//------------------------------// // To The Rescue // Story: Sonic and EQG Forces // by SonicAKG //------------------------------// In the resistance base, the doors opened up as Sonic, Silver, and Rarity walked forward to meet Sunset, Amy, Manic, and Fluttershy. The the former two were looking somewhat weary due to their encounter with Infinite. "You're back! Thank goodness! I was so worried that monster might get you again." Amy expressed with relief towards Sonic. "I told you I'd be back." Sonic stated before he winced slightly, his injuries from fighting Infinite still lingering. "You don't look so good." Fluttershy said to Sonic and Silver. "Was the enemy really that strong?" "Well, first of all, his name is Infinite." Silver replied. "And as for your question, yes he is. The power he has is remarkable." "Infinite? He sure sounds like he has an ego." Manic said with distaste as he crossed his arms. "Just what is his power anyway?" "That's the thing. We don't know. He could transport us to these different places with horrible things and it felt too real to be an illusion." Rarity explained. "Sunset, does that perhaps sound familiar?" Sunset then thought about what Rarity said. "From all my years of studying with Princess Celestia, I've never heard of any kind of magic causing that. Whatever Infinite's power is, I don't think it's related to magic." Sunset shared. "We have to find out what it is quick and a way to beat it. Or otherwise, we won't be making any progress" Sonic declared. "But first, you need to rest up. The mission's clearly taken its toll on you." Amy stated. "You're right about that, darling."Rarity agreed as she sat down next to Fluttershy, who placed her hand over her head. "I wish I had my fainting couch right now." The doors of the resistance opened once more as Rainbow Dash entered at high speed and came to a stop. "Yeah! I bet I'm the first to complete their mission first!" She boasted before she opened her eyes to see the others in front of her. "A little late for that Dash." Manic answered with an amused smile. Rainbow Dash let out a slightly annoyed sigh. She then noticed the condition of Sonic, Silver, and Rarity as they rested up. "What happened to them?" She questioned. "They encountered the masked enemy, whose name we now know is Infinite." Sunset told her. "From the looks of things, he's no pushover." "What? Man, I'm always missing the action!" Rainbow complained. "So, you would enjoy being beaten around by a horrid monster in a mask?" Rarity asked as she raised an eyebrow. "You know what I mean." Rainbow Dash responded. The computer screen then began to beep before it turned into a communicator with different signals broadcasting from different locations. Amy and Sunset walked over to examine it. "This is Knuckles. From what I've heard, the missions are going good so far. Just a bit more and we should be done." Knuckles reported. Suddenly, a red beeping signal appeared on the center of the screen. "What is this?" Sunset asked as she clicked on it in order to gather more information. When she did, her eyes widened. "It's a distress signal coming from Canterlot! Eggman forces have broken through and are making their way into it!" Hearing such bad news gathered everyone's attention. "It looks like there are still plenty of civilians trapped in there. They need help getting out of there!"Amy added. "What?!" Silver exclaimed as he rose up. "We need to get to them as fast as we can or they'll be left at the mercy of Eggman troops!" A flash of pain appeared on Silver's leg, forcing him to sit down after that. "You, Sonic, Manic and Rarity still need time to heal." Amy told him. "Ok then, who can we send?" Knuckles asked on the screen. "I'll go! I'm still in good shape!" Rainbow Dash eagerly offered. "It's too dangerous on your own." Sunset told her. "You should take someone with you." "We're under fire in the north." AppleJack chimed in. "I don't think we can send anyone here." "This is Espio. My team and I have just finished up our mission." Espio stated over comms. "I'm free to head to the city on the way back." "Perfect! I'll meet you on the outside of Canterlot." Rainbow Dash said. "But first...Fluttershy, you're with me." Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise. after Rainbow called her name. "Me?!" Fluttershy questioned. "Why?" "Because you know Canterlot almost as well as I do and good paths through the forest to evacuate people to safety." Rainbow Dash explained. Fluttershy was slightly nervous as she put her hands together. She had just come back from a mission and hoped to never do something like that again. "Hey, don't sweat it." Manic told her. "You were a huge help in the pyramid, this will be a cakewalk." Fluttershy felt her anxiety fade as Manic's word were indeed true. If she could take out one of Eggman's elite robots, then she could do this. After all, it wasn't like she had to blow anything up this time. She then turned to Rainbow Dash. "O-okay. I'll go." Fluttershy agreed as she walked up and joined Rainbow. "Ok then. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Espio, I'm counting on you. Get those people out of there." Knuckles instructed. "You got it!" Rainbow Dash said with a salute. "I'll have them out so fast, even Sonic will be jealous." "This isn't a competition Rainbow Dash." AppleJack said with a slightly annoyed tone. "Hey, it's good motivation." Rainbow defended. "Also, I'm right here y'know." Sonic said from his bench. On the outskirts of the city, Rainbow Dash arrived in front as she left behind a rainbow trail, with Fluttershy not too far behind as she flew down next to her. "Ok. We're here. Now, where's Espio?" Rainbow Dash wondered. "I'm standing right here. I have been for some time now." Espio's voice suddenly said, startling the two Rainbooms as they looked around for the ninja. He then appeared in front of the two girls. "Were you invisible?" Fluttershy said in a quizzical tone, making Espio nod to confirm that was indeed the case. "How the heck did you do that?!" Rainbow Dash demanded in a bewildered manner. "I'm a ninja. It's one of our many talents." Espio said. "We need to hurry. We have to people to save." Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy nodded and with Espio, they entered Canterlot. The city was still in a ruined state due to Eggman's attack as the three of them moved across the road . "According to the intel I received, the remaining civilians are located in this direction." Espio said. "You two are familiar with this location, correct?" "Of course! Though with it wrecked like this, it's kinda hard to recognize where anything is." Rainbow Dash admitted. The team followed the path they were on, which took them to a higher level that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy reached thanks to their ability to fly while Espio ran across the walls, much to Rainbow Dash's amazement. When they reached the higher platform, a small legion of Eggman robots appeared before them, which made Fluttershy squeal. Rainbow Dash headed straight towards them and using her speed, she shoved many of them away while Espio released a series of ninja stars to pierce the robot's heads, taking care of them with little difficulty. The three of them moved down to a lower level, in which a greater number of robots were waiting for them, much to Rainbow Dash's delight. "Awesome! I was worried there wouldn't be enough of you guys to smash!" Rainbow Dash said with glee as she flew ahead and used her speed to fly through the robots with a rainbow trail. "Well, at least someone is enjoying themselves." Fluttershy said to Espio before he jumped down and took out a kunai, which he used to slice through the robots on the grounds while also kicking them back. Once the enemies were dealt with, the trio pressed on ahead on the road. As they reached the end, they noticed a large ramp in front of a huge gap. "Your ninja skills don't happen to let you fly, do they?" Rainbow Dash asked as Espio shook his head. "Then hang on!" Rainbow Dash replied as she flew and grabbed Espio in order to move him across the gap as Fluttershy followed them. While they moved across the gap, the squad noticed a giant Death Egg sentinel in the background, as other resistance members in the city fought against it, firing lasers at its torso as the robot spun it's body around. The sight of the giant robot frightened Fluttershy as she put her hands to her mouth as the group were now traveling a road that led downwards "They're mass producing the Death Egg Robots now?!" Espio said with great concern as Rainbow Dash put him down. "Oh, that doesn't sound good. Look at the size of it." Fluttershy said in a worried tone. "Come on, it's nothing we can't handle, Fluttershy. And you know what they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. I'm up to smash some giant bots!" Rainbow Dash said as she put her fist in her hand. "But our purpose isn't to engage. The civilians are the priority."Espio reminded her. As they moved down the road, the three of them entered a round plaza, filled with Eggman robots. Upon seeing the three resistance members, the robots fired on sight. Fluttershy panicked as she quickly dove behind a series of roadblocks while Rainbow Dash used her speed to avoid the shots. Espio placed his hands together in a ninja sign, rendering him invisible. Rainbow Dash pushed some robots back with her speed while others began to fall to pieces unexpectedly. When the robots were taken care of, Espio became visible while holding a kunai and Fluttershy emerged from her hiding spot and walked up to join the two of them. "Just to let you know, I'm a black belt in karate." Rainbow Dash told Espio with pride. "So I guess that sort of makes me a ninja." "Actually, it doesn't. The art of Ninjutsu is a separate branch from karate." Espio informed her, which made Rainbow Dash slightly surprised to hear and a little embarrassed by her lack of knowledge. "Oh...well I totally knew that. I was testing to see if you knew your stuff." Rainbow Dash quickly said, but Espio and Fluttershy weren't convinced as they formed unimpressed looks. Rainbow Dash and her two companions moved deeper into the city and encountered a section that required them to scale up on buildings to progress. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up as Espio jumped from wall to wall and the three of them found themselves on a series of rooftops while defeating Eggman robots with Rainbow's speed and Espio's skills and reached another road to move across, which later led them downwards. While this was happening, there were a series of explosions of background, making Fluttershy cringe each time. "Looks like the fighting's getting worse. We gotta find these people fast!" Rainbow Dash. "Let's pick up the pace." Rainbow Dash flew back and took a hold of Fluttershy's arm and then increased her speed, with Espio being able to keep up due to his skills. For Fluttershy, it wasn't so bad, as after the double boost with Sonic and Manic, nothing really surprised her anymore. The trio eventually found themselves in front of a slightly collapsed structure which had a few broken windows. "This is where the civilians should be." Espio said as he, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy approached the building. When the three of them got close enough, Rainbow Dash suddenly cupped her mouth. "Hey! Anybody, in there?! We're here to save you?