Silver planted his feet firmly into the ground, wearing a determined expression as he stared at a column of fire across from him, the column half the size of the nearby tree. The silver hedgehog sucked in a quick breath and then held his arms out in front of him, his left hand above his right hand. He made a horizontal wave-like motion with his left hand, creating a crescent-shaped blade of psychic energy over his right hand. After a moment, he made a swing with his left hand, sending the blade flying towards the column of fire. It slashed right through the middle of the column and separated it into two pieces. A snap was heard and a moment later, both pieces vanished completely.

Blaze, who was leaning against the nearby tree, lowered her right hand to her side and stood up straight. She turned to look in Silver's direction and started walking towards him while saying, "Nice work, Silver. You've clearly been practicing."

Silver rubbed the back of his head with his left hand, blushing slightly as he said, "Heh, thanks Blaze." He then lowered his hand and looked to his side at Twilight, who had been watching his actions intently. "That's how you perform the Psychic Knife. Did you get all that?" he asked.

Twilight replied, "Uh-huh. You swept your hand while channeling your psychic energy into it, pushing it out and forming it into a blade. Another sweep and you released it from your grip towards your target."

Silver nodded, "Right! And you can make a vertical swipe to unleash it vertically!"

Blaze stopped across from Twilight and Silver, looking at Twilight and saying, "You have keen observations skills, Miss Sparkle. I can see why your Princess Celestia decided to make you her personal student."

Twilight blushed, "You think so? That's very kind of you to say, Prin- er, I mean Blaze."

Silver spoke, drawing both females' attentions back to him, "Since you've got the observing part down, Twilight, let's see what you can do! Show us your version of the Psychic Knife!"

Twilight nodded, "Okay!" She took a few steps away from Silver and Blaze and looked straight ahead as she stopped, beginning to focus her magic into her horn.

Before she could continue, Blaze said, "Wait!" She raised her left hand and snapped her fingers, a new fire column shooting out of the ground near where the first one had been. She then lowered her arm, "Okay, the target is set up. Go ahead, Twilight."

Twilight nodded and faced forward again, her magic surrounding her horn in her magenta aura as she focused on the fire column. After a second, she turned her head slightly to the side and moved her neck back a bit. She then made a few practice sweeping motions with her head, making sure she was making a straight line before focusing more of her magic into her horn. She then made a quick sweep with her head, willing the magic to come out of her horn. Silver and Blaze looked on as a crescent-shaped blade composed of magic energy began to form where her horn had swept.

A second later, the blade broke up into a multitude of wisps, all of them dissipating as they broke away from each other. Twilight went from looking surprised at what happened to looking worried as she raised her left hoof to her mouth. She looked back at Silver and Blaze, the latter raising her arm and snapping her fingers, causing the fire column to vanish from existence.

Twilight looked forward again and faced the ground with a look of shame. That did not go well at all for her. "So much for learning how to use the Psychic Knife…" she thought to herself. She tensed up as she heard footsteps coming up behind her, stopping when they were in front of her.

A tense moment (for Twilight) passed before Silver asked, "Why are you looking at the ground, Twilight?"

Twilight looked up at him and Blaze in surprise, "Uh…"

Silver realized what she seemed to be thinking and said, "Look, don't worry about not performing it perfectly the first time. I didn't expect you to pull it off; considering the difference between psychokinesis and magic, I wasn't sure you'd be able to do what you did just now. And I mean that in a good way."

Twilight murmured, "Uh… okay. But still, I thought I could hold it longer than that…"

Silver placed his hand on her shoulder, "It's all right. Heck, the first time I performed the Psychic Knife, I did it completely by accident."

Twilight asked, "Really?"

Silver nodded, "Yeah! And when I tried to do it normally afterwards, it took me who knows how long to get close to the same result. I'd say you're on a good start towards learning it already."

Blaze spoke, "I agree. And I had similar problems learning to control my fire abilities when I first discovered them. And that was when I saw them as a curse rather than a blessing. So you're not alone when it comes to learning a new skill, especially one like this that's not related to magic. Do you understand?"

Twilight nodded, feeling her determination beginning to come back, "Yes, I understand. So that means… I'll keep trying!"

Silver said, "That's right! Just for now, we won't work on your aim. We'll focus on making sure you can create the blade and keep it stable." He held out his arms to indicate the park where the girls met up for their pony pet play date as he added, "We've got plenty of room here to do that."

Up on the nearby hill, Sonic, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were standing and watching the three of them as Blaze and Silver began to work closely with Twilight to figure out where she was having problems. Behind them, Celestia and Luna sat on the grass, listening in on Twilight's training but not watching it like Spike, Rainbow Dash, Sonic, and Pinkie Pie were.

At the moment, most of the group had temporarily split up once again. Rarity had said earlier that she was going to drop off her gems and fix Applejack's hat, the orange earth pony, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart deciding to go with her. Fluttershy, meanwhile, said she wanted to go back to her cottage to check on Angel and her other animals, the pink-maned pegasus her usual caring, motherly self when it came to animals. Upon seeing that they were going to be split up for a while, Silver had suggested teaching Twilight the Psychic Knife to pass the time, the lavender unicorn suggesting that they go to the park to practice. Shortly after arriving, Tails and Zecora headed back into Ponyville, saying they would be meet up with the others later before heading off in different directions.

While watching Twilight as she started to create another blade with her magic, Sonic uncrossed his arms, placing his right hand on his hip as he noted, "Man, Twilight sure is a unicorn dedicated to learning and mastering new things, huh?"

Spike nodded, "Well, of course! That's who she is, after all. Learning new spells and looking to earn Princess Celestia's approval." He crossed his arms as he said, "It would be nice if she didn't worry so much about her reports and tests and all that, but I guess that's part of her too. I'm sure you've dealt with that sort of thing before, right Sonic?" After a few seconds passed without an answer, Spike looked at him and asked, "Sonic?"

When Spike called his name a second time, Sonic blinked his eyes as he was brought out of his thoughts. He then looked over at him, saying, "Huh? Oh yeah, sure. I occasionally had to talk to Tails and reassure him when he was little. We all need a little reassurance every now and then." His thoughts returned to the lavender unicorn as he turned his head to watch her training.

Spike turned his head to look at Twilight too, though he looked at Sonic out of the corner of his eye as he raised an eyebrow, "Okay…?"

Rainbow spoke, "Hey, look! I think Twilight's got it now!" Both Sonic and Spike looked away from each other at that, facing forward to see that Twilight had created a magenta-colored blade with her magic, the blade hanging above her horn, which was pointing up at the middle of it.

"Yeah, you go, girl!" Pinkie cheered. Twilight's eyes briefly moved in Pinkie's direction at her cheer, but they quickly shifted back to look at her blade. Blaze and Silver stepped back to give her room to throw it, and with a sweep of her head, Twilight released the blade from her magic grip and sent it flying straight ahead. It didn't travel far, though, before it suddenly broke up like the first few she had tried to create. "Or not," Pinkie muttered.

Silver spoke, "You launched it… but you might have put too much magic into it. It was too unstable on its own."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin, "Hm… Guess that means I'll have to treat it like I'm working on a machine rather than… something else."

Blaze asked, "What do you mean?"

Twilight explained, "Princess Celestia thought I should help Tails repair his radar when it got damaged earlier and, when I mentioned I wasn't sure if my magic would be good for that kind of work, Pinkie Pie gave me a book that showed me how to throttle down my magic to an appropriate level for it. Maybe what I read about could be applied here."

Blaze nodded, "Ah. Yes, that does make sense."

Silver said, "Well, try it! See if what you remember has any effect."

While Twilight focused her magic to create another Psychic Knife, up on the hill, Luna turned to Celestia and asked, "Sister, are you sure this is wise? Letting Twilight Sparkle learn a skill that has been used to cause harm to others?"

Celestia replied, "I'm sure it will be fine, Luna. Twilight has learned before not to abuse the magic she's been taught. I can see no reason why she would do that to something one of her friends taught her."

Luna asked, "So would this count as being a part of the next level of her studies? She is being taught by another princess and a time traveler after all."

Celestia seemed to consider this for a moment before simply replying, "Nah."

Sonic's eyes moved back in the two royal sisters' direction as they talked for a moment, wondering, before looking back at Twilight, Silver, and Blaze. A few minutes passed by with Pinkie and Rainbow occasionally throwing out a few cheers before Sonic noticed someone approaching. He looked to see a familiar yellow pegasus fluttering down towards the trio. "Hey, Fluttershy," he called, Spike, Pinkie, and Rainbow looking as well.

Fluttershy smiled as she got closer, "Oh, hello everypony. The animals are all a little nervous because all the color hasn't come back yet, but they all said they're okay and that they'll be strong." She landed next to Rainbow Dash and asked, "So, um, how is Twilight doing with Princess Blaze and Silver?"

Pinkie piped up, "Oh, she's doing great! Silver and Blaze are great teachers! She's gonna have this knife thingy mastered in no time! Pretty soon, she'll be helping the Mayor out at ribbon cutting ceremonies!"

Fluttershy replied, "Really? That sounds nice."

Rainbow said, "You do know that's not all she's going to use it for, right Pinkie?"

Pinkie's eyes widened, "You're right, Dashie! She could cut cakes with it! And pies! And brownies! And, ooh, cupcakes!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Right. I don't know about cupcakes, though…" She looked off to the side and saw a familiar group approaching, though she mostly noticed the earth pony at the front of the group. "Yo, Applejack!" she called.

The orange earth pony quickened her pace, reaching the group on the hill before Rarity, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart did. "Howdy, y'all!" she exclaimed. She turned, showing off the side of her hat that had caught on fire earlier. "What do ya think?" she asked.

Sonic held his left thumb up, "Looking good, Applejack! If I didn't know better, I'd say your hat hadn't been burnt in the first place!"

Rarity, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart walked up as Applejack turned back around, Braeburn saying, "Ah'll say! Miss Rarity does some fine work!"

Spike grinned, "Well, of course! That's why she's so popular with ponies like Hoity Toity and Sapphire Shores!"

Rarity smiled, "Oh, you flatter me, Spike." Looking over the group, she noticed Fluttershy standing near Rainbow Dash. "Oh, Fluttershy, I'm so glad you're here, darling."

The yellow pegasus looked a little worried at that. "Why? Is something wrong? Did something scary happen?" she asked.

Rarity replied, "Oh no, nothing of the sort. It's just…" She turned to the side, showing her previously hidden right side and revealing a familiar cat clinging onto her. "It's Opal," she squeaked.

Pinkie smiled, "Ooh, you brought Opal to the park!" She then gasped, "Wait, are we having our pony pet play date now?! Why didn't anypony tell me we were having a schedule change?! That wasn't in my schedule!"

Rarity sighed, "No, Pinkie, we're not having our play date now. Opal just won't let go. Even Applejack, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart can't get her to budge." She began to tear up as she whimpered, "I can feel her claws on my skin…" She bent down like she was going to try to shake Opal off, but a hiss from the white cat made her stand up straight again.

Fluttershy spoke, "Okay, don't worry, Rarity. I'll help you." She then started walking over to the white unicorn and Opalescence.

As Fluttershy began to work her animal magic, Twilight panted after another failed attempt at performing the Psychic Knife. "The fine-tuning you've suggested seems to be working, Twilight. I'm not sure there's much else we can do at this point," Blaze noted.

Twilight panted, "But… I still haven't successfully… used the Psychic Knife…"

Silver spoke, "You've managed to create it and release it properly, Twilight. I don't know why it can't stay together for more than a few seconds after you release it. Right now, all I can guess is it has something to do with your magic. You'll probably figure what that is sooner than I will."

Blaze nodded, "Silver is right, Twilight. You're a unicorn; you're more familiar with magic than we are. Let's just stop for now and give your magic a chance to recover."

Twilight looked up at her for a second before replying, "Okay." Silver gave her a pat on the back and the three of them turned and walked towards the hill where the others were. As they started walking up the side of the hill, they saw Fluttershy flying away back towards Ponyville. When they reached the top, Twilight asked, "Where's Fluttershy going?"

Little Strongheart turned to her and told her, "She's taking Rarity's cat, Opal, back to the Carousel Boutique. It's amazing how she did it."

Twilight nodded; she then looked at Applejack and said, "Hey, Applejack. How's the hat?"

Applejack turned to show her as she replied, "Good as new, Sugarcube!"

Off to the side, Sonic looked at Spike and asked, "What's up with Rarity's cat?"

Spike whispered, "I have no clue. Just stay away from her…"

Both of them stood up straight when Braeburn asked, "Now where are Tails and Zecora? They're sure takin' a while to get back…" As if on cue, the Warp Ring suddenly materialized near Celestia and Luna, surprising a few ponies. "Whoa!" Braeburn exclaimed.

Tails, Zecora, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders stepped through the ring a second later, Apple Bloom looking particularly amazed at what the Warp Ring could do. "There you guys are! What took you so long?" Rainbow asked.

Tails scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Sorry, Rainbow. A few of our stops took a little longer than we expected." He then lowered his hand as he smiled, "But don't worry. They were worth the extra time."

Blaze was about to ask what he meant when Cream and Cheese suddenly came through the Warp Ring. The young rabbit quickly noticed Blaze and ran towards her with Cheese flying behind her, exclaiming, "Blaze!"

Blaze gasped, "Cream and Cheese!" When Cream leapt at her, Blaze held out her arms, catching the rabbit in them. "I'm so glad you're both okay," she said through Cream's hug.

Cream replied, "We're glad you're okay too!" Everyone smiled at the happy reunion between these best friends.

After a minute, Silver looked over at Tails, Zecora, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and noticed something in Tails' right hand. "Hey Tails, what's that scroll in your hand?" he asked while pointing at it, causing everyone else to look at him.

Tails looked down at it for a second before looking back up and saying, "Oh, that. Well, I've been curious ever since I learned about Spike's ability to send letters to Princess Celestia by breathing fire, so I thought I could satisfy my curiosity before we set out again. Unfortunately, I don't have any, uh, bits and I'm not sure what the value of a gold ring is in Equestria, plus it didn't look like the store was open."

Twilight asked, "So did you get that from the library?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah. I just want to see it for myself." The fox walked over to Spike and bent down on one knee and held the scroll out to him, asking, "I know Princess Celestia is right over there, but will you show me, Spike?"

The baby dragon sighed, "Okay, okay." He took the scroll from Tails' right hand with his own right hand and held it up in front of his face. He then opened his mouth and breathed green fire on it, causing the scroll to turn into a flurry of green embers.

The embers flew over towards Princess Celestia, both her and Luna having been listening in on what everyone had been saying. She looked on as the scroll reappeared in front of her and fell to the ground. She looked up at Tails and saw that the fox had his radar out, seemingly collecting data as he muttered, "Cool…"

Celestia and Luna stood up, Celestia using her magic to pick up the scroll before the sisters walked over to the group, reaching the others as Tails put his radar away. Celestia levitated the scroll down in front of Tails, saying, "I believe this belongs to my faithful student."

Tails blushed, "Oh yeah, right." He took the scroll out of Celestia's magic grip, not noticing the sly smirk on the Solar Princess' muzzle as he did. He said, "I'll just take this back to the library."

As he held up the Warp Ring in his left hand, Twilight spoke, "Actually, Tails, you can keep that scroll if you want."

Tails looked at her, "Are you sure, Twilight?"

The unicorn nodded, "Yeah, as long as it's blank. I'm sure we've got plenty, right Spike?" The baby dragon just gave a shrug in response.

Tails spoke, "Yeah, I saw a bunch of them upstairs. And I checked it before I took it. There's nothing written on it."

Twilight said, "Then you can have it if you want." Tails nodded in thanks and tucked the scroll away in his right tail and the Warp Ring in his left tail.

Sonic turned to look at Apple Bloom and asked, "Say Apple Bloom, what do you and your fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders have in those backpacks?"

Tails nodded, "I was wondering about that too."

The three fillies looked at the brown backpacks on each of their backs, Apple Bloom having the biggest. Apple Bloom then looked at Sonic and said, "We ran into Zecora earlier and she asked us ta help her gather up some plants that she needed!"

Scootaloo added, "She's gonna make you guys something before you head out again!"

Applejack looked at the zebra and asked, "You're not comin' with us, Zecora?"

Zecora replied, "While asking around, I met young Apple Bloom and her friends along the way. We talked for a while and they convinced me to stay."

Sonic asked, "So what are you making?"

Zecora motioned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and they swung off their backpacks, opening them up to reveal the plants in Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's backpacks and a bowl in Apple Bloom's. The zebra then began to mix the plants together in the bowl while saying, "You all have been working hard, so in my stead, I'm mixing a little something to relax you for the trials ahead."

While Zecora was mixing the plants, Fluttershy came back and joined the others watching the zebra work. As she was finishing up, a beeping sound suddenly came from Tails' tails, startling Fluttershy. "Oh, that's mine," the fox muttered as he reached into his namesakes and pulled out his radar. He flipped it open and examined it for a moment before looking up to see Zecora holding the bowl up in her left hoof. "You sure timed it perfectly, Zecora. Now that we have our next destination, your mixture should work better," Tails commented.

Zecora nodded as she added one last leaf to the bowl, causing a scent to come wafting out. "Calm yourselves and take a sniff. This scent should relax you in a jiff," she said while closing her eyes.

The rest of the group did the same, the scent from the bowl spreading out around them. "Mmm, that smells good, Zecora," Twilight commented.

"I agree. Very soothing," Little Strongheart said.

"I love you guys," Pinkie Pie muttered.

A minute later, Sonic opened his eyes, the others doing so shortly afterwards, and looked at Zecora, the zebra looking back at him with a slight smile. "Don't worry, Zecora. We'll make sure to find whoever took your saddlebags and potions for you," he said.

Zecora replied, "I can see that you and your young friend also have knowledge beyond your years. I know I can place my trust in all of you; of not keeping your word, I have no fears."

Celestia opened her eyes and said, "If it is all right with all of you, Luna and I would like to get to know Princess Blaze and Silver a little better. With all that is happened recently, we have not had a chance to talk to them."

Twilight looked at Sonic and asked, "Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "It's up to them."

Silver looked at Blaze and asked, "What do you think, Blaze?"

The princess put a hand to her chin as she thought. "Well, I would like to spend some more time with Cream." She looked at Sonic and asked, "Are you sure you'll be okay if we do not come along?"

