Lightning Dust and the Babylon Rogues, Pt. II
After a few minutes, Wave had gotten the starting line and gate set up, so everyone got into position. Sonic and Tails got onto their Blue Star and Yellow Tail boards while Spike and the ponies climbed onto their loaned Extreme Gear and the flyers (save for Fluttershy and Cadance) flapped their wings to get off the ground and hovered in place above the ground. They were all a bit shaky as they stood atop their boards, but they managed to steady themselves and drift forward with the others, Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Spitfire, Soarin, and the Babylon Rogues sliding their goggles down in front of their eyes as the timer on the starting gate counted down.
As the timer hit one second, Sonic, Tails, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Lightning Dust, the Wonderbolts, and the Babylon Rogues shot forward, reaching the starting line as the electric current flowing between the two posts was cut off. The rest of the group wasn’t as quick on the draw and didn’t get as good a start, but as they jumped the ramp leaving the station and landed (their Extreme Gear helped them a little with that part), they were somewhat relieved to see that they weren’t too far behind the others.
As they followed the road ahead, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike noticed Sonic and Jet using their Extreme Gear to ride along a rail. Remembering what Tails had told them about their Gear types, they all tried jumping up on the rail, turning their boards to the side as they landed and letting the rail guide them. Although Twilight and Spike had a little difficulty balancing at first, they were able to ride it to the end while Pinkie had no trouble balancing at all. Still, by following the rail, they were able to get slightly ahead of the others and closer to the front.
Everyone soon jumped from another ramp and landed on a street that split up ahead. One of the paths led back into Megalo Station, so they all took the other path instead, which led into the city and towards the greenhouses. As they headed through the city, they all got a chance to try to pull ahead, Sonic, Jet, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike grinding across rails, Tails, Wave, Cadance, and the pegasi flying through rings, and Storm, Shining Armor, Applejack, and Rarity breaking through heavy obstacles as they approached them.
After they got out of the city, the Babylon Rogues started to fall behind. After making sure they were a reasonable distance behind the competition, the three birds moved close together and Jet said, “I think it’s time to ramp this challenge up! Hit it, Wave!”
Touching the red orb on her necklace, the swallow replied, “You got it, Jet!” She called up a floating green screen in front of her and slid her right finger across it, a message reading ‘PROGRAM ENGAGING’ appearing on it. She then quickly made the screen disappear before anybody could notice it.
By the time they were just about to the greenhouses, Lightning Dust had fallen behind as well. While the heroes sped on towards the entrance of the closest greenhouse, the pegasus fell back after seeing them and, as they all stopped, asked, “What happened to you guys?! I thought you were better than anybody else at this!”
Jet smirked, “Oh don’t worry, girlie, we are! And you’re gonna see it firsthand!”
Lightning Dust raised grinned, “Yeah?! These greenhouses are a great place to show what you’ve got?”
Wave replied, “Yeah, that too. What’s really going to be amazing is what’s about to happen.”
Lightning Dust raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”
Storm pointed and spoke up, “Check it out! Look at all those old MeteorTech robots gathering around that dome!” Lightning Dust looked and her eyes widened; robots really were gathering around the top of the greenhouse, holding position just above it. Suddenly, without warning, they all rushed forward, smashing through the glass!
“What’s going on?!” Lightning Dust exclaimed.
“Oh, just a little something I whipped up for this race. Makes it more interesting, don’t you think?” Wave asked.
Lightning Dust looked shocked, “You did this?! That’s cheating!”
Jet replied, “No, it’s interesting. Makes it more daring. Isn’t that what you wanted? A chance to really show how ‘awesome’ you are?”
Lightning Dust argued, “You didn’t tell me you were going to do THIS! You said this would be a chance to show off speed and tricks!”
Jet replied, “And it is. We’re just making it a little more exciting little because it’s boring right now!”
Lightning Dust yelled, “Boring?! What about anything up to this point has been boring?!”
Wave crossed her arms, “Why do you think it’s called EXTREME Gear, genius? You have to be willing to push yourself and take on new challenges if you want to be great at anything!”
Jet put his hands on his hips, “Look, I’ll level with you, girlie. I never planned to help you get in on your little stunt group in the first place! I only said that so you’d help us get into MeteorTech to plant the little program you’re seeing now!”
Lightning Dust gasped, “The stunt show…!”
Jet smirked, “Get it now? I don’t care about you weird ponies or what you dream of. I dream of treasure and beating Sonic the Hedgehog!”
Lightning Dust growled, “You’re not going to get away with this!”
Storm yelled, “You threaten the Boss, you get to meet my fist!” With that, Storm swung his right arm back and punched Lightning Dust right in the face, sending the pegasus flying towards one of the greenhouses in the distance!
Wave sighed, “Finally. She was really getting annoying, wasn’t she?”
Jet nodded, “Yeah. Let’s go; Sonic and his little gang ought to be pretty distracted by now!”
Meanwhile…
The scene inside the greenhouse was absolute chaos. As everyone was just starting to make their way through the greenhouse using the areas marked for the general public, robots suddenly blocked their path, forcing them to take a different path to avoid crashing. The path emptied out onto the massive greenhouse plants, but it also left them out in the open, allowing the robots to spot them easier. They began descending on the racers, most of the group thinking back to the changelings and Sonic and Tails getting déjà vu from the last time these robots were after them.