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Rainbow Dash?!" Scootaloo's voice said as she emerged from the front of the building, much to everyone's astonishment. "Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash said with almost disbelief before Scootaloo ran forward and tightly hugged her idol as hard as she could. "It is you!" Scootaloo said. "I knew you would save us!" From the shelter, Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Flash Sentry came out. "You were the ones trapped in here?" Fluttershy questioned, not expecting this. "You know them?" Espio asked as Fluttershy turned to him. "They're people we know from our school." She replied. "We're thankful someone was here to get us out." Principal Celestia as she approached the trio. "We weren't sure what was going to happen." She then turned to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and beamed. "I'm glad to see some familiar faces." She continued. There was a sound of another explosion heard in the background, making everyone else shake. "While I'm all for reunions, I think that's a sign we should get going." Vice Principal Luna suggested. "She's right." Espio said. "This area is dangerous." "All right then, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash called. Fluttershy clutched the geode on her neck as it glowed pink and sent out a pink energy wave across from the city and outward. It was uneventful for a while until a series of woodland critters came to where the party was. Once they did, Fluttershy knelt down in front of them. "Hello there. Sorry to call all of you out in such a scary place, but we could use some help. I need you to take us through a safe route in the forest. Can you do that?" Fluttershy requested from the animals. In response, the animals nodded and then trodded off. "This way." Fluttershy called to the others, as they started to follow her and the animals. Espio looked on as if he just couldn't believe what happened but just accepted it as he went along with the crowd. In the resistance base, Knuckles and AppleJack had joined the group the former was examining the computer screen. "All right! It looks like our forces managed to make the enemy retreat from the city!" Knuckles joyfully said. "I just hope the rescue operation was as successful." After he said that, the doors of the resistance base opened up, making everyone in the room turn to see who entered. "Whoa, this place is pretty cool actually." Flash Sentry said with wonder as he looked around the base, surprising most of the people in the room. "Cool? This place is awesome!" Sweetie Belle gushed, which made Rarity perk up. "Is that....Sweetie Belle?" Rarity slowly said as she and the others saw her sister, Flash, Celestia, Luna and the other Crusaders enter the room. "Rarity!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she ran towards her older sister, who stood up and embraced her younger sister in a long hug. "Oh, Sweetie Belle, it's so great to see you again!" Rarity said with much happiness. "Big Sis, I missed ya so much!" Apple Bloom yelled as she rushed over to AppleJack for a strong hug, which her older sibling gladfully returned. "Not as much as ah did, Sugar Cube. But what are y'all doing here? Didn't you get out when the city was evacuated?" AppleJack questioned as she looked at the other survivors from the city. "Luna and I tried to make sure any student we could find could make it out of the city. We stumbled upon these 4 as the last ones and tried to make it out, but the evacuation process came to a halt when the city became overrun with all those machines. We were stuck for quite a while." Celestia explained as Espio, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy now entered the room. "Wow, gotta admit, that was pretty cool of you, Principal Celestia." Sonic said in an impressed tone. "What is truly admirable is this resistance of yours." Luna praised as she looked around the world. "It takes an immense amount of courage to do what you've all done and the fact that our very own students are part of such a process makes it an honor to have known all of you." Luna's word boosted the morale of the resistance as they all started feeling proud of themselves for what they've managed to do. "She's right. Things might not be looking good so far, but if you guys are trying to fix it, then everything's going to turn out all right." Flash added as he looked directly at Sunset, making her form a small smile. "We promise, Flash. We're going stand our ground and win this." Sunset declared as she put a reassuring hand on Flash's soldier. "Our soldiers can take you to one of our many safe centers." Espio said as he leaned against the door. Apple Bloom and the other Crusaders detached their hugs from their sisters or in Scootaloo's case, sister figure and looked up at them directly. "Ah really don't wanna leave ya, but ah know you've got something important to do." Apple Bloom said. "Once it's over, we'll definitely see each other soon." AppleJack vowed. "We're going to end this as soon as we can to make sure all of your reunite with your families." Silver guaranteed. "Good luck, sis!" Sweetie Belle told Rarity. "Stay safe, sister." Rarity said back. "Rainbow Dash, take out as many robots as you can for me." Scootaloo said as Rainbow Dash grinned. "You got it!" Rainbow Dash answered. "Again, thank all of you for your efforts." Celestia said as parting words as she and the other survivors began to exit the room. "We won't let you down." Knuckles vowed. When the civilians were gone, the resistance started to feel much better of the work they had accomplished despite how difficult things were. Seeing the reunion between family members reminded them exactly why they were fighting so hard against Eggman's forces. There were still so many people like that who needed them and they couldn't let them down. There was still a lot of work to be done.