Sonic replied, "We got Spike, Little Strongheart, and of course, ponies. Between them, Tails, and me, I think we'll be all right for a while."

Blaze nodded; she then turned to Celestia and said, "Just do not address me by my title and yes, I would like to get to know you and your sister, Celestia."

Luna smiled, "Huzzah! We shall have a royal meet and greet, as they say!"

Celestia turned and said, "Let's go somewhere else for a change of scenery, shall we?"

Silver shrugged, "Sure."

Blaze took Cream's right hand in her left hand, saying, "Come along, Cream."

The rabbit nodded, "Okay!" She looked back at the others and called, "Bye, everybody! Good luck!" Cheese waved to them as he followed behind his best friend as they left the park with Blaze and Silver, following Princess Celestia and Princess Luna back into Ponyville.

Zecora looked at the others and nodded at them before placing the bowl in her hoof on her back. Applejack looked at Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle and said, "Y'all be good now, ya hear? And stay close ta Zecora."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders happily replied, "We will!" Zecora nodded at them and they all left the park, going in the same direction as Celestia's entourage.

After they left, Braeburn asked, "It's our turn now, right? Ta go look for Big Macintosh and the others?"

Sonic nodded, "Yep!" He looked at Tails and asked, "Where to, Tails?"

Tails replied, "The schoolhouse." He looked at the ponies and asked, "You all know where that is?"

Rarity answered, "Of course! Don't worry about consulting your little radar, Tails. We'll show you the way." With that, Spike and the Main Six led the way out of the park, Sonic, Tails, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart following behind them. As they headed back through Ponyville on the way to the schoolhouse, they were unaware of a pair of sunglow eyes and a pair of blue eyes following behind them…

---

Sonic and the others found themselves standing on a stone pathway after going through the portal they found on the schoolhouse's blackboard, the portal they had come through behind them on the side of the path. Above them, the sky was bright but overcast, the Sun slightly visible through the cloud covering.

Fluttershy looked around cautiously, half-expecting something to attack them at any moment. "Um, where are we?" she softly asked.

Tails glanced down at the stone pathway, then up at the mountain behind the group before saying, "Hm… Mountain path… A laid stone pathway…" He looked at Sonic and said, "I know where we are this time!"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, me too."

Pinkie Pie piped up, "Ooh, sounds like a game! Can I play too?"

Rainbow looked at the pink pony for a moment before turning to Sonic and Tails and asking, "So, uh, since you guys know, where are we?"

Before either Sonic or Tails could reply, Braeburn, who had walked to the other side of the stone pathway, suddenly exclaimed, "Whoa!" Everyone looked to see him quickly backpedaling away from the side, sitting down on his rump just in front of the group. As Little Strongheart moved up alongside him, he said, "That's one steep drop!"

Applejack stepped over to the side of the path herself and looked down. She soon took a few steps back, saying, "Whoa, Nelly!" She looked back at Sonic and Tails and asked, "Are we up on a mountain?"

Sonic replied, "That's right, Applejack. We're in Chun-Nan! Give or take a stone path or two."

Twilight asked, "Chun-Nan? Isn't this where you said you learned how to make tea, Sonic?"

Sonic nodded, "Yep!" He pointed to his right while saying, "The village is that way. Let's go!"

He turned and was about to start walking when Tails grabbed his right arm with both hands. He looked back over his shoulder at the fox, who asked, "Uh, Sonic? Do you really think it's such a good idea to just walk into the village with a baby dragon, a buffalo, and ponies, especially unicorns and pegasus ponies?" Said members of the group looked a little confused at Tails' words.

Sonic shrugged, "Sure. I mean, we walk into a lot of places and most people don't mind."

Tails let go of his arm, but pressed, "Yeah, but… people can recognize us the world over. I'm just saying it might be a little different for our new friends."

Sonic replied, "Ah, don't worry about it. Once the initial shock wears off, the humans will be cool with them. It didn't take us long to get used to each other despite the differences, right?"

Applejack smiled, "Can't argue with ya there, Sugar-hog. Let's go meet us some humans." She then trotted past him, followed by Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Rarity. Sonic glanced back at Tails and shrugged before starting after them, Tails, Twilight, Braeburn, Little Strongheart, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie following behind him. As they left the portal behind, it began to ripple as something else began to come through it…

After walking up and around a short ways, the group stood outside of a gate, which marked the entrance to the village. Looking through to the other side, Spike, Little Strongheart, and the ponies were all struck with amazement. Just as Sonic and Tails had suggested, there were humans in the village. Oh sure, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Scootaloo, and Spike had had that run in with the police earlier, but those humans had been in their cars, and the only human they had for reference was Dr. Eggman. Now they were actually seeing ordinary humans in the flesh for the first time, and it felt so different.

"Those are humans? Amazing…" Little Strongheart murmured.

"Yeah… They definitely look like that Eggman guy, and yet they look different," Spike noted.

Tails nodded, "Yep. Just like ponies, dragons, and buffalos, everyone has their similarities and differences, on the inside and the outside."

Sonic looked at the others and said, "Come on, let's go talk to some of them."

Fluttershy looked at him nervously, "They won't… try to hurt us, will they?"

Sonic replied, "No way, Fluttershy. A, the people of Chun-Nan are relatively peaceful people to begin with, B, humans and ponies aren't all that different, and C, you're with Tails and me. Trust me, it'll be fine."

Rainbow nodded at Fluttershy, "Yeah! And if any of these… people try anything funny, we'll show them not to mess with us!" Fluttershy didn't exactly like the sound of what Rainbow Dash was implying, but she faced forward, falling in line with the others as they started walking again, except for Pinkie, who merrily bounced along with the group.

As soon as they stepped under the gate and crossed over the bridge in front of it, a few of the ponies half-expected the humans to make a big deal over them, but as they walked along the stone street, most of the villagers just looked at them for a few moments before offering a humble nod or wave, though a few kept staring. "They seem to be taking this awfully well," Twilight whispered.

"Yeah, that's kind of why I like it here. As long as everything's cool, people are pretty accepting," Sonic said.

Braeburn smiled, "Really? That's reassurin'!" A few nearby bystanders looked at the group at the sound of the earth pony's voice.

Despite the reassurance, Fluttershy soon came to a stop and let out a gasp, causing the others to stop and look back at her. "T-Those two… They're coming over here…" she squeaked. The others looked to see two younger humans, one a girl wearing a red T-shirt and blue pants and the other a boy wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt and black pants, dashing over to them.

The two kids stopped in front of the group, the girl saying, "Hi Sonic, hi Tails!"

Sonic smiled, "Hey there, Yilin and Chun. It's good to see you again!"

Tails nodded, "Yeah. Hey, how's your grandfather doing?"

Chun said, "Grandfather's doing great! He's been working Charles hard and he says his back might be getting better!"

Tails smiled, "Really? That's good to hear."

Yilin giggled, "I think Grandfather keeps giving Charles a lot to do so he doesn't have to worry about his back."

A voice from behind the kids spoke, "I heard that, Yilin." Yilin and Chun turned around and Sonic's group looked to see Zonshen, the village elder, step around the corner. He walked over to his two grandchildren, Yilin and Chun hugging him while he patted them on their heads. When they let go, Zonshen looked at Sonic's group and said, "Welcome back, Sonic and Tails. Are these new friends of yours?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah." He looked at Twilight and the others and said, "Sorry about getting caught up like that, guys. This is Zonshen, the village elder and a master healer. Yilin and Chun are his grandchildren." The ponies, Spike, and Little Strongheart all smiled at that and stepped forward, introducing themselves. Although he was surprised that Twilight and Rarity were unicorns, Rainbow and Fluttershy were pegasus ponies, Little Strongheart was a buffalo, and Spike was a baby dragon, Zonshen warmly welcomed them all, as did Yilin and Chun.

As they all continued talking, more village residents came over to meet the new arrivals. Lin took one look at all of them and saw right away they were a good bunch, showing a particular interest in Spike due to him being a baby dragon, slightly to his displeasure. Jinlin showed an interest in Twilight's magic studies and the orchards that Applejack and Braeburn took care of. Hualin got along well with Rarity and Fluttershy, offering to show them something traditional when Rarity asked about fashion in Chun-Nan. Finally, Shuifon got to talk with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Little Strongheart. All in all, the Equestrians were getting along great with the humans of Chun-Nan.

The meet and greet was interrupted, however, when some of the ponies' stomachs let out loud growls, causing them to blush. "Oh, sounds to me like some ponies are looking for a taste of the Far East," Lin smiled.

Rainbow blushed as her stomach let out a grumble, "Well, I guess I could go for a nibble or two myself."

Zonshen suggested, "You might want to take care of that now. We have plenty of food in our village, and I'd rather not have to check any of you in over something as trivial as low blood sugar. I'm sure you all must be very busy as it is."

Applejack shrugged, "Well, we have been runnin' around quite a bit today."

Twilight nodded, "And I was practicing hard to learn a new technique with my magic a little while ago."

Chun said, "Then you should definitely take a break and get something to eat! You'll love the food here, especially the meat buns!"

Yilin leaned over and whispered, "Um, Chun? Most of them are ponies…"

Tails looked at Sonic and asked, "Well, that aside, what do you think, Sonic? We can stop for something to eat, right?"

Sonic nodded, "Sure. Hang on; I'll go talk to Wang." He turned and walked back down the path, walking over the wooden bridge over to the pork bun shop as the humans began to spread out a little.

Little Strongheart turned to the others and asked, "Wang?"

Hualin said, "That's my dad. He works the counter at our shop."

Jinlin added, "We don't let him anywhere near the kitchen, right Grandmother?" Lin gave an affirmative nod at that.

Sonic walked up to the counter and asked, "Hey Wang, how's it going?"

The man looked up and, upon seeing the blue hedgehog, said, "Oh, hello Mr. Hedgehog. I… suppose I'm doing all right. I would have come over to meet your friends, but considering how strict Lin is about her meat buns…"

Sonic waved a hand, "Yeah, I know."

Wang asked, "So what can I do for you today, Mr. Hedgehog?"

Sonic leaned on the counter with his left arm and said, "Give me, uh, eleven orders of your famous noodles and some rice balls. I know you make 'em in advance, but I'd appreciate it if you gave us the soy noodles. Ponies and buffalo aren't exactly meat eaters, after all." Wang nodded; Sonic then added, "Also, I'll take an order of peach buns and Lin's famous meat buns for dessert. Tails, Spike, and I can handle the meat buns."

Wang nodded, "Very good. Are you sure you're going to be able to pay for all that?" Sonic nodded and reached back into his quills, pulling out a few shiny, golden rings.

Spike saw him pull out a few more and leaned over to Tails, whispering, "Does he keep everything he finds in his spines?"

Tails whispered back, "You know… I don't know. I keep forgetting to ask."

Sonic was about to give Wang his payment when a loud "OH MY GOSH!" caught everyone's attention. Everyone looked towards the village entrance to see a mint green unicorn standing on her hind legs with her hooves on her cheeks, her mouth wide open in amazement.

Rainbow asked, "Lyra? What's she doing here?"

Pinkie waved, "Hi, Lyra! Look! There are humans living here!"

Rarity looked at the pink pony and said, "Pinkie, dear, it would appear as though she already knows that."

Applejack muttered, "Aw, hayseeds. Ah don't like the look o' this…"

Braeburn heard and looked at her in confusion, "Why, what's the problem, Applejack?"

Bon-Bon came running up behind Lyra and looked around the unicorn to see what had her so enraptured. Her eyes widened when she saw the humans looking back at them, but she soon shook her head and turned to Lyra, whispering, "Okay Lyra, you got to see real humans. Now close your mouth and come on. We're going home!"

She seemed sure that Lyra would listen, seeing as she turned around and looked as though she was going to start walking back down the stone path. Lyra, however, had plans of her own. She gave a loud scream of "HUMANS!" and dashed into the village before Bon-Bon could turn around and restrain her.

It was at this point that Braeburn saw what the problem was and yelled, "Look out, y'all!" Unfortunately, it was WAY too late for a warning to have made any difference, as Lyra bowled through Tails and her fellow Equestrians, sending most of them flying. Tails, Twilight, and Braeburn ended up landing in the water while Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike were all, amazingly, knocked up onto the nearby rooftop. The rest were all knocked over as Lyra, in her near-manic state, made her way towards the objects of her dreams.

The humans, of course, did not look thrilled at the sight of this crazy pony coming towards them and scattered. Shuifon ended up cornered against the wall as Lyra set her sights on him. He got into a Kung Fu stance, hoping it would ward the unicorn off, but all it did was give her a clear shot at examining his hands with her hooves. She didn't do anything too extensive, but the way she was feeling over her hands was enough to weird Shuifon out.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Yilin yelled at Lyra.

The mint green unicorn turned to look at her with a wide smile on her face, the look on her face almost terrifying the poor girl. "LITTLE HUMANS!" Lyra shouted, dashing towards her and Chun, leaping at the two children.

Zonshen quickly stepped in and put his arms around his grandchildren, pulling them out of the unicorn's way, leaving Lyra to hit the ground hard. "You stay away from my grandchildren, you… you…!" he said.

Lyra looked up at him with starry eyes. "Wow… Such a perfect use of hands and arms…" she breathed.

Applejack stood up and, after shaking her head, looked at Lyra and yelled, "Lyra, knock it off! You're makin' the rest o' us look bad!"

Lyra looked at her, but only for a few seconds at best since she noticed Sonic, Wang, Jinlin, Hualin, and Lin standing on the other side of the bridge behind her. "MORE HUMANS!" she exclaimed, standing up and running towards Applejack, the orange earth pony prepared to stand her ground this time against the unicorn. Unfortunately, Lyra jumped over her when she got close enough, sailing towards the other side of the bridge.

Suddenly, Bon-Bon screamed, "LYRA!" A second later, the earth pony intercepted the unicorn, crashing into her from the side and knocking them both into the water. As everyone looked on, Bon-Bon dunked Lyra's head in the water several times, being careful not to hurt her while doing so. "You… really… need to get this out of your system!" Bon-Bon growled. She let her up a minute later, Lyra just staring straight ahead, blinking as she held her head up. Bon-Bon stood up and trotted over to the edge of the stone. The humans watched her as she bowed and said, "I am SO sorry for my roommate's reaction, humans. She's not normally like this, I swear!"

The village was silent save for the flowing water that Tails, Twilight, Braeburn, Bon-Bon, and Lyra were still standing in. It was eventually broken when Sonic tapped Wang's right arm with his left hand, "Hey, Wang?" When the man looked at him, Sonic asked, "Can you put two more orders of your noodles on the bill?"

Soon, at the restaurant…

Sonic and the others sat on wooden stools around a long table that had been brought out for them. Twilight and Tails sat at Sonic's side, both of them wrapped in towels that Jinlin had gotten them so they could dry off. Braeburn and Little Strongheart sat across from each other at one end of the table, Braeburn also wrapped in a towel and lacking his hat and vest (Jinlin had taken them to let them dry). Bon-Bon sat at the other end of the table, the earth pony sitting with her chin on top of her hoof as she glared jealously at Lyra, who was sitting at a smaller table and talking to a very nervous-looking Charles, both of them having shaken the water out of their coats earlier. The young man from Empire City never thought getting that connection Zonshen talked about involved talking to a manic, human-crazy unicorn.

Looking between Lyra and Charles, Rarity mused, "Goodness, poor Charles looks so nervous. He looks as though Lyra is going to jump across the table and harm him!"

Spike, who was sitting next to Rarity (on a booster seat composed of wooden stool tops), shrugged, "If he didn't see what Lyra did just now, he probably heard about it from Zonshen. I don't know which would be more unnerving…"

Rarity shook her head, "Poor girl. Her dreams finally come true and she can't contain herself. It must be embarrassing."

Tails looked at Sonic and said, "I don't think I've ever seen humans panic like the villagers did when Lyra came charging towards them earlier. She must've scared them pretty bad."

Sonic nodded, "Yeah. We didn't get a reaction like that when we first met humans, and while some people were scared of me, I didn't really get anything like that when I was a Werehog."

Twilight looked at Sonic oddly, "Werehog? Really?"

Tails leaned forward to look over at her and said, "Yeah, he did turn into a Werehog. It was an unexpected side effect of one of Eggman's recent plans to conquer the world and build Eggmanland."

On the other side of the table further down, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, "Eggmanland?"

Before the cyan mare could say any more, Pinkie piped up, "That sounds like the name of an amusement park!"

Sonic said, "Oh, it was an amusement park all right, Pinkie, one with red skies, killer robots, minions, weapons, and every safety hazard imaginable. Eggman definitely spared no expense."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Sounds like a great place to go for a vacation."

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, and you wouldn't believe how bad it looked. Seriously, I'll never understand Eggman's tastes."

Fluttershy meekly asked, "Um, Sonic? What were you saying about turning into a… a Werehog? I mean, if you don't mind telling us…"

Sonic replied, "Oh, of course not, Fluttershy. I ended up absorbing a bit of Dark Gaia when Eggman woke it up."

Twilight asked, "Dark Gaia?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, it's an ancient monster that Eggman wanted to harness the power of to conquer the world, kind of like with Chaos."

Rainbow growled, "That jerk! Where is this Dark Gaia thing?! We should make sure Eggman can't get anywhere near it ever again!"

Sonic smirked, "Dark Gaia? It's right below us."

Applejack blinked, "Come again?"

Sonic pointed down at the ground with his right hand, saying, "It's back in the planet's core, back where it should be." His smile eased off slightly as he added, "Along with Chip, or rather Light Gaia, I guess."

Applejack shook her head before saying, "Ah think Ah'm missin' somethin' here. Light Gaia? Dark Gaia? What the hay?"

Tails spoke, "I can explain. Uh… you guys know how Princess Celestia is tied to the day and Princess Luna is tied to the night?" Spike, Little Strongheart, and the ponies (save for Lyra and Bon-Bon) all nodded, so Tails continued, "Well, Light Gaia and Dark Gaia represent the day and night as well, but their connection is a little different."

Little Strongheart asked, "How so, Tails?"

Tails explained, "Well, you see, there's kind of a cycle that's been happening in our world since the beginning of time. Dark Gaia spends millions of years growing in the planet's core, and when the time is right, it arises to destroy the world. When that's happened, Light Gaia arises to put the planet back together. This has been happening for ages, but we know it's true because of the Gaia Manuscripts that record what happened tens of thousands of years ago. That's how Eggman learned about Dark Gaia's existence."

