Green Hill Zone, Sonic's world
Three weeks after the Lost Hex Adventure
Something strange was going on. One moment, the sky was a clear blue filled with clouds and the light of the sun. The next, everything turned dark and lightning shattered the sky. The electric bolts almost resembled cracks. The sight of it sent the local populace in fear.
And if the freaky weather wasn't enough, weird creatures were popping up out of nowhere. Small horses with blank eyes and black, shadowy bodies. A hoof stomped down on the grass, terrifying a Picky. With high-pitched squeals, the animal took off while the strange creature silently looked on.
It was flanked by dozens like it. Some sported horns on their heads that blasted out beams of dark energy, obliterating rocks and totem poles. Others flew above the ground with large, flapping wings. Their trails left behind dark sparkles like the tails of comets.
A circle of them surrounded a shivering pack of animals. The tiny critters squeezed their eyes shut, fearfully waiting for the inevitable. One of the dark horses trotted towards a Flicky with an emotionless expression…
BAM! Something blue and swift smashed against the dark horse's head hard enough to make it explode in a black burst. A spinning blue ball struck several more horses, erasing them from view with each hit. The ball soared into the air, uncurled…
...and touched down, revealing itself to be a blue hedgehog with bright green eyes. The eyes looked to the happy animals to see if they were alright, then to the shadowy horses. He clenched his gloved fists and donned a cheeky smirk. "You might not be robots… but that doesn't mean I can't put you in your place! Now giddyup!"
Four of the horned horses fired deadly lasers at the hedgehog. In a flash, he was off, leaving the lasers to strike where he just stood. A small explosion from another blast sent him skyward. He emerged from the smoke as a blue ball that slammed into horse after horse. He plowed into one's torso, the back of another, and hit the third right in the flank. He skidded to a halt, kicking a charging one in the nose.
A winged dark horse flew past the hedgehog, knocking him to the ground with a grunt. A second swooped in from behind, knocking him back into the air. Again in his ball form, he smashed the winged horses and kicked one down to earth.
A horned horse conjured a magical shield that the hedgehog bounced off of. A standard-looking horse stomped the ground with its front hooves, shaking the ground and nearly knocking the hedgehog off-balance. And two winged horses spun around at high speed, trapping him.
The hedgehog shot up in another spin, bashing both winged horses away. At supersonic speed, he shattered the magical shields and smashed more of the dark horses. He broke into a run and slid underneath a low-swooping flyer, jumping over a double kick from another.
One by one, the shadowy horses all fell until a single flyer remained, beating its wings and analyzing the situation. In a spinning strike, the hedgehog grounded it and placed both feet on its wings.
"First, the sky goes all crazy, and now you guys show up," announced Sonic the Hedgehog, a hand on his chin in thought. "I think I'll call you guys Night Mares. Sounds fitting, since you're literally dark horses. Anyway, what's your deal? Is Eggman resurrecting another ancient being of destruction?"
The winged horse smacked him in the face with a hoof. It took to the sky and flew off at high speed, leaving a purple-sparkly speck behind.
"Jerk," Sonic muttered, turning his attention to the tiny flock behind him. "You little guys okay?" The animals replied with happy chirps, oinks, and other sounds. "Cool! Keep outta trouble now!"
Sonic took off across Green Hill Zone, surveying the scene around him as he ran. The place held so many memories for the Blue Blur, from his first journey to defeat Dr. Robotnik to returning the color the Time Eater had stolen from it. So many loops ran through, so many Badniks trashed, so many rings collected…
But now Green Hill was very, very different. Angry purple cracks in the sky hovered over the grassland, opening up holes that dumped odd objects into Sonic's favorite spot. Stuff the hedgehog had never seen before was scattered everywhere. Things like statues of horses, wooden buildings, and…
GRRR!
A wolf-like creature made of nothing but wood. The startled Sonic skidded to a halt in front of the creature- contraption?- and eyed it over. Check one more weird thing off the list. The arboreal animal glared at Sonic, bared its wooden teeth, and roared right in the hedgehog's face.
Sonic gagged in response but quickly regathered himself before facing this enemy like he did all the rest: with attitude.
"Sheesh, your breath stinks! Have you been barking up the wrong tree?"
The creature lunged at Sonic, who spun right underneath its body and landed a quick kick to its back leg. "Okay, so I gotta work on my tree puns…"
The wooden wolf attacked again, snapping at Sonic with bark-like jaws. "YOW! Bad dog!" Sonic backflipped away and spun right for the creature, nailing it in the head with his trademark Spin Dash. The animal made a sound resembling a pained yelp followed by a ferocious snarl. It swiped at Sonic with its claws and tried to pounce on him, but the hedgehog kept zipping about and nailing it with strikes.
