Volume II - Chapter 3: Campfire Talk
Some time has passed, and the gang eventually found a place to camp in the middle of the woods for the night. While their tour bus and their sleeping bags is enough for them to shelter for the night, they already got to work to set up the campfire area for them to hang out and have fun.
While most of the high schoolers were busy gathering firewood, Rarity volunteered to entertain the CMCs, Sonic, and Spike by telling them her scary story by the fire pit.
"And that's when she looked down and realized she was wearing purple socks with a burgundy dress!" Rarity concluded before letting out a terrifying scream.
Rarity paused her screaming when she noticed her sister and the others were giving her confused expressions.
"Purple and burgundy, darlings! The same color family!" Rarity explained before she started screaming again.
The CMCs, Sonic, and Spike looked at each other before they turned back to Rarity with strange looks.
"Ah'm sorry… but Ah'm confused," said Apple Bloom.
"Yeah sis, how exactly is wearing purple socks with a burgundy dress considered to be terrifying?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"I'm just terrified that she'll try to tell it again," Sonic muttered.
Rarity crossed her arms, feeling insulted by their criticisms. "Hmph! You kids just don't appreciate the fashion side of life."
"We do," Scootaloo insisted. "We just don't appreciate your story skills."
They all chuckled while Rarity turned her nose up with a pout.
It was at this point, the rest of the teens returned from the woods with piles of wood in their arms for the fire.
“Did we miss anythin’?” Applejack asked her sister.
“Rarity was just tellin’ us her scary story,” Apple Bloom replied.
Applejack gave her sister a knowing look. “Was dis about purple socks and burgundy dress?”
“Eeyup!”
“Why am I not surprised!” Rainbow Dash chuckled, causing Rarity to glare daggers at her.
“Now let’s not fight,” Fluttershy said gently. “We’re all trying to relax.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered. “Especially while we’re making some s’mores!”
“Ooh ooh! I want some s’mores!” Sonic cried eagerly.
As Pinkie happily gave a stick with a marshmallow to him, Sunset watched with a small smile. Despite him being a talking creature, and a little bit strange, he certainly acted like a little kid, who gets excited over every little thing. While they’re still technically keeping an eye on him, but Sunset was starting to think that maybe he isn’t as threatening as everyone had thought, especially after witnessing how well he got along with the CMCs.
Speaking of threatening, her mind then shifted to that young woman with a scar who chased them earlier. While Sunset didn’t know how or why Tempest ended up at Twilight’s house earlier, but Sunset suspected it was because she was onto her ever since their run-in at the school's hallway. What really scared her was how persistent that agent was from the way she hung on to their bus earlier, and something tells Sunset that they have not seen the last of her.
Then her thoughts went to that wacky, yet scary man they met earlier who called himself Robotnik. Not only that doctor was from G.U.N., but he had also nearly killed them, despite that they’re just teenagers. While Tempest may have been scary in her own right, Robotnik may be the most dangerous threat to her and her friends. There's no telling what he could do with his insane robots and his technology. They'll have to be extra careful if they ever run into him again.
Speaking of that man, there was something else that her friend mentioned earlier that really bothered her, and figured now would be the time to ask her.
"Hey Twilight, there is something that I was wondering about," said Sunset, getting the attention from others.
"What is it, Sunset?" Twilight asked before taking a bite of her marshmallow.
"Well, you said that you knew all about Dr. Robotnik and that he was your… idol."
"I still couldn’t get my head around that!" Rainbow Dash interjected, but Sunset ignored her.
"And yet… he also said that he doesn't exist. What does that even mean?"
"Yeah, dat doesn't make any lick of sense," Applejack agreed. "How can he exist if there's so much about him?"
Twilight swallowed her food. "Well you see, it's common for anyone who works under the government, specifically, special agents with certain circumstances, who trade their lives to serve for our country as ghost agents. If anything happens to them, like say... captured by an enemy, gone rogue, or worse, then the agency will disavow their actions and their existence."
"Sheesh, I wouldn't want to work for these guys!" Rainbow commented.
"Although, I heard both their medical and dental plans were really good," Pinkie Pie mused.