Shining fired several lasers from his horn to stop some nearby robots before yelling, “What the hay is going on here?! Are we not supposed to be in here?!”
Sonic called over to him, “We’re not supposed to be with the plants unless someone allows us to, but those robots showed up in the area that anyone can be in! So that’s not the problem!”
While leaning to the side to get away from a swipe from a robot and trying to keep her balance, Twilight asked, “Then why are these robots attacking us?!”
Tails swiped his namesakes to knock a robot off balance and said, “I’m more concerned about why these robots specifically are the ones after us! They were all supposed to have been shut down and disposed of after Eggman was forced to abandon control of MeteorTech!”
Rainbow yelled, “These are Eggman’s robots?!”
Tails replied, “They used to be, back when he started MeteorTech as part of a scheme for world domination! The military took over the company after the incident with the Arks of the Cosmos! They replaced all of the robots Eggman had with newer ones!”
Soarin asked, “What are the Arks of the Cosmos? What kind of incident did they cause?”
Sonic answered, “They’re meteors, basically. Long story short, Eggman put one of them in his mother computer and all the robots connected to it went berserk trying to find the rest of them!”
Spitfire started, “So if these robots are suddenly coming back to life and doing it again…”
Pinkie Pie interrupted as her tail shook on the outside of her flashy pink race suit, unintentionally slapping a robot behind her with the poofy appendage and causing it to go off course as she yelled, “TWITCHY TAIL!”
Spitfire called, “What?!” Her question was answered a moment later when something collided with her from above, both her and the object in question hitting and bouncing off the ground and into Sonic from behind. The hedgehog was knocked off of his Extreme Gear and hit the ground, all three sliding across the ground for several seconds while Sonic’s Blue Star landed on the ground further ahead.
The others came to a stop, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Tails even coming back, all worried that they might have gotten hurt. As Sonic and Spitfire picked themselves up, they all soon realized what, or rather who, had caused this crash. “Lightning Dust?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Spitfire immediately glared at the light turquoise pegasus at this revelation and grabbed her with her hooves, demanding, “What was that for?! Are you trying to kill US now?!”
Lightning Dust squirmed in Spitfire’s grasp, uttering, “N-No, m-m-ma’am! I didn’t… The Babylon Rogues…” Her face fell, “I was tricked…”
Twilight asked, “Tricked? By the Babylon Rogues?”
Lightning Dust nodded, “They lied to me… Actually, they didn’t tell me about this. They suckered me into helping them and I didn’t realize it until now.”
Suddenly, the Babylon Rogues shot past the group, Jet calling back, “See you later, snails!”
Spitfire glared after them before turning back to Lightning Dust, staring at her for a moment before saying, “We’ll deal with you later, Lightning Dust.” She released her grip, the pegasus landing on her rump, and spread her wings, “Right now, we’ve got to beat those rogues at their own game, so don’t you go causing any more trouble!” With that, she shot off after the three birds, Soarin and most of the group quickly following after her. Soon, only Sonic, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Tails were left with the disgraced former cadet.
The four of them, instead of immediately following the others, looked up as several more robots closed in on them from above. Reacting quickly, Sonic and Rainbow Dash shot up towards two of them, crashing through them and destroying them while Twilight used her magic to reduce the third to scrap metal. After Rainbow and Sonic landed a short distance away, Lightning Dust said, "You didn't have to do that."
Twilight looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Why? You were going to take care of them yourself?"
The pegasus replied, "No. If they were going to attack me too, well I... I deserve it for being so stupid."
Sonic and Rainbow Dash came over at this, the former saying, "Stupid?! That doesn't seem like a good reason to want to get beat up."
Lightning Dust exclaimed, "Well, I was, wasn't I?! That's what you're all thinking, right?!" She hung her head, "It's my fault that this happened. If I hadn't fallen for what they said and performed all those tricks so they could pull this off..."
Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Hey, it's no wonder they'd try to get you on their side, Lightning Dust. Your tricks are awesome!" The light turquoise pegasus looked up at her in confusion at that. Rainbow went on, "Yeah, you were reckless back at the Wonderbolts Academy, but we were both about as awesome otherwise. Them being jerks and manipulating you is their loss, I say."
Deciding to swallow how she felt deep down once and for all, Twilight said, “What Rainbow Dash is saying is that, yes, you were tricked, Lightning Dust, but you do realize your mistake and there’s still time for you to make up for it.”
Tails nodded, “Yeah! Even a battered phoenix can still rise from the ashes!”
Lightning Dust asked, “Rise from the ashes? How am I supposed to do that? And why are you all wasting time helping me instead of catching up to those birds?”
Sonic answered, “Because you’re a cool girl and it’s worth taking the time to help out somebody who needs it. We’re not worried about falling far behind because we can count on each other to be able to come through when needed. We might not be a real team, but we can still count on each other, just like thunder.”
Lightning Dust raised an eyebrow, “Thunder?”
