//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Stardust Speedway 
// Story: Sonic Origins Vol 1: Rainbow Dash's Story 
// by LightWinzz 
//------------------------------//





Chapter 8: The Stardust Speedway

Rainbow felt the small trickles of energy from the Time Gate fade away from her body as she lightly fell to the ground, landing hooves first. The first thing she felt was the soft feeling of grass and dirt cushioning her as she stood. It was definitely a better feeling than the cold, hard metal she felt the first time. The light breeze that brushed past her fur was a mix of warm, but relaxing in the midday sun. Unlike the Death Egg's, this air was all nature. Just the way she liked it.

Rainbow got her bearings as she looked around the surrounding area. Directly in front of her was the large lake they saw in the orb, surrounded by expansive grasslands and rocky spires. Right in the idle of the lake something caught her eye. It was a large, circular shadow that was cast over the water, by what was pretty clear to her. She looked up, and what she saw made her lower jaw drop. She had seen it in the orb, but to see it in person was something entirely different. Above the lake was none other than Little Planet, the heavenly body just sitting there as if it was a cloud. The closest planet like thing she had ever seen was Celestia's sun or Luna's moon in the skies of Equestria. Never before had she seen something like this so close up. Her only wish was that she could see it without all of Robotnik's ugly looking machinery all over it.

Her thoughts were broken was she heard the obnoxious noise of clanging metal echoing through the air. She looked to her right and eyed the absolutely massive chain that was tethering the planet to the ground. As the planet rocked, so did the chain, causing the links to rub against one another, letting loose the grand noise.

A light, static noise entered her ear as the earpiece came to life. "Hey Rainbow, it's Silver. You make it all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she answered, her eyes still focused on the large chain in front of her. "Now what am I supposed to be doing here? I hope you don't expect me to break this thing with my bare hooves."

"Don't worry. I doubt you could break it even if you tried," he answered. "Our main worry right now is Sonic. If he's still a target, we need to find the problem and fix it. The planet can come later. We may be able to save both if we're lucky."

"Let me guess, he's up there isn't he?" she said as she gazed up at the planet.

"More than likely," Blaze said. "From what we remember, Little Planet was a location that held items called Time Stones."

Rainbow, while listening carefully, had already taken flight towards the planet. She was already a good way off the ground and she starting to get a pretty good idea of how big this place was. If she had to guess, it was as big as the Death Egg when she saw it plummeting out of the sky. Hopefully there won't be repeat of that here.

"Time Stones?" Rainbow asked. "What're those supposed to be?"

"From what we know, the Time Stones are objects that transcend time itself," Blaze explained. "Sonic said something about being able to use them to look into different futures concerning Little Planet."

"So, you can use them to see the future?" asked Rainbow. "That'd be useful."

"I think it's a bit more complicated than that," Silver spoke up. "They can show the past as well; things that have happened already, maybe even parts of the present. But when showing the future, they aren't always clear."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow heard Twilight say through the earpiece.

"He means they may show more than one future," Blaze answered. "The future is never clear, even for them. They can show multiple possible futures and their outcomes, but only one of them may come true. That little oversight doesn't seem to worry the doctor though. If anything, he wants to use the Time Stones to formulate any backup plans in case this one fails."

Rainbow furrowed her brow in consideration. This world sure does love its magical stone and gems. Even in Equestria she didn't think they had that many world changing treasures, aside from the elements of course.

As she neared the planet, she could feel the shift in gravity as her weight tried pulling her toward it. It was a little stomach churning at first, going between two sources of gravity, but she quickly got over it as she got closer.

Rainbow all of a sudden felt a wave of heat wash over her as she neared the planet. From what she could see, there were hundreds and hundreds of molten vats dotting the surface. The entire place looked like one giant factory. She had to deal with enough of this back on the Death Egg. It didn't look like Robotnik really cared about nature considering everything.

Ignoring the heat, Rainbow made her way to the metal structures that were sticking out of the planet like wounds. Taking care to avoid the large plumes of black smoke rising into the air, she scouted out where she should even go from here. Not like Silver and Blaze gave her a map. It didn't help that everything looked the same wherever she looked.

She squinted, trying to make out any kind of shape beyond the columns of smoke. If her eyes weren't lying to her, she could see something that stuck out from the normal industrial landscape before her. She flew a little higher, getting a good view of what she noticed.

Now she didn't know what was with Robotnik and his love for that face of his, but this was going a little overboard. In the distance, she saw a massive tower in the shape of the doctor himself. Egg shaped body, excessively big mustache. If she had to guess where to find both Sonic and the egghead, that was the most likely spot.