Applejack shook her head at Pinkie’s antics before continuing. "As interesting as this sounds, dat still doesn't explain how you knew about Robotnik, Twi?"
"I read his top-secret file from their database once," Twilight replied nonchalantly.
"Wait,” Rarity uttered. “Wasn't there usually a high security for going into a database from the government?"
"Please tell me you didn't hack your way into their system," Sunset said uneasily in dread.
"I did," Twilight confirmed bluntly, much to everyone’s shock. "What? I was bored one day!" She shrugged. "Besides, I barely even try to use my advanced hacking skills. Their firewalls were so bad, a second-grader could probably get in easily."
"...I'm not sure if I should be concerned that you broke into their systems so easily, or that their security wasn't so secure to begin with," Sunset commented, not sure how to feel with this revelation.
"Gotta admit Egghead, that's hardcore!" Rainbow Dash said gleefully as she rubbed her hands eagerly. "So tell us! What's the dirt on that guy?"
"I pretty much told you all about him already when he first arrived at my house," said Twilight before furrowing her brows in deep thought. "Except…"
"Except what?" Sunset pressed.
"Except… he's done a lot of bad and controversial things even before he became a government agent.”
"W-what kind of bad things?" Fluttershy stammered fearfully.
"Well, there is one incident that he caused an amusement park at disarray by hacking into various rides, sending his bots to scare the civilians and destroyed various food stands and he nearly set the whole park on fire… all because he was told that he was too short to ride a rollercoaster. And he was eleven years old at the time!"
"Daaaaang! That's messed up!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"I concur," Sunset agreed. "And I thought I had anger issues!"
"Remind me to not go on any rides with that guy," Sonic added.
"If one of mah relatives did dat, Ah'll be sure to give him a punishment of a lifetime!" Applejack growled, causing her youngest sister to shudder. "Speakin' of which, where were his dang parents?"
"Actually, he was an orphan," Twilight revealed. "Because he was a troublesome kid, he was passed from one foster system to another, until he ended up on his own when he turned eighteen."
"I guess that would explain his remark earlier about me rubbing into his orphaned face," Sunset commented.
"Oh, the poor dear, I feel sorry for him," Fluttershy said with sympathy.
"Oh, I feel sorry for him too… except that he tried to kill us!" Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.
"That's not all though," Twilight continued. "He tried to build his own amusement park, only it was shut down due to many safety violations. Then he turned to science by creating an altered power plant for energy, but that was shut down too because he polluted the lake with chemicals. He even tried to experiment with an alternate method to power up his machines, only for the science community to stop him when they learned that his intention was to use living animals to power his machines."
"W-what!?" Fluttershy shrieked, her sympathy for Robotnik was instantly gone. "He forced those animals to power up his machines? Why!?"
"Cause he's insane Flutters, that's why!" Rainbow retorted, before shaking her head. "What I was wondering was why G.U.N. have him work for them?"
"You remembered when I said that some agents have certain circumstances?" Twilight asked. "Some of those agents were former criminals who were either asked or forced to work for them after doing criminal acts after nearly threatening the country."
Rainbow, as well as the others, stared at Twilight in disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me! They actually have criminals working for them!? Why would they do that?"
"Well, in some cases, depending on how… talented this person was, they figured that they can use that individual's skills to help ‘contribute’ to the country."
"I guess I can understand their logic of having former criminals working for them," said Sunset before frowning. "After all… I was pretty awful too before you girls took me in."
"Except we took you in because we wanted to be your friend," Rarity said gently. "They only bring them in just for their own benefits and to make their jobs easier."
“What do y’all supposed they’re using him for?” Applejack wondered.
“If I were to guess, it was his super intelligence and his skills of developing tech and machines,” Twilight answered. “As I said, despite his list of… dirty laundry, his mind and technology were out of this world!” Twilight looked down in shame. "And he… inspired me at some point."
"How so Twilight?" Fluttershy asked gently.
Twilight sighed. "He's very smart and dedicated to his work to the point that he revolutionized science time and again, and yet, he's all alone… just like me." She grasped her knees. "He even said in his documents that his methods of completing his work are to study everything you can and to pursue it no matter what. He also said to not let anyone slow you down to your goal, because getting the results is more important, while everyone around you is just insignificant."