Twilight asked, "So… he was ready for Dark Gaia's awakening?"

Sonic said, "No. True to form, Eggman couldn't wait to have such an ancient creature under his control. He got me to use the Chaos Emeralds when I was confronting his fleet above the planet, and while I was Super, he managed to lure me to his cannon, which took the power of the Chaos Emeralds and fired it at the planet. It blew the whole planet to pieces, like a big jigsaw puzzle."

Rarity gasped, "That's terrible! I thought he sounded bad before, but…" She pounded her hooves on the table and looked absolutely livid, causing some of the others to exchange nervous looks.

Rainbow recovered first and asked, "Why would he destroy the planet?!"

Sonic said, "It was the only to awaken Dark Gaia. But since it wasn't the time of awakening, Dark Gaia fell apart shortly after it woke up, scattering across the world, and Light Gaia ended up getting amnesia from the early wake-up call. All he could remember was something falling from the sky. When I met him, I thought I landed on him, so I offered to help him try to get his memory back."

Spike asked, "And you called him Chip?"

Sonic shrugged, "Well, he couldn't remember his name. I had to call him something, right? And he really liked that, uh, Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme that's famous over in Apotos. It seemed to fit him."

Pinkie drooled, "Ohhhh… Chocolate chip… sundae… supreme! Ooh, I can just imagine it!"

Sonic chuckled, "Yeah, that's kind of like how Chip reacted." He shook his head and said, "Anyway, we spent the whole day searching Apotos for any clue as to who he could be, but no one seemed to recognize him."

Braeburn asked, "So what did ya do?"

Tails spoke, "Luckily, for both of us, I was in Apotos at the time, gathering data for Professor Pickle."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "Professor Pickle?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah. He's a professor of archeology over at Spagonia University."

Sonic added, "And he loves cucumber sandwiches."

Twilight's eyes lit up, "University?"

Tails said, "Uh-huh. It attracts scholars from around the world, and Professor Pickle has a lab there. In fact, last time I checked, he still had the Gaia Manuscripts."

Applejack asked, "So if he was in this Spagonia place, and y'all were in that Apotos place, how'd ya get there if the planet was broken?"

Tails answered, "Well, after Sonic fought off some of Dark Gaia's minions, we used my Tornado-1 to fly to Spagonia. It also helped us get to the rest of the continents."

Fluttershy asked, "T-Tornado-1?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah. It's one of my many personal bi-planes. I modeled the Tornado-1 after the original Tornado, which was Sonic's plane." He then said, "Anyway, after we got to Spagonia, we found out Professor Pickle had been taken by Eggman, so we had to go to Mazuri to rescue him."

Sonic smirked, "He was more upset about having to eat Eggman's terrible food rather than the fact that he'd been kidnapped." That raised a few chuckles around the table.

Tails giggled, "Yeah, he was. So after we got back to Spagonia, he used the information in the Gaia Manuscripts to point the way to the Gaia Temples around the world. Since the Chaos Emeralds had been drained of their power after Eggman broke the world apart, we had to visit the temples to restore their power, which also brought the pieces of the planet back together."

Sonic took over, "While we were restoring the sixth Chaos Emerald in Adabat, Chip touched a stone carving in the Gaia Temple, which restored his memories. After he explained his and Dark Gaia's history to me, we stopped by Pickle's other lab in Shamar and learned that the last temple was on the continent where Eggman had built Eggmanland. Chip and I were able to reach the Gaia Temple and restore the last Chaos Emerald, as well as beat the robot Eggman had created with Dark Gaia's energy, but by then, Dark Gaia had just about put itself back together. Once it took back the fragments I had absorbed, it was complete."

Fluttershy dared to ask, "S-So, what happened n-next?"

Sonic said, "With the help of the Chaos Emeralds, Chip was able to summon the Gaia Temples and put them together to make a… I guess the appropriate term would be colossus. Together, we were able to do some damage to Dark Gaia, but we hadn't defeated it yet. When it revealed its true form, I used the Chaos Emeralds to go Super to even things up. We were finally able to defeat it and restore both the planet and balance between light and dark."

Pinkie Pie leaned forward and asked, "So what happened to Chip? Is he still around?"

Sonic shook his head, "Not physically. He stayed behind in the planet's core with the Gaia Temples when the last piece of the planet slid back into place. He's fast asleep now."

Little Strongheart said, "And judging from what you and Tails have said, it'll be millions of years before either he or Dark Gaia awaken again."

Tails nodded, "That's our best guess at this point."

Pinkie looked sad at that, "Aw…"

Twilight asked, "Do you miss him?"

Sonic replied, "Yeah… but it's all right." He reached into his quills and pulled out Chip's necklace, holding it in front of him. "He left me this to remember him by. And he'll always be there… as a part of the earth I tread." He gained a look of fond remembrance as the Equestrians looked on with smiles.

The moment was interrupted when Hualin stepped underneath the stone archway and let out a slight cry. Everyone looked at her. Rarity's eyes immediately became starry at the sight of the red garment she was wearing. She gasped, "Oh my goodness! What a beautiful dress!"

While Hualin regained her balance, Tails spoke, "Actually Rarity, that's not a dress. It's a kimono, a type of robe."

Hualin walked over to the table and said, "He's right, Rarity. Kimonos are a traditional type of garment. We usually wear them on special occasions."

Rarity replied, "Well, I think it looks just stunning on you! And I daresay it has given me quite the inspiration! When this is all over, I must make kimonos of my own to sell at the Carousel Boutique!" She looked at Hualin with big eyes, "Could I possibly examine yours, dear, to get an idea of the type of material used to create it?"

Hualin was initially taken aback by Rarity's words, but she soon replied, "Uh, sure, you can look at it." She undid the sash on the back and opened the kimono up, stepping out of it. She then handed it to Rarity, who eagerly took it with her magic to begin examining it. Under her breath, Hualin sighed, "The less time I have to wear that, the better…"

She was broken out of her thoughts when Tails asked, "Is everything okay, Hualin?"

The girl's head snapped up and she said, "Oh, yes! I just came to tell you that your food will be ready soon. Also, I can take those towels if you're dry enough."

Tails realized the only wetness he could feel was from the towel itself, so he told Hualin, "Yeah, my fur feels pretty dry now. Thanks." He lifted the towel off of himself and handed it to Hualin when she walked over to him.

Twilight also took her towel off and gave it to Hualin, saying, "Thank you, Hualin." The girl nodded in reply before walking over to Braeburn and taking his towel as well.

As she turned to leave, she stopped and looked back at Braeburn, saying, "Oh, and Mr. Braeburn? Your hat and vest are still drying, but they should be dry by the time you're all done eating."

Braeburn replied, "All right. Thank ya kindly, ma'am." Hualin nodded and resumed walking, deciding to get the kimono back from Rarity when she came back with the food.

After Hualin left, Twilight turned to Sonic as he was placing Chip's necklace on the table and said, "I was just wondering… What's the difference between regular you and Werehog you?"

Sonic looked at her and shrugged, "Eh, I look more beastly, get physically stronger, and lose a lot of my usual speed. Oh, and my arms get really stretchy."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "Stretchy?"

Tails spoke, "Yeah. A number of Dark Gaia's minions were able to stretch and extend certain parts of their bodies. Sonic having part of Dark Gaia in him gave him that same trait when he was in Werehog form at night."

Applejack asked, "How far could ya stretch yer arms, Sugar-hog?"

Bon-Bon spoke up, for the first time, while still looking in Lyra's direction, "If you were this Werehog thing, would you be able to stretch your arms over to Lyra and pull her over here?"

Sonic was silent for a moment at the tone of the earth pony's voice, but he soon said, "Uh, yeah, actually I could."

Spike spoke, "Uh, wow. That sounds strange, but kind of cool."

Sonic replied, "Well, it was useful. That's all that mattered to me."

Pinkie Pie giggled, "Stretchy arms! Long arms! Star arms!"

Little Strongheart asked, "But you don't turn into it anymore, do you?"

Sonic shook his head, "Nope. It's not so bad, though. More people are able to recognize me on sight like this."

The group sat in silence for a minute before Hualin returned along with Jinlin, Wang, and Lin, Hualin and the former two carrying trays with bowls of noodles and rice balls on them. As the three of them began distributing bowls and setting the rice balls in the middle of the table, Lin turned to Charles and said, "Charles, the village elder just stopped by. I believe he has a delivery for you."

Charles, who looked eager to do anything other than talk to Lyra any more, replied, "Oh, really? I guess I'd better take care of that." He looked at Lyra and said, "Sorry, uh, Lyra, but I have to go. I've been working to win that old geezer over for a while now and I don't want him to suddenly turn me away now."

Lyra deflated a bit at that, but she quickly perked up, "Ooh! How about I come with you? I can help you with whatever you have to do!"

Bon-Bon spoke up, "No, you can't, Lyra. He has to go, and the food has just arrived. And let me just remind you that Sonic was generous enough to buy food for everypony, including the two of us. You are staying, and you are going to eat!" She finished with a glare to indicate she wasn't kidding.

Lyra groaned, "Aw…" She then perked up again and turned to Charles, saying, "So long, Mr. Human!" She then hopped off of her seat and trotted over to the long table while Charles, finally free of the unicorn's soul-piercing eyes and questions, quickly left to find Zonshen.

When Lyra reached the table, she took her seat next to Bon-Bon at the end of the table, Wang and Jinlin placing their bowls of noodles down in front of them a second later. The two humans then stood up and Jinlin said, "There you are. My husband's noodles with a side of onigiri to give you all a little taste of Chun-Nan. I'll come back in a little while with dessert."

Sonic and Tails both put their hands together and bowed their heads slightly, both saying, "Arigato." Jinlin, Wang, Hualin (who was holding her kimono in her arms), and Lin all gave a slight bow as well before leaving them to eat in peace, Sonic and Tails sitting up straight afterwards.

Twilight turned to Sonic and asked, "What did you say to them?"

Sonic shrugged, "'Thank you'."

Rainbow asked, "You said 'thank you' in another language?"

Sonic replied, "Sure, why not? Speaking in another language is cool, you know."

Applejack said, "That's fine. Just don't go actin' like Apple Bloom when she had the Cutie Pox and start speakin' in fancy on us." Sonic wasn't quite sure what she meant, but he nodded anyway.

Twilight looked down at the bowl in front of her and asked, "So these noodles are served in the broth? Not by themselves?"

Tails looked over at her and nodded, "Yeah, they're a part of the soup. Don't worry, it's a soy broth. It's not as well-known as some of the other dishes here, but it's delicious all the same."

Braeburn piped up, "And what'd they call these white things? Oni… somethin'?"

Sonic spoke, "You can just call them rice balls, Braeburn. That's all they are, really: rice packed into a triangle shape and wrapped in seaweed."

Spike asked, "That's rice? I thought they were donuts."

Rainbow said, "Well, I thought they were sandwiches."

Before this debate could go on, Applejack asked, "So, uh… how are we supposed to eat this? Is there a fork or somethin', or do we just pick up the bowl, tip it, and swallow?"

Tails said, "Well, you'll do that for the soup part, yeah. But if you want to eat the noodles separately… well, I don't know if it'll be easy for you to use them, but you could use these." He reached down with his right hand and picked up a pair of chopsticks next to his bowl.

Rarity raised an eyebrow, "Sticks?"

Sonic picked up his own set and said, "They're called chopsticks, and this is how you use them." He adjusted his fingers and then reached down with them into his bowl. He brought them out a second later, now closed around several dripping noodles. He then raised the sticks to his mouth and caught the end of the noodles in his mouth, releasing them and slurping them up. After swallowing, he asked, "See?"

Rarity replied, "I do, although that slurping was a bit… crude."

Sonic shrugged, "You know a better way to eat wet, dangling noodles?" Rarity had no response for that.

Everyone, save for Pinkie Pie (who had started eating), looked towards the end of the table when they heard Lyra grunting. The mint green unicorn was fiddling with her chopsticks with her hooves, trying to position them properly. "Lyra, what are you doing?" Bon-Bon asked.

Lyra grunted, "I'm trying to use these chopstick things, of course!"

Fluttershy offered, "Um, couldn't you just use them with your magic, Lyra?"

The mint green unicorn replied, "No! That's not the proper way to use them!" She continued grunting while trying to get them to sit right in her hooves while everyone watched.

A few seconds later, Applejack looked down at her noodles and said, "Ah, ta hay with it." She picked up the bowl in her forehooves and raised it up to her face. Holding it up a little higher, she put her lips on the rim and opened her mouth while tilting the bowl downwards, causing its contents to slide into her mouth. A few seconds later, she set the bowl down and licked her lips, "Mmm! That's hoof-lickin' good!" Encouraged by this, the other Equestrians started eating as well.

A minute later, Lyra dropped her chopsticks in frustration and growled, "I don't believe this! How am I supposed to use chopsticks properly without hands?! It's impossible!"

Pinkie called from across the table, "What are you talking about, Lyra?" The unicorn looked to see the pink pony holding some noodles up in her chopsticks, expertly bringing them up to her mouth and gulping them down before saying, "These things are super easy to use!" She then reached over with her chopsticks and grabbed a rice ball, popping it in her mouth and chewing it before swallowing. Lyra glared at her for a moment before renewing her efforts with the chopsticks.

As everyone began to make small talk while eating, Twilight noticed that Sonic still had Chip's necklace out, the bauble sitting next to his bowl of noodles. After the hedgehog swallowed his noodles, she asked, "Hey Sonic, why do you still have that, uh… bracelet out? Aren't you worried you'll get something on it?"

Sonic replied, "I guess there's a chance I could get something on it, but… eh, this brings back memories. Chip and I ate at this restaurant while we were here in Chun-Nan. I know he's sleeping and all, but maybe he'll smell the delicious food in his sleep and start dreaming of all the things he got to see with me."

Twilight asked, "You think so?"

Sonic nodded, "Sure! Until Eggman forced him and Dark Gaia to wake up early, he had no idea what the world was like. He didn't know anything about the planet he was protecting. Everything we saw, ate, and went through together… Those memories are gonna last a lifetime." Twilight nodded in understanding.

Sonic reached out with his hands, grabbing two rice balls and tossing one to Twilight when he brought his arms back, the unicorn catching it with her magic. She took a tentative bite out of it and gave a murmur of approval. Sonic nodded and held his rice ball up in front of him. "So I've been meaning to ask… How've you been doing lately, Twilight?" he asked before taking a bite out of his rice ball.

Twilight looked at him curiously as she held her rice ball in her right hoof, "What do you mean?"

Sonic shrugged, "Well, you did get… blasted or something when you tried probing my mind with your memory spell."

Twilight replied, "Oh, that. Well, I was able to find your memories of that place we were at. They were… hidden away in your mind. Not quite unreachable, but not easily accessible either. It has something to do with when you and that princess, Elise, put out that flame in the past."

Sonic said, "Huh. That might explain a few things."

Twilight nodded, "Yes. Like, you can remember Elise to an extent, but not exactly everything else. When I was using my spell, I was seeing everything from your eyes. Including," she lowered her voice and whispered, "…when you died. I felt that, and that's what 'blasted' me."

Sonic stared at her for a moment before replying, "Well, if that's all it was, then it's okay. I mean, since we put out the flame, it didn't happen. No reason to dwell on it, right?" Twilight looked surprised that he could shrug something like that off so easily, but she eventually nodded. Sonic then asked, "Speaking of dwelling, though, how's your, uh, 'other' thing? You know, what we talked about?"

Twilight hesitated a bit before saying, "W-Well… I think I know what I need to do." Sonic nodded, intrigued. "I… Well, for one thing, I should try harder. And remember to remain calm in stressful situations. And be patient."

Sonic asked, "Is that it?"

Twilight sighed, "…No." She then said, "But it's a start, right? I have to start from somewhere and work my way up to bigger things. I can see all sorts of possibilities, but I won't know for sure until I get there. We can't all be as fast as you or Rainbow, Sonic. Some of us have to go a little slower."

Sonic smiled, "There's the Twilight I'm starting to know. You go at your own pace; I'm not saying you should rush. Just remember: you gotta be true to yourself!" Twilight nodded, smiling a little at the blue hedgehog's encouragement. They both went back to eating, continuing to make small talk and talking with the others as well.

A little while later, all the bowls were empty and the rice balls had all been eaten. Rainbow leaned back in her chair and sighed contentedly. "I can say this much. They've got some interesting food here in Chun-Nan, and it's delicious," she declared.

Fluttershy nodded, "Oh yes, very good."

While using a chopstick to fish out an errant bit of seaweed between her teeth, Applejack added, "Fer sure!" Having finally dislodged the seaweed, she looked at Sonic and asked, "So where's that dessert Ah heard about?"

Sonic replied, "It should be here soon." He then leaned back in his own chair, resting his hands against the back of his head.

About thirty seconds later, Jinlin walked in with a bowl containing peach buns and a circular tray that had meat buns on it. "Did everyone enjoy their meal?" she asked. Sounds of approval came up from around the table, causing Jinlin to smile, "I'm glad to hear it. So, to top off your dining experience, here's a little dessert: our famous meat buns for Sonic, Tails, and Spike, and peach buns for the rest of you."

After Jinlin set the bowl and the tray down on the table, Bon-Bon spoke, "Uh, could somepony pass two of those peach buns over here? Believe me, this dining experience was nice and all, but I think Lyra and I will take our dessert to go."

Lyra gasped, "What, now?! But I…!" She looked up at Jinlin as the human handed Bon-Bon two peach buns and rose from her seat. Moving in front of the human and putting her forehooves on her torso like a dog, Lyra asked, "Hey, is that human I talked to earlier around? I'd love to talk to him again! I think he and I could really bond together!"

Before Jinlin could reply, Lyra yelped as her left ear was suddenly grabbed by Bon-Bon's right forehoof, the peach buns in her left foreleg. As she walked towards the archway on her hind legs, Bon-Bon said, "When we get home, I'm 'bonding' you to the couch!"

While everyone watched as Lyra was dragged away by her roommate, the mint green unicorn cried, "Not the ear, Bon-Bon! Please, let's just stay for a little longer! Come on! Noooooooooo!"

