//------------------------------//
// One Down 
// Story: Chaos of Another Kind 
// by Blueberry Snap 
//------------------------------//

   											Chapter Two

Eggman stirred on the cold dark floor. Eggman slowly sat up, much to the protest of his aching back. He groaned as he rubbed it and looked around. He seemed to have once again been stranded on an alien world due to one of his schemes. Did Sonic just banish me? Eggman thought. He was in the ruins of a castle seemingly surrounded by nothing but forest. He grinned. That stupid little hedgehog. I always knew that he never had it in him to kill me. He never could, and never will. But then Eggman frowned as the memories started to fall back into place. Wait, no. Sonic was about to do…something, but something else intervened. Something that pulled Sonic and I into a pocket dimension. I’ve never come across something of that caliber. I mean, when creatures are getting pulled across the space time continuum, I’m usually the mastermind behind the deed. Eggman stood up and shivered. Although it seemed to be a warm summer outside these castle walls, an almost suffocating coldness seemed to penetrate Eggman’s very bones. Eggman shook his head. Whatever! It doesn’t matter what did this to me. All that matters is finding those blasted emeralds before that hedgehog does. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a round stopwatch looking device. Hopefully the emerald radar will work here….wherever here is. Suddenly a black spot of swirling smoke appeared on the radar. What…what is this?  Eggman looked up from the radar and walked over to the ruins of what appeared to be a throne with vines growing over it, every step feeling colder and colder.

Come closer…

That whisper broke the silence, however stopped Eggman right in his tracks. 
“Uh,” Eggman called. “Who’s there?” 

It is us of course, come closer…

Eggman, very cautiously crouched down and observed black smoke swirling around on the seat of the throne, with his every breath emerging as a visual cloud of fleeting heat. He dipped his finger into the smoke, and immediately the black smoke shot up Eggman’s finger and caked itself into his glove. Eggman yelped in surprise.

Don’t be afraid, traveler.  We are here to help thou. It seems thou have come a long way to get here. Perhaps thou would like our assistance to get out of the forest.

Eggman clenched and unclenched his newly darkened fist. A black and smoky aura emanated from  his new black glove, and all at once Eggman’s horror disappeared and was replaced with the euphoric bliss of this newfound energy source. 
“Of course,” Eggman smiled evilly. “One could always use a guide when starting a new chapter in life.”