Everyone around Twilight was not pleased with what they were hearing about the doctor’s views of pursuing their goals.
"Wow… that guy really deserves a Nobel prize," Rainbow stated sarcastically, oozing in disgust.
Rarity scowled. "I never thought I could despise that man even more than I am already!"
Sonic frowned. "I bet he's so much fun to talk to at parties!"
Pinkie looked at Sonic in bewilderment. "What? How could him talking about those mean things be any fun at parties?"
"I was being sarcastic!" Sonic defended.
“What he said is awful, I know,” Twilight said gloomily. “But the worst thing was… I actually believed it for a while.”
“What!?” Sunset exclaimed, much to her and the rest of the gang’s shock.
“Except for ‘everyone is insignificant’ part!” Twilight quickly clarified. “That one I don’t agree with… at least to some degree.” She sighed heavily. “Back at Crystal Prep, no one really wanted to be associate with me, let alone actually like me. And no matter how much I contribute to the school with my advanced academic skills, no one really seems to care. And even before I enrolled in that school, with the exception of Shining, Cadance, and Spike. I’ve always been by myself all in my life. I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with me or I’m just too different from the others, but I figured that I’ll always be alone no matter how much I tried... which was why I always put all my focus on science and my research… just like him. I even use his methods during the Friendship Games… but we all know how that turned out.” She let out a humorless chuckle. “It’s all part of a curse of being a genius I suppose.”
She suddenly felt someone sat right next to her and then wrapped her up into a one-sided hug. Twilight turned to faced Sunset, who had a look of sympathy.
“I’m so sorry that you have to deal with your loneliness for so long,” Sunset said softly, before giving her a warm smile. “But you are not alone anymore.”
“Yeah, you have us silly!” Pinkie said in her upbeat tone.
“You won’t get rid of us easily!” Rainbow said cockily.
“We got yer back Sugarcube!” Applejack added.
“We care about you Twilight,” Fluttershy assured.
“We love you for being you darling, quirks and all,” said Rarity.
“Don’t ferget about us!” Apple Bloom interjected.
“Yeah, we’re your friends too!” Sweetie Belle cheered.
“You’re awesome Twilight!” Scootaloo added.
“And don’t forget your number one assistant!” Spike barked happily.
Twilight started tearing up from all of her friends’ praises and assurances. Even after all this time she spent with them, she never would have thought she could ever get any friends, especially with these wonderful girls and her dog.
“T-thank you girls… everyone...” Twilight sniffed, rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses. “That really means a lot.”
Meanwhile, Sonic stared at the bespectacled both in empathy and in longingly. He understood what it's like to be alone just because you are different from the rest, he knew the pain all too well. But unlike Twilight, who at least has a couple of people and a dog in her life until she meets her friends, Sonic has been alone his entire life. Sure, he had Longclaw at one point, but his time with her was brief before he was forced to flee. While Sonic was happy for Twilight that she has her friends for support, he wished he had that same friendship as she does.
To keep his loneliness and jealousy at bay, he quickly moved on to a much lighter topic. “So what do we do for fun during camping?”
Pinkie’s eyes lit up from Sonic’s sudden question. “Well, aside from eating s’mores and telling scary stories, we can also do some outdoor activities, like sports!”
“Yeah!” Apple Bloom agreed with her toothy grin. “Ah wish we have some baseball gear with us, otherwise, Ah would love to play another game of baseball!”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yeah, count me in! I would like to play that again too!”
“I bet our team will be super awesome with Sonic on our team!” said Scootaloo, causing Rainbow Dash to nearly grimace in jealousy.
Sonic let out a nervous cough from the sound of baseball. “Uh… I think I’ll pass with baseball for now.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Why not?”
Sonic rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well... the last time I did, I accidentally had lightning shot out of my butt, so I rather not want to do that again."
Sunset blinked. "Wait, lightning?"
“Again?” Twilight added.
Realizing that he let his last night’s activity slip, Sonic quickly covered his mouth, but he knew it was too late as everyone watched him both in interest and suspicion.