"I'm an environmentalist as much as the next guy," he quipped. "But this is ridiculous! It'd be more fun if you were made of metal instead of wood!" Sonic bombarded the creature with rapid Homing Attacks, blowing apart woody bits and armor-like bark.
Once he was finished, all that remained of the creature was a busted wooden heap. Sonic dusted off his gloves and plucked out a small twig with an annoyed expression. "Cripes, that thing was surreal. But what's happening here is even more so." The hedgehog looked up to the sky, seeing more pieces of architecture and landforms slowly fall from cracks in the sky like water droplets. "I gotta go get Tails and the others. Hopefully, they'll gimme some hints as to what's going-"
AWOOOO!
"-on?"
Sonic snapped back to reality. And he found himself in trouble. Three more wood-wolves had surrounded him from all sides… and the one he had just smashed had completely reassembled itself. "Oh, right. Wolves are pack animals."
The trio lunged at Sonic, who jumped into the air. The wood-wolves smashed against each other, broke apart on impact, and collapsed in a heap of twigs, sticks, and bark. The last one ran for Sonic with jaws wide. But when it snapped its jaws shut, the hedgehog was gone.
"Sorry, little doggies! I'll play fetch with you some other time!" Sonic blasted off down one of Green Hill's many paths in a blue streak of light, leaving the pack of wood-wolves in his dust. Their leader growled at the sight of the pack's escaped prey before turning its head to the cracked sky and howling alongside its pack.
…
Tails' Workshop
Sonic zipped through the open doors of his friend's workshop, already greeted by the sight of his friends looking over at a screen. A twin-tailed fox was inputting data with a quizzical expression while a pink hedgehog with a hammer watched from a distance. "Hey, guys! What's happening here?"
"I've been asking the same thing," replied Tails. "One moment, everything's all calm and quiet. The next, boom! The sky starts breaking apart and all manner of weird, crazy things start pouring out!"
"Yeah, I've noticed," Sonic said. "I had to fight through some shadow horse things and a pack of wolves that looked like they were carved from wood."
Amy Rose placed a hand on her hip. "And I saw some Badniks getting attacked by some piranhas with wings."
"Hard to believe they started coming here a few days ago…" Sonic recapped. "Where are these things coming from?"
"That's what I'm gonna find out," answered Tails. "I've been analyzing the energy signatures that those cracks in the sky emulate, but it's hard to properly determine what it is. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."
Sonic tapped his foot on the ground. "Well, whatever this is, it's turned Green Hill into Wacky Wonderland. Strange creatures, unfamiliar buildings… what else is gonna pop outta there?"
"I don't think we wanna know," Amy answered before a thought crossed her mind. "Hm."
"What's up, Amy?" Sonic asked.
"I… I could've sworn I saw something through one of those cracks back in Marble Garden Zone," muttered Amy. "But it was too blurry to make out. But it looked like a… place."
Sonic narrowed an eye. "A place?"
"Anywhere familiar?" Tails asked. Amy only shook her head. "Nuh-uh."
Tails gave no reply, keeping his eyes glued on the screen in front of him. On it, more cracks were surrounding a swirling hole in the sky. It was showing a swirling, distorted mess of a scene. As the pink hedgehog described, it was practically impossible to make out where- or what- it was.
The fox placed a hand on his chin in thought and narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Hmm…"
…
Meanwhile, in another place
Ponyville, Equestria
"AIEEE!"
"RUN!"
"HELP US!"
In a small town, small horse-like creatures stampeded through the streets in a panicked frenzy. Energy blasts and explosions kicked up all around them, narrowly missing most of them. And among the screaming and the sound of trampling hooves… were the sound of mechanical marching.
Various creatures composed of metal advanced through the town, backed up by small infantry units with laser blasters. Stray shots chipped off pieces of buildings and scorched holes into the ground.
Motoric ladybugs with wheels zoomed ahead, circling several horse-like creatures to trap them. From above, dragonfly-like machines pointed stinger blasters at the frightened crowd. Crab and caterpillar contraptions approached as the horses shivered in fear. An orange machine marched up to a frightened filly, raising a metallic hand to grab it by the neck.
"No! Please!" the terrified townsfolk shouted. Several squeezed their eyes shut while others froze in fear, waiting for their inevitable detainment. The blaster held by one of the bipedal machines began to charge up with energy…
"HIII-YAH!"
A rainbow-colored blur smashed into the robot, taking it out in one blow. The other infantry units spun their heads around, beeping in confusion.