Pinkie hummed a song to herself as she trotted along with Sonic on her back and Twilight and Spike in hot pursuit. As the four approached Fluttershy’s cottage a new tune, a soft and delicate hum began to dance upon the air. Pinkie picked up the pace.
“We’re here,” Pinkie Pie called in an almost musical tone. She knocked on the front door. “Oh Fluttershy, where are you? I’ve got something to show you.” 
“We’re in the back, Pinkie Pie,” a new voice with a southern accent called. “Come around.”
“Oki doki loki,” Pinkie answered with a smile. She was about to trot over around back, until an exhausted purple unicorn collapsed behind her. 
“Please…wait…up…just…for a…second,” Twilight panted as sweat ran down her forehead. 
“Twilight,” Sonic asked. “You okay?” 
“Yeah…I’m fine…just not used…used to that…much running,” Twilight panted as Spike got off her and fanned her with his tail. 
“Sorry about rushing over here,” Pinkie apologized. “It’s just that I don’t have that much time before the surprise.” 
“What surprise?” Twilight asked. Pinkie pretended as if she didn’t hear the question and delightfully bounced with Sonic on her back, to Fluttershy’s back yard. Twilight sighed as she and Spike slowly followed the two. The four walked in on a yellow pegasus tending to a bunny and a tan earth pony with a cowboy hat standing next to a cart filled to the brim with apples. Pinkie bounced and sent Sonic flying over her head, landing on his butt just a few inches from Pinkie Pie. 
“Fluttershy, Applejack,” Pinkie said. “I’d like you to meet my new friend, Sonic.” She leaned next to Sonic’s ear as Fluttershy and Applejack stared at Sonic. “Now I just wanna warn you,” Pinkie whispered. “Fluttershy can be a bit nervous to new friends, so don’t take it personally if she doesn’t really talk to –”
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh,” Fluttershy squeaked in excitement she flew over to Sonic and looked at examined him from every angle, unknowingly bumping Pinkie Pie out of the way. “You wouldn’t happen to be a hedgehog, would you?” she asked in odd way as if she would explode any minute. 
“Uh yeah,” Sonic said standing up and dusting himself off. “I’m Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog.” 
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh,” Fluttershy squeaked even higher.”I’ve never met a hedgehog in person before. And so strong,” Fluttershy squeezed his arms. “Such nice quills,” She stroked his quills. “So dynamic and striking. I mean, you’re just so (how would Rainbow put it?) awesome!” Sonic slyly grinned at Pinkie, Spike, and Twilight.
“Well, well, well,” Sonic grinned as he put his hands on his hips. Twilight rolled her eyes. 
“And you can talk,” Fluttershy continued. “Ooh, that’s so amazing. Ahem, my name is Fluttershy by the way, and I’m sorry but I just need to know, what exactly do hedgehogs talk about?”
“Well what do you wanna know?” Sonic asked. 
“Everything,” Fluttershy replied passionately. Sonic put a hand to his chin.
“Well let’s see,” he began. “It all started about 20 years ago –” He was interrupted by a purple hoof in his mouth. Twilight gave him an irritated look.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “But last time something like this happened, we had to listen to a certain somepony’s life story.” 
“Well excuse me,” Spike pouted as he folded his arms. Fluttershy squeed as flew in circles over Sonic.
“I can’t believe I’m meeting a hedgehog,” she giggled. Just as Sonic was about to stroke his ego, Applejack ran up to him and strongly shook his hand. 
“Well howdy Sonic,” she greets wholesomely. “I’m Applejack. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 
“Nice to me you too,” Sonic said with a strong vibration in his voice due to the strong handshake.  Applejack ceased the handshake, but Sonic's hand continued to move up and down uncontrollably.
"So Sonic, what brings you to Ponyville?" Applejack asked. Sonic's hand still moved up and down beyond his control until Spike grabbed it, stopping it.
"Thanks," Sonic said, slightly embarrassed. "Actually, I -" Pinkie Pie rose in front of him from seemingly nowhere.
“He’s from a whole other world,” Pinkie proclaimed causing Fluttershy and Applejack to gasp. “And in that world he fights this doctor guy, and he’s all like,” Pinkie’s tail went over her lips and she continued her explanation in a comically gruff voice, “Ha ha ha, Sonic, you cannot defeat me and my robot army!” Pinkie’s tail dropped and her voice shortly went back to normal, “And Sonic was like,” Pinkie continued in a more masculine voice, “Just watch me,” Pinkie continued in her normal voice, “And then Sonic fights the robots, beats the doctor guy, and saves the day! But some weird voice threw him into Twilight’s library, so now he’s here!” Sonic embarrassingly scratched behind his head.
“Yeah, uh, that’s the short version,” Sonic chuckled. 
“Wow,” Fluttershy said in awe. “You’re not just a hedgehog. You’re a full blown super hedgehog.” 
“I guess you could say that,” Sonic smirked with another stroke to his ego. Suddenly there was a loud buzzing coming from Pinkie Pie. She checked her wrist and looked at her watch. 