"Uh, I mean…” Sonic stammered.
“Wait!” Sunset spoke up with widened eyes. “Were you at our school’s baseball field the other night?”
Sonic began to sweat a little. “Uh… I-I may have…”
“And by ‘lightning’, were you referring to that huge blue wave explosion that same night?” Twilight pressed. “Did you have something to do with it too?”
Sonic shifted his eyes away from the girls, feeling uncomfortable. “Well… I wouldn’t call it a huge explosion but–”
"That was you!?" Rainbow Dash shouted, angry at the revelation. "You're the cause of this?"
Knowing that he had to come clean, Sonic let out a sigh. “Yes... it was me, but–”
Rainbow suddenly stood up with a look of rage. “I knew it! I knew there was something fishy about you! You were trying to take over the world, weren’t you?”
Sonic’s eyes widened from the accusation. “No, I wasn’t! I–”
"You're the one who lured G.U.N. to come after us!" she roared.
"I-I didn't mean to–"
"I knew we should've brought you with us! You were nothing but a trouble magnet and you ruined our lives!"
"Rainbow Ashley Dash!” Fluttershy yelled, ceasing Rainbow’s angry rant. “That's enough!"
Despite Fluttershy’s attempt to defuse the situation, the damage was already done as Sonic was shaking violently, his pupils shrunk to the size of pin needles, and had a hurt expression on his face as if he was punched in the gut.
"I...I...I didn’t mean..." he stammered.
Before anyone could speak, Sonic jumps off of his seat and ran away from the camp, and disappeared into the woods, leaving a trail of blue blur behind.
"Sonic!" Sunset cried out.
"Yeah, you better run you blue freak!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily. “Before you make things worse for all of–"
Rainbow Dash was suddenly interrupted when she felt someone smacked her really hard at the back of her head. She held the back of her head in pain and turned to see who hit her. To her and everyone’s shock, the culprit was none other than Fluttershy... who had a look of pure fury on her face.
"Ow! What was that for Flutters!?" Rainbow Dash demanded.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Fluttershy screamed. "The things you said were out of line!"
“I concur!” Rarity agreed who also had a look of disapproval. “What you just said and the way you acted was uncalled for!”
“Yeah, that was really mean, Dashie!” Pinkie shouted angrily.
Everyone around the campfire also voiced their disapproval of Rainbow’s behavior towards her. Even Scootaloo was upset with how her idol acted towards the hedgehog.
“That was totally uncool Rainbow Dash!” she spat.
Rainbow Dash growled, frustrated that everyone viewed her as the bad guy while ignoring a major issue with that creature.
“Didn’t any of you hear him?” Rainbow Dash argued. “He was the one who caused that blue wave! He did it on purpose just to have G.U.N. chasing us!”
“Are you sure about that Rainbow Dash?” Twilight questioned, crossing her arms. “While I’m just as shocked as you are, we didn’t hear his side of the story yet.”
“Yeah, and you just jumped to conclusions while calling him names!” Sunset shouted.
“I... well… how do we know he’ll tell us the truth?” Rainbow Dash protested desperately. “He never mentioned the wave until now!”
“We don’t know for sure, that’s why we’re trying to get him to open up,” Fluttershy explained before narrowing her eyes. “But that’s still no excuse for your behavior Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah but I... I… I…”
When Rainbow Dash couldn’t come up with a good argument, she let out a loud scream of frustration and stood up.
“Ugh! Forget this!” she shouted and walked away from the group.
“And just where do ya think yer going Rainbow Dash?” Applejack demanded.
“A walk!” Rainbow snarled before disappearing into the woods.
Sunset quickly got up. “I’ll go talk to her and see what’s up!”
Sunset ran after Rainbow Dash until she too disappeared into the woods.
Rarity scoffed sharply as soon as Sunset left their sights. “Ugh! The nerve of Rainbow Dash!”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, she’s been very mean towards Sonic since we escaped from Robotnik.”
Twilight frowned. “I can understand why she was upset, but still… it wasn’t right of her to attack him like that.”