Soon…

The group left the restaurant, all of them feeling satisfied with their meal, Braeburn once again wearing his hat and vest. After Bon-Bon and Lyra left, dessert was relatively uneventful until the end, when both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie wanted the last peach bun. They both ended up getting into a fight over it, which greatly reminded Sonic of the time he ate at the restaurant with Chip. When they accidentally sent the peach bun flying, Rainbow managed to push past Pinkie and eat it, only for karma to catch up with her when she flew right into a gong. Her ears were still ringing as she walked under the arch and stood in front of the stone bridge with the others.

"Well, that was rather good," Little Strongheart commented.

Spike patted his belly as he said, "Well, they weren't gems, but those meat buns were pretty tasty."

Rarity was looking back at herself nervously, now that the blissful feeling of being full had worn off somewhat. "I hope all this eating doesn't ruin my fabulous figure," she said worriedly.

Applejack patted her on the shoulder, "Aw, relax Rarity. You'll get a chance to work it off."

Sonic turned to Tails and said, "That was pretty fun, wouldn't you say, Tails?"

The fox replied, "Yeah. It wasn't quite the same as what we were doing with everyone else earlier, but we can worry about that later." Sonic nodded while most of the others looked a bit confused, not sure what they were talking about.

Before anypony could ask, however, they heard something in front of them and turned to look. And there, standing on top of the roof of the building in front of them, was the last pony Spike or any of the girls expected to see looking down at them: the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.

"Uh, guys? What's going on here?" Rainbow asked without taking her eyes off the masked pony.

"Who's that?" Sonic asked.

Pinkie piped up, "It's Mare-Do-Well! But we were supposed to be Mare-Do-Well! Well, not Dashie, of course! She wasn't in on it since…"

As Pinkie kept talking, Twilight turned to Rarity and asked, "Rarity, what did you with the costumes after we were done with them?"

The fashionista answered, "I kept them, of course! I could never throw something of that quality away! But they were locked up; nopony should've been able to get to them, let alone find them!"

Applejack asked, "Did ya ever check on 'em any time AFTER ya locked 'em up?"

Before Rarity could answer, Tails pointed, "Look! There's something under her cape!" Everyone looked carefully where he was pointing and saw a pair of reddish-brown wicker saddlebags on Mare-Do-Well's back.

Twilight gasped, "Those are Zecora's saddlebags!"

Rainbow growled, "So Mare-Do-Well took them and Zecora's potions! That's it, I'm gonna…!" She spread her wings and flew straight up towards the masked pony intending to tackle her, only to fly into a dark purple flash as Mare-Do-Well suddenly teleported. Rainbow managed to slow to a stop in midair and glanced around quickly, asking, "Where'd she go?!"

Braeburn soon pointed, "Over there!" Everyone looked to see the masked mare running up the stone steps behind the back gate, leaving the village.

"Come on, we gotta stop her!" Rainbow yelled as she dropped down onto the pavement and ran after Mare-Do-Well, Sonic hot on the cyan pegasus' hooves with everyone else behind him. They all followed the mare through the gate leading out of the village, heading into the rocky area beyond it.

After running for a short while, they found themselves near a small lake, but Mare-Do-Well had seemingly vanished. Rainbow growled, "Darn it, where'd she go now?!"

Everyone looked around, Sonic soon spotting the mare on top of the rock formation in the middle of the lake. He pointed, "There she is!" The mare saw everyone else look up at her; a moment later, she leapt down from the rock to the other side, disappearing from view.

Applejack said, "Come on, y'all! Let's get her before she gets away!" Sonic, Rainbow, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart nodded and started moving towards a bridge that had been built since the last time Sonic had visited Chun-Nan.

Before they could cross it, Tails called, "Wait!" They all stopped and looked back at him; he said, "I know we need to catch Mare-Do-Well and all, but don't forget we originally came here to find our friends!"

Rainbow suggested, "Well, maybe Mare-Do-Well can lead us straight to them!"

Tails asked, "But what if she doesn't? Then we'll still need to look for them!"

Rarity said, "Tails has a fair point. What should we do?"

Pinkie spoke up, "Ooh! How about we make like bananas and split! Up, that is!"

Sonic said, "Not a bad idea, Pinkie." He looked at Tails and asked, "Tails, do you remember the path Chip and I took to get to the Gaia Temple?"

Tails nodded, "Uh-huh. You guys cut through that area up ahead. It led straight there, around the Gaia Gate."

Sonic said, "Right. Why don't you take Twilight, Rarity, Spike, Pinkie, and Fluttershy and head out that way? If Mare-Do-Well doesn't lead us to our friends, my bet is they'd be around either the Gaia Temple or the Gaia Gate."

Twilight asked, "Am I correct in assuming the rest of you are going to go after Mare-Do-Well?" Sonic nodded in response.

Tails reached into his left tail and pulled out one of the radios he and Twilight had made. He handed it to Sonic, saying, "Here, take this. Let's try to stay in touch until we meet up again."

Sonic took the radio and said, "You got it, bud!" He then turned and, along with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart, ran across the bridge, heading in the direction they'd seen Mare-Do-Well going.

Tails turned to the others and asked, "Are you all ready?"

Rarity said, "Darling, I think we were all ready when we saw Mare-Do-Well take off."

Tails replied, "Oh, uh, yeah. Well… let's go, then!" The others nodded and they followed him as he ran towards the nearby building that opened up to the path leading to the Gaia Temple. They hurried down the stone path on the other side of the doors inside the building, unaware of a shadow that was following them…

Soon, with Sonic's group

Sonic, Applejack, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart ran in a cross shape across the top of the Chun-Nan wall while Rainbow Dash flew above it, her eyes scanning for the renegade Mare-Do-Well. After several minutes of flying straight, the pegasus spotted a flash of purple and looked to see the mare standing on top of a (fake) Eastern dragon's head. She managed to yell out "She's over there!" before flying after Mare-Do-Well, the masked mare already on the move.

Applejack heard Rainbow and saw her break off her flight path to pursue Mare-Do-Well, looking to her left to see where they were going. "They're headin' straight that way!" she said.

Braeburn looked as well and asked, "How are we gonna get over there? Ah don't see any way from here!"

Sonic called back, "Just keep going! This'll take us around, but we'll get there! We'll just have to hurry to keep up with Dash's wings!" Applejack, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart started running as fast as they could at that, prompting Sonic to speed up as well.

As they neared the end of the wall, they saw figures up ahead standing in their way. "What are those things?!" Little Strongheart called as they got closer.

Sonic called back, "Egg Fighters! We can probably crash through them, or we can just go around them! Either way is fine!" The Egg Fighters saw the four of them approaching and got into position to stop them. When they were close enough, Applejack and Braeburn leapt over them like they were hurdles and Sonic and Little Strongheart simply jumped over them, the latter two landing on springs that launched them off the wall while the former two had to run to the springs.

The springs sent them flying towards a (fake) Eastern dragon that opened its mouth as they got closer. Sonic landed first and ran down the dragon's length, followed by Little Strongheart, Applejack, and Braeburn. At the dragon's tail, they had to jump to another dragon, this one having a spring at the end of its tail. This spring sent them flying over part of the mountain range, at which point gravity began to tug them back down. Sonic almost panicked when he saw there was water below them, but relaxed when he saw they were going to land on one of the large boats, all of them grunting as they landed on the ship.

Little Strongheart, Applejack, and Braeburn had just recovered from the landing when the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well suddenly leapt down from the nearest end of the boat and landed in front of them. Applejack's head snapped up at the sound of MDW's landing and she narrowed her eyes as she dashed towards the masked mare, "Hold it right there, you!" She leapt at MDW, but the masked mare jumped up onto the nearby guardrail, leaving Applejack to grab at the air. As the others moved to help the earth pony, Mare-Do-Well suddenly leapt up towards the other end of the boat and then leapt off of it, landing on the ground up ahead.

Rainbow Dash flew down to the others a few seconds later, panting. After she caught her breath, she asked, "Did she *pant* get away?"

Applejack stood up and said, "Unfortunately. She's a slippery little cuss."

Rainbow nodded, "I know! There were these spinning platforms back there, and she kept using them to dodge me!"

Braeburn groaned, "At this rate, she's gonna get away!"

Sonic said, "I doubt it. If we can keep her going this way, she's going to end up at a dead end. She'll have nowhere to go, unless she likes doing parachute jumps without a parachute."

Little Strongheart asked, "Really? Well, that's a bit reassuring."

Rainbow said, "Well, I'll fly ahead and see if I can keep her going, then. You guys just try to follow along, okay?"

Sonic nodded, "Sure, Dash." He looked at Applejack, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart and said, "You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna check in with Tails real quick." The three of them nodded and they leapt off the side of the ship, landing in the water as Rainbow flew on ahead. After they reached dry land, Sonic brought out the radio and clicked it on, "Tails, you there, buddy?"

Elsewhere, with Tails' group

Tails was walking down a bridge towards one of the roofed areas when he heard the voice through his radio. He ran under the roof, along with Spike, before he pulled out his radio and clicked back, "I'm here, Sonic. What's going on?"

Through the radio, Sonic said, "We're still on Mare-Do-Well's trail, but don't worry. The way she's going, we'll have her cornered pretty soon. How are things on your end?"

Tails answered, "Pretty good. We haven't run into any trouble yet, and Twilight and Rarity really like the architecture here. They're looking at it along with Pinkie Pie right now. I think we'll get moving soon, though, seeing as we're going to have to cross the water."

Sonic spoke, "I get what you're saying. Rarity probably isn't going to want to take a swim, so you'll have to give her a lift."

Tails said, "Yeah. I'll let you know if we find anything. Good luck, and be sure to let us know if anything comes up."

Sonic replied, "10-4, good buddy. Good luck to you too." After a moment, Tails slid the radio back into his left tail.

Spike spoke, catching Tails' attention, "Wow Tails, looks like your radios really work."

Tails shrugged, "Well, for the first time they're being used, they seem to be working well, which, all things considered, is good." He and Spike then looked back to see Twilight, Rarity, a bouncing Pinkie Pie, and a slightly cowering Fluttershy coming down the bridge. Tails asked, "What's wrong with Fluttershy?"

Twilight answered, "She said she heard a voice coming from one of your tails and thought it was a ghost."

Tails nervously said, "Oh no. Sorry about that, Fluttershy. Sonic was just calling to give me an update on the Mare-Do-Well chase."

Fluttershy relaxed a bit at that, saying, "Oh, good. I didn't know what that voice was when I heard it. It startled me."

Pinkie Pie laid an arm on the yellow pegasus' shoulders, "Aw, don't worry, Fluttershy! Little Tails-Wails wouldn't let anything happen to you! Would you, Tails-Wails?"

The fox in question replied, "Uh, no. …Pinkie, could you please not call me that? It's, uh… kind of an odd nickname."

The pink pony replied, "Okie-dokie-lokie!"

Spike asked, "So, did you girls get done looking at… whatever?"

Twilight replied, "We were looking at the architecture, Spike. And I for one think it's very amazing."

Rarity nodded, "Oh, yes! It's so much different from Ponyville or even Canterlot! I wonder if there's a place like Chun-Nan somewhere in Equestria."

Twilight shrugged, "I can look it up later, Rarity." She then looked at Tails and asked, "So where do we go now?"

Tails looked to his right and pointed, "That way. We have to go across the water."

Rarity gasped, "The water?! But what my hair and tail will get wet!"

Tails rubbed the back of his head, "Well, we don't have to swim. I mean, there's some stuff floating on the surface we could walk across… or I could just carry you."

Rarity said, "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that, Tails. Although, if you wouldn't mind, I would really appreciate it…" She batted her eyes at him.

Tails replied, "Uh, okay, sure. Come over here." He started spinning his tails around, hovering above the ground as Rarity trotted over to him. He then held out his hands; Rarity looked at them for a moment before holding up her forehooves, allowing Tails to wrap his fingers around them. He then flew in the direction they needed to go.

Suddenly, Pinkie cried, "Hey! I wanna fly too!" She dashed over to the edge and leapt at Rarity, wrapping her forelegs around the fashionista's hind legs, causing her to let out a cry of her own as she and Tails were rattled.

Once Tails managed to straighten out, Rarity looked down at the pink pony with an angry look on her face, "Pinkie, don't do that!"

Pinkie grinned weakly, "Sorry, Rarity!" She then looked up at Tails with a look that was a mix of apologetic and sweet, "Can I come too?"

Tails replied, "Sure. Just please don't do that again." He then started flying forward again, albeit a little slower now.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and asked, "What about you and Spike, Twilight?"

Twilight thought about this for a moment before saying, "Why don't you take Spike with you, Fluttershy? I'll, uh…" She looked down at a few segments of stone pathway floating in the water below. "I'll follow you… somehow," she finished.

Spike shrugged, "All right, if you're sure you can handle that." He walked over to Fluttershy and climbed on her back, sitting so he was comfortable and could get a good grip on her. Fluttershy looked at Twilight and spread her wings when she saw the unicorn nod at her. She then took off, following after Tails.

Twilight looked back down at the floating stone for a moment before taking a few steps back. She then ran towards the edge, leaping off with her hooves in front of her. She let out a yelp when she landed on the stone, both from feeling the cool water touch her hooves and the way the stone rocked when she landed on it.

She waited a moment before looking to the next one, noticing that it was closer than it first seemed. She took another running start and leapt to it, managing to land a little better. She then hurried to the other end of it and leapt up at the ledge above it, grunting as she tried to pull herself up. She managed to do so after a minute of struggling and sat down. Looking up a second later, she saw that Tails and Fluttershy were almost at the other end. She sighed, "Oh, forget it. This isn't the time for this." Sucking in a breath of air, she began channeling her magic into her horn.

At the other side of the water, Fluttershy landed on the submerged cobblestone and watched as Tails set Pinkie Pie and Rarity down beside her, Rarity needing a bit of persuasion to be let down in the water. Tails looked around after landing and asked, "Where's Twilight?" A second later, there was a magenta flash on top of the nearby stone structure as Twilight teleported atop it. Tails looked up at it, as did the others, and said, "Oh, there you are, Twilight."

The unicorn smiled sheepishly, "Sorry." She then leapt down into the water and trotted over to the others. "Which way do we go now?" she asked.

Tails pointed to an opening in a nearby stone wall, saying, "Once we pass under that, it won't be much farther to the Gaia Temple."

Spike spoke, "Well, let's get going, then!" The others nodded and, with Spike still sitting on Fluttershy's back, they started walking towards the opening.

Just as they were about to walk through it, they heard a faint splash behind them and turned to look. Near where the cobblestone ended and the water got deep, they saw something red floating in the water. Tails and Twilight walked over to it, Tails wondering aloud, "What's that?"

As they got closer, they could see that it was a horn of some kind. Twilight thought it looked familiar and searched her brain for information pertaining to this strange object. When they were almost an arm's length away, it clicked: the Crystal Empire. She reared up on her hind legs and grabbed Tails with her forelegs to stop him, saying, "Stay away from that, Tails!" The fox looked back at her and was about to ask what she was talking about when the horn began to glow a bright, malevolent red, causing Twilight to let go of Tails as they backed away from it. As everyone watched, the horn floated up and then fell back into the water, its sharp end pointing down at the cobblestone. It then sank into the stone itself.

"What just happened?" Pinkie asked. She soon got her answer, as a violet barrier suddenly blocked off the opening in the stone wall and purple clouds suddenly began to rise up out of the ground around her, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike.

Tails recognized those clouds all too well and called, "Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, get over here now!" The three mares quickly ran over to him and Twilight at that, Spike still hanging onto Fluttershy's back. As they stood together and watched, the purple clouds dissipated, revealing a bunch of monsters. Most of them were small, about Spike's size, but there were several that were taller than Tails and the ponies, and one that was bigger than all of them. And they were all mostly black, purple, and neon-colored. Before anyone could ask him, Tails spoke, "Dark Gaia's minions! But… they're not supposed to be around anymore, and especially not during the day!"

Twilight glanced back at where the horn had disappeared into the ground, remembering that it looked like part of King Sombra's horn. "It must be that horn! There must be some kind of magic in it that's causing this!" she said. She ran over to the spot where it disappeared into the ground while everyone watched, focusing her magic on that spot and saying, "If that's what's behind this, maybe pulling it out will cause them to disappear!"

Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "Look, they're coming over here!" Everyone looked to see that she was right; Dark Gaia's minions were coming closer. While they were all looking, Pinkie Pie dashed off to the side and came back with her party cannon. Stopping where she had been standing a second ago, Pinkie pointed it forward and, with a serious look on her face, said, "Get that horn, Twilight! We'll cover you!"

Twilight asked, "Are you sure?"

Tails looked back at Dark Gaia's minions. Last time he encountered them, he was all alone and they surrounded him, forcing him to hide until Sonic saved him. This time was different, however… Getting into a fighting stance, he said, "Yeah, we can keep them busy! Just focus on getting that horn out!" Twilight nodded and turned back to the spot, refocusing her magic on it.

Rarity spoke, "Fighting really isn't my thing, but…" She dropped into a fighting stance of her own as she growled, "If anything tries to hurt my friends, I'll rip them to pieces!" Spike got off of Fluttershy's back and stood between Tails and Rarity, ready to help as well while the yellow pegasus stayed behind them and dropped down, covering her head with her hooves.

The smaller minions were easy to fend off. When a Dark Fright shot towards the group in a ram, Pinkie would turn her party cannon on it and send it flying into the wall. The Little Rexes, considering they were about his size, were a bit of a challenge for Spike, but he was able to fend them off while the others had less difficulty dealing with them. The Killer Bees, however, couldn't be stopped once they started flying forward with their stingers pointing forward. Rarity was able to use her magic to deflect them slightly and Spike was able to take them out quickly since they were, surprisingly, flammable.

Due to their size, the Nightmares were harder to fend off and forced the group to work together to bring them down. Spike was able to use his small size to knock them off-balance, allowing Tails and Rarity to knock them back before Pinkie Pie used her party cannon to deliver the critical strike. When they were done, all they had left was the Big Mother.

As they watched, the Big Mother reared back and released a bunch of Rexes from its abdomen, the little creatures spilling out onto the ground. "Oh, come on! It can make more of them?" Spike groaned.

Tails looked back over his shoulder and called, "Any luck, Twilight?" While his head was turned, he was tackled by a Rex, sending him down onto his back. As soon as he landed, he started struggling to get it off and Spike ran over to help him.