Sonic winked, “Thunder and lightning go together, don’t they? That’s what you’ve gotta do, Lightning Dust!” He ran over to pick up his Blue Star while Tails and Twilight hopped back on their Extreme Gears and Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to get off the ground. Before taking off, Sonic called back, “Find your thunder!” With that, the four of them took off, Tails saying something about a shortcut between the greenhouses. Lightning Dust didn’t catch it; she was too busy watching them as they got farther away, thinking about their words…
Soon, in the adjacent greenhouse
Spitfire and Soarin finally caught up with the Babylon Rogues, the rest of the group trailing just behind the two pegasi as they went through the wintery greenhouse. As they got closer, Spitfire yelled, “Hey! Is what Lightning Dust said true, that you guys caused these robots to start attacking?!”
Wave called back, “Yeah! So what?! You got a problem with that?!”
Soarin growled, “How could you do such a thing?! This is a race, not a fight!”
Jet replied, “Oh, it’s a race, all right! It’s an unofficial Extreme Gear race, as in outside of the World Grand Prix! That means anything goes! You don’t like it? It’s a little late for that!”
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash called, “Heads up, chickens!”
Jet looked up and to his right, “What?!” A moment later, Sonic, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Tails leapt off a frozen branch above the track and got in front of the Babylon Rogues, Sonic and Rainbow Dash neck and neck at the front while Tails and Twilight trailed behind a short distance. “Hey, that’s…!” Jet caught himself and admitted, “I did say anything goes. So it’s okay for them to do that.” He then smirked as he glanced at his teammates, “Which means this is okay too!” They nodded in response.
Jet looked ahead at Tails and did a kick to give himself a burst of speed and get up along the left side of the fox, who glanced at him in confusion when he didn’t try to pull ahead. Suddenly, Jet bumped into the side of his Extreme Gear, knocking Tails into the side wall and causing him to lose his balance! The fox went tumbling backwards, his Extreme Gear going with him! “Tails!” some of the others cried as the fox went tumbling past them. Shining Armor was about to use his magic to grab him, but up ahead, Sonic performed a quick 180 and shot backwards, weaving through the group until he caught up with Tails and grabbed his hand to stop and steady him.
While the two of them were distracted, Jet looked over at Wave and Storm and nodded at them. Rainbow noticed this as well as the fact that the swallow and albatross nodded back and decided to draw back, flying off the left side of the track and leaving Twilight in the lead. The lavender unicorn was confused about what her rainbow-maned friend was doing, but she was soon distracted by Wave getting up alongside her and pulling out a wrench, hitting the front of her board with it. “Hey, what are you doing?!” Twilight cried as she looked at the swallow next to her, but she soon got her answer when Storm got in front and punched her hard.
The unicorn was knocked off of her Extreme Gear and went backwards through the air for a second, nearly colliding with Applejack (who swerved to the side to avoid a collision) before she hit the ground and started rolling backwards. “TWILIGHT!” Shining Armor, Cadance, Spike, and the others yelled as she rolled back past them.
Before she could reach Sonic and Tails, however, Rainbow Dash suddenly popped up over the side of the track and got in Twilight’s path, catching the unicorn with her forelegs. “Gotcha, Twilight! You okay?” she asked.
Twilight shakily nodded, “Yeah, I think so. Thanks…”
Rainbow Dash smiled in relief, but as they passed through a partly hollowed-out and partly covered vine, she got a bit cocky, saying, “You really gotta pay attention, Egghead! You can’t spend too much time thinking about what to do when you’re on the move like this; you just gotta do it! If you don’t pay attention to what’s going on…”
Twilight interrupted her as they approached a jump, “Look out!” Rainbow opened her eyes to see a stray robot coming straight towards them, flying over the gap ahead. At the speed she was going, she couldn’t react in time and the robot crashed into the upper part of her body, pushing her back and causing her to let go of Twilight, right in the middle of the gap!
“NO!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she tried to get free of the robot. Sonic and Tails went past her, both of them having seen what just happened.
Reacting quickly, Tails shouted, “I’ll catch her!” and moved to the left side of the root, going up along the wall and leaping off of his Yellow Tail before reaching the edge. While Sonic completed the jump and Rainbow Dash got free of her attacker, Tails shot down after Twilight while his Extreme Gear landed facedown at the edge of the jump. “I’m coming, Twilight!” the fox called as he straightened himself to fall faster after the unicorn.
Twilight screamed as she fell, her back pointing down as she fell towards the ground far below. Above her, she saw Tails falling after her and tried to hold her hooves up for him to grab. Tails managed to catch up to her a few seconds later and grabbed her hooves with his hands, straightening himself to fly horizontally, Sonic and Rainbow Dash seeing the two-tailed fox fly away with the lavender unicorn.
“Oh, Tails… That was too close,” Twilight breathed out after she caught her breath.
Tails nodded, “I know. It’s really starting to get dangerous with all of these robots around. It was fine when they were just attacking us, but if there are more out there and they start attacking other people too…”
Twilight got what he was saying and asked, “Isn’t there something we can do to stop them?”
