Okay, I hate to have to take up this space near the top, but something needs to be said now, while it can still be remembered. This is intended for all the guests reading this story; if you're a registered user, you can skip this and move onto the story. If you're a guest, then you SHOULD read this.

I just want to remind you something very simple about reviews. If you're a guest, and you post a review, I CANNOT respond to it. If you ask a question, it will go unanswered, simply because that's the way things work around here. I can only respond to reviews posted by registered users, so if you want to ask a question, you NEED an account or I can't answer it.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is, if you're going to post ANY kind of review, it should be meaningful. If you're writing a review just to ask when the next chapter is coming out, I will either mark it as spam or delete it. That's not what the review system is for. Posting these kinds of reviews does NOT motivate me to write; it has the opposite effect.

I hope that's clear to everyone. Thank you for your time, now back to our story.

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For a schoolteacher like Cheerilee, to say that her students were excitable was an understatement. Whenever something new was happening in Ponyville, her students were often the first ones to find out about it. Trixie's first visit, Apple Bloom's Cutie Pox cutie marks, the Gabby Gums column in the Foal Free Press… On a normal day, Cheerilee would be happy to be caught up in the excitement with them, but this was certainly turning out to be anything but a normal day, if the white sky and odd look of Ponyville were anything to go by. And if she was being really honest with herself, despite the fact that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, their sisters, and their friends were with them, she wasn't sure what to make of the new… well, animals.

Her students clearly had their own thoughts, however, and they had quickly followed after the group when Vector suggested they show themselves out. Snips, Snails, Featherweight, Twist, Shady Daze, Truffle Shuffle, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon all followed them, all interested in the group for their own reasons. Well, maybe Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon weren't actually interested in them, but whatever was driving them to follow the rest of their classmates was enough that they didn't listen when Cheerilee tried to call them all back. The rose-colored schoolteacher wasn't a pony that gave up easily, however, and she followed her students through Ponyville, right to the front of Sugarcube Corner.

As she turned the corner, Cheerilee saw Sonic and Twilight herding everyone into the bakery. Tails, Vector, Big Macintosh, and Spike were already inside and Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, Braeburn, Little Strongheart, and the rest of the Main Six were on their way in. Sonic was quick to notice the foals coming towards them and, after Rarity's tail slipped inside, he reached up and pulled the front door shut, leaving himself, Twilight, Trixie, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders still outside.

Twilight wasn't exactly pleased that Trixie had to be exposed to the ponies of Ponyville so soon after her harrowing experience, but she kept quiet after a moment's thought, as she realized that, even with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna inside, the foals could still swarm Sugarcube Corner and leave Trixie feeling even more vulnerable. Knowing Snips and Snails probably still held Trixie in high regard, despite everything that had happened between them, Twilight moved in front of her fellow unicorn to guard her, Sonic quickly moving to her side to aid her while the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood behind Trixie on the stoop.

As expected, Snips and Snails were at the front of the group, wanting to see amazing feats from the Great and Powerful Trixie. All the foals behind them (save for Diamond Tiara and possibly Silver Spoon) were more interested in Sonic, all of them excitedly asking questions or wanting to touch him. The blue hedgehog tried to keep them at bay, glad that they were still little and not full-grown ponies yet, while Twilight tried to keep Snips and Snails from getting to Trixie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo eventually moving to help them while Cheerilee tried to get her students back under control.

After about a minute of this, Sugarcube Corner's front door opened slightly and Blaze stepped out onto the stoop, having heard Sonic and Twilight's voice amongst all the noise outside. The foals all gasped and backed away when she stepped out, save for Diamond Tiara, who didn't look impressed with the newcomer at all, unlike Silver Spoon. Blaze surveyed the scene for a moment before looking at Sonic and Twilight and asking, "Sonic, Twilight, what is going on out here?"

Sonic looked back at her and shrugged, "Kids, Blaze."

Blaze looked at Trixie and asked, "Who are you?"

Before the azure unicorn could answer, Snips piped up, "She's the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Snails laughed slowly, "Heh heh, yeah~."

Twilight turned to look at Blaze and asked, "Uh, Blaze? Could you come here for a second, please?" Blaze looked confused, but did as she was asked, pulling the front door closed behind her as she stepped down. Once Blaze was standing in front of her, Twilight leaned over and started whispering something in the cat's ear, mostly so that Cheerilee's students wouldn't hear.

When Twilight was done, Blaze leaned back and asked, "Are you certain?" Twilight nodded in response; Blaze nodded back and looked back at Trixie, walking over to her. The azure mare began to feel nervous at the even look the cat was giving her, but Blaze spoke before she could panic, "Miss Trixie, may I see your foreleg, please?"

Trixie asked, "W-Why? What are you going to do?"

Blaze held out her right hand, "Just let me see your foreleg. I promise I won't harm you." Still a bit nervous, Trixie held up her right foreleg and placed her hoof in Blaze's hand. The princess looked at it for a moment before saying, "It would appear Twilight is correct. You have been forced to endure blunt trauma and mental scarring. Well, I can certainly do something for one of the two." She raised her left hand and placed it just above Trixie's knee. The showmare began to sweat as she saw what appeared to be fire creeping around the hand, but Blaze gave her a stern look, "Don't panic, and don't close your eyes."

Trixie nodded shakily, "O-Okay." Blaze slowly lowered her hand onto Trixie's knee as the door to Sugarcube Corner opened and Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash looked outside, wondering what was going on. Blaze began to focus her flames into her hand, which began to glow red as she placed it atop Trixie's knee.

Sonic, Twilight, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo watched silently, their mouths slightly agape while Cheerilee, her class, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack looked considerably more shocked as flames began to spread out from the palm of Blaze's hand. Trixie was about to panic, but then she realized there was a difference between these flames and the feeling a pony gets when they accidentally touch a pot on the stove. "It… That feels warm… Soothing, even," she murmured.

Blaze nodded as the flames spread across Trixie's body, "My flames are not dangerous except when I will them to be. And right now, I am willing them to burn away the physical trauma that you have endured." Trixie gave her a grateful look as she was now completely engulfed in flames, Shady Daze getting out of his shock long enough to get a picture or two for the school newspaper. After a minute, the flames quickly receded back into Blaze's hand and she removed it, allowing Trixie to take her foreleg back. "Do you feel better now?" she asked.

Trixie glanced down at herself for a second before saying, "I… do." She looked at Blaze and sat down, removing her hat with her hooves and holding it in front of her as she said, "I… Thank you. I cannot find the proper words to express how grateful I am to you."

Blaze placed a hand on her shoulder, saying, "That's quite all right. You have been through quite the ordeal from what I have been told. Someone like you needs the love and kindness of others, not admonition." Tears threatened to spew from Trixie's eyes as she put her hat back on and Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack looked surprised at her words.

Cheerilee turned her attention to her students after a moment of silence, saying, "All right, my little ponies. I understand many of you were very interested in Ponyville's new arrivals, but I believe this is a delicate situation, one that we should not intrude on any further. So if you'll all please hold back your curiosity for the time being, we should all probably go back to the schoolhouse for the time being." Her students were disappointed, but they knew Cheerilee would never lie to them, and they did think that display by Blaze was cool. So they all agreed to go back save for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, though the latter looked like she wanted to go back.

Applejack spoke up, "Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee? Is it all right if Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stay here? Ah'd kinda like mah sister nearby right now, and Ah think Rarity and Rainbow Dash would like Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo around too." The two mares in question nodded in agreement with Applejack's thoughts.

Cheerilee replied, "Yes, of course, Applejack. I'm not exactly sure what's going on right now, but I can't say it looks like anything safe. As such, I want my students to be safe until they have somepony who can take them home, but as long as you three are here, I see no reason to keep them." The three fillies all looked happy at that, not only because they would get to stay out, but also because it meant there was less chance of Amy finding them.

Of course, nothing can ever be that simple. Diamond Tiara finally decided to break her silence, exclaiming, "Are you kidding me?!" The exclamation was so unexpected even Sonic stared at her in shock. "We're going back to school because she puts on a light show?!" the filly yelled, pointing a hoof at Blaze.

Cheerilee sternly said, "Diamond Tiara, what have I told you about showing respect for others?!"

The filly asked, "Why should I have to show respect to a… cat?!"

Before Blaze could show the filly what it was like to get on her bad side, Apple Bloom stepped forward and said, "Because Blaze is a princess, Diamond Tiara, the princess of a whole 'nother world!"

Diamond Tiara snidely asked, "Oh yeah? Did Granny Smith tell you that?"

Silver Spoon added, "And shouldn't you be addressing her by her title if she's a princess?"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stepped up alongside Apple Bloom, Scootaloo saying, "She told us herself while she was talking to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"

Sweetie Belle added, "She also said she doesn't like being called a princess, especially when she's not in her own dimension! She doesn't even like it when her guards call her that!"

Unnoticed by everyone except for Blaze, Sonic reached back into his quills and pulled a small black cell phone out and looked down at it, moving his thumb on it a few times before pointing it in Diamond Tiara's direction as the filly retorted, "You three must have hit your heads during your latest, lamest attempt to get your cutie marks. No princess would ever want to have anything to do with you blank flanks."

Apple Bloom said, "The princesses were restin' up, Diamond Tiara! They can do whatever they want while they're restin'!"

Diamond Tiara smirked, "Yeah, they can, but there are lots of things better they could be doing than talking to a bunch of blank flanks like you. Or having mercy on a fraud like that unicorn." Trixie looked fairly unnerved as she was dragged into the argument, but Blaze's anger was beginning to break her restraints. Diamond Tiara looked at the cat and asked, "Why would you help her, if that's even what you did? Do you even know what she's done?"

Blaze, trying to maintain a level head as Sonic had told her in the past, replied, "My reasons, if I have any, are my own. Frankly, I don't believe I need a reason to help someone. And as for what Trixie has done before, I may not know, but I have a feeling she's not the same mare she was then as she is now. It may be she is learning from her past rather than dwelling on it."

Diamond Tiara glared at her, "That doesn't make any sense."

Blaze asked, "Or does it make sense and you're choosing to ignore it?"

Diamond Tiara replied, "No, it just doesn't, and you're a weirdo for thinking it does."

Cheerilee marched up behind the filly and angrily said, "All right, that's enough, Diamond Tiara! Your father will hear about this when he comes to pick you up!"

Diamond Tiara asked, "About what? That these blank flanks are making up stories or that a fraud that could've ruined his business is suddenly being treated nicely?!"

Trixie looked down at the ground at that, Twilight moving to her side and wrapping a foreleg around her, murmuring, "Trixie…"

Suddenly, a new voice was heard from the side of Sugarcube Corner, "What's going on out here?" Everyone looked to the side to see an earth pony with a grayish amber coat, a dark gray mane, and three sacks of money for a cutie mark wearing a collar and a tie with a dollar sign on it come around the side of the building, Silver Spoon backing away a bit when she saw him.

Cheerilee gasped, "Filthy Rich!"

As he slid his thumb over the screen of his phone, Sonic leaned over to Twilight as Blaze looked at her and whispered, "Who's he?"

Twilight whispered back, Blaze hearing her, "He's Diamond Tiara's father and the owner of Rich's Barnyard Bargains."

Blaze looked back at him as he walked over to Cheerilee and murmured, "I pray he's a little nicer than his daughter."

When he was standing in front of Cheerilee, Filthy Rich spoke, "Hello Miss Cheerilee. I heard the commotion, but I didn't expect to see you out here."

The schoolteacher replied, "Well, my class got a little excited when they saw the, er… new arrivals to Ponyville."

Filthy Rich turned to look at Sonic and smiled, "Ah yes, I heard about you from the Mayor. Your name is Sonic, correct?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "Yeah, that's me. You got a name you prefer, Filthy Rich, or do you just go by that?"

The stallion replied, "I prefer 'Rich', if you don't mind." Sonic nodded; Filthy Rich then asked, "Now what is all the commotion about?"

Blaze spoke, "I regret to inform you that your daughter was not being very amicable, sir. Not to me, not to her classmates, and not to Trixie."

Filthy Rich noticed the azure unicorn and said, "Trixie… Ah, that's right. She put on quite a show when she was here." He then looked at his daughter and asked, "Diamond Tiara, is what I'm hearing true? Were you being rude to others for no reason?"

The filly replied, "No, Dad! I didn't do that! I had reasons for everything I said!"

Sonic spoke up, "Oh yeah? Well then, maybe you could explain those reasons after your father hears exactly what you said." He held up his phone and moved his thumb across the screen a few times before walking over to Filthy Rich and holding it up, its screen pointing at him and Diamond Tiara as he tapped the 'PLAY' button on the screen.

The screen displayed Diamond Tiara as she spoke, "You three must have hit your heads during your latest, lamest attempt to get your cutie marks. No princess would ever want to have anything to do with you blank flanks." As she watched, Diamond Tiara's eyes went wide while Sonic smirked down at her, making sure the phone was well out of her reach.

The filly was tempted to try to grab the strange device a few times, but each time she remembered her father was right there and would get suspicious. When the video was done replaying, Sonic flipped the phone around and closed his hand around it while Diamond Tiara sputtered, "What… How did you…?"

Sonic shrugged, "Eh, call it a little magic of my own."

Filthy Rich glared down at his daughter and asked, "Diamond Tiara, what do you have to say for yourself?" The filly looked up at him, her mouth hanging open as she couldn't find anything to say that wouldn't make it seem like she wasn't being mean for no reason. After a moment, Filthy Rich looked up at Cheerilee and said, "If you don't mind, Miss Cheerilee, I think I'll be taking Diamond Tiara home now."

Cheerilee replied, "O-Of course, Mr. Rich! I'm just keeping the other children until somepony can pick them up."

Filthy Rich nodded and turned back to Sonic, saying, "I apologize for my daughter's actions. I do not agree with her bullying or denigrating others for no reason."

Diamond Tiara sputtered, "But… But…!"

Sonic replied, "That's all right. I don't much care for lying myself." Filthy Rich nodded and began to lead Diamond Tiara home while Cheerilee began to lead Silver Spoon and the rest of the foals back to the schoolhouse.

Once both parties had moved away a bit, Sonic turned back to the others. Blaze smiled at him, "Well played, Sonic, exposing her as a bully to her father without bullying her yourself."

Rainbow stepped out onto the stoop and said, "That was awesome! What is that thing? I should get one!"

Sonic replied, "It's just something from home that I keep around. I don't think its main feature would work here in Equestria since I don't think I could get a signal with it. Not that I use it that much anyway."

Scootaloo spoke up, "Hey, Sonic? Hey, Blaze?" The two of them looked down at her and she said, "Thanks for sticking up for us and Trixie too."

Blaze replied, "I'm glad I could help."

Sonic nodded, "I'll always stick up for others, especially if they're being picked on for no reason or people won't give others a chance." The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Trixie all smiled at that.

Rarity soon asked, "Why don't you all come inside? I believe Princess Celestia is almost done explaining the situation to Shining Armor and Princess Cadance." They all nodded and walked into Sugarcube Corner.

As they stepped inside, they all heard the sound of crying coming from upstairs. As Sonic pulled the door closed behind him, Twilight spotted the Cakes standing next to the counter near the stairs, looking upstairs anxiously. Twilight walked over to them, coming to a stop in front of the group's usual table, which Tails was working at, and asked, "What's going on, Mr. and Mrs. Cake?"

Cup Cake turned to her and said, "Oh, I don't think it's anything too serious, dearie, but the twins were woken up by all the noise being made outside. Pinkie Pie went upstairs a minute ago, saying she'd calm them down for us."

Sonic came over and asked, "Where's Silver? Did he come in here?"

Carrot Cake looked at him and replied, "You mean that white hedgehog? He went upstairs with Pinkie, saying he wanted to help. I'm not sure how he can help, though, seeing as he's never…" He trailed off as the sound of the twins crying was suddenly quieted.

The Cakes looked back up towards the top of the stairs, Cup Cake calling, "Pinkie? Is everything all right up there?"

The pink pony called back, "Everything's A-okay, Mrs. Cake! Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are in really high spirits right now!" She appeared in the doorway a moment later and, to the Cakes' shock, she was wrapped in a green aura and floating! "And so am I!" she said before she started floating down the stairs.

Cup Cake exclaimed, "Pinkie! How in Equestria…?" She trailed off as Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, and several stuffed toys floated down behind her, all wrapped in the same green aura. Silver came hovering down after them a second later.

Blaze walked over and smiled, "Ah, it's just Silver doing all that. There's nothing to worry about."

Carrot Cake looked at her as Silver lowered himself onto the ground near the stairs and started moving his hands to move Pinkie, Pumpkin Cake, Pound Cake, and the toys around near the ceiling and said, "Nothing to worry about?! He's carrying our babies around with his… magic! There's plenty to worry about!" Blaze raised an eyebrow at him.

Silver made the Cake twins and the toys move around the ceiling in various ways while Pinkie 'swam' after them, the silver hedgehog watching them and moving his hands all the while. Trixie was reminded of the show Twilight put on for the ambassadors from Saddle Arabia as she and the others watched. Trixie walked over to the lavender unicorn while still watching and whispered to her, "Does he really know how to use magic?"

Twilight whispered back, "No, he's just psychokinetic, Trixie."

The azure unicorn looked confused, "What's the difference?" Twilight just shrugged lightly to her, not sure how to give her a short explanation, before they both turned back to look. Behind them, Shining Armor, who was standing in the back with the princesses, looked away from the display at his sister for a moment. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had filled him and Cadance in, but he was having some difficulty wrapping his head around everything.

After a minute, Silver placed his hands together in front of him and lowered his head. As he held that pose, Pinkie Pie floated down and did a flip before she was dropped onto her hooves while Pumpkin and Pound Cake, both of them giggling excitedly while hanging onto the stuffed toys, were levitated over to their parents, Mr. Cake catching Pumpkin Cake while Mrs. Cake caught Pound Cake.

Silver raised his head and lowered his hands to his sides, looking over at the Cake twins and smiling, "Did you have fun?" Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake made excited noises before they both yawned loudly.

Cup Cake looked up at Silver and said, "Erm, thank you for helping Pinkie Pie calm down Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake, Silver dearie. But next time, could you please check with us before you lift our babies and carry them around like that?"

Silver rubbed the back of his head as he replied, "Uh, sure, Mrs. Cake. Guess I should've thought of that beforehand." Satisfied with that response, the Cakes took their babies upstairs to put them back in their cribs.

After they had left, Vector spoke up, "All right, you can quit it now. Or are you planning on hiding yourself from view all day?"

Little Strongheart, Spike, and the ponies looked at him oddly until a familiar voice spoke up, "Looks like your detective skills are still sharp, even after being temporarily frozen, Vector." At those words, a familiar chameleon appeared just above the front door, his hands and feet holding him up against the wall.

Vector smirked up at him, "Well, of course, Espio! I'm not about to lose my touch! Besides, after all the times we've worked together, you think I wouldn't be able to notice the signs that you're camouflaging yourself?" Espio let go of the wall and dropped down, crouching down when he landed and then standing up straight.

"Whoa! Dude, that's creepy, but awesome," Spike commented.

Zecora, her saddlebags on her back, smiled, "Ah, a chameleon, one whose color can turn many hues; a skill that can be useful when searching for clues."

Silver grinned, "Espio!"

The chameleon walked over and shook Silver's hand, saying, "Good to see you again, Silver. I trust everything has been well." The silver hedgehog nodded in response.

Sonic looked at Blaze and said, "Speaking of seeing others again, what happened to Cream and Cheese, Blaze?"

The cat looked back at him as she replied, "They went after Amy when she started chasing Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. You didn't see her?"

Sonic shook his head, "Nope, just Amy."

Blaze looked away and murmured, "They must've lost track of her, then."

Tails spoke up a moment later, "Uh, guys?" Everyone looked at him, now noticing that he was wearing a Sherlock Holmes-like hat and holding a magnifying glass in his right hand.

Sonic pointed, "What's with the hat, Tails?"

The fox shrugged as he moved around to the right side of the table, "Pinkie said I couldn't use her magnifying glass unless I wore it. She was very insistent about it."

Pinkie piped up, "Well, of course! You can't do detective work without one!"

Espio said, "We do."

Vector nodded, "Yep! No fancy hats for the Chaotix Detective Agency! Although part of the reason for that is to keep Charmy from getting any ideas."

Pinkie got up on his snout, looking right in his eyes, and said, "Maybe you should reconsider that! You should never doubt the power of a good hat!"

Sonic looked back at Tails and shrugged, "Sorry. Anyway, what's up?"

Tails replied, "Well, I finished going over that device that was controlling Trixie." Spike and the other members of the Main Six raised their eyebrows at Trixie, the azure unicorn feeling their stares on the back of her head.

From the back, Luna asked, "Did you find anything, Tails?"

Tails answered, "Not much that I didn't expect to find. But this in particular caught my interest." He held the magnifying glass up in front of the table and everyone (save for Shining Armor and the princesses) moved in for a closer look. Through the magnifying glass, they could see a green, rectangle-shaped microchip sitting on the table.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

Tails explained, "Technically, you could call it the brain of the device. I've seen it in a lot of Eggman's robots. It emits signals that make his robots do what he commands them to do. Without it, they could pretty much do whatever they want, whether Eggman likes it or not."

Rainbow asked, "So what's that got to do with, uh…?"

Tails lowered the magnifying glass and said, "I've done some safe tests on it before, and I've found that certain signals can be detected by the brain depending on how sensitive someone's hearing is. And when the brain receives the signal, it will automatically carry it out." He gestured to Sonic as he went on, "Like, say Sonic received a signal telling him to run. He'd start running and be unable to stop his feet for any reason until the signal itself stopped, not even to sleep."

Sonic winced, "Ugh. And I sure do get grouchy if I don't get my eight hours of sleep."

Applejack asked, "So this is all that Eggman's doin', is that what you're sayin', Tails?"

The fox rubbed the back of his head as he said, "I'm not entirely sure yet." He looked at Trixie and asked, "Trixie, did you have control over any part of your body while that device was active?"

The azure mare looked down, "No. I had no control over myself at all. I was saying things I shouldn't have been saying and being told to do things I didn't want to do, but my body wouldn't listen to me. It was doing what it was told, and I was struggling to regain control over myself." Twilight gave her a soft nuzzle, Trixie appreciating its warmth. Tails shook his head and sighed, feeling bad for bringing it up even though it was necessary.

Vector asked, "So what's confusing you, Tails?"

Tails looked back at the device and said, "Well, from what I've seen, this looks like a neuro-controller, something I'm sure Eggman could build. But from what Trixie says, it sounds like she was under the influence of a mind control device."

Scootaloo shrugged, "What's the difference between them?"

Tails asked, "Are you all familiar with mind control?"

Twilight glanced in Shining Armor's direction as she said, "We kind of are…"

Sonic added, "And we've sure had some experience with it recently, right Tails?"

The fox nodded while scratching his head, "Yeah…" He then said, "Well, a neuro-controller kind of acts similarly to mind control, but there is a difference. When the body's receiving a signal, it acts on it, even if the person being controlled is sleeping, but usually they can control everything else, which is huge compared to mind control. If it was just a neuro-controller, Trixie should've been able to tell Twilight what was going on and remember who did it to her."

Silver asked, "So is it a mind control device or a neuro-controller?"

Tails replied, "That's the confusing part!" He looked back at the table and said, "I've looked this thing over several times, but I've found nothing, NOTHING to suggest that it was a mind control device! Ideally, a mind control device would have to have something extra in it in order to take control of someone's mind! Sure, maybe something got smashed, fell out, or whatever when it was broken, but there should be evidence that something was there! And there's not!"

Big Macintosh spoke up, "So in other words, it can't be a mind controller."

Tails nodded, "Yes, that's correct, Big Macintosh! This is definitely a neuro-controller, yet it was somehow able to act like a mind control device!" He shook his head, "It doesn't make sense!"

Fluttershy spoke up, "Um, Sonic, you said you've had some experience with mind control, um, recently. Was that with Dr. Eggman or…"

Sonic looked back at her and said, "It was with Eggman, Fluttershy, but I doubt he could shrink a mind control device down to anything this small, especially considering his prototype ran on alien energy and he drained two full canisters of the stuff in under a minute. Sure, there was a big one too that might have been more efficient, but I don't see how he could've shrunk it down to something tiny that works for more than a minute between then and now."

Espio crossed his arms, "This is curious. Tails can usually figure Eggman's machines out, but this time, even he's confused. That doesn't rule out Eggman as the likely culprit, but we have no evidence to explain how or why he did it."

Zecora looked at him, "That is true, but whatever the reason, no good can come from this kind of treason."

Sonic said, "Zecora's right. Eggman's gotta be around here, cooking up some new plan. We should just ask him when we find him. He does like to go on and on about his plans, after all."

Tails shrugged, "That's true."

Twilight looked at Trixie as she groaned and held a hoof up to her forehead. "Are you okay, Trixie?" she asked.

The unicorn replied, "I think so. But with all that has happened, I feel very exhausted, especially after…"

Twilight nodded, "Ah, right." She looked at Tails and asked, "Tails, do you think you can take Trixie to the library and help her up to my bed? A nap might do her some good."

Tails smiled, "Sure!" He took Pinkie's hat off and placed it on the table with the magnifying glass; he then turned to Sonic and brought out his radar, handing it to him as he said, "The radar went off before you guys came in, but I silenced it so I could keep working. Can you check it while I'm gone, Sonic?"

Sonic took the radar in his left hand and held his right thumb up, "You got it, bud!" Tails nodded and brought the Warp Ring out. He then looked at Trixie and started for the door, the azure unicorn following him a moment later.

As the two of them walked towards the door, Spike and the Ponyville ponies looked at Trixie. As much as some of them wanted to call her out for the last time she had showed her face in town, between having to get away from Cheerilee's inquisitive class and finding out she had fully been controlled by someone or something… well, they had been distracted, to say the least, but what they were seeing now made even Spike and Rainbow Dash think twice about saying anything.

The first time she'd left, Trixie refused to admit she'd been outdone and ran away with the aid of a smokescreen. At the end of her second visit, she'd seemed meek after the Alicorn Amulet was removed and before some of them had seen her talking to Twilight at the end of her show for the Saddle Arabians, but then she seemingly regained some of her old self and took off again. Now, she was walking with heavy steps and her gaze was tilted towards the ground, nothing like the Trixie they knew. It was unsettling enough that nopony could find it in them to say anything.

Celestia, Luna, and Cadance had all watched the events unfold in front of them and, despite some of them being confused, decided to remain quiet with the rest of them. Shining Armor, however, wasn't content with his confusion, especially not after being given a rough idea of what he'd missed thus far, and he rose up and walked down from the back, going over to his sister. As Tails and Trixie stepped outside, he asked, "Twiley, what exactly did she do to you?"

Twilight looked up at him and replied, "Shining, it's really not a big deal. We talked it over afterwards and made up. There's nothing you need to worry about."

Shining said, "That doesn't really answer my question. This is something I'd kind of like to know about."

Sonic could see that Twilight didn't really want to bring up what happened with Trixie so soon after it happened and offered, "Dude, I think she did answer your question, especially if you're asking for the reason I think you are."

Shining looked at him and said, "Twilight can speak for herself, Sonic. You don't need to put words in her mouth." His voice had a slight edge to it as he spoke.

"Yeah, but anyone who can understand what she's going through can speak for Trixie," Sonic retorted.

Shining raised an eyebrow, "And you do?"

Sonic answered, "I've seen things, and I've helped out folks who've had to go through the same thing she did. And you're asking a question that really doesn't need to be asked, especially not when Trixie can hear it." He gestured towards the front door, where Trixie and Tails were standing in front of the Warp Ring, Trixie having stopped to listen in.

