Okay, so I figure, for this chapter, I gotta clear up what I meant by "Anthro Ponies." Well, I'm kinda going for a more serious, dramatic, and action-y tone for this story, and well, the 4-legged Ponies we all know and love just didn't seem to fit. So, I tried humanizing them a little more, but not to the point that they're no longer the unique, colorful creatures that they are, just enough that they'll be able to stand upright and not look goofy. Really, pretty close to Sonic's own style, now that I think about it... Huh.

Plus, more humanoid designs means that I can also design unique wardrobes for the characters! Yippee 8D!... That didn't come out quite right...

... ANYWAYS! Here's chapter two! Enjoy!

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Once again, I claim no ownership to anything used in this story.

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SONIC: CHAOS AND HARMONY

Chapter 2: A Flash in the Night

In the realm of Equestria, the Everfree Forest just outside of Ponyville was a place infamous for its mystery and secrets. It was home to some of the most mysterious and bizarre plants and animals one could ever encounter. As such, the reason why Fluttershy, the most timid, afraid-of-her-own-shadow pony in the world, had chosen to live so close to it was anypony's guess.

In truth, Fluttershy was deathly afraid of the forest and all that lurked within it. However, having ventured into it on more than one occasion (with her friends' motivation) had made her feel a little safer in her own home. Besides, she chose her living place for a reason: the animals. For whatever reason, the large house atop the hill seemed to be quite popular with local fauna of all shapes and sizes, and if there was anything that outweighed Fluttershy's fear, it was her love of all creatures.

The yellow, pink-maned pegasus-morph in question happened to be getting ready for bed at the moment. She'd just slipped on her favorite light-green nightgown, and had already tucked in her pet rabbit, Angel, for the night. Just as she'd slipped under the covers of her own bed and was about to drift away to her dreams, something caught her ears.

It started as a low, almost calming whisper. However soft the sound was, it was enough to make the shy pegasus sit bolt-upright in her bed. As she strained her ears, the sound increased in volume, becoming an almost ethereal, whispering moan.

Fluttershy was now beginning to become afraid. Without a second thought, she immediately dove under her sheets and hugged them tight to her body. She poked her eyes out, only to have them widen in terror as a green glow started to pour through her window, accompanying the terrifying noise.

The poor, scared-out-of-her-mind pegasus shut her eyes tight as the wail erupted into a deafening screech, the a burst of green light erupting from the forest outside. Then, just like that, all was quiet again.

-o-o-o-

"Twilight! Come on, Twilight, you have to see this! TWILIGHT!"

The purple unicorn awoke at the sound of her name. She sat up in her bed and pushed her pink-and-purple-striped bangs out of her eyes to see her loyal, scaly companion jumping up and down at her feet. "Ugh... Spike," she said sleepily while rubbing her eyes, "Do you have any idea how late it is? You should be asleep!"

"Never mind that, you gotta HURRY!" The young dragon seemed to ignore Twilight's question as he ran over to the window by her bed. "You're gonna miss it!"

Groaning, Twilight climbed out of her warm sheets, over to Spike's position by the window. "Alright, I'll bite. What's so..." She trailed off as she followed Spike's gaze, "Im... por... tant?..." She honestly had no words for what she was looking at. Beyond the border of Ponyville, the Everfree Forest was GLOWING! An eerie green light shone from within the woods, seeming to fill up the entire night sky.

"This is totally crazy, right?" Spike asked. His tone was somewhat mixed between nervous and excited.

"Very..." was all Twilight managed to say. I wonder how Fluttershy's doing? Twilight couldn't help but worry.

"I wonder how Flutterhy's reacting?" Spike said, almost mimicking Twilight's thoughts. "Man, she's probably SO freaked out!"

"Spike, that's hardly the biggest question ri-"

"She's probably curled up under her bed, by now. She might still be there tomorrow!"

"Spike..."

"Or maybe she shot straight up through the ceiling! HAH!"

"Spiiike..."