Tails replied, “I don’t know. Maybe if…” He stopped short when he heard the sound of jets behind him and looked back to see a robot moving towards him from behind. Tails glared and increased his speed, trying to stay as far away from the robot as he could. The robot didn’t give up chasing after him, though, as it increased its thrust to try to close the gap between them.
After several seconds, when Tails looked behind him again, Twilight gasped, “Tails, look out!” The fox quickly turned his head forward to see another security robot appear from behind a large root ahead and fly towards them! Tails looked around; the plants around them were thick and it was a tight space, which would make it difficult to change course and get away without crashing. Suddenly, however, a light turquoise blur shot up underneath him and Twilight, whisking them up and away in a blue and yellow thunderbolt streak! The robots were unable to process this sudden turn of events fast enough and crashed into each other, both of them exploding.
The streak behind them soon redirected and took on a more horizontal flight path, pushing both Tails and Twilight for a minute until they were out of the greenhouse. Once they were out, Tails set Twilight down and landed next to her, both of them looking up to see Lightning Dust hovering above them. “Lightning Dust?” Tails asked, his voice making his wonder apparent.
The light turquoise pegasus answered, “Just trying to return the favor. You guys helped me; the least I can do right now is try to help out in return.”
Twilight smiled softly, “Well, thank you for saving us, Lightning Dust.”
Tails nodded, “Yeah. We are out of the race now, essentially, but maybe there’s still something we can do to help the others win.”
Lightning Dust landed in front of them and said, “I still can’t believe those guys! It’s a hoverboard race through a futuristic city and greenhouses! It’s already an intense race; why did they feel the need to break into that robot… place just to make it more intense?!”
Tails eyes lit up at that. He looked at Lightning Dust and asked, “Lightning Dust, that place you just mentioned… Do you remember where it is?”
The pegasus nodded, “Yeah, it’s, uh…” She looked up at the sky for a moment before continuing, “It’s north of here. Why?”
Tails replied, “That’s got to be the MeteorTech factory where Eggman tried to access the mother computer remotely from. The Babylon Rogues must’ve messed with the computer in that factory somehow to reactivate the old security robots and cause this. If we go there, we might be able to shut them all down!”
Twilight gasped and asked, “Lightning Dust, do you think you can get us to that factory quickly?”
Lightning Dust smirked, “You bet! Just get up off the ground and leave the flying to me!” Tails spun his namesakes around at that, lifting off the ground and picking up Twilight when she held her forelegs up. Lightning Dust then got behind Tails and began pushing him as she flapped her wings to go as fast as she could.
As they flew to the northern side of the continent, the three of them could see, off in the distance, silhouettes fighting each other close to the city. “What’s going on over there?” Twilight asked.
“My guess is it’s the old security fighting with the new one. They’re probably trying to protect the people so that they don’t get caught up in this,” Tails said. Lightning Dust said nothing, but she did find it in her to increase her speed a little more.
Soon, the factory came into view. The front was abuzz with activity, robots exiting and flying off, most likely to try to contain the situation. Tails, realizing that getting in through the front was probably unlikely, called back to Lightning Dust, “Head around to the back! We’ll have a better chance of getting in!”
The pegasus asked, “Wouldn’t that be breaking and entering? Won’t the security come after us if they catch us sneaking in?”
Tails looked back at her and asked, “Like they haven’t been attacking us already?” Lightning Dust considered this; Tails added a moment later, “Besides, we snuck in and got caught the last time robots went out of control. It’s not like we haven’t done it before.”
Lightning Dust replied, “All right, it sounds like you know your way around.” She flew around to the back of the factory and the three of them found a spot that they could enter the factory from. Thankfully, the situation in Monopole and the surrounding area had security’s attention, so it was easy to evade security and head for the main office.
As Lightning Dust flew down the purplish-blue hallway, a pair of sliding doors at the end opened up as they got closer, revealing the main office behind them. The pegasus slowed down and came to a stop just in front of the doors, Tails setting Twilight before landing himself and rushing to the control panel. He took a seat in the revolving chair and swiveled around to the control panel, beginning to type on the keyboard as Twilight and Lightning Dust came over. They weren’t entirely sure what they were seeing on the screen, but it was clear he knew what he was doing.
After a minute, Twilight asked, “How does it look, Tails?”
The fox grunted, “Very clever… The commands for the old robots aren’t being sent out by the mother computer, but they’re coming from within it.”
Lightning Dust asked, “What does that mean?”
Tails answered, “It’s like a ghost inside the machine. Somehow, the Babylon Rogues must’ve gotten a hold of the old system and stowed it away within the mother computer when they snuck into the factory earlier. Because it’s hidden inside, the mother computer can’t detect and stop the commands being sent out. There’s no way for it to recognize it as an external threat.”
Lightning Dust asked, “Isn’t there anything we can do to change that?”
Tails leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms, closing his eyes in thought. “I don’t know…” he murmured.
Twilight asked, “You mean there’s no way to, say, shut it off from here?”
Tails’ eyes shot open as a thought occurred to him. “Shut it off? Probably not the typical way, but…” He leaned forward and started typing rapidly on the keyboard while saying, “I have an idea. Give me a minute to work this.”
