Sonic: Friendship is Eternal Ch. 58

The Crystal Empire

"Princess Celestia!" A Solar Guard shouted as he entered her royal chambers, having run quite a distance.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

"IT has returned" he simply stated, Celestia became alarmed at this.

"Tell Shining Armor and Cadance and have them investigate this. I'll send for the Elements" she ordered. The guard quickly saluted before doing as instructed.

2 days later

Twilight was running back and forth, trying to get things packed in a hurry.

"Twilight, would you calm down? It's just a test" Shadow said, causing Twilight to stop and immediately turn to glare at him.

"Just a test?!" she asked, outraged that he would even think it was just some test. "Princess Celestia summoned me to Canterlot for a test! It's not just any test! It could be the deciding factor of whether or not I'll be her personal protégée anymore!"

"Well getting all worked up about it isn't going to help much." Shadow said, earning a death glare from her.

"He is righ-" Spike stopped midsentence when that same glare found its way over to him. "Shutting up"

"Permission to enter not needed!" Sonic said before entering the library with Rainbow Dash close behind him. Their attention was soon focused on Twilight running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"She stressing?" Rainbow asked

"Yep" Shadow said.

"What for?" she asked

"A test that Celestia has requested her presence for" he said.

"That's all?" she asked, scoffing at how easy that sounded. Twilight made no move, no sound and began to glow faintly.

"Hit the deck!" Spike shouted before Twilight released her magic, causing the whole treehouse to fly into the air and land back on the ground where it was.

Canterlot

"Are you sure she is ready for this sister?" Luna asked, her coat shining softly in the sunlight coming through the window.

"I'm more than sure, Luna. She and her friends did save us all from Stargazer not too long ago" Celestia said with a smile.

"Truly they did…though I still have this feeling" she said before Celestia fanned out her wing and draped it over her sister's shoulders.

"Never you worry Luna, they'll do fine. I have the utmost faith in their abilities"
The doors swung open, revealing a nervous Twilight carrying over packed saddlebags that were bursting at the seams from how stuffed they were. Luna nodded to her sister before leaving the room, nodding to Twilight before exiting and shutting the door behind her.

"You needed to see me Princess?" she asked, trying to keep the best poker face on and failing miserably.

"Yes Twilight, though I'm afraid you over packed for nothing my dear student" she said with an amused smile. "This test will require you to head to the arctic north"

"What?! The arctic north? But why?" she asked, confused and relieved at the same time.

"The Crystal Empire has returned, and it's vital you and your friends save it from a great evil" Celestia said, "1000 years ago, The Crystal Empire was responsible for creating love and friendship throughout Equestria. Thanks to the crystal heart in the center of the city. If love and light fill it, so shall Equestria be full of these." She said, using her magic to grab a crystal and demonstrate by filling it with kindness and love, making it sparkle and shine beautifully.

Twilight just watched, absorbing all this like a sponge. "But if hatred and fear fill the heart…" she trailed off, conjuring hatred as her eyes turned a bright green color with a purple aura trailing off of them. She filled the crystal with this magic, causing it to dull and crack until it was dust. "I'm afraid Equestria will be doomed if that happens" she said.

"Why has the empire suddenly appeared?" she asked. Celestia sighed softly before beginning the tale.

"1000 years ago, a unicorn by the name of Sombra became king of the Empire. He enslaved the crystal ponies, using his magic and hatred to taint the crystals. My sister and I confronted and defeated him. He was one step ahead however, using his magic he made the Empire disappear with him. If the Empire is back, so is he, and you must not let him gain control of the empire."

"I won't let you down Princess" she said, feeling determined to save the Crystal Empire.

"Shining Armor and Cadance are already there waiting for you and your friends. A train is scheduled to leave within the hour, get on it."

Twilight nodded before bidding farewell and heading out.

Outside

Twilight exited the castle and was greeted to the sight of Spike and Shadow. "So how did it go?" Spike asked. Shadow waited to hear her answer, but instead got singing of all things. Which he soon began to detest, especially after Spike began to sing. After about a minute or two it seemed it was ending finally.

"Oh no I wasn't"

"Oh no she wasn't"

"Oh no a headache" Shadow said in the same tune, causing them to look at him.

"Why'd you have to go and break the rhythm for?" Spike asked.

"Well anyway, we just need to get our friends and head up north" she said before bumping into Big's belly.

"Hello Twilight" he said with a smile.

"Hello Big" she said with her own smile.

"Bout time ya'll showed up" Applejack said, standing with all their other friends.

"Well, shall we not waste any time and get this show on the road?" Rouge asked, earning a nod from Twilight.

"Let's do this!" she said with a determined expression as they boarded the train and were soon on their way to the arctic north.

1 day later the train soon came to a stop in a station in the middle of the snowy land. Which was currently experiencing a snow storm. Our heroes exited the train, being met instantly with the chilling cold of the weather.

"Kind of reminds me of Ice Cap…" Sonic said to himself.

"Huh?" Dash asked him, having heard him mumbling. He shook his head, smiling at her.

"Nothing Dash, come on, we gotta find this Crystal Empire" he said before a voice rang out from nearby.

"Twily!" Shining Armor called to his younger sibling

"Shining Armor" Twilight said as she ran up to him, giving him a hug.

"So glad you all could make it. We could really use the help."