Twilight, her horn glowing brightly, gritted her teeth and grunted, "It's resisting, but… I've almost… got it!" With one final grunt of exertion, Twilight succeeded, the horn glowing red as it hovered above the ground. She looked back to see that the Rexes and Big Mother were still there. "They're still coming?!" she gasped.

Tails and Spike were finally able to pull the Rex off of the fox, Spike dealing with the Rex while Tails rolled onto his side and said, "Try destroying that horn! Maybe that will stop them!" Twilight quickly turned around and, deciding not to waste time seeing if she could perform the Psychic Knife correctly, focused her magic into a beam and fired it at the horn. The horn tried to fight back against her magic, forcing her to pour more magic into her beam, but it soon lost the fight and Twilight's magic struck it. After a few seconds of being engulfed by the beam, the horn began to crack and break apart, the pieces dissipating into the air and then vanishing completely.

Spike was still struggling with the Rex when suddenly it burst into a cloud of purple smoke, causing the baby dragon to stumble a bit before regaining his balance. Looking around, he saw all of Dark Gaia's minions bursting into smoke and vanishing into thin air. "What happened to them?" he asked after a moment.

Twilight wiped her forehead and said, "I guess they were all being held together by the magic that that horn was giving off. Without it, they couldn't sustain themselves."

Pinkie appeared next to her a moment later, wrapping a leg around her as she cheered, "Whoo-hoo! Way to go, Twilight!"

Tails stood up and, while using his hands to brush off some of the water clinging to his fur, nodded, "You did it all right, Twilight, and just in the nick of time too!" Once he was sure he was dry enough, he pointed towards the opening, the barrier blocking it off having faded away, and said, "We should probably get moving, though, before we get any other unwanted surprises."

Rarity spoke, "Tails is right. We should hurry to this Gaia Temple." She trotted over to Fluttershy and lightly tapped her on the shoulder while saying, "Come along, Fluttershy dear. All the monsters are gone now."

The shy pegasus lifted a hoof off her head and looked around with one eye before standing up and saying, "O-Okay." With that, they all quickly hurried over to and under the opening, going up the stone incline beyond it. They didn't have far to go now; they'd be at the site of the Gaia Temple soon.

Not long afterwards, with Sonic's group

Sonic, Applejack, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart were running along another section of the Chun-Nan wall, Rainbow Dash flying just above their heads. Up to this point, Mare-Do-Well had proved as slippery as ever, evading them as they made their way through the mountainous region, though surprisingly never using magic to aid her the entire time. Currently, the masked mare was ahead of them, and she was running out of room to run.

As they continued running, they soon saw the end of the path: three pagodas in a small circular area surrounded in the back by part of the mountains with waterfalls coming down from the top. Braeburn, Applejack, and Little Strongheart started slowing down as they approached the small area while Sonic slid to a stop when he was close enough, Rainbow Dash landing next to him. As she, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart caught their breaths, Applejack panted, "Okay… Where is… that slippery mare?"

Sonic and Rainbow looked around, Rainbow soon spotting a figure standing atop the pagoda in the middle. "There she is!" she exclaimed, spreading her wings and flying straight up towards Mare-Do-Well. The masked mare stood motionlessly until Rainbow was just about to hit her, at which point she leapt from the top of the pagoda to the roof of the pagoda to her left, causing Rainbow to miss. Sonic, however, anticipated this and dashed towards the pagoda, making his way up to the roof.

Mare-Do-Well's head turned around when Sonic landed a short distance away from her on the roof. The blue hedgehog ran towards her, dropping down and sliding towards her when he was close enough. The masked mare leapt over him, landing on the middle of the roof and then, after they turned to face each other, tried to pounce on him. Sonic rolled out of the way, Mare-Do-Well sliding to the edge upon landing but not falling. Once she recovered, they continued trying to grab and dodging each other.

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, had managed to avoid crashing into the mountain and, upon flying back, saw the scene taking place on top of the smaller pagoda. She quickly noticed that while Mare-Do-Well was trying to grab Sonic in any way she could (the sight reminding her of Lightning Dust), Sonic was trying to grab her without knocking her off the roof or cause any harm. She flew down to the roof to help him out, landing on the side closest to the circle with Sonic on the opposite side, Mare-Do-Well in the middle between them.

The masked mare looked between the two for a moment as if deciding what to do. Finally, she made a choice and tried to leap back to the taller pagoda. Rainbow caught onto her this time, however, and managed to hit one of her hind legs with one of her forehooves, throwing the mare off and causing her to fall short, instead landing on one of the slanted roofs closer to the ground. She rolled upon landing and slid off the side, though she managed to throw her forelegs out and hang onto the edge of the roof.

Braeburn cheered, "Ya got her, y'all!" As soon as he said that, Mare-Do-Well began to flail her hind legs, but she lost her grip on the roof and fell down, bumping into the roof under her on the way and landing hard on her back. Almost as soon as she landed, however, she managed to roll over and flip herself onto her hooves as though nothing had happened to her. "What… How is she-?!" Braeburn exclaimed.

Little Strongheart lowered herself to the ground, saying, "Come on, Applejack, let's put an end to this!"

Applejack nodded and lowered herself down as well. Before she and Little Strongheart took off, she called up to Sonic and Rainbow, "Both o' y'all stay up there in case she tries to make a break for the roofs again! We'll take care o' her down here!" Both she and Little Strongheart then took off, Little Strongheart going first to the left while Applejack went to the right.

When Little Strongheart got closer, Mare-Do-Well tried to jump over her, only for the buffalo to leap up and intercept her in midair, wrapping her forelegs around the mare's waist. Before they could land, Mare-Do-Well spun around and managed to break out of Little Strongheart's grip, throwing the buffalo and causing her to land on her back while the mare shakily landed on her hooves.

She barely had time to recover when Applejack rammed into her headfirst from the side, knocking her into the stone between the two pagodas, the mare going over the stone and landing in the plants. Applejack leapt up onto the stone a second later and looked down at Mare-Do-Well, who was lying on her side in the grass. Suddenly, she stood up and leapt at Applejack, tackling her and then jumping off of her, running away.

During all this, however, she evidently forgot about Braeburn and was surprised when he suddenly charged her, hitting her headfirst and knocking her down in mid-run. She stood up and they both butted heads, both trying to overpower the other. Braeburn managed to push her back after a few moments and quickly turned around and bucked her with his hind legs, leaving her lying on the ground in front of the center pagoda.

When Mare-Do-Well stood up next, she found herself surrounded by Little Strongheart, Applejack, and Braeburn. She contemplated escaping to the roofs again, but that plan was derailed when Rainbow Dash suddenly flew down from above, pushing her down to the ground while Sonic leapt down and landed behind Applejack. Rainbow turned Mare-Do-Well over and triumphantly said, "All right, Mare-Do-Well, this mystery is solved!" She then reached down with her mouth and yanked the mask off. And her eyes, along with everyone else's, went wide when she saw nothing underneath it! "W-what the-?!" she cried.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash that forced everyone to look away. When they looked again, Mare-Do-Well was gone, costume and all. All that was left were Zecora's saddlebags. Braeburn exclaimed, "What the hay?! She just disappeared?!"

Applejack took her hat off and threw it down, saying, "She was just an illusion, consarn it! There was no 'new' Mare-Do-Well!" She looked up and wondered, "How come Twilight couldn't tell?"

Little Strongheart looked at her and suggested, "Maybe it was because of the costume? Maybe whatever created that illusion made it hard to tell the difference?"

While they were talking, Sonic thought to himself, "She faded away kind of like King Arthur did when Caliburn and I defeated him at Avalon. When I brought back Excalibur's scabbard, Merlina said…" He spoke up, "Wait a minute!" Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. Sonic looked at Rainbow and asked, "Rainbow, while you were trying to catch her earlier, did Mare-Do-Well use any magic at all?"

The cyan pegasus replied, "No, she just kept doing those annoying dodges. Why?"

Sonic said, "When you tried to grab her back at the village, she used magic to teleport out of the way. But when you tried to grab her here, she just dodged out of the way."

Braeburn spoke, "Ah'm not quite followin' you, pardner…"

Sonic asked, "If Mare-Do-Well was an illusion capable of using magic, why didn't she use it after we left the village?"

Applejack rubbed her chin with a hoof, "Ya got a point there, Sonic. She used it before, why wouldn't she use it again?" She looked up at him a moment later and asked, "Ya think maybe somepony created that phony Mare-Do-Well to throw us off the trail?"

Sonic replied, "You could be right, Applejack. That illusion could've been made by the Mare-Do-Well we saw back at the village, which would mean she's still out there!"

Rainbow Dash asked, "Why would she do that? Why would she create a copy of herself if it was just meant to split us up?" As she thought about what she said, the answer came to her and her eyes widened, "The others! She must be after them!"

Applejack picked up her hat and Zecora's saddlebags, placing her hat on her head and the saddlebags on her back. She then looked at Sonic and said, "We gotta warn them! Sonic, can ya reach Tails?"

Sonic reached into his quills and pulled out his radio. Clicking it on, he spoke, "Come in, Tails! Are you there?" He released the button and waited a moment. When no reply came, he pushed the button again and asked, "Do you read me, Tails? It's Sonic! Did something happen?" He released the button again, but he still received no response. He looked up at the others a moment later and said, "He's not responding. Something might be jamming his radio."

Rainbow looked worried at that. "Oh man, they could be in trouble right now! We've got to help them!"

Little Strongheart asked, "Sonic, can we get to the Gaia Temple from where we are?"

Sonic tucked the radio back in his quills as he responded, "Not from here, but if we backtrack a bit, we'll have a straight shot to both the Gaia Gate and the Gaia Temple. We'd better start with the Gaia Gate in case they went there."

Applejack said, "Well, let's go, then! Lead the way, Sugar-hog!" Sonic nodded and turned around, running back across the Chun-Nan wall with Applejack, Little Strongheart, Rainbow Dash, and Braeburn in tow. They only hoped they weren't too late…

Meanwhile, with Tails' group…

Tails, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie walked past a small circular pond of water, which was right in the middle of the area outside of the Gaia Temple. They passed by one of the three platforms along the outside of the circle as Rarity asked, "So… is this where the Gaia Temple is, Tails?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah." As they reached the edge of the crevasse that normally separated one from the temple entrance, they came to a stop and looked at a big crater in the ground on the other side. "But it looks like it's already been uprooted. I remember, after Sonic and Chip defeated Dark Gaia, seeing the reports about the temples lifting out of the ground, before darkness covered the world, but I guess they never returned after the world became whole again."

Twilight sighed, "That's a shame. I would've loved to see what one of the temples looked like, on the outside and the inside."

Pinkie bounced over to her friend and patted her on the back, saying, "Aw, we know you would have, Twilight! You love seeing things like that!"

Spike looked at Twilight with a knowing smile before looking at Tails and noticing the fox appeared to be deep in thought. "Hey Tails, what's on your mind?" he asked.

Tails looked up and, after a moment, replied, "I was just thinking about the temple guardian."

Fluttershy asked, "T-There's a guardian?"

Tails nodded, "Yeah. Some of the Gaia Temples were protected by guardians of some sort. I know the temple here in Chun-Nan did. I wonder if…" He was cut off by a loud thumping noise behind the group and he turned around to look. "Well, that answers my question…" he muttered.

Spike and the ponies turned around to look and gasped when they saw a huge bird with bright gold fur and large purple wings standing on the circle in the middle of the ring of water, its tail feathers seemingly waving in the breeze. It spread its wings and looked to the sky, letting out a cry; once it was done, Twilight looked at Tails and asked, "What is THAT?!"

Tails said, "It's the temple guardian, the Gaia Phoenix!"

Spike looked back at the bird and asked, "That thing's a PHOENIX?!" He thought to himself, "If Peewee gets old enough, will he look like that?"

Pinkie spoke, "Okay everypony, follow my lead!" She then let out a loud scream and started scrambling around in a panic.

Rarity looked at Tails and asked, "Is it going to attack us? Darling, what should we do?!"

Tails looked at her and said, "I don't know! Sonic said the reason it attacked anybody before was because the Chaos Emeralds lost their power and Dark Gaia corrupted it! It's normal now, but…" He stopped short when he looked back at the Gaia Phoenix, and Spike and the ponies (save for Pinkie Pie) followed his surprised look to see why he stopped.

Fluttershy was snuggled up against the Gaia Phoenix's chest, her wings holding her up as she rubbed her forelegs through the bird's fur. A closer inspection revealed that she had the feather Philomena had left her tucked between her mane and right ear. "So you're the guardian that makes its nest here? Aw, you're such a beautiful phoenix. Yes you are, yes you are! Who's a good temple guardian?" the shy pegasus cooed, the Gaia Phoenix churring softly at her rubs and cooing.

Spike, Tails, and the ponies, save for Pinkie Pie, walked over to the Gaia Phoenix, standing at the edge of the circular pool. Looking up at Fluttershy, Tails spoke, "Wow. I knew Fluttershy was good with animals, but this is incredible!"

Rarity looked at him and smiled, "That's our Fluttershy. She surprises us sometimes!"

Before Tails could respond, Pinkie Pie ran behind everyone's backs, still screaming her head off. Twilight turned and called, "Pinkie!"

The party pony immediately stopped and popped up in front of Twilight, asking, "Yes, Twilight?"

The lavender unicorn said, "I think it's safe now." She looked back up at Fluttershy and asked, "Is it?" The shy pegasus nodded, so Twilight turned back to Pinkie and said, "So you can stop now."

The pink pony replied, "Okay!"

Spike spoke up a moment later, "You know, this is great and all, but we still don't know where our friends are."

Tails said, "You're right, Spike. Come to think of it, it's been a while since Sonic checked in with me. Maybe they found something, or at least caught Mare-Do-Well." He reached into his tail and pulled out his radio. He tried turning it on, only to be met with static. "That's strange. I can't get a signal. It's like there's something blocking it."

Twilight asked, "So what should we do now?"

Everyone looked up at the Gaia Phoenix as it began to churr. When it was done, Fluttershy spoke, "Um… the Gaia Phoenix said that it sensed something earlier in the Gaia Gate. It thinks that some sort of, um, tear occurred there."

Tails held a hand to his chin, "A tear? Maybe it was caused by that creature." He looked at the others and said, "The Gaia Gate isn't far from here. Let's go check it out."

Spike shrugged, "Sure, why not? We've been doing nothing but running around since we left the village anyway."

Twilight looked up at Fluttershy and said, "Come on, Fluttershy, time to get off the phoenix."

Fluttershy muttered, "Aw…" She looked up at the Gaia Phoenix and said, "Good-bye, Mr. Phoenix, and thank you." The bird chirped in response and Fluttershy lowered herself to the ground, folding her wings when she landed.

The phoenix watched as the group set out for the Gaia Gate. Before they left, Pinkie stopped in mid-stride and gasped, "Hey!" The others stopped and looked back at her as she turned around to look at the Gaia Phoenix. She reached her muzzle back into her poofy tail and brought out an open chocolate bar. She then held it up towards the phoenix and said, in a muffled tone, "Want some chocolate?" The Gaia Phoenix replied by reaching down and taking the chocolate bar from her with its beak. It then spread its wings and flew away a couple seconds later, everyone waving to it and Tails smiling as Pinkie's actions reminded him of Chip.

Soon…

Tails, Spike, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy stepped into the Gaia Gate, all of them standing in front of the door on the right as they looked around. The first thing they noticed was that, aside from some lit torches, it was dark inside. All the same, the Gaia Gate's interior looked impressive to them. "Wow… This is amazing," Twilight breathed.

Rarity nodded, "It certainly is, Twilight dear. Don't start analyzing it now, though; you'll have plenty of time to do that while we search." Twilight nodded to her; Rarity then turned to Tails and asked, "Where do we begin, Tails?"

Tails held a hand to his head as he thought about what Sonic had told him about the Gaia Gates. "Um… there should be four chambers in this particular Gaia Gate: two on the left, two on the right. If there's anything hidden here, it'll be in those chambers. We should be able to split up, search the chambers, and report back here. Does that sound good?"

Pinkie spoke, "Yep! I can take one of the chambers on the left!"

Tails nodded, "All right, Pinkie." He turned to Fluttershy and said, "Fluttershy, why don't you come with me? We can check the other chamber together so you don't have to do it alone."

Fluttershy smiled, "Okay, Tails. Just… stay close to me, okay?" Tails nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

Rarity turned to Twilight and Spike and said, "I suppose that leaves us with the two chambers on the right."

Twilight nodded, "I guess so. Do you want Spike to come with you, Rarity?" The baby dragon looked eager to hear the fashionista's response at that.

Unfortunately for him, Rarity replied, "That's okay, darling, you take Spike. This place may look… a little dusty… but I think I will be able to handle myself." Spike looked disappointed at that.

Tails spoke, "Okay then, we'll meet back up here in five minutes tops. How does that sound?" They all nodded in agreement, Spike doing so a little less enthusiastically. Twilight lifted the baby dragon onto her back with her magic before they started down the ramp leading to the entrance to the Gaia Gate. They split off at the bottom, each heading to their respective chambers. Pinkie hopped into the upper left chamber, Tails and Fluttershy went into the lower left chamber, Rarity trotted into the lower right chamber, and Twilight, with Spike, walked into the upper right chamber.

As soon as they were in the corridor leading into the chamber and out of earshot of the others, Twilight looked back at Spike and said, "Spike, stop pouting already. Rarity's right next door; it's not like we're far apart and we won't be able to go to help if she needs it, so help me search this chamber. You don't know; maybe Rarity would like it if you helped out. She is the Bearer of Generosity, after all."

Spike looked at her, "You think so?"

Twilight shrugged, "It can't hurt to try, can it?" Spike looked a bit better at that. By this time, they had reached the end of the corridor and were now standing in the chamber proper. Twilight walked forward a few steps and looked to the left. She and Spike could see some kind of conveyor belt that was moving in their direction. Twilight wondered what was powering it, but decided that could wait until later. So instead, she walked over to a nearby opening in the wall and went through it, stopping for a moment under a beam of sunlight coming in through the ceiling.

Suddenly, Spike stiffened up and looked behind him, asking, "What was that?"

Twilight looked back at him, "What's wrong, Spike?"

The baby dragon looked back at her and said, "I thought I heard something behind us."

Twilight raised an eyebrow and turned around, walking back to the chamber entrance and lighting up her horn with her magic. The light brightened up the entrance a bit, but it revealed nothing. She looked to the left and right before saying, "It doesn't look like there's anypony or anything here. Are you sure, Spike?"