Turning their attention away from the crowd of horses, the machines swiveled their heads to track down the fast-moving target. One machine caught traces of a swift streak of color and turned its body, firing off its blaster in the target's direction.
A colored whirlwind raced around the robot, striking and smashing it from all directions. A strong swipe knocked its head clean off its body, and it rolled to a stop near the other robots.
"Alright, you wannabe windups! You've made your last mistake threatening these ponies! Now get outta here or get busted up!"
The machines were silent at first. The creature that had just taken out one of their own was fast, yes. It was cocky and full of attitude, yes.
But it was no hedgehog. Instead, what stood atop the hunk of metal that was once a robot was not even registered in their databases. A cyan-furred small horse with feathered wings spread wide glared down at the robots with magenta eyes. Both the mane atop its head and its flowing tail were alive with color. And on its flank close to the tail was an image of a rainbow lightning bolt shooting out of a cloud.
The machines were silent as all artificial eyes were trained on the new arrival.
"Why so quiet? Are you stunned because of how undeniably awesome I am?"
The machines raised their blasters and pulled the triggers, opening fire on the newcomer as the animal-shaped ones advanced towards her. The creature launched into the sky to evade the incoming barrage of lasers. Looping around while airborne, she dove towards the robots and tucked in her wings, spinning around rapidly. They continued to fire, even as she plowed into one of them with a yell.
The winged horse touched down right in front of some zooming metal ladybugs on wheels. Thinking fast, she swatted one away with one hoof and kicked another into a flying robot with her back legs. Dashing up to a machine resembling a caterpillar, she spun around it to confuse the machine before headbutting it right in the face. It crashed to the ground, leaving it vulnerable for the winged horse to slam down on top of it, breaking it into metallic bits.
She paused for a moment, rubbing her head with a pained groan. "Man, these things are tough!" Energy blasts from the dragonfly machines forced her on the move again, making her swoop up to engage them. "Good thing I'm tougher! YAH!" She plowed through them in one strike, breaking them apart and leaving their remains to clatter to the street.
"Yeah! Who else wants some?!" The remainder of the robots charged for her with mechanical whirring and clanking, followed by more energy blasts. Crab robots shot orbs from their claws, getting easily trampled underfoot when the winged pony ran through them. She tackled an infantry unit to the ground and grabbed an arm in her mouth, forcing it to fire on several more. A single shot blew a hole clean through another unit, downing it instantly.
The pony blitzed around the area in a colored blur, taking out the last of the robots with ease. One after another, each of them was reduced to scrap metal and broken bits of polymer alloy. She touched down onto the street, striking a pose as bits of metal clattered down around her.
"Ta-da!"
The townsfolk before her cheered in delight. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash! Thank you!"
"No prob! Now get somewhere safe before more of those creeps show up!"
The ponies obliged immediately, taking off from the scene. Once they were all gone, Rainbow Dash calmed herself down and looked to the sky.
It was like cracked glass. Lightning-shaped tears in the air had inexplicably opened up, and weird stuff had started to come out; those things among them. It had rudely interrupted her morning flight. And she didn't need to be told twice that it could be magic-related.
Everypony's working hard to calm everyone down and find out what's up. She thought. And honestly, I'd be scared, too… if I was just an ordinary pegasus.
Peep-peep!
The sudden noise made Rainbow's ears stand up on end. "Huh?" She stood on full alert, trying to track down the source of the sound. She heard nothing at first. Rainbow shook her head and drove the thought away. She was probably hearing things because of this-
Peep-peep!
Okay, she wasn't.
Rainbow trotted over to where the distressed chirping was coming from: the smashed remains of a ladybug-like machine. Narrowing her magenta eyes in curiosity, she nudged aside the red metallic shell with one hoof…
...and her eyes went wide. "Wh-what the..?!"
There was a bird inside. A small blue one that was shivering in terror. It slowly opened one eye, calming itself down as it did so. At the feeling of sunlight on its feathers, it started to calm down. It started to chirp in relief and happiness… but stopped when it saw Rainbow Dash.
Both animals were silent as they stared into each others' eyes… until Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence. "What in Equestria? How… what were you doing in there?"
The bird chirped in reply, flying out from its prison and circling Rainbow. As it continued to peep ecstatically and flitter about, Rainbow just mentally sighed. "Where's Fluttershy when I need her?"
More sounds drew the pegasus' attention. More small animals were climbing free from more of the wrecked machines and approaching their winged savior by her hooves. "Whoa, hey, easy there, little guys. I'm no critter expert. But what were you all doing in those things? Were you… controlling them?"
