An ancient evil rises from the depths of the Crystal Brighthouse. Now, Equestria's fate is on Sonic's hands.
When an ancient evil rises from the depths of the Crystal Brighthouse, Sonic and Sunny go to investigate.
However, in the journey, Sonic loses an arm, a mysterious corpse destroys the Excalibur Sword and the Unity Crystals, and Sunny disappears. Now, Sonic awakes on an unknown location, with a brand new and powerful arm, with a voice guiding him to look for answers.
Equestria's destiny is now sealed on Sonic's hands.
Sonic and Sunny were walking through the abandoned city of Canterlot.
Three days ago, a strange gloom started to drift out from the depths of the Crystal Brighthouse. Ever since, the Mane 6 each have been living on their respective towns, with Sunny staying with Hitch, while Team Sonic slept on Electronic Tails on Maretime Bay, and Misty stood with Alphabittle for the time being.
Both Sonic and Sunny have been investigating non stop all across Equestria in search for answers on what is this gloom, or why it seems to affect anypony that gets in contact with it.
This was their third time in Canterlot ever since they started to investigate the gloom. The first two times were with research purposes: They went through every last book in the library, looking for any bit of information that could explain what was that gloom below the Crystal Brighthouse, but they got no luck.
This time, however, they came back because both Sonic and Sunny have been having weird dreams with a girl, a girl that keeps warning them about a bigger danger that they must face together.
This same voice told them to go to Canterlot's abandoned castle and look for answers on what used to be Twilight's throne room. Only then, they would understand how big this menace is.
So, that's exactly what Sonic and Sunny were doing right now: They were heading towards the Throne Room on the abandoned castle, in hopes that they were actually going to get answers there, and that this voice talking to them was not trying to trick them.
Once in front of the big gates that lead to the Throne Room, Sunny made her etherial horn appear, and then, she glimmered the entire room by surrounding the gates with her golden magic, not struggling that much to open the doors to enter the place.
Stepping inside, Sonic and Sunny looked around: It still seemed as wonderful and abandoned as the first time they came here, or at least it did looked like it for Sunny.
"No matter how many times I come here, I still feel amazed..." Sunny said with a little smile, as she stopped on her place and took a good look to her surroundings. "It almost feels like a dream!"
"Well, this dream got real months ago, Sunny-Bunny." Sonic pointed out with a smirk, as he started to tap carefully in a wall, like if he was trying to find something. "Say, you said this castle has lots of hidden rooms, right?"
"Yup. Down to the last room in this palace. Why?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because I feel like we're not gonna find our answers on this room. At least, not in this one specifically."
Sunny just felt even mored confused at that, but she decided that she wouldn't question him.
In fact, she started to research for something that could open a hidden room as well, tapping with her hoof all spots on the other wall of the room.
Eventually, as both of them kept searching, Sunny's hoof tapped on a certain zone that pressed as a button, and the entire room trembled violently.
Sonic also felt this, so he turned around and looked at Sunny with concern, quickly rushing towards her and putting his arms around her neck, pulling her close in a protective way, while Sunny wrapped her hooves around Sonic and buried her face on his chest.
As the trembles stopped, they both separated from each other after checking that they both were fine, and then, they looked around, trying to find something that seemed either odd or different from how it seemed to be a few minutes ago, before the room trembled.
Eventually, Sunny spotted something: She saw that Twilight's throne was a bit farther than it was when they entered the first time.
"Sonic... Look!" She said, pointing with her hoof at the now moved throne.
Sonic obeyed and looked on the direction she was pointing, raising an eyebrow confused at the now moved throne. "Wasn't that in a different position earlier?"
"It was." Sunny replied with a nod.
Looking at each other, Sonic and Sunny nodded with determinate looks, before walking upstairs and towards the throne.
Once they made it to the top, they felt surprised when they saw that, right below where the throne was originally, there was a secret entrance with stairs that lead to a door.
They looked at each other again, before Sunny decided to make the first step downstairs, with Sonic following her soon afterwards, but not before looking back around the Throne Room, just to make sure that nobody/nopony was there. Once he saw the coast clear, he followed Sunny downstairs.
Once in front of the door, Sunny took the handle and slowly opened the door, just to reveal a hidden hallway with many torches around.
"I've never read about a place like this in my dad's journal... And a part of me feels like Discord didn't knew about this place either." Sunny said with a concerned frown.
"Well, then let's get the answers none of them could give us!" Sonic stated confidently with a smirk, walking inside the hallway while grabbing one of the torches.