Without another thought, she dashed off towards the tower, ready for whatever was to come.





Meanwhile, within a darkly like control room sat a figure at a large computer terminal, watching what took place on the plethora of monitors with great interest. The figure was particularly interested on two of them. On one was the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash if he remembered correctly, making a beeline straight for his tower, looking like she was on a mission. On the other, was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog. He was racing down the many inner workings of his expansive factories, barely even being fazed by the waves of badniks being thrown at him. Strapped to his back was a roughly constructed knapsack. He could tell there was something in there as it moved around with Sonic's speed, and he had a pretty good idea as to what.

"Hmm, so the little pony from before has decided to show herself again?" Robotnik said rubbing his chin.

"It seems she has the same agenda as Sonic oh great doctor," pointed out the little red robot.

Robotnik rubbed his chin in thought, his bushy brow furrowing. "Orbot, run a search on her. I want to find out exactly who she is and where she's from."

Without a word, the robot known as Orbot pulled up a small control panel from the lower part of his body and began typing. If he remembered correctly, her name was Rainbow Dash. As he did this, a large screen lowered from the ceiling, lists and lists of names scrolling by as he input the information: name, looks, personality, anything.

As this was going on, he heard his master let out a threating growl and turned to face him. Robotnik was eyeing the screen with a glare, but not at the screen itself it seemed. Orbot looked to where he gazed and facepalmed at what he saw.

His partner Cubot was on top of the screen, lounging back as if it was a lounge chair. His hand was thrown behind his head as his artificial eyes were closed in contempt. His free hand was…holding a smoothie. It looked as if he was trying to drink it from a straw. Alas, it was impossible to do so as he had no actual mouth. That doesn't seem to have stopped him from trying though.

Slowly, but surely, Robotnik's face grew red with a tick mark forming on his forehead. "WAKE UP YOU NINCOMBOT!"

Cubot's eyes shot open in fright. He flailed his little arms to try and keep his balance, but it was futile. He fell over the side as the smoothie was ripped from his hand, landing with a mix of metal against metal and shattered glass.

Quickly, he stood back up and saluted. "Aye aye captain'," he said in a very strong pirate accent.

Robotnik just let his hand smack his own face as he sighed. 'Note to self, make smarter helpers,' he thought to himself.

"Master," Orbot called him.

Robotnik looked at the small robot and saw him pointing at the now lowered screen. He looked at it and narrowed his eyes at what he saw. On the screen flashed a big red '[NO MATCH]' as all the information they had was shown at the bottom.

"It seems the computer has never catalogued this 'Rainbow Dash' before," said Orbot. "She is a mystery to us."

The doctor intertwined his fingers as he looked to be lost in thought. How could this little pony have escaped his notice for so long? She obviously knew who he was when they first met, although that of course could've been because she heard of him from other sources. Still, it was strange to not have any info on her in the slightest.

"There is something however," Orbot spoke again.

"Well, what're you waiting for. Let's see," Robotnik demanded.

Orbot let out what was the robot equivalent of a sigh and brought up another screen. What was on this one did indeed peek the doctor's interest.

"There is a large energy reading resonating from inside her body," Orbot explained as he showed him an outline of Rainbow's body with a glowing red energy filling it. "If I'm not mistaken, this is the same power she used back when we first encountered her."

"I see," Robotnik said with interest. "This is a good find."

"You have a plan doctor?" Orbot said, with a hint of dread in there as well.

"Of course," he said with a sinister grin. "Bring up the prisoner."

"Aye captain'," Cubot spoke up as he pulled out a remote with a single red button on it. "We'll bring ya the little lass from the brig right away."

He pushed the button, causing a circular hatch to open on the floor with steam jetting out from it. From it lifted a cylindrical cage with a hint of pink held on the inside. As the steam cleared, the figure inside began to move as it started to get a good look at its surroundings. Robotnik left the comfortable confines of his chair and walked over to it with his hands behind his back.

The little pink being in the cage gripped the cage bars with its hands, as if it was trying to pull them apart, to no avail. Robotnik eyed the little figure. It was a young hedgehog maybe a little younger than Sonic, although this one was female. She was pink in color with three small and a red headband on her head. Her eyes were emerald green just like him. Unlike Sonic, however, she wore a green blouse with an orange skirt and blue tennis shoes. A pair of white gloves covered her hands as she continued to struggle with the solid, iron bars.

"It's no use little girl," Robotnik said as they met gazes. "You won't be able to break out that easily. Just like everything else here, I made this cage myself."

