Author's notes

Welcome back! Sorry for the long wait everyone… I've been having a very nasty case of the writer's block, worst one yet. That and the person that I've been helping was urging me to assist with his or her work. The first chapter is completed, and we're going to be hammering on it from now on.

I hope everyone is exited as I am for a brand spanking new season of My Little Pony… I'm still very uncomfortable with Twilight being an alicorn, but I believe that I could adjust to that very quickly if they do it right.

There's been plenty of exiting things happening this year, New MLP season, book two of The Legend of Korra, confirmation of Kingdom hearts 3, and last but not least… A NEW SEASON OF SOUTH PARK!

To be honest, I've been waiting patiently for South Park to do an episode on the brony community. We had fan made episodes on you tube, but they've been acting like South Park will actually 'tolerate' them. In the fan made episodes, they have one of the kids get into MLP, someone like Cartman poking fun at them for it, but at the end becoming one of them.

That is not the South Park I know… We've seen South Park do pop culture topics, and I highly doubt that the episode will end without offending at least millions of fans. They did episodes on celebrities, politics, religion, and lifestyles and look how they turned out on the show. I could only imagine what they'll do about the show.

Be looking forward to that, I know South Park will do an episode on it. It has never once disappointed me.

Shoutouts:

Chocos Forever: I hope that Flash Sentry doesn't exist at all. He was never meant to exist, Chocos… He was an accident! A freak of nature that can only exist in a fanfiction!

Guactar: Hmm, I'm awfully curious what comic you're making… I'll be keeping an eye on you.

Alright, please enjoy the continuation.

---

Another flash of yellow light flashed across the sky as Shadow continued his raging battle against the resurrected mechanical monster. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, The Elements of Harmony, Luna, and a whole platoon of Royal Guards watched from a deserted field below as the two forces collided. They felt a sudden rush of heat blanket over them as Cyber X began to fire missiles towards the tiny target.

They fled Canterlot earlier, guiding the troops as far away from Canterlot as possible while homing in towards the escapees of Tartus. They now stood on a grassy field with the city just miles away behind them. Equestia wasn't entirely known for their military, just enough soldiers to hold off any kind of invasion and counter with a siege. The princesses once stood by a hundred thousand stallions during one time in history, but ever since their last major war, their military has been slowly depleting by each generation of ponies.

After Shadow's rampage on Canterlot, they now only stood with a few hundred soldiers and a handful of elite, and standing against an estimate of a thousand dark beasts. They looked like an ocean from where Sonic was standing.

As this ocean approached, Sonic couldn't help but feel this sudden sensation of dread. He has faced armies before, whether they were creations of Dr. Robotnik or some kind of alien invasion or even a swarm of dark monsters like this one. He has faced armies greater than this.

But why were his legs buckling?

"Every stallion head to the front and get into formation!" Shining Armor shouted to his soldiers, "No pony should leave their post for anything!"

Everypony that was standing behind Sonic and the Mane six immediately galloped to the front of the pack. They readied their horns and whatever weapons they may have possessed, aiming dead ahead as their overwhelming opposition continued to push forwards.

The beasts were in no hurry, though. They paced themselves, slowly crawling their way towards the soldiers with their claws clinging to the dirt as they approached.

Captain Shining Armor galloped to the front of those soldiers, galloping alongside them with the tip of his horn glowing. He began to shout battle cries, trying to lift the spirits of his stallions as they held firm.

As Shining Armor saw the army approaching, however; he heard very faint trots behind him. When he looked, he saw his soldiers slowly taking a step back. Their breaths were heavy with panic setting in their eyes.

"I said hold your ground!" He shouted, "This may be the last time you'll see daylight, but you'll die knowing that you fought for your Kingdom."

A majority stopped, but a few were already beginning to turn.

"I SAID HOLD YOUR GROUND!"

Those few ignored him. With a sudden shout of fear, they took off in the other direction.

Shining Armor was about to shout after them until he suddenly felt his legs shaking. He turned to the opposing army and felt a sudden sensation of fear and dread. His muscles became stiff, eyes becoming as wide as saucers when panic began to set in him.