Hesitant at first, Sunny nodded again, mostly to reassure herself, before following Sonic along.
The hallway, besides the torches, also seemed to have several portraits and old-rusty armors of ancient knights, as well as rusty swords at the sides, considering this statues were pony-shaped, unlike regular knights.
Yet, at some point, the portraits around them not only changed their aspect, but they also started to look a lot more different... At first, they were showing events of the Mane 6/Guardians of Friendship defeating many of the biggest threats for Equestria, like Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, Discord before reformation, Nightmare Moon, and King Sombra.
However, after moving ahead, the pictures started to show King Arthur's story, which confused Sunny and startled Sonic, but he decided to not show it off yet...
He eventually did showed his surprise, though, because as they walked more and more, King Arthur's story started to get re-told, but changing the human characters with Sonic and his friends. Arthur got replaced with Sonic, Sir Gawain with Knuckles, Sir Lancelot with Shadow, Sir Percival with Blaze...
"Okay... this is going from weird to 'What the hell is going on?!' way too fast." Sonic said with a frown, staring at the picture of King Arthur sitting on his throne... or rather, Sonic sitting on the throne.
"Why are these pictures showing you, Knuckles and Shadow instead of those humans?" Sunny questioned.
"Long story short, I was heading towards Amy's for the one time I accepted to go on a date with her, even with a chilidog for her and everything!" He started to explain. "When suddenly, I was falling through a weird portal that popped out of nowhere, and I kind of ended up in King Arthur's narrative story... Or, at least, something like that..."
"Who's King Arthur?"
"Well, just like you have old fairy tales with some being true and some being not, I have my own as well. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is one of those stories from my world."
"Oh." Sunny muttered, nodding in understanding. "So, it's like a very old tale you guys heard as kids to sleep or...?"
"I mean, I did heard really weird stories from Longclaw as a kid, but King Arthur's story is definitely something you wouldn't like to read as a child." Sonic replied with a chuckle. "In other words: No. It's more of a medieval knights story that could make any kid sleep after the first page... out of boredom..."
At this statement, Sunny giggled, even covering her mouth with a hoof.
She was about to make another question, but then, they both stopped when they both felt the ground sinking all of a sudden. So, they both looked under them, just ti see that they pressed some kind of button.
Worst of all, this button also was making the ground sink because of a trap, which made Sonic and Sunny look at each other and gulp.
"Well... Crap..." Sonic said with a bored expression.
After this, the ground opened entirely, and both Sonic and Sunny fell through the hole, sliding through a tunnel and screaming as they slipped at fast speed. Of course, Sonic screams became cheers of joy after a while, since he always enjoyed all kinds of speed, unlike his partner.
Eventually they reached the end of the tunnel, and why Sonic still cheered for all the adrenaline he felt while traveling the tunnel down, Sunny groaned and slowly stand up, shaking her head and feeling dizzy.
But then, they both looked ahead and gasped, as Sonic's eyes widened in shock and surprise: They were staring at the Caliburn Sword, the very same one that Sonic found to defeat King Arthur.
Sunny could also tell it was the same sword they both saw not so long ago in the hallway's frames, and that did concerned her a bit.
"Sonic?" She called out. "Isn't that––"
"The sword we saw in the frames?" He interrupted her, but he had an anxious look and began to slowly walk towards the sword. "The very same Caliburn Sword that I used long time ago to fight against King Arthur, and then to defeat Merlina after she betrayed me? Yes, is the very same sword."
After Sonic said what he said in the way he said it, Sunny felt concerned for him, so she walked ahead of him and stopped him.
"Wait! Don't get close to it!" She told him with concern, placing a hoof on his chest to stop him entirely.
Sonic looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Because we don't know for sure that it is the same sword!" She pointed out. "Sure, it looks like it, but is it the same?"
Sonic actually didn't considered this until Sunny pointed it out, so he looked back at the sword with a slight frown. "I guess you have a point... But it doesn't change the fact that it's strange that it appeared all of a sudden, and specifically right now."
"What do you mean?"
"Caliburn is the weakened version of the legendary Excalibur Sword from the very same story than King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He's... Also a talking sword, at least he was when I first pulled him out. If this is the same Caliburn, then he should talk as soon as I touch him..."
"And if it doesn't?" Sunny asked with concern.
"Then it was a pleasure to meet you." Sonic said with a frown, one that told Sonic this was serious business.
The Earth Pony mare gulped nervously, but still moved aside to allow Sonic to continue his path.