"What's going on?" Shadow asked

"I'll explain once we're at the Empire, it's not safe out here. Follow me" he said, leading them toward the empire. The howls of arctic wolves could be heard in the distance as they trekked through the snow. Big was using his large size to shield Rarity, Rouge and Cream from the storm as best he could as they walked.

"There it is!" Shining shouted loud enough for all to hear him through the wind. In the distance was a glowing dome like shape. "Hurry, we need to…" The wolves howling suddenly stopped and Shining got this look of horror on his face. A black mist was closing in on them from behind, and it was moving fast.

"RUN!" he shouted, taking off at full speed. The others followed him, turning to look at what they were running from as a pair of glowing green eyes with a purple mist and red irises formed. The slit pupils stared them down as the mist got closer and closer. The empire was getting closer and closer as they ran, but Sombra was having none of that, determined to catch them.

Shining quickly stopped and readied a protection spell using it to slow Sombra down just slightly.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight called out before being yanked into the barrier by Shadow. Shining blasted Sombra again before the mist retaliated, sealing his horn with dull and dead crystals growing off of it. Quickly Shining Armor jumped into the barrier which Sombra collided with before backing off, unable to pierce through it.

"What…the hell was that?" Shadow asked.

"THAT, was King Sombra" Shining said, panting as he stood up.

"Everyone okay?" Knuckles asked, earning affirmatives from everyone.

"Come on, we gotta get to the palace" Shining said, leading them through the city to the palace and then up to the throne room where Cadance was. She smiled at the arrival of them, looking worse for wear.

"Twilight!" she said happily

"Cadance!" Twilight said just as happily before the two moved closer to each other.

"Sunshine Sunshine ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." They chanted as they did their usual greeting.

"So girly…" Shadow said to himself.

"Uh, beg pardon, but they are girls" Applejack said, earning a glare from Shadow and chuckle from Knuckles.

"She got you there" Knuckles said.

"Zip it echidna" Shadow warned.

"It is great to see you all" Cadance said before wincing and putting a hoof to her head, the barrier flickered when that happened, but soon stabilized.

"What's wrong with your barrier?" Shadow asked.

"She's been up for days maintaining it to keep Sombra out" Shining said.

"Couldn't you use your protection spells to help her?" Twilight asked

"I wish I could, but Sombra sealed up my magic, so I'm no good there.

"Maybe we could go around and ask the locals about any info that could help us to create a barrier and give Cadance a break" Twilight suggested.

"That's a great idea, we'll leave it to you" he said.

"Alright! Time to get some info on how to stop this Sombrero guy" Sonic said, excited.

"Uh Sonic" Dash said, poking his shoulder with a hoof. "His name is King Sombra" she corrected him.

"That's what I said, King Sombrero" he retorted.

"Oh my gosh I don't want to argue with you about this" she muttered through her teeth, a little annoyed. Sonic however just had the goofiest grin on his face.

Somewhere in Equestria

Metal, Mephiles, and Gilda were preparing to leave to head to the Griffon Kingdom, where Metal was determined to gain the trust of the Griffons so he'd have his own scouting party for emeralds, not to mention they'd be a nice little army.

"We gotta go far north to reach my birthplace, there you can take the initiation" Gilda said.

"Very well" Metal said, heading that way with Mephiles and Gilda. Their trek was going to be a long one.

Back on Earth

"Boss! Boss!" A deep voice shouted as it ran down the hall and busted through the door.

"Yes Storm?" Jet asked, already knowing this would lead to a headache.

"I found something amazing Boss" he said

"Is it another old lady in the park feeding pidgeons?"

"Uuuuuh…"

"Dammit Storm!"

"Uh wait! I found something else!"

"A bird bath?"

"Uuuuuuuuh…"

"Oh for the love of…"

"No wait! I did find something else that's even better!"

"This should be good" Jet said, prepared for something stupid

"I saw a hurricane with a pretty picture in the middle" Storm said. The room fell quiet as Jet looked at Storm quizzically.

"That's stupid…even from you" he said.

"Just come on!" he said, grabbing Jet and dragging him along. "Wave is already checking it out"

"How on Earth you got her roped into this I'll never know…" Jet said, getting on his Extreme Gear and flying with Storm leading. Soon they came upon the hurricane in question.

"I'll be damned…he wasn't making it up…" Jet said as they flew down to where Wave was.

"Wave! I brought him!" Storm said as they landed.

"Good job Storm" she said with a smile turning to them.

"Mind telling me what the heck I'm looking at?" Jet asked.

"A hurricane" she said simply with an innocent smile on her face.

"Okay smartass…what type of hurricane?" he asked.

"I don't know…it's giving off weird readings…similar to our gravity bands" she said. Jet looked at the silver bracelet on his wrist that allowed him and his team to alter gravity.

"So what does that mean?" he asked.

"BOSS!!" Storm shouted from high above, "I can see another world in there!" he added. Jet looked at Wave before they got on their Extreme Gear and flew up to where he was. Storm pointed to the eye, where in fact another world could be seen.

"What the hell?" Jet wondered aloud, trying to figure this out.

"I'm getting Chaos Energy readings from the eye" Wave said, her detector going crazy.

//So that's where they all vanished…// Jet thought before diving straight into the eye.

"Hey!" Wave shouted before going after him, followed by Storm.

They passed through, feeling weird, fuzzy, distorted. Everything really, as they passed through and ended up in some mountainous area.

The Babylon Rogues, have arrived in Equestria.