Shining looked back at Sonic and said, "I'm looking out for my sister, okay? If Trixie did something to her, I want to know about it, and she'll answer for it if need be."

Twilight spoke, "Shining, she was under mind control. Everything she did wasn't done consciously. You can't blame her for that."

Shining asked, "But what if she hadn't been stopped, Twiley? What if she got away with whatever she was being told to do?"

Twilight looked like she had something to say, but she pushed it aside and said, "Then it would've been my fault for not being prepared. She knows what could've happened if the mind control on her hadn't been broken. You should've seen her afterwards; she just about fell apart in front of me!"

Sonic spoke, "And what you're doing is pulling up memories both old and new. Whatever she used to be, she's trying to get over it, and your interrogating her isn't going to help her one bit. So if you have any sympathy at all for what she had to go through, you'll drop it, dude." Shining looked a bit miffed at being told off by a hedgehog, but he took a few steps back, Cadance coming down to stand by him. Sonic looked out the front door and shot Trixie a smile as he held his right thumb up. She returned the gesture with a grateful smile before turning to Tails and following him through the Warp Ring.

Twilight looked at Sonic and said, "Thank you, Sonic." He smiled and nodded at her.

Blaze spoke, "Now that that matter is settled, we should check Tails' radar and determine where we must go next."

Sweetie Belle asked, "Um, Miss Blaze? Can we please come with you?"

Apple Bloom said, "Yeah! Ah ain't got ta see any part o' Sonic's world yet!"

Scootaloo asked, "So can we?"

Blaze replied, "Well, I have no qualms with you three coming with, but you shouldn't be asking me for permission." The three fillies looked at Sonic, Shining Armor, the princesses, and the Main Six expectantly at that.

Rainbow said, "I'm fine with them coming with! You girls are too, right?"

Rarity shook her head, "Oh, heavens no! Honestly, Rainbow Dash! Don't you remember that out of control volcano we went to?! And then being attacked by Dark Gaia's minions?! I'm not going to put Sweetie Belle in such danger!"

Applejack said, "Normally, I'd be agreein' with ya, Rainbow, but Rarity's got a point. Lately, our little adventure's been… well, it ain't exactly been safe from the get-go, but it's been particularly dangerous lately. Ah'm not about to risk it this time."

Blaze turned back to the three fillies, not sure what to say. As she and Luna walked out of the back, Celestia spoke, "Rarity and Applejack are only concerned for your safety, girls. Perhaps you should listen to them."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders all slumped at that, groaning, "Awwww…"

Applejack said, "Now don't start that, y'all. Since we can't be sure there's nothin' out there, Big Mac can walk ya either to ya homes or yer clubhouse." She then had a thought and turned to the red stallion, saying, "Speakin' o' which… We managed ta find Granny Smith earlier, Big Macintosh, but since Apple Bloom and her friends are here, she's all alone at Sweet Apple Acres. Ah'm sure she's takin' a nap or somethin', but Ah don't like the idea of leavin' her alone fer very long, do you?"

Big Macintosh shook his head, "Eenope."

Braeburn asked, "Is that so?" He trotted over to Big Macintosh and nudged his side, "In that case, Ah'll go with ya, Big Mac! It ain't been that long since our last reunion, but it'll be nice ta see Sweet Apple Acres again!"

Little Strongheart walked up to him and said, "Braeburn has said good things about Sweet Apple Acres. Do you suppose I could come with and see your apple orchards, Big Macintosh?"

The red stallion nodded, "Eeyup."

Twilight looked at Sonic and asked, "So where do you think we'll be going this time, Sonic?"

Sonic shrugged, "Well, releasing Dark Gaia was Eggman's second most recent plan. …No wait; it was the third most recent. So my guess is this time we'll be going somewhere in Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park." The Cutie Mark Crusaders' ears perked up at that, and a second later, as Sonic was raising the radar to open it up, he heard a scratching noise below him and looked down to see the three fillies on their backs looking up at him between his shoes.

"Eggman, you say?" Scootaloo asked.

"Did you say interstellar?" Sweetie Belle added.

"And amusement park?" Apple Bloom finished.

"Yes, yes, and yes. Why?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

The three fillies glanced at each other before they looked back up at him, smiling innocently as Sweetie Belle said, "Just asking."

Meanwhile, at the library

Tails led Trixie into the library, the unicorn looking over the bookshelves and adequately decorated interior. Tails walked over to the stairs and called, "Trixie!" The unicorn turned her attention to him and he pointed up the stairs, saying, "Twilight's bed is up here. Come on, I'll show you." He started up towards Twilight and Spike's bedroom, Trixie quickly trotting over to the stairs and going up after him.

She walked through the doorway at the top of the stairs and found herself in the duo's personal area of the library. She walked to the middle of the room and noticed Tails' tails sticking out over the top of a nearby ledge that had a winding staircase leading up to it. She waited patiently until the tails disappeared and the fox stuck his head over the ledge and said, "Up here, Trixie. I was just making sure Twilight's bed was made." Trixie looked away, causing Tails to raise an eyebrow, "Uh, Trixie? Are you okay?"

The unicorn asked, in a voice that was so quiet that Tails' sensitive ears just barely heard her, "Why are you doing this?"

That confused Tails further. He spun his namesakes around and flew down to Trixie's side. He then placed his left hand on her back, leaning forward and asking, "What do you mean?"

Trixie looked at him out of the corner of her eye and said, "You may not know this, but when I first came to Ponyville, my boasting very nearly put it in danger when those two colts, Snips and Snails, wanted to see me vanquish a real Ursa Major. Thankfully, they only found an Ursa Minor, and Twilight Sparkle was able to soothe it, but I left hoping to someday prove I was better than her. I eventually learned about the Alicorn Amulet, which made me stronger than ever but also made me crueler the more I used it. When I came back to Ponyville Twilight Sparkle and her friends were eventually able to get me to take it off and I later left, vowing to do things differently. And look what's come of it: I was brainwashed and I attempted to kill Twilight Sparkle!"

Tails shrugged, "And?"

Trixie looked at him and said, "I can't say I've been a good filly lately. It was one thing when I was corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet, but if she hadn't stopped me this time, I would've been responsible for killing her! How can she forgive me after that? And now that you know, how can you show me kindness?"

For a long moment, Tails just stared at her. Then he spoke, "Trixie… I think the problem is you're speaking with this…" He raised his right hand and pointed at her head, just above her horn, "…and not with this." He pulled his hand back and then pointed it down at her chest.

Trixie looked down at his finger in confusion, "With my… heart?"

Tails nodded, "You always want to take that with you. Sometimes, it can say more than your brain could ever hope to. That's something Sonic taught me." He brought his finger back and let his arm dangle at his side.

Trixie looked at him and said, "I don't understand…"

Tails replied, "I know, it's not always easy. It's not always easy to block off that voice in your head in favor of another; we've all been there before. But if there's one thing I can tell, Trixie, it's that, right now, you're sincere. You're not scared to ask me, someone you just met, an important question. That says a lot, and I'm sure Twilight knows that too."

Trixie asked, "You really think so?"

Tails nodded, "Sure! She's letting you stay here, in her home, in her bed, and try to recuperate some after a terrible experience. You could never express that much care in words." He began to lead her up the staircase as he continued, "She said you two will talk when this is all over; she's going to do her best to help you get over this. I'm sure it'll take time, but you can break those walls down. Learn to speak with your heart, Trixie, and you won't just have a way to communicate with Twilight, but when your voice comes clear, any of the ponies in Ponyville that don't like you will learn to get over those bad early impressions. Just take your time."

By now, they had reached the top of the staircase. Tails took his hand off Trixie's back and she walked over to Twilight's bed. Tails came over to her as she turned around and looked down at the floor. She looked up at him a second later, using her magic to take off her hat and cape, and said, "I… I think I can do that."

Tails nodded, "Good." He held out his hands and took Trixie's hat and cape, setting the hat atop one of the bed posts and folding up the cape and placing it on the nearby dresser as he said, "Just don't fall apart, Trixie. Give it a chance, okay?" Looking back at Trixie, he saw her nod while smiling a little before she climbed into Twilight's bed, pulling the covers over her. Tails sighed quietly to himself as she closed her eyes. His words seemed to have an effect, but would they have an effect on her dreams? He quietly walked down the stairs and threw the Warp Ring up in the middle of the floor, that particular thought still in his head as he stepped through it.

A second later, he stepped through the other side of the ring, which shrunk down and landed in his right hand when he held it up. He then walked into Sugarcube Corner and saw Sonic flipping the radar closed. Everybody, minus Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Little Strongheart, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and plus the Cakes, looked up as he walked in. Sonic waved, "Hey, Tails."

The fox waved back as he came over, "Hey, guys. Where'd Braeburn, Big Macintosh, Little Strongheart, and, uh, the Cutie Mark Crusaders go?"

Applejack replied, "Sweet Apple Acres. Big Mac and Braeburn are goin' ta keep an eye on Granny Smith, Little Strongheart wants ta see our apple trees, and the clubhouse mah sister and her friends use isn't far from the farm, so they took them back with them."

Twilight asked, "How's Trixie doing?"

Tails rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Well, I talked to her a bit and she settled down for a nap, but… Well, who knows how she'll be when she wakes up? There's no telling what kind of dreams she'll have."

Zecora shook her head, "It's true; she acted as though she deserved all the blame. For all she's done, what's happened to her is truly a shame."

Celestia walked over to Tails and draped a wing over his back, saying, "I'm sure you did all you could to help her feel better, Tails. Don't be mad at yourself."

Tails sighed, "Yeah, I know…"

Zecora started for the door; when she reached it, she looked back over her shoulder and said, "I must take my belongings back to the Everfree, then perhaps I will provide Miss Trixie with some company."

Blaze asked, "Are you sure, Miss Zecora?"

Zecora replied, "Worry not; I will not do anything if she should mind. But it sounds as though she would appreciate seeing a little kind." She then turned and left Sugarcube Corner.

Sonic handed Tails' radar to him a moment later. As he took it, the fox asked, "Where are we going?"

Sonic replied, "The new signal's coming from across town, from the hospital. It shouldn't take too long to get there."

Tails looked at the others and asked, "So is everybody else besides Mr. and Mrs. Cake coming along?"

Silver nodded, "You bet! Blaze and I aren't sitting this one out!"

Vector added, "And Charmy's the only one still missing. I'm sure you guys will be able to find him, but he's still a Chaotix and we look out for each other, no matter what!"

Celestia nodded, "Then I suppose we're ready to go." She looked at the Cakes and said, "Thank you for your gracious hospitality, Mr. and Mrs. Cake."

The two earth ponies bowed, Cup Cake saying, "O-Of course, Princess Celestia!"

Carrot Cake nodded, "It was our pleasure!" With that, the group exited Sugarcube Corner.

Meanwhile, at the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse

"Can y'all believe it?! They're goin' to an amusement park!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. She and her fellow crusaders were standing near the door as they talked, far away from the portal on the wall in the back.

"Yeah, but didn't you hear? It's Dr. Eggman's amusement park! And that guy is no good at all," Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle spoke, "And that's why we need to be there! What if they get on the rides while they're there? If they haven't been tested, they could get in real trouble! We could do that for them!"

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, "Test the rides?"

Sweetie Belle nodded, "Yeah! You know, just to make sure everything's working properly and this Eggman guy's standards are met! You can't have a good amusement park if your standards aren't being met!"

Scootaloo asked, "But how are we supposed to get home once we really get into the park?"

Sweetie Belle replied, "That's easy! We'll stay close by Rarity and the others the whole time and follow them back through the Warp Ring when they're ready to leave!"

Apple Bloom glanced down at the floor, "Ah don't know, Sweetie Belle. Applejack and Rarity both said we should stay here, and Princess Celestia supported them. Ah don't feel right goin' against what mah sister says, 'specially after that time Fluttershy let us have our sleepover at her house."

Sweetie Belle replied, "Yeah, but that time, we hadn't been the Cutie Mark Crusaders for long. We didn't even have our clubhouse yet! This time, we'll be ready!"

Scootaloo shrugged, "Well, we are more experienced now. We should take it slow, though, just in case it's really bad and we need to get out of there."

Apple Bloom sighed, "All right. Ah just hope they haven't left yet."

Scootaloo said, "Sonic and Twilight were saying something about the hospital. That's probably where they're headed now."

Sweetie Belle asked, "So are we going to do this?" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and then at her, smiling and nodding. The three of them then came together for their group cry:

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER RIDE TESTERS, YAY!"

Meanwhile…

As she was walking through Ponyville with the others, Rarity suddenly let out a murmur as her body shook, something that caught Tails' attention. "Why'd you shudder just now, Rarity?" he asked while looking at her.

"I don't know," Rarity answered slowly, the confusion evident in her voice. They looked at each other for a second longer before deciding that the white unicorn didn't have a Pinkie Sense of her own and turning back to the road.

Soon, the group could see the fountain up ahead. As they were approaching it, Silver asked Twilight, "So you did it? You mastered the Psychic Knife?"

Twilight replied, "'Mastered' is kind of a strong word. But I did successfully use it… twice!"

Spike grinned, "All right! Way to go, Twilight!"

Blaze nodded, "Indeed. A successful performance says something, don't you think?"

Twilight smiled at her; she then looked up and said, "Though I'm wondering if it's really appropriate to call my version of it a 'Psychic' Knife. I know it's your move and all, Silver, but still…"

Silver replied, "I see what you mean, what with the whole magic thing and all." He placed a hand on his chin, "Hm, what would be a more fitting name…?"

As they passed in front of the fountain, Espio came to a stop and said, "Wait, stop." Everyone quickly stopped walking at his words.

"What's up, Espio?" Vector asked.

The purple chameleon replied, "I feel as though we're not alone. Like there's a lion or eagle somewhere nearby."

A familiar voice spoke up, "Well, I'd say you're half-right, ninja boy." Espio looked up at a nearby rooftop to see a familiar griffin standing on top of it.

"Gilda!" Rainbow breathed as the griffin leapt off the roof and opened her wings to slow her descent, landing in front of the group.

Sonic spoke, "Haven't seen you since we drove the changelings out of town. What's up, Gilda?"

Shining Armor and Cadance exchanged uneasy looks as they heard this. "Princess Celestia mentioned that Queen Chrysalis and the changelings showed up here and tried to invade. That would make this the first time they tried to invade Ponyville. Or is it the second time…?" Shining wondered.

Gilda grunted, "Eh, not much. I was loitering around with Shadow and his team for a while, but that robot guy sure got annoying as hay with his constant 'shoot, crush, destroy' thing, so I didn't stay long. I managed to find a nice cloud, so I tried to catch a quick nap. It didn't work out, though, since those screaming fillies woke me up."

Rarity asked, "You heard my sister and her friends screaming? Why didn't you help them?"

Gilda shrugged, "Didn't cross my mind, especially not after I saw that Amy girl chasing after them. Even I wouldn't mess with her." She glanced at Sonic, expecting him to say something, but he remained quiet.

Tails asked, "So, uh, does that mean you're not doing anything right now, Gilda?"

The griffin looked at him and replied, "Yeah, it does. Why?"

Before Tails could ask, Rainbow said, "Forget it, Tails. I doubt she's gonna want to come with us."

Gilda smirked, "And you would be right, Dash. I'm not overly interested in this dimension hopping or whatever kind of adventure it is you're having. It's not exactly my thing."

Tails said, "Oh…"

Suddenly, they heard a voice behind the griffin, "Gilda?" Gilda turned around and the others looked to see Team Dark coming towards them. When they were standing across from the griffin, Shadow asked, "What's going on here?"

Gilda shrugged, "I was just following these guys. Gotta do something to pass the time, don't I?"

Shadow didn't shrug or nod, but his look indicated that he was okay with that explanation. He then looked at Sonic and asked, "Don't you have something you should be doing right now, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog replied, "Hey, we're keeping busy, Shadow. We were just on our way to our next destination when Gilda showed up. Twilight got the fifth Element of Harmony back earlier, and Silver gave us the fifth Chaos Emerald. Don't worry; we're not lying down on the job."

Shadow gave a curt nod before looking at Silver, the two hedgehogs looking ready to say something to each other before Omega droned, "I AM BORED."

Rouge sighed, "Yes, Omega, you've made that very clear for a while now." She then noticed Shining Armor and smiled, "Well, who's this handsome hunk of stallion?"

Cadance got a slightly dangerous look in her eyes when she heard this. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Shadow looked back at Sonic and asked, "Who are they?"

Sonic pointed a thumb back at the couple as he said, "Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, AKA, Twilight's older brother and sister-in-law."

Cadance smirked at Rouge, "That's right, so you just stay away from him. He's mine." She nuzzled Shining under his chin and he smiled at her.

Rouge simply smirked back, "Aw, that's so cute. You should know though, princess, that when I really set my mind on something, I usually end up getting it." Cadance responded by turning Shining's head so that they were looking at each other. They then locked lips, sharing a kiss as the others looked away from Rouge and smiled at them.

Well, most of them smiled. Gilda stuck a claw into her beak, Rouge just rolled her eyes, and Sonic, Espio, Blaze, Shadow, and Omega simply looked on. When the kiss ended, Shining and Cadance rested against each other, looking at each other lovingly. Shadow broke the moment when he turned to face his teammates and said, "Break time's over. Move out, Team Dark."

Cadance looked up at that to see Rouge and Omega nod, both of them turning and starting to walk away, Shadow following behind them. After a few seconds, she saw that they really were leaving and called, "Wait, uh, Shadow!" The black hedgehog came to a stop, but he didn't turn around, though Rouge and Omega stopped and turned to look back at him. Cadance asked, "Why don't you and your team come with us? I'm sure it'll be nice!"

Shadow was silent for a moment, but then he said, "No thank you. I do not believe we will enjoy each other's company."

Cadance protested, "Oh? But I'm sure we'll get along well. We've already gotten acquainted with some of your friends." Shadow remained quiet at that.

Shining joked, "What, are you afraid your bat friend will actually try to take me away or something? Or maybe you really like Cadance a lot?"

Shadow curtly replied, "Your wife isn't the one I'm thinking about. You're the one I have a problem with."

Shining's eyes widened a bit at that, but then they narrowed slightly as he asked, "Oh really? And why is that?"

Before Shadow could respond, Sonic zipped in front of Shining and held his hands up in front of him, saying, "Whoa, dude, just take it easy. You love your wife, you love your sister, you have your pride and all that, and that's great. But I think you'd be better off just letting this one go."

Shining glared down at him, "No, I don't think so. Now stand aside." His years of guard training taking over, he pushed past Sonic, roughly pushing him to the right near his sister, who, along with the other ponies and Spike, didn't seem to like Shadow's sudden attitude. Shining took several steps towards the black hedgehog before saying, "If you're going to have a problem with me, I'd like to know what it is."

Shadow replied, "I've heard a little about you. I was hoping you might have learned something from your experience, if everything I'd heard was true, but your display just now tells me you haven't."

Shining raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

Shadow crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "The way you looked at her, like nothing else was important… No wonder you were fooled."

Sonic, Tails, Vector, and Espio began to look nervous as Shining angrily demanded, "And what do you know about love?! Have you ever felt it before?!" He couldn't see Shadow's eyes open, but he noticed subtle changes in his posture that he'd learned to pick up on in his time as guard captain. "See, you do know what it is! So how can you criticize our love when you know what it's like to love somepony?!"

Sonic groaned and looked desperately at Twilight, whispering, "Twilight, you know him. Can't you reel him in before he makes this any worse?"

Twilight, who still looked annoyed at the way Shadow was treating her brother, looked at Sonic with a confused expression and whispered, "What are you talking about? What…"

She was interrupted when Shadow uncrossed his arms and finally spoke, "It's a matter I've chosen to move on from. It has nothing to do with this."

Shining asked, "What are you moving on from? Are you saying it was a lie, that something somepony gave you was wasted on you? That you don't care for them?"

Shadow's eyes widened for a second at that before they narrowed and he asked, "What did you just say?"

Shining yelled, "You heard what I said! Whoever you're talking about, it sounds like she would've been better off not knowing you!"

Now Rouge was starting to look worried. "Oh my… this isn't going to end well," she murmured.

"SHALL I MAIM HIM?" Omega asked.

Rouge placed her right hand on his left arm, hissing, "Omega, shush!"

Shadow glared at Shining Armor over his shoulder, "Oh really? Is that what you think?"

Shining replied, "Maybe it is! She must've done a lot for you; did you ever do anything for her?"

Shadow turned around completely, still glaring at Shining Armor. "Ignorance…" he growled.

Shining raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Shadow started to take slow steps towards the stallion as he spoke, "If there's one thing I can't stand, it would be ignorance. Ignorance that causes people to simply assume what they know is fact. Ignorance that prevents people from opening their eyes and considering just for a moment that not everything is as simple as it seems." As he took another step, a red aura of Chaos Energy began to envelope him, surrounding him with a red glow. "And you reek of it," he growled.

Shining began to sweat as he noticed the aura surrounding Shadow. It was like the air itself was trembling around the hedgehog as he walked. Shining managed to ask, "What are you talking about?"

Shadow kept walking, his teeth bared as he growled, "You think a lot of things are simple, don't you? What reason do you have to think otherwise? I'm sure you hold a high position and you have a good relationship with your sister… you both probably had a nice upbringing. Not all of us are lucky enough to get that, you know."

Shining began to back up as Shadow was just about arms length away. Espio noticed that Gilda was directly in his path, and she was as stunned as everyone else at what was happening in front of her. If she didn't move, Shining was going to bump into her, and that surely wasn't going to stop Shadow from whatever he was planning. He quickly glanced at Silver and gestured at Gilda, whispering, "Silver!"

The silver hedgehog looked where he was gesturing and picked up on what he was getting at. His hands lit up and he used his psychokinesis to lift Gilda up, moving her over to the side out of the way. The griffin was so stunned that she barely registered the fact that someone had lifted her up.

Oblivious to anyone or anything behind him, Shining kept backing up, stuttering, "I…what?"

Shadow kept walking towards him, saying, "I didn't have 'parents', per se. I had creators. One wanted to find a way to save the life of someone precious and for me to be a savior. The other wanted me to deliver what he wanted to him and for me to be a destroyer. I was introduced to the one who the former wanted to save; she did more for me than you could imagine… and she didn't properly know all the things you take for granted. She didn't know what it was like to have the wind blow past her, to see the blue sky above her… to just live. And she never got a chance to due to 'their' ignorance. I tried to save her when they wanted to silence everyone who knew about me. No matter what happened, her safety was more important to me than anything. And yet…"

As Shadow paused, Shining's legs suddenly made contact with the edge of the fountain and he fell into a sitting position on top of it with a grunt. Not a second passed before Shadow suddenly reached up with his left hand and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him down so they were looking each other in the eye. Shining shivered as he could barely see Shadow's eyes through the glow around him. The black hedgehog growled, "Do you know what it feels like to be ready to give your life for someone if it means saving them, only for them to do it for you?" He moved his head closer as he demanded, "Do you know how it feels to see someone who means more to you than anything lying there in front of you hurt… and you can do nothing but watch them die?"

An incredibly tense moment passed before Twilight managed to ask, "…You're talking about Maria, aren't you?"

Shadow's head snapped up at that and he turned his head to look directly at Twilight as he asked, "How do you know about Maria?" She flinched; the anger and force in his words, while not as strong as before, were still present.

Sonic spoke up, "I'm sorry, Shadow, but while we were running around earlier, we saw a few things from the past. One of them was Eggman's demonstration of the Eclipse Cannon's power. Spike and the girls weren't sure what to think, so we told them about you and Gerald. But I only told Twilight, Spike, and Scootaloo."

Tails, with his hands clasped, nodded, "And I only told Applejack and Rainbow Dash. We only told them so that, in case we ran into you, they wouldn't think you were a bad guy. I swear, we didn't tell anyone else the whole story." Shadow stared at the three of them, his face a mask hiding any indicators of what was going through his head. After a few seconds, he turned back to Shining Armor, glared at him for a moment, and then roughly released his neck while turning around, the stallion letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

Cadance immediately wrapped herself around him once Shadow had walked a few steps, but they both stiffened when he stopped and spoke, "Let me give you one piece of advice. There's nothing wrong with loving someone, but it doesn't give you an excuse to not pay attention to everything else, especially others that are important to you. Forgetting what's really important blinds you and makes you prone to anger. I think you'll find that the things we say that we end up regretting the most are the things we say in our anger…" he looked back over his shoulder at Shining Armor, "because they're often the last things we ever say to someone."

He faced forward and started walking again, moving towards Sonic, Twilight, Tails, and Spike. As he approached them, he said, "As for you…" They all tensed up slightly, expecting him to do something. Instead, to their surprise, the glow around him simply vanished as he walked in front of them. He passed them while saying, "…I understand what you tried to do. And while it's not necessary, I do appreciate your understanding and concern." He then continued on, rejoining Omega and Rouge.

As they all watched Team Dark leave, Tails nervously noted, "That turned out better than I expected it to."

Sonic sighed, "Yeah."

Everyone save for Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Gilda moved closer to them, various emotions playing over their faces. Even Pinkie seemed somewhat somber at the moment, her cotton candy mane partially deflated. "Shady?" the pink pony whispered.

Rarity huffed, "Goodness! Was that really necessary?"

Espio said, "Well, considering the most important human in Shadow's life was dishonored, I can't help but feel it was warranted. Maria means far too much to him for anyone to do such a thing to her."

Fluttershy whimpered, "He must really miss her…"

Sonic sighed, "He doesn't talk about her as much as he used to, but he'll never forget her again. His time with her… those are probably going to remain the happiest memories in his long life. No surprise, though, considering one of his creators wanted him to be his servant, the military shut down his home and locked away everyone who knew about him, and he was locked away for fifty years right after losing Maria to them. All in such a short time, too…"

Spike and the ponies looked at each other uneasily. Applejack, Spike, Twilight, and Rainbow had all heard the story of Shadow's past, but hearing it again after seeing the one who had to live through it all… it was different, to say the least. Now everything the black hedgehog did and said made (some) sense. He was supposed to be strong, perfect, to never show weakness… but like everyone else, he had his moments where the emotions he tried to keep at bay got loose, causing him to lose his composure. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna probably knew that all too well.

Speaking of the sisters, they were looking at each other sadly. When Sonic had said that Shadow had a long life ahead of him, that could've meant anything, but there was one thing they thought when they heard that: never-ending life. They wondered if Shadow was an immortal like they were. If so, then they could relate to what he was going through. Even through Luna's banishment and her later return, the sisters tried to maintain the composure that was expected of them, no matter how they actually felt. Despite everything they knew and had seen, they couldn't help but feel sorry for the black hedgehog. They at least grew up with their mother and father before dangers like King Sombra and Discord came into their lives, but Shadow didn't even get that. Everything after his awakening happened so fast; they couldn't even guess how that felt…

Behind them, even as she clutched her husband close to her, Cadance could not bring herself to feel any anger for the black hedgehog. As the Princess of Love, she could tell when somepony was actually in love versus somepony who claims they're in love. And while Shadow's words had been laced with anger and frustration, she could still sense the love he had for this 'Maria' in them. She almost wondered if it was a love greater than the one she shared with Shining.

Gilda finally broke the silence, speaking in a low voice, "Hey… You guys are gonna be fine on your own, right?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, we should be." Gilda nodded back before turning away.

"What are you doing, G'?" Rainbow asked.

The griffin was silent for a moment before replying, "I… I'm gonna go find something to do. Something other than napping on a cloud… Something worthwhile." She spread her wings and took off, leaving the group alone next to the fountain.

