..." Sonic said with panic, while Tails just gulped, feeling that this won't end well if Sunny of all the ponies was mad.
"What has gotten into you?!" Knuckles shouted to him. "Why you didn't tell me about this?!" he demanded for an answer.
"Because I knew you would say it's a bad idea" Hitch said with a frown.
"Because it is!" Knuckles cried out at him. "They never had it before, and you're taking it away from them! I may not be on a position to expect anything from you, Hitch, but as your deputy, ensuring the safety of this town is also my duty!" he pointed out.
"Maybe it is, but I cannot risk any chance of something bad happening" Hitch stated. "Look, you can stay at the station and do the paperwork if you want, or come with me to take notes about the earth pony magic" he told him.
"Glad I can choose, because right now I'd rather stay in the station with Izzy than come with you and do or say something I'll regret later" Knuckles replied, entering the station without facing Hitch. The sheriff rolled his eyes and walked towards the other direction.
Later, Hitch was grabbing some litter and putting on trash cans, when the rest of his friends sins Izzy and Knuckles came to him, with Sunny staring madly at him.
"I though you said you weren't gonna do anything drastic!" Sunny complained at him.
"No, I said I would think it over" Hitch defended himself. "And my thoughts are telling me it's bad and it's only gonna get worse if I don't step up!" he stated with a frown.
"Ugh, but earth pony magic it's powerful!" Sunny told him.
"Exactly!" Hitch replied. "What's gonna happen if we have more mishaps?" he questioned her, passing by an earth pony stallion pilling up some boxes, but one fell and Hitch grabbed in time, putting it back on place. "It's my job to make sure everypony is safe!" he stated.
"Man, this is a question of practice!" Tails decided to step in. "The pegasi and unicorns had to practice a lot before finally controlling their magic, right? Do you really expected earth ponies to control their powers since day one?!" he pointed out, trying to make Hitch gain some sense.
And then they passed by the three fillies from before, once again stuck on a giant vine. Sunny chuckled nervously, and Tails facepalmed while Hitch looked on with a frown. "Growing pains! They'll get it" she assured to Hitch.
"Guessing you ponies were too tied up for the Town Hall earlier?" Hitch asked the fillies, then he pulled out three stickers of a vine with a red line in the middle. "Just a little reminder of the new rules!" he said, putting the stickers on the fillies hoofs, indicating that they could not use earth pony magic. The fillies groaned in disappointment, and Tails was now glaring daggers at Hitch.
"Sunny and Tails had a point, Hitch" Zipp spoke. "It's too early to know if earth pony magic is anything to worry about" she pointed out.
"And you're jumping way to early into conclusions, man" Sonic spoke as well. "Being prepared for anything isn't a bad thing, but you're taking this to an extreme I didn't thought even existed..." he pointed out as well.
"Look, I'm part of the reason earth pony magic is here now" Hitch spoke, as he ran towards a can on the ground, grabbed and putted on the trash can. "What if I become the reason earth ponies get hurt?" he questioned, now with a sad expression. "As sheriff, I can't let that happen!" he stated with a determinate look.
As Hitch walked away, both Sunny and Tails stared at him with bored expressions. "Well, this is stupid" Tails said with anger.
"From making traps that don't work at all to restrict something that should be from free use" Sonic said sarcastically. "I have a bad feeling about this..." he confessed with his arms crossed and a worried look.
Back at the station, Sparky was doing a mess al around the place, while Izzy tried to calm him down a little.
"Oh, come on, Sparky!" Izzy called out. "Hey, you hungry! What about food? Would that calm you down?" she asked him, while Sparky looked at her excited and followed. "Whoa, guess that's a yes! I am great at this" she told herself with joy, while she walked towards the cabinet of the station.
Meanwhile, Knuckles was standing at one side of his desk, with his eyes closed and trying to concentrate on his new electrical powers, but unlike Sonic, he couldn't made them awake. "Ugh! This is useless!" he complained. "How's that Sonic makes his powers appear at will but I can't?!" he cried out with frustration.
Then, he saw Izzy taking a note out of the cabinet. "'Play me'" she read. "Well, I have never said no to a talking TV. Sure!" she said with a cheery smile, but before she turned the TV on, Knuckles stepped in quickly and stopped.
"Remember what I told you about don't let him chomp anything that can make him sick? That is literally the only advice you need" Knuckles told her. "Sparky is still a baby, and even tho he has his ways to obtain what he wants, the best you can do is let him be a kid. I know I said that he can make some disasters, but he also has lots of energy to run around and mess up a little, so let him just do that" he added with a smile.
"Are you sure? Hitch seemed worried that Sparky could cause trouble" Izzy pointed out.
"Meh, I'm sure he's just exaggerating... like always..." Knuckles said with a little anger, but then he smiled as he had an idea. "Say, what if we're Sparky's 'funny uncles'?!" he suggested with a smile.
Izzy gasped excited at the idea. "Like the ones that let him do everything he wants and let the 'strict stuff' to Hitch?!" she asked excited, hopping a little.
"Exactly!" Knuckles replied with a smile. "We'll gave hours of fun that Hitch refused to give!" he added with a determinate look. "Besides, I already finished my paperwork, so I'm free right now, and since I still don't know how to activate my powers like Sonic, I can help you take care of the little guy" he finished.
"Your powers?" Izzy questioned.
"Oh, right! I didn't told you. I have powers like Sonic, but mine are read and dead. No, seriously, they don't want to come out now and I don't know why" Knuckles explained to her.
"Ooh!" Izzy said excited. "Sounds like you could use some help" she said with a cheery smile.
"Later, let's focus on taking care for the baby right now" Knuckles suggested with a smile.
Neither Izzy or Knuckles noticed that Sparky sneezed and let out some fire, turning some objects in the ground into leaves that vanished once they touched the ground.
Sunny, Hitch, Zipp and Tails were outside Dahlia's house with Dahlia herself, preparing to do some tests on her earth pony magic.
"This is a controlled magic experiment to collect data, Dahlia" Zipp explained to her with a smile, holding her phone to record Dahlia while Hitch looked with a bored expression, Sunny looked worried and Tails was just using his advanced tablet to take lectures on the magic. "Just muster your magic in a little burst..." Zipp added.
Dahlia nodded and she made her magic appear, stomping softly her hoof on the ground, which made a giant green explosion to happen and blinded the rest for a second. "Whoa! Dahlia? Where'd you go?" Hitch asked worried.
Dahlia was now covered on gardenias, and she poked her head out. "Is now the time I mention I'm allergic to gardenias?" she asked with a sheepish smile, and then she sneezed.
Hitch looked on with disapproval, and putted a Sticker of 'No earth pony magic' on her hoof.
Sunny groaned at this, and Tails looked at his results of the analysis, then he looked at Hitch with a frown.
"This guys is getting on my nerves..." Tails muttered to himself.
Sonic was sitting on table, not far from Sunny's smoothie stand, using headphones connected to his phone as he heard to some melodies for his song to Pipp.
But so far, nothing was convincing him. "Dang it!" he said to himself. "Why writing a song it's so damn difficult?!" he cried out loud, punching his face against the table in frustration. "Ugh, I could ask Pipp herself, but she doesn't has to know I'm even doing this..." he told himself. "Guess I'll just keep trying until something comes to my mind" he finished, before putting the headphones back and keep looking.
Meanwhile, at the station, Sparky was running around and making a mess, to the point that he moved an object that made many objects to move around until a book landed on a bowl of fruits, and a tomato landed on Izzy's horn.
"Sparky! Don't do that again!" Izzy scolded him with a frown, and Sparky almost cried with sadness. "Unless I'm around to film it!" she said with a smile, taking out her phone.
"Now that was funny, little guy!" Knuckles told Sparky with a smile. "Now do that again, but go even wilder!" he stated with a grin, and Sparky immediately went to repeat what he did earlier.
"Let your freaky-fun-flag fly, Sparky! Fly!" Izzy told him with a cheery smile.
"Man, wish I had that energy to make my powers flew out" Knuckles said a little disappointed.
"Aww, don't worry Knuckie, I'm gonna help you out to let your powers appear!" Izzy stated with a smile, which made Knuckles smile as well.
Sunny, Zipp, Hitch and Tails were outside of Mane Melody, in front of a table with a watermelon and a watermelon seed, while at the other side of the table there was an earth pony stallion, waiting for the other to tell him what to do.
Once again, Zipp was recording with her phone and Tails was taking lectures with his tablet. "And what's your magic?" Zipp asked the stallion.
The stallion made his hoof glow and touched the watermelon seed, turning it into an already grown watermelon. Zipp and Hitch looked at each, and Zipp putted her phone away to take a watermelon that the stallion was giving to her. But then, he accidentally activated his magic and made the watermelon multiply, with one of them accidentally hitting Hitch's hoof in the process, which made Hitch to fell in pain.
Once he stood up, he brought a sticker of 'No earth pony magic' and putted it on the other stallion's forehead. "Perfect, great. Don't do it again" Hitch ordered with a bored expression.
Once again, Tails looked at his analysis results, and frowned at Hitch. "All this 'No earth pony magic' nonsense it's going to make me sick... and I don't even have magic on my own!" he complained.
Back in the station, Sparky was twirling around Hitch's office chair.
"Now, that's the spirit!" Knuckles cheered at the baby dragon.
"Abandon all order! Dazzle with destruction!" Izzy said with a cheery smile.
"Express yourself to the extreme!" both Izzy and Knuckles cheered, while Sparky landed on the ground a little dizzy, but still smiling.
"Ah yes!" Knuckles cheered. "I finally felt some energy! It was short, but it was something!" he kept cheering with a smile.
"Seems like strong emotions make your sparkle shine bright!" Izzy told him with a smile. "And also it makes your powers flew. We need more strong emotions! MORE!" she cheered out, while Knuckles smiled at her.
Sunny, Hitch, Zipp and Tails were now with another earth pony stallion, who was having trouble since he was trapped on some vines he made grow accidentally, and looked at Hitch with a sheepish smile.
Hitch looked at him with a frown, and took out another sticker for no earth pony magic. "Don't do it again" Hitch warned him, but then another vine grew and tried to grab one of his hind legs. Hitch could move the leg in time and kick the vine away, then he putted the sticker on the stallion's hoof.
"Okay, I'll admit that this has a slight chance to be dangerous" Tails muttered to himself.
And then Hitch putted more stickers on the other earth ponies, Posey included, who looked confused at Hitch. A little far from where Posey and Hitch were standing, Sunny, Zipp and Tails looked at Posey's and other earth ponies hooves glowing.
"Look at their hooves!" Zipp pointed out.
"They're all glowing!" Sunny added.
One earth pony touched the grass with his glowing hoof, and random vines starting to get out. Behind him, another earth pony touched a tree, and it started to change colors.
"And fizzing?" Tails added a little confused.
Pipp and Jazz were looking at all that was happening with the earth pony magic confused.
"Okay..." Jazz commented with concern. "This is officially getting weird!" she added, looking at the color changing tree. Pipp took out her phone to take a picture at the tree, but then Jazz magic activated out of nowhere and made a big bush grow below hers and Pipp's hooves. "Eh? I didn't even want to do that!" she said confused, shaking her hoof to make the glow disappear. And then she took a picture with Pipp, who had the camera ready to take the selfie.
And then there was Sonic, who was still focusing on his tunes to make his song. "But your voice won't let me be.... So many pretty girls around... They're just dressing to impress..." Sonic muttered to himself, writing down the lyrics from his song. "Man, I found a good rhythm, but I have to find a way to make it more natural..." he added, still wearing his headphones and listening to the tune. But in the moment he paused the song, he heard some ponies screaming, so he took his headphones off and found some ponies being trapped on vines and asking for help. "What the–– Whoa!" he exclaimed when a vine took his leg and lifted him in the air, putting his whole body upside down. "Okay, this is starting to annoy me... If Hitch don't let these ponies use their magic, something terrible is going to happen..." he muttered to himself, trying to get down from the vine.
Meanwhile, Sunny, Zipp and Tails were with Hitch not so far from the Canterlogic Factory.
"See?" Hitch said with a smile, pulling out some blank papers. "I just need to plan and plot out a perfectly thought-out list of precautions all before you ponies can say 'Presto'!" he pointed out with a smile, while Sunny and Zipp looked at each other with bored expressions.
"My analysis says that you are just paranoid over something that hasn't happened yet..." Tails told him with a bored expression. "Earth pony magic is no dangerous! And the worst that can happen its that a giant berry makes the town a bit messy, like what happened this morning" he pointed out.
"Sorry, Tails, but I'm not going to let aside my plan!" Hitch stated with a confident smile.
And then, behind him, and old earth pony mare and Posey made their magic appear by accident. "Presto! Presto!" both Sunny and Zipp cried out in worry.
Hitch looked at them with a bored expression. "Ha-ha. I didn't mean literally" he pointed out.
"No, Hitch, the ponies, they're––" Sunny tried to warn him, but Hitch cut her off.
"Safe and protected now that we've put a stop to this" Hitch said with confidence.
"Ugh, for Chaos sake!" Tails shouted with anger. "Just look!" he told Hitch, moving the stallion's head to take a look over town, and he gasped at the sight of earth pony magic getting out of control.
"Magic is out of control again!" Jazz shouted to the group, with Pipp flying at her side.
"And I have video proof!" Pipp said, showing her phone to the rest, playing a video of the change color tree from before... wearing glasses and with some background music. "In a sassy-sparkle filter too! I know, the sunglasses are a great touch, right?" she said with a cheery smile. "The Pippsqueaks made it just for me" she added.
And then, the vine that trapped Sonic grew large enough to move him with the rest. "This magic is getting wilder, and I don't like it..." he said with an annoyed tone and a bored expression.
The others sins Hitch looked at him with smiles, and Pipp even giggled a little at Sonic's situation. "Um, everything okay there, pal?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, everything's cool. I'm just hanging out over here" Sonic replied with a smirk. The joke make the rest sins Hitch burst out laughing, and Tails flew over him, spinning his tails fast enough to cut the vine and free Sonic. He landed on the ground with his feet and pulled the vine from his feet away. "Thanks, lil' bro" Sonic greeted Tails as they fist bumped. "But seriously talking, this magic is getting on my nerves..." he added, now talking seriously.
"And why didn't you try to tell me?!" Hitch yelled at Sonic, while Sunny and Zipp looked at him with bored expressions and Tails glared daggers at him.
"I think it has something to do with the glowing hooves!" Zipp pointed out, while Jazz hooves started to glow again.
"Not a good look, Jazz!" Pipp cried out with worry.
Hitch putted a hoof on his chin to think, and then Sunny touched his shoulder, looking at his hoof. Hitch looked at it too, and then he shrieked when he saw it was glowing. "What does this mean?!" he asked with a frown, looking at his glowing hoof.
"It's gotta be the built-up earth pony magic!" Zipp pointed out. "I don't think you're supposed to keep it all in!" she added with worry.
"As I said to myself before: if you don't let the earth ponies use their magic, something terrible is going to happen!" Sonic tried to resonate with Hitch.
"I was wrong..." Hitch said with concern. "I shouldn't have put a pause to earth pony magic..." he added.
"Oh, I'm so happy to hear you say that!" Sunny told him with a smile.
"You won't be anymore, Sunny..." Tails warned her with a bored expression.
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked him confused.
"I should've have gone straight to the Unity Crystals!" Hitch said next. "When ponies united and the Unity Crystals were created, everypony got their magic. Maybe if we remove the earth pony one..." he added with a smile.
"What?!" Sunny asked on disbelief. "No! That's not what I meant" she pointed out with worry.
"Told ya" Tails said, still with his bored expression.
"Hitch, you forgot to have your cup of coffee this morning, didn't you?" Sonic asked with a neutral expression, but deep down he was as worried as the rest.
"You were right, Sunny!" Hitch said to her. "Earth pony magic is powerful, too powerful! We never had it before, why do we need it now? Come on!" he stated with a determinate look, and then ran towards the Crystal Brighthouse.
Sunny, Zipp and Pipp followed behind immediately, while Tails wanted to follow but got stopped by Sonic. "Tails, go to the Brighthouse at top speed and try to slow him down, I'm going to call for the only guy that can make him snap!" he ordered, and the boosted towards the station.
"Got it!" Tails replied, flying to the sky with his tails spinning, and then boosting straight to the Brighthouse at full speed.
Back at the station, Knuckles was lifting both his desk and Hitch's some chairs, cabinets, books, and Izzy was sitting on the top with sparky on her hooves.
"Remind me... how's this suppose to help me?" Knuckles asked Izzy, grunting a little for all the objects he was lifting.
"Strong emotions makes you feel your powers, so, a bit of pressure should make you mad, and then..." Izzy explained, stopping so Knuckles could finish the sentence.
"My powers should... come out?" Knuckles finished unsure.
"Exactly!" Izzy cheered with a smile.
"I'm still not so sure about this, but if you say so..." Knuckles confessed.
And then, the doors of the station opened immediately, startling Knuckles who let everything he was lifting fall on him.
"Knux!" Sonic called out, since he was the one that opened the doors. "Knuckles?" he called out again, and then he saw the mess of the place.
"Hi, Sonic!" Izzy greeted with a smile, immediately levitating all the stuff and putting it back on place.
"Uh... Izzy? Where's Knuckles?" Sonic asked, but once all the objects were back on place, Knuckles stood up a little dizzy. "Uh, never mind" he said. "Knux! Quick! We have to get to the Brighthouse!" he stated with panic.
"Ugh... Sonic?" Knuckles asked, as he could recover a bit. "What's happening?" he asked.
"Hitch thinks destroying earth pony magic is going to solve everything!" Sonic explained with worry. "He's going to the Brighthouse right now!" he added.
"He wants to do what?!" Knuckles asked with both surprise and anger, now frowning slowly. "Out of my way!" he said, as he pushed Sonic aside and boosted towards the Brighthouse.
"Come on, Izz, we're going to need your help too!" Sonic told her before boosting out as well.
"Coming!" Izzy told him, and then she turned to Sparky. "Sparky, Izzy has to pop real quick, but if you're good while I'm gone, I'll..." she stopped as she grabbed a crab plushie and gave it to the baby dragon. "Unicycle your very own race track!" she told him with a smile. Sparky grabbed the crab plushie and grabbed cheerfully, meaning that he loved Izzy's suggestion. "Thought you'd like that. Okay, Kenneth, you're in charge!" she told to Kenneth, who entered the station and stood at Sparky's side. "Watch Sparky for just a moment" Izzy finished, while Kenneth saluted at her. "Okay, good dragon. Stay right there! BRB!" she said, finally leaving the station.
At the Crystal Brighthouse, Hitch was in front of the Unity Crystals, with all the rest trying to stop him.
"Taking the earth pony crystal out is the only way to keep everypony safe from this mayhem" Hitch stated, as he raised his hoof to touch the earth pony crystal.
"Whoa, whoa! Slow your roll!" Zipp called out to him. "You don't know that!" she pointed out.
"Removing a Crystal is not like flipping a switch! We could lose everything!" Sunny tried to resonate with Hitch.
"And if magic disappears entirely again, you're going to cause a bigger disaster!" Tails pointed out as well. "Things being levitated could fall on somepony, pegasi flying can get theirselves killed if they stop flying... and even earth ponies can get hurt if their magic stops working suddenly!" he explained with worry.
"But if we don't try something, we could still lose everything!" Hitch said, not willing to step aside.
"Hitch, no" Sunny told him one more time.
Hitch was about to touch the Unity Crystal, but then a giant white glove grabbed his hoof and stopped him.
"No" Knuckles voice spoke.
"What? Knuckles, get out from..." Hitch tried to make him aside.
"I said... No!" Knuckles reaffirmed, tightening his grip a bit while his eyes turned fully red, just like his quills and his free hand got some rede electricity.
That immediately startled Hitch, and for the first time since he knew Knuckles, he was a bit scared from him. He has saw the echidna mad before, but this was the first time he looked at him genuinely angry, not to mention the red eyes gave a chill on his spine.
Sonic and Tails, however, stared at Knuckles in shock, not because of what he was doing, but of the fact that he also had powers like Sonic.
Knuckles calmed down a bit, and his electrical powers dissipated, while he let go of Hitch's hoof and the stallion looked at the ground with shame. "What am I doing?" he asked himself. "You're right! This isn't me!" he added with concern, stepping back from Knuckles and the Unity Crystals while Sunny let go a relieved sigh. "Guess I'm just... scared and unsure. Magic doesn't operate by any rules! Rules are what I know!" he pointed out. "What if I can't be the sheriff everypony needs now?" he said with sadness.
Knuckles' eyes then widened, finally getting why Hitch was doing all of this. "So you make all of this mess because you're afraid you won't be needed anymore. You're afraid you won't be... useful... right?" he asked him, now with a comprehensive look, while Hitch sighed in defeat and nodded slowly.
"You'll always be a strong sheriff, Hitch. Because you care" Sunny told Hitch with a smile.
"I'm sorry everypony..." Hitch apologized with shame. "I just love Maretime Bay so much. But maybe having less magic isn't the answer" he pointed out.
"Well, I'm glad you finally realize that" Tails said with a smile. "And Knuckles, what was that?!" he called out to him.
"What was what?" Knuckles asked confused.
"Um, your quills getting more red than usual? Electricity on your gloves? Fully red eyes? Don't tell me you didn't noticed it..." Sonic said with concern.
"They appeared again?!" Knuckles questioned, looking at his quills and hands. "I guess Izzy's right and it only appears when I'm feeling strong emotions, like anger" he pointed out with a frown.
"Well, let's put that aside for now" Tails suggested. "Even tho I want to make some questions about that, we should look for an answer to our earth pony magic problem first" he stated with a smile.
"And we're going to find out what is that answer. Right?" Zipp questioned to the rest with a smile.
"Yeah!" both Hitch and Tails said with smiles.
"You bet!" Pipp stated with a smile.
"Of course!" bot Sunny and Knuckles said, smiling as well.
"Definitively!" Sonic said with a smirk.
Izzy replied by hopping around with a cheery smile, and then she noticed her Cutie Mark shining bright. But not only hers: all of the Mane 5's Cutie Marks were shining and powering the Unity Crystals.
"Huh, more Cutie Mark magic stuff?" Knuckles questioned.
"Our Cutie Mark magic is... combining?" Sunny asked in awe, looking at the Unity Crystals.
And then, all the group gasped when the figure of a pony appeared as a projection from the Unity Crystals.
"Holy Chilidogs!" Sonic exclaimed with awe.
"What filter is that?!" Pipp asked with disbelief.
"That is definitively not a filter" Tails said surprised.
"That is..." Zipp tried to say, but then the figure finally got clear, and it revealed to be an alicorn mare with purple fur, a dark indigo mane with a streak of lighter purple and pink in her mane and bangs, as well as her tail, and purple eyes that showed worry.
Sunny knew perfectly who's hologram that was. "Twilight Sparkle!" she said in awe, looking at the mare that inspired her dad and herself on the mission to reunite ponykind.
"If you're seeing this, magic is now more powerful than it's ever been, and earth pony magic has been activated for the first time in the history of Equestria!" Twilight's hologram spoke, while Hitch looked at his glowing hoof for a moment, and then looked back at Twilight. "Magic is alive, always changing, growing stronger. There are evil forces out there who will want to exploit it" the hologram kept telling, while Zipp and Izzy looked at each other and Zipp took out her phone to record Twilight's message. "Once a pony tried to steal all the magic in Equestria for herself, and almost succeeded" Twilight's hologram said with worry. "I did all that I could to protect it from..." the hologram got static, and the message didn't delivered complete. "... by summoning all of my magical strength to achieve placing the magic in the Crystals and the..." the hologram got static again. "But the spell is broken! You are exposed to the world once again. You must watch out for Op–– Before she op–– I'm with you" Twilight's hologram disappeared after that last line, leaving the message incomplete.
"No! Come back!" Zipp pled.
"'You must watch out for Op...'" Tails repeated. "Who can be this 'Op' she mentioned? And why does it sound so familiar to me?" he questioned to himself.
And then the ground rumbled, which startled the whole group. They all got out to the balcony, and saw that Maretime Bay was infested on giant vines now. "It's time, Hitch" Hitch told to himself. "You worked hard, researched, tried your best to keep the bay safe, but you've got to reverse action!" he told himself again.
Knuckles, tired of hearing Hitch wasting time by talking with himself, punched him on the neck and glared at him. "Stop wasting time, and move!" he said, now grabbing the sheriff and pulling him away of the balcony.
"Well, I'm still wondering what other evil forces besides Eggman we're facing on this land" Sonic confessed with worry.
"And who's the evil pony?!" Zipp questioned.
"Uh... Opaline?" Misty called out to the alicorn.
"Ugh, if it's another compliment on my hooves, Misty, 'hooftastic' isn't a word, and I refuse to acknowledge it" Opaline replied with annoyance.
"No, look" Misty said, pointing to the 'screen', where an image of earth pony magic was showing up. "The earth pony magic is getting worse!" Misty pointed out.
"Magic isn't getting worse, it's growing into something it never has before" Opaline explained with a grin.
"But if it's growing this fast, how're we gonna stop it?" Misty questioned.
"Oh no, no, no, no" Opaline said with a smile. "We won't be stopping anything, Misty. In fact, we're gonna let it thrive" she explained. "So that when we pluck it, it will be the most powerful it has ever been!" she finished, and the made her maniac laughter. Misty tried to join her on the laugh this time, but she got in on bad timing, and Opaline looked at her with a bored expression. "Ugh, if you're going to maniacal laugh with me, Misty, at least be in sync" Opaline pointed out. "Ready?" she asked Misty, who nodded with a smile. "And..." she said.
Both Opaline and Misty laughed maniacally now, although Misty stopped suddenly since she felt uncomfortable.
Metal Sonic was on a junkyard, not so far from Maretime Bay, hiding between lots of junk and fixing one of his legs with a piece that, even if it looked rusty, was working very well, and that was enough for him.
"Restoration progress: 92% of body parts fully functional" Metal Sonic told to himself. "Main functions restoration progress: 87.4%, at least 95% required before getting back on battlefield" he said to himself again.
He sighed a bit frustrated, as he resumed his reparation process. After his last fight with Sonic, he promised himself to get his rematch and win. After all, killing Sonic was still his prior mission. He received instructions from Eggman the moment he managed to reactivate his systems back: Kill Sonic and Sunny, then get the Unity Crystals and the Chaos Emeralds from the Brighthouse and gave them to the Doctor on Opaline's Castle.
He had free will now. He could just do whatever he wanted and left Eggman on his own... yet he couldn't do it. Why? Was it something on his hardware? Did Eggman programmed him to be loyal till the very end? He didn't knew the answer, and yet here he was, repairing himself to accomplish his mission. He did knew, however, that he shared that desire to kill off Sonic, probably the only thing he had in common with him.
He also knew why Eggman wanted Sunny out as well: she was an Alicorn. Opaline was powerful, despite her 'compromised' power, and yet the Doctor knew Sunny could overpower her simply because of how weak Opaline was turning lately. At least that's what the message Metal got explained, and because of how little to nothing he knew about Sunny, his only option was to trust his word and get rid of Sunny Starscout as well.
"So this is were you were hiding" a female robotic voice suddenly spoke. Metal turned to the direction where he heard the voice, and found some hind of robotic pony. It was a purple robot with the form of a unicorn, using some blue and purple vines as hair and tail. However, it didn't had a mouth, and its eyes where as red as his.
"Who the heck are you?" Metal asked to the other robot.
"Oh, right!" the other robot replied, and since its voice was female, Metal could tell it was a 'she'. "The doctor never told you about us, did he?" she asked to Metal.
"The doctor?" Metal repeated. "What are you talking about? Who are you?!" he asked again, now turning his arm into a plasma ray and pointing at the unicorn robot.
"Oh, I would not try that if I was you..." the female robot warned him, but then Metal shoot her. However, he got impressed when he saw that the robot was not in front anymore, and suddenly got shoot on his back. Metal feel into the ground, and groaned. "I warned you!" the female robot said behind him and chuckled.
"What the... how did you?" Metal tried to ask.
"Oh, well, Doctor Eggman gave us a little power up thanks to Sonic's quill!" the robot explained. "Since he has unlimited power, he's going to upgrade all his machines to be as powerful as Sonic himself. And we're the first candidates! Yay!" she cheered.
"'We'?" Metal questioned. "How many like you are out there?" he asked confused.
"Well, I'm part of a group the doctor called 'The Metal Mane', since we're the robotic copies of the Mane 5" the robot explained. "I'm the counterpart of a mare called 'Izzy", so I guess that makes me 'Metal Izzy'" she said with a chuckle.
"So 'daddy' made more like me, but with 5 pathetic ponies..." Metal told himself. "Why am I not surprised?" he added with annoyance. "So, Metal Izzy, right? How did you find me? And what do you want?"
"Oh, don't worry" Metal Izzy told Metal Sonic. "I'm just here to give you a message from the doctor since you're... let's say, you're not to attached to the family" she said. "So, the doctor saw that you've been around for a while now, and he was wondering if you could do one last thing for him before letting you alone" she asked.
"I'm still following orders, you know" Metal Sonic revealed. "I'm just not in the mood to hear whatever he wants to say with his stupid technical words" he pointed out.
"Well, I'm giving you his request anyway" Metal Izzy said. "He asks if you could take Sonic far from Maretime Bay long enough so he can send any of us and cause a mess around town" she explained. "He thinks the ponies are very dumb, dumb enough to think us, the Metal Mane, are the original Mane 5 and are the ones causing trouble around" she added.
"So he wants to make everyone against those 5... makes sense, actually" Metal Sonic confessed. "Alright, tell him I will do it with the condition that he leaves me to finish my already assigned missions" he requested.
"Leave it to me, Metal pal!" Metal Izzy said with a cheery tone.
"You know, for a Metal, you're very optimistic and cheerful" Metal Sonic told her.
"Oh, don't let that fool you, silly. I'm a killing machine if you mess with me" Metal Izzy warned on a treating tone. "Bye!" she waved, again with a cheery tone, and then left flying since she ha rockets like Metal Sonic.
"That was... something..." Metal Sonic whispered, as he looked at Metal Izzy flying away. "Gotta say, I feel intrigued on how thing turn out at the end for this... Metal Mane..." he added.
Back in Maretime Bay, things were getting out of control for earth ponies with their magic, while the pegasi and unicorns tried to help anyway they could.
And then, Knuckles arrived with a megaphone. "Attention to all the earth ponies of Maretime Bay!" he called out trough the megaphone. "Whatever Hitch told you about your magic, forget it! Used it to get rid of all the plants and fruits before somepony gets hurt!" he ordered.
Hitch and all the rest of their friends arrived as well to make sure Knuckles words spreed quickly. Hitch took the megaphone from Knuckles and spoke too. "Like Knuckles said, forget what I said earlier! Use your magic, as much as you can!" he ordered too.
"But also focus, and guide your magic!" Sunny told the earth ponies, placing a hoof on her chest.
The earth ponies got rid of the sticker that didn't allow them to use magic, and stomped their hooves on the ground to get rid of all the plants growing around town, focusing like Sunny told them.
"Express yourselves!" Izzy said with a cheery smile. "Let your freaky-fun-flags fly!" she added.
"That's right! Listen to Sunny and... Izzy?!" Hitch asked, since Izzy was supposed to be with Sparky. "Where's Sparky?" he asked her.
"Uh... He's back at the station dragon-napping!" Izzy replied with a smile.
"Oh, okay then..." Hitch said calmly at first. "Wait! Did you say napping?! He's going to be up all night now!" he complained and groaned, then moved on to keep an eye on earth ponies getting rid of the plants around town.
Meanwhile, Sprout used his magic to make the berry bush back to his normal size. "Yes!" he cheered with a smirk. But then, behind him, another berry bush grow, and this time it was twice the size from the other one. Sprout looked at the bush terrified, and then the berry broke from its root and Sprout screamed as he ran away for cover.
Pipp, who was looking at her phone, heard Sprout's scream, and she immediately panicked. "Hitch, look!" she called out, walking towards the sheriff. "Giant glimmer berry coming again, six o'clock!" she added with a little smile.
"But it's only 2:15!" Hitch pointed out, while Pipp looked at him with disbelief.
"Oh, for Chaos sake!" Knuckles groaned, and he made Hitch turn completely around.
The three of them saw Sprout running away from the berry, while the same three fillies from before got trapped again on. a vine Seashell made grow accidentally, and now the berry was rolling towards them. The fillies gasped from the sight in fear, since the berry was going for them and they could not escape from their situation.
"My Pippsqueaks!" Pipp cried out in worry, immediately flying towards the fillies, being followed by the rest.
While the Mane 5 and Knuckles stopped in front of the vine, Sonic and Tails ran towards the berry, and the Spindashed on the ground and got stuck in the berry, slowing it down a little bit in the form of a ball.
"We cannot slow this thing forever, guys!" Tails cried out, still Spindashing.
"I hate to admit it, but he's right!" Sonic told them, Spindashing as well. "You'll have to find a solution quick!" he shouted.
Hitch started to think on something. "Okay! Link hooves just like we did around the Unity Crystals!" he told the other mares. "Our powers are always stronger together, right?" he questioned.
The five ponies united their hooves, while Knuckles just stood on Izzy's side trying to get his powers working, but once again they didn't appeared.
"Why are my powers still not working?! Strong emotions makes them appear, but I feel mad right now and I feel nothing" Knuckles muttered to himself, looking at his hands, and then looking at the berry.
Meanwhile, Hitch was looking at his glowing hooves in awe, and Sunny noticed that with a smile. "Relax, Hitch" she told him. "All you have to do is trust yourself, you've got everything you already need" she said with a comfort smile.
Knuckles also heard Sunny's words, and something clicked on his mind. "Trust yourself..." he muttered again. Both he and Hitch closed their eyes, only focusing on their powers. While Knuckles felt the entire world disappearing around, the Mane 5's hooves glowed and made a giant vine draw on the ground that made a giant tree grow on the berry's way. The tree was big enough to stop the berry, and the Mane 5 looked on in awe.
"Guys, let go!" Sunny announced to Sonic and Tails.
"You heard the lady, lil' bro!" Sonic told Tails, while they both Spindashed backwards and let the berry roll again. Tails landed in front of Zipp, while Sonic landed at Pipp's side. Sonic sat on the ground holding his head and shaking it. "Aw man, I'm dizzy..." he complained, trying to regain his composure.
"Ugh... My head's spinning..." Tails complained, as his eyes rolled around from how dizzy he felt.
Hitch then looked at the tree blocking the berry's way. "The tree's right in the berry's path! We're protected! We're gonna save the ponies, we're actually gonna do it!" he cheered with a smile.
"Thanks, Hitch. You just jinxed us" Sonic said sarcastically, getting up and cleaning some dust, while Tails stood at his side, still a little dizzy.
And just like Sonic expected, the berry crashed against the tree and spreed fruit juice all over, as well as giant remaining pieces of the berry itself.
While Izzy, Sunny, Pipp and Tails screamed, Sonic looked on with a bored expression while Zipp and Hitch just looked worried. "Oh no..." Hitch said, covering himself.
"Told ya" Sonic said, still with the same bored expression, and then he hugged both Pipp and Tails to cover them.
However, Knuckles opened his eyes in that moment, now fully red since he had his powers focused. He looked up to the fruit juice, then jumped up high, charged electricity on his fist and with a warrior cry, he punched the fruit juice to send it away from his friends. It fortunately worked, but although no one else got messy because of the fruit, his friends did ended up covered on it. And so, for the second time in that day, Knuckles saved the day.
He landed in front of his friends on the typical super hero pose, still with his powers on, and the rest looked at him in awe, Sonic and Tails included. Izzy, on the other hand, looked at him with sparkling eyes, and even a little blushed too, but she didn't noticed it the last thing.
"It's everyone okay?" Knuckles asked to his friends.
"Yeah, just a little messy" Tails said, licking some of the fruit from his arm.
"Seems like we're trapped on a little jam!" Sonic said jokingly with a smirk. The joke made all the rest of the group sins Knuckles to laugh at the joke, and the rest of the ponies just cheered at them.
"Ha-ha, very funny, Hedgehog" Knuckles said with a bored expression.
"By the way, knucklehead, seems like you have your powers under control now" Sonic pointed out.
"Really?" Knuckles questioned, and then looked at his gloves with electricity on it, as well at his quills. "Yeah. I guess I do!" he replied with a smile now, while he made his powers disappear.
"Of course you do!" Izzy told him with a smile, while giving him a side hug. "I knew you could do it, Knuckie!" she added.
"Thanks, kid" Knuckles thanked her.
"Told ya, earth pony magic is something else" Sunny told Hitch with a smile. "Who knew you had the power to grow magical trees?" she asked him, looking at the giant tree that Hitch made grow outside the Canterlogic Factory..
"Speaking of, have you seen this thing?" Pipp asked, taking out her phone to take a picture. "It's like five sparkle filters combined!" she cheered, taking the picture.
Zipp took her phone out and recorded. "Zipp file number 3-1-O: Flowers on magical tree look strangely familiar somehow. Must investigate" she said, recording the flowers from the tree.
"I'm gonna keep saying this until the day I die: I love Equestria!" Sonic said out loud. "Every day you ponies impress me on ways I never thought were possible, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us" he stated with a smile.
"I wish the kind of problems we have back home were like the ones they have..." Tails confessed with a sad smile. "It would be a lot better than deal with a bald guy with killer robots" he added with a bored expression.
"You took the words out of my mouth, little buddy" Sonic said, still smiling.
And then, Zipp grabbed Sonic to talk with him aside of the rest. "So, how's the song thing going?" she asked him in whispers so no could heard them.
"Very good, actually! I just need to redo the melody from scratch 'cause I want to make it special, but that aside, everything is working out very well!" Sonic whispered with a smile. "Now I just need to find the right moment to sing it to her..." he pointed out.
"You'll figure it out, but until then, I'll try to persuade Pipp so she doesn't suspect a thing" Zipp told him with a wink.
"Thank, Zippster" Sonic thanked her.
"You were right, Sunny" Hitch told her. "I shouldn't have tried to control all that magic, especially my own" he confessed with shame.
And then, they all heard a loud crash. "What was that?" Sunny asked worried. "It sounds like it was coming straight from the station" she added. They all turned around to see the doors of the station open, with some dragon fire coming out of the station.
Hitch gasped worried at the sight. "Sparky!" he cried out, running towards the station while the rest followed him. Once he reached the station, he stopped suddenly. "Izzy, I thought I told you not to let Sparky make a mess... That is entirely cleaned up" he said, looking at the station clean and shining. Then Sparky ran towards Hitch excited, while Kenneth saluted at him. "Wow!" Hitch said in awe, looking at Sparky being so happy with him. "I've never seen Sparky this happy" he confessed, while both he and Izzy looked at Sparky eating some of the fruit juice on Hitch's back. "Did you follow the Safety Schedule? Feed him before sleeping? Not sleeping before eating? Check all the boxes on the comprehensive list I left" he asked Izzy.
"Nope, nope, and... nope!" Izzy replied with a smile, while Hitch just looked at her with a bored expression. "I just find out that ditching all the rules and letting Sparky run free was just what the dragon ordered!" she explained. "Isn't that right, little cutie?" she asked the baby dragon.
Sparky purred against Hitch in response.
"I also told her that your list was exaggerated" Knuckles said with a calm smile. "I get you worry about him, but not everyone does what you do, man" he pointed out. "Besides, he's just a baby! He needs to run around freely, you know" he added.
"You're right, Knuckles" Hitch confessed with a sheepish smile. "And thanks, Izzy. I... may have over-thought it a bit..." he said a little ashamed. "Trying to work on that. I mean, Knuckles is right, he's just a little dragon, what's the worst that could happen?" he asked, lifting Sparky a bit.
And once again, Hitch jinxed himself since Sparky let out a big sneeze that spread some dragon smoke around the room and changed some things into balloons, party hats and balls.
"And there it is..." Knuckles said with a bored expression. "Dude, please stop jinxing us." he begged.
"Wow!" Sunny said, surprised at what Sparky could do. "Sparky has magic?!" she asked with disbelief, as the rest looked as surprised as her.
Sparky sneezed again, and made the balloon that Kenneth was holding turn into the trash can again and fell into the bird.
"What, you didn't know?" Izzy asked Hitch, since she did noticed.
"He's been doing that all day" Knuckles pointed out, noticing that before as well.
Hitch made a balloon flew away with his head, and looked at Sparky with a smile. "We'll clean that up later, buddy" he told him.
At sunset, the ponies around Maretime Bay reunited around the tree that Hitch made grow. Sparky ran towards the tree and looked at it in awe. He got closer to it and touched the trunk with his eyes closed, while his horns glowed a little bit.
However, Hitch got close to him and grabbed him to put him on his back. "Okay, Sparky, that's enough magic for today" he said with a smile, now walking towards the station, while Sparky kept looking at the tree with a smile, as the flowers on the tree started to shine and Sparky's smile grew bigger.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Tails got some analysis on one of the Knuckles quills after making the same process he made with Sonic's quill days before.
"Well, just as I expected: Knuckles also has unlimited power" Tails said, not panicked this time since Sonic didn't seemed to care about the fact he was very powerful anymore. "This just makes me more confused now, and many of my theories got to waste" he added a little frustrated.
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked him confused.
"I thought that, maybe, your powers were obtained from birth, but you never knew and they stayed sleep inside you until you feel rage and they came up again... but that doesn't has sense at all, because Knuckles activated his powers on a dangerous situation, so that's not it" Tails explained. "I still think your powers were always there, you just never knew, but as for Knuckles, I can't tell exactly. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe I don't need to find out why do you guys have these powers..." he finished a little down.
Both Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other and nodded with smirks, knowing what to do to cheer Tails up. "Hey, Tails, I'm sure you have similar powers as well" Knuckles said with a smile.
"Yeah, you just have to find the proper situation to awake them" Sonic added with a comforting smile. "Now, why do we have these powers, or how we've got them, I don't know. But I do know one thing for sure: whatever has gotten into us, whatever's happening to the Chaos Emeralds too, we'll find it out. Together!" he stated with confidence, putting his fist in the middle.
"Together!" Tails cheered, extending his fist too.
Both Sonic and Tails looked at Knuckles, and the echidna smiled before extending his fist too. "Together" he said with a calm tone.
"Power bump!" Team Sonic cheered as they fist bumped, now with the promise of solving their mysteries together.
At the Crystal Brighthouse, Pipp started a livestream on her side of the room.
"Good morning, Pippsqueaks!" Pipp greeted to her followers, as she lowered the camera a little bit. "Okay, today is..." she started, and then she threw some things out of the camera, just to appear again wearing a Pearl Necklace and white sunglasses with the shape of a heart. "Zephyr Heights Royal Princess Portrait Day!" Pipp announced as she posed, and then squealed with excitement. "Okay, so. The phot sesh isn't until this afternoon..." she stated, walking elegant and sensual towards the camera. "... but you know I couldn't get ready without you!" she told to her followers. "Thoughts?" she asked, as she place her hooves on her chin and posed with her wings extended. Many emojis popped up on the screen, and then Pipp gasped when she saw Zipp on her side of the bedroom. "Let's see what Princess Zipp thinks about the combo!" she suggested to her followers, as she grabbed the phone and threw her sunglasses away. She send a picture of herself with her outfit to Zipp, who looked at her phone notification and rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Zipp, did you get that photo I just dewdropped to you?" Pipp asked.
"A little busy!" Zipp replied. Pipp flew over her sister's bed, while Zipp placed a draw she made of Twilight Sparkle over her 'detective board'. "Who was she talking about?" Zipp questioned at who was Twilight trying to warn from. "Gotta be something that I'm missing here..." she stated, as she opened her computer and looked for something.
Pipp flew down to her sister's side and rolled her eyes at her attitude. "Come on, Zipp! Just a quick look!" she begged to Zipp, lifting up her phone that kept livestreaming and smiling.
"I told you I'm bus–– Pipp!" Zipp cried out with anger once she realized Pipp was livestreaming her, and she quickly close her computer and turned at Pipp. "This investigation is private!" she said, and placed a hoof on Pipp's phone camera.
"Alright, alright" Pipp said, as she ended the livestream and putted her phone aside.
Zipp walked towards her desk and looked at the window with worry. "How can you even think about Portrait Day when the mystery of that warning from Twilight Sparkle is still waiting to be solved?" she asked to Pipp with concern. "Who was this evil force she was trying to warn us about? How did she build protection around Equestria?" she kept asking, walking towards her laptop again and opening it. "She said we were in danger, Pipp!" she pointed out with worry.
"We are" Pipp replied with an eyes roll. "In danger of looking awful in a portrait printed on the cover of Pegasus Weekly and referenced by the media for all of time!" she said, flying over her side of the bedroom and standing in front of her microphone. Then she gasped as she had an idea and grabbed the mic. "Oh. Oh, I know what will get you in the mood. Let's sing the Portrait Day Song from when we were fillies!" she said on her mic with a smile, but Zipp just turned around with a bored expression and walked back to her desk. "Be still. Don't move" Pipp started to sing.
"No song, Pipp" Zipp told her sister, as she grabbed a bag and threw it to Pipp.
"It's easy to smile with you by my side" Pipp kept singing as she dodged the bag Zipp threw. But then Zipp threw another one that did hit her and made her fell in the ground.
"No song!" Zipp yelled at her, getting back to her detective work.
Outside the Brighthouse, Tails was setting the portal machine for another test. This time around, Sonic and Knuckles worked as the batteries to keep the machine working, and Sonic and Knuckles were going to try and use Chaos Control once again, now that the Chaos Emeralds they had recovered completely.
"Alright then, I putted the arm sleeves on you just to be sure. We don't want something like last time happening again..." Tails instructed Sonic and Knuckles. "Okay, we're ready to roll. Once I counted to three, you must use Chaos Control to power up the machine. Your quills should be enough, but the mystery power of the Emeralds it's what we need to go back" he explained. Then, he moved some levers and adjusted something in the control panel. "Alright. 1... 2... 3!" Tails shouted.
Sonic and Knuckles united the Chaos Emeralds they had and shouted 'Chaos Control!' in unison, while at the same time Tails pressed the blue button of the panel. This time, the Emeralds managed to work normally, and they shone bright and floated a bit in the air. Suddenly, the Emeralds power got absorbed by Tails machine, and it started to open a portal once again. This portal was small like the last one, but this time the image was very clear: it showed Angel Island, Knuckle's home, and the Master Emerald at the other side.
Both Sonic and Knuckles stopped focusing in the Emeralds as they separated them, and looked at the portal in awe, specially Knuckles, who also felt his connection with the Master Emerald restoring at all. "It's working!" Knuckles said surprised, although weirdly he wasn't as happy as he thought he would be.
"The problem is that the portal is still very small for any of us to fit in there" Sonic pointed out with a frown.
Tails pressed the red button on his panel, and the portal closed immediately. "At least we kinda have our way home, but maybe the best it's to wait until we have all the Emeralds" he said, a little disappointed that the portal still wasn't working at all.
"Hey guys!" Hitch greeted at them, as he arrived with Sparky on his back. "Wow! It seems like you guys have been busy" he said, looking at Tails machine a bit surprised.
"Yeah, well, we did managed to open a portal, but without all the Chaos Emeralds, we're still stuck in here" Knuckles pointed out.
"Guys, I think you're forgetting something important" Sonic told Tails and Knuckles. "Even if we had the 7 Chaos Emeralds, even if this thing opened completely, we cannot leave yet. Not when Eggman it's out there, waiting to pull off his plan and attack at any moment" he pointed out with a frown. "We're not leaving until we have defeated Eggman, he's coming back with us too" he stated with a determinate look. "And now that you guys have danger forces to face as well, perhaps we'll give you a hand" he added with a smile.
"Right..." Tails said on a dead tone. "By the way, Hitch. You said that there's been reports on someone acting like Izzy around town and making a mess, right?" he asked the sheriff.
"Oh, right!" Knuckles exclaimed suddenly. "I have to caught up with her. Later!" he said, before boosting towards Maretime Bay.
"I was going to ask Knuckles if he was done, but it seems he already is" Hitch said with a smile. "I guess you're asking because you want to come along?" he asked to Tails.
"Well, I was planning on ask Sonic if he could help me with the research of who's this 'Op' Twilight Sparkle mentioned" Tails said with a little smile. "You know, since Zipp will be busy with the Portrait Day thing and––" he tried to add, but then Sonic cut him off as his eyes widened.
"Portrait Day is today! I totally forgot!" Sonic cried out. "Sunny's going to kill if I'm not there before Queen haven arrives!" he stated, as he trotted away slowly.
"What?!" Tails cried out. "B-But I thought––" he tried to add.
"Another time it will be Tails, now I have to run!" Sonic shouted, before boosting off towards Mane Melody.
Tails sighed in disappointment, and Hitch came at his side placing a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, my offer it's still up if you want to tag along" he told him with a comforting smile. Even Sparky climbed over Tails head and hugged him from there.
Tails looked at him and smiled weakly. "I... I'll go once I clean this up" he said, looking now at the machine.
"Okay then. We're at the station, so you know where to go from here" Hitch told him with a smile, as he grabbed Sparky and putted him back on his back. "See you soon, Tails!" he greeted, walking slowly towards Maretime Bay.
"See ya..." Tails said weakly, still sad that Sonic left and didn't even considered staying with him.
Sure, Sonic promised Sunny to help her with the Royalties preparation for Portrait Day, and Sonic was a man of word, but lately he's been rejecting Tails offers to spend time with him on a not so hiding way. He felt like Sonic was growing apart from him, and didn't wanted to spend time with him anymore.
Sonic, of course, knew that Tails felt bad, but he didn't wanted to explain a thing. The way he saw it, he was just protecting Tails. Eggman wanted Sonic, he didn't cared about Tails and Knuckles, he only wanted to destroy him, and that means he was going to attack him at any second now. Of course, he was risking his pony friends too, but he didn't wanted to worry everyone. Of course, he didn't enjoyed worrying nor disappointing Tails, but he tough he needed to.
"Ugh, don't think about it now, Sonic. You have to help Sunny now, and Tails knows that!" Sonic told himself. "He won't be bothered... right?" he questioned himself.
Finally, Sonic arrived to Mane Melody and immediately went in, not noticing that behind him two figures were spying at him from the shadows.
"I thought the doctor wanted me to attack Sonic before you made a mess" Metal Sonic told to Metal Izzy at his side.
"Well, he told me to test his theory on how dumb these ponies are" Metal Izzy explained. "And so far, he's right! These ponies do think I'm the real Izzy" she said with a cheery tone. "They even yelled at the real one!" she added with a chuckle.
"Well, you sound exactly like her. But they are stupid enough if they can't tell the difference between a robot and a pony of meat and bone" Metal Sonic said with annoyance. "No offense" he told Metal Izzy.
"None taken!" Metal Izzy replied cheerfully. And then, the female robot received a message from Eggman himself. "Oh, give me a second, dad wants me to report my status" she told Metal Sonic.
"Seriously? You call him dad?" Metal Sonic said with a bored expression, then he groaned and returned his gaze to Mane Melody, waiting for Sonic to come out and attack him. "Our battle will begin soon, Sonic the Hedgehog" he said on a treating tone.
"Uuh! Are we making deep serious voices now?" Metal Izzy said with her usual cheery tone.
Metal Sonic rolled his eyes and glared at her. "Shut it, kid" he pled.
On Opaline's Castle, Opaline herself and Misty were seeing Zipp and Pipp on their bedroom trough Pipp's livestream, discussing about Twilight Sparkle's warning... mostly Zipp, but still.
"We have to figure out what Twilight meant!" Zipp cried out, while Pipp just posed with her mic in front of the camera. "It's our top priority! Are you still livestreaming?! Give me that phone!" she complained, as she flew over Pipp and took her phone away.
Opaline grumbled to herself with anger. "Meddling ponies" she complained. "Always sticking their noses places they shouldn't be!" she cried out with rage, while Misty just looked at her both worried and scared. Opaline pulled away the image of the livestream and turned to see Misty. "And how is Twilight Sparkle still interfering with my plan?" she kept complaining, since Twilight was the reason she was doing all of this in the first place. "We need to get rid of those two princesses as soon as possible!" she stated. "You'll just have to lure them into a trap!" she told Misty, as she sat on her throne.
Misty walked away and entered to the library, trying to think on a way to led Zipp and Pipp into a trap. And then, she saw a picture in the ground that made her smile with an idea. Se quickly ran back with Opaline, holding the picture with her hoof.
"Maybe this could help?" Misty told Opaline, placing the picture on her throne. "Their annual Portrait Day is coming up" she told her with a smile.
Opaline looked at the picture that Misty gave her: it was of Queen Haven with her daughters when they were younger. Both Zipp and Pipp had a yellow flower with blue roots on their heads, and Opaline recognized that flower. "An ocean lily" she said, looking at the picture. "Ah! Childhood memories! Perfect!" she cheered, now having an idea. She got up from her throne and used her magic to make the boiler in front of her work, summoning an Ocean Lilly from it and she gave it to Misty, who grabbed the plant with an adorable evil grin. "Just one more thing" Opaline told Misty. "Be extra careful with the older one" she warned her about Zipp. "She's far too curious for my liking" she added with annoyance.
Misty nodded, and trotted to the main door, while Opaline turned around and chuckled evilly.
Meanwhile, Doctor Eggman was at his new lab on the Castle, having a talk with Metal Izzy.
"So my suspicions have been confirmed... very well, then" Eggman said with an evil grin. "Metal Izzy, call Metal Hitch for backup. As much as I would love for Metal Sonic to get rid of the real Sonic, I'm afraid their encounter must be postponed for another occasion" he stated. "Follow carefully my orders. Oh, and tell Metal Sonic to behave. I know he's rebellious, but I'm not risking any chance I have to get these ponies distracted" he ordered.
"Leave it to me, daddy!" Metal Izzy replied cheerfully, and then she ended her call with Eggman.
"Ugh... why did the only Metal Mane that sticks to her personality had to be the must happy one? I'm going to end blushing if she keeps calling me dad..." Eggman muttered to himself. "Meh, it doesn't matter. Metal Sunny, Metal Zipp and Metal Pipp are still looking for the other Chaos Emerald, and that's everything that matters to me" he added with a grin.
At Mane Melody, Pipp looked at herself on the mirror as she fixed her mane, while Zipp sat on a chair bored and Sonic was sitting on another chair, both looking at Sunny that kept walking back and forth while she talked excited.
"Wow! Royal Portrait Day?" Sunny said with a cheery tone. "What kind of portrait are we talking? How long has this tradition been a thing?" she asked to Zipp, who rolled her eyes in annoyance while Sunny walked towards Pipp. "Is the portrait used for anything in specific?" she asked to the young pegasus, who turned on her chair to face Sunny.
"Avant-Garde! Way before we were born! And the picture shows up everywhere, even on our pegasi money!" Pipp answered all of Sunny's questions, while also took out a bill that showed the Royal Family of Zephyr Heights printed on it.
"And I thought those Halloween costumes of me were weird..." Sonic muttered to himself.
"Come on, Sunny. You aren't actually interested in this stuff, are you?" Zipp questioned to her.
"Of course!" Sunny replied with a smile. "Who else gets to learn about royal pegasus traditions like this from the actual royals?" she said, as she sat on an empty chair between Pipp and Sonic. "What's not to like?" she asked, putting a hoof on her chin with a smile.
"Uh... everything?" Zipp said with boredom. "Getting primped and pampered all day just to sit still for hours? My wings are twitching just thinking about it!" she said, as her wings did twitched a bit.
"Aw, come on, Zipp. It can't be that bad" Sonic said with a smile. "I mean, who wouldn't die for a pretty portrait of themselves hanging in their living room? Because let me tell you that I would totally like a portrait of myself" he confessed with a smirk and a chill tone.
"Ha! You see? Even Sonic gets it!" Pipp said with a smile.
"Ugh! There are more important matters at hoof!" Zipp tried to resonate. "I mean, we all saw that Twilight Sparkle hologram thingy, right?!" Zipp asked to the others, as she remembered Twilight's message.
"If you're seeing this, magic is now more powerful than it's ever been" Twilight's hologram said. "There are evil forces out there who will want to exploit it" she added with worry.
"Zephyrina Storm!" Pipp scolded her with a frown.
"Only mom calls me that" Zipp said with a dead tone.
"You used to love this stuff when we were little!" Pipp pointed out. "Why not recapture that feeling and just enjoy it, hmm?" she said with a glare, while Zipp glared at Pipp back.
"Okay, that's enough" Sonic said, as he got in the middle of the two sisters. "Pipp, honey, Zipp does have a point. Evil forces are waiting in the shadows to attack, and you should totally not ignore them. However, Zipp, I'm giving Pipp the point this time because you need to chill~" he told the sisters, as he looked at Zipp with a calm face.
"Ha!" Pipp said to Zipp, as she won the argument.
"Pipp... behave, please" Sonic told the young pegasus with a bored expression.
"Sorry..." Pipp apologized immediately.
"Look, Zipp. Take this as your day off from being a detective" Sonic kept telling Zipp, as he placed an arm around her neck. "Just chill and relax, think about those things that make you happy, enjoy a little of royal treatment and let all your worries flew away for today" he finished with a relaxed look and tone.
"Exactly!" Sunny said in agreement, as she got down from her chair and got close to Zipp. "A little relaxation to clear your head, just have fun today. Okay?" she added with a smile, while Zipp finally smiled back.
"That's the spirit" Sonic said with a smirk.
Then, the doors of Mane Melody opened, and Zoom and Thunder entered the salon, kneeling at one side each other while Queen Haven entered next, being followed by cloudpuff.
"Girls!" Haven greeted to her daughters. "Oh, my hoofness, it's been far too long!" she said with a tired tone. "Quick, hug mother!" she instructed them with a smile.
"Mom!" Pipp said happily, and she quickly ran toward her mother and hugged her, while behind them Sonic and Sunny looked on with a smile and Zipp looked with a sheepish smile.
The three decided to get closer as Haven and Pipp brake their hug. "Good afternoon, Queen Haven" Sunny greeted politely with a smile and little reverence.
"Your majesty" Sonic greeted as well, reverencing at the Queen.
"Hi mom" Zipp greeted vaguely with a sheepish smile, while Pipp and Sunny looked at her worried and Sonic pushed her on the shoulder with a warning frown.
"That's it? Just 'hi'?" Haven asked to Zipp with disappointment. Zipp rolled her eyes with a smile and hugged her mother properly as Haven chuckled a little. "Oh. Now that's the Princess–– Oops! Sorry, that's the detective Zipp I like to see" Haven said with a proud smile, while Zipp smiled back as well. But then, Haven's her fell from its usual position. "Oh dear!" she said, as she looked worried at her reflection.
"Rough trip, Ma'am?" Sonic asked with a side smile.
"Oh, indeed!" Haven replied with concern. "It seems the trip over has done a number on me, Pipp!" she cried out to her young daughter. "Flying through heavy wind, just dreadful on the mane!" she complained.
Then, Jazz and Rocky arrived at Haven's side while Rocky flew with a smile. "Don't worry, Highness. Rocky Riff at your service" he told the Queen. "I can fix those flyaways in no time!" he assured to her, as both he and Jazz guided Haven into the salon.
"Here, your Highness!" Sunny told Haven with a smile, as she kneeled at her. "Take my chair" she said, while pointing to the chair she was sitting on before.
"Oh! So sweet of you, Sunny!" Haven told her with a grateful smile. "Thank you!" she thanked her, while Pipp sat on one of the chairs at her side. "Come on, Zipp. One more chair with your name on it" Haven told Zipp.
"I was thinking maybe I'd skip the––" Zipp tried to say, walking towards the exit. But before she could move more or anyone else said something, Zipp blinked and she was sitting on the empty chair at her mom's side. "W-What the...?" she said surprised.
But it didn't took her long enough to find out what happened when she saw Sonic in front with his arms crossed, stomping his foot quickly and looking at her with a frown. He then used his hand to make an 'I am watching you' gesture at her, while Zipp frowned back and Sonic smirked at her reaction.
Then, Sonic realized something. "Wait! This is why you brought me here?" he whispered at Sunny, who was at his side.
"Yeah, I guess I expected Zipp to try and avoid this" Sunny whispered with a smile.
"Guess you're right in that" Sonic said. "Hey Rocky! Weird question: You guys don't happen to have a ukulele, do you" he asked with a side smile.
Later, Rocky was putting some facial mask on the royals, while Jazz gave a hooficure to Haven, and Zipp... she was trying to relax, but she simply couldn't.
Sunny was on the salon's stage reading a magazine, while Sonic was playing some background music with the ukulele Rocky brought for him, mostly to practice since he was going to use the instrument to redo the tune for his song, but also to give a relax time to the royals.
"Oh! You girls wouldn't believe the week I've had!" Haven said with a tired voice. "Can you believe the florist asked if we wanted 24-inch roses instead of our usual 23.5-inch?!" she asked on disbelief.
In that moment, Zipp used a towel to remove her facial mask, the kiwis on her eyes included, although she had still the one on her right eye. "Ugh! What even is this stuff?" she cried out, while cloudpuff grabbed the kiwi on Zipp's eyes and ate it.
"It's called 'facial mask', and it helps you to feel younger, Zippy" Sonic replied from the stage with his eyes close and a smirk, as he kept touching with the ukulele.
Zipp then smirked as he had an idea. "How about some calming music, Mom?" she told Haven, as she placed some headphones on her mother's ears and pressed the play button, giving Haven some more relaxation with the music.
"Thank you, dear" Haven thanked Zipp, as she focused on the music while Zipp smirked and turned her mother's chair around to talk with Pipp.
"Psst... Hey, Pipp" Zipp called to her sister, while Pipp twitched her ear in response. "So, is this the time you're finally gonna ditch this thing with me?" she asked her with a smirk.
"Pssh! Of course not!" Pipp said, moving her hoof as if it was obvious that she wasn't going anywhere. "I actually like taking time to be pampered" she said, as she opened her wings gracefully. "It's my favorite thing, right after singing, spooky stories and... selfies!" she said, as she brought out her phone and took a lot of selfies.
Zipp smirked and decided to muck her up a bit. "And Sonic~!" she said with a teasing voice.
That made Pipp panic as she accidentally dropped her phone, while Sonic suddenly stopped playing with his ukulele, and turned to see the sisters in shock. "What was that?" he asked with a calm tone, although his eyes were widened.
"N-Nothing!" Pipp immediately said, as she chuckled nervously. "Y-You must be hearing things!" she said very nervous, while she removed her kiwis and glared daggers at Zipp.
"Sure..." Sonic said with an unconvinced tone and a frown, as he resumed his ukulele playing.
Sunny was trying not to chuckle at what just happened, when Zipp came close to her. "Hey, Sunny! How well can you do an impression of me?" she asked her.
"Uh..." Sunny said unsure, as she stood up and tried to imitate Zipp. "It's that a mystery over there?! Cool, cool" she said on a very bad impression of Zipp.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Sonic laughed up. "OH MY CHAOS! I'm so so–– I'm so sorry... HAHAHAHA" he kept laughing up, to the point he fell from th stage and kept laughing on the ground. After a few seconds, he managed to relax and sighed on relief. "Oh boy... I haven't laughed that hard in a good while... Sorry, Sunny, but it was gold comedy at his peak!" he assured.
"Ah, it's okay, Sonic" Sunny said with a sheepish smile. "That was a very bad impression anyways..." she confessed.
"Yeah... maybe not" Zipp said after that weird scene and went back to her chair, groaning as she sat on it. "Looks like I'm stuck suffering through another Portrait Day!" she complained.
"Oh, come on, Zipp" Sonic said, now frowning again as he started to play his ukulele again. "What's so bad about spending time with your family? You would regret it later if you don't enjoy it now" he stated, since he knew very well the feeling of not pass enough time with family. Hypocrite a voice shouted on his mind. You've been a terrible brother for Tails lately, and yet you dare to say that?! Fuck off, Sonic. He immediately made those thoughts aside and focused back on Zipp. "Try to chill a bit, at least. You're stressing yourself for nothing" he told her.
"Serious question: since when do you know to play an instrument?" Sunny asked curiously.
"I've never went to school, I was just taught on how to read and write" Sonic started to explain. "But I found some hobbies, besides running around and kick Eggman's butt. So, I learned how to play every single string instrument to kill some time! Except the harp and the violin, I never understood those two, and I'm not planning to!" he added with a smirk.
"Dude, is there something you cannot do?" Zipp asked rhetorically with a smirk.
"Swimming, flying, i've been told kissing... and cooking" Sonic replied. "Don't ask me about the kissing part please" he said with a bored expression.
"Okay..." Zipp said with an uncertain look, and then she heard her phone chiming as she brought it out. "Really, Pipp? I'm right here, I don't need to see your selfies" she said with annoyance. However, once she looked at Pipp, she realized she didn't send anything and felt confused. She opened the message and then saw a picture of the Ocean Lily. "No way..." she said to herself, and then smiled, since this was her perfect opportunity to get out of here. "Hey, Pipp!" she called out to her sister, getting close to her.
"What now?!" Pipp asked with annoyance, as she took off one of the kiwis on her face and Cloudpuff immediately ate it.
"Look!" Zipp said, as she lifted her phone and showed the picture of the Ocean Lily. Pipp gasped as she opened her eyes wide and the other kiwi flew away and she grabbed Zipp's phone. "Wouldn't this flower be just must perfect accessory for a Ponygram selfie?" she asked teasingly.
Sonic immediately ran in front of the sisters, although Pipp kept looking at the picture with a smile. "I know what you're doing, Zipp, and I don't like it" he stated with a frown.
"Oh. My. Gorgeous!" Pipp said with sparkling eyes as she flapped her wings on an adorable way that made Sonic's heart jump with infinite joy and his face turned a bit red. If he wasn't in public, he would probably squeal in a very girlish way. "Is that the rare Ocean Lily that only blooms once every decade?!" Pipp asked to Zipp excited. "The only other time I've seen one is when we wore them on our manes for Portrait Day!" she exclaimed, as she grabbed a towel and cleaned the facial mask. "Who sent this to you?" she asked to Zipp.
"I don't know, but it must mean the flower is in bloom right now" Zipp replied with a smile. "We have to go find it!" she said to Pipp, while the young pegasus started to have second thoughts.
"But... but... Portrait Day?" Pipp said, not so sure on what to do.
Then Zipp stopped and looked at Pipp. "Oh, no, you're right" she said on a very bad acted disappointed tone. "Who needs a picture of the most ponygrammable once-in-a-decade flower there is anyway?" she said, grabbing her phone from Pipp's hoof and shacking it at her, still with the picture of the Ocean Lily.
Pipp then made her decision, as she grabbed Zipp's phone again. "Okay! But we'll be back to Zephyr Heights in time to sit for the actual portrait, right?" she asked Zipp.
"I promise, we'll get back in time, Hoof to heart" Zipp promised to Pipp, as she grabbed her phone and putted away, then she walked towards the exit.
Then Pipp looked at her mother with a worried expression. "What are we gonna tell Mom?" she asked to Zipp.
"I've got it covered" Zipp said with a smirk, as she looked at both Sonic and Sunny, with Sonic moving his head with disapproval and Sunny eating some of the kiwis. "Hey guys!" Zipp called out to them.
"Isn't this so fun?!" Sunny asked to the sisters with a smile.
"We're gonna take a little brake from Portrait Day prep, so we're gonna need you and Sonic to cover for us" Zipp stated, while Pipp nodded in agreement.
"What?! What about Queen Haven?" Sunny asked, as she looked at Haven still listening to the music.
"Keep the cucumbers going and she won't even notice we're gone" Zipp stated with confidence.
"This is a terrible idea" Sonic said with his deep voice. "Can't believe I have to be the responsible one for once" he muttered to himself. "Look, I hate the idea of you leaving, but I know nothing I say it's going to change your minds, so be quick and careful, okay?" he told them with a frown.
"Don't worry, she won't noticed we left at all" Zipp said, turning around and walking towards the exit.
"Thanks guys, good luck!" Pipp said, as she blew a kiss to both of them and turned around as well.
Sonic immediately blushed and shook his head. "The things I do for love..." he said with a little smile, while Sunny chuckled at him.
"Aww, I knew you liked Pipp!" Sunny said with a smile.
"Am I really that obvious?" Sonic asked.
"Just a little" Sunny said on a teasing tone. "But don't worry, I won't tell her, after all... I'm looking out for you!" she sang the last part and ran laughing towards Haven.
"Seriously? That song again?" Sonic asked with a chuckle, following her.
Outside Mane Melody, Zipp stretched with relief. "Ah, finally!" she said with joy. "Out of that stuffy salon!" she added.
"Hey!" Pipp yelled at her.
"I mean, great Salon!" Zipp corrected herself, as she walked away from Pipp.
"So where are we headed anyway?" Pipp asked to her sister.
"Well, I was thinking the first thing we should do is check out the Crystal Room and see if there's anything we might have missed in regards to the hologram" Zipp replied, once again thinking over the thing with Twilight's message. Suddenly, both hers and Pipp's phone chimed, and they took their phones out to see that someone send them another picture of the Ocean Lily. "Did I say hologram? I meant Ocean Lily, of course!" Zipp corrected herself with a sheepish smile, while Pipp looked at her with a bored expression.
"Look!" Pipp said as she showed her phone to Zipp, with the picture of the Ocean Lily on it.
Zipp analyzed the picture before gasping. "Those rocks look just like the ones by the beach" she said with a smirk.
"Oooh! Beach Day!" Pipp cheered as she flapped her wings excited. "Selfie in the sand, definitely good for my feed!" she said, as she putted her phone away
"Uh... Yeah" Zipp replied unsure, as the two sister flew towards the beach, not noticing that Misty came out of a hideout behind a building, as she looked at her phone with an evil grin since she was the one that send the picture to the sisters.
What Misty didn't knew, was that Metal Sonic was spying on her from behind another building, with Metal Izzy and Hitch pocking their heads over him.
"So that's Opaline's little assistant" Metal Sonic whispered. "For a pony that looks exactly like the others, I'm actually quite surprised that she can find her own way to look intimidating" he confessed.
"You shouldn't be at all" Metal Hitch warned him. "I'm pretty sure she would betray Opaline at the first chance she founds" he assured.
"Oh, don't be silly" Metal Izzy told him. "I'm sure she'll stick with us no matter what!" she assured.
"Well, the sisters are her problem. I think it is time to give Hitch some bad reputation" Metal Sonic suggested. "What do you say, 'Sheriff Hitch'?" he asked to Metal Hitch.
"I think I'm gonna throw some litter for fun!" Metal Hitch replied with a chuckle.
On the station, Tails was comforting Izzy, who was crying on a chair after what happened to her earlier, while Hitch took her declaration and Knuckles made a board on the possible suspects that could be pretending to be Izzy and causing a mess around town.
"So, after that mare got hit by your copycat and you tried to help her get up, she not only rejected your help, but also screamed at you?" Hitch asked to Izzy, while the unicorn just nodded 'yes' in response.
"Whoever's trying to frame Izzy, has to be a good copycat if they managed to give Izzy some enemies she never asked for" Knuckles said, as he tried to find a connection between Izzy's declaration and other ponies testimonies. "Something's not adding up" he stated with concern.
"I-I don't know what I did wrong..." Izzy said weakly. "I-I didn't did anything to anyone, I-I swear!" she cried out.
"We know, Izz" Tails assured her with a comforting smile. "And I promised that we'll find the responsible for this and make them pay!" he stated with confidence.
"Tails' right! This is a huge violation to code 47, and we must make justice for you!" Hitch told Izzy.
"And I would love to have a talk with them" Knuckles said with a frown. "Nobody, and I say nobody, messes with Izzy while I'm still around!" he stated, putting on a military hat and making Izzy look at him with a little blush. "This. Is. War!" he stated, ready to kick the butt of whoever was pretending to be Izzy.
"Um... Knuckles?" Tails called out a bit confused. "I know you're worried about her, but you're being a bit - to much - dramatic" he said with a bored expression.
"I don't care" Knuckles said with honesty. "I'm finding whoever's messing with Izzy... at any cost!" he stated once again.
And Izzy still stared at him, still sad, but also smiling a bit with a blush.
At the beach, Zipp and Pipp arrived with Zipp recording voice notes on her phone, while Pipp just took pictures of her surroundings and selfies.
"Note: Beach activity appears calm" Zipp recorded on her phone. "I wonder who send those dewdropped pics of the Ocean Lily" she said with curiosity, putting her phone away and pulling out her magnificent glass. "It feels similar to the Twilight hologram somehow, right?" she asked to Pipp.
"Uh-huh" Pipp replied with no interest on Zipp, paying more attention to some seashells in the sand and taking pictures of them.
Zipp groaned quietly and flew while she used her magnificent glass to look for clues. "I mean, that message was so cryptic!" she added, but didn't noticed that Pipp flew apart. "She said we should have earth pony magic for the first time, which tracks... But there's a pony who's going to steal magic?" she questioned, lifting up a seaweed and then throwing it away. "Everypony has magic now! So that doesn't make any sense..." she stated, looking at a sand castle with her magnificent glass. "What do you think, Pipp?" she asked to her sister, still looking at the sand castle. Then a crab came out of it and threw some sand to Zipp. "Ugh!" she complained, cleaning the sand from her face. "Pipp?" she called out again, but didn't find her anyway. Then, Seashell passed running by her and let fall a seashell from the sand castle. "Whoa! This could be important evidence!" Zipp cried out.
"Sorry, Detective!" Seashell apologized, as she kept running towards a crowd of ponies.
"What is going on over there?" Zipp asked herself, as she walked towards the crowd of ponies.
She found a lot of foals and fillies in the place, looking at Pipp livestreaming again. "Hey, hey from the beach, Pippsqueaks!" she greeted on her livestream. "Some sunshine is all I need to looks glowy for tonight's portrait!" she stated with a smile.
"What are you doing?!" Zipp scolded her, as she got at her side. "This stuff is supposed to be secret!" she pointed out with a frown.
"But I told everypony I'd be livestreaming on Clip Trot all day!" Pipp said with a sad face.