"She could've even been abducted by ALIENS! Think about it, Twilight! What else but aliens could make the Everfree Forest glow like tha-"

"Spike, LOOK OUT!" The light glow had suddenly intensified into a radiant burst of light, accompanied by the sound of a distant scream. Twilight barely had time to push her dragon companion out of the way before a glowing object came flying out of the forest and shattered through her window. She clutched the small dragon tightly to her chest as the glass rained down from above, bouncing harmlessly off of her purple pajamas.

After a moment of getting over the shock, Twilight sat up and started looking Spike over. "You alright?" She asked.

"Y-yeah..." Spike replied, "Uh... Thanks."

Twilight gave a glad smile "Don't mention it!" Then, her expression got more serious as she looked out the window. As she expected (or rather, hoped) the Everfree Forest had returned to its dark, peaceful state. "But what WAS that just now?"

Spike's gaze, however, was drawn elsewhere. "Nevermind that," He then pointed over to the smoldering remains of what used to be one of Twilight's many bookshelves. "What about THAT?!"

Looking over, Twilight realized that the object that flew through her window was still glowing bright green in the wreckage of her literature. Extending her hand, Twilight's horn started glowing as she tried to pull whatever it was from the rubble. However, she seemed unable to pull it towards her.

Strange... She thought. She then let go of Spike and walked across the room towards the mysterious object.

"Twilight, DON'T!" the reptile protested, "It could be an alien egg! Or a demon's curse! Or, or..."

"Spike, you read too much Daring Do." Although, I have to admit, she thought as she bent down to pick the curious object up. It was warm to the touch, yet surprisingly cool for something that had just been flying through the air in a green fireball. Other than that, it appeared to be nothing but a glowing, green gemstone. ... This thing is definitely... Odd...

-o-o-o-

Fluttershy opened her eyes, slowly rising from the safety of her sheets. The sky was dark once more, and the mysterious noises had ceased. Now, the only sound that filled the night was the noise of various animals running around in a panic.

Calming her nerves, Fluttershy sighed as she pushed her covers off. She realized what she had to do. "So much for a good night's sleep..." She pushed herself up and grabbed a light jacket off a nearby rack.

In the corner of the room, she noticed that Angel had woken up, and was now shivering with terror in his bed. "Angel, did those lights scare you?" Fluttershy asked her pet with a warm smile. The rabbit straightened up and crossed his arms, as if offended by the suggestion, and shook his head vigorously. Fluttershy giggled as she picked the small bunny up. "That's alright. Mama's scared, too. How about you come with me and we can keep each other company? How does that sound?" The rabbit, now looking very annoyed, simply hoisted himself out of Fluttershy's grip, landing on the ground and walking towards the door. He still kept up his false bravado, as if he was going with her because he wanted to, not because he was scared.

Fluttershy simply smiled and calmly followed her pet outside.

The scene outside was hectic, as several goats, monkeys, and more were running around like chickens with their heads cut off (thankfully, though, all the actual chickens were still in one piece). Even with her unique animal-handling skills, Fluttershy wasn't sure she could calm this scene down.

-o-o-o-

The two Poniville citizens weren't the only ones who noticed the disturbance that night. Deep within the Everfree Forest, a shack stood in the middle of a small grove of twisted trees. The shack's sole inhabitant, a zebra-morph known as Zecora, dressed in shaman-like wear with her mane erected into a black-and-white mohawk, had been roused from her late-night meditations by the bizarre lights and sounds.

The spiritual forest-dweller emerged from her humble abode to look for the source of the phenomenon. What she got, instead was a stampede of frightened creatures running by her home, ferocious predators such as basilisks and manticores among them. The last beast to come lumbering by was actually a rather sizable dragon, though it seemed just as terrified as the rest.

Zecora looked off into the forest at the area the animals had come from. She didn't see anything, but her spiritual awareness sent a strange sensation through her body that forced a foreboding chill down her spine.