Soon…

Everyone stood in front of the three story hospital, Tails looking down at his radar while Blaze had her eyes closed as she held her left hand up, a flame she had created floating above it. Pinkie's mane was fully back to its cotton candy appearance, the party pony having managed to cheer up after the group moved on from the fountain. Her cheery attitude had managed to rub off on the others soon afterwards, though they could still remember Shadow's moment of anger and Shining Armor was still thinking about it.

Sonic looked at Tails after a moment and asked, "Well, Tails?"

The fox replied, "Well, I can't zero in on the portal any more at this point, but according to this…" He raised his head and pointed to the left (from their view) side of the hospital, "The radar indicates it's in the east wing."

Blaze murmured, "Yes." Everyone looked over at her and saw her open her eyes and close her left hand into a fist, the flame above it disappearing as she did so. "I sensed something coming from that direction as well. I believe it's coming from the second floor," she stated.

Vector crossed his arms, "Spoilsports."

Espio glanced at him, "We don't have time to turn a hospital upside-down just because you want to play detective, Vector."

Luna nodded, "Yes. The sooner we are done, the sooner your world and Equestria will be restored."

Sonic looked at Rainbow, Blaze, Tails, Silver, and Espio and shrugged, "Then I guess we should go on ahead and find it, huh?"

Rainbow shrugged back, "Guess so. Come on, we'll go in this way!" She spread her wings and flew up to the window over the front doors on the third floor. After she flew inside, Sonic, Blaze, Espio, Tails, and Silver looked at each other for a moment before following her, Sonic, Blaze, and Espio jumping up onto the awning over the doors before leaping up to the window while Tails and Silver flew up to it. Vector opted to stay with the others and followed them through the front doors into the hospital's waiting room.

When they reached the second floor of the east wing, they found Sonic waiting for them outside of room 12. Strangely enough, they could hear the sound of talking coming from the room. "What's going on in there?" Twilight asked.

Sonic replied, "Maybe you should just see for yourself." He pushed the door open with his hand and walked inside, Spike and the ponies following him in. Inside the room, they could see Blaze, Rainbow, Silver, Espio, and Tails standing around the bed Rainbow had been in when she broke her wing.

"I understand what you're saying, but I do not think it would be wise to move the bed. When the color comes back, what will the patient think?" Blaze was asking, gesturing to the pony in the bed.

"Well, we could put it back before we leave. And it'll still be in the room; it's not like we're going to push it out the window or anything. He'll be fine," Dash replied.

"His charts say he's prone to nervousness. They mention that he often says that ponies are trying to steal his slippers. Coming back to life and then having his bed lifted could be rather disorienting for him," Blaze argued.

"What are y'all goin' on about?" Applejack asked. Espio, Silver, and Tails turned away from Blaze and Rainbow as they too looked towards the door, noticing the others for the first time.

Espio cleared his throat, "Apologies. We have a… bit of a situation here."

Celestia stepped forward and asked, "What is it?"

Tails pointed at the bed, "The next portal is under there on the floor. Rainbow said Silver should move the bed so that everybody can reach it easier, especially you, Luna, Vector, Cadance, and Shining Armor, Princess Celestia. Blaze isn't sure it's a good idea, though."

Rainbow spoke up, "There isn't a lot of room under there. It might be cramped for some of us if we had to go under the bed."

Celestia reassured her, "Thank you for thinking of us, Rainbow Dash, but it's all right. I'm sure we can all get under that bed just fine and leave the patient no worse for the wear."

Rainbow replied, "All right, Princess Celestia. As long as you're sure."

Silver asked, "So I don't have to move it now?" Espio shook his head in response.

Sonic shrugged, "Well, that was quick. Let's get going, then!" He walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on the floor, thrusting his legs under it. As he went under the bed, he said, "Try to go so you'll land right side up." He then went through the portal as he went fully under the bed.

Rainbow followed after him, going forelegs first through the portal. Blaze then went as well and the rest followed. Soon, Celestia, Cadance, Luna, and Shining Armor were the only ones left. Celestia went first, having to really press herself against the floor to get her form underneath the bed. When she finally went through the portal, Luna went next, the younger sister having less trouble working her way under the bed, and Cadance and Shining Armor followed them. After they were all gone, three fillies snuck into the room, creeping towards the bed…

A second after he went through the portal, Shining's hooves came into contact with metal, the stallion standing up straight next to his wife. They looked around and found that they were standing in a large, square-shaped room made of metal and the others had spread out, looking around. Shining and Cadance trotted over to Twilight and Rainbow Dash as the former looked at Sonic and Tails and asked, "Where are we?"

Tails, while looking around, replied, "This kind of reminds me of the receiving station for the space elevator we took to get up to Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, but we're not there. This is a different station, but I'm not sure which one it's for."

Espio walked over and pointed to a pair of metal sliding doors, "Then I guess we'll find out where we are once we step through those doors." Everyone came back together soon after that and they started for the doors.

As they got close, Blaze stopped and sniffed the air. A moment later, she said, "Strange… I can smell something fresh on the other side of those doors."

The others stopped and looked at her. "What do you mean by 'fresh', Blaze?" Silver asked.

Before the princess could respond, Pinkie chirped, "Ooh, gum drops!" Everybody looked back at her, the pink pony looking kind of like an anteater as she slurped up the gum drops off the floor with her tongue.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Sweet smells? Gum drops lying around?" After a moment, he pressed his left hand against his forehead, "Oh… I know where we are."

Twilight looked at him and asked, "Really, where?" Sonic glanced up at a nearby loudspeaker and took his hand off his head, holding it up with all of his fingers pointing up. Twilight watched in confusion as he counted down the seconds with his fingers, "Uh, what are you…?"

Sonic hit zero before she could finish, and he lowered his hand to his side as a familiar voice crackled through the loudspeaker, "Welcome to the Sweet Mountain! Insulin will be provided at a marginal extra cost. And by 'marginal', we mean 'enormous'."

Tails smiled, "Oh boy, we're at Sweet Mountain! It's sugar city time!"

Sonic sweat dropped, "I know you loved this place when we were here, Tails, but we might have a few problems this time." As he said that, his eyes moved in Pinkie's direction, the pink pony having stood up straight when she heard 'Sweet Mountain' and 'sugar city'. Tails look confused at that, not sure what problems the blue hedgehog was referring to.

Applejack looked at him and asked, "Hey, uh, why'd Eggman call this place 'Sweet Mountain'?"

Sonic replied, "You'll see why when we get outside." He walked over to the doors, which began to slide open as he approached them. Blinking rapidly and holding his hand up to his eyes as the Sun hit them, he stepped outside.

Tails was right behind him, Twilight and Blaze following behind him. As her vision cleared, Twilight got her first look at Sweet Mountain and her eyes went wide. "Uh, wow…" was all she could utter. The others followed them out and, except for Silver, were equally shocked by what they saw.

All around them, as far as the eye could see, were confectionaries of all sizes intermixed with what appeared to be machines and rides. There were life-sized gingerbread men and candy canes, cakes that could very well have been the size of mountains, and huge jelly beans and other candies being carried away on conveyor belts. And they'd only just set foot/hoof on the planet!

Applejack gaped, "Well, dang… That answers mah question. Is it all real?"

Tails nodded, "Totally! Except for the stuff Eggman added, just about everything here is edible!"

Rainbow looked at Sonic and asked, "And this is a whole planet?"

Sonic glanced up at the sky and said, "That's right. And since I don't see any cotton candy clouds, I know it's not that other candy land I've seen." He then looked at the others. Rarity, Fluttershy, Shining, and Cadance were all staring with their mouths open, Espio had joined Blaze and Silver in remaining calm after the initial shock wore off, and Vector, Spike, and, to Sonic's surprise, Celestia were eying some of the confections while licking their lips, Celestia particularly focused on the giant cakes. The look Luna was shooting her sister made him think that her reaction was pretty common.

Finally, Sonic looked at the pony whose reaction he was worried about the most: Pinkie Pie. She was sitting on her haunches rubbing her hooves together in front of her, her mouth hanging wide open and her tongue dangling out. Her eyes held a look Sonic had never seen before, one that indicated it was time to man the lifeboats because the S. S. Pinkie was about to sink.

Pretty soon, the reality of where they were caught up to everyone and Pinkie's friends looked at her nervously, noticing the look on her face. "Um, Pinkie…?" Fluttershy ventured.

Spike groaned, "Oh man… She looks like she's gonna burst any second now…"

Tails murmured, "Uh-oh…" He at last realized what problems Sonic was thinking of and was now nervous along with everypony else. "Oh please, don't let something set her off. Not now…" he thought to himself.

If anyone or anything had heard his mental plea, it went unanswered as Eggman's voice came through another loudspeaker, "We hope you're enjoying this sunny day here at the park. Sadly, a sunny day once again means that the Choco-Coaster is out of service… due to melting."

That did it. Pinkie's internal dam burst as she reared up on her hind legs and let out a resounding, "YAHOOOOOOOOOO!" Though her scream was not nearly as loud as the time she used her super megaphone, it was still loud enough to cause everyone to shut their eyes and either cover or plug their ears; even Celestia was broken out of her trance by it. By the time they opened their eyes, Pinkie Pie had disappeared from her spot.

Twilight looked down the path and saw a flash of pink disappear around the side of a cake. "Pinkie!" she called before taking off after her, Rainbow Dash flying above her.

"Hey, wait!" Sonic exclaimed while running after them. Everyone else soon took off after them, nobody noticing three little fillies poke their heads out of the doors behind them.

Rainbow and Twilight hurried down the path, noticing the sweets along the sides of the path either had bite marks on them or had already been eaten. It was easy to see that Pinkie's sweet tooth was working overtime. Soon, the path changed to metal, Twilight running across a grating while Rainbow flew alongside her. The grating soon gave way to ordinary metal and Twilight came to a stop, panting a bit while Rainbow landed beside her and looked around, asking, "Shoot, where'd Pinkie Pie go?!"

Once Twilight had her breathing back under control, Sonic came up behind them and asked, "Any sign of her?"

Twilight looked back at him and replied, "No, she's already gone. There's no telling where she could be now." She looked around and noticed a huge cake with strawberries on it nearby, in addition to pipes, huge donuts, and some odd-looking missiles. "Wow, what is this place?" she asked.

Sonic shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe it's where they make the donuts."

Rainbow looked at some of the donuts being held up and noted, "Pinkie likes donuts, and these haven't been touched. Maybe she'll show up here, and then we'll…" She stopped short as a shadow suddenly fell over the three of them. "Hey, why'd it get dark all of a sudden?" she asked.

Sonic looked up and his eyes widened. "Look out!" he cried, grabbing Twilight and Rainbow Dash and pulling them back with him before they all dropped to the ground and covered their heads. A second later, there was a loud explosion right behind them.

A few seconds later, Applejack and the others caught up and stared at the strange sight before them. Sonic, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash were lying on the ground, still covering their heads while their backsides were covered with confetti and various candies. "Uh, y'all okay?" Applejack asked, causing the three of them to look up and uncover their heads.

Sonic replied, "Yeah. We just missed getting hit by a missile loaded with goodies, that's all." He then rose to his knees while Twilight and Rainbow raised themselves into a sitting position. He then ran his left hand through his quills and pulled something out after a moment. "Hm, Jolly Rancher," he noted while looking at the green candy. He then looked at Rainbow and said, "Hey Dash, I think you got a Fruit Roll-Up in your hair."

Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane at that while Twilight did the same. She soon extracted the sweet from her hair while the lavender unicorn found some Laffy Taffy in her stripes. "What is this? Is this candy?" Rainbow asked.

Tails offered, "I'll eat it if you don't want it."

Rainbow glanced at him, "I didn't say I wasn't gonna eat it."

Blaze asked, "Where's Pinkie Pie?"

Twilight started, "Well, uh…" She heard a noise and turned her head to look. One of the donuts had been eaten partway and, after a second, it fell off of the stand holding it up. "Looks like she was just here," she sighed.

"Wow, she eats fast!" Silver noted, looking where the donut had fallen as Twilight, Rainbow, and Sonic stood up and dusted/shook themselves off.

"Man, at this point, she could be anywhere!" Rainbow groaned.

Luna spoke, "Well, we have to find her, and soon! Isn't that right, sister? …Sister?" She looked back at Celestia after a moment and found her eying the strawberry cake with a smile. Luna nudged her with a hoof, "Sister!"

Celestia shook her head and asked, "Huh? What? Oh, uh, yes, Luna! You know, what you said!" The Lunar Princess rolled her eyes at that.

Vector spoke, "Well, we better start looking for her, then! Anybody have an idea of what she likes the most?"

Applejack said, "Can't help ya there, pardner. Pinkie loves anythin' that has sugar in it. If it's got somethin' else on it, she loves it even more! There ain't a sweet in the world she doesn't like."

Rarity nudged her and smirked, "Except for your baked bads. She certainly didn't like those." Applejack lowered her hat and gave Rarity an odd look at that.

Suddenly, Tails yelled, "Heads up! They're firing more of those missiles!" Everybody (save for Celestia) looked and saw that he was right. Five missiles were being launched, and if the one earlier was any indication, they were going to come down right on top of their heads!

"Let's get out of here!" Twilight exclaimed, already turning to run. Everybody did the same and started running along the metal pathway. After a few steps, Luna stopped and looked back to see Celestia staring at the cake once again. Shaking her head, her horn lit up and her cobalt blue aura wrapped around her sister, pulling her along as Luna turned and started running again.

After a short while of running, everyone came to a stop, now back on the brown, frosting sided ground from before. As they took the opportunity to rest, Spike groaned, "Whoa… That was close…" Everybody nodded in agreement.

Shining looked back down the path and asked, "How did a park like this ever get opened with such a clear danger to guests?"

Tails spoke, "First of all, it didn't open. It was destroyed before it was officially open to the public. And second, it's Eggman's park. He'll make it as dangerous as he wants."

Twilight sighed, "Great… Wonder what's going to happen next."

As if to answer her, a voice Sonic and Tails recognized spoke, "Well, what do we have here?" Sonic quickly whirled around, looking towards the edge of the path and up where the voice came from. Above the edge, standing on a green hoverboard, was a familiar green hawk standing with his arms crossed and a smirk on his beak. "It's been a while, Sonic the Hedgehog," he stated.

"Jet!" Sonic exclaimed.

Behind him, a purple hoverboard flew over the heads of everyone else, turning around and flying behind and around Jet and coming to a stop just above Tails. The purple swallow on the board looked down at him and said, "Long time no see, shorty."

"Wave!" Tails gasped.

Sonic glanced around, noticing there was one familiar face that was missing. "Hey, you lose someone or something, Jet?" he asked.

The hawk leapt down from his board, grabbing it as he fell and landing in front of Sonic. "You'll be the one losing something, Sonic the Hedgehog! Especially if those horses behind you are what you call a racing team! They look like they stand on four legs all the time; how are they supposed to ride Extreme Gear?"

Sonic replied, "You don't know them like we do, Jet. They've stood up on two legs before, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to learn!"

Wave, instead of making a remark about what Sonic said like Jet expected her to, had instead taken on a more scholarly viewpoint upon seeing Sonic and Tails' new friends. "Huh… These equines aren't just ordinary horses. There are pegasi, unicorns, and pegasus unicorns in this group. Even that orange one looks like something special, and… Is that a real dragon? How'd you ever come up with proof of the existence of mythological beings, shorty?"

Rainbow yelled, "Hey! Who are you calling mythological?! You don't exactly look too common yourself!"

Jet said, "Miss Pride Parade is right, Wave! Who cares who's supposed to be made up or not! It's not like there's anything we need to worry about!"

Sonic grinned, "You're just gonna go ahead and make that assumption, huh? You're rushing into things like you always do, Jet."

Jet smirked at him, "Rush? I happen to be the fastest thing in the universe, and you're going to know it today!" Sonic looked ready to fight at his words, and Rainbow looked ready to join him in disproving Jet's claim.

Before they could do anything, Wave spoke, "Enough!" Sonic, Rainbow, and Jet all looked at her, the swallow still standing on her Extreme Gear. "Jet, as much as I'd love to beat shorty and blue for old time's sake, we still have to find Storm! We already agreed not to do anything else until we find him!"

Jet complained, "Aw, come on, Wave! We're rogues; can't we bend our own rules a bit?" Wave responded by putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow at him. "Ugh, fine!" Jet groaned. He let go of his Extreme Gear, the board hovering as it landed right side up, and jumped on it. Before leaving, he turned to Sonic and said, "You're getting off lucky this time, Sonic the Hedgehog! Once we find Storm, you're going down!"

Sonic smirked, "I'll be looking forward to it." Jet growled at that and turned away, both him and Wave flying off over the nearby ledge on their Extreme Gear.

A moment later, Applejack asked, "Okay, so who were they?"

Tails answered, "Jet the Hawk and Wave the Swallow. The third member you didn't see was Storm the Albatross. They're the Babylon Rogues."

Twilight looked at him and asked, "Babylon? You mean like the Babylon Garden you mentioned before?"

Tails nodded, "That's right. They're descendents of ancient Babylonians!"

Vector growled, "Too bad those Babylonians aren't around to teach Jet some manners! He's still a snarky little twerp!"

Rarity nodded, "Oh, I agree! He was simply rude!"

Rainbow asked, "Were those flying boards they were riding on?"

Tails replied, "Yes, they're called Extreme Gear, a type of hoverboard. Wave's the mechanical genius behind their Extreme Gear."

Applejack said, "Well, Ah'm sure you got some Extreme Gear expertise yerself, Sugarcube."

Tails rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I do have some experience, but Wave specializes in Extreme Gear. I do a little bit of everything. I might be able to outrace her at times, but as far as being an Extreme Gear mechanic, I've got a long way to go before I'll be able to match her."

Sonic patted him on the shoulder, "Well, you're good at it already, buddy. Don't worry about pushing yourself just to be better than her."

Shining cleared his throat, "Yes, well, maybe we should get moving. We still have to find Pinkie Pie, after all."

Sonic shrugged, "Hey, we didn't forget about her. We'll find her, even though that'll probably mean turning Sweet Mountain upside-down."

Cadance smiled, "Let's go, then! I can't wait to see what else they have here!" With that, the group started off again, moving on through the candy paradise.

After a short while, while walking on a path coated with real frosting (which Celestia bent down and took licks of when she thought nobody was looking), Cadance walked alongside Twilight and gave her a nudge with her left wing. When Twilight looked at her, she asked, "Wouldn't it have been great if there had been a place like this when you were a little foal, Twilight? Think of all the fun we would've had!"

Twilight giggled before replying, "That's a nice thought, Cadance, but somehow I'm not sure I would have had as much fun in a place like this as Pinkie is right now."

Shining came up along her other side and said, "Hey, I think you would've had a lot of fun, Twiley, especially if I came along."

Twilight glanced up at him for a moment before looking forward and saying, "Well, I don't."

Shining looked down at her, a bit worried at the way she had said that. "Are you okay, Twilight?" he asked.

Twilight sighed; she just couldn't think of a good way to go about this, but she couldn't leave it hanging in the back of her mind forever either. No matter how it made her feel, she had to bring it up. She had to take action or it's unlikely it would ever come up normally. "Uh, Shining…" she started.

"Ooh, look!" Cadance spoke, interrupting her. Both Twilight and Shining looked forward, Twilight's eyes widening at what she saw: Egg Pawns! They looked just like the ones she and the others had seen earlier, with the exception that they were wearing chef's hats and carrying wicks, which confused her. Cadance looked at Sonic and Tails and asked, "Do they work for the park?"

Sonic, through half-lidded eyes, replied, "Yeah, they're the clowns that work for the big clown around here. They help him capture aliens so he can steal their energy for his mind control machine." Cadance looked at him in confusion.

Rainbow looked at him and said, "You mentioned rescuing aliens before. What kind of energy do they have that had Egghead so interested?"

Tails spoke, "That would be the Hyper-go-on energy. For the Wisps, it's their life source; it's very powerful stuff."

Applejack asked, "Wisps?"

Tails nodded, "That's what they're called."

Rainbow looked at the Egg Pawns and said, "Neat! So let's get busy and bust some bots!"

Celestia spoke, "I don't think we need to do that, Rainbow Dash. They're just dancing towards us." Indeed, the Egg Pawns were hopping from one foot to the other, moving towards the group all the while.

When one of them was close enough, it tried to whack Sonic on the head with its wick, but the hedgehog reacted swiftly and reached up with his left hand and grabbed it by its right arm. "Okay, I'm calling it! That was foul play!" he said. He yanked the wick out of its hand with his right hand and smacked it right across the face with it, knocking the robot back. Rainbow took the initiative and flew at the Egg Pawn, bringing her hind legs up as she got closer and kicking it right in the chest. This action knocked it off its feet and, when it landed on its back, it exploded.

Shining stared in shock, "They really are robots?"

Rainbow flew back over and grinned at him, "Exploding robots!" The other Egg Pawns, upon seeing that their ploy had been foiled, rushed towards the group, ready to attack.

Sonic leapt at one, landing on its head and jumping off of it, confusing the Egg Pawn while Applejack dashed up and delivered a solid buck to it, Sonic taking out another with a Homing Attack while she did so. Tails and Rainbow Dash tag teamed one, both flying into it and kicking it in the face. Espio ran up to one and used a pair of kunai daggers to disable its legs, allowing Silver to lift it up with his psychokinesis and crush it like an aluminum can. Blaze and Vector worked together to get rid of several Egg Pawns, Blaze unleashing fire from her hands while Vector unleashed fire from his mouth. Spike's eyes widened in surprise when he saw this. "Is he part dragon or something?" he wondered.

Amidst all the fighting, Twilight noticed one Egg Pawn trying to sneak away with something in its arms. Quickly deciding on what to do, she turned and ran after it. Ignoring her brother's protests, she got within range of the Egg Pawn and quickly created a horizontal Psychic Knife with her magic. She then released it towards the Egg Pawn, the blade slicing both the robot and whatever it was holding in half. Twilight looked at what it had been carrying and was surprised to see a small, angry-looking cyan-colored creature floating up out of the remains of what appeared to be a capsule. She trotted over to it and said, "Uh, hi! Are you a Wisp?" The creature nodded its head.

Sonic and the others came over, all the Egg Pawns having been taken care of. Sonic noticed the Wisp in front of Twilight and smiled, "Hey, that's a Cyan Wisp!"

The Wisp suddenly floated up and began flying in circles around the group. "He seems pretty excited… and fast!" Twilight noted.

Fluttershy smiled, "He's so cute…!"

Rainbow, on the other hand/hoof, looked doubtful, "This is what Eggman had his eyes on? This little guy?"

Tails looked at her and said, "Well, he was looking to get a lot more than one Wisp, but yeah! He wanted lots of Hyper-go-on energy!"

Rarity raised a hoof to her mouth, "Well, he seems rather hyper right now. Is he showing us this energy?"

Tails said, "No, the Cyan Wisps happen to be kind of excitable, Rarity. The…" He trailed off as he looked ahead and saw more Egg Pawns coming up ahead. He pointed, "Look out! There's more!" Everybody looked and got ready when they saw the robots.

Suddenly, the Cyan Wisp floated down in front of Twilight's face, causing her to look at it. She watched as it floated down and suddenly rushed into her chest! The others looked on in surprise as a cyan glow began to surround her. "Hey, what's going on?!" she exclaimed.

Sonic said, "Don't worry, Twilight! Just let it out!"

Twilight glanced at him and asked, "Let it out?! How?!"

Sonic shrugged, "How about you use your horn?" Twilight looked up at it and then squeezed her eyes shut, focusing. Applejack and Rainbow Dash got out of the way as she tried to channel her magic into her horn, but something else was filling it instead. Suddenly, she fired a cyan beam from the tip of her horn! At first, it went straight, but as it approached the Egg Pawns, it suddenly began to zigzag along its path, striking all of the Egg Pawns in the chest and going through to the next one before resuming its straight course after the last Egg Pawn was destroyed. It stopped soon afterwards and the entire beam disappeared.

Spike and the ponies, especially Twilight, stared in shock at what just happened. Twilight noticed the Cyan Wisp pop out of her chest and float away after it waved goodbye to her. "Was that… from the Wisp?" she asked.

Sonic nodded, "That's right. You got your first taste of Hyper-go-on energy! Those particular aliens do just that: lasers!"

Fluttershy looked at Tails and worriedly asked, "Is the Wisp going to be okay, Tails? You said the Hyper-go-on energy is their life source!"

Tails replied, "Don't worry, Fluttershy. Twilight just used a small amount of it to do that. Now that he's free, he won't have to worry about having his Hyper-go-on energy drained."

Rainbow gaped, "That was a SMALL amount of energy?!"

Tails nodded, "Yep. You can see why Eggman was so interested in it. That's why he was capturing Wisps; they don't like him either."

Sonic grinned, "And here's the kicker: they call him 'Baldy Nosehair'."

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Silver, and Vector instantly broke into a fit of laughter at that while Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance giggled, the princesses using a hoof to cover their mouths and failing to hide their amusement. Even Blaze and Espio cracked a smile at the Wisps' name for Eggman. Rainbow eventually spoke, "Baldy Nosehair? That's pretty funny for aliens! You should totally never forget that!"

Tails giggled, "I know. I even wrote it down for future reference."

Applejack grinned, "If we see him, we should call him that!"

Sonic smiled, "Yeah, we could. But you know what I was thinking would be funnier?" He used his hands to imitate Eggman's mustache as he said, "Baldy McNosehair!" He was answered with another round of laughter from everybody. Everybody except Shining Armor, who was glaring at the back of Sonic's head as the hedgehog patted his sister on the back, praising her use of the Cyan Wisp's power.

Soon…

"You don't think 'Magic Knife' would work?" Silver asked Twilight while everybody was walking. The group was still searching for Pinkie Pie, but since the pink pony could pop up anywhere, they decided not to rush it and instead keep an eye out for evidence that she'd been through the area.

Twilight shrugged, "Well, it would work, Silver. It's just…"

Rainbow backed her up, "It sounds kind of plain, dude, especially since you've already taken the whole 'knife' thing for yourself."

Silver held a hand to his chin, "Hm, I guess you're right. Uh… how about 'Magic Cutter'?"

Applejack smirked at him, "Now that just sounds silly."

Silver looked up and asked, "What about 'Mana Sword'?"

Tails looked at him and said, "I think that's already taken, Silver."

Silver snapped his fingers, "I've got it! Magic- no, 'Mystic Blade'!"

Twilight looked up thoughtfully, "Hm, Mystic Blade…"

Blaze said, "It seems fitting enough."

Luna nodded, "Indeed. Shall we dub the magic version of the Psychic Knife that, Twilight Sparkle?"

Before the unicorn could respond, Fluttershy spoke up, "Um, excuse me…" Everyone stopped and looked at her; she asked, "Does anypony hear that?" Everyone looked around at that, listening.

After a moment, Espio said, "It sounds like running water… but different."

Silver pointed to a guardrail up ahead of the group, "It sounds like it's coming from over there." Everybody walked over to the guardrail and looked over it. Below them, they could see what appeared to be a river of chocolate flowing beneath them. As they watched, a huge donut came floating down the river.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

Tails said, "That donut looked like it had something in the middle. Maybe it's like one of those river rides where you jump in the boat and go rolling down the river."

Cadance smiled, "Since Pinkie Pie likes donuts and chocolate, she might be taking a ride. Maybe we should take a ride too!"

Blaze looked down at the river and said, "I don't know if we should. Is it safe?"

Vector shrugged, "What could be dangerous about donuts and chocolate?"