Fluttershy’s anger died down as she began to worry for the blue hedgehog. “Oh, I hope Sonic is okay and come back.” She then looked down somberly. “To tell you the truth… even though we just met him and we’re supposed to keep an eye on him… he grew on me already.”
Twilight blinked in surprise. “Really?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes... I don’t sense any malice from him at all, even when we first met him at Twilight’s house. Also, his personality and his love for speed reminded me of Dashie when we were younger, almost as if she found her long lost brother.” She sighed heavily. “I... was actually hoping that these two would get along and get to know each other… was that wrong of me?”
Applejack shook her head. “Not at all, Surgercube. Ah’ll be lyin’ if Ah say Ah didn’t feel the same for that critter.” She frowned deeply as she stared into their campfire. “But with everythang that happened just now… Ah don’t see how Rainbow could ever get along with him.”
“What is wrong with them?” Rainbow Dash muttered angrily as she continued to walk deeper into the woods. “How can they not see that he is a threat to us?”
Usually, whenever Rainbow Dash felt stressed or upset about anything, she always had an excuse to take a walk around her neighborhood to help clear her head. But the forest would have to do. Luckily, a full moon was out, and Rainbow Dash used the light of the moon to help guide her along the path, having no destination in mind. She had hoped that her friends will wise up about their ‘guest’ and see things her way, but after her argument with her friends, the chances of that was less than likely.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow Dash breathed heavily through her nose to keep herself from having another outburst before she turned just in time to see Sunset, who finally caught up with her.
“What? Are you going to yell at me some more like all the others?” Rainbow stated flatly.
“I’m not going to yell at you,” Sunset assured. “I just want to talk to you.”
Rainbow scoffed. “Right... and then you’ll yell at me. Glad you clarified that!”
Sunset crossed her arms with an annoyed expression. “There will be some more yelling if you continue to act like a child! Now, are we gonna talk or not?”
Rainbow Dash shot Sunset her glare, but she nodded silently, allowing Sunset to speak.
Sunset sighed. “Look... I understand why you’re upset and angry at him, and that you have a huge distrust towards him... but there’s no reason to be so hard on him. Besides, we don’t know the full story from him yet. And as much as I wanted you to apologize to him, I’m not gonna force you to since you’re usually too stubborn to admit you’re wrong.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at that, but Sunset continued.
“However, I can at least ask you to hear his side before you judge and accuse him again when he gets back… if he ever comes back.”
“How do we know he’ll tell us the truth?” Rainbow challenged. “While it’s one thing he’s been stalking us for years, which that and itself was just plain creepy… he left out the part that he was the one who created that blue wave and lured the government into our town up until a few minutes ago! Who knows what else kind of ‘secrets’ that rodent kept from us!”
Sunset felt really frustrated with her friend's stubbornness but managed to keep herself calm.
“Look, while I also wanted to know where his head is at, but acting all hostile around him and calling him names isn’t going to help us. All we can do is listen to him and learn more about him without being rude. I think that’s why Pinkie suggested we set up camp in the first place: we’re trying to make him feel welcome and for him to drop his defenses and open up to us. You just have to be patient.”
Rainbow Dash had a look of disbelief. “Patient? Newsflash Sunset: we don’t have time to be patient, especially while we’re on a run by the government! Besides, patients are for hospitals!” She shook her head. “No! We should come up with a much better and faster way to get all the secrets out of him… and I know the perfect way to do it!”
Sunset cocked an eyebrow. “And what's that, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow smirked. “I think you should use your magic on him!”
…
…
…
"...what?” Sunset uttered.
"Let me explain!" Rainbow said quickly before Sunset could scold her. "We still don't know about him or his intentions for spying on us for so long, and he still doesn't answer our questions! The only way for us to figure out about that thing is for you to use your mind-reading magic on him. And once we know that he is actually bad news, we will strike!"
Sunset couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not only her friend still insisted on her suspicions about Sonic, but now she wanted her to use her abilities on the blue hedgehog by force. She never felt so disappointed and ashamed in her friend right now.
"Okay, first of all, my magic isn’t mind-reading, it’s through empathy,” Sunset retorted.
Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
Sunset shook her head. “No, it’s actually a little more than that. Empathy means understanding what another person was feeling. In other words, my magic gives me the ability to read through their emotions and to understand from their point of view.” Seeing a blank look on Rainbow’s face, Sunset explained further. “Let me put it this way; every time I touched someone, I see things from that person’s perspective or to 'walk a mile in that person’s shoes', if you will so that I can understand what they were feeling during that moment.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Like… watching TV?”
“Something like that," said Sunset. "Except I feel like I’m actually there and also feel what that person was feeling. My magic helps me understand what that person was going through.”
Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding, but then she paused when a thought came to her. “Hey, wait a minute! If you can do that just by touching someone, why didn’t that happen to you when you carry that guy?” Her eyes then widened. “Wait… did you read my mind every time you touch me?”
“Relax! I've been training myself ever since our trip to Camp Everfree,” Sunset assured. “As long as I stay focused, I can use my magic at will so that I won’t invade anyone's thoughts by accident.” Sunset blushed before she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Well… most of the time.” Her expression became serious again. “As for your first question, he was knocked out after he rode one of the drones at the time. My magic can only work when that person is conscious. And for the last time, it’s not mind-reading!”
“Well, whatever you called it, I think you should use it!” Rainbow Dash insisted.
With narrowed eyes, Sunset crossed her arms. “This leaves me with the second thing… I’m not going to use it!”
Rainbow Dash balked. “What!? Why not?”
“As I said, while I see everything that the person has gone through, it was still an invasion of privacy. I’m only going to use it as a last resort,” Sunset explained. “Besides... Sonic already liked me and well... us, before we even met him. It would be easier to just ask him while he’s friendly. The last thing we should do is to break his trust by snooping into his life behind his back.”
“Trust?!” Rainbow shouted with a raging expression. “How do we know if we should trust him? He could be lying about his life for all we know!”
Sunset huffed, now getting aggravated with her athletic friend. “You know Rainbow Dash, that’s always your problem! While you’re very loyal to a fault, you certainly have a hard time trusting others, especially that you judge them unfairly before you even get to even know them! Not to mention, you also make these rash ideas whenever you get super paranoid!”
Rainbow Dash let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh yeah! Name one person who I judged unfairly and that I didn’t really trust them!”
Sunset eyes narrowed. “Me!”
Rainbow Dash recoiled at that. It's no secret that the two of them, mostly Rainbow Dash, had a rough start after the Fall Formal. Rainbow originally didn’t like the idea of befriending someone who used to bully her and her friends, let alone nearly took over the school. But because of her promise to Princess Twilight about giving Sunset a chance, she did exactly that, much to her reluctance. To make a long story short, the two eventually became close friends and Rainbow Dash is happy to be Sunset’s friend. The only thing she regretted was giving Sunset a hard time for the first few weeks.
Rainbow Dash let out a somber sigh. “Okay… you got me on that one… and I know I didn't warm up to you as easily as the others. But in my defense, you were a bully in the past and split me and my friends apart!” When she saw Sunset's guilt expression, Rainbow quickly added. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I became friends with you and I’m proud to be one, but it wasn’t easy for me to trust you right away. It took time, but because we get to know you better, I warmed up to you.” She then frowned. “While that creature–”
“Sonic,” Sunset interrupted in annoyance. “His name’s Sonic!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Right... while Sonic’s case was different! We just met him while the government conveniently chased after him!" Rainbow argued, her volume grew louder by the second. "He knows all about us, yet he didn’t exactly tell us everything about him. And we have to help him find these rings, or whatever to go to some fungus planet while we’re on the run. And after hearing that he was the cause of that blue wave, he put all of us in danger no thanks to him!”
“Rainbow Dash! That’s not fair of you to put all the blame on him!” Sunset yelled in frustration before pointing at herself. “In case you forget, it was my fault too! G.U.N. has been watching us since day one because of my actions at the Fall Formal. Even without him around, they would have come after us regardless of when Equestrian Magic is involved. So I’m just as to blame that we’re all in this mess! Heck, I’m more to blame for this mess!”
“Hey, don’t blame yourself Sunset! You didn’t know that would happen!”
“I’m sure Sonic didn’t know about that either!”