The baby dragon relaxed a bit, saying, "Maybe it was just the Gaia Gate…"

Twilight wasn't sure about that, but decided not to voice her opinion. She just turned around and went back the way she had been going, passing under the beam of sunlight again as she went through the opening in the wall beyond it. Looking to the left and right, Twilight and Spike saw two openings in the wall that they could search. After a moment, Twilight spoke, "See if there's anything there on the right, Spike. I'll look to the left." Spike saluted and hopped off her back, running through the opening in the wall while Twilight trotted towards the other one.

Twilight reached the opening and peered inside, only to be met with a small, square-shaped room on the other side. She sighed, "Nothing here. I'd better go see if Spike needs any help." She was about to turn and walk towards the other opening when she suddenly heard a noise from the other end of the chamber. "What was that?" she wondered as she turned to look.

At the other end of the conveyor belt, there was a portal on the wall across from it. It looked like the other portals the group had seen thus far, so Twilight leaned forward to try to get a better look at it. Before she could see what it was showing on its surface, a dark purple aura suddenly wrapped around her and pushed her forward, onto the conveyor belt! Twilight let out a yelp when she was pushed forward and she scrambled for a moment when the belt started pushing her forward.

As she was getting close to the end of the conveyor belt, she looked up and saw the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well standing in front of where the belt would deposit her. The next few moments were a blur; as she reached the end of the conveyor belt, Mare-Do-Well reared back on her hind legs and grabbed Twilight with her forelegs. The masked mare then fell onto her back, lifting her hind legs up as her back hit the ground and kicking Twilight with them, the lavender unicorn's saddlebags falling off her back as she was sent flying hind legs first into the portal!

It was at this particular moment that Spike came back from searching his room, now looking for Twilight. "Hey Twilight, where are you? I didn't find anything in there. Did you find any… thing…?" He trailed off near the end of his last sentence as he looked towards the other end of the conveyor belt and saw Mare-Do-Well standing there, holding Twilight's saddlebags in her magic grip. The masked mare looked at him for a moment before turning and jumping into the portal herself.

Almost immediately, Spike dashed onto the conveyor belt, calling, "Hey, stop!" He was briefly thrown off by the conveyor belt pushing him forward, but he quickly recovered and kept running. As he reached the end of the belt, he leapt towards the portal, only to have it close when he was an inch away from it. Spike crashed into the wall where it had been head first, landing on his rump when he peeled off of it a moment later. After rubbing his face, he looked up at where the portal had been, the only thought going through his head being, "Oh man, oh man, oh man…" He quickly stood up and ran out of the chamber, screaming, "TAILS!"

---

Twilight groaned as she held a hoof to her head, feeling dazed after being pushed through the portal and suddenly hitting the ground. She held her head up a moment later and opened her eyes, looking around. Although the area she was in was completely white, she could make out a few details. A circular spot on the floor with a five-pronged star on it, a staircase leading down, a circle of pillars going around, and the floor seemed like it was made of real crystal… "Am I in the Crystal Empire?" Twilight wondered aloud. She stood up and walked over to the nearby edge, taking a look below. Despite the lack of color, the view was familiar. She was definitely in the Crystal Empire.

The unicorn's relief at determining her location was cut short when she remembered something. "Wait a minute, where are my saddlebags?!" She looked around the roof of the castle frantically, muttering, "My book, the Elements of Harmony!" Finding no trace of her saddlebags or their contents, she ran over to the edge of the roof and focused on the street below as she channeled her magic into her horn. She disappeared and reappeared a moment later on the street leading straight to the castle. She looked around, wondering where to start looking for her saddlebags.

Just as she was about to head for the library, a flash of color caught her eyes and she turned to look at the castle. There, sitting on the ground near the Crystal Heart, were her saddlebags. Twilight grinned and nearly squeed before running towards the castle, eager to get her saddlebags back.

Before she could reach the castle, however, a bolt of dark purple lightning shot down from above, hitting the ground in front of Twilight, the unicorn managing to stop herself in time. Looking up, she saw the castle balcony, and there, standing at the edge, was Mare-Do-Well, her hat floating next to her head as a dark purple aura surrounded her horn. The masked mare looked down at Twilight for a second before her horn lit up and she disappeared, reappearing on the street a short distance in front of Twilight and placing her hat back on her head in such a way that her horn could still be seen.

Twilight glared at the masked pony, "Mare-Do-Well! What do you want from me?! Why did you bring me here?! Give me my saddlebags right now!" The mare's only response was tilting her head forward so her still-glowing horn pointed directly at Twilight. Then, without warning, she fired a beam of magic energy from her horn! Twilight yelped as she moved to the side, the beam flying past her. Twilight looked back at Mare-Do-Well and exclaimed, "Hey! What's the big-?!" She was cut off when Mare-Do-Well began firing more beams at her in rapid succession, some directly at her and some aimed down at her legs!

Twilight did her best to avoid these magic shots, but several scraped along her sides, slightly scorching her fur. She ducked down as one was just about to hit her in the face, dodging it and then turning and running away. Mare-Do-Well immediately gave chase, still firing beams from her horn. As she ran through the Crystal Empire and tried to dodge the beams, Twilight occasionally looked back at the masked mare over her shoulder, wondering, "How is she doing this? Shouldn't she have run her magic reserve down by now?"

As she faced forward again, Twilight gasped; there was a cart directly in her path! She dug her hooves into the ground, sliding as she tried to stop herself from crashing into the cart. Quickly realizing it was too late to stop, Twilight lifted her legs and ran to the side, managing to get around the cart without crashing into it. That ended up being the smart thing to do; a second after she went around the cart, a beam from Mare-Do-Well hit the cart where her head would have been if she had kept sliding.

Her attempt to slow down still cost her, however, as it allowed Mare-Do-Well to catch up slightly. And it also allowed her to track the lavender unicorn's movements better. As a result, the next beam she fired ended up hitting Twilight's left hind leg, causing her to stumble before falling on her face. Trying to block out the slight burning sensation in her leg, Twilight attempted to climb to her hooves, only for Mare-Do-Well to tackle her and pin her to the ground on her back.

Twilight looked up at the masked mare as she seemingly glared down at her, her horn still surrounded by her dark purple aura. She didn't know what the mare was planning to do with her and she didn't fancy the thought of finding out. "Even after everything me and my friends have been through, I was hoping I could avoid getting into a fight with… whoever Mare-Do-Well is. I was hoping I could lose her by running and then find a way back after I retrieved my saddlebags, but it looks like I have no choice now. I'm going to have to get my saddlebags back and fight her!" she thought to herself.

When Mare-Do-Well leaned down with her glowing horn, Twilight quickly channeled her magic into her horn and blasted her with the same spell she used against the changelings back in Canterlot. It didn't reveal who she really was like with the changelings, but it did knock her off of the unicorn and left her lying dazed on her back. Taking advantage of her daze, Twilight quickly thought of where she wanted to be and teleported away, reappearing on the street leading to the castle.

Climbing to her hooves, she dashed towards the castle, towards her saddlebags. When she was almost to the castle, she heard a pop behind her and increased her speed, knowing it was Mare-Do-Well. She managed to reach the castle and dove towards her saddlebags, grabbing them in her forelegs as a dark purple beam flew over her head. She sighed to herself, "Just made it…" before using her magic to place her saddlebags on her back where they belonged.

Standing up, she turned to face the Mare-Do-Well, only to see the masked mare almost on top of her! Twilight quickly cast her teleportation spell, but it didn't work and Mare-Do-Well tackled her, sending both mares rolling down onto the street in a flurry of flying hooves. Eventually, Twilight managed to lift her hind legs and press her back hooves against Mare-Do-Well, giving a hard push and kicking her away.

As she sat up, Twilight saw Mare-Do-Well running away. She was confused; why would the mare run away now of all times? Her eyes widened as she thought, "She must be planning something!" She looked back over her shoulder at the Crystal Heart while thinking, "I can't stay here. That would put the Crystal Heart in danger." She stood up and ran around the castle, heading for the Crystal Empire outskirts, where the rest of the empire would surely be safe from whatever Mare-Do-Well was planning.

Once she felt she was sufficiently far enough out, Twilight turned around and cast a force field around herself, the sides of the bubble a couple of feet away from her in the center. "Okay Mare-Do-Well, I'm ready," she muttered, steadying herself. As she eyed her force field, a thought occurred to her. "Maybe…" Lighting her horn up again, she thought back to what Silver and Blaze had told her while she started making a Psychic Knife.

A minute later, as she was finishing up, something slammed against her force field and she cracked an eye open to look. She saw the splintered remains of the cart she nearly hit lying in front of her force field, and past them, she saw Mare-Do-Well running towards her, carrying various things with her magic (Twilight recognized some of them from the Crystal Fair she and her friends had set up during their first visit). Twilight closed her eyes and tried to focus on her Psychic Knife, looking for the right time to stop channeling energy while Mare-Do-Well pounded her force field with the objects.

Soon, Twilight's force field began to crack, and a second later it shattered as a wooden stick came through the force field, right at the lavender unicorn. Twilight leapt to the side to avoid it, holding her completed Psychic Knife in her grip, and looked at Mare-Do-Well to see the masked mare charging at her. Twilight steadied herself, "Got to time this just right…" Just as Mare-Do-Well was about to hit her, Twilight leapt to the side and quickly turned around, seeing the masked mare skidding to a stop. Before she could turn around, Twilight thrust her head forward, releasing her magenta-colored blade from her magic grasp, sending it flying at Mare-Do-Well.

The masked mare in question looked back over her shoulder and her eyes seemingly widened at the projectile coming towards her. She turned and tried running to the right, but while the knife didn't hit her directly, it did tear part of her costume, particularly around her left flank. Once she was sure it hadn't hit her, Mare-Do-Well came to a stop and pulled a complete 180, turning around to watch as the blade flew through the air. It kept going for a few more seconds before it broke apart.

Both Mare-Do-Well and Twilight looked at where it had been for a few moments before the latter gave a big grin. Silver had told her that a Psychic Knife would eventually break apart on its own, and that one had flown farther than any she had made before. "I did it! I actually used the Psychic Knife correctly!" she cheered. She calmed down after a moment, remembering the blade had cut through part of Mare-Do-Well's costume and turned to look at the masked mare, the ripped area in clear view due to the mare still standing seemingly in shock.

Twilight's eyes widened when she saw the cutie mark under the costume: a blue magic wand sprinkling light blue pixie dust. And the coat under the cutie mark was a brilliant azure color. "No! It can't be…!" she gasped, knowing only one pony that had that coat and that cutie mark. Mare-Do-Well was broken from her trance at Twilight's words and looked down at her flank. Realizing her disguise had been ruined, she glared up at Twilight for a moment before unleashing a bright flash from her horn, forcing Twilight to cover her eyes.

When Twilight's vision cleared, she looked and saw that her suspicions had been confirmed. There, standing where Mare-Do-Well had been, was a brilliant azure unicorn wearing a purple cape decorated with stars. As she watched, a matching magician's hat floated down and came to rest atop her head, covering up her horn. Twilight stared at her, her eyes wide with surprise. "T-Trixie?!" she exclaimed.

The unicorn opened her dark grayish violet eyes and looked directly at Twilight Sparkle at the sound of her name. Something seemed off about her eyes, not like when she was wearing the Alicorn Amulet, but Twilight didn't have time to think about it because Trixie started speaking, "That is correct, Twilight Sparkle! I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have returned, and this time, I will have my revenge!"

Twilight stared at her in shock, "What?! All this… But before you left Ponyville that time, you said the Alicorn Amulet…"

Trixie interrupted her with a loud laugh. She then grinned at her, "You're a fool, Twilight Sparkle! Did you really think everything I said while wearing the Alicorn Amulet was said because of its influence? Why do you think I, Trixie, sought out such a thing in the first place? I only asked for your forgiveness at the time to get on your good side so you wouldn't suspect I still wanted my revenge! And you believed me, like I knew you would!"

Twilight stared at her, still unable to believe what she was hearing. "But… after that, when…"

Trixie once again interrupted her, "Oh, save it, Twilight Sparkle! I- Trixie has never forgotten what she went through after you showed her up the first time! Your little trick to get the Alicorn Amulet does not sit well with Trixie either! Well, Trixie has no need for that trinket now! Her magic is already at a higher level than yours!"

Twilight got out of her shocked state somewhat and narrowed her eyes slightly, asking, "So you want another magic duel? Is that what you're saying, Trixie?"

The other unicorn replied, "Of course! But this won't be like our last duel! When you lost last time, you were banished from Ponyville. If you lose this time-" She suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, her head suddenly tilting to the side as her right eye opened and closed a few times in quick succession and her whole body shook. Twilight looked on in confusion; what was she doing? Trixie straightened up after a moment and glared at Twilight, saying, "If you lose this time, the penalty is DEATH, Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight looked at her with wide eyes, "What?! You would… you can't just…!"

Trixie smirked evilly, "Oh yes I can. After all, who's going to be around to witness it? Nobod- Nopony, that's who! And even if I was caught, what would… anypony do about it? I'm too powerful! And just to show you that I'm not bluffing this time…" She lifted her hat off of her head with her magic and her horn lit up, once again giving off a bright flash that forced Twilight to look away and take several steps back.

When she opened her eyes and looked back at where Trixie had been standing, she saw… translucent purple fur that looked like the night sky? And claws and a long tail that was the same color? As she looked up, Twilight's eyes slowly shrank as she realized what she was looking at. "That… This is a…" she stuttered.

She looked up as she heard a laugh coming from the massive creature's head and saw Trixie there, being held up by her own magic as she floated in front of the creature's face. She called down, "That is correct, Twilight Sparkle! It is a real Ursa Major! My magic not only called it here, but also makes it obey my commands!"

Twilight shook her head, "N-No! That can't be right! Not even dragons can be fully…!"

While she was paused, Trixie smirked, "Oh? Is that a touch of disbelief that I hear, Twilight Sparkle? Perhaps a demonstration is in order!" She floated up and perched herself on the Ursa Major's head. She then spoke, her horn still glowing, "Do as I tell you, beast! Grab that unicorn!"

For a moment, the Ursa Major just stood there, but then it looked down at Twilight and reached down with its right paw, the lavender unicorn's eyes widening at the sight. She turned around and ran from her spot, just narrowly avoiding the Ursa's paw. Trixie saw this and said, "Stay after her!" At that, the Ursa Major lowered itself to the ground on all fours and started lumbering after Twilight.

Twilight looked back as she ran towards the Crystal Empire, each step from the Ursa Major matching her running speed. "O-Okay Trixie, you've made your point about the Ursa Major! You can call it off now!" she called back.

Trixie merely smirked, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Twilight Sparkle. This is my spell for our magic duel. Where's yours?"

Twilight yelled, "I didn't even agree to the duel, Trixie!"

Trixie responded, "Oh yes you did. By going through that portal, you automatically agreed to this duel." She grinned evilly, "Now get back here, little pony. I'm not done with you yet!" The Ursa Major kept lumbering after Twilight for a few more seconds before the lavender unicorn's horn lit up and a bright flash emanated from it a second later.

Trixie looked away when she saw the flash, but when she looked back, Twilight was gone. The traveling magician looked upset for a moment, but she soon calmed down and said, "She can't get back from here. She's just playing hard to get. Well, she'll show herself sooner or later… one way or another." She then directed the Ursa Major to continue onward to the castle.

Inside the Crystal Empire library, Twilight was huddled up against the side of a bookcase near the entrance, her body shaking with fear as the hopelessness of her situation caught up with her. She'd been lucky enough to put the spells she had been practicing to good use when Snips and Snails lured the Ursa Minor to Ponyville, but even if she had wind, cattails, and warm milk, she wouldn't be able to soothe the Ursa Major the same way, even if it wasn't under Trixie's control.

As she leaned against the bookcase, she thought to herself, "I don't understand. I wouldn't be surprised if Trixie's been practicing since our last duel, but it hasn't been that long! How'd she go from tickling Rainbow Dash to being able to not only summon an Ursa Major but also control it in such a short amount of time? She's the one who took Zecora's potions; if she'd somehow found the Alicorn Amulet while she was at her hut, then maybe I could see it. But she doesn't! So how did she learn how to do that?"

As she thought about her rainbow-maned friend again, Twilight's thoughts went from analytical to regretful. "Rainbow Dash… I was ready to fight Trixie when she was disguised as Mare-Do-Well to see her and the others again, but now… I don't know how I'm going to be able to beat her. Yes, I've learned a lot, but I don't see how a lot of it is going to help break a magic hold on an Ursa Major, much less defeat it."

She shuddered as she felt the ground shake from one of the Ursa Major's footsteps. It sounded like it was right outside; had Trixie found her? The wind from the impact blew into the library. "What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?" she asked herself as she squeezed her eyes shut. Another footstep rumbled outside, causing another wind to blow into the library.

"You gotta be true to yourself!"

Twilight's eyes shot open at that. She looked around in confusion, "Sonic…?" Another footstep rumbled outside; was the Ursa Major walking past the library? Once again, the wind blew inside.

"Nothing starts until you take action!"

Twilight was still looking around. "It… it sounds like he's right here talking to me…!" One more footstep rumbled out past the library, the wind just barely making it through the front doors.

"If you have time to worry, then run!"

Twilight stopped looking around as that passed through her head. She thought long and hard about it, not even noticing the shaking or the retreating sound of the Ursa Major's footsteps. After a minute, she looked up and muttered, "You know… that is actually good advice. Trixie's going to find me no matter where I go here in the Crystal Empire, and I don't know how long it'll take for my friends to find a way here, if that's possible. But if I want a chance at ever seeing them again, I'm going to have to do something. Worst case scenario, hiding from or confronting Trixie is going to end the same way, but if I'm willing to face the possibility of failure, I might just find a way to defeat her." She gave a wry smile as she added, "Come to think of it, I should be a natural by now at experiencing failure."

A few minutes later…

The Ursa Major stood on all fours in front of the castle, Trixie looking down at the Crystal Heart underneath it. While stroking her chin with a hoof, she mused, "So this is the Crystal Heart, is it? This supposedly protects the Crystal Empire? It doesn't look like anything spectacular…" She shrugged a moment later, "Well, I'm sure I can use it for something. I'll just take it with me." Without being told to, the Ursa Major lifted a paw and started reaching for the Crystal Heart.