Eggman's voice sounded from a nearby loudspeaker, "Due to cost restraints, some of the donuts used in this ride are of the 'day-old' variety. We apologize for this cost-cutting measure, and hope that you enjoy the ride."

Espio glanced at Vector, "Does that answer your question?"

Vector replied, "Uh, I guess so…"

Celestia spoke, "Well, we can at least look and see if Pinkie Pie has been around here. If not, we might be able to use this ride to go elsewhere in Sweet Mountain."

Luna looked down as another donut floated by and asked, "Erm… how do we get on?"

Tails looked off to the side and said, "I bet there's a spot further upstream somewhere. I doubt Eggman would set up a ride without including a spot where people can get on."

Sonic looked down at the liquid-like chocolate and muttered, "For once, I hope so…" The group began heading upstream, searching for Pinkie Pie and/or a place to get on the ride.

After about a minute, they found a metal platform hanging out over the chocolate river. There was a sign next to it saying 'Chocolate River Ride: Boarding Platform'. Seeing as there was no sign of Pinkie Pie, they decided to get on the ride. As they walked onto the platform, Eggman chimed in from a nearby loudspeaker, "Enjoy the ride, but be careful! The seats can be sticky."

When they reached the end of the platform, they found that they were still high above the river, the donuts floating by underneath them. "Are we supposed to jump down into the donuts from here?" Twilight wondered.

Sonic said, "Those donuts look like they can hold more than one person. I don't think we can all jump down there at once."

Silver asked, "So how do we get on?" Everyone began to think about this.

Not far away, three little fillies were in a booth containing the controls for the river ride, trying to figure out how to work them. "Come on, there's got to be a way to get those donuts to stop," Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom looked at one of the monitors and noticed the group standing on the platform while thinking. She looked at Sweetie Belle while saying, "Hurry up, Sweetie Belle! They're startin' to look impatient!"

While looking over the controls in front of her, Sweetie Belle muttered, "I'm trying! I'm not sure what everything does, though!" She soon eyed a button and a lever; the button was labeled 'Stop Donut' and the lever was labeled 'Boarding Lift'. "Okay, I think I've got it now," she said while pressing the first button with a hoof.

Back with the group, they looked down when they heard a metallic sound and saw a railing slide up from the chocolate, blocking the next donut that came by. After a moment, a lift rose out of the chocolate, bringing the top of the donut up just under the platform. "Huh. That's odd," Twilight commented.

"Yeah. Why didn't that rise up sooner?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow shrugged, "Well, it's up now, so I guess we can get on." She flew above the center of the donut and found a white floor in the hole, the donut above it cut into the shape of a circular seat. She called to the others, "Looks safe enough! Come on!"

As the others started to climb onto the donut, Rarity spoke, "But he said the seats might be sticky! How are we to know?"

Sonic looked back at her and said, "Just feel it with a hoof before you sit down. That's one way to know." He then climbed up onto the donut, Rarity following after a moment, and sat down between Tails and Twilight. Once everybody was on and seated, they waited a minute before the donut was lowered, at which point it started going down the river.

While they were going down the river, Blaze looked around and noted, "This is rather relaxing, actually."

Celestia nodded to her, "I agree."

Cadance said, "Yeah, it is nice. And we're all nice and close together like this." She snuggled up against Shining Armor, the stallion smiling down at her and wrapping a hoof around her. Blaze blushed softly at this and just then noticed she was sitting right next to Silver, which caused her to turn a little redder under her fur.

As they were going down the river, Spike, who was sitting between Rarity and Rainbow Dash, looked at the donut the group was riding in and said aloud, "You know, this donut is making me kind of hungry."

Rainbow looked down at him, saying, "Yeah, me too! You think they'd mind if we ate some of it?"

Applejack looked at the pegasus sitting next to her and spoke, "Rainbow Dash! Why in tarnation would ya go eatin' somethin' you're ridin' in?"

Rainbow waved a hoof, "Hey, I didn't mean eat the whole thing! Just a little bit of it. That wouldn't be a problem, right?"

Vector said, "That depends. Is this a day-old donut or a fresh one? You might not want to put a day-old donut in your mouth."

Rainbow replied, "Well, just a lick, then! What could be wrong with a lick?"

Before anyone could say anything, Eggman spoke up from another loudspeaker, "We know they look delicious, but please refrain from licking the rides. That would be disgusting. Do you know where those rides have been?! People have been sitting on those rides! With their BUTTS! Okay, go ahead; lick them. Don't say we didn't warn you."

Everybody sat dumbstruck for a second at that announcement. Then, suddenly, Celestia leaned over and started sniffing the seat with interest. "Sister!" Luna whispered, embarrassedly.

Twilight looked over at Spike and noticed he was licking the outside of the donut anyway. "Spike!" she said.

The baby dragon looked over his shoulder at her, holding bits of the donut in his claws. "What? It's good!" he shrugged. He looked at Rainbow Dash and asked, "You want some?"

The rainbow-maned pegasus stared for a second before saying, "No thanks, Spike, I think I can wait it out." Spike shrugged and went back to eating.

Espio looked away from Celestia, who was lifting herself to sit upright in her seat, and asked, "Speaking of which, does anyone know where this river ends?" Everybody shook their heads at that.

Silver spoke, "Hang on. I'll fly on ahead and see where the end is." He focused his psychic powers, a green aura surrounding him as he leapt from the donut and started flying downstream.

After Silver left, Twilight looked around the donut at her friends. Fluttershy and Tails were talking, Rarity was talking to the princesses, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash were leaning back against their seats, trying to nap. Twilight decided she didn't want to interrupt any of the conversations, so she turned to the two athletic ponies in the boat and asked, "Uh, Applejack? Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof without opening her eyes, "Not now, Twilight. Blaze was right; this is relaxing, and I'm going to enjoy it."

Twilight pleaded, "But…"

Applejack tipped her hat up to look at the unicorn and said, "Relax, Twi'. A donut ain't much of a boat, but it sure is workin' out here. Just sit back and enjoy the ride; it's all okay." She then tilted her hat back down, covering her eyes.

Twilight sighed as she looked down at the floor. Sonic noticed this and asked, "Twilight?"

The lavender unicorn looked up at him in surprise, forgetting that she was sitting right next to him. "Oh, sorry, Sonic. I, uh…" She trailed off, thinking. Sonic could tell whatever she was thinking about had something to do with her friends, though he guessed she thought she'd be rude if she tried to get their attention now. She looked up at him and asked, "I was wondering, what was that device you used back in Ponyville?"

Sonic replied, "Device? Oh, you mean my cell phone." He reached into his quills and pulled the black phone out, holding it up in the palm of his right hand so Twilight could see it.

Twilight looked at it, eying the lit screen curiously. "Cell phone? What's that? What does it do?" she asked.

Sonic replied, "It's kind of like the radios you and Tails made. It lets you communicate from long distances; the difference is the radios are short-range compared to a cell phone's range. Basically, if I had a friend on the other side of the world that had a phone and I knew their number, I could call them and talk to them."

Twilight looked at him in wonder, "Wow… And you can do this from anywhere in the world?"

Sonic shrugged, "Well, it kind of requires you to be connected to the wireless network to call someone. That pretty much means you need to be able to get a signal to use it." He turned his phone around and looked at it before saying, "And wouldn't you know it? There's no signal here. Should've guessed Eggman would cheap out on something like that."

Twilight looked disappointed at that, "So it's useless now?"

Sonic looked back at her and said, "Well, not entirely. Cell phones today have a lot of nifty features available. Like this, for example." He looked down at his phone and slid his left finger around on its surface for a minute, tapping a few times before holding it out towards Twilight, who put her ear up to it. After a moment, she could hear music:

…all my speed,

My very self is who I'll lead.

I'll never turn back, there's nothing to fear,

'Cause the end of this road is very near~

Twilight looked at Sonic in surprise, "You can also listen to music on it?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah! And that's not all!"

As they kept talking, Shining Armor glared across the donut at Sonic, the hedgehog seemingly oblivious to the look he was receiving. The young captain had tried to save a seat for his sister when he sat down to separate them, but Cadance had called Celestia and Luna over before he could save the spot to his right. And of course, Sonic ended up sitting next to Twilight How was he supposed to get them apart now?

His thoughts were interrupted when Cadance nudged him. He looked down at her and she asked, "Something on your mind, Shiny?"

Shining looked over at Sonic as he said, "Even though they just met, that Sonic guy seems awfully close to Twilight. I wonder why…"

Cadance gasped softly and whispered, "Oh, Shining! Are you suggesting…?"

Shining looked down at her and asked, "Can you tell? I mean…" Cadance nodded at what he was implying and looked over at the two, sitting up straight before closing her eyes and focusing on them as she began to discreetly prod them with her magic.

About a minute later, she opened her eyes with a frown, "Odd…"

Shining looked at her and asked, "What?"

Cadance replied, "I can't to seem to sense anything from Sonic. At all. It's like his mind is closed off so it can't be read. And something's clouding Twilight's mind. I don't know what it is, but I can't see past it."

Shining looked anxious at that. "So you can't tell if -?"

He was cut off when Silver suddenly flew down and landed in the middle of the donut, exclaiming, "Hey guys, I think we have a problem!"

Blaze stood up and asked, "What's wrong, Silver?"

Before he could answer her, Tails asked, "Hey, what's that sound?"

Silver looked down the river and gasped, "Oh no, we're already approaching the waterfall!"

Twilight gasped, "There's a waterfall?!"

Silver nodded to her, "Yeah! And at the bottom, there's a whirlpool!"

Applejack exclaimed, "What?! Then we gotta get off now!"

Sonic looked over the side of the donut as he said, "It might be a little late for that, Applejack! The current's speeding up, and those cake-y walls look pretty steep!"

Celestia spoke, "Please calm down, everypony. Luna and I can use our magic together to carry our donut to safety. Just remain calm." Everybody relaxed slightly as Celestia and Luna stood up, focusing their magic into their horns and together wrapping it around their donut while everybody else watched as the waterfall began to get closer.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, meanwhile, had figured out where the group was heading and were looking for a way to help everyone. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were looking over the control panel while Sweetie Belle consulted a manual she had found after the ride had started. "Construction, setting up the system, what to do with jelly donuts… there's got to be something in here that can help us!" the young unicorn exclaimed.

"Hurry up, Sweetie Belle! We don't know what any of these controls do, and we've got to help them!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"I know, I know! There's just so much stuff in here, and very little of it is helpful!" Sweetie Belle cried.

Apple Bloom looked over the panel nervously. Any one of the switches or levers could help her sister and everyone else… or make things worse. Suddenly, she noticed a large lever off to the side, near the end of the control panel. "What's this?" she asked.

Sweetie Belle spoke up, "I've got it! There should be a big lever that's used when the donuts reach the waterfall!"

Apple Bloom hopped up on the control panel, heading for the lever as she said, "This must be it!" Once she reached it, she wrapped both forelegs around it and started pulling, but it wouldn't budge. "It's stuck! It ain't movin'!" she cried.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hopped up onto the panel, Scootaloo saying, "Hang on, we'll help you!" They got up behind her and wrapped their forelegs around her, pulling. The lever began to move, but not much. Scootaloo put on a determined face and said, "When I say 'now', we'll all pull at once! Okay?" Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom nodded, waiting for the signal.

Back with the group, they were just about to the waterfall, and Celestia and Luna's magic auras completely surrounded the donut they were all standing in. "Are you ready, Luna?" Celestia asked. The Lunar Princess nodded and they both steadied themselves, waiting for the donut to go over the edge of the waterfall.

Suddenly, as they were about to go over, a platform hidden in the riverbed sprung out of the chocolate underneath the donut! It came up so fast it sent the donut into the air and launched everyone out of it! The donut landed in the whirlpool below while the group was sent flying.

Back in the booth, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom looked shocked as they saw what happened on the video camera. "Was that supposed ta happen?" Apple Bloom asked Sweetie Belle, the unicorn filly rushing over to where she dropped the manual.

After consulting it for a moment, she said, "Uh, yeah. That's actually part of the ride. It doesn't say where they go, but it does say they should have a soft landing."

Scootaloo leapt down from the control panel and ran to the door, saying, "Come on, we've got to find them!" Apple Bloom leapt down and Sweetie Belle dropped the manual, both of them running after her.

The group, meanwhile, was still flying through the air, some of them screaming as they flew. When gravity caught up with them and they began to fall, they bounced off of plates holding large jellies, which launched them up once more. As they were going up, they were caught by a giant robot holding a hot dog, which threw them behind it. They all ended up landing in something… soft, cold, and wet.

After a minute, everyone managed to pull themselves to the surface of whatever they landed in, all of them gasping for air. When they opened their eyes, they found that they obviously had some of the stuff they had landed in on them. Of course, Rarity freaked out when she realized this. "AAAAAHHHH! What is this stuff?!" she screamed.

After recovering from her scream, Sonic looked around at the white and brown mush they were buried in. Pulling his hands and arms to the surface, he said, "It looks like ice cream."

Tails scraped some of the stuff off his face and ate it. After swallowing, he nodded, "Yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, it's a sundae."

Rainbow tried some herself and said, "Hey, it IS an ice cream sundae!"

Applejack grunted as she tried to wiggle her forelegs out, "Is this part o' the ride too?"

Spike, while gobbling up ice cream, said, "If… it is… it's the best ride ever!"

Twilight sighed, "Oh great… If we have to eat all this, Spike's not the only who's going to have a stomachache when it's all over."

Shining shrugged, "Well, you have to admit, it's certainly something different, Twiley."

Cadance said, "It was enjoyable, though. I wonder what other rides they have here."

As if to answer her, Eggman spoke over a nearby loudspeaker, "There's no line at Bake Me Crazy, the ride that simulates what it's like to be baked like a cake. The ride itself lasts an amazing 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Not recommended for our guests who are sensitive to temperatures exceeding 350 degrees."

Sonic deadpanned, "You can count me out."

Applejack nodded, "Fer sure!" The others agreed with her… except for Celestia. She looked positively thrilled to hear about a ride that had something to do with cake.

Luna noticed the expression on her sister's face and sighed, "Celestia…" Before she could continue, the ice cream sundae started to shift. "Wait… what is happening?" Luna asked.

"Why is this ice cream moving?" Rainbow Dash added. The others looked around, wondering the same thing.

Suddenly, something large and purple burst out of the ice cream, its sharp purple teeth startling everybody! "What the hay is that?!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Someone or something is using the Purple Frenzy! Look out, guys!" Tails cried. Everybody began to move through the ice cream at that, trying to stay out of the path of the 'shark' that was tearing around the sundae.

After avoiding getting an arm grabbed by the purple jaws, Sonic noticed something weird on the back of… whatever was using the Purple Wisp. "Why is it all poofy in the back? For me, it was all spiky," he said. He then looked down and noticed that he could see his legs. "Is it just eating the ice cream?" he asked.

He looked over when he heard Rarity scream and saw the purple berserker leap off of the white unicorn, leaving her on her back in a puddle of melted ice cream. "It LICKED me!" she shrieked.

Rainbow Dash flew over to her and snickered, "Yeah. It licked all that ice cream off your face while it was at it. That's one heck of a facial!" Rarity glared up at her at that.

Tails said, "Hey, Sonic's right. It just wants the ice cream." Everybody relaxed at that, but they were still wary whenever the thing came near them. In no more than two minutes, the entire sundae bowl was empty, and the berserker jumped out of the bowl down onto the ground.

After a few seconds, while everyone was looking where it had jumped out, a Purple Wisp floated up near the rim of the bowl. Fluttershy got nervous when she saw the sinister-looking smile on its face, the shape of its head reminding her of Iron Will's horns. "Wh-what's that W-Wisp?" she stuttered out.

Tails said, "It's a Purple Wisp, one of the Nega Wisps."

Twilight looked at him and asked, "Nega Wisp?"

Tails nodded and asked, "Remember what we said about Eggman being interested in the Wisps' Hyper-go-on power?" Everyone nodded, so he said, "When he finishes draining the Hyper-go-on energy from the Wisps, they turn into Nega Wisps, which are violent and do Eggman's bidding. They can be either purple or violet."

As Sonic began climbing up to the rim of the bowl, Luna asked, "Then who was using that Wisp's power, and to eat ice cream no less?"

When Sonic reached the rim, he looked down below the bowl for a second before calling back, "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count."

Confused, Rainbow Dash flew up beside him and looked down. "Pinkie Pie!" she gasped. The pink pony was lying on her back on the ground, patting her belly contentedly with a dreamy expression. Her stomach was as slim as it usually was; if it weren't for the Wisp that floated up, nobody would have ever guessed she ate a huge ice cream sundae.

As the others started climbing up, Sonic and Rainbow leapt out of the bowl. Fluttershy, Tails, Celestia, Silver, and Luna flew out after them, Cadance deciding to climb out of the bowl with her husband and sister-in-law. Sonic and Rainbow landed next to Pinkie, Celestia, Tails, Luna, Silver, and Fluttershy landing behind them. If Pinkie knew they were there, she made no indication of it. After a moment, Rainbow Dash said, "Hey, Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie glanced up at her and replied, "Hey, Dashie…" Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the… far-off way she said that.

Sonic asked, "So, how are you enjoying Sweet Mountain so far?"

As soon as he asked that, the dreamy look in Pinkie's eyes disappeared and she leapt to her hooves. She then started rambling, "Oh, I love, love, LOVE it, Sonic! It's WAY better than eternal chaos! They have all my favorites here! Lollipops, cake, donuts, gingerbread ponies- well, they're not ponies since Mr. and Mrs. Cake always make them so they're on all fours and these gingerbread delights were on two legs, not four, but they were just as good! Actually, everything's just as good as I remember it to be! It's like the Cakes were hired to make everything here! I wonder if the Cakes ever make anything this big because if they do, I've never seen it, and they've shown me all kinds of things, but you know, they…"

By this time, everybody had reached the edge of the sundae bowl (with a few slips here and there) and Rainbow Dash couldn't take anymore. She finally cut her pink friend off with a loud, "Pinkie!" When the party pony looked at her, she said, "We get it."

Pinkie smiled, "Oh, goodie! There are still a few places I want to check out before…" She trailed off for a moment, a distant look in her eyes.

"Before…?" Vector, who was hanging onto the rim of the bowl with the others, asked.

Pinkie Pie looked back and a huge grin formed on her face. "Before I go to the Chocolate Milk Sea, silly! Can you believe it?! There's a bunch of chocolate rivers here, and it all ends up in the Chocolate Milk Sea! Ooh, I want to go right now, but I have to see the rest of the park first!"

Twilight spoke, "Look Pinkie, we've been worried about you. If you want to go to this sea, that's fine. Just don't…"

Pinkie interrupted her, "Can't wait, gotta go! See ya!" She then turned and dashed off, leaving a smoke version of herself behind.

"Hey!" Sonic called.

Blaze pulled herself up over the side of the bowl and leapt down, saying, "Not again!" As soon as she landed, she ran in the direction Pinkie Pie had gone, Sonic and Rainbow Dash following her while the others jumped down from the bowl, Silver catching Rarity, Celestia getting under Twilight, Tails grabbing Spike, and Luna breaking Applejack's fall while Vector, Espio, Shining, and Cadance all leapt down and landed on their own. Despite a little bit of awkwardness with Rarity hugging Silver for catching her (causing him to blush and Spike to glare at him), they all ran after their friends when they were all back on the ground… except for one.

They didn't have to go far before they caught up with Sonic, Rainbow, and Blaze, all of them looking around. "Did she disappear again?" Rarity asked after a moment.

The three turned to the others, Blaze saying, "Unfortunately."

Sonic crossed his arms, "Man, what is up with that pony?" Twilight and her friends shrugged at him.

Tails looked around and asked, "Hey, where did Princess Celestia go?" Everybody looked around at that, but they found no trace of the Sun Princess.

"Did she disappear too?" Silver wondered.

Luna groaned, "Knowing my big sister, she's looking for this Bake Me Crazy ride. When it comes to cake, her sweet tooth always acts up."

Cadance asked, "So we have to find Aunt Celestia too?"

Vector turned to Tails and said, "Tails, you and Sonic went through every planet in this park. Do you have any idea where the Bake Me Crazy and Chocolate Milk Sea are?"

Tails replied, "No. When we were checking out the planets, we headed straight for the tractor beam generators that were holding the planets where they were. We didn't really go on the rides, or see any maps for each planet."

Luna sighed, "A map would certainly be useful right now…"

After a moment, Tails thumped his right fist against the palm of his left hand, "Wait, I've got it! Eggman's responsible for this whole park!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Well, we already knew THAT, Tails."

Tails replied, "Yeah, but even as smart as he is, he'd need to have laid out plans and be able to have quick access to them, no matter where he is!"

Sonic said, "I see where you're going with this. Those maps in the Tropical Resort only listed general areas of interest, but if we can find one of Eggman's computers and hack into it, maybe we'll find some more detailed maps of each planet."

Tails nodded, "Exactly!"

Applejack asked, "So where can we find one o' these… computers?"

Tails held a hand to his chin, "Hm… There was one hidden in Asteroid Coaster, but there wasn't much information on it…" He looked up a moment later, "I know. It looked like Eggman was building a new base on Planet Wisp. He wouldn't be able to build a fully functional base without at least one computer to handle a bunch of tasks. Even the Egg Pawns can't keep up with everything. And if it was meant to be a base, he'd probably keep a lot of information there."

Sonic said, "Well, that shouldn't be a problem, then. We can use the Warp Ring to zip over there and check it out."

Luna asked, "But what about Celestia?"

Blaze nodded, "Luna's right, Sonic. Even if she doesn't know where the Bake Me Crazy is, she could still find it and get on it while we're gone."

Applejack protested, "But we'll have an easier time findin' it if we can just find a map."

Twilight said, "Sounds like we're going to have to split up again."

Silver spoke, "Good idea, Twilight."

Sonic nodded, "Yeah." He thought for a moment before looking at Blaze and saying, "I don't think Luna should go searching alone. Why don't you go with her, Blaze?"

The cat asked, "What, only me?"

Sonic replied, "No. If you want someone to come with, that's fine. I'm just not going to put anybody on the spot."

Blaze nodded, "I understand." She looked at Silver and asked, "Silver, would you accompany me and Luna?"

The silver hedgehog quickly replied, "Oh! Of course, Blaze!"

Blaze nodded and then looked over at the married couple and asked, "Shining Armor, Princess Cadance?"

Shining quickly answered before his wife could, "Not unless you're taking Twiley with you." Twilight looked up at him in surprise while he shot a glare in Sonic's direction. The blue hedgehog noticed it, but he looked back at Blaze and shrugged.

Blaze sighed and was about to ask someone else, but Silver laid a hand on her shoulder and, when she looked at him, said, "Blaze, I know what you're thinking, but I'm sure the two of us can help Luna, both with the robots and finding Princess Celestia. We've done plenty of dangerous stuff together in the past, right?"

Blaze looked at him for a moment before saying, "I suppose you're right, Silver." She looked back at Sonic and said, "I'll leave the rest to you, Sonic. Just be careful, all of you." He and the others nodded in understanding, though Shining was still looking at Sonic.

Tails reached into his namesakes and pulled out the Warp Ring. He then turned around and threw it forward, the ring expanding to its full size behind the group. As they turned around, Tails walked over to it and placed his hand on its side, causing the image of a green landscape to appear in the ring's shimmering middle. The fox spoke, "It's all set. Next stop: Planet Wisp!" The remainder of the group walked over to the ring and went through it, Sonic going through last. Before following the others, Tails sent a quick salute to Blaze, Luna, and Silver and went through it after it was returned, the ring vanishing afterwards.

Luna looked at her two accomplices and asked, "Well, shall we?" Blaze and Silver nodded and they set out, looking for Celestia and the Bake Me Crazy.

---

Tails came through the other side of the Warp Ring, landing on beautiful, unspoiled green grass before holding up his left hand and catching the Warp Ring with it. As he tucked it away, Cadance asked, "This is Planet Wisp?"

Sonic, who was standing nearby, answered, "It sure is. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Twilight nodded, "Yeah. It's so… untouched."

Applejack smiled, "Fer sure! Those little guys sure have a nice planet ta call home."

Fluttershy looked off to the side and smiled as she noticed a couple of White Wisps floating over to the group. When they were around the group, they started chattering in their alien language. "Aw, they're so cute," Fluttershy sighed.

Rarity looked at Sonic and Tails and asked, "What are they saying?"

Tails replied, "I don't know. I don't have my translator with me."

Fluttershy hugged several Wisps with her forelegs while saying, "They're still adorable. And they're so friendly too."

Tails looked around and asked, "I wonder if Yacker is among them?"

Sonic pointed to a building in the distance and said, "Looks like the tractor beam is working right now. I bet our buddy Yacker is on one of the other planets at the moment."

Twilight looked where he was pointing and asked, "Is that Dr. Eggman's base?"

Sonic replied, "Well, that's part of what he was building when we were here. I never really went inside, so I don't know exactly."

Rainbow grunted, "Well, whatever it is, he definitely knows how to make it stand out. You definitely wouldn't mistake that for a tree."

Espio said, "Let's get moving. We don't want to keep Silver, Luna, and Blaze waiting."

Vector nodded, "Yeah, we'd better get in there and find a computer room!"

Twilight nodded, then turned to Fluttershy and said, "Okay Fluttershy, we're leaving. You should probably set the Wisps down now."

Fluttershy sighed, "Aw…" She released the White Wisps, saying, "Bye, my little friends." The Wisps waved to the group as they set out for the structure in the distance.

As they walked, Fluttershy looked around at the interesting trees and plants, the sight reminding her of the day she went down to the ground for the first time and got her cutie mark. It made her feel happy, though she kept an eye out for any more Wisps. Vector seemed to sense this and placed a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up at him, he said, "Don't worry, Fluttershy. The Wisps live here. I'm sure we'll see and/or rescue plenty of them while we're looking for a computer room." Fluttershy smiled up at him, but they were both distracted by Spike giggling from beside Vector. The crocodile looked down at him and asked, "What?"

Spike looked up at his face and then looked away, muttering, "Uh…" He then thought up a good excuse and said, "I was just thinking how interesting it would be if you and Gummy were to hang out with each other, Vector. You know, like you showing Gummy some of your cool tricks and all that. I bet you two would be a real cool pair of gators."

Vector's eyes widened, "Gat -?" He glared down at Spike, "I'm a crocodile, not an alligator! Don't you know your animals?!"

Spike looked nervous at that and he looked to Fluttershy for help. The shy pegasus spoke after a moment, "Um, I'm sorry, Spike, but Vector is right. He's not an alligator; he's a crocodile."

Spike shrugged, "Same thing though, right?"

Vector yelled down at him, "NO! Now look here, bud, there are some very fine differences between crocodiles and alligators!"

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Oh boy…"

Soon…

"…And that's how you tell a crocodile apart from an alligator! You get it now?" Vector asked Spike, the baby dragon quickly nodding so as not to make the crocodile angry again. Vector said, "Good! Anything else you want to know?"

Spike calmed down and replied, "Yes, actually. I almost forgot, but I saw you breathe fire earlier. Are you part dragon or something?"

Vector answered, "No, that's-"

Before he could launch into another explanation, Espio interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt, Vector, but we're here." Spike, Fluttershy, and Vector looked up and saw that they were at the front door of the building they'd seen earlier.

"Wow, it's even bigger up close," Spike noted.

Rainbow shrugged, "I'll bet that's just on the outside. Canterlot Castle is probably bigger, at least on the inside." She lowered her body, saying, "Come on, let's trash this joint!"