Sonic nodded to her with a smile, as a way to thank her for understanding his plan, before he walked towards Caliburn once again with a frown.
Deep down he hoped it was the same sword, but even if it wasn't, he'll still take it with him. It could be useful, anyways, and he could take it down the Crystal Brighthouse once they reached the place.
He grabbed the sword's handle with his right hand and tried to pull it off, but it didn't came out just like that, so he grabbed it with both hands and began to pull. One, two, three, four... After the fifth pull, he felt the sword lifting from its place, so he kept pulling it up.
Six, seven, eight, nine... The tenth pull came, and he finally took the sword out of the pedestal it was over. Sonic turned the sword around and examined it from top to bottom: Fake or not, it looked the exact same as it did when he had his adventure against the Black Knight.
However, Caliburn didn't woke up like he did when Sonic pulled it out all those years ago, and that concerned him.
"I guess you're right, Sunny..." He said with disappointment, turning around to show her the sword, while Sunny looked at him with a sad but sympathetic smile. "This is not the same Caliburn... Eh, at least I have a cool new weapon to use against whatever's that gloom coming out of the Brighthouse!"
However, as he swing the sword playfully to show off, with Sonic giggling at his action, the sword suddenly began to glow on a golden light, and it even made a strange sound, both things getting Sonic and Sunny's attention.
"... Sir Sonic... Miss Starscout..." Caliburn's voice spoke, and the two friends' eyes widened.
"Caliburn?!" Sonic asked with disbelief.
"You were right!" Sunny said with surprise. "It is a talking sword!"
"... Be careful on the journey that awaits you..." Caliburn spoke again. "... A powerful force is awakening... Don't loose the path of light..."
After saying this, the golden light faded away, and Caliburn's voice couldn't be heard anymore.
Sonic and Sunny both stared at the sword for a while, and none of them said nothing for quite a while.
"Wow..." Sunny eventually said with an amused and excited smile. "I didn't knew you were talking about this when you said that the sword could talk!"
"I wasn't..." Sonic replied with an anxious look.
Sunny's smile faded away, and she looked at Sonic with concern. "W-What?"
"Sunny, Caliburn should talk with a mouth... He has a face." Sonic pointed out with a slight frown. "But he talked to us in a way he has never done before... And if that thing below the Brighthouse is as dangerous as that girl on our dreams told us, then I get now how dangerous it is if we need Caliburn to face it."
"How powerful is this sword, again?"
"It could literally slash a castle in half at its full force, Sunny."
The mare's eyes widened, then she frowned concerned. "So it is that bad..."
Sonic nodded, then looked at the sword, and then made a movement to put it on its case, which magically appeared thanks to a golden aura made by the sword itself on Sonic's back, and Sonic sheath the sword.
"Let's return to the Brighthouse." Sonic declared. "Something tells me we should go down there as soon as we can..."
Steps and hoofsteps echoed across the mysterious cave.
Soon, a torch illumined the path ahead, as two figures could be seen descending through some stairs: Sunny Starscout, the Alicorn of Hope that protects Equestria from evil-like figures like Doctor Eggman and Queen Opaline Arcana. At her side, her companion and 'Personal Guard': Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, who comes from another dimension and is like a brother figure to her.
Sunny carried a saddle bag with Twilight Sparkles' Cutie Mark, which had her phone and a notebook to write down everything the could find down here, and she also levitated the torch with her etherial horn; while Sonic only carried the Caliburn Sword on its sheath in his back.
They both looked around and noticed that the same gloom coming out from the Brighthouse is showing up around them, so they decided to stick together and close to not loose sight of the other.
Sonic remained silent. He'll usually crack a joke to light the mood, but he had a bad feeling about this place.
As they reached the end of the stairs, they turned to the right and saw some more stairs, but also a zone ahead with glowing crystals, some water puddles, and more gloom coming from the deeps of this place.
"We've been descending for a while now..." Sunny pointed out, as she turned to Sonic and looked at him with concern. "These tunnels are deeper than I thought. What could be down here?"
"Whatever it is, it can't be good considering all this gloom." Sonic commented with a frown. "Let's keep moving."
Sunny nodded in agreement, and so, they kept going their way by traveling downstairs.
They walked a bit ahead, and they analyzed their surroundings: Now with light, it was clear to see that the glowing crystals looked exactly like the ones from Bridlewood. However, considering that this was still Maretime Bay, it was weird to see these crystals around.