Before it could reach the heart, both the Ursa and Trixie froze at a loud shout of, "TRIXIE!"

Trixie straightened up a moment later and ordered the Ursa Major to stand up and turn around. It did as she commanded and she looked down to see Twilight standing on the street below, her horn pulsing with her magic. Trixie smirked down at the lavender unicorn, "Well, you decided to crawl out of your hole, Twilight Sparkle! Trixie doesn't know what you're hoping to accomplish, but Trixie certainly wouldn't call this one of your smarter decisions!"

Twilight yelled up at her, "Well, with you walking around with an Ursa Major under your control, you were going to find me sooner or later, Trixie! Why prolong the inevitable? Let's just get this duel over with!"

Trixie huffed, "Hmph. You would never make it in the show business with an attitude like that. You're supposed to draw out the suspense and keep your audience on edge! But if you want to do this quick and easy, then who is Trixie to say no?" She glared down at her rival, "Go ahead, see if you can make Trixie laugh, Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight responded by sweeping her head up and down, forming a vertical Psychic Knife with her magic. As she saw it being formed, Trixie chuckled, "Oh, I see you're getting the magic butter knife out again. This should be worthy of a great and powerful laugh!" Twilight finished preparing her blade of magic and then looked up at the Ursa Major, flicking her head to send it flying. Trixie sighed, "Block it, beast." The Ursa Major held up its left arm at that, the blade striking its wrist and holding there for a few seconds.

And then, to both unicorns shock, the knife sliced right through the Ursa Major! Its massive paw fell from its arm as the Psychic Knife broke apart, the paw suddenly fading away before it hit the ground. "W-W-What the-?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Uh-oh…" Trixie squeaked.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as realization hit her, "That's not a real Ursa Major! It's just an extremely lifelike illusion!" Her horn lit up again and she fired a beam directly into the chest of the Ursa Major illusion. As soon as it hit, it began to spread across the illusion's body until the whole thing was magenta-colored. A bright flash erupted from it a second later, and when it cleared, the illusion was gone and Trixie was falling to the ground, screaming all the while.

Just before she hit the ground, Trixie used her magic to slow her descent and set herself down on her hooves. Looking up, she saw her hat falling and the precious object inside of it. She used her magic to retrieve both, making sure the object didn't fall out, and perched her hat back on top of her head. She then glared at Twilight, who said, "Show's over, Trixie. Looks like your magic isn't as powerful as you think it is."

Trixie huffed, "Says you, Twilight Sparkle! Did you not see how I teleported, the fact that I was able to create such a convincing illusion in the first place? My magic may not be what I said it was, but I'm still more powerful than you!"

Twilight asked, "That other Mare-Do-Well, she was another illusion, wasn't she?"

Trixie replied, "That is correct. She's also the one that has your zebra friend's saddlebags. It makes no difference to me if she was caught or not. She broke up your little group, allowing me to get you all alone."

Twilight asked, "Why are you doing this?!"

Trixie growled, "I already told you! We are having a duel! I want revenge! At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall!"

Twilight glared at her, "So that's how it's going to be, is it?" She used her magic to pull her book out of her saddlebags and levitate them off, setting them down away from her. She then created a sizable force field around them so that they wouldn't damage parts of the Crystal Empire, by accident or otherwise. She then said, "I'm ready."

Trixie grinned, "Excellent. Let's d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!" Her last word came out sounding weird because she once again had a strange spastic attack, her head tilting to the side and her legs shaking as Twilight looked at her in confusion. Trixie straightened up after a moment and glared at Twilight, using her magic to position her hat on the back of her head. They both glared at each other for a minute.

Then Trixie said, "Draw!" and fired a dark purple beam from her horn at Twilight. The lavender unicorn responded by holding her book up in front of her and channeling her magic into it. When the beam struck, a miniature force field formed around Twilight, holding back the attack. After Trixie's attack was over, Twilight's horn lit up and she teleported in front of the azure unicorn, still holding her book. Unfortunately, Trixie seemed to have predicted this, as she raised her right foreleg as soon as Twilight appeared and punched her across the face, pushing her back a few steps.

Shaking her head, Twilight looked to see Trixie leaping at her, her forelegs outstretched. Twilight caught her with her magic when she was a little closer and spun around, throwing Trixie towards the force field. The unicorn managed to right herself and hit the force field hooves first, bending her knees and jumping off of it towards Twilight, the lavender unicorn leaping up to meet her in midair.

As they were about to collide, Trixie brought her hind legs up and kicked Twilight in the face, knocking her onto her back while Trixie landed hooves down. Twilight managed to climb to her hooves, but she had just barely gotten up before Trixie smacked her with her cape. She managed to back away and avoid a buck to the face and held her book up in front of her. When Trixie dashed towards her to attack, Twilight swung the book, hitting Trixie across the face and then following up with several more strikes before delivering an uppercut with it, knocking Trixie off her hooves. Twilight leapt up after her, delivering several punches with her hooves before landing on her hooves while Trixie landed hard on her rump.

After recovering from her hard landing, Trixie looked up at Twilight and thrust her left foreleg across her chest and into her cape. Twilight looked confused for a second, but then Trixie swung her leg back out, throwing some kind of blue powder at the lavender unicorn. Twilight let out a yelp as she turned her head away. It didn't seem like there was anything dangerous in the powder, but some of it still got in her eye. While she was trying to get the powder out, Trixie leapt at her, knocking her to the ground, both of them rolling and trying to punch each other.

Eventually, Trixie managed to kick Twilight away, the bookworm hitting her force field back first. When she recovered and stood up, she saw Trixie's horn glowing, the magician soon firing a sphere of magic energy at Twilight, who ducked to the side to avoid. For some reason, she could swear that the color of Trixie's magic was a lighter shade of purple, but didn't have time to ponder this as the showmare began firing magic shots at her, forcing her to run to avoid them.

After running for a few seconds, Twilight teleported right next to Trixie, startling the azure mare. Trixie immediately tried to retaliate with a beam, but Twilight dropped down, causing the beam to hit the force field instead. While Twilight was down, she set her book on the ground and opened it; seconds later, when Trixie looked down, a magenta blast of magic energy burst out of the book, knocking her upwards. Twilight immediately followed her to attack, not giving her a chance to recover. When they landed, Twilight held her book in front of her, opening it to a certain page. Trixie saw this, as well as Twilight looking away, as she climbed to her hooves, but she had no time to avoid the beam that came shooting out of the book.

After recovering from the attack, Trixie got up and the battle continued for a short while. During this time, Twilight's force field began to develop noticeable cracks and Trixie's magic aura slowly became lighter and lighter until it was back to its usual pale, light grayish magenta. By this time, her magic had stopped having the effects it initially did, causing Twilight to suspect that however Trixie obtained her magic boost, it was only temporary.

After enduring a series of physical strikes from Trixie, Twilight used her magic to shield herself from the next strike and then strike back herself, pushing the azure mare away. When Trixie charged at her, Twilight teleported behind her and closed her eyes as she focused; this was going to take all of her concentration. Trixie skidded to a stop and looked back at Twilight to see what she was doing. Not suspecting the unicorn was planning anything, she charged at her again, this time leaping at her as she got close.

As Trixie reached the height of her jump, Twilight's eyes opened and she lowered her head. Trixie had only seen them for half a second, but she knew Twilight's eyes were completely white. The lavender unicorn floated up off the ground as Trixie came down, a dome of magenta-colored magic energy suddenly spreading out of her body and catching Trixie within it. At the center of the dome, Twilight's body twitched as she channeled her magic out of her body, Trixie unable to move at all in the dome. A second passed before Twilight jerked her body forward towards Trixie, releasing one last burst of magic energy at her.

And that did it. The force of the magic burst sent Trixie flying through the weakened force field, causing it to collapse as Twilight dropped to the ground. Looking up, Twilight saw Trixie land on her back on the street away from the castle, her hat landing on its side a short distance away from the unicorn. A closer inspection revealed something had fallen out of her hat and, after putting her book away in her saddlebags and retrieving them, she ran towards Trixie to find out what it was.

Once she had reached the hat, she could clearly see what it was and she gasped. It was a necklace with a purplish-pink diamond-shaped jewel in the center of it. "The Element of Generosity! But how did…?" She stopped short when she heard a groan and looked to see Trixie climbing to her hooves, looking… well, more than a bit dazed. As the unicorn tried to maintain her balance, she raised her right hoof to the side of her head and gave it a good smack.

As Twilight watched, something fell out of Trixie's left ear. She then heard the magician groan as she lowered her hoof, "Finally… I thought I'd never stop…"

Something was definitely different about Trixie, Twilight noted. Her eyes looked normal again, and with all the panting and heaving she was doing, she looked like her regular old self. Not like the death machine she had been acting like not even a minute ago. Twilight took a few steps towards her and ventured, "Trixie?"

The azure unicorn looked up at that, her eyes going wide at the sight of her rival. "Twilight Sparkle!" she gasped. Her eyes soon narrowed and she stood up, turning away and holding her nose up as she spoke, "Well, that's that, then. Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle, you have completely showed up Trixie. You can have that silly necklace Trixie had as your reward, now go!"

Twilight looked at her in surprise. Trixie sounded angry, but there was something beneath the anger, something she had heard only once in Trixie's voice before, and it wasn't this heavy. "Trixie…" she started.

The azure unicorn interrupted her, "Oh fine, fine!" She looked back at Twilight over her shoulder, her horn beginning to glow, "I'm sure you saw the thing that fell out of Trixie's ear! Take that as well! Take it far away from Trixie! In fact, why don't you take Trixie's hat as well?" Her magic picked up the remains of what Twilight could now see was some kind of machine and dropped them in her hat before thrusting it at the lavender unicorn, which awkwardly caught it in her hooves. Trixie's magic then surrounded her cape as she added, "And take Trixie's cape while you're at it so you have everything Trixie owns! Now leave Trixie alone!"

She threw her undone cape at Twilight and it landed on top of her. The unicorn lifted it and her saddlebags off of with her magic and moved both of them, along with Trixie's hat and the Element of Generosity, off to the side. She took a few steps towards Trixie, trying again, "Trixie…"

Only to have Trixie interrupt her again as she turned away again, "Begone from Trixie's sight, Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight shook her head and persisted, "Trixie!"

The azure unicorn turned around to face her fully and screamed, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Twilight took a step back at the scream, but was held back from taking any more by Trixie dropping her use of the third person. "Trixie…?" she asked.

Trixie continued to glare at her for a second before she gritted her teeth, tears springing to her defeated eyes as her defenses began to crumble. Her legs buckled, unable to hold her up any longer, and she covered her eyes with her forelegs, trying to hide her tears. She heard hoofsteps coming towards and weakly asked, "Why are you still here, Twilight Sparkle? Why won't you leave the Ashamed and Traitorous Trixie alone?"

Twilight looked down at the mare in front of her, "'Ashamed and Traitorous'?"

Trixie whimpered, "You know what I mean… Everything I did just now… This isn't like when I was wearing the Alicorn Amulet… I didn't have a lot of control over myself due to its corruption, but I at least had something. This… I was powerless to stop this…"

Twilight asked, "What happened…?"

Trixie lowered her hooves to the sides of her face as she spoke, "I… can't remember it all completely… When that strange thing was put in my ear, it blocked out a few things from my memory, and I could not see anything for a while afterwards… But I remember hearing something about magic increasing its power before it was placed in my ear… I remember drinking a mixture to temporarily boost my magic… And I remember being ordered to kill you… After that, I… I think I've been trying to regain control of myself, to stop myself… And while I was trying to do so, I… I could see everything my body and magic were doing to you…"

Twilight murmured, "Trixie…"

The showmare said, "The only other thing I can completely remember is being ordered to take that costume you saw me wearing before I lost control… and thanks to that magic burst, I can't even return it now because it's been burnt to nothing…" Twilight walked to her side and placed a hoof on her shoulder as she wept, "Banishing you was bad enough, especially when the Alicorn Amulet made me want to do it, but this… If you hadn't fought back, I would've killed you, and I didn't want that… To have to watch as both my body and my magic betrayed me, going against my wishes… I was hoping we could start anew after all that trouble with the Alicorn Amulet, but how can you possibly trust me now, after I tried to kill you?"

Unnoticed by either of the two mares, the Warp Ring appeared near the castle and Sonic and Tails stepped out of it. After Tails retrieved it, they both saw Twilight and Trixie and ran towards them, hiding behind a nearby building to observe the scene.

After a short silence, Twilight spoke, "Trixie… I can't claim to know what you went through, and I know this isn't going to help you much right now, but you said that that device, whatever it was, was manipulating your actions and left you with little control over yourself. And I see now that those times where you were acting strangely were you trying to regain control, which, to me, means you're telling the truth. So I forgive you."

Trixie looked up at her, her eyes still wet with tears, "Do you really mean that? How can you say that?"

Twilight replied, "I was mad at you when you first came back to Ponyville because you were messing with my friends and the other ponies of Ponyville, but even when I was banished, I never hated you. I was more concerned about the way you were acting and what you were doing. Whatever was guiding you this time gave me no choice but to fight back. I was hoping all the while that I could get you out of whatever possessed you to try to kill me, and I see now that I have. So no, I don't hate you. And I know my friends won't hate you either."

Trixie looked doubtful at that, "How do you know?"

Twilight smiled softly, "Because I made a new friend today, and he's proven that he can look past what somepony has done to find out who they really are and try to make others understand what he learns. He'll do the same for you. I know it."

Trixie asked, "Really…?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes. And I may not know him well enough yet, but I think I know what he'd say." Trixie watched as the unicorn took a few steps away from her, her eyes closed. Trixie rose to her hooves, looking at her in confusion. After a few seconds, Twilight opened her eyes and began to sing:

Take a look inside your heart

What seems fair today,

Tomorrow it may not.

Just a walk or a journey

Don't stop reaching high.

Don't let the time pass you by.

So many ways that you can,

Try to forget.

So many ways you'll find,

Wake up to regret.

Someday,

One day,

We'll say live life, I know!

Hold on,

Hold tight!

Don't let go,

Don't lose sight.

Twilight had her head lowered as she sang out the last part, but it jerked up when she heard the sound of applause. She and Trixie turned to see Sonic and Tails stepping out from behind the building they'd been behind, clapping. Upon seeing them, Twilight had several questions, but they were forgotten when Sonic opened his mouth:

Feeling like the road.

It's winding you on every turn.

But there are lessons to learn.

Tails stepped up as he finished:

Take a look inside your heart.

What once seemed impossible,

Today is not!

Twilight smiled at them and turned back to Trixie:

So many ways that you can,

Try to forget.

So many ways you'll find,

Wake up to regret!

Trixie noticed them all nod to her. She started out slowly and hesitantly, but she put more feeling into it at their encouraging looks:

Someday,

One day,

We'll say live life, I know!

Hold on,

Hold tight!

Don't let go,

Don't lose sight.

As they all came together, none of them noticed the color beginning to return to the Crystal Empire as they all sang together:

Someday,

One day,

We'll say live life, I know!

Hold on,

Hold tight!

Don't let go!

Sonic then sang by himself:

Can't imagine!

Can't imagine,

Making it on your own!

You got it inside,

You got it inside of you!

So let it out!

They all came back together:

Someday,

One day,

We'll say live life, I know.

Hold on,

Hold tight!

Don't let go,

Don't lose sight!

Someday, (Someday)

One day, (One day)

We'll say live life, I know!

Hold on,

Hold tight!

Don't let go,

Just live life!

After a short pause, Tails sang:

Live life!

Another paused followed before Twilight sang:

Don't let go!

Trixie sang after another short pause:

Live life!

They all then huddled together and sang to the sky:

Live life!

They all held together for a few seconds before the sound of applause caught their attention. Looking around, they saw that a circle of crystal ponies had gathered around them, all of them stomping their hooves in approval. Tails immediately noticed their shiny appearance and whispered to Twilight, "Who are they?"

Twilight whispered back, "They're the crystal ponies, and we're in the Crystal Empire."

Sonic heard her and, as the four of them separated and stood next to each other, muttered, "I guess that makes sense."

They all took a moment to look around. They Crystal Empire had fully regained its color. It seemed as though the Crystal Heart was active again and protecting it, as they could even see the clear blue sky above them. Twilight turned to Trixie as the applause began to die down and the crystal ponies began to scatter and asked, "Do you remember the kind of magic I used in our second magic duel, Trixie?"

The unicorn nodded, "Yes. You said you used the magic of friendship. Your friends helped you when you needed them the most."

Twilight replied, "And it's exactly the same here. We all joined together as friends to sing, and that magic was felt by the Crystal Empire itself. That's why it's back to normal now."

Trixie asked, "Friends? Are you sure…?"

Sonic walked up to her and said, "Of course! I know I wouldn't sing with someone I didn't think I could be friends with, and neither would Tails." Behind him, the fox nodded in agreement. Sonic then placed a hand on his chest, "I don't think we've been properly introduced yet. My name's Sonic. What's yours?"

The unicorn meekly replied, "T-Trixie."

Sonic said, "Well Trixie, I'll have you know that Twilight was right. I'm not going to judge you on your past actions alone. Oh sure, I wouldn't be too happy if you tried to punch me or whatever, but I'm willing to look past whatever caused you to do something like that and see if there's more to you than that. Honestly, it takes a lot to get me to really dislike someone."

Twilight looked at Trixie and asked, "Do you feel better now, Trixie?"

The unicorn turned to her and said, "A… a little. But I…"

Twilight asked, "Yes?"

Trixie sighed, "I don't see how I'm going to get over what I've done, if that's even possible…"

Sonic spoke, "Well, you won't be able to forget it if that's what you're saying, but you can definitely get over it."

Tails nodded, "Yeah, especially if you have people, or rather ponies, I guess, who are willing to stand by you and help you through it."

Trixie looked uncertain, "I don't know…"

Twilight laid her right foreleg over Trixie's shoulders and said, "We still have a lot to do to restore Equestria and Sonic's world, but when this is all over, we'll talk, Trixie. We'll take it one day at a time if that's what you want. Because I can understand what you're going through right now."

Trixie looked at her, her eyes starting to fill up with fresh tears. "I-I…" Unable to hold back any longer, she turned and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight, sobbing softly on her shoulder while the lavender unicorn stroked her back.

