Legends: The Ballad of Sally Acorn

(And now, a series of point-of-view stories, showing how mobians all over the world see Sonic and some of his friends.)

Sometimes, I think my life is like an adventure story.

My name is Sally Acorn, and I am the princess and heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Westside Island. I am a brown chipmunk, with red hair, and mostly seen wearing a pair of blue shorts, black tank top, and zip-up sleeveless vest. As royalty, my life has taken many unexpected twists and turns. I have been a dainty fairy-tale princess, a diplomat, a grim-and-gritty freedom fighter, a warrior, and finally a dainty princess once again. And though the whole process, my life has taken so may twists and turns, you could probably make an entertaining television series out of it.

My father is King Nigel Acorn, and as his only daughter, all the hopes and dreams of this kingdom are placed upon my shoulders (no extra pressure there, right?). As for my mother, I... cannot say that much about her, she died when I was very young. I was raised by Lady Rosie Woodchuck, a minor noblewoman who served as my nanny and tutor. She was the closest thing I had to a mother, and did everything from read me bedtime stories, to fixing my meals. My father also made time for me, when he could... so I had a happy childhood, even if it wasn't exactly a normal one.

My home is the city of North Mobitropolis; a quaint, tree-filled paradise filled with clean streets and good people. To be sure, this happy little paradise did indeed probably have some problems here and there, but my father's subjects were happy. The royal palace was a fun place to grow up, where I could play in the gardens, and run and hide for the servants. Most of the royal court had very little time for the quiet and reserved princess, and sometimes Rosie and my father were the only ones who seemed to notice my existence.

As I came into my teen years, I was able to make friends with some other mobians my age who joined the royal household. One of the first was Bunny Rabbot, a very skilled hairdresser from the southern baronies. Father hired her to do my hair, as well as the hair of the other ladies of court. That brown-furred rabbit became the closest thing I had to a best friend, and we would spend hours and hours gossiping about court intrigue and boys.

"I do declare, I am all happy ta be servin' yer royal haighness." Bunnie declared, upon first entering my service. "Ah hope I cain be of service ta y'all!"

Another friend was Antoine D'Colette, a brown furred coyote with blonde hair. He was the sun of the captain of the guard, and hoped to take the job for himself some day. My two new friends stuck out in the royal court, their thick accents from their home regions identifying the pair as different from anyone else.

"Madam prinzezz, I am at ze royal service." I remember Antione saying, when we first met. "Ma dame, je suis à votre service."

A late addition to my retune was Rotor the Walrus, the apprentice to our chief court minster of science, Dr. Ellidy. Rotor had come from the northern lands, where his genius was seen as a deterrent to their way of life, and so he had migrated to Westide Island to find a better life. I cannot stress enough how much of a difference Ellidy and Rotor have made for our kingdom, their inventions helping our subjects achieve a better standard of living. One thing I am eternally grateful for is Nicole, a personal handheld data device the two created for me in their lab. She... it... gives me information any time I need it. And as an extra bonus, Ellidy programmed it to speak with the voice of my mother. Although she is just a soulless machine, whenever I hear Nicole talk, I feel... connected to my mom, somehow.

Anyway, I lived a pretty uneventful life of pomp and circumstance until my sixteenth year, when Dr. Ellidy passed away of old age. That's when he showed up, and turned everything on Westside Island upside down. His name was Dr. Ivo Robotnik, a human scientist from the planet earth, who came to my father with many scientific wonders. There were rumors about this newcomer, rumors that he was the madman who had been responsible for the destruction of the Angel Island echidna tribe. He scoffed at these rumors, telling my father that while he had been totally insane until recently, he was 'all better now'. My father was weary of trusting this stranger, but events soon turned in Dr. Robotnik's favor.

