The Crystal Arc

Chapter 23: A Royal Pain

2 weeks have passed since the teen in blue and his friends defeated Nazo, Eggman, and Mephiles. They now continue on with their lives discovering more exciting, hardworking adventures to explore into such as…

"Ugh, why do we have to have to clean the library?" Sonic complained, holding a tower of books alongside Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around frustrated at the three.

"May I remind you three that everything here was neatly organized and situated. But then you just had to mess with Tails' invention in the living room.

30 minutes earlier

Tails was adding adjustments to a weird looking cube, but decided to take a break and went straight into the kitchen. Sonic took a seat down and noticed the odd object.

"Huh, I wonder what's coming out of his brain this time." He pressed the blue button that opened on one side and started sucking things that were close by. Books were flying everywhere and furniture started shaking. Some pots and antiques were knocked down as well. The invention was even strong enough to suck up Sonic's vest and necklace, leaving him in only his white tank top and pants.

"Hey, give me that back you stupid box!" The teen shouted as he attempted to reach his hands into the square hole, but was unfortunate to start being sucked up as well. He managed to take his left arm out and press the blue button once again. Sonic got his hand back thankfully and sighed in relief, but all the books start pouring out very quickly, leaving the teen buried in literature. The last thing to spew out was a damaged vest and torn up gloves.

"Ah come on! That's the 3rd pair this week!" Tails came back into the room with a soda, but dropped it as he saw the mess.

"What did you do?!" He asked.

"Hey, it wasn't me, it was your...deadly vacuum cleaner!" He defended himself as one more pot fell to the ground.

Present Day

"How was I supposed to know it was gonna do that?" Sonic explained.

"Wait, why do we have to help? We had nothing to do with that!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Because Rainbow Dash, this the 4th time this week Pinkie Pie launched you out of her part cannon and keep hitting my roof. This time you broke my window! Now, do I even want to know WHY you two keep doing this."

"Well, I'm trying to see how fast I can get just from being shot out of a cannon."

"And I was testing out different party cannons for the Canterlot Central Carnival this upcoming week." Pinkie Pie explained. Twilight put two fingers across her forehead in frustration.

"Testing them out is one thing, but why did you have to shoot Rainbow Dash out of them!?" The two looked each other and nudged their shoulders. "Nevermind, can you three just please get this fixed?"

"Ugh, fine.." Sonic complained. All of a sudden, Tails barged in while interrupting.

"Sonic! Twilight!" Tails yelled while running up to them. "Princess Celestia wants us all at Canterlot. She said it's urgent."

"Whelp, looks like we got too much on our plate to be cleaning up your nerd hub, sorry Twi." Sonic immediately gunned it out of there, along with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Left there was an annoyed Twilight who began levitating books, finding where they go. Tails walked up and grabbed a few books.

"Here Twilight, I can give you a hand." He offered with a smile.

'Awh, thanks Tails." She smiled back, while placing books where they go. "I just wish they would be careful sometimes."

"Well you know Sonic, he doesn't listen and usually is reckless."

"That's true. I just hope he matures once in awhile. I mean, he is the second oldest out of everyone."

"Well, I guess the reason Sonic acts like this is because he didn't really gain much of a childhood with friends to be around, including myself. Now that he has me and Knuckles, and you guys as well, he never wants to grow up and just wants to live his life like there's no tomorrow. There are times where he has to take situations seriously, and he does. But that's because he's loyal to his friends, he doesn't be all serious like Knuckles." This made the violet haired girl giggle a bit.

"Hehe, I guess you're right. It's good to see how well achieved he's been since you guys moved here. Speaking of hot headed morons, where is Knuckles?"

Out by the fields he grew up in, Knuckles was reading a letter. As he read the parchment, he gripped onto it tightly, and closing his eyes.

"Heya Hothead, whatcha doing out here?" Applejack called out while walking up to him.

"I uh, had this letter dropped off for me at Sonic's house."

"From who?" She asked.

"Apparently….my parents." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wait, ya mean the drunk foster mom that abused you left and right? Why would she be writing to you?"