"First a cave near the beach with crystals were Zipp and Pipp got trapped, now a cave beneath the Brighthouse with the same crystals... Both from Bridlewood..." The blue hedgehog commented. "Perhaps those crystals aren't even from Bridlewood in the first place." He suggested with a shrug
"Or they are, but they go way beyond the forest unlike what we believed." Sunny commented.
The conversation died there for a moment, but as they reached a point where they could see that the cave was even deeper, as well as more gloom around, that didn't lasted long.
"Ponies have been falling ill after coming into contact with the gloom drifting through these caverns..." The Earth Pony mare pointed out, and Sonic looked at her with a concerned frown. "Though here it seems almost misty, and not concentrated enough to harm us..."
"Meaning we won't fall ill. Good." Sonic said with a nod.
"We'll keep going." Sunny stated, as she illuminated the ground with the torch to show more gloom. "With it coming from beneath the Crystal Brighthouse..." She then turned to see Sonic. "We do not know what awaits below, so we need to be ready for anything. But I know we'll be okay as long as we stick together. Let's go solve this mystery!"
Sonic smiled at her and nodded in agreement after hearing this. "Ladies first!"
Sunny giggled, and then decided to continue walking ahead, with Sonic following close behind.
They saw more stairs leading downwards, but this only confirmed what they already suspected: This place is even deeper than they thought it'll be at first.
"I never imagined this was all deep beneath the Brighthouse..." Sunny said with concern. "Has this been down here all this time? Even before, when it was just a lighthouse?"
"If that's the case, then is pretty weird that this... gloom... is reaction only until now." Sonic pointed out with a frown.
"Yeah... I remember that I asked my dad if there was anything below our home when I was a filly." She confessed. "He told me that he heard stories about a hidden cave below the town. I always thought he told me that to avoid the matter, but seeing what is happening right now... I guess it wasn't."
"He was probably trying to protect you from doing something reckless, you know?" Sonic pointed out, as he walked ahead of her.
"Maybe..."
However, as Sonic moved ahead, Sunny gasped when she saw his sword on the sheath, and she gasped: The sword was letting out a golden light, but of course, Sonic haven't noticed yet.
"Sonic!" She called out, and Sonic stopped moving. "The Caliburn Sword..."
It wasn't until she pointed that out that Sonic looked over his right shoulder, and his eyes widened when he also noticed the golden light coming from the sword's blade.
"It must be sensing something." Sonic pointed out, although he didn't took out the sword. "Caliburn's power is quite strange. However, if it is glimmering, it means that whatever is down here is more dangerous than we thought."
"I knew we had reason for concern." Sunny said with a frown, before rolling her eyes annoyed. "And Hitch said that this was nothing to worry about!"
"You can scold him later, Sunny." Sonic pointed out. "Is his fault for wanting to avoid all kind of danger ever since Opaline took Sparky's magic away last week... And then Eggman tried to kill us all with his big-ass robot." He deadpanned.
"I know, I know. Doesn't changes the fact that he wants to avoid something important, and I never imagined that anything like these tunnels were hiding here." The Earth Pony mare said with concern.
Sonic noticed this, so he approached her, kneeled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we stopped Eggman's Death Egg Titan. Pipp and you came to save me, remember? And, I know for a fact that whatever is down here, it won't stop us! We've dealt with lots of stuff, remember? Whatever's down here, it is not prepared for us!"
After saying all this, Sunny felt a bit more hopeful and smiled, then took a deep breath, and then nodded in agreement with a determinate look. "You're right! We must be careful as we move deeper, but so long as we're together, nothing will stand on our way! Besides, I am determined to discover the connection between this place and the emergence of the gloom."
Sonic nodded confidently in agreement, and so, they kept moving ahead.
Soon, the two friends found themselves walking down a strange hallway with rusty spheres that one day used to work as lightbulbs, but there were also tones of stones with messages printed in them.
Sunny approached one of said stones with her torch and kneeled down to illuminate it. "These are ruins from an ancient civilization." She pointed out, before suddenly gasping in surprise. "Wait... Something is written here."
Sonic kneeled to look closely at the stone, but all he could see were strange symbols with no meaning.
"Might these ruins be... from the Sky Dragons?"
"The Sky what?" The blue hedgehog asked confused.
"The Sky Dragons. They literally descended from the skies long time ago." The Earth Pony mare began to explain. "Unlike regular dragons, which come from the Dragon Lands, the Sky ones literally descended from the skies on floating islands... I wonder what happened to them."
"Wait, so it's Sparky a Dragon, or a Sky Dragon?" Sonic asked confused.