"You won't be talking so much once Sonic gets here you big meanie!" the little hedgehog yelled.

"I don't believe Sonic will much of an issue for much longer," Robotnik responded. "I could say the same about his little friend as well."

Robotnik pulled out a small remote from his pants pocket and pushed one of the many buttons that dotted it. The girl raised an eyebrow at this until she felt a small shift in her cage. She backed away from the bars and noticed a green light washing over her. She looked up and saw a small device moving back and forth from the top of her cage, obviously creating the light. As quickly as it came, it vanished, leaving her in a state of confusion.

"And now…," Robotnik dragged on as he inputted more commands.

"What're you doing now!?" the girl questioned.

"Sending our friends a gift wrapped in a little something I like to call irony," Robotnik answered as he turned to a darker part of the room. "Now, let's officially put you to the test my metallic friend."

As he said this, a pair of glowing red eyes flashed in the dark.





"ATTENTION. THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO—" the robot was cut short as its metal face was caved in by a swift hoof strike.

Rainbow had already heard the same line from the last twenty badniks she encountered on the way here. If she had to hear it one more time she was gonna go insane.

As it turned out, the tower was much harder to get to than she originally thought. As fast as she was, the skies here were absolutely swarming with flying badniks, so it made it very difficult to get around the normal way. She had to resort to flying through the large metropolis surrounding the tower to even get close to it.

As the robot fell to the floor, she quickly looked around the area she was in. She was currently on a small platform housing what looked to be a few more of those flying badniks. Thankfully, all the ones here seem to be shut down for now. If she hadn't had taken down that one, the rest of them might have woken up. That wouldn't have been pleasant to deal with. Other than that, this place was pretty bare.

After a good few seconds of getting a good feel for the area, she jumped off the platform and gently used her wings to glide down to the lower part of the city. As she did, she spotted several long, suspended highways. Some were completely abandoned, while others were as busy as the streets of Manehattan, robots flying down them, with who knows what in the canisters they carried. She landed on one of the abandoned streets, making sure to keep out of sight of the bots on the busier ones.

Once again, she peaked over the edge, keeping an eye out for anything that would ruin her infiltration. It wasn't easy trying to navigate through this place. Other than the tower in the distance, nothing really stood out from everything else, so it wasn't easy to figure out where everything was. The fact that she couldn't just fly straight to the building wasn't ideal either. With all the badniks around, she couldn't risk all of them swarming her. She didn't like it, but for now, she supposed she could live being a little tactical.

As she was scanning the area below, something caught her eye. It was only for a second, but she could've sworn she saw a blue streak run right between the robots on the other highway, causing plenty of them to stop what they were doing and chase after it. Rainbow had a good idea of who that was, and subtlety definitely didn't seem to be high on his list of concerns.

Doing a double take on the area, she checked her surroundings for anything that may blow her cover. Seeing that the place was bare, she took to the skies again, using the buildings to keep out of sight.

After some time, she managed to gain some ground towards the tower, but hadn't seen much of what she assumed was Sonic since the first time. Wherever he was, she knew that practically every badnik on the planet was looking for him, if the alarms that flared up some time ago were any indication. She knew she was supposed to be helping him, but even she knew that it wasn't great idea to just rush in like he apparently was.

"Hello!"

Rainbow stopped at the sound of the shout. Who was yelling hello in this kind of place?

"Hello!" it yelled again.

If she was right, the voice sounded as if it was coming from somewhere below her. Determined to find its source, she flew into the depths of the metropolis, rows upon rows of empty highways and platforms being passed by as she did. Unlike everywhere else in this place, all these ones were completely devoid of any life, real or otherwise. It was actually kind of creepy considering all the machinery wasn't even turned on. What was the point of even having this place if Robotnik wasn't even wanting to use it.

"Sonic!" the voice cried desperately.

The more Rainbow listened to it, the more questions grew in her mind. Whoever this was apparently knew Sonic. Was it Tails or Knuckles? Couldn't be though. This voice sounded to feminine to be either of them.

"ATTENTION. THIS IS A RESTRICTED—" she heard a robotic voice say from right above her head as it was cut off by a crash.

Quickly, she looked up to see a badnik falling from a platform, its entire head smashed into its body. She dodged the falling bot, letting it land hard on a highway right under her. She looked at it for a second in confusion. That confusion was put to rest as a blue blur past right by her, falling after the bot. Ok, that explains it.

"Y—Y—Y—YOU ARE NO—NOT ALLOW—" the badnik managed out before it was struck by the blur, its body sparking before completely shutting down.