“Ooh, looks like that’s my cue,” she said. “Sorry, guys, I gotta go now, or I won’t have enough time to plan the surprise.” She began to trot away. “See ya later, Sonic.”
“Bye, Pinkie,” Sonic waved. Once she was gone he turned back to the other ponies, “Well guys, it’s been fun, but I’ve gotta get going.” 
“Going?” Fluttershy repeated in an extremely sad tone. 
“Yeah,” Sonic said warily. “I gotta find these things called chaos emeralds. They might be the only thing that can help get me back home.” He turned to Twilight and Spike. “Thanks for your hospitality,” he smiled. “And the cupcakes.”
“Good luck on your adventure,” Spike said in a slightly sad tone.
“Get home safely,” Twilight smiled. 
“B-but you can’t leave,” Fluttershy blurted out desperately. All eyes were on her. 
“Uh, why not?” Sonic asked. 
“Because…because…” Fluttershy said with her eyes darting all over the place looking for an excuse until they landed on the apple cart. “Oh, because you haven’t tasted any Apple family apples. They’re the best in Equestria and it would just be terrible if you missed the chance to have one.” 
“Well, I wouldn’t say best in Equestria,” Applejack said blushing just a bit and clearly enjoying the compliment. 
“Well I guess I could,” Sonic said. Applejack grabbed one with her tail and threw it over to Sonic. He caught in his glove and had to rub his eyes. It was the reddest apple he ever saw and it seemed to shine in the sun. Sonic took a bite of the apple and chewed for a moment and then stopped. 
“Well?” Fluttershy asked. Sonic said nothing. 
“What’s wrong, Sonic?” Spike asked. “Did you bite into a worm or something?”
“There are no worms in my apples,” Applejack snapped. Sonic swallowed. 
“This…is the best apple I’ve ever tasted,” Sonic barely whispered. 
“Really?” Applejack’s eyes lit up. Sonic greedily devoured the remains of the apple, leaving nothing but the core in the matter of moments. “Wow. That went by quick.” 
“I’ve never had an apple with that much flavor and juice before,” Sonic continued dreamily. “It was like tasting a dream, like having an angel dancing on my tongue.” 
“Aw, shucks, thanks Sonic,” Applejack smiled. “My family treats ever apple tree as if it were one of our own so only the best apples are grown.” She put her hoof on her chin. “That’s good, I like the sound of that. Should be our new slogan.” 
“Your family made these?” Sonic exclaimed. “You guys have a gift. I mean I never thought there would be something tastier than a chili dog but you proved me wrong.” 
“Wait,” Fluttershy said putting on a worried look. “You…eat…dogs?” Applejack suddenly had a terrifying image of Winona cowering and whimpering in the corner as the dark shadow of Sonic loomed in on her. Applejack shivered.
“What? No,” Sonic reassured. “It’s not what you think, Pinkie asked the same thing. Chili dogs in my world are not made of dogs.” 
“Oh, well what are chili dogs made of?” Fluttershy asked. 
“Let’s just say they’re not made of dogs, okay?” Sonic sighed, defeated. Just then Sonic noticed a green twinkle off in the bushes. 
“Well that’s okay,” Fluttershy chattered much like Pinkie Pie as Sonic walked over to the bushes. “I mean, whatever floats your boat of course. I just, y’know, would love to know what hedgehogs eat so then I could um, y’know, prepare it just in case you’re ever back in town or y’know…”
“Sonic?” Twilight asked. Sonic crouched and reached into the bushes. 
“Is it?” Sonic whispered to himself. “I mean, did I already…?” He pulled out a large green gem whose faint green glow exploded in intensity with the sun high in the sky beaming down at it. Sonic’s eyes lit up along with the gem. 
“Oh my goodness,” Fluttershy gasped. Applejack whistled.
“Why ain’t that a beauty,” Applejack remarked. 
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a huge emerald before,” Twilight said, amazed at the find. If Spike wanted to say something, it was lost in his drool. Sonic chuckled.  
“This is it,” he smiled. “It’s one of the chaos emeralds. I can’t believe I found one so quickly. Usually this would take some stupid fight or something but I guess I –” Before Sonic could finish his sentence, a white rabbit jumped out and snatched the emerald right out of his hand. Sonic clutched the emptiness in his hand a few times, as if he was trying to assess what happened to his emerald. Then he sighed. 
“Angel,” Fluttershy scolded. “You give that back to Mr. Sonic right now.” Angel rebelliously stuck his tongue out. “Angel,” Fluttershy warned. “I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy turned back to Sonic. “He can be quite a handful at t –” In the blink of an eye Sonic was in front of the rabbit with his hands on his hips. Angel jumped in surprise and stopped in his tracks. 