"No it wasn't her. It was my actual parents, who I never met." This made her very confused.

"What in tarnation? Now how in the hey did they not only find where you have been living, but also how do they know what you've been up to."

"I don't know. It says they live on some island that's remotely close to Angel City, which was where I was raised. They say that i'm needed there, some kind of emergency."

"That sounds great! Well, except for the emergency part."

"Yeah…" He crumbled up the letter. "Sounds like a load of crap to me." He started walking back to Emerald City.

"Now wait Knux, even if this is a scam or not, it seems like these people need help, and who knows, they might actually be your parents."

"Hmph. Yeah, like they desperately need a son that they abandoned in a wasteland, and apparently i'm super important to them. And besides, whether if it is my parents, I still wouldn't go. Those bastards left me, they are the ones that didn't want me, but all of a sudden I'm 'needed'? I'm not buying it." He continued walking. She caught up to him.

"Are ya sure you wouldn't want to check this place out real quick to see what the fuss is all about? We can always take Tails' plane and fly over the-"

"I said no!" He interrupted her and yelled. They both stood silent for a few seconds. "Look, it's already painful enough to not be raised properly like every normal person in the world. Why would I want to go through that again?" Applejack held onto her own arm.

"If that's how you feel, then I guess I just have to respect it."

"Yeah you should…" He then thought for a moment. "...Ok ok, i'm sorry. I'll try to be more uh...polite." She chuckled at him and punched the brute in the arm.

"I wasn't upset ya dummy, but I really appreciate it." She kept walking as the teen rolled his eyes with a smirk and walked along.

Meanwhile at Rarity's boutique, brushing Fluttershy's long pink hair.

"Now Fluttershy, the only way for us to keep ourselves protected from the imbolc filth of the outdoors, is to make it fear our beauty." This make Fluttershy concerned.

"Fear? Oh no, we're not planning on scaring anyone, are we?"

"No darling, it's just an expression."

"Oh." She looked back down at the ground.

"Anyways, us ladies worry about putting so much effort into what clothes we decided, how our hair looks, putting on plenty of makeup, and have all that hardwork be all for nothing once we step outside and be attacked by mother nature itself. So what if, instead of putting a lot of time into making ourselves look good, we do..DOUBLE the magic!"

"Uh..huh?" She looked up not understanding.

"Just think about it darling, if any wind blows, all the make up can be wiped up and be easily fixed, or if I fall into a mud puddle, then I can just quickly change into a new dress that shouldn't take too long. Ooo hoo hoo, just thinking about it makes me excited." She jumped in glee leaving Fluttershy very confused.

"Um, Rarity, don't you think we shouldn't be wearing nice dresses or lot's of makeup to places that wouldn't require it?

"Nonsense. Anytime is a wonderful time for a person to look stunning. Well I mean, it's not like I do it all the time."

"You spent almost an hour doing your makeup before we went to go save Sonic."

"Yeaah, I guess you're right…...Maybe I should wear the long sparkling blue dress today." Fluttershy face palmed. "That reminds me, since when have you been interested in getting your hair done? Usually you would only do this for certain dances or tea parties." The shy girl began to blush a bit.

"Oh, I, um, just wanted to,...you know...make my hair all pretty today." Rarity easily saw through her lies.

"Fluttershy, you know you can tell me anything." This made her a little calm.

"Well um….there's this boy.-"

"AH HA!" She interrupted, got excited and hugged her. "Oooh, my dear Fluttershy has a crush."

" I wouldn't really say crush, but, he does seem kinda.."

"Handsome?" Rarity smirked.

"Well, of course!" She let go of the embrace. "I met him about a couple days ago.

Two Days Ago

Fluttershy walked right past the Crimson Tower outside of the city, doing her daily feeding for a pregnant squirrel.

"Here you are, eat up. Soon your babies are going to be just as beautiful as you are." She let the animal eat out of her hand. Suddenly a teen appeared behind had bright silver hair, a bright white unzipped jacket with a blue circle design on each side and white fur, a black shirt underneath, white pants and bright blue shoes.