Pulling itself out of the crumbled mess that was now the robot's stomach area, a blue ball bounced out before landing and uncurling into Sonic the Hedgehog. He looked at his handy work and smiled to himself, rubbing his nose as he did.

"Always did find you guys annoying for some reason," he said to the now fallen bot.

After his little encounter, he looked up at Rainbow with grin. Giving her a two finger salute he yelled, "Hey Colors! Long time no see!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes at that. Couldn't he give that nickname a rest for just for once. She didn't know how long it's been since he last met her, but he still hadn't grown out of calling her that.

Wordlessly, she floated down to meet the hedgehog. As she got closer, she could see a couple of differences in his appearance since last time. If she had to guess, she'd say he was about a couple of years older. He looked slightly taller, but still looked to be shorter than her. Some of his spines on his head had grown out slightly along with his ears. Other than that, however, he still looked the same as he did before. Cocky demeanor and all.

After she had landed, Sonic looked at her with a grin and a raised eyebrow and said, "Hey, why you look so sour? No need for the long face ya know."

Rainbow didn't know if he was making a joke with that remark or not, her eye twitching either way.

"That's none of your business," she said turning her face away from him. "I just came to help kick Robotnik's flank again. Nothing more."

Sonic's grin vanished as he took on a more questioning look. "Geez, no need to be so hostile lady. You'll blow a fuse if ya keep going."

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" she asked accusingly.

"Hey, I'm just saying," Sonic said putting his hands up in a defensive mock. "You're really aggressive is all. I mean, you were always like that when we last met, but now I think I'm starting to see steam coming out of your ears."

"Can we just drop this please," Rainbow requested with disdain in her voice.

"Fine with me," Sonic said, his grin returning. "I hope you can fly and talk though because we need to get going if we're gonna meet the Egghead" he said gesturing behind him with his thumb to the tower.

Rainbow looked back at Sonic with a small glare. But, at the same time, she kind of felt he was right. Why was she so mad right now? He was just being his normal cocky self, according to Silver. Not that it made him any less annoying with his speech, but that wasn't what had her so mad right now. The dream she had before coming here was still clearly in her head. After everything that happened, her mind was just screaming to hate this guy's guts. Thing is, now that she thought of it, it didn't seem fair to judge somepony on what happened in a dream of all things. Even if she was a little worried about the whole speed thing, she could at least try to put her feelings aside for the mission until she got home.

She let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry. This just hasn't been my day."

"Ah, it's no sweat off my back lady," Sonic said rubbing his nose. "No the first time I've had to deal with someone with an attitude. Not to try and offend ya or anything."

"None taken…I guess?" she said in a bored tone. Another thought went through her head, however. "Hey wait. Did you hear somepony yelling a second ago? Sounded like a little filly?"

Sonic's eyebrow raised again. "Filly?"

"A little girl…" Rainbow corrected. She swore it was sometimes difficult to get their way of talking right.

"Oh that," Sonic answered. "Yeah I did. I'm guessing that's why you're here too huh?"

Rainbow nodded. "Do you know her or something? I heard her calling for you."

Sonic, for the first time she had seen him so far, look a bit nervous as he scratched his right ear. "Uh…kind of…"

"Kind of?" she questioned.

"Hey how bout I tell you on the way there," Sonic said as he nearly jumped at the idea. "Time to boost!"

In an instant, he was gone, nothing more than a flash of blue as he raced down the highway. Quickly, while still questioning the whole thing, Rainbow followed suit, leaving a rainbow trail as she chased after him.

It didn't take long before she caught up to him. He was just ahead of her, doing his figure eight technique to gain speed. She watched him carefully from back there, almost like she was studying him. Neither of them were going at their top speeds right now, so she couldn't gage him at this moment.

She shook her head. She couldn't think like that right now. She's supposed to be the mature one here. If she let those thoughts take over her mind, she'd get nowhere. She tried to focus on something else. She found the perfect candidate. A knapsack that was strapped to Sonic's back, looking like it was carrying several thick objects.

Flying up next to him, she asked, "So what's in the bag? You'd think you were going on a camping trip."

"Not any camping trip I'd want to go on," he responded, gesturing to his surroundings. "You're looking at a bag full of Time Stones."

Rainbow's ears perked up. "Time Stones? Don't they let you see into the future or something?"

Sonic flashed her a grin. "Sure do. Although didn't really help me too much."

Rainbow raised a brow at that. "Why not? Being able to see the future would be awesome! I don't know anypony who'd pass up on that."

"Nah," Sonic responded simply."