"I've been trying to answer that question for a while, Sonic... But I still have no answer."
"Guess only time will tell..." Sonic said. "Let's keep moving. The sooner we find out what's this gloom, the sooner we get out of here. I'm not liking this place."
Sunny nodded on agreement, then they both stood up and continued their path.
It didn't took long for Sunny to distract again, however, because she gasped at seeing something, so she rushed towards said something and examined it.
Sonic came close behind and noticed that she was staring at some weird statue that seemed like a dragon's head, but a very strange one, that is, or at least for Sonic, because he has never seen a dragon that seems like the one of the statue, guiding himself by the pictures that Sunny has showed on adult dragons in Ancient Equestria.
"These carvings... I'm sure they're from the Sky Dragons in origin." Sunny said, as she took out her phone from her saddle bag and took a picture of the statue. "I've seen designs like this in my dad's studies."
"It looks like a dragon... A really weird one, but a dragon nonetheless." Sonic pointed out.
"The Sky Dragons are said to have lived long ago, even before Celestia and Luna were even born." She narrated. "They possessed godlike powers and had a prosperous civilization in the sky."
"Did your dad researched all about them, just like with Twilight Sparkle and her friends?" He asked.
"Not quite." She denied with her head, then put her phone aside. "Many history books tell us about the Sky Dragons, but none gives us the full picture. Much is still unknown about them."
"So is a like the kind of puzzle you love, huh?" Sonic mocked her up with a smirk.
Sunny rolled her eyes annoyed, then turned around. "Let's keep on going. We're sure to find some clues to all of this ahead."
And so they did, they kept going ahead and walked deeper into the tunnels.
Yet, once again, Sunny distracted herself with something else that caught her attention, and Sonic deadpanned at her, but still followed her close behind to make sure she wouldn't be in danger.
She was now staring at a statue made of stone, one that seemed to represent how the Sky Dragons used to look: They seemed to be some kind of strange dogs with long ears, laking scales, and even having a shorter tail than an adult dragon.
Sunny took her phone out again and began to take pictures to the statue. "Is this what the Sky Dragons looked like? They seem so different than the normal ones, and such large ears..."
"Are we sure these were Dragons, Sunny?" Sonic questioned her. "They don't look like Dragons, if you ask me..."
"I know, and that's the weirdest thing of all..." Sunny pointed out. "They don't even have wings... I know that some dragons don't have them, but is weird that a civilization called 'Sky Dragons' lack any kind of wings... Or scales."
"Again: Are we sure these were Dragons?" The blue hedgehog repeated with a slight frown.
"I honestly don't know..." Sunny confessed, before putting her phone aside. "How did the ruins from a civilization in the sky end up here beneath the Brighthouse?"
"For some reason, I feel like that's a question that should remain unanswered."
Sunny was not convinced with that response, but since Sonic only knew what she has told him so far about the Sky Dragons she simply nodded and decided to keep going, with Sonic following close behind, but he glanced one last time at the statue, before following Sunny for real.
"It looks like the path ahead goes even deeper. How long will it take to reach the end?" Sunny questioned concerned.
"Better not find out if that can get us killed..." Sonic said with a frown.
However, as they walked down some stairs, Sonic heard strange noises ahead, and they both stopped moving, with Sonic placing a hand on Sunny's chest and then quietly shushing her with a finger.
Sunny nodded in agreement, then Sonic adventured himself ahead and unsheathed his sword, which's blade was now fully glowing on a golden aura, but Sonic decided to ignore it for now.
He kept walking ahead, and as soon as he saw some strange monsters that seemed like a single eyed bats with wings, Sonic didn't thought twice and slashed the creature in a half with the sword. Suddenly, two more of those strange bats appeared, but Sonic used the sword again and killed them in seconds.
"Those are very strange creatures..." He muttered to himself, before looking at Caliburn with a raised eyebrow. "And why are you glowing like this, pal? Why aren't you talking to me the way you used to?"
He got no response. In fact, he hasn't gotten a response from Caliburn ever since he found it hidden in Canterlot. He tried the past days to communicate with him, but it remained as a simple sword that glows.
Sonic was concerned that something might be wrong with Caliburn, but considering the sword wasn't talking, maybe it was time to throw the idea of getting answers off the window.
So, he placed the sword back on its sheath, while Sunny came rushing to him with a concerned look. "Sonic!" She called out, and Sonic turned to look at her with a smile. "You're not hurt, are you?!"