He suddenly felt like running.

He and the rest of his most royal soldiers held their ground as the dark creatures continued their slow approach, but with each antagonizing step they took, the urge to run became greater and greater.

"What… is this?" The captain whispered to himself.

Without realizing it he began to step back, his heart beating faster and faster as hope seem to seep away from him. As he forced himself to look to the dark creatures ahead, he envisioned death itself slowly creeping towards him and everyone behind him. The world around him suddenly became darker, the sun itself beginning to glow a shade of dark red. The fight raging between Shadow and Cyber X was muffled by the sudden loud footsteps the creatures were making.

As he felt his lungs ready to usher a scream, a growing light shadowed behind him. He quickly turned his head to look and saw a bright star glowing brighter and brighter by the second with five other lights hovering beneath it. The sudden fear that he experienced slowly desiccated. When his eyes adjusted, he caught a glimpse of Twilight hovering just underneath that star with the rest of her friends floating right alongside her. Luna was standing by them, and only pointed over his shoulder.

He looked and saw the creature recoiling, covering their eyes with hands or claws as they began to back away.

He began to smile… the fear that once held him was replaced by a type of courage that only a Royal Guard could feel. He as well as every guard that stood behind him charged, even the ones that were running were joining back into the fight. As he charged, he saw a blue blur rushing by him, heading straight into the army as the hedgehog began to curl into a ball. Not too long after that, he saw Tails, Knuckles, and Amy rushing ahead of him.

---

(SCREEEECH!)

(BOOM!)

Shadow was blasted backwards as the metallic bird flanked him with a supersonic charge. With a sickening crack, he was sent flying through the air at the sound barrier; soaring right above Canterlot and straight in a tree next to Ponyville. Cyber X took off after him, readying a powerful beam as it soared above the city. Ponies below ran for their lives as the mech dived bombed towards the direction of Shadow's projectile.

When it flew to its destination, however; it only saw a small crater where its target should have landed. It began to scan its surroundings immediately for the little hedgehog. When it turned its head a full 180, the bird was smote to the ground by Shadow's charge from above. The ground itself trembled as the machine landed.

Shadow immediately zipped towards it as it began to recover, easily knocking over patches of trees and large plants as it stood on its talons. As it scanned for its target, it was suddenly knocked to its side as it caught a glimpse of the hedgehog unleashing a slash from his two Chaos Spears. It again scanned for its target, and detected impacts to its stomach and sides.

The Ultimate Life Form kept the mechanical bird at point blank range as he began to slash at its armor. He figured that keeping this machine as close as possible was best, because at long and medium ranges it can unleash it's countless of weapons that's stored within its armor. Even with the six emeralds, just one direct hit from one of its missiles was more than enough to knock the emeralds right out of him. He found that out the first time he fought it.

With him just feet away from him, however; there was no way Cyber X can target him… not that close.

While still dodging and weaving from the machine's line of sight, he continued to hack and slash its armor, constantly teleporting to keep the machine from locking onto him. The machine was spinning around and trying to locate its target, but with its body larger than any battle fleet, it was impossible to get a lock on it.

Shadow kept teleporting, kept slashing, and kept his momentum up, trying everything in his power to pierce its armor while taking the only advantage he has. He kept striking the same spots, partially towards its stomach, trying to at least chip its armor.

No matter what he throws at it, though; no matter how much power he charges to his attacks. Its armor is left unscratched.

I've changed my Chaos Spears with every inch of the Emeralds' power, He thought, unleashing a super charged Chaos Slash with absolutely no success, why can't I chip its armor?! No metal can withstand Chaos Energy!

Suddenly, the machine expanded its massive metallic wings while standing to its talons. In one swift movement, it spun with in a surprisingly swift motion, creating a massive gush of wind around it. Shadow was caught off guard by this sudden move and was instantly blown away. His body flew through the air and collided with a nearby building, immediately bringing it down to shambles.