"If mom sees your stream, our whole plan is ruined. I thought you wanted to find that Ocean Lily!" Zipp said to her sister with worry.
"Of course I want to find it!" Pipp said.
"Then try to avoid giving away our exact location, okay?" Zipp told her with an eye roll, while Pipp nodded with a smile.
"Alright, Pippsqueaks! Gotta go! Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Pipp waved at her followers, ending the livestream.
"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" the Pippsqueaks replied with smiles.
While Pipp putted her phone away, Peach Fizz came closer to her holding a coral. "Hey Pipp, this coral would look perfect on a Portrait Day necklace!: she suggested with a smile.
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Pipp replied with a smile.
"What about a flower?" Seashell suggested, as she made a flower grow in the sand and gave it to Pipp.
"Oh! Thank you, Seashell!" Pipp thanked the filly. "How'd you know I was looking for a flower for––" she tried to ask, but then Zipp came to her side and pushed her softly on her shoulder. "Flower? I meant follower, like you!" she corrected herself nervously, as she place the flower on her left ear. "Uhm... do you follow me on Feedbag yet? It's new..." Pipp said nervously with a sheepish smile, while her followers looked at her confused.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here!" Zipp told Pipp, as she flew away.
"Thank you everypony! Your gifts are all so lovely!" Pipp said, grabbing the flower again and also grabbing the coral from Peach Fizz. "I'll cherish them forever. 'Kay, bye!" she said, blowing a kiss and then flying behind Zipp.
Back at Mane Melody, Sonic was looking at Pipp's live stream and pictures she uploaded with a bored expression and felt very stressed. "This is exactly the opposite from being quick and careful" he muttered to himself. "One of this days, her online persona is going to led her to trouble" he stated with concern, putting his phone back on his quills and walking towards Sunny and Haven.
"And so, what I was thinking is that a community garden could be just what Maretime Bay needs to start bringing earth ponies together!" Sunny explained to Queen Haven, while Jazz used a towel to take off the facial mask from Haven's face. "Like a designated place to practice magic" she stated with a smile.
"A magical garden sounds wonderful, dear!" Haven told Sunny with an honest smile. "Thought I can't say I know much about gardening myself... That's what the gardeners are for!" she joked as she started to laugh out loud, while Sunny just gave and awkward smile.
Luckily for her, Sonic arrived just in time laughing little as he sat on a free chair next to Sunny. "Okay, that was a good one, your majesty" he said with an honest smile as well.
"Oh, Sonic, dear, no need of formalities right now" Haven said with a smile. "You know you can just call me by my name" she reminded him.
"I know, uh, Haven" Sonic said with a sheepish smile. "I'm just not that used yet..." he confessed. "It's easier with your daughter because I only call Zipp princess to mock her and Pipp to flirt..." he added, at first with a smirk, then he realized what he said at the end. "And I just revealed myself... great..." he said with a blush as he covered his face with his hands.
"Oh, don't worry, dear" Haven assured. "I could tell you liked my daughter from a mile away, and I'm not mad at you" she said with a comforting smile.
"I'm gonna guess I'm not the first one who has feeling for her, am I?" Sonic asked with a blush and a little smile.
"No, but you do are the first one that I can tell likes her for real, not for fame or glory, nor power. You like Pipp for being Pipp, right?" Haven asked him.
"Yeah... she's just... I think she's very cute everytime she squeals or gets excited about something" Sonic explained, still blushing. "Her voice, her mane, her eyes... everything about her seems pretty for me, even the things that many would named 'her flaws', I like that too" he confessed.
"Aww" both Haven and Sunny said at him.
Sonic's eyes widened as he realized what he just said. "Please don't tell anyone. I have a reputation, you know" he said with his usual smirk, but still blushing.
And then, Rocky came behind Haven. "You're all set, your Majesty" he said to her with a smile, as he turned the chair so Haven could look at herself in the mirror and place her crown on her head. "Portrait Day perfection!" he stated with pride.
"Ooh, I'm so excited! Aren't you, girls?" Haven said, looking at the mirror and asking to her daughters if they were excited too, but then she turned around when she didn't got an answer and found that Pipp and Zipp were gone. "Sunny, Sonic, where did my girls go?" she asked to them.
"Oh! They just went..." Sunny tried to said, but then Sonic quickly stepped in.
"They went back to the Crystal Brighthouse" Sonic said with his usual smile to convince Haven more. "Pipp forgot her tiara, and Zipp wanted to go with her because, you know, rebellious daughter and all that stuff" he added with a smirk.
Haven chuckled a bit at Sonic's comment. "Oh well, no point waiting here then" she stated. "We should just meet them at the Brighthouse!" she said, starting to walk towards the exit, while Sunny gave a worried look. "I haven't had a chance to check out the new place yet" she added with a smile.
Sunny then ran quickly and stepped in front of Haven. "You should visit, just not now" she told her. "The Brighthouse is a total mess and I'd hate for you to see it in that state" she added with. a little smile.
"Oh, don't worry. I may be a Queen, but I can handle a little mess" Haven assured. "I'am a Mom" she reminded Sunny.
Sonic knew that she wasn't going to stay if Sunny kept talking, so he decided to step in once again. "You know, your majes–– I mean, Haven" he said, stepping in front of Haven as well. "For Chaos, this still awkward... Anyways, Pipp's always saying that she got her amazing singing skills from you, but I don't remember having heard you singing at all" he explained with a smile. "So, I was wondering if you could sing something for us? Just if you want, of course" he added.
"Well, I suppose one song never hurt anypony!" Haven said with a bright smile. She flew over the stage, and Thunder gave her a microphone, then he walked backwards once Haven grabbed the mic. "I call this one, 'Pony Love'!" she said, as the lights of Mane Melody went out and a disco ball appeared as Haven started to sing.
I remember not so long ago The feeling of the light As it kissed my cheek, my time to speak Came and went like night
While Zoom recorded the Queen with her phone and she and Thunder looked at Haven with a smile, Sunny sat on a chair and sighed with relief, while Sonic sat on the chair at her side.
"Good callback, Sonic" Sunny whispered to him with a smile.
"We have to cover those two up, and I think a song is the best way to hold her back a bit more" Sonic whispered back with a smile.
The crack of dawn, the curtain drawn The mountains I have climbed
Back in Maretime Bay, Tails was flying around using his high-tech goggles to find any clue on who was framing Izzy. Hitch stayed in the station to calm Izzy down and Knuckles was acting like a soldier and spied on everyone on town.
"Wherever you are, I'm going to find you, imposter, and I'll make you pay" Knuckles muttered to himself, using binoculars to look for every suspicious move he could find.
Meanwhile, Tails kept flying around with his goggles. "Hmm, nothing suspicious on Mane Street" he told himself, but then he saw something near the movie theater that called his attention. "Huh?" he said, as he quickly boosted flying to the place.
Once he arrived, he found a small group of ponies looking at Posey and Dahlia discussing against each other.
"You take that back!" Posey shouted to Dahlia with anger.
"Make me, low budget Fluttershy!" Dahlia replied.
"Ugh! How dare you?!" Posey shouted again.
Tails looked on both confused and worried, and then looked at Toots at his side. "Uh, Toots? What's going on?" he asked him.
"Hitch said something about Dahlia's flowers being more treated and take care of than Posey's, and well... this happened" Toots explained.
"What? Hitch? But he hasn't left..." Tails tried to say, and then something made click on his mind. "The imposter! First Izzy, and now Hitch. Whoever's behind this has to be stopped!" he said to himself, flying away from the scene. He immediately marked Knuckles number to tell him about the situation.
Knuckles, however, was spying from a bush to other ponies, still not finding anything suspicious. "Where are you, little brat?" he asked to himself. And then, he heard his phone ringing and he took it out to answer. "Tails?" he called out. "Did you found something?" he asked.
"No, but it seems Izzy's not the only one being framed" Tails replied with worry. "Somepony pretended to be Hitch and made Posey and Dahlia fight between each other" he explained.
"What?!" Knuckles shouted, getting out of his hideout and startling some ponies, but he didn't cared. "Now Hitch?! But this doesn't make any sense... Hitch hasn't left the station since he arrived there..." he pointed out.
"I know, and I'm trying to find a logical explanation on who is framing them and why" Tails said.
But then, he saw something that made him freeze in the air: 'Hitch' was kicking trash cans as he laughed maniacally. However, it wasn't that was shocked him, it was the fact that 'Hitch' looked too metallic to be a pony.
"Tails?" Knuckles called out from the other side of the phone.
"I think I found Hitch's imposter" Tails replied. "Knux, go to Canterlogic. I'm finally realizing what's going on" he ordered, immediately finishing the call.
Knuckles felt confused, but decided to obey anyways.
Meanwhile, outside Canterlogic, Metal Hitch was laughing like a maniac at how good this plan was going. "Oh, I can't believe how easy it was to trick those ponies!" he cheered. "They're so stupid!" he added.
Metal Izzy came by flying and landed in front of him. "I know, right?" she cheered as well. "Now they hate Hitch and Izzy for things they didn't even did!" she added on a cheery tone.
"Just wait until Doctor Eggman finds out! He's going to be so pleased!" Metal Hitch assured.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, imposters!" Tails voice called out.
Both Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy turned around to see Tails and Knuckles standing there with frowns.
"So Eggman made Metals of Hitch and Izzy too" Knuckles said with anger. "And let me guess: of Sunny, Zipp and Pipp as well, didn't he?" he asked rhetorically.
"Well, just look at that" Metal Hitch said with a teasing tone. "It seems like the idiot of the group isn't an idiot at all" he added with a little chuckle.
"I don't care if you're a copy of my friends, I'm crushing you until you're nothing but two pile of junk!" Knuckles stated, activating his electrical powers.
That somehow made Metal Hitch step back a bit, while Metal Izzy leaned her head confused. "Say, wasn't Sonic the only one with electrical sparkles around him?" she asked, somehow, innocently.
"Focus, Izz" Metal Hitch told her. "We have orders to destroy everything that steps on our way. And these two parasites are doing that. So why don't we gave them a show they'll never forget?" he suggested, preparing to fight.
"Ooh! That sounds fun! Can we kill them?!" Metal Izzy asked cheerfully, as she prepared to fight as well.
"Oh, absolutely!" Metal Hitch stated.
"She sounds exactly like Izzy, and the fact that she's talking about murder scares me..." Tails confessed, but then frowned and pulled out his plasma gun.
"Let's show this robots how we roll!" Knuckles stated.
Back at the beach, Zipp kept looking for clues while Pipp was focusing on her phone.
Then, Zipp saw the rocks that appeared on the picture they received. "These rocks are just like the ones from the photo!" she said with a smile, looking at the picture on her phone and comparing it to the real scene. "We must be close..." she said cheerfully. "Yes! See, Pipp?" she asked her sister, but then turned around to find her sister taking selfies in many poses. "What did I say about keeping our location a secret?!" Zipp yelled at her with a frown.
"What? I turned the geotagging off" Pipp pointed out with a bored expression. "We're totally off the grid, basically" she assured.
"Whatever. Let's just go find this Ocean Lily already!" Zipp said with annoyance. She then flew away and took her phone out to compared the picture and the environment again, but Pipp kept sending her selfies and annoyed Zipp much more. "Ugh" she complained, walking away from her sister who kept takins selfies. Then the hours passed, and Zipp started to gave up as she brought out her phone for record. "Flower mission: total fail" she stated with frustration, as she fell in the sand while Pipp just kept taking selfies. But then, a petal of an Ocean Lily appeared in front of Zipp, and she gasped in excitement. "Could this be?" she asked, as she grabbed the petal and compared it to the ones of the flower they were looking for. "It is!" she cheered, standing up and looking at the trail of Ocean Lily's petals in the sand. "Pipp! I have a lead!" she told her sister, who kept taking selfies as she threw some petals of the Ocean Lily in the air. "Ugh, come on! No social media!" she told her sister.
"But I put a filter on it, so nopony will be able to tell where we are" Pipp assured, as she putted some filters on her pictures.
"Your influencer stuff has been getting in the way all day!" Zipp complained with anger.
Now Pipp frowned back at Zipp. "I thought the whole reason we were searching for this flower was for Ponygram?" she pointed out with anger as well.
"And your Clip Trot? And your 'Feedbag'?!" Zipp said with anger too.
"Oh, ha, that last one was a fake" Pipp said with a smirk, putting her phone away and walking away from Zipp.
"Ugh, I know! But you know what?! It was never about the flower!" Zipp confessed, tired of her sister's attitude, while Pipp just turned around and looked at Zipp in shock. "I just need and excuse to het out of Portrait Day, okay?" she said with desperation.
"Uh, what?" Pipp said with anger.
"I have to admit, I did actually get into the search for a while there, but the truth is... I don't care a salt lick about your Ponygram posts!" she shouted at her. That was enough to hurt Pipp's feelings, and it was too late when Zipp realized what she said. "Wait, I didn't mean––" she tried to save herself, but again, it was too late already.
"Well, fine! If this Lily is so silly to you, then why don't you just go home?" Pipp shouted at her with anger, turning around and walking towards the trail of petals.
"What? I'm not giving this up now!" Zipp stated. "I came all the way out here, I'm gonna see it through!" she assured, walking behind her sister.
Meanwhile, Misty came out of a rock way behind the sister, and spreed some of the petals in the sand with a smirk. "It worked!" she cheered with a smile.
Back with the sisters, they followed the trail until they entered on a hidden cave. "Ooh! Look at that!" Pipp said with awe.
"Whoa. A hidden cave?!" Zipp said, looking around the place. Pipp started to harmonize while Zipp picked up a seaweed and smell it.
"It's great acoustics" Pipp said with a cheery smile, that faded away when Zipp threw the seaweed and it almost hit Pipp. "Ah, could you not be so annoying?" she asked to Zipp with a frown. "Don't even know why you're here" she complained.
"Uh... I did all the hoofwork in this investigation, I deserve to see what I tracked down" Zipp replied, and then she gasped when she saw the Ocean Lily, growing on a cave full of crystals. Both sister smiled, but then looked at each other, and frowned again. Zipp took out her phone and took a picture of the Ocean Lily. "Well, we found it" she said. "Go ahead, take your picture" she told Pipp on a mocking tone.
Pipp, however, wasn't going to do so. "Well, maybe I don't want to anymore" she replied with anger. "Wouldn't want to ruin my feed with the bad vibe you brought to the bloom" she added.
"What? Seriously, you're not gonna take a single pic after all we've gone through?" Zipp said, glaring daggers at her sister.
"Well, if you hadn't lied, we wouldn't have 'gone through' anything!" Pipp shouted at her, glaring daggers as well.
"Oh! I can't believe you're acting this fillyish!" Zipp shouted back, as the two sisters glared at each other.
"Oh! Oh! Well I can't believe that you are a liar!" Pipp cried out. But then, the whole cave started to rumble and the two sisters looked around with worry. "Um, what is that?" Pipp asked, but then a rock feel at slight meters of the sisters, and they both started to run towards the exit.
However, once they were almost there, a pile of rocks feel and blocked the entrance, and Zipp immediately covered herself and Pipp with her wing, while some dust came out of the rumble. Once everything stopped, both sisters gasped when they saw that the entrance was blocked, leaving them completely trapped.
Back at Mane Melody, Haven was finishing her song while Sonic stared at her with awe, since he didn't expected her to sing that well.
A moment in the sun, bathing everyone In pony love
Thunder and Zoom clapped their hooves excited, as Sonic clapped as well with a surprised expression and a smile, while Sunny got down from her chair and cheered.
"Encore! Encore!" Sunny cheered at Haven.
"Wow... just... Wow!" Sonic said, standing up as well. "Haven, that was amazing! No wonder Pipp can sing fantastically, she got it from her mother!" he complimented her.
"Oh, thank you!" Haven thanked Sunny and Sonic. "But, I couldn't possibly do another" she said, as she gave the mic to Zoom and Thunder came by with a towel to dry some sweat of her, while Haven walked down the stage. "Now where were we? The Brighthouse?" she asked to both of them.
"We can't!" Sunny replied quickly without thinking, while Sonic facepalmed in frustration.
"Now, why not?" Haven asked confused. "And don't try to push that mess business again" she said with an eye roll.
"Well, the truth is..." Sunny started a bit nervously.
"Pipp just texted me" Sonic said suddenly, taking out his phone and looking at it with a neutral expression so he could convince Haven. "She said that they're already heading to Zephyr Heights, and that you should go and meet them there" he added with a confident smile.
"Ah, of course, they did" Haven said with a smile, convinced on Sonic's story, while Sunny sighed in relief. "You know, those two can be quite the 'hoofful'" she stated, sitting on the chair again while Sonic and Sunny did the same. "They are doing okay on their own, right?" she asked worried to the other two.
"Absolutely!" Sunny assured with a smile. "They do have their moments of fighting over who used whose Manewash, but I think living at the Brighthouse has brought them closer" she explained.
"Yeah, they fight sometimes, like any sibling, but they surely stay there for each other, no matter what" Sonic added, smiling as well.
"I'm so happy to hear that" Haven said with a smile.
"Did they get along as fillies?" Sunny asked out of curiosity.
"They were attached at the wings!" Haven said, smiling even more. "They did everything together" she stated, bringing out her phone and showing it to Sunny and Sonic with a picture of Haven and her daughters when they were fillies. "Their personalities were always so different, but they laughed about it then" she explained. "Not like now" she added with worry.
Sonic looked at her and felt a little guilty that he even let them leave in the first place, but then he smiled. "You know, I think that it doesn't matter if they're not that attached anymore" he assured. "Even if the world gives them their back, they still had each other. They are sisters after all, and no fight can change that" he added with a smile.
Haven smiled at Sonic for his words, and Sunny gave him a curious look. "You know, Sonic, for a guy that never talks about his own one, you're really good with family advises" Sunny said.
"Yeah, well... the truth is I never met mine" Sonic said with a sad smile. "I was raised by an old woman called Longclaw that found me after my parents... well, let's just say they were not happy at the idea of being parents at all, so they just ditched me" he confessed.
"What?!" Sunny shouted in shock.
"Oh dear!" Haven said with surprise, placing a hoof over her mouth.
"But Longclaw play both the roll of the mother and the father to me. She taught me to walk, to speak, to eat, do my needs, even to read and write! She was my mother, blood related or not, and I'm grateful I had her. Even Tails called her mom after he moved in with us" Sonic explained with a smile, that faded away slowly. "And I so wish I could tell her how much I loved her..." he said, now in a sad mood.
"I understand the feeling" Sunny said with a comprehensive smile. "I wish I could do the same with my dad... But I know that he's proud of me, wherever he is. And I'm pretty sure Longclaw is proud of you too" she assured with a smile.
Sonic looked at her and smiled weakly. "I guess I like to give some family therapy on what I have lived" he confessed. "Despite not knowing my 'blood related' one, I do had a family. And I still have it: Tails, Knuckles, my friends back home... even you and the rest, Sunny" he added with a smile. "Heh, even you, Haven" he added with a smirk, looking at the Queen.
"Oh my! Well, I'm flattered and glad, Sonic. I consider you part of our family as well. You've been guarding over my daughter, and you even got rid of that metal monster on Zephyr Heights" Haven said with a smile. "Consider yourself an honorary member of our family!" she declared.
"Well, I'm flattered, and thanks, Haven" Sonic said with a smile.
"No, thanks to you for the talk" Haven replied.
But then, they all heard punches and grunting. "Uh, what's going on?" Sonic questioned confused.
Sunny looked at Mane Melody's door. "It comes from outside" she pointed out with worry.
In the streets of Maretime Bay, Knuckles was fighting against Metal Hitch, who somehow managed to dodge every single punch the echidna launched at him.
"How. Are you. Dodging. My. ATTACKS?!" Knuckles cried out with anger, as he kept moving his fists at a fast rate to at least make a scar to the machine.
"Unlimited Power! Thank your dear friend Sonic for that!" Metal Hitch replied in a mocking tone, as he kept dodging Knuckles' attacks.
The echidna didn't understood what Metal Hitch meant, but he didn't cared either. Instead, he started to speed up the rate of his punches, until one of them finally hit the robot and send him flying backwards, landing in the ground with a loud thud since he was metallic. Knuckles didn't wasted time and jumped in the air, then glided until finally fell with his fist charged in electricity, ready to hit Metal Hitch. However, the robot quickly recovered and moved aside, which caused Knuckles to hit the ground instead and brake it in the process.
"Darn you!" Knuckles shouted to Metal Hitch.
However, the sound of the punch was so loud that it made the real Hitch to come out of the station. "What's all that noise?" he asked with concern, and then his sight stopped at Metal Hitch, looking at the angry Knuckles. Hitch's jaw dropped as he stared in shock at his robotic copy. "What in the name of Equestria it's going on?!" he cried out.
"Long story short: Eggman made Metal copies of you, Izzy and the other girls!" Knuckles replied, launching himself against Metal Hitch once again. The robot quickly moved to one side, but then Hitch decided to help Knuckles out an he kicked his robo-copycat with his hind legs, which made Metal Hitch feel in the ground. Before he could got up, Knuckles arrived quickly and charged his fist with electricity, then he crushed Metal Hitch's face, immediately putting him out of service. "And stay there, piece of junk! You wished you were half of the man Hitch is" Knuckles stated with a victorious smile.
"Aww, thanks Knux" Hitch thanked with a smile.
"Anything for a friend. Now, we have to help Tails with Metal Izzy!" Knuckles said with determination.
Meanwhile, Tails was trying to hit Metal Izzy with his plasma gun, but the robot kept dodging all his shots as she chuckled at him with Izzy's innocent voice, although she also had to kill Tails.
"Daddy says you're brilliant, just to blind to see things like they are" Metal Izzy said with a cheery voice.
"Seriously?! You call Eggman 'daddy'?! That's gross!" Tails complained, as he kept shooting at Metal Izzy.
"Also, your aim it's terrible!" Metal Izzy said in a mocking tone.
That only made Tails madder, and he decided to stop holding back: he pulled out not only another plasma gun, but also he launched a retractable boomerang he made and launched to distract Metal Izzy. He kept shooting at her, this time failing in purpose. And then Tails stopped shooting, which confused Metal Izzy, but before she could even ask anything, the boomerang Tails launched before came back and hit her in the head. Tails caught the boomerang and quickly shoot at Metal Izzy, who got the shot this time and feel in the ground.
"Ugh..." Metal Izzy groaned, as she slowly got up and looked at Tails with anger. "Now you done it!" she announced mad, and then she tried to fly towards Tails, but the fox smirked as he saw something and just crossed his arms. Metal Izzy tried to move, but she couldn't and she got confused. Then, she turned her head and saw the real Izzy, staring at her with anger as she used her magic to levitate Metal Izzy, while Knuckles and Hitch stood at her side, with Knuckles caring Metal Hitch's body.
"So you're the brat that's been pretending to be me" Izzy said in a tone that even gave Knuckles chills, as Metal Izzy felt a bit scared, even tho she was a robot. "Well, you impersonated the wrong pony!" she stated as she used her magic to move Metal Izzy up and down several times while she grunted, venting all her frustration since she make trouble for her.
After a while, Izzy let her go and started to pant, still frowning at her robotic copy. "It's okay, Izz" Knuckles told her, as he rubbed her head with a smile. "It's over now" he stated.
"Wow..." Sonic's voice was heard, as he arrived with Sunny at the scene. "I was going to ask for some context, but I don't think I need it anymore" he added, as he walked towards Metal Izzy, who was still awake, but couldn't move after al the damage Izzy caused to her. "Let me guess: Egghead make Metal versions of our friends?" Sonic asked to Tails with a bored expression.
"Yup" Tails replied, with a bored expression as well.
"Why am I not surprised?" Sonic said, now frowning and kneeling so he could get on Metal's Izzy vision. "Well, 'Metal Izzy', tell that mustache good-for-nothing that next time he messes with Maretime Bay or my friends, he's going down" he warned, as he charged electricity on his fist and punched Metal Izzy's face, destroying it in the process. Knuckles decided to launch Metal Hitch's body over Metal Izzy's one, tired of carry the robot.
"So these are the famous machines of Dr. Eggman..." Sunny said, as she stared at Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch's corpses with worry.
"They do look a bit like Hitch and Izzy, but you have to be a stupid to confuse them with the real ones" Sonic replied.
"Well, you just called the whole town stupid then" Tails said with a neutral face. "They did think they were Izzy and Hitch" he explained.
"Again, why am I not surprised...? No offense, guys" Sonic said to Sunny and Hitch.
"Non taken" the both replied.
And then, someone flew by them and grabbed Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch, while he stopped in the air and stared at the group.
"Metal Sonic!" Sonic said with anger, charging up his electrical powers while the rest stared at the robot, some in worry and others with anger.
"Greetings, Hedgehog. Glad to see you're still around" Metal Sonic said. "As much as I'd love to kill you right now, I'm afraid our encounter has to wait a bit more" he stated, then he stared at Sunny, who looked at him in shock and worry. "As for you, Sunny Starscout, I have strict orders to destroy you as well, but like I said, our battle has to wait. Right now? I need to secure's my team safety" he added, while Sunny frowned at him.
"Team?! Don't tell me Eggman has made more creeps like you!" Sonic shouted at him.
"Oh, he did, indeed. But you'll meet them in other occasion. Right now I have to go. See ya!" Metal Sonic finished, as he boosted flying away.
Sonic tried to follow up, but Knuckles grabbed him from his arm. "Don't" he told calmly. "It's not worth it right now, he told us a lot and that's enough. You will deal with him another time" he stated.
Sonic frowned at Knuckles, then he looked at the direction where Metal Sonic went and let out a sigh in defeat. "Fine... I'll deal with him another day..." Sonic said tiredly.
Back in the cave, Zipp tried to move the rocks and dig in the sand, while Pipp tried to get some signal on her phone and call for help.
"Ugh, come on!" Pipp cried out. "I thought we were besties, phone! Come on, just give me one bar. One bar!" she begged, moving around her phone in panic.
"It was your 'bestie' that got us stuck here in the first place" Zipp complained, still digging on the sand.
"Um, if I remember correctly, it was your idea" Pipp pointed out with a frown as she opened her wings. "Who trust rando dewdrop photos anyway?" she added with anger.
"Well, somepony sure was eager to come along when she thought it'd get her a few extra hooftaps!" Zipp stated angry, while Pipp just stood freeze since, like it or not, Zipp was right.
"Ugh, I can't stand you!" Pipp shouted as her eyes widened with a frown.
The two sisters starting to shout at each other, and then they just turned around and gave their backs. Zipp went back to try and dig, while Pipp walked towards a small lake and looked at her reflection with sadness.
"Ugh!" Zipp said with frustration.
"Well, looks like you got your wish" Pipp said with a sad tone, which made Zipp stop and look at the ground with sadness. "No Portrait Day for either of us now" Pipp added, as she sobbed a bit.
"That's not what I wanted" Zipp said, as she sat in the ground and looked at her hoof with the heart shape. "Hoof to heart" she repeated to herself, remembering the promise she made to Pipp earlier in Mane Melody. She looked at her sister, which ear where low, and it make Zipp feel more guilty. She slowly walked backwards as she sat behind her sister, still giving her back. "Ugh... I really did want you to play hooky with me this one time, to have fun together like we used to" Zipp confessed to her sister, while Pipp still stared at her reflection. "But it was selfish of me to trick you into coming along... in the end, I made it all about me" she said with shame. "I haven't been a very good older sister, huh?" she added with a sheepish smile.
Pipp opened her eyes and gasped softly. "Our song..." she muttered, as she slowly turned to Zipp, who started to sing.
It's easy to smile With you by my side
Zipp and Pipp: Don't blink (Don't blink) Big smile (Big smile) Just being with you, my heart opens wide
As the two sisters sang together, the crystals of the cave started to shine bright, and they both looked at each other with smiles.
As it all comes clear to me You're my best friend, my family I wanna capture this moment As we hit our stride With you by my, you by my side
Side
Side
The two sisters flew around the cave as they sang in harmony, and then they united their hooves.
It's portrait day, I want you by my side
Zipp and Pipp landed in front of the Ocean Lily with smiles, and then they sat laughing in front of the lake.
"I really am sorry, Pipp" Zipp apologized.
"Me too" Pipp apologized as well. "I wasn't exactly present either, being on my phone all day" she pointed out with shame. "i was so excited to be out and about with you, I forgot to spend time with you" she said.
"It's okay" Zipp assured with a little smile. "I know you have to keep up with all of your followers on 'Feedbag'!" she said in a mocking tone.
Pipp just bursted laughing as she lay on the ground with her hooves on her face. "Why did I say that?!" she said, as she and Zipp started to laugh together and Zipp lay on the ground as well. "I don't know why we're laughing when we're still trapped in this cave, possibly forever!" she said, as they stopped laughing at the last sentence.
"Right..." Zipp said, once again worried. "I'm sure we can find a way out!" she stated, standing up along with Pipp.
"Right!" Pipp assured as well, as the two pegasi started to look around for an exit: Zipp touching the walls in the air and Pipp looking on the ground, while at the same time she tried to get some bars again.
Then, Zipp moved aside some rocks and smiled. "Hey! I think I might have found something!" she cheered, while Pipp gasped excited and flew towards her sister. They both stared at a small hole on the cave, were some sunlight entered.
Pipp gasped again, this time looking at her phone. "I've got a bar on Bestie over here!" she cheered with a smile.
"Well, get streaming!" Zipp instructed with a smile. "And this time, geotag it!" she added.
Pipp smirked at Zipp, and she immediately started to livestream. "Hey, Pippsqueaks!" she greeted to her followers. "I'm in a bit of a bind! Me and my sister need some help, like yesterday!" she stated, sharing her location in live.
After waiting a few seconds, Glory pocked her head from the other side of the hole, looking at the two pegasus trapped.
"It's working!" Zipp said with a smirk.
"Wow! That was fast!" Pipp cheered, as both she and Zipp flew closer to the hole. "I bet with your new pony powers you could totally bust us out of this beach cave!" Pipp told her followers. "Show me what those horns and hooves can do!" she told them with a smile.
The ponies used their magic to move the rocks aside and give Pipp and Zipp enough space to scape.
But before they left, Zipp flew towards the Ocean Lily and grabbed it. "You should take it" she told Pipp, as her sister grabbed the Lily with a smile. Then, they both saw that they finally had a full exit out of the cave.
"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Seashell cheered, while Pipp putted the Lily away.
"You said it!" Zipp cheered, as both she and Pipp finally got out of the cave. They both cheered and flew happily in the air, although they got covered in seaweeds, but none of them seemed to care.
They landed, and the Pippsqueaks got close to them and cheered. "Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" they all cheered at the princesses.
"Pretty strong magic for such young colts and fillies" Zipp said with a smile, while she hoof bumped with Glory.
"Thank you so much for helping us!" Pipp said to her Pippsqueaks.
"How could we not answer your distress call, Princess Pipp?" Seashell said with a smile.
And then, Zipp's phone started to ring. Zipp answered the call and putted the phone on her ear. "Hello?" she greeted.
"ZIPP! Oh, thank Chaos you finally pick up your phone! I've been trying to contact you and Pipp for the last hour!" Sonic shouted on the other side of the phone. "Where are you?" he asked, but before Zipp could reply he talked again. "Ugh, it doesn't matter! You two have to come here at Zephyr Heights now! Your mother it's loosing her head on worry!" he finished, and immediately ended the call.
"We gotta get to Zephyr Heights, now!" Zipp told Pipp with worry.
"Right!" Pipp said, as she patted a young colt's head. "We gotta dash, but I'll be sure to give you a shout-out in my next Clip Trot stream, so stay tuned!" she announced, then flew alongside Zipp.
"Catch you on the flippity-flip!" Zipp said to the Pippsqueaks, and then the two sisters flew towards Zephyr Heights.
Misty came out of some bushes, apart from the scene, and she groaned when she saw Zipp and Pipp flying away. Then she looked at the ground sad, knowing that Opaline would be disappointed at her.
At Zephyr Heights, Haven walked back and forth in front of her throne, while Sunny looked at her with worry and Sonic stomped his feet desperate with his arms crossed, frowning at the ground.
"Where are they, you two?!" Haven asked to Sonic and Sunny. "I'm not surprised Zipp is missing, but Pipp wouldn't miss Portrait Day for anything!" she pointed out with worry.
And then, both Pipp and Zipp entered the Throne Room, still covered on seaweeds. "We're here!" Pipp called out.
"Hi, Mom!" Zipp greeted to their mother.
Both Sonic and Sunny sighed in relief, while Haven hasped at her daughters aspect, and she flew towards them. "What happened to you two?!" she asked them, then she slightly touched the seaweed wrapped on Zipp's neck. "I though you didn't like getting seaweed wraps?" she said to Zipp.
"We had to go and get this!" Pipp said, as she took out the Ocean Lily and extend it to Haven.
Haven gasped in awe at the flower. "An Ocean Lily? Just like the one you wore in the portrait all those moons ago?" she asked her daughters, while Zipp nodded and Haven smell the flower. "I love it!" she said, grabbing the flower and putting it on her right ear.
As the Royal Family walked towards the throne, Sunny looked at them with a smile, but Sonic crossed his arms and rubbed his chin. "Huh... that flower seems familiar to me... but why?" he muttered to himself. "Meh, I guess it's one of those weird occasions where I feel like I remember something I never lived in the first place" he stated with a neutral expression and a smile towards the Royals.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Doctor Eggman was reviewing the archives Metal Hitch recorded, and frowned at the image of Knuckles having electrical powers just like Sonic.
"Perhaps my theory of Magic giving some powers to Sonic was wrong after all. If Knuckles had them too, then it's definitively something they always had..." Eggman muttered to himself. "But why? Why appear now? Why not back home? What in the name of Chaos happened in Equestria that activated their powers? What am I not seeing?" he questioned.
"Ugh!" Opaline's voice was heard, and Eggman turned around. He stared at the door for a while before deciding to go and check on the Alicorn. Once he entered the throne room, he saw Opaline staring at her reflection on the boiler. However, that was the thing: it wasn't HER reflection, it was Sunny's in her Alicorn form.
"Uh, Opaline, dear?" Eggman called out. "Can you explain me what in the name of your race it's happening here?" he asked with concern.
"Doctor! Haven't see you in a few days" Opaline said with a grin. "You see, Misty trapped the princesses of Zephyr Heights, just like I told her. But guess what?" she asked, now frowning while Misty looked at the ground with shame.
"They either escaped or someone helped them, right?" Eggman said with a bored expression.
"And now I am going to make a move myself. After all, if you want something well done..." Opaline started.
"You have to do it yourself" Eggman finished for her with a smile. "And I couldn't agree more, because I have decided it is time for me to make a move as well" he stated with an evil grin.
"Really? And what would that be?" Opaline asked with interest.
"I've been trying to track down the 7th Chaos Emerald, the one neither Team Sonic or us have" Eggman started to explain. "And after two months of researching, I think finally found it!" he said with a victorious smile. "But even tho I could just go there and check out for myself, Sonic could be tracking me down. I cannot expose myself, at least not when he's around... I'm going to guide him to the cave with fake clues, and then..." he stopped in midsentence.
"Oh! Let me guess... you will crush him yourself, right?" Opaline guessed with a smile.
"And that, my dear partner, it's why we're evil genius!" Eggman cheered with a grin. "We have very common goals, and even common enemies. And once Sonic it's out, I think we can both get out of this place and finally have some proper fun!" he finished with an evil grin once again.
"Oh, I love how that sounds!" Opaline said, as both she and Eggman started to laugh maniacally, while Misty just stared at them with worry and fear.
Back at Zephyr Heights, Zipp and Pipp told Sonic, Sunny and Haven about the little adventure they had to get the Ocean Lily. They where all in the dining room eating, and they were staying in there for the night since the trip back to Maretime Bay wasn't short at all. Also, the portrait was ready and putted on the hallway of the castle where all the other portraits where putted.
"Well, it sounds like you two had quite an adventure!" Sonic stated with a smile.
"I can't believe you went through all of that trouble just for an Ocean Lily!" Haven said a little mad, but still smiling.
"Well, it was totally worth the shot" Zipp assured with a smile. "And guys, sorry for the trouble we caused you while staying with mom" she apologized to Sunny and Sonic.
"Bother? Oh, no, no, no, Zipp. We were able to spend time with the Queen of Zephyr Heights. We even heard her sing and all!" Sunny replied with a cheery smile.
"Yeah, no wonder Pipp sings great, her mother does too!" Sonic complimented once again, which made Pipp blush slightly and gave a sheepish smile, while Zipp chuckled a little at her side.
"Oh, thanks for your kind words Sonic" Haven thanked. "Oh! Now that I think about it, I haven't heard you singing before either" she pointed out with a smile.
"Oh... Oh! I see where you're going" Sonic said with a smirk. "You're suggesting I should sing something too?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Ugh, Mom!" Pipp scolded with a blush. "No need to bother him!" she said a little embarrassed.
"No, no! It's okay, Little Pipp. It doesn't bother me at all, in fact..." Sonic said, as he looked at Zipp with a knowing look, and Zipp smirked back, knowing what this meant. "I've been working on something, and I'll like to heard a second opinion" he said, as he ran out of the room and came back with a ukulele... again. "Now, I have to ask: should I just sing this around the dining room, or...?" he asked a bit unsure.
"Oh, let me take charge of that" Haven said, as she clapped her hooves and Thunder and Zoom quickly left the dining room table empty.
Sonic stared at it before realize what that meant. "Wait, so you want me to sing over the table?" he questioned.
"Oh, don't worry, dear" Haven assured. "Know, stop making us wait and show us your singing skills!" she cheered.
"Yeah! Go ahead, dude!" Zipp cheered as well.
"Sing it, Sonic!" Sunny cheered as well.
Pipp was the only one who didn't cheered loud, instead she just nodded in agreement with a smile and a blush.
"Okay then..." Sonic said, as he got up on the table and prepared his ukulele. "This, um, this is going to sound weird, but actually I made this song, so..." he finished, now ready to perform.
Sonic deep breath a bit before finally playing the ukulele.
There's no way to say this song's about someone else Every time you're not in my arms I start to lose myself Someone please pass me my shades Don't let 'em see me down You have taken over my days So tonight I'm going out
While he sang, he stomped his foot as well and he got his eyes closed. Meanwhile, the ones staring at Sonic this time were the girls in the room. Heck, even Zoom and Thunder stared at him in awe. Sunny and Zipp heard Sonic singing before, but this was different. This was more genuine, he was putting his soul on this, unlike the other times where he sang just for fun; while Haven was delighted by Sonic's singing skills.
And then there was Pipp, who was stunned at Sonic. Yeah, she also heard him singing before, but this was genuine, like that time he sang his lullaby to her. For the very first time in her life, Pipp didn't wanted to record anything, no, she wanted this to be special, to remember it for herself.
Yet I'm feeling like There is no better place than right by your side I had a little taste And I'll only spoil the party anyway 'Cause all the girls are looking fine But you're the only one on my mind
During this part of the song, Pipp noticed that Sonic was looking mostly at her, which not only made her blush, but also pay more attention to the lyrics. And the more Sonic kept singing, the more her heart bumped at a very fast rate. Zipp noticed the immense blush on Pipp and smiled, since she knew the song was actually working.
La da dee La da dee doo La da dee me La da dee you La da dee La da dee doo There's only me There's only you La da dee La da dee doo La da dee me La da dee you La da dee La da dee doo When you are gone I think of you
Pipp smiled brightly at Sonic, who kept singing with passion around the table.
I'll pretend the night is so beautiful Take a photo with the bros La da dee La da da doo They won't see through my disguise Right here behind my eyes Replaying in my mind La dee da yeah
In this part, Sonic looked at the night sky outside the window of the dinning hall with a smile, while he also stared at Pipp a few more times.
I'm feeling like There is no better place than right by your side I had a little taste And I'll only spoil the party anyway 'Cause all the girls are looking fine But you're the only one on my mind
La da dee La da dee doo La da dee me La da dee you La da dee La da dee doo There's only me There's only you La da dee La da dee doo La da dee me La da dee you La da dee La da dee doo When you are gone I think of you
Sonic finished singing and panted, while everyone in the room clapped their hooves, and Pipp looked spellbound at Sonic. If it were physically possible, her eyes might turn into hearts. As Sonic caught his breath, he looked with a nervous smile at the mares.
"So... what do you think?" Sonic asked them. "Was it good, or is there something I have to improve?" he added.
"Dude, that was amazing!" Zipp said with an honest smile. "I didn't knew you could sing like that!" she confessed.
"Wow... just... Wow!" Sunny said, feeling speechless. "I have no words to describe how good that was" she said honestly as well.
"Dear, you should sing more often. You could start a singing carrier if you liked" Haven said, smiling as well.
"Uh, I'm flattered, but I'm the kind of guy who runs free as the wind" Sonic said, getting down of the table. "Besides, I don't like to drag attention, although I do it sometimes" he confessed.
"... That... that was..." Pipp said out loud, dragging everyone's attention, Sonic's included. "Sonic, you sing amazing! I-I had no idea you could sing like that! Oh my glitter, that was so beautiful!" she said cheerfully, flying around the room excited, while Sonic just stared at her with a smile.
Glad you like it, it was for you after all Sonic though with a blush, while Pipp landed on the table. "Thanks, Little Pipp" Sonic thanked with an honest smile.
"Say, you mentioned you made the song for someone. Can we know who it is?" Sunny asked curiously.
"Okay, girls I think that's enough for today" Haven stated. "Come on, go to your rooms and get some rest. Nigh!" she said with a smile.
"Night!" the four replied, as they walked out of the dinning room.
Once they were on the hallway, they separated with the sisters walking towards their rooms and Sunny and Sonic walking towards the guest room. However, Sonic stopped and turned to look at Pipp and smiled with determination. "Hey, Pipp!" he called out, while Pipp turned around and looked at him curiously. "I'm glad you liked the song. After all, you're the one I made it for" he said blushing, but also smiling.
Pipp's eyes widened and sparkled, as she placed a hoof on her mouth and Sonic resumed his walk, with Sunny following and walking backwards, since she was now facing Pipp and looking at her with a cheery smile.
"Well, sis" Zipp said with a smirk, as she placed her arm around her sister. "When are you going to make him my official brother in law?" she asked on a teasing tone.
That made Pipp's blush increase, and she pushed Zipp a bit mad. "Zipp!" she scolded her, quickly trotting away, while Zipp stayed in the ground laughing. However, Pipp smiled again and place her hoof on her mouth again. She hopped a little excited, feeling like a little filly in love. Her crush made a song for her, just for her, now the lyrics made more sense. "Well, good night Sonic" she muttered, resuming her walk.
Meanwhile, Sonic was laying on his bed at the guest room, looking at the ceiling with a smile and, somehow, still blushing. "Good night, Pipp" he muttered too, closing his eyes slowly and falling in the realm of dreams.
On the bedroom of the Brighthouse, Tails was using a big high tech computer in front of his desk, looking at images of Metal Sonic and the blurred photos he managed to get of Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch. Also, there were other stuff open on the computer; like the map of Equestria Sonic got, pictures of the 7 Chaos Emeralds with just 4 drawn with circles around and the video of Twilight Sparkle's message Zipp recorded.
"It's it just me, or every single day there's a new mystery that pop's up suddenly?" Zipp asked rhetorically, since she was with Tails. He already told her the events of Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch appearing in Maretime Bay, and the big possibility of Metals of her, Pipp and Sunny as well.
"First the Chaos Emeralds failing, then working again, then Sonic and Knuckles' powers, Twilight's warning, Eggman's plan that we know nothing about, and now Metals of you and the others sins Knuckles and I" Tails listed all the mysteries that had appeared so far. "Did I missed something?" he asked with a bored expression.
"Nah, that pretty much covers it all" Zipp said with a side smile. "But seriously, what's Eggman's goal? What does he want from us? Why create Metals of us? And who's that evil force that Twilight tried to warn us of?" she kept asking, as she walked back and forth.
"Like if dealing with Metal Sonic, Eggman and his partner Opaline wasn't enough..." Tails said with concern. "Man, I'm just 23, but I feel as stressed as a 40 year old..." he complained with a frown.
Suddenly, Zipp stopped walking, and looked at Tails with widened eyes. "What was that last thing?" she asked with a hopeful tone.
"That I'm just 23, but I feel––" he tried to reply, but then Zipp grabbed his cheeks suddenly and cut him off.
"Not that, the thing that you said before!" Zipp told him.
"Uh... like dealing with Metal Sonic, Eggman and his partner Opaline wasn't enough?" Tails replied a bit confused.
"Opaline... of course!" Zipp said, almost with a victorious smile. "Twilight said to watch out for somepony which name started with 'Op', and Opaline it's helping Eggman!" she explained with excitement.
"Oooh! Of course! How did I didn't realized that?!" Tails said, now understanding. "Well, at least we know that Opaline it's the pony that wants to steal the magic, but now what?" he asked to Zipp.
Zipp flew to her computer for take some notes on this discovery. "Now that we know she's the one who wants to steal our magic, we'll need to find her hideout. In other words..." she stated, stopping and looking at Tails with a knowing look.
"We have to search for her Castle!" Tails finished with a smile, while Zipp just nodded in agreement. "Since I won't be working on the portal thing until we get all the Chaos Emeralds, I can start to track her castle" he stated, taking out his advanced tablet. "One way or another, I'm finding that place" he assured.
And then, Sonic entered the room suddenly. "Tails!" he called out, looking all around the room for his brother.
"Right here!" Tails said, waving his hand at Sonic, standing in front of Zipp's bed.
"Dude, Knuckles saw Metal Sonic near Canterlogic!" Sonic quickly explained.
"What?!" both Tails and Zipp yelled in surprise, as Zipp close her computer and payed attention to Sonic.
"I went to check out, but he was gone... However! I did saw him flying away, and some parts were falling from his body!" Sonic said. "He was looking really rusty yesterday, so I'm guessing his body is falling apart. Now, why do I tell you this? He left a trail of metal stuff while he escaped, which means..." he gestured with his hands as he smiled.
"... That we could track down Metal Sonic!" Tails replied with a smile. "And it's very possible that he returned with Eggman, so if we follow him, we found Eggman!" he stated.
"And if you found Eggman, you found Opaline!" Zipp said, as she hopped excited.
"So it seems like we have a clue!" Sonic stated with a smirk. "Now, I was planning on going alone, but I did realized something..." he said, now putting his arm around Tails neck. "Dude, I haven't been a very good older brother to you, and I've been on the solitary route for a while now. But not anymore!" he stated with a smile. "What do you say about an adventure together, huh? Just like in the good old times: Sonic and Tails against the world!" he added with excitement.
"Really?! Only you and me?!" Tails asked excited.
"Hedgehog word!" Sonic assured. "So, what do you say? Are you up 2 it?" he asked, extending his fist at Tails.
Tails rolled his eyes at the last joke, and fist bumped with Sonic. "I'm in!" he stated confidently.
Back at the junkyard where Metal Sonic hides, he managed to repair Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, or at least their screens and their articulations.
"Ugh, why are we even here?" Metal Hitch complained. "Doctor Eggman can repair us properly! We shouldn't be hiding on this junkyard!" he cried out with frustration.
"Once they have failed to him, Eggman ditches the machines that Sonic managed to defeat" Metal Sonic explained, as he crossed some cables to turn Metal Izzy on. "So you are were you belong now: In the biggest trash can this dimension probably has" he stated, while Metal Hitch groaned and Metal Izzy finally turned on again.
"Ugh... what happened?" Metal Izzy asked.
"Sonic was so kind to put you to sleep" Metal Sonic said with sarcasm. "Now he knows about you two and about your partners. He would try and track you down, and me as well" he added with concern.
"And so what? We should just stay here and do what exactly?" Metal Hitch complained. "Staying here isn't going to kill that damn Hedgehog nor his friends!" he pointed out.
"Oh, but it will" Metal Sonic assured. "Eggman gave me and Metal Pipp a mission I accomplished on a 50% at least: guide Sonic to a cave and trap him there" he explained. "The trial it's settled down, and Sonic already saw me flying there, now Metal Pipp has to wait for him to reach the cave and trap him there" he added.
"So, what do we do in the mean time?" Metal Izzy asked, getting up with effort since her body was still a bit damaged.
"You two, stay here. I'm going to make sure she doesn't screw this like you two did" Metal Sonic ordered. "When I say Eggman won't receive you, I mean it. The only reason he keeps coming back at me it's because he knows him alone would never be enough to get rid of Sonic the Hedgehog" he stated, and then flew away without waiting for any of the other Metals to reply.
"Ugh, he can go around and play like 'daddy's favorite son' if he wants" Metal Hitch stated, walking back and forth with anger. "For all I care, we have to destroy those ponies! But on our current state we can't do much" he complained.
"Well, Metal Sonic repaired himself with some of this junk" Metal Izzy said, while Metal Hitch stared daggers at her. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I don't like the idea of looking half good and half trashy, but you know Metal Sonic it's right about daddy not wanting us anymore. Do you have any better idea to restore yourself?" she asked with a mocking tone.
Even tho they didn't had smiles, Metal Hitch could totally tell that she would smirking right now. With a loud groan and an eye roll, Metal Hitch looked at Metal Izzy with a bored expression. "Fine, but I'm going to complain every time!" he stated.
On Maretime Bay, the ponies were all going on their daily lives, when suddenly Sunny passed by rolling skating very fast, while she dodged some ponies she almost crashed with.
"Pardon me, excuse, but also, I have a really important announcement! One that will change all of our lives!" Sunny stated, as she kept skating around. Some ponies stared at her curiously, and others just looked with bored expressions. "Hurry, come listen!" Sunny instructed, as the ponies came closer to her. "Ponies of Maretime Bay: I have some alarming news... We eat too much junk food!" she said with worry.
Ironically, Toots was eating a bag of chips and an earth pony mare at his side was popping a bubble gum. "You're just saying that to get us to come to your Smoothie Cart!" Dahlia said, standing at Toots side as well, while he nodded in agreement.
"What?! No! But it is something we need to talk about" Sunny pointed out. "Why constantly eat junk food, full of, well, junk, when we have amazing new earth pony powers we could be using to create fresh fruits and veggies of our own?" she pointed out, taking out some fliers with fruits and vegetables images from her bag. "Imagine the possibilities!" she told with a smile.
"Like what?" Toots asked.
"We could magically combine plants to make them more delicious or, or even invent new flavors of fruits" Sunny said, as she gave some of the fliers to the ponies around. "We can grow as ponies by growing our own food!" she stated with a smile.
However, it wasn't enough to convince the ponies. "Not another one of Sunny's lost causes..." Dahlia complained as she facehoofed herself. Then she walked away, and the ponies around threw the cards tot the ground, not interested on Sunny's idea.
"Ugh, yuck to that. And yum to you!" Toots said, as he threw the card and ate a donut, then walked away happily after eating the donut.
Sunny looked on with disappointment that her idea was rejected. "Hey! How's your rally going?" Zipp asked with a sheepish smile, as she arrived along the rest of the Mane 5 and Knuckles.
"So far, it's been nothing but failure" Sunny said with disappointment, pointing at the cards spreed on the ground. "Nopony in town even took one, did they?" she asked with concern.
"To be fair, these fliers do have a giant 'no' sign across a picture of French fries" Zipp pointed out, since the reverse of the fliers had exactly that: a big red circle and a line over French fries.
"There are so many things that need changing" Sunny stated. "How can I make the world a better place if nopony is willing to listen?" she asked concerned, walking on circles on her own place. "With all our new earth pony powers, there's so much potential!" she said, as her Cutie Mark started to glow and her friends stepped back a little surprised. "I just want to help!" she said out loud, while her Alicorn form appeared.
This made the earth ponies around Maretime Bay gasp in awe and surprise at Sunny's sudden transformation, as they all started to walk towards her and muttered between themselves.
"Okay, tell us more about them fruits and vegetables, Sunny!" Toots said with a smile, while the other earth ponies nodded in agreement.
"I finally got your attention?" Sunny asked excited with a giggle, not noticing that her horn and wings appeared.
A bit later, Sunny was delivering smoothies at her stand, while Hitch, Knuckles and Izzy played with Sparky behind it and Zipp and Pipp stood at Sunny's side.
"Woo! I am over the Luna-moon!" Sunny cheered. "The response in town went from zero to 100 in seconds. Ah! What gives, right?!" she asked with a smile to Zipp and Pipp.
Both sisters laughed a little before Zipp lay on the stand. "I think I can solve this mystery pretty quick" she assured to Sunny with a smirk. "Or, maybe you should just use that Alicorn mirror of yours..." she said.
"I have something in my face, again don't I?" Sunny asked with a bored expression. "Ah, I knew it––" she said, bringing out the alicorn mirror, and then her eyes widened when she saw the golden horn and wings. "My Alicorn magic? Ah! It was an accident!" she cried out, pulling the mirror away. "Oh, this keeps happening..." she said with worry, while Zipp and Pipp looked at each other confused.
"But that isn't a bad thing, it's a wonderful thing!" Pipp pointed out with a smile, pointing at the line at Sunny's stand, with the three usual fillies dressed as Alicorns. "That line is full of eager ponies who want to listen to you" Pipp added with a smile. "Am I jealous about that? No! Never. Because I'm secure in myself" she assured with a nervous smile, while Sunny stared at her concerned and Zipp a little annoyed. "And I have thousands of followers on multiple platforms validating my every move" she added with a sheepish smile, while Zipp stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "Ah... not that that matters. It doesn't!" she finished with a nervous chuckle.
Meanwhile the line of ponies waiting for take a smoothie on Sunny's stand chattered excited and looked at Sunny, while Sunny herself looked on nervously.
"Why are they all looking at me?" Sunny asked nervously to the sisters.
"Because, well, look at you! You're an Alicorn!" Pipp replied, as Sunny looked at her horn and wings. "Soon, everypony will be watching your every move while breathing down your neck at every moment, shouting 'Sunny, Sunny, Sunny! Ah! We love you!" Pipp said excited, laying on the stand and smiling at Sunny.
"That is... a lot" Sunny said with a nervous smile. "I'm not used to all this attention" she pointed out a little worried. "I, uh, I need some... space. A-hum. Yeah! Space. Okay" she said, ducking on her own stand and looking again at the Alicorn mirror, sighing and groaning a bit frustrated. "I gotta get ahold of this. I don't want to be an Alicorn right now" she stated, as her horn and wings faded away, and Sunny looked again at the mirror. There we go! Phew! Finally" she cheered quietly, closing the mirror and putting it away.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline herself watched on disbelief how Sunny could summon her Alicorn form, unlike the other Alicorns in the history of Equestria like Celestia, Luna, Twilight or even Opaline herself.
"Sunny can transform into her Alicorn form?" Opaline asked herself in awe. "I've never seen this before... And she doesn't want to always be an Alicorn?" she asked again, opening her wings in anger.
Behind her, Misty was slurping loudly a smoothie that only Celestia knows where she got it from, while Dr. Eggman walked stood at the unicorns side and rubbed his chin. "Of course, magical artifacts always chooses the weak ones to posses the greatest power of all... how cliché" Eggman complained.
"Oh, I know. It's annoying" Opaline said, agreeing with Eggman. "However, if I can get Sunny to embrace her Alicorn powers, just imagine what we could accomplish with another Alicorn by our side" she said to both Eggman and Misty.
"That..." Eggman wanted to protest... however, he found the idea quite good. "Actually, my dear Opaline, that sounds wonderful! Two powerful Alicorns and a Mastermind like mine together... Ohohoho, the possibilities are endless!" he stated with an evil grin. "It's brilliant! She could even gave us the Unity Crystals and the Chaos Emeralds without knowing it! Opaline, you just make be grateful on our alliance more and more!" he added with a smirk.
"Oh, please, Ivo, you'll made me blush!" Opaline said jokingly. "With Sunny on our side, you'll get your precious Emeralds, and I'll be even closer to the magic I need" she stated with an evil grin.
"Totally" Misty said, slurping loudly from her smoothie again.
This time, Opaline's eye twitched. "What is that?" she asked to Misty with a frown.
"A smoothie!" Misty replied. "It's got jicama in it, which isn't my favorite, but it still tastes like happiness" she explained with a smile, that somehow made Eggman smile a bit as well. "Want some?" she asked to Opaline and Eggman.
Opaline immediately replied by hitting the smoothie with a fire blast from her horn. "No, thank you Misty" Eggman simply said, patting the unicorns head.
"This is no time to drink vegetables!" Opaline said. "But it is time to plot. We have a job to do" she stated.
"Well, I don't know what would be your plan, but I'm afraid I won't be here to enjoy it" Eggman said, walking towards the exit. "The trial to lead Sonic to the cave where he'll met his fate it's done. And my sources says Tails came along, so I'll kill two birds on one shot" he stated. "I must prepare to kill them, so I must go now. Have fun, you two!" he finished, and then he got out of the throne room.
Meanwhile, Opaline looked at Misty with a grin. "Misty, I'm going to need you to infiltrate" she ordered.
"But how?" Misty asked.
"Ugh! Join a group of ponies! Blend in! I don't care!" Opaline replied with annoyance. "Just do whatever you have to do and find a way to get Sunny vulnerable" she ordered, and then she walked towards the boiler. "And as for Sunny's compact... Well, I think it could use a little extra Alicorn magic, don't you?" she stated, and then she started to laugh maniacally while she used her magic to change her reflection aspect to look exactly like Sunny.
Back at Sunny's stand, Izzy and Zipp where helping her out to deliver the smoothies. Since Tails was with Sonic following Metal Sonic's trail, he couldn't help Sunny today. Then, Zipp got out of the stand and flew away, while Pipp sat on a table with Hitch, Knuckles and Sparky.
Pipp sighed frustrated, but nopony seemed to care, so she sighed louder, but still nopony payed her attention. Nopony, except her two friends and the baby dragon.
"Something bothering you, Pipp?" Hitch asked her confused.
Pipp looked over at Zipp, who came back rolling a giant watermelon over to Sunny's stand. "Don't mention it to Zipp, but yes!" Pipp told her friends, rising her wing to cover the conversation from Zipp and bringing out her phone. "None of my Clip Trots have been doing well!" she explained.
"What a tragedy..." Knuckles said with a bored expression and a sarcastic tone.
"But it is!" Pipp cried out at him, while Knuckles just looked at her confused. "These super popular and adorable ponies, the Filly Four, have been totally slaying the game!" she added, showing one of the Filly Four Clip Trots to Hitch and Knuckles. "I'm not saying it's a competition or anything, but this post had got thousands of hooftaps!" she said, looking at the likes on the video of the Filly Four she showed. "My latest post only got three likes and one monkey. And I don't even know what a monkey means!" she cried out with panic, slamming her cheek on the table with frustration.
"No biggie with the monkey part" Knuckles said. "Back home, we have them too and we have no idea what they mean either" he explained, then slurped from his smoothie.
"In a little bit of a slump?" Hitch asked Pipp.
"I've been trying everything lately, singing loudly, singing softly, singing in general..." Pipp explained, moving her hooves to prove her point while both Sparky and Knuckles looked at each other confused. "Oh my hoofness" Pipp said suddenly. "What if I've been..." she stopped and gasped dramatically, putting her hooves on her mouth. "... shadowbanished?!" she cried out with worry.
Both Hitch and Knuckles stared at her, not understanding why she was so dramatic so suddenly. "I don't know what that means, but it sound ominous" Jazz said, arriving suddenly and siting at Knuckles side, putting a hoof on her cheek while Hitch decided to slurp from his smoothie and check on his phone.
"Thank you, Jazz" Pipp thanked with a nervous look. "Shadowbanishing is when your content gets blocked to viewers!" she explained. "I mean, it has to be that, right?" she asked with panic. "There can't be any other explanation!" she pointed out.
"I don't like to be that guy, but it also could be that you're not that relevant anymore..." Knuckles said very calmly.
But that just made Pipp feel worst. "What?!" she yelled at Knuckles with widened eyes.
"There comes a moment on any influencer life where they stop being the hit" Knuckles explained. "It's completely normal that some influencers win viewers while others lost them. Sometimes it's not because people lost interest, but because something else call their attention from others" he added. "But don't worry too much, eventually you'll get your usual ratings back" he assured with a smile.
"And when would that happen exactly?" Pipp asked desperately.
"I don't know. It could be days, weeks, months, years..." Knuckles listed, but then he saw Pipp's expression and quickly corrected himself. "It depends totally on what you upload, Pipp. Your viewers would give you attention again if you upload something they want to see, something that calls their complete attention back" he stated.
That only made Pipp felt more conflicted, and then Hitch started to laugh suddenly, which made Pipp felt even worst.
"Why are you laughing at such a serious time as this?!" Jazz scolded to Hitch.
"Oh, sorry!" Hitch apologized. "It's just this video of Sparky. You gotta see it!" he explained, as Jazz, Pipp and Knuckles got closer to Hitch to look at his phone.
The video showed Hitch extending a fork with a cucumber slice to Sparky, who had hiccup and then let out his dragon fire at the cucumber, that turned into a rock. Sparky licked the rock a bit, and then he hugged it cutely, while thousands of heart emojis popped up.
"Aw!" Jazz, Pipp and Knuckles said as they looked at Sparky's video.
"That was so adorable. Wow" Jazz said to Hitch.
"There's no way this little dragon cannot be adorable" Knuckles stated.
"And look at all these comments, shares and likes..." Pipp said, grabbing Hitch's phone and checking the stats of the video. "... and monkeys. What does that mean?!" she cried out desperate again.
"Drama Queen" Knuckles muttered to himself with an eye roll.
"Yeah, my little buddy has some sort of magic touch!" Hitch said, pointing at the baby dragon that just kept smiling at his smoothie. "I call it 'Sparky's Spark'. All of his stuff goes viral" he explained.
"Hmm, viral, you say..." Pipp commented, looking at Hitch with a smug while the sheriff grabbed his phone back. "Do you think I could I borrow him for a little bit?" Pipp asked Hitch with a nervous smile and her wings open.
"Dragonsit? Usually, Izzy and Knuckles does that" Hitch pointed out, while Knuckles just slurped from his smoothie and winked proudly. "But sure! I could use a little 'me' time" Hitch told Pipp with a smile. "And you can bond with Sparky!" he added, pointing at the baby dragon, who slurped happily from his smoothie.
Pipp laughed nervously. "Yes, yes. Bonding!" Pipp repeated nervously. "That's exactly what I plan to do, and definitely not crack the code of 'Sparky's Spark'" she assured with a nervous chuckle. "Not that" she said, slurping from her smoothie.
"That it's incredibly suspicious..." Knuckles said, glaring at Pipp for a second, and then he realized something. "Wait! Does that means I'm in charge today?!" he asked excited to Hitch.
"Yeah! Since I'm gonna give some time for myself, you can take care of the schedule today" Hitch replied with a smile.
"Oh, heck yeah!" Knuckles cheered, taking out a cowboy hat with three yellow pins with a red star. "Sheriff Knuckles it's on town, baby!" he stated with a smirk. "With Sonic and Tails out the whole day, I can finally solve some problems on my own!" he added with a smile.
"Wait, the whole day?!" Pipp asked a little shocked.
"Yeah. Those two are on one of their 'bro trips', which means they won't be back until sunset... or until tomorrow if things get complicated" Knuckles explained, and that just made Pipp more worried about Sonic. "Anyways, gotta go do sheriff stuff, see ya!" he waved, running towards the station.
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were running and flying behind the trail of metal pieces that Metal Sonic left behind.
"That's a lot of pieces, even for Metal Sonic" Tails said, as he tried to scan the trial to calculate when they would arrive to 'Eggman's hideout', not knowing that they fell on his trap.
"I guess Metal's finally becoming rusty" Sonic said on a mocking tone, while Tails chuckle a little. "Say, how you think his hideout must be?" he asked.
"Knowing Eggman? He redecorated so he can see his mustache everywhere he looks" Tails said with a smirk.
"True!" Sonic commented with a chuckle. "I bet he fights constantly with his partner. I mean, knowing his record with evil partners, I doubt they stand each other" he pointed out with a smirk.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprise is she ends up betraying... Look out!" Tails said suddenly, launching towards Sonic, which caused both of them to roll on the grass grunting, until they landed behind a bush.
Sonic sat behind it and shook his head. "Tails!" he scolded him. "What comes––?" he tried to ask, but Tails covered his mouth with a hand a shushed him.
Tails pocked his head over the bush on a a certain direction, which caused Sonic to do the same. And then he finally understood Tails sudden reaction: a giant red floating machine with black spikes all around it's body, a giant black drill as it's left arm and a giant mallet as his left arm was using the drill arm to brake some rocks that where blocking the entrance to the cave. The machine, of course, was controlled by Dr. Eggman, who was frowning and mumbling to himself.
"The Egg Dragoon..." Sonic muttered. "Eggman is in there. Should we attack now?" he asked to Tails.
"No" Tails stated. "Let's play safe and go for the surprise attack instead" he suggested.
"Let's do it, then" Sonic said with a smirk, fist bumping with Tails and moving quietly in the shadows to not alert the doctor.
"Damn you, Metal Pipp!" Eggman complained. "I warned her fifteen times to wait for a blue blur, not a giant red machine!" he cried out loud with frustration.
He managed to finally destroy the rocks blocking the entrance of the cave, and now he used his mallet arm to make the entrance even bigger. He entered with the Egg Dragoon to the place, while Sonic and Tails decided to take this chance and enter the cave. They nodded at each other, and while Tails flew over the entrance, Sonic used his super speed to run on the wall and reached the entrance as well.
"Wow!" Sonic said, looking at the inside: it looked like a normal cave from the outside, but inside it was a place full of giant crystals shining. "Is it just me, or these crystals are pretty much around Equestria?" he asked to Tails, as they slowly walked inside the cave.
"Yeah, and they all shine too" Tails pointed out. "And don't forget one of those crystals it's the reason our Emeralds are shining again. I guess this crystals are more magical than we thought" he added.
"Maybe" Sonic replied.
And then, they both heard suddenly rumbling, and when they turned around they saw some rocks falling over the entrance.
"Oh no!" both Sonic and Tails cried out looking at each other. They then ran and flew towards the exit, but then an avalanche started, and Sonic stopped, grabbed Tails hand and ran to the other side. But then a giant rock fell behind Sonic and send both him and Tails flying away, and they landed rolling on the ground.
The avalanche left some dust behind, and once it dissipated, both Sonic and Tails coughed and stood up. "Are you okay?" Sonic asked Tails.
"Yeah..." Tails replied, cleaning some dust from his body. Then he looked at the entrance, now blocked with rocks. "Seems like we're trapped" he pointed out worried.
Sonic took out his phone and checked on the bars, then groaned in frustration. "And I got no bars... Guess we're going to have to explore the place" he pointed out, now looking at the inside of the cave.
"That, and also we have to look for Dr. Eggman" Tails added. "That's why we came, right?" he said.
"Yup!" Sonic said with a smile, then he slowly ran inside the cave, with Tails following behind by flight.
Meanwhile, outside the cabe, Metal Sonic and Metal Pipp looked at the now blocked entrance thanks to the rocks they both made fell on it.
"Doctor" Metal Pipp called to Eggman. "It worked. Sonic and Tails are inside, and their only exit is blocked" she informed, looking at the now blocked entrance.
"Excellent!" Eggman said cheerfully. "Now resume your labor of finding that 7th Chaos Emerald, since it was false alarm on here" he ordered. "And tell Metal Sonic to take care of Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, at least until they're able to fight again" he added, ending the call with Metal Pipp.
"Whatever you say, 'dad'" Metal Sonic said with annoyance, flying away towards the junkyard, while Metal Pipp flew away on the opposite direction.
Back at Sunny's stand, the line kept growing while Sunny, Zipp and Izzy gave smoothies.
"How can I help you, fellow thirsty and engaged citizen?" Sunny asked to Windy, who was the first on the line right now.
"I'll take the Alicorn-Special!" Windy said excited.
"Alicorn-Special?" Sunny questioned confused. "Uh, we don't have anything like that" she said.
"I don't really care what it is" Windy stated. "I just want a smoothie that an Alicorn, like yourself, would drink" she said with a smile, while the ponies behind her cheered in agreement.
"Okay, sure. Yeah, I'll conjure that up" Sunny assured, while Izzy and Zipp looked at each other confused, and then got back to work.
"But I kinda want it made by the Alicorn, you know?" Windy pointed out a little nervous.
"Please, oh please, do the Alicorn-thing again, Sunny!" Seashell pled.
"It's so cool!" Peach Fizz said with a smile.
"The thing is, it doesn't exactly work like that" Sunny said with a nervous smile, which caused disappointed looks on Windy and the three fillies. "Why don't I help you with your orders and tell you about this awesome idea I have instead?" she suggested.
"Ugh!" the ponies groaned, as they started to walk away from the stand.
"To get more ponies interested in fruits and veggies, we can build a community garden!" Sunny explained, as her body started to shine in a golden light, and Zipp looked at her a bit surprised. "A massive one, where everypony can practice the art of––" she tried to add, but then she sneezed and the whole stand shook, which made the ponies look back at her. "Excuse me" Sunny apologized for the sneeze. "I think some dust got kicked up. Anyway, I––" she tried to talk once again, but this time Zipp cut her off.
"Uh, Sunny? You're an Alicorn again" Zipp told her, touching her left golden wing.
"So sparkly!" Izzy said with a smile, touching the other wing while Sunny brought out the Alicorn mirror again and looked at her reflection.
"Amazing" Glory said with a smile.
"Gorgeous!" Peach Fizz said in awe.
"Wow! I wanna be like you when I grow up!" Seashell commented with a smile.
"You do?" Sunny said with a hopeful smile, letting the mirror open and putting it on the table.
"Are there any super-cool cause we can help with right now?!" Peach Fizz asked excited.
"Really?" Sunny asked with a smile. "Actually... there are!" she assured, then she pulled a list of some ideas she had. "Um... Okay! Let's see" she said, rolling out the list that was large enough to even got out of the stand, while the ponies around stared at it on shock. "We can start with some planters around town and save 'Airhorns for Armadillos!' for later" she stated with a smile. "That name kinda speaks for itself..." she said, not noticing that her reflection on the Alicorn mirror moved and looked at her with an evil laugh.
Later on, Glory made a little hole on a planter while Peach Fizz putted a seed on the earth and closed the hole. Then Seashell used her magic and made the seed grown into a big berry plant.
"All my dreams are coming true" Sunny cheered with a bright smile. "The community is literally growing together!" she added, then she squealed happily and walked towards the fillies. "What are you growing over there? Grapefruits?" she asked to them. "Ah, no, uh... zucchini?" she asked again.
"It's a grape-chini!" Seashell replied, showing the fusion between a grape and a zucchini to Sunny.
"A combination, grepefruit-zucchini!" Glory added, while both she and Peach Fizz lifted up one of the grape-chinis.
"Oh. Interesting!" Sunny said a bit confused. "I'm just happy you're all showing such enthusiasm" she confessed with an honest smile.
The fillies got so happy at Sunny's words, that Glory and Peach Fizz let the grape-chini fell. "We made the Alicorn happy!" Peach Fizz cheered, and then the three fillies squealed excited, while Sunny felt uncomfortable to be referred as 'the Alicorn'.
"Neigh-way!" Seashell said suddenly, looking at a certain direction, while her friends and Sunny stared at the same direction. "Is that..." she added.
"The Filly Four!" the three fillies said, as the four ponies stared at the other four ponies walking towards them.
They were all wearing sunglasses, and the first three ponies posed dramatically, while the fourth one, being Misty in cover and with a fake butterfly Cutie Mark, tripped and fell into a Trash Can.
"Sunny, we've been looking for you everywhere!" Sugar said to Sunny, who looked on a little anxious while the fillies just squealed like fangirls. "It's so nice to finally meet" she said, lowering her sunglasses a bit, while Misty got out of the trash can with a sheepish smile and the other two looked at their phones.
"We went to school together, Sugar" Sunny pointed out a bit nervous. "I sat next to you in––" she tried to add, but Sugar cut her off.
"I'm Sugar" Sugar introduced herself, completely ignoring Sunny's comment. "This is Rosedust" she pointed at the green earth pony mare with light blue mane. "Lily" she presented the pink earth pony mare with purple mare and the white stripe. "And uh... what's that new unicorn's name?" she asked to Rosedust.
"Minty?" Rosedust replied, unsure and careless to tell the truth. "That slot is always on rotation, so we forget. Ha!" she said with a fake laugh.
"We were just about to go shopping. Wanna join?" Sugar asked to Sunny with a smug.
"I don't need to go shopping, but..." Sunny tried to say, and then Lily cut her off.
"But if you come with us, everypony is going to see us together and we're super influential" Lilly told her on a very egocentrically tone.
"Imagine what you could do with all that power" Misty added.
"Exactly, Marcy!" Sugar said with a smile.
"Misty" Misty corrected.
"Whatever. All you have to do is hang out with us" Sugar stated. "And stay an Alicorn, of course" she added, placing her hind leg around Sunny's neck.
"Right!" Sunny said with a nervous chuckle, walking away from the Filly Four. "Uh... One sec" she said with a nervous smile. "I just need to freshen up. Over there" she pointed at an alley.
"Freshen up? In a hardware store?" Sugar questioned. "Weird, but okay" she added, while Sunny quickly walked away from the mares, while Misty lowered her sunglasses and looked at Sunny strangely.
Sunny, on the other hand, marked Pipp's number, while Pipp was reading a magazine on her salon as she picked up her phone and answered the call. "Hey!" she greeted, not even reading who called her.
"Pipp!" Sunny called out in panic. "The Filly Four want me to hang out with them" she explained worried, while Pipp's jaw dropped in surprise. "What should I do?" Sunny asked.
Pipp gasped as she threw her magazine away and dropped her phone in shock. "The Filly Four?!" she asked to Sunny, grabbing the phone back. "They're the ones eclipsing me on social media! They're like..." she chuckled a bit before keep going. "... super-famous right now" she explained.
"They are?" Sunny asked, as he walked deeper into the alley to keep the conversation away from the Filly Four.
"Yeah!" Pipp replied. "You need to do all you can to get them on your side" she stated. "Ah, your school days are coming full-circle, Sunny. You're going from misfit to popular pony!" she added with a smile, while Sparky suddenly appeared at her side and she patted his head with a smile.