One of the critters, a small pig, shook its head in denial. A little rabbit proceeded to mimic mechanical movements and pursued the pig, who pretended to flee in a panic until the rabbit caught it.
"Hold up… you were stuffed in there?" Rainbow realized. "Who's crazy enough to do that?"
The animals moved their forelimbs out from under their noses and gestured to their heads and torsos… but for Rainbow Dash, their hints fell on blind eyes. "Uh… yeah, this is going nowhere. Sorry, little guys, but you're not my problem anymore. Go on, scurry away and do… well, whatever it is you do."
The animals all acted as one. They started to turn and scamper away from Rainbow… when they caught a glimpse of something. They jolted in panic and proceeded to flee in a hurry.
"Well, I guess that is whatever they do, what with being chased by weird metal-"
Rainbow paused. Something wasn't right. There was a strange ethereal chill in the air that was creeping up her spine. The pegasus turned to look back at the town… and was treated to a grim sight.
Black bipedal beings stood before her, staring at the pegasus with blank white eyes. They said nothing, for they had no mouths to do so. Fists curled at their sides as if in hate. Spikes trailed from the back of one's head, spiked knuckles rested on the fists of another, and a third had canine-like ears standing at attention… as well as a pair of tails.
What are these things? Rainbow wondered, her face frozen in shock. These didn't look like any creature she'd seen in Equestria… or even beyond. They were something else. Something strange. And something dangerous, from the looks of them.
VRREEEE!
One of them suddenly shot for Rainbow in a curled-up ball state, speeding towards her like an angry yak. The pegasus barely had time to leap to the side and avoid the spinning ball. But as soon as she did, it circled in an arc and shot right for her with another high-pitched whine sound.
"Gah!" Rainbow shot to the side, barely avoiding the disc a second time. "Hey! Watch the feathers, spiky!"
Before she could in for an attack, one of the creatures plowed a fist across her head, knocking the pegasus to the ground. Another dove in from the air, carrying her upward. Rainbow kicked at the creature hard, breaking free from its grip and swooping down to tackle her assailant. The one with the spiked knuckles caught her with both hands, slamming her against the city street.
Rainbow groaned. Whatever these things were, they were strong. And fast. She could take them all with no problem… but a part of her mind said otherwise. She needed help.
The spiky one was coming for her again, its legs in a blur-like motion. Impossibly fast for anything with legs, but that didn't even top the weirdness Rainbow had seen recently. Cracks in the sky, animals in metal bodies, and now this? Just what was going on here?
She moved to launch into the sky again… when the figure suddenly stopped in its tracks. A raspberry glow surrounded its form, holding it in place before it was mysteriously flung through the air. With a thud, it crashed just outside the town. The rest of the attackers paused, turning in the direction of their flung friend with confusion in their glances.
In the distraction, one of them was blasted in the chest with a magical beam while another received a strong double-hooved kick in the back. The former collapsed to the ground while the latter crashed right through a store window. It popped its head back up immediately, shaking glass off its form.
"You don't seem like the usual trouble we've been getting recently. But that doesn't mean you're no trouble at all."
The beings looked towards the direction of the voice… where they saw the winged pegasus was not alone. Standing by her side were five similar creatures. Two of them looked like normal horses- although one wore a cowboy hat-, one had wings just like the pegasus already present, one had a horn atop its head… and one had both wings and a horn.
"As the newly-crowned ruler of this fine land," spoke the lavender alicorn. "I order you to leave this place immediately!"
The dark beings had one reply to that statement: the spiky one punched a palm and pointed a finger at the ponies. The others rushed towards them with great speed, allowing the spiky being to bring up the rear.
"I give you points for trying, Twilight!" shouted the pony in the hat.
The spiky being spun up into a ball and launched itself at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus brought up her wings, bracing for impact. But before the purple ball could slam against her form, it bounced off solid diamond instead. Peeking out from her wings, Rainbow saw a white unicorn standing in front of her and projecting a diamond shield with her horn.
"Rarity!" she called out. "I had that one!"
The unicorn gave Rainbow a look. "Oh, yes. You were just standing there, waiting for that ruffian to hit you. Of course you handled it perfectly."
Rainbow never really thought of Rarity as the sarcastic type. She could've opened her mouth to retort, but the action was too much to resist. Before her foes knew it, she rocketed towards one with spiked knuckles at high speed and rammed it in the side. She flew off just as it swung in retaliation, leaving it to whiff and hit nothing but air. The being stomped its foot in frustration and shook a fist at the pegasus…
WHAM! It was left wide open to a double kick from the pony in the hat, knocking it into several of its allies. All of them collapsed in a pile, completely dazed and stunned.