"What do you mean 'nah'?" she asked.

"I mean what I say. Nah," he said again. "I prefer to go with the flow ya know. Feels better that way. Like you're not messing with anything that doesn't belong to you. Besides, that would be too easy. If I'm gonna fix things, I'll do it my way. I'm just making sure Robuttnik doesn't get them. No need to go screwing up time lady."

Rainbow turned her slightly at that. Even unintentionally this guy was getting shots at her. If only he knew what was going on, then this would probably be so much easier.

Deciding to change the subject, she said with a fake laugh, "Yeah, I can get that. So, hey. What were you saying about the girl?"

Sonic looked a bit uneasy again. It was like he really didn't want to talk about it. It took some time, but Rainbow quickly caught on. A sly grin formed on her face.

"What she your maref—girlfriend or something?" she asked, hoping she got the last part right.

Sonic nearly lost his footing with that question, but caught himself and kept running as he looked at her incredulously. Rainbow just snickered at him and his predicament. 'Payback hedgy,' she thought.

"Heck no!" he responded quickly. "I met her just today! She was kidnapped by one of Robuttnik's badniks! Besides, I'm still here to get the last Time Stone from him!" He turned away and pouted to himself. "Girlfriend," he mocked.

"Suuuuurrrrrreeee buddy," she said, still stifling a laugh. "Then why you so nervous whenever she's brought up?"

"SONIC!"

Both the hedgehog and the pegasus stopped as they heard the yell. It sounded like the girl again, and she didn't sound too far. Then again, they were able to hear her from quite far away before, plus with all these buildings the sound was bouncing off of, it could be coming from nearly any direction.

"SONIC! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Hey Colors!" Sonic called over.

Rainbow looked to Sonic and saw him peaking over the edge of the highway. She quickly joined him, looking over the edge to see something she would've never guessed to be in a place like this. Below them was a massive amusement park, filled in every corner with insane amounts of rides. A lot of them, however, didn't look that safe to be on from here. Directly below them, however, was another highway. This one was a bit bigger than the other ones; at least twice the width. She could see what looked to be half rings dotting the entire length of that thing, at least from the parts of it she could see, acting like arks to pass under.

What really stood out from it though was the speck of pink she saw in the middle of it. Without thinking, both her and Sonic jumped of the platform, her flying down slowly while Sonic wall jumped between the floating signs that covered the normally empty space of the open air. As they got closer to the lower highway, Rainbow could make out a couple more features of the pink speck. It looked like a hedgehog like Sonic, only pink and looked to be female rather than male. Unlike Sonic, however, she wore clothes over her torso.

"SONIC!" she yelled with her hands up to her face, as if trying to amplify her voice.

"Hey Amy!" Rainbow heard Sonic yell at the girl.

The girl, known as Amy, looked up and gave him a very broad smile. Rainbow could swear her emerald eyes had sparkles in them as she looked up to them. Already she could see where Sonic was coming form before. Even she wasn't really his girlfriend, he definitely had something of a fangirl right now.

The two speedsters landed on the larger highway, quickly going up to Amy, who was already running up to Sonic with arms widespread.

"Sonic!" she yelled with glee.

In response, Sonic quickly stopped his approach and put his hands up as if he was ready to defend his very life. Before Amy reached him though, she stopped just short of him and clasped her hands together, hearts appearing in her eyes as she did. Sonic just stared at her intensely for a good few seconds. Rainbow, on the other hoof, was trying her absolute best not to laugh out loud at his obvious discomfort. This day didn't start out well at all, but now this was slowly turning into one of the best she's had in a long time. After a few moments, Sonic finally lowered his hands, letting out a sigh as he did.

"Oh Sonic," Amy in adoration. "I knew you'd find me! You wouldn't believe how horrible it is here!"

"Believe me, I have a pretty good idea…" Sonic said as he was rubbing his temple. "Why are you here Amy anyways? I would've thought Robuttnik would've kept you in a dungeon or something."

Amy grew a smile as she started rubbing her nose like Sonic did a few times before. "Turns out all you need is to ask very nicely and they'll let you walk right out. Those robots of his aren't as smart as you think."

"Right…" Sonic said plainly. "Hey, Robotnik didn't happen to have a Time Stone in there, did he?"

"Hmm?" Amy questioned. "You mean one of those glowing stones he had? Yeah. He had one with him, but I don't know where it is now."

Sonic turned away a bit, rubbing his chin like he was trying to think of something.

Amy's attention then shifted to Rainbow Dash, and she put on a questioning look. "Are you Rainbow Dash by any chance?"