"Okay! I'm gonna do it then" Sunny assured, ending the call with Pipp. However, she still felt unsure about the idea, and it made her horns and wings disappear. "Oh no, no. Not now!" she begged, but her Alicorn form was already gone.
"Sunny..." Opaline's voice called to her from the Alicorn mirror on her bag. Sunny looked around to see who was calling her, but she found no one. "Sunny..." the voice called again, and this time Sunny could heard it from her bag, so she opened it and took out the Alicorn mirror. She opened, and her reflection started to talk with her. "Sunny" her reflection called out.
"Is this... me?" Sunny asked confused.
"Yes" Opaline, disguised as Sunny's reflection, replied with a smile. "Hello, me! Hello, you" she said.
"Wow!" Sunny said, hopping excited. "I need to share this with Zipp right away!" Sunny stated, turning around and running to look for Zipp.
"Wait!" Opaline told her, which made Sunny trip and threw the mirror in front of her, while Opaline chuckled a little bit. "This 'magic mirror' is only for Alicorns, Sunny" she explained. "I'm your inner voice. I'm here to guide you" she assured her.
"You are?" Sunny questioned.
"Yes!" Opaline reassured. "If any other type of pony uses it, it will lose its enchantment" she explained, while Sunny looked worried at her 'reflection'. "Because Alicorns are special. You are special. Haven't you noticed?" she asked to Sunny, while the mare placed a hoof on her chin as she though about it.
"No, no" Sunny said. "But I do feel... different" she explained a little down.
"Not different. Special. Better even" Opaline assured, while Sunny grabbed the mirror again. "Why be a basic, boring earth pony, when you can be an Alicorn?!" she asked to Sunny, as 'her reflection' opened her wings and showed that the wings where permanently attached to her.
"Then how... How do I stay an Alicorn?" Sunny asked to 'her reflection' desperately, this time willing to become an Alicorn, permanently if possible.
"Find the source of your power and harness it" Opaline instructed her. "Then all your wildest dreams can come true!" she assured her.
"Even the community garden?!" Sunny asked with a hopeful smile.
Opaline stared blankly at her. "That's your wildest dream?" she asked on disbelief. "We'll work on that, but yes!" she assured.
"I've been drafting my garden dream board at the Brighthouse!" Sunny explained with a bright smile, while her horn and wings appeared once again. "Oh, I really want it to become a place where I can help other ponies use their magic" she stated. "A place where everypony can––" she tried to add, but then 'her reflection' cut her off.
"Yes. That's it! Look" Opaline told her, as Sunny looked at her Alicorn form with a smile. "Go take what's rightfully yours" she instructed once again.
"Wow. Thank you so much... Me!" Sunny thanked to 'her reflection', a.k.a. Opaline. "Uh... Mirror me? Sunny-Squared?" she kept asking, while Opaline looked at her with a bored expression. "I'll come up with a better name soon" she assured, then she squealed excited and closed the mirror to put it away.
Meanwhile, in Mane Melody, Pipp sat Sparky on a chair, while the baby dragon looked at Pipp with a smile.
"Okay, Sparky. I need your help here" Pipp told the baby dragon. "I can't risk losing all relevance in the digital world" she stated, twirling Sparky on the chair once. "Also, I need to prove Knuckles that I'm still 'the hit'!" she added. "I must go viral. What gives you that 'spark' I'm missing?" she asked him, but Sparky replied with a giggle. "Hmm. Let's see..." she said, taking out her phone and looking at a video of Sparky dancing adorably, with thousands of heart emojis popping out.
Then the video moved to Pipp doing something similar, but barely getting some likes. Then, another video of Sparky crying appeared, once again getting thousands of likes in seconds. A video of Pipp doing the same appeared, and once again, it barely got any likes. And then, another video of Sparky wearing different outfits also got thousands of likes, while the video of Pipp doing the same didn't got any.
Pipp looked at the videos with sadness, while Sparky appeared at her side with his pacifier. He took it out of his mouth and put it in Pipp's, as he laughed a bit. "Can you please not right now?" Pipp begged, with the pacifier on her mouth. She slowly got up and threw her phone away, as well as the pacifier from her mouth. "Ugh! What does Sparky have that I don't?!" she questioned concerned, looking at the baby dragon with a frown. "I have to get to the bottom of this" she stated, pulling out another phone from down her wing. "Good thing I carry several phones on me for good measure" she added, now looking at a picture of the Filly Four getting thousands of likes and gasping. "No! Oh, my eyes! It burns!" she cried out, trowing the phone that Sparky caught in time, as he extend it to Pipp, who looked at him concerned.
She grabbed the phone back, and noticed something that was completely off.
"Why Sonic hasn't being connected for the last two hours?" Pipp questioned, looking at his profile in Clip Trot.
Meanwhile, at the cave, Sonic was moving all around the place with his phone on hand, trying to get at least one bar and talk to anyone. He couldn't care less on who to call, as long as he could do it.
"Come on..." Sonic groaned, still moving all around the cave. "Ugh! Just one stupid bar it's enough!" he cried out.
Tails, on the other hand, was using his tablet to analyze the crystals around the cave. "So many magic stuff in this world that I cannot understand... But eventually I will, by the power of science or not" he stated with a smile.
"How about you try to understand why can't I get a single bar?!" Sonic cried out.
"Uh... we're in a cave? Where all contact with the outside world is blocked?" Tails pointed out with a bored expression, as he resumed his walk on the cave. "Why do you want to have bars so bad, anyways? Spending too much time around Pipp its starting to affect you" he joked.
"Okay, first of all, Little Pipp isn't a bad influence... at least when she's not on her phone 24/7" Sonic said with a little frown. "And second, I need to tell the others that it might take a while before we go back. You know how they act whenever one of us disappears for so long" he pointed out.
"Okay, you might have a point. Specially with Sunny" Tails confessed. "But again: We're trapped in a cave, so don't expect to have any connection until we're out of here" he warned.
"Ugh, fine" Sonic said a bit annoyed. "But don't complain when Sunny explodes at us with thousands of questions" he also warned.
They kept walking on the cave for a while, until they reached a place that not only had more crystals, but it also have some kind of small forest in there, with a lake shining as much as the crystals, and even a waterfall.
"Wow" both Sonic and Tails said at the view.
"You know, this place is way too pretty for Eggman to hide in here" Sonic pointed out.
"Yeah... this is too suspicious..." Tails said. "It feels almost like..." he tried to add, but...
"This is a trap?" Eggman's voice spoke, and then the Egg Dragoon landed behind Sonic and Tails. Both of them backflipped and landed on their feet. "Well, you're absolutely right, Tails. This is, indeed, a trap. And you two fell straight on it!" he cheered with a maniacal laugh.
"Now look at that, Tails, a bald egg just stepped in our way!" Sonic said on a mocking tone, while Eggman just groaned at them. "What's up, Egghead? Long time no see! Truth to be told, I though I'll never see you again" he said with a frown and a smirk.
"Ohohohoho! You're too illusional then, if you really though you could get rid of me!" Eggman said with an evil grin. "As you already now, I've been watching your every move for a while. I also saw on first line how you and your pathetic group of friends destroyed my precious creations" he said, now with a frown.
"Oh! You mean that metal scrap that you call 'machines'? Yeah well, we're awesome, and really good at what we do, so I don't know why are you so surprised" Sonic said, still smirking at him.
"Oh, Sonic, Sonic, Sonic. I don't think a mind of the size of a grape like yours can understand how powerful I am now" Eggman said, once again smiling. "And your new powers... I must say, if it wasn't because I know of their unlimited power, I would be afraid of you" he said with an evil grin again.
Sonic's smirk and confidence immediately left away, and fear made it through his body. "H-How do you know about my powers?" he asked terrified, something Eggman never saw on Sonic before.
He's... scared? No way... Eggman though. Well, then, time to enjoy this battle! he though again, with his smile growing bigger. "Remember your first battle with Metal Sonic? I saw it all! Your new electrical powers are something amazing, Hedgehog!" he started to explain, as Sonic's fear increased. "I needed to study it further, and I did! All thanks to Metal Sonic's help, of course" he added. "And now that I have you just where I want, I'm going to end you right here, right now, using your own power against you!" he stated, pressing a button on the machine that made some parts of the Egg Dragoon glow in blue.
"That color... it's just like Sonic's quills when he activates his powers" Tails muttered to himself. "There has to be something else..." he said, pulling out his tablet and scanning the Egg Dragoon.
Sonic, on the other hand, started to let the fear away to feel something else: rage. Full rage passing through his body, as he looked at Eggman with a deadly glare. His eyes and quills turned on blue while Sonic breathed heavily. "You think you can use my power against me, Robotnik?!" he asked. However, unlike last time, Eggman didn't felt any scared at Sonic. "Well, come and get it, you bastard!" he shouted.
Tails finally got what did the Egg Dragoon had that it made it glow on blue, and he looked in fear at the tablet. "Sonic, wait!" he tried to warn Sonic, but the hedgehog already charged his Spindash and launched himself towards Eggman.
Eggman smiled at this, and the Egg Dragoon stopped slightly the time, then he lifted its mallet arm and punched Sonic, who flew back wards until he crashed on his back against the wall, and fell in the ground.
Eggman laughed at the scene, while Sonic hardly stood up. "I tried to warn you, Sonic. But you didn't wanted to listen, so now it is time you meet your––" he tried to say, but then the Egg Dragoon got hit by a laser. "What the heck? What was that?!" he asked a little panicked.
And then Tails, appeared flying and frowning at Eggman, with his plasma gun on his hand. "What's the matter, Eggman? Are you scared of a two tail fox with a gun?" he said with a smirk and a mocking tone. Then he Spindashed against the Egg Dragoon, not waiting for Eggman to reply.
"What?!" Eggman shouted, genuinely shocked that Tails was attacking him.
"Come one, Egghead! This isn't 2017 anymore, I may be his brother, but I can stand against you without Sonic!" Tails replied with a determinate look, and then he started to have a fight on his own against Eggman. He even managed to dodge the slow mo attacks Eggman tried to hit at him.
Sonic wasn't listening nor looking at what was happening, he was trying to get on his senses back. Once he could finally think clearly again, he looked at the machine and Tails fight, and he immediately felt terrified. "Tails, no!" he shouted, quickly running towards the fox.
"What?" Tails asked, distracting and getting a punch from the mullet arm of the Egg Dragoon. Tails fell in the ground, but quickly got up and shook his head. Sonic didn't wait and launched against Eggman again, and Tails tried to warn him about how Eggman had super speed now, but Sonic got hit again before he could even open his mouth. Tails groaned and tried to attack as well, but Eggman hit him and Tails landed at Sonic's side. When they both got up, Sonic stopped Tails.
"What are you doing?!" Sonic scolded him.
"Um, giving you a hand? I'm not standing here while you do all the work!" Tails pointed out with a frown.
"I can do it on my own, Tails, you just stay here and––" Sonic tried to instruct, but Tails immediately got on his way and extended his arms to stop him.
"Oh no! This won't be another 'Sonic's saves the day' thing of yours!" Tails stated with a frown. "I've been on your shadow way too long, I've won't stay here and wait for you to save my butt like before!" he added.
"Tails, this isn't a thing about glory. If I don't stop Eggman now, our friends would be in danger!" Sonic tried to resonate.
"I know! That's why am I fighting too, because I want to help!" Tails shouted with anger.
"I don't need your help, Tails! I need you to be safe!" Sonic shouted at him.
"Oh really?! Well, guess what, Mr. Needlemouse? I'm not a kid anymore! I don't need you to protect me!" Tails pointed out.
Eggman just looked on with a smile at how Sonic and Tails kept fighting, completely forgetting about him. He decided to use the super speed of his machine again and punched the brothers with the mallet arm of the Egg Dragoon, which made them crash against a wall and fell into the ground with pain.
"You two are adorable when you fight" Eggman said on a mocking to Sonic and Tails. "Too bad this is the end of the line for you!" he stated with an evil grin.
Before any of them could react, Eggman used the black drill arm of the Egg Dragoon and destroyed the ground, then punched it with his mallet arm and the ground cracked, until it fell apart and both Sonic and Tails fell into a deep well as they screamed in fear.
"Bye, bye, losers!" Eggman told them with a wave of his hand, and then he laughed maniacally.
Back in Maretime Bay, Sunny got back with the Filly Four, who were taking lots of selfies of themselves.
"Alright!" Sunny said, landing near the other mares. "Feeling much better. After looking at gardening tools, I'm in!" she assured with a smile.
"Perf! Then let's get shopping" Sugar stated.
"I have another idea!" Sunny said, as she flew in front of the Filly Four. "I decided I'm going to make an announcement about this huge project I've been working on and I want to get everypony involved" she explained. "Only if they want to get involved, though" she added.
Since the three fillies were still there, they immediately replied jumping in front of Sunny. "Yes!" Glory said first with a smile.
"We do!" Peach Fizz added.
"Please!" Seashell added.
The Filly Four looked surprised at the fillies enthusiasm, and Sugar even lifted her sunglasses a bit, but then she smiled. "The Filly Four would love to help" she said, walking towards Sunny and placing her hind hoove around Sunny's neck. "We'll rally all the ponies in town to hear the news! We're here for you" she said, pointing at Sunny's chest, then she took out her phone and lifted her glasses up. "Burt first, smile!" she told Sunny, as they both smiled at the camera. "That is so going viral" she assured, while Sunny looked on excited, but nervous at the same time.
Back at the Brighthouse, Izzy was doing some Unicycling stuff for 'Izzy Does It', crushing a tea cup with a frying pan.
"Perfect!" she said.
Zipp, at her side of the room, kept researching on Opaline's possible plan to take over the magic and her hideout, since Tails haven't texted her at all and she was a bit worried for him and Sonic.
Then, Hitch entered the room singing to himself cheerfully.
"Whoa, there" Zipp said, walking towards Hitch. "What's gotten into you?" she asked him.
"Yeah, you seem so... chill" Izzy said with a relaxed tone, while Zipp nodded in agreement.
"Pipp offered to watch Sparky for the afternoon, Knuckles would look over for the town today and I finally got some much needed 'me' time" Hitch explained with a bright smile. "Which is going to end with myself, a bubble bath, and the newest Bridlewood Beatnik jazz album" he added with a relaxed tone, pulling out an album that had an abstract drawing of Onyx and Jasper on it.
"Cool, cool" Zipp said, and then she realized something. "Wait–– You let Pipp do what?" she asked him about the thing he mentioned about Pipp and Sparky.
"You let Knuckles be sheriff for a day?" Izzy questioned as well.
"No doubt Pipp's having a relaxing time with Sparky, too" Hitch answered to Zipp. "And Knuckles has the same sense of duty I have, so no killer machines this time" he replied to Izzy with a chuckle. "Now, where did I put that hydrating face mask?" he questioned to himself, while Zipp and Izzy looked at each other a bit confused.
Meanwhile, Pipp was having trouble with Sparky, since he was still a baby and needed to be take care of. He was making gibberish noises on a makeshift hammock Pipp made to entertain the baby dragon. Just for the record: she was terrible at dragonsit.
She sighed in defeat. "Oh, Pipp. What have you gotten yourself into?" she asked to herself with worry, pulling out her phone. "Up-and-up he goes, like the Filly Four" she said frustrated. "Oh! Why can't I get one thing to trend? What is my skill set if not this?!" she cried out, looking at her phone. "What is my Sparky's spark?!" she questioned in sadness and frustration. Then, Sparky threw an orange to her head, but Pipp though that something finally popped on her mind. "I have an idea!" she said excited, but then the baby dragon threw an apple to her face, and she realized that she still had no ideas at all. "Nope. It was Sparky" she said.
Sparky threw another apple at her face, also holding her phone to record her, and the camera showed Pipp getting hit by the apples that Sparky kept throwing at her. "Ow!" Pipp cried out multiple times, while Sparky just giggled at her.
Back with Sunny, she was being treated like and actual Alicorn princess by the three fillies, while Sunny felt really uncomfortable with this kind of treat.
"Would the Alicorn like to be fanned with an earth pony-grown branch?" Glory asked her cheerfully, holding a tree branch with her mouth and moving it like a big hand fan.
"Or maybe she would like to try one these fresh earth pony-grown grapes, made by me?" Seashell suggested, with the grapes on her forehead, while Sunny smiled sheepishly.
"Uh... okay? Thanks!" Sunny said nervously, as she tried to grab one of the grapes, but then Misty stopped her.
"No, no. You mustn't lift one perfect Alicorn-hoof of yours" Misty stated with a wink. "You deserve to be treated like the Alicorn-royalty that you are, all the time, forever" she declared, while the fillies walked away and Sunny looked at Misty confused. "Isn't it nice?" she asked her with a smile.
Sugar suddenly appeared at Sunny's side, and Misty walked away. "You have to tell us, how do you get your mane so shiny?" she asked her, touching her mane.
"Does it feel weird when you glow?" Lily asked Sunny, appearing at her other side.
"What's it like being ethereal?" Rosedust asked her about the golden horn and wings.
Sunny, feeling too overwhelmed and uncomfortable, stood up and extended her wings to apart the Filly Four. "Uh, I gotta go, you know, do the 'Ali' stuff I do" she said with a sheepish smile, flying away from the mares and landing in front of a crowd of ponies carrying signs that pretty much indicated they loved Sunny... as an Alicorn. "That's the Ali-part of being an Alicorn. So. Yeah" she said, walking away nervously.
"Anything for an Alicorn!" the three fillies shouted, which made Sunny to run now.
"I love you, Alicorn!" Toots said in the crowd.
Sunny returned to the same alley from before, and took out the Alicorn mirror to talk again with herself, or should I say, to talk with Opaline.
"What should I do?" Sunny asked to 'her reflection'. "I feel so lost" she said with worry and pain.
"Continue on this path to glory" Opaline, once again disguised as Sunny, instructed her. "You are an Alicorn. You should be praised, admired, feared" she stated with an evil grin that Sunny didn't noticed.
"But I don't want that!" Sunny replied at the edge of tears.
"Do you remember how horrible it was before?" Opaline asked her, reminding her of those times before she even met Izzy and Sonic when absolutely nopony listened to her and her ideas about a unified Equestria. "How nopony would listen to you? How small you felt?" Opaline added.
Sunny sobbed a bit, looking at the ground with pain since remembering her life before Sonic and Izzy's arrival was always painful for her. "Yes I do" she replied with sadness, closing the Alicorn mirror. And then, both her horn and wings faded away. "No! Come back. Come back!" she pled desperately, but her Alicorn form faded anyways. Sunny looked at the ground broken, feeling that nopony cared at all about her unless she was an Alicorn. And, unfortunately, it was the truth. "I don't need to be an Alicorn for ponies to like me, right?" she said, now sobbing and letting out tears of pain. "Right?" she asked again, turning around and looking at the ponies gathering.
Knuckles picked up a litter and putted on the trash can in the street.
"Now that's better!" Knuckles said with a smile. "Everything seems in order so far. And quiet" he pointed out, looking around on town. Then, he realized that nopony was actually around, and the town felt almost empty. "Too quiet..." he added with worry.
"Quick! We're gonna miss it!" a unicorn mare told an earth pony stallion, as they both ran towards the crowd of ponies that Knuckles didn't noticed until now.
He looked confused, and then he managed to stop the ponies he saw running before. "Hello, citizens from this beautiful town. Can I ask what's going on over there?" he told the ponies.
"Sorry, De-- I mean, Sheriff Knuckles!" the mare apologized with a sheepish smile. The word about Knuckles being in charge for the day spreed very quickly, and now everyone referred at him like that, although Knuckles doesn't feel any comfortable with it. "We were just trying to hurry to listen to the Alicorn" the mare explained quickly, and then she ran again alongside the stallion.
"The Alicorn?" Knuckles questioned. "Are they talking about Sunny?" he asked himself. Knuckles slowly walked towards the crowd, and found them booing at Sunny, who was a normal earth pony right now. He got both confused and worried, so he approached to the stand to talk with her, but then he heard something that made his blood boil.
"... you're cool now. At least when you're an alicorn" Lily told Sunny, who looked on both disappointed and broken.
"This isn't what I wanted. At all" Sunny stated with pure sadness, and then ran away towards the Crystal Brighthouse.
That was everything Knuckles needed to groan loudly and stomp his foot loud enough to gain the ponies attention. "I don't care what gathered you here! I want this place cleared in 2 minutes, or I will tell Hitch to put some Community Services to all of you!" he stated, with his fists and quills glowing in red.
"B-But we didn't did anything wrong" Dahlia tried to protest a bit scared.
"Oh, really?" Knuckles asked on a voice that send chills on everypony's spines. "Let me ask this one time: If you had the power to become an Alicorn yourself, and everypony suddenly approaches to your Flowers Stand, would you like that? Would you like to have attention just because you're an Alicorn, with everyone not caring on the slightest about how you feel or what you say if you don't have two wings and a horn attached to you the whole damn day?!" he asked her with anger.
Dahlia gulped in fright as she quickly nodded her head in negation.
"That's what I though" Knuckles said, as his powers faded away. "Now, get lost! And I expect an apology for Sunny from each and every single one of you!" he stated with a frown. "Let's see how Hitch reacts at this unacceptable behavior of yours" he muttered to himself, as some ponies walked away and others, Misty included, ran away too.
Speaking of her, she was having an internal conflict now. Opaline found her and saved her when she was a filly, so she had to prove her to be worth of a Cutie Mark. However, Knuckles' words also made it to her mind, and she questioned if doing this to Sunny at all was a good idea in the first place.
Meanwhile, Sunny made it to the Brighthouse and quickly ran up stairs, where she met Izzy and Zipp.
"Hey, hey, Sunny!" Izzy called to her. "We have something really exciting we wanna show you that we've been working on and––" she tried to explain, but then Sunny looked at her with teary eyes.
"Do you wanna show me, or show the Alicorn?" Sunny asked them with both anger and sadness, which worried Izzy and Zipp, and then Sunny sobbed a little. "I can't do this!" she cried out, walking towards her room, while Zipp and Izzy looked at each other with worry.
Sonic was laying on the ground, unconscious after the fall from the Egg Dragoon attack. He slowly started to woke up, and he stood up, shaking his head and looking around, until his gaze landed on Tails: he wasn't unconscious, but he was curled up in ball and sobbing.
At first Sonic didn't understood why, but then he saw that his right tail was bent, and felt horror. "T-Tails..." he weakly called out, as he tried to run towards him, but then he felt his whole body hurting a lot. However, he couldn't care less about his state and slowly hopped towards his brother.
Once he was near him, he took out some bandages he always had with him and softly touched Tails bent tail. That was enough to make Tails scream in pain, and pull his tails away as a reflex, which made the pain even worst.
"Tails, don't touch your..." Sonic tried to say, but Tails immediately cut him off.
"S-Stay away from me..." Tails muttered.
"What?" Sonic asked. "Dude, I'm just trying to––"
"I SAID: STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" Tails shouted with anger, as he glared daggers at Sonic while some yellow sparks came out of his body and his teary eyes turned yellow.
Sonic stepped back, not of fear, but from surprise. If it wasn't because Tails wanted him to stay away, he would be very proud of him now that it seemed like he got his powers.
Tails slowly started sobbing again and the electricity faded, with his eyes turning back to be blue while he curled on a ball again.
Sonic frowned and sat down, giving his back to Tails. "Fine! Close on your stupid sadness if you don't want me to help you" he said with anger. "I don't even know what has gotten into you anyways" he said frustrated.
"You!" Tails shouted from the other side. "You're my problem! You were not listening to me back there!" he complained.
"I was trying to hit Eggman before he could punch you again!" Sonic said with a frown.
"And if you just listened to me, you would have knew that Eggman has one of your quills!" Tails revealed, while Sonic's eyes widened now. "That's how he punched us before we could even dodge him!" he pointed out with anger. "But you were so focused on giving me protection that I didn't needed! And now we're trapped deep down on a cave that I have no idea if we would get out of!" he finished.
Sonic didn't said anything for a while, he just looked down in shame. He knew Tails was right, he should have listened, but his sense of duty and his 'big bro' sense blurred him completely.
"I-I wanted to help you like in the old times..." Tails added suddenly. "I wanted you to see that I'm still useful... t-that you didn't had to get rid of me..." he said in sobs.
Sonic looked at him in shock and worry. "Why would I ever want to get rid of you?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"I-I haven't been of much help lately..." Tails said with sadness. "In the Lost Hex I got captured and didn't did much while you defeated the Deadly Six, when Time Eater came you and your past self did all the hard work while I just watched. During the war with Infinite, I got so depressed that I couldn't even stand against Chaos 1..." he listed with disappointment on himself. "I hear everyone back home saying that you'll be so much better without me... that you can stand against Eggman by yourself... that you should just ditch me at the first chance you have..." he added.
"Tails..." Sonic said on disbelief.
"I-I spend those 6 months building up that portal machine to look for you because I had to prove them wrong. I needed to take you back and prove I'm not useless..." Tails added with concern. "But instead, I got me and Knuckles trapped here too..." he finished.
Once again, Sonic didn't said anything. He didn't knew Tails felt like this, and his attitude and word back there didn't helped at all. He was so focused on protecting him, that he never stopped to think if he needed protection in the first place. He felt shame, shame on himself, on his words, on everyone else back home.
But not anymore. Sonic closed his fist and looked at Tails with determination. He slowly walked towards him and sat at his side, while Tails didn't tried to pull him away this time.
Sonic sighed before looking at Tails with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry, Tails" he said on the first place. "I should had payed more attention to you than to anything else... instead, I kept running away and abandoned you whenever you offered something to me" he confessed with shame. "I... I just wanted to protect you so badly. Not because I don't trust you, man, I know very well you could take down Eggman on your own. You did it once, if I recall correctly" he said with a little smile of pride, which made Tails smile weakly. "I wanted to protect you because... you're all the family I have left" he confessed.
Tails looked at him both shocked and confused. "I... I am?" he asked.
"Dude, you're my little brother, blood related or not" Sonic assured with a smile. "It's just that... after what happened to Longclaw, I was so scared that something could happen to you that I... I acted like a jerk" he said with shame and lowered ears. "I didn't wanted to lose you too... I guess that's also why I didn't asked your help that much on those adventures you mentioned. I was scared... scared that I'll lose you just like I–– Like we lost Longclaw" he finished.
Tails looked at him surprised and, surprisingly even for him, happy. He did cared, Sonic did cared about him, he just prove it with the wrong actions. "Sonic, I don't want to lose you either" Tails confessed. "I want to help, even if you don't needed that much, because I can protect you the same way you used to protect me when we were kids" he confessed. "Yeah, I wanted to prove that I'm not useless, too, but my main goal was being there for you" he finished.
Sonic looked over at him with more guilty than before, then he looked down at the ground and sighed. "I'm being such a terrible brother..." he said with disappointment on himself. "I wanted you to come along to have a bro adventure, like we used to, but... I didn't expected Eggman to be that powerful... specially because of my powers..." he said.
After that, none of them said anything for a good while. It wasn't an awkward silence, however, just a deep silence that they both needed to put their thoughts together.
Sonic: In the light of the day In the dark of the night
Tails slowly lifted his head up, and he looked in awe at Sonic who looking at the ground with guilty. Sonic made that song years ago to calm him down whenever there was a storm, since Tails is afraid of thunders. Soon enough, Sonic looked at him, and they were staring at each other now. Sonic smiled, and Tails smiled back, while Sonic decided to keep singing.
When you're raring to go When you're tired from the fight
Sonic stood up and extended his hand to Tails, who accepted it and stood up as well.
When you're losing your mind Let me give you a thought I'm gonna be right by your side, no matter what
Sonic danced tap around Tails as he kept singing, and at the last sentence, he ruffled his hair, while Tails chuckled a bit. Now, Tails decided to join to the song.
Sonic: In the dark of the night
Tails: In the dark of the night
Sonic: In the light of the day
Tails: In the light of the day
Sonic: When you're rising to shine
Tails: When you're rising to shine
Sonic: When you're hitting the hay
Tails: When you're hitting the hay
Sonic: I'll be hanging around
Tails: I'll be hanging around
Sonic: If you like it or not
Tails: If you like it or not
Sonic and Tails: I'm gonna be right by your side, no matter what
They sang together, dancing tap around and laughing as well.
Sonic: Through whoever you've been
Tails: Through whoever you've been
Sonic: Through whoever you'll be
Tails: Through whoever you'll be
Sonic: Through whatever you lose
Tails: Through whatever you lose
Sonic: You will always have me
Tails: You will always have me
Sonic: At the end of your rope
Tails: At the end of your rope
Sonic: I'll be holding you tight
Tails: I'll be holding you tight
Sonic and Tails: I'm gonna be right by your side, no matter what
As they sang this part, both of them remembered some things that happened to both of them through their lives, like Sonic's lonely life when he wasn't with Longclaw, or Tails being bullied because of his tails. Then, they both remembered when they met and every adventure they had together ever since.
Be right by your side Be right by your side Be right by your side, no matter what
They both finished singing, and then Tails hugged Sonic suddenly, but Sonic didn't lasted long to hug him back.
"I'm really sorry, Tails" Sonic said again, braking the hug. "I didn't wanted to make you feel like I didn't needed you. I was just... scared to lose you" he confessed.
"I'm sorry, too" Tails said. "I should have said something before instead of stay quiet. I guess that, despite knowing each other for 18 years now, we still have a lot to learn as brothers" he suggested with a smile.
"Well, I'm glad I would learn to be a better brother with you" Sonic assured with a smile.
"Me too!" Tails said, smiling back.
"Aw, how cute" Eggman's voice was heard.
Both Sonic and Tails looked up and saw the Egg Dragoon flying slowly until it got completely in front of them. "Ugh! Eggman!" the two brothers groaned angrily.
"Well, hello again!" Eggman said. "I would said 'Long time no see', but 1- We saw each other like an hour ago, and 2- Repeating it would get annoying eventually" he pointed out. "Now, I was about to leave, but I still detected two life signals and decided to make a double check. And I'm glad I did, because now I can make sure I kill you!" he stated with an evil grin.
"Get lost, Eggman!" Tails shouted. "I don't care what's your plan with Equestria, but one thing is for sure: we're stopping you for good!" he stated with confidence.
"Oh, really?" Eggman said on a mocking tone. "And what are you going to do, exactly? Cry and ask Sonic for help? Like with Chaos 1?" he said, laughing maniacally. However, Tails' rage just increased and slight yellow electricity appearing around him.
"No" Tails stated, and Eggman stopped laughing. "I'm tired of this 'useless' bullshit. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm not afraid of a good-for-nothing like you anymore. And I'm not depending on my friends either! I'm enough on myself. And I'm gonna. Take. You. DOWN!" he shouted, with his eyes turning yellow and his body releasing his electrical powers as well. However, somehow his powers also made his bend tails go back to normal, and Tails flew in the air extending his arms and released electricity, which slowly turned in metallic pieces that united and created a giant robot that looked exactly like Tails.
"What the––?" Eggman said, now feeling scared at Tails power.
"This is my power, Eggman. And I'm gonna used it to protect my friends from you!" Tails stated, moving one arm of the robot and punching the Egg Dragoon.
Eggman didn't had enough time to react when Tails launched another punch, then another, and then another. He kept punching Eggman's machine until the Egg Dragoon was nothing but metal scrap around the ground. Eggman came out of the machine and fainted in the ground.
Meanwhile, Tails finally got time to process what just happened. "Wow!" he said in awe. "Did you see that?!" he asked to Sonic excited.
"Of course I did!" Sonic said with a proud smile. "Man, you were amazing! And it seems like your power increases your mechanical abilities! You just builded this with your mare imagination!" he said, still very proud of Tails. "I couldn't be more happy and proud of you right now!" he assured.
"Well, thanks!" Tails said, a bit embarrassed but also happy. "Now, let's get out of here!" he stated.
"Give me a sec!" Sonic said, as he quickly ran and grabbed Eggman. "I know he's our enemy, but you know: hero code" he explained.
"Yeah, yeah" Tails said with an eye roll and a smile, finally pulling them out of there with the new robot, that also had Tails and turned them into a helicopter propeller and flew out of the hole.
Once they were fully out of the cave, Sonic putted Eggman on the ground at the cave's entrance, then he got over Tails' robot again and the brothers boosted back to Maretime Bay.
Eggman, on the other hand, woke up a bit dizzy. Once he realized what happened, he groaned frustrated. "DAMN YOU, SONIC AND TAILS!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny was crying on her bed, while Zipp and Izzy looked at her with worry.
"Go away" Sunny pled to her friends as she sobbed.
"We don't like to see you hurting, Sunny" Zipp said with lowered ears and worry.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Izzy asked her, sitting near her bed to listen better.
"It was a lie" Sunny started to explain, not sobbing anymore, but still sad. "Nopony actually cares about these causes, they only care about me being an Alicorn!" she said with sadness. "I don't want to be followed and adored just because of what I am. I want ponies to believe, truly believe, in what they're fighting for, that they can make the world a better place for every ponykind" she stated, still a bit sad.
"Being an Alicorn doesn't make you any different!" Izzy assured with a smile. "It makes you the same" she added.
"It does?" Sunny asked, still unsure.
"You're everypony, all-in-one! Like Zipp's spy gear" Izzy stated with a smile. "Or one of those pens you push that has every color!" she added with a cheery tone. "But as an earth pony or an Alicorn, you've inspired all of us to be better ponies. That's your true power" she assured.
Finally, Sunny got up from her bed and smiled. "Thank you, Izzy. I guess that is true" she said.
"And really, really wise?" Zipp said, looking at Izzy with a smirk.
"I carry the limitless knowledge of my Unicorn ancestors" Izzy said cheerfully, looking at the ceiling, while Zipp looked too confused.
Sunny laughed a bit before reply. "Okay. I'm ready to see whatever you two were talking about earlier" she said with a smile.
"Good. Cause I think it'll put you in even better spirits" Izzy assured with a smile. "Shh, Auntie Buttons! Not now!" she said suddenly to the ceiling, while Sunny and Zipp looked on confused. "Come on!" Izzy told Sunny, as the two mares got out of the room, while Zipp stayed and looked confused at the ceiling before following them.
Back with Pipp, she kept complaining about not being viral anymore while Sparky played around the salon.
"Zipp was right! The likes and validation, it isn't worth it" Pipp stated suddenly. "This isn't fun anymore! So what's the point?" she questioned, laying frustrated on the ground. "I'm just going to stop and... be me own, un-viral self. Be an obscure, but sane, popstar princess" she assured with a smile now. "Besides, I know that my friends would still love me for who I am, specially... him" she said, a little blushed now.
And then Sparky came in front of her and let out a small dragon flame that reached Pipp's tiara and turned it into a ridiculous bow.
"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no!" Pipp cried out in panic, and then Sparky turned on her camera phone and recorded her. "Sparky!" she scolded him, while the baby dragon edited several videos of funny stuff that happened to Pipp the whole day. He started to laugh out loud, dropping the phone while Pipp grabbed it and looked at it. "Sparky, you created this?" she asked him.
Sparky hiccuped a bubble and said something that sounded like 'Yeah...' to Pipp.
"But... but... it's unflattering! It's embarrassing!" Pipp said with panic. "Its... Its... Hilarious!" she stated, now laughing a bit, as Sparky laughed with her as well. The video kept playing, and Pipp kept laughing at herself. "You know what? It actually feels kinda good to laugh at myself. Thank you" she told Sparky, then she ducked and the baby dragon sat on her back. "Well. As fun as that was, we have somewhere super important to be right now, huh?" she said.
She walked towards the exit, but when she passed in front of a mirror, she stepped back a bit and looked at her reflection, more specifically to her bow.
"Um... I will fix that later" Pipp told Sparky, finally walking out of Mane Melody.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline was groaning and complaining about Sunny not wanting to be remembered just because she's an Alicorn.
"Foolish of me to think that Sunny could understand her Alicorn greatness!" Opaline complained. "But I'm not giving up. I don't need another Alicorn! I have Eggman's help. We can finish this ourselves! The way it's always been" she stated with confidence.
"Opaline!" Misty called out, entering the room with a smoothie that she quickly threw away. "Um, I have to tell you that... our plans failed" she said with disappointment on herself.
"I know they failed" Opaline scolded Misty. "That Alicorn clearly doesn't understand what it means to be one" she stated angrily. "She's a disgrace to my kind, so I'll do her a favor: I'll take her power, all of their power!" she assured. "But to do that, we'll need to go directly to the source" she said, walking towards her boiler and looking at images of the Crystal Brighthouse. "The Brighthouse, home of the Unity Crystals. The one place I can't glance inside of" she said with frustration. "I need to find a new way in. And I know just the thing..." she stated.
But then suddenly, the doors opened abruptly and Eggman came inside, walking with pure rage going through his body. "Don't. Even. Ask" he warned to the two mares before any one them could said a word. Eggman walked towards his lab, but before he opened the door he stopped. "Misty, perhaps you would like to cover your ears" he warned her.
Opaline and Misty looked at each other confused, but then lots of stuff crashing and breaking on the lab where heard, and Misty decided to do what Eggman told her and cover her ears. In other circumstances, Opaline would tell the unicorn to don't act ridiculously, but since Eggman started to swear as well and curse Sonic and Tails, she decided to let her this time.
After a while, Eggman stopped, but then he groaned out of rage once again. "Why?" he asked desperately. "Why every time it seems I got him, something happens that makes me look like an idiot?!" he complained. "Now the good-for-nothing of Tails has powers too, and things complicate more and more..." he muttered to himself. "But I won't give up. Not now, when I still have my hideout as a secret. Not now when I'm still so close to victory" he stated, with his confidence slowly coming back. "But I have to be more careful from here. I'll have to make my next moves unpredictable, or else everything I have accomplished so far would have been for nothing..." he finished, before looking back at his computer and finally smiled. "And I know how exactly" he said, making appear an image of the three Metal Mane left.
Outside the Brighthouse, Izzy was leading Sunny to a new area, while Sunny walked with her eyes closed.
"Okay, just two more steps to the left. Oh, one to the right" Izzy told Sunny, who obey and moved a step to the right. "Take it back now, ya'll!" she said cheerfully.
"Izzy!" Zipp scold her.
"Okay, okay" Izzy replied. "And now!" she instructed to Sunny.
Sunny decided to open her eyes excited, and then her jaw dropped in awe and disbelief. "Oh! A community garden?!" she asked excited.
"Ta-da!" Izzy said with a cheery tone.
"What do you think?" Hitch asked her, standing behind her with Pipp at his side, while Knuckles gave them all his back as he looked at something on his phone and Sparky ran around the garden.
"We knew you've been hoping to build something like this forever" Pipp told her with a smile.
"So, we made it happen!" Zipp added with a smile.
"A little helping hoof for the pony who helps all of us to be better" Izzy added.
Sunny looked around on disbelief and joy. "I... I'm..." she tried to say, then her Cutie Mark glowed and once again her Alicorn form appeared, with a bright golden light covering her body. "So grateful for all of you" she assured with a warm smile.
"You turned into an Alicorn again!" Hitch pointed out.
Sunny looked at her wings and horn with a bright smile. "I know, but this time it feels different. I think I can only transform into an Alicorn when I feel like I'm truly helping somepony, because that's my best self" she said with a smile.
"So you can't just do it for any reason" Zipp said, with her phone on her hoof. "It has to mean something special! Fascinating..." she said with a curious tone. Then, her phone chimed and Zipp check it our, hoping it was a message from Tails, or even from Sonic, but instead it was something that she didn't expected. "Uh... Pipp? Did you mean to post this?!" she asked to her sister, showing the video Sparky made of her. "Because it's hilarious!" she said.
The others, sins Knuckles who was still giving his back, started to laugh at the video, while Pipp looked on happily. "Yup!" she replied smiling. "Sparky found a way to show me that it isn't about always about being perfect. It's about being true to yourself" she stated with a smile.
"We like you for who you are, Pipp" Sunny told her with a smile. "And you all like me for who I am. No matter what kind of pony I am! And I know I can change the world with that" she stated with joy.
"Hey! Where is Sparky?" Zipp questioned, looking around.
"Sparky!" the Mane 5 all shouted together, starting to look over the baby dragon.
Hitch quickly found the baby dragon standing over a plant that had the form of Pipp's head, and the baby dragon let out another flame that added to the plant the same ridiculous bow Pipp had over her head right now.
"Oh no! I totally forgot" Pipp said a bit worried, looking at the bow on her head.
Hitch recorded the whole thing with his phone. "And that one's gone viral too" he said with a smile.
"What can I say?" Pipp said with a little smile, and then Sparky started to throw apples over her head again. "Ouch! Ow! Sparky! Enough with the apples already!" she complained at him.
But then the baby dragon started to laugh, which ended on all of the Mane 5 laughing as well.
However, the laughs didn't last longer when Knuckles exploded.
"UGH! JUST GRAB YOUR DAMN PHONE FOR ONCE, HEDGEHOG!" Knuckles shouted with rage.
The Mane 5 looked at each other both worried and confused. "Uh, Knux?" Hitch called out first. "It's everything okay?" he asked.
Knuckles finally turned around just to face Hitch with a bored expression. "Please tell me he didn't just asked that..." he said.
"Okay, yeah, my bad" Hitch said with a sheepish smile.
"Ugh, I'm just worried, okay?" Knuckles decided to confess. "I haven't heard of Sonic and Tails all day. They always take their time, sure, but at least they say something, not just... disappear just like that" he said with worry. "Have any of you tried to contact them?" he asked to the ponies.
"I did" Zipp confessed. "Tails said he'll call me to tell if he found something on Eggman and Opaline hideout, but I haven't received anything at all. I tried to call, but it always sends me to the mailbox" she explained.
"I haven't received anything on Sonic either" Pipp said. "He's used to text me when he's out, but..." she added, now worried as well.
"Maybe their phones died?" Sunny suggested.
"Sonic's a walking battery, he can charge them" Knuckles pointed out with a frown. "Wherever they are I just hope they stay out of trouble..." he said with concern. "Meh, who am I kidding? Those two hang out together and trouble always follow them behind" he added with a bored expression.
And then, the 6 of them started to heard screams that became more and more loud with the pass of the seconds.
"Uh, who's screaming?" Izzy questioned, looking around confused.
However, the screams stopped when something hit the ground out of the Community Garden, and let out a little dust as well. The 6 friends looked at each other, and quickly ran outside of the garden. And then they saw Sonic, with his head buried on the ground.
Sonic managed to stood his feet together, and he used his hands to push his body backwards. After grunting and pushing for a while, he managed to take his head out of the ground, and stood normally on his feet again, shacking his head since he felt a little dizzy.
"Ugh, that was a terrible idea..." Sonic complained. "But knowing my lack of self control, I'm probably doing it again" he said to himself, looking at something in the sky. Then he lowered his sight and found his friends looking at him. "Oh, hey guys!" he greeted with a hand wave.
"Why haven't you answered your phone? Nor Tails?!" Knuckles scolded him, with his red electrical powers showing up.
"What's that, Knucklehead? Where you worried about us?" Sonic asked on a mocking tone.
"Of course, you idiot!" Knuckles replied with more anger. "I may enjoy to punch you on the face sometimes, but we're still friends!" he pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to tell anyone back home that you two just died" he added, then he looked sideways to Pipp and got closer to Sonic to whisper. "Specially to Amy" he pointed out.
"Please don't bring her up" Sonic pled with a bored expression. "Okay, fine. Sorry to worry you, guys. We just had a little situation tracking down Eggman..." he started to explain.
"And by little..." Tails; voice spoke, as he started to descend on the robot with his shape. "... he means we had plenty of and adventure" he finished, landing the whole robot.
The ponies looked in awe at the giant robot that looked exactly like Tails, with Zipp starting to record him with her phone while Knuckles looked but shocked and confused. "Uh... where did you get that?" he asked to Tails.
However, Sonic smirked at his friends and then he looked over to the robot. "Wanna show them, lil' bro?" he asked to Tails.
The robot then glowed on yellow, and it disassembled completely, with Tails moving the metallic parts around with his electrical powers and his eyes glowing in yellow. "It'll be my pleasure!" he stated with a bright smile.
He moved the pieces around until they started to assemble again, but this time in a plane that looked pretty much like the Cyclone, just in yellow this time.
Tails landed at Sonic's side after he finished building the plane. "Nice job, man!" Sonic told him with a pride smile, as they fist bumped.
"So Tails has powers too?!" Zipp questioned, still recording.
"Oh, heck yes!" Knuckles said, immediately grabbing Tails and hugging him tightly. "I knew you had it in you, too! Congratulations!" he said, still hugging tightly the fox.
"T-Thanks..." Tails said, trying to catch his breath. "B-But I pretty m-much need my lungs to breath!" he pointed out.
"Oh, right" Knuckles said with a sheepish smile, letting Tails go and patting his head. "Sorry" he apologized.
"Well, that settles the three of us now!" Sonic said, side hugging Tails. "We did find Eggman, but it wasn't his hideout, it was a trap" he explained with an eye roll.
"A trap?!" Pipp asked in panic.
"Are you two okay?" Sunny asked a bit worried.
"Oh, yeah, yeah" Sonic assured with his usual smirk. "You know, a little taste of death and some new bruises, nothing to worry about" he stated.
"Eggman appeared with a giant machine, we fight against him, Sonic and I had a discussion that ended on a wholesome result, Eggman almost kills us three times, he has one of Sonic's quills and now he can potentially use machines that goes as fast as him" Tails explained on a calm tone with a neutral expression.
The Mane 5 looked at each other both confused and shocked, mostly because of how calmed Tails said all those things.
"Sounds like a normal Wednesday to me!" Sonic said jokingly.
Once again, the Mane 5 started to laugh, and Team Sonic joined to them this time.
Outside the new Community Garden, near the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny was holding a giant pair of scissors in front of a rainbow ribbon. At her side, there was Hitch wearing a sheriff hat, while Knuckles stood at his side wearing his cowboy hat. Both of them were guarding up since they were the law in Maretime Bay.
Also, if you're wondering, the ponies already apologized to Sunny for how they treated her about the whole Alicorn-thing. Hitch even congratulated Knuckles for standing as a law figure and make sure the ponies learned their lesson.
Now, the ponies were reunited outside the new Community Garden for the grand opening.
"Thank you, everypony, for coming to the grand opening of Maretime Bay's new Community Garden of Magic!" Sunny announced to the crowd.
The rest of their friends and Sparky where part of the crowd as well, as they all cheered to Sunny.
"Yeah! Community Garden! Woo!" Izzy cheered.
Inside the garden, many of Hitch's critters where passing around happily.
"This will be your place to grow fresh food, foster friendships, and have fun in the fields!" Sunny assured to the crowd with a smile, then she looked at Hitch and extended the scissors to him. "Take it away, Sheriff Hitch!" she told him with a smile.
"Thanks, Sunny!" Hitch said with a smile, taking the scissors. "I'm very excited to––" he tried to said, but Izzy cut him off.
"Aw yeah!" Izzy cheered. "That's our friend! Nopony interrupt him when he talks!" she shouted, while Pipp and Zipp looked at each other with smiles at the unicorn's attitude, Tails giggled a bit and Sonic rolled his eyes with a smile.
"Oh, ah... Thanks Izzy" Hitch said with a little smile, then he cleared his throat. "Welcome, everypony! As Sunny said, this garden is the best place in town to learn how to harness your earth pony magic––" he tried to explain, but then Sunny interrupted him.
"Floral Magic!" Sunny said with a smile.
Zipp then brought her phone out and recorded a note. "Note to self: Earth pony powers are officially called 'Floral Magic'" she recorded with a smile, while Pipp at her side looked at her annoyed. "Hmm, I like it!" she said.
"Yeah, sounds cool" Tails added with a smile.
But then both Pipp and Sonic shushed them, while Izzy joined them suddenly. "Don't interrupt him!" she shouted to Zipp and Tails.
And then Knuckles cleared his throat loud enough so Izzy could heard him. "Are you done now so we can keep going?!" he asked with anger, while Izzy blushed and nodded with a sheepish smile. "Good. Keep going, sheriff" he told Hitch.
"Thanks, deputy" Hitch said with a smile. "So yeah, that's what we've been calling it! You know, because of the unicorn Float Magic and pegasi Flight Magic, it's kind of a natural thing to name it..." he tried to point out.
"Cough cough, get to the point, cough cough" Knuckles said in whispers, but loud enough for Hitch to heard him.
"Right, I'm rambling!" Hitch said. "As sheriff of Maretime Bay, it is my duty and great honor to hereby dedicate this garden to––" he tried to say, but an earth pony stallion among the crowd interrupted him.
"Do we each get our own spot?!" the stallion asked.
"Yes" Hitch replied, and Sparky among the crowd belched. "There are 'practice plots' inside, ready for you to start planting and growing––" he tried to explain again, but then Sparky belched on a carrot he was carrying and his dragon fire turn it into a small confetti canon that he made explode.
The sudden explosion of confetti startled the Mane 5 and Team Sonic. Hitch threw the scissors in the air because of the surprise, and the scissors ended cutting the ribbon.
"It's open!" one stallion of the crowd shouted. "I call best spot!" he said, as he and all of the ponies on the crowd ran towards the garden.
"Slow down!" Hitch ordered to them, but since none of them obeyed, Knuckles grabbed the two earth ponies and moved aside.
Once they were safe, Hitch ran between the crowd and grabbed Sparky before he got hurt, and the ponies entered the garden on stampede, startling the critters inside and making them ran away terrified.
"There's enough room for everypony!" Hitch assured to them.
However, Curtle was also there, in the middle of the way, and one of the ponies accidentally kicked him and send him flying in the air.
"I got him!" Sonic shouted, running to catch the turtle. He managed to grab him in time before he hit the ground and get hurt. Sonic sighed in relief and putted the turtle over Sunny's Smoothie Stand, since it was near the garden today and Curtle almost crashed against it as well. "There you go, little buddy" he told to Curtle with a smile, while the turtle pocked his head out of his shell and slurped a bit from one of the smoothie, which made Sonic roll his eyes with a smile.
"Curtle says Thank You, Sonic" Hitch told the hedgehog. "I am good at dedication speeches, maybe too good" he said with a nervous smile, looking at the chaos inside the Community Garden.
"If getting almost stomped by your own citizens it's a sign of your 'good speeches', then I don't wanna imagine what could be the results of a bad speech of yours" Knuckles stated a bit uncomfortable, while Hitch just looked at him with a bored expression.
Later on, the earth ponies where around the Community Garden, practicing their new Flower Magic while some foals ran around happily, and then there was the critters, that kept running in panic of the ponies.
One of the bunnies ran towards Hitch, Sunny and Knuckles and squeaked at Hitch. "What was that?" Hitch asked him, while Sunny and Knuckles looked at him a bit worried and the bunny squeaked at Hitch again. "Don't worry, I'll fix this" he assured to the bunny with a smile.
"What's going on?" Sunny asked Hitch with worry.
"My speech might have made the earth ponies too excited" Hitch explained nervously, as he and Sunny looked at three earth pony stallions stomping their hooves on the earth. "They're kinda... trampling everything!" he pointed out.
"Next time, do a boring speech or something" Knuckles suggested, while both Sunny and Hitch looked at him with bored expressions. "Just kidding, man. Yikes, you take this stuff way too serious" he added.
"What do we do?" Sunny asked Hitch about the thing with the earth ponies stomping on the earth.
Knuckles quickly acted and whistled loudly, which made the earth ponies to stop and pay attention to him and Hitch.
"Watch your hooves everypony!" Hitch ordered.
Immediately, the earth ponies stopped, and they realized that the accidentally stomped some flowers and killed them.
"But also, don't worry!" Sunny said with a smile. "With a little bit of love, I'm sure we can fix it!" she assured.
"Oh, yeah, I guess we can!" one earth pony stallion said with a smile, and then all the earth ponies used their magic to make the flowers grow back.
However, they also made some of the fruits and vegetables of the garden grow a bit bigger and fell from their roots, which almost fell in the critters that ran away from the garden, while Sunny, Hitch and Knuckles looked at them with worry.
Also, some fruits almost fell in Hitch. "Whoa! Careful there! We don't want another Glimmerberry incident on our hooves. Or on our manes" he said a bit worried, also remembering when Sprout made a Glimmerberry grow very big... twice in the same day.
"That's exactly why a designated spot to practice is perfect" Sunny pointed out, walking towards some giant fruits. "And look at all these amazing fruits!" she said with a smile. "Like those! Uh, what are those?" she asked to one of the earth pony stallions.
"Pearnana-melons!" the stallion replied with a smile, holding one of those fruits.
"Okay, that actually sounds really tasty" Hitch confessed with a confident smile. "Go ahead and get creative, everypony" he stated. "But let's just be mindful of the..." he tried to add, but then the critter ran around the garden in fright. "Wildlife" he finished with a worried expression.
"I guess we'll have to worry about the critters too, then..." Knuckles pointed out.
The critters where all running towards the Crystal Brighthouse, while Zipp, Pipp, Sonic and Tails looked at them worried.
"Oh, I can't even belizzle my eyes!" Izzy said cheerfully. "It's like a parade, but not on purpose" she added.
"Belizzle?" Zipp asked her confused, since that wasn't a word at all.
"I said what I said!" Izzy stated with a smile. "Just look at these animals going wild!" she said, trying to sound optimistic but also a bit worried.
"Ah! Great idea, Izz! Cute animals are great for the feed" Pipp told her with a smile, as she grabbed one of the bunnies and looked at it with a soft smile. Sonic looked at her sideways, and he smiled and blushed a bit at her attitude towards the bunny. However, when she took out her phone to try and take a picture of the bunny, he shouted and jumped away from Pipp. "I can't even... I don't have words..." Pipp said a bit confused.
The bunny jumped and immediately attached to Sonic's leg, as he started to shake a bit afraid. Some other animals also approached to Sonic as well, and the hedgehog couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Hey, slow down, little buddies! That tickles!" he told the critters, as he started to laugh a bit more.
"I thought Hitch was the critters magnet" Zipp said jokingly with a smirk.
"He spend years saving them from Eggman's machines" Tails explained, as he had some animals over him too. "I guess it's him the one who has a special connection with animals" he added with a smile, rubbing a bunny's head.
"Besides, it's part of my charm" Sonic said jokingly. Then he grabbed the bunny that got attached to his leg and rubbed his head, while the bunny squeaked happily. "It's okay, little guy. I can assure you Pipp's someone amazing. She won't hurt you, I promise" he said with a soft and caring tone towards the animal.
The way Sonic started to talk about her to calm the bunny down made Pipp not only blush until her whole face was red, but also her heart melt and jump of joy. She also smiled a bit, and she had to resist the urge to squeal like a little filly.
"Oh oh..." Izzy's voice called out suddenly, and all the rest looked on the same direction that her.
"Oh, no! The critters are stampeding towards the Brighthouse!" Pipp said with worry and panic.
"Get out of the way, us!" Zipp said, as they all immediately pulled themselves aside, except for Pipp who checked at something on her phone.
However, one of the critters jumped on her face, which made her fell backwards and lay in the ground.
Some other critters were running towards Izzy, and she looked around in panic until she got an idea: she used her magic to levitate herself, and the critters passed down her. "I got it!" she said with a smile, but then some squirrels passed and their tails made Izzy sneeze and float backwards to crash against Zipp, with both of them falling in the ground. "Huh. Maybe I didn't 'got it'" Izzy said jokingly.
Pipp, Sonic and Tails approached them, with Pipp holding the bunny that ran from her earlier. She gave the bunny to Sonic, and he putted the critter on his head, while the bunny put himself comfortable in it. "Well, I did!" Pipp said, since she recorded the exact moment Izzy crashed against Zipp, with Tails chuckling a little. "And... posted" Pipp said with a smile, posting the video on her feed.
"Great..." Zipp said sarcastically.
"Why are you all layin' around?" Hitch asked, arriving with the other 5. "I need backup with these critters!" he stated with worry.
"Dude, besides the bunny on my head, these critters refuse to listen" Sonic pointed out with a bored expression.
"Can't you just ask them to chill out?" Zipp asked Hitch, as she and Izzy stood up and Pipp checked on her phone.
"Yeah, you're the one that can talk 'animal', we barely could make the bunny listen us" Tails said with a frown. "And by 'we', I mean the love birds" he said, now with a bored expression and pointing at Sonic and Pipp.
"Love birds?" both Sonic and Pipp asked confused, while Tails just groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Just because I speak 'animal' doesn't mean they'll listen" Hitch pointed out with worry. "So, can you help?!" he asked desperately.
"And what are we getting if we help you?" Sonic asked with a smirk. Pipp, despite paying more attention to her phone, kicked Sonic with her hind leg. "I kid, I kid" he said immediately, still calmed. "We'll take care of the critters, sheriff" he assured with a smile.
"Sorry, what? I wasn't listening" Pipp said with a nervous smile, since she was too focused on her phone.
"See?!" Hitch pointed out.
"Of course we'll be your deputies!" Izzy said with a smile, with the others sins Tails nodding in agreement. "Temporary, that is" she added, since Knuckles was the actual deputy.
"Speaking of deputies, can we borrow Knuckles for a sec?" Sonic asked.
"I was going to send him to help you, actually, because while you all handle the critters, I gotta get back to the garden" Hitch explained. "Sunny seemed stressed" he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Sunny was catching some fruits that kept falling on the Community Garden, starting to feel both stressed and anxious about that.
Hitch decided to return with her, and Knuckles arrived to be of service to the others. Tails left too, since he always helped Sunny with the smoothies.
"Don't be stressed, Sunny! We're deputies now!" Izzy shouted out loud. "We're going to help!" she assured, with the rest sins Sonic nodding in agreement.
"I suddenly have the feeling she'll be more stressed now" Sonic said with a bored expression, then he looked at the bunny still on his head and smiled. "What do you say, little guy? Are you up to help us?" he asked the bunny, who clapped his ears in excitement.
"Aww!" both Pipp and Izzy said to the bunny's response.
"I'm taking that as a yes" Sonic said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Hitch and Tails arrived to Sunny's stand and found Cloudpuff there. "Cloudpuff! What are you doing here?" Hitch asked to the dog, who barked at him in response. "Keeping an eye on Pipp and Zipp for Queen Haven, huh?" he translated. "Yeah, that does sound boring. Want to help me instead?" he asked to the dog, while Cloudpuff barked happily in response.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline was mixing some ingredients, with Misty looking on unsure and Eggman helping out as well.
"What is lacked in magical might, conjure from my Alicorn light!" Opaline recited. However, her magic started to glitch out, and she couldn't made her horn glow properly, sho she groaned in anger.
"So... do you need anything?" Misty asked a bit nervous.
Before Opaline exploded at her, Eggman quickly replied. "Thanks for the offer, Misty, dear. But right now we're fine on our own" he said, patting her on the head a little. "She just need to focus better" he said with annoyance, now looking at Opaline with a frown.
"I was doing fine, until you ruined my concentration" Opaline complained at him.
"Oh, sure! Blame your own allies about your own failures" Eggman complained back.
"That's rich coming from you, Ivo" Opaline retorted.
"At least I admitted that Sonic and Tails kicked my butt days ago, but I've never heard you accepting that Twilight Sparkle defeated you" Eggman stroke back.
Opaline groaned at him with anger. But then she sighed a bit worried and gave her back to Eggman. "You know that my power is... compromised" she said.
"If this is an attempt to make us or the audience feel sympathy for you, then try harder because I have no idea what are you talking about" Eggman said with a bored expression.
"Me neither" Misty said.
"Good answers" Opaline said with a smile, while Eggman felt more confused. "But it doesn't change the fact that it's still not enough. Magic is back, doctor. It's back, and those silly little ponies have it by accident!" she cried out with rage.
"Accident? We can try that, too!" Misty suggested, pushing one potion over a small cart that had plenty of them.
"Stop!" Opaline ordered, and Misty caught the bottle before it fell. "That silly Unity magic is just the spark" she stated, levitating a bottle with her magic, one again working properly, and then she flew over to her boiler. "Only I can posses the flame!" she stated, dropping the content of the bottle in the boiler.
Soon enough, the boiler worked it's magic and a bubble with a fully pink pega-mouse came out of it.
"Aw!" Misty said at the sight of the critter, while Eggman scratched his head confused.
"Don't get attached, Misty" Opaline warned her. "It's a sign of weakness" she stated.
"Oh, I wasn't!" Misty said with a sheepish smile. "I was just impressed by your magic" she assured a bit nervously.
"Of course you were" Opaline said with pride. "Nothing is more important than magic" she assured.
"I could list a few things, but I don't want my mustache to end up roasted, so I'll shut my mouth" Eggman said.
Opaline rolled her eyes, and send the pega-mouse in the bubble through the image of the Crystal Brighthouse. "And when my magic mouse sneaks into their magic house, I will finally know the secret of how they're harnessing the Prisbeam power" she stated with an evil grin, while Misty sighed worried and Eggman rubbed his chin.
I just hope you have better luck than I with this plan, Opaline... Eggman though a little worried.
Back at the Community Garden, the earth ponies were enjoying their time on it as they also drink from the smoothies of Sunny's stand. Sunny was talking with an earth pony mare, while Tails gave a smoothie to an earth pony colt, when Hitch arrived suddenly with Sparky on his back.
"Sunny?! Are you okay?" Hitch asked to her with worry.
"Yeah, just serving up some smoothies! And Tails it's helping too, of course" Sunny said with a smile, pointing at Tails who just smiled at Hitch as he kept using the blender, creating other smoothie. "Are you okay?" she asked back to Hitch, giving a smoothie to another pony.
"Yeah, just taking care of the animals!" Hitch assured with a smile. However, Tails popped his head from behind Sunny and looked at Hitch with a bored expression, since he knew Hitch was lying because the ones taking care of the critters at full where the rest back at the Brighthouse.
"Good so we're both okay" Sunny stated with a smile, giving a smoothie to Dahlia while Tails decided to get back to work.
Hitch then sighed heavily. "Too bad the dedication was a disaster" he said a bit disappointed. "Did I ruin it?" he asked her.
"Not at all" Sunny assured with a smile. "But I actually think it gave everypony a chance to practice their magic while fixing the mess" she said, as he brought out a smoothie with a little trick and gave it to an earth pony mare. "Easy sugar snap peasy!" she stated with a chill tone.
"Easy sugar snap peasy?" Hitch asked a bit offended. "Easy for you to say, you're not sheriff" he stated, turning around and walking away from her.
That made Tails twitched, as he turned and looked at the two ponies with horror. "Oh no..." he said with worry, and then he accidentally broke the mixer. "Whoops!" he said, quickly using his new ability to fix it.
"What does that mean?" Sunny asked to Hitch, who stopped and sighed frustrated.
"It was supposed to be my moment. I had Big Scissors! I'm in charge" Hitch said with disappointment. "I shouldn't be encouraging chaos and smoothies!" he said with worry.
Then, somepony snapped a picture at Hitch and Sunny giving a smoothie to Windy. "'Chaos and smoothies'? Now there's a headline!" an old unicorn stallion said, as he walked away alongside Windy.
"What's wrong with smoothies?" Sunny asked Hitch with a little frown.
"Nothing!" Hitch replied, frowning as well. "But I have the hardest job of anypony and what-pony notices it?" he asked a bit mad.
"Great, they're having one of their 'married couple' fights again..." Tails said with a bored expression to himself.
While Sunny got out of her stand to talk with Hitch, the bubble with the pink pega-mouse Opaline send appeared and popped on the stand and ran out of it.
"Well, have you noticed how hard I've been working?" Sunny asked with a frown to Hitch. "I've been making smoothies during this entire conversation!" she pointed out with anger, showing a smoothie on her hoof.
"True... But come on, it's not like being a sheriff" Hitch said with a confident smirk.
"Yes, it is" Sunny replied.
In the meantime, Sparky started to chase Opaline's mouse around while Hitch and Sunny kept fighting over who had the worst work.
"Well, you got help from Tails!" Hitch pointed out.
"Don't drag me to your 'marriage problems' with Sunny, Hitch!" Tails warned from the stand, as he turned the blender on.
"And you have help from Knuckles!" Sunny pointed out as well, ignoring Tails comment.
"Well, your job it's easier than maintaining order" Hitch added with a frown, while Sparky kept chasing the mouse around and then Cloudpuff joined him barking.
"This is going to take a while..." Tails said with a bored expression, looking at Hitch and Sunny fighting like a married couple.
On the other hand, Hitch's actual deputy and the temporal deputies where trying to keep the critters away from the Brighthouse.
Izzy was having a staring contest against a bunny. After a while she shook her head and launched herself against the bunny to grab him, but the bonny moved before Izzy could even touch him, and she landed grunting in the ground, while the bunny jumped on her back.
Pipp arrived soon enough to her side and grabbed the bunny with her hooves, but then both she and Izzy saw the critters running towards them.
"Okay, so they're coming right for us" Izzy pointed out. "But I have a plan! I think... we should stop them!" she stated with confidence, pointing at the critters.
"Smart, smart. What's the plan?" Pipp asked her.
"Let me guess: stop them it's the plan, isn't it?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression, carrying some bunnies and armadillos on his arms.
"Yup!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile.
"Why am I not surprised?" Knuckles asked himself.
Then, the three of them ducked as a pega-mouse and Zipp passed over them. "Heads up, guys!" she warned.
Since they ducked, Knuckles accidentally let go all the critter he captured, and some of them launched over them. Meanwhile, Sonic was talking with the same bunny from before who managed to gather some of his bunny friends and calm them down.
"Now that's better" Sonic said with a smile. "So, what do you guys say about doing a little space in the Brighthouse for you to stay and play around? That way Hitch won't feel so stressed over you" he suggested, and the bunnies clapped their ears in excitement. "Guess you like the idea, then!" Sonic said, smiling even more.
Back with Sunny and Hitch, they were greeting the ponies that passed by while Sunny and Tails kept giving smoothies to the ponies and Sparky and Cloudpuff kept chasing Opaline's mouse.
"I don't think you understand how much pressure I'm under all the time!" Hitch complained to Sunny.
"Of course I do!" Sunny assured with an eye roll. "Do you even know how hard it is to be the Alicorn in Maretime Bay?!" she questioned to him with concern. "Everypony's watching. I need to be a pony that others can count on" she pointed out.
"So do I!" Hitch assured, while Sunny just groaned in annoyance. "The sheriff is the backbone of a community, you know?!" he told her with a frown.
"You just don't understand what it's like to be me! And you never will!" both Sunny and Hitch shouted to each other.
Then, Opaline's mouse passed in front of them, and Sparky tripped trying to catch him. His trip made some dust that made him sneeze a small dragon flame in the ground that spreed and grow big enough to cover Sunny and Hitch. The magical properties of the flame made Sunny's and Hitch's Cutie Marks exchange, but it passed unnoticed by both of them. Not even Tails noticed, since he was inside of the stand, whispering a tune to himself and using the blender.
Once the fire dissipated, Sunny and Hitch shook their heads and looked at each other, then looked away from the other madly.
That didn't went unnoticed by Tails who lay on the stand's bar and looked at the two ponies with a smirk. "You know, this could be easily solved if you two just got a room already" he said in a mocking tone.
Both Hitch and Sunny opened their eyes wide, and looked at Tails frowning and blushing. "Shut up, Tails!" they both scolded him, while Tails just pulled out his tongue mockingly and got back to work with a chuckle.
Back at the Brighthouse, Izzy and Pipp took out some critters from the Brighthouse, while Knuckles did his best to keep them away from the main entrance.
"There, now you're back outside" Izzy said with a smile, while Pipp let go the bunny on her hooves and Izzy putted the one she was levitating on her hoof.
"Who's a cute bunny? You are! Yes, you are!" Pipp told to a bunny before letting him go with giggles.
"Aw!" Izzy said, as the bunny hopped away.
However, Opaline's mouse managed to enter the Brighthouse, with Sparky and Cloudpuff following behind. But then Cloudpuff crashed against Sparky and they both fell in the ground.
"Cloudpuff? What are you doing here?" Pipp asked to the dog. "Ugh! Mom send you to check on me, didn't she?" she asked again with annoyance, as she got close to the dog and grabbed him, while Izzy used her magic to levitate Sparky away. "Aw! You're so cute!" Pipp told to cloudpuff as both she and Izzy walked and flied away from the Brighthouse, letting the door open and allowing other ponies to enter the place.
Inside, Sonic was with the bunny of before drawing some blue prints on the place the animals wanted to build up as their play spot.
"Okay... so it would look like this at the end" Sonic said, showing the drawing to the bunnies and other critters that arrived to listen as well. "So, what do you think?" he asked them. The bunnies clapped the ears again, and the other critters cheered on their own way, while Sonic's smile grew bigger. "Great! Now, let me gather some materials and––" he tried to say, but then Knuckles entered and looked at him confused.
"Uh, Hedgehog? What are you doing?" Knuckles questioned.
"I'm showing these guys their new playing spot!" Sonic explained. "You know, since they like to stay around Hitch, and Hitch likes to pop around frequently, I think what they need is a place on the Brighthouse to play. That way, Hitch will feel less stressed" he pointed out with a smile.
"Hmm..." Knuckles said, as he analyzed Sonic for a second.
"What?" Sonic asked a bit confused.
"Is it just me, or has this place softened you, Hedgehog?" Knuckles questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Nah, I'm the same old Sonic that loves adventure and kick Eggman's butt" Sonic assured with a smirk. "It's just... saving animals lives from Eggman's claws made a big connection between me and the wildlife" he confessed. "I guess I want to give these critters the same protection before Eggman decides to capture them as well... also, that little guy over there is too adorable to ignore" he added, looking at the bunny that has been attached to him the whole day. "How should I call you, by the way?" he asked the bunny.
"Should I get Hitch? He could tell you his name" Knuckles pointed out.
"Nah, I don't wanna bother him" Sonic said. "Hmm... how about... Floppy?" he suggested to the bunny, who's eyes sparkled and he launched himself against Sonic, nuzzling on his chest softly. "I guess that you liked, huh?" Sonic asked with a smile. "You either didn't had a name, or I just guessed right. Either way, I'm happy to help, Floppy" he told the bunny, standing up with him on his arms and looking back at Knuckles. "So, what do you say, Knucklehead? Care to help?" he asked the echidna with a smile, showing him the blue print of the play spot for the critters.
Knuckles looked at the blue prints, then at Sonic, then at the critters, and then he smiled. "You know what? Let's do it! It can even be a surprise for the sheriff" he said with a confident smile, with the critters around clapping and cheering at Sonic and Knuckles.
Back at the smoothie stand, things got a bit weird since Sunny and Hitch were acting... different, to say the least.
"Everypony be happy!" Hitch said on a very cheery tone, very weird of him. Zipp was flying near by, and noticed that, so she looked at the two ponies curiously. "Follow your feels. You do you" he added, still on a cherry tone.
"Hitch, you're not helping" Sunny said suddenly, as she delivered some smoothies to the ponies, while Tails inside kept making them. "I have a line and nopony is asking for anything on the menu. We need order! And we needed now!" she pointed out with a frown.
"Uh, Sunny?" Tails called to her. "Are you okay? You seemed a bit more stressed than usual..." he pointed out a little worry.
"Ugh! I'm stressed because there's no order in here!" Sunny shouted at him. "Now get back to your work!" she scolded.
"If you're still mad at the 'get a room' joke, then grow up, because I was just messing with you two" Tails said with a bored expression, as he got back inside the stand.
"Tails is right, Sunny" Hitch said with a bright smile. "Just do what you think is right, you know? Go with your glow" he added with a chill tone.
Then, a pony threw an empty cup on the ground, and Sunny saw that with a frown. "Litter? Bup, bup, bup! Better pick up that cup!" she scolded the pony, who picked up the cup with a sheepish smile.
"They're acting weird. Very, very weird" Zipp pointed out, flying towards the two ponies with her phone ready to record. "Hi friends. What's up?" she asked to both of them.
"Kinda busy, Zipp" Sunny replied coldly.
Zipp landed and zoomed her camera to Hitch. "Hey Zipp!" he greeted her with a cheery smile. "Want to help me show ponies around the magical garden?" he asked her happily.
"Why are you talking like that?" Zipp asked him confused, moving the camera towards Sunny now, who was talking with Kenneth and Curtle.
"I can understand that you want something, but I don't know exactly..." Sunny confessed to the critters. "Maybe pearnana-melon?" she asked them, giving a pearnana-melon smoothie to Kenneth, but the tiny bit he slurped he spitted out.
"This doesn't make any sense" Zipp said with worry. "You two seem... How do I put this... off?" she stated nervously.
But before saying anything else, Tails arrived at her side, hugging her tightly as he started to panic, while Zipp just blushed since she wasn't used to show affection in public. "Zipp! Thank Chaos you are here!" he said with pure panic on his voice. "These two have been like this for the last 20 minutes, and I'm starting to losing it!" he cried out, shaking the mare desperately.
Zipp didn't had other option but slap Tails so he could calm down. "Can you chill out, please?" she asked him, while Tails rubbed his cheek as he started to calm himself down.
"Sorry..." Tails apologized.
"Good, now..." Zipp said, turning back to Sunny and Hitch. "Who's gonna explain me why you two are so weird today?" she asked them.
"Ugh, ever since Hitch started that argument, I've felt off" Sunny said with a frown.
"What?!" Hitch snapped at her. "No way, you started it!" he said, pointing at her madly and looking away offended.
"Zipp, please do something before I use my powers to do something I know I will regret later..." Tails told her on a begging tone. Zipp looked at Sunny's flank with Hitch's Cutie Mark on it, then at Hitch's flank with Sunny's Cutie Mark on it. She kept doing the same a few times, until she finally realized what was wrong and gasped. "What? Did you found what's wrong with them? Tails asked her. Instead of directly respond, Zipp pointed first at Sunny's flank, then at Hitch's flank, and realization hit Tails as well. "Oh no..." he muttered with worry.
"Sunny! Hitch! Stop!" Zipp instructed to her friends, who looked at her confused. "Now, don't freak out, but..." she told slowly and calm, which made Sunny and Hitch to look at her a bit scared now.
"Your Cutie Marks! They're switched!" Tails shouted in panic.