"Excuse me, can you help me with something?" Fluttershy was startled a bit by the voice, but as she turned around, she was star struck by the boy standing in front of her. He had bright golden eyes and a bit of a dorky voice.

"Why, um, yes, how can be of service, Mr…?"

"Oh, it's uh, Silver."

"Oh uh, hi my...name is...is (fluttershy)." She whispered her name as she backed up away slowly.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that."

"It's (fluttershy)." She whispered again. He chuckled a bit.

"It's ok to be scared. I'm a little awkward when talking to people as well, hehehe." He scratched the back of his head. "Oh, anyways, do you know a blue haired teen that goes by the name Sonic.

"I do actually, he's one of my friends. But, um, I'm afraid you just missed him. He and a couple others went on a little run. An errand perhaps."

"Shoot. This is a very vital message. Do you know exactly when he'll be back?"

"I'm not sure. He's not the kind of person you can't keep still for more than ten seconds if possible." She giggled at her own comment.

"Hehe, well, I can't stay here much longer if he doesn't show anytime soon."

"Why's that?"

"Oh, just some business I have to take care of. Hey, i'm able to come back in two days, do you think you can clear Sonic's schedule for me on that day so I can have a chat with him."

"Why of course." She replied with a smile. "I'll be here the next time you come so that I can take you to him."

"Great!" The teen looked at his wrist,however nothing was there; just a blue circle on his jacket that started to glow. He whispered to himself. "This can't be good." He looked back at Fluttershy."Hey I gotta go, like, now! It was nice meeting you fluttershy. See you in a couple of days." He then took off running. She smiled and gazed upon him taking off.

Present Day

"So now I just want to look more presentable when I go meet him again to take him to Sonic."

"Well, don't your hopes up dear, some boys are very weird, and this one seems to have something suspicious with Sonic." All of a sudden, Rarity's personal cell phone started to buzz as she picked it up and answered it. "Rarity's boutique of fashion, Rarity speaking."

"Rarity, Princess Celestia needs all of us at Canterlot at once. Meet us at Station Square." Twilight informed her as the two hung up.

"C'mon darling, the princess wishes to see all of us immediately." She grabbed her by the arm.

"B-but I have to go meet Silver."

"We don't have time for that, now let's go." The two took off for the train. The odd teen can be seen on top of the boutique, watching Fluttershy going to the train station.

"Guess i'll meet you there then.."

Meanwhile on the train ride, everyone was speaking among themselves.

"So picture this!" Pinkie Pie stated, while beginning to explain something to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. " A giant floating cake, and the performers pop right out of it, shooting more cake at everyone!"

"How are you gonna get a cake to float?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I haven't gotten that far, but it will happen!" While that was happening, Rarity was explaining to Knuckles about fashion.

"I just don't see the big deal of throwing on a shirt, some pants and be on our way." Knuckles wondered.

"It's nice for people to experience a new look once in awhile. Now I think a nice suit would look wonderful on you, it will really show off your muscles...Oooh,"

"Ehhhhhhhhhh….no."

Sonic placed his elbow against the window and slowly fell asleep. As soon as he saw pitch black, he couldn't hear a single voice unusually.

"Sonic…...can you hear me?" A voice spoke to him through his mind.

"Huh? What the?" He replied through his thoughts

"I'll take that as a yes. Listen, I don't have much time. My name is Silver, I traveled 200 years from the future to speak to you about something urgent."

"Uhh….ok? I'm a little weirded out that some voice is talking him my head."

"That's because i'm speaking to you telepathically." Silver stood by station square as he spotted the train making its way for Canterlot, as he has two fingers touching his forehead. "Your friend Fluttershy informed me she would take me to you, but it seems you were all in such a hurry. Anyways, I know that you think that after defeating Nazo, you are off the hook of dealing with situations like this."

"Ehhh...nah, not really. I was expecting some dangerous journey up ahead."

"Wellll, you should. But the one i'm talking about isn't about where you are going at the moment. It's even more reckless, and i'm here to tell you that you're not ready. According to history, when you come up against this massive obstacle, you are defeated."