Suddenly, the doors behind them slid open and Twilight and Lightning Dust turned to see a group of security robots standing in the doorway, all of them looking newer than the ones from earlier. They suddenly shot forward to grab them, Twilight quickly casting her force field spell halfway between the computer and the doors, sealing the robots within the magenta field. The robots bounced off of the barrier, but they soon got back up. “You’d better work fast, Tails!” Lightning Dust yelled as the robots started ramming against the field.
Tails didn’t hear her, instead focusing on the keys in front of him as he worked. “Get through that… Override that… Very clever loophole, Wave, but it looks like I can take advantage of it…” he murmured to himself.
Twilight began to get nervous as her force field began cracking, Lightning Dust thumping her hooves together as she psyched herself up. Suddenly, the field broke; the robots were temporarily stunned by their group rush, but they were already starting to get back up. “Tails!” Twilight cried as they stood all the way up.
“I got it!” Tails exclaimed. As the robots lifted up off the floor again, the fox pushed one last button, “Fire in the hole!”
Lightning Dust and Twilight braced themselves as the robots shot towards them, but before they could even reach the two ponies, they suddenly started sparking as some sort of electric current shot through their frames! Twilight and Lightning Dust stared as they shook in midair for a moment before they all crumpled into a heap on the floor. “What happened?” Twilight asked.
Tails swiveled around in the chair, standing up and saying, “I used the loophole the Babylon Rogues used to hide that software inside of the mother computer to trigger an EMP burst, an electromagnetic pulse, on the system. It forced a shutdown of the system and everything connected to it.”
Twilight and Lightning Dust looked at him, the former asking, “Including what the Babylon Rogues did?”
Tails replied, “I took care of that. When the mother computer reboots, the code they hid inside of it to reactivate and cause the robots to go on a rampage won’t be reactivated by accident. Only the commands the mother computer is supposed to send will be sent out when it comes back on.”
Lightning Dust said, “Then I suggest we get out of here before the real security comes back on!” Twilight and Tails nodded and they all hurried down the hallway, getting out of the factory and heading for Megalo Station.
Meanwhile…
As they closed in on Megalo Station, Sonic and the others watched as security robots, both new and old, dropped like flies onto the streets. “What’s going on?!” Shining Armor exclaimed.
“They’re all shutting down! And I bet Tails and Twilight have something to do with it,” Sonic said.
“Sweet! Now let’s finish this race!” Rainbow called. Everybody nodded and focused on catching up with the Babylon Rogues, who were still in the lead with Sonic, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Soarin close to catching up.
Speaking of the Rogues, they were just as surprised as Sonic’s group as to what was happening. “Wave, what’s going on?! Why are they all stopping?!” Jet yelled.
“I-I don’t know, Jet! Someone must’ve tampered with the program somehow! This isn’t supposed to happen!” the swallow cried.
“You messed up, didn’t you?! If the boss says you did, you did!” Storm accused.
Wave glared at him, “Shut up! Nobody was talking to you!”
Their argument was interrupted when Rainbow Dash suddenly shot past Jet and called back, “Excuse me!”
Jet glared at her as she flew faster. “Hey, get back here!” he yelled, pulling ahead of his teammates. He pulled out his two fans, getting ready to whack the rainbow-maned pegasus with them.
Suddenly, he heard Sonic call from behind, “Hey, Jet!” The hawk glanced behind him to see the hedgehog coming up from behind. “You said anything goes in this race, right?” Sonic asked. When Jet nodded, the hedgehog suddenly shot into a Spin Dash, colliding with Jet and grabbing him. They spun together for a second until Sonic released him, throwing him backwards.
“Boss!” Storm cried, glaring at Sonic and pulling ahead of Wave to get him.
However, Shining Armor came up alongside him and bumped his board into the albatross’, slowing him down slightly. “Back off, you lug!” the stallion shouted.
“Get out of my way!” Storm yelled back, trying to push the unicorn stallion away. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned his head to look, only to receive a face full of gilded hoof! It didn’t hurt too much, but the hit, combined with his poor Extreme Gear skills, caused him to spin out.
While balancing and making sure her shoe was still on properly, Cadance shouted at him, “That’s for attacking our sister!”
With Storm distracted, Spitfire and Soarin shot forward, flying extremely close to Wave as they passed her and causing the swallow to slow down. “Hey, I need my space here!” Wave yelled as they passed Shining Armor and Cadance.
Spitfire and Soarin soon caught up with Rainbow Dash and Sonic, but Jet and Wave were able to recover and tried to close the gap as they approached Megalo Station. Rainbow and the Wonderbolts were starting to pull ahead as they entered the station. Sonic looked back and saw Jet brandish his fans again, clearly aiming for him. Not wanting to give him that chance, Sonic faced forward again and brought his right foot down on the ground below, doing a kick dash to give himself a quick burst of speed.
Sonic pulled just ahead of the pegasi as the finish line got closer, but his burst of speed soon ended and the pegasi were soon neck and neck with him. They all gave that final push… and they all crossed the finish line together! They all started to slow down after they crossed the line, coming to a stop right outside the station. “Aw yeah, we won!” Rainbow cheered.
“That was awesome!” Soarin grinned.
Spitfire looked over at Sonic as he hopped off of his Blue Star and said, “You were pretty awesome during this race too, Big Blue.”