"They are?!" both Sunny and Hitch asked, looking at their flanks, and checking that indeed, their Cutie Marks were switched. "Oh! They are!" the two ponies cried out.
"No, no, no!" Sunny cried out with worry and panic. "How did this happen?!" she questioned.
"I don't know" Zipp replied, pulling out her phone again. "But I'll get to the bottom... of it" she assured with a sheepish smile, while Tails at her side chuckled at the terrible pun. "You say you started feeling funny when, exactly?" she interrogated them.
"When I was explaining to Hitch how running a smoothie cart isn't always smooth sailing" Sunny started to explain.
"And then I told her I knew that, and it hardly compares to the pressures of being sheriff!" Hitch added.
"Mh-hmm" Zipp said, as she wrote down what they told her on her phone. "Then what?" she asked them.
"I told them to get a room already" Tails said suddenly at Zipp's side with a smirk.
That just made Zipp threw her phone and burst out laughing, loosing all her 'professionalism' because of Tails' joke. "I-I'm so–– I'm so sorry..." Zipp said in between laughs, while Hitch blushed but frowned at them and Sunny's cheeks puffed out with a frown as well.
"I regret nothing!" Tails stated, before going back to the smoothie cart, while Zipp finally managed to calm down from the laughs.
"T-Then Sparky burped and––" Sunny tried to add, but then Hitch cut her off.
"That was not a burp. It was a hiccup" Hitch pointed out.
"It was not!" Sunny stated with a frown, facing Hitch with anger.
"Cutie Marks swapped... and personalities, too!" Zipp said, still writing down on her phone. "I think I might know what's going on here" she stated, closing her phone and putting it away. "Catch you on the flippity-flip!" she said, turning around and getting ready to fly away.
"Wait!" Hitch stopped her. "Are you not going to help us figure out how to switch back?!" he asked with panic.
"Not until I confirm my theory!" Zipp replied, and then flew away.
Now, Sunny and Hitch looked at each other a bit uncomfortable. "So... Uh, we're stuck like this" Sunny said with a nervous smile. "I guess I'll do your job for now" she said, now smiling normally while Hitch smiled back.
"Good" Hitch replied. "Then I will have it easy when I do yours!" he stated confidently.
"Ha!" Sunny said, as she took Hitch's sheriff hat off and putted on her. "Not as easy as me" she stated confidently as well.
"As if!" Hitch said mockingly, while Sunny took his badge away from his belt and putted it on her bag. "Alright! Who wants smoothies?" he asked, still very confidently.
"I'm staying here with you to show you that this isn't as easy as you think" Tails stated with a confident smirk.
"We'll see about that, Tails" Hitch mocked him.
Meanwhile, Sunny approached to some critters with confidence. "Okay, critters. Sheriff Sunny here" she presented herself. "Let's get you all back to your homes in the garden" she told them, as the critter turned around and walked towards the garden.
Then, on the smoothie stand, Hitch tripped and grabbed two smoothies, while a lot of ponies bombed him with smoothie requests. "Ah! Okay!" Hitch cried out, feeling overwhelmed once again.
"Got some problems, Hitch?" Tails asked on a mocking tone towards him.
Back with Sunny and the critters, the animals kept escaping from the Community Garden while Sunny approached them.
"Alright, critters, there's a new sheriff in town" Sunny told them with a frown. However, the critters split and ran in different directions away from her. "You can understand me, right?" she asked them, then she tripped with a pearnana-melon and feel in the ground with a groan, while some of the critters approached her. "Then why aren't you listening?!" she cried out with frustration.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, some of the critters where playing around the kitchen and the living room. And for reasons that not even I understand, McSnips was break dancing on the dinner table. Izzy and Pipp saw all the chaos around, and felt worried.
"This is not good" Izzy stated with worry.
Then, Opaline's mouse passed besides Sparky, who started to follow it again.
Pipp flew over a squirrel and grabbed it. "Gotcha! Don't worry, we've got this!" she told to Izzy with a smile, and then she flew out to put the squirrel outside. "Now, stay!" she pled to the critter, flying back inside.
Then, Knuckles came inside the place lifting a small rusty bench that he and Sonic were going to recycle to use its materials for the critter's play spot. Sonic, on the other hand, was searching for some kitchen tools they would recycle as well. However, Floppy squeaked at him trying to say something.
"What's the matter, little buddy?" Sonic asked him, and Floppy replied by pointing at his own mouth with his ear. "Oh, you're hungry, huh? Well, I think I got just what you need..." Sonic said, ducking down on a cabinet and looking for some snacks. "Uh... where are the––?" he tried to question, but then he heard Izzy's voice.
"Look what I found!" Izzy told Pipp, levitating a box of snacks that had Cloudpuff's face on it. "'Snackerdoodles: Perfect for Cloudpuff or any critter who needs to be convinced to just go outside already!'" she read on the box's label. "Hey, that's perfect!" she said, running towards the exit with the box, with Pipp following close behind.
"Okay, that's just incredibly convenient" Sonic said with a bored expression. "Hmm... maybe there are some..." he said, now opening the fridge and checking it. "Aha!" he cheered, pulling out a carrot from the fridge. He extended it to Floppy, which eye's sparkled at the gaze of the carrot and grabbed it to eat it joyfully. "Aw, you're such a cutie" Sonic told him, rubbing his head a little. "You know, if anyone told me I would get attached to a bunny from another dimension... I would totally believe it since it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that ever happened to me" he confessed with a smile.
In the mean time, Izzy placed some of the snacks from the box to guide the critters outside the Brighthouse as she hummed to herself with Cloudpuff on her head.
The critters started to follow the snacks and Izzy gasped on happiness. "It's working!" she said with a smile. However, some critters from outside noticed the box with the treats and stamped against Izzy, who not only lost the box with snacks, but also tripped and fell in the ground with a frustrated sigh. "The label didn't say anything about that" she said concerned.
"Look on the bright side, Izz! It looked adorable" Pipp told her with a smile, showing her a picture on her phone. However, a pega-mouse got on her hoof, and Pipp screamed totally panicked. "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" she pled, flying away from the mouse and throwing her phone, which Izzy caught with her magic.
"Adorable!" Izzy said with a smile, now recording Pipp trying to get away from the mouse. As she kept flying away, Sonic walked out of the kitchen looking at Floppy on his head, then the bunny noticed that Pipp was about to crash against them, so he jumped and landed on the ground, while Pipp crashed against Sonic and they both landed in the ground, with Sonic laying on the floor and Pipp laying over him.
Pipp shook her head a bit before staring at Sonic, who stared back, and then they both blushed a lot before Pipp stood up entirely and looked away nervously. Sonic stood up as well, and scratched his head a little bit.
"Aww! You two look adorable!" Izzy said suddenly, showing them a picture of them laying on the ground and looking at each other with blush.
"Izzy!" both Sonic and Pipp yelled at her, with their blushes increasing even more.
Meanwhile, Sparky kept following the pega-mouse around the Brighthouse, until he tripped and the mouse managed to climb upstairs.
Opaline, Misty and Eggman where all looking at the mouse's point of view as he kept climbing upstairs.
"Now that we're on the inside, it's only a matter of time before I obtain what's powering that prisbeam magic" Opaline stated with confidence.
"Then we can harness their powers and get your Alicorn magic back" Misty said with a little smile.
"I'll take my rightful place, reigning over all of Equestria the way Alicorns were meant to!" Opaline said with an evil grin. "And I'll make sure those little 'friendship ponies' won't get to use their magic ever again" she stated with confidence.
"Wait. Does that include me?" Misty asked a bit worried.
"Don't be foolish Misty" Opaline told her, for the very first time, showing a bit of compassion. "You'll be allowed to keep your powers once you get you Cutie Mark" she reminded her, and Misty cheered silently. "If you prove to me that you're worthy of one" she added.
"I will. I'll do anything" Misty stated with confidence.
"That's the spirit, Misty" Eggman told her with a proud smile. Suddenly, he heard a little bip from his pocket, and he knew what that meant. "I'm afraid I'll had to miss the outcome of your little plan, Opaline. I have signals of my bird about the 7th Chaos Emerald" he told. It was half of a lie since it did was an update about the Chaos Emerald, but his robotic bird wasn't the one who send the update.
Eggman walked towards his lab and looked at who really send him the update: Metal Pipp send an image of a cave, far away in the snowy mountains of Equestria, where images of some kind of prophecy were showed. However, since the cave seemed to be abandoned for centuries, the glyphs were blurry and deteriorated, so he couldn't tell what kind of prophecy this was.
"Interesting..." Eggman thought. "Perhaps this won't tell me where's the last Chaos Emerald, but it certainly hides some kind of secret... I just need to find out what it is..." he stated. "Metal Pipp: send more images of the glyphs" he ordered to the robot.
"On it, doctor" Metal Pipp replied, while Eggman looked on with an evil grin.
Back on the Brighthouse, the critters managed to arrive on the bedroom and caused a mess around.
Pipp was following some pega-mouses around to get them out, but she started to feel exhausted. "Why won't they leave?!" she cried out with frustration.
Izzy, on the other hand, was following a squirrel around. "We're never going to have a regular place to live again!" she said, strangely, with a smile. "This is just how it is now!" she added, chasing the squirrel once again.
Then, Sunny entered the room and slammed on the brakes. "Don't worry. I'm here to talk to the animals!" she stated with confidence.
"No offense, but isn't this more of a Hitch thing?" Pipp asked her confused.
"Not today" Sunny said. And then Pipp and Izzy noticed that Sunny had Hitch's Cutie Mark and gasped surprised. "Listen up, animal friends! It's time to skedaddle" Sunny told the critters with an authority voice. However, the critters laughed at her, which made Sunny feel but confused and frustrated. "But, ugh! But I know you understood me!" she said with concern, while Izzy placed a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her.
Meanwhile, Zipp arrived at the room with her phone, and started to record on it again. "It appears that Sunny has been Hitch-Switched, but still doesn't have his full powers. Hmm..." she stated with curiosity.
Then, Pipp noticed what her sister was doing and frowned. "What are you doing?! Taking notes?!" she asked her with panic. "Don't you stand there, help me!" she cried out, then a pega-mouse got on her hoof again, and Pipp fell on the ground because of the scare.
"Can't, I'm working" Zipp replied with a smile and looking around the room. "Hoof to heart!" she finished, then flew out of the room.
"Ugh!" Pipp groaned with frustration, placing a hoof on her cheek while the pega-mouse stuck on her hoof again, although she didn't seemed to care this time.
Then, Sonic came quickly inside the room and started to search around his own things on a cabinet. "Okay, let's see: Soap Shoes?" he asked himself, pulling out the shoes he used when he first met Shadow. "Nah, they're so last season" he stated with a bored expression, throwing the shoes backwards. "A replica of Shahra's ring? It's just a replica" he said, putting the ring back on the cabinet.
Then his eyes widened with confusion, and he took out a big yellow block with a '?' mark on all of his sides. He punched the block from down, and then a red mushroom with eyes came out of it, with the block turning completely brown now. Sonic slowly turned his sight to face you.
"Don't ask me how I got this because not even I know it, okay?" Sonic told you, letting the block go and feel back on the cabinet with the mushroom included. "Aha!" he said suddenly, pulling out a green blanket he wasn't using at all. "This can work. Hey, Knuckles, I found it!" he shouted, running back to the main floor.
"What are those two doing now?" Izzy questioned. "I barely have seen them trying to help" she pointed out.
"I don't know, Izz... Sonic seems to attached to that bunny, and Knuckles has been carrying materials the whole day" Pipp explained, then she dodged a pega-mouse. "Let's just keep trying, with or without them" she stated, while Izzy nodded in agreement.
Back at the smoothie stand, Hitch looked very comfortable making smoothies as he gave one to a mare, while Tails just looked with a smirk, knowing that he'll screw it at any second now.
"This isn't so hard" Hitch said with a confident smile, as he putted a fruit on the blender and read the steps to make the smoothie. "I don't know what Sunny was talking about. You just gotta follow the rules!" he added with confidence.
"Uh-huh" Tails said with sarcasm. "You know there's no rules on making a smoothie, right?" he said with mocking tone.
"Recipes! I mean recipes. Gotta follow the recipes!" Hitch corrected himself, while Tails rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Um, excuse me?" Dahlia called over to Hitch. "My smoothie is too smooth. Can you chunkify it?" she asked to him.
"What? But I followed the recipe" Hitch pointed out.
"There's the problem. Sunny always makes them on the fly. Hmm" Dahlia said on an offended tone.
Hitch placed the instructive for the smoothies down and looked at her with a sheepish smile. "Okay, I'll make you another one chunkier one" he assured, placing another fruit on the blender.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Toots said, as he stepped in front of the stand. "I'll take the usual" he stated with a smirk.
"What's the usual?" Hitch asked confused.
"It's the smoothie I usually get" Toots replied. "Sunny knows what it is" he pointed out.
"Sunny also chit-chats with us while she blends" and old earth pony mare pointed out. "You've been too quiet!" she complained.
Hitch started to look around in panic. "No recipes? Usual orders? Chit-chat? I didn't know Sunny had to do all this extra stuff, I thought it was just blended fruit!" he said with frustration.
"Finally he realizes!" Tails said with annoyance. "Hitch, I get being a sheriff stresses you, but that doesn't make Sunny's job less important or easier than yours" he explained to him. "And that stress barely leaves, even when I help her around" he added with a frown.
"Yeah, I see your point, Tails. I was wrong... this isn't as easy as she makes it look" Hitch confessed with guilty.
Then, Zipp arrived and looked at Hitch's stressed face. "Looks like this switch thing isn't working for you, is it?" she asked Hitch with a smirk.
"Yeah, you're right! I'll admit it, I just can't be Sunny" Hitch said frustrated. "So how did I get her Cutie Mark?" he questioned.
"I think I might have an idea. But take me through it one more time" Zipp replied to Hitch.
"These two were arguing like the married couple they are on who had the hardest work, and then Sparky kept erupting dragon magic and––" Tails explained instead, but a groan of Hitch cut him off.
"Could you please stop with that 'married couple' nonsense?" Hitch pled to Tails, who just smirked at him.
"Sure, just marry her so I can stop making the joke" Tails said with a mocking tone.
"That just makes it worst!" Hitch complained with a blush, while Tails chuckled.
Zipp wasn't paying much attention, since she heard them until the part where Sparky let out dragon fire. She used a graphic that showed Hitch and Sunny with their respective Cutie Marks, then Sparky spilled dragon fire and their Cutie Marks switched.
"Dragon fire magic?" Zipp questioned to herself. "That's it! That's gotta be it!" Zipp shouted to Hitch and Tails.
"Context, please" Tails said confused.
"Yeah, what is?!" Hitch asked her.
"Oh, uh..." Zipp said, unsure for a moment. Then she gave a grin and looked back at Hitch. "Sunny is in trouble at the Brighthouse! There are animals everywhere!" she told him, flapping her wings with acted worry.
"She is? There are?! I have to save her!" Hitch cried out in panic, immediately getting out of the stand and running towards the Brighthouse.
"Don't worry, everypony!" Zipp told the ponies waiting on the line with a smile. "Sunny will be back soon!" she assured, then flew behind Hitch while the ponies on the line sighed in relief.
"Phew! Good sheriff, but Hitch cannot make smoothies to save his hide" Toots pointed out, while Dahlia slurped a bit from her smoothie, but immediately regret it.
"Yeah, I agree" Tails said from the stand. He placed a sign that said 'Closed for now. Be back after lunch!' and got out of the stand, then approached the line of ponies. "And now that I have finally some free time: let's get into business talk!" he stated, pulling out a small notebook and a pen.
Back at the Brighthouse room, Sunny was having trouble with the critters that keep running around, while Izzy and Pipp were running away from some of them and Sparky kept chasing Opaline's mouse.
"Stop it, every critter!" Sunny pled to the animals. "I know you know what I'm saying!" she cried out with frustration.
Then, Zipp arrived with her. "Sunny! Hitch is in trouble! He needs you!" she told her with acted worry again.
"He is? He does?! Hitch!" Sunny said with panic, immediately running out of the room to go and met with her childhood friend.
"I hope this works..." Zipp said, then a pega-mouse crashed with her and made her fall.
Meanwhile, at the main floor, in an empty corner of the Brighthouse, Sonic and Knuckles finally gathered all the materials they needed to build up the play spot for the critters.
"Okey, we have it all. Now, shall we?" Knuckles asked to Sonic with a smirk.
"After you, 'Deputy Knuckles'" Sonic replied with a smirk and a mocking tone.
And then, they both started to use their Super Speed to build around the corner, making a lot of dust and sounds that covered that area of the living room.
Suddenly, Hitch entered through the Brighthouse main doors and climbed up stairs. "I have to help Sunny!" he cried out with worry.
"I have to help Hitch!" Sunny said as well.
Without knowing it, they both ran into each other and crashed, with Sunny loosing the sheriff hat in the process. The lay on the ground for a few seconds, until they slowly got up. Zipp also arrived, still holding her phone and looking at her friends a bit worried.
"Ouch! I hope I didn't make this worse" Zipp said a bit worried.
"Sunny?" Hitch called out to her.
"Hitch?" Sunny called back. "I'm sorry, I though you had it easier than me. You don't" she apologized with a guilty expression.
"I'm sorry too" Hitch apologized as well. "I don't think you have it easy at all! You're a pillar of the community!" he complimented her with a smile.
"So are you!" Sunny said with a little blush and a smile.
"Maybe we both are good at what we do because of who we are" Hitch pointed out with a smile.
"Well, nobody can be Hitch like you can" Sunny said with a soft smile.
"And nopony can be Sunny like you can!" Hitch said back, which made Sunny's smile grow bigger.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sunny asked to him.
"Oh yeah!" Hitch stated with a smile.
"Secret handshake time!" they both said with a smile. "Up high! Down low! Hitch it to a post! Flip it Sunny-side up, and on a piece of toast!" they both said cheerfully.
Then, their Cutie Marks started to shine, and slowly became back to be their usual Cutie Marks as Sunny and Hitch looked on and at each other with smiles.
Zipp also saw all of this, and smiled with pride at her friends and at herself. "Nice work, Detective Me!" she said proudly. "Maybe I'm starting to get a handle oh this 'Cutie Mark Magic' stuff" she added with a smile.
"So, you think there's still time to fix all the messes we made today?" Sunny asked to Hitch with a joyful smile.
"Only if we do what we each do best!" Hitch stated, smiling back at Sunny.
Hitch picked up the sheriff hat and put it on, and Sunny gave him his badge back.
Meanwhile, at the bedroom, Sparky kept following Opaline's mouse while Izzy and Pipp started to loose their patience on the critters, specially Izzy.
"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!" Izzy complained dramatically with an anxious look.
"Ah!" Pipp cried out, while some bunnies jumped over her, and one even ran away with her phone one his mouth.
Then, Hitch arrived with them, showing that his Cutie Mark was normal again and now he could do his job properly "Sheriff Hitch is here, little buddies. Come on, now!" he told the critters, that immediately obeyed and started to get out of the room.
"Ah! It's a miracle!" Pipp said dramatically.
"I hear you've all been acting up" Hitch scolded the critters with a neutral expression, who looked down in shame as they walked out of the room.
However, Opaline's mouse got close to a certain spot where Sunny's lantern rested, with the crystal inside it shining like a Rainbow after the events of Maretime Bay Day. The mouse looked at it, ready to make his next move...
Back at the smoothie stand, Sunny finally returned to work, while Tails stayed aside and questioned some of the ponies if they needed anything to get fixed.
"Here's your chunky smoothie!" Sunny told Dahlia, now giving her the smoothie as she likes it. "Here's the usual!" she said to Toots, giving him his usual smoothie. "Ooh, is that a new book you're reading, Seashell?" she asked to the filly, who was holding a yellow book with her.
"Yeah! It's about this tree that grows special crystals called 'elements'" Seashell replied with a smile.
"Wow, cool! Tell me more!" Sunny told Seashell, as she also started to blend and deliver more smoothies.
Meanwhile, Tails was talking with Rufus about an old radio of his.
"So your radio has been failing since last week. It turns on sometimes, but once it turns off, you can't make it work again until two days later..." Tails said, as he read what he wrote on his notebook according to what Rufus told. "Did i forget something?" he asked to the stallion with a smile.
"Nope!" Rufus replied. "That basically sums it up" he added with a smile.
"Okay. I can check it out and then gave it back to you on... Monday at sunset?" Tails asked Rufus.
"Sounds good to me" Rufus replied with a smile.
"Okay then, I'll see ya on Monday then!" Tails stated, as he waved at Rufus and the stallion waved back, turning around and leaving.
"Wow, what's with these ponies and you?" Sunny asked him with a smile, noticing that many ponies had arrived to talk with Tails.
"I'll explain later" Tails assured her. "By the way, I'm glad you're back here, Sunny. Hitch is terrible with the smoothies, but don't tell him" he said with a little smirk.
Sunny giggled at him. "I won't, promise" she said with a smile.
Outside the Brighthouse, Hitch led the critters out while Izzy, Zipp and Pipp looked on.
"After you. Go ahead. Thanks for visiting, friends" he told the critters with a smile. Then, Sunny and Tails came back to the Brighthouse as Hitch looked at them - specially to Sunny - with a bright smile. "Well, well, well. It looks like we both did pretty good, once we started doing what we were good at" he pointed out with a smile.
"You said it" Sunny said with a smile. "Is that all of them?" she asked, referring to the critters.
However, they all heard a clattering sound, and quickly ran towards the bedroom.
Sonic and Knuckles, on the other hand, finally finished the play spot for the critters.
"Now that's what I call a good job" Knuckles stated with a smile at their work.
"What do you think about this, Floppy? Sonic asked to the bunny, who jumped on his head with joy.
"I'm guessing he loves it" Knuckles pointed out with a smile.
"Give me five!" Sonic said with a smirk, as he and Knuckles high five excited. Then, they heard clattering sounds too, and seeing the rest running towards the bedroom was enough to make them follow behind, with Floppy still on Sonic's head.
Once the whole group made it to the bedroom, they found many thinks thrown in the floor, and then they saw Sparky still chasing Opaline's mouse.
"Please tell me we're all seeing a fully pink pega-mouse..." Knuckles said with confusion, while the others made their replies, all saying yes.
The mouse arrived to the spot where Sunny's lantern was, while Sparky followed really close.
"Sparky, leave that mouse alone!" Hitch ordered him.
The mouse managed to reach the lantern, but before he could do anything with it, Sparky launched against him, and the mouse disappeared the moment Sparky touched him.
"Did you see that?!" Pipp questioned with disbelief.
"No way!" Sonic said with widened eyes.
"It just went 'poof'!" Izzy pointed out in awe.
"Was that a mouse? Or a ghost?!" Hitch questioned, which made Izzy gasp in awe.
"I don't think so..." Tails said. "It looked more like... dark magic..." he pointed out with worry.
"Dark magic?" Sunny questioned.
"Well, the smoke the mouse left was dark, so I guess it did was some kind of negative magic" Sonic pointed out.
"But who would use dark magic to create a Mouse?" Hitch questioned.
Before anyone else could say anything, Zipp and Tails gasped at the same time and looked at each other. "Opaline!" they both said with worry.
"Why am I not surprised at the answer?" Knuckles asked with a blank expression.
"Daily mystery total: three" Zipp recorded on her phone. "Cutie Mark switch, disappearing mouse with a high chance that he was made by Opaline, and this smoothie" she listed, as she slowly lifted a smoothie on her free hoof and slurped from it, then looked at it suspiciously. "Mm. It still doesn't taste right" she stated, then Sunny came and grabbed the smoothie.
She sniffed the smoothie and then smiled at Zipp. "I know just the thing!" she stated, as she opened the cup and putted some herbs on it, then closed it again and gave it back to Zipp.
Zipp slurped again from the smoothie and smiled. "Ah! That was it! Case closed" she said to the phone and ended the recording.
"Today was pretty wild, huh?" Hitch told Sunny as he approached to her with Sparky now on his back.
"Yeah! I couldn't even belizzle it!" Izzy said with a cheery tone.
"Belizzle it?" Knuckles questioned.
"Don't ask" Pipp told with a little smile.
"Well, at least everything is back in order again" Sunny stated with a smile.
"At least until next season" Sonic said with a bored expression, looking at you again. "Also, that sounds more like a Hitch phrase..." he pointed out at Sunny.
"Oh no!" Zipp cried out with panic.
"I refuse to pass for this again!" Tails cried out as well.
Sunny and Hitch looked at their Cutie Marks again, but then smiled when they were still theirs, and both Zipp and Tails sighed in relief while the whole group started to laugh at the situation.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline and Misty where now staring at an image of Sunny's lantern.
"Ah-ha!" Opaline said with a grin. "Finally, it's all becoming clear" she stated. "Misty!" she called out to the unicorn.
"Yes, Opaline?" Misty asked, quickly arriving at her side.
"I need you to sneak into the Crystal Brighthouse and steal me that lantern" Opaline instructed her. "It holds power. Prisbeam power" she explained.
Suddenly, Eggman came out of his love with a curious look. "Did I just heard well, or you said something about sending Misty to the Crystal Brighthouse?" he asked to the older mare.
"Indeed. I need that lantern with Prisbeam power to feed my magic" Opaline explained.
"Would you mind if I instructed her to do something for me as well?" Eggman asked her. Opaline looked at him with a raised eyebrow and studied him, but she didn't found anything suspicious, so she simply nodded her head in 'yes'. "Excellent" he stated with a smile, then looked at Misty. "Dear, I need you to do me a favor: there's a chest hidden, somewhere in that Brighthouse, with the 4 Chaos Emeralds Sonic and his friends had collected so far" he started to explain. "I need you to find the Emeralds and brought them to me. No need to take the whole chest, of course" he instructed.
"I hope you focus, Misty" Opaline said to her. "You have two very important missions now" she pointed out.
"Yes, Opaline. Doctor" Misty replied to both of them. "I'm ready" she said with a confident face.
Outside the Brighthouse, Sunny and Hitch both carried carts with smoothies after Sunny got done working.
"Thanks for the help" Sunny told Hitch with a smile.
"I'm glad to help make sure things are running smoothly, just as long as it's not smoothies" Hitch joked as he chuckled at his own joke.
"I'm just happy that the Community Garden is officially open" Sunny said with a smile. "Even if the animals do still seem hesitant to go back inside" she added a little worried.
"Lucky for you, we already fixed that problem" Knuckles voice spoke, as he and Sonic approached Hitch and Sunny with smiles on their faces.
"You did?" Sunny asked. Then, they heard critter sounds from inside the Brighthouse.
Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other and nodded. "Hitch, we have a surprise for you" Sonic told him with a smile, as the two of them guided Sunny and Hitch inside the Brighthouse.
Once inside, they met the rest of the group looking at the corner of the living room, and when they saw on the same direction, they gasped in awe at the sight: the critters were playing around the play spot that Sonic and Knuckles build to them. There even were water plates, beds and a faucet that the critters could use as a shower. Also, Sparky and Floppy were playing with a ball.
"What is all this?!" Hitch asked with a big joyful smile.
"Well, we found out that these guys needed a place to play around and chill if the garden gets to overwhelming for them" Sonic started to explain with a smile. "So, I came with the idea of building up a little play spot for them" he added.
"And here it is: the Critter Corner!" Knuckles decided to join. "Now they can have a chill place if the Garden gets to magical for them" he assured.
"Or to hang out with their best buddy, Hitch!" Sonic added. "So, what do you think?" he asked him curiously.
"This. Is. Awesome!" Hitch said cheerfully, as he ran towards his critter friends and started to talk with them.
On the other hand, Zipp approached Sunny. "So it looks like you two worked things out, huh?" she told her with a smile.
"I think... we just needed a little trot in each other's horseshoes" Sunny said with a smile and a blush. "Even if we didn't want to admit it" she added, then looked at how the critters started to tickle Hitch and the whole group laughed at the sight.
Then, both Pipp and Izzy took a closer look to the Critter Corner. "Wow, this is so amazing and detailed!" Izzy said with a smile.
"I love how you guys took care of every creature" Pipp added, smiling as well.
"Thanks!" both Sonic and Knuckles said with smiles.
"You know..." Tails said suddenly. "I can expect this from Sonic. He can act all chill and careless, but deep down he's an adorable hugging dork" he added with a smirk.
"And I'm absolutely proud of that" Sonic said with pride and a smile, while Pipp at his side giggled a little.
Tails rolled his eyes with a smile and kept going. "However, I did not expected this from you, Knux" he told Knuckles.
"I may be a handsome, muscular red echidna with a sky-high ego, but I've got a heart, too" Knuckles replied with a smirk. "Besides, look a this guy's face: you can't say 'no' to those eyes!" he pointed out, now pointing at Floppy who kept playing around with Sparky.
"Hey, isn't that the bunny that ran from me before?" Pipp asked with curiosity.
"Yup!" Sonic replied. "He's too attached to me now, so I guess we'll also see him around more often" he added. Then Floppy saw him and quickly jumped on his head and settled on it.
Sins Knuckles and Hitch, everyone in the room said "Aww!" at Floppy feeling so happy and comfortable on Sonic's head, while Sonic himself smiled at the bunny.
"This is so cute!" Pipp squealed, pulling out her phone and taking a picture to Sonic and Floppy.
"I've never seen a bunny that happy" Hitch confessed. "I guess you have some kind of charm for critters too" he added with a smirk.
"Yeah, I guess Floppy loves me a lot" Sonic said, rubbing the bunny's head.
"Floppy?" Pipp asked.
"We don't know his name" Knuckles pointed out. "Sonic started to call him like that, and he always replies" he added.
"Well, I'm just glad everything's going well so far" Sunny said with a smile.
"Yeah. We did solved all of our problems... without a hitch" Hitch joked on a mocking tone.
Even if it was terrible, the whole group laughed at the joke, and enjoyed the rest of their day alongside the critters.
In the snowy mountains, far away from the New Equestria, Metal Sonic and Metal Sunny arrived to the cave where Metal Pipp found that prophecy Dr. Eggman was talking about. They entered the cave, and found Metal Pipp trying to dig into some vines.
"Pipp" Metal Sunny called out. "What the heck are you doing?" he asked with a bored expression.
"I'm trying to pull this vines away to scan the glyphs, but..." Metal Pipp explained, and then showed her metallic hooves to the other Metals.
"Ugh, the doctor might be intelligent in many things, but giving you actual hooves instead of some kind of robotic arms with claws like me... says otherwise" Metal Sonic said sarcastically, using his metallic claws to cut the vines and show the glyphic better.
Metal Pipp immediately scanned it and send the glyph to Eggman, while both Metal Sonic and Metal Sunny started to explore around to look better at the glyphs. Even tho many of them were blurry, Metal Sonic somehow recognized that the Mane 5 were part of the glyphs. He also saw the Unity Crystals and... Opaline. The other images were hard to tell, but he could swear he saw Sonic's shoe as one of the glyphs.
"Man, my systems must be rusty and failing again" Metal Sonic told himself.
"Um... guys?" Metal Sunny called to Metal Sonic and Metal Pipp. The two robots looked at Metal Sunny, looking at something deep in the cave.
They approached her, and while Metal Pipp gasped, Metal Sonic got a bit anxious, even for a robot. He saw a black diamond laying in the ground, around some columns that collapsed centuries ago. Metal Sonic was brave enough to approach the gem, and once he grabbed and scanned, he groaned.
"Goddammit!" Metal Sonic yelled out with frustration. "Pipp, call the doctor, now!" he ordered to the female robot.
Metal Pipp nodded, and soon enough she called the doctor and putted the speakers on. "Hello?" Eggman greeted from the other side of the call.
"Doctor, this is Metal Sonic... We have a big problem on our hands" Metal Sonic told Eggman with worry, while he stared down at the now dead Chaos Emerald on his hand.
Outside the Crystal Brighthouse, Tails had a table with many tools and a notebook where he had organized the names of the ponies that requested him to fix something and what they requested to fix. Behind him, he had all the home appliances and the other mechanical inventions that needed a check and a fix.
"... and Posey's oven should be ready by sundown" Tails said as he filled in the list of the things he had to fix that day. "I think I'm ready to start working and expand 'Electronic Tails' across Equestria!" he stated with a smile.
"Um... Tails?" Sonic's voice called over to him, and Tails turned around to face him, Sunny and Zipp. "What's all of this?" he asked confused, looking at all the stuff that Tails had gathered and organized.
"Oh, hi guys!" Tails greeted to his friends. "Don't mind me, I'm just getting ready to open Electronic Tails and get to work" he explained with a smile.
"Electronic Tails?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
"Yeah... I decided that, instead of try to find answers for questions that might not need one, I'm gonna use my new powers to help ponies around town" Tails confessed. "I may not understand how we got them or why, but I decided to stop wondering things that maybe don't need an answer at all. So, I created this 'little' business where I repair everything that ponies need to" he explained, pointing at all the stuff the ponies in Maretime Bay requested him to fix.
"Oh! So that's why you had all those ponies talking to you the other day" Sunny said with a smile.
"Yup! And I'm planing to expand to Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood later on, but first I wanna make sure this actually works, so I'm starting here on Maretime Bay" Tails explained once again.
"If you call this 'little business', then Knuckles is smarter that I give him credit for" Sonic said jokingly. "Jokes aside, I'm glad you're going to put your new powers on good use, just like Knuckles with the deputy thing" he said with a genuine proud smile. Then, his phone ringed suddenly and he took out to check what it is. "Oh, I need to go now. Queen Haven needs me on the landing track now. I'll se you later, guys. And good luck with your new job, Tails! Gotta go fast!" he said, then boosted towards Zephyr Heights.
"I have to go to my Smoothie Stand too" Sunny said. "Good luck, Tails!" she added, waving his hoof at him and walking towards Maretime Bay.
Zipp, on the other hand, came closer to Tails as he took out the list to see what he had to check on first. "Hey, about what you said, that not every question needs an answer... do you mean it?" she asked her a little concerned.
"I'm just saying that some mysteries should remain like that. Sometimes, if you keep digging, you end finding something you either shouldn't have found or you wished never wanted to found" Tails pointed out. "But it's what I am going to do, Zipp. You're a detective, a really good one even!" he complimented her, which made Zipp blush from embarrassment and smile sheepishly. "It's normal that you want to solve mysteries, so go ahead and do it! Again, I am the one stopping questioning stuff" he pointed out once again with a smile.
"Right..." Zipp said a little embarrassed. "Sorry for asking, Tails. I guess I just took it personal..." she confessed.
"No biggie" Tails assured with a smile.
"Well then, I let you work peacefully then" Zipp said, flying away from the Brighthouse.
"Bye, Zipp!" Tails waved his hand at her, then looked back at his notebook. "Now, let's see..." he muttered to himself.
At the Community Garden, Sparky was eating flowers around. Izzy, who was supposed to be dragonsitting him today, quickly ran with him after Sparky chomped a yellow flower.
"Oh, Sparky, save your snacking for food, not flowers!" Izzy told him with a soft tone. However, Sparky started to gibberish sadly, and Izzy looked at him feeling a bit bad. "Aw, it's okay. You didn't know any better and you're just getting your sillies out" she told the baby dragon with a smile, but Sparky took that as a sign to run away and have fun around town, while Izzy chased him behind. "Oh, no, no, no! I didn't mean to 'silly-out' even more!" she told him, chasing him towards Maretime Bay, where the baby dragon started to run on street as some ponies watched. "Sparky, stop!" Izzy told him, but Sparky kept running away.
Izzy panted a little, and then realized that they were in town, so she shouted to the baby dragon again. "Sparky, slow!" she told him, but the baby dragon kept running. He jumped over Toots, who was eating a donut and ended up having it over his eyes. Then he ran around Sprout, who was just walking on Mane Street, and Izzy followed him, then accidentally hit Sprout on the face. Sparky kept running happily, until he stopped and looked at a dark alley in fright.
Izzy arrived and stepped in front of him, panting after chasing him around Maretime Bay. "Okay, enough running for today" she told the baby dragon, who looked again at the dark alley in fear. "What's wrong?" Izzy asked Sparky a bit worried and confused. "You're acting like there's some mysterious and scary presence lurking in the shadows directly behind me" she said in a cheery tone, not knowing that there actually was a presence behind her.
Izzy turned around, and then gasped when she saw another unicorn mare, Misty to be precise, who started her mission to infiltrate into the Crystal Brighthouse to get Sunny's lantern and Team Sonic's Chaos Emeralds. "Hi, friend! What's your name? I'm Izzy Moonbow!" Izzy presented herself, extending her hoof to Misty with a smile.
Misty putted down a pen after drawing a fake butterfly Cutie Mark on her flank, and stared at Izzy's extended hoof blankly. "Uh, Misty" she introduced herself nervously. "I, uh... just got into town, and now I'm gonna leave, bye!" she said to Izzy, then tried to stay away from her.
Yet again, it's Izzy we're talking about, since she started to follow Misty around. "Wait, wait, I remember when I was new in town! Where ya going?!" Izzy insisted over Misty, who just wanted to stay away from her before she spilled that she was working with Opaline and Eggman. "Do you want me to show you around?" she asked cheerfully to Misty.
"Uh... I..." Misty said nervously, turning around to face Izzy, and then she got a bit scared when she saw Sparky growling at her with a frown.
"Aw, don't mind him" Izzy said with a smile. "He's probably just excited to see another unicorn like me––" she said, then gasped and started to jump joyfully around Misty. "Wait a minute! Unicorns, you! Me! Us! We can be..." Izzy gasped again and lifted Misty in a hug. "Unicorn friends!" she shouted excited, then she putted Misty down, and the unicorn started to walk backwards a bit uncomfortable with Izzy. "Oops! Sorry. I've been told my hugs can be pretty heavy-duty" Izzy apologized.
Misty then ran away, but just when she thought she was away from Izzy, the unicorn appeared in front of her and startled her.
"This is incredible" Izzy said with a cheery tone, while Misty just smiled awkwardly. "I can't believe I've made a new unicorn friend! Poof! Just like that" she said, making a gesture with her hoof to prove her point, as she approached Misty who walked backwards nervously. "I mean, I've known a lot of unicorns, but, I dunno, something about you feels different" she said, looking closely to Misty with a suspicious tone.
"It does?" Misty asked with panic on her voice.
"Mm-hmm" Izzy said, nodding with a little frown. "It must be... Because you're my first official unicorn friend here in Maretime Bay!" she shouted, again with her usual cheery tone.
Misty looked around and then smiled nervously. "Yes. That must be it!" she said, relieved that she hasn't been discovered.
"Yes!" Izzy exclaimed excited. "This is such perfect timing because I have been missing Bridlewood... so much lately" she confessed with a nostalgic tone. "The trees, the teas, even the jinxies!" she said, as she got to Misty's side again. "I bet we could spend hours bonding over Bridlewood experiences, having both grown up as unicorns, right?!" she asked cheerfully to Misty, placing a hoof around her neck while Misty looked on nervous since she didn't grew up in Bridlewood.
"Yeah. I gue–– Well..." Misty said nervously, looking around and trying to find the right words, while Sparky pocked his head from Izzy's mane and growled with a frown at Misty.
Izzy noticed and looked at the baby dragon on her head. "What's gotten into you, little Spark-Spark?" she asked him with a smile. "Misty's our friend" she said excited, pointing at said unicorn with a smile, but Sparky kept growling at Misty, and then got down from Izzy's head. "Ah! We'll celebrate us meeting with a... traditional unicorn sleepover!" Izzy shouted excited.
"What's that?" Misty asked confused.
"It's the unicorn tradition for whenever you make a very special, new best friend" Izzy explained quickly. "You've never heard of it?!" she asked to Misty, who walked backwards with a sheepish smile.
"Oh, yes of course!" Misty said nervously. "I thought you said, 'weep-over!' Which is when you like cry over not having any lunch? Like me!" she lied. "Which is why I thought of it just now. I'm really hungry!" she said, sighing at the end after telling all of that so quickly.
"So, it's official!" Izzy stated with a cheery smile. "You're gonna sleepover at the Crystal Brighthouse tonight!" she added, pointing at the Crystal Brighthouse in the distance.
"Oh, tonight?" Misty asked nervously. "But I can't really–– And there's something I have to––" she tried to say, but Izzy already was walking away.
"I'm gonna have snacks and streamers and tea lights for ambiance! And those hay pillows over there!" Izzy shouted, walking towards the Crystal Brighthouse. "Okay, gotta go get ready! See you later, Misty!" she told to the other unicorn.
Misty looked at her go, then she looked at Sparky, who growled at her and decided to follow Izzy. Misty then looked at the ground with sadness and worry, knowing that Opaline would pretty much not let her go.
Well, I was wrong.
"So I get to go to the party?" Misty asked to Opaline with a little smile.
"Oh, Misty, you're going to party it up alright" Opaline replied with an evil grin. "You're going to party all night until you steal Sunny's precious magic lantern..." she stated, then looked at the corner, where Eggman looked through the window with worry, then she looked back at Misty. "... and the Doctor's Emeralds as well" she instructed, looking at an image of the lantern on her boiler.
"I'm not really sure that's how parties work. I've never been to one" Misty said, while Opaline stared at her with anger. "But you're the expert!" she quickly added with a nervous laugh.
"Misty, just have fun with those fools until they all fell asleep" Eggman instructed from the corner of the room, still looking outside the window. "The more you enjoy it, the less they suspect you're helping us" he added.
"I'm gonna give the credit to Ivo on that one" Opaline said with a frown. "Now get inside that place and find. That. Lantern" she ordered, while Misty just nodded with a smile. She decided to go to her room and prepare everything, while Opaline looked back at the doctor with concern. "What's gotten into you now, Ivo?" she asked him.
Eggman sighed frustrated before reply. "My bird found the remaining Emerald... but it's worth nothing" he explained, at least one part, since up until now Opaline had no idea about the Metal Mane, and Eggman wanted to keep it that way.
"Why not?" Opaline asked confused.
"It has no energy" Eggman said. "And I'm not talking about a 'recharging process' like the ones we have, no. This one's completely dead" he explained. "If the seventh Emerald doesn't work, my master plan gets complicated... at least until I found a way to make the Emerald work again in this world" he stated.
"I still don't get what's your 'Master Plan', Eggman" Opaline confessed with a frown. "And you've been defending Opaline way too much lately" she pointed out concerned.
"Ugh! How many times do we have to get through this?!" Eggman shouted with a frown, finally looking at Opaline. "Getting rid of Sonic, then get the Emeralds, then take over this world with you and then take over mine! Where's the so difficult part to understand?!" he asked. "As for Misty... we need her to stay on our side. She may be clumsy and somewhat careless, but she's still or best contact with the outside. She needs to trust us, or at least one of us to stay, unless you want her to join forces with those ponies" he said with a teasing tone.
Somehow, that touched a nerve on Opaline, and she simply looked down anxiously.
"That's what I thought" Eggman said with a grin. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find a way to reactivate this thing before Sonic himself realizes I found it" he said.
Eggman entered to his lab, and Opaline just looked with concern and anger.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Tails was fixing up Dahlia's toaster as he sang to himself.
"I wanna fly high. So I can reach the highest of all the heavens. Somebody will be waiting for me so I have got to fly higher" Tails sang as he kept fixing the toaster, not only using his new powers, but also using his own tools. "And done!" he said with a smile, putting the toaster down and preparing it to give it back to Dahlia.
Then, Pipp entered to the Brighthouse humming to herself, and slightly heard Tails still singing to himself. "Hey, Tails!" she greeted as she walked towards him. "Zipp told me about your little business thing, how's it going?" she asked with a smile.
"Great!" Tails replied with a cheery smile. "I'm near finishing all the things I gotta fix today" he added.
"Well, I'm glad" Pipp said. "You know, I was wondering... remember my auto-mane-tic shampoo and shine?" she asked him, while Tails nodded in 'yes'. "Well, it has been presenting some problems lately, and I was wondering if you could... you know..." she said with a begging look.
"You want me to check your machine?" Tails asked, while Pipp just nodded. "I mean, sure, but you'll had to wait until I have time. My schedule is too tight with how many things I have to fix right now, and it's just the first week!" he pointed out.
"Are you sure?" Pipp asked a bit concerned. "I mean, I wouldn't mind in other circumstances... if it wasn't because many ponies have been using it lately, and it had to failed when it was at it's best!" she cried out dramatically.
"Well, there's the problem: overusing it it's probably what make it fail in the first place" Tails pointed out with a bored expression, then sighed. "Look, let's do something: I'll try to fix Posey's oven first, since it's the last complicated thing I have today, then I'll fix your machine and then I'll come back and fix everything else, okay?" he suggested with a little smile.
"Deal!" Pipp said with a bright smile.
Some time later, Tails was finishing his job for today by fixing Toots' washer, because repairing Pipp's auto-mane-tic took him more than he though, while Izzy told Sunny, Zipp, Pipp, Sonic and Knuckles about her new friend she make today.
"And she had a horn just like me! And hooves just like me!" Izzy said cheerfully, while Zipp and Pipp looked at each other with smiles and Sonic rolled his eyes with a smile. "And a face! Just like me" Izzy added, jumping on the table and startling Sunny a little bit, who had a smoothie on her hoof.
Sunny laughed at Izzy's attitude before reply. "She sounds like a unique unicorn" she said with a smile.
"And you said Sparky was growling at her?" Zipp asked, while Hitch played with said dragon - who was holding a crab plush - behind the couch as Zipp looked sideways at them. "I wonder why..." she said.
Then, Hitch accidentally threw Sparky too high and the baby dragon jumped on Pipp's head, then jumped on Sonic's stomach and landed on the ground.
"Ahh, you know. Sparky growls at everypony and every twig, bug, and critter!" Izzy pointed out cheerfully, looking at the baby dragon with a smile. "He's just a curious baby dragon. It's what he does!" she said, while Sparky used his dragon fire to turn the crab plush into a carrot and Izzy recorded him with her phone.
"Speaking of, it's time to get this little guy back to the station and start his bedtime routine!" Hitch said, as he grabbed Sparky and hold him on his arm, while the baby dragon looked at him with sad eyes since he didn't wanted to sleep.
"Does that means I'm done for today?" Knuckles asked Hitch.
"Yup, you can take the night free, Knux" Hitch stated with a smile.
"Thank Chaos!" Knuckles cheered, as he pulled off his belt and threw it away, then Hitch left the Brighthouse.
Then, Izzy gasped as she looked at the hour in her phone. "That's the time?! I've got to get moving! There's so many great treats and traditions to get ready!" she stated, jumping to the table and sitting on it. "This is gonna be the best sleepover anypony's ever been to in all of Bridlewood!" she cheered with a smile. "I mean–– Maretime Bay. I mean–– Equestria!" she corrected herself cheerfully, now walking towards her crafting spot.
"Well, I thought my birthday party last year was pretty epic, but guess the bar's always rising" Pipp said with a smile.
"I bet it was a lot better than Sonic's last birthdays" Knuckles said with a smirk and a mocking tone.
"Seriously? That again? I thought we already passed through this..." Sonic said with annoyance. "It's hard to celebrate your own birthday when you share it with your worst enemy and he thinks killing you will be the perfect gift for himself!" he pointed out with frustration.
"Not to mention he has a record by ruining them since you turned 20" Tails added, joining into the conversation.
"Wait... You and Eggman have the same birthday?" Zipp questioned.
"Unfortunately" Sonic said with a bored expression. "It's so fun having a target painted on your back every June 23rd" he added with evident sarcasm.
After a while, the rest decided to help out with the decorations while Tails stayed out to deliver the washer back to Toots.
"Roll out the yarn balls!" Izzy said cheerfully, while Sunny, Pipp and Knuckles looked at the exaggerated amount of yarn balls in the dinner table.
"... I have no words to describe how weird and wrong this feels" Knuckles said with concern.
Then, outside the Brighthouse, Zipp was lifting some tea cups with lights on the ceiling.
"Woop! Woop! String up the tea lights!" Izzy said, as Zipp did such thing, but then a bird stood on the string and Zipp frowned at it.
"Need some help?" Tails asked her, arriving in flight after finally being done with his job, at least for today, and he gently made the bird flew away.
"Uh, thanks" Zipp said with a little smile.
"No problem!" Tails replied, smiling back at her, which weirdly made Zipp blush a little.
Later, all of them where inside the Brighthouse.
"Hang lots of colorful scarves for... Ambiance!" Izzy said, as everyone around the Brighthouse placed scarves of different colors in places like the lamps and the stairs.
"This looks pretty good, actually" Sonic admitted.
"I may get used to this very quickly" Knuckles said with a bright smile. "You always impress me with your craftings, Izz" he told the unicorn.
"Why, thank you, Knuckie!" Izzy said with a bright smile. Then, the door bell ringed, and Izzy gasped and turned to it excited. "Sweet sauce, horseshoe toss! She's here! Yay!" she cheered, walking excited to the door.
"Her expressions have less sense anytime..." Tails said with a side smile.
"And that's what makes it charming" Knuckles said, smiling as he looked at her. Then he looked at Sonic and Tails at his side, looking at him with a mischief look. "What?" Knuckles asked confused.
"Yeah, act like a Knucklehead. We discovered you" Sonic said with a mocking tone.
"I have no idea what are you talking about..." Knuckles said with a bored expression.
Then Izzy opened the door, and found Misty, holding her own pillow with a sheepish smile.
"Welcome to the Brighthouse, Misty..." Izzy tried to say, but then she realized that Misty never told her her last name. "Misty, uh... Uh, what's your last name?" she whispered to the other unicorn.
"Ah, uh..." Misty tried to came up with something since she didn't had an actual last name. She looked at the Brighthouse quickly and talked before think. "Bright-house!" she replied, but the rest looked at her confused, specially Sonic and Knuckles. "Bright, uh..." Misty started to look around again, then she looked at the image of dawn behind the Brighthouse on one of the doors stained glasses and smiled. "Bright... dawn. Brightdawn!" she said, smiling sheepishly again.
"Welcome, Misty Brightdawn, to the best unicorn sleepover of your unicorn life!" Izzy said, as Misty entered the Brighthouse and looked in awe at the decorations.
"So nice to finally meet you, Misty!" Sunny said with a smile.
"Yeah, Izzy's told us––" Tails tried to add, but Misty walked aside nervously.
"Told you? Told you what?" Misty asked defensively.
"When did you say you got into Maretime Bay?" Zipp asked suspiciously.
"Oh I didn't––" Misty tried to reply, but then Zipp bombed her with questions.
"In town just for a visit or staying permanently?" Zipp asked, which made Misty feel uncomfortable.
"Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Zipp" Sonic said, as he approached her and place hid hand around her neck, pulling her away from Misty. "Let me tell you this in the less offensive way I can think of: If you're just going to bomb Izzy's guest and friend with unnecessary detective stuff, then shut it. Prettier quiet, remember?" he told her with a smirk, then walked away.
"What? "Prettier quiet'?" Zipp said confused.
"Sonic's right, Zipp" Izzy said with a smile. "You don't need to 'detective' her. Misty's our friend" she pointed out, while Zipp kept looking at Misty suspiciously. "Ooh! We're already way behind schedule" she said, going closer to the others. "Come on, 'unicorns'!" Izzy said, as she, Sunny and Pipp ran away giggling excited, while Misty gulped nervously and Zipp followed behind, still feeling suspicious about the new unicorn.
And then, there was Team Sonic, who felt conflicted on what to do.
"I mean, why not, guys? Izzy put all her effort on this, even if it was mainly for Misty" Knuckles said.
"Are you going to praise everything Izzy does from now on or what?" Sonic asked with a bored expression.
"You do the same with Pipp and no one complains" Tails pointed out with a bored expression as well.
"... Touché" Sonic said blankly. "You know what? Knux is right, let's give it a shot" he stated at the end with a smile.
At the kitchen's table, the whole group was decorating fake unicorns with some of Izzy's crafting stuff, while Izzy was decorating her actual horn with some little pearls.
After finishing with her horn, she made a little reverence to show it to the others, who exclaimed in awe at Izzy's decorated horn.
Pipp tried to put some glitter on the fake horn that she had on her mane, but the glitter bottle's lid fell, and the glitter fell in Pipp's chin, giving her a Glitter beard, which caused everyone - herself included - to laugh at it.
Later on, Izzy builded up a pillow fortress with pillows from the couches and the bedroom, putting a red flag at the top to finish it.
"Ta-dah!" Izzy said cheerfully, showing the tower to the others.
"Nice!" Knuckles said with a smile.
Misty then putted her pillow on the fortress, but it tilted before falling up completely. While the rest immediately moved aside, Izzy fell on one of the pillows, and the rest just laughed again at the scene.
Later, the group sat around the dinner table, with a board game on it that Izzy brought.
"So, how does this game work?" Sunny asked her.
"The rules of 'Dare the Mare' go..." Izzy started, then she took a deep breath and explained the rules quickly. "If a player spins the wheel and lands on an odd number then they dare the mare to do something fun, but if they land on an even number they dare the mare to do something funny and if their fun is too funny or funky too fun they go back and do it all over again!" she explained.
Sunny and Zipp looked at each other confused, Misty smiled nervously, Sonic had no idea of what he just heard, Knuckles' brain probably exploded, Tails wrote down the rules and had no idea of what he was reading.
Pipp, however, smiled nervously. "That makes total sense" she said, then Izzy took a deeb breath again and threw the board game away, almost hitting Sunny and Zipp if it wasn't because they dodged it.
"Whoops. Explaining the rules took too long!" Izzy said cheerfully. We've got to move on, party ponies!" she said, moving on to the next activity.
"Is it just me, or Izzy's being more Izzy that she usually Izzy?" Sonic asked with concern.
"Yeah, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad one" Pipp said, a bit concerned too, as she and the others followed Izzy, except for Tails, who looked anxiously at the rules of the board game.
"This has absolutely no sense..." Tails said, then Sonic came over and pulled him away.
Now they were at the living room, with Sunny and Izzy sitting in front of each other on some pillows while Izzy hold Sunny's hooves together and the others just looked.
"The art of hoof-reading has been in the Moonbow family for generations! It all started with Great-Great-Auntie Buttons" Izzy said with pride, while Misty looked around, and after checking no one was looking at her, she started to search for Sunny's lantern as quickly as she could. But once she got back to her initial position, Zipp did looked at her, and gave a suspicious look while Misty smiled nervously and looked back at Sunny and Izzy.
"Ooh! So interesting!" Misty said, while the rest sins Zipp looked on with a smile.
Back at the dinner table, there was 8 tea cups and a kettle in the middle of the table.
"Tea time!" Izzy announced, as she gave a cup to each one of her friends. However, when she gave her cup to Misty, she drank some of it, and Izzy looked on with a smile and a raised eyebrow. "Uh... Misty?" she called out, while Misty stopped slurping. "Those tea leaves were for reading, not for drinking. Remember?" she said, while Misty putted the drink back to the cup with a sheepish smile.
"If it makes you feel better, these two and I did that the same on our first time" Sonic said with a little smile, pointing at Tails and Knuckles.
"True!" Tails said with a smile as well, which actually did make Misty feel less embarrassed.
Later, there were some bowls with ponycorn and cups for each one of the group.
"Ponycorn station!" Pipp sang excited.
"Another reason I love this world: food tastes way better than it has any right to be!" Knuckles said with sparkling eyes.
"Oh, this looks so freaking good!" Sonic said, rubbing his hands excited.
"Now this seems absolutely delicious" Tails said with a smile
"Yum! Oh, thanks Izzy!" Sunny said with a smile as well.
"Yeah!" Zipp added with a smirk.
Misty, however, grabbed one of the ponycorns and looked at it suspiciously. She then ate it, and if her eyes could turn into literal stars, they definitively would have right now. "This is the best things I've ever eaten in my entire life!" she exclaimed with joy.
While the mares just looked at her with smiles, except for Zipp who kept looking at her suspiciously, Sonic and nodded in agreement and Knuckles ate some ponycorns with joy.
"And this is just the ponycorn, you definitively have to try some of her other meals, if you ever have the chance too, of course" Sonic pointed out with a smile.
Then, the group sat down on the living room couches to watch a movie. You know, usual sleepover thing. Zipp, Tails, Pipp and Sonic sat together in that order, while Sonic had a bowl of ponycorn on his hands. At the other side, Sunny sat with Misty and Knuckles at her sides, while Izzy sat in the floor and hold the TV mote.
"'Trotting Hill', a unicorn sleepover classic!" Izzy said cheerfully, then looked at the hour on her phone. "But we only have three minutes to move through, let's go!" she added, throwing her phone away and speeding up the movie.
"Don't you see, Salty?" a unicorn mare said on the movie.
"I'm just a unicorn standing in front of another unicorn, asking him to share with her!" Izzy repeated the line. "So romantic!" she said, once again speeding up the movie.
"If this is the pony version of 'Twilight', I'm out" Sonic muttered with a bored expression.
"Say Izzy, you think we can slow down a bit?" Sunny asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I've barely made a dent in our chocolate ponycorn!" Pipp pointed out, now holding the bowl of ponycorn that Sonic had before.
"I'm sorry, 'our'?" Sonic asked her with a smirk.
Pipp blushed and cleared her throat, before smirking back to Sonic. "Not now, Sonic" she said.
"Ugh, go get a room already" Tails muttered in annoyance.
"Slow down?" Izzy asked, and got up so suddenly that her tail hit Misty and make her feel in the ground, while Sonic and Pipp looked confused at Izzy. "If anything, we need to speed up!" she stated, now facing to all of her friends. "If we don't do everything, it's jinxie!" she stated.
"I though you don't believed on those things?" Knuckles pointed bit a bit confused.
"What's Jinxie?" Misty asked genuinely confused.
However, Izzy just laughed because she thinks Misty was just joking. "You're so funny!" she told her, then rolled up the list of things to do on the sleepover.
"Don't you think it's a little weird Misty's just as lost as us?" Zipp whispered to Tails and Pipp at her side, while Tails facepalmed quietly and shook his head in disbelief and Pipp just side smiled as she got close to Izzy. "She claims to have grown up in Bridlewood, but it's as if she's never even been there, guys" she said with suspicion.
"Zipp, please stop questioning things for once, it's starting to get annoying" Tails said with a bored expression, which made Zipp to feel a bit bad.
"What's next, Izzy?" Sunny asked her, as Izzy had the list open for her, Sunny and Pipp to read it.
"'Ask an Amethyst'?" Pipp read a bid confused. "What's that?" she asked to Izzy.
"You mean having, conversations with your crystals is just a unicorn thing?" Izzy questioned with a smile.
"Wait, you talk with your crystals?" Knuckles asked, while Izzy nodded energetically. "That's actually something I do sometimes... when the crushing loneliness becomes so strong that I have to talk with a giant green rock I've been guarding my whole life" he added with an anxious look.
"And that's why you should accept our invitations to hang out more often" Sonic pointed out with a bored expression.
"Whoa" Izzy said in awe and a little blush at Knuckles, then she turned to see Misty, who was eating from the ponycorn bowl. "Can you believe that, Misty?" she asked her about the thing with the crystals.
"Uh, totally. It's, um... What you said" Misty replied nervously, since she was too busy with the ponycorn that didn't paid attention to Izzy. "So, uh. Where's that little dragon from earlier?" she asked curiously. "Shouldn't he be enjoying the party as well?" she added.
"Oh, Sparky? Hitch is limiting the overnight dragon-sitting until he gets the hang of his dragon fire" Pipp explained.
"'Dragon fire', is that magical? Like your Cut–– our Cutie Marks?" Misty asked.
"It's definitely something" Sunny said with a smile.
"We just don't know what yet" Tails added.
"It can transform all sorts of stuff, though!" Pipp said cheerfully. "Even Cutie Marks" she added.
"Yeah, ask Sunny about her little Hitch Switch!" Sonic said with a mocking tone and a smirk.
"Oh!" Sunny said, as she looked away from her friends with a blush and a nervous chuckle.
Misty then placed a hoof on her chin, having thoughts on the dragon fire that may be useful for Opaline.
Later on, the group gathered on the living room holding some crystals while Izzy cleared her throat.
"And now, for my favorite part–– Well, next to my favorite part and my other other favorite..." Izzy said, then took a deep breath and continued. "It's the sleepover sing-along!" she announced, then took another deep breath and somehow blowed a note from the crystal. "We sing this all the time back in Bridlewood, even foals know it!" she pointed out with a smile.
"Well then, why don't you and Misty do it as a duet?" Zipp suggested. "Teach us together" she added on a very bad acted cheery tone.
Izzy gasped and then looked at Misty. "Brilliant idea!" she stated, then she grabbed Misty and dragged her along to the front of the rest. "We'll jump into the chorus together, then you take the verse" she instructed Misty, while Zipp behind looked on as if she wanted Misty to fail.
Izzy started to sing, while Misty followed barely since she didn't knew the song at all. While the rest where more focused about the crystals that started to float behind Izzy and Misty, Zipp looked at the last unicorn suspiciously.
Once Izzy stopped, Misty tried to follow up, however, she had to made up most of it since, again, she didn't grew up in Bridlewood. After she finished, Izzy looked down on disappointment, and she putted the crystals back down.
"Oh... I guess we just learned different versions. That's okay..." Izzy said with a sad tone, walking away, while Zipp once again looked at Misty with suspicion.
"I'm sorry we don't know ton of unicorn stuff, Izzy" Sunny told her, approaching the mare. "But we're happy to learn!" she assured with a smile.
"And we're happy to do all the other things you had planned!" Pipp assured with a smile.
"It may just take us a while" Zipp added.
"Ah, thanks guys" Izzy said with a little smile. "Maybe we can continue the list and... I'll just sing the song by myself later" she added, feeling sad again, while Misty looked sheepishly and quietly walked away.
"Now hold on a second!" Knuckles said, placing his hand on Izzy's shoulder. "We're not letting you feel this sad just because of a little misunderstand" he stated with confidence.
"Knux is right" Pipp added with a smile. "I'll sing the song with you!" she suggested.
"Or we could play another game?" Tails suggested as well, while Misty looked at the second floor and went upstairs, without anyone noticing.
Misty arrived to the bedrooms, and started to look around for Sunny's lantern on her section of the dorm. Then, she went to Sonic's, Tails' and Knuckles' sections to look for the chest with the Chaos Emeralds as well, but she didn't found neither the lantern nor the Emeralds.
"Where are those things? Or the lantern?" Misty asked herself. She went back to Sunny's side of the room, and found the Alicorn mirror on a vault in front of Sunny's bed. "Ooh! I can use this" she said with joy, then she grabbed the mirror and opened it. "Opaline? Opaline!" she called out, and after waiting for a few seconds, nothing happened. "Oh right. This thing doesn't work inside the Brighthouse" she said, remembering that the Unity Crystals had a spell that protected the Brighthouse from letting any spell or negative energy out.
She looked around for a window, then she arrived at Zipp's side of the dorm and opened the window, then poked her head out with the mirror on her hooves. "Opaline, I'm in!" she announced, as Opaline's face finally appeared on the mirror. "But no lantern nor Emeralds. What do I do next?" she asked her with worry.
"Ugh! Think, Misty!" Opaline scolded her. "There's got to be some way up to that glass room at the top. The lantern will be up there, with the Prisbeam!" she instructed her.
"As for the Chaos Emeralds..." Eggman's voice spoke, as he stepped in the call. "Tails probably has some kind of hidden safe on his room. After you get the lantern, look for something like that" he instructed as well.
"And don't come back without them! Then, their power is ours" Opaline instructed lastly, then laughed maniacally alongside Eggman, while Misty also delivered a very good maniac laugh, which impressed both Opaline and Eggman. "Oh, better, Misty" Opaline congratulated.
"You've been practicing, haven't you?" Eggman asked, as he suddenly started to sob and quickly walked a way. "Give me a second" he said.
"Are you... crying?" Opaline asked with a bored expression.
"They grow up so fast!" Eggman cried out with pride.
"Ugh, you just focus on finding the lantern and the Emeralds" Opaline instructed. "I'll take care of the giant bald baby" she added, while Eggman's sobs just got louder.
Misty closed both the mirror and the window, then got back inside the Brighthouse and looked at the elevator. She got inside of it and looked at the button, then looked at her hoof and pressed the button, but the elevator did not moved at all.
"Why isn't it working?" Misty asked herself with worry, as she got a few more tries. But then, an alarm ringed and made Misty panic. "No! Shh! Shh, shh, shh! They'll find out––" she tried to shut the alarm off, but then two familiar figures showed up.
"Find what out?" Zipp asked first, looking at her with a little frown, while Tails stood at her side with a raised eyebrow.
"That, uh, I can't figure out this key pad to go up to the washroom! So embarrassing" Misty said with a nervous smile.
"You were trying to find the washroom in the elevator?" Zipp questioned again.
"No, but I thought–– Well, I thought I'd go look at the view first!" Misty replied nervously. "It's a fun Bridlewood tradition, which is probably why you didn't know about it" she added with a nervous chuckle.
"First Bridlewood tradition I totally get!" Zipp replied with a smile. "I love awesome views. Maybe I'll take you up there to look some other time!" she stated, while Misty smiled sheepishly. "But the washroom is down there" she said, pointing to the floor with her head.
Misty scratched her neck sheepishly and walked away nervously. "Thanks, Zipp. I'll be sure to take you up on that" she added, walking away from the room.
"Come on Zipp, don't blame her" Tails told her with a side smile. "Besides, Knuckles and I confused the washroom and a closet door for 2 weeks straight, so I'm not surprised Misty feels lost" he added.
"Still, that doesn't explain why she entered the elevator" Zipp pointed out.
"I know I said this morning that you should solve every mystery you found, but I'm gonna take it back" Tails said with a frown now. "You're making Misty uncomfortable with so many suspicion" he added, as he walked away from her while Zipp looked at him both shocked and sad. "Just stop, or else you'll made both Misty and Izzy feel bad" he finished, before getting out of the room completely and let Zipp with her thoughts.
Why... did that hurt so much? Zipp asked herself on her mind. I mean, Sonic said something similar, and I didn't cared at all to be honest. But why Tails words... hurt even more? she asked again, then walked out of the room as well.
Back at the living room, everyone gathered their respective sleeping bags. Sunny was in the middle of Zipp and Pipp, while Sonic was at Pipp's side, Tails at Sonic's side, Misty at Tails'. Knuckles at Misty's and Izzy was in the middle of Zipp and Knuckles.
"Well, that was fun, but I guess it's over now" Izzy said a bit sad, as she settled herself on her sleeping bag. "Good night, everypony" she added.
"I'm not that sleepy" Sunny confessed.
"Me neither" Sonic said as well, then he looked down at Pipp, who was comfortable over her sleeping bag, falling almost asleep while Sonic smiled a bit at the sight. "But I guess I'm not talking for everyone" he added.
Then, Pipp suddenly stood up and looked around quickly. "Oh! No, no! I'm..." she yawned before keep talking. "I'm really fired up for more fun actually" she said tiredly with a smile.
"Ah! Let's tell stories!" Sunny suggested with a smile.
That was enough to cheer Izzy up. "Sunny! How did you know we do that at a unicorn sleepover?!" she asked genuinely surprised.
"It's a common thing on any sleepover" Tails pointed out with a smile.
"Woo!" Izzy cheered, as she sat down on her sleepover and the rest just looked at her with smiles.
"This is the true story of the Guardians of Harmony and the beginning of Equestria..." Sunny announced with a bright smile.
"Oh, this is gonna be good!" Sonic said, as he crossed his legs and conveniently moved closer to Pipp.
"Ah... I love this story" Pipp said with a smile, as she clapped her hooves to take the lights off and placed her head closer to Sonic's shoulder, who didn't cared, and even placed his arm around the pegasus.
Sunny hold closer a lantern and started to tell the story of Equestria, moons before ponykind split apart for years. "Once upon a time, there was a very special unicorn. A bright unicorn, as bright as the sun! One day, she was summoned by the princess for an assignment: to learn about friendship" she started to tell the story. "She moved to Ponyville and met earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi who became her best friends! Together, they taught the power of unity and how to live in harmony to everypony in Equestria" she told.
"Oh, here comes my favorite part" Knuckles muttered with excitement.
"But then one day, a magical accident happened" Sunny kept telling, which made Pipp lift her head up, since she was almost falling asleep over Sonic. "An earth pony got hurt by a unicorn. Everypony started fighting with each other! The princess, wanting to protect her kingdom and all of the ponies in it, decided to put all magic into three crystals before it got out of hoof. After that, earth ponies only felt safe with other earth ponies; unicorns and unicorns; and pegasi of a feather flock together. The ponies galloped, trotted and flew as far as they could with their crystals, settling at what would become Zephyr Heights, Bridlewood and Maretime Bay. And that's where they lived forever... until now!" she finished the story with a smile.
"Wait, but that's not the true story at all!" Misty said suddenly with a frown.
"Yes it is" Sunny said with a smirk. "We pieced together the crystal part ourselves! Literally" she added with a little giggle.
"Big shout-out for us to change history" Sonic said tired, as he yawned a bit, while Pipp once again rest her head on Sonic's legs with a smile, and Sonic placed his hand on her mane softly which made her smile grow bigger. "Well, except for Tails and Knuckles. No offense, guys!" he added a bit nervous.
"Non taken!" both Tails and Knuckles said with smiles.
"Why? What have you heard, Misty?" Zipp asked to her with a suspicious look.
Misty kept frowning, and pulled out a lantern too. "You were right about magic being in Equestria at the beginning. But most of it came from another pony, who wasn't a pony at all, but an Alicorn Queen!" she started to tell her version of the story, since this was probably the distorted version Opaline told her. "Her magic was too powerful, they were jealous of her ability and wanted it all for themselves! So the Princess stole all the magic from the Queen, and hid it away somehow, then the Princess putted an enchanted invisi-bubble around Equestria so the powerful Alicorn Queen could never find the magic or the kingdom of ponies, again!" she told.
"Hmm... something feels off with that story..." Tails muttered to himself.
"The Queen was left alone, with only a shadow left of her strength and power" Misty kept telling her story. "All while the other ponies created towns built with her stolen magic!" she finished telling her story.
"What?! That's the true version?" Pipp asked confused.
"That's... pretty dark for a bedtime story" Sonic pointed out with confusion.
Zipp clapped her hooves to turn the lights on, as she also stared at Misty with a frown. "Who told you that?" she asked her.
"Uh–– Nopony!" Misty lied, looking around nervously. "Ah, you know, I may have made some of it up" she added with a nervous laugh.
"'True', 'Made-up', what difference does it make?" Izzy said cheerfully.
"I refrain from answering that" Tails said with a bored expression.
"Each story was great!" Izzy stated with a smile. "Specially that Alicorn Queen part, Misty. Ah! So creative! So epic! Got any more?" she asked her cheerfully.
"Yeah" Sunny agreed with Izzy with a smile.
"So that's what seemed off, it was made up! You got pretty good imagination, Misty!" Tails told her with a smile.
"So... is this like an old Bridlewood pony's tale or...?" Pipp asked, lying with her front legs on Sonic's legs.
"I've never heard it, but maybe that's just my own corner of the community" Izzy suggested, while Misty just nodded with a nervous smile. "Where did you say you grew up exactly, Misty?" she asked, which caused that Misty panicked again.
"Yeah, where did you grow up, Misty?" Zipp asked her with suspicion.
"Uh, nowhere! And nopony! And I... probably gotta get going to get back right about now. Bye!" Misty quickly said, running towards the exit since she felt cornered.
"Wait, Misty! You can't leave, this party is all just for you!" Izzy said, running to the door, but Misty already left and closed the doors behind her.
The others just looked on with worry at both Izzy and Misty, while Tails just frowned and prepared his tails to fly. "I don't want to say I told you, but I actually did" he told to Zipp with anger, before boosting out of the door, while Zipp felt guilty for what she did.
"... Way to go, Zipp" Knuckles said with a frown too, while Sonic punched him on the shoulder with his arm. "What? She screw it" he pointed out, then a groan of Sonic made him realize what he did wrong. "Oh! I'm not helping, am I?" he said blankly.
"No!" Sonic, Pipp and Sunny scolded him.
Sonic then sighed after rolling his eyes and face palming. "Zipp, give Tails some time to calm down. I have an idea of why he followed Misty" he confessed.
Zipp however, still felt guilty, and then approached to Izzy. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by all my questions. I was just... trying to get to the bottom of things and figure out the real truth" she said with concern.
"The truth?" Izzy asked a bit mad at Zipp, slowly looking at her. "You wanna know the truth, Zipp? My first sleepover in Maretime Bay has been a complete and total Jinx-a-thon!" she said with sadness, walking away from Zipp, who looked down with low ears and guilty. "That means 'failure'!" Izzy added quickly before keep walking away.
Knuckles immediately walked towards her to comfort her, while Pipp, Zipp and Sonic just looked on with grief. Sonic then looked over to the open door. "Whatever you're doing Tails, please do it quick. I'm feeling Izzy need it right now" he said with worry.
Minutes later, Izzy started to pack up everything they used for the sleepover with frustration and sadness. "Party's over, ponies" she announced with grief.
"But we don't have to start cleaning just yet, Izzy" Sunny told her with a smile, while she and the rest came closer to her. "I know this didn't go as you planned, but the night still young!" she pointed out.
"Yeah! We can still have more fun!" Pipp added with a smile.
"Whatever you planned up, we'll do it, promise" Knuckles added with a soft tone, while Sonic at his side nodded in agreement.
However, Izzy sighed in defeat and turned around to face her friends. "That's really sweet of you all to say, but it isn't just Misty leaving. This isn't a real celebratory sleepover without being in Bridlewood anyway" she said with sadness, sitting on the ground with her hind hooves crossed. "I just wish I could lay on the ground and stare up at the big branches of Bridlewood trees rustling above me" she said, looking at the ceiling with a nostalgic smile, that quickly faded away when she looked down and grabbed one of the fake horns from before. "It's what I always did when I felt 'unsparkly'" she added, while the rest just looked at her with sad expressions. "I mean, I love living in the Bay with all you guys" she told them, which caused her friends to smile a little. "But sometimes I miss my unicorn stuff so much! And I though having Misty here would help" she confessed with sadness.