He began to stand on his feet and gasped. He already saw the Colossal bird hovering several hundred meters away from him while morphing its talons into giant missile launchers, each talon containing

more than a dozen missiles. As the machine fired, he realized that he was standing right on the edge of Ponyville.

---

"ALL ELITES STAND DOWN AND GUARD THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"Luna shouted while hovering above the battlefield, "LET NOTHING DISTURB THEIR ENCHANTMENT!"

The elites began to back up while summoning shields and powerful offensive spells to keep the looming crowd at bay. They were only a dozen of them left, but they began to circle around Twilight and her friends as they continued to float in mid-air. It's strange, she thought that the Elements of Harmony would have just wipe every dark creature out at once with its power, but instead, it was giving out a strange pulse that seem to be disorientating the creatures that dared to invade and cancel whatever pulse they were giving themselves. Even if she was with the elements since the beginning, she and her sister knew only so much about them. The element themselves could be unpredictable at times.

But they will just have to make due. The Elements of Harmony were giving them the advantage, and she needed to keep this advantage for her Royal Guards to have a chance in this fight.

For Sonic and his friends, this advantage turned out to be invaluable. They were in the mist of these creatures, covering each other's backs as they began to pull together in a circle. Bodies of fallen soldiers and monsters lay around them in a heap of smoke as the war around them waged on, the last screams of stallions being drowned out either by the sound of a claw slash or an explosion. Every beast slain caused a rise of pitch black smoke to rise and dissipate into nothing.

Even with the elements blazing beyond the battle field, neither side could gain an advantage. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy has slain whatever came across their path. Even after almost an half an hour of fighting, there was no signs of that one emerald that dwelled somewhere among them.

"Outnumbered five to one and where somehow holding the enemy back," Tails said.

Sonic cast his eyes towards a clearing and suddenly saw Captain Shining Armor marching with a dozen or so soldiers, breaking formations and charging towards specified points commanded by their officer. The hedgehog looked for just another second and saw those stallions unleashing a barrage of fire and lightening around them, whipping out any dark beast in their paths and unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. When the attack was over, Sonic saw nothing but them in a large clearing, everything else around them dissipated.

"Shining Armor sure knows how to handle an army." Sonic said, really impressed by this stallion's leadership, "Considering the fact that Equestia hasn't seen a war for generations."

A tall shadow loomed over them as a beast suddenly began to charge from their flank. Its fate was sealed when Amy swung her hammer over her head, hitting it with a powerful slam and sending it flying through the air until it dissipated into nothing.

"We need to find that Emerald, Sonic!" Amy screamed over the war cries of charging stallions.

Knuckles sprinted forward and punched a beast that was completely caught off guard and disintegrated in flash.

"Any ideas where to look!?" Sonic shouted, scanning quickly to find the weakest spot to charge, "There's thousands of those things out there!"

"Then we'll just split up!" Tails shouted, kicking a tall human like shadow to its back and finishing it off with a powerful stomp to the head, "I can assist the guards with their assault while you three fight in different directions. The more of these guys we take out the easier it'll be to find it."

"It's not like these things have any pockets," Knuckles grunted through his teeth, "Just look for a glowing jewel!"

"If any of you find the Emerald, find Shining Armor and tell him to light a flare!" Sonic shouted, curling up into a ball and instantly spun into a nearest crowd of monsters.

At that, Knuckles and Amy ran to the nearest crowd of monsters and began their vigorous attack while Tails ran towards a group of guards who found themselves suddenly surrounded.

---

A small colt was sitting on a swing all alone in his backyard while staring blankly towards the sky. His mother was inside, probably either cooking a late breakfast or just getting out of bed. There was a picture of his parents on his lap, with her mother kneeling down beside him with his father standing on his left with a hoof on his shoulder.

As he stared into the clear skies, he could hear his father inside his head saying his last words before setting out for his last mission into the Leafy Jungle before he died.