Sonic grinned back, “Hey, even without wings, I can still manage to fly!”
Jet and Wave soon showed up, stopping across from the group, followed by Spike and the rest of the ponies with Storm bringing up the rear. “Argh, I don’t believe this!” Jet yelled when they were all there.
Sonic shrugged, “Hey, you’re the one who had to say this was a free race, Jet.”
Spitfire nodded, “And we won it. So give back that ring you guys took.”
Wave pulled out the Warp Ring and held it up to her face, examining it for a moment before saying, “Yeah, uh… I’m thinking we’ll actually keep it. It might actually be useful to us.”
Rainbow Dash yelled, “What?! You can’t do that!”
Wave challenged, “Hey, who’s holding the ring here, you or me?”
Soarin said, “But you said you’d give it back if we won the race!”
Jet replied, “Just because I said that doesn’t mean I meant it!”
Wave held the ring up and said, “And someone’s bound to be looking for whoever reactivated those security robots, so we should probably make ourselves scarce right now.”
Sonic looked up and noticed a glint off in the distance, just up and above the Babylon Rogues. Taking a guess as to what it was, he looked back at Jet and said, “Sure, go ahead. But before you do, I have one thing to say.” The Babylon Rogues and the others looked at him curiously. Suddenly, without warning, Sonic shot forward and leapt up, bringing his right foot up and kicking the Warp Ring out of Wave’s hand! “FOOTBALL!” he shouted as the ring went flying.
The ring flipped end over end as it flew up. Before anybody could react, the ring disappeared as a blur shot by, a familiar blue and yellow thunderbolt streak trailing behind it. Once the blur went over everyone’s heads, it slowed down and came to a stop, revealing Lightning Dust, Tails, and Twilight! The Warp Ring sat in Twilight’s right hoof. “Got it!” she called.
“Score!” Tails cheered.
“Deet deet!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed while Fluttershy smiled and held up her forelegs like a football referee.
The three landed soon afterwards, Spike and most of the ponies gathering around Twilight while Sonic and Tails met up and gave each other a high five. They all turned their attention when Jet yelled, “You! What did you do?!”
Lightning Dust smirked, “Just helped unravel your little ‘Extreme’ scheme. Looks like I can perform a high-speed rescue too, huh?”
Wave said, “What?! Then…” She looked over at Tails and glared, “Shorty! You’re the one who messed with my code, aren’t you?!”
Tails replied, “You really need to ask, Wave? My Extreme Gear tuning skills may not be as good as yours, but that’s because I can handle a lot of things!”
Wave argued, “I hid that code inside of the mother computer! There was no way it could be detected or shut off manually! I made sure of that!”
Tails replied, “Well, I’ve made a TV out of paperclips and reprogrammed a supercomputer with dishwashing detergent and a toothpick. So taking advantage of your little loophole to trigger an EMP burst to shut everything connected to the system off, including your code? That was about as hard as building my radar out of spare Badnik parts.”
Wave glared at him, “You…”
Suddenly, the sound of wailing sirens could be heard in the distance. “Wh-What’s that?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“Sounds like the police. They must be trying to make sure the situation is under control,” Tails said.
Sonic smirked at Jet, “And like Wave said, someone’s going to be looking for whoever caused all this. You still want to get out of here, Jet?”
Storm whimpered, “Boss, please say yes!”
Wave glared at him, “Storm, what’s wrong with you?”
Storm answered, “I’m allergic to sirens!”
Jet sighed and glared at Sonic, “You really want to let us go?”
Spitfire glanced at him and asked, “Yeah, are you sure that’s such a good idea after all this?”
Sonic shrugged, “Unless the cameras caught them, it’s gonna be kind of hard to pin this on them. Especially if there’s no record in the computer.”
Tails scratched the side of his head, “Uh, there might’ve been, actually, but the EMP probably erased it…”
Lightning Dust asked, “So basically, we have no proof against them?”
Sonic replied, “That’s kind of what I was thinking.” He looked back at Jet, “So do you want to walk away now, or after the police question us?” Jet let out a groan, so Sonic turned to look at Twilight and asked, “Twilight, can I have the Warp Ring?” The lavender unicorn nodded and used her magic to float it over to him.
Sonic grabbed it and then dropped it, the ring expanding to its full size a moment later. After it did, Wave demanded, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where is that thing gonna send us?”
Sonic replied, “I’m thinking back to Ponyville. As long as you guys don’t cause any more trouble…”
Jet replied, “Yeah, fine, we’re done for today.” He then pointed directly at Sonic and said, “But make no mistake! We’re going to settle this once and for all one day, Sonic the Hedgehog!”
Sonic smirked, “I’ll be looking forward to that day, Jet. Preferably if it’s the next World Grand Prix.”
Soon...
Tails stepped out of the Warp Ring in front of the group, dusting his hands off before grabbing the Warp Ring in his right hand. “Okay, that should do it. All the Extreme Gear is back in storage and they don’t appear to be damaged.”
Twilight chuckled nervously at that, so Sonic looked at her and said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. It takes some time to get a hang of it; it took us some time too, after all.”