"How is that possible? A-and what can I do to fix it?"

"I'm not sure, I assume it's you being too cocky and not thinking straight."

"Well...I never think straight."

"That's true, but you better start thinking right now, because this new threat is no joke, and you need to prepare yourself for it…..I have to go now. Please, protect your world Sonic. I've already failed at taking care of this threat, so i'm no use of aid. Just please Sonic, don't screw this up…." The voice disappeared and the teen woke up to the train coming to a complete stop.

"The heck was that all about?" He said to himself.

As time goes by, the two princess' await for their arrival, as well as Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor.

"Sister, it would probably be wise if we left them out of this. Things can get really dangerous." Luna explained.

"We are still unsure if these acts are true, but if they are, I'm certain that they will succeed." Celestia explained. Suddenly, the doors opened up with everyone walking in.

"Heya Celestia! Hey Luna! Hey tall dude whose name I don't know." Sonic yelled. Twilight lightly pushed Sonic out of the way when she heard him mention 'tall dude'.

"Shining Armor!" She ran up to him all excited.

"Twili!" He brought her into a big hug.

"It's so good to see you."

"I wish we were to meet up on occasions that aren't disastrous situations." Those last two words made her jump and quickly let go of the mebrace

"Wait! What situation? What's going on?"

"Relax Twilight, your brother here is just very concerned about something we still can't figure out." Luna told her.

"Brother? So this is the older sibling you were talking about." Sonic reassured.

"And you must be Sonic. I heard a lot about you, and not just from being raised by the Princess, but also taking care of that ginormous robot that almost destroyed the planet."

"Yeah, i'm just surprised they managed to clean that up so quickly." Rainbow Dash decided to intervene.

"Soooo, what kind of possible disastrous situation are we in for this time around?" She asked.

"Well, this is still in the air. No one is certain if this is truly happening." Celestia explained. "Have you all heard about 'The Crystal Curse'." They all looked at each other in confusion.

"Well, I remember it being mentioned in an old fairy tale told by my grand dad." Applejack answered.

"Yeah, I think I remember it as well." Twilight agreed. "The Crystal Curse got it's name from an urban legend where a powerful being was in control of a unique gift. One that could possibly spread peace throughout the land, or in uncircumstances, gain destruction and cruelty. The power was bestowed in a family tree of royalty. The ones that had this power in their bloodline was unfortunate to die, as they attempted to use it for good, but it got the best of them. The youngest and last of the family tree, remains alive. The boy raised himself, as he was a bad seed among his peers, using his gift for terrible deeds and using it to get what he wants. It's been told that when he grew older, he built his own kingdom and enslaved many residents. It's been told to this day that whoever attempts to step into the kingdom, is never seen again. If the legend is true, the people becomes an imprisoned captive forever."

"That story gives me the creeps." Spike stated holding onto himself.

"More importantly, would it surprise you if that story was actually in today's reality." Luna asked.

"Wait what?" Knuckles asked confusingly. "I'm pretty sure it was just a myth, I remember my foster brothers trying to scare me with that story."

"Well apparently, there is a deserted kingdom that people fear going to. They are afraid it's contents connect to The Crystal Curse folktale. People have gone there, but are suddenly never heard from again."

"Not to mention we also might know who the culprit that's behind all of these disappearances is." Shining Armor stated.

"Indeed." Celestia agreed. "His name...is King Zombra." Everyone went silent, the name appeared to not ring any bells to him.

"Well he definitely sounds familiar, but i'm afraid I don't know much about him." Rarity stated.

"Yeah, even with all my passion for readings, I never read on some King Zombra character." Twilight added on.

"That's because the name strikes terror and worry to the Royal Council. They refused to let any history be known about him, worrying that he might be on the loose to today." Shining Armor stated. "Rumors have been told that he created this deserted kingdom in a snowy atmosphere called 'The Crystal Empire'."

"The Crystal Empire? Yeah that name definitely rings a bell." Tails thought out loud.

"In other's eyes, people call him mysterious, but in my eyes, he's ruthless. I do entirely that this no good King is enslaving people into an empire."