Maybe there was a place ponies would go after death. Whether there was even an afterlife was any colt or filly's guest, but for this moment he pictured a perfect place where ponies would go after life, a place where everypony was happy. He imagined daddy smiling back at him from above, telling him how much he loved him.

The colt could feel a tear streaming down his cheek, his imagination bursting as reality set in. His mother misses daddy, there wasn't a night where the colt couldn't hear her crying inside her own room.

Suddenly, as he began to sob, a loud screech burst his ear drums. The screech was so horrific and loud that he immediately galloped to the back door without thinking and rushing in. He saw his mother standing there with her eyes as wide as saucers, just as terrified as the colt when she heard the screech as well.

Before they could say another word, they noticed the window glowing a faint orange glow that became brighter and brighter by each second. When they looked out that window, they saw a rain of strange, flaming hunks of metal flying straight towards their house.

"Mommy," The colt called with his voice trembling out of sudden panic, "What's that?"

Without a second to blink his mother scooped him up and began to gallop to the other end of the house.

Suddenly, as she was opening a door to her basement, the whole house shook as a series of loud explosions erupted just outside their window. The kitchen ignited in bright orange and red colors as fire combusted just behind their house.

She held on to her son for dear life as explosions continued to shake their house. As soon as it began, however, it suddenly ended.

Cautiously, the colt's mother began to approach the window, seeing nothing but black smoke at first. As the smoke began to clear, she noticed something glowing just outside her window. She slowly trotted forwards to get a closer look, and she gasped in shock.

It was a glowing, pinkish shard sticking out of the ground, the same shard that was sticking out of her husband in those gruesome pictures the army took. Maybe if… No, it couldn't be.

As she looked though her window she noticed something flying above her house. As she peered closer, she could make out a faintly glowing black and red hedgehog holding two identical shards in his hands. Just behind him were more of those flying metal things that nearly collided with her house. She watched as this hedgehog whipped his body around and hurled those shards towards those metal objects, hitting them dead center and somehow causing them to combust into a great explosion.

She noticed then, as the hedgehog cast his eyes towards her direction, that she was staring into the eyes of her husband's killer.

It wasn't her that noticed the fight; several other ponies inside their houses were watching this terrifying spectacle through their windows as well. They were just as astonished as the mare was; this cold hearted killer was saving their town.

A three story four legged shadow beast sprinted its way towards Knuckles with a vicious roar of thunder, rearing up as it readied itself to smash the red echidna with its two paws. With Amy still swinging her hammer away, keeping every hostel away from herself and her friend, Knuckles jumped; already falling down on the beast's back as it slammed its upper body down. The ground shook from the massive force, Knocking Amy off balance for just a second. This one second was all that was needed for a nearby pony figured shadow beast to knock her down.

The three story monster let out a vicious roar as it began to thrash aimlessly, trying to throw Knuckles off its back. He kept his grip tight, though; and began scanning the wide open battle field.

When the pony figure hovered above Amy, she let out a vicious war cry and kicked it as hard as she could with her two legs, sending it flopping backwards on its back. She quickly stood to her two feet and leapt towards it, stomping its head with her shoe with enough strength to crush its skull. The pony figure quickly dissipated.

"Any signs of that Emerald, Knuckles!" Amy shouted towards him, seeing him clanging to the beast's back, "We could use it right about now!"

The echidna began pounding on the beast's back with his fists while quickly jerking his head to the left and right. What took place before his eyes was a chaotic battlefield; black smoke from fallen enemies covering the entire skies above. As he cast his eyes towards the ground, he could see several large spots of black made by their enemies. Little by little, he saw that the Royal Guards were gaining an advantage… inch by agonizing inch.

However, there was no sign of any of the creatures holding the emerald.

He finished the three story beast by jumping off its back. Right before it could retaliate by swiping one of its claws in the air, Knuckles dived bombed on the back of its head. It's upper body slammed to the floor, shaking the ground once more as the beast began to dissipate into thin air.

"Nothing!" Knuckles snorted, "Whoever's holding it is still too deep in this crap to see!"

Amy turned her attention to another crowd of dark monsters, who were gaining an upper hand on a group of Royal Guards.