The others looked sadly at her, until Knuckles had an idea, and he whispered something quick on Sunny's ear, who smiled at his idea and nodded in agreement, then they all approached to Izzy. "So, what exactly do you miss about Bridlewood? Be specific" she asked her with a smile.
Izzy looked at them with a bright smile. "Do you really wanna hear?" she asked with a flirty blink, while the rest just nodded and Knuckles looked away to try and hide his blush, but nodded as well. "Are you sure? The list is longer than the lyrics to my 'Unicorn sleepover sing along song'" she warned with a smile.
"Oh... Then I'm gonna have to get comfortable" Zipp stated with a smile, as she sat on the dinner table and the rest did the same.
"Tell us everything even if it takes all night and into the next day!" Sunny stated.
Izzy then took a deep breath and started to explain all her list.
At the Community Garden, Misty was walking back and forth nervously.
"I have to go, I have to get out of here. I've already said too much!" Misty cried out to herself in panic. "But I can't just leave! Not without that lantern and those Emeralds!" she pointed out worried. "But if I go back, they'll ask me more questions and expose my lies!" she said panicked. "Unless I sneak past them and bypass the elevator with somepony else's hoof" she stated with a confidence that left as fast as it came. "But whose? And how?!" she asked herself as she started to chuckle nervously. "Is it too late to tell those ponies that I was just kidding?" she added, again chuckling nervously.
"Misty!" Tails' voice called out, and Misty looked at the garden's entrance with panic. "Oh, thank Chaos I found you!" he said, genuinely happy for finding Misty.
"Uh... where you... looking for me?" Misty asked with a sheepish smile.
"Yeah!" Tails said. "Look, I'm sorry if we put some pressure over you, specially Zipp with her nonsense questions. We really wanted to be friends with you, and know you better, but I think we rushed things when we didn't had to, and I'm sorry... for putting all that pressure over you" he apologized, even if he didn't exactly did anything wrong.
Misty just stared at him for a while. The only actual person that she could tell cared a bit about her was Eggman, but now this two tailed fox was telling her that he was sorry for how his friends acted towards her, specially Zipp.
"You know, I think I know why you're nervous" Tails confessed. That made Misty grew nervous again. "You never had friends before, right?" he asked directly. "Sorry if I'm being this rude, but... It's the only logical thing I can think of" he added.
Misty kept staring, but this time it was with a little sadness. To tell the truth, she never had anyone but Opaline, and recently Eggman entered on her life too. Even tho he still was a bad guy, she could tell he was slightly more worried about her than Opaline. But she can't call them friends, because they aren't. "N-No..." Misty replied finally.
"And I guess you didn't grew in Bridlewood either, but you didn't wanted to hurt Izzy's feelings, right?" Tails asked again, at which Misty sobbed a little and nodded again. "Hey, I understand you. I felt like that with Sonic the first time I met him... but time passed, and I felt more confident in myself and others" he confessed with a smile. "Look, we won't pressure you again with your story. You can tell the others about not having grew in Bridlewood when you're ready, but until then, I won't say a thing" he assured her. "Now, what do you say if we go back? Izzy's sleepover isn't over yet" he suggested, extending his hand at her.
Misty looked at his hand, and then at him. She nervously walked towards Tails, and placed her hoof on his hand, while he hold it gently.
"Let's go then, Misty" Tails said with a wink, and guided her back to the Brighthouse.
That gesture made Misty's heart jump excitedly, and a little blush appeared on her cheeks, but she wasn't sure why, at least not yet.
Back at the Brighthouse, Izzy kept telling her list on things she missed about Bridlewood, while Knuckles quietly stepped backwards and whispered at Zipp's ear.
"Can you distract Izzy while we redecorate a little?" Knuckles asked to her in whispers.
"Sure! But I don't think my help is gonna be necessary" Zipp said with a smile.
Knuckles then got close to Sunny, Pipp and Sonic with a smile. "Come on, now! We've gotta give this place a little Bridlewood for Izzy!" he stated in whispers, while the others nodded and sneaked quietly away from Izzy, who was too distracted looking at the ceiling as she kept listing everything she missed from Bridlewood.
Later on, after redecorate Izzy's side of the bedroom to look more like Bridlewood, at least based on everything Izzy told so far, Pipp and Zipp were leading Izzy, who was walking backwards as she kept listing things she missed from Bridlewood.
"Okay, stop listing things Izzy, because one, two... Surprise!" Sunny told her, then Izzy turned around and stared in awe at the decoration of her side of the bedroom: some crystals were hanging on wires; some others were around on the ground; even on of her crafts from La Vila Izzy was there.
"What is all this stuff?" Izzy asked with disbelief and at the edge of tears.
"It's all the stuff you said you missed from Bridlewood!" Sunny said with a cheery smile. "Give or take a couple horn-shaped strudels" she pointed out.
"Now you can lay down and look up at the branches, just like home" Pipp told her with a smile.
"I-I can't believe it..." Izzy confessed, still at the edge of tears. "You guys did all of this just as I was talking?" she asked to her friends.
"Yup!" Sonic replied cheerfully.
"Well, to be fair, you had a lot to say" Zipp pointed out with a smile.
Izzy got closer to Sunny's lantern, that had a crafted cardboard around. "Oh! This is some pretty impressive unicycling, too!" she said cheerfully. "Huh! Maybe you all have a bit of unicorn in you, after all" she said with a grin.
"Well, if you wanna thank someone specifically, then that has to be Knucklehead right here. He's the one who suggested to do this in the first place" Sonic said, as he patted Knuckles' back with a smirk and Knuckles just smiled.
"Yeah, well, someone had to cheer you up, kid" Knuckles said.
"R-Really?" Izzy asked, blushing a little. "You did this for me?" she asked again.
"Yeah... I-I... couldn't stand to see you sad, okay? I wanted to see you smile again, that's all..." Knuckles explained, now blushing a little as well.
Soon enough, Izzy wrapped Knuckles in a hug as she kept saying 'thank you' for a good time, while Knuckles just blushed but smiled, and hugged her back.
Then Izzy opened her eyes and gasped when she saw Tails and Misty at the dorm entrance. "Hey, Misty, you're back!" she cheered.
"Uh, yeah" Misty replied a bit nervous. She barely looked at Tails, but long enough to receive a smile that gave her a bit more confidence. "I was a bit hungry so I thought, maybe I'll go out to the garden and harvest glimmerberries" she lied.
Tails knew that, but he also promised that he would let her say what she had when she needed to, so he won't pressure her. "She ate all of them, otherwise we would have bring some" he lied too, which surprised Misty again.
"Oh, I'm just so glad you are back" Izzy told her with a smile, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "I hope you know how welcome you are her! Look!" she said, pointing at the decorations. "Doesn't it remind you so much of our sweet little hometown?" she asked her with a bright smile.
"Uh..." Misty got nervous again, then she quickly looked at Tails at her side, who made a 'my lips are zipped' move with his hand and winked at her, which made Misty smile before reply to Izzy. "Yes! It's like I'm transported back in time" she said, looking around at the decorations with a smile. "It's actually... pretty incredible" she suddenly stopped to stare at Sunny's lantern.
Later, the group gathered their sleeping bags in the same order from before, and then tried to follow Izzy on her sleepover song again, but since they didn't knew the lyrics, they screw it up a bit. However, it ended up on laughs this time, since the intention was what mattered for Izzy.
At the end, the group was sleeping peacefully on their bags. Izzy sleep on her bed, Tails curled in a ball and hugged his tails, Knuckles slept on his bag as he snored, Sunny slept hugging her lantern, Zipp was sleeping peacefully on her bag and Pipp slept over Sonic's chest as she snored, while Sonic surrounded her with his right arm.
Misty, on the other hand, quietly walked away to Sunny's side of the room and opened the window to talk with Opaline and Eggman through the Alicorn mirror.
"What took you so long?! Did you find it?" Opaline asked with a frown.
"I tried, Opaline, but this plan has been, well, more difficult than we originally anticipated" Misty explained, while Opaline just rolled her eyes in annoyance. "But don't worry! Though I haven't picked the lantern per se, nor those Emeralds, I have gathered plenty of info about their new magic!" she added with a smile, which caught Opaline's attention. "Well, they believe a completely different story about the origin of Equestria. Oh! And they told me all about dragon fire and how it changes Cutie Marks!" she added. "Also, we did a hoof-reading and ate ponycorn and did horn decorating and––" she added, but then Opaline cut her off.
"Hold on, Misty. 'Horn decorating'? 'Ponycorn'? and 'hoof-reading'?" Opaline scolded her.
And so, Eggman decided to step in. "Misty, did you had fun with those idiots, just as I told you?" Eggman asked in a soft tone, although he was frowning too.
"Yes, exactly! It was strategic hoof-reading for gathering intel!" Misty assured, thanking Eggman quietly for that save. "But seriously, have you ever tried ponycorn before? Because it's the best!" she added excited, then quickly corrected herself. "I mean, the best way to trick the ponies into thinking I'm one of their friends!" she assured. "I'm telling you, they were gabbing, I was grubbing" she added, not noticing that Zipp woke up a bit sleepy. "We were getting our top secret info that will take us to the next level! Promise!" she finished.
Even tho Zipp didn't heard everything, she did looked at Misty with suspicion once again.
"Oh, by the way, Misty" Eggman spoke. "I'm gonna change your second assignment: forget about finding the Chaos Emeralds. I need you to gather some info for me: ask as cautious as possible about the Emeralds and if there's any way they can run out of energy. I think you can manage the rest alone" he instructed.
Misty just nodded, and closed the Alicorn Mirror.
"Now why does her has to do that?" Opaline questioned with a frown.
"It doesn't matter how smart I am: the truth is that I have no connection with the Emeralds, and so, I have no idea of how to restore their power. I know how to take it away, but give it back? That's something that scapes my abilities" Eggman confessed. "And Misty managed to gather info for you, so she can totally gather some for me" he pointed out.
"Let me be clear with you doctor: I don't like the way you treat Misty" Opaline said with a frown. "And I don't care if it's a way to make her stay. Treating her like your own daughter is a sign of weakness, and I hate weakness on my allies" she added.
"Too bad you're always being weak and play the 'Strong Queen' roll just for others to fear you" Eggman said, frowning as well, and the offended look on Opaline's face gave him happiness deep inside. "I treat my allies the way I want, Opaline. And mark my words: if we eventually decide to go against each other, don't be surprised that Misty decides to leave you alone" he added, walking slowly towards his lab.
Opaline looked at him with anger, but deep down, she was also a bit sad and disappointed. Even if she didn't liked Misty's failed attempts, she did appreciated her efforts, even tho she would never say it out loud. "Whatever" she muttered to herself, then she walked away from the throne room.
Outside the Crystal Brighthouse, at night, Misty sneaked out with Sunny's lantern on a bag.
She managed to reach the Community Garden, but as she tried to walk quietly, she tripped with a shovel, and the bag with the lantern fell with a loud thud.
Inside the Brighthouse's bedroom, Zipp woke up on her bed, and looked around. Everyone was on their respective beds, although Izzy was completely covered on her blankets, but aside from that, everything seem normal. Zipp yawned, and then walked over to the window at her side. She opened it, and then saw something in the Community Garden.
"Huh?" Zipp exclaimed, as she was pretty sure she saw a figure ducking to hide from her. "Ugh, is somepony down there?" she asked, but since she didn't heard nor saw anything out of normal, she yawned and looked on tiredly. "I must be dreaming" she stated, closing the window.
The next day, Zipp woke up with a stretch of her front hooves and her wings, as she flew out of her bed and got over her desk.
"Morning, Investigation board. Morning, Rad-Visor" Zipp said to her detective spot, then she walked away. "Morning–– Lantern?!" she exclaimed with panic, noticing that the lantern was not on its place. "It's... It-It's gone!" she yelled with panic.
At the main floor, Sunny was making pancakes for breakfast, when Zipp suddenly arrived and startled her.
"Hope is gone!" Zipp yelled, landing accidentally on the plate with pancakes and spreading them around.
"What?!" Sunny asked with panic as well.
"I mean the 'Hope Lantern'!" Zipp corrected herself with worry. "It's not in its case... And it's not here with you!" she said with panic. "Which means it's missing, which means I gotta find it! It could already be too late" she added, flying around on a panicked state. "Did you know that the first few hours after a crime are critical for clues?" she asked Sunny, still flying around until Sunny stopped her.
"Zipp, wait!" Sunny said, as Zipp finally stopped in front of her. "I'm sure I just left the lantern somewhere in the Brighthouse" she assured with a smile.
"Oh. Cool, cool, cool" Zipp said, still not convinced about the lantern being around. "But just to be sure..." she added.
Zipp started to look all around the Brighthouse. She checked out the living room first, then Izzy's crafting spot, even the Critter Corner, but the lantern was not there.
Sunny, on the other hoof, was looking for the lantern around her side of the bedroom, but she didn't found it there either.
"You were right. It's nowhere! Oh..." Sunny said with sadness, and then she started to run around with panic as well. "How can my special lantern be nowhere? Oh, this is bad. This is really bad!" she exclaimed, suddenly stopping in front of Zipp and grabbing her cheeks. "Besides the Unity Crystals, that lantern is the most important thing in the Brighthouse! It contains magic Prisbeam power! What are we going to do?" she questioned with worry.
"Only one thing to do" Zipp stated with a smile. She then putted on all of her detective gear, like a little drone on her bag and her Z-Goggles. "Detective Zipp on the case!" she stated, flying out of the bedroom while Sunny just looked on with a smile.
"That Sailor Moon sequence was completely unnecessary" Sonic said with a blank expression, as he stood besides his bed while Knuckles stood at his side with the same blank face and Tails was pulling out some things from his cabinets on his side of the room.
"What are you guys doing?" Sunny asked curiously, walking towards them.
"Tails said something about giving us some kind of watches? I don't know, all that fancy tech he mades confuses me" Knuckles replied.
"Can relate. Sometimes I don't get half of the things he's talking about" Sonic confessed with a smirk.
"Okay?" Sunny said with a raised eyebrow. "I'm just going to... uh, bye" she said, walking away from them.
"Aha! Found it!" Tails exclaimed, quickly running towards Sonic and Knuckles. Instead of saying anything, he putted on Sonic's right wrist a blue triangular watch, a red square watch on Knuckles' right wrist and a yellow circular watch on his own left wrist.
"Uh, Tails? What's this?" Sonic asked a bit confused.
"Well, I decided to make this communicators for us" Tails explained. "They have other functions, too, but those are mainly for battle, so right now they only work for communicate between ourselves" he added.
"Okay... but how does this works, exactly?" Sonic asked a bit confused.
Tails pressed the watch itself, and then Sonic's and Knuckles' watches made a bip sound as they also let out a small light. "You just have to press that button, both to make a call and to answer one" he explained with a smile.
"That's it? Sounds easy!" Knuckles said with a relieved smile. "But now I'm interested on those battle things you mentioned" he confessed with a grin.
"I'll show you eventually, but right now I can't because 1- We should probably wait for someone to attack, and 2- You're getting late for your deputy work, you know" Tails pointed out with a bored expression.
"Right! I gotta get out of here!" Knuckles shouted, quickly running towards the exit.
"I'm guessing you have to work on Electronic Tails too, don't you?" Sonic asked him with a smile.
"Yup! But I gotta clean up the mess I caused on that cabinet first..." Tails replied.
"Well, I'm free today, so maybe I will just run around and enjoy the view" Sonic stated. "See ya, Tails!" he said, boosting out of the room.
"See ya!" Tails waved back, as he got back to organize his cabinet. However, something else caught his attention, something he didn't knew he had on his cabinets. He took out a magazine that had Sonic on the cover, as he posed giving his back to the camera and smirking, while also raising a finger. The magazine was called 'Square Times', and Tails quickly took a look inside just to find many pictures of Sonic posing in many ways and with different clothes, which was even more weirder since Sonic usually didn't did that kind of stuff. "Huh... weird..." Tails muttered to himself, putting the magazine over his bed and quickly getting back to organize his cabinet.
Meanwhile, Zipp was looking around the Brighthouse for Sunny's lantern with her detective gear.
She scanned some pillows and furniture, while her little drone scanned Cloudpuff, who barked at the weird machine.
She then opened the fridge and found a chomped green apple. "Oh yeah, there was definitely some kind of fiend in this house!" Zipp stated. "I mean, who does this?!" she asked herself, pointing at the chomped apple back on the fridge.
Zipp closed the fridge soon enough, but then Izzy came by and open the fridge again to grab the fruit. "Oh! The rest of my apple!" she said cheerfully, grabbing it and chomping it again, while Zipp behind looked at her with a bored expression as Izzy closed the fridge again. "So good!" she said.
Soon enough, Zipp returned to the bedroom, and while she got in, Tails slowly walked out looking at the magazine. "Hahaha! I can't believe Sonic accessed to wear pants!" he said, looking at a picture were Sonic was imitating clothing style from the early 2000's.
Zipp flew around the room, until she saw something. "Ha!" she exclaimed, flying over Sunny's night stand at her bed's side and scanning the outline on it with her goggles. "Just as I suspected, this outline is the exact diameter of the lantern's base!" she said, landing on the ground and pulling her Z-Goggles aside. "And what's this?" she questioned, looking at the outline and grabbing a bit to lick it. "Dirt! Hmm. The same kind of dirt that's used in the Community Garden. Interesting..." she stated, then she realized something. "Did I just taste dirt?" she questioned, then coughed from disgust. However, she realized there was a trail of dirt hoof prints on the floor, and she decided to follow it.
Meanwhile, at the main floor, Pipp was dancing around as she sang to herself. "So put your hooves up high, 'Cause we're feeling all right. Every day is awesome in the Mare––" she sang, but then she heard Tails laughing crazy while he was sitting on the couch with the magazine on his hands.
He was looking at a page where Sonic was wearing some pink clothes. That wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't because Sonic was blushing on the picture as he tried to look away, THAT was funny according to Tails.
"Uh, Tails?" Pipp called out as she approached him. "What's going on?" she asked, a bit confused on why he was laughing that hard.
"Oh, its... its nothing, I'm just..." Tails tried to reply, but then he saw the picture again and started to laugh it off again.
He ended up letting the magazine fell, and Pipp pick it over with her front hooves as she sat on the floor, but then she saw the exact same picture Tails was looking at and her face immediately turned red at the sight, as well as her wings opened suddenly. "W-What's this?" Pipp asked nervously.
Tails managed to calm down and relax on the couch. "Oh, that? A magazine from 2 years ago, if I remember correctly. I think Sonic did a photo shoot because the money earned with the magazine sells would be used to help some sick people at the hospital. That's literally the only reason why he accepted to use pants" he explained with a smirk.
Pipp moved forward to the next page, that showed Sonic wearing a black smoking on one page and a white one on the other one. Pipp felt her face turning up, and her wings flapped a lot, even tho she didn't left the ground. She kept moving forward just to find more pictures of Sonic posing in different ways as he also wore different clothes, while Pipp started to feel that her heart was racing a marathon and felt it was hot.
"O-Oh my..." Pipp muttered, as she saw now a picture of Sonic wearing nothing but a swim suit. Even tho he was always naked, for some reason, that picture made her feel more attracted to the hedgehog than she already was.
Tails looked at her, then at the magazine, then at her again and smirked. "You know, you can keep the magazine..." he started to say, then Pipp's eyes widened and she looked at him as she grabbed his cheeks.
"Really?!" Pipp asked excited.
"Only if you do something for me..." Tails pointed out.
"Yes! I'll do it! I'll do anything!" Pipp replied desperately.
"Okay then" Tails said with a little smile. "So, remember that time you helped Dahlia with her flower stand when she accidentally made giant flowers grow from the ground?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'm glad Dahlia managed to make her business keep going" Pipp said with a smile.
"Me too. Anyways, would it be too bad if I asked you to help me expand my business beyond Maretime Bay? You know, electronic Tails it's doing well here, but I would like to help ponies in Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood as well" Tails requested.
"What? Of course it won't be any bad! Even if you didn't gave me magazine, I would have done it for you anyways!" Pipp assured with a smile.
"Okay then, I leave it to you" Tails said. Then, his watch started to made a beep sound, and when he touched to stop it, he realized the time and worried. "I'm gonna get late to my deliveries! I gotta go, bye Pipp!" he said, as he boosted flying out of the Brighthouse.
"Bye, Tails!" Pipp said with a smile, then she looked at the magazine with a little blush and squealed with excitement, as she fell in the floor hugging the magazine.
Soon enough she got up and putted the magazine down her wing, but before she could make another step, Zipp arrived and stopped her.
"Wait! Don't take another step" Zipp instructed.
Pipp decided to fly instead, although she was confused. "What are you doing?" she asked to Zipp.
"This is an active crime scene!" Zipp said, pointing at the floor. "Can't have you contaminating the evidence" she added with a frown.
"A real-life mystery?!" Pipp asked her with a smile, and then gasped excitedly. "What's the crime?" she asked again.
"Sunny's lantern has gone missing" Zipp explained with worry.
At this, Pipp just gasped dramatically. "I am shook! How can I help?" she asked with a little smile.
"No help needed! I've got this investigation under control" Zipp assured with a confident smile. Then, she flew over to the open doors and took a closer look to them, also pulling out her phone. "No sign of forced entry" she registered on her phone.
Pipp, however, just looked at her working, and then gasped excited. "Your Cutie Mark!" she said, since Zipp's Cutie Mark was shining bright because Zipp was doing what she does best. "Wow, I guess you really do have this under control!" she said with a smile and a little giggle. "Well, I should just leave you to it then, Detective!" she stated. "Have fun!" she sang, before leaving entirely the Brighthouse while Zipp kept with her researching.
Outside the Brighthouse, Pipp hummed to herself and landed on the Community Garden. She took a selfie with one of the flowers, but just when she turned around, she tripped with a bag buried on the dirt.
"Ah! What in the hay?!" Pipp exclaimed both mad and confused. She took a closer look to the bag and grabbed it, then she shook it until something fell with a thud on the ground: Sunny's lantern. "Lantern! What are you doing out here?!" she said, grabbing the lantern and blowing it to get some of the dust away. "Aw, yay. Zipp will be so excited you aren't missing after all!" she said with a smile, hugging the lantern and then flying back to the Brighthouse.
However, once she arrived to the Brighthouse door, she looked at Zipp flying around, focused on finding the lantern, and also, her Cutie Mark was shining more than ever, so she felt bad for ruining the fun for her sister.
"Aww... But she already looks so happy!" Pipp said with a smile, then got out once again, and looked at the lantern a bit concerned. "If I give it to her, her fun will be over" she said, putting the lantern down, and then she got an idea. "I guess the lantern doesn't need to be found right now" she added with a smile, grabbing the lantern again and flying back to the place where she found the lantern initially.
She marked her hoof print on the dirt, and then pulled out a bottle with aquamarine glitter.
"And for a little extra mystery, some of my all-new 'Pipp brand Wing Glitter'!" Pipp said, as she spreed the glitter around the 'crime scene' with a smile. "There! The perfect clue to have Zipp on the lantern's trial to me in no time. So fun! I am really good at this! I should plan a mystery party!" she exclaimed excited, and then flew away with the lantern.
Soon enough, Misty arrived to the Garden on sneaky mode, but when she entered, she found the hole empty.
"What?!" Misty asked, looking with panic at the empty hole. "It was right here! I buried it right here!" she said with confusion, then she noticed Pipp's hoof print and frowned. "Ugh! Somepony found it" she said with frustration, and then groaned. "Oh, why did I think burying it was enough to keep it hidden? Oh, why do I always panic and do the wrong thing? Oh..." she said with worry. "Opaline's gonna be so angry when she finds out... But... not if I can find it again first!" she stated with a grin. "Besides, I need to gather some info on those Emeralds for Dr. Eggman, too" she pointed out to herself.
She stomped the dirt more, until Zipp arrived suddenly from her back.
"Misty?" Zipp called out to her, while Misty gasped startled, as she looked at Zipp with panic. "What are you doing here?" Zipp asked, landing in front of her.
"Me? Oh, I was... Uh... I was just filling in this hole, left by uh, gophers!" Misty explained nervously. "Yep! Silly gophers, leaving holes everywhere!" she said, giggling nervously as well. "Wouldn't want somepony to trip" she added.
Zipp then flew over and examined the hole. "Ah... This hole is too wide for a gopher, it is just wide enough to hide a lantern!" she pointed out with a smile, while Misty just looked at her a bit confused. "And I don't think any gopher would be leaving a hoofprint like that, do you?" she asked her with a smirk, but then Zipp noticed the aquamarine glitter on the dirt. "Glitter? Is it a magical remnant?" she questioned, grabbing some of the glitter from the ground with her hoof. Then she started to fly around, while Misty just dissimulated to know nothing by placing a hoof on her chin. "Maybe this hoofprint belongs to an earth pony who was trying to grow something here or maybe it belongs to... The lantern thief!" Zipp stated.
Misty gasped and then replied a bit nervous. "Lantern? What's that? I've never even seen one of those! Bye!" she said, quickly running away from Zipp.
"Well, she was acting totally weird. But that tracks" Zipp said, then brought her phone to give an update on her current investigation. "Update: No solid leads yet" she recorded, then looked at the glitter on the dirt again. "But somepony out there in town must have some answers" she stated with confidence, as she called to her drone, who arrived with her and nodded in agreement.
Back at the bedroom, Cloudpuff was on Sunny's bed playing with a toy, while Sunny walked back and forth with worry over her lantern.
"I know Zipp is on the case, oh..." Sunny stated with worry, and then stomped frustrated on the floor. "But it's agony just sitting around here doing nothing!" she confessed. "There's gotta be something I can do without stepping on her investigation, right Cloudpuff?" she asked to the dog on her bed.
But Cloudpuff was too busy playing with his toy, and Sunny sat on the floor with sadness and worry. Then, she saw the rainbow light coming from the elevator, and her smile quickly returned.
"Oh, that's it!" Sunny said with a smile, jumping towards the elevator while Cloudpuff decided to follow her. Sunny stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button, then the doors closed and the elevator moved up to the Crystal Room with the Unity Crystals. "The Crystals and the Prisbeam rely on the unity magic of ponykind to keep them powered!" she explained to the dog, pointing at the Unity Crystals floating. "If the little bit of Prisbeam in my lantern is anything like this one, we could power up the lantern no matter where it's hidden! Like a beacon leading us straight to it" she pointed out with a hoping smile.
Cloudpuff just stared at her and barked.
"All I need is enough ponies gathered and united together!" Sunny cheered, now with a plan on her mind. She grabbed Cloudpuff and squished him with joy. "Thanks, Cloudpuff!" she told the dog with a smile, going back to the bottom of the Brighthouse.
Tails was near Hitch's station, fixing up the via train from its lower part before it could got back to work normally.
Then, Misty arrived near him, although he didn't noticed yet. Remember, Misty: try to be as discreet as possible she reminded to herself on her mind. "H-Hey, Tails!" she decided to be the first one greeting.
Tails hit his head with the train and groaned, he slowly pulled himself out and faced Misty. "Oh, hi Misty" he said with a smile, even tho his head hurt.
"Hey, no biggie. It isn't the first time I hit my head, and I know for sure it won't be the last either" Tails assured with a smile. "Anyways, what can I do for you?" he asked to her.
"Oh, um..." Misty started to think on how to explain this exactly. "Well... you know, Izzy mentioned something about some Emeralds, and I thought you could, uh... fill me with more context?" she asked with a sheepish smile.
"Huh? Izzy mentioned the Emeralds? Seriously?" Tails said a bit annoyed. "Ugh, I shouldn't be surprised... it's Izzy, after all. And I don't blame you to feel curious" he assured with a smile again. "Now, I wish I could tell a lot, but even tho we have interacted with them for years, it's still hard to tell everything they can do or how they work at all. Only Sonic can control them, and just for a short time, because once he used all the seven of them, they left and spreed all around the world until someone gathers them together again" he explained, while at the same time he kept fixing the via train.
"Sounds... interesting!" Misty said with a sheepish smile. "Now, just out of curiosity, do you know if they can run out of energy?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.
"Well... I once though that they couldn't, but I was proven wrong years ago" Tails started to tell. "Once an evil genius known as Dr. Eggman stoled the power of the Emeralds, and awakened a sleeping evil from Earth. Sonic had to travel all around the world to find 7 sacred temples to restore their power" he explained. "So far, that was the only time they got underpowered... or I would say that, if it wasn't because they also got out of energy when they arrived to Equestria" he added with a bored expression.
"Really?" Misty asked.
"Yeah. Now, here comes the part that I can't explain: one of the magical crystals from Bridlewood and Sonic's new powers made them work normal again" Tails confessed, and that was everything Misty needed to hear. She got the info Eggman told her to get, now she only had to find a way to leave without being too harsh on Tails. "I cannot still explain, but I think..." Tails tried to add, but Misty cut him off.
"Thanks for, uh, giving me some context, Tails" Misty said with a smile. "I was juts curious. Anyways, gotta go now, bye!" she said, running away from him.
"Uh... bye!" Tails said with a confused look.
Sonic was running around peacefully around a grass field, as he enjoyed breathing the fresh air from Equestria.
Suddenly, two figures started to follow him from the sky, and Sonic could tell because of their shadows, that moved at the exact same speed he could. At first, he though they were both pegasi since one of the shadows had wings, but then he realized exactly that: only one had wings, then how does the other one was flying as well?
Without waiting for anything else to happen, he suddenly braked, which made the two figures in the sky stop suddenly too. But before the figures could react, Sonic launched his Spindash straight to the face of one, who immediately fell in the ground, and once Sonic was in the air, he charged up another Spindash with his electrical power and launched against the other figure, that fell to the ground as well.
While the figures feel with a thud, Sonic landed on his feet, and then frowned at the two figures that were following him around: Metal Sunny and Metal Pipp.
"Well, well, well. You must be two of Egghead's Metal Mane, aren't you?" Sonic asked with a mocking smirk.
"Now just look at that, you aren't as idiot as I though you would be" Metal Sunny said sarcastically.
"Well, what can I say, it's part of my charm surprising my enemies" Sonic joked. "Now, jokes aside, give me a good reason to not sweep the ground with your body, piece of metallic trash" he warned with a serious voice, as he made his electrical powers appear again.
"Whoa, that's a big change of attitude. I like it" Metal Pipp said with a threatening voice.
"Honestly? We have no reason to make you... let's say, have mercy on us" Metal Sunny said . "Pipp? Mind to make the first move?" she asked to the pink robot.
"It'll be my pleasure!" Metal Pipp assured.
She immediately launched herself against Sonic, who not only managed to dodge the attack, but also slow time a little and hit Metal Pipp on her back. However, he didn't expected what came next: even tho he managed to hit her, Metal Pipp could make her whole body move as fast as Sonic and hit him back, sending him backwards. Time started to go at its normal rate once again, and Sonic stared in shock at Metal Pipp.
"So it is true... Eggman has one of my quills" Sonic muttered to himself. "And he used its power to create this... monsters... typical of him" he added with anger.
He charged up his Spindash again, and even if Metal Pipp dodged it, Sonic managed to redirect the attach and hit her on the face. Then he ran towards her and punched her again, but just when he was about to do a kick, Metal Pipp moved quickly and kicked him instead. Sonic groaned a bit, while he also heard Metal Sunny giggling at his back.
"Oh, so you wanna play fast? Well then: let's get fast!" Sonic said with a smirk, as he charged up his whole body with electricity and ran towards Metal Pipp. First it was a hit, then another, then another, then another, and then another, until he was running so fast around the robot that she could not defend herself.
All her systems were failing now, but before she could say anything or react, Sonic kicked her head so hard that it ended up leaving her body, and when it fell in the ground, Sonic stomped it with his feet, destroying her head completely.
"Huh... so that's why that fat plumber enjoys stomping on his enemies so much. It is very pleasing, to be honest" Sonic admitted with a smirk.
"No!" Metal Sunny shouted with frustration and groaned furiously. "This wasn't supposed to hap-" she tried to say, but Sonic hit her strong enough to send her flying backwards.
"I'm sorry, Metal Sunny-Bunny, but you messed with the wrong Hedgehog" Sonic told her with a frown. However, Metal Sunny quickly stood up, groaned angrily, and launched herself with the rockets of her hooves against Sonic. He managed to dodge her, but then she started to launch missiles, lasers and other attacks from her body, while Sonic dodged her and started to run away from her.
"And you messed with the wrong Metal!" Metal Sunny stated, as she kept trying to hit Sonic with her attacks.
Back at Maretime Bay, Zipp was analyzing everyone around town with both her drone and her Z-Goggles, marking all of them as suspects from stealing Sunny's lantern.
"Hmm... So many potential witnesses, so little time" Zipp complained. "Where to start?" she questioned, until she make a zoom to the three usual fillies, with Seashell holding her phone camera while Peach Fizz and Glory were dancing. However, that wasn't what caught her attention: she saw that the three fillies had flowers on their ears. "Flowers from the garden? Gotcha!" she said with a confident smile, pulling off her Z-Goggles.
"Pipp's going to love our dance moves!" Seashell assured to her friends with a smile.
Suddenly, Zipp stomped her hooves loudly, startling the fillies and Seashell accidentally threw her phone in the air. "Seashell! Glory! Peach Fizz" she said with a frown, catching Seashell's phone. "Where were you at approximately 4:22 a.m. last night?!" she questioned to them.
"What? 4:22?" Seashell asked nervously, while the other two looked at Zipp with fear. "We were, uh... Definitely sleeping at home in our beds!" she said with a nervous tone.
"Yeah!" Peach Fizz added. "We definitely weren't up watching YouHoof videos!" she added, then immediately covered her mouth with panic.
"Hmm... That was very specific, too specific... And not very convincing!" Zipp stated with a frown.
But before this could get worse, someone pulled Zipp from her tail and lifted her in the air. Then, whoever lifted her let her go, and Zipp fell in the floor with a thud, while Seashell's phone flew again, but Tails caught it this time, since he was the one who pulled and lifted Zipp.
He landed on the ground and gave Seashell her phone back. "There you go! Sorry for Zipp's attitude, girls. She's been... utterly annoying lately that not even her own friends can stand her" he explained, looking at Zipp with a frown, then looked back at the fillies with a smile. "You can go now! And I won't tell your parents you were up late, okay?" he promised to them, while the fillies just nodded with smiles and walked away.
While Tails waved at them with a smile, Zipp got up and looked at him confused. "Tails?! What are you doing?!" she asked to him with a frown.
"I should be the one asking you that" Tails scolded her with a frown. "First Misty, and now fillies? What the heck is wrong with you lately?!" he asked with rage, with his eyes turning yellow for a slight second.
"I'll admit I crossed the line with Misty, but this time a real mystery happened!" Zipp explained with worry. "Somepony stoled Sunny's lantern, and all the evidence pointed to those three!" she added with frustration.
"Evidence, or suspicions?" Tails asked with a frown and his arms crossed.
Before replying, Zipp noticed that Mayflower, who was passing by, was carrying a bag with some things that Izzy fixed for her. She also noticed that, in the bag, there was a lantern that looked exactly like Sunny's, and Tails noticed that just in time, because Zipp was about to fly towards her, but Tails managed to grab her from her tails and made her fall.
"Oof!" Zipp exclaimed. "What are you––" she tried to ask to Tails.
"Watch, and learn about good manners, 'Detective'" Tails replied to her. He then approached to Mayflower and talked gently with her. Mayflower then showed Tails the lantern and explained that he got it fixed at 'Izzy Does It'. Tails thanked her for her time, and got back with Zipp. "See? Talking with manners gives better results" he explained, not as mad as before, but still frowning at her.
Zipp slowly stood up and looked at him with embarrassment. "Yeah... I guess I need to try a different strategy" she pointed out.
"As long as you stop treating ponies like if they just did a carnage, do what suits you best" Tails told her with a bored expression, flying away from her.
Zipp juts sighed in defeat, and then she heard a horn. "Zipp!" Izzy greeted at her, approaching to her with her Unicycling Cart and waving one of her hooves. "Zipp, Zipp!" she said again, still sing the horn of the cart.
"Oh hey, Izz" Zipp greeted back with a smile. "How are the 'Izzy Does It' unicycling house calls going?" she asked with curiosity.
"Awesome!" Izzy replied cheerfully. "I can't even belizzle how much stuff ponies have just sitting around their houses begging to be beautified. Requesting to be repurposed! Clamoring for a crafting!" she stated, making weird faces and moving around Zipp, while said pegasus just looked at her with a smile. "I just fixed Mayflower's old lamp actually" she pointed out.
"So I heard..." Zipp said with a little sadness, since she almost framed Mayflower of something she didn't did, if it wasn't because Tails decided to interfere.
"You seem a little..." Izzy said, then made a weird face that clearly stated that Zipp wasn't felling good at all. "What's up?" she asked with a smile.
"Sunny's lantern is missing, I haven't been able to come up with a single real lead in the case... and Tails is mad at me because I haven't been thinking before acting at all" Zipp explained with worry. "So far my only leads on this case is just dirt and glitter!" she added.
Izzy giggle a bit before replying. "Honestly, what isn't?" she said with a smile. "As for Tails, I think you should wait until he gets over with it" she suggested, still smiling.
"But nopony's seen anything about the lantern!" Zipp said, still worried.
"Really? I saw the lantern last night" Izzy said casually.
That made Zipp gasp and quickly turn around at her. "We need to talk!" she stated, grabbing Izzy and dragging her away to a more private place.
At the station, Sparky was running around with Hitch's sheriff badge, while Knuckles organized some lats papers on the cabinets.
"No Sparky! Once again, my badge is not a toy!" Hitch told the baby dragon, as he chased him around until he finally grabbed the baby dragon and putted his badge back on place. "And stop putting random things in your mouth, okay? It's a choking hazard!" he pointed out.
Knuckles closed the last cabinet and walked towards the other two. "Here, try this instead!" he told to the baby dragon, giving him a pacifier. Sparky grabbed it and started to use the pacifier.
"Aww" both Hitch and Knuckles said in unison, but then Sparky spilled the pacifier to Hitch's head.
"And cute moment over" Hitch said with a bored expression, then he grabbed the pacifier again and extended it to the baby dragon. "Let's give that another try, huh?' he told to Sparky.
"Hitch, Izzy and I literally told you this 5 episodes ago: just let the kid be a kid" Knuckles insisted, but then Sparky spilled a small dragon fire that changed the pacifier for a badge, but this time it wasn't Hitch's; it was Knuckles'. "And... he has my badge now... great..." he said with a bored expression.
Then Sunny entered to the station with a worried expression. "Hitch, Knux! My lantern is missing, but I think I have a way to track it down" she said, looking at Sparky running around while Knuckles chased the baby dragon to get his badge back.
"Ooh! Is it Detective Zipp? 'Cause she's great at solving mysteries" Hitch asked curiously.
"She's on it! But I also need just a little, teeny, tiny bit of help from everypony's favorite town sheriff and deputy!" Sunny told with a smile.
"What kind of help?" Knuckles asked, still chasing Sparky around.
"Oh, you know" Sunny said, placing a hoof on her chin. "Gather up every single pony we can find to amplify their Unity magic and blast it to the lantern. Call it a... town meeting!" she explained.
"Wait just a second" Hitch said. "Do you really think it's a good idea letting everypony know the lantern is missing?" he questioned to her.
"Remember what Twilight Sparkle warned us about?" Sunny reminded Hitch with worry. "An evil pony who wanted to steal magic? What if that pony finds it?" she pointed out with worry.
"Well, I hardly think that's going to happen" Hitch said with honesty.
"It could!" Sunny said with panic.
"Stop it!" Knuckles shouted, making not only Hitch and Sunny to look at him, but also making Sparky stop. He grabbed the baby dragon and putted his badge back on place. "The answer will be clear, Sunny: no" he stated with a frown.
"What?!" Sunny asked with shock and widened eyes.
"First of all, Opaline is that evil pony Twilight tried to warn about" Knuckles started to explain. "Opaline is working with Eggman, and they want your magic, the Chaos Emeralds and kill us!" he pointed out. "Telling the ponies about the missing lantern would imply telling them about Opaline and Eggman, which will pretty much cause those two to attack us and cause panic around" he added, still frowning and putting Sparky on the ground. "Look, we'll help on any possible way we can to find that lantern, but we're not telling the ponies about this. And that's final" he finished.
Hitch looked both with shock and pride at his deputy, while Sunny just looked shocked and more worried than before she entered the station.
"I'm gonna check on town to keep an eye on them" Hitch said, placing a hoof on Sunny's shoulder. "We'll find your lantern, I promise" he told her with a smile, then walked towards the exit. "Knux, take care of Sparky and the station while I'm gone" he instructed, then got out of the station.
"Aye, captain!" Knuckles said with a salute, but then Sparky grabbed Hitch's puzzle and started to run around again. "No, Sparky! Hitch would kill us if we miss one single piece!" Knuckles told the dragon as he chased him around.
Sunny looked down again, still thinking that she had to tell the ponies about the missing lantern. Then she saw Hitch's megaphone on the desk and smiled. "That'll work" she said, grabbing the megaphone and walking out of the station too.
"That puzzle is a limited edition, and Hitch loves it more than anything! Even more than you and Sunny!" Knuckles complained, as he tried to take the puzzle back from Sparky.
At a dark place, Izzy was sitting on a chair, when suddenly a light turned on over her.
"Ah!" Izzy exclaimed, as her eyes tried to get used to the light. "Uh, where are we?" she questioned to Zipp, since it was still pretty dark, while Zipp walked slowly towards her with a frown.
"Not important!" Zipp replied, placing a hoof over Izzy's shoulder. "You said you saw it last night, but what exactly did you see?" she asked her.
Izzy juts giggled at her before replying. "What do you mean what did I see?" she asked innocently. "I saw the lantern! You're so silly!" she said with a cheery smile.
"'Cause what I saw was somepony in the garden sneaking around with it" Zipp pointed out.
"Well, of course! That was me!" Izzy said cheerfully.
"I-It was?" Zipp asked confused.
"Yeah!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile. "I had insomnia last night, happens all the time really. So I thought I'd brew up some Unicorn Sleepy Time Oo-oo-long tea" she started to explain. "It is sure to lull even the most wide-eyed pony to the gentlest shores of the snoozy ocean" she added, mimicking the sleeping position with her hooves.
"And that has to do with the lantern how, exactly?" Zipp questioned her.
"Well, I had to search search the garden to look for the tea leaves, 'cause I just ran out" Izzy explained. "And what better to light the way than a bright lantern?" she pointed out with a smile.
"Your glowing horn?" Zipp pointed out with a little smile.
"Oh... Yeah, that would have worked, too" Izzy confessed with a smile.
Zipp then analyzed her story, and found a flaw on it. "But wait–– You were in bed at the time! I saw you!" she pointed out.
"Oh, that? You probably just saw my unicycled Izzy copy I use to put under the covers anytime I have to get out of bed in the middle of the night" Izzy confessed. "It is Jinxie to leave without saving your spot, you know!" she explained another of her many Jinxies.
"So if it was you who took the lantern out last night, why didn't you put it back where you found it?" Zipp questioned to her with more confusion than before.
"I did!" Izzy revealed. "Right back on Sunny's nightstand! She likes to sneak the lantern out of the case and sleep with it next to her because it reminds her of when she was a filly" she whispered to her. "Don't you just love that?" she asked with a smile.
"If you took the lantern and returned it, then where the hay is it now?!" Zipp questioned with panic, while Izzy just shrugged. Zipp sighed in defeat ant turned the lights on, revealing that they were in the washroom the whole time. "Izzy, you're free to go" Zipp told her with disappointment.
"Oh! Okay!" Izzy said, walking out of the washroom and humming to herself.
Zipp sat on the chair, that was now near to the bathtub, as she also lay in it and recorded something on her phone. "Hmm, I feel like I'm getting closer. Like I'm on the edge of something..." she said, then she tripped into the bathtub, causing a shampoo bottle to fell on the tub and some water to fell on it as well, while Zipp stood on the tub with a bored and tired expression. "Ugh, I fell right into that one" she told herself with tiredness.
Eventually, Zipp returned to the Community Garden, where her drone started to scan around again for any missing clue.
"Well? Anything?" Zipp asked to her drone, who once again scanned the filled hole of dirt with aquamarine glitter. "Then I guess you're the only solid clue I've got so far" she said, once again analyzing the hole.
However, Misty arrived there suddenly and tried to hid, but unfortunately for her, Zipp did noticed her strange attitude.
"Hmm? That's... suspicious" Zipp stated, approaching to the place where Misty decided ho hide.
Misty immediately jumped the garden fence and ran away from Zipp, who followed her by flight.
Eventually, they reached the town, where Misty dodged some ponies while Zipp followed her with her Z-Goggles. Suddenly, Misty was about to crash with the via train, that Tails already finished fixing, but then she jumped inside the train, then she quickly got down and entered Mane Melody.
Zipp, on the other hand, almost crashed against the via train, but she managed to brake before that happened. "Sorry!" she apologized with the driver, then she took her Z-Goggles off and started to look around for her, looking sideways to Mane Melody's door that recently closed.
She entered the place with a frown, while her drone followed and they both looked around for Misty. They did passed by her, but didn't noticed since she was hiding on a chair while reading a magazine. At the end, Zipp decided to left after looking around and not finding her. Misty felt relieved, and decided to left as well, but Zipp was still near by, so she got back inside.
Misty tried to find another escape route inside the salon, but after opening a door that had Jazz at the other side and turning around she found Zipp looking at her with a frown.
"I know everything, Misty!" Zipp told her with anger. "And I know it was you who stole the lantern!" she said, while Misty didn't knew what to say exactly. "Ever since the unicorn sleepover, I had a weird feeling about you. Those probing questions about Sparky, not knowing anything about Bridlewood, and then finding you trying to activate the elevator up to the Crystal Room!" she pointed out, as she started to surround Misty on a corner, while the unicorn looked at her in fright. "But I ignored my instincts and gave you the benefit of the doubt, until now. All the galloping and shadiness today solidified it! Now, you better tell me where you've got Sunny's lantern hidden!" she warned her.
"Enough!/Stop!" Tails and Pipp said, as they both got in front of Misty to stop Zipp from going any further.
"Guys! What are you doing?! I've got the lantern thief right here!" Zipp told them with a frown, pointing at Misty, who was still in fright.
"It's me! I'm the lantern thief!" Pipp confessed, once again stepping in front of Misty.
"What?!" Zipp said confused.
"Well, no, I mean, I'm not the lantern thief, but..." Pipp stated, then quickly flew at the backstage of the salon and got back with Sunny's lantern. "I've had it all day" she confessed with a guilty expression.
"Huh? No! But Misty is the lantern thief!" Zipp stated, still convinced that Misty stole the lantern in the first place.
"Ugh! For Chaos sake, Zipp! Misty didn't stoled anything!" Tails shouted, tired enough of her attitude. "After you treated three fillies like criminals, I decided to search for clues too, and Misty wanted to help. I told her to go back at the garden and look for more clues! But after how you've been treating her, I'm not surprised she decided to run away from you" he explained with a frown and crossed arms.
"What?" Zipp said with shock and worry, now understanding why Misty ran away in the first place.
"The truth is..." Pipp said, as Zipp turned around to face her. "I found the lantern outside the Brighthouse this morning. And I was going to show you right away, but your Cutie Mark was glowing and you were having so much fun investigating and I––" she explained.
"But the hoof print!" Zipp pointed out.
"I put it there, to keep you going" Pipp pointed out, grabbing the lantern and flying down from the stage. "And the wing glitter was a clue to lead you to me!" she said with a small smile, that faded away. "I had no idea it'd send you on a trial after Misty" she said, while the two sisters looked at Misty, who was being panted on the back by Tails, and Misty chuckled nervously at Zipp.
"So my whole investigation was for nothing then?" Zipp questioned with sadness and guilty. "Just me looking like a fool and accusing Misty of a bunch of terrible stuff she didn't do?" she questioned, while Misty slowly and quietly walked away, while Tails stood at Pipp's side with a bored expression.
"Yup" Tails said blankly, while Pipp kicked him with her hind leg on the foot. "I bring sincerity: She asked and I answered frankly" he pointed out.
"That one is totally my bad and I definitely owe her a big apology, but I've never seen your Cutie Mark glow like that!" Pipp said with a smile, pointing at her glowing Cutie Mark. "You finally got to be a true detective! Ah! That's worth something, right?" she questioned with optimism.
Zipp sighed and looked at the lantern. "I guess you're right. I did have fun" she confessed with a smile. "So... I guess I can forgive you for sending me on that wild goose chase all day" she stated with a mocking smirk. "Even if I did miss a few obvious clues" she added, which causes Pipp to laugh and Tails roll his eyes with a smile. "How did I not connect the glitter thing?! It was aquamarine!" she pointed out, as she laughed alongside Pipp.
"Like my sparkle!" Pipp said, as she threw some aquamarine glitter in the air. "And I can't believe you thought it was Misty! She's so sweet! She could never!" she added with a smile.
"Thank you! Finally someone gets it!" Tails said with a smile, as he side hugged Pipp, and the young pegasus did the same.
Zipp quickly flew to stop Misty before she got out of Mane Melody. "Misty..." she called out, while said unicorn turned around in fright. "I am so sorry" she said with a guilty expression. "I never should have accused you of being a thief... or chased you around town, or cornered you in here" she pointed out with shame, while Misty just looked down, thinking if she should accept her apology or not. "I guess I need some more practice with this whole detective thing, huh?" she said, extending her hoof to help Misty stand up.
"Maybe a little bit too much" Tails said sarcastically with a smile, while Pipp giggled a bit at his side.
Misty looked at Tails for a second as the fox nodded at her with a smile, and Misty smiled a bit nervous in return. "It's okay" she told Zipp, accepting her hoof and standing up. "I know how it is when you get really wrapped up in something!" she added.
"Well, I'm glad you are accepting your mistakes" Tails admitted with a smile, that for some reason made Zipp's heart melt, but she ignored the feeling. "I do have a question, tho. Misty, did you ran from Zipp because of what I said before? About her not being as friendly as she should?" he asked to the unicorn.
"Oh, well, I, uh... I have this thing where I just can't get the words out when I'm nervous sometimes and I, um..." Misty tried to came up with an excuse, but as she said it herself, feeling nervous wasn't helping at all. "Oh would you look at the time! I should really get going before my cake... goes... stale? Bye!" she said, running out of the salon as quick as possible.
"Wonder what all that was about?" Zipp said a bit confused.
"I bet she's still just shy about us" Pipp suggested. "Some ponies are, you know!" she pointed out.
"Yeah, we can't all be doing Clip Trot dances like you" Zipp said with a mocking tone, as she, Pipp and Tails laughed a little.
"I say we should just give her time to adapt properly" Tails suggested with a smile. "She's still new around and all of that" he pointed out.
"Hey, um, I'm really sorry, Tails" Zipp said a bit nervous. "You were right, I shouldn't had been so rude with ponies during the investigation, specially with Misty" she apologized.
"Hey, it's okay. I think I should apologize, too" Tails confessed with a side smile. "If I wanted to help you do better, I should have done it more calmed and not so panicked or angry. I'm sorry for acting like that lately. I don't know what's making me feel so stressed" he confessed with a little frown.
And then, Zipp side hugged Tails suddenly with a smile. "Hey, no biggie, man" she assured to him. "I actually needed my hooves on the ground, so you kinda helped me with that" she confessed, and Tails decided to return the gesture with a smile as well.
"Ooh! I just remembered!" Pipp said suddenly, gaining Zipp's and Tails' attention. "Zipp, your little caper today fully inspired me to write this jam!" she exclaimed excited, as she brought her phone out and showed both Zipp and Tails a video.
Here we go, here we go We're not gonna stop 'til we find what we're missing Where'd it go? Where'd it go? A perfect case for a private eye I'm searching far and wide So here we go, here we go We're not gonna stop 'til we find what we're missing
Oh, oh Where'd it go? Oh, oh Where'd it go?
Once the musical video was over, the trio heard Sunny's voice from outside.
"Ponies! Please!" Sunny called out through the megaphone.
"Huh?" Zipp said confused.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Tails confessed with worry.
The trio got out of Mane Melody, where Izzy stood confused as Sunny passed around with the megaphone.
"Come join us in the plaza for a very important cause!" Sunny called out.
"Sunny, please stop! This is not the way to solve this!" Hitch said, as he chased Sunny while Knuckles followed behind, chasing the two ponies with Sparky in his arm.
Then, Sparky grabbed Knuckles' badge and threw it, which made the echidna go back and put his badge back on place. "And you! Stop squirming, young man!" he told to Sparky, before resume his chase.
"What is going on?!" Zipp asked confused.
"I don't know" Izzy replied with a cheery smile. "But it seems like we're about to play a really complicated game of 'tag'!" she added.
"Wait... This is pretty much about..." Tails started saying, then gasped in realization. "Pipp, bring her lantern, Sunny's about to say things she shouldn't!" he told to the young pegasus, before quickly boosting to follow Sunny as well.
"Everypony! We need your help to find my lantern!" Sunny announced with the megaphone.
"Sunny Starscout! Don't force me to use my deputy authority against you!" Knuckles scolded her, but she still refused to listen. "Sunny! Stop, for the sake of Chaos!" he shouted.
"Sunny, wait!" Tails said, as he chased her around.
"We found it, Sunny!" Zipp told her, and Sunny finally stopped running, which made Hitch to trip with her, while Knuckles managed to brake in time.
"You did?" Sunny asked to the sisters with the megaphone, while the feedback made a loud noise, and Sunny turned off the megaphone with a sheepish smile. Hitch got up from the ground, with his head spinning since he was feeling a little dizzy. "You did?" she asked to Zipp and Pipp again.
"Yeah, it was all just a case of a little innocent sister meddling" Pipp explained sheepishly with a nervous laughter, while she brought out the lantern. "Probably should have let you in on my plan sooner, Sunny! So sorry about that!" she added with a sheepish smile.
"Ah! What a relief!" Sunny said with a smile, throwing the megaphone backwards while Hitch tried to catch it, but then he fell into the ground. "Thank you for returning it" she said to Pipp with a smile.
"Oh! What happened to the game of tag?" Windy asked with disappointment, as she and the other ponies returned to their daily lives.
"Yeah, it could have been a total disaster if the lantern had actually been taken by somepony dangerous..." Zipp pointed out with a smile.
"Like the mysterious evil pony Twilight warned us about?" Izzy asked rhetorically.
"A.k.a. Opaline" Tails said with a neutral expression.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on that mystery too" Zipp said, as the group laughed it off.
"As long as we stick together, and tell each other about our plans, I know we'll be able to keep this lantern and pony magic safe" Sunny assured with a smile, holding the lantern. "This thing is powerful, we have to be more careful with it" she stated.
"No more midnight trots with it then, Izzy?" Zipp asked her with a smirk.
"Psht! Why would I need a lantern? I've got a glowing horn!" Izzy said with a smile.
Once again, the group started to laugh, but then Sunny's Cutie Mark glowed up and the lantern started to glow as well, which surprised the group and caused Sunny to gasp.
"I knew it!" Sunny said with a bright smile.
"So beautiful!" Pipp said with sparkling eyes at the sight of the lantern.
"So rainbow-y!" Izzy said.
"Wow, Sunny! You were right!" Hitch said with a smile as well.
"Note: Lantern's energy linked to proximity to unity magic" Zipp said, recording the glowing lantern with her horn, and Izzy's Cutie Mark that was glowing. "Or is it a separate power?" she questioned herself, putting her phone aside and approaching Sunny. "Hey, Sunny, do you think I could keep my hooves on the lantern a little bit longer? I wan to do some more scientific analysis on it" she requested, now looking at the lantern.
"As long as you don't let it out of your sight, Detective" Sunny told her with a smile.
Zipp did a little loop on the air and snatched the lantern out of Sunny's hoof. "Don't worry, I won't!" she assured with a smirk.
"Say..." Knuckles said with a thinking face suddenly. "Where the heck is Sonic?" he questioned.
Sonic managed to lost Metal Sunny, as he hid on a dark cave and panted a little. He was used to run long distances and keep going for days even, so he wasn't panting because of that: the adrenaline of fear for Metal Sunny to find him was what made him pant.
Even if she was just a robot, he learned long ago that any Metal could be pretty scary in the darkness.
"Come out, Sonic!" Metal Sunny spoke. For a moment, Sonic thought it was the real Sunny, but the robotic effect on her voice made him realize in time that she wasn't. "I know you're hiding here, but don't be scared! I promise your death will be as quick as you are" she added with a threatening voice that send chills on Sonic spine.
He poked his head to fin Metal Sunny looking around for him, then he looked at the exit, and an idea showed up on his mind.
Quietly, he managed to threw some rocks in certain direction, which called Metal Sunny's attention. "Gotcha!" she said with a victorious tone, flying towards that direction, while Sonic ran out of the cave and used his Spindash, charged up with his electrical powers, to hit the cave's ceiling and cause an avalanche. Once the entrance was fully covered, Sonic sighed in relief thinking that he was finally safe.
Big mistake.
The pile of rocks was traversed by Metal Sunny, and she managed to punch Sonic strong enough to send him flying backwards. Sonic slowly got up, as he shook his head from the pain and looked at Metal Sunny.
"You cannot run forever, Sonic" Metal Sunny announced. "Eventually, you'll meet your fate. You're just a little, pathetic weakling with a big ego and terrible sense of humor! So why don't you just surrender already?!" she shouted with anger.
Sonic cracked his fingers, and stared at the female robot with anger. "There's the thing: I never surround. And I may be a weakling, but I'm an unstoppable one" he stated with a mocking smirk, as he launched himself against Metal Sunny and punched her on the face. "Try to catch me if you can, Metal scrap!" he shouted, as he started to run away from her.
Metal Sunny groaned and started to chase Sonic again, once again launching all kind of attacks that Sonic dodged. He considered contacting Tails and Knuckles with the watch, but then he saw that it had a button at one side, a button that he pressed curiously. The watch glowed in color blue, and somehow he could felt his speed increasing, which confused Metal Sunny, who tried to caught him up with the power of the quill that Eggman installed on her and the other Metals, but Sonic kept running more and more, until he was completely lost sight.
However, Sonic discovered a new function by accident when he turned his electrical powers on. The watch drew some of his electricity, and turned it into a weapon. "Whoa!" he said in awe, now having a sword completely made out of his electricity. He then had an idea, and thought of another weapon, which made his sword change into a nunchaku. "Tails, you absolute genius!" he said, then he looked that Metal Sunny was almost near him.
However, Sonic smirked and ran towards her. They stared at each other as they were about to crash, but Sonic managed to stop time, use his watch to create a sword and cut Metal Sunny's head with a victorious smile. He landed on the ground and made the sword fade away, while Metal Sunny's body and head fell in the ground with a loud thud, and then they both exploded.
Sonic turned off the new function of his watch and smiled, then the watch made a beep sound, and he knew that Tails was calling, so he answered. "Hey buddy" he greeted with a smile.
"Sonic!" Tails said from the other side. "Where are you, man? We haven't heard from you" he pointed out.
"I know, and I'm sorry" Sonic apologized, then looked at the destroyed body of Metal Sunny. "I just have... a lot to tell when I go back" he confessed.
Misty returned to Opaline's Castle, and pocked her head from the door to the throne room. When she saw no one there, she tried to run towards her room, but then Opaline's voice spoke.
"So you're finally back" Opaline said, landing in front of Misty, while Dr. Eggman also arrived with her.
"I was starting to worry that you got discovered" Eggman said with a neutral expression.
"So, where is my powerful lantern?" Opaline asked on a soft tone at first, trying to hard to follow Eggman's advice on make Misty stay.
"Well, you see, I was on my way to get it, but then I got to thinking, maybe it's not as powerful as we––" Misty tried to explain.
However, Opaline knew exactly what happened. "Another failure!" she shouted with anger, stomping her hooves on the floor, which startled Misty. Eggman felt his heart flinch at that sight of Misty, but he decided to not step in, or else his alliance with Opaline would go to waste. "There seems to be a pattern emerging. It makes me wonder if it truly was a mistake... Or if you're just going soft on those ponies!" she stated with a frown.
"No, Opaline! It was all a mistake!" Misty assured. "I want to do whatever I can to help your plans succeed!" she assured again.
"Well, I hope you're telling the truth. It would be terrible for you to abandon your only friend" Opaline warned her, as she made a gesture with her wing to prove her point. "Without me, you'd have nothing. No family, no home, no Cutie Mark!" she reminded her, passing a hoof over the fake butterfly Cutie Mark. "You still want me to give you a Cutie Mark, don't you?" she questioned to Misty.
"More than anything!" Misty replied. "I promise I won't let another mistake like this happen again. I'll get the lantern! Hoof to––" she tried to assure.
"No!" Opaline said coldly, as she walked towards her boiler. "We're wasting time with the pursuit of these silly enchanted relics!" she stated.
"B-B-But how else are we going to get the magic?" Misty questioned, while Eggman stood at her side with his arms on his back.
"With something that will instantly restore my ultimate power" Opaline replied with an evil grin, as she made an image appear on the boiler of Hitch and Sparky as he spilled dragon fire on Hitch's badge. "Dragon fire!" Opaline said, while Misty looked on worried.
"Well, if it can help you be more powerful to finally take your magic back, then let it be" Eggman replied blankly. "And Misty, about my request..." he asked to the unicorn.
"Oh yeah!" Misty said, now looking at him. "So, um, I asked Tails, and he said something about sacred temples to restore their power. Also something about magic crystals from Bridlewood and Sonic's new powers making their Emeralds work again" she explained.
"What? Their Emeralds are working again?!" Eggman asked in shock. "That's... that's amazing! Now I'm even closer to the completion of my Master Plan! Now, I still cannot get the power of the dead Emerald, unfortunately, but at least I can make the two sleepy ones work normally" he said with a smile, walking toward his lab. "Oh, and Misty" he called out, stopping right in front of the door. "Thank you for your help!" he said with a soft smile, entering his lab, while Misty just looked with a bright smile, knowing that she at least did one thing good.
Later on, the Mane 5 and Team Sonic were sitting on a little resting room they had behind the Brighthouse, helping Hitch with his puzzle.
"Of course!" Hitch complained. "It's always the last piece that goes missing!" he pointed at the puzzle with the missing piece with frustration, then he looked at his side with a bored expression, since Sparky was playing with the last piece. "Sparky... no. Put it down" he ordered, trying to take the piece back, but then Sparky sneezed and turned the piece into a butterfly, that ended up flying away, and Hitch sighed with frustration. "So much for mint condition" he complained again.
"Don't worry!" Izzy told him, as she brought a pair of scissors and a piece of cardboard, then she cut the cardboard to make a new piece for the puzzle and gave it to Sparky, who grabbed it and gibberish.
He saw the new piece, then at Hitch who had a worried expression, and then jumped on the table and putted the piece on the spot left of the puzzle.
That made Hitch emotional for some reason, tho. "Nothing prepares you for the moments like these!" he said.
While the rest laughed, Knuckles just patted his back with his hand with a smile. "There, there, sheriff. You'll eventually get used to it" he assured him.
"Sparky's dragon fire transformations are amazing!" Zipp said, as a the piece turned into a butterfly landed on her hoof.
"And he's just a baby now! Imagine everything the little guy's gonna do when he grows up" Sonic said with a cheery smile.
"Seems like the sky's the limit for your powers. Right, little buddy?" Zipp told to Sparky with a smile, while the whole group laughed when the baby dragon let out a small dragon fire as a response.
"So, what do we do about the Metals?" Tails asked after a while.
"I wouldn't worry too much, man" Sonic said with a confident smile. "Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch are basically useless, Metal Pipp and Metal Sunny are nothing but piles of junk and as for Metal Zipp, well, she' the only one left aside from Metal Sonic, so I wouldn't worry that much about them" he added.
"You should be more careful, Sonic" Pipp said a bit worried. "You could eat your own words when you least expect it" she pointed out.
"I mean, they may be powered by my quill, but so far they've been easy to defeat" Sonic pointed out, still smiling. "Besides, they pretty much are like Metal Sonic: they may share your names, but they wished they were half of amazing you guys are" he said with honesty.
"Aww!" the Mane 5 said, as Pipp and Sunny placed their hooves on their chests, and Pipp side hugged Sonic, who blushed slightly.
"That was so corny of you, Hedgehog" Knuckles said with a mocking tone.
"Just like I said: you may act all chill and careless, but deep down you're just an adorable hugging dork" Tails pointed out with a smirk.
"And again, I'm absolutely proud of that" Sonic said with a smirk. "As for the Metals, don't worry, Little Pipp. I doubt we'll see them in a while" he stated, side hugging the young pegasus with a confident smile.
Eggman groaned as he punched his keyboard with frustration, looking at the Metals stats, seeing that Metal Sunny's and Metal Pipp's life signs were dead.
"I cannot believe this!" Eggman shouted. "At least you were there the first time, Metal. What happened now?!" he asked to Metal Sonic on his computer.
"When I realized Sonic was fighting with those two, it was too late, doctor" Metal Sonic confessed. "They blocked the sign, like if they didn't wanted you or me to know what they were doing..." he explained.
"Because they didn't wanted! I've never ordered them to attack Sonic!" Eggman shouted frustrated. "Now I only have 4 metals left, and two of them are still useless for fighting!" he complained.
He then looked over at the three Emeralds he had capsuled, and smirked a bit.
"However, they do can do me another favor" Eggman said with an evil grin, finally calming down and quickly calling Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch. "You two, here's a new mission for you: go to the Bridlewood forest and get some of the crystals. Once you have them, deliver them to me immediately" he instructed.
"Roger that, daddy!" Metal Izzy said cheerfully.
"On it, doctor" Metal Hitch replied.
"Good" Eggman said, then he ended the call with them and called Metal Sonic again, this time with Metal Zipp along. "And as for you two, the mission to destroy those fools is still up. So go now, and kill. That. HEDGEHOG!!!" he shouted to them.
"Right away, doctor!" Metal Zipp replied.
"Killing Sonic? It'll be my pleasure" Metal Sonic said, ending the call as well.
Eggman then walked towards the capsuled Emeralds he had, opened it and grabbed the one that was still dead. "I may not know how to reactivate you yet, but I know I would find a way eventually" he stated with an evil grin.
In Bridlewood, at night, Metal Hitch was digging around with his front hooves, searching for the crystals Dr. Eggman requested.
As Metal Hitch launched the crystals he collected to Metal Izzy, said robot caught the crystals and putted them on a secret compartment inside her, as she also hopped around while hummed at herself.
Eventually, Metal Hitch felt annoyed by her attitude, and he finally exploded at her. "Could you please stop that already?!" he shouted at her.
"What? Hopping around or humming?" Metal Izzy asked innocently.
"Both! It's starting to frustrate me!" Metal Hitch shouted again, continuing gathering crystals from the forest.
"Well, I'm sorry, Hitchy-poo, but that's how I'm programmed" Metal Izzy pointed out cheerfully. "I'm literally a robo-copy of Izzy, but instead of flowers, colors and friendship, I love death, murder and destruction! Again, that's how I'm programmed" she pointed out again.
"Ugh, but why be so cheery?" Metal Hitch asked her. "Metal Pipp has... has a big ego like the OG, true, but she was still a killing machine!" he pointed out. "Until Sonic destroyed her, of course. Same thing with Metal Zipp and Metal Sunny! Why do you go around being so cheery when we have a job to fulfill?" he questioned her.
"Because he's our dad? We have to focus on our mission, you know" Metal Izzy pointed out.
"Why do you focus so much on these nonsense missions?" Metal Hitch fired back with a bored expression.
"I'm sorry, what?" Metal Izzy asked confused.
"This is the first mission Eggman gives us ever since our little failed attempt with the real Izzy and Hitch" Metal Hitch pointed out with a frown. "Metal Sonic said it himself: he doesn't care about us, Izz. Once we gave him the crystals, he won't even bother on repair us again" he stated. "However, and unlike Metal Sonic, any sign of rebellion was erased from our files, so even if we wanted, we cannot fight him back!" he yelled frustrated.
"Why are you saying so many mean things about dad? He did care, otherwise he wouldn't had give us this mission!" Metal Izzy tried to resonate.
"Stop calling him dad, Izzy!" Metal Hitch scolded her. "He doesn't care about you, he doesn't care about any of us! And because of that, he doesn't deserve our respect! It doesn't matter if we cannot fight back our codes and programming, we're not respecting him! Understood?!" he yelled at her again.
Metal Izzy, somehow, managed to show sadness on her expression, despite not having a mouth. Her ears lowered, and she sat on the ground with a down expression, while Metal Hitch looked at her and immediately regret having exploded at her.
"Izz... I... I'm sorry" Metal Hitch said, as he sat on the ground too with a guilty expression. "I shouldn't be freeing my anger on you, or on any of the other Metals" he apologized. "It's just... ever since Portrait Day, I can't help but feel like I'm useless... and Metal Sonic's words about the doctor not caring... they really got into me after we didn't got any instructions, unlike the others" he confessed. "I... I wanted to feel like I was contributing to his cause, but... when he gave us this weird mission, I just exploded again... and I'm sorry, for shouting at you" he apologized again.
"... I... I feel the same, to be honest..." Metal Izzy confessed. "I wanted to fix our mistake of Portrait Day, and I thought that this mission was our chance to prove we can still help... but I don't think dad–– I mean, the doctor's gonna welcome us at all" she added with disappointment.
Metal Hitch noticed again the sad expression, approached her. "Hey, it's okay, Izz. If you want, you can call him dad" he told her, a bit more optimistic.
"Really?" Metal Izzy asked.
"Yeah" Metal Hitch assured her. "And I think you're right, we can use this a chance to prove we can still help the doctor, one way or another" he stated. "Now come one, we have some more crystals to dig" he pointed out.
Metal Izzy nodded energetically, and decided to follow him, once again hopping around, but not humming this time.
At the Maretime Bay station, Hitch was sleeping using some cabinets as a bed, as he mumbled to himself in his sleep, while Knuckles fell asleep on his desk as he snored loudly.
Suddenly, a light from Sparky's dragon fire became bright enough to wake up Hitch. "Wha-What are you doing, Sparky?" he asked to the baby dragon. "I thought I said no dragon fire without supervision. Huh" he exclaimed.
He slowly got up from the cabinets and walked near to his desk, passing by the sleepy Knuckles, and then stopped when he found a plate with a chomped sandwich on a small table.
"Oops, forgot to finish that!" Hitch said. "I'm surprised you didn't eat it" he told the baby dragon, but got no response. "Sparky?" he called out again, but still he didn't replied, and panic got over him. "Sparky, where are you?!" he asked again, crashing with the table and sending the sandwich flying, which ended on Knuckles face.
That was enough to make the echidna wake up. "Huh?" he said, as he stretched a little, and then looked at Hitch panicking around. "What's the matter now?" he asked both sleepy and confused.
Hitch didn't replied, and instead opened the closet where Sparky slept usually, but found nothing but his blanket and gasped. "Sparky's Blankie?!" he said with panic and horror. "Where are ya, little buddy?! Up here? No. In here? No!" he exclaimed, checking over the closet and inside a cabinet.
"Hitch? What the heck is hap––" Knuckles was about to ask again, but then he realized that someone was missing. "Sparky... Kiddo?! Sparky!" he started to call out too. "Where are you, little guy?!" he asked panicked as well, looking on some cabinets and under his desk.
"Spar––" Hitch said, still panicking.
"Spar..." Knuckles said too, also panicking.
"Sparky, where are you?!" both Hitch Knuckles shouted, while their voices made echo all over Maretime Bay.
"This is bad! This is really, really bad!" Hitch said with panic.
"I know, sheriff! But we gotta keep it cool and then... Ugh! Screw it! We need to tell the others!" Knuckles shouted, as he grabbed Hitch and boosted out of the station and towards the Brighthouse.
The rest were sleeping peacefully on their beds in the Brighthouse, until Hitch and Knuckles came in with megaphones at their friends.
"Sunny!" Hitch called out through the megaphone, which made Sunny fell from her bed. Hitch then moved to the other side of the room, between the two sisters, while Pipp had a sleep mask. "Pipp! Zipp!" he called out on the megaphone again, making Pipp wake up with a frown as she took off her sleep mask, and Zipp woke up with a gasp.
"Wake up, Tails!" Knuckles told the young fox through the megaphone, who fell asleep on his desk instead of the bed, and woke up a bit confused and scared. Then he moved to Sonic's bed and shouted with the megaphone again. "Sonic!" he shouted.
Big mistake.
Sonic opened his eyes with panic and sat on his bed. "Gotta Go Fast!" he shouted, then turned into a ball and jumped all over the room on a panic attack. He ended up landing on his bed, once again sitting, and looked at Knuckles with a frown. "What the heck is wrong with you?!" he shouted in anger.
Then Hitch moved towards Izzy's bed. "Izzy!" he called out like a rockstar. "Wake up!" he called out.
Izzy immediately woke up, and unlike the rest, she just gave a cheery smile. "Okay!" she said cheerfully.
Hitch and Knuckles putted their megaphones away, and Hitch took out Sparky's blanket. "Look!" he said, showing it to the rest.
"Ooh! Love the new glow-up, Blankie!" Izzy said cheerfully. "That dragon has great style" she added with a smile.
"Izzy, I absolutely love how optimistic you are, and that pure innocent heart of yours is something I must protect with my life, but this isn't the time to be cheery at all!" Knuckles shouted with panic.
"Can you please stop shouting and give us some context already?!" Sonic begged with a frown, as he approached to the echidna while finished to put his shoes on.
"Yeah. What's going on, guys?!" Sunny asked, approaching to the sheriff and his deputy.
"I was fast asleep, and had this bad feeling that something was wrong" Hitch started to explain with worry. "And then... it was!" he shouted with panic.
"I'm still totally lost..." Tails said with tiredness, as he rubbed his left eye.
"Ugh! Sparky is missing! My sweet little nephew is gone!" Knuckles shouted, shaking Tails desperately.
"What?!" Zipp said, arriving with the rest.
"No!" Pipp exclaimed with shock.
"Missing?!" Sunny asked after a little gasp. "Are you sure?" she questioned.
"Yeah!" both Hitch and Knuckles said with a worried tone.