“You don’t know that!”
Both teens just glared angrily at each other in silence after Rainbow’s outburst. Neither said a word for what it felt like an eternity before Rainbow Dash let out a tired sigh.
“I’m sorry Sunset, I really am… but I just don’t trust him," said Rainbow Dash as she turned around. "At the end of the day... keeping our friends safe is more important than trying to make friends with that little rodent!”
Sunset frowned in disappointment as she watched her friend walking away from her. “So you're not going to even try to befriend him?”
Rainbow Dash stopped walking. "What about you Sunset?" She then turned halfway and gave Sunset her challenging look. “Are you going to befriend him?”
Just as Sunset opened her mouth to answer, Rainbow quickly clarified.
"Even without being chased by the government and after knowing the identity of your pen pal… are you still going to befriend or even remain friends with him?"
Sunset was about to reply, but she stopped herself. Even as Rainbow Dash was walking away again, Sunset couldn't come up with the answer as doubts once again clouded her mind. Are she and Sonic already considered friends, even though they're complete strangers? Is she willing to befriend him because she simply wanted to or was it solely for the sake of their mission?
And is her friendship with Sonic... was even real?
Oh dear. 
Okay, I know a lot of you guys are probably angry at Rainbow Dash for her attitude, and I don't blame you, but there's a reason for her behavior. I won't say, but all will be revealed in due time, trust me!
Anyway, here are some notes/references:
Rarity telling her "scary story" at the campfire was a reference to a scene from EqG fourth film: Legend of Everfree, when Rarity used the exact same story.
Robotnik’s backstory about his experience at the amusement park and attempting to build one is a reference to his actual obsession of building an amusement park in the games and other media. It's unknown why he always wanted to build one, but apparently it's been becoming a running joke in a fandom lately.
Twilight mentioning Robotnik built a power plant with chemicals is a reference to Chemical Plant Zone level from Sonic 2.
Twilight mentioning Dr. Robotnik once tried to use a live animal to power up his machines is a callback to him trapping animals in his robots throughout the Sonic game series.
Twilight mentioning her attempt to study everything during the Friendship Games was a callback to the events from the EqG third film: Friendship Games.
Rainbow’s line, "Patient is for hospitals", is a callback to Sonic’s SatAM's episode, "Sonic Boom" (the episode, not the show) when Sonic said the exact same line to Sally Acorn. I also wanted to add that it was Sunkaiju who originally came up with that reference in the comments from one of my earlier chapters, which inspired me to add this funny line in this chapter. So shout-out to this person! 
Now Rainbow Dash's mistaken Sunset's ability to "read minds" was a very interesting one. Ever since Legend of Everfree, I felt that a lot of fans misunderstood Sunset's ability, which led many to believe that she could 'read minds'. While it's true to some degree, but it was more than that. Sunset's ability was actually to sense others' feelings. In fact, according to Katrina Hadley, a former storyboard artist of MLP:FiM and former director of Equestria Girls series, Sunset's glowing eyes, whenever she uses her magic geode is called an "empathy flash". Empathy usually means, according to the dictionary, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. In fact, Ishi Rudell, a former animation director to MLP:FiM and EqG series, said that in the human world, Sunset is the seventh element, which is, the element of empathy.
If you ask me, I think it suits Sunset's role really well! 
Anyway, that's all for now! Next week, there's going to be some action between our two heroes... and you don't want to miss this! 
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That was an fantastic chapter and rainbow dash didn't have to yell at sonic, he didn't mean for this happen and the reason he did because he was tired of being alone
Poor sonic
Wow, I don't mean to be out of line but damn rainbow can be cruel.
And yeah I know you don't trust sonic rainbow, but it wasn't any worse than what Sunset, Sci-Twi, Gloriosa, Juniper, Wallflower and Vignette did and you trusted them.
Plus whilst we're on the trust topic, let me remind you none of them should trust you. I mean, the battle of the bands, anon a miss, Juniper and spring break, you were also to blame for that.
Oh, like we should trust you?! You're just as selfish and idiotic when it comes to brash decisions.
Well, tensions are high, THATS for sure!