Tails spoke, "Hold on, Rainbow Dash." When the rainbow-maned mare glanced up at him, he pointed at the door and said, "That door is probably locked AND reinforced. It'd probably take a Sonic Rainboom to go through it without opening it."

Rainbow stood up, "You think so?" Tails nodded; she looked up at the door and gulped, "Well, if that's what needs to be done…" She spread her wings and said, "I guess I'll get up there and start building up speed."

Before she could start flapping her wings, Sonic spoke, "Or we could save ourselves a possible medical bill for blunt trauma and I could just open the door."

Twilight turned to look at him, asking, "How are you going to do that, Sonic?" When she turned to him, she saw him with his hands on his hips, standing in front of a new Wisp.

Tails smiled when he saw it, "Hey, that's a Yellow Wisp! You think he can help us, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog looked at him, "Sure!" He then looked over at the nearby rocky ground and said, "This looks like a good area to put his special ability to good use. And knowing Eggman, he probably wouldn't put the switch right next to the front door." He looked back at the others, "I think I'll do a little digging of my own and see if I can find a release for the door."

Rainbow grinned lightly, "Hey, if it means I don't have to end up in the hospital when we're all done, I'm all for it." The others nodded in agreement, though Shining Armor did so slowly.

Sonic nodded, "Okay!" He looked at the Yellow Wisp and said, "Come on, let's go play." The Wisp nodded happily and followed Sonic over to the rocky ground. Sonic then turned to look at the Wisp, who, after a moment, went inside of him. He began to glow yellow and, after a second, he suddenly burrowed into the ground!

"Whoa, what was that?!" Applejack exclaimed.

Tails giggled, "The Yellow Wisp gives you the ability to burrow through ground, provided it's soft enough. Basically, that means no digging through solid metal."

Rainbow smiled, "Heh, I guess rocks are a lot softer than metal, huh?"

Tails nodded and then said, "Let's just wait until he gets back. Depending on what he finds, we might not have to find another way in after all." Spike, Vector, Espio, and the ponies nodded, looking around as they waited.

After a minute, they heard a noise and turned to look at the door. It began sliding up, exposing the inside of the building. Not long afterwards, they looked back over at the rocky ground and saw Sonic come out of the ground, still wrapped in the Yellow Wisp's power. Once he was out of the ground, the Wisp popped out of him and he returned to normal. Tails called, "Good job, you two! You got the door open!"

Sonic called back, "Sweet!" He looked back at the Yellow Wisp and said, "Thanks, little guy! You really helped us out!" The Wisp let out a happy noise as Sonic shook one of his tentacles. He then floated away while Sonic rejoined the others and they all walked inside the building.

As they walked through the structure, the group could see that it was far from finished. There were drills boring into the rocks and other machines either clearing things away or working on the building itself. Overall, it reminded Sonic and Tails of the first time they visited the planet and saw Eggman ruining the environment. They pushed those thoughts aside for now; they came to Planet Wisp to find a map, not put a stop to Eggman's park plans for a second time.

While searching, they came across a capsule containing a Pink Wisp near a wall. The Chaotix, Spike, and the ponies quickly noticed the Wisp's angry expression and the spikes on the top of its head. It looked at them with a pleading look in its eye. "Aw, the poor little dear… We can't just leave him here," Rarity said.

Applejack walked over to the capsule while saying, "We sure can't, Rarity. Hang on; Ah'll let the little fella out." When she was standing next to the capsule, she reared back on her hind legs, intending to knock the glass covering off with her hooves.

Before she could do so, however, a robotic voice spoke up behind the group, "HALT! YOU ARE TRESPASSING IN A HARD HAT AREA! CEASE YOUR EFFORTS AND LEAVE THE CONSTRUCTION AREA AT ONCE." Everyone looked back to see more Egg Pawns behind them, most of them wearing hard hats and carrying picks.

"Ah, there's the welcoming committee," Sonic shrugged. He looked at Applejack and said, "Let him out, Applejack. He should be able to help us out with these guys."

Applejack replied, "You got it, Sugar-hog!" She turned back to the capsule and kicked the glass on top of the capsule with her hooves, freeing the Pink Wisp. It immediately rushed into her and she started glowing pink; a second later, pink spikes burst out of her back along with three pink spikes on each of her hooves! "Wha-what the -?!" she exclaimed as she looked at the spikes on her front hooves.

Sonic nudged her with his arm, "You should be able to put those spikes to good use, Applejack. They're good for climbing up walls… and tearing robots apart."

The orange earth pony looked back at him as he spoke; after he finished, she smirked and crossed the spikes on her front hooves in front of her face, "Is that so?"

The leading Egg Pawn spoke, "THE ORANGE ONE HAS EGGMAN EMPIRE PROPERTY! STOP IT!" At that, Applejack leapt up onto the nearby wall, using her spikes to run across it somewhat awkwardly (due to the positioning of the spikes on her back hooves) before leaping at the Egg Pawns.

As she approached the lead Egg Pawn, Applejack thrust the spikes on her front hooves into where its neck would be, securing herself before pulling her hind legs up and quickly running the spikes on her back hooves down its chest, ripping it wide open. She then leapt off of it and everybody looked at least a little surprised that they could see its insides quite clearly. It fell onto its back a moment later, exploding. After a moment, Applejack grinned, "Yeehaw!" She then looked at the other Egg Pawns, "Any o' y'all bolt brains want some o' this?" The Egg Pawns stood still for a moment before charging towards her.

Cadance called, "Wait, Applejack, don't -!" She was unable to finish before Applejack dashed towards the Egg Pawns, her temporary claws ready.

As she began tearing into them, Twilight smiled, "I think Applejack's got it covered, Cadance."

Rainbow cheered, "Go, Applejack!"

Sonic added, "Kick some Egg Pawn chassis!" As Applejack continued doing just that, the others began throwing out cheers for her (save for Fluttershy, who was frightened by what she was seeing and all the explosions).

After about a minute, all but one Egg Pawn had been reduced to scrap metal, the lone Egg Pawn lying on its front, stuck under a bunch of barrels. As she allowed herself a moment to relax, Applejack's pink spikes disappeared and the Pink Wisp floated out of her chest. Dropping back down to all fours, the orange earth pony sighed, "Aw, Ah used it all up… Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." She looked at the Pink Wisp and tipped her hat to it, "Thank ya kindly, pardner!" The Wisp gave her a kind wave as it floated away.

The others came over soon afterwards, Rainbow saying, "That was cool, Applejack! You totally nailed those Egg Pawns!"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah! Way to go!" He bumped his fist against Applejack's hoof.

Vector spoke, "All right, enough fun and games. We gotta find that computer room!"

Espio looked around and said, "I'm starting to wonder if there even is one here. We've seen a lot of construction, but very few rooms so far, and we've been walking around for a while."

Tails spoke, "But there's gotta be something! There must be something we overlooked…"

Sonic eyed the last Egg Pawn, which was still trapped under the barrels. "Hang on, I've got an idea," he said while walking over to it. Once he was in front of it, he looked down at it, saying, "Hey, tin toy! Tell us where we can find a map of this joint and I'll help you out of there!"

The Egg Pawn hesitated for a moment before pointing at a nearby entryway, everyone looking where it was pointing as it said, "THERE'S ONE ON THE WALL IN THERE."

Sonic looked back at the Egg Pawn, saying, "Good answer." He curled up into a Spin Dash and shot towards the barrels, sending them flying when he hit them and freeing the Egg Pawn. As he uncurled and landed, the Egg Pawn climbed to its feet and ran away, going back the way the group had come from. Sonic turned in its direction and called, "Hey! You might want to…" Before he could say anymore, the Egg Pawn tripped and fell into a hole. "…watch that step there," Sonic finished.

Tails, meanwhile, went into the nearby room and quickly found the building map the Egg Pawn had mentioned. While he was looking it over, the others entered the room and walked over to him. After a minute, he said, "I've got it!" He looked at the others and explained, "There's a completed control room a couple floors up. We should be able to find something there."

Espio asked, "Do you know how to get there?"

Tails nodded, "Uh-huh! It's this way!" He then ran deeper into the room, everyone following close behind him.

Soon…

"Um, are we almost there, Tails? N-Not that there's a problem if we aren't, but we've climbed up a few floors already," Fluttershy, in a voice just loud enough to be heard, said.

Tails came to a stop, as did everyone else, and looked up at the ceiling. He put a hand to his chin, "We're just about there, Fluttershy. We should be right under the control room."

Vector asked, "Right under the computer room?"

Espio looked at him, "Vector, if you say that one more time…"

Vector shrugged, "What? I'm just asking a question!"

Rainbow glanced up at the ceiling, "There are too many ramps in this place, and none of them are clearly marked! There's got to be a faster way to get up there!" She looked at Twilight and asked, "Twilight, can you blow a hole in the ceiling so we can fly up there?"

Before the lavender unicorn could respond, Spike said, "Hey there, little guy." Everyone turned to look at him and saw an Orange Wisp floating in front of him. The Wisp said something in its alien language, but the way it spoke made Spike think something was wrong. "What did I say? Did I make him angry?" he asked while looking at the others.

Tails said, "No, he's not mad, Spike. Orange Wisps typically have short fuses, but we've never seen what they look like when they get mad. I think you're okay."

Spike sighed, "Oh, good." He looked back at the Orange Wisp and smiled, "You're pretty cool, you know that?" The Wisp looked happy at that and suddenly rushed into Spike. As an orange glow surrounded him, the baby dragon exclaimed, "Hey, what's it doing?!"

Sonic said, "Just relax and let the Wisp out, Spike! He's gonna take you for a ride, and I just hope your scales are thick enough to protect you!" Not knowing what else to do, Spike did as he was told and relaxed, letting the Wisp's Hyper-go-on energy flow through him. After a moment, the Orange Rocket formed around him and he shot straight up towards the ceiling! The metal stopped him for a moment before he punched through, leaving a big hole above the group.

"Spikey-Wikey?!" Rarity cried.

"Are you okay?!" Twilight yelled.

Spike called back a moment later, sounding a bit dazed, "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't think I hurt or broke anything…" He looked around and noticed a large screen on the other side of the room, across from him. "Hey, it looks like Tails was right! I think this is the control room!" he shouted down before standing up.

Tails called back, "Okay, just stay in there! We'll be right up!" Over the course of the next minute or two, Tails and Rainbow carried Rarity, Sonic, Applejack, and Espio up to the hole and Twilight used her magic to lift Shining Armor and Vector up. Cadance then carried her sister-in-law up while Fluttershy flew up after them.

Once they were all up in the room, they saw that Spike had crossed over to the other side of the room and had climbed up onto the control panel. He was tapping the computer keys as Espio ran over to him. "Are you in?" the chameleon asked when he was standing next to the panel.

Spike replied as he looked up at the screen, "Uh… I don't know. It keeps saying something about a password. And I don't know how this thing works."

Espio grunted as the others came over, "Of course Eggman would try to lock out the system to everyone else. It's just like him."

Once the others were standing behind them, Tails said, "Maybe the password is 'EGGMAN'."

Sonic asked, "Hasn't he used that one before?"

Espio said, "Well, I'll try it." He began typing the letters in on the keyboard while Spike moved to the side and watched him. Espio hit 'Enter' when he was done, but the screen flashed an angry red 'ACCESS DENIED'. "I guess he's not using that one anymore," Espio growled.

Tails walked up beside him, "Well, it shouldn't be too hard to crack his system. Let's work on it."

Twilight asked, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Espio replied, "Aside from keeping quiet and staying back while we work, unlike a certain crocodile? Not much, I'm afraid." Vector just smirked at that.

Tails said, "We can always take suggestions. Beyond that, I don't know much help you'll be able to offer."

Sonic spoke, "Well, I know you guys will be able to get in." He then pointed his right thumb in the direction of the doorway they would have come through had they gone around the long way, "While you're doing that, I'll go stand guard out there to make sure nobody tries to crash our party." Tails and Espio nodded.

Rainbow asked, "Hey, can I come with?"

Shining Armor spoke up, "Actually, Rainbow Dash, if you don't mind, I'll go help Sonic stand guard. Guarding is my job, after all."

Rainbow replied, "Oh yeah. Well, I'm gonna go look around then. After all that searching and running, I don't want to just stand still right now! I'll be back soon!" Before anyone could say anything, she flew over to the hole in the floor and disappeared through it. The rest of the group looked at each other before Sonic shrugged and ran towards the doorway, going through it and turning to look in the direction of the hallway. Shining shared a look with Twilight before turning and walking towards the doorway, leaving the rest of the group to try to break into Eggman's system.

Shining Armor stepped out through the doorway and found Sonic standing to his left, a bit down the hallway that looked very similar to all the others in this strange building, away from the doorway. He trotted over to the hedgehog and stood on his right side, glancing down at him with a stony look on his face. Sonic looked up at him with a relaxed look on his face and asked, "So, you're Captain of the Royal Guard, huh?"

Shining shortly replied, "Yes, I am. How did you know?"

Sonic returned his gaze to the hall as he answered, "Twilight told us about you and Cadance."

Shining said, "It's PRINCESS Cadance. If you're going to be talking about royalty, you should have the formality to refer to them by title."

Sonic shrugged, "In my experience, princesses don't like being referred to as such. I can see why Twilight refers to Celestia by her title, but it doesn't sound like she referred to Cadance as princess all the time."

Shining replied, "Twilight was, and still is, very close to Cadance. I don't see what you've done that excludes you from addressing royalty as such."

Sonic asked, "So should I be referring to you as PRINCE Shining Armor, then?" Shining glared at him at that. Sonic waved a hand, "Relax, man. Seriously, Blaze hates it when her guards or anyone else refers to her as a princess. I'm sure Celestia has days where she wishes Twilight and other ponies would call her by name without using her title."

Shining spoke, "As long as you bring her up, what do you think of Twilight? You two seem awfully close for two… a hedgehog and a unicorn who just met."

Sonic turned his head to look up at Shining Armor, now noticing the stallion had turned his and was looking down at him with an unreadable expression. It confused him, but he answered anyway, "She's a cool girl. She kind of reminds me of Tails when I first met him, yet she's still got a couple things unique to her besides her magic." He looked away and placed a hand on his chin, "I've got to admit, she kind of surprised me when she said something to Shadow earlier."

Shining gritted his teeth, once again remembering what the black hedgehog said to him. While trying to keep his voice steady, he spoke, "About that… Are you related to him?"

Sonic replied, "Only in appearance. As far as I know, there are no aliens in my family tree."

Shining looked confused by that last part, but he pressed on, "So you have no siblings then."

Sonic replied, "I like to think of Tails as my little bro. He was just a little guy when we first met, and I taught him and looked out for him."

Shining said, "Then maybe you'll understand what I'm about to say to you."

Sonic started to turn his head, "Understand? Understand what?" As he finished turning his head to look at the stallion, he saw that Shining Armor had turned his body so he was facing the hedgehog, which caused him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Shining lowered his head, pressing his face up against Sonic's and saying, "You stay away from my sister."

Sonic's eyebrow raised higher, "What?"

Shining said, "I have a problem with you."

Sonic replied, "So does Shadow, but he doesn't tell me all the time."

Shining leaned his head back a bit, though it was still close to Sonic's, and asked, "You're not getting it, are you?"

Sonic pointed at his face with his right hand, "Do I look like I'm getting it? I mean, really? You get up in my face without warning and expect me to know what you're talking about?"

Shining said, "We are currently on what you and your friends are saying is an alien planet, which is part of this Dr. Eggman's theme park, somepony who happens to be set on some form of conquest from the sound of things, and you're making light of the situation."

Sonic replied, "Well, first of all, Tails and I already trashed Egghead's theme park. That was our most recent adventure, in fact. We're probably just back at a point in time before the park was destroyed and all the planets were returned to where they belong. And second, what does that have to do with anything?"

Shining answered, "You're not what I would call serious. Somepony is trying to take over your world, and what do you do? Treat it like it's something to worry about? No, you crack jokes and act like it's nothing new. That doesn't seem very responsible, and Twilight certainly shouldn't be hanging around somepony like that."

Sonic shrugged, "Well, it IS nothing new. Besides, isn't who Twilight hangs around her choice? She wasn't a little filly last time I checked. She seems like someone who's capable of making sound decisions without anyone to hold her hoof. She might need someone she can count on to talk to about her problems, but who doesn't every now and then?"

Shining asked, "Problems? What problems? Did you do something to her?!"

Sonic waved his hands in front of him, "No! What's the deal, man? Where's all this coming from? I get that you love your sister and all, but still!"

Shining said, "I'll tell you. You're too laid-back, you can RUN at speeds that, typically, only pegasi can reach, you're from a completely different universe, and you've been exposed to this… Hyper-go-on energy a lot, something we Equestrians know nothing about. You really think I can trust you to be around my sister? How do I know you won't do something to her?!"

Sonic retorted, "Then who would YOU recommend? Who would you want around your sister who can guarantee that nothing will happen to her?"

Shining took a step back at that, his unjustified anger being lifted for the moment. "I… uh, I…" he stuttered.

Sonic spoke, "See? You can't recommend anyone, Shining Armor. I don't know what you've been through, but if you're relying on past assumptions, those won't help you here. I'll admit, I didn't expect Twilight to warm up to me so quickly, but all things considered, it looks like she's found that she can trust me. I'm not going to claim I know her better than you, Celestia, or her friends do, but it seems like I know her well enough that she's willing to put her faith in me."

Shining asked, "But fighting robots? Saving aliens? All this running around? Do you really think Twilight can put up with all of this?" The stallion's angry tone of voice was long gone as he spoke, and his arguments were beginning to fall apart as his silent rage dissipated.

Sonic said, "It looked like Celestia and Luna were filling you and Cadance in on recent events earlier at Sugarcube Corner. Did they tell you everything?" A moment of silence passed before Sonic continued, "Well, let me fill in the gaps regarding your sister. Ever since she was returned to normal, she's seen a lot of stuff. She's braved an industrial wasteland while avoiding killer robots placed in the craziest of spots, went through a winter wonderland, actually fought Nightmare Moon alongside me and Applejack, put her smarts to good use with some ancient mysteries, ran from the law, went through a jungle, fought Chrysalis and her changelings along with everyone else, made a volcanic venture, and got a taste of the Far East and was forced to fight someone who was under the influence of mind control. All of this happened before you showed up back at the Crystal Empire."

Shining Armor just stared at Sonic in shock as he heard all this, all of it sounding hard to believe yet finding that it didn't sound too farfetched.

"But you notice that, aside from the usual wear and tear you get from an adventure like this, she's pulled through nicely and has been helping out any way she can. So for you, her own brother, to stand here and tell me that you don't think she can take care of herself and you can't trust the ones she's with to help her when she's in over her head… well, that doesn't look good for you, dude," Sonic finished.

Shining stammered, "I… I…" His mind couldn't find any words, not that his mouth would be able to say them if he could. Sonic just looked at him, wondering what was going through the stallion's head at the moment.

They were both brought out of their thoughts when they heard Rainbow Dash call, "Heads up, guys!" The both turned to look down the hall and saw the cyan pegasus flying towards them, moving up towards the ceiling as she flew. Looking down, they saw Egg Pawns running their way, evidently trying to catch their rainbow-maned friend. Sonic steadied himself, knowing their priorities would probably shift when they saw him.

Suddenly, Rainbow called, "Check this out!" Sonic and Shining looked up at her again and saw a blue glow surrounding her. A second later, a cube formed around her body and she fell straight towards the ground! Looking down, Sonic noticed the Egg Pawns were closer now. Just as they were about to reach him and Shining Armor (who was still looking at the Blue Cube), Rainbow hit the ground and raised a cloud of dust upon landing.

As soon as she landed, the Egg Pawns were lifted up off their feet and exploded while in midair. Rainbow turned back to normal shortly afterwards and, as a Blue Wisp came out of her chest, she faced Sonic and Shining and asked, "Pretty cool, huh?"

Sonic smiled, "I see you found out about what the Blue Wisp can do while you were out."

Rainbow grinned, "Well, initially I didn't know what to think of the little guy, but he seemed like he knew a lot. And turning into a cube turned out to be cooler than I thought!" She looked at the Blue Wisp and nudged him with a wing, the Wisp nodding back before floating away. Rainbow then looked at Sonic and Shining and asked, "So did Tails and Espio manage to get into Eggman's system?"

Sonic said, "You know, we don't know. Shiny and I have been having… an engaging conversation, you could say." Shining's hard look at Sonic's use of the nickname that Twilight and Cadance called him by disappeared when the hedgehog hinted at the words that had been exchanged between the two. While his thoughts turned back to their talk, Sonic went on, "We'd better see how they're doing. Come on!" Sonic turned and headed for the doorway to the control room, Rainbow hot on his heels. Shining remained where he was for a moment before turning and following after them.

When he got back to the control room, Shining found his sister and the others huddled around the computer console, the screen displaying something different than before. Watching out for the hole in the floor, he followed Rainbow and Sonic over to the group. When they were standing behind the others, Sonic asked, "How's it going, guys?"

Most of the others looked back at him, Espio saying, "Well, we've managed to get inside Eggman's system. It took a little bit of searching, but Tails found what we're looking for."

Rainbow looked at the fox and asked, "You found a map of Sweet Mountain, Tails?"

While looking between his radar and the computer console it was resting on, Tails replied, "Uh, sort of. Eggman decided to put the maps of all the planets in one big file. I can't extract the one we need, so right now, I'm downloading the whole thing."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "Downloading?"

Sonic looked at her and said, "Basically he's transferring the maps to his radar so he'll be able to refer to them when needed. That saves us from having to memorize them now and hope that we don't forget them later." Rainbow nodded in understanding; Sonic looked back at Tails and asked, "Are you sure you can't get the one map we need, Tails?"

The fox nodded, "Positive. Eggman probably did it on purpose in case anyone got in. But I'm at 50% on the download; it shouldn't take much longer."

Sonic glanced back at the hole in the floor, faintly hearing sounds coming through it. "I hope so; it sounds like we might have stirred a hornet's nest," he said.

Rainbow looked at the others and asked, "Was it hard cracking Eggman's password?"

Applejack replied, "Nah. It turned out the password is 'PASSWORD'. Ain't that just lousy thinkin' or what?"

Spike shrugged, "He must've been going for 'so obvious it's overlooked'."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I can imagine."

Sonic asked, "What about the Bake Me Crazy?"

Vector said, "Tails found it on one of the security cameras after he started the download. Got the coordinates and everything. We can warp straight there once he's done!"

A minute later, Shining glanced back at the doorway, definitely hearing sounds coming from the other side of it. "How's that 'download' coming, Tails? We need to get going!" he urged.

Tails answered, "90% right now! I'm not sure I want to cut it off there; if I lose the connection, I might lose the whole file!"

Sonic looked back at the door and saw Egg Pawns beginning to come through it. "At least get the Warp Ring going, Tails. Pretty soon, your connection's going to be cut one way or the other!" he said. Tails reached back with his left hand and fished out the Warp Ring, tossing it to the side and causing it to grow to full size.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity looked back at the Egg Pawns a moment later, noticing the robots were moving around the hole towards them. "Tails!" they all urged.

Tails moved his hands forward and shut his radar with his left hand while grabbing it with his right hand, saying, "It's finished! Let's go!" Still holding the handheld in his right hand, he made a dash towards the Warp Ring, leaping through it with everyone right behind him. The Egg Pawns reached where the ring had been as it shrunk and vanished from sight.

---

"Luna, it was not necessary for you to damage the ride just to stop it. I would have been fine, though I would have been better if there had been some cake involved," Celestia complained as she, Luna, Blaze, and Silver stood near the entrance to the Bake Me Crazy.

"Sister, if you had paid attention to the entire announcement, then you would have known that that ride simulates what it's like to be baked like a cake. There was never any mention of there actually being cake," Luna stated.

Celestia shook her head, "I don't see why they wouldn't offer some kind of cake. It seems as though they have plenty of it here; it could help attract customers."

As the two princesses continued talking, Silver turned to Blaze and asked, "Do you think this is a normal thing for them?"

Blaze looked back at him and said, "Luna seems to be used to it, but that doesn't necessarily imply anything. Then again, they are sisters; I'm sure they're familiar with their own quirks." She turned her head to look in the other direction, saying, "Now, where are Sonic and the others? They should…" She stopped short when the Warp Ring suddenly appeared a short distance away, its appearance enough to startle Luna and Celestia out of their talk. "Ah," Blaze murmured as Tails leapt out of the ring, followed by everyone else.

Silver and the princesses walked over to them after Tails had put the ring away, Twilight instantly noticing her mentor. "Princess Celestia!" she said, the Sun Princess smiling at her.

Sonic looked at Luna and noticed the smoke rising out of the huge, oven-looking ride behind her. He grinned, "Heh, looks like that ride has been baked bad, huh Luna?"

Luna allowed herself a giggle before replying, "Indeed, Sonic. Thankfully, Blaze and Silver were able to locate it just as it was starting up. I have a feeling I would have missed it otherwise."

Silver nodded at her, "Happy to help, Luna!"

Blaze looked at the others and asked, "So did you manage to find a map?"

Tails opened up his radar and, while looking down at it, said, "Yeah, but there wasn't a separate map, so I had to download a file containing maps of each planet in the park. I just need a second to find the one we need and then we can find out where the Chocolate Milk Sea is." As he was working, a sudden flash of orange and yellow flew over everyone's heads at high speed, a tailwind blowing past all of them. Tails looked up and asked, "Hey, what was that?!"

Celestia said, "That looked like a pegasus pony."

Rainbow eyed the trail left by the mystery pony. "Orange followed by yellow and back to orange…" she muttered. She soon knew which of her heroes left a trail like that and cupped her hooves around her mouth, yelling, "SPITFIRE, MA'AM!"

There was a moment of silence, then the pegasus came flying back, this time slowing down as it approached the group. As Dash had thought, it was Spitfire, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Celestia recognizing the mare in her Wonderbolts flight suit. The gold pegasus placed her hooves on her hips as she looked at the pony who called her. "Well, what do we have here? If it isn't Rainbow Dash!" she grinned as she lowered herself to the ground.

While the two pegasi started talking, Sonic looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow, projecting the question that was on his mind and his friends' minds. Twilight picked up on it and said, "That's Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. They're the ones Rainbow Dash dreams of being a part of." Sonic, Silver, Tails, Blaze, Vector, and Espio nodded in understanding.

Looking back at the two, Sonic heard Rainbow Dash ask, "So Spitfire, what are you doing here? If you don't mind me asking, that is."

The gold pegasus replied, "In this… candy land? Hay if I know, but right now, I'm looking for Soarin."

Luna asked, "What happened to him?"

Spitfire answered, "We kind of got separated, Princess Luna. He got a little nutty when he noticed all the candies and cakes and all that, but I tried to keep him under control. Unfortunately, I turned my back on him for a second, and when I turned back around, he was gone."

Vector asked, "I suppose you don't have any idea where he could be?"

Spitfire looked up at him for a moment in mild surprise before saying, "Knowing Soarin, he went off looking for pies." She shook her head, "He loves his pies…"

While looking down at his radar, Tails spoke, "Hang on, Miss Spitfire. I may be able to help you find him."

The gold pegasus raised an eyebrow, "How?"

Tails replied, "Well, I have a map here of Sweet Mountain. That's what this place is called. If there's a place where pies can be found, I'm sure it's somewhere on the map." After a few seconds of searching on the bottom screen of his radar, he said, "Hey, I found something!"

Spitfire asked, "Already? That's an academy record… well, it should be, anyway. What have you got?"

Tails answered, "There's a place here called Pie Hills. The map description describes it as having all the known pie flavors, and considering everything else here, I wouldn't be surprised if the pies there are huge."