It had turned out there had been a dispute of some kind between our kingdom and South Island, over a supposed political marriage between myself and the island's prince. (hey, don't look down on the practice, arranged marriages in mobian culture are consensual, I could always say no if I chose, even over the wishes of my father). Anyway, Sir Charles Hedgehog, the South Island ambassador to our royal court during the entire time I was growing up, was sent home because of rising political tensions. Seeing the end to a peace that had lasted a generation (our kingdom's last conflict was The Great War, when Westside Island drove off a massive battle birds invasion.), my father began to listen to Robotnik and to trust him. He gave the doctor more and more authority in our kingdom...

...and that was to be our undoing.

I remember the day of the takeover; Rosie woke me in the middle of the night, rushing me out of the capital, as light and sirens blared all over the place. I was helped along, half awake as Rosie ran, while Antoine and Rotor scurried after us. I heard Bunnie scream and the distance as she was wounded, and saw her wounded form carried past us by two courtiers. Robotnik's Swatbot army had taken over the kingdom, and my father was now Robotnik's prisoner. Those of us who had escaped the capture of the capital fled to Knothole village, a royal fallback refuge located in the Wood Zone. For months, we hid out in the great forest, while Robotnik and his nephew Snively (who we later found out was actually a robot, based on someone the doctor knew earlier in life) enslaved our subjects to work in their factories, ripped our natural landscapes apart to steal our natural resources, and dumped waste and filth into our rivers and oceans.

With no weapons and few supplies, my kingdom and I have no hope.

We languished in hiding for several weeks... until they showed up. A blue hedgehog, who ran faster than the wind, and a fox who can fly. The pair flew in one day, riding on an old-fashioned plane, and landed right in front of Knothole. The hedgehog declared he had been told of our plight by Bunnie's sister Vanilla, and he was here because Robotnik was his personal enemy. We were all skeptical at first, but when the pair managed to rescue several prisoners from one of Robotnik's detention centers, the rest of us were inspired. Shaking off my depression, I organized my subjects into a covert group of freedom fighters, who trained and fought as a resistance against Robotnik's forces. Antoine and rotor jumped on board our cause, and once Bunnie had been fitted with cybernetic prosthetics made by Rotor and the fox over her legs and left arm, she jumped into the freedom fighters movement with amazing strength.

Over the next four months, we struck and Robotnik's forces, and struck hard. Sabotaging operations, blowing up factories, and stealing supplies from Robotnik's transport convoys. The blue hedgehog and his companion were there on most raids to help us, and their presence made all the difference. We fought side by side many times, and I actually convinced myself we were growing close. I began to think of the blue hedgehog as my knight in shining armor, and I began to fantasize that the two of us had grown up at court together. We were the two leaders of the freedom fighters, and we would free Westside island from Robotnik's tyranny, and lead my people into a new future together.

During those four months, we made incredible progress. Freeing towns, winning allies, and uniting all the freedom fighter groups to take Ivo Robotnik down. The isolated Wolf Pack tribe of Chief Lupe joined us in the fight, and we even had a young dragon named Dulcy joined the Freedom Fighters! Bunny and Antoine found love in each others arms during our resistance, and even decided to wed in the middle of those missions and battles. Finally, we were able to pull all of our forces together, and free North Mobtropolis from Robotnik's forces in one big battle. We destroyed his doomsday device, freed my father, and drove Robotnik back to his sanctuary in the Metropolis Zone.

It has been a long time since those days, and I've matured into a full leader of my people. Westside Island has known peace since Robotnik was driven away, and we owe it all to that blue hedgehog and his companion. I came to realize that our 'relationship' was all in my imagination, and the blue hedgehog only saw me as another person he was saving. His little fox friend explained to me that his heart already belonged to a pink hedgehog, and I knew my fantasies could never be reality. Yes, he cared about me, but he cares about everyone who is suffering under tyranny. After we had driven Robotnik away, the blue hedgehog and his fox companion left. I never saw either one of them again, but I will never forget the wonderful gift of freedom they gave to me, and my subjects. He may have only been among us for a few months, but I will always remember him as a hero.

Next: Legends: The Song of a Sorrowful Queen