"Maybe he's hiding?" Izzy suggested.
"We already looked everywhere in the station!" Hitch pointed out.
"He's not there" Knuckles pointed out. "So we decided to came straight here" he added with worry.
"I was hoping that maybe he was with one of you" Hitch confessed, but all he got were nodes saying 'no' from the others.
"Sorry, guys" Sunny said with a sad tone.
"First, the lantern, and now Sparky?!" Zipp said with confusion. "Why do things keep going missing around here?" she questioned.
"I don't know, but we need to find him, A.S.A.P.P.!" Hitch stated. "As Soon As Pony-Possible!" he added.
"Look everywhere! Under the beds, above the clouds, even in the moon if it's possible!" Knuckles shouted with panic.
"Just find that baby dragon!" both Hitch and Knuckles said with their megaphones, making the feedback sound.
As the Mane 5 started their search, Sonic stood behind with Tails for a second. "Thank Chaos we don't actually have to look on the moon. Our experiences there aren't really warming" he pointed out, then boosted to look for Sparky.
"I still don't get how it got back to normal after Eggman destroyed it years ago" Tails said, following Sonic.
Sunny looked down one of the tables in the living room. "Where are ya?" she called out to the baby dragon.
"Come out, Sparky!" Pipp called out as well, flying around the Brighthouse.
Hitch was looking near the Critter Corner, with some of his animals friends and Floppy playing, while also looking at Hitch with curiosity.
"Sparkeroni?" Izzy called out from one of the Critter Corner's toys.
"Hello?" Zipp called out, as she flew around with her magnificent glass.
"Sparky?" Sonic called out, running around the Brighthouse. "Come out, little buddy!" he shouted.
"Sparky!" Tails called out too, as he flew around with his high tech goggles on.
"Spark-Spark!" Knuckles shouted with panic. "Where are you, my little nephew?!" he cried out.
Izzy then opened the closet, and gasped when a pile of things started to tilt. "Nothing in the closet!" she said with a worried expression, quickly closing the door before the things on it fell and made a mess.
Hitch then started to look on cereal boxes for his son. Why? I don't know, parental panic, I guess. "Sparky! Sparky! Sparky!" he said, as he literally put his face inside the last box of cereal he grabbed, while Zipp, Pipp and Sonic looked at him with worry and confusion behind him.
"Could Sparky even fit in that box of cereal?" Pipp whispered to Zipp at her side.
"This is beyond ridiculous" Sonic said with a bored expression.
"Uh, Hitch?" Zipp called out to him. "Not trying to backseat investigate here, but..." she started to say, while Hitch took his face out of the cereal box to face her and Zipp pulled out her phone. "Why don't we retrace your steps first?" she suggested.
"Because we waste time not looking for him if we start to answer nonsense questions!" Knuckles shouted with panic.
And then, Sonic decided to slap him hard enough on the face, while Knuckles putted a fight position as a reflex as his eyes widened. "Can you calm down already?!" Sonic told him with anger, while Hitch, Zipp and Pipp looked at him in shock, specially Pipp, who covered her mouth with her hooves.
Knuckles blinked before finally replying. "I'm sorry, did you just slapped me?" he asked both shocked and confused.
"I've been wanting to do it ever since this morning" Sonic replied with a smirk.
"Okay, I admit I totally deserved that" Knuckles confessed. "Sorry, Zipp. Got panicked a bit. Fire away" he told her with a sheepish smile.
"Okay..." Zipp said, still a bit shocked about Sonic's move a few seconds ago. "So, what do you guys remember seeing when you woke up?" she questioned to both Hitch and Knuckles.
Hitch thought for a second, then he gasped when he remembered that Sparky's dragon fire light woke him up. "There was this flash of light" he said.
"Flash of light? That's unusual..." Zipp replied a bit confused.
"I know!" Hitch shouted.
"His chomped sandwich fell into my face, that woke me up" Knuckles said with a bored expression. "He was already panicking when I woke up" he added.
"Ugh!" Hitch groaned with frustration. "Do you think Sparky's okay?" he asked with worry.
"Of course!" Sunny assured him with a smile, placing a hoof on his shoulder.
"Maybe he's just playing hide-and-seek" Tails suggested with a little smile.
However, Hitch sighed with sadness and walked over to a couch, then lay on it with a down expression. "I feel like the worst pony-dragon-dad in the world right now" he said with disappointment.
Then, Knuckles fell on his face in the ground at his side. "I'm a terrible uncle..." he said with frustration, while the others just gathered around them and looked on with worry.
"Really, Hitch, you're the only pony-dragon-dad in the world, so..." Pipp tried to say.
"That makes it even worse!" Hitch cried out.
"Can you think of any other reason why Sparky would disappear?" Zipp questioned to him.
"What if he was unhappy?" Hitch theorized with worry and guilt. "Oh no! What if he... decided to run away?!" he cried out in panic.
"No. No! Anything but that!" Knuckles cried out, getting up finally and shaking Hitch slowly in panic.
Hitch then grabbed his phone and looked at a picture of Sparky. "I've always tried my best to take care of my little buddy and make him happy" he said, moving to a picture of Sparky on the beach. "I keep a watchful eye on him, going above and beyond to make sure he's safe" he added, moving to a picture of Sparky hugging cloudpuff as other critters got around him, like Kenneth, McSnips, Curtle and Floppy. "I protect him the way I protect the all of the ponies and critters in Maretime Bay: as if they were my own family!" he pointed out. "And now... this" he cried out, letting his phone fell as he covered his face with his hooves.
"But look at all these other places Sparky loves!" Zipp pointed out with a smile, checking the pictures again. "You know, I think Tails was onto something" she stated.
"Let me guess: Sparky is hiding in one of those places, isn't he?" Sonic asked rhetorically with a smirk.
"Sparky does love hide-and-seek!" Hitch pointed out.
"And he's way too good at it, for a baby" Knuckles said with a bored expression.
"Well then, I can do this" Hitch stated, now with a determinate look. "I can find my little guy!" he said, jumping off the couch and landing on his hooves. "Okay, Sheriff Hitch is back on duty!" he stated once again.
"You're not going anywhere without me!" Knuckles said with a determinate look as well, standing up and cracking his knuckles. "Let's find that little guy!" he stated.
"Right!" Hitch said, walking towards the main door. "I'm the best pony-dragon-dad in the world..." he said with confidence now.
"The only pony-dragon-dad in the world" Izzy whispered to Zipp with a smile.
"... and I can't sit around and mope, when there's work to do!" Hitch added with a determinate look.
"He's somewhere out there, and we're finding him, even if it's the last thing we're going to do!" Knuckles stated.
Both Hitch and Knuckles walked out of the Brighthouse grunting, while the rest just followed behind.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Sonic muttered to himself.
But as the Mane 5 and Team Sonic got out of the Brighthouse, Misty pocked her head from behind the closet Izzy tried to open before, and once she saw the other leaving , she got back inside and sighed. "I feel kind of bad for Hitch, but..." she said a bit guilty, then inhaled and walked deeper into the closet.
There, Sparky was playing with one of Zipp's feather, while Misty looked at him with a grin.
"Gave me a little chase all the way here, didn't you? But now you're caught! Ha?" Misty told the baby dragon, and then started to laugh maniacally, but then Sparky started to laugh at her 'evil laugh'. "Hey, give me a break! I'm still working on the evil laugh" she pointed out. "Okay, so far, my well of junk to hide us worked. Check!" she said with a cheery smile, while Sparky started to suck his own foot. "Now, all I have to do is sneak you out of the Brighthouse somehow and then, bring you to Opaline" she stated.
Sparky just started to purr at her in response.
"Ah! She'll be so proud of me, and so powerful she'll... She'll finally give me my Cutie Mark!" Misty said with a joyful smile. "It's all I've ever wanted, Sparky. That's why I have to do this" she told the baby dragon with a guilty expression, while just made gibberish sound to her. "You're a really good listener, you know that?" she told Sparky with a smile. "I'm usually the quiet listening one" she confessed.
Once again, Sparky just did gibberish sound to her with a smile.
"Honestly, I don't get what all those ponies are fussing about. You're a total breeze to take care of!" Misty said, turning around with a smile, but then Sparky rolled like Sonic towards a pile of boxes.
Misty turned around, and felt confused when Sparky was gone, then she saw back in front and found him growling with a menacing face at her, which scared her a lot.
The Mane 5 and Team Sonic arrived to Mane Street, ready to start their search for Sparky.
"Alright, team. We've got a job to do" Hitch stated to the rest. "Let's start at Sparky's favorite places: the Community Garden, Mane Melody––" he listed some of them.
"I've got Mane Melody!" Zipp said.
"And I'll supervise!" Pipp said quickly in panic. "There's way too many styling products that could get compromised if Zipp goes digging around" she said with a frown.
"I'll go too" Sonic said with a smirk. "Four eyes over Zephyrina 'Mess' Storm are better than two..." he whispered to Pipp, but then Zipp stared at them with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, and Sonic quickly cleared his throat. "I mean... Glad to help!" he said with a sheepish smile.
"And I know Mane Melody like the back of my hoof!" Pipp said, looking at her hoof to dissimulate, but then cringed ad it. "Ugh, I really need a polish from Jazz" she said with a bit disgust, while Zipp rolled her eyes and Sonic giggled a bit.
"I'm going to check on air!" Tails said, pulling out a small yellow device and flying into the air.
"I'll give a triple check on the station, and then I'm looking near the cinema!" Knuckles stated, running towards the station.
"I'll check the garden!" Sunny told Hitch.
But just when she was about to left, Izzy stopped her with a hoof. "Hmm, I don't know..." she said, placing a hoof on her chin. "I think we should just follow our gut feelings on where to go next" she suggested.
"But if we don't create a plan of action, we'll get confused" Zipp pointed out.
"But if we over-plan, then Sparky could be right under our noses and we wouldn't even know!" Izzy said, touching her own nose. "Like, ah! Is he under my nose right now? No, he is not" she said, checking literally under her nose. "But! He could have been. See what I mean?" she asked with a smile, while Sonic facepalmed.
"Ooh, that is a good point!" Pipp said with a smile.
"Is it, tho?" Zipp questioned.
"Well, were not going anywhere if we keep discussing" Sonic pointed out with a bored expression.
"What am I supposed to do? Should I still search the Garden?" Sunny asked, very confused.
Suddenly, Hitch's phone started to beep, and he panicked more when he took it out. "Oh no! It's nearly Sparky's nap-nap time!" he said with worry, putting his phone away after turning his alarm off. "If Sparky doesn't get his nap-nap, he gets cranky. And if he gets cranky, he gets mischievous. And if he gets mischievous... We need to start the search now!" he stated, as the others nodded in agreement.
"Don't forget, ponies! We can do anything if we do it togeth––" Sunny tried to say, but then Hitch cut her off.
"Split up!" Hitch ordered through the megaphone, and everyone went on different directions, with just Sunny and Hitch left behind.
"Ugh..." Sunny said, walking a little disappointed towards the Community Garden.
At Mane Melody, Zipp used her magnificent glass and threw some things from the salon.
"Not here" Zipp said, as she threw the things.
"Oh!" Pipp exclaimed, as she dragged herself on the ground to catch her things before they broke, as she heavy breathed in fear.
Then, Zipp opened a cabinet and threw the things from there too. "Not here" she said again, while this time Sonic caught Pipp's things with a groan. Now zipp flew towards one of the chairs with a Mane-dryer, and looked inside of it. "Not here" she said, moving the dryer on a way that made Pipp quickly fix it, and then she frowned at Zipp. "What is all this stuff anyway?" she asked, grabbing some makeup from a stand.
"It's called 'makeup', Zipp" Sonic told her with a mocking tone and a smirk. "Cough, you should try it sometime, cough" he added as he laughed a bit, while Pipp at his side tried so hard not to burst laughing.
"What was that?" Zipp asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all" Sonic replied with his usual smirk, while Pipp kept trying to contain her laugh.
"Uh-huh" Zipp said, not really convinced. "Anyways, the only thing we have to make up for is lost time" she stated, putting the makeup at the edge of the stand. "So hop to it!" she ordered, as she continued to search around the salon.
"Ugh!" Pipp said in annoyance, as she putted some things that Zipp threw back on place.
"Killjoy" Sonic muttered with annoyance as well, helping Pipp to put her things back on their place.
At the Community Garden, Izzy and Sunny were looking for the baby dragon.
"Sparky?" Sunny called out.
"Oh, Sparkeroni Baloney!" Izzy called out, looking under a bench that she levitated, then putted back down. "Little macaroni man!" she called out again, now moving rudely some plants that died immediately. "Schnoodley schmoop-face!" she kept calling to Sparky.
"Please be more delicate with the plants!" Sunny begged to Izzy. "They have feelings too!" she pointed with worry, and then lifted up delicately the plants. "I'm so sorry, she doesn't know any better" she told to the plants, that grew normally back after her kind words.
Tails saw all of this from the sky and through his goggles, then he moved his sight towards Maretime Bay, where Knuckles ran from one place to another, dodging the ponies on the ways and searching desperately for Sparky.
"It seems like Knuckles it's taking his 'uncle' role a bit too far" Tails said with a little giggle. But then, someone passed in front of him way to fast. "Whoa!" he exclaimed surprised.
Using his goggles, he zoomed the sight and saw Zipp... but she looked different. She was more metallic and robotic... also, her wings were open, but she wasn't flapping them. Instead, she was flying with rockets on her hooves, and Tails knew who it really was.
"Oh, you so got to be kidding me!" Tails yelled with worry.
Hitch got back to the station, and even if Knuckles already did a triple check and found nothing, Hitch decided to look for himself.
"Are you here?" Hitch asked, launching himself to the ground, but only found a dog eating his chomped sandwich. "No, but I guess I found you, Pearl" he said, patting the little dog a bit.
Next, Hitch moved towards one of the cabinets.
"Here?" Hitch asked, opening the cabinet, but only found a squirrel with a lot of acorns. "Nope, that's Sid" he said with a bored expression.
Then, he moved towards the closet again.
"Here?" Hitch questioned again, but instead found a bunny reading a magazine and wearing sunglasses. "Doug the Bunny, good day, sir" he said with a salute, then closed the closet again and kept searching around the station.
Meanwhile, Misty was having some trouble with Sparky. Like Hitch said before, he got mischievous because he didn't had his nap-nap, and now he was causing some trouble to Misty.
"Okay! I just need to get you out of here, while the coast is clear" Misty told Sparky, as she extended her hoof to try and grab him, but Sparky walked backwards as he growled to the unicorn. "Come with me, little dragon..." she said softly.
However, Sparky kept growling at her, and then he jumped as he tried to bite her hoof.
"Woah there!" Misty said with panic, as she started to run around the closet and screamed, while Sparky chased her spilling some dragon fire.
She eventually got out of the closet, and then the one chasing Sparky was her, as he ran around the living room of the Brighthouse.
"Think on your hooves, Misty!" Misty told herself.
She managed to surround Sparky on Izzy's crafting spot, as he started to growl and gibberish to Misty again.
She then grabbed a spoon and used like if it was a toy. "My name is Mr. Spoon! And I'm––" she tried to say, but then Sparky turned the spoon into a cactus with his fire, and Misty was now grabbing the cactus directly from the plant and not the pot. "Ouch! A prickly cactus! Ow!" she complained in pain, then putted the cactus aside and grabbed a shelf. "And I'm a wobbly shelf named... Shelfie. Take a picture––" she said, moving the shelf like a puppet, but then Sparky turned the shelf into a lot of bubbles, which made Misty fell in the ground. "It'll last longer" she said.
Sparky kept growling at her, but then the bubbles called his attention, and he forgot about Misty for a moment.
"I can do this! I have to" Misty told herself, but then she heard hoofsteps coming from outside, and she started to panic.
Then, the doors of the Brighthouse opened, and the four Mares and Sonic entered with disappointed looks.
Then Hitch and Knuckles appeared behind them. "Any luck?" Hitch asked desperately.
"Please tell me you have something!" Knuckles begged.
However, the rest's ears fell, and Sunny and Izzy looked at them with sadness. "No. Nothing so far" Zipp replied for the rest.
"But I did find... a perfectly good super-old broken-down tram car that I have big plans for!" Izzy said cheerfully.
As for Misty, she managed to got back into the closet and cover Sparky's ears, while the baby dragon hold the cactus he made before. "Phew!" Misty said on relief that she wasn't discovered.
"So, there's that..." Izzy said a bit cheery.
"Izz, please stop" Knuckles said with an anxious look.
"He ran away, didn't he?" Hitch questioned, with the same anxious look that Knuckles had. "I failed myself as a pony-dragon-dad" he said with disappointment, once again laying on a couch. "And worst of all, failed Sparky" he said defeated, as Izzy placed a hoof on his back.
"Wait" Zipp said suddenly, gaining Hitch's attention. "I think I've connected some dots on a clue" she confessed, showing a picture of Sparky in Mane Melody as he held a comb. "It was under our noses the whole time. Look! " she said, then zoomed the image to see Sparky's Blankie completely clean.
"I knew it!" Izzy said, as she and Hitch looked closely to the image.
"Blankeroni? What do you mean?" Hitch questioned to Zipp, grabbing the tablet to look better at the picture.
"Notice in these pictures that Sparky is never without his blankie?" Zipp asked, as Hitch verified that, indeed, Sparky had the blanket with him the whole time, and now Hitch had it with him.
"What are you saying?" Hitch questioned again.
"So, if he's not with it, it's not by choice. Somepony has taken Sparky!" Zipp explained.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sonic exclaimed, walking towards Zipp. "Let me get this straight: are you implying that somepony broke into the station and took Sparky while Hitch and Knuckles where sleeping?!" he questioned with both confusion and worry.
"I'm not implying it" Zipp said. "Sparky has been dragon-napped!" she stated.
Both Hitch and Izzy gasped in shock at what Zipp just said. "Dragon-napped?!" Hitch questioned with panic, while Izzy fainted at his side, with Pipp getting closer and flapping her wing to calm her.
"I think I can confirm that..." Tails voice spoke, as he quickly flew inside the Brighthouse and landed near the rest. "I, uh, I saw one of the Metals flyin near by, and if Sparky was kid-- I mean, dragon-napped, then there's a chance that they're the culprits" he said a bit worried.
"Well, nopony dragon-naps my dragon before he's napped!" Hitch replied with determination. "Or after! Or at all I need all hooves on deck!" he told to the mares, who stood like soldiers in front of him.
"I'll scan the sky with Pony-Drone and zero-in on anything that looks suspicious!" Zipp stated, putting on her Z-Goggles.
"Good, good. Sparky does tend to leave a mark wherever he goes. Next?" Hitch asked.
"Izzy and I will be the on-the-ground ponies" Sunny stated with a smile. "I'll use my roller-skates!" she added.
"And I'll use my eyes! To look for stuff!" Izzy said cheerfully. "Also, I have magic powers" she added, pointing at her horn.
"Pipp? What you got?" Hitch questioned to her.
"I can cover Maretime Bay the best way I know how, a social media blast!" Pipp explained. "The fans have eyes everywhere!" she pointed out.
"And I will rally my squad of animal deputies!" Hitch stated as well. "What about you, guys?" he asked to Sonic and Tails, also referring to Knuckles.
"Everything I said days ago? About the Metals? Forget I said anything" Sonic said with a frown. "First, Metal tried to kill me two times, I did nothing. Then, two Metals tried to pretend to be our friends, I did nothing. Then, two of them tried to kill me again, and I still. Did. Nothing. But they dragon-napped my friend's son, NOW I'm doing something!" he stated. "Tails, Knuckles and I will look for the Metals and bring that dragon back!" he stated, punching his fist charged with electricity against his other hand. "Considering that they have him, of course, but if they don't, at least we are ending with the metals once and for all. Either way, we're helping" he added.
"Right!" Tails replied with a confident smile.
Knuckles, on the other hand, stood quiet. In fact, he hasn't said anything at all ever since they returned to the Brighthouse. He just looked at the dinner table, as he also had some small metallic piece on his hand. "Um, Knuckles?" Sonic called out to him, since he didn't replied.
The fact that Knuckles was too quiet was alarming already, at least for Sonic and Tails. And then, Knuckles ripped off his deputy belt with a hand and threw it away. Then, he started to move towards the exit with his eyes closed. "A part of me hopes the Metals are innocent" he confessed with a voice that send chills on everyone's spines. "Because if they're not... well..." he then crushed the metallic piece strong enough, until crunches could be heard, and that made everyone else cringe, Tails even hid behind Sonic. Knuckles then opened his hand, and only small pieces of metal fell into the ground. "If they're not innocent, I will tear them to pieces, until nothing but their rubble remains" he said, finally opening his eyes and showing them fully red. "Let's roll" he stated, now grabbing Tails and dragging him along.
"... I have no idea of what just happened... But I'd rather not know" Sonic said a bit scared of Knuckles.
"Yeah, me neither" Hitch said. "Anyways, it's go time!" he stated, pointing at the exit. However, none of the mares moved, they just stared at the exit with smiles.
"Girls, that's the sign to get the hell outta here" Sonic said frankly with a bored expression.
"Gotcha!" Sunny said, getting inside of the Brighthouse.
"Aye, aye sheriff!" Izzy said, also getting out of the place.
"Oh, yeah! Okay!" Zipp said, flying deep in the Brighthouse as well.
Soon enough Hitch also got out of there, and Sonic was also going to leave, until Pipp stopped him.
"Sonic, wait!" Pipp called out, and Sonic turned to face the young pegasus. "Look, I get that fighting killer robots is part of your job, but..." she started to say, until she got cut off by a chuckle of Sonic, who kneeled to face her completely.
"Hey, you're worried about me, Little Pipp, and I appreciate it" Sonic said with a soft smile, then he placed his hand on Pipp's cheek and gently caressed it. "Look, I promise you that I'll come back before you even noticed I left. And I'll be on one piece, too" he assured her.
"Hoof to heart?" Pipp asked, extending her hoof to him.
Sonic smiled, and he gently touched her hoof with his hand, then he kissed it, just like when they decided to re-introduce each other, and then he putted his hand on his chest.
"Hoof to heart, Little Pipp" Sonic said with a soft smile and a blush.
Pipp also blushed, but she smiled back, and then she quickly kissed Sonic's cheek as a good luck wish. "Be careful out there, please" she begged to him.
"I'll be, I promise" Sonic assured again.
"Well, good luck. I need to start on that post!" Pipp said, flying out of the Brighthouse with her phone on her hoof.
Sonic just stared at the door and sighed spellbound on Pipp, until he suddenly felt something hugging his leg, and then he saw that it was Floppy. "Aww! Don't worry, little buddy" he told to the bunny, kneeling to talk better with him. "I'll be back before you even have a chance to miss me, you just wait and see" he assured. "But in the mean time, could you keep and eye on Pipp for me? I don't wanna worry her a lot" he said, while Floppy made a salute with his left ear. "Thanks, buddy!" he said with a smile, and then boosted out of the Crystal Brighthouse to caught up with Tails and Knuckles.
Meanwhile, Misty was checking that the Mane 5 and Team Sonic left to get Sparky out, who felt asleep as he hugged the cactus.
"Finally tired you out with that puppet improv show but––" Misty said, but then she saw that the cactus was alone, and Sparky was missing. "Hide-and-seek, right?" she asked with a smile. "Two can play that game!" she stated, walking deeper into the closet. "Here, Sparky, Sparky, Sparky, Sparky..." she said.
But then, she dodged a paint pot that almost hit her on the head, and looked on in shock.
"I see..." Misty said with a panicked voice. "So you somehow rigged this whole place with traps in two seconds. Cool, cool. Totally cool" she stated, still with panic on her voice. "It's not like I'm trying to hunt a genius baby-dragon with wild powers or anything" she said, then she heard some crashing noises and Sparky laughing. "Oh, I don't like the sound of that..." she said with worry.
At Maretime Bay, Zipp and her drone were flying around, looking for any clues that could lead them to Sparky. And then, the drone did detected something.
"A-ha! Dragon-prints" Zipp said, as her Z-Goggles scanned the trial of prints in the ground. "Huh, but these ones look fresh..." she said, following the trial.
But soon enough she realized that the end of it lead to a coupled of turtles having a date, as they also had a smoothie in front of them.
"Oh, wow, freshly wrong. Sorry!" Zipp apologized, as she flew backwards to leave the turtles alone.
While Zipp flew away to look anywhere else, Sunny passed by on her roller-skates. "Hey!" she called out to the ponies on town. "Hey, you guys! Have you seen––" she tried to ask to Dahlia and another mare that was with her, but then Izzy passed at her side quickly and made Sunny twirl around until she got stuck on a barrel. "Izzy!" she yelled out.
"Oops, sorry!" Izzy apologized to Sunny, while she wore some kind of musical instrument that played both a battery, a tuba and a harmonica. "I just unicycled this dragon lure device. Look!" she said, making the instrument work as it not only did a terrible sound, but also made some bubbles and spilled cookies. "Pretty cool, right? Everything a dragon loves in one place!" she told to Sunny, who looked at her with a frown since she was still stuck on the barrel.
She then started to use the unicycled instrument, while ponies around gathered to record her and upload the videos to social media.
At Mane Melody, Pipp was with Seashell, Glory and Peach Fizz, preparing the post to look for Sparky.
"Finally!" Pipp said with a smile. "I've composed the perfect post for Sparky" she stated. "It tugs at your heart, your mind, your soul. Pippsqueaks, you ready?" she asked to the three fillies.
"Pipp, Pipp, Hooray!" Seashell cheered, as she and her friends sat down with smiles and their phones out.
"Okay" Pipp stated, sitting on the floor as well. "We all post... Now!" she ordered, as the four mares published their respective posts. However, Pipp was used to get imminent responses from her posts, and right now there was no response at all. "Uh, what's happening?" she questioned, both confused and worried. "Why aren't we getting any views?" she asked again.
Then, Seashell came to her showing her phone to her. "It looks like something else is pulling viewers away from our post" she explained, showing Pipp a video of Izzy using her instrument, with Sunny behind still stuck on the barrel and thousands of hearts popping out on the post.
Pipp sighed with her ears down. "That is spectacular" she said sarcastically. "Well, I hope Hitch is gaining ground. He's always so much calmer, steadier, and focused than all of us" she said with a smile. "Also, I hope those three aren't getting on any trouble... hopefully" she added.
Pipp trusted Sonic's word a lot. So far, everytime he promised something, he has fulfilled it, which made her love him even more than she already does. But when it came to risky situations like the one he, Tails and Knuckles were heading to right now, she worried a lot, even if Sonic did returned at the end of the day. She was just so in love, that the simple idea of loosing Sonic terrified her.
"I hope you're okay, Sonic" Pipp muttered to herself with worry. And then, Pipp felt one of her legs being hugged, and she saw Floppy there. "Floppy?! What are you doing here?" she asked, as she lifted the little bunny, who jumped from her hoof and landed on her back. "Aww, Sonic told you to watch for me, didn't he?" she added, as the bunny nuzzled on her neck and Pipp smiled.
Back at the Station, Hitch was panicking a lot as he grunted and threw some 'Missing' papers of Sparky.
He was so desperate that he started to hit one of the four printing machines. "Print already! Print!" he said.
Soon enough, the machine printed a new copy of 'Missing' of Sparky, and Hitch moved from one machine to another to grab the copies and stack them on different piles.
Then, he moved towards his animal 'deputies', since Knuckles left with Sonic and Tails. "Pearl, I'm gonna need you on poster duty" he ordered to the dog, who replied with barks. "Do you think I made enough?" he asked.
Pearl moved to one of the many piles and examined it, then shook his head saying 'no' and barking more.
"You're right, we need more. Any questions?" Hitch told the critters, that replied by barking, tweeting or chittering. "Yes, Curtle, search the cinema!" he told to Curtle, who smiled in response. "And the old defense factory, Kenneth!" he told to the two birds, who saluted in response. "Okay team, let's get out there. Move, move, move!" he ordered to the critters.
Then he blowed his whistle and the critters went out of the station, except for Curtle, since he was a turtle, and a yellow bird, that stood on Hitch's back to tweeted to him.
"I know I'm being a little intense right now" Hitch confessed with worry, while the bird tweeted to him again. "Yes, and emotional" he added. "I'm going through a lot of feelings. If I can't protect Sparky, how am I supposed to protect the whole city of Maretime Bay? How can I protect anypony or anything?" he questioned anxiously.
The bird on his back just replied by nuzzling his body with Hitch's neck and tweeting again.
"You're right. We can do this. And no doubt my friends are on it" he said with a confident smile.
But then, the station phone started to ring, and he answered the call. "So, quick update, we are not on it" Sunny told from the other side with panic. "We keep getting in each other's way and I hate to break it to you, but this ain't working!" she added.
"Copy that" Hitch said with a frown, putting the phone down. "No more Mister Nice-Stallion. I'm gonna find that dragon and the pony that took him, at any cost!" he stated with anger, putting on Sparky's Blankie as a cape. "It's time for... Operation Glitterbomb" he stated, now putting on a blue mask on his face.
Team Sonic was running at high speed through a green field, and then, Sonic heard a voice shouting 'Look out!' on his mind, and he immediately jumped backwards, dodging Metal Sonic from punching him on the back.
Sonic landed on his feet, and Tails and Knuckles soon enough arrived at his side, as the three stood in fighting positions. In front of them, Metal Sonic, and soon enough, Metal Zipp as well, landed and stood on menacing positions.
"Well, well, well" Metal Sonic said, as he looked with pure hate and anger at Sonic. "It looks like using your situation with the baby dragon to call your attention has worked" he said with a mocking tone.
"Where is he?!" Knuckles shouted, red electricity passing through his giants fists and his quills, as well as his eyes were fully red.
"Who? The giant lizard you guys call 'baby dragon'?" Metal Zipp replied with a mocking tone. "We didn't took him, but we may know who did" she said.
"Metal, if you put a single scar on Sparky, I swear to Chaos that you're going to meet our rage!" Sonic stated, making his electrical powers appear.
"Specially mine!" Knuckles stated with anger.
"Specially his!" Tails said, using his powers to create two plasma guns.
"So we're getting straight to the point, huh?" Metal Sonic said, cracking his metallic knuckles. "Very well. Then let's get this party started!" he stated.
"Come on, guys. Let's give the Metals a show they'll never forget!" Sonic announced.
"It's showtime!" both Sonic and Metal Sonic said, as Team Sonic and the two metals boosted towards each other to start the battle.
As Metal Sonic and Sonic dodged each other's attacks, Knuckles managed to punch Metal Sonic har enough to send him flying backwards, while Metal Zipp kicked Sonic with her hind hooves, but then Tails came by and created a hammer - similar to Amy's - and punched Metal Zipp, sending her flying towards the sky.
Then, using his powers again, Tails created rocket shoes and used them to fly even faster towards the sky, not only using his tails. As he reached the sky, Metal Zipp opened her wings, and sent a bunch of sharp metallic feathers towards him. Tails managed to dodge all of them, and even used a plasma gun to destroy them so they could not hurt Sonic nor Knuckles. Now, Tails made two big metallic gloves with his powers and punched Metal Zipp once, then quickly flew towards her and punched her again, but then Metal Zipp managed to dodge another attack and punch Tails back, sending him backwards in the air.
Meanwhile, Sonic was crashing against Metal Sonic many times, punching each other as they tried to kill each other. Because, indeed, Sonic wasn't letting Metal Sonic escape again this time: he was ending him right there, right now. Then, Knuckles decided to help Sonic out and attacked Metal Sonic from behind. Quickly, Sonic grabbed Metal's arm and he threw it in on direction, where Knuckles ran and then punched Metal Sonic back to Sonic. Now, Sonic punched him back to Knuckles, and the two of them kept passing him like a ball, until Metal got tired of it.
Once he was heading towards Knuckles again, he punched the echidna with his foot, and then ripped one of his quills to put it inside of himself. Soon enough, Metal Sonic got powered with Knuckles' quill and boosted towards Sonic. The hedgehog managed to dodge him, but then Metal quickly turned around and punched Sonic in the face, making his nose bleed a little. Sonic looked at the red stain on is glove, then used his thumb to quit the blood and quickly charged his Spindash against Metal Sonic. However, Metal managed to caught him and punch him onto the ground.
But then Sonic made a break dance move that kicked Metal's chest, and managed to get up. Metal then made his claws appear, and launched against Sonic. Although Sonic managed to dodge his attack, Metal did manage to sink his claws behind Sonic's left shoulder and leave three well-marked lines, which soon began to bleed. However, either Sonic didn't care or didn't noticed, because he Spindashed against Metal again. He sent him flying backwards, and Knuckles caught him again, but this time, he grabbed Metal'l head and started to stomp it against the ground several times.
Metal tried his best to escape, but Knuckles was mad enough to break his fist trough Metal's chest, which cause the robot's system to start failing.
"No one, and I mean NO ONE, rips a quill from me and scapes alive" Knuckles said.
Then, he presses a button on the side of his watch and used his electricity to create a baseball bat, which he used to punch Metal Sonic in the air. Tails, who managed to put Metal Zipp dizzy for a moment, saw Metal Sonic coming and used his powers to create a hammer again and punched him back to earth, the resumed his fight with Metal Zipp. Metal Sonic was falling again, and then Sonic jumped high enough. In the air, he pressed the button on his watch and used his electricity to make a sword, then cut Metal Sonic in half and went back to the ground.
He landed, and once he stood up he looked in front, while Metal Sonic exploded in the air behind him, and Sonic only smiled with pride. Many of the parts fell in the ground, and then Sonic sighed as he extended his hand, where Metal Sonic's head landed.
"And once again, we've proved to be superior than your toys, Egghead" Sonic told to the robot's head with a smirk. "Hey Knux, care to do the honor?" he asked to the echidna, extending the head to him.
"Oh, with great pleasure!" Knuckles said with a smile, as he clapped his hands charged with electricity and crushed Metal's head completely.
As Sonic let the crushed head fell in the ground, Metal Zipp landed with a loud thud, but before Sonic or Knuckles could made any movement, Tails landed at high speeds and break through Metal Zipp's head with a spear, created with his powers, and then he pulled it out.
"And stay dead!" Tails told the robot with anger. "So, are we done here?" he asked to Sonic and Knuckles.
"Pretty much" Sonic said with a smile, that faded away once he saw Knuckles' expression. "I'm sorry we didn't find Sparky, Knux. But we will! We should head back to town and give the rest a hand" he stated.
"I just hope my nephew is okay" Knuckles said with a worried tone.
However, once Sonic turned to run out, Tails gasped in shock and fear. "Sonic, wait!" he told to the hedgehog.
Sonic stopped and looked at Tails confused, then Tails touched the scars that Metal Sonic made to him, and Sonic immediately stepped away. "Ouch!" he said, as he touched that zone as well, then looked at his hand now covered in some blood. "Ugh, you got to be kidding me!" he said with anger and frustration.
"Hang on!" Tails told him, as he pulled bandages from his tails and carefully covered the scar. "I cannot heal you here, but I got the medical equipment back at the Brighthouse. We should go there, and then..." he tried to suggest.
"Waste your time on that if you want, but I'm finding my nephew, one way or another!" Knuckles yelled with anger, then boosted towards Maretime Bay.
"Knux is right, Tails" Sonic said, as Tails finished putting the bandages on his shoulder. "Our priority is to find Sparky, not heal my injuries" he pointed out.
"But..." Tails tried to reply.
"It only hurts if you touch it, and right now I feel okay" Sonic assured, now with a smile. "Look, let's find Sparky, and then you can heal my injury, okay?" he said.
Tails sighed with frustration and looked at him with a frown. "Okay, but if it starts to hurt a lot, don't cry like a baby" he warned, then boosted flying to follow Knuckles.
"I promised her that I would return in one piece..." Sonic muttered to himself with worry. "I hope she doesn't notices it until Tails decides to heal it" he muttered again, and then boosted towards Maretime Bay.
Misty was still on the closet at the Brighthouse, looking at a video of Pipp on her page in Ponygram.
"If you've seen... Izzy, the noise?" Pipp said on the video, asking Izzy to shut it with her instrument. "If you've seen Sparky–– Ah!" she screamed when Zipp flew to close to her. "Zipp! Fly a little higher–– If you've seen a dragon..." Pipp cried out, since she couldn't record the video properly.
"Good. They have their hooves full" Misty said with a smile, putting her phone away. "But I don't have all day. Oh, Sparky!" she called out, but got no response at all, not even a sound. "It's just some fun and games, right? I like fun" she said a bit optimistic. "I think... I've never really had it, but how hard can it be?" she questioned to herself.
Then, she walked deeper inside the closet, and found Sparky trying to hide as he laughed a bit.
"I see you..." Misty said, as Sparky moved away. "Now, where were we?" she asked with a confident smile.
Misty then ducked down and dodged the paint pots, then saw one of them hit another that spilled in the ground. Misty jumped over it and then many lasers appeared suddenly, as Misty dodged the lasers like a pro. She then jumped, and two cans of spray shoot some against her, but Misty dodged them elegantly and then landed with a proud smile.
"Still got it!" Misty said with pride, but then she tripped with a brush on the ground, and the brush flew into the air until it hit a bucket with feathers similar to Zipp's and fell right into Misty's head. "I still got my own clumsiness" she said with frustration, spilling some feathers that entered her mouth, while Sparky looked at her with a smile and as he moved his tail in happiness.
Back at Maretime Bay, Floppy was still on Pipp's back, while the young pegasus was still trying to spreed the message of Sparky being missing on her social media, but Izzy kept making noise with her instrument.
"I said, can you keep the noise down for just a minute, Izzy?" Pipp shouted.
"What? I'm confused. Sunny, can you stop skating around me? It's making me dizzy!" Izzy asked to Sunny.
"Hey, Pipp! Stop that!" Zipp told to her sister, taking off her Z-Goggles. "You're stepping on those marks! They could be dragon-prints!" she pointed out with a frown.
"How am I supposed to know?" Pipp said anxiously.
"Stop fighting, this isn't helping!" Sunny told the other mares with a worried expression.
"Uh..." Sonic's voice was heard, while the mares looked at Team Sonic looking at them confused. "What did we missed, exactly?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Wow, you got back faster than I thought" Sunny confessed.
"I'm so glad you guys are okay!" Pipp said with a smile, although she was looking straight at Sonic, and Floppy then hopped towards Sonic and hugged his leg.
Sonic grabbed the bunny and looked at him with a smile. "See? I told you I'll be back" he told to the bunny. "And thanks for looking for Pipp" he whispered as the bunny jumped to his head and nuzzled there.
"Did you got any luck?" Zipp asked to them.
"No..." Knuckles said with a down expression. "They didn't had Sparky..." he added.
"Yeah, those are the bad news" Sonic said, then smirked. "The good news, tho, is that the metals won't bother us again" he said with confidence.
"Hell yeah!" Tails said with a smile, as he fist bumped with Sonic. "What have you girls done since we were gone?" he asked to the mares.
"Mainly, getting in each other's way" Zipp said with a bored expression.
"And performing!" Izzy said, making her instrument work again for a while.
That just made Team Sonic cringe at the sound. "Uh... how do I put this?" Tails questioned.
"The idea is good, Izz, don't get me wrong, but... well.... That sounds terrible" Sonic said with an anxious look.
"I've finally have a soundtrack for my nightmares" Knuckles muttered to himself.
"Evil, I'm coming for you!" Hitch's voice was heard by the group.
They all turned around to see Hitch posing over the ceiling of the station, wearing a blue mask and a Sparky's blanket as a cape.
"Uh, Hitch?" Zipp called out confused. Suddenly, Zoom and thunder appeared wearing purple masks, and the critters also showed up with frowns. "Zoom? Thunder! What are they doing here?" she questioned, as she and the other mares looked at Hitch with worry, while Tails looked confused, Sonic with a bored expression and Knuckles just facepalmed.
"Ugh, you have got to be kidding me..." Knuckles complained.
"It looks like Hitch is gearing up for... something epic" Izzy said with a deep voice, while Hitch looked on with a frown.
"And intense" Zipp added.
"And too, too much" Pipp said, a bit scared as the three fillies hid behind her.
"That, or he's just going to do something stupid and over dramatic" Sonic said blankly with his arms crossed.
"My money is on the second one" Tails said with a neutral expression.
"Go!" Hitch ordered to the pegasi and the critters, still with his deep voice. "Leave no stone unturned" he added.
"Told ya" Izzy said with a chill tone.
"We gotta find that dragon and fast" Sunny stated with worry.
Then, Hitch, the critters, Zoom and Thunder started to run around town to find the culprit that took Sparky away.
"Culprit, I will found you!" Hitch stated with a deep voice, kicking some things around and acting like anything but a respectful sheriff. "And I will make you pay... With litter pickup duty!" he added with anger. "You'll regret the day you ever crossed Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer" he stated again, scaring the ponies that were passing by.
"Well, we lost him" Sonic said with a bored expression.
"This is all wrong!" Sunny exclaimed with worry. "By trying to find Sparky each our own way, we've created more stress and fear" she said. "Friends, we need to remain calm and listen to each other. Unified, we can do anything, remember?" she told them with a smile.
"We have been kind of..." Izzy said, then made some weird noises, stating that they haven't been really helpful. "... all over the place" she added.
"Exactly. Each of us may have a different approach, but there's got to be a way for us to get on the same track, right?" Sunny said.
"That's the power of teamwork for you" Sonic said with a wink.
"Ah, the same track..." Izzy said with a thoughtful face.
"We need a way for us all to search together" Pipp pointed out.
"And further" Zipp added.
"But how?" Izzy questioned.
"Hmm... how can you look for a dragon in the must harmonious way?" Sonic asked to himself. He then looked at the Mane Square, then at his friends, until his gaze stopped on Pipp. He looked back at the Mane Square, then at Pipp again, then at the Mane Square, then back at Pipp, and he finally had in idea. "I think I know how to find him" he said with a smirk.
"Well, whatever it is, it has to wait" Knuckles stated. "I need to stop Hitch right now" he said with a determinate look. "I'm worried about Sparky, but if the sheriff keeps acting like this, things are getting wild, and not in the good way" he stated.
"Not so fast, Knucklehead" Sonic said, as he stopped the echidna to move forward. "The sheriff won't hear 'Knuckles' if he asks him to stop. He would only hear to his deputy" he stated with a smirk, extending the deputy belt to him.
Knuckles smirked back, grabbed the belt and putted on. "Alright, Sheriff Hitch. Let's stop this nonsense" he muttered with confidence.
Hitch then cornered Toots as the stallion looked at Hitch with fright. "No, sheriff, no, I swear!" he said with fear. "I was just eatin' cookies and chillin'" he added.
"With Sparky?!" Hitch yelled with anger.
"No, with my mother! I love her so much!" Toots replied.
And then, Knuckles stepped between Hitch and Toots. "That's it, Hitch!" he yelled with a frown.
"Hey!" Hitch yelled back.
"Mommy!" Toots cried out, as he ran away from the sheriff and his deputy.
"This has gone way to far, sheriff!" Knuckles said, still frowning at Hitch.
"Hitch!" Sunny called out, as she stood at Knuckles' side. "Listen, I know––" she tried to say.
"You know where Sparky is?!" Hitch yelled at her with a twitchy eye.
"Hitch, I swear if you don't behave right now––" Knuckles warned.
"No, but all of this commotion isn't helping" Sunny told him. "It might even scare him off!" she pointed out, as the others arrived as well.
"Hitch, we're all worried for Sparky, but even if we want to find him, don't you think that we have to calm down for him first?" Knuckles told him, still frowning, but also with a soft tone, and then he sighed heavily. "Do you really want your own son to see this side of you, sheriff?" he questioned.
That was enough to make Hitch snap back to reality. "... You're... You're right..." he said, as he took off his mask. "All of this isn't really helping... I'm just so worried" he pointed out with a down expression.
"We know" Zipp told him.
"That's why we're here" Pipp added with a little smile.
"To help. And listen" Izzy said as well.
"I just miss his little face..." Hitch confessed.
"Him stealing our badges, eating snacks..." Knuckles added with sadness.
"Him dancing around when he hears music" Hitch finished.
"Oh, hell yeah!" Sonic cheered, which confused the rest. "Okay, so, remember about what I said? About having an idea of how to find him together? Well..." he stated with a smile.
"Oh, oh, oh! I see where are you going with this!" Pipp said with a smile.
"Huh?" Izzy, Hitch, Zipp and Tails said in unison.
"Sorry, guys, but I'm completely lost" Knuckles said with a bored expression.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sonic asked to Pipp with a knowing smile.
"We know how to find Sparky!" Pipp announced to the rest with a smile.
Sparky was playing with a feather, while a box behind him moves slowly and he didn't realized.
And then, Misty jumped out of the box and grabbed Sparky. "Finally, I got you!" she cheered, as she hugged the baby dragon. "And that means, I'll get my Cutie Mark!" she shouted and squealed with excitement.
Then, she lifted the baby dragon to look straight at his face, and she nuzzled her nose against his, while Sparky just giggled.
"Once I get it, I promise to bring you back. I've kind of grown to like you" Misty confessed with a smile. "But until then, to Opaline we go!" she stated.
She then walked out of the closet with a cheery smile, but once she opened the door slightly, music and Pipp's singing voice where heard.
Do you hear that song?
Misty pocked her head out of the Brighthouse, and looked at town with panic.
Oo-oo-oo-ooh
"Doo-doo-doo-doo" Sparky sang along.
"No!" Misty shouted with panic. "Oh, no, no, no!" she cried out again, as she started to walk backwards.
The melody that's ringing out Oo-oo-oo-ooh
"Doo-doo-doo-doo" Sparky's voice was heard by the Mane 5 and Team Sonic.
"That's Sparky's voice!" Hitch cheered, while Pipp had her lucky mic behind and Izzy played the tuba. "How are you doing this?!" he asked to Pipp.
"It's the lullaby I wrote for him!" Pipp said with a smile. "A classic call-and-response song" she stated.
"And I just figured out that your little buddy only needed a song from everyone's favorite pop star" Sonic told Hitch with a smile.
"Well, It's working, guys!" Sunny said with a smile.
"Keep singing it!" Zipp told to her.
Then, Izzy stood at one side of Pipp with the tube and a flute, while Sonic came to her other side with his ukulele. And as the three friends played and sang, Pipp's and Izzy's Cutie Marks started to shine bright again, while Sonic's quills shone on a neon blue, although he wasn't activating his powers by will.
You hear that sound? Oo-oo-oo-ooh
"Doo-doo-doo-doo" Sparky sang back.
The melody that's ringing out
"Everypony, sing along!" Zipp told to the others, as she flew in the air. "The Cutie Mark magic is amplifying the sound" she pointed out, then flew back in ground as she and the others sins Hitch started to sing along.
Oo-oo-oo-ooh
"Oo-oo-oo-ooh" Sparky sang again.
A special tune
"I can hear him!" Hitch said excited, then looked at the Brighthouse and smiled. "He's at the Crystal Brighthouse!" he said.
That keeps you true
Sing the song that makes you! Oo-oo-ooh
As the others finished to sing, Hitch and Knuckles ran immediately towards the Crystal Brighthouse to meet with the baby dragon.
"I think we should keep up with them!" Tails pointed with a smile.
But as he, Sunny, Zipp and Izzy ran to follow Hitch and Knuckles, Pipp looked at Sonic's back, specifically at the bandage on his shoulder... and how bloody it was already. Pipp gasped with panic, and before Sonic could left she touched softly that part, but that made Sonic step away as a reflex.
"Ouch!" Sonic muttered, as he turned around and panicked at Pipp's worried expression.
"Sonic, what happened to you in there?!" Pipp asked with a panicked voice.
"I-It's nothing, I swear!" Sonic replied with a nervous smile. "Yeah, it hurts, but just when someone touches it. A-And Tails was going to heal me, for real!" he assured, but Pipp's expression slowly turn into an angry one.
"How can you say that it is nothing?!" Pipp yelled at him. "You are bleeding! That is totally something!" she pointed out.
"I-I know, but the situation with Sparky was more important that an injury" Sonic tried to resonate. "A-And I didn't wanted to worry you!" he confessed.
"Don't use Sparky as an excuse, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Pipp shouted at him, and he could swear that her eyes had a little flame on them for a second. "We'll caught up with the others later" she stated, now flying towards Mane Melody. "Come with me, I'm going to check on that injury" she ordered.
"Pipp, I get you're worried, but I'm fine, for real!" Sonic reassured.
"I will decided if you really are, Sonic" Pipp replied with anger. "Now move!" she ordered again.
"Pipp, this is a little ridiculous..." Sonic tried to say with a tired expression.
"I. Said. MOVE!" Pipp yelled again, now directly staring daggers at him.
That look made Sonic feel terrified, as he stared with widened eyes and gulped nervously, and then he sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, I'll move" he ended up replying, now following her towards Mane Melody.
Back at the Brighthouse, Sparky kept singing along as he spilled some dragon fire, while Misty tried everything to make sure he stayed quiet.
Desperate to make Sparky shut it, she grabbed a basket and putted the baby dragon inside. "There we go!" Misty cheered, but then some dragon fire got out of the basket, until he breathed a lot of it and scared Misty. "No!" she screamed in fear.
She then saw a jar, and grabbed it, then managed to catch a flame of Sparky's breath on it.
"Sparky!" the voices of Hitch and Knuckles spoke, which cause Misty to gasp and hide quickly.
Hitch then entered to the room, and saw Sparky coming out of the basket a bit dizzy. "Sparky!" he cheered, waving his hoof at the baby dragon, while Sparky turned to face him and smiled.
Hitch wanted to go with him, but then Knuckles stopped him before he could make another move. "Wait!" he shouted, as he dragged Hitch back.
"Knux! What comes?!" Hitch asked desperate, and instead of replying with words, Knuckles pointed out at the traps that Sparky sat off. "Oh..." Hitch replied.
Then, Knuckles grabbed Hitch and launched towards Sparky from where they were, and once they landed with a thud, Hitch grabbed Sparky and hugged him softly with a smile, finally feeling like everything was fine. Knuckles then grabbed them and joined the hug with small tears on his eyes.
"Aww!" Sunny, Izzy and Tails said at the sight, while Zipp just looked on with a smile.
"Sparky! You're okay!" Hitch said with a bright smile.
"Please, never do something like that again, young man!" Knuckles told the baby dragon with a frown, and then smiled again as both Hitch and Knuckles nuzzled their cheeks with the baby dragon.
"I'm so glad we found you" Sunny said, as she and Izzy got closer to the trio.
"I would've gone to the ends of Equestria to make sure Sparky was safe!" Hitch assured.
"And I would've been there too. Everything for my nephew" Knuckles said with a smile, patting Sparky's head.
"Wow! To the ends of Equestria! That sounds tiring" Izzy said.
"For this little guy? It would been worth it" Knuckles stated with a smile, that made Izzy's heart melt as she smiled with a slight blush.
"Thanks for helping us, everypony!" Hitch told to the others with a grateful smile. "I'm sorry if I went a little... overboard" he apologized, as Zipp and Tails landed in front of him and Knuckles.
"Maybe just a little" Zipp said with a teasing tone.
"But, we totally understand" Tails pointed out with a smile. "Sparky is your best buddy" he added, as the baby dragon played with a feather again.
"And ours too" Zipp said, as she gently caressed Sparky's cheek.
"I promise this will never happen again" Hitch assured.
"You really are the best pony-dragon-dad in the world, you know that?" Tails told him with a smile.
"Ahem!" Knuckles said with a little frown.
"And uncle" Tails added with an eye roll and a smile.
"Technically, the only––" Izzy tried to point out.
"Izzy!" all the others said with bored expressions.
"Just kidding!" Izzy said cheerfully. "Ooh! I know a super secret place in town to watch the sunset! Come on!" she stated, then ran back upstairs.
"Sounds good to me!" Tails said, as the others followed Izzy. "Just one question: where are Sonic and Pipp?" he said with a confused expression.
At Mane Melody, Sonic was sitting in front of the stage with his arms crossed, while Pipp came out from the backstage carrying a first aid kit on her back.
All the way from the Mane Square to Mane Melody was very uncomfortable for Sonic, because he could hear Pipp's heavy breath and mumbling. The only time she talked to him so far was when she told him to sit in front of the stage and wait for her to come back.
Now, even if Pipp was still mad at Sonic, she did retired the bandages of his shoulder carefully. And she had to contain a scream when she saw the three marked lines he had as scars on his back. They were still a bit bloody, but thanks to Tails bandage, they stopped bleeding that much.
"For the love of... Sonic, h-how did this happened?" Pipp asked, looking with horror at the scar.
"To tell the truth, I don't know" Sonic said, and he was being honest here. "I guess Metal Sonic did it at some point, but I didn't noticed until Tails pointed it out" he added.
Pipp didn't replied anything, and instead she opened the first aid kit. She took out a small piece of cotton and applied ethyl alcohol on it. "Sonic, this is going to hurt a bit..." she warned him.
"I-It's okay..." Sonic said a bit unsure. "I trust you, Little Pipp, on whatever you're doing" he added.
Then, Pipp carefully applied the cotton on the injury, while Sonic grunted a bit in pain, but he let her keep going. It's not like he had another option, anyways. Once she finished with that, she took out new bandages and placed them over his injury. To both her surprise and Sonic's, the hedgehog didn't tried to make any joke or a flirty comment, he just let Pipp do her job and that's it.
"If I could close the scar, I will, but I'm guessing Tails could do it better, so I'll let him do that" Pipp simply said, as she putted the first aid kit back on the backstage, and once she came back, she started to walk towards the exit. "Let's go, the soon Tails checks on that, the better" she added.
"Pipp..." Sonic called out. "I... I'm sorry... I told you to come back safe, but then this happened and––" he tried to explain.
"Don't" Pipp spoke, not daring to look at him. "Don't apologize for something you could not control" she told, finally turning around to face him with a frown.
"B-But I thought you were made because of––" Sonic tried to point out.
"I'm not mad because you got hurt" Pipp explained, still frowning. "It's not that I like it, either, but I do expected it. I'm mad because you keep doing all this reckless stuff without thinking on your own safety!" she yelled at him with open wings.
"... What?" Sonic stupidly asked.
"Sonic, I admire you. Your kindness with everypony, your will te help everyone anyway you can, the way you enjoy when you talk about all the lives you have saved... I really love that from you" Pipp confessed with a smile and blush, while Sonic blushed a bit as well. "But I hate when you think so much in the others, that you end forgetting about your own safety! You can get yourself killed!" she yelled again, but this time not only with a frown, she was also tearing up. "I get that this is your job, b-but the simple idea of losing you... it... i-it..." she couldn't take back anymore, and she bursted out on tears.
Sonic immediately ran towards her, he hugged her and he caressed her back. "Pipp... for Chaos, I-I had no idea that you cared that much..." he told her with a worried tone and face, while Pipp kept sobbing on his chest. "I'm such an idiot... I never wanted to worry you like this..." he said, now feeling guilty for made the young pegasus cry.
They stood like that for some minutes: Sonic sitting on the ground hugging Pipp and caressing her back, while Pipp just sobbed on Sonic's chest. After a while, she lifted her head up, and her makeup smeared her cheeks, but Sonic didn't cared the slightest, because she still looked beautiful like that.
"You have a little something on your cheeks" Sonic told her with a little smile.
That cause Pipp to finally smile and giggle a little. "S-Shut it..." she told him, as she kept giggling.
Sonic used his thumbs to carefully dry the makeup away from her cheeks, and once it was clean, they stared at each other, spellbound on each others eyes for a while. This was the first time that Sonic could take care a better look on her, and he was so glad that his feelings for her were genuine. Pipp did the same, as she started to blush slightly at the sight of Sonic, which causes Sonic to blush as well.
"Pipp... I'm so sorry... You are right on being mad at me for not take care of myself, but old habits die hard, you know" Sonic told her with a guilty expression.
"I... I'm sorry too... I shouldn't be this dramatic over you" Pipp said, with a guilty expression as well.
"No, no. Don't say that, Pipp" Sonic begged to her, as he caressed her cheek softly. "This was my fault. I do stuff like this all the time... heck, even worse things, but if I knew that this would worry you a lot..." he tried to say, but Pipp covered his mouth with her hoof.
"Sonic, please, don't apologize for this" Pipp said with a worried expression. "I do care about you, and I don't want you to get killed, but don't stop doing what you love because of me" she begged this time. "You love to run freely, to help others, to defeat evil forces, and I don't want you to stop doing all of that just because I'm worried... please" she said softly this time, as she started to move her face closer to Sonic's.
"P-Pipp... I..." Sonic tried to say, as he instinctually moved his face closer to Pipp's as well.
First they stared at each others eyes as they got closer, then they stared at each others mouths. Their noses made contact, and their lips could have done it too... if it wasn't because Sonic's phones started to ring, which caused them to separate, and Sonic took his phone out.
"How timely, Tails..." Sonic complained. "I guess he's wondering where am I" he said, not answering the call and putting his phone away, then he looked back at Pipp, who was completely red at what was about to happen between them. "Thanks, Pipp" Sonic's voice made her came out of her little shock. "I appreciate the help. What you did with my scar did helped me, it doesn't hurt anymore" he told her with a smile.
But what Pipp did next took him completely off guard: Pipp quickly kissed his lips, a 2 second kiss on them, and then she pulled back. "Y-You're welcome" she told him with a smile and a high blush, while Sonic just stared at her in shock as his entire face got as red as Knuckles', while Pipp stood up and walked backwards. "A-Anyways! W-We should leave now, right? We can't worry the others!" she said, as she got out Mane Melody, while Sonic just lay on the ground as his heartbeat got faster than ever and he heavy breathed.
Did that just really happened?! Sonic asked himself on his mind. She... kissed me.... She kissed me! She gave me a real kiss! he cheered on his insides.
Pipp, outside of the salon, covered her mouth with one hoof, as she blushed a lot and her heartbeat was also going really fast, while she felt like a small filly crushing so hard on Sonic. I kissed him... she told herself on her mind. I finally kissed him! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! she squealed deep inside.
Misty managed to get out of the Brighthouse with the jar containing some of Sparky's dragon fire.
"It's not a dragon, but it is Dragon Fire" Misty said to herself. "It'll have to do..." she told to herself again, now with a worried expression.
Meanwhile, Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy managed to sneak inside Opaline's castle to bring Eggman the crystals from Bridlewood he requested earlier. Also, they found Metal Sonic and Metal Zipp's bodies, and brought the Knuckles' quill that Metal Sonic ripped from him.
Eggman then destroyed one of the shining crystals over the two colored Chaos Emeralds he had, and the two started to shine bright once again. However, he followed the other step Misty told him and used Sonic's quill to power them more. After a little explosion, from which Eggman was protected by Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, the two Chaos Emeralds were working normally once again.
"Yes!" Eggman cheered. "It worked! It actually worked! Ohohohohoho!" he laughed with an evil grin. "I need to thank Misty for this... oh, and to you two, of course" he said, turning to face Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy. "You're efforts have been the most satisfying ones so far, to tell the truth. Unfortunately, your 'brother and sisters' are gone, but you still have a chance to defeat them. First: let me fix you up" he stated, now with a... soft smile?!
That shocked both Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, who looked at each other in disbelief. "Um... doctor? Do you feel okay?" Metal Hitch asked, a bit worried that Eggman was just hallucinating or something.
"I'm in a good mood, I guess" Eggman replied. "Besides, it's the least I can do for your hard work" he added.
"Yes! Yes! Power!" Opaline's voice was heard from outside of his lab, followed by an evil laughter of her.
"Look, go to the hidden lab and wait for my arrival" Eggman instructed to the remaining Metals. "I'll deal with whatever Opaline's doing now" he stated.
"Yes sir!" Metal Hitch replied with a salute.
"Yes, daddy!" Izzy replied cheerfully, causing Eggman to blush of embarrassment, but it faded as quick as it came.
"More! I need more!" Opaline's voice was heard again, and Eggman rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Ugh, whatever she's doing, I hope is worth my..." Eggman tried to mutter to himself, but then he found Opaline's horn literally on fire, while Misty just hid from her in pure fright, and once again, Eggman felt his heart flinch at the look of Misty's eyes, that looked like they could brake in tears at any minute now.
"The citizens of Equestria should fear and love their immortal rulers" Opaline's loud voice broke Eggman out of his trance. "And they will, because soon, I'll give them a reason to" she stated with a smile.
"A-And you'll give me a Cutie Mark?" Misty asked, still in fear.
"That measly drop of dragon fire wasn't enough! And you won't be enough, Misty" Opaline shouted at her with pure anger, which made Misty fell useless, and that look made Eggman feel pure rage. "Not until you can prove that you're actually useful and get. That. DRAGON!" she stated. She then use her magic to make an image of the Brighthouse appear. "I'm coming for you, little ponies. Especially you, Sunny Starscout" she said with anger, while Misty walked to her room.
Once in there, she lay on her bed and sighed with sadness. "For somepony made of fire, I've never met a heart so cold" she muttered, starting to sob.
Her sobs weren't too loud, but somehow, Eggman managed to hear them. And that, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Eggman walked without saying a thing towards Opaline, while the alicorn finally noticed the doctor's presence. "What's the matter, Eggman?" she asked, not even bothering to look at him.
Eggman, however, didn't replied very well. He just stood there silently, until he pulled out a small knife from his pocket and placed it over her neck, which startled her. "Cut in the larynx: 15 seconds before death. Cut on thyroid lymph nodes: 20 seconds before death. Cut in superficial cervical lymph nodes: 10 seconds before death" he explained, still not looking at her.
"I-Ivo!" Opaline called out in fright. "W-What are you––" she tried to ask.
"Consider this my first and last warning, Opaline" Eggman announced, removing his glasses and looking at the alicorn straight in the eyes. What she saw was horrible: Eggman's sclera was completely black, and his ires was red and penetrating. She never felt this scared ever since Twilight created the Unity Crystals and took her magic away. "Treat me and any of my machines like trash, and I'll accept it because it wouldn't be the first time someone does it. But treat Misty like if her efforts where useless again, and I will personally rip apart those wings of yours with my bare hands, and I will enjoy your screams of agony, I can assure you that" he stated, putting his glasses back on and retiring the knife from her neck, then walking back to his lab, closing the door with a bang.
Opaline just stood freeze on her place, completely shocked on what just happened. She did knew Eggman could be menacing if he wanted, but what he just did, that was the very first time she felt scared towards her ally.
Eggman, on the other hand, wasn't sure of what just happened. This place is softening me... he thought. First I feel compassion for my machines, now I threatened my own ally because of Misty... I should feel worried about this, I know... Then why I like this? Why do I feel so happy by helping my minions? he questioned on his mind, not understanding why he was so comfortable with treating his minions like sons.
"I should go down to repair Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy..." Eggman muttered, and then realized what he just said. "Yeah... I definitely got softened by this place..." he muttered again, then slowly walked towards his secret lab under the castle.
At the bridge of Maretime Bay, the Mane 5 and Team Sonic looked at the sunset with smiles. Sonic and Pipp managed to stood at each other sides even after what happened earlier, as Pipp rested her head over Sonic's shoulder with joy.
"It's so nice just soaking in the serenity and peace of a sunset" Hitch said with a smile.
"Yup, nothing like some quiet after a wild day" Sonic said on agreement.
"Uh, what is that?" Zipp questioned, pointing at the sky.
And as the others looked on that direction, Hitch started to panic again, since Zoom and Thunder were flying over Toots like a hunter ready to catch their prey.
"Oh no, Operation Glitterbomb, I forgot!" Hitch yelled out in panic, and then whistled with his hoof to call to the two pegasi, who approached the sheriff and the rest. "Everypony, the search is off! Operation Glitterbomb is no more. We found him! Sparky is safe!" he told to the pegasi and the critters.
"What a relief!" Zoom said, while the ponies on town cheered, glad that all of this was over.
"But what about these cool masks?" Thunder asked to Hitch.
"You can keep the masks" Hitch told them with a smile.
"Yes!" Thunder cheered, as he high hoofed with Zoom and then they flew back to Zephyr Heights.
"I hope there never is, but if we ever have a 'next time', I'm staying so I can prevent things like this happening" Knuckles told Hitch with a bored expression.
"Said the guy that threatened a robot if he didn't gave Sparky back" Sonic said with a smirk, which caused the rest sins Zipp and Knuckles to laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it off" Knuckles said with a little smile.
"Well, nothing can surprise me any more" Zipp said with a bored expression.
Suddenly, they all heard a very loud honk, which startled them all and caused both Tails and Pipp to cover their ears. Then, they saw Izzy arriving with the old tram car she mentioned earlier.
"Surprise!" Izzy said on a cheery tone.
She managed to stop the car before it could hit anyone, and then got down with a smile, while the rest stared at it confused.
"Ah... What is that?" Sunny asked with a sheepish smile.
"My brand-new old, broken down, good-for-nothing, retired tram car!" Izzy presented cheerfully. "Great find, huh?!" she asked, as she lay on the cart. She got worried looks from her friends as a response. "Trust. I got something super-cool up my mane. It's gonna be tram-a-licious. Tram-a-blamo. Tramtastic!" she added, while the rest just laughed at her attitude.
"Hey, and next time we're searching for something, you guys can get around in that" Zipp pointed out with a smile, referring to Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Sparky and Knuckles, since Sonic could run around and she, Pipp and Tails could fly.
"That's just what I was thinking!" Izzy said cheerfully. "Friends that stick together, can never be separated!" she added, as she and all the others started to walk back to the Brighthouse laughing.
But then, Hitch panicked when Sparky disappeared again. "Sparky!" he called out worried. "Sparky?" he called out again.
"And then, Sparky pocked his head from the inside of the tram car, wearing a driver hat as he made gibberish sounds and got out of it to run back with Hitch.
He grabbed the little dragon and walked away with the rest of his friends, ready to end their day back at the Brighthouse.
However, Sonic stopped time around as he felt something wrong. He then closed his eyes... and instead of feeling his connection with just 4 Chaos Emeralds, he feel it with 6 of them.
All the earth ponies were gathering around and decorating Maretime Bay for Winter Wishday, their special holiday.
The nights are getting longer And there's a chill in the air And you feel a bit of magic Ohh, everywhere
Hitch was getting out of the station along Knuckles and Sparky, all of them wearing winter gear, with Hitch using a blue sea hat with jingle bells, Sparky using a purple one with some spikes on the top and jingle bells as well, and Knuckles wearing a green hat with emeralds around. Also, Sparky was carrying some kind of letter on his arms.
So come on everypony, Time to spread the cheer Yeah! There's dancing And there's prancing Around the Wishing Tree
As sheriff, deputy and dragon walked down the street and greeted some ponies, wishing them a happy Winter Wishday, they saw Posey and Jazz using their magic to make a threshold grow around the entrance of Mane Melody, with Rocky winking an eye to them and placing a white ribbon with green stripes in the middle.
And a little bit of sparkle For you and me No I just can't wait Till it's Wishentine's day
As they kept walking, they saw a few ponies sharing some cups with hot chocolate.
It's that twinkle in the eye Of every Pegasi And that feeling when you listen To the bells outside
Some old earth pony mares passed by with holiday crowns and placed them on the bridge, with Sprout helping out by using his earth pony magic to grow some flowers on the crowns.
The glisten of the snow That's fallen in your mane Yeah, come on everypony Don't you feel the same Every moment, every sound Every feeling, sing it loud
Nearby, Seashell used her earth pony magic to make some white flowers grew un a bucket.
Suddenly, a snowdrop fell into one of the flowers, which made Seashell smile and look up, just to find that there was snowing. She immediately moved to meet Glory and Peach Fizz, who were jumping excited at the fact that i was snowing in Maretime Bay.
They were excited because Maretime Bay was a beach town, so it never snowed in there before.
No I know, No I know No I just can't wait, I can't No I just can't wait Till it's Wishentine's Day
As for Hitch, Sparky and Knuckles, they finally made their way back to the Crystal Brighthouse.
Inside, Sunny was hearing to a song by using Pipp's modern record player, as well as she sang a different thing while baking some cookies. She was also wearing a green winter hat with stars.
"We whisk you some tasty cookies. We whisk you some frosted goodies. We wish you a yummy Wishday, and a happy new moon" Sunny sang, as she moved and danced around the kitchen while baking the cookies.
In the meantime, Zipp and Pipp were on the couch, practicing a song for their presentation in Zephyr Heights.
Zipp sighed a bit before starting to 'sing' off-key. "Mee-mee-mee-mee..." she said in a dead tone.
"You're a little pitchy, Zipp" Pipp told her with a sheepish smile. "I mean, this is The Zephyr Heights Wishentine Royal Carousel Concert!" she pointed out excited.
"Ugh! If it takes an hour to say the name, the show's probably going to last for a week!" Zipp complained.
"Even more reason to practice!" Pipp said with a smile. "From the top!" she instructed.
However, they both got startled when they heard Izzy mumbling and complaining from the closet.
"Just a little closer, and I can get these..." Izzy said, but then the box she was trying to get down a stand feel in her, and the decorations inside the box fell, although none of them broke strangely. "... ornaments!" Izzy said cheerfully, taking the box off her head.
In the Critter Corner, Hitch was with his animal crew and Sparky as he held on his hooves a note from his grandmother.
Kenneth made chirping sounds, probably asking who was the letter from.
"It's from my Grandma Figgy!" Hitch said excited, but then McSnips made a weird comment as the birds started to laugh. "Not Piggy, ya wise-crab! Figgy!" Hitch corrected a bit mad, showing him a picture of his grandmother, while McSnips made more clicking sounds. "Very funny. Anyway, Figgy writes: 'My dearest grandcolt...' That's me! 'I can't wait to see you on Winter Wishday! We're going to have so much fun building the best cookie cottages! Love, your gran.' Oh!" he said, as he hugged the letter with warm. "Isn't she the best Grandma in the whole world?" he asked to his animal crew and Sparky.
However, Kenneth replied by making chirping sounds... and what he said wasn't anything that Hitch liked to hear.
"Oh, you think your Grandma us better?" Hitch asked with a frown, which made Kenneth make more chirping sound with a nervous expression. "That's what I thought" he stated, while the critters and Sparky just laughed at him.
In the bedroom, Sonic sat at the edge of his bed, staring at a box he had on his knees.
He never told anyone except Tails about this, but he conserved Longclaw's scarf after he found it burned. Ever since that, he decided to take it with him wherever he goes. He hide it on his quills, and never took it out... until the day he decorated his room in the Brighthouse.
He buy a box to put the scarf there and repare it every now and then. Last week, he finished it, and now he was afraid to feel sadness, and only sadness, if he opened that box to see the scarf of his mother figure.
"Sonic..." Tails voice called out to him. "You know that it's okay if you don't want to––" he tried to say, but Sonic raised a hand so he could stop talking.
"I want to, lil' bro" Sonic said. "I'm just... afraid that the memory will hurt" he confessed with a bit of concern.
Finally, Sonic opened the box, and surprisingly, he smiled softly at the sight of the brown scarf with yellow and blue stripes at both ends.
"Wow" Tails said with a nostalgic smile. "Is like if it never got burned" he said.
"I owe it to her" Sonic said. "Is the last thing we have. The least I could do was restoring it... and it's finally ready" he added, holding the scarf close to his chest.
"We're going to use for the tree decoration we always have like every year, right?" Tails asked, as Sonic gave him the scarf so he could give a hug to it as well.
"Yup. And this year would be more special because the scarf is now repaired" Sonic said with a smile. "Also, did you got the letter?" he asked.
Tails took out a green envelope, with the texts 'To Longclaw' and 'From your sons' written on the front.
"We'll still do this at midnight, right?" Tails asked, now feeling a bit sad.
"Right" Sonic said, side hugging the fox with a smile. "And it's going to be as special as every year, Tails. You just wait and see" he assured, receiving a smile from Tails.
"Where the heck did I putted that thing?!" Knuckles cried out, as he made a bit of a mess on his side of the bedroom.
Sonic and Tails stared at him for a minute, then looked at each other and shrugged. Sonic putted the scarf back on its box, then held it on his arm and walked along Tails towards Knuckles.
"Knux?" Tails called out. "What are you doing?" he asked confused.
"I found the flag with my tribe's symbol on it that Izzy help me to make, but I can't find the shaft!" Knuckles cried out.
Sonic and Tails looked at each other with bored expressions before turning to Knuckles again. "You mean, the one that's at the side of your bed?" Sonic asked.
Knuckles looked over where Sonic was talking about, and he indeed saw the shaft he was looking for, lying at the side of the bed.
"Oh... yeah... that one..." Knuckles said with a sheepish smile.
"Clean up, Knucklehead" Sonic instructed, as he and Tails walked towards the exit of the bedroom. "Sunny probably finished the cookies already" he added.
In the living room, the whole group was sitting and talking to each other, when Sunny arrived with cookies having the form of everyone's head, so each one grabbed their respective cookie.
"We whisk you some tasty cookies. We whisk you some frosted goodies. We wish you a yummy Wishday, and a happy new moon" Sunny sang again, then giggled a bit. "Okay, okay. If I keep it in any longer, I'm going to explode!" she exclaimed excited.
"Hit the deck, everypony!" Zipp said jokingly a she ducked and covered herself with her wings with a laugh.
However, the critters didn't took it as a joke at all, and hided around the living room.
"What's got you buzzing, Sunny?" Pipp asked curiously with a smile.
"Winter Wishday is just around the corner and of course, I can't wait to spend it with all of you!" Sunny started to explain excited. "I have the perfect holiday planned for us, and it all ends with my favorite part: exchanging gifts under the Wishing Star! Eee! There, I said it!" she exclaimed excited, chomping a part of her cookie.
However, she didn't got the answers that she expected.
"Uh..." Hitch said a bit surprised, as he scratched his head feeling bad.
"Ooh..." Izzy exclaimed with worry, not so sure on how to say what she wants to without hurting Sunny's feelings.
"Oh-oh..." Knuckles said, looking around a bit panicked.
Sonic just whistled innocently as he ignored Sunny, while Tails at his side cough with a worried expression.
Zipp and Pipp looked at each other with worried expressions, not sure on how to say what they need to.
"What?" Sunny asked, both confused and worried.