"Then let's keep fighting!" She cheerfully shouted while summoning yet another hammer to her side, sneering at a nearby slug, "Cleanse! Purge! Kill!"

She took off while Knuckles just shook his head at her antics and sprinted towards the nearest monster.

---

At the other end of the battlefield were Captain Shining Armor and his small legion of soldiers tightly packed together as they slowly pushed onwards towards the middle of the battle. Tails was flying right above them, directing their path.

"Keep this formation packed, stallions!" Shining Armor shouted, "We're cutting these things from the heart! Let not your life get in the way of victory! If you sacrifice your life, you're sacrificing it in the name of Princess Celestia!"

A dark winged owl suddenly dive-bombed towards Tails. The bird struck the fox by his flank, completely catching him off guard and dragged him to the ground. A nearby guard immediately shot the reckless bird with a quick shot of fire, disintegrating it effortlessly. The damage has been done, however; for the charge left a nasty mark on his side by the owl's sharp beak. It looked more like a stab wound than a peck.

"March west by twenty paces and continue to push south!" Tails shouted to Shining Armor, wincing as he press his hand against his wound, "There's a small hill not too far from here that can give us an edge over these things!"

The Captain nodded and ordered his army to turn west; screens were being cast to keep any would be ambusher from cutting within their possession. The fox began to spin his two tails, fighting the newly found pain his wound was causing. He forced himself to the sky and again began to shout directions and nearby enemies.

The advancement, while slow, was becoming a concrete strategy for the squad. While a few guards suffered a horrific fait at the beginning of the battle, once their formation was formed, however; they became an impenetrable mass. The outside formation was made up of powerful unicorns that can cast powerful spread and chain spells that can slay weaker enemies, and can cast a screen if needed. They were also wielding spears for anything that came too close. In the front were unicorns that specialized in heavy spell casting, killing anything that towered over them or attempts to attack head on. Protected in the center were weaker unicorns that covered them from the air. Tails was an added bonus by providing navigation through the dense battle.

After several long minutes of fighting, Shining Armor can sense that the shadow beasts were losing ground. They didn't need Tails to tell him, he can feel victory inching closer and closer as they continued his march.

Finally, they can see the hill up ahead. It wasn't much of a hill, just a slight incline of elevation by a couple of meters or so, but if military training has taught him anything, if you have the high ground, you have the war; no matter what the numbers.

As Tails continued to hover over the army, he winced again as his wound continued to worsen. The pain became more and more unbearable by each second, blood beginning to draw from the wound. Suddenly, he began to wobble and lose his momentum in the air, flailing to the ground as he struggled to stay air born. The guards below instantly caught this and halted their advance, letting the fox gently fall on top of them as they moved to let him touch ground.

The wound itself wasn't fatal, but it was more than enough to immobilize him; especially untreated.

He hit the dirt on his side, moaning in pain as his feet began to curl. A nearby guard loomed over him.

"Y-you're going to be fine!" The guard nervously shouted at him, levitating him and moving him among the other stallions, "Just hang with us, Tails! Just hang with us!"

The group of tightly packed guards began their incline as they stepped to the side of the hill. They began firing rapidly around them and around the hill, killing whatever stood in their path to a strong outpost, unleashing strong spells that would kill anything on contact.

Finally, they were in the clear. The soldiers marched on until their commander was on top of that hill with the rest of his stallions.

They could see the entire battlefield taking place right before them. It was a sea of darkness and flashes of light being emitted from horns, spots of blood splattered in the hottest parts of the battle. Black smoke covered the sky with shrills of monstrous roars and war cries deafening the battle.

"This is it!" Shining Armor shouted, "We have reached our optimum position! Just hold this spot, that's all we have to do, just hold this spot! Victory will be ours!"

Dark creatures of many kinds began to climb their way towards them. Before any of them could reach half way up the hill, they would be immediately killed by a powerful spell. Any range attack or leap would be blocked by a spell.