Spitfire placed her right hoof over her eyes as she groaned, "Oh boy… If Soarin rips his flight suit from eating too many pies, he's paying for a new one…"

Tails continued, "Hey, and it's right on the way to the Chocolate Milk Sea!"

Spitfire took her hoof off of her eyes, raising an eyebrow, "Say what?"

Sonic looked at her and said, "We lost one of our buddies too. She mentioned going to the Chocolate Milk Sea. We're hoping she's still there."

Spitfire simply replied, "Oh. Well, which way is this Pie Hills? I need to find Soarin before his stomach is bigger than his head."

Sonic noticed Rainbow looking a bit disappointed that Spitfire was leaving. He looked at the gold pegasus and said, "Actually, since we're going the same way, why don't we go with you? If Soarin loves pies as much as you say he does, it wouldn't hurt to have a little help getting him under control."

Spitfire held a hoof to her chin, "Hm… It can be a little hard to separate him from a good pie…" She looked up at him and said, "All right, you got yourself a deal. Where to?" Rainbow grinned at Sonic, the blue hedgehog winking back at her.

Tails, meanwhile, was checking his radar and making the necessary adjustments in his head. He soon pointed, "That way! The Pie Hills and the Chocolate Milk Sea are in that direction!"

Spitfire said, "All right! Let's go, then!" She spread her wings and took off, Rainbow Dash following behind her. Once Spike was on Twilight's back, everyone else ran after them.

Soon…

"Oh man, look at all these pies. I figured they were big, but still…" Tails sighed, running his right hand along a huge pie tin as he walked.

"Hoo-wee, you said it right, Tails! And here Ah thought we made a lot o' pies back home," Applejack said as she looked at a nearby stack of pies.

The corners of Luna's mouth moistened with drool as she looked at a large blueberry pie off to the side. "That does look delicious…" she murmured. She shook her head and chided herself, "No! Now is not the time for indulgence!"

Spitfire spoke, "Keep an eye out for Soarin. All these pies in one place… he's got to be here!"

A voice up ahead called, "Hey, look what I found!"

Spitfire asked, "Found something already? That was- Wait, who said that?"

Tails glanced off to the side, "That sounded like Wave!" Sonic immediately took off at that, running ahead and coming to a stop next to a stack of pies, the swallow's voice sounding like it was close by.

Placing his right hand on the stack and peering around it, the hedgehog spotted Jet and Wave standing atop a small hill, Wave walking up towards Jet with an Extreme Gear in her hands. Once she was at the top, Jet asked, "That's it? That's all you managed to -" He stopped short when he noticed something on one end of the board and pointed at it, "What is that?"

Wave nearly growled, "That lunk-head left his Extreme Gear in a key lime pie! Ooh, when I get my hands on him…!"

Sonic turned his head around to see the others coming towards him. Before anyone could say anything, he raised his left finger to his lips and pointed in Jet and Wave's direction with it. He then turned his head back while the others tried to get as close as possible, all of them trying to listen. Jet spoke, "Well, at least we know Storm's nearby somewhere! He wouldn't get far without his Extreme Gear! Come on, let's keep looking!"

While trying to wipe the key lime off of Storm's board, Wave muttered, "Yeah, sure." She walked over to Jet, still trying to clean off the Extreme Gear she tuned while he pulled both of their boards out of a considerably less messy pie and set them down, both of them floating just above the ground.

"What are they doing here?" Blaze whispered.

"Sounds like Soarin's not the only one who enjoys a good pie," Sonic whispered back.

"Who are you guys talking about?" Spitfire asked in confusion.

"The Babylon Rogues. They're a racing team," Tails answered.

"Yeah, and they're not exactly nice either," Rainbow grunted.

"Really? Well, maybe I should go say something to them," Spitfire said, spreading her wings.

Cadance spoke, "Excuse me for saying so, Miss Spitfire, but I don't think you should do that." Spitfire looked at her, debating whether or not to listen to the Princess of Love.

Silver suddenly spoke, "Hey, it looks like they're leaving!" Everyone looked to see that Jet and Wave were on their Extreme Gear, both of them flying away a second later.

"That's it, they're toast!" Spitfire said, leaping off the ground with her wings still spread, flapping them and flying after the two birds.

"Hey, I'm coming too!" Rainbow called, flying after the captain despite her friends' protests. Left with no other choice, everyone quickly ran after the cyan pegasus across the pie-filled zone.

After running after them for a few minutes, the group heard the sounds of arguing nearby and came to a stop. After a quick decision, the group decided to check it out and ran off the path they had been on, heading for the top of a hill. When they reached it and looked down below, Twilight gasped, "Pinkie Pie!"

Down below them, the party pony was fighting with Soarin and Storm the Albatross over a pie, the three of them having a hand/hoof/mouth on the pie tin and trying to get it away from the other two. "Let go of it! It's mine!" Pinkie yelled.

"No, it's mine, little pony!" Storm scoffed.

"It's mine! I saw it first!" Soarin exclaimed as best he could, his mouth closed around the edge of the pie.

As they continued arguing, Silver looked at Blaze and asked, "Should we go down there?"

Blaze crossed her arms, "I'm not so sure we should get involved with this… food fight."

Vector thumped his right fist against the palm of his left hand while saying, "No need for all of us to get involved! I think I can settle this nice and…"

Before he could finish, they heard Spitfire scream, "Soarin!"

The pale blue pegasus in question froze when he heard his name being called. His eyes moved upward, where he saw his captain flapping her wings to remain where she was above him. He took his mouth off the pie; she wasn't right above him, but the look she was giving him made it feel like she was. "S-Spitfire!" he uttered.

"Ha ha, you're gonna get yelled at! And the pie is mine!" Storm gloated, thinking taking the pie from Pinkie would be easy now that Soarin had let go. Unfortunately for him, even though the pink pony only had one hoof on it, she wasn't letting go. Soarin stood stock still, still looking up at Spitfire while Storm and Pinkie fought over the pie.

That fight was soon halted when Jet, Wave, and Rainbow flew up alongside Spitfire and Jet yelled, "Storm! What do you think you're doing?!"

The albatross' teeth clenched and he let go of the pie. He turned and looked up at his fellow Babylonians, both of them with their arms crossed as they glared down at him. "B-B-Boss! W-Wave!" he stuttered.

A second later, Pinkie cheered, "Whoo-hoo! Pinkie's got the pie!" She then turned and bounced away with the pie sitting atop her cotton candy mane.

Almost immediately, Soarin and Storm looked at Pinkie and forgot about the possible punishments they expected to receive and started chasing after her. "Hey, come back here!" Storm yelled.

"Give me back my pie!" Soarin exclaimed. Spitfire, Jet, and Wave tried to get Soarin and Storm to return to attention, but now they were too focused on chasing the bouncing pony to pay attention.

Up on the hill, Spike sarcastically said, "Great. That didn't help at all."

Cadance held a hoof to her chin, "Perhaps if I use my spell on them, they'll calm down."

Luna suggested, "Or perhaps the Royal Canterlot Voice…"

Celestia said, "Those are both good ideas… but I think we need something that will really grab their attentions."

Sonic looked off to the side and noticed a Violet Wisp chasing a Red Wisp and a Green Wisp around, the Violet Wisp barking like a dog the entire time. He held a hand to his chin, "Hm… That gives me an idea."

Celestia looked at him, "An idea?"

Luna asked, "What do you propose, Sonic?" Sonic gestured with his hands for them to come closer and they did so, leaning down so their heads were close to his. He then started whispering in their ears and gesturing at the Wisps that were still floating around, leaving the others confused as to what he had in mind. When he was done, the three of them leaned back and Luna smiled, "Oh my, that does sound like fun!"

Celestia nodded, "Indeed. And you're sure this will work?"

Sonic replied, "As long as you two work closely together. I'm sure you two can handle it, right?" Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a moment before looking back at him and nodding with a smile.

A minute later…

"Stop bouncing around like that!" Storm yelled, now very frustrated. No matter what he did, Pinkie Pie always managed to bounce out of his reach, especially now when he was getting winded. Rainbow Dash stood beside the others, having joined them to watch this scene play out.

"Mm… Nope!" Pinkie chimed, still bouncing around in a circle with the pie still perfectly balanced on her mane.

Soarin panted, "How can she keep this up for so long? Ugh, what I wouldn't give for a bit of relief right now…" As if in response, a wind started blowing past the Wonderbolt. "Ah… That's not much, but it sure feels nice," he sighed.

After a few seconds, the wind began to pick up, unnaturally so. It even caused Pinkie Pie to stop and look around, Soarin and Storm doing the same. Suddenly a booming, familiar-sounding voice spoke, "YOU LITTLE FOALS! YOU DISPLEASE ME WITH YOUR QUARRELING AND REFUSAL TO SHARE WITH ONE ANOTHER!" As everyone looked around, a familiar black mare flew up from behind a stack of pies and grinned down at Pinkie, Storm, and Soarin, "I HAD THOUGHT ABOUT SIMPLY EATING THESE PIES, BUT INSTEAD, PERHAPS I WILL SIMPLY EAT YOU!"

Pinkie screamed, "AAAAAAHHHHHHH! NIGHTMARE MOON!" Soarin and Storm screamed as well, Soarin because he remembered being told the tale of Nightmare Moon when he was a colt and Storm because the Mare in the Moon's sudden appearance and statement terrified him. The others, though not all of them, looked on in shock at what they were seeing.

Jet angrily shook a fist at Nightmare Moon, "Try to eat my teammate, will you?! I'm gonna…!" He stopped short when he noticed something violet forming in front of the mare's hooves. "What's she doing?" he asked.

Suddenly, a void formed in front of Nightmare Moon, a scary face outlined in yellow on its surface and cobalt blue around the outside of it. "That looks like the lightless black! Jet, move it!" Wave exclaimed. The two of them quickly turned and flew behind part of the ground that was sticking straight up and peered around it. Wave called, "Storm, get over here!"

The albatross turned and started to run towards his fellow rogues, Soarin and Pinkie deciding to do the same, the forgotten pie flying towards Nightmare Moon and disappearing into the void. "Hey, we'd better take cover too!" Tails exclaimed, everybody jumping down from the hill and running for cover behind stable parts of the ground that were sticking up, Spitfire joining them.

Pinkie, Storm, and Soarin were just about to reach the others when, suddenly, the pull from the black hole became stronger and it started to pull them backwards! Panicking, they all tried to dig themselves into the ground, Soarin and Pinkie planting their hooves into it and Storm punching handles to grab onto into it. But they could still feel the pull from Nightmare Moon's black hole behind them, and they didn't know how long they could hold on. "Soarin, you're a Wonderbolt for crying out loud! Put those wings to work!" Spitfire yelled.

The pale blue pegasus spread his wings and started flapping them, trying to push himself away from Nightmare Moon's pull. But he barely started moving forward before a cobalt blue aura wrapped around him, Pinkie, and Storm and started pulling them backwards! "I can't move…!" Soarin whimpered.

Suddenly, a bright yellow aura wrapped around him, Storm, and Pinkie, seemingly negating the cobalt blue aura. Princess Celestia's voice spoke, "Fear not, my little ponies. I will protect you." Pinkie, Storm, and Soarin looked up and the others looked back to see a bright green flash, forcing them all to avert their eyes.

When they could all see again, a large, green comet-like shape was flying over all their heads, coming to a stop just in front and above the three figures huddled on the ground. They couldn't see who was under the green, but the two 'tails' behind the comet and the way they moved left little doubt as to who it was. "Luna, I command you to stop this at once!" Celestia's voice spoke from within the green comet with as much royal authority as the Sun Princess could muster.

"YOU DARE TO OPPOSE ME, SISTER?! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!" Nightmare Moon yelled, moving towards the green comet and stopping just in front of it, behind the three figures huddled on the ground. The two princesses began pushing against each other with their Wisp power, the air around them shaking as they both tried to overpower the other. The pull from the black hole began to get stronger, Pinkie, Storm, and Soarin starting to lose their grip even with Celestia's magic holding them.

It was at this moment that three fillies came trotting out into the open, still looking for the others. As she walked around the side of a blueberry pie, Sweetie Belle spotted everyone taking cover. "Hey, there they are!" she called back to her friends.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom came rushing over to her when she said that, but then all of them started to feel the pull of the void, the wind whipping around them. The three fillies covered their faces, Scootaloo yelling above the wind, "What's going on here?!"

Sweetie Belle shouted, "Some kind of… wind! It's like a tornado!"

Apple Bloom looked down as it suddenly felt like she was moving. She was, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were moving too! It really was like a tornado! She looked at the nearby pie and jumped up, locking her hooves onto the edge of the tin and yelling as loud as she could, "Grab on!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle heard her and leapt up, Scootaloo wrapping her forelegs around Apple Bloom's hind legs and Sweetie Belle doing the same with Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom had yelled a little too loudly, it seemed, since Applejack raised an eyebrow and looked back over her shoulder, her eyes widening when she saw the three fillies hanging on for dear life. "Apple Bloom!" she exclaimed.

Rarity turned to look when she heard that and she reacted much the same way as Applejack, especially since it looked like the Cutie Mark Crusaders wouldn't be able to hold on for very long. "Sweetie Belle! Oh, this plan is going so horribly wrong!" she moaned.

Rainbow had also spotted the fillies and was beginning to worry that Apple Bloom was losing her grip due to the wind picking up. Shooting a glance in the direction of Celestia and Luna, she looked back at the fillies and said, "Not gonna happen!" She spread her wings and, after fluttering them a few times, she shot straight towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Just as she was about to reach them, Apple Bloom lost her grip; not even a second later, the three fillies disappeared as Rainbow grabbed them and shot back towards her spot before her speed gave out, landing next to Spitfire with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in her forelegs.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo whispered.

"No problem, Scootaloo. Don't worry; Sonic said this shouldn't last much longer," the pegasus replied. As if to prove her point, a second later, there was a dark violet flash followed by a bright green flash, both of them causing everyone to look away even though they were behind cover. When they looked again, they could see Celestia and Luna, back in her normal form, flapping their wings as they hovered in the air, Luna holding a pie up in between them with her magic.

The Babylon Rogues, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spitfire, and Soarin looked up in confusion as the two sisters began laughing mirthfully, both acting like… well, sisters. It wasn't long before Pinkie joined in on the laughter and rolled over onto her back, seemingly getting something that some of the others didn't. "Oh, wow! That was great, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! You really had me going there!" the pink pony exclaimed.

The two alicorns fluttered down, both of them still chortling. They landed on the ground a second later, standing between Pinkie and Soarin. "Thank you, Pinkie Pie. That was rather refreshing, wasn't it?" Celestia spoke.

Luna turned to Soarin and levitated the pie over to him, holding it just above his head. "I believe you said you saw this first," she said as she cut off her magic, the pie landing between Soarin's ears as he looked up at her.

Back behind cover, Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, "Wait… what's really going on here?"

Rainbow chuckled as she set the three fillies down, "Sorry about that, kid. Pinkie and Soarin were fighting with that albatross guy over a pie and all three princesses were trying to come up with a way to get them to stop." Spitfire looked over at her in surprise at that.

As the others started coming out from behind their cover, Sweetie Belle asked, "And they didn't think to just say something loud enough to get their attention?"

Blaze walked over and explained to the fillies, "Celestia wanted to do something that would really get their attention and get them to stop. I believe she thought that speaking loudly wasn't… interesting enough."

Applejack angrily walked over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rarity right behind her, and said, "Well, Ah'm gonna be speakin' loudly right now! Just what do you three think you're doin' here?!"

Rarity stepped up beside her and added, "And after we told you not to come here and Princess Celestia agreed with us!"

The three fillies huddled together nervously, especially Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "Uh-oh…" Apple Bloom whispered.

While Applejack and Rarity started arguing with Rainbow Dash about giving the fillies a talking to and Blaze and Silver tried to calm them all down, Spitfire flew over to Soarin. The pale blue pegasus looked up at her, grinning nervously as he lay on his stomach on the ground. "Uh… hi, Spitfire?" he smiled.

Spitfire continued to look down at him angrily as she landed in front of him and said, "Don't give me that innocent look, Soarin! I told you we needed to stick together until we figured out where we were, but you deliberately took off on me! And for what, free pies? If you'd just restrained yourself a little longer, we both could've looked for them and not gotten separated!"

Any more words the team captain had to say were stopped when a loud shout filled the air. It was so loud that even Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack stopped arguing. Everyone looked and saw Jet stomping over to Storm with his Extreme Gear under his right arm, Wave following behind him while carrying both her and Storm's Extreme Gear under her left arm. When he was standing in front of his teammate, Jet angrily yelled, "Storm, you idiot! This is what you disappeared for?! To get a pie?! If you were looking for treasure, maybe I could forgive it, but this?!"

The gray albatross shot up into a sitting position and held his hands up, sputtering, "B-Boss, I… I didn't mean to… I mean…"

Wave put her right hand on Jet's shoulder, saying, "Jet, just calm down."

The hawk nearly burst a vein as he turned to her and screamed, "No! He disappears, makes me miss a chance to settle the score with Sonic, and we end up being played for fools by two 'princesses' just so he can get a pie?! And that's not counting all the time we wasted just looking for him!"

Wave asked, "Aren't you overreacting?"

Jet answered, "Overreacting?! Storm wasn't listening to me earlier and those two decided to have fun with their lame prank! Nobody gets to make light of me like that, NOBODY!" He turned to look at Sonic and pointed at him, "I won't stand for this disgrace! Just for that, we are going to race right now, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Before Sonic could say anything or Celestia could try to rectify the situation, Pinkie popped up right next to Jet, wrapping a hoof around his shoulders and saying, "Aw, don't be such a mean meanie pants, Jet-ski! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were just having fun! It's fun to be scared sometimes! Don't you know that?" Before Jet could reply, Pinkie let him go, moving so swiftly that the hawk dropped his Extreme Gear and spun in a circle a few times, and dropped to all fours, grinning, "And there's one thing that's even better than that!" She took off running again, leaving a cloud of dust behind as she yelled, "CHOCOLATE MILK!"

As Jet stopped spinning, Twilight called, "Pinkie!"

Sonic turned away from the direction Pinkie had run off in, looking at Jet as the green hawk shook his head and placed his left hand on his forehead. "Looks like you'll have to find another outlet for your anger. See ya, Jet!" With that, he turned and ran after Pinkie Pie, Tails soon following him while spinning his tails.

"H-Hey, wait!" Jet yelled while holding out his right hand in Sonic's direction.

"Oh dear…" Blaze sighed as she and Silver started after the duo.

Applejack spoke, "C'mon, y'all! We'd better go too!" Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Spike all nodded. As Twilight lifted Spike onto her back, Applejack turned to Apple Bloom and her friends and said, in a no-nonsense tone, "And now that we know y'all are here, you're comin' too!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly nodded, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle climbing up on their sisters' backs while Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo in her forelegs. Along with Shining Armor and Cadance, they then hurried to catch up with the others.

"Hey, what's this all about?" Wave questioned.

"Where are you all going?!" Jet yelled.

Espio passed by him, turning his head to look at him and saying, "We have better things to do right now. One of them is making sure our friend Pinkie Pie is okay." He then faced forward and ran after the others.

As he walked past him, Vector smirked at Jet, "Looks like it's time you learned a little patience, you little brat." He then hurried after Espio, Celestia and Luna spreading their wings and flying after him.

Jet yelled, "What?! Why, that overgrown handbag! First… and now…! Argh, that's it!" He flipped his Extreme Gear over, the board hovering just above the ground.

Wave turned to Storm (who had stood up by this time) and shifted her Extreme Gear to her right arm, holding the albatross' board out to him as she said, "Here, Storm, I brought your Extreme Gear. And you're cleaning it off yourself if you want any more maintenance done on it!"

Storm groaned as he took it, "Aw, come on, Wave…" The swallow didn't respond; she simply set up her Extreme Gear and stepped on it, both her and Jet taking off after the group, Storm getting on his Extreme Gear and following them after a few seconds.

Spitfire turned to Soarin and said, "Come on, Soarin, we're going too! They helped me find you; I'm going to return the favor!" She spread her wings and took off, flying after the Babylon Rogues.

Soarin cried, "H-Hey! Wait up, Spitfire!" He stood up and, while trying to keep the pie balanced on his head, spread his wings and flew after her, unaware that the Red Wisp that had wandered off earlier was following behind him.

Soon…

Pinkie Pie grinned as she reached the end of the frosting-covered canyon trench, coming upon a large beach that had Skittles, M&M's, and various other small candies littering it instead of sand. She didn't care about the candies or the two cake-like ledges along the sides, though; what had her attention was what awaited her at the shore: the Chocolate Milk Sea. As soon as she saw it, she stopped bouncing and opened her mouth, letting her tongue dangle out. She then rushed towards the shore, too focused on the chocolate milk to pay any attention whatsoever when a loud noise broke the silence on the beach…

Sonic heard a loud scream as he exited the canyon trench and looked straight ahead. He saw an explosion of candies being scattered, what looked like a cannonball wedged into the ground at that spot, and a familiar pink pony flying backwards from the other end of the beach. "Pinkie!" Sonic yelled, immediately dashing towards her. He held out his arms as they got closer, catching Pinkie and sliding to a stop as soon as he had her. He looked down at the pony in his arms, "Are you okay?"

As Tails and the others exited the canyon and started making their way over, Pinkie shook her head and looked up at him, "Wowie, Sonic! I sure am glad to see you! That big boom TOTALLY surprised me! If you hadn't caught me, I'd sure have a big bump on the old Pinkie coconut!"

Sonic smirked down at her. "Heh, she's okay," he thought to himself.

Tails, Blaze, and Silver came running up behind Sonic with the others not far behind and stood at his sides, Tails on his right and Blaze at his left, Silver standing to Blaze's right. Tails and Blaze looked down at Pinkie, relieved to see that she was okay, but it was broken when Silver exclaimed, "Look! What's that?!" After Sonic set Pinkie down, they, along with Blaze and Tails, looked where Silver was pointing, out on the Chocolate Milk Sea, as everyone else caught up and stood at their sides and/or behind them, also looking to see what was coming (Soarin doing so while finishing off the last of his pie).

Out in the middle of the sea (as far as the group could see), from behind a rock structure that looked like it was made entirely out of chocolate, a galleon was floating into view, two of the cannons on the side already visible. The rest of the ship soon appeared and everyone could see that it had various candies covering it. As they watched, a robot with a rocket thruster in place of its legs flew up from the ship, flying about halfway to the shore before stopping. While holding up a lollipop in its left hand, it spoke, "ARR, WHAT HAVE WE HERE? MORE NOSY TRESPASSERS, THIS TIME ON CAPTAIN JELLY'S TERRITORY!"

Vector groaned, "What a surprise. Of course Eggman would have a cheesy robot pirate to guard the waters of his candy land."

Captain Jelly heard him and, while pointing his lollipop down at Vector, said, "STILL YOUR TONGUE, YOU LEATHERHEAD! I'VE KEELHAULED FOR LESS THAN THAT!"

Sonic looked at Blaze and shrugged, "Geez, it hasn't even been five minutes and already this guy's pirate shtick is worse than Captain Whisker's."

Blaze replied, "Perhaps that's not the only thing that's worse about him."

Captain Jelly yelled, "I HEARD THAT, YOU SEA RATS! YOU DARE MOCK THE GREAT CAPTAIN JELLY?! I'LL TEACH YE A LESSON!" He looked back at his ship and ordered, "FIRE THE CANNONS! SEND THEM TO DAVY JONES' LOCKER ROOM!" At his command, three of the cannons on the galleon aimed upwards and fired. Most of the group members quickly saw that the cannonballs would be right on top of them when they hit.

Storm exclaimed, "Wah! Boss, what do we do?!"

Before Jet could respond, Shining Armor said, "Don't panic! I'll use my force field to keep those cannonballs from reaching us!"

While crossing his arms, Espio spoke, "There's no need for that. Allow me." He then uncrossed his arms, now holding three throwing stars in each hand. Eying the cannonballs for a moment, he suddenly threw his stars, the bladed projectiles spinning as they flew through the air. Two hit and got stuck in each cannonball at the highest point of their shot; just as they were about to start coming down, the throwing stars exploded, taking the cannonballs with them! Shining Armor looked at Espio in surprise, the chameleon calmly saying, "Exploding throwing stars. I always keep them handy."

Captain Jelly growled, "ARR, YE BE QUITE CLEVER INDEED! BUT LET'S SEE HOW WELL YE FARE AGAINST THIS!" He held his lollipop out in front of him and swung it downwards. At this motion, the cannons on the galleon aimed towards the water and started firing, raising chocolate milk splashes into the air. Even as far back as the group was standing, the soon rapid fire from the cannons sent chocolate milk flying in their direction, forcing everyone to cover their eyes… except for Pinkie Pie, who had her mouth open as she tried to catch as much chocolate milk as she could. Even if the Babylon Rogues, Spitfire, and Soarin had put on their goggles, they wouldn't have been able to see through the shower of chocolate milk to see what Captain Jelly was doing.

After the chocolate rain stopped and they could see again, everyone could see that there were several long lines of Egg Pawns at the other end of the beach. Looking up, they could see Buzzers and Captain Jelly's crewmates dropping off more. After a moment, Captain Jelly flew back to his ship while saying, "DESTROY THEM, ALL OF THEM!"

As the Egg Pawns started shifting, one of them said, "AFFIRMATIVE. ACQUIRING TARGETS…"

Fluttershy squeaked, "T-That's a lot of r-robots…"

Vector grunted, "He thinks he can throw numbers at us to take us down? He's got to be kidding."

While pulling out his Bashyo fans, Jet said, "Destroy us? Please! Like I'm gonna get beaten by some oversized toasters!"

Spitfire glanced at him, "Save your energy, bird boy! This is the kind of thing that even us Wonderbolts are trained to deal with!"

Wave pulled out a large wrench and tossed it up and down in her right hand as she said, "I'm sure you are. You've really got the whole drill sergeant act down."

Espio spoke, "Enough of your squabbling! It is time for action!" As he said that, the Egg Pawns finished identifying their targets and started charging towards the group, the ones carrying blasters opening fire as they ran.

Sonic grinned as he, Tails, Silver, Blaze, Espio, Vector, and the Babylon Rogues moved to intercept them head-on, "Time to party!"

Pinkie perked up, "Party?! Where?!"

Applejack looked at her, "It's a figure o' speech, Pinkie!" The party pony looked a little disappointed at that, but she quickly shrugged it off.

Spike and the ponies stayed back for the moment, Shining, Cadance, and Spitfire staring after Sonic and the others with looks of surprise on their faces. Soarin, surprisingly, looked excited at this action. He smiled at Spitfire, "I like these guys already." Spitfire stared at him for a moment before the pale blue pegasus said, "Come on, Spitfire! Let's get this show on the road!" His captain narrowed her eyes at his words and nodded with a smile, both of them spreading their wings and taking to the air.

Shining looked back at his wife, "You'd better stay back, Cadance. I can't promise you I'll be able to protect you at all times in the middle of battle." Cadance looked worried at the thought of her husband going into battle in front of her, especially without his armor, but she nodded to him.

Applejack spoke, "That goes for you, yer friends, and Spike too, Apple Bloom. Y'all are stayin' outta this."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked ready to protest, but Spike beat them to it, "What?! Why do we have to stay off on the side?! What about when we dealt with the changelings and all that?!"

Twilight said, "Those were different circumstances, Spike. There weren't a lot of other options available." She looked back at Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus still cowering on the ground. "Besides, it looks like Fluttershy is sitting this one out too, and somepony needs to look after her in case any of those robots decide to go after her or Cadance," she added.