"It boggles my mind that anyone these days can just consider themselves royalty." Luna stated

"We still aren't certain that he is up to no good. But anyone who entered the kingdom has never been heard from since." Celestia informed them.

"He IS up to no good Princess." Shining Armor retaliated. "Twili, Cadance went to the Crystal Empire last week with a few guards to investigate, and she didn't return either."

"Wh-what?!" She exclaimed.

"This issue was addressed to the Royal Council meeting, but they aren't doing anything about it. They sent a few troops a day after some of our guards were sent off alongside Cadance.

"This guy doesn't sound so promising. You sure he was part of the Royal Council?" Knuckles asked.

"Indeed." Celestia reassured. "He was 1 of the 7 royal kings that took charge. His acts were very...questionable to say the least. His requests were getting too out of hand, even Starswirl, an old famous mage and former member of the Royal Council, saw darkness in his heart."

"So the other 6 kings agreed to suspend him from the meetings. He hasn't been heard from since." Said Luna.

"Woah, he doesn't too safe." Rainbow Dash assumed

"Yeah, we should leave this to the royal guard to handle. This is an empire we're talking about." Tails said hesitantly.

"I bet there's some way we can help. Maybe we can attend of those meetings and see what they think." Applejack offered.

"How 'bout we go to the empire and kick this guy's ass?" Sonic suggested while everyone stared at him dumbfounded.

"WHAT?!" They all yelled in unison. Sonic scratched the back of his head and looked confused.

"Was it something I said?"

"Idiot! Do you have any idea what you just said?!" Rainbow Dash scolded him.

"Well, yeah, I said it. Duh!"

"Sonic, you're thinking about going up against not only a King, but an entire empire! Do you realized how insane that is?! Whether this Zombra guy causing all of this is true or not, there definitely is something going on at the Kingdom, and it cannot be good." Twilight explained.

"It'd be more wise if you hold off until more investigation goes underway." Luna suggested.

"Meh, I've been meaning to jump into action. And it seems to me that Shining's wife here is in trouble, so I ain't just gonna stand around and wait for her to just suddenly appear."

"Then you can count me in too." Shining Armor stated.

"Shining Ar-" Twilight was then interrupted.

"Twilight, my wife, your sister in law could be in danger.I'm not gonna stand back and let you guys have all the fun, especially when she's at risk here." Celestia gathered everyone's attention and faced Sonic.

"Sonic…" Celestia spoke up. "If you believe you all can handle this…..then I gladly will respect it and believe you will come back victorious."

"W-well, thanks Celestia. I'll be sure to not let you down." He gave her a thumbs up.

"Um..are you sure this is a good idea?" Twilight asked.

"Since when has any of his ideas typically 'good'" Knuckles commented.

"Yeahhh….that is true."

"Wooh! Snow trip!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "I'll have to go find my new skis." She ran out immediately after the train, with the others following her along. Sonic walked forward and Rainbow Dash caught up to his level.

"Are you sure you think we can take care of this?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Aren't you the one that said I can handle anything?" He replied, winking at her. "Don't worry Dash, I got this."

"Pfft, you better!" She punched him the arm.

"Heyy! Ow, seriously!?"

"Ok, seriously dude? Still complain when a girl punches you in the arm." They both laughed walking out of the palace.

"Are you certain they will succeed?" Luna asked.

"Well...I do have faith…..but I'm afraid someone is going to get terribly hurt…" She watched Sonic and his friends walking back to the train station. "Be careful..Sonic.."

***Kicking the new Arc with a blast with this lengthy extended chapter. Usually I end chapters at about 2.5-3k words. This one was over 4k excluding the title and this author notes section. My longest chapter to date is "Chapter 21: The Final Stretch Part II" with about over 6k words. I wish to beat that without going insane haha. Anyways, setting one thing clear here; for those who didn't read closely, Silver told Sonic about a terrible event that wasn't the one he currently was going on, which is his journey to the Crystal Empire. The one he was talking about is completely different. Ummmmmm….I don't have much else to say because I don't want to give too much away….so….see you guys in the next chapter :)