Tails was still being levitated by a stallion. He could feel the unicorn's magic easing his pain somewhat as he tried to the best of his extent to treat the wound. If only there was a medic nearby.

"W… What's going on outside?" Tails asked.

"We just secured the hill and we're now gaining the upper hand on these things!" A nearby guard shouted at him as he shot a white sphere into the air, hitting a charging black bird square on the head with an instant kill, "You've done great, Tails!"

The fox couldn't help but smile just a bit before being stung by another shot of pain from his wound. To be able to serve Celestia's army has been an honor to him, and knowing that they were on the winning side made it that much sweeter.

Suddenly, as Captain Shining Armor ordered another layer of screening to be casted… Something began to feel off.

All the screaming, roaring, and spell casting quieted as his senses began to sharpen. Time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl as he scanned the open battle field.

He didn't know what it was, but something felt off… Everything else that was taking place around him was tuned out to focus on this one thing that Shining Armor didn't grasp. As he continued searching, he felt his heart pacing faster than ever before with his muscles tensing and eyes widening. He then felt an overwhelming sensation of panic taking him, adrenaline rushing through his body and screaming at him to abandon his stallions and run for his life.

Is this… fear?

Why was he feeling fear?

He cast his gaze to the six mares that held the elements of harmony. They were still there, still floating in a hexagon formation with the necklaces and the crown shining brightly. He just caught a glimpse of Luna hovering over a massive group of shadow beasts and unleashing a pure white blast so powerful that it split the earth beneath them. Needless to say that the creatures didn't survive.

The elements of harmony were counteracting the creatures' strange aurora that would buckle even the bravest of stallions.

So what's going on?

His question was answered when he caught something glowing from the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to look he felt his whole body being grabbed by an unseen force.

It was a Shadow Beast, very built, muscles popping on its four legs as it slowly prowled itself through the battlefield. It paid no heed to anything around it, just looking straight ahead with its beany red eyes. It was holding a glowing object in one of its claws, stepping on it as it traveled through the hottest spot of battle. Whatever stallion the beast travel by froze stiff in mid attack, becoming easy kills by the creatures they were fighting.

Shining Armor looked back and gasped when he saw his legion of guards freezing in place, staring at this mysterious creature as it continued to track through.

"P-p-p-pull yourselves together, guards!" The captain shouted, fighting to, "We must hold this hill! I repeat! We must hold this hill!"

Before he knew it, a wave of shadow beasts crashed against their screen. It held up but greatly faded in color. Shining Armor turned back around to relocate the creature… More especially what the thing was holding.

As he leaned in and focused on the creature's claw, he gasped in complete shock.

It was the last Chaos Emerald, glowing with power within the beast's claws.

---

Sonic took another high leap into the air and homed attack on another shadow beast. The dark creature instantly dissipated on impact. As soon as he touched ground he curled into a ball and spun into a large crowd of shadow beasts, going straight through it with pitch black goo splattering into the air.

Sonic began huffing when he uncurled, exhaustion taking a hold on him. The fight has been long, tiring, wearying, and dragging itself as the hedgehog fought since the very beginning of battle. He kept spinning, kept jumping, kicking, punching, and home attacking for as long as a Shadow Beast dared to challenge him.

His hopes were up, though. He could tell that the numbers were depleting, each ambush by these creatures were getting less and less frequent, and the groups he ponders were growing smaller and smaller.

Suddenly, as he was readying himself for another attack, He felt a chill running down his back.

The monsters that were surrounding him began to slowly back away from him, taking uneasy steps back or flying away altogether. They were staring at something behind the hero, and they took more steps back as the figure approached.

When Sonic turned around, his whole body froze stiff.

His eyes were staring into two beanie-red eyes dimly glowing that pulsed with twisted malevolence. It's large muscular pitched black frame that was undefinable, but at every angle terrifying. It slowly crawled towards the hedgehog on its four legs with its claws gripping the dirt.