While she was comforting Trixie, a thought occurred to Twilight and she turned her eye to look at Tails and said, "Tails. What's left of the device is in Trixie's hat. Do you think you can…?" She trailed off, but Tails understood what she was asking.

Tails walked over to Trixie's hat and fished a hand around inside of it for a few moments before closing it around the machine inside. Pulling it out, he looked at it for a few seconds before saying, "I'll have to take a closer look at it, but I think I can figure out what this is."

Twilight nodded and released Trixie, the azure unicorn taking a step back. Twilight then used her magic to lift the Element of Generosity and place it with the other necklaces, lifting her saddlebags up and placing them on her back while saying, "We'll hang onto this." She then wrapped her magic around Trixie's hat and cape and levitated them over to her, putting them on the unicorn as she said, "But these belong to you and only you, Trixie." Trixie gave her a small but sincere smile at that.

Sonic spoke up after a moment of silence, "If everything's okay now, we should probably get going. Tails and the others already found Vector and Big Macintosh by the time my group got to the Gaia Gate, and now everyone else is probably waiting impatiently in Ponyville to hear that Twilight's okay. You can come with us, Trixie; maybe you can rest up or something for a while."

Trixie nodded a bit, "I think… I would like that. Twilight Sparkle does have a mean left book." Twilight grinned sheepishly at that, but she calmed down a bit when she saw that Trixie was just joking.

Before any of them could move, they could hear something coming from what was left of the crowd that had gathered around them and turned towards the castle to look. From the look of it, some of the crystal ponies were parting to let somepony through. After a few moments, a white unicorn stallion with two tone blue hair stepped through the crowd. As soon as he saw the lavender unicorn in the group, he asked, "Twiley?"

Twilight gasped, "BBBFF!" A second later, a pegasus unicorn with a pale, light grayish cerise coat came up behind the stallion, causing Twilight to say, "And Cadance!" before rushing over to them.

Sonic raised an eyebrow as he looked at the two newcomers, not noticing Twilight and Cadance do their usual greeting as he asked, "'Twiley'?"

Trixie looked confused as well, "'BBBFF'?"

Tails thought about what he heard for a moment before looking at Cadance and starting, "Twilight called her Cadance, so," he looked at the stallion as he finished, "that must be her brother, Shining Armor."

Trixie looked surprised, "Twilight Sparkle has a brother?"

Sonic nodded, "Surprising, I know. Guess we should go over and meet the big guy and his wife. Stay behind us just in case, Trixie." The showmare quickly caught on to what he was getting at and nodded, the three of them walking over to Twilight, her brother, and sister-in-law.

The latter, Cadance, noticed them coming over and said, "Oh my! Twilight! Who are they?"

Twilight turned partway around to see Sonic, Tails, and Trixie come to a stop right next to her. She looked at her sister-in-law as she spoke, "Oh, I'm sorry, Cadance! I haven't introduced you yet!" She looked at Sonic and Tails and said, "You guys remember when I mentioned my brother and Princess Cadance." They both nodded, so she turned back to Shining and Cadance, saying, "Shining, Cadance, these are some new friends of mine." She gestured to Tails as she said, "This is Tails."

The two-tailed fox stepped forward and nervously waved, "Hi…"

Cadance happily replied, "Hello there, little fox! I must say, I've never had the pleasure of meeting a fox before!"

Shining awkwardly nodded, "Yeah, it's… different." He honestly didn't know what to make of the strange fox, especially when he noticed it had two tails instead of one.

Twilight gestured to Sonic as she said, "This is Sonic."

The blue hedgehog stepped forward and gave a casual wave, "Hey. It's nice to finally meet you two."

Cadance nodded, "And it's nice to meet you too, Sonic!"

Shining Armor didn't say anything, prompting the others to look at him. It wasn't that he didn't have anything to say, it was just that Sonic started looking at him closely after his wife said hi. The blue hedgehog looked down at his hooves and looked up towards his face, then peered to the side to get a good look at his cutie mark. He then looked at Twilight before he looked back at the stallion and shrugged, "Okay, I see it."

Shining looked confused, "Uh, see what?"

Sonic replied, "The family resemblance. There's not a lot similar between you two, but your hair is kind of similar. It's got the same tones and you both have a similar hairstyle. That's pretty cool!"

Shining awkwardly smiled, "Oh, uh, thanks."

Twilight looked over at Trixie nervously, wondering if introducing her to her brother was such a good idea. The showmare looked nervous as well, but she nodded for Twilight to go ahead. Twilight turned to her brother and former foalsitter and said, "And this is Trixie."

Shining Armor's ears perked up at that name, "Trixie?" He looked at the azure unicorn carefully, saying, "I remember Princess Celestia mentioning the name Trixie to me once. Have you ever been to Ponyville before?"

Trixie laughed nervously, "W-Why, Trixie has been… all over Equestria in her time as a traveling magician! It is not easy to remember the name of every town she has visited!" She glanced at Twilight out of the corner of her eye, silently begging for help.

Twilight noticed this and looked at Sonic and Tails, silently telling them it was time to go. Sonic nudged Tails and the fox nodded, moving his left tail behind Sonic as he spoke, "W-Well, that's probably not such a big deal right now. I mean, normally it might be, but we've got other things on our mind to worry about."

Cadance asked, "What do you mean?"

Tails said, "Well, it seems like the Crystal Empire itself is somehow protected, but out there…" He looked at the force field surrounding the empire and noticed, beyond it, whiteness. He pointed, "I don't know if you can see it, but there's white out there, and it's covering all of Equestria right now. And that's bad, very bad."

Shining Armor looked confused, "White?"

Sonic nodded as he quietly slipped his left hand into Tails' tail to get the Warp Ring, "Yep. It's swallowing up the world, man. But don't worry. We've already met with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it."

Cadance asked, "You've met with my aunts?"

Sonic replied, "Uh-huh. And Twilight, her friends, Tails, and I are helping them take care of this crisis." He slowly lowered his left hand down, keeping it behind his back as he said, "And now that we know the Crystal Empire is safe, but still in the middle of it, we'll put it on the list. We'll take care of it." He then smiled, "So it was great meeting you and all, but…" He opened his left hand, the Warp Ring falling from it. Before it hit the ground, he brought up his left foot and kicked it backwards. The ring flipped a few times as it flew through the air before it expanded to its full size. "We gotta run! See ya!" he finished, turning and running towards the ring, Tails, Twilight and Trixie doing the same.

Shining stared dumbfounded for a moment before saying, "What?! Hey!" He galloped after them, Cadance following him after a moment. Sonic, Tails, Twilight, and Trixie jumped through the ring, Shining and Cadance leaping through after them before it closed.

---

Spike and the others stood in front of the schoolhouse in Ponyville, the still-frozen forms of Vector and Big Macintosh next to them and Zecora's saddlebags still on Applejack's back as they impatiently waited for Sonic and Tails to return with Twilight and the hopefully bound up Mare-Do-Well. It had taken a lot of convincing to get them to leave it to the duo, and now, considering how long as they had been waiting, they were starting to regret agreeing to that decision.

Any thoughts of starting something were quelled when the Warp Ring suddenly opened up in front of the group and Sonic, Tails, Twilight, and, surprisingly, Trixie came through it and landed on the ground. Before anypony could say anything about the magician, two more ponies came through the Warp Ring and landed awkwardly on top of the four of them, all of them letting out a shout as they fell to the ground, Tails dropping the remains of the machine still in his hands and something flying out of Twilight's saddlebags. "Huh?" was all anypony could utter as they saw Shining Armor and Princess Cadance lying on top of Sonic, Tails, Twilight, and Trixie as the Warp Ring shrunk down and landed on the ground beside them.

Sonic recovered first and looked up at Shining Armor, saying, "Dude, I said we'd take care of it! What word didn't I emphasize enough?"

Rarity glanced down at the object that flew out of Twilight's saddlebags and realized it was her Element of Generosity necklace! She quickly scooped it up, saying, "My Element of Generosity! Darlings, I can't thank you enough for finding it!"

As she and Shining climbed to their hooves, Cadance looked around and wondered, "What's going on here…?"

Noticing Trixie as she, Tails, Twilight, and Sonic stood up, Spike asked, "Why is Trixie with them?"

Applejack nudged him with a hoof and said, "Hush up fer now, Spike! It's startin'!" Sonic, Tails, and Twilight noticed that the schoolhouse and the schoolyard were beginning to regain their color and walked over to the others to join them, Trixie, Shining Armor, and Cadance soon following. Soon, all the color had returned.

They then looked at Vector and Big Macintosh as their colors started to return. As soon as his colors were back, Applejack ran over to Big Macintosh and nuzzled him while Braeburn smiled at him. Once Vector was done making sure he was back, he turned to everyone and spoke, "Thanks, you guys! You know, I got a hunch someone or something is controlling that monster." He made motions with his hands and fingers to emphasize his point.

Big Macintosh drawled, "Eeyup." The others nodded in understanding save for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.

Any questions the royal couple had were put on hold when everyone heard screaming coming their way. Looking to the right (or in Vector and Big Macintosh's case, the left), they saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo running towards them screaming their heads off. Shining Armor and Cadance instantly recognized them as the flower fillies from their wedding. The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to their respective sisters and hid behind them. Rainbow looked down at Scootaloo and asked, "What's the matter, Scootaloo?"

The orange pegasus filly replied, "She's crazy!"

Sweetie Belle added, "That hammer is scary!"

Apple Bloom pleaded, "Help, please!"

Sonic, Tails, Vector, Spike, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all soon realized what they were getting at while the rest of them looked confused. They all looked up to see Amy coming towards them, thankfully not carrying her hammer. Once she got close enough, Tails said, "Uh, hey Amy! What's going on?"

The pink hedgehog curtly replied, "Oh, hi Tails. I was just chasing those fillies hiding behind you guys just now."

Twilight asked, "Why were you chasing them?"

Amy said, "Because when I passed by that Sugarcube Corner place earlier, I overheard them telling Celestia and Luna about some kind of love potion! I wanted them to tell me how they made it, but they kept saying no!"

Sweetie Belle exclaimed, "I'm telling you, it was a love POISON!" Big Macintosh inwardly frowned a bit at the memory of that particular Hearts and Hooves Day.

Amy shrugged, "Eh, details. If it was as strong as you made it sound, then it would've been just fine!" She clasped her hands together as she sighed, "I know Sonic loves me. He's just afraid to admit it. A little bit of a love potion or poison would help him, and then he'd never want to leave my side! We'd be together forever!"

Sonic sweat dropped, "Uh, I'm standing right here, Amy…"

Amy turned to him and smiled, "Oh, hi Sonic! Well, don't you worry! I don't need a silly potion or whatever to get you to admit your feelings for me! I'll get you to tell me the right way!" She then skipped away, Sonic glaring at her with half-closed eyes.

Of course, Rarity had to pipe up with her two bits, "That sounds SO romantic! You'd better start thinking now, Sonic! When this is all over, it'll be the perfect chance to tell her how you feel! It'll be so wonderful!" Rainbow and Applejack immediately looked at her like she was crazy.

All of a sudden, the doors leading to the schoolhouse basement burst open, causing everyone to turn around and look. They all saw Cheerilee stepping out of the basement, beginning to look around. "What in Equestria is going on here? What's all the commotion? Why is…?" She stopped short when she saw the group for several reasons: Big Macintosh, Vector, Sonic, and Tails. Some of her students that had been in the basement also popped their heads up to look and they all froze when they saw the three animals. For a minute, nothing was said from or between either of the two sides.

Then Sonic broke it by shrugging, "Well, THIS is awkward."

Big Macintosh nodded, "Eeyup."

---

First off, I just want to say that I've gone back and made revisions to a few chapters. Changed a few parts and changed some of the music I chose (this took longer than the actual revisions since some of the videos I had links to were terminated so I had to find music to replace what was taken down). Aside from that, there's nothing overly different from what I had before. You don't have to burden yourselves with going through every sentence carefully to find the differences.

Now then...

WHY do I do this to myself? I tell myself I'm going to try to make the next chapter shorter, and look what I do. I add a bunch of stuff that probably could have been skimmed over and it ends up being long! I think I used to watch too much "Pokémon" (yes, used to; I used to be really excited about seeing the show until the BW series came along and hurt a lot of what I liked about it). So I'm sorry that this is, like, a huge chapter. I dislike the way my muse works sometimes.

For anyone wondering what the deal with Trixie was when she regained control, that's partly due to Twilight and Trixie making up at the end of "Magic Duel" and partly due to... well, what I think. Honestly, I think possession is one of the scariest things that can happen to someone. Just that idea that someone or something else is using your body for their own needs and you have no control over it terrifies me. And that's not counting what's happening to 'you' you while you're being possessed. Can you see what you're doing? Or do you wake up later, amidst the wreckage of 'your' own making? Seriously, think about that before you comment on Trixie's behavior.

Also, I made up the placement of the Gaia Gate so that I could include it here. I'm mostly familiar with the 360/PS3 version of "Sonic Unleashed", but I've seen videos of the Wii/PS2 version. I wanted to try to use elements of both versions, and I like the Gaia Gates that appear in the Wii/PS2 version. I know you go straight to the Dark Gaia Phoenix boss after clearing the nighttime levels in Chun-Nan, but since there's a boss door in the Gaia Gate, I came up with the idea that it could actually be somewhere close to the Gaia Temple and Sonic and Chip just went around it in both versions of the game. So that's what the story with that is.

And before anyone comments about the Werehog not appearing in this chapter, I do have plans for the Werehog to possibly appear in a future chapter. I know this is the "Sonic Unleashed" stage, but that doesn't seem like a good enough reason for him to appear here. When he (possibly) appears later, there will be a good reason for it.

And when she uses it in the future, I'm thinking of having Twilight's version of the Psychic Knife be referred to as the Magic Blade or something to that effect. I'm open to suggestions.

Chapter notes time~

As indicated near the beginning, the park where Silver, Blaze, and Twilight are training is the park where the girls meet up in "May the Best Pet Win".

Originally, I was going to include a little more in the village scene. For some reason, I think there's more to Chun-Nan than what we see in "Sonic Unleashed"; if you look past the gate where you enter the village from, you can see the stone path leading down the mountain. That got me wondering if there's another part of the village that we don't get to go to. Ultimately, I cut it out.

Per a suggestion, I gave Lyra and Bon-Bon a cameo in this chapter for more comic relief. I hope nobody minds Lyra freaking out over seeing humans. I guess I figured that's a standard reaction for her in some fanfics, and I know how everybody loves seeing ponies go crazy.

I made sure to reference the bonus cutscene where Sonic and Chip are eating in the restaurant. The whole deal with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie is another reference to it.

When they're talking about Sonic the Werehog, Pinkie's exclamation of "star arms" is a reference to Ristar.

Sonic mentioning that talking in another language is cool references the fact that, in Japan, Sonic knows more English than most of the other characters.

Spike and Rainbow mistaking rice balls (I know they weren't a food item in the game; I just want to include them) for other foods was a 4Kids joke, since, especially with the "Pokémon" anime, they usually referred to rice balls as other foods.

Sonic's group goes through the daytime stage while Tails' group goes through the nighttime stage.

King Sombra's horn making an appearance here is a reference to how part of it flew off into the distance after he was destroyed at the end of "The Crystal Empire".

The Gaia Gate appears exactly as it did in "Sonic Unleashed".

Trixie turning out to be the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well is a reference to the rumors that, prior to that episode's airing, she'd turn out to be MDW.

Twilight hearing Sonic's voice is a reference to the fact that Sonic IS the wind.

References to "Transformers" and "Yu-Gi-Oh".

Twilight and Trixie fighting each other is heavily inspired by the fangame "My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic". I admit to watching early footage from the game while I was writing.

The device that falls out of Trixie's ear is based off the neuro-controller Eggman put in Sonic's ear in the 2007 Free Comic Day Special, which was probably inspired by the chip that got caught in Sonic's ear in the "Sonic X" episode, "How to Catch a Hedgehog". Originally, Trixie was going to wear a fake Alicorn Amulet that contained the device, but I scrapped that idea.

Like I promised, I had the characters sing a song. For some reason, I felt as though Crush 40's "Live Life" suited the situation. If there's a problem, I can remove the lyrics.

That's about it, I guess. I apologize for the wait and the long chapter, but at least I got it done before Christmas.

Music:

Psychic Training - www. youtube. com watch?v=WgVXjqwCNmQ

Preparing to Set Out Again - www. youtube. com watch?v=EdFhdCuyQEk

Eastern Enlightenment - www. youtube. com watch?v=cNKHr7ecXvg

A Dream Come True...? - www. youtube. com watch?v=igdO203b76k

Good Times - www. youtube. com watch?v=MXi0GpOSArw

A Taste of the Far East - www. youtube. com watch?v=e_e1b17TzRw

Mare-Do-Well Appears - www. youtube. com watch?v=3jho-peCAKs

Chasing Mare-Do-Well - www. youtube. com watch?v=p9GHYYJW5S8

Road to the Gaia Temple - www. youtube. com watch?v=twz4DDh_LSU

Dark Gaia/King Sombra Rising - www. youtube. com watch?v=i5QhkYf_OMk

Cornering the Mare - www. youtube. com watch?v=UWVHc5KXdp8

(Former) Site of the Gaia Temple - www. youtube. com watch?v=zY2jMkZot4M

Taming the Phoenix - www. youtube. com watch?v=lfczAmFIsTE

The Gaia Gate - www. youtube. com watch?v=9z-QdC8zxL0

The Trap - www. youtube. com watch?v=C_f8wfbJ5SY

Mare-Do-Well Attacks - www. youtube. com watch?v=8U4mfMpIqWY

The Mare's True Identity - www. youtube. com watch?v=aGLpf-CGoYk

Twilight's Struggle - www. youtube. com watch?v=cD-DCclot2c

Twilight vs. Trixie - www. youtube. com watch?v=MuVAaU63K7k

Not What It Seemed - www. youtube. com watch?v=6mGEg6GRv7s

Live Life - www. youtube. com watch?v=U_1tFJB-lTU

Another Chance - www. youtube. com watch?v=qg8GHRGLrMw

Shining Armor and Princess Cadance - www. youtube. com watch?v=VcwqI8hCX2o

Vector and Big Macintosh Restored - www. youtube. com watch?v=_Cr1ctCbSWQ

Amy, Again - www. youtube. com watch?v=45pAu_7mukU