Whelp, it's official… I'm in love with the story…
Chapter 10: Off to Manehattan
(P.O.V. none, Celestia's Castle)
Soler yawned as he was toying with his breakfast at the large table. Sonic was next to him, happily enjoying his meal of pancakes. Sonic looked over at Soler, and saw the tiredness in his eyes and how he seemed to be thinking about something.
"Somefing on your bind?" Sonic said with mouthful of pancakes. Soler looked at him.
"Swallow before you speak, please, and nothing's wrong. Just had a long night, is all." He replied. Sonic swallowed.
"Well, why did you have a long night?" He asked him. Soler remembered the night he had with the Princess of the night. He remembered their conversation and the way that she looked in the moonlight. He shook his head.
"Stop that, hedgehog." He said. Sonic looked confused.
"Stop what, man? I haven't done anything." Sonic said. Soler realized that he said that aloud and looked at Sonic.
"Oh nothing, man. Just thinking about something and had to shout it out to the world, ya know?" He replied with a sly smile. Sonic squinted his eyes and looked at him with suspicion, as if he was really trying to figure out what was truly going on. Soler could feel himself sweating a bit, hoping that he wouldn't figure anything out. Sonic continued to stare, and then he asked a question in a serious tone.
"Soler."
"Yeah?" He replied, gulping.
"I have one more question. Are you going to finish your pancakes?" Sonic asked. Soler's eye twitched.
"Sure man, go ahead." He said and scooted his plate to him to, which he gladly started to eat. "It amazes me how at times you can be the hero anyone will look up to, and yet still act like a child at other times." Soler said to him. Sonic just continued to eat his food happily.
"I'm one uf a kind." He said mouth full. Soler smirked.
"Swallow man. And yes, yes you are." Sonic swallowed and gave his award-winning smile to him. Just then Celestia came into the dining room. She smiled as she saw the two hedgehogs eating.
"Good morning you two. Sleep well?" She asked them as she took a seat at the top of the table. The two looked at her and smiled back.
"Yeah, I slept pretty well Celestia, but I don't know about Soler here." Sonic said poking Soler. This caught her attention.
"Why didn't you sleep well, Soler? Did you have a bad dream?" She asked with a hint of concern in her voice. Soler gave Sonic a glare, and then looked back at Celestia.
"No Princess. I didn't have a bad dream, I just had a long night is all. Nothing to worry about, I assure you." He responded with a smile. Celestia looked at him and could see a hint of weariness in his eyes, but decided to let it go.
"Okay Soler, I trust your judgment." She responded. Soler let out a sigh of relief. Celestia ate her breakfast and was about to leave until she remembered something to tell them.
"Oh Soler, Sonic, the others will be here soon. So could you please meet me in in the throne room once you're done eating?" She called as she left the room Sonic and Soler looked at each other.
"Welp, better get ready then." Soler said drinking the last of his juice. Sonic sighed.
"Yeah, you're right about that." The two finished their breakfast and made their way to the throne room, dreading each step.
(P.O.V. none, Throne Room)
Soler and Sonic were sitting at the foot of the throne while Celestia was signing some papers. Sonic watched her has she did this and noticed that the papers were levitating and her horn was also lit up.
"Hey Celestia, are you using psychogenesis?" He asked her. She stopped from what she was doing and gave him a questioning look.
"What is that?" She asked. Soler chimed in.
"It's where you can move objects with your mind and such." He answered. She nodded.
"Well Sonic, I'm not using the technique you are speaking of. I'm just using my magic to lift the papers." She responded. Sonic nodded and went back to laying on the steps until he sat back up realizing what she said.
"What? You can use magic?" He asked in disbelief. She nodded and smiled.
"Yes, all unicorns can use magic in this world." She responded as she went back to her work. Sonic thought about it for a second, then shrugged and laid back down.
"That's kinda cool. You guys can use magic." He said. Soler sighed and sat up.
"Shouldn't they be here by now? It's almost midmorning." He said standing up.
"Yeah, it has been awhile. I wonder what's taking them so long?" Sonic said standing up as well. Celestia was still doing her work when she answered.
"I'm sure they're almost here. Just be patient my little hedgehogs." Soler and Sonic looked at each other, then back at her.
"My little hedgehog?" They said together. She stopped and realized what she had said.
"I'm sorry. I always call my subjects "my little ponies" to calm them. It's a habit." She said returning to her work. The two shrugged it off.
"Well, we should be able to go for a quick run before they get here." Sonic said, starting to stretch.
"Yeah, I'm sure we could." Soler responded also beginning to stretch.
"Yeah, plus we're still tied aren't we?" Sonic said with a smirk.
"This could be our tie breaker." Soler smirked too.
