Whitetail Wood
With the race underway, thousands of ponies, humans and Mobians alike watched in anxious anticipation as several large monitors (provided courtesy of Accelovice, Inc., with accompanying signs to make sure everyone present knew that) scattered around the faire grounds displayed the location of the two contestants in nearly realtime, with occasional video footage as it was available.
At least, that’s what would have been happening had one of the contestants not been missing. Instead, the grandstands flanking the starting line remained full, the attendees sitting and shifting anxiously, wondering when the race would start. A stage had been erected in front of the stands to one side, where several television cameras were set up, and several photographers from both Earth and Equestria waited, wondering when the race would start. Part of the grandstands included a wide VIP box, currently occupied by Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as a third, unoccupied seat that was the focus of an unactivated holographic projector. Both alicorns conversed with each other in hushed tones, each wondering when the race would start.
Down on the ground, just behind the starting line was a prep area occupied by news reporters and more photographers and camera, as well as one of the contestants (who was also, as far as she was concerned, the real star of the show), a splotch of cyan and swatch of rainbow in the otherwise green Whitetail Wood; Ponyville weather manager and Equestrian national hero, Rainbow Dash. Unlike most everyone else, she was not waiting, but rather was stretching and warming up. Also unlike everyone else, she was not wondering when the race would start; she wondered if it would start at all.
“Rainbow!”
Pausing her routine just briefly to look towards who had addressed her, a smile spread across her face at the approach of another member of Equestrian royalty, and the only one she felt no need to bow or defer to.
“Hey Twi!” Dash replied as Princess Twilight Sparkle trotted happily up to her. The pegasus leaned to one side and extended the opposite wing up towards the sky in a far-reaching stretch. “Don’t tell me, here for an autograph, right? Maybe an interview, get my impressions of this little shindig? Gonna have to wait until after the race, just like I told everypony else, even if you are a princess. Can’t play favorites with my fans, and all that.”
Twilight giggled a princessly giggle. “Maybe I will. For posterity, of course! This is a pretty historic event,” she said with a smile that was tinged just slightly with concern, “But honestly, I’m more curious how you’re feeling, Rainbow. I mean, this isn’t like the Iron Pony competition. This is a race against a living legend! I mean, I guess we’ll find out today for sure, but on Earth, they already call him the ‘fastest thing alive’. Are you nervous?”
Dash didn’t even flinch in her stretching: “Meh.”
Twilight gave Dash a quizzical, puzzled look. “You’re not worried?” she asked. Dash shook her head in response. “Not even a little bit?” Twilight asked again.
“Pfft. This’ll be a cinch,” Dash replied haughtily, switching sides and giving her other wing a stretch, “Besides, we’re already two minutes past go-time! Like I told the papers, I doubt this chump’ll even show.”
Without warning, an object came zooming into the prep area, speeding past the grandstands and then in several wide circles around Dash and Twilight, visible as little more than a blur of color and heralded by nothing other than the rush of wind carried in its wake, forcing them to shield their faces from the dust it kicked up. With a sudden screech of friction, it came to a rapid halt next to Dash; the height of a pony, bipedal, and covered almost completely from head to high-tops in blue quills that were swept back in large spikes.
“Sorry I’m late, everyone!” called out Sonic the Hedgehog, “Just stepped out the door two minutes ago.” Having explained himself, he turned to the grandstands filled with ponies, humans and Mobians alike and threw his hands over his head to a round of loud cheering.
Dash stared at him for a moment, and then snorted, folding her forelegs across her barrel and scowling the empty air to her side. “Showoff,” she mumbled. Twilight giggled, but otherwise left the scene alone and trotted off to return to the tasks she had remaining.
“Mister Hedgehog!”
Sonic turned to find a unicorn trotting up to him, sea green coat and ocean blue mane, cutie mark not visible from the head-on angle of his approach. The notepad and pencil suspended in his shimmering aura and the badge reading ‘PRESS’ hanging from around his neck told the full story. “Screamsheet, Daily Whinny. You claim to be ‘the fastest thing alive’, and your accomplishments seem to show it. What’s your secret?”
Sonic turned from the stands to address the reporter. “Eat your vegetables, exercise plenty, and know your opponent,” he answered, “I always take time before I do anything to check out the competition.”
“Ha!” Rainbow Dash barked with sarcastic laughter. “Check out the competition's plot is more like it!” And I'm ok with that. Check out this plot —” She stood up and walked towards the starting line with a very pronounced sway of her hindquarters — “Get real familiar with it” — She stopped and looked back over her shoulder — “Cuz as soon as we leave that line, it’ll be the only part of me you’re gonna see!”