She looked at him closely, then smiled and sighed in relief when she saw that he was completely fine and unharmed.
However, something else called her attention, and she soon illuminated the rest of the place they were with the torc: Behind Sonic, there were several murals with glyphs all telling a story. Some of the glyphs seemed to be weird monsters, and one even showed a normal dragon with devil horns, pointing to the opposite direction, like if he was telling his tropes to attack.
"Look at these murals..." The Earth Pony mare pointed out, as she illuminated the murals with her torch, then approached to look at them closely. "The written histories of Ancient Equestria include stories of a great war fought long ago. It was a conflict between allied tribes and someone only ever referred to as the Demon King."
"The Demon King?" Sonic questioned. "I don't like the sound of that..."
"Is it possible? Do these murals depict the same legend?!" Sunny asked with a bit of hope, before she rushed to the very beginning of the murals, way to the left, while Sonic followed her close behind.
Sunny came in front of a mural that showed a giant Sky Dragon, crossing his legs, extending his arms and descending from the skies, but also being surround by 7 strange stones around. The figure was descending from the sky, and below them, there were several Earth Ponies looking up to them.
"This is similar to the statues we saw earlier––a Sky Dragon." Sunny said, before looking down at the ponies' glyphs. "And these figures look like Earth Ponies." She then stepped back to look at the full picture, with Sonic standing at her side. "This depiction certainly suggests that the Sky Dragons descended from the heavens."
"Makes sense why they're called 'Sky' Dragons..." Sonic pointed out.
Sunny nodded, then looked at the next mural and approached it. This one had two figures together holding hands/hooves: A Sky Dragon, and an Earth Pony, presumably a mare, both looking at each other with love, while two of the same stones from earlier were above them. Also, there were ponies from the three tribes below the two figures.
"It is said that way before Celestia and Luna, Alicorns were born from the union with gods who had descended from the heavens." Sunny narrated. "These murals tell a similar story, and if they are accurate, then the gods mentioned were were the Sky Dragons... They must have forged a relationship with the Earth Ponies of that time, then helped to make peace among ponykind, and then worked together to establish... the Kingdom of Equestria!"
Sunny squealed excited like a filly after reading all of this, while Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I always wondered where the Alicorns come from... Guess we have our answer." He said with a smile, before his eyes widened as he realized something. "Hold on a second... Wouldn't that mean that the story about Wishday, a.k.a. what used to be Hearts Warming, half-true and half-lie?"
"Well, we know that the three pony tribes accomplished peace to make Equestria, but that's a story older than Twilight Sparkle herself." Sunny pointed out. "Maybe it was changed over time. Why? I don't know."
"It's weird... Is like if Celestia wanted everypony to forget the Sky Dragons by removing them from history... But why?" Sonic questioned with a concerned frown.
"No clue..." Sunny said, before moving to the next mural, one that showed a regular dragon smiling sinisterly and levitating the same Earth Pony mare from before with a single hand, with a stone like the others floating over his hand. "This figure... He seems to be stealing something of incredible power from the young Kingdom."
Now seeing the full picture, they could also see a red aura surrounding the two figures, but it seemed to originate from the male dragon that levitated the Earth Pony mare.
"This all aligns with what I've read during my dad's studies." Sunny said, then turned and rushed to the final visible mural, which was the very first one they saw earlier with the normal dragon with horns and the monsters around him. "And then this... It shows the Demon King! And a fierce battle against him."
Sunny soon stepped back to illuminate the entire mural with the torch, and she stared with slight concern at the dragon with devil horns glyph, but she also felt fascinated about this discovery, while Sonic felt an unexplainable hate against that glyph in particular, but he couldn't understand exactly why.
"If the creature depicted here really does represent the Demon King, then... Incredible!" Sunny said with a huge smile and excitement running though her whole being, an excitement that Sonic didn't understood nor shared. "This mural must be the great war recorded in my father's histories he researched about!"
Yet Sonic stared at these walls with a frown, but the Demon King in particular... He still couldn't come to understand why he hated that glyph out of all of them.
"This is the imprisoning war and the events that led up to it!" Sunny said, before turning around to face Sonic in excitement. "Sonic! This is a huge discovery! Oh, Zipp has not know about this! Maybe we can even study all of this together!"
After saying this, she took out her phone again and took pictures of all the murals with excitement and joy, her brain already working on every possible theory and dots to be connected related to the Imprisoning War she's been talking about for the past minute.