"You're on hedgehog." Before either of them could take a step, the main doors to the throne room opened up and the rest of their friends walked in. The two put on a smile.
"Hey guys, glad to see you made it her..." Knuckles charged up to the two hedgehogs, fuming. He cut off Sonic.
"Well I know I'm going to regret this but, hey Knux, you're looking redder than normal. You using a new moisturizer for your fur?" Soler asked. Knuckles looked like he was going to explode when Celestia noticed this and instinctively used her magic to create a pair of earmuffs to cover her ears.
"YOU TWO FULL-HEARTED, HALF-BRAINED, ONE-MINDED, IDIOTIC…"
"Charming?" Sonic said.
"CHARMING…" Knuckles stopped and Sonic shriveled up under his death glare.
"WHAT MAKES YOU TWO THINK IT WAS ALRIGHT TO JUST LEAVE ALL OF US BEHIND AND THEN WHEN YOU CONTACT US, IT'S TO GIVE US A VAGUE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT YOU WERE DOING?" He continued, both hedgehogs huddling up together. "WHAT DO YOU TWO HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!" Knuckles finished. Neither hedgehog wanted to reply, but Soler spoke up anyway.
"You have very pretty eyes." He joked, instantly putting a hand over his mouth. Sonic facepalmed himself, knowing that his smart mouth had doomed them. Knuckles turned a deeper shade of red, looking like he was going to explode twice as much on them than what he did before. He was just about to when he felt a hoof on his shoulder. Knuckles turned around to see Applejack.
"Well I know that these two hedgehogs deserve a good talking to, but maybe we can settle the rest back at home partner?" She asked. Soler and Sonic looked at each other thinking he was going to shout at her, but he didn't. He actually started to calm down. Knuckles looked into her eyes and for some reason they had a calming effect on him; the way her eyes didn't waver made him feel like he could just trust her with everything. He let out a deep sigh.
"Yeah. You're right. We can deal with them later." He said. She smiled.
"'Thanks partner." Sonic and Soler sighed in relief, glad that Applejack had saved them.
"Don't think this is over, you two. Just because she calmed me down now doesn't mean you're off the hook." Knuckles said. The two gulped. An hour or two had passed as the group explained all of what happened to the Princess.
"So that light we saw in the sky a few days ago was because you had caused this Chaos Control?" Celestia asked. Soler nodded.
"Yeah. It seems like that must be the case since the two both happened at the same time." He responded. Applejack spoke up.
"But from the way that you fellers were describing it, it shouldn't have been that bright a light." She added, "My cousin Braeburn said they could see that light as bright as day in Appleloosa."
"Just like here in Canterlot." Celestia said. Soler thought about the situation.
"Hmm… Tails, you got anything from this?" He asked him. Tails seemed to be having the same face as him thinking even harder.
'Well if the light that was seen was as bright as they say and could be seen from here to Appleloosa, then there might be a possibility that the Chaos Control took more than just us here." He concluded. Sonic let out a deeply annoyed sigh, fostering looks from the others.
"What's wrong, darling? If that Chaos Control thing took more than you boys here than that just means more of your friends could be here too." Rarity said. Sonic just shook his head,
"Yeah, I know that. But it could also mean that a certain egghead could've been brought here as well." He said, beyond irritated. Rainbow spoke up this time.
"An egghead? What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"He means Eggman." Knuckles said with his arms crossed. All of the girls looked confused, even the Princess.
"Who is Eggman?" Twilight asked.
"He's an evil genius who wants to conquer planets and build his Eggman Empire." Tails said.
"Well I'm sure something with a silly name such as Eggman can't be that bad." Pinkie said.
"Sorry Pinkie, but this is one guy you don't want to mess with. We stop him on an almost daily basis back in our world. Mostly from turning others into robots." Soler said. They looked shocked by this.
"He even does this to animals?" Fluttershy asked. Soler looked at her.
"Especially animals, Flutters. He uses then as a power source for his robots so that they move with more of a conscience when they fight." He responded. She looked hurt to hear this. It looked like she was about to cry until she buried her face into Tails. This caught him by surprise but he accepted it and held her to calm her. Sonic hated seeing that this is what Eggman can cause. He walked in front of the Princess, all of his coolness gone, filled with a sudden seriousness.
"Princess Celestia, we need to make sure that if Eggman is here, that he doesn't get any of the Chaos Emeralds. He can cause a lot of harm if he gets his hands on them." Sonic said. Rainbow noticed how his whole attitude had changed and he looked more like a hero than from when she first meet him. "I won't let him cause harm to any of your people, Princess. I promise you." He said as he dropped down on one knee and bowed his head.
"You have my word."