Rainbow's expression quickly changed from that of amusement to curious. She knew about her?

"Uhh, yeah I am," Rainbow answered. "You know me?"

Amy quickly nodded with an excited smile. "Uh huh! Sonic told me a lot about you. He said you're one of the few people who could keep up with him. Is that true?"

Rainbow was taken back a bit. Sonic thought that she was just as fast as him? First off, this painted the hedgehog in a completely different light than she originally painted on him. He was actually able to show acknowledgement of somepony else when it came to speed. It also meant that there wasn't as big a gap between them that she originally thought. According to Amy, she was at least on par with Sonic.

Rainbow's smile quickly grew as she answered the little hedgehog. "I sure am. Po—People say I'm the fastest thing alive. Although I guess you could say I'm on par with Sonic over there."

"Cooooolllllll," Amy said with sparkling eyes.

Rainbow was really starting to like this girl already. She wasn't sure of her when she initially saw her, but she supposed you really can't judge a book by its cover.

"Hah!" Sonic spoke up, Catching Rainbow's attention. "Like I'm gonna let you have that title so easily Colors."

Without warning, Sonic suddenly charged straight at her and Amy, both going wide eyed. Before either of them knew it, Sonic delivered a powerful kick to Amy's stomach region, causing her to go skidding down a ways on her back before coming to a stop.

On instinct, Rainbow grabbed Sonic from behind with her hooves, nearly pushing him to the ground. Her size compared to his made this action a bit easier.

"What the hay!" she yelled accusingly. "Why'd you do that you idiot!"

"Easy Colors," he said in his normal, snarky tone, despite the situation. "Take a look," he said pointing a finger at the now fallen Amy.

Rainbow follow his finger and saw…something she couldn't quite explain. Amy, who made no effort to get up, looked like her body was fading in and out of existence in blurs of lines. Looking at it kind of reminded her of Twilight's strange monitors she had on a couple of her lab machines. Wait. Does that mean…

As if to answer her question, "Amy's" entire body completely faded away, leaving a tiny grey ball it its place. Rainbow let go of Sonic before both of them went to get a better look. On the ball there were a couple of flashing green lights that were slowly beginning to fade away just like Amy did. Eventually, they did, and the ball made a whirring, power down noise as it happened.

"What the…" Rainbow said a bit speechless. "How'd you know?"

"Well first off," Sonic said lift a finger up, "she didn't try to death grip me the moment we got down here. I just met her, and I already know that she couldn't resist to try that. And two, I never told her about you at all. You didn't stick around long enough last time to leave a lasting memory anyway."

"So, she was a fake the whole—hey!" Rainbow yelled. "What do you mean a lasting memory?!"

Before the question could be answered, all the lights, above them, on the buildings, even in the park in the distance, all went black, covering the place in nearly total darkness. It didn't help that it looked like they were on the underside of the planet, so the sun wasn't shining on them at all. The hedgehog and the pegasus fumbled a bit, but there was still just enough like to where they could make each other out, so they weren't crashing into one another.

They then heard a very familiar laugh.

Suddenly, the lights flashed back on, nearly blinding the two speedsters. As the lights in their eyes died down, they got a good look at all that had changed around them. The highway was exactly the same as it was before. It's what was at its sides that they noticed pretty quick. On both sides of them were what looked like rows upon rows of floating stadium seats, all filled to the brim with badniks, some waving flags with Robotnik's face on them, along with Egg #1 hands. Each and every one of them were cheering as loud as their artificial voices would let them.

"Ladies n' gentlemen, bots n' badniks of all ages!" a voice with a very strong southern drawl said over a loudspeaker. "I'd like ta welcome yall to tonight's main attraction!"

Rainbow and Sonic's faces were in a mix of shock and bewilderment. Of all the things they were expecting, this was not one of them.

"Now allow me to introduce the BIG man himself, the hardboiled egg, and the stu…stup…" the voice stuttered. "Stupid? What's this here word?"

"Stupendous," a much more sophisticated voice said with a sigh.

"Right right. The most stupendous mad genius to live, let's give a big YEE-HA to Dr. Eggman!"

"It's Dr. Ivo Robotnik you nincombot!" A familiar voice said.

On que, a large TV screen lowered in front of Rainbow and Sonic, Robotnik appearing on it as he adjusted his glasses with a grin.

"Bout time you made it to the party doc," Sonic mocked. "Although I'm a bit ticked you're not here to greet us yourself."

"Believe me my spikey haired friend," said Robotnik, "There's nothing more I'd like to do than be there to squish you beneath my boot like the rodent you are."