“Hey buddy,” Sonic demanded. He held his hand out. “Give that back right now.” Angel however smirked and turned the other way only to see Sonic in front of his path once more with a scowl on his face. Angel had to do a double take to make sure he was really there. “Look, this isn’t going to end with you winning. Just hand it over.” Angel squeaked furiously at Sonic (the exact translation would cause Fluttershy to later clean Angel’s mouth out with soap), and stubbornly try again to hop away in another direction, however Sonic was already in his path with the same scowl on his face. This happened again over and over until Sonic was literally running circles around Angel and his eyes couldn’t keep up with the hedgehog. Angel swayed back and forth from the dizziness of trying to catch up with Sonic, and collapsed on his back. Fluttershy gasped and Sonic skidded to a stop. Everyone (or everypony) held their breath for a moment until Angel waved a tiny white flag and they all let out a sigh of relief. Sonic snatched the chaos emerald from the dizzy rabbit with delight. “Yes! One down!” He turned back to see the three ponies and dragon with their mouths agape still staring in shock. Suddenly Spike began to tremble as he seemed lost for words. 
“That…was…so…awesome!” Spike settled on cheering. “I mean you were all like,” Spike ran around Sonic and made various race car sound effects. “And you were all like,” Spike puffed out her chest and copied Pinkie’s masculine imitation, “Give that back, punk!” Spike squeed and continued in his normal voice, “It was just…SO COOL!” Sonic grinned, absolutely loving Spike’s fanboy moment. 
“I gotta say,” Twilight added. “That was pretty impressive. You might even give Rainbow Dash a run for her money.” Applejack and Fluttershy glanced at each other and erupted into laughter. Sonic, Twilight, and Spike shared confused looks. “What?” Twilight asked as her ears folded. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m sorry Twilight,” Applejack said through her laughter. “But you do remember who Rainbow Dash is right? She’s the absolute fastest pony in Equestria,” She took a moment to adjust her hat and strike a pose. “Well I suppose second fastest seeing how I beat her in that race.” 
“I thought you two both tied for last place,” Spike pointed out.
“That’s only because she was wasting our time by cheating,” Applejack protested. “Anyway, you two know how fast she is. She cleared an entire sky full of clouds in only ten seconds.” 
“And she’s the only pony to do the Sonic Rainboom,” Fluttershy added. 
“Sonic Rainboom?” Sonic asked. 
“It’s when a pegasus flies so fast, she breaks the sound barrier and causes a rainbow all at once,” Fluttershy explained. 
If there was any doubt in my mind that this world wasn’t filled to the brim with concentrated girliness, Sonic thought with a chuckle. It’s gone now. Still, a pony that can break the sound barrier sounds like someon – uh, somepony I outta meet. Sonic sighed. If only I didn’t have this awful vibe that something is out there I need to deal with. I mean, I know I have to collect the chaos emeralds, but…this feels different, but similar. Sonic shook his head as the ponies continued to argue about his speed. It must be my nerves or something. I’ve been doing this for so long, maybe I’m just paranoid. Still…
“…in only around four, maybe six seconds at most,” Twilight argued as Sonic noticed Spike licking the side of the emerald. "The whole place was good as new."
“But um, he did mess it up in the first place,” Fluttershy passively pointed out as Sonic pushed Spike away. “Shouldn’t there be um, some kind of time penalty?” 
“What, no, of course not!” Twilight replied in a way that caused Fluttershy to squeak and hide behind Applejack. Twilight felt a twinge of guilt in her chest and sighed, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you.” Spike got on his knees and began to beg Sonic to give him a bite. “You have known Rainbow Dash the longest.” 
“Then it’s settled,” Applejack smiled as Sonic shook his head and Spike cried into his claws. “Rainbow Dash is faster than Sonic.”
“How is me apologizing for yelling at Fluttershy the same as Sonic being slower than Rainbow Dash?” Twilight reasonably demanded. “That doesn’t make any sense.” 
“Well there’s only one way to find out,” Sonic said as he rested his shoulder on Twilight’s head, causing her to pout. “I guess I’ll have to pay ol’ Dash a visit.” 
“Then you’re staying?” Fluttershy asked excitedly. 
“But didn’t you say you had to go?” Applejack reminded which promptly got herself a mouth full of Fluttershy’s hoof as she silenced Applejack with the utmost gentleness. 
“Shh, Applejack,” Fluttershy said as Spike tried to take bite out of the emerald and Sonic lifted out of Spike’s range. “I-if Mr. Sonic wants to stay in Ponyville a little longer, then he can.” Spike, with his mouth wide open and a new craving for emeralds, leapt towards Sonic. But Sonic being, well, Sonic, dodged it in the blink of an eye. Twilight didn’t even have time to react to that as Spike clamped his teeth onto the side of Twilight’s head. Twilight did however react to that and she screamed in pain and ran around the ponies and hedgehog, who were all trying to calm Twilight down enough to remind her she could just use her magic. 
Jeez, Sonic thought as he took the time to laugh at the whole scene in front of him. I knew my life was weird and all, but even I would’ve never expected to be in a land of talking ponies trying to get a baby dragon to not eat a unicorn. His smile momentarily left him. Pinkie Pie. There has to be a clear cut reason how you knew him. There has to be a reason how you knew Shadow, and I’m not leaving until you tell me how you do.