"Something has filled the forest with fright," she stated, "but what is this thing that goes bump in the night?" Despite the warning signs, Zecora grabbed her shaman's staff and headed deeper into the Everfree Forest, determined to find out what could disrupt a place such as this.

-o-o-o-

It felt like hours before Fluttershy was finally able to coax the last animal back into its den. "Now, now, Ms. Bobcat," she told the creature in her usual, soothing tone, "I hope you feel better. You get your rest, and you can apologize to the Raccoon family tomorrow." The feline purred as it curled up, drifting into sleep.

Fluttershy let out an exhausted breath as she looked over her work. Thankfully, no real damage had been done to the animal's homes, and she could ask a certain earth pony friend of hers to help repair the fences, tomorrow. But for now, the pegasus's task was done, and she was finally ready for the sleep she had been oh so dearly looking forward to.

She spread her wings and began floating back towards her house, but was cut off when Angel suddenly appeared between her and the door. The rabbit appeared startled; he was out of his breath and his eyes were widened. "What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

Angel then started jumping up and down frantically, pointing repeatedly towards the left. Fluttershy followed his gesture, seeing he was pointing towards the shadows of the Everfree Forest. The timid pegasus felt her heart sink as she looked into the dark trees. She couldn't shake the feeling that whatever had happened a few moments ago had originated from those forsaken woods.

"Oh, you, um..." Fluttershy then began frantically looking around in that direction, searching for anything Angel could've been referring to BESIDES the most horrific place this side of Canterlot. "You want to go to the carrot garden? Well, alright, I suppose a teensy midnight snack couldn't hurt." As she floated towards the garden, however, she felt a slight snag on her behind.

She looked down to see that Angel had grabbed the end of her tail and was shooting her a disapproving look. The agitated rabbit started tapping his foot as if to say "Don't play dumb with me."

Again, Fluttershy began looking for an excuse not to go near the woods. "The coliflour patch, then?" she asked with a hopeful smile. The rabbit smacked his forehead with his free hand, before letting go of Fluttershy's tail and hopping off as fast as he could towards the forest. "Angel! No, wait!" Fluttershy shouted, taking off after her pet.

For such a small rabbit, Angel had impressive leg strength, as he managed to put a significant distance between him and his master. Then again, Fluttershy never was the fastest flier. Whatever the case, Angel reached the edge of the forest and, even as Fluttershy shouted at him not to, he jumped head-first into the overgrowth.

Fluttershy hesitated for a moment, not wanting to set even one hoof into those scary woods. However, she quickly decided that Angel's safety was more important than her own fears. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes tight and floated nervously forwards.

After a couple seconds of blind drifting, Fluttershy ran into something hard and fell to the ground with an "Oof!" She looked upwards, rubbing her sore head, to realize that she'd run head-first into a tree. Looking behind her, she realized she had only ventured a couple yards beyond the border. Considering her only encounter so far was with an unfriendly tree, Fluttershy decided, So far, so good.

"Angel!" She called out, pushing herself up, "Angel, where are you?" Sure enough, the white bunny emerged from the bushes a few feet ahead, motioning for Fluttershy to come over. Deciding there was no point in turning back after coming this far, she once again started flapping her wings and floated over to the little snow rabbit, wondering what could possibly have come over him.

She pushed over the bush to spot Angel waiting for her. He made sure she was watching him before sprinting off to his left, leaving Fluttershy no option but to follow him. "Really Angel, what could-" her words were caught in her throat as Angel stopped a couple feet ahead, motioning to a strange, furry creature the likes of which Fluttershy had never seen. "Oh, my..."

-o-o-o-

"...ctor! Doctor, wake up!"

Eggman groaned as he sat up. His head was pounding as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He looked to be inside his Egg Mobile, that much was clear, but beyond that...

"Doctor!"

The voice seemed familiar to Eggman, but he couldn't quite place it. "Mommy?..." He asked groggily.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright, sir! You had me worried for a moment."

Suddenly, realization came to the doctor all at once. He recognized where he was! He realized who the voice belonged to! "ADAM!" he shouted, "What just happened? Why does my head hurt so much?"