"Well, it's just that I promised my Grandma Figgy I'd celebrate Winter Wishday with her" Hitch explained. "Like we always do!" he added with a smile.
"And I have to ring in the last night of Wishiehoof in Bridlewood with my hoofmade ornament!" Izzy explained as well, lifting a box with her ornament inside of it. "It's Jinxie if I miss that!" she added with concern.
"I need to find the perfect spot to place the Echidna Tribe Warrior Flag" Knuckles explained, as he stood up and held the flag in a standing position. The flag was fully red, and it had the draw of an echidna in the middle with two gloves like Knuckles' on each side of the drawing. "It's a tradition my ancestors established to pay our respects to our fallen brothers and sisters. Every echidna has to follow this tradition during the eve of Christmas, no exceptions" he added with a serious expression.
"Tails and I still need to find a tree to decorate it in memory of Longclaw" Sonic explained. "We got her scarf fixed for the occasion, even" he added.
"After that, we will sent a letter for her in a floating lantern" Tails said as well. "It's been our tradition ever since she left, so we do all of this to honor her favorite holiday of the year" he added.
"And we have to be home for the..." Pipp started to explain, looking at her sister with a smile.
"Zephyr Heights Wishentine Royal Carousel Concert" Zipp said with a bored expression.
"Wooweee, that takes a long time to say" Izzy said, appearing suddenly at the sisters' side.
"Right?" both Zipp and Pipp agreed with smiles.
"It seems like we've all got conflicting holiday plans" Hitch pointed out.
"Yeah, I doubt we'll barely have time to be together this holidays" Sonic added with concern.
"No!" Sunny shouted suddenly. "I mean, sorry, yes, we do all have plans, but I think we can still make this happen" she explained with confidence.
"But how?" Hitch asked curiously.
"We'll stick together! That's how!" Sunny started to explain. "We can definitely get to all of our holiday traditions and still make it back here in time to exchange gifts under the Wishing Star!" she explained.
"Ugh! Love that for us, but Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood are quite the journey" Pipp pointed out.
"I mean, the idea is good, but... as Pipp said, there's a long distance to travel" Sonic agreed with the young pegasus. "It took us two days going from Maretime Bay to Zephyr Heights when we first met, remember? And don't get me started on going from the mountains to Bridlewood..." he added with an anxious look.
"Well, Sonic, Knuckles and I can travel long distances in the blink of an eye, specially Sonic, but as for the rest... the two love birds have a point" Tails said with concern, while Sonic and Pipp stared at him with bored expressions.
"If he says another 'love birds' bullshit like that, we'll riot" Sonic muttered to Pipp with a smirk.
"Definitely" Pipp said on agreement.
Suddenly, they all noticed the snow outside of the Brighthouse, as they all walked towards the window to appreciate it better.
"Wow! Look at all that floaty snow!" Izzy said with a smile.
"Huh. That's strange" Sunny said confused. "It never snows here in Maretime Bay Like ever!" she pointed out. "Right, Hitch?" she asked him with a smile.
"Nope. But I have been wishing for snow ever since I was little!" Hitch replied with a smile.
"Me too!" Sunny confessed. "But... how are we going to get to Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights in this?" she questioned.
"Well, that's too bad" Tails started to make an act. "If only we could all fly on something to get there..." he added, now smirking and looking to Zipp and Izzy with a knowing look.
Zipp sat on the floor as she took out her phone and looked at something on it, showing it to both Izzy and Tails, who nodded at her in agreement.
"Zipp, Tails and I have a surprise for you!" Izzy cheered after a little jump.
"Surprise?" Sunny asked with curiosity.
Once Sparky heard Sunny saying that, he started to move excited, rolling backwards on a ball and landing in front of Izzy, who grabbed the baby dragon with a smile.
"It could be the perfect snow-lution to our pickle!" Izzy said with a cheery smile.
"It was supposed to wait until Wishday, but... Oh, alright!" Zipp added with a little jump.
"And is the perfect excuse to test it out with you, guys!" Tails added excited.
"So... what is it?" Hitch asked.
However, instead of answering, Izzy got suddenly lost as she stared at the ceiling with a weird look, until she realized everyone was staring at her.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I zoned out there for a second!" Izzy said with a sheepish smile, as she putted Sparky down. "Follow me!" she instructed, with Tails and Zipp flying at her side.
The others looked at each other a bit hesitant before following them.
Outside of the Brighthouse, Izzy, Zipp and Tails stood at the side of something covered by a blue blanket, while the rest just looked at them curiously. Izzy also brought Sunny's lantern for some reason.
"Ta-da!" Izzy said, as she retired the blanket to reveal... the tram car Izzy found a while ago, now turned in some kind of flying vehicle... or an attempt of one, to say the least.
"Okay, so it still needs a little work. But pretty great, right?!" Zipp asked with a smile.
"Uh-huh..." Sonic said with a strange look. "When did you guys made this?" Sonic asked curiously.
"A day before my birthday" Tails said, landing at Sonic's side. "It was... quite a ride, to tell the truth, but it totally works!" he assured.
"Love it so much!" Pipp said with sparkling eyes.
"Sorry, but I have to ask it..." Knuckles said, staring at the tram car confused. "What is that thing?!" he finally asked.
"Well, originally, it was that old, broken tram car I found behind the factory, then it was a giant art installation, then Zipp, Tails and I had the brilliant idea to Unicycle it from art to... Moving art!" Izzy explained.
"More like flying art!" Zipp pointed out, as she flapped her wings.
"Yeah! So now it's that!" Izzy pointed out.
"Izzy suggested the idea of finding a way to show you guys how cool it feels to fly" Tails explained. "So, Zipp and I gave her a hand and we made this!" he added excited.
"We can use it to travel to our hometown holiday celebrations, and make it back here to the Brighthouse in time to see the Wishing Star together!" Izzy stated with a cheery smile.
However, the others were not really convinced, specially Hitch and Knuckles, who were staring at the 'lights' of the tram car.
"Pretty cool, but are you sure this thing can fly?" Hitch questioned unsure.
"No offense, guys... but this thing can barely hold together..." Knuckles pointed out. "I doubt it even moves" he added.
"Of course it flies, Knucklehead" Tails said with a confident smirk. "The only missing thing is a tiny, little spark of magic!" he added, pulling out Sunny's lantern and placing it over the drivers seat inside the tram car.
"What do you call it?" Sunny asked with a smile.
"Uh... Izzy? How did you named it when we tried out the other day?" Tails asked her.
"Hmm..." Izzy said, thinking on how she named the vehicle before almost shout it. "The Marestream!" she stated with a serious expression. "I mean, that's an option I was thinking of, we totally don't have to use it or whatever" she added with a nervous chuckle.
"It's perfection!" Pipp said with a smile.
"Marestream..." Sonic repeated with a thinking look. "Ooh, I like the name! It's really catchy" he confessed with a smile.
"Agree!" Zipp said. "Now, who wants to try it out?" she asked.
"You're forgetting the most important thing here, Zippy" Tails said with a smirk, while Zipp blushed slightly from Tails calling her like that. "The magic touch" he said, pointing at Sunny's lamp on the driver's seat.
"Oh, right" Zipp said with a nervous chuckle, still blushing and turning to Sunny. "Thanks for letting me keep an eye on your lantern, Sunny" she thanked with a smile.
"I know it's in good hooves with detective Zipp!" Sunny said with a smile as well. "Have you discovered anything new about its magic yet?" she asked.
"Just that its Prisbeam energy is powerful" Zipp replied.
"Yup, I've seen it by myself" Tails said with a smile.
"Just like our friendship!" Izzy said with a little smile.
"Exactly!" Sunny said, as she squealed excited again and got between Hitch and Pipp. "I can't wait to see the Wishing Star with my best friends!" she added with excitement.
As the rest sins Team Sonic laughed, their Cutie Marks started to shine and gave their power to Sunny's lamp. After the lamp received all of their power, the rainbow light inside of it grew bigger and covered the entire tram car, restoring it to transform it into the motor vehicle it turned the first time the lamp did the same thing.
"Sweet Chaos!" Sonic exclaimed in awe.
"What in the Mystic Ruins just happened?!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"Wow!" Sunny said in amazement.
"Amazing!" Pipp exclaimed as well.
"There it is!" Tails said casually. "We told you that this thing worked" he added with a smirk.
"You guys could have presented us this instead of the tram car!" Sonic pointed out with a smile.
"But the fun of the surprise could have been ruined, silly!" Izzy said with a cheery smile.
The Mane 5 and Team Sonic entered the now advanced Marestream: it had some passenger sofas, a small kitchen, and a door that lead to the drivers place, that somehow was bigger, and had 8 spots, probably the seats for each one of the group.
"So let me get this straight: the lamp is basically the key for this thing to work?" Sonic said with a bored expression.
"Pretty much!" Tails replied.
"That lamp is just a big deus ex machina" Knuckles said with the same bored expression than Sonic.
"Whoa!" Hitch exclaimed, as he got close to a tablet, which he tapped and turned on, making the entire Marestream turn on as well, as it lifted up from the ground a few seconds before Izzy tapped the same button that Hitch pressed, causing the Marestream to land. "Do you have a driver's license for this vehicle?" Hitch asked.
"Yup!" Tails replied, actually hanging his driver license to the sheriff.
As Hitch stared at it, reading it and making sure everything was in order, he got a bit surprised that the name 'Tails' wasn't on the license. Sunny, who felt surprised that Tails had an actual license, got close to read as well, and also got surprised when she found that his name wasn't on the license.
"Wait! Your name is Miles?" Hitch asked in awe.
"Uh, yes?" Tails replied confused, seeing it as something very obvious. "Tails is just a nickname because..." he lifted his tails with a bored expression.
"Sonic literally presented him as Miles Prower, even specifying that 'Tails' is just a nickname" Zipp pointed out. "Didn't you guys payed attention or something?"
"Um..." Hitch simply replied.
"... M-Maybe?" Sunny said with a sheepish smile.
"Please tell me you didn't thought my name was 'Tails the Fox' or something, because the 'name based on your body or your special ability, followed by your species as your last name' thing only applies to Sonic and Knuckles..." Tails said, still with a bored expression. "And Shadow... and Rouge... and Cream... and Mighty... Ray... Big... Vector... Charmy... Espio... Silver... Blaze... now that I think about it, I'm the only one with an actual last name..." he pointed out with an anxious look.
"Actually, you're not" Knuckles said with his arms crossed and a neutral look.
"Dude, he literally just named half of our friends from back home" Sonic pointed out with a bored expression. "Who could have he missed?" he asked.
"Amy Rose?" Knuckles replied.
Sonic immediately rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as well.
"Of course, it had to be Amy..." Sonic muttered in annoyance.
"If we finished talking about my name, can you give me my license so we can leave?" Tails asked, still with an anxious look.
"Oh, right..." Hitch said with a sheepish smile, hanging the driver license back to Tails.
"Then it's settled!" Sunny stated with a smile. "First thing in the morning, we'll head out to Equestria and make it back to the Brighthouse in time to see the Wishing Star! Come on! There's so much to do to get ready!" she cheered.
The others cheered as well, as they got out of the Marestream to get everything ready for their trip tomorrow.
"What should I pack?" Pipp questioned.
"You shouldn't overpack, Little Pipp" Sonic suggested. "We're leaving for an entire day, not a month or something" he pointed out.
"Should we bring weapons or something?" Knuckles asked. "You know, in case of a situation?" he pointed out.
"What kind of situation will requiere weapons, Knucklehead?" Sonic asked with a bored expression.
"Let me be more specific: should we bring weapons, in case of an Eggman situation?" Knuckles corrected himself.
"Old Egghead haven't given a sign of being alive for the last few months" Sonic pointed out with a confident smirk. "He's probably still crying over the fact that we destroyed his 'precious creations' for the gazillion time. Relax, Knucklehead, is holiday season!" he added. "What's the worst that could happen?" he asked with confidence.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Eggman was at his new hidden lab, tapping a lot on his computer, as some machines got both Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy caged to repair them completely.
"It took me a while to finally got the proper upgrades, but now they're finally here!" Eggman stated with a grin.
He finally tapped the enter button, that finished up the repairing process, as the two robots were pulled out of their capsules and carefully placed on the ground.
Once the two Metals touched the floor, their systems automatically got on.
"Why, hello there, my Metals! Good morning, and welcome back to the world!" Eggman greeted with an evil grin.
"D-Daddy?" Metal Izzy called out, a bit dizzy.
"Doctor..." Metal Hitch said, looking at his body in awe. "Now look at this! We look even better than when you created us!" he cheered.
"It's your reward for being the only useful machines I've got so far!" Eggman stated. "You may saw your mission as something useless, but thanks to the crystals that you brought me, I got Chaos Energy back on my control!" he explained with a smile. "It's thanks to you that I'm a step closer to defeat that pity hedgehog and his friends once and for all! For it, giving you this upgrade is your reward" he reminded.
Both Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy stared at Eggman on disbelief, and in Metal Izzy's cade, with happiness.
"However... you must prove to me that you're worth of this upgrades" Eggman stated. "And I got the perfect mission to do so!" he added with a grin, pressing a button on his computer turning on the live camera of his robotic bird. "Sonic and his gang of fools are traveling around Equestria tomorrow. I need you both to follow and report their every move" he instructed. "Don't attack them, no matter the circumstances, unless you want to end up like your 'brother and sisters'..." he added.
"Yes sir!" Metal Hitch replied with a salute.
"Take it for granted, daddy!" Metal Izzy said cheerfully, turning her rockets on and flying off the lab.
Metal Hitch repeated the action and decided to follow her, while Eggman looked back at his computer.
"The power of the Wishing Star can grant me my biggest wish: take control over the world! I don't care if it's Mobius or Equestria, the Eggman Empire will finally rise!" Eggman stated with confidence. "Of course, Opaline can't find out about this... we're still in not good terms after what happened a few months ago. But it won't matter. Soon enough, I'll be ruling over this world. And if the Wishing Star can't grant my wish... well, then it won't grant a wish for anyone, ever again!" he said with an evil grin.
And then, the doctor started to laugh maniacally, feeling like he already won the battle...
The next morning, the gang was getting all of their bags and baggages ready for their trip.
Sunny just packed some essential things, while Hitch packed some toys for Sparky on one baggage, with Sparky himself jumping over another one of the bags.
Meanwhile, Tails was inside the Marestream with Zipp, as they both were making down the route they'll take to travel around Equestria.
Outside of the Marestream, Pipp was pushing a lot of bags that she planned to take for the trip. However, Izzy nodded in negation, while Sonic just facepalmed, since this was the exact opposite of what he told her to do.
Finally, the whole group got inside of the Marestream, with Tails now wearing an orange variation of Santa Claus' hat, orange gloves and orange socks, and also yellow sunglasses to indicate he was the captain who will fly the Marestream.
Zipp and Pipp were both wearing some big invernal hats, Izzy was wearing a flower crown with tree branches as reindeer horns and Sonic was using an invernal variation of his shoes, closed red gloves with white palms and white winter glasses on his forehead.
Sparky made some chattering sounds, as Tails nodded at him with a smile. Sparky then jumped over the tablet and pressed the icon of a wing, that turned the Marestream on and prepare it to fly off.
"Alright, everybody. Hold onto your hooves/hands or whatever you have" Tails announced with a smile. "Magic check?" he asked.
"Check!" the others said in unison with smiles.
"Door lock check?" Tails asked again.
"Check-eroo!" both Hitch and Sparky replied, as they locked the door.
"Onboard snack check?" Tails asked once again.
"Check!" Izzy replied, as she was chomping some fries from a bag.
Tails nodded with a determinate expression, before smiling and look in front with a determinate look. "Take off!" he announced with a smirk.
The Marestream finally took flight, as it lifted from the ground and started to fly around the Brighthouse, then boosting towards the clouds as it left a rainbow trial behind.
As he looked out of the window, Sonic whistled at the view. "Not the first time I fly on some vehicle, but it is the first time I appreciate the views on and inside perspective" he confessed with a smile.
"Hello, dear passengers, and welcome to the Marestream" Tails said with a joking tone. "This is your Captain speaking. We are at a cruising altitude of... I don't actually know, and traveling at the speed of... magic! The current time is... this thing doesn't have a clock, and my watch isn't a watch all, but it's definitely morning!" he stated.
"No way. What told you that? The crushing sun in the horizon?" Knuckles muttered with a bored expression.
Sonic, the only one who apparently listened to him, punched him on his shoulder as he gave him a frown.
"We have an estimated arrival at Grandma Figgy's cottage at approximately pretty soon" Tails announced.
"Yes!" Pipp cheered.
"The seatbelt sign is, well, we don't have one, but if we did, it would be off and you'd all be free to move around the cabin" Tails instructed.
"We should search for the 'seats on' button, but I'm not bothering on doing it myself..." Sonic said with a neutral expression.
"Why not?" Pipp asked, since she was by his side.
"Last time I pressed or pulled something I didn't knew what was supposed to do, you ended up moving around the entire Throne Room while being attached to strings" Sonic reminded her with a bored expression. "Ever since, I haven't pressed or touched anything without knowing what it does" he added with concern.
"Oh... right... right..." Pipp said, as she tapped her mouth a bit with her hoof.
"Now, for a brief announcement from a member of our flight team" Tails instructed, as he looked to Izzy behind him.
"Hello. This is your friendly in-flight entertainment coordinator, Izzy Moonbow, and I'm here to say that it's time for a good old-fashioned singalong! Okay?!" Izzy instructed with big confidence and a smile.
"Ooh! Yes! Yes!" Pipp cheered excited, as Sonic at her side chuckled a bit from her attitude.
"And uh-one, and uh-two, uh-one-two-three!" Izzy counted down, before starting to sing. "Over the crystals, and through the woods. To Grandmare's tree we go" she sang.
Everything could have worked out after that... but this isn't the case.
"Wings know the way" Zipp and Pipp sang together.
"Earth ponies play" Sunny and Hitch sang together as well... at the exact same time than the sisters, which caused them to realize how off-key was that.
"What was that?" Hitch asked confused.
"I don't know! I guess we all know the same basic melody at least!" Pipp said with a sheepish smile.
"Whatever it was, it sounded really off-tone" Sonic complained, as he scratched his left ear. "Should we do an encore or something?" he questioned.
"Each ponykind must have a different version of the lyrics!" Sunny guessed with a smile.
"Fun! Okay, let's take it again, but alternate verses this time! Hit it, Sparky!" Pipp cheered with excitement.
Sparky giggled before using his crab plush as a countdown for the singalong to begin again, with the Mane 5 harmonizing.
Pipp and Zipp: Over the mountains And through the clouds
Mane 5: To Grandmare's house we go
Pipp: Earth Ponies play
Pipp and Zipp: To whinny and neigh
Mane 5: Through peppermint candy snow Oh, oh, oh, oh
As the Mane 5 sang, Tails moved the Marestream to the rhythm of the song, despite not singing along.
Pipp: Oh, when we get closer To Grandmare's house
Sunny: The pretty lights let us know
Pipp and Sunny: And soon we'll see
Mane 5: A special pony Through her icing frosted windows Oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh
However, as the Mane 5 kept singing, Tails realized that something was in the middle of the clouds... and then he noticed what was it: two pegasi, flying in the air, too focused on their phones to even notice the Marestream.
"Hang on, everyone!" Tails called out with a serious expression.
Soon enough, he made a loop movement in the air to dodge the pegasi, as they looked in shock while rest screamed because of the sudden move, except for Sonic, who was used to this kind of stuff already.
Tails moved the Marestream and stopped at the side of the pegasi. He opened the window and took off his glasses to glare at the ponies. "Eyes on the sky and not your screens, fillies!" he said with a frown, putting back his glasses and closing the window.
After that, Tails moved the Marestream away and started to make some horizontal loops, until he finally stopped and landed in front of Grandma Figgy's house.
"Tails!" Pipp scolded with a worried look.
"Dude, what the heck?!" Sonic scolded as well. He was used to this stuff, yes, but he knew that the others were not. "As far as I know, I only teach you the basics of piloting! And maybe do some dangerous loops, but not something like that!" he added with a frown.
Tails took off his glasses and looked at Sonic with a bored expression. "The speed we reached didn't allowed me to make a proper landing, so I had to improvise" he said on his defense.
"Then please slow down before we arrive the next time!" Knuckles begged.
However, as Team Sonic discussed among them, Hitch noticed something different on his grandma's house.
"Trees?!" Hitch cried out with genuine worry. "Those weren't there before!" he said.
"They look beautiful!" Izzy exclaimed after a small gasp.
"But it doesn't even look like Grandma Figgy's house now!" Hitch said with disappointment.
"He do knows things change, right?" Knuckles whispered to Sunny at his side, who only shrugged at him.
The entire group got down of the Marestream and moved towards Figgy's cottage.
"Hey Sonic" Pipp called out, as she and the hedgehog stood a bit behind. "You mentioned that you teach Tails how to fly. Could you, uh, explain a bit?" she asked with a slight blush.
"Well, I didn't teach him to fly with his tails, you know. He already did that when we met" Sonic explained with a smile. "He got interested on a plane I have back home called 'the Tornado', so I teach him how to pilot it" he added.
"And who teach you?" Pipp asked curiously.
Sonic stopped for a second, as a hurtful look got on him for a brief moment, but then he shook his head and kept walking.
"Sorry for that..." Sonic said. "Got caught off guard by your question, Little Pipp. Longclaw gave me the Tornado, as a gift for for saving the critters of South Island, my home. She taught me on how to pilot it" he explained with a nostalgic smile.
"Sorry" Pipp apologized with a guilty expression. "I shouldn't have asked..." she said with concern.
"It's okay, Little Pipp" Sonic assured her with a smile. "As long as your memory remains, you really never die. Longclaw told me that once, and its what I've been doing with Tails every year: keep her memory alive" he added. "It hurts, yeah, but it's the only way I can still feel her with me" he finished with a sad smile.
Pipp was the one who stopped suddenly now, and Sonic looked at her with curiosity.
"What's wrong?" Sonic asked with concern.
"Sonic..." Pipp said. "Do you... cry her dead? Even after all this time?" she asked with a worried expression.
Sonic felt surprised by the sudden question, as his ears lowered down and he looked a bit sad now.
"... Yeah..." Sonic confessed. "I mean, I already kinda accepted that she's gone, but still... it's hard to let her go at all" he added. "You know? That time at Zephyr Heights, when I cried over your fur... it was the first time someone that isn't Tails saw me crying" he revealed. "I... I'm not the kind of guy who likes to deal with emotions in public, so... I rather reserve them for myself" he finished, now looking at the ground with sadness and a bit of shame.
"Then don't!" Pipp said with concern. She moved towards Sonic and stood only on her hind legs, placing a hoof on Sonic's chest and the other one on his cheek. "Look, if you ever need to let your emotions flow, then count on me to look after you, to hear you. You can always trust me, okay?" she told him with a smile.
Sonic smiled back at her and placed a hand over her cheek. "I know, Little Pipp. And don't worry, if I ever need to free myself, I know who to look for" he assured her, caressing her cheek as Pipp blushed a bit.
Pipp finished up kissing Sonic in his cheek, and then they both moved towards the cottage, surprised that the rest hadn't made it to it at all, nor entered the place.
Izzy was about to knock the door, but then...
"Wait, everypony!" Hitch pled.
Izzy stopped her action and all the others looked at Hitch confused.
"What is it now, Hitch? We can't waste any time!" Sunny pointed out with worry, taking out her phone and checking at a diagram of the Wishing Star, slowly moving towards above of the Brighthouse. "We're on kind of a tight schedule today" she pointed out.
"I know, I know..." Hitch said. "I just wanted to warn you all first. Look: my Grandma Figgy is great. She's probably the best Gran of all time!" he explained with a proud smile.
"Are you serious? Wow" Izzy said with sparkling eyes.
"Yeah! She's the best, but she can be kinda... um, particular about Winter Wishday" Hitch warned a bit concerned.
"Elaborate" Tails pled with a raised eyebrow.
"She likes things to be just so" Hitch explained.
"Just so?" Knuckles asked with a raised eyebrow and his arms crossed.
"You're being just a little vague here" Zipp pointed out with a smirk, while Tails at her side nodded in agreement.
"We celebrate Winter Wishday together every single moon the exact same way!" Hitch started to explain. "Her favorite holiday activity is building Cookie Cottages with me and it's always been that way since I was a little foal. It's a big, big deal to her! It's gotta be perfect!" he pointed out. "So just, keep that in mind. That's all" he finished with a smile.
"Oh, that's all?" Sunny questioned with a smile and a raised eyebrow. "Of course we'll honor her earth pony traditions, just like she likes" she assured.
"Yeah, silly! We're going to be great guests!" Pipp reassured with a smile, flapping her wings excited.
"Guests who go with the flow! In the snow!" Izzy said with a relaxed tone.
"It will be pretty uncool if we didn't respect her traditions, so don't worry, pal" Knuckles said with a smile.
"Thanks, everypony. I know it'll mean a lot to Grandma Figgy" Hitch assured to them, as he walked towards the door.
"We agree that he's the perfectionist and his grandma just plays along, right?" Tails whispered to Zipp at his side with a smirk.
Zipp chuckled a bit before replying. "Definitely" she said.
Once Hitch finally knocked the door, it opened to reveal Grandma Figgy, a pink mare with even more pink glasses, gray hair and a purple scarf with pink lines.
"Hitch!" Figgy greeted her grandson with a smile.
"Granny!" Hitch greeted back with a smile, as he gave her a big hug. "Cheery Wishday!" he told her, still with a smile.
"Oh, it sure is!" Figgy said. "And what a treat to have Hitchie's friends here, too!" she added, taking a look at his friends behind him, with Pipp waving her hoof and Tails waving his hand. "Oh, and this little adorable little sweetheart, of course. Oh, come to granny!" she finished, grabbing Sparky and nuzzling her cheek with the baby dragon's head.
"T-Thanks f-for h-having us!" Sunny said with a smile, as she, the girls and Tails were shivering from the cold and sudden snow that kept growing.
Knuckles wasn't shivering because he was trained to resist low temperatures in order to protect the Master Emerald back on Angel Island, while Sonic was used to the weather since he lived in snowy mountains for a while with Longclaw before moving to Green Hills.
"Oh, goodness, you must be cold!" Figgy said with worry. "I haven't seen snow like this since, well... Never!" she confessed. "Come in, come in and we'll warm those hoovesies right up" she said, moving away to let the rest inside of her cottage.
With some classic holidays music playing on a record player, the group followed Hitch to a small table, where they all sat down on some pillows around said table, that also had a plate with marshmallows.
"Who wants some hot cocoa?" Figgy asked with a smile, walking towards the group with a plate that had 9 cups of hot cocoa.
"Ah, ba, ba, ba!" Hitch said, suddenly, grabbing three marshmallows from the plate and grabbing the plate with hot cocoa. "Hold up! Three jumbo marshmallows per mug, no more, no less. Right, Granny?" he asked with a smirk.
"That's right, Hitchie" Figgy replied with a smile. "Enough to stick out of the top..." she tried to add.
"But not enough to overflow!" both Figgy and Hitch said in unison.
Hitch then placed three marshmallows on one of the cups and took it. He blew it a bit before giving to Sparky, as he also placed the plate with coca on the table, next to the plate with marshmallows.
The rest grabbed cups as well, also putting only three marshmallows to respect Figgy's tradition.
Izzy was the first one to slurp a bit from the cocoa, and then she gasped. "This is scrumptious!" she said with a smile and sparkling eyes.
Pipp was the next one. "Mmm! Super delish!" she exclaimed with a smile. "And I love the decorations! So festive!" she added.
"Oh, thank you, dear" Figgy greeted with a smile.
"She puts up them up every Wishday! They look exactly the same as when I was a colt" Hitch said with a smile, that faded away and turned into a frown when he looked outside of the window. "Except for all those trees out front. That's different" he said a bit mad.
"I grew 'em with my very own glowin' hooves with this newfangled earth pony magic" Figgy replied with pride, as she used her magic to make some white flowers grow on a plant nearby. "Pretty nifty stuff!" she added with a smile. "Oh, I do love to change things up, every chance I get, don't you?" she asked to the rest. "It can be so boring to do the same thing over and over" she pointed out.
"Hold that thought" Hitch said as he stood up. "I'm going to grab some napkins" he stated, then walked off.
"Guess I was right. He's the perfectionist one here..." Tails said with a smirk, slurping a bit from his cocoa soon after.
"I couldn't agree more, Figgy!" Izzy said with a cheery smile to the old mare. "Now, what would you say to another cup of cocoa with four marshmallows?" she asked excited. Figgy simply laughed and placed a fourth marshmallow in Izzy's cup, while the unicorn slurped a bit. "Oh! Ah!" she exclaimed with a bright smile.
"Um, ma'am?" Knuckles called out. "Would it be too much if I ask for a refill? I kinda... got too excited with the cocoa..." he asked with an embarrassed smile, as he showed up that he already finished his cocoa.
"And then you complain about me being impulsive" Sonic said with a smile, as the rest, Knuckles included, just laughed at his joke.
A bit later, the Mane 5 and Team Sonic were seating around Figgy, who was sitting on her couch and holding an album with photos.
Zipp suddenly gasped as she saw something on the album. "Look at his tiny sheriff costume!" she said with a slight high voice.
"It was all he wanted that Wishday" Figgy said with a smile. "I sewed it by hoof. Oh, the badge too!" she explained.
The picture they were looking at showed Hitch when he was a colt in front of the door, wearing a smaller version of his current sheriff hat and some kind of purple scarf with golden wings around his neck.
Sonic and Knuckles could fight the urge of laughing at the picture, both to not make Hitch feel humiliated and to be proper guests to Figgy.
"Normally, this would be embarrassing, but it's a Wishday tradition" Hitch whispered to Knuckles at his side, who was holding Sparky on his knees and looking at Hitch confused. "Granny would be upset if we didn't do it" he said with worry.
"Yeah, sure..." Knuckles said, rolling his eyes in disbelief since Hitch was the one who wanted to do the exact same thing every year, not his Granny, although he didn't seemed to realize yet.
Figgy moved on to another page, now showing a picture with both Sunny and Hitch when they were younger, with Figgy and Argyle behind them, all smiling to the camera and standing in front of a fire in the lighthouse, back when it was still a lighthouse before Sprout destroyed it.
"I remember that Wishday!" Sunny said with a smile. "You and Hitch came over to watch the Wishing Star. We both wished for snow and thought it worked, but it was just my Dad blowing bubble suds from the top of the lighthouse!" she explained with a nostalgic smile, now placing a hoof over the picture.
"You foals wanted a snowy Wishday, so Argyle made it happen" Figgy explained with a smile, placing her hoof over Sunny's.
"It seems like Figgy and Argyle could see the connection between this two love birds" Tails whispered to Sonic with a teasing tone.
"Wouldn't be surprised if Figgy messed with Hitch liking Sunny when he was a colt" Sonic replied with a smirk and a low chuckle.
"Oh, it's very nice you're continuing you and your dad's tradition with all your friends. He would love to see it" Figgy assured, making Sunny a bit sad now. "But look!" she said, as she placed a hoof around Sunny's neck and pointed to the window with the other one. "Your wish finally came true!" she pointed out with a smile.
"Well, better late than never!" Sonic pointed out with a smirk.
"So it really has never snowed in Maretime Bay before?" Zipp asked out of curiosity.
"Oh no, not in my pony life" Figgy replied. "It's a beach town, after all. But snow was always in the best holiday stories!" she said with a smile. "My favorite from when I was a filly was called 'Fantastical Flurrytales of Wishiehoof'" she confessed.
"Wishiehoof?! That's our unicorn holiday!" Izzy said with a smile. Figgy stood up from her couch and moved towards a stand, then grabbed a book from it and returned to the couch. Before open the book, she blow some dust from it. "Oh! That looks like the Wishing Tree!" Izzy pointed out to the cover image of the book.
"Do you mind if I take a closer look?" Zipp asked. Figgy didn't hesitated and gave the book to Zipp, who grabbed it and analyzed the picture a bit. "Hmm..." she muttered.
"Okay! Enough of storytime!" Hitch said suddenly. "Everypony to the Cookie Cottage Crafting Creation Corner!" he stated with a smile.
"The what?" Figgy asked confused.
Hitch sighed before standing up. "The kitchen" he replied a bit mad, now walking towards the kitchen.
"Be glad your Grandma is here, or I would have smacked your head already" Knuckles muttered with a bored expression.
As the others walked away, Zipp placed the book on Figgy's couch, then looked at the snow out of the window, having a bad feeling about the sudden snow.
"A beach town that never had snow before gets sudden and exaggerated amounts of it out of nowhere..." Tails voice spoke, as he stood at Zipp's side. "Sounds like a mystery for Detective Zipp!" he added with a smile.
"W-What? N-No, no, no, no!" Zipp said with a sheepish smile and a blush. "I-I was just looking out t-to make sure the Marestream is safe! T-That's all!" she tried to lie.
"Come on, Zippy" Tails said in a mocking tone with a smirk. "You never said 'no' to a good mystery! Gotta admit that I feel intrigued myself" he confessed, now with a regular smile.
As Zipp managed to get her blush under control, she smirked to Tails and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you the guy who said that I should stop questioning everything?" she pointed out.
"Yeah, well... I was stressed back then..." Tails confessed with a guilty look. "I recently opened Electronic Tails in the moment, and I felt the urge to let out some of that stress... and I wrongly let it out over you... I'm really sorry for that Zipp" he apologized.
"Hey, it's okay, little buddy" Zipp assured with a smile, nuzzling her cheek with his. "I kinda got overboard back then, and I also treated a new friend horribly, so I kinda deserve it" she said.
"Still, I shouldn't have vented my anger on you" Tails said before chuckling a bit. "It's very hypocritical that I now feel curious over something when I said that some mysteries should remain like that" he pointed out with shame.
"Well, I wouldn't mind to find out this mystery with a partner" Zipp said, blushing slightly again as she placed a wing around Tails.
"Really?" Tails asked a bit excited.
"Of course! You said you wanted to make it to me, remember? Take this as that chance, Miles" Zipp replied with a smirk, as she walked away and used her tails to hit Tails hat, which ended up covering his sight.
As Tails putted his hat back on place, he couldn't help but stare at Zipp shaking her tail as she walked towards the kitchen. He suddenly felt his entire face turning red, so he moved his sight and even covered his face with a hand. W-What the heck?! he thought a bit panicked. W-Why did I just saw that?! I-I mean, yeah, Zipp can be pretty sometimes, and she's really smart too... B-But everyone else thinks that! ... R-Right? he wondered.
He felt his heart racing like if he just participated on a marathon, and he had to breath a bit before finally calming down. He didn't noticed, thought, that Zipp was looking at him sideways with a smirk and a slight blush as well.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Hitch already gathered everything they needed to create the Cookie Cottages.
"So tidy! That's my Hitchie!" Figgy said with a proud smile.
"Uh... Can we start?" Izzy asked, since she loved everything that was related to craft things, and also trying to grab one of the glazed bags on the table.
"No, wait! I almost forgot!" Hitch said, suddenly stopping Izzy. "I need to find the cute miniature lights to string up on the houses!" he exclaimed. "We can't start before I find the cute miniature lights to string up on the houses!" he stated, walking towards some kind of closet, while Sparky and Figgy looked at each other confused. "Gran, where are the cute miniature lights we string up on the houses?" he asked.
"Maybe we can do them without the lights this time?" Figgy suggested, actually not minding start the Cookie Cottage crafting without the lights.
"I see a Wishday box but, not a Wishday Lights box, so..." Hitch said, still looking for the lights.
The others looked at each other in disbelief, while Knuckles just facepalmed and groaned in annoyance.
At that moment, Tails arrived and sat down next to Sonic, but he was lost on his thoughts.
"Well, you were right after all, little buddy" Sonic said with a smirk. However, when he got no response, he looked over to his little brother, who was still lost on his own things. "Uh, Tails?" he called out with concern.
"Huh?" Tails replied, finally getting out of his trance. "Oh, sorry, I was just... thinking..." he said.
"Okay?" Sonic replied, not very convinced since Tails was never this distracted, but he decided to let it slip for now.
"Let's try something new, dear!" Figgy suggested with a smile.
"Got 'em! Saved the day again!" Hitch cheered with a smile. "Thank hoofness, right, Grandma?" he asked to her.
"Thank hoofness" Figgy replied, playin along with Hitch, then turning to see the others. "When it comes to Wishday, Hitchie has to have everything just so" she whispered to them with a teasing tone.
"We noticed!" Zipp said after a giggle.
"Huh... I do was right after all" Tails said with an amused expression.
"Told ya!" Sonic told him with a smirk, slightly punching him on his shoulder.
"Now, it's cottage time!" Hitch said, arriving with the box of lights on his hoof, while the others just laughed at him, which confused him a lot.
After a while, the group created the cottage's, based on places that were important for them.
Hitch created the same cottage of every year: his Grandma's house. Sparky tried to place the last part, the fireplace, but since he was going to place it on the wrong place, Hitch moved his hand to the other side with a nervous smile.
Izzy created her old home, La Villa Izzy, placing a heart in one of the candies she used to create the tree.
Sunny made the Crystal Brighthouse, since it has been always her home even before being the Brighthouse, also placing the detail of the Wishing Star above the building.
Pipp, on the other hoof, made a replica of Mane Melody, not only including the sign at the side of the building, but also adding figures of Rocky and Jazz in front of the place.
Zipp made a classic Cookie Cottage, just adding her Cutie Mark at both sides... and also a chomped ceiling, since she couldn't help but taste the cottage a little.
Sonic decided to make a small replica of Green Hills, with a loop, a bridge, a star panel, some rings and plants with critters around, also placing figures of himself and some badniks.
Tails recreated his workshop, located on Green Hills as well, placing a figure of himself and a replica of the Tornado in front of the workshop.
Finally, Knuckles recreated the Master Emerald and its pedestal, since he actually didn't had a ceiling at all back home, but it didn't bothered him, because he created the pedestal with a proud smile.
Figgy approached with a camera, and looked at Hitch laughing with Sparky, which made her smile.
Zipp, however, noticed that the album was open and took a glance at it, just to cringe a bit when she saw that Hitch always made the exact same cottage. Always.
Figgy took a picture of Hitch and Sparky with the cottage, and placed the picture among the other ones where he was with the cottage.
The group looked at each others cottages and complemented each other for their work, while Figgy also took a glance to all the cottages with a smile.
"Fantastic! This is the best batch of cottages I've ever seen!" Figgy said with a smile, and then she approached Zipp after she heard her chomping part of her cottage. "They must taste as good as they look!" she added with a laugh.
"Do they? I wouldn't know" Zipp replied with a smirk.
Suddenly, Sparky moved around the table and chomped a little piece of chocolate, then burped a small flame of his dragon fire, that ended up hitting a teapot and turned it into a star plushie.
Of course, Hitch overreacted at that as always. "Oh no, Gran! Your Wishday teapot!" he cried out in worry.
"That old thing? Oh, it's okay––" Figgy tried to assure, but Hitch took that way too personal.
"Okay?! But it's special!" Hitch pointed out in panic. "We've been drinking tea out of that teapot since before I could trot!" he stated, still in panic.
"That's it" Knuckles said, charging up his electrical powers with his eyes turning red. "I'm going to––" he tried to say, but then Sonic got in front of him as he carried Izzy.
"Look at Izzy's face, Knucklehead!" Sonic said in panic, as Izzy just smiled cutely at Knuckles. "Look. At. Her face!" he repeated.
Knuckles stared at Izzy for a few seconds, then his electrical powers disappeared and his eyes became pink again, then he let out a big sigh of relief.
"I needed that... thanks..." Knuckles said in a relaxed tone and a smile.
"Your very welcome, Knuckie!" Izzy replied, nuzzling a bit with the echidna, which made him blush a bit.
"That means it's definitely time for a new one, then" Figgy told Hitch with a smile, while the two of them were completely unaware of what happened with Knuckles, Sonic and Izzy.
Then, she grabbed the star plushie and gave it to Sparky, who purred a bit as he hugged the gift from his great-grandmother.
The rest only said "Aw" at Sparky's attitude.
"So cute!" Izzy said with a smile.
Sunny, however, realized something. "Time? Oh yeah, time!" she said suddenly, looking at the diagram of the Wishing Star moving a bit closer to the Brighthouse. "Uh, Grandma Figgy, this was a fantastic way to kick off our gran holiday tour, but if we want to hit all of our stops, we've gotta get move on!" she stated with a sheepish smile, walking towards the exit of the house.
"Wait! You need treats for the trip!" Figgy told her with a smile.
As Team Sonic and the mares of the group got out of the house, Figgy stopped Hitch as he walked out as well.
"Ah! Granny!" Hitch complained a bit blushed, as Figgy kissed his cheek and took Sparky to kiss his too.
Izzy, on the other hand, noticed the 8 cottages that the whole group made up placed on the window of the house, now with the tiny lights Hitch insisted to look after.
"Wow, look at that!" Izzy said excited.
"It's not a true cookie cottage without any lights" Hitch said with a smile, approaching to the window with his Grandma.
"A shining reminder of our perfect Winter Wishday tradition! Haha!" Figgy said with a smile.
"Well, I know how you like everything to be just so, Grandma" Hitch said with a smirk.
"Yes Hitchie" Figgy said, immediately turning to the rest and winking an eye to them, since she was just playing along.
The mares and Tails giggled, while Sonic facepalmed and Knuckles just rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for the Figgy pudding!" Sunny said with a smile.
"And the book!" Zipp added, smiling as well.
"And everything else!" Pipp said with a smile too.
"Oh, you're very welcome, everypony!" Figgy said, smiling back. "My word, it's really coming down out here, huh?" she said a bit surprised by the amount of snow that kept falling.
"It sure is..." Zipp said with concern.
"Something's wrong here..." Tails said with worry, now standing besides Zipp.
As Figgy was about to go back inside her house, Hitch stopped her and gave her a hug, which Figgy returned with a smile.
"Stay warm! Fly safe!" Figgy said to the group with a smile.
"We will!" all the others replied.
They got back inside the Marestream, with Tails once again taking control on the drivers seat. Izzy pressed the wing button on the tablet, making the vehicle turn on again and lift off the ground.
"Bye!" all the gang sins Zipp said to Figgy.
"Peace out!" Zipp said.
Figgy waved her hoof from the cottage as she held a cup of hot cocoa with the other hoof. As the Marestream got out of sight, Figgy placed a fourth marshmallow on her cocoa and slurped it.
The Marestream reached enough high, and Tails made it boost back to the sky, once again leaving a rainbow trial behind.
Once they were back in the skies, Tails putted on his sunglasses again, while Zipp at his side kept analyzing the book from the inside.
"Ah, I just love the holidays!" Sunny commented with a smile.
"Me too!" Pipp said with a smile as well. "Grandma Figgy is the sweetest!" she added.
"Yes, she is" Hitch assured with pride. "Even if she is pretty particular about traditions" he added with a smirk.
Knuckles 'passed by' and smacked Hitch in the head, since he was heading to the inside of the vehicle to get something.
"Ow! Hey!" Hitch complained, scratching his head while Sparky on his back laughed at him.
"There was something on your hat" Knuckles lied, smirking as he finally got to give Hitch the smack he wanted.
"Yeah, your grandma is so set in her ways!" Zipp said with a smirk and a roll eye, while Tails at her side chuckled a bit.
"Okay. So I know we spent a little longer there than we planned, but we'll definitely still make it back to the Brighthouse to see the Wishing Star together" Sunny stated with a smile.
"We will if I have anything to say about it!" Tails stated with a confident smile. "Full speed ahead!" he said, pressing a button that made the Marestream fly a bit faster, just to stop soon afterwards. "Okay, same speed ahed, I guess. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool" he said with a small smile.
"So what holiday traditions do you have, Izzy?" Sunny asked her with a smile.
"First, I have to place my ornament on the Wishing Tree" Izzy explained on whispers and a relaxed tone. "And then it's the final day of the Wishiehoof Crystal Lighting Ceremony!" she added with excitement.
"Oooh, I love ornaments!" Pipp said excited.
"And I love ceremonies!" Hitch said with a smile, but then the others stared at him blankly, even Tails stopped focusing on the road to look at the sheriff with his sunglasses down and a raised eyebrow. "What? I do" Hitch assured with a confused look towards his friends.
"Me too!" Sparky cheered on his back.
"Well, now that we're hitting the ground, I finally have the chance to look after the perfect spot to the Echidna Tribe Warrior Flag" Knuckles said, arriving again with said flag on his hand.
"Say, Knuckles. What's this tradition of yours with the flag?" Sunny asked curiously.
"The Echidna Tribe disappeared 20 years ago" Knuckles said. "I'm the last of my kind, but I learned all the traditions of my people before they met their doom. Our tradition for Christmas is place this Flag in a quiet area, and then make a small prayer only known by my people. After that, their spirits should show up and give you a reward" he explained.
"A reward?" Pipp questioned.
"What kind of reward?" Hitch asked curiously.
"It changes every year: sometimes is a dance ritual to congratulate your accomplishments in the year, sometimes is some wisdom advice, and sometimes is a small peek to the future" Knuckles explained. "Only I can see it since I'm the echidna of the group, you know" he added with a little smile. "Is the only way I get to talk with my blood relatives, so it's an obligatory tradition" he finished.
Suddenly, Izzy remembered something, and she went over to Zipp's and Tails' side. "Oh, oh, oh! Can we pop by Villa Izzy first?" she asked with a smile. "I have to grab, uh, something..." she added with a nervous smile.
"Mysterious!" Zipp said with a smirk.
"It'll only take two shakes of a pony's tail!" Izzy assured, actually shaking her tails, then she moved to Sunny. "That means not very long" she whispered to her with a smile and a wink.
"Heh... Of course, Izzy..." Sunny said with a nervous smile, since she was very worried that this would waste some time that won't allow them to reach the Brighthouse and miss the Wishing Star.
"Ah yes!" Izzy cheered with a bright smile.
"Cheer up, Sunny" Tails told her with a smile. "It won't take long to get to Bridlewood!" he stated with confidence.
After saying that, he redirected the Marestream to Izzy's house in Bridlewood, and the vehicle now moved towards said location.
Once they made it to Bridlewood, the Marestream landed in front of Izzy's house, and the whole gang sins Tails and Zipp followed Izzy out of the Marestream, as said unicorn hummed excitedly to herself.
Tails stayed behind to turn off the vehicle completely. However, he couldn't help but notice that Zipp was staring at the book she borrowed from grandma Figgy with a concerned look.
"Still thinking about the weird amount of snow in Maretime Bay?" Tails asked to her with worry.
"Yeah..." Zipp confessed. "Something's definitely off, but I can't still figure out what it is..." she said with concern.
"Zipp, we'll figure it out, together" Tails told her with a determinate look. "We just need to find more clues right?" he questioned with a little smile.
Zipp looked at him blushing, but then smirked and looked at him with a flirty look. "Look at that, Mr. Prower. You've got the detective side after all!" she joked on a teasing tone, again moving her tail over Tails face.
Tails face got as red as Knuckles', and he gulped a bit before chuckling nervously. "I-I-I'm just s-saying that we should f-find more evidence! Yeah! That's all!" he said nervously.
Zipp giggled from Tails attitude, and then she grabbed a saddle bag that had her Cutie Mark, then putted the book in there to take it along just in case.
Finally, the whole group got out of the Marestream as Izzy jumped excited towards her cottage.
Meanwhile, the others stayed behind to wait for her and stared at the snow falling from the sky.
"Wow, that's a lot more than a few flakes!" Pipp exclaimed, as she then got her tongue out to let some flakes fell into her mouth.
However, the amount of snow in a tree branch over her fell from the branch.
"Pipp! Move away!" Sonic shouted suddenly, launching himself towards her and moving her aside in time before the mountain of snow fell into her.
However, Knuckles walked out of the Marestream in the moment Sonic moved Pipp aside, so the mountain of snow fell into him.
On the other hand, Sonic stood aside and chuckled a bit at Knuckles receiving the snow instead of Pipp. He was carrying her on bridal style, so she felt a bit embarrassed as she blushed.
"Heh, sorry for that, Little Pipp" Sonic apologized with a sheepish smile and a blush as well.
"I-It's okay!" Pipp replied nervously. "I-I'm fine thanks to you, so..." she pointed out.
As Sonic putted Pipp down carefully, Knuckles got out of the mountain of snow and spitted some out of his mouth with a bored expression. "Well, I usually get this treatment on Ice Cap Zone back home... and I surely didn't missed it at all" he said in annoyance.
But as Pipp giggled at Knuckles' current situation and Sonic shook his head, he suddenly felt someone's sight, so he turned to some trees at the distance, finding nothing.
Unknown for him, Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy were hiding behind a tree, hoping that Sonic didn't noticed any of them.
"Doctor, Sonic and the rest are here" Metal Hitch instructed. "What should we do?" he asked.
"Stuck to the plan and don't attack them" Eggman instructed. "The best way to attack your enemies is when they least expect it!" he stated with confidence.
"Roger that!" Metal Izzy replied cheerfully.
The two robots returned their gaze to the group and were thankful that Sonic didn't seemed to notice them.
Back with the group, Zipp and Tails looked at the snowdrops with worry.
"Do you think all this snow is unusual for Bridlewood, too?" Zipp asked to Tails at her side.
"Maybe it is, maybe is not... We should ask Izzy once she comes back" Tails replied.
And then, Izzy came out of her house by kicking the front door and carrying something in her hooves, also wearing now a scarf on her neck. "Surprise! Hoof-knitted scarves for all of you!" she said excited, levitating the scarves with her magic and handing them over to the rest. "Even for you, Sparky" she said, putting the scarf on the baby dragon.
The scarves of the Mane 5 matched with their hats, while Sonic's scarf was blue with slight pink, Tails' scarf was orange with white lines and Knuckles' scarf had green, red and purple stripes.
"Thank you, Izzy!" Zipp said with a smile.
"Stunning!" Pipp exclaimed.
"Thanks!" Hitch said with a smile as well, while Sparky climbed back to his back.
"Way past cool, Izz!" Sonic exclaimed as he gave his thumbs up.
"Nice detail!" Tails complimented with a smile.
"Amazing work as always, Izzy!" Knuckles said with a smirk.
"Is this traditional Wishiehoof winter wear?" Sunny asked excited, since she loved everything history related.
Hitch at her side looked at her with a smile, finding her attitude really adorable.
"Sure is!" Izzy replied with a smile. "Now bundle up, everypony. We don't want to be chilly fillies!" she stated, walking towards the forest.
"Is it always this chilly?" Zipp asked out of curiosity.
"Like, has this many snow always been falling?" Tails questioned as well.
"Huh..." Izzy said, stopping suddenly and placing a hoof on her chin as she started to think. "Actually... Nope!" she said cheerfully for some reason. "Now, come on! Wishiehoof awaits!" she stated, resuming her walk towards the forest.
However, as the rest followed Izzy, Hitch noticed that Knuckles was walking on the opposite direction. "Uh, Knuckles?" he called out. "The Wishing tree is this way" he pointed out.
"I know, I'll catch up with you later" Knuckles replied. "The prayer for my ancestors has to be done alone. Sorry, Hitch, but I must do this on my own" he apologized. "I'll be back soon, don't worry" he assured, turning around and moving towards the other side of the forest.
"If you say so..." Hitch replied with worry, following the rest of his friends towards the Wishing Tree in Bridlewood.
After walking for a few minutes, Knuckles arrived to a small snowy hill in the heart of the forest.
"This place could be the perfect spot to make the pray" Knuckles stated with a smile.
He moved to the top of said hill and placed the flag very still in the ground. As the wind moved the flag, Knuckles removed his winter hat and scarf, then putted them aside and kneeled in front of the flag. He putted his fists together and closed his eyes, then started to make his prays to honor his tribe.
However, he was so focused on his prayers that he couldn't notice that two robotic machines were looking at him, hiding behind some trees.
"Hey, daddy. That stupid echidna is alone right now" Metal Izzy informed.
"He's even distracted!" Metal Hitch whispered excited. "This is the perfect chance for an ambush––" he tried to suggest.
"No" Eggman instructed directly.
"I'm sorry, what?" Metal Izzy asked, looking at Metal Hitch with a confused look.
"You heard me. You won't attack Knuckles" Eggman stated again. "I don't give a damn if he's alone, you'll let him finish whatever he's doing and you won't attack him when he leaves this place. You won't destroy the flag once he left, either. Understood?!" he questioned with anger.
"B-But doctor! He's alone! He's vulnerable!" Metal Hitch argued. "Why waste a perfect opportunity to attack?!" he asked confused and a bit mad.
"I may be and evil genius, but I know my limits" Eggman explained. "I can't stand Sonic and his crew of friends, but I respect their traditions and the memory of their ancestors. I'm cruel, sure, but not that cruel" he added. "Why do you think I never attack these idiots on holidays? Because even I take a brake during this times. The Wishing Star of this world is the reason why we're working this year, but we're going incognito since I don't need Sonic and his foolish friends to track my every move" he stated with anger. "Now, leave Knuckles alone and focus on Sunny Starscout and her phone, that thing should have the exact location of the Wishing Star. Chop, chop, chop! Get to work!" he instructed, finishing his call with the Metals.
The two robots looked at each other confused.
Metal Izzy was unsure on how to feel: she couldn't understand how Eggman, 'her daddy', hated Sonic and company, yet he also respected their ways and traditions, to the point he won't even bother to attack them.
Metal Hitch though it was foolish to let them go when they could just take them down easily at one shot, but Eggman was very clear before: if he wanted to prove he was worthy of his new upgrades, he had to follow orders, no matter if he liked them or not.
Metal Hitch sighed before looking at Metal Izzy. "Let's go, Izz" he said with a tired tone. "We have to get those coordinates for the doctor" he stated, moving away from Knuckles' place.
Metal Izzy looked back at Knuckles, then sighed as well and followed Metal Hitch without saying another thing.
In the meantime, at the moment Knuckles is paying respects to his ancestors, the others arrived to the Wishing Tree with awed expressions.
"Wow!" Sunny exclaimed.
"Amazing!" Pipp said after a small gasp.
In front of the tree, there were several stands and giant sized gifts around, as the unicorns were talking between each other happily.
"This looks so pretty, Izz! They really went all out" Pipp pointed out with a smile.
"This is a big contrast to our first time in Bridlewood" Sonic pointed out with a smirk. "This place was so dull and grey, and now is really cheerful and colorful!" he said.
"Yeah, it's a unicorn thing!" Izzy said with a proud smile. "Wishiehoof is a day of fun, friendship and frolicking!" she explained, hopping a bit further and then spinning around before facing her friends again. "We are very serious about our frolicking" she stated with a serious expression.
The group walked trough a small crowd of ponies, looking in awe around except for Izzy, since she was used to this kind of stuff.
"Wow, this is really special, Izzy" Sunny said with a smile.
"Just you wait! The best is yet to come" Izzy assured confidently.
The gang saw some unicorns in line as they waited their turn to place their ornaments in the Wishing Tree, that now was much easier thanks to magic.
"Ooh, I gotta get in line to place my ornament!" Izzy said excited, as she took her ornament out of the box she was carrying.
Hitch got a closer look at the ornament and smiled. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked.
"I was about to ask the same question" Pipp added with a smile.
"If you're asking if my ornament for the tree is the tree, then... yep!" Izzy replied.
Her ornament was, indeed, a smaller draw of the Wishing Tree, using some bracelets as the tree leaves.
"I'm gonna put the tree on the tree, how funny is that?!" Izzy asked, putting the ornament back on the box and putting the box aside. "Now, to hang it up––" she tried to add, but then she gasped when she saw someone. "Oh wait, is that Alphabittle?" she asked, as she saw Alphabittle slurping some tea and then moving on with a smile. "Alphabittle Blossomforth!" she called out, walking towards the unicorn.
Alphabittle stopped walking and smirked before turn around. "Izzy Moonbow! You're back!" he greeted her.
"Couldn't miss Wishiehoof!" Izzy pointed out with a smile. "Hey, do you still love games?" she asked curiously.
The two ponies got closer to each other with challenging looks. "Whatcha thinkin'?" Alphabittle asked to Izzy.
"Mmm, charades! I'll bet you my ornament!" Izzy challenged with a confident look, levitating her ornament to the unicorn stallion.
"I don't think you want to do that, Izzy" Alphabittle warned, putting on an even more changeling look.
"Agreed, we have experience with almost loosing something to Alphabittle" Sonic muttered in annoyance, glaring at Sunny at his side, who just chuckled nervously as she remembered how she almost lost the Unicorn Crystal against Alphabittle.
"Sounds like a dare! You're on!" Izzy stated, also putting an even more changeling look.
"It seems that Izzy is down for a double down" Tails pointed out with concern.
Alphabittle raised a hoof, starting the charades. "One word!" Izzy replied. Then, Alphabittle move his hoof like if he was putting something somewhere. "First and only word" Izzy guessed with a confident smirk.
To that point, she guessed right... but her luck didn't lasted forever.
Alphabittle made a move where one of his hoof walked over the other one. "Uh... Gumdrops!" Izzy said. Alphabittle then scratched his ear, and then moved his front hooves in the air. "Rainbow!" she said again, while the unicorn stallion made some weird moves with his hooves at one side and then at the front. "Uh, single-cell organism? Wait, that's three words!" she pointed out to herself after a roll eye. "Uh... caterpillar!" she kept guessing.
As Izzy tried to guess what was Alphabittle trying to say, Knuckles arrived and looked on very confused, not understanding what was going on.
"What did I miss?!" Knuckles whispered to Sonic.
"Izzy bet her ornament to Alphabittle, and spoiler: she's gonna loose it" Sonic whispered back with a bored expression.
"Scrumbo!" Izzy said suddenly.
"Hmm?" Alphabittle said confused.
"That's not even a word..." Izzy muttered to herself before exploding. "Ah! I give up!" she screamed out of stress. "What was it?!" she asked in disappointment.
"It was my own name. Alphabittle" said unicorn said before laughing. "Now cough it up! Respectfully" he told Izzy with a smile. After all, they had a deal.
Izzy levitated her ornament with a sad expression and placed it on Alphabittle's raised hoof.
Izzy huffed, both mad and sad. "Enjoy it!" she told him.
"Oh no, Izzy! Your special ornament" Sunny said with worry.
However, despite seeing what just happened, Knuckles seemed to be pretty calmed about Izzy loosing her ornament, and Sonic noticed that.
"Why are you so––" Sonic tried to ask.
"Three, two, one..." Knuckles counted down with his arms crossed.
"Oh, it's okay!" Izzy told Sunny with a smile. "You know what they say? Anything worth doing is worth doing, twice" she said with an innocent look, levitating an exact replica of her own ornament.
Alphabittle stared in shock at the replica of the ornament before looking back at the one he won from Izzy. "You made two? Why?" he asked confused.
"Don't you always prepare for losing spontaneous games of charades?" Izzy asked innocently.
Alphabittle chuckled before replying. "I don't need to prepare. I'm the best to ever do it!" he said with a proud smile. "Frostyshivers to you, Izzy!" he added, with his horn turning blue for a second, before turning around and leave.
"Frostyshivers back at you, Alphabittle!" Izzy said with a smile, as her horn also turned blue for a moment.
As Zipp took out the book from her saddlebag to take another look, and Tails got close to her, Sonic still looked on confused while Knuckles just smiled.
"You knew that she made another one, didn't you?" Sonic asked to the echidna with a teasing smirk.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I'm not telling you anything, Hedgehog" Knuckles replied with another smirk.
"Izz, I'd really like to get to the tree, even just to snap a few pics in portrait mode" Pipp requested with a sheepish smile, while also taking out her phone.
Izzy squealed excited, which took Pipp off guard. "O-M-Cuties!" she exclaimed, suddenly pulling Pipp away, being caught by Sonic again, since Izzy saw a group of bunnycorns hopping towards her as they squeaked. "How are you?!" she asked to them on a cute tone, but the bunnies squeaked again as they shivered. "Aw. Look at you, you're freezing! I know what you need: some Wishiehoof scarves!" she stated with a smile, bringing out a yarn ball and weaving them to create small scarves to the bunnycorns.
The bunnycorns approached to Hitch and they squeaked at him, since they knew only Hitch could understand them.
"What did they say?" Izzy asked curiously.
"They said, 'Thank you and Frostyshivers'" Hitch replied with a confused look, while the horns of the bunnycorns turned blue for a moment.
"I've been hearing a few unicorns saying that already" Knuckles pointed out. "Say, Izzy, what does that means?" he asked curiously with a raised eyebrow.
Izzy giggled before replying. "It's our Wishiehoof greeting" she explained with a smile. "Try it!" she told Sunny, who was at her other side.
Sunny moved and talked with some unicorns, as their horns turned blue after her greeting. "Frostyshivers! Hey, frostyshivers. Oh, over here! Hi! Also, frostyshivers!" she said with a smile.
"Meh, I've heard weirder greetings" Sonic said with a bored expression.
Meanwhile, Izzy finally gave the scarves to the bunnycorns on their horns, as they hopped happily in a thankful way.
"Enjoy those scarves, and have a happy, happy Wishiehoof, okay, cuties?! Frostyshivers!" Izzy told the bunnycorns with a smile, with her horn turning blue again as the critters hopped away and Izzy walked away, humming to herself.
Sunny, however, grew a bit worried as she saw that the Wishing Star was getting close to the Crystal Brighthouse.
Unknown for her, in a distant tree behind her, a camera zoomed and took a better glance at the diagram.
"Daddy!" Metal Izzy called on whispers.
"For the last time, Izzy, stop calling me like that!" Eggman ordered with annoyance.
Metal Izzy rolled her eyes before continuing. "We have the location! It was very obvious this whole time!" she stated.
"Oh, really?" Eggman said on a sarcastic tone. "And what this place must be?" he asked.
"Literally above the Crystal Brighthouse" Metal Hitch replied instead.
"... Okay... It is kind of obvious... Now I feel like a fool..." Eggman said with a dead tone. "But it doesn't matter! Now that we have the location, keep an eye on Team Sonic and the Mane 5" he instructed. "I'll prepare the capture device for the Wishing Star. Once they arrive to their next stop, contact me immediately!" he stated.
"Roger that, doctor" Metal Hitch replied.
Back with the group, Izzy kept trotting as she hummed, until somepony cleared her throat in front of her and made her gasp and step back startled.
"Izzy... What it is...zzy?" Onyx greeted her with a chill tone and look, while Jasper at her side touched the bongos for some percussion.
"Oh no..." Sunny said with a bored expression.
"This is going to take a while, and I absolutely hate it" Sonic muttered with a bored expression as well.
Izzy laughed a bit before replying. "Hi, Onyx! Pretty snowy day, huh?" she asked with a smile.
"It's far out. I haven't seen anything like this in..." Onyx tried to say, but she stopped for a moment to think on a proper word to rhyme, while Izzy waited with a smile, the rest looked on nervously and awkwardly and Sonic had a twitchy eye since this was taking too long, and he hated anything that was too slow for his liking. "Ever, ever, ever..." Onyx finished on a chill tone again, with Jasper touching the bongos for some percussion again.
"Neither have I!" Izzy said, now a bit worried.
"Do you wanna hear my new Wishiehoof poem? Wrote it just for today" Onyx said with a relaxed smile.
"GOD, PLEASE NO!" Sonic shouted desperately.
"No!" Hitch said as well, but then he cleared his throat before keep going. "No way. Too slow" he added with concern.
"What's that? You wanna hear it too? Okay" Onyx stated, never leaving that relaxed tone of hers.
"Tails, please create a gun and shot me already" Sonic begged with an anxious look.
"Ugh, drama king" Tails said with a bored expression and an eye roll.
"I call this one, 'Requiem for the fallen snow'" Onyx stated, while Jasper played the percussion with his bongos. "What are these flakes my eyes do see? What is this chill coming over me? Is this some... enchanted winter fan-ta-sy? Snowpony, come and set me... Free, free, free..." she started to recite, while Jasper kept playing his bongos. "The flakes fall down, the trees don't wither. Colts and mares, I wish you... Frostyshivers" she finished.
Once Jasper stopped playing, both his and Onyx's horn shone in blue, as they smirked to the Mane 5 and Team Sonic.
Let's just say that they were speechless. Even Sonic, who didn't wanted to hear this at first, got a 'bro is flabbergasted' expression at the poem.
Finally, Pipp was the first one to come out of the shocked trance. "I... I don't know what to say..." she said astonished.
"I don't remember life before that poem" Hitch exclaimed, while Sparky on his back grunted, probably meaning that he didn't liked the poem at all.
"Wow... that was deeper than it had any right to be" Tails said with an amazed expression.
"I got no idea what I just heard... but somehow I feel flabbergasted" Sonic replied.
"I loved it!" Izzy said with a cheery smile. "It kinda felt a bit short, though" she pointed out.
"Well, I'm workshopping more verses at the open mic in a minute. You should come" Onyx suggested.
"We'd love to! But... we have, um, a previous obligation" Sunny said suddenly with a sheepish smile. "Bye, Onyx!" she said with a wave of her hoof. "You've got a date with a tree, buddy!" she told to Izzy, pushing her towards the Wishing Tree while Izzy just giggled.
"Alright!" Izzy replied with a smile. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she said between laughs.
The group moved towards the tree once again to make Izzy some company as she waited her turn to place her ornament on the tree.
"So what makes this tree so special?" Sunny asked out of curiosity.
"It just always has been" Izzy started to explain. "Many unicorns believe it has mystical properties!" she added.
Pipp, who got at her side, gasped when she mentioned that. "Like what?" she questioned.
"It's said that the Wishing Tree can get rid of the Jinxies" Izzy explained. "I don't know if it's true, but this tree is definitely one-of-a-kind" she stated, now looking at the tree and hopping towards it as she levitated her ornament. "Here I go!" she said with a cheery smile.
She walked towards the tree and placed her ornament among other ones, while a unicorn gave Zipp, Pipp and Tails some ornaments so they could place them at the top of the tree as well. They immediately took fly and placed the ornaments on a tree branch.
"Say, Knuckles" Sonic called out. "Just out of curiosity: did you got any message from your ancestors on your prayer?" he asked.
"I was sure that I will get no message since this isn't Angel Island... but I got surprised when I heard the spirit of Pachacamac, and it told me that we should be prepared for any eventuality in the next few hours" Knuckles confessed with a frown and worry.
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked, frowning back and worrying as well.
"That perhaps, we shouldn't let our guard down, no matter what" Knuckles replied concerned.
Once Zipp, Pipp and Tails landed back on the ground, they all heard a gong chiming, and everyone but the other unicorns, Izzy, Zipp and Sonic ducked down to avoid the sound.
"What does that mean?" Zipp asked to Izzy.
Izzy squealed excited before replying with a big and bright smile. "The final Crystal Lighting Ceremony is about to begin!" she explained excited, while the unicorns gathered around a giant crystal.
Two old unicorns ducked and place their horns on the snow, then a blue trial moved towards the crystals, making them shine bright, while the unicorns around gasped in awe.
"Happy Wishiehoof, Everypony!" the old unicorn mare said as she waved her hoof with a smile.
"Frostyshivers to all!" the old unicorn stallion said with a smile.
None of the old unicorns noticed their horns still glowing in blue.
"Frostyshivers! Frostyshivers to you! Frostyshivers to you! Frostyshivers to everypony!" one of the unicorns among the crowd said, while his horn, and the horns of the unicorns he greeted, glow in color blue.
Team Sonic and the Mane 5 watched in awe at the sky, but then Sunny got her phone out and panicked. "Oh, I hate to leave, but it's time" she stated with concern. "To the Marestream, crew!" she instructed.
"Tails, allow me to drive this time!" Sonic told him.
"What?! Why?!" Tails asked with concern.
"You wanna get there fast or wait for the snow flakes to leave?!" Sonic questioned with a frown.
"Ugh! Fine! But don't get too excited!" Tails begged with a frown as well.
However, as the rest moved towards the vehicle, Izzy saw somebody and smiled. "Oh, why, it's the kindly mayor's secretary who always––" she tried to say, but...
"Grab her!" Sunny shouted desperately, while Knuckles got back and grabbed Izzy, then moved back to the Marestream.
"I was only gonna say a quick hello!" Izzy complained.
The entire group was screaming now that Sonic was the one driving the Marestream, mainly because of how wildly he lifted the vehicle from the ground.
However, they were on a hurry, so on Sonic's mind, he was only doing what had to be done if they wanted to reach Zephyr Heights in time.
"Everybody, hold onto your holiday hats!" Sonic warned, now placing his winter glasses over his eyes and smirking. "Time to reach some super sonic speed on this thing!" he stated confidently.
"Whoa!" Pipp exclaimed, as she moved towards the driver's cabin.
Since a storm started outside, the Marestream was shacking a lot, which caused everyone else to hang on from wherever they could. Even Sparky started to jump in the air and almost crashed into the ground, if it wasn't because of Hitch, who caught him at the last minute.
"Please remind me why did you allowed him to drive!" Knuckles shouted to Tails in anger.
"I'm a pushover, okay?!" Tails complained as he tried to stay in the floor.
"Hey, Sonic, can you see okay? All I see is a wall of white" Pipp pointed out, since there was snowing a lot.
"The snow is too thick!" Sunny exclaimed with worry.
"Freaking out won't get us anywhere!" Sonic stated with anger, then relaxed a bit. "Just gotta stay chill, and everything will be fine" he added with a confident smirk.
"How can we stay chill?!" Pipp cried out. "Look at all that ice!" she pointed to the wings of the Marestream, that were now freezing and destabilizing the vehicle.
"Okay, maybe we should freak out a little bit..." Sonic pointed out, putting his winter glasses back on his forehead.
"Just a little bit?!" Pipp cried out again.
Then, Izzy suddenly gasped. "I know how to calm us down!" she said, throwing a teapot for some reason. "We just have to think calm thoughts and try as hard as we can to concentrate on what we want to happen!" she explained with a cheery smile. So think about a safe landing in Zephyr Heights" she stated.
"And this works?" Tails asked confused, not really convinced since this wasn't logical at all.
"It's an old unicorn trick!" Izzy said with a sheepish smile, not so sure anymore. "Worth a shot, am I right?" she asked.
"That is the dumbest thing I ever heard!" Knuckles said with a frown. "And somehow, you're still going to prove that it can work, so let's just try it out already!" he shouted desperately.
"Well, we got nothing but our lives to loose, so give it all that you got, guys!" Sonic shouted from the driver's seat.
"Everypony visualize the fancy-schmancy Royal Gates of Zephyr Heights!" Izzy said, now placing her hooves on her head.
Sunny, Hitch, Sparky and Pipp started to do the same as Izzy. Even Knuckles and Zipp were doing it, for Tails' surprise and annoyance.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this..." Tails complained, but he ended up doing the same as his friends anyways.
"Palace, sweet palace!" Pipp started to say loudly, but then a though came into her mind. "Oh, oh, do you think the decorations will be sparkly?" she questioned with a smile.
"Concentrate!" Sunny scolded her, which also made Pipp fell if it wasn't because of Sonic, who grabbed her hoof just in time, as she got back to the task of visualizing a safe landing.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Sonic groaned, not noticing that Sunny's lantern started to glow in purple, as the entire Marestream got surrounded by a purple aura.
As the rest kept concentrating, the lamp shone brighter, and Sonic couldn't help but smile when he saw Zephyr Heights on the distance.
"There it is!" Sonic cheered. "We're actually gonna make it!" he said with a big smile.
Sonic drove the Marestream around the castle before finally landing the vehicle on the backyard of the castle.
Inside the Marestream, Izzy was the first one to open her eyes and realize that they already landed.
The next one was Sunny. "Woo-hoo! Ha-ha!" she cheered with a smile.
Then, Pipp opened her eyes as well. "Oh! Oh! Ah, how's my hair?" she asked with concern.
"Pretty as always, Princess Petals" Sonic told her with a flirty tone and a wink, who caused Pipp to blush slightly.
"I can't believe that worked!" Hitch cheered.
"Me neither, but who cares?! We made it!" Knuckles cheered.
"I'm calling my lawyers after the special's over..." Tails muttered to himself. "This lack of logical sense is going to make me sick..." he groaned.
"We did it!" Zipp cheered, suddenly giving Tails a hug and laughing, while Tails' face turned fully red and he chuckled nervously. "I don't give credit to that!" she added.
"Me neither, but there's no time to celebrate here" Sunny said, running towards the driver's cabin and grabbing her lamp.
"Right, we've got to window shop with Mom, pronto. In-and-out job, lickity split" Pipp said with a smile, arriving along Sonic with the others as Zipp let Tails go.
"And then we've gotta get ready for the..." Zipp started to say with a bored expression, while Pipp hopped excited.
"Zephyr Heights Wishentine Royal Carousel Concert!" both Zipp and Pipp said, although Zipp said in a dead tone and Pipp said it excited.
"Seriously, who manages the names on your council? Because I would like to have a talk with them about how wrong it is to name that thing like that" Sonic complained with a bored expression.
"Well, we'll go with you, girls, but then we'll split on the city" Tails said with a smile. "We still have to look after the things for Longclaw's memorial tree. Right, Sonic?" he asked him.
"Yup!" Sonic replied with a smirk.
"What should we do in the meantime?" Sunny asked.
"Treat yourselves, of course!" Pipp said, taking out 7 tickets from her wing.
"VIP Royal Luxury box tickets to the concert!" Zipp explained with a smile. "You can relax while we get ready" she stated.
"So that's it? We'll just sit around and do nothing?" Knuckles complained.
"You can help yourselves to the complimentary gourmet food" Pipp pointed out with a smirk.
Knuckles face turned into a happy smile immediately after Pipp said 'food'. "Now, what kind of friend would I be if I rejected such a generous act?" he said, carefully taking the tickets from Pipp's hoof.
Knuckles gave each one of the crew their respective ticket, with Sonic putting it aside on his quills and Tails doing the same on his tails.
"Let's go, ponies! We've still got a star to wish on later" Sunny stated with a smile.
Then, the Mane 5 gathered their hooves while Team Sonic placed their fists.
"One, two, three..." Izzy counted down.
"Wishentine!" they all cheered in excitement, raising their hooves and hands in the air.
