//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Welcome to Equestria // Story: Chaos and Harmony - Crossing Paths // by ShootingRainbowStar13 //------------------------------// “I’ll go on my own.” “Sonic, you can’t-“ “I can, and I will. It’s my fault that we have to do this. I’ll take the risk.” A flame-colored portal was open and ready in Tails’ metal room, which he only ever used for portals and special projects. The only question was who would go, and with whom. “Let me go with you!” “Tails-“ “Please! I can help you! What if the portal closes and you can’t get out? I can fix that! I need to be with you!” Sonic gave up. “Alright, you can come.” Tails beamed. Sonic turned to Knuckles. “Will you be alright here?” Knuckles grunted. “I’ll be fine. I have to protect the Master Emerald anyway. I couldn’t go if I wanted to.” So Sonic and Tails bade Knuckles goodbye, and stepped through the portal. They reappeared five meters off the ground. “WHOAAAH!!!” Thump! Sonic got off the grassy floor, brushing himself off. “Tails, explain why the portal is up there?” He said, looking up at the orange wormhole. Tails chuckled nervously, floating down with his tails whirling. “I guess I overshot a bit…” Sonic looked around. They were standing in a forest glade. Morning light shone through the trees, casting shadows on the ground. He sniffed the air, and then walked to the edge of the clearing. “Okay Tails, where’s the nearest signal?” Tails checked his scanner. “That way,” he said, pointing off into the trees. Before he could protest, Sonic grabbed his hand and rocketed through the forest in the direction of the signal. They stopped when the light shone more clearly through the trees, and they could just see rooftops and chimney smoke floating off lazily into the sky. “Alright,” whispered Sonic, as they trekked over the hill. “Discord is a hideous fella, so be very careful. This planet’s inhabitants could be dangerous, ugly and cruel. We might be facing a bunch of…” Sonic trailed off as they reached the top. There was a small town stretched before them, grassy fields and pretty houses adorning the area. Trotting through the streets, meeting, talking and laughing were… “…Ponies?” The duo were dumbfounded, but not for long. It was unusual, but they looked harmless, and anyway the people in their world were all some sort of animal hybrid. Sonic and Tails walked down the hill towards the village. As they approached, ponies looked up at them. Some whispered among themselves. Some skittered away. Some smiled at them. An amazing thing was the ponies were all multicolored. Like, red and yellow and pink and blue and green. Some had horns, some had wings. “What the heck?” Breathed Tails. Sonic was worried. Should they be walking straight into this town? Maybe if they backtracked now… Suddenly, Tails tugged on Sonic’s arm. A pink pony with a cheerful expression was trotting towards them. It had puffy pink hair that stuck out in curls, and bright blue eyes that twinkled with mischief. On its flank was a picture of three party balloons. Tails and Sonic looked at each other. They silently agreed. Sonic walked cautiously up to the pony. He cleared his throat. “Uh, hello? Could you maybe-“ The pink pony cut in with a long, exaggerated gasp, staring at Sonic like he had grown an extra head. Then it shot off down the street in the opposite direction. “What… the… heck…?” asked Tails. “Follow her!” shouted Sonic. Easy for him to say. Tails tried to keep up as Sonic blasted down the street, past a big building like a gingerbread house, several stable-like houses and a dentist’s. The pink horse was fast, but Sonic was faster. He caught it by the tail, and it shrieked, “Please don’t eat me mister hedgehog alien guy!!” Sonic skidded to a halt. “What did you say?” The pony looked back at him. “I said ‘Please don’t eat me mister hedgehog alien guy’. Why, do you need hearing aids or something?” “What is going on here?” A white pony with a curled purple mane and a lavender pony with an indigo mane streaked with pink were galloping towards them. The white one had a picture of three diamonds on its flank and the purple one had a starburst. Sonic and Tails got ready to fight. The lavender pony stopped abruptly, halting the white one too. The pink pony squirmed in Sonic’s grasp. “It has Pinkie Pie. What do we do?” Said the white one quietly, not shifting her gaze from Sonic or Tails. “You distract them, I’ll get behind them and stun them.” Replied the purple one, doing the same as the white one. Sonic realized that they thought he was some evil alien. He tried to hide his surprise that these colorful mutant horses could talk. The purple one began to inch to the right. Sonic smiled. “I can understand everything you say.” The pony froze. “It’s okay! I won’t hurt you, or your friend!” He let go of the pink pony’s tail. It trotted towards its companions. “Who are you?” asked the white pony. She (Sonic decided they were all ‘she’s’) had a distinguished accent, like a countess. Sonic shot a fleeting look at Tails. The fox nodded. “I am Sonic the Hedgehog. This is my friend Miles Prowler, but we call him Tails. I’m trusting that you won’t use those names against us.” All three mares relaxed visibly. The purple one smiled. “I am Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends Rarity (the white one curtsied) and Pinkie Pie (the pink one giggled)” “We were expecting you.” “You were?” Sonic tensed. “We were told to welcome you to our home. Yes Pinkie, you can go get it now.” Said Twilight. The one named Pinkie Pie had been jumping up and down and waving her hooves, and now dashed away, reappearing with a baby-blue cannon. Sonic stepped back. BOOOOM!!! Instead of a cannonball, confetti rained down on Sonic and Tails. A small table with a cake appeared in front of Sonic, whose jaw dropped open. “WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA!!!!” Yelled Pinkie Pie, prancing around with a party hat stuffed over her crazy mane. Twilight laughed at the expressions on Sonic and Tails’ faces. Other ponies looked over and smiled. Two other horses came trotting over. One was pale yellow with a light pink mane with butterflies on her flank, the other was orange, freckles adorning her face and a western-style hat perched on top of a tied back yellow mane, with apples on her flank. Sonic realized the symbol on their flanks was probably a thing in this world. “Well hiya you two! A’m Applejack, an’ this is Fluttershy.” The orange pony that’d introduced herself as Applejack had a thick western accent. The yellow pony stayed silent, looking like she wanted to run and hide. She shrank back, letting her pink mane flop over her face. Applejack chortled. “Well, y’all can see why this ‘uns called Fluttershy. C’mon Flutters! Say hello.” The yellow pony whispered shyly. “Hello…” Twilight smiled. Her horn glowed and everything vanished. She told Pinkie, “Don’t worry, I sent it to the library. Come on Sonic, Tails, come to my place.” As everyone began to trot towards the huge oak tree, a sudden multicolored light lit up the sky. Sonic stared in amazement. Something was rapidly approaching. The colors burst across the sky as the outline of a pony became clear. Stretched out either side of it were powerful wings. A pegasus. The light became too bright to look at. Sonic looked away until the light faded. Then he unshielded his eyes and looked at the pony before him. It was one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen. Before him was a blue Pegasus. Her wings were closed. Her mane was a rainbow of color. Her eyes were magenta, filled with defiance and harmony and trust. “I am Rainbow Dash.”