He then turned his face slightly to look at Rainbow. "And you Rainbow Dash, it's good to see you after all this time. It's been a while."

"Believe me, the feeling is not mutual," Rainbow shot at him.

"Now now, don't be so testy," he said. "Besides, I think you both will like what comes next."

"Yeah, no," Rainbow said as she took flight. "Sorry to rain on your parade, but I'm not sitting around waiting for you to actually show yourself. I'm a pony of action!"

She instantly rushed straight for the TV screen, forehooves outstretched. Sure, it wasn't the real Robotnik, but she felt it was better than just waiting for him to do something like Sonic seemed to be doing. Besides, she really needed to hit something.

However, just before she made contact with the screen, a powerful jolt was sent through her hooves, her mane standing up on end at the shock. The force instantly threw her back, causing her to land hard on the metal floor. She managed to recover enough to get a good look at just what happened. Just in front of the TV screen was what looked like a force field of electricity. Thing was it didn't look like it ended at the screen. She looked up and didn't like what she saw one bit. The force field looked like it was connected to all the archways along the highway, forming what looked like a tunnel of electricity. After a couple more seconds, the electricity faded away, looking as if nothing was there to begin with.

"Nah ah ah," Robotnik taunted with a wave of his finger. "No going out of bounds my little pony."

"What the hay?" she questioned as she picked herself back up.

Looking at the now invisible tunnel, Sonic narrowed his eyes. Ok, that wasn't good. He looked at the little ball he had kicked earlier and picked it up. With a light throw, he tossed it at the boundaries to the highway. As he thought, the ball bounced off and was sent into the floor, the electricity appearing again before disappearing.

"I made it myself," Robotnik said. "A one-way force field. One way in, no way out."

Rainbow's eyes were darting back and forth as she tried to get a good look at the playing field. Robotnik had them completely boxed in. All except for the two different directions of the highway it seemed. The field didn't appear there, so what was this guy's game if he was just trying to trap them.

"So, what's up Robotnik?!" Rainbow demanded, glaring at the doctor. "You have us here, so what? You letting us have a leisurely stroll down the street?"

"Not quite my dear," he answered.

"Let me guess, you got a little game planned out for us. Is that it?" Sonic asked.

"Something like that," said with a grin. "If you'll direct your attention to the lights to your sides."

As he said this, a pair of green lights appeared at their sides, both gently flashing.

"Ok, so what?" Rainbow questioned.

"Well, what else is there to say," he said. "This is a starting line, and I would very much like to see you race one another."

Rainbow's and Sonic's eyes grew at that. That they weren't expecting. A race? What would he want them to do that for?

"You know, you could've easily done something with us trapped here," said Sonic as he crossed his arms. "What, you going soft-boiled?"

"Like I said before, I'd love to come there myself and put you both in your places, but as it stands, this was actually a request from a friend of mine," explained Robotnik.

"I wouldn't exactly put you and friends in the same sentence," Rainbow insulted.

Robotnik huffed at that remark, but grinned again shortly after. "Well, how about you meet him yourself. He's participating in the race himself actually."

As he finished, many spotlights suddenly converged into the air, prompting Sonic and Rainbow to look up. In the point where they all met they could see something blue in color, the lights all shining off it greatly. Rainbow was still trying to see what it was, while Sonic just looked at it with what looked like a mix between a glare and a smirk. He knew who it was.

"Oh no…" she heard Silver say through the earpiece.

Slowly, the figure lowered down to the two, passing where the boundaries were without hindrance. Rainbow had finally gotten a good look at it, and she didn't know what to think at this point. Standing in front of her was Sonic. Not the Sonic that was with her, but one made of pure metal. It was a robot Sonic. A robot Sonic!

"Sonic" looked at her with piercing red eyes with a black background to them. Its head and torso were blue with small yellow highlights here and there. Its nose was a sharp point and he had no mouth on his silver muzzle. Its arms were skinny with sharp metal hands. Its legs were the same, but like Sonic it still had a red pair of shoes. The entire time it remained unmoving, looking straight into her eyes with a menacing glare. It creeped her out to no end as she slightly shivered.

That's when she saw it. It she didn't know any better, she could swear that its eyes were glowing excessively red, even for what she saw. Could just be how it is, but that didn't stop her from also noticing the dark purple aura that lightly surrounding its entire body. If she remembered correctly, it was the same features that Robotnik had back on the Death Egg. Well, at least she had a good guess as to what's changing in each timeline. In what way though, she couldn't say. Just great.

"Rainbow," Silver said, "Don't let your guard down around this guy. He's very dangerous."