However, as they got out of the Marestream, they didn't noticed two robotic figures watching over them.
"Doctor" Metal Hitch called out. "They're here" he reported.
"Excellent!" Eggman stated. "I'm on my way" he informed to the robots.
In Zephyr Heights, Queen Haven walked with her daughters and Cloudpuff on the streets, with two pegasi guards - amazingly not Zoom nor Thunder - following the Royal Family with their shopping on their backs.
"Come, Cloudpuff. Pick up those precious paws!" Haven called out to the dog, who was wearing a purple winter hat, as he flew towards Haven and landed on her back. "Don't dawdle" she told him with a smile, while Zipp and Pipp looked at each other with strange looks. "Oh! Darlings! Come look at this! " she called out to her daughters with excitement while looking to something on a shop. "Crandall's has outdone themselves!" she added.
What she was looking at was at three cardboard ponies decorating a fireplace, which made her excited for some reason.
Zipp rolled her eyes before giving a fake smile. "Wow, Mom, that was amazing. Very festive! Yup. So incredible, I don't think it can be outdone" she said in a fast paste, which confused Haven at first, but then she simply smiled. "Why bother looking at anything else?" she added, trying to keep her mother there to waste time before the performance.
"What's next?" Pipp asked suddenly, and then she saw something that made her gasp. "Ohh! They're doing a maple syrup tasting at Outingdale's!" she exclaimed with a smile.
"Dibs on first sample!" Zipp challenged, as she and Pipp flew quickly towards Outingdale's, while Haven looked at them with a raised eyebrow, not getting why they were so on a hurry.
Suddenly, a blue blur passed by, as well as a yellow blur, which Haven didn't noticed because of how fast they were going. However, said blurs returned and revealed themselves to be Sonic and Tails, as they smiled to the Queen of Zephyr Heights.
"Haven!" Sonic greeted cheerfully with a reverence.
"Your highness!" Tails greeted as well, removing his winter hat in sign of respect.
"Greetings, Sonic, Tails!" Haven said with a smile. "You two seem to be in a hurry" she pointed out.
"Yeah, well, we're getting our shopping as fast as we can" Sonic explained. "And that memorial tree for Longclaw won't buy itself" he added on a joking tone.
"We gotta hurry, or else Sunny would make us sleep either in the couch or the snow..." Tails said with a sheepish smile and an anxious look. "Good to see you, majesty! See ya later" he said with a cheery smile, moving away to keep going with the shopping.
"Joyous Wishentine, Haven!" Sonic said with a smirk, now following Tails.
"Joyous Wishentine to you too, dear!" Haven replied with a small giggle.
"Come on, Mom!" Zipp called out, since neither she nor Pipp noticed Sonic and Tails talking with Haven. "Get your syrup on!" she added.
"Hurry!" Pipp called out as well with excitement.
Haven tried to keep up with her daughters, but of course, she wasn't as young as them, and she started to pant exhausted.
"Oh my... Girls, slow down!" Haven begged with an exhausted tone. "Shopping isn't a race, it's a marathon!" she pointed out with a smile.
"Oh, uh, well, um... We, uh..." Pipp said nervously, trying to think on an excuse of why they were such on a hurry.
"We just want to make the most of our Wishentine with you" Zipp decided to step in with a more normal smile, although she was also very nervous.
"Yeah! We'd rather spend less time at more places than more time at less places!" Pipp added, now on a more convincing tone.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense" Haven said after thinking about it, but then she gasped and pointed to a certain shop. "Oh my hoofness, look! It's us!" she said excited, looking at three cardboard versions of herself, Zipp and Pipp on the window of a shop.
Zipp looked on with a bored expression, while Pipp just got confused at first before squealing excited herself and walking towards her. Zipp groaned in annoyance and followed Pipp, none of them noticing two things:
The first one; that one of the guards with the gifts got weak legs and fell into the ground, trowing the gifts in the process. The second one; that Sonic and Tails were running crazily around Zephyr Heights as they made their shopping, and then crashing against each other accidentally, with Sonic throwing some giant, golden, spinning rings.
They both got up and Tails kept going, while Sonic touched the rings he dropped, as said rings turned into some kind of golden dust and got inside of him, then he kept shopping as well.
Back with the royals, Zipp couldn't help but take a glance at a snowdrop ornament on the same window Haven and Pipp were staring at.
"Hey, Mom, do you know any Wishentine pony-tales about snow?" Zipp asked curiously.
However, Haven didn't seemed to be paying her many attention, since she suddenly wrapped her and Pipp with her wings and bring them close to take a selfie. "Oh girls, come. We simply must take a selfie with our self-ies!" she stated, taking out her phone and smiling, while Zipp smiled sheepishly and Pipp made a duck face for some reason.
In front of them, a few meters away, Sonic and Tails were now walking towards the Marestream with all of their shopping, with each one of them carrying a small pile of things.
"At least we got all the stuff" Sonic said. "Also, I think our little crash earlier made me loose two rings or more..." he added with concern.
"Sorry about that!" Tails apologized.
At the VIP area of the place were Zipp and Pipp will perform, Sunny, Izzy and Hitch felt awed by the place, while Knuckles just lay on the couch he was sitting with Izzy with his eyes closed and his legs crossed.
At that moment, both Zoom and Thunder arrived with the guests, holding plates with sandwiches. "Fizziewick sandwiches?" Thunder asked, kneeling in front of Sunny, Hitch and Sparky while showing the plate.
Sparky immediately grabbed one of the sandwiches and chomped it, while Hitch just stared at the plate confused and Sunny looked on curiously.
"Whoa, what are those?!" Izzy asked in excitement to Zoom, who also approached with the plate towards her and Knuckles.
"That's just what Thunder calls cucumber sandwiches" Zoom explained with a bored expression.
"Oh, that's creative!" Izzy said with a smile, levitating one of the sandwiches and eating it entirely.
"Well, I used to call grapes 'sacred banquets from the gods', so I guess I kinda understand him" Knuckles said, still with his eyes closed.
At that moment, Sonic and Tails entered to the room to take a seat.
"Sup, guys!" Sonic greeted with a smirk. "Sorry it took us a bit longer than expected, but someone forgot that we had to print a picture of Longclaw and then frame it" he explained, looking at Tails with a frown.
"You're always in charge of the list, but knowing that if we didn't make it here in time we'll pretty much sleep in the snow, I had to hurry!" Tails defended himself.
"You could have just gave your list to the sisters, Hedgehog" Knuckles said with a bored expression, now opening his eyes and staring blankly at Sonic and Tails. "I'm pretty sure your 'Little Pipp' wouldn't mind, he he he" he added with a mocking smirk.
However, both Sonic and Tails stared at him on a very creepy way, and Knuckles smile faded as his eyes opened a bit more, and now he started to feel scared and unsafe.
Sonic got up from his place and approached to him. "First and last warning, Knuckles: Never make fun of Pipp being short ever again in your life if you still wanna be able to use those knuckles of yours. Understood?" he warned the echidna with a cold glare - combined with blue electrical eyes - and a serious voice, while Knuckles gulped and nodded.
"As for the list thing: the whole meaning is to get the things with our own effort and our own money, Knucklehead" Tails explained with a bored expression. "Is the way Longclaw used to do it before she left... In a way, we're just honoring her tradition by doing the same" he added a bit saddened.
"In other words: that's by far the stupidest suggestion you have made so far, Knux" Sonic added with a bored expression. "And you suggested to throw Rouge from one of the cliffs of Angel Island, despite knowing she has wings to fly" he reminded.
"Not my brightest idea, I recognize it" Knuckles agreed with Sonic and Tails.
Suddenly, as Izzy picked up another sandwich, Sunny came to her with sparkling eyes. "Oh, Izzy, look!" she said, now pointing at a table in front of the couches. "There's even presents for us?! Wow, so unexpected!" she said with a smile.
"Uh, Sunny?" Tails called out with a confused look. "Actually, those boxes seem to be just for––" he tried to point out.
"Hitch, get in on this!" Sunny called out to the stallion.
"Huh?" Hitch said, trying to chomp on his sandwich, but of course, when it comes to Sunny, she became his only focus.
Sunny opened one of the gifts with a huge smile, that faded away once she saw there was nothing on them.
"Oh... They're empty" Izzy pointed out with disappointment.
"Uh..." Zoom said, not sure on what to say.
"Oh, those are just..." Thunder began, trying to explain that those boxes were just to decorate the place, but then the three ponies gave sad puppy faces to Zoom and Thunder. "Uh, uh, well... You see..." he said nervously, while Team Sonic behind of the three ponies just made signs with their hands, trying to tell the two pegasi guards to play along and come up with something.
"They're full of air!" Zoom said suddenly with a nervous tone. "Um, air from clouds! Special clouds!" she added.
The three ponies gasped in amazement, while Team Sonic just sighed on relief.
"That's right, clouds! It's a traditional pegasus gift" Thunder added, playing along with Zoom.
"How fascinating! And clever!" Sunny said with a smile, grabbing a box and taking a better look at it. "What kind of clouds? Nimbus? Cumulonimbus? Cirrus? Raincloud?" she questioned.
"Nah, that doesn't make sense" Izzy said with a frown, causing Zoom, Thunder and Team Sonic to panic... until she spoke again. "The box would leak" she said, and then laughed, causing Zoom, Thunder and Team Sonic to sigh on relief again.
Sunny laughed along with Izzy, and that action made Hitch to look only at Sunny with a smile, thing that didn't went unnoticed by Sonic and Tails.
"One of these days, we're locking up this two in a room and won't get them out until they confess to each other" Tails muttered to Sonic with a smirk.
"Oh, definitely!" Sonic stated, smirking back at Tails.
"What's your favorite kind of cloud?" Sunny asked to Izzy.
"Good question" Izzy said, thinking on her answer.
As she thought of that, Zoom and Thunder turned around to leave them. "That was a really good cover" Zoom whispered to Thunder with a smirk.
"Oh, you too" Thunder replied and smirked back. "I just rolled with it" he added.
"I don't know why we didn't just tell them these are decorations" Zoom questioned.
"Well, they seemed so excited" Thunder pointed out.
"They really did" Zoom said with a smile.
"What do you got there?" Sunny asked to Hitch, as he opened another box.
"Look, more clouds!" Hitch cheered.
"They're probably too stupid or too innocent. Either way, better not ruin the illusion to them, you know" Knuckles muttered to Sonic and Tails, while his two friends nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, the shopping experience for the sisters wasn't that exciting... at least for Queen Haven, who was panting a lot, and the guards with them, since they had to carry all the shopping bags and boxes.
"Mom, look at that!" Zipp exclaimed, as she and Pipp literally just passed by a shop. "And that!" she exclaimed again. "Wow!" she exclaimed once again.
"Yeah, it's even more impressive if you look at it while flying by it at top speed!" Pipp added, as she and Zipp kept flying faster.
Heaven stopped following to catch her breath, while Cloudpuff barked at the sisters for leaving their mother behind.
"Maybe Sonic isn't that good of an influence after all..." Haven said tiredly, but of course, she didn't mean it, she was just tired of Zipp and Pipp's sudden speedster attitude. "Alright, that's enough ganders, girls. I can hardly keep up!" she called out to her daughters with an eye roll.
And then, Dazzle appeared on one of the giant screens of the city to make an announcement. "Later this evening on ZBS, the Zephyr Heights Royal Wishentine Carousel Concert featuring Princesses Pipp and Zipp and the royal chamber choir!" he announced.
Haven squealed in excitement at the announcement. "Come along, my dears!" she called out to Zipp and Pipp, as the sisters landed in front of their mother. "It's time to head to the concert hall! We need extra rehearsal time" she stated.
"Why?" Zipp asked with suspicion.
"I pulled some strings" Haven confessed with a smile. "You've got several more numbers in the concert. Which means... the show is twice as long as usual!" she revealed in excitement.
Excitement that her daughters didn't shared, as they looked at each other in panic and worry. Then, their Mom gave them the concert script, which was longer than it should, as Zipp groaned in worry and Pipp chuckled nervously.
An hour later, more or less, the remaining of the Mane 5, Sparky and Team Sonic were still enjoying the VIP treatment as they waited for the concert to begin.
Both Izzy and Sunny took some desserts from a plate Thunder was carrying, while Hitch slurped from a tea cup. Team Sonic where not eating, but Sonic and Knuckles were also slurping a bit from tea cups, while Tails was reading the book Zipp borrowed from Grandma Figgy, since she was busy with her stuff to keep investigating, so it was up to him now.
"I gotta say, this is the life!" Hitch stated with a smirk, laying a bit more on the couch he was sitting on with Sunny and Sparky.
Sonic, who was just waiting for the show to start and stare at Pipp the whole time (no, he didn't deny it), noticed Tails looking trough the book with a concentrated look.
"Everything okay, partner?" Sonic asked to him with a bit of concern.
"Uh-huh" Tails replied, not really paying attention to Sonic.
Sonic kinda knew that Tails wanted to help out Zipp after he had a complicated situation with her a few months ago, but he could sense that something else was going on.
Suddenly, the lights went out, and Zoom and Thunder placed their plates down and stood on military pose with serious expressions, confusing the others a lot. Even Tails finally got his sight off the book since there wasn't enough light to read it.
Music from trumpets started to play as Queen Haven appeared on the stage, which made the crowd of ponies to cheer up and stomp their hooves in excitement.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Haven called out to the crowd with a smile. "Thank you all so much for braving the snow to attend to our joyous and wonderful, wondrous and joyful Zephyr Heights Wishentine Royal Carousel Concert!" she announced.
The whole crowd of ponies started to cheer after that. Even the gang was cheering up on the VIP area.
"You're in for a treat! Tonight's show will be extra special" Haven stated with a smile. "We will be taking you trough the entire history of Wishentines of yestermoon" she explained, while one of the ponies of the royal chamber choir tried to read the script on a last minute move. "Now, we will begin with Act One of six––" Haven tried to announce.
However, Sunny, who was slurping some tea, spitted it out after Haven said that there will be six acts instead of the usual three. "Six?!" she shouted in panic, with her voice echoing around all the stage.
"Yes, six!" Haven replied with excitement.
"Seems like we'll be here for a while" Knuckles said with a bored expression.
"Now, it is my pleasure to introduce our very own royal orchestra, chamber choir and my talented daughters, Princesses Pipp Petals and Zephyrina Storm!" Haven announced with a proud smile, moving aside to let the crowd take a look at the princesses.
Pipp, aside from her usual tiara, was now also wearing a golden dress and golden bracelets in all her hooves. Zipp was, for the very first time, also wearing a tiara, a golden one with blue gems around, as well as a purple variation of Pipp's dress, and the same golden bracelets she had.
The two sisters started to dance, as they moved gracefully around the stage.
The fire is glowing Friendship is flowing It's the feeling of knowing It will soon be Wishentine
As they started to sing and fly around, the crowd of ponies looked in awe at the sisters performance.
Hooves on the rooftop The ringing of the bells Lights shining bright On the carousel
As for the gang, Sunny, Izzy, Hitch and Knuckles looked on in awe as well, while Sparky fas falling asleep because of the rhythm of the song. But what about Sonic and Tails? Well...
Sonic couldn't help but blush slightly at Pipp's look. For him, she was cute and gorgeous by just existing already, yet somehow she always impressed him in new ways he thought were not even possible.
"Yup. Still as pretty as the first day" Sonic said with a little smile. "But I gotta say, seeing Zipp wearing a tiara feels kinda wrong" he added with a teasing tone.
"I get ya" Hitch said "It really seems a bit off on her" he pointed out, while the others sins Tails nodded in agreement.
"What do you think, Tails? Isn't it kinda weird to see her with a tiara at all?" Sonic questioned to Tails.
However, Tails wasn't sitting at his side anymore when he asked that, which took him completely off guard. He looked around for him, until he found Tails hanging on the border of the railing of the VIP area, as he moved his tails excited... like a dog, and Tails never did that before, so it just concerned Sonic even more.
"Uh, Tails?" Sonic called out again, arriving at his side.
Joyous, joyous Wishentine Joyous, joyous Wishentine The twinkling wishing star that shines A joyous, joyous Wishentine
He never expected what he saw next: Tails' cheeks were blushing, his eyes were sparkling and he was staring at something on the stage... or rather, someone.
Sonic followed his gaze: at first, he though he was looking at someone in the crowd, but then noticed that his sight was a bit higher than that, so he followed it again and ended up seeing Zipp as she kept singing and dancing with Pipp on the stage.
Sonic felt confused at first, not getting why he was staring at Zipp like that... and then reality hit him like a train.
Months ago, Zipp told him something about feeling weird whenever she was around Tails, or even when he complimented her or talked to her on a more careful way. She said that instead of feeling the urge to tell him to stop, she allowed him to keep acting like that because she enjoyed it.
And now that he thought about it, Zipp and Tails have been at each other's side the whole day. He even saw Zipp blushing - yes, Zipp blushing - around him a few times. And now, Tails was investigating something with her and was acting like this towards her performance.
Connecting two and two wasn't any difficult this time, because the conclusion was very obvious: Zipp had a crush on Tails, and now it seemed like Tails had a crush on Zipp as well.
Sonic smiled a bit... sad. Why? Because he knew that, if Tails was already experimenting this kind of emotions, then it meant he was maturing faster than he would have liked to.
"You're growing up, lil' bro..." Sonic told him with a sad smile, although Tails didn't seemed to hear since he was really focused on Zipp. "And I couldn't be more proud of you" he added.
Since Tails was so lost on Zipp, he decided to get lost on Pipp as well, and gosh, she was espectacular.
After 6 acts, the only ones awake were Sonic and Tails, since they were really into the princesses performance.
Al the others, while interested at first, fell asleep at the third act. Knuckles was snoring, and Izzy felt asleep on his shoulder, also snoring.
Sunny tried to stay awake, but it was so difficult, so she made herself comfortable on Hitch's shoulder, who was asleep and grabbing the sleepy Sparky.
But they were not the only ones, because as Zipp and Pipp sang, they were also falling asleep.
Sleigh bells are ringing Young ponies singing The season is bringing The joy of Wishentine
The gifts that we share As our hearts all swell As we go round and round On the carousel
A joyous, joyous Wishentine
Some members of the crowd managed to wake up and clap with their hooves to hide the fact that they fell asleep.
Sonic and Tails were the only ones who clapped properly in excitement, and it was their clapping what woke the rest of their friends up.
"It finally finished?" Knuckles asked, stretching out tiredly.
"That felt like an eternity!" Hitch exclaimed.
"It was getting pretty exhausting after Act 3" Sunny pointed out.
"It was beautiful" both Sonic and Tails said with smiles, and Tails was still blushing. Also, his tails were making the shape of a heart.
"Seems like you two enjoyed the show" Izzy said with a smile.
"What? Oh, the show. Nah, that was pretty boring, to tell the truth" Sonic said in a casual tone. "I was talking about Pipp. She was beautiful!" he pointed out with a little smile and a blush.
"I was talking about––" Tails was about to say, but as soon as he realized what he wanted to say, he quickly corrected himself. "The show! Yeah! The show!" he shouted with a sheepish smile.
"Uh-huh..." Knuckles said, not really convinced on Tails' answer.
Meanwhile, Haven also clapped her Hooves at the performance, since she didn't fell asleep either.
Then, her daughters arrived at her side. "Love you, Mom!" Zipp exclaimed, as she gave Haven a hug. "This was, uh... Amazing! Yeah! Just great" she said, then flying towards the backstage.
"Yes! So glad we could celebrate Wishentine with you! Kisses!" Pipp exclaimed, following Zipp to the backstage.
"Excuse me, where do you two think you're going in this snowfall?" Haven asked with a concerned look.
"Maretime Bay! To see the Wishing Star" Pipp replied, once again wearing her holiday hat and the scarf Izzy gave to her and her friends and then running towards the Marestream to meet the rest.
"We promised Sunny!" Zipp added, following Pipp.
Haven blinked a bit before smiling. "Joyous Wishentine, my darlings" she said to her daughters.
"Aww. Thank you, Highness" Thunder said with a smile, as he arrived suddenly with Zoom.
"Ugh!" Haven said with an eye roll, since she wasn't talking to them.
Meanwhile, the gang was waiting outside for the sisters to come back, with Sunny holding her lamp on her hoof.
"Say, Tails" Knuckles called out on a teasing tone.
"Hmm?" Tails said, not really listening since he was again paying attention to the book.
"You seemed to be really interested on the 'show'. Care to elaborate?" Knuckles asked with a mocking tone and a smirk.
Tails just lifted up his sigh from the book and looked at Knuckles with a bored expression.
"I found the show really interesting?" Tails replied with a raised eyebrow. "Come on, guys. The show wasn't that bad. I liked it" he added, now talking to everyone in general.
"Are you sure you're talking about the show?" Izzy asked, also with a teasing smirk.
"Yeah, I'm talking about the show" Tails said with a confused look.
"Yeah~ A show called 'Princess Zephyrina Storm'~" Sonic said with a chuckle and a teasing tone.
Tails' eyes widened, and his face became entirely red after that. It didn't took long for the ponies in the group to realize as they gasped, while Sonic just chuckled again and Knuckles let out a laugh.
"No way!" Sunny said in excitement.
"Okay, I didn't saw that one coming!" Hitch said with a smile.
"The little guy is in looooove~" Knuckles said with a mocking tone.
"G-Guys! I-It's not that!" Tails said nervously, with his blush now limiting only to his cheeks. "I-I mean, yeah, Zipp can be elegant when she wants too, s-she's pretty smart, a-and I think she looked beautiful on that dress, a-and––" he said unconsciously.
"Dude, you are unconsciously flying" Sonic said with a smirk.
"What?!" Tails said in panic, realizing that he was, indeed, flying off the ground by accident.
His Tails stopped suddenly, and he felt into the snowy ground, landing on his face. He got his face off the snow with a bored expression and his cheeks puffed.
"Time to face it, lil' bro: You like Zipp!" Sonic said in a teasing tone, as he helped him to stand up.
"Aww, Tails! This is so adorable! You are so adorable!" Izzy said, hopping around the fox.
"I am not adorable!" Tails complained with a slight blush again.
"Aww!" both Sunny and Izzy said, while Hitch and Knuckles just chuckled.
"UGH!" Tails groaned in annoyance.
"The sooner you accept you have a crush on Zipp, the sooner we'll stop mocking you around, partner..." Sonic told him with a smirk. "... That much" he added in a mocking tone, while Tails just gave him a bored expression.
Then, the doors of the palace opened, and the sisters arrived at fast paste.
"We're here! We're here!" Zipp said, stopping and taking a moment to catch her breath.
"Sorry that took so long, Sunny!" Pipp apologized. "We had no idea it would be six acts" she added with a guilty tone and expression.
"It's okay!" Sunny assured with a smile.
"You girls were stunning!" Sonic complimented with a smile.
"You two sang beautifully!" Tails added as well.
"Oh yeah! Zephyr Heights really knows hot to put on a show!" Hitch complimented as well.
"It was pretty nice, I admit it" Knuckles said with a normal smile.
"The part where you all flew around in a circle like an actual carousel?!" Izzy said in excitement, then spinning around and falling to the ground, just to stand up again and smile. "I'm still dizzy!" she said cheerfully.
"Thank you all, but we have to hurry!" Zipp pointed out.
"And the snow is... Ah!" Izzy said, realizing how much it was snowing. "What is this?" she questioned confused.
"A blizzard" Sonic replied with worry.
"Whoa, it is!" Izzy said with a smile. "I can't belizzle it's blizzarding right now!" she added cheerfully.
"This much snow isn't normal..." Knuckles pointed out with a frown.
"And the storm doesn't give any conditions to fly right now" Tails said with concern.
"Oh no! Are we gonna miss the star?" Izzy asked with worry.
Sunny shivered a bit before replying. "N-Not if we hurry!" she replied with a smile.
"We just have to get to the Marestream!" Zipp stated.
"Great. One question, tho: Where the heck is it?!" Sonic shouted, since there were now big mountains of snow all around the backyard, and of course, the Marestream was covered in one of those.
"I wanted so badly for us to get back in time to view the Wishing Star together" Sunny complained in a sad tone, putting her lamp down. "And now we're stranded in Zephyr Heights on Wishday, Wishiehoof, Wishentine, Christmas, whatever you call it!" she groaned in frustration.
"We'll find our way back, Sunny" Hitch assured to her with a smile.
"Yeah! I'm not giving up yet!" Izzy stated as well, levitating Sunny's lamp with her magic.
Knuckles, however, looked at the amounts of snow, then at his fists, and then he smirked with confidence.
"Time to put these babies into good use" Knuckles stated with a smile.
"Knux? What are you going to do?" Sonic asked a bit concerned.
"I'll be right back!" Knuckles replied.
After that, Knuckles jumped and dig up into the snow in the ground, then he made his way towards the mountains of snow.
Then, he was mumbling inside one of the mountains when he suddenly got out of it. "Is not here!" Knuckles said, then he dived into the next mountain. "Not here either!" he exclaimed, coming out of it and jumping to the next one. "I found 10 bucks!" he exclaimed with a smile, then dived into the next mountain, just for a clank sound to be heard. "Ouch!" Knuckles exclaimed, then he got out of that mountain and landed into the ground with his face. "I found it..." he groaned.
"Oh, right..." Sonic said with a blank expression. "I forgot you echidnas can do that" he added.
"Well, we know where it is now, but how do we get it out of there?" Tails questioned.
"Oh, I just wish we could get the Marestream out of there..." Izzy muttered with sadness.
And then, Sunny's lamp started to shine bright after she said that. The lamp floated away from Izzy's magic and buried into the mountain of snow where the Marestream was buried. Knuckles, who was still on the ground, stood up and stepped back away from the mountain. After a few moments, and some lights coming from the inside of said mountain, the Marestream came out of the snow and landed in front of the Mane 5 and Team Sonic.
The group looked in awe at the sudden action of the lamp.
"Okay, I will not complain about that lamps actions anymore" Sonic said with a smile.
"It's magical!" Izzy said cheerfully.
"It's a miracle!" Sunny stated with a smile.
"It's a magical miracle!" Zipp said, smiling as well.
"Actually..." Tails started, taking out the book and looking at it's cover again.
Zipp did the same, and then they both gasped. "It's a wish!" they both stated.
"Just like in the book!" Zipp started to explain. "In Grandma Figgy's book, Fantastical Flurrytales of Wishiehoof, whenever the unicorns wanted snowy weather, they would try to recite a spell for it" she said.
"But it's been ages since unicorns in Equestria could harness that ability because magic was lost!" Tails added. "And now that it's back..." he hinted, making a move with his hands.
Izzy gasped in shock, realizing what Zipp and Tails meant. "The unicorns have been doing a spell?!" she said in shock.
"Without even realizing it!" both Zipp and Tails replied together.
"'Frostyshivers' isn't just a greeting..." Zipp explained.
"It's a really, really old snow spell?!" Hitch said in disbelief.
"Uh-huh, exactly!" Tails replied. "That's why we're having this snowstorm!" he finished.
The others just stared at them for a few seconds, not knowing what to reply.
"Wow..." Sparky said.
"Yeah, what the little guy said" Knuckles added with a concerned look.
"Detective Zipp does it again!" Sunny said with a smile. "And with the help of her pal Tails, of course!" she added.
"But the unicorns don't know they're doing spells!" Izzy pointed out with worry.
"You're right" Sunny pointed out.
"Maybe we should make a last minute stop back in Bridlewood to warn the unicorns before return to Maretime Bay" Sonic suggested.
However, as the rest nodded in agreement, a red point suddenly appeared on Tails' forehead, which Zipp noticed.
"Tails, little guy, you have something on your––" Zipp said, pointing at his forehead.
Tails passed a finger over his forehead, hopping that it would remove, but instead it stood there... and then more red points appeared all around his body, alarming Zipp.
"What the––" Knuckles tried to say, but then those same red points appeared on his body.
Sonic also got those same red points, and while the others also got the same red points around their bodies and grew worried, Sonic was just confused at first... until he realized what was happening. "You've got to be kidding me!" he shouted in anger.
A bunch of Buzz Bombers, Buzzers, Crabmeats and Moto Bugs showed up suddenly, and the gang realized that the red points were coming from them, because those machines were planning to kill them.
"Uh, guys?" Sunny called out in panic. "Being threatened with death was not in our plans, right?" she asked nervously.
"Not in ours... but I know a certain doctor who did plan to put our tombstones right here" Sonic said in anger.
And then, both Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch landed behind the Badniks, just to be followed by a yellow light. As said light came closer, some kind of circular small ship landed behind the two remaining Metal Mane, and then the capsule of said ship opened.
In the snow, two black boots landed, and the man started to walk towards the Mane 5 and Team Sonic. The Mane 5 felt scared, Hitch grabbed Sparky in a protective manner, Knuckles groaned, Tails gulped, Sonic rolled his eyes and Zipp stood on a fighting position despite not knowing what or who she was seeing.
"Greetings, Sonic. Tails. Knucklehead. Little ponies" Dr. Eggman said with a grin on his face, also wearing a black and red scarf besides his regular clothes.
"Hey there, Eggy" Sonic greeted back with a bored expression. "Didn't expected you from all people to show up" he added, crossing his arms in annoyance.
"To tell the truth, I wasn't planning on doing anything tonight at all, but some circumstances called my attention, so here I am!" Eggman replied with a sinister smile.
"S-Sonic?" Pipp called out in fright. "C-Could you give us some context?" she asked nervously.
"Oh right, this is the first time you guys met each other" Sonic said in a tired voice. "Guys, this is the pain in the ass I been dealing with ever since I was 5" he told to the Mane 5 with a bored expression. "Eggman, this are my new friends from this dimension" he told now to the doctor.
"What a lovely way to introduce me, rodent" Eggman said with a bored expression.
"Hang on! This guy is Dr. Eggman?!" Zipp asked in panic.
"The one and only!" Eggman replied instead, once again grinning. "And I gotta say, I was looking forward to our first meeting in person. Though, I never expect it to be on such a weird climate circumstances" he added, looking at the snowstorm with genuine concern.
"Stop playing around, Eggman!" Knuckles shouted. "What do you want?!" he asked in anger.
"Oh, Knuckles..." Eggman said on a mocking tone. "Despite all that knowledge about the past and ancient civilizations, you still are a knucklehead at the end of the day" he stated with a grin. "But I'll give you the chance to feel rewarded and tell you what am I doing here: to say goodbye to all of you before I steal the Wishing Star, of course!" he revealed.
"You're gonna what now?!" Sunny asked in panic, while Sonic rolled his eyes and facepalmed, then shook his head in annoyance and shrugged. "B-But why?!" she asked again.
"Sunny Starscout, I suppose" Eggman looked at her. "You're a brilliant girl, from what I've seen, but you're too oblivious to the dangers around you. The Wishing Star is just what I need to make the Eggman Empire a reality! Its wishing power could create everything I always wanted in the blink of an eye!" he explained with an evil grin. "And I have to thank these two deeply!" he added, now pointing at Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy.
"Oh, come on!" Izzy groaned in anger at the sight of her metallic copy.
"This guys again?" Hitch said with annoyance.
"It's thanks to these two that I'm here right now" Eggman explained with a proud smile. "They followed my every order of track you down without harming you step by step. They hesitated and doubted me, yet they obeyed anyways! I couldn't be more proud of you two!" he told to the remaining Metal Mane.
"Thanks, doctor" both Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy replied, although Metal Izzy did it cheerfully.
"Wait, you order them to not attack us?" Tails asked confused.
"Why, of course!" Eggman replied. "I may be an evil genius, but I'm not a monster. Why do you think I stopped using animals to power my machines? Heck, I regret doing that everyday of my life. Besides, I respect others traditions and believes, that's why I never attacked on holidays before... Also is the only time of the year I can take a vacation, so take it or screw it" he added.
"And why are you attacking us now?" Sonic asked in a tired tone.
"Well, I discovered the Wishing Star by reading some of Opaline's old books. Gotta say, it's hard to be entertained in that castle..." Eggman said in a bored tone.
"Uh-huh" Sonic said with a bored expression, confusing the Mane 5. "Look, Eggman, we've been having a blast today, and things only started to went wrong after the concert was over. We're freezing out here, we know how to revert the climate condition before we all turn into thin ice living beings, and you just show up out of nowhere during the holidays for the very first time in your life. You know how's this going to end? With me, Tails, Knuckles and these guys kicking your butt and laughing at your face... like always!" he said with a bit of anger. "Could you please get to the point of why you're here telling us your plan instead of tracking down the star so then we can kick your ass?" he begged, again with a bored expression.
Eggman stared at Sonic with a bored expression for a while. "Not the kind of answer I expected from you, to tell the truth, but I guess after 20 years, this is starting to get boring" he said with tiredness as well.
"Yup, that's pretty much how I feel right now" Sonic replied.
"Well, I guess I should just get to the point then..." Eggman said, snapping his fingers and making the Badniks approach to the Mane 5 and Team Sonic even more.
"Okay, this is not what I meant" Sonic said, now frowning.
"Yeah, well, I don't care" Eggman replied, now walking towards his Eggmobile and getting inside of it. "Enjoy your last minutes of living while I enjoy my Wishing Star" he stated.
"And if the Wishing Star doesn't gives you what you want?!" Sunny asked in fright. "What would you do?!" she added in concern.
"Well, If I can't get my wish, then no one will" Eggman stated with a sinister grin that sent chills on Sunny's spine. "Badniks! Metal Mane! CRUSH THEM ALL!!!" he ordered to his machines, closing the capsule of his Eggmobile and boosting flying towards Maretime Bay.
The Badniks approached the group, as well as Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy, and they all got ready to kill the Mane 5 and Team Sonic.
"Well, now Knuckles' ancestors message makes more sense" Tails said, trying to stay calm. "Not expecting it in this way, to tell the truth, because I didn't saw com––" he tried to add, but...
"How can you be saying that when were about to get killed?!" Zipp asked in panic.
"Collecting data calms me down, okay?!" Tails shouted in panic.
"Now you see why we should have brought weapons, Sonic?!" Knuckles asked in anger.
"You're forgetting an important thing, Knuckles: WE are the weapons!" Sonic said with a grin. "Tails, now!" he instructed.
Tails created two plasma guns with his electrical powers and destroyed a line of Buzzers, while Sonic charged up his Spindash and destroyed the entire line of Moto Bugs.
Knuckles pressed a button on his watch, and then used his electrical powers to create a spear. Then, he started to spin the spear professionally and destroyed all the Crabmeats and the Buzz Bombers.
However, they still had to deal with the Metal Mane.
"Oh, right... these guys..." Knuckles groaned, as Sonic suddenly landed at his side.
"Okay, Badniks out, we just gotta deal with them!" Sonic stated with a smirk.
Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy just looked at each other before nodding, and the blink of an eye, they were nowhere to be seen.
"What the––" Knuckles exclaimed confused.
"W-Where did they go?" Pipp asked in panic.
Her response came, when something suddenly hit Knuckles in the back. He groaned in pain, and then turned around... to find nothing.
"What in the name of Chaos..." Knuckles muttered confused and frowning.
Then, another hit came to his shoulder, then another tho his knees, then one to his stomach, and finally a punch on his face that sent him flying backwards and crashing against one of the walls of the palace. Knuckles fell in the snow almost unconscious.
"Knuckles!" both Hitch and Izzy cried out, running towards the echidna.
"Alright, I've seen enough!" Sonic stated, stopping time around him and then seeing that Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch entered in the realm of speed.
However, that only made Sonic smirk as he, still with time stopped, went into super speed mode and got behind the Metals, then he touched their backs with his electrical powers, and let all his anger out on the robots, which caused them to shut down and fell into the snow, with time going regular speed again.
"I keep forgetting Eggman has one of my quills..." Sonic groaned in annoyance.
"K-Knuckles..." Izzy muttered in sadness and worry.
Sonic looked at her holding Knuckles head, while the echidna lay in the snow unconscious. Sonic rolled his eyes, and walked over to him, then kneeled to look at him with a bored expression, and then he used a finger slightly charged up with electricity over his chest, which immediately woke him up.
"Gah!" Knuckles shouted in panic, looking around in fright. "What happened? Are we dead already?!" he asked with concern.
"Knuckie!" Izzy cheered, hugging Knuckles a bit tight.
"Oh, thank hoofness!" Hitch exclaimed on relief.
"Are you okay?" Sunny asked to him with concern.
"I have no idea of what knocked me out, but yeah. I'm fine" Knuckles replied, scratching his head.
"Great, because now we have to worry about––" Zipp tried to say.
However, Pipp noticed that the two remaining Metals turned slightly on again and pointed at Sonic's back.
"Sonic! Watch o––" Pipp tried to warn.
However, Tails twirled his tails at fast paste, and then he used them to cut the heads of the two metals. The heads fell in the snow, and the two robots finally died.
"Well?" Tails asked to Sonic with a smirk, as he landed on the ground, while Sonic just walked towards him and stared at the head of Metal Hitch.
"Expertly done. Bonus points for dramatic timing" Sonic said with a serious expression, clapping his hands to his partner's accomplishment.
"Thank you, thank you" Tails said with a smile and a small reverence.
"Okay, that was very anticlimactic" Knuckles said with a bored expression as he stood up. "So, what where you saying?" he asked to Zipp.
"That now we have to worry about stopping this snowstorm and about Eggman stealing the Wishing Star!" Zipp pointed out with worry.
"But what do we do?" Pipp asked in panic. "We cannot be in two places at the same time!" she pointed out.
"Maybe we can" Sonic said with his eyes closed and a smirk. "Eggman wants to wait for the Wishing Star to pass above the Brighthouse and capture it, so we just have to stop him before the star arrives" he stated.
"But how?!" Sunny asked.
"Look, you guys go to Bridlewood and stop this storm. Leave the 'kick Eggman's butt and save Winter Wishday for everypony in Maretime Bay' part to me!" Sonic instructed. "If I know something about Egghead, is that he never learns from his mistakes, no matter how many times he fails" he stated with a smirk, taking out a Chaos Emerald from his quills. "Also, I'll be careful, try to not get myself killed, blah, blah, blah. Bye!" he added.
Without waiting for anyone to say anything, he just boosted away towards Maretime Bay.
The others sins Tails, Knuckles and Pipp went inside of the Marestream to get to Bridlewood and stop the snowstorm.
"I have a bad feeling about what he might do..." Knuckles said with concern.
"Me too, but no time to question him right now" Tails said with a determinate look. "We can help him find Eggman and whatever he's gonna use to capture the Wishing Star if we end with the snowstorm already!" he stated.
Knuckles sighed, then nodded and went inside the Marestream as well, but Pipp stood there, looking worried on the direction Sonic left.
"He's... He's in danger, isn't he?" Pipp asked, almost at the edge of tears.
"Even if he is, Sonic has overcome thousands of things Eggman-related before" Tails explained, placing his hand on her shoulder. "He'll be back in one piece, and this time is for sure! Eggman needs more than a brilliant mind to make a simple scratch on Sonic" he assured with a smile, also winking at Pipp, which made her feel better since she smiled back. "Now, let's go! We have snowstorm to stop!" he stated.
Pipp nodded with a determinate look, and both she and Tails went back to the Marestream as well.
In Bridlewood, the unicorns where shivering because of the sudden snowstorm, and yet they still greeted to each other with the same word.
"F-F-Frosty... sh-shivers!" one unicorn stallion, carrying a cart with tea, greeted to a unicorn mare as he shivered, with his horn turning blue again.
"F-F-Frostyshivers!" the unicorn mare greeted back, also shivering, and her horn also turned blue.
Then, the Marestream arrived to Bridlewood and landed near the Wishing Tree.
"Frostyshivers" both Onyx and Jasper greeted to a unicorn stallion as they shivered, with their horns turning blue as well.
"F-Frostyshi... shi-shivers" the unicorn stallion greeted back, shivering as well, with his horn turning blue like the rest.
"Wait!" Izzy shouted, as she came out of the Marestream with a panicked expression. "Everypony, stop saying that!" she begged. "Stop saying that! It's Jinxie! It's causing the snowstorm!" she started to explain.
The rest of the unicorns stared at her confused for a while.
"What...?" Onyx asked.
"You're all casting an ancient unicorn spell!" Zipp explained.
"Yeah! So don't say 'Frostyshiv––'!" Izzy tried to warn, but then Knuckles covered her mouth suddenly.
"Don't say 'Frostyshivers' if you don't wanna die from a cold" Knuckles said with a frown to the unicorns, while Izzy just nodded at what he was saying.
"Well, then, what should we say?" one of the unicorns asked as he scratched his head.
The gang stood quiet and said nothing for a while, as Knuckles retired his hand from Izzy's mouth.
"Huh... Now that I think about it, we never though on that..." Tails pointed out with a concerned look.
"Uh... how about... um... Warm Wishiehoof?" Izzy asked with a sheepish smile, as she stomped her front hooves on the ground and her horn suddenly turned yellow.
"Oh my gosh, it actually works..." Knuckles said with a tired tone.
The rest of the unicorns just stared at each other confused before playing along. "Warm Wishiehoof?" one of the unicorns told to Onyx, also stomping his hoofs like Izzy, while his horn turned yellow as well.
"Uh, Warm Wishiehoof?" Onyx greeted back, while Jasper brought his bongos back for more percussion.
And then, all of the unicorns in Bridlewood started to greet each other with 'Warm Wishiehoof' instead of Frostyshivers, not only causing their horns and the crystals around the forest to turn yellow, but also making the snowstorm to stop.
"It's working!" Sunny said with a smile. "Keep saying it, everypony!" she instructed.
The unicorns around Bridlewood kept greeting themselves with their new Wishiehoof greeting, which caused the snowstorm to finally come to an end, as the night sky also cleared out, which made everyone.
"Phew!" Alphabittle exclaimed. "I was starting to think I was going to brake my snow shovel... or my back" he said, cracking his back a bit.
"Yeah, we did it!" Izzy cheered.
"Good to see that this worked out and all, but we have another thing to worry about and it's called Dr. Eggman!" Knuckles stated.
Everyone ran back to the Marestream, except for Tails who stared at the sky in confusion. "Isn't this new spell gonna bring Global Warming to this world now or something?" he questioned.
Then, Zipp arrived and grabbed him from his shoulders. "Move and drive, handsome!" she said with a worried tone.
"Yipes!" Tails exclaimed, as Zipp dragged him inside of the Marestream.
Meanwhile, Eggman was on his Eggmobile with the capsule open, waiting for the Wishing Star to pass over Maretime Bay when he suddenly realized that it stopped snowing.
"Huh... I guess those fools did survived after all" Eggman though. "Wait! If they survived, then that means that my Metals are... Dang it!" he yelled in anger and genuine sadness. "I finally got Metals that were almost perfect! And now... Now..." he said in concern, looking down and trying to process the fact that he had no Metals left. "But it won't be in vain. At least, I will get the Wishing Star with this" he stated.
He was holding a small box with a button on the top. However, when he was about to press it, a blue blur passed by, and the box was missing.
"Wowie! What do I have here? The thing that if gets destroyed ruins your plans, Eggy?" Sonic asked with a smirk, holding the box on his hand.
"What the hell?! Hedgehog?!" Eggman called out in panic.
"Your Badniks were easy to destroy as always, Eggman" Sonic said with a mocking tone, which made Eggman growl. "Also, those two Metals that made you proud before? They're very dead now" he added, and then he launched the box on his hand to the ground with enough strength, which caused the box to destroy in thousands of pieces.
"NOOOO!" Eggman shouted in frustration, and then he groaned in anger. "Now you've done it, Sonic!" he screamed in pure rage.
"What? Defeat you? I always do that, Eggman" Sonic said with confidence. "I don't understand what made you think you could beat me" he added.
"Oh, you think this is it, Hedgehog?" Eggman asked with a grin. "This isn't over until I say it. And as I warned before..." he added, pulling out a button and pressing it before Sonic could make a move.
Then, a series of missiles came out from below the Eggmobile, and those missiles were gathered to create a giant missile. After that, Eggman moved a bit the Eggmobile so the missile could be pointing at the sky.
"If I can't get my wish, then no one will!" Eggman stated, then he launched the missile towards the sky or rather said, towards the Wishing Star.
Sonic immediately jumped and tried to get attached to the missile, but then Eggman moved his Eggmobile and crashed against Sonic, causing him to fell in the ground.
Sonic stood up, shook his head and looked at the missile almost reaching the atmosphere, then he groaned.
"Good luck stopping that, Hedgehog!" Eggman said with an evil grin.
Sonic, however, realized something, as he then gulped an idea he just had... a very bad one and mortal if not executed properly.
"I know I shouldn't use the Chaos Emeralds if I don't have at least 6 of them... But desperate situations call for desperate measures" Sonic stated with a determinate look.
Sonic then focused his energy on the four Chaos Emeralds he had, as they appeared and spin around him before getting inside of his body.
Then, a white flash appeared suddenly, and now Sonic's body turned completely pink, his quills lifted a bit and his eyes became red. Also, his winter gear disappeared and his regular white gloves and regular shoes returned instead.
"So Hasbro gives more budget to the YouTube 5 minute-shorts animators for new looks, while the Netflix-animators have a limited budget that makes them use the Super Sonic Pink model of Episode 2 instead of making a new one with my winter gear..." Sonic said with a bored expression. "I'm never getting used to this" he added.
After saying that, he boosted towards the sky, leaving a shining pink trial behind, while Eggman covered his eyes and gave a bored expression as well.
"I probably should had expected that..." Eggman said with annoyance.
The Marestream was almost arriving to Maretime Bay, when the group saw a pink object boosting towards the sky.
"What is that thing?" Zipp asked confused.
Knuckles pulled out some binoculars and zoomed them to take a better look at the pink object... just to gasp when he saw that it was Sonic, transformed in some kind of Super Sonic pink variation.
"Oh no..." Knuckles muttered. "Sonic broke the rules..." he said with concern.
"What do you mean?" Pipp asked in panic.
"No one can use the power of the Chaos Emeralds if there isn't at least 6 of the 7" Knuckles explained with a frown.
"But we only have 4 of them" Tails pointed out, still driving... then he realized something. "Wait a second... you're telling me that he––" he tried to ask.
Knuckles only nodded, still with a frown.
Sonic almost reached the missile. He was just a few meters away.
However, exposing his body to only 4 Chaos Emeralds was starting to show its effects, because he was feeling exhausted despite being flying just for a few seconds.
He felt sleepy, very sleepy, but then he shook his head and focused back on the missile.
"Almost... there!" Sonic told himself.
The amount of tiredness on his body was alarming, he knew that, but he wasn't going to allow Eggman to leave with a happy smile. He never did it before, and he wasn't starting now.
Finally, Sonic reached the missile, crashing his body against it, which caused it to explode in the air, not only saving the Wishing Star from being destroyed, but also Maretime Bay's Wishday.
Sonic sighed in relief, and seeing that his work was done, he decided to return to the ground at fast paste.
The Marestream landed in front of the Brighthouse, and the whole gang got out of it to see the explosion in the air.
"Do you see him?!" Pipp asked in worry and concern.
The gang looked around for Sonic, until Sunny managed to see a pink light coming from the sky. "There!" she said, pointing with her hoof at the direction of the pink light.
Sonic descended in slow paste, until he finally touched the ground, where he couldn't take the power of the Emeralds anymore and he let them go. The Emeralds feel in the ground, and Sonic fell on his knees as he started to cough and breath heavily. Also, his winter gear returned after loosing the Emeralds.
Tails, Knuckles and Pipp were the first ones to immediately ran towards Sonic, while the rest just followed on a slower paste.
"Hedgehog!" Knuckles shouted in panic.
"Sonic!" both Tails and Pipp cried out in worry.
"Are you okay?" Pipp asked in concern.
Sonic shook his head a bit before finally standing up and looking at his friends with a weak smile. "H-Hey guys..." he greeted weakly. "S-Sorry for give you a scare there... b-but I did it!" he cheered, pointing at the sky.
"That was so stupid and reckless!" Tails shouted in both anger and worry.
"How's that you're not even dead?!" Knuckles asked with a frown.
"I-I've been exposing to Chaos Energy for 20 years" Sonic said with a smirk. "I-I'm not saying I can handle less than 6 Emeralds, but I can survive it at least" he pointed out.
"What was that pink glow up, by the way?" Sunny asked, as she arrived along Hitch, Izzy and Zipp.
"I don't know" Sonic said honestly. "Usually is a golden glow up, but I guess that, since I was exposed only to a few Emeralds, it gave a pink color instead of the golden usual one" he guessed.
"Well, please never do that again!" Pipp begged with anger. "What happened to the "try to not get yourself killed" thing?!" she asked concerned and mad.
"It was either using the Emeralds or loosing the Wishing Star. I wasn't going to allow the second one" Sonic said with a smile. "And, if I was going to die, at least knowing I stopped Eggman one last time would have made it worth it" he added with honesty.
"How cute..." Eggman's voice spoke, as he suddenly appeared behind Sonic.
"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me..." Sonic groaned, slowly turning around to face Eggman with a bored expression.
"Well, I suppose this is the part where I course you and all of that for ruining my plans..." Eggman guessed with his arms crossed. "But I left the oven on back on the hideout, and I'm honestly really exhausted after you made me loose everything today" he pointed out.
"Why did you left the oven on?" Zipp asked, more out of concern than annoyance.
"I'm cooking some chicken left from the Thanksgiving dinner I had with myself, of course" Eggman replied. "Anyways. I could say It was a pleasure to meet you, Mane 5, but I hate to lie to my enemies" he stated, before turning his Eggmobile around. "Oh, and Sonic, expect to hear of me more from now on. Holiday season will be calm, but I don't promise anything after New Year" he warned, closing the capsule and boosting away from there.
Sonic rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Whatever you say, Egghead" he said with a bored expression.
"What is he, anyways?" Hitch asked confused, looking at Team Sonic. "Like, I can tell you guys are the animals you claim to be, but what in the name of Equestria was him?" he questioned again.
Team Sonic looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
"Well... he's an 'animal', I think?" Tails tried to explain. "It's hard to tell, since you never saw one before, but he's what we call a human" he added.
"Although, here among us, Eggman is really one human in a kind" Sonic said with a mocking smirk. "Didn't you saw his head shaped like and Egg? He's literally the only human being with such a weird feature!" he added.
The rest of the group just laughed at the joke, and Sonic sighed in relief, glad that he could soften the tension a bit.
Minutes later, after Tails picked up the Chaos Emeralds and putted them back on the chest, because somehow Eggman didn't saw them in the ground, the gang made their way towards the top of the Brighthouse to see the Wishing Star.
"I can't believe we're here!" Sunny exclaimed with a smile.
"What a great idea, Sunny, and we had time to do everything!" Pipp said with a smile.
But then, Izzy gasped in worry. "I didn't have time to do everything!" she said in concern.
"What do you mean, Izz?" Hitch asked.
"Ugh! I didn't have time to get you presents!" Izzy cried out with frustration. "I'm probably the only one that's empty-hoofed" she said in concern.
"No, you're not" Knuckles told her. "I didn't even remembered we could buy gifts..." he confessed with a sheepish smile.
"I also forgot!" Pipp cried out in concern.
"Ditto, sis!" Zipp said in disappointment on herself.
"Oh no, I did too!" Hitch cried out as well.
"So that's what we didn't putted on the list..." Sonic said with concern.
"Yeah, we kinda forgot that while shopping..." Tails added, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Oh, it's okay!" Sunny assured with a smile. "We don't need to exchange gifts. Because we have each other" she pointed out.
"That doesn't really count, though" Hitch argued.
"Sure it does!" Sunny argued back, still smiling. "Hitch shared his special family tradition, Izzy showed us the mystical Wishing Tree all lit up, Pipp and Zipp gave us the gift of music, Knuckles shared a sacred tradition of his people and Sonic and Tails will share their special memorial tradition for a loved one!" she explained.
"Emphasis on will" Sonic said with a smirk.
"But the best part is... we got to experience the holiday together!" Sunny added with a smile. "Which is all I really wanted anyway: A magical time spent with all of you" she finished.
"Aww!" the rest of the group said.
"What's your gift, Sunny?" Zipp asked curiously.
"Glad you asked" Sunny replied, taking out her phone and raising her hoof. "Wait for it" she instructed with a smile. "Wait for it..." she instructed again, as the Wishing Star was almost over the Brighthouse. "Continue to wait for another second and..." she kept instructing.
"You ask me of all people to wait, you know patience is not one of my strengths, woman!" Sonic said with anxiety.
"Now!" Sunny said.
Now that the Wishing Star was above the Brighthouse, it shone bright in front of the rainbow lightning. Then, the Unity Crystals started to resonate as well, as they suddenly projected the Mane 5 Cutie Marks in the sky.
"Our Cutie Marks!" Sunny said with a cheery smile.
"Whoa. That was pretty cool" Zipp confessed.
"You're telling me, I didn't saw that one coming" Sonic said with a smile.
And then, suddenly his electrical powers awakened, but not only his: Tails and Knuckles' powers woke up as well, confusing the trio since they didn't did this on purpose.
Then, a small trial of their power was absorbed by the Unity Crystals, that soon enough projected Team Sonic's faces on the sky as well.
"What in the holy grapes is happening?!" Knuckles asked confused.
"Our powers... they were used by the Unity Crystals?!" Sonic asked in shock.
"I... I have no explanation for this..." Zipp said.
"Me neither..." Tails said with worry. "But I don't think it matters right now. Is the holidays, after all, so let's take things one problem at a time" he stated.
"I like that plan!" Zipp said with a smile, now side hugging Tails, as the fox blushed a bit but side hugged her as well.
"So, what'd you wish for, Sunny?" Hitch asked to her with interest.
Sunny just smiled at him, and then at the sky. "It already came true" she assured.
Eggman stared blankly at his computer.
Either Misty turned the oven off before he arrived, or he forgot that he turned it off himself before leaving. Either way, the chicken was ready and he ate it silently.
He was used to be defeated by Sonic already. At first it was just anger, but then a new idea formed on his mind, and his motivation was renewed. However, this time something changed.
He won't ever admit this to anyone, but Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch really grew on him in the last months as he gathered the materials to repair them properly. They were killing machines, absolutely, but when they acted a bit more normal... he could feel like they were his own sons.
It wasn't so far from reality, anyways. He created them, after all, but still... he never saw himself as a father figure, even if he was pretty much a dad over Misty by how he defended her against Opaline.
But he couldn't understand how's that two of his AI's grew on him so quickly. Many of those before, Metal Sonic included, only filled him with regret, while Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy stood there to the end. They didn't revealed against him, they didn't did whatever they wanted, they just followed orders. Sure, they doubted him sometimes, yet they still obeyed anyways.
But now they were gone.
"What a Christmas..." Eggman groaned. "For some reason, loosing those two robots feels worse than loosing the Wishing Star against Sonic..." he complained.
However, soon enough he realized that he lost the bodies, but not the AI's. Their codes were still on his database, and he could just built up new bodies...
But then a new idea popped in. Despite their flaws, both Metal Izzy and Metal Hitch had something that made them unique and loyal: Metal Hitch looked at him as a leader, a commander, so he was up to hear his every task, even if it sounded stupid or unimportant; Metal Izzy looked at him as a father, as her family, her creator, so she was more childish and playful around him, even calling him 'daddy', but she still was a killing machine if he told her to be so.
"What if... I combine the best of both of them... to create a new AI?" Eggman muttered to himself.
He putted the plate with chicken aside and walked to the computer. Clicking like a maniac on his computer, he opened Metal Hitch and Metal Izzy's IA database.
"If I can extract that military attitude and obedience with no hesitation from Metal Hitch..." Eggman said, as he tapped on his computer and moved some specific codes from Metal Hitch's AI to a new one. "... And combine it with the cheerful attitude and wish of a family from Metal Izzy..." he added, now moving specific codes from Metal Izzy's AI to the new one.
Once he realized the new AI he made, having the best of both of his successful AI's, he couldn't help but smile brightly. Perhaps this could work after all.
"Now, let's give you a proper name" Eggman stated, and after a few seconds of thinking, he tapped on his computer at fast paste. "Code-name: Sage" he wrote, then he tapped the enter button to create the AI.
After a few minutes, the AI was completed, and it started to turn on on Eggman's computer.
"Hello, doctor" Sage, Eggman's new AI, greeted, which made Eggman's smile grow bigger.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, the Mane 5 and Knuckles were playing a board game.
Sonic and Tails, however, were decorating their memorial tree for Longclaw. It was more than just a regular decorated Christmas Tree, it also had some slight details that made it clear it was in memory of Longclaw, like some owls decorations, brown ornaments... and a picture of Longclaw in the middle of the tree that Tails just placed.
Sonic was holding Longclaw's scarf in his hands, looking at it with a nostalgic look, then looking at the tree with a saddened expression. Once Tails stepped back, Sonic placed the scarf around the tree like if it was a garland.
Once it was done, Sonic also stepped back, and both him and Tails stared at it with sad smiles.
"It's not perfect... but I'm pretty sure she'll love it" Sonic said.
"If only she was here with us..." Tails said in a saddened expression.
Sonic gave him a side hug and smiled at him. "She's here with us, lil' bro. Right here" he assured, pointing at his heart, which made Tails touch his chest softly and smile, somehow fighting the urge to cry. She may not have been her biological mother, but he definitely loved her as a mother as much as she loved him as a son.
Sonic himself wanted to cry as well, but he could fight the urge because he didn't wanted to kill the happy atmosphere of the holidays for the others. After all, it was spending time together what Longclaw loved about Christmas, so he kinda saw it like a way to respect that.
After a few minutes, they both decided to join the others in the living room. But once they arrived and sat down, Izzy suddenly reminded something.
"Wait! I just remembered I did get you ponies something else!" Izzy said with a cheery smile, then she moved to the back of a couch ash she hummed to herself, while Sunny and Zipp looked at each other confused and Sonic and Tails looked at Knuckles, who shrugged since he didn't knew what was Izzy doing either. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed, as she levitated 8 boxes and gave one to each of the members of the group.
But as the group opened the boxes, they soon realized they were all empty.
"Surprise! Nimbustratuses!" Izzy said with a smile.
"Oh... Wait, what?" Pipp asked confused.
"You know, air from the clouds!" Izzy pointed out with her hooves. "Zoom and Thunder said those were your favorite kind!" she pointed out.
"I'll gave you girls the context later" Sonic whispered to them, as the ponies in the group started to laugh
Knuckles was about to say something, but then...
"Whatever you're going to say, think about Izzy's feelings first" Tails whispered to him as a warning, so Knuckles just close his mouth.
"Thank you all for the perfect holiday" Sunny thanked to the group.
"Aw. Cheery Wishday, everypony!" Hitch told to the group with a smile.
"Joyous Wishentine!" both Pipp and Zipp told the rest with smiles as well.
"Merry Christmas, everypony!" Team Sonic cheered in unison too.
"And Frostyshivers!" Izzy said with a smile, as her horn turned blue.
"Izzy!" the rest scolded her, but with smiles.
"Oops!" Izzy said a bit embarrassed. "And Warm Wishiehoof to all ponies" she corrected herself, with her horn now turning yellow.
Suddenly, Pipp remembered something as she moved away and approached to the fireplace, taking out her phone and looking at something.
As she stood there, Zipp saw something over the fireplace near the TV behind and smirked, then she turned to Sonic.
"Hey, Romeo" Zipp called out in whispers with a smirk. "Perhaps you should take a closer look to where Pipp is standing right now" she added in a teasing tone.
Sonic raised an eyebrow confused, and not only him, but all the others looked at where Pipp was standing. It took him a while, but Sonic finally noticed the mistletoe over her.
The others just giggled, and some like Knuckles and Hitch covered their mouth to not burst out laughing, while Sonic just smirked and rolled his eyes.
"I see where are you going, Princess" Sonic said on a mocking tone. "Okay! I'll please you this time only" he stated, standing up and walking towards Pipp.
"He's not going to do it" Knuckles said with confidence.
"He's definitely coming back" Hitch added, agreeing with Knuckles.
"Wanna bet?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
"So were going for the bets now, huh?" Knuckles asked with a challenging look. "Alright, it's on! 10 bucks he won't do it!" he stated with confidence.
"Deal!" Zipp said with a smirk.
Sonic just lay on the wall near the fire place with a relaxed smile, while Pipp kept looking at something.
"You know, Little Pipp..." Sonic called out, while Pipp finally noticed him, so she putted her phone aside and payed attention to him. "You still owe me something" he said, now looking at her.
"I do?" Pipp asked confused. "What?" she questioned.
Instead of replying with words, Sonic stood in front of her and pointed upwards with his finger. Pipp looked up and finally noticed the mistletoe.
"Hang on, isn't that a mistle––" Pipp tried to ask... but then her words were cut off when Sonic kissed her.
It took Pipp completely off guard that she didn't knew how to react, her eyes were simply widely open, her wings opened and her face turned red entirely.
Sunny, Izzy and Tails gasped in both shock and excitement at Sonic's move, while Knuckles and Hitch looked on with their jaws dropped and Zipp just smirked at them.
"Pay up, losers!" Zipp said in a teasing tone.
Still with their jaws dropped, Knuckles payed the ten bucks he found earlier, and Hitch payed 10 bucks on his own.
Tails snapped a picture of Sonic and Pipp's kiss down the mistletoe. "I'm definitely mocking them with this!" he stated.
Sonic finally broke the kiss and looked at Pipp at her eyes. "There, Princess Petals. We're even now" he said with a slight blush and a smirk, walking back to his seat with the rest, leaving Pipp in a shocked state as she tried to process what just happened.
Sonic and Tails were at a hill, as Tails held a floating lantern on his hands and Sonic held a letter on his hands.
"Dear Longclaw..." Sonic's voice was heard, as he read what was on the note. "Like every year, I'm here to bring you some updates about my life" he read.
Sonic attached the letter to a string on the floating lantern, while Tails made sure to not let the lantern go yet.
"I'm in an entire new world with talking ponies" Sonic kept reading. "I know it sounds weird, but it isn't at all. In fact... I feel more in home here than I ever did in Green Hills" he confessed.
With the letter attached, Tails finally let go the lantern, as it started to float in the air and, soon enough, it got lost in the sky.
"I met new friends, somehow new enemies... I even fell in love!" Sonic said with a chuckle. "I know you'll adore her if you were here. I still miss you, Tails misses you too... but we have learned to live with that pain, just like you taught us to do. I still don't know if we are in this world because of destiny, coincidence or just by accident... But we'll eventually find out, I can feel it!" he stated with a confident tone. "I love you, Longclaw. Thanks for being my family, and I hope you have found eternal peace wherever you are right now..." he finished reading.
"Yours truly... Sonic and Tails, your sons" both Sonic and Tails' voices spoke, as the two of them watched at the sky with smiles, hopping that Longclaw will get their message wherever they are.
"Merry Christmas, Longclaw" Sonic whispered with a nostalgic look.
Tails looked at Sonic with a smile and punched him slightly on his shoulder. "Merry Christmas to you, Sonic" he told him with a smirk.
Sonic smirked back at Tails and ruffled his hair a bit. "Merry Christmas to you too, Tails" he said cheerfully.
And after that, the two of them just stood there, side hugging each other and looking at the night sky.
Shadow and Omega already destroyed all the robots shooting at them, as they both cleaned the dust from their bodies.
For the past 6 months, Team Dark - that is Shadow, Rouge and Omega - and Amy were collecting info around Mobius on Eggman's old basements about dimensional travel. If the info they needed wasn't on one basement, it surely was on the next one.
They assaulted pretty much every single one of his basements, and right now? Shadow and Omega were at the last of them. Having destroyed the security, they only had to sneak inside, collect the info for Rouge and then go back with her and Amy to finally get that portal working.
It was that easy... but Dr. Eggman has a backup plan for everything, even protecting his data and his basements.
"I think that's the last one" Shadow said, looking at the army of robots all defeated in the ground.
"Scanning area for any possible treats" Omega said, as he looked around and used his integrated scanner, moving his head on 360º since he's a robot.
"This basement is pretty empty, even for the doctor standards" Shadow pointed out with a frown. "Something's not right..." he pointed out with concern.
As Omega kept scanning the place, his sight stopped in a hidden platform. He turned his whole body in the same direction of his gaze and slowly walked towards said platform. This didn't passed unnoticed by Shadow, who decided to follow him quietly. Omega stopped and scanned the platform again.
"Scanning completed. Metallic life form detected. Warning: offensive maneuvers might be required" Omega informed.
"Offensive maneuvers?" Shadow asked concerned. "Perhaps we're not free from the doctor's creations yet..." he muttered with a frown.
And just like he expected, the platform started to open slowly, while a new machine came out of it. This one was very big; it's body was round, as well as its shoulders, and its legs were grey while the rest of the robot was red, although it had some yellow as well. The head was a replica of the Death Egg Robot one, just smaller and fully grey with a red right eye.
"Eggrobo" Shadow muttered in anger. "I read about this thing before. Guess we'll have to take it down before get the data for Rouge" he stated.
"Enemy detected" Omega informed. "Awaiting orders to proceed" he added.
"Offensive maneuvers allowed, Omega" Shadow instructed. "Let's take this thing down" he stated, now smirking with confidence as he roller skated towards the Eggrobo.
"Orders received. Initiating offensive maneuvers" Omega replied, as he boosted flying towards the Eggrobo as well.
As soon as they were face to face, Shadow teleported behind his back and kicked him several times. Then, Omega lunged forward and used his metallic claws to pierce through the robot. The robot took a while to react, but when it finally did, its arms spread apart and tried to crush Shadow and Omega alike. While Shadow managed to dodge the attack, Omega did take a hit, but managed to recover quickly and started shooting at the Eggrobo with everything he had.
The Eggrobo's hands moved around them and began to release green lasers. The two managed to dodge the attacks quickly, and Shadow took the opportunity to charge a homing attack against the machine and shoot towards the area where Eggman would be located, except for the fact that the Eggrobo is in automatic mode. After launching his attack, Omega took advantage and began shooting at the same site of the machine, which was already beginning to fail.
Taking advantage of this situation, Shadow began to charge up energy, while Omega continued to fire at the Eggrobo at full power. Finally, Shadow pointed one of his hands at the machine and let out all the charged energy. The energy went through the Eggrobo's chest, which began to slowly fade until it fell defeated to the ground.
"Enemy destroyed. No rival lifeforms detected. Conclusion: victory is ours" Omega informed.
"No" Shadow said with a frown. "The doctor may be a fool sometimes, But he wouldn't be this foolish" he stated with concern. "Something's not right..." he said, and then his eyes widened in realization.
Shadow quickly turned his gaze to a giant metallic door, the one that lead straight to the lab, were the main computer was with all the data Rouge needed.
"Omega, smash that door! NOW!" Shadow instructed to the robot, as they both ran towards it, while Omega launched himself to the door, taking it down immediately.
Shadow jumped over the broken door and Omega, and roller skated at top speed towards the lab.
Once he arrived said lab, he saw that the computer had a charge bar in blue, with a text saying 'Deleting data process: 96% complete' as it delated all the files on the computer. Shadow teleported in front of the computer and quickly pressed the space bar, which was casually selecting the cancel button. The screen now showed a text saying 'Deleting data process cancelled', just when the bar reached 99%. Shadow sighed in relief, as Omega entered the lab loudly because of his stomps.
"It seems that the Eggrobo was just a decoy" Shadow said with a frown. "A distraction to delate all of his data before anyone could get it. If it wasn't because of you taking down that door, we could have lost the info we need" he said.
Omega just stared blankly at Shadow, but the hedgehog knew that he could be smirking with pride.
Shadow sighed heavily, knowing what Omega wanted. "... Good job, Omega" he said with a bored expression, returning his gaze to the computer as he started to type on it.
Without knowing it, Omega just stroke a victory pose behind him, glad that he could make the quiet guy to compliment him.
Shadow typed on the computer fast enough, and then a new text box appeared on the computer screen. This one said 'Sending data. Addressee: Agent Rouge the Bat', and Shadow nodded with a determinate look.
"This is Shadow the Hedgehog to Agent Rouge from G.U.N." Shadow called on his communicator. "Rouge, we're on the last basement of Dr. Eggman. I already hacked the data, and it should reach your mail in a few minutes" he reported.
"At last!" Rouge said on a teasing tone from the other side. "I was starting to think you couldn't made it" she confessed, still with her teasing tone.
"I won't deny we had difficulties" Shadow confessed. "Eggman tried to delate the data, but... I admit that, without Omega, I wouldn't had be able to save the data and send it to you" he added with a little smirk.
"Now look at that!" Rouge said with a small chuckle. "Who could ever think that Shadow the Hedgehog could know how to work in a team?" she said teasingly.
"I may rather work alone sometimes, but even a loner like me knows how to work as a team" Shadow replied. "Besides, Omega needed some action after you and Amy left him behind on Stardust Speedway last week" he pointed out on a mocking tone.
"Ugh! I'm never hearing the end of this, am I?!" Rouge groaned. "It was an accident!" she pointed out with annoyance.
"Uh-huh" Shadow replied with an eye roll and a smirk. "Anyways, moving back to the important matter. I sent the last data the doctor had on his cloud" he stated, getting a serious posture again. "Would it be enough to make a new portal work out?" he asked.
"After 6 months of research, we finally have everything" Rouge replied. "I'll call Amy so we can meet at the place were everything began in 2 hours" she stated.
"Omega and I are heading there right now. We'll stay in contact in case anything else shows up" Shadow replied with confidence.
"Don't be late~" Rouge said with a teasing tone.
"Same to you" Shadow replied with a smirk. He finished his call with Rouge and turned to see Omega. "We're heading to Angel Island" he instructed to him. "Let's get out of here and reach the place before either Rouge or Amy use our heads as a trophy or something. I hate to admit it, but they give me chills whenever they get mad" he confessed.
And just like that, the Ultimate Life form and the robot boosted towards Angel Island to meet with Rouge and Amy and finally get a portal to reach Team Sonic and Eggman.
Angel Island was almost the same.
Despite Knuckles absence, the island was still floating since no one went to claim the Master Emerald. However, the gem itself was loosing its special connection with the echidna, and the more time he went absent, the more distant the Master Emerald grew from Knuckles.
The Egg Fleet stood on the exact same place this whole time. Knuckles didn't knew how to pilot the thing away from the Island, and back then, Tails was mad at him, so he refused to help. It was a big advantage for Amy and Team Dark, tho, because the remains of Eggman's original portal were still there, and that's what they were going to use to create one themselves to reach Team Sonic and the doctor himself.
After two weeks of work, they managed to finally complete the portal, all thanks Rouge guidance on both how to build it up properly and how to made it work.
"Are you sure it's going to work?" Amy asked, both worried and afraid.
"It should" Rouge stated. "It should at least open a portal long enough for us to cross it" she pointed out.
"The chances for a successful opening process is of 73.4%" Omega informed. "That is, if the portal doesn't blows up" he added.
"Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence" Rouge told the robot with a bored expression and an annoyed tone.
"Statistics aside..." Shadow decided to spoke. "The portal is ready. At least the machine, we still need to be sure that it works" he stated.
"The more time we stay here, the more time we waste on not looking for them!" Amy cried out with both anger and worry.
"Amy, I get you're worried about Sonic, but this things need time" Rouge pointed out. "We cannot just cross the first portal that comes out and hope to appear on this 'Equestria' Dr. Eggman was trying to reach" she explained.
"There's also a small chance to cross to the other side on vegetative state" Omega added. "We must proceed carefully" he pointed out.
"It's not Sonic that I'm worried about" Amy said, for both Shadow's and Rouge's surprise. "I know he can take care of himself. It's Tails and Knuckles that I'm worried about. They were not in the best of terms before disappearing..." she explained with concern. "I hope they're okay, that's it..." she added.
"You say it yourself, Amy" Shadow said with his arms crossed. "Sonic has tricked death too many times to count. And Tails and Knuckles probably solved things out already, wether they are with Sonic or not" he stated with confidence. "But I agree that we should not waste more time. Not only we loose time not looking for them, but also we gave Eggman more time to do... whatever he's been up to on that parallel world" he pointed out.
"Still, we should test this thing out before making––" Rouge tried to say.
However, Omega moved himself to the control panel of the machine and pulled a lever. After hearing Shadow saying that they should not waste anymore time, he decided to open the portal once and for all. The other three looked at Omega with widened eyes, while the robot just turned at them and raised his thumbs up at them.
"... rash decisions..." Rouge finished with a bored expression.
"I guess the testing time train already got lost" Shadow said with a frown.
"We need to stable the portal before it blows! Shadow..." Rouge called out with worry.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted, pointing his palm at the portal and using his Chaos Energy to stable it.
"Portal 85.4% stable" Omega informed.
However, Shadow started to struggle as he kept his hand pointing, and his feet suddenly started to move on their own. That last thing happened... because the portal was taking him. Omega quickly acted and grabbed his hand, but the robot wasn't heavy enough to keep holding him, so both Rouge and Amy joined, with Amy using her Piko Piko Hammer as a stand to keep themselves on the ground.
But that didn't lasted so long, because the portal started to swallow them with more strength, and the next thing they knew? They were all passing through a white portal.
On the snowy parts of Equestria, during a blizzard, a white portal appeared suddenly.
From this portal, Team Dark and Amy Rose appeared and landed on the snow. Shadow was the first one to quickly stand up and look around. But he saw nothing but a snowy storm around.
"W-Where are we?!" Amy asked, as she started shivering from the cold.
"No idea" Shadow replied casually. He was also shivering, but he wanted to stay calm to 'not loose his cool'.
"O-Omega... S-Scan the area a-and report" Rouge said, also shivering from the cold.
Omega stood up and scanned the place. "Current location: unknown" he informed.
"G-Great... Now what?" Amy said with frustration.
"... I think we're in the right place" Shadow said suddenly with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.
"H-How can you tell?!" Rouge asked in concern and anger.
"Because I haven't feel the energy of the Chaos Emeralds ever since they disappeared with Sonic" Shadow explained, opening his eyes again and looking at Rouge. "But right now... I can feel it again" he added.
"... T-Then... t-that means..." Amy tried to say in excitement.
"We did it" Shadow said in her place. "We arrived to Equestria" he stated.