"Well, master," the AI responded, "I believe it may have something to do with you loosing consciousness after the Emerald Core was ruptured."

All at once, recent events came rushing into Eggman's memory. Shadow, Sonic, the Emerald, all those bright lights, and finally, darkness. "Damn that Shadow!" the doctor cursed, "He nearly killed us all!" He then scanned the room, noticing the Ultimate Life Form was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, the room seemed to be devoid of hedgehogs, entirely. "Where did those two go?"

Once again, ADAM was quick with an explanation. "As far as I can tell, sir, it would appear that the jump to another dimension was successful. However, it seems that the last-minute instability of the Slider Drive had dome disastrous after-affects. Sonic and his friends, as well as Shadow, have all vanished, likely scattered to different nearby locations. I suppose the reason you are still here is due to the Egg Mobile and Brawler-upgrade being made out of the same alloy as the rest of the ship."

"I see..." Eggman responded. That DID seem to make sense. After all, he didn't want a single piece of his masterpiece, the Egg Asgard, to be left behind in the jump. So, he'd tested and tested until he found a material capable of withstanding the warping fields generated by the Slider Drive, and then used every ounce he could muster to build the entire ship, as well as all its weapons and troops. "But the jump WAS successful?"

"Well," if the AI were capable it would definitely be sweating right about now. "Yes and no, sir. We DID reach another dimension. However, the mid-jump rupture produced a more disastrous reaction than we'd anticipated."

Eggman did NOT like where this was going. "Disastrous, how?..."

"Erm..." ADAM knew he had to pick his words very carefully. "Well, you see... There's no light way to put this sir: over 60% of the ship is gone."

Eggman's eyes widened so much, they nearly popped out from behind his glasses. "WHAT?!" Not wasting a minute, he raced out of the core room as fast as the Egg Mobile would carry him. When he reached the bridge, he opened a keypad by the door, and entered a code that lowered the blast gate and made the door swish open. What he saw made his jaw drop.

The broken view-port was to be expected. After all, why else would the blast shield have been up? What was truly shocking was what could be seen beyond the broken glass. Or rather, what couldn't. Eggman hovered over to the shattered window, peering over its edge to get a proper assessment of the damage. From the hangar doors directly below the bridge, only about 100 meters or so of deck remained. The rest of it was simply... Gone. The detatched core area seemed to be sitting in a relatively large forest, with nothing but unnaturally tall trees in every direction the doctor could see, with the exception of a single stone tower, and what looked like a small town barely visible in the distance.

"HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!" Eggman shouted, "I thought the entire point of building a ship made out of jump-resistant material was to ensure that THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN!"

"A-as I said, sir, the rupture was... Unexpected. The surge in energy, it was simply too much." ADAM watched as his master put his head in his hands, mourning the loss of his crowning masterpiece. "However, there IS good news, Master." ADAM then pulled up a schematic of the remainder of the ship, showing that much of the area surrounding the core was still intact. "Many vital facilities are still functional, and the troops are still largely unharmed. If we start now, we may be able to overcome his... Unfortunate delay."

Studying the hologram, Eggman's mood lightened when he realized his digital companion was correct. "You've got a point there, ADAM. I knew there was a reason I made you!"

"Um, thank you, sir?"

"Alright, first things first!" Eggman sat down in his Mobile and began formulating a plan of action. "The first thing to do is find life forms in order to establish what sort of world we've entered. I want all stealth troops on recon duty covering a 30 kilometer radi-"

"IF ANYONE IS THERE, WE DEMAND THAT YOU SHOW YOURSELVES NOW!" A loud, female voice pierced through the night.

On reflex, Eggman stood up, throwing his hands in the air. "I DIDN'T DO IT, OFFICER! I SWEAR!"

"Master?" ADAM said, "It appears the local life forms have found us."

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Eh... I'm kinda iffy about how this one came out, but I hope you all enjoyed it!

-Lates!