“Oh yeah?” In a flash, Sonic was standing beside Dash, arms folded across his chest. “And when’s that gonna happen?” he asked with a grin, “After I finish the circuit and lap you?”
Screamsheet wasted no time and trotted over to the pair, pencil poised to fly across the page of his notebook again. “Mister Hedgehog, are you asserting that you are, in fact, faster than the 'fastest flyer in Equestria’?”
Sonic jerked his thumb at Rainbow Dash. “Iron Pony,” he said to the reporter before twisting his wrist to point his thumb straight down at the ground, “Lead wings.”
“Ho ho!” retorted Dash with an aggressive grin, “Pretty big talk for a bipedal house pet.”
Sonic looked at her with an equally aggressive grin. “Pretty big talk for a quadrupedal snail,” he fired back, “Seriously, I figured your cutie mark’d be a jar of molasses.”
“You think you’re so fast?” Dash fired back, leaning in towards the hedgehog, “How ‘bout you put more than your rep on the line? Loser buys lunch, winner’s choice, and no matter where it is, it’s all-she-can eat.”
“Yeah?” Sonic leaned in towards Dash, all but pressing his face against hers, “And what if the winner picks one of those fancy places that only serves tiny portions of things he can’t pronounce?”
Dash did press her face against Sonic’s, mashing her forehead against his and pushing him back slightly, her grin turned manic. “Then losing is gonna get very expensive!”
“Mares and gentlestallions!”
A voice over the loudspeaker drew all eyes towards the stage next to the grandstands, and to a tiny, purple dragon holding a microphone. Besides running his voice over the loudspeakers, it sent it through the cameras that the news teams from Earth had brought; across dimensions, Spike the Dragon’s voice was loud and clear.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Creatures of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to a special, late-season run of the Equestria Grand Prix, and welcome to the first ever running of the new Unlimited Class!” A round of cheering broke out from the grandstands, and Spike allowed everyone a moment to get it out of their system. “This class removes the usual separation between feet and wings, so runners and fliers compete together, and what better way to kick things off than with the fastest runner and flier we could find?
“Racing for the home team is a pony that needs no introduction. Best Young Flyer three years running, Wonderbolts reservist, and Ponyville’s own hometown heroine. Equestria’s speedster extraordinaire! The embodiment of Loyalty itself! The one! The only!
“Rainbo~ow! Dash!”
Dash looked to the cheering crowd and pumped her hoof in the air before giving them an energetic wave accompanied by a wide smile. The cheering increased in volume, some in the audience calling her name and several more wearing rainbow-dyed wigs or waving pennants with her mark or likeness on them. Spike gave them a few seconds before he continued.
“And the visitor!” He quickly brought out an index card full of cues, “Born on Christmas Island on Christmas Day, and described by many as the greatest gift, Santa Claus ever brought?” He shrugged his shoulders and continued on regardless. “His own résumé rivals his opponent’s in magnitude, just as he rivals her in attitude! The Hero of Hustle! The Viscount of Velocity! The Blue Blur!
“Sonic! The! Hedgeho~og!”
Sonic whipped around to face the crowd, flashing them a Victory sign. The roaring cheers were quickly broken by a growing chant.
“Son-ic! Son-ic! Son-ic! Son-ic!”
When Sonic winked at a certain, small section of the grandstands, Amy’s hand went to her forehead at the same instant that Diamond Tiara’s and Sweetie Belle’s went to theirs, and with a collective swoon, all three of them fell in a dead faint, luckily caught by their friends. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Silver Spoon exchanged unamused glances.
“And now, without further ado, here is your Master of Cememonies, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” The dragon stepped aside, allowing the aforementioned alicorn to take the stage, her own microphone floating near her face, suspended in magic. Despite suggestions from certain ‘concerned parties’, she opted to wear only her tiara, rather than full regalia or even a dress.
“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said, “And once again, welcome to the Equestria Grand Prix Unlimited Class. I want to thank you all for coming, and to extend extra special thanks to Princesses Celestia and Luna, and to United Federation President Ōshima for making this event possible.” She paused and looked to the VIP box in the stands behind her. Celestia and Luna smiled and waved to the crowd, as did the human president from earth. Although he was not present for security reasons, he was nevertheless ‘attending’ via holographic projection.
“Now, both racers already know the rules, but I’m going to recap them for the spectators,” continued Twilight.