Sonic, however, wasn't so sure if he was confused with all of this, or concerned for what could it mean, and for what could be hidden in the deeps of this tunnels.
"Oh..." Sunny's voice took Sonic out of his thoughts.
He looked that she stared at something with disappointment, then he looked in the same direction and noticed that she stared at some rock blocking two more murals.
"It looks like the rest of the murals are obscured..." Sunny said with disappointment.
Sonic frowned at this, then charged up a Spin Dash and launched himself against the rocks, but he ended up getting sent backwards, and he slid in the ground, looking at the rocks with a slight frown.
"Well, at least I tried..." Sonic said.
Sunny then began to look at their surroundings. "Just what is this place?" She questioned, before she turned and pointed the torch on a certain direction that showed they could still go deeper through the tunnels. "Maybe we'll find more answers farther ahead. Let's keep moving deeper, Sonic."
The Blue Blur nodded in agreement, and so, they resumed their walk to adventure themselves deeper.
However as they began to walk ahead, Sunny came to notice that more and more gloom was appearing around them, and this made her frown with concern.
"The gloom is growing heavier as we go. It's more and more unnerving..." The Earth Pony mare said with worry. "I...don't like the look of this. But we must find our answers, Sonic."
"Agreed. This place gives me the creeps, but if going deeper help us discover the mystery behind the gloom, then going deeper we will!"
Sunny nodded in agreement, also satisfied with this answer.
At least 5 groups of stairs later, they reached a strange place.
From this place, more and more gloom was coming out, while a green light could be seen in the distance, as it spin around like a spiral, and it originated from something weird that none of them could see clearly.
"That green light in the distance... I'm having the strangest sensation. This is all so ominous..." Sunny said with concern.
"Whatever it is, it cannot be good..." Sonic commented with a frown.
Soon, they reached the edge of a strange zone, and they saw that the green spiral was surround a weird structure that was place exactly below the Brighthouse, although judging by its color, it seemed to belong to the original lighthouse before Sprout destroyed it with his robot.
"What is this place?" Sunny asked with a frown.
"It seems to be the origin of the gloom..." Sonic pointed out, before looking something below the thing that the green spiral was surrounding. "And what is that thing?"
"No clue. Let's continue, Sonic. But we must be extremely careful."
Sonic nodded in agreement, then they both walked down the final group of stairs and began to approach the figure ahead.
However, as they did so, and the light of the torch illuminated the area more and more, Sunny gasped a bit in horror at the sight ahead. "What is that?"
Over a circular platform with circular stairs surrounding it, there seemed to be a normal dragon corpse, standing on his feet and bending his back, while a strange green glowing hand with a golden bracelet and a glowing stone in its back was holding the corpse over the chest... Or rather, it was containing it.
The gloom was coming out of that corpse, and that made Sonic step in front of Sunny for protection.
"Don't get closer!" He told her with a frown. "The gloom comes out of it. We don't know for sure if it'll do something to anyone that approaches."
Sunny nodded in agreement, so she didn't approached to the mysterious corpse that lay on the platform. Also, she noticed that Caliburn's golden light was glimmering more, meaning approaching the corpse was very dangerous.
However, it seemed that the glowing hand sensed their presence, because it began to tremble a bit, until it was not holding the corpse anymore and fell to the ground, while the stone in the back of it fell as well and rolled through the stairs, until it stopped right in front of Sunny.
The Earth Pony mare looked at it with a raised eyebrow, then touched it with a hoof and pulled it immediately away, not knowing if the stone could damage her.
Seeing that it did nothing to her, Sunny took the stone on her hoof, and Sonic didn't stopped her when he noticed this as well. However, as soon as the stone entered in contact with Sunny's hoof, it began to glow in a golden light and mark a strange symbol, which confused her.
Boom Boom
Sunny got startled and walked backwards after hearing a heartbeat... Coming straight from the corpse.
Suddenly, the right hand of the corpse moved a bit, then it began to move entirely, as it seemed to try to stand on his site, until it fell backwards for a second...
But then, the neck cracked, and the empty eyes got filled with black eyes with yellow irises, as it looked straight at Sunny with pure hate and anger. After that, a group of massive tentacles of gloom came out of the corpse's chest, and they headed towards Sunny with the intention of harming her.
Fortunately, Sonic unsheathed the Caliburn Sword, which's blade was glimmering in a golden light, and then he slashed the tentacles away with no problem whatsoever.
"Are you okay, Sunny?" Sonic asked her with a concerned frown.
"I am, but be careful!" Sunny replied with worry.