Protests started to flare up again, but Applejack silenced them with a simple reminder, "Some o' y'all are already in enough trouble, and Ah fer one don't wanna have any reason to make it worse." Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo immediately stopped talking at that and they all scurried up onto the ledge on the left, Spike reluctantly following them along with Cadance after she picked up Fluttershy with her magic. The remainder of the Main Six, Shining Armor, Celestia, and Luna then moved forward to help their friends out.

Up on the ledge, after setting her down, Cadance patted Fluttershy on the head reassuringly, looking down at her for a moment before looking out towards the skirmish below. "Please be careful, everypony…" she thought to herself. She remained focused on the battle, occasionally reassuring Fluttershy but not noticing the Cutie Mark Crusaders sneaking off along the ledge with Spike following them.

Down below, Sonic and Rainbow Dash were literally trying to stay on top of the situation, Sonic using Homing Attacks on any nearby Egg Pawns to stay up while Rainbow flew around the field, slamming into any robots in her path. Shining Armor and Vector briefly saw Rainbow fly over them and felt the wind created from Sonic jumping over them from the side as they fought alongside each other. Vector was relying on his fists while Shining fired magic shots from his horn at the Egg Pawns. "Bet you don't see this kind of action in the Royal Guard, do you, Shiny?" Vector questioned.

While firing magic at several Egg Pawns, the white stallion replied, "This is the kind of thing I was trained to lead soldiers against. I know what to expect in a battle situation, though I never thought I'd get involved in this kind of thing." He looked over at the crocodile, "Though I suppose it's not all that unusual for you?"

Vector smirked, "This is more Sonic's thing. I'll help if I have to, but I usually prefer getting a little money out of it. Of course, this is a special occasion."

Before Shining could ask what he meant, he noticed an Egg Pawn running up behind Vector. At the same time, the crocodile could see an Egg Pawn carrying a wick rushing towards the stallion's other side, where he couldn't see it. "BEHIND YOU!" they both shouted as Shining turned and ran behind Vector, bucking the Egg Pawn in the chest while the crocodile breathed fire at the other one. They both looked at each other afterward and said "Thanks" before getting back into the battle.

Elsewhere, Espio and Luna were under fire by the Egg Pawns that were carrying blasters. Espio was able to deflect a few shots by holding up a pair of kunai daggers, but he was forced to drop down when a shot was aimed for his head while Luna dodged around the shots aimed at her. After backing out of the way of one that flew past her front, she looked up and noticed something on the ledge off to the right. It looked like a giant bowl of sprinkles containing all the colors of the rainbow. Glancing back down at the Egg Pawns, she turned and fired a beam at the bowl while saying, "Taste the rainbow, Egg Pawns!"

The cobalt beam from Luna's horn hit the side of the bowl and knocked it off the ledge, sending the colorful confections flying. Many of them landed on the Egg Pawns, some of them covering their optics, causing them to panic. One of the Egg Pawns exclaimed, "I CAN ONLY SEE A HORRIBLE RAINBOW!"

Espio stood up and looked back at Luna, saying, "Nice going, Princess Luna. Allow me now." The Lunar Princess nodded, so Espio turned back to the Egg Pawns, who were just recovering from the surprise rainbow shower. He eyed them for a moment before pulling out several throwing stars. He then threw them at the robots, the projectiles exploding a moment later and taking out quite a few Egg Pawns.

When the smoke cleared, Espio and Luna saw they had a little breathing room and turned to look over the rest of the battle. They saw Applejack bump an Egg Pawn that was rushing at her in the chest with her side and then flip it over her back. Not far away from her, Rarity used a jump kick to send an Egg Pawn's head flying while Pinkie caught one with her party cannon and pointed it straight up, firing the robot straight up into the air before it fell down and exploded, Pinkie having moved her cannon while it was up. As they turned back, Soarin flew over Espio and Luna's heads, delivering a flying kick to a stray Egg Pawn and destroying it. The two shared a smirk with the pale blue pegasus before they jumped back into the fight.

On the other side of the beach, Twilight and Silver slid to a stop while running, turning around to face the Egg Pawns behind them. Working quickly, Silver created a Psychic Knife with his hands while Twilight used her magic to form her newly-dubbed Mystic Blade. Once they were ready, both Twilight and Silver sent their attacks flying horizontally, the blades slicing through the robots' insides and causing them to explode. The two flashed a smile at each other while, behind them, Blaze dashed by with fire surrounding her left arm, Celestia right behind her with her horn glowing yellow.

Twilight looked forward again and gasped, "Silver, look out!" The silver hedgehog looked and then they both dropped down, Jet flying over them with his Bashyo fans held out at his sides. They both stood up afterwards, looking back at Jet and wondering what he was thinking.

They didn't have to wait long to find out as the green hawk began drifting on his board as he neared a squad of Egg Pawns, slashing them with his Bashyo fans before breaking out of his drift and heading for another Egg Pawn. As he went from one to the next, he yelled, "Yeah, who wants some?! You want some?!"

While Jet took out another one, an Egg Pawn with a blaster raised its weapon and aimed for the hawk's back. Storm saw what the robot was planning to do and took off in Jet's direction, fully prepared to protect his boss. As the Egg Pawn squeezed the trigger, Storm pulled his board up underneath him and called, "Boss, look out!" Jet turned to look and saw Storm get in front of him, the Egg Pawn's shot hitting the underside of the albatross' Extreme Gear. Almost immediately afterwards, Storm flew towards the Egg Pawn and took it out with a single punch.

As she flew by, Wave shouted, "Don't use my Gear as a shield!" She then faced forward and swung her wrench like a club back and forth, sending Egg Pawns flying. Up above her, on the left ledge, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were carrying a large candy cane over to a large jawbreaker.

Once they were standing next to it, Spike stuck the long end into the frosting-covered ledge, underneath the jawbreaker, and ran to the other end, where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were trying to apply enough force to knock the jawbreaker loose. Once he reached them, Spike said, "Wait!" The three fillies stopped jumping up and down on the candy cane and looked at him. "Let's do it all at once! That should do the trick!" he explained. The three fillies looked at each other for a moment before nodding to him.

Spike hopped up on the candy cane next to Sweetie Belle before looking at the fillies and saying, "All right, all together on three! Ready?" They nodded and readied themselves as he counted, "One… Two… Three!" At three, they all jumped up and landed on the candy cane at the same time. As they pushed down, the other end of the candy cane lifted up, sending the jawbreaker rolling off of the ledge!

Down below, Wave just noticed the jawbreaker as it came rolling towards her, flattening Egg Pawns as it rolled. She barely managed to move her Extreme Gear out of the way, stopping in midair and turning to see the jawbreaker crushing a couple more Egg Pawns before rolling towards the Chocolate Milk Sea. She looked up as Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheered, "Strike!"

Their moment was cut short when Wave, while shaking her fist, yelled, "You shrimps hit my board and I'll be sure to strike YOU!" Turning away, she grumbled to herself while shaking her head.

Soarin and Storm saw and heard the whole thing, both of them hovering in the air next to each other nearby. Soarin turned to Storm a moment later and, while pointing a hoof at Wave, asked, "Wow, she's touchy, huh?"

Storm replied, "Believe me, the Boss and I could tell you stories…"

Not far away, Spitfire was kicking away Egg Pawns while using her wings to stay up. After kicking one away, however, another one got up behind her and caught her in a lock, both of its arms under Spitfire's forelegs and its hands on the back of her neck as she struggled to get free.

While she was trying to break out, Tails leapt onto the Egg Pawn's back and reached over its head, grabbing Spitfire's goggles and pulling them off her head. He then brought his arms back and put the goggles around the Egg Pawn's head, stretching them out and letting them snap back, hitting the robot in the optics. While the Egg Pawn was reeling from the sudden move, Spitfire got free and Tails pulled her goggles off of it; Spitfire then joined him behind the robot and they both kicked it away.

Spitfire smirked at Tails afterwards, "Nice move just now, kid."

Tails replied, "It's Tails, ma'am. Here, let me fix that for you." He reached up and (gently) put the captain's goggles back on. He looked off to the side afterwards and noticed the Red Wisp from earlier coming towards them, the little guy having finally caught up to them. "Hey, look!" he pointed.

Spitfire looked and raised an eyebrow, "What the…? Is that an alien?" Suddenly, the Red Wisp leapt towards her, disappearing into her chest. "Hey, what's it doing?!" she exclaimed.

Tails explained, "It's all right, Spitfire! The Wisps do that when they want to lend their Hyper-go-on energy to someone! And the Red Wisp literally has a fiery personality."

Spitfire spread her wings and held herself up on her hind legs as she looked down at herself, noticing red, ember-like energy beginning to surround her. She soon smirked, "Is that so? Well, it's a good thing I had this suit fireproofed then!" She looked up at Tails and grinned as she felt the energy beginning to flow through her, "Because I'm gonna melt these tin cans down and pour them on some horseshoes!" She then turned and took to the sky as flames began to surround her. Tails could swear she looked like a phoenix rising up from the ground.

Sonic looked up and saw the pegasus flying overhead, the flames now surrounding her completely. He looked down and yelled as loud as he could, "Heads up, everyone! There's a firestorm coming!" Even though they didn't all get what he was saying or hear him, they all did look up and notice Spitfire flying above the beach, flames beginning to build up around her.

Blaze, Twilight, and Shining Armor immediately jumped into action. Blaze, Sonic, and Tails ran over to Espio, Silver, Vector, and Luna, Blaze putting up a flame shield around them all. Twilight teleported over to her friends, Celestia, and Soarin and used her magic to create a force field, hoping it would be strong enough. Shining Armor, meanwhile, did the same with Fluttershy, Cadance, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The Babylon Rogues, however, ignored Sonic's calls to join the group under Blaze's protection and simply flew towards where they entered the beach from, away from the center of the beach.

After about a few seconds, Spitfire turned and flew at an angle down towards the ground, flames still gathering around her as she went down like a bomb. As soon as she hit the ground, she burst into an explosion of fire, the flames roasting the whole beach except for what was under Blaze's flame shield as well as Twilight and Shining Armor's force fields, both siblings' fields buckling and cracking a bit under the heat and pressure.

When the flames cleared, Spitfire was standing completely unharmed in the middle of the beach, the Red Wisp floating out of her chest, and all the remaining Egg Pawns on the beach melted down into molten metal. Near the entrance to the beach, even though the Babylon Rogues themselves hadn't been hit by the flames, Wave's eyes widened as she saw that all three Extreme Gears had been scorched somewhat, Jet's and Storm's Extreme Gears in particular since they held them up to protect themselves.

After Spitfire said goodbye to the Red Wisp, Blaze called her flames back to her and Twilight and Shining Armor made their force fields disappear. Soarin was the first to move, flying over to Spitfire to check on his captain. After he was sure she was as okay as she seemed to be, the others, except for the Babylon Rogues, started coming over, Shining, Cadance, Fluttershy, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming down from the ledge. Before they could reach the two Wonderbolts, however, Captain Jelly chimed in from his ship, using what sounded like a megaphone to project his voice, "ARRR, YOU LOT ARE A LOT MORE DURABLE THAN I THOUGHT!"

Luna murmured, "Oh. It would appear we forgot something."

Rainbow yelled, "Hey pal, we smashed all your toys! Why don't come over here so we can smash you too?!"

Captain Jelly laughed, "YAR HAR HAR! YE BE A FOOL IF YE THINK ME ROBOTS WERE ALL I HAD ONBOARD! DON'T FORGET HOW I SNUCK THEM ALL IN FRONT OF YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Silver groaned, "Oh, shoot! We forgot his ship had cannons too!"

Captain Jelly said, "AND NOW THAT MISTAKE WILL COST YE! ALL PORT CANNONS, TAKE AIM!" At his order, the cannons on the side of the ship all aimed towards the beach. "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY JONES WHEN YE SEE HIM!" Captain Jelly mocked.

As he was about to give the order to fire, something suddenly struck him in the side of the face, knocking him onto his side. As he collected himself, a new voice could be heard through the megaphone, "I don't think so, mate! You no-good pirate, this sheila won't let you get away with this!"

Even though she couldn't clearly see what was happening on the deck of the galleon, Blaze could recognize that voice and that accent anywhere. "Marine?!" she gasped.

Sonic groaned and shrugged, "Where'd she come from THIS time?!"

On the ship, Captain Jelly recovered and looked at Marine with angry eyes. He ordered, "CREW, DEAL WITH THOSE LANDLUBBERS! THIS ONE'S ALL MINE!" At his command, his crew flew up off the ship towards the shore while Captain Jelly raised his lollipop towards Marine.

Back on the beach, Blaze growled, "I've… got to help her!" She dashed forward, towards the chocolate milk.

Silver held out his hand as he called, "Blaze, wait!" But it wasn't enough; the cat kept running until she reached the edge of the chocolate milk, at which point she was surrounded by flames and vanished, reappearing on top of one of the crewmates that wasn't far from the shore. She then disappeared again, 'leaping' from one crewmate to the next as she made her way towards Captain Jelly's galleon.

Applejack groaned, "That girl's gonna get herself hurt like that. Ah don't deny she's powerful, but she shouldn't be jumpin' in by herself like that!"

Tails said, "She's got the right idea, though. If we were all on that ship at once, we'd probably end up getting in each other's way. But if we go a few at a time, we should be able to take care of Captain Jelly and his crew quickly!"

Applejack asked, "Well, fine, but how are we supposed to get on that thing anyhow? Not all of us can fly, after all!"

Sonic said, "Well, I'm sure Twilight can teleport a few of us onto it now, and then Silver can make a bridge for the rest of you once jell-o boy's crew is taken care of."

Silver looked at him, "A bridge? What do you…? Oh, you mean like back at the volcano! Yeah, I can do that, as long as Rainbow Dash can make a long enough trail to reach that ship!"

Rainbow gave him a salute, "Don't worry, Silver! I can do that in ten seconds flat!"

Before anyone else could say anything, Captain Jelly's crewmates reached the beach and they started diving towards the group, forcing everyone to move. They weren't able to get very far due to the crewmates getting in their way, all of them seemingly ready to get blown up to stop the heroes. Sonic kicked one away and then turned to Twilight, asking, "Hey Twilight, do you think you can teleport me, your brother, and yourself onto that ship from here? These things should be a cakewalk for the others, and the three of us can go help Blaze out!"

The lavender unicorn replied, "I think so!" She turned to Shining Armor and asked, "Shining, did you hear that?"

The Captain of the Royal Guard answered, "Yeah, I did, Twiley! If you're wondering… yeah, I'll go along with Sonic's plan!" He turned to Cadance and said, "Cadance, stay with your aunts; they'll keep you safe! Once things quiet down over here, come join us on the ship!" Cadance nodded to him, knowing he would be fine after watching him fight earlier. She hurried over to Celestia and Luna while Shining and Sonic ran over to Twilight. As soon as they reached her, the lavender unicorn closed her eyes and focused her magic into her horn, a bright flash causing the three of them to disappear a moment later, leaving the others to deal with Captain Jelly's crew.

They reappeared a second later on the deck of the galleon, the three of them looking around to see where they had ended up. They quickly figured it out when Marine hit the ground near them, the raccoon having been thrown on her back. She looked up a moment later and, upon seeing Sonic, said, "Oy, Sonic! You're here too, mate?"

The hedgehog answered, "I sure am, Marine, and so is Tails. We'll catch up later, though. Where's Blaze?" Marine pushed herself up and pointed, Sonic, Shining, and Twilight looking to see Blaze battling with Captain Jelly near the middle of the ship, the captain holding up his lollipop to defend himself. "First he throws Marine, now he's using a stick to protect himself? He's just a regular ball of sunshine, isn't he?" Sonic commented.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, "Get him?"

Both Sonic and Shining nodded, "Get him." With that, the three of them ran towards Blaze and Captain Jelly while Marine snuck off to the side of the ship.

After using his lollipop to push Blaze backwards, the cat sliding back towards the port side railing and using her hands to stop herself before she hit it, Captain Jelly turned to see Sonic coming towards him. The robot swung his lollipop down at the hedgehog, but Sonic planted his feet on the deck and slid towards him, jumping up before the confectionary could hit him and landed on top of it. Captain Jelly panicked at the sight of the blue hedgehog on his lollipop and lifted it up with his hands, shaking it and trying to get the blue hedgehog to let go, Sonic hanging on by wrapping both hands around the stick.

When Twilight and Shining Armor were a little closer, Sonic let go of the lollipop and leapt up onto the back of the ship, temporarily throwing Captain Jelly off-balance. Twilight then came to a stop and channeled her magic into her horn, wrapping it around the lollipop and trying to pull it towards her. Again, Captain Jelly wrapped his hands around the stick and tried to hold onto it. He was so focused on his lollipop he didn't see Shining still coming and ended up taking the full hit when the stallion tackled him into the wall at the back of ship, Twilight releasing her magic grip on his lollipop. After Shining backed off, Captain Jelly floated away from the wall, only to be kicked from the side by Blaze towards the starboard side of the galleon. While he was still disoriented, Sonic leapt down from the back and delivered a Homing Attack, knocking the robot up against the starboard side railing.

Shaking his head, Captain Jelly looked to see the four of them crowding around him, ready to attack him if he tried to move. Beyond them, it looked like one of their friends was forming a rainbow and another was flying towards his ship, most of his crewmates now scrap metal. The situation looked pretty grim for him… until Marine suddenly leapt from the starboard railing towards him, landing on his backside and grabbing onto the back of his head! "Gotcha now, ya shiny jerk! You're finished now!" she cried as she started pounding her fists on his head, trying to 'finish' him off.

"Get away from there, Marine!" Blaze yelled as she dashed forward, flames already curling around her right arm. Despite the annoying pounding, Captain Jelly was able to put Marine to good use, ducking his head when Blaze was closer and putting the raccoon directly in the way. While Blaze hesitated, Captain swung his head up and clobbered her with his lollipop, sending her crashing into Twilight, both of them ending up in a heap on the ship's deck.

Sonic and Shining Armor glared at Captain Jelly, both of them charging him. Again, though, the robot captain used Marine against them, putting her in their path as they were about to attack and forcing them to stop. "Marine, we've got to take this guy out!" Sonic exclaimed.

Marine looked up at him and asked, "What do ya think I'm doing here, mate?!" Before either Sonic or Shining could respond, Captain Jelly engaged his rocket booster, shooting forward and causing Marine to let out a startled, "Crikey!" The robot bowled both of them over, Shining hitting the ground near the port side railing and Sonic crashing into a collection of barrels near the back of the ship. As the hedgehog recovered from the rough landing and hitting a few barrels, he noticed that the barrels were hiding something interesting…

Out over the Chocolate Milk Sea, Tails was flying ahead towards the galleon while Rainbow and Silver worked together to make a bridge to it for all the non-flyers and Vector, Espio, and Applejack mopped up the last of Captain Jelly's crew. As he got closer, he could see Shining, Twilight, and Blaze recovering from being attacked and Marine still trying to hold onto Captain Jelly's head as he hovered in place and tried to use his lollipop to force her off of him. Suddenly, Sonic leapt out of the barrels where he had landed, once again going for the captain.

Unfortunately, Captain Jelly saw him coming and, upon noticing that Marine had stopped trying to hold on so tightly, gave a strong upwards jerk with his lollipop, sending the raccoon flying! She ended up hitting Sonic in midair, her back coming into contact with his legs and throwing his trajectory off. Marine fell to the deck shortly afterwards, but Sonic kept going, though it looked like had some trouble righting himself.

Tails paused in midair, the rainbow bridge connecting with the ship as he watched what happened next. Captain Jelly launched himself towards Marine, but came to a stop halfway as Sonic went over his head and turned around, gripping his lollipop in both hands and swinging it like a baseball bat. The confectionary came into direct contact with Sonic and sent him flying over the starboard side of the ship! "Oh no, Sonic!" both Tails and Blaze exclaimed, the former hurriedly flying the rest of the way to the ship as the others started making their way over to it.

As Tails reached the ship, Captain Jelly grabbed Marine, who had fallen on her face, and pulled her back towards him, wrapping his left arm around her to keep her close while he held his lollipop in front of him defensively, hovering above the group in front of the starboard side railing. Tails landed on the deck of the ship while Twilight, Blaze, and Shining Armor stood up. "We've got to help Sonic!" Blaze growled.

"We've got to help Marine too!" Shining argued.

Tails spoke, "We've got to help them both quick! Sonic can't swim!"

Twilight's eyes widened and she looked at Tails, "He can't WHAT?!"

Before anyone could say anything else, Captain Jelly laughed, "THAT'S RIGHT, YOU LANDLUBBERS! THAT BLUE RAT IS MEETING HIS FATE AS WE SPEAK! NOW YOU'D BETTER STAND DOWN AND TELL YOUR CREW TO STAY OFF OF MY SHIP, OR SHE'LL BE NEXT!" He indicated Marine, the raccoon struggling to get free at that. Tails, Shining, Blaze, and Twilight gritted their teeth; behind them, their companions were getting closer to the galleon.

Suddenly, there was a loud splash behind Captain Jelly as a jet of chocolate milk shot up into the air, hiding whatever caused it from view. As it began to settle, a familiar voice said, "Guess again, Captain 'No Legs'!" Captain Jelly looked back over his shoulder to see, as the chocolate milk parted, Sonic shooting up out of the dairy!

"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW?!" he exclaimed.

As a Yellow Wisp popped out of his chest, Sonic grinned, "What, you jelly?" Captain Jelly glared at the hedgehog, but that ended up costing him, as Twilight and Shining Armor both fired a single magic shot at him, the former hitting his left arm and the latter managing to hit the side of his face. As he turned back to look at them, Sonic made his move, curling up into a ball and launching a Homing Attack at the captain's back. He was so surprised that he let go of Marine and fell face first onto the deck, dropping his lollipop.

Blaze quickly got under Marine and caught her in her arms. She looked down at the young raccoon, "Are you all right, Marine?" Marine nodded in confirmation; Blaze then looked at Sonic and asked, "Do you have a plan?"

Sonic nodded, "Yep, but we're going to need some heavy hitters to pull it off!" He pointed to the barrels near the back of the ship, "Tails, Twilight! Those barrels are hiding some Wisps! They should come in handy, right?" They nodded and hurried over to the barrels to find the Wisps.

While they were doing that, Blaze set Marine down and said, "Marine, I want the cannons on the starboard set up! We'll worry about aiming them later; just have them ready!"

As she ran, Marine saluted, "Aye aye, Blaze!"

It took Captain Jelly a minute to reboot after that surprise attack, but when he did, he looked up to see Sonic, Twilight, and most of their friends, including the princesses, gathered around him in a compact circle. Shining Armor spoke first, "It's over for you, Captain Jelly. Your crew has been defeated and you're heavily damaged. This is your one chance to surrender peacefully."

Captain Jelly was silent for a moment, but then he suddenly engaged his rocket and shot up, hovering just above the level of Celestia and Luna's heads. "ARR, YE BE MISTAKEN IF YE THINK ME DEFEATED SO EASILY! A REAL PIRATE NEVER COMES QUIETLY, AND I WILL NEVER GO QUIETLY UNTIL I'VE SUNKEN THAT PESKY HEDGEHOG!"

Before anyone could move or say anything, Jet suddenly shot above everyone's heads, his Extreme Gear now looking like a rocket or missile as he held a Bashyo fan out to his side, smacking Captain Jelly with it and causing him to spin around. "Take a spin, you clown! The only one who gets to mess with Sonic the Hedgehog is me!" he called back. Captain Jelly slumped forward when he stopped spinning and Storm flew up to him, his Extreme Gear having transformed into a bike, and delivered a potent uppercut to the robot's stomach, sending him skyward.

When he stopped moving up, Captain Jelly hovered in place and shook his head, trying to get the Buzz Bombers to stop circling his head. He managed to do so, but it was too late; Wave flew by him, her board now looking like a hovercraft, and struck the side of his face with her wrench, spinning him around yet again. She nodded to herself, "I'd rather rip this chrome pirate apart myself, but this should be fun to watch."

While she flew back down towards the ship, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up above the still-spinning Captain Jelly, a blue glow beginning to surround them. As Captain Jelly finally stopped spinning, both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash unleashed the power of the Blue Wisps that the barrels had been hiding, both of them turning into cubes and falling straight down towards Captain Jelly. They pushed him straight down, causing him to hit the deck of his ship face first while the two pegasi turned back to normal and fluttered off to the side.

Captain Jelly recovered faster than one might expect and immediately started looking to see who had landed on him. He didn't look long, though, before he saw that Twilight and Rarity had stepped forward, both of them smirking and cyan glows surrounding both of them. Before he even had a chance to scream, they both fired cyan beams from their horns straight at him, sending the captain flying off the starboard side of his ship.

Amazingly, he wasn't destroyed by the twin Cyan Lasers and managed to catch himself in midair after the lasers had stopped, though it was a miracle he was holding together at all if his exposed circuits and heavily damaged body were any indication. "Man, he's one tough son of a can opener, isn't he?" Sonic grinned.

Twilight turned to Blaze and courteously asked, "Princess Blaze, would you care to do the honors?"

With a smirk, Blaze raised her left hand and snapped her fingers, "Of course, Lady Sparkle." As she snapped her fingers, the fuses on all of the starboard side cannons suddenly lit, Silver using his psychokinesis to aim them directly at Captain Jelly.

While leaning against one of the cannons, Marine saluted, "Nice knowin' you, mate." As the fuses reached their end, Marine called, "All cannons, fire!" As she said that, all the starboard side cannons fired on Captain Jelly, all of them hitting their target right where it hurt. And that did it; Captain Jelly was blown to pieces like his crewmates, the remains landing in the Chocolate Milk Sea and sinking to the bottom.

Marine immediately began to cheer, "Yahoo! That was ripper! Did you all see that?!" Her festive mood was reeled in slightly when she heard a throat clearing behind her. She turned around and saw Blaze standing there, a stern expression on her face and her arms crossed. "Oh! G'day, Blaze. H-How's it going?" she asked.

Blaze decided not to humor her friend, instead deciding to get straight to the point. "Marine, may I ask just what you were doing earlier?" she asked.

Marine twiddled her index fingers together nervously, "Umm… no?" Blaze raised an eyebrow at that, clearly not pleased with that answer. Marine put her hands behind her back and grinned sheepishly up at Blaze, "I was just… doing my duty as captain! You know, taking charge of the ship and all that!"

Blaze's eyebrow lowered, but the look on her face didn't change. "Marine…" she said.

The raccoon's grin dropped and she looked down at the deck of the ship, scuffing her right foot across it as she spoke, "O-Okay, so maybe that's not the whole truth. I, uh…"

Blaze interjected, "Why don't you start with how you ended up on this ship in the first place?"

Marine looked up at her and said, "Ah, roight. Well… I don't really know. I was in my home a little while ago, back on Southern Island, making some repairs to the SS Super Marine. I heard a noise coming from outside and went to look, but then I was blinded by some white light! The next thing I knew, I was below the deck of this ship, being tied up by that pirate scoundrel! Well actually, I was already tied up, but you know what I mean! And there were these odd statues down there too."

Blaze asked, "Odd statues?"

Marine nodded, "Uh-huh. One of them looked like a bumbly bee and the other two were, uh… horses, I think." Silver noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Espio and Vector heading for the door leading inside at the back of the ship at the raccoon's words. Marine continued, "For some reason, it felt like they were alive… somehow. And… well, I managed to get free when it felt like they were calling for help. Since I was free, that meant I had to do something about that pirate and… well, you know the rest. Strewth, I promise!"

Blaze regarded the raccoon, her stern look having eased off. After a moment, she spoke, "Marine… need I remind you of the last time you did something like this?"