"Silver," she whispered through her earpiece, "what the hay is this thing?"

As if he heard her question, Robotnik answered. "Metal Sonic. My greatest creation yet. This is why I'm giving you free rain my friends. I want you to race my good friend Metal here. Whichever one of you three wins the race gets to leave scotch free. And by one of you, I mean only one of you."

Sonic and Rainbow seemed to inwardly gasp, while Metal Sonic continued to stare at the two unfazed by what was said. The two looked at each other, a hint of both uncertainty and determination in their eyes. This was the very definition of being stuck between a rock and hard place. If what Robotnik said was true, and that's a very big IF on its own, only one of them would be able to get away from this. Plus, they had to deal with this thing while doing it.

"But that's enough talk," Robotnik began. "I think it's time we get this show on the road. Wouldn't you agree my lovely audience?"

In response, the audience of badniks all erupted in a flurry of cheers.

"Alrighty then ya speed jockeys!" the southern voice said again. "Take yer places cause this rodeo is abo—ab—abou—ye be getting' ready to walk the plank ya little sea grazers! Grab ye paddles, lower your sails, and set out!"

If things could go any more wrong, Rainbow has yet to see it. She's all about speed, and she'd never turn down a race, but this whole thing was just ridiculous. Sure, a race to prove she was faster than Sonic? She'd jump at it. But that's not why she was here. She's supposed to be the one to help him get through this whole ordeal., not become a part of the problem. Rainbow ruffled her mane in frustration. Couldn't she just call it quits and let some other pony handle this? Maybe she could convince Twilight to bring the princesses in to fix everything.

A series of clanking noises interrupted her thoughts. She turned to the source and saw Metal Sonic walking stiffly towards the starting line, passing right by her as he did. Rainbow didn't move as the silent bot completely ignored her, not even seeming to acknowledge her presence. The same couldn't be said for Sonic. As Metal passed him by, he eyed Sonic intensely, Sonic doing the same thing. Rainbow could obviously see the disdain, but at the same time respect, in their eyes, even in Metal's artificial ones. Metal also obviously saw Sonic as the greater threat out of him and her, and that thought irritated her. No rest for that feeling as of late it seemed.

Focusing back on the track, Metal stopped as he got to the starting line, not even bothering to look back at his competition. This metal hedgehog couldn't really be that fast, could he? Even Rainbow had to admit that Sonic was extremely gifted when it came to his speed. What makes this robot different from the others she fought? Although, if this is what's being messed with in this part of the timeline, then maybe there's more to him than meets the eye.

"Well," Sonic began as he stretched his legs, "Not getting anywhere standing here. Hey, you know, this could be a good chance to settle that race I held you to. Although, don't be a sore loser when I come out on top."

Flashes of her dream slowly came back into Rainbow's mind. This was basically how it started. This time, however, she was determined not to see its end come true. As Sonic took his place at the starting line, Rainbow quickly joined him, leaving Sonic between her and Metal.

"Yeah right," she said with confidence. "Like I'd let that happen. Just don't be surprised if all you see of me is my rainbow tail as I'm leaving you both in the dust."

Sonic's only response to her was a smirk as he focused on the long track in front of him. If Metal was paying any attention to what was said, he didn't acknowledge it at all. His glowing red eyes were just trained ahead of him.

"Racers!" the now pirate accented voice said. "Take ye positions!"

All three of them prepped in their own ways. Rainbow crouched down with all four of her legs as she flared her wings, flapping them in preparation. Sonic got into a runner's position, with one foot in front of the other. With Metal, however, Rainbow finally saw, or more accurately, heard, how he could probably keep up with them. A loud whirring noise encompassed her ears as she took a peek out of the corner of her eye. On his back was what she assumed was some kind of jet, although the one was spinning like a fan. It just kept getting faster and faster as a small, purple flame shot out of it, his purple aura flaring as he did.

"Get ready…"

Rainbow tore her gaze from the competition and focused on the track; the long, seemingly unending track. This was her time. Her mind went back to the beginning of the Equestrian Flyers competition a few days ago. That's how that started as well, but had horrible results. Now, it was time to change that.

"Get set…"

Her eyes narrowed, a small bead of sweat rolling off the side of her face. It was time to put those old thoughts aside. She could win, but at the same time she needed to help Sonic. Metal is the real enemy here. She didn't have a very good plan for getting them both out of here right now, but she was confident they could find one. They had to. They had to.

"GO!"

The three took off in an instant, leaving behind streaks of rainbow, blue, and purple in their wake.

To be continued…