I just hope a reconciliation is not far away!
Union is ALWAYS better than disunion.
Cant wait to see what's next!
Because you didn't give him a chance.
Oh really. Like you "kept them safe" when your ego got out of hand during the battle of the bands?
Like you "kept them safe" because of juniper Montage. Like you "kept them safe during spring break.
Sorry rainbow, but from this moment on, I trust sunset, Sonic and the others more than I trust you.
For me, the friendship between Sunset and Sonic is REAL!!!!
You made a few mistakes in this chapter.
"Hey Twilight, there is something that I was wondering about something," said Sunset, getting the attention of others.
gone rouge- It's rogue
"Well, there is one incident that he caused an amusement park at disarray by hacking into various rides, sending his bots to scare the
civilizationsand destroyed various food stands and he nearly set the whole park on fire… all because he was told that he was too short to ride a rollercoaster. And he was eleven years old at the time!"Civilians
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Thank you for pointing them out, but in the future, please let me know through PM.
10886566
also your welcome for the quote.
Rainbow Dash you stupid freaking bitch! Have you not considered the fact that all Sonic ever wanted was a friend?!
I can’t believe the nerve of her!! 
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while I agree that she is over the top, could we please not use language?
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I’m sorry. I was just so furious at Rainbow Dash that it just slipped out. It won’t happen again.
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thank you very much.
Very emotional chapter. Let's see what happens with Sonic later after what Rainbow said. I definitely see Fluttershy being the first to welcome him back. It was also satisfying to see her berate Dash like she did.
Well, Rainbow Dash, you were way out of line, and I trust Sonic and the girls a lot more than I trust you!
Also, Rarity telling her campfire story from Legend of Everfree was hilarious here, too. XD Keep it up and I look forward to what's eating Rainbow.
And if you can't even do that then leave. We're all better off without you instead of relying on a worthless deadweight!!!
Man, Rainbow really needs to get a better attitude here. Normally she is one of my favorite characters, but my loyalty to Sonic trumps all here, and she is way out of line.
Hey there. Sorry I took a while getting back to you. Nothing really to blame except self-admitted laziness. At any rate, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all rather well done. Definitely liked the nod to the fact that Rarity's idea of horror is, well, very different from most other people's idea of horror as well as Twilight revealing just how she knew as much about Robotnik as she did while also mentioning how rough she had it before the Friendship Games. And, yeah, the stuff about the reasons Robotnik became a government agent make sense. In fact, if this were a crossover with the DC Universe as well, Robotnik would have probably been a member of the Suicide Squad. But I digress.
At any rate, I can see why Sonic would be so empathic to Twilight after that reveal and also appreciated Sunset and MOST OF the others being so supportive and understanding of Sonic (including the reason Sunset didn't use her powers earlier while Sonic was still sleeping). And, yeah, I quite agree that Rainbow was quite a bit out of line here, but I'm sure she'll come around in time for the final confrontation (for THIS story anyway). And, again, the references included in the author's notes definitely make a great deal of sense.
VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.
And I hope you and your family and friends have a safe and Happy Fourth of July.
Good chapter.
I think Sunset should’ve mentioned the Memory Stone incident. Also, I hope Rainbow learn to trust Sonic. She should be happy to know someone as fast as her
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Sonic spent his life on Earth observing the people from the distance (especially Tom from the movie) while keeping himself hidden for many years. While he knows much about movies, comics, food, etc., I get the impression that there are some small things he didn't know about Earth, like money.
Even if he did know about money... he still pretty much stole those items from the gift shop because he has no money. I wouldn't be surprised if that was his method to survive on Earth, especially that he can easily get away with his super speed.
As for the highlight question, you highlight those words in question and then you select the "qoute" icon from the options within the comment box.
Looks like this road trip hit quite the road bump. Seems like there’s going to be more in fighting here than in the movie.
Still doesn't sound scary after sharing this the first time back at Camp Everfree Rarity.
Couldn't agree more.
him, Sunset was starting to think*
earlier, Sunset suspected*
Why does that sound like something I'd hear from Mission Impossible?
Uh huh...
Wtf!
Huh.
https://m.Of course she'd say that...