Sonic tried to move, and tried to move his legs or arms to absolutely no avail. His heart began beat faster as the thing approached him with a growing grin that continued to stretch its lips. He wanted to run, wanted to fight, wanted to do anything that involved moving, but was simply impossible. His muscles were frozen solid, fear and panic rushing through his body as the figure approached him.

When it came within stone throw away from him, it stood on its back legs and began to slowly walk towards him.

Sonic squinched his eyes as the emerald glowed brighter.

"Y… You're that same thing that I saw back in Tartus." Sonic chocked out, his voice becoming dry, "You had the emerald all along."

The creature's grin became wider and wider, its breathing accelerating as it gripped the hedgehog around the throat and holding him in mid-air. His lungs were being restricted by the creature's grasp. It slowly leaned his head towards his, staring him dead in the eye. Sonic didn't blink, he couldn't blink, and it was as if death itself was staring at him. As the hedgehog struggled for air, the beast's constricted it grasp.

"I'm going to kill you."

---

Ever Since Rainbow Dash first felt the feeling of a great and magnificent power rushing through every fiber of her body when she and the rest of her friends defeated Nightmare Moon, she never again felt so alive.

Even the exhilaration of a Sonic Rainboom could never compare to the pure holy power the elements gave her.

When she's in this state, she could feel the heart beat of her friends, the pain, sorrow, and happiness that they feel, their souls mingling into one as their elements crossed each other's spaces.

For just a second her eyelids cracked open. The entire battlefield was laid out before her, hundreds of mysterious pitch black creatures clashing with small bands of powerful armored solders, explosions erupting from every angle from powerful magic fired to the air. She's never seen a full scale before in her life, and as they say... War is Hell.

Especially with dead stallions sprawled out before her... Some in pieces.

As she was about to close her eyes and shut out the horror before her, she felt something. Something that's weakening their link, but just slightly. She felt the unnatural power pulsing around her, and just by feeling alone, she was able to pinpoint it.

When she cast her eyes towards the left she gasped in complete horror.

Sonic!

She could only watch as a large dark beast continue to constrict the hedgehog around his neck, his legs kicking as his cheeks began to turn to a shade of blue. Rainbow saw the Emerald in the creature's hand, the emerald that was protecting him from the Elements aurora.

The creature's grin began to snicker when the hedgehog's legs became limp.

SONIC!

The dark beast held its grip for a couple of more seconds before dropping him. A sinister laugh echoed it began to lift its foot over the unconscious hedgehog.

NOOOOOOOOOO!

---

Flying Demon Monkey – Hey readers, I do apologize for the long wait. Harry has finished this story many days before I started editing, but some things got into my way which delayed my chances to get the work done sooner… not only was my night shift work schedule hectic, my cousin, whom is one of my roommates just had a baby girl (she's such a cutie!) and I was by her side, helping her, the father, and their daughter out. Plus while they and their daughter were being cared for at the hospital, as soon as I returned home, myself and the rest of our roommates were busy keeping the house clean and keeping our crazy pets under control. Also throughout the weekend (after my cousin and the baby got discharged), I was helping my cousin and her baby's father pack up and get ready to visit some families outside of my state, so they can say hi to the little one. So that's pretty much the reason why the release came out so late. Again, I am so sorry! *curls up into a corner*

I'll be handing the mic to Harry now. Here you go! *uncurls, tosses the mic to Harry, and then curls back up*

---

Author's notes.

I really don't know what to do readers… My chapters are becoming harder and harder to write.

I think it's because that this is really beginning to feel like a chore; it's becoming a challenge to even write sentences. The quality of these chapters are dulling a bit too… Some of you might disagree, but that's how I feel.

But don't ever think that I'm putting this down. If I put this down, I'll be forever haunted by my failure.

Deadline: I'm going to try to get through with the next chapter within two weeks… The next chapter is pretty straight forward, so it shouldn't be too much.

I'm on my way to have the next bonus ready… Look forward to that, trust me! It's going to be barrels of fun, I tell you!

My prayers are with you all… Always.

God bless

Harry

---

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines: Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the field yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold. And there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakku 3: 17-18