The others watched him, surprised by how serious he became, all except for Soler, Tails, and Knuckles. Soler followed his lead and stepped up next to him and dropped to one knee.
"You have my word too, Princess." He said. Knuckles and Tails followed them and fell on one knee as well.
"You have our word too, Princess." They said. Everyone looked at the four in awe on how serious they were with their promise. Celestia stood from her throne and walked in front of the bowing group.
"Rise, my brave visitors." She said. They rose to attention, "I can see that your wills aren't staggering, your minds are set, and your hearts are pure. I give you this task; to collect the Chaos Emeralds, and to make sure that they don't fall into the wrong hands." The four bowed.
"We won't let you down." They said in unison. Celestia smiled.
"I know you won't, especially with Twilight Sparkle and her friends' help, I'm sure you won't fail." She finished, the mane 6 standing at attention,
"You can count on us, Princess." Twilight said. Celestia smiled while looking at the group before her.
"Well, you are dismissed. If I find any information or find out anything out of the ordinary, I will send out a letter immediately." The group nodded and left the Princess. As they were exiting the door, Celestia called Soler back for a moment.
"Oh Soler, could you come back for a moment? I have a message for you." She said to Soler as he walked back to her as the group left.
"Yes Princess?" He asked. Celestia levitated a letter to him. It had a seal that closed it, like a crescent moon.
"What's this?" He asked. Celestia smirked.
"My sister wanted me to give this to you before you left. She said something about having enjoyed your evening together and that she will be looking forward to another on." She said. Soler blushed from hearing this. Celestia giggled from seeing his face.
"She told me you would do that once you got the message." Celestia said. Soler fumed slightly and turned to leave. As he walked out the throne room he spoke under his breath.
"Gosh dang it, Luna."
(P.O.V. Soler & Sonic, Ponyville Park)
A few days had passed since they last spoke to Celestia and Soler and Sonic were relaxing in the park. Soler was lying on a tree branch while Sonic was lying on the trunk. Sonic yawned.
"Hey Soler, do you ever think that since we got here that we've been relaxing a lot?" He asked. Soler thought about his question.
"Nah man, you're just over-thinking things. We're like, twice as lazy as this back home." Soler responded. Sonic pondered on his response and agreed with a nod. They went back to silence enjoying the day.
"Hey, where are Tails and Knuckles?" Soler asked.
"Well, I know that Knuckles is at AJ's farm helping them collect apples, and I think Tails is over at Fluttershy's helping with her the animals." Sonic replied. Soler thought on it.
"Those two have been acting kinda out of character since we arrived here. Almost as if there's some sort of outside force changing how they act to please the context of how the story is going and to fit in this world, ya know?" Soler finished. Sonic opened his eyes and looked up at him in confusion.
"Dude, what are you talking about?" He asked. Before Soler could respond, they saw that a unicorn was running towards them with a letter levitating, her horn alight with magic. The unicorn had a pink coat, her tail and mane was a purple and grayish blue. The mark on her flank, her Cutie Mark, was a purple and white star with two glimmering streams coming from it. She stopped in front of the two, huffing a little.
"I have a letter from the Princess and was told to bring you back to the castle. The others are already there." She said. Soler jumped down from the tree.
"You must be Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's student, right?" He asked her. She nodded.
"How do you know of me?"
"Twilight talks about you sometimes. Where have you been these past few days?" He asked.
"Well, I've been in the Crystal Empire visiting a friend of mine and only just recently came back." She said. Soler nodded and while the two were conversing, Sonic was reading the letter. His eyes widened once he had gotten to a certain point and got Soler's attention.
"Soler, hey, listen to this." He said catching the two attention.
"What does it say man?" He asked Sonic. Sonic read pieces of the letter.
"Well it starts with the usual greetings and how are we doing blah, blah, blah. But here's where it gets good, I have gotten reports that some citizens have seen a black creature lately. They say that it doesn't attack anyone but he seems to be searching for something and only stays up high. One other distinguishing feature about this being are it's red eyes as they catch a glimpse of them before it disappears." He finished. Soler looked in surprise but started to smile.
"So he also got brought here. Tails was right. We weren't the only ones that got sent there. Where is it that they have seen him?" Soler asked. Sonic read the letter more before answering.
"She says in some place called Manehattan." They looked at each other with smiles.
"Welp, it looks like we're off the Manehattan." Soler said as the two ran off to the castle. Starlight was still standing there in bewilderment.
"Who is it that's in Manehattan?"
Chapter 10 complete. To be honest, I didn't think that I was going to be doing 10 chapters, but I love it. I don't have much to say this time, other than I just can't wait to see how this story is going to progress, and I'm making it! Whelp, that's all so Solerwolf OUT! (P.S. sorry for any errors kind of tired when I posted this)