"Nice going, Applejack!" called Twilight, blasting away a being holding what looked like a hammer with a magical beam. Close by, another being was blasted by a cannon in the face as a pink pony giggled happily. The figure sat up, shook its head, and wiped off liquid batter that had gathered on its face.
"Aw, not much of a cake-lover, are- GYEEP!" She was cut short when the being smashed the cannon into the ground, disabling it. With incredible strength, it lifted the cannon above its head and hurled it through the air. The cannon sailed towards a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, who was keeping her cautious eyes on the figures instead of the imminent danger.
"Fluttershy, look out!" Twilight called, her horn glowing with light. Just as the pegasus turned around with a startled gasp, the cannon froze in a magical aura. The being paused and tilted its head in confusion… before the cannon was redirected back at it, sandwiching it between a building.
More cannons fired at a figure with a hammer, who rolled and jumped over each shot. Leaping high, it brought its hammer crashing down on one cannon, smashing it to bits in a single strike. The being swung high, flipping another cannon onto its back… and aiming its barrel at the pink pony.
"Uh-oh."
BLAM! Goo splattered over the pony's head, leaving her still-visible eyes to blink twice. The being spun its hammer around, ready to squash the little irritant. It jumped again, but a colored streak snatched it out of the air.
Rainbow flew back into view, turning her eyes to the batter-faced pony. "Pinkie Pie! Are you okay?"
The wingless pony replied by licking the batter off her face in one fell swoop and humming contentedly. "Mmm, strawberry!" Rainbow just rolled her eyes… before a spinning ball slammed against her side and knocked her out of the air. "YOW!"
The spiky figure touched down and drew back a fist, ready to strike the stunned pegasus across the face. But before it could, a stream of green fire cut off its line of sight. Similar emerald flames engulfed several more of the beings, leaving them to burn and wilt into murky nothingness.
Rainbow cracked a smile at a small purple dragon flying overhead. "Thanks, Spike!"
The dragon flew out of the way of a jumping being that was trying to grab him out of the air. "Anytime!" he replied, blasting the being with another fireball. Rainbow climbed back to her feet, staring down the spiky-headed figure.
"You just picked the wrong ponies to wrangle, cactus-head!"
She tackled the being and knocked it into the sky. Chasing after it, Rainbow delivered a series of quick blows as she spun around the figure in a whirlwind of colors. When she slowed and landed, it was nowhere to be seen.
And neither was its little gang of friends. All that remained was hers. "Ha! Another day saved!"
"Aww. Party's over already?" Pinkie whined. "But I was just starting to have fun!"
"That's the third time this week a town's been attacked," noted Applejack. "Everypony's starting to get worried about their safety, Twilight."
"As if those metal creatures were the only problem," the alicorn answered. "Whatever they want, they'll capture anypony they come across to get it."
"And that's not all," Rainbow added. "I just trashed a bunch of 'em before you guys got here and I learned something really freaky. Some of those things have animals in them!"
Fluttershy let out a horrified gasp. "That's t-t-terrible! Those poor things!"
"But here's something else weird," Rainbow continued. "They didn't look like any critters I've seen. They were… uh, smaller than most animals."
Applejack raised a brow. "Like the ones I've seen wandering around the farm?"
"I guess."
"And don't forget those freaky-deaky black creatures!" Spike added. "Where the heck did they come from? And why were they so fast?"
"I have no idea, Spike…" Twilight answered. "But I think they have something to do with those cracks in the sky." Everyone looked to the sky, where cracks and small holes were scattered about, making the air look like a shattered mirror.
"Weird stuff's been coming out since they started," Pinkie spoke up. "Scary metal things, tiny animals that are kinda cute, and even pointy sunflowers!"
"Don't be ridiculous," Rarity countered. "There's no such thing as pointy sunflowers."
"This is probably the biggest crisis Equestria has ever faced," said Twilight. "Magic-related or not, we're going to get to the bottom of it. We'll find a way to fix it, seal off the cracks in the sky, and stop these attacks."
"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "We got this, Twi! Compared to what we've all done, this'll be a breeze!"
"I wouldn't get your hopes up too quickly, Rainbow," Twilight replied. "I have a feeling this crisis will get worse by the day."
"Worse, schmorse! We've got this together, no matter what!"
Twilight smiled at the pegasus. "Okay, everypony! Let's head back to Canterlot and get to work!"
"Yeah!" Everyone cried out before trotting down the street. Rainbow moved to join them, but couldn't resist taking another look at the sky. As she did, another bright streak cracked open the blue, creating a pang of worry in the pegasus' heart.
We got this… I hope.