Soarin asked Tails, “What about the police? What did they have to say?”
Shining Armor added, “And what about the security robots?”
Tails answered, “It looks like everything’s okay on that front. The police said that nobody was hurt thanks to the response time of the current MeteorTech robots and less damage was sustained than expected. They said they’ll send a team out to the mother computer to do a check up on it.”
Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Yeah, all that is great, Tails. Did they say how awesome we looked during our race?”
Tails rubbed his head with a hand, “Actually, they… did give us a warning for that.” At some of the looks he got, Tails explained, “They do understand why we did it and are grateful for the help in containing the situation, but it’s still technically considered illegal street racing. The warning is just meant to remind us not to do it again.”
Spike, who was sitting on Twilight’s back, asked, “So aside from that, we can get out of here now?”
Tails nodded, “Yeah, I’d say so.” He tossed the Warp Ring up and it expanded to its full size. Everyone, including the Wonderbolts and Lightning Dust, walked into its shimmering portal, the ring shrinking down and vanishing once they were all through.
The ring deposited them on the grassy cliff edge along the train tracks, not far from the train. From where they were, they could see Canterlot around the side of the mountain. Spitfire looked at the others and said, “We’re gonna take Lightning Dust back to Ponyville. I know she helped and all, but I think it would be best if she stayed there until the crisis is over.” Surprisingly, Lightning Dust nodded in agreement. Spitfire then asked, “Are you guys going to be able to go the rest of the way to Canterlot from here?”
Tails answered, “Shouldn’t be a problem. Storm may have managed to stop the train, but I think I can get it going again. I just need to take a look at it.”
Lightning Dust asked, “Can’t you guys just use that ring to warp there? I mean, it seems like it could take you anywhere…”
Tails replied, “You’re right, Lightning Dust, but I don’t know if it’ll work…”
Rainbow asked, “Why not? It’s worked pretty much everywhere else we’ve used it!”
Soarin nodded, “Yeah, try it while we’re here.”
Tails shrugged, “Okay.” He tossed the ring up again and, after it expanded to its full size, said, “All right, can I get somebody who’s familiar with Canterlot to come over here and touch the ring while thinking of Canterlot? If it does work, we’ll know.”
Rarity spoke, “Ooh, allow me to do the honors!” She trotted over to Tails and touched the ring with one of her hooves, closing her eyes to focus on the luxurious Canterlot. When she opened them a moment later, she was surprised to see that the portal had vanished! “What?!” she exclaimed as she removed her hoof, the blank portal reappearing as soon as her hoof was off of it. She touched the ring again several times, but each time, the same thing happened. “What is wrong with this thing?!” she shouted after a minute.
Applejack spoke up, “Sorry, Rarity, looks like ya ain’t got the magic touch.” The white mare glared at her, but the orange earth pony ignored it and looked at Twilight, asking, “Twilight, think ya could it for her?” Twilight hesitantly walked over to the Warp Ring and touched it while thinking of Canterlot, but again, the portal disappeared every time she touched it. Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, Spike, and even the Wonderbolts tried, but the result was the same for each of them.
“Sonic, Tails, what’s wrong with this thing?!” Rainbow yelled after Soarin backed away from the ring.
Tails sighed, “This is why I didn’t suggest this in the first place. There must be something different about this white world now that we’re out of Ponyville. All the portals that have been popping up, the Warp Ring not working properly… That creature must be using its power to keep us from shortening our trip to Canterlot. The only way to get there is the long way.”
Sonic shrugged and muttered, “Of course. No deus ex machina for us.”
Tails touched the ring and an image of Ponyville appeared. “Well, it looks like we can warp back to Ponyville at least.” He looked at Spitfire and Soarin and asked, “Uh, would you…?”
Spitfire nodded, “Sure.” She looked at Lightning Dust and said, “Come on, Lightning Dust.” The light turquoise pegasus nodded and walked with them over to the ring. Before they entered it, Spitfire stopped and looked at Tails for a moment before saying, “You know, Tails, that was pretty impressive back at that city.”
Tails blinked, “Huh?”
Spitfire replied, “The way you took charge and helped resolve the situation. You’ve got a lot of potential, kid.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Spitfire, ma’am, what are you saying?”
Cadance asked, “Are you saying Tails could be Wonderbolt material, Spitfire?”
Spitfire looked back and replied, “Oh no, definitely not! He’s gonna have to learn how to fly fast on his own before that’ll ever happen!”
Tails said, “Oh. Well, uh, that’s a relief!”
Rainbow snickered at that, but she stopped when Spitfire looked back at Tails and continued, “But you’ve got a lot of other skills, Tails. Skills that none of our cadets and even some of our full-fledged Wonderbolts don’t have. Skills and a disposition that anybody would like to have on their side.”
Tails stammered, “Uh, thanks. So…?”
Spitfire smiled, “If you’re interested, stop by the Wonderbolts Academy when this is all over. I think we can find you a place on the team where you’d be most comfortable.”