Sonic nodded, then pointed the sword ahead towards the gloom tentacles with a frown.
However, his confidence wouldn't last long, because soon, a gloom tentacle moved so fast that it started to consume the sword's blade, but in the process, it also consumed Sonic's right arm entirely, and Sonic grunted in pain as he grabbed his arm, while also feeling how his strength weakened.
Now, his arm was red and burned, the effect reaching over the right side of his neck, and even worse: Caliburn's blade was covered on the same red substance as well.
But the job wasn't over, because more of those gloom tentacles raised from the corpse's chest, so Sonic raised the sword and then hit the tentacles... Which ended up destroying the Caliburn Sword instead, as the tip of the sword flew ahead and rosed the corpse's left cheek, making it bleed for a while.
"Sonic!" Sunny called out with concern.
Meanwhile, the corpse's eyes stared at both the frightened pony and the weakened hedgehog. "Was that the legendary Excalibur Sword? A blade that shatters so easily against my power cannot save you from me." The corpse spoke, his voice was imposing and could make anyone shiver in fear.
Sunny was frightened by the sight of a talking corpse. Worse of all, dragon's talking corpse, while Sonic only growled in anger at the figure in front.
"Sunny..." The corpse spoke, looking at the mare, who's eyes widened in panic and made her feel anxious. Then, the corpse's eyes moved to look at Sonic. "You, who carries that fragile sword... are Sonic."
Sonic's expression shifted into a surprised and shocked one as well, but he wasn't scared. If anything, he was confused on how this corpse knew who he was, and he also wondered how's he still alive.
"Rauru placed his faith in you... and that was all you could do?" The corpse asked confused and disgusted, as he slowly stood back on a normal position, while his left cheek healed from the cut it got earlier from Caliburn's blade.
"How do you...know our names?!" Sunny asked in fear, as she stepped back.
However, the corpse didn't replied. Instead, he gathered some more bloom tentacles from his chest and then shoot them upwards, pushing the platform that was right below the Brighthouse and making the entire cave rumble, while rubble fell around, and the corpse kept pushing the structure with the gloom.
Outside of the Crystal Brighthouse, the entire ground started to rumble.
As this happened, the ground where the Crystal Brighthouse was located began to shake as well. And then, it didn't took long for the Brighthouse to began to elevate from the ground.
While the Crystal Brighthouse kept elevating, more of the gloom came out, but now it was so damn excessive that it started to spread far and beyond Equestria. Worse of all, some of that gloom was extending across the Brighthouse itself, until it reached the Crystal Room.
There, the gloom tried to hit the Unity Crystals, but the Crystals were defending themselves as much as they could with their own power, creating a barrier around themselves.
Eventually, however, the shield ended up failing and it broke, causing the gloom to enter in contact with the Unity Crystals, before making them shatter slowly. The crack growed more, and more, and more, until a white light made the Crystals shine bright and then shatter apart.
Now, the Unicorn Crystal only had the bottom part, the Earth Pony Crystal looked like an oval instead of a circle, and the Pegasus Crystal was missing an entire wing.
The destruction of the Crystals made them fly out of the Brighthouse and end on a dumpster in Maretime Bay, while the rainbow light that usually came from the Brighthouse died out, and so did the magic of Equestria.
Back beneath the Brighthouse, the ground kept rumbling violently.
Then, the platform where the corpse was standing began to crack, until it broke entirely, as the rubble fall into the abysm, and so did the corpse itself, who smirked sinisterly at his accomplishment.
On the other hand, Sonic kneeled in the ground and grabbed his right arm painfully, because it wasn't until now that he began to process the pain of getting his arm damaged.
"Sonic!" Sunny said with concern, but as the magic died, her etherial horn disappeared, and the torch fell to the ground.
But this was the last of her concerns, because the ground she was standing over also cracked and made her fall, as she screamed in fear. She tried to make her horn and wings come out, but with the magic gone, there was no Alicorn Form to summon, so she was falling to her doom.
Sonic noticed this, and his eyes widened in panic, so he immediately jumped and attempted to save her, to grab her hoof and put her into safety... But his hand rosed her hoof, and he missed.
Sunny looked in horror at Sonic as she kept falling, until a golden light began to glow from her chest, then it growed and covered her entire body, until she disappeared.
Sonic was shocked at this, but he got more shocked when someone caught him by grabbing him from his left arm, so he looked upwards and felt startled when he saw the green glowing arm from earlier grabbing him, before pulling him upwards and make him disappear in a flash light...