A fox with two tails laid sprawled out on his back in a dark forest. He began to slowly open his eyes and then let out a groan of pain as he sat up since every part of his body felt sore. Ugh, he thought. I feel like the Death Egg dropped on me.  He rubbed his head which only caused more pain. The fox looked around the dark forest with an obvious thought entering his head, Where the heck am I?
“Ah, so the little fox has finally woken from his nap,” a strangely charismatic and sinister voice echoed across the darkness. “I suppose you’re used to that, Tails. You have been doing that for around 20 years.” Tails slowly got to his feet as he fought through the pain. 
“Who’s there?” Tails demanded. A manically laugh echoed across the darkness and caused a violent shiver to go up Tails’ spine. 
“Just think of me as your little guide,” the voice said, failing to reassure Tails. “I can help you out of this forest.” 
“You can?” Tails asked, unsure. 
“Of course I can Tails,” the voice said. It began to feign sadness when it asked, “Do you think I’d lie to you, Tails?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Tails replied nonchalantly. “You happened to be talking to me in the middle of a dark forest, in which you won’t show your face to me what so ever; you sound like you really don’t care about what happens to me since I know the sound of crocodile tears when I hear them; and on top of all of that, you know my name without me introducing myself. So yeah I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’re evil and just not listen to you at all.” Tails’ tails began to twist around levitating him slowly into the air, however Tails felt a twinge of pain and his tails stopped, sending him face first back into the ground. 
“It looks like you can’t fly,” the voice stated. “You might want to apologize for those hurtful words and maybe I’ll still want to help you out of this forest.” 
“Please,” Tails replied. “I’d rather go it alone then listen to you. I’ll be fine just by myself.”
“Really now?” the voice said as Tails began to walk in no particular direction. “Because I thought going it alone is the reason he got hurt.” Tails stopped dead in his tracks. “Ooh, did I touch a nerve? Yes, you’re right, I know about you before you telling me anything. However, I know more about you than you think you know about yourself. So c’mon Tails,” A twisting row of trees were sucked into the ground, creating a pathway right in front of Tails. “Walk down this path and I’ll help you out of this forest, and enlighten on exactly who you are.” Tails merely stood there unable to really react to what had been said to him. “If it helps, I can help you find Sonic as well.” 
“You can?” Tails piped up to that. 
“Of course I can,” the voice said. “But the road to him is paved in pain. Unfortunately, it is also the same road out of here. It is up to you to take the first step.” Tails felt his heartbeat thud loudly and almost painfully in his chest. 
What should I do? He thought. This voice, whoever it belongs to, they’re so obviously evil. And yet, if Sonic’s on my side I can’t lose. But this could be a trap, they know too much about me. But my tails won’t be able to save me here, plus Sonic’s here, wherever here is. What should I… With a deep breath Tails began to walk down the mysterious path. Suddenly when he was a few mere steps down the path, the entrance to it closed behind him with the trees popping back up. Well, Tails thought with a gulp. I either found the way out with an annoying companion, or I just made a really, really dumb mistake.