Tails blinked, “Uh, okay! I’ll be sure to remember that!”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she glared at Tails at this, unable to believe that the fox was essentially just offered a position on the Wonderbolts. As Lightning Dust was about to enter the ring’s portal, though, she put it out of her mind and called, “Wait!” Everybody, save for Lightning Dust, turned to look at her. The rainbow-maned pegasus asked, “Lightning Dust, why’d you help us earlier?”
Lightning Dust was silent for a moment before she turned her head to look back at Rainbow Dash and said, “You really have to ask, Rainbow Dash? You know why.”
Rainbow thought for a moment before saying, “Oh right, the whole lying thing.”
Lightning Dust replied, “No! Come on, Dash, we were paired together back at the Wonderbolts Academy. You know me; I’m reckless, but I’m not a cheater. Even if those Babylon Rogues had been trying to help me get a second chance at becoming a Wonderbolt, that dream is not worth going through all that.” With that, she walked through into the Warp Ring’s portal, Spitfire and Soarin following behind her quietly. The ring shrunk down and landed in Tails’ left hand, silence ruling the air as everyone thought about what the redeemed pegasus said.
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Nice chapter, bro.
Excuse me; but just what is this supposed to be?
4934450
What the heck?! I was wondering where that bold went!
My apologies. It's fixed now.
4934785
No. Not unless I get a LOT of demand for one.
Right now, it's set that they didn't go through any, though they did have some close calls, which is part of the reason they were out of breath.
Now all we're missing is that Eggman Nega chapter.
4934825 Demands ehh?
Can we have one please!? You could make a "two sisters play portal" video reference.
I have a question, why do people hate Alicorn Twilight?
Nice reference to Sonic: Lost World.
I like how Lightning Dust showed that she has standards, and helped the gang out twice. I'd say she has redeemed herself for her actions in Wonderbolts Academy.
Now all we need is the Eggman Nega chapter, as well as the Sonic Storybook chapters and whatever else you plan to use in this.
4937213 I'm up for Eggman Nega. What I'm excited for is King Sharyar from the 'secret rings' story.
4935051
Sorry, a lot of people are going to have to clamor for it. I'll keep it in mind, though.
Because they think she's become a Mary Sue-type character as a result, and probably because... no, I won't go there.
4935050
That'll be a couple of chapters from now.
4937213
Yeah, I think that was one of Tails' best lines in Lost World.
That's kind of the way I've looked at her.
Storybook chapters first, then Eggman Nega, then... I'll see what I can come up with.
4937429
Why not both in the same chapter, technically?
4938307 Mary-sue? I think Twilight looks cool with her wings and title. You have no idea how long I was waiting for season 4 to come out because of Alicorn Twilight. Anyway, I think she is awesome.
I've been reading stories on this sight for too long.
4938805
So was I. Again, I'm not going to say what I'm thinking, but yeah, it does get old after a while.
4938985 I still can't see her wings are a bad thing. I won't diss on the haters but I've seen people take it to the extreme.
4899691
As long as I stick with the idea, the sequel would be a better place for that.
4935050 I can hardly wait for Eggman Nega too. I'm more interested in how they introduce him.
Look I'm sorry if I have been bugging you about this story for almost a year. It's your story and I should respect your decisions. It's just that it is so awesome how two worlds come together in an amazing and heartwarming way that gave me a greater insight of how awesome Sonic truly is. If you don't mind, I would love to write a story based off yours with pokemon in it.
4988442
You mean like a "PMD x FiM" type of story?
4988779
Sorry. I typically think of PMD when I think of Pokémon stories (especially since I'm currently writing one and another one was the first fanfic I ever wrote).
4988846
I'm not sure why you're asking for my input on the matter...
4988857 because it's your story. You know that guy who did a chapter based off FiT? I'ts the same thing I'm doing my TF story. You know copyright issues.
4988877
I think I know the guy you're talking about, and I said it was okay for him to use my wording for his story.
The thing I'm not seeing is how a Pokémon story relates to my work in such a way that copyright (which I've never claimed for anything) is an issue.
4988913 actually I was thinking of super smash bros.
4989263
...I've got nothing. Too sleepy.
Ooh, ooh! Minor Olympic moment...but it's in practice...and the only non-Sonic character to notice them is Yoshi. Dunno, felt like slamming an idea on the table. (And given how Yoshi is not only the fastest-rated character in the Mario series in that game, but that Lost World has a level of him...it wouldn't be completely far-fetched to call him Sonic half-canon.)
5018430
What Mystery Dungeon fic?
5018672 didn't you say you think of PMD when you think of pokemon stories and that you were currently writing one?
If not, -_-
5019114
I'm not writing a pony-related PMD story. I only mentioned I might attempt one in the future.
What are you going to do when the movie comes out this weekend?
5053639
I have no idea!
I know you'll come up with something extraordinary. How are tthe storybook chapters coming?
5066043
What do you mean "extraordinary"?
5066798 you know a really cool sequel.
5067125 shame. Well one can hope and wait.
To tell the truth, I really hope you go through with the sequel. You may not know but ever since I found this story, I've been coming back to read it 24/7. I Think you would make an excellent story, and you know I'm not alone when I say that.
I'm probably gonna get down votes for asking this, but is Sonic Chronicles going to be in this story?
I just came up with a funny line that you could possibly use in a later chapter.
5098658
What is it?