Marine flinched, "N-No…"

Blaze said, "You were putting yourself in danger then, and you put yourself in danger here too. You're fortunate that we could hear you from the shore, or we wouldn't have known you were here. When I got over here, even with your… power, you were having trouble with taking that robot down. Are you aware of how many things could have gone wrong had I not shown up to help you?" After a moment, she let her arms drop to her sides and she closed her eyes before saying, "However… you did distract him and open up his defenses. You allowed us to divide and conquer to take him and his crew down. And while your attempt to defeat him yourself was unsuccessful, it did reveal that there were Wisps being held captive on this ship."

Marine looked up at her curiously, "What are you saying, Blaze?"

Blaze opened her eyes, glancing in Sonic's direction and saying, "I suppose I'm saying what Sonic said then: what counts is it all worked out fine." She looked back at Marine, "And I'd rather not sound like a broken record, so instead, I'll simply thank you for the help and ask that you try to be more careful in the future."

Marine perked up at that, "Aw, Blaze! You're a princess, you know that?!" Blaze raised a hand to her forehead, but she couldn't help but give a small smile at Marine's words.

Back with the rest of the group, Applejack looked at Rarity and said, "Uh, Ah don't know about you, Rarity, but after seein' Blaze talk to that Marine just now… Ah feel kinda silly fer gettin' angry earlier."

Rarity looked at her a moment before sighing, "I suppose I concur, Applejack. Sweetie Belle and her friends may have gone against what we said, but I shouldn't have been so unladylike or acted so angrily towards her. I should be glad they were responsible enough to stay safe while they were following us." Both mares then walked over to their sisters and hugged them, apologizing for getting angry earlier and reminding them to not be so reckless in the future. Scootaloo stood off to the side awkwardly until Rainbow Dash came over and discreetly wrapped a wing around her.

Soarin looked over at Spitfire and asked, "So, uh, Spitfire? Since everypony seems to be in a forgiving mood today, I don't suppose you can let the fact that I let my desire for pie mess up my real priorities go?"

Spitfire glanced at him and said, "Oh, I don't think so, Soarin. You are NOT getting off that easy for abandoning your captain in an unknown location." Soarin looked down at that, but he looked back up when Spitfire smiled, "However, I will hold off on your punishment until we manage to get out of here and resolve whatever's happening in Equestria that's so big that even the princesses are involved in stopping it. THEN we can sit down and talk about it." Soarin gave a small grin at that. He knew he was still in trouble, but at least Spitfire was being fair, like he knew her to be. Behind them, Storm grinned nervously at Jet, hoping he would say something similar, but neither the hawk nor Wave even turned their heads to glare at him.

Noticing Sonic standing nearby, Shining Armor walked over to him, the hedgehog turning to look up at him as he spoke, "Hey, Sonic? Listen, uh… I'm sorry about that whole thing earlier. You know…"

Sonic nonchalantly waved a hand, "Yeah, yeah. No biggie, man."

Shining looked down at him with a confused look on his face, "I'm being serious here…"

Sonic replied, "So am I. Look, dude, you're not the first one I haven't exactly gotten off on the right foot with for one reason or another, and I seriously doubt you'll be the last. What can I say? I roll my own way!"

Shining smiled as Cadance walked up alongside him, "So I've seen. And now that I know that, I think I would like to see where you and Twiley go from here."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Cadance smiled happily while Shining said, "You don't have to keep up that act anymore. You know what I'm talking about."

Sonic looked up at him for a moment before shrugging, "No I don't, actually."

Twilight trotted over and asked, "What's going on?"

Cadance turned to her and said, "Oh Twilight, I'm so happy for you!"

Twilight cocked her head to the side, "Huh?"

Cadance went on, "I see now why I couldn't feel it before! You were worried about everypony's reactions! Well, don't worry, Twilight! Shining has warmed up to the idea, and I just know the rest of your friends will too!"

Twilight stared at Cadance in absolute bafflement. She looked at Sonic and asked, "I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Sonic just shrugged.

Shining spoke, "Come on, you two, you don't need to do this anymore."

Cadance nodded, "We're talking about you two, and what you have between you."

Sonic and Twilight looked at each other for a moment, a moment Cadance hoped felt like an eternity. All too soon, they turned to look back at the Princess of Love and Shining Armor and Sonic shrugged, "I still don't get it, but as long as we're cool, I guess that's what's important."

Shining and Cadance frowned and looked at each other in confusion. "Are we really being too subtle for them? Or was I wrong about them?" Shining wondered.

Before either of them could attempt the direct approach, Rarity came over and said, "Darlings, that Wisp power was amazing! Not only did we take care of that ruffian pirate, but I think that power actually made my hair look all nice! Alas, I don't believe I'll try to do the same with magic like you do, Twilight. I'll leave knowing powerful spells to a magic expert like you."

Twilight smiled, "All the same, Rarity, you certainly controlled that laser really well for your first time using it."

Sonic nodded, "Yeah!" He held up his right fist, "Top shelf, ladies!" Both Twilight and Rarity raised a hoof, bumping with him.

Shortly afterwards, the door at the back of the ship swung open and Vector stepped out, carrying something under his arms. He had a familiar bumblebee under his left arm and a pegasus under his right arm. After taking a few steps onto the deck, he spoke, "Okay, so we found Charmy. Does anybody recognize this pony?" He set the pegasus mare down on her hooves as he finished, letting her stand on her own.

"Yeah… that's Derpy, Ponyville's local mailmare," Rainbow said.

Marine spoke up, "Oy, there were two horses down there! Where's th' other one?!"

Before Vector could respond, Espio spoke up from behind him, "I have her." He stepped around Vector and set the pony in his hands down, the little filly having no cutie mark and freckles on the sides of her face.

"Babs!" Apple Bloom gasped, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's eyes going wide at the sight of her.

Espio stood up and backed off as the Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed over to the frozen filly. While the fillies crowded around Babs Seed, Twilight brought out her checklist and a quill and started making adjustments to it. Espio then looked over at Tails and said, "I suppose we're just one Warp Ring away from having a happy reunion."

Tails nodded and reached into his namesakes, pulling out the Warp Ring. "I'll get it set up so we can get going!"

Before he could toss it, however, Jet finally broke his silence, "Hold it right there!" Tails nearly dropped the ring because of the loud shout, but he managed to hold onto it and looked over at Jet in confusion. Jet raged, "I had to sit through a boring explanation and all this mushy talk just for Sonic to turn tail and run away?! I don't think so! I said we were going to settle this, and I mean it!" He glared at Sonic and said, "You'd better hope your legs can carry you over the water, Sonic the Hedgehog, because we're…"

Wave angrily interrupted him, "NO! No more! We are done here, Jet!" She looked at Tails and said, "Shorty, you get that ring up and running because we are leaving! And you'd better set it for someplace quiet!" Tails quickly nodded and complied, tossing the ring up and, after it expanded, running to its side and setting it for Ponyville.

Jet looked at Wave as she stacked the Rogues' Extreme Gear in Storm's arms and said, "Hey, I'm the boss here! I'm the one who- OW!" In the middle of his ranting, Wave grabbed him by the feathers on the back of his head, cutting him off.

As she dragged the hawk towards the Warp Ring, Storm obediently following without saying a word, Wave yelled, "Do you know how long it's going to take to fix the Extreme Gear?! Not only did Storm get pie on his, but you two treated them like shields during that battle, especially when that explosion happened! You think it's easy maintaining them when you lunk-heads use them so roughly?! AND ANOTHER THING…!" The others didn't get to hear what else she had to say due to her walking through the Warp Ring, still dragging Jet by his feathers while Storm quietly followed behind.

A moment of silence followed on the deck of the galleon; Soarin then commented, "Man… I'm glad you're my boss and not her, Spitfire." The gold pegasus smirked at him at that.

Marine shrugged, "Well, she'll be apples."

Pinkie Pie suddenly grinned at that, "Ooh, speaking of apples, I wonder if there are any candy apples around here! I'd love to get some candy apples and then come back here for some more chocolate milk!" She began bouncing towards the port side of the ship while saying, "Come on, everypony! We've still got a lot of Sweet Mountain to see!"

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew around Pinkie, turning back and catching her in mid-bounce. "No, Pinkie, no more! We're done for today!" she grunted as she set the party pony back on the deck of the galleon.

Twilight placed her checklist and quill back in her saddlebags and said, "Rainbow's right, Pinkie. It's time to go back to Ponyville."

Pinkie looked at her with wide eyes, "Ponyville?" She looked down and then towards the shore before turning back to the bookworm and smiling, "Aw, don't be silly, Twilight! It's too early to go back to Ponyville! Nopony wants to leave just yet, right?" She looked around the boat, but she didn't see anyone who looked like they readily agreed with her. A few were rubbing the back of their heads while others just looked at her. Even Celestia and Soarin didn't look like they wanted to stay, which confused the pink pony.

Surprisingly, it was Fluttershy who stepped forward and spoke, as meek as ever, "Pinkie… Sweet Mountain really is a wonderful a-and fun place. Despite everything that's happened, um, it was a lot of fun, and Planet Wisp was really beautiful. But… it was built by a bad human who wanted to put Sonic and Tails' world under mind control by stealing the life force of innocent little aliens. I don't really want to stay in a place that was built by somepony like that. B-Besides, sooner or later, we… we really should go home."

Pinkie looked down, "Aw…" She then had a thought and looked up happily, "Ooh! Maybe you all could go back and I could stay a little longer!"

Sonic spoke, "But if you're still here when we fix this mess, you're going to be stuck here forever, Pinkie, with nothing but aliens you can't understand and killer robots for company. Sounds like a party of one for the rest of your life to me."

Pinkie gasped, "I hadn't thought about that! What a super duper scary thought!" She placed her hooves on her head and sunk to the floor, seemingly thinking. After a minute, she sat up and said, "I guess you guys are right. I should be over this kind of thing by now, especially after that whole magic pond thing." As she stood up, she added, "But you know, this place really was a lot of fun!"

Tails came up behind her and patted her on the back, "It sure was, Pinkie."

About a minute later, just about everyone had gone through the Warp Ring and was headed back to Ponyville. Only Sonic and Pinkie Pie were left, and the blue hedgehog went first, following behind Luna. Pinkie then started towards the Warp Ring, but before she took the last step, she turned around to get one last look at Sweet Mountain. As she looked, she noticed something in the sky. She squinted, "Is that…?" After a moment, she grinned, "It is! Sonic was such a silly! There really are- whoa!" She was cut off mid-sentence when (part of) said hedgehog reached through the Warp Ring and grabbed the pink pony with his arms, pulling her through it with him. Once they were both through it, the ring shrunk down and vanished into thin air.

---

The entire group stood in front of the Ponyville hospital, watching as the building regained its color and all the ponies inside came back to life, all of them wondering what happened. Being a hospital, though, the staff, after making sure that nothing had happened to the building, got back to work, the doctors and nurses running their rounds.

Outside, the group watched as their friends were brought back. The first to recover was the mailmare, Derpy, the gray pegasus' eyes both pointing straight ahead. A single blink of both eyes, however, was all it took for one to point in a different direction than the other. The wall-eyed mare then gave a happy smile and spread her wings, leaping up and almost hitting her head before her wings slowed her ascent. As she hovered in the air, she said, "That was very scary! But being with all of you makes me feel better! I just don't know what happened!"

The next to recover was Babs Seed, the little filly blinking several times before looking around and then exhaling, blowing the side of her mane. "Babs!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

Babs looked surprised for a moment, but then she smiled, "Cuz'!" The two fillies rushed over to each other and hugged, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo trotting over and joining in, all of them glad to see each other again.

Scootaloo leaned back after a moment and said, "It's good to see you again, Babs!"

Apple Bloom also leaned back, adding, "We got to meet up again before the next reunion after all!"

Babs smiled, "Well, yeah, obviously!" She then looked around worriedly and asked, "But what's goin' on here? I was at home a minute ago; how'd I end up in Ponyville?"

Sweetie Belle said, "It's kind of a long story, Babs…"

Before anything else could be said, Charmy, who had just been restored and had done a somersault to celebrate, looked at the group and spoke, "I was scared because somebody took me, but now I'm free!"

Derpy hovered down next to him and asked, "You're free?"

Charmy nodded, "Yeah, I'm a free bee!"

Everyone looked on as the two of them happily started chanting, "Free bee, free bee, free bee… whee!" They both fluttered up and came back down, smiling at each other. Sonic and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other, both of them raising an eyebrow while everyone else, save for Vector, Espio, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, looked at them awkwardly.

Twilight regained her composure and summoned her checklist and quill from her saddlebags, checking off the last few boxes on the list corresponding to the ones the group had just rescued, including the newly added box for Babs. She then spoke, "It looks like we've managed to find everyone. All that leaves is…" She stopped short when a red light and a pink light shone from the side of the hospital, everyone turning to look.

"Look, there's the Chaos Emerald and the Element of Magic!" Tails pointed. As they watched, the red Chaos Emerald and the Element of Magic crown quickly regained their color, shining as though they'd just been polished.

Almost immediately, however, they began to float away from the group. "Where are they going?" Cadance wondered.

Suddenly, a dark void opened up behind the Chaos Emerald and Element of Magic, the mystery creature emerging from it! The Cutie Mark Crusaders were frightened by it, and both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance looked at in shock, both of them reminded of King Sombra. And it wasn't a bad comparison, either; the monster simply hovered in place with its hands open while looking at the group. It didn't take them long to realize it was letting the Element of Magic and the Chaos Emerald come to it!

Immediately, Blaze, Silver, Vector, and Espio leapt into action, Silver focusing his psychokinesis on the creature, Blaze unleashing flames from her hands, and Vector breathing fire from his mouth. All this only pushed the creature back a little bit; now it was moving forward to grab the crown and the Chaos Emerald. After throwing an exploding throwing star at the creature, Espio looked back and said, "We'll hold it back! Just get the Chaos Emerald and the crown!" Sonic, Rainbow, Spitfire, and Soarin nodded, the four of them running past them to retrieve the objects.

As they spread their wings, Rainbow, Soarin, and Spitfire looked at Sonic as he came to a stop just a little ahead of them and leapt straight up. Spike noticed the way he jumped and excitedly asked, "Oh man, is he gonna do it?!"

Watching Sonic as he spun in midair, Scootaloo smiled, "I think he is, Spike!" Before anyone could ask what they were talking about, Soarin, Rainbow, and Spitfire came to a stop as Sonic suddenly shot forward, an aura surrounding him and a nearly invisible ring spreading out from where he was a second ago. In less than a second, he caught up with the Chaos Emerald and grabbed it with his right hand!

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed as Sonic flipped over and pressed against the palm of the monster's right hand feet first before turning and boosting towards its left hand.

As Sonic retrieved the Element of Magic in his left hand as the creature was about to grab it, Twilight smiled, "It's the Sonic Boost, Applejack!"

Sonic leapt out of the creature's hand before it could close its fingers around him, going straight up and performing one last trick in the air as it tried to grab him with both hands, the combination of his trick and his friends' helping causing it to miss. As Sonic went down, the creature growled and disappeared back through the void, which closed up immediately after it went through, Silver, Blaze, Vector, and Espio stopping their attacks after it was gone.

Spitfire, Soarin, and Rainbow Dash stared at Sonic in amazement as he landed, the hedgehog standing up straight and flipping the Chaos Emerald up, catching it behind the Element of Magic in his left hand as he asked, "Pretty slick move, huh?"

Soarin gave him an excited grin in answer to his question while Spitfire nodded in approval, one of her eyebrows raised. Rainbow continued to stare at him in shock for a moment before she closed her mouth and grinned, "That. Was. AWESOME!"

---

Yeah, okay, I know what the first thought going through your heads is: "What happened to your policy of using different levels than the games?" And I'm sure some of you are wondering why I suddenly decided to sneak Marine in there when I previously said it was unlikely I would. Well, hopefully, you're all not too burned out from this 40,000 word beast to hear me out.

To be honest, my decision to include Planet Wisp in this story and have Marine appear arose thanks to two of my readers (you know who you are). Originally, this chapter was just going to feature Sweet Mountain and no Marine, but I ran into a few difficulties as I was working my plan for this chapter out in my head: at the times where the group decides to split up (when Sonic's group goes to Planet Wisp) and Marine makes her entrance, I had nothing there. I wasn't exactly sure what to put there to make a smooth transition and keep the story flowing. Then I got the question regarding Marine and the request to have Planet Wisp make an appearance and boom! I had a way to fill in the gaps. So I want to extend my thanks to axeseeker and bvge for your help. It's possible I could've decided to fill in the gaps that way myself, but you guys focused my thoughts for me.

But I'm sure you're wondering, in that case, why choose Planet Wisp if it was just a request? Why not pick go with another level from "Sonic Colors"? Well, to be perfectly honest, I probably would've gone with Asteroid Coaster as the accompanying level if it weren't for one detail: like with Windy Valley, I didn't want to spend a lot of time focusing on the accompanying level and make this chapter, like, super huge. So I also picked Planet Wisp because, between two versions of "Sonic Colors" and the console/PC version of "Sonic Generations", Planet Wisp has... well, its kind of been done before. I'm not sure there's much I could do with it that no one hasn't seen before. That makes it perfect for a short trip away from the main level. And it also kind of makes an overall "Sonic 4: Episode II" reference, seeing as I basically copy and pasted the Metal Sonic battle from "Sonic Generations" earlier (yeah, Tails and Spike fought him instead of a Sonic, but the overall battle was pretty much the same; reusing Planet Wisp refers to how Sky Fortress Zone was the only zone in Episode II to look like a rehash of a previous zone, in this case Wing Fortress).

Ahem... anyway, the reason I didn't use Asteroid Coaster or any other level, aside from Tropical Resort, was because the short trip would force me to cut the exploration of the area short, and for a level like Asteroid Coaster, that's no good. Whether it's the main level or an accompanying level, that's one level that should have some depth to it, not just scrape the surface. As such, these are the pairings I decided on for the "Sonic Colors" levels:

Sweet Mountain & Planet Wisp

Starlight Carnival & Asteroid Coaster (reference to Galactic Parade from "Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed")

Tropical Resort & Aquarium Park

Be on the lookout; I may try to do something with the other two pairs in the future.

Now that that's out of the way, let's briefly talk about "Sonic Colors". In regards to the two versions, I obviously believe that the Wii version is the canon version, considering that's the version that sets up the events of "Sonic Generations" while the DS version is a little more ambiguous about what happened to Eggman at the end of the game. At the same time, though, I believe there are bits and pieces of the DS version that could, in future Sonic games, be confirmed as canon, such as how some of the Wisps act or some of the things Sonic's friends were talking about. As such, I decided to squeeze in some references to the DS version here (such as the giant hot dog robot, using the Yellow Wisp on Planet Wisp, and the DS version of Captain Jelly). I think it's also funny how, between two versions of the game and "Sonic Generations", the only time we ever see the inside of the structure that Eggman is building on Planet Wisp is during Classic Sonic's level, so we never really figure out what he was building besides the tractor beam and generator. I think it was a base, considering I saw some similarities to Scrap Brain Zone in Classic Sonic's level, so that's where that comes from.

I'd like to mention that my, uh... beta reader suggested having Time Turner/Dr. Whooves appear in this chapter and have Derpy have a larger role along with Dinky. Considering how long this chapter turned out to be as it is, adding even just Time Turner/Dr. Whooves would have surely made this chapter, like, 60,000 words. So sorry about that, guys. You'll have to be content with his cameo during the changeling battle.

Also, I hope I got Shining Armor down correctly here. I've seen plenty of depictions of him in other fanworks and I'm trying to stay close to how he is in the show. I'm not sure if I strayed a bit far here or not, but let me tell you: that moment where Shadow tears Shining Armor a new plot hole is going to come up later, so if you're going to mention spots that could use improvement, don't mention that one.

Finally, I'm sticking to my "no crossover shippings in this story" policy. Shining Armor and Cadance thinking that Sonic and Twilight are in love is debatable (because I like shipping those two together), but that's part of the reason why they're both clueless here. I also threw in that bit with Rarity hugging Silver and him blushing as a reference to all the RarityxSilver fans out there.

Before we get to the author's notes, let's do the Wisp roll call! I thought some of the things the Wisps did in the games was due to Sonic being, well, a hedgehog and that anyone else might have something different happen to them, so I'm going to list those differences as well. Here we go:

White - not used, but did appear at the beginning of Planet Wisp; Yacker is mentioned but not seen

Cyan - Twilight and Rarity (fire a non-magic based beam from their horns that can change directions in mid-flight)

Yellow - Sonic

Pink - Applejack (gains spikes on her back and grows three on each of her hooves, which she uses like Wolverine from "X-Men")

Orange - Spike (same as Sonic; originally, I was thinking of having him maybe sprout wings and the rocket power comes out from beneath them, similar to Krang from the 1987 TMNT cartoon series when he's in his android body, but I didn't like this idea)

Blue - Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy (same as Sonic)

Green - Celestia (similar to Sonic, but her flowing hair and tail are taken into account)

Red - Spitfire (similar to Sonic, but she looks more like a life-size version of her cutie mark (like a phoenix))

Purple - Pinkie Pie (same as Sonic, but has a cotton candy tail instead of a spiky tail)

Violet - Luna (similar to Sonic, except she uses her magic to produce the void in front of her instead of turning into it; turning into Nightmare Moon was a part of the prank she and Celestia were doing)

All right, that's that. Now, onto the chapter notes!

Blaze's ability of using her flames to heal Trixie rather than harm her is an idea I've been using in another story. I've seen examples of people who can control fire really well being able to will it to not harm others, so I adapted it in my "Pokémon" story series.

Sonic having a cell phone is a reference to the iPhone version of "Sonic 4: Episode I", which had a unique idle animation of Sonic pulling out an iPhone and holding it up to his ear to listen to music (note that I didn't say what kind of cell phone he has here, just hinted at some of its features). He even does it when he's Super Sonic!

Tails' explanation of the device controlling Trixie references both the Sonic X episode "How to Catch a Hedgehog" and the 2007 Free Comic Book Day special for the Archie comics.

When Tails and Trixie were talking, I was thinking of having Tails sing "Speak With Your Heart", but I felt that the lyrics kind of didn't match up well, and considering the mixed reception to "Live Life", I didn't think it was such a good idea. So I had him reference the lyrics instead.

I should probably point out that one of the chapters I made alterations to was the Queen Chrysalis chapter, specifically adding in a few mentions of her name. I don't know at what point in time the "Friendship is Magic" comic series takes place, whether it's before season 3 or somewhere in the middle of it, but I wanted to reference it, specifically the first/current four-issue arc featuring the changelings, and the characters actually say Chrysalis' name in it. When Shining is wondering if it's the first or the second time the changelings have invaded Ponyville, he's referencing the changelings capturing the Ponyville ponies in the first issue.

Sonic's mention of another candy land with cotton candy clouds is a reference to the game "Sugar Rush" from "Wreck-It Ralph", which does, in fact, have clouds that are made of cotton candy (different from Discord's, obviously).

I know that the missiles in the Wii version are filled with confetti and they're filled with balloons in the DS version, but in the most recent volume of "Sonic Shorts" by the Sonic Paradox team, they joked that the missiles were filled with candy. So that's where that comes from.

One of the names Silver suggests for Twilight's version of the Psychic Knife is Mana Sword, which Tails thinks is already taken. This is a reference to the game "Secret of Mana".

The donut river ride is just something I made up. I wasn't sure what kind of ride Eggman (over the PA) was talking about that used donuts, so I made up one of my own.

Princess Celestia's interest in the donut after hearing people have been sitting on it is a Molestia reference. If you're familiar with the "Ask Molestia" tumblr, you might remember when she and Luna went to the Wondercon and Celestia came back with spandex... from the volleyball players.

This is the song Sonic was playing on his cell phone: www. youtube watch?v=hIGWR3fK2lw

The whole Chocolate Milk Sea is something I came up with after looking at the battle against Captain Jelly on the DS again. The water under the platform that Sonic's on looks dark, kind of like chocolate milk.

Vector's "Find the Computer Room!" and the password to Eggman's system being 'PASSWORD' were inspired by issue 47 of "Sonic Universe", where Vector kept repeating the line and Espio found that that was the password.

The battle against the Egg Pawn army was inspired by the scene in "Turtles Forever" where the 1987 Turtles and 2003 Turtles and Splinter are battling 1987 Shredder's Foot Soldiers, Bebop, and Rocksteady in front of the Technodrome.

Sonic wondering where Marine came from is a reference to the raccoon's surprise appearances near the end of "Sonic Rush Adventure", seemingly showing up out of nowhere.

When they attack Captain Jelly, the Babylon Rogues' Extreme Gear briefly transform into their respective forms in "Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity".

Marine's line "You're a princess" is a line said by Sonic in the "SatAM" episode "Dulcy" to Sally.

Wave being easy to anger when her Extreme Gear is messed with is hinted at in the games, but it's rather pronounced in several issues of the Archie comics.

The Time Eater appearing at the end is a reference to the 3DS version of "Sonic Generations", where, instead of Modern Sonic using the Boost to get the red Chaos Emerald, he uses it to keep the Time Eater from attacking Classic Tails.

I think that's about it. I'd like to hint that there's a possibility that Sonic might be going solo on the Modern Era boss, but I could still change my mind.

See you guys later!

Music:

The Way Children Are - www. youtube watch?v=ZXK9VTgnDNk

(Not) Leaving Well Enough Alone - www. youtube watch?v=ijwLgC2SVIs

Silver's Show - www. youtube watch?v=LTx6iJG9kJ0

The Explanation - www. dailymotion video/xe430i_kamen-rider-w-nobody-s-perfect-subb_music#.URUxrmepiTZ

Standing Up for Trixie - www. youtube watch?v=TGtJVQmHmIM

Tails and Trixie's Talk - www. youtube watch?v=2lg9sh4qc0A

Hospital Trip - www. youtube watch?v=RjJEFshqwC8

Dark Reunions - www. youtube watch?v=pQ-bjZD1EnI

A Wound That Never Heals - www. youtube watch?v=6LB7LZZGpkw

Ponyville Hospital - www. youtube watch?v=eTwUAtlo2jw

Candy Paradise - www. youtube watch?v=XZTtRfRW94U

The Babylon Rogues (Minus One) - www. youtube watch?v=cK9Cj_fCyPc

Exploring the Park, First Wisp - www. youtube watch?v=qqHAL2tgj-g

Rolling Down the Chocolate River - www. youtube watch?v=cHpW0Zp3Rj0

Chocolate Waterfall! - www. youtube watch?v=3jeNXmM9N6s

Pinkie Pie Surprise - www. youtube watch?v=iy7MyL35EvI

Planet Wisp - www. youtube watch?v=KZMizJiLE_Y

Spiked Apples - www. youtube watch?v=-G73lPQlGAI

Confrontation - www. youtube watch?v=9VPSD1_8_C4

Breaking Into the System - www. youtube watch?v=qjqJdx3dRsA

Adding to the Fire - www. youtube watch?v=626UurYhyms

Nightmare Moon?! - www. youtube watch?v=xSK9-vzu6tU

Not Exactly What Was Expected - www. youtube watch?v=uIxr0RKor2w

Egg Pawn Brawl - www. youtube watch?v=27AJ8QqAg0Y

Taking the Captain - www. youtube watch?v=uFvanEzzAIU

Setting an Example - www. youtube watch?v=26ZeKmRz3sg

Goodbye Sweet Mountain, Hello Bad Seed - www. youtube watch?v=HQRdfLGNpEM

The Sonic Boost - www. youtube watch?v=DI5eTsaW3uc