“The race is a cross-country run through Equestria, starting from Whitetail Wood, down and over through Appleloosa and Dodge Junction — watch out for ant lions — past the Badlands, through the Hayseed Swamps, past Baltimare, through Hollow Shades, up north through the Crystal Empire, then south past Cloudsdale, through the Unicorn Range and finally to the finish line in Ponyville, following the same circuit as the Expert Flyer class from earlier in the year, despite the fact that this is completely unrealistic for the contestants’ planned completion time of three days, never mind the segments that can’t really be crossed without flying. Markers have already been set up along the route, and there are stops in key locations with food and water, although stops can be made anywhere at the contestants’ own risk. Unlike the Expert classes, the victor will not be decided by score, so contestants may stop as often as they wish. Also unlike the Expert classes, detours are not allowed. The first one to reach the finish line in Ponyville will be officially recognized as ‘the Fastest Thing Alive’. I will now turn the stage over to my co-Master of Ceremonies, Miles Prower. Mister Prower?”
Her attention shifted to the space next to her, occupied by a young fox who, in addition to the normal traits of a Mobian, possessed two tails rather than only one. “Thank you, Princess Twilight,” said Miles Prower (‘Tails’ to his friends) into his own microphone, incorporated into a wireless headset fitted over his ears. With a twist of his two tails, they were set spinning like a helicopter rotor and he hovered into the air, and then towards Sonic and Dash.
“Seriously?!” Scootaloo demanded from the grandstands; no one paid her any attention.
Landing on the ground next to Sonic, Tails withdrew two large objects with the appearance of wrist watches from between his tails. “These are comm-link bracelets,” he explained for everyone. “They’ll let us stay in contact with both racers through a two-way radio, regardless of distance.” He fastened the first around Sonic’s wrist, and then jogged to Dash and fastened the second just above her pastern. “And thanks to the trackers in them, we can also pinpoint their locations on the terminal over there.” He took a step back and pointed towards a large, blocky computer set up just by the stage. “That means we can follow their progress, anywhere in Equestria! And, um, that also means that any cheating by taking detours off the circuit will be immediately obviously, so… don’t?” He finished off sheepishly, and then suddenly twisted his tails and took off again, settling promptly behind the terminal while the racers took a moment to examine their new accessories.
“Swag,” concluded Dash, “But are you sure it can keep up with me?”
“You should be more worried about you keeping up with me,” Sonic retorted.
The sound of someone clearing their throat into a microphone grabbed both their attentions. “Are the racers ready?” Twilight asked with an edge of irritation in her voice. With one final competitive glare at each other, Dash and Sonic walked to the starting line and stepped into the blocks.
“Good! Mister Prower, are you ready?” Twilight asked as she looked towards the computer terminal.
The fox seated at it looked back and gave the thumbs-up. “We are online, Princess!”
“Then let’s get ready to race! On your marks!” Twilight said through her microphone.
Dash flared her wings open and gave a quick flap before moving them to the nearly vertical ‘ready’ position. Sonic crouched, both hands on the ground in front of him.
“Get set!”
Dash bent her legs just so, lowering herself while tensing her wings just a bit more. Sonic extended his legs just slightly and leaned forward just a bit. Both of them were like coiled springs; the audience watched with anticipation.
“Go!”
The rush of displaced air as the racers took off was an even stronger indicator that the race was on than Twilight’s command, both of them accelerating from zero to ‘by Celestia’s gilded hoofshoes that’s totally nuts!’ in the blink of an eye. High winds whipped through the grandstands, manes and hairdos were thrown askew and hats went flying away, never to be seen again until their owners picked them up. Cameras flashed just in time to completely miss all the action.
Out of Whitetail Wood, past the outskirts of Ponyville, and west along the railroad towards Ghastly Gorge, a trail of rainbows and a cloud of dust zoomed onward, neck-and-neck.
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5166405
It certainly is a possibility. (No it’s not)
I feel compelled to state that Sonic is from Mobius, not earth...
5168526
In the Archie comics, yes. The setting in the games, however, is Earth (or at least has not been explicitly named).
5168645 It was also in the original 'adventures of sonic the hedgehog, satam sonic, sonic underground, the uk sonic the comic, and the game sonic spinball. In the Sonic X series, sonic and friends were brought to earth from another planet/dimension via chaos control, though the planet was never expressly named.
As far as the games go, I stopped really playing them after sonic & knuckles. I played the first sonic advanced, and the first sonic adventure. They just didn't have the same charm anymore.
Then of course we have the huge divide that is the sonic fandom. :P I am expressly more focused on 'old school' sonic, satam and archies comics ect. So naturally, to me, sonic is, was, and forever will be, from Mobius. :3
5172551
It is worth noting that the comics, Sonic SatAM, Sonic Underground, and Sonic X are not part of the same canon as the games.
Now, that being said, you didn't come here to debate the planet that Sonic is from; you came here to see Sonic racing Rainbow Dash without any mushy stuff. And that's exactly what you'll get (ho ho ho...).
5173084 and I am glad for that separation of cannon. :D
5178712
Yyyyyeah, that was a concern of mine.
I'll think of something.