“Thank you for coming to Speedy’s! Please come again!” the reception lady chimed as Twilight received her order before she and Sunset walked away from the food court.
It was a normal and sunny day at Canterlot City, specifically at Canterlot Mall where Sunset and Twilight were located. Earlier, Sunset went out with Twilight after school to help get the supplies they need for tonight’s sleepover as promised. After buying some snacks and party games from their local convenience store, Twilight suggested making a quick stop at the food court in the mall before heading to the park. Despite her curiosity, Sunset complied with her friend’s request.
“Did you get everything exactly as you ordered?” Sunset asked as they both walked out of the restaurant.
Twilight nodded. “Yep! I got everything I asked for!”
Sunset smiled briefly before she tilted her head with a confused expression. “I’ve been meaning to ask: why do you want to stop here for food? Didn’t you have lunch at school earlier?”
“Oh, I’m not hungry,” Twilight answered. “I’m actually going to use this food for other purposes.”
“What kind of purposes?” Sunset asked.
Twilight winked. “You’ll see!”
Sunset was confused from Twilight vagueness, but she shrugged it off, figuring that her friend will tell her in time.
They soon arrived at Canterlot Park and there were only a few people around. Some were either jogging, walking their dogs, or just resting on their benches. As for Sunset and Twilight, the two of them were simply strolling through the park, enjoying the scenery around them. At some point while they were walking through the park, Sunset noticed that they were approaching her usual bench. As Twilight got closer to it with each step, Sunset began to get worried.
Did Twilight find out about my letters? Sunset thought nervously.
Thankfully, Twilight walked passed the bench and continued into the woods, much to Sunset’s relief. However, this only made Sunset even more curious. She wondered what was in those woods that Twilight wanted to show her. After a few more minutes of walking, Sunset finally got the answer once they reached Twilight’s destination.
They were standing in a semi-open area with a few trees and bushes all around the area. There were some moss on trees and rocks and there were also some leaves and twigs on the ground. What got Sunset’s attention was a big white "X" marked in the middle of the field. There was also a huge bush a few feet away from the X, but with some gizmos and a huge backpack underneath it.
With a confused expression, Sunset turned to her friend. "Twilight… what’s all of this?"
Twilight grinned. "That my friend is my observation site for my field study!" She gestured the area around them. "I set this whole thing up this morning."
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Okay... but why did you set this up here if you don't mind me asking?"
Twilight adjusted her glasses. "I'm doing this so that I can do my own attempt to do a field study for this so-called mysterious creature."
Sunset blinked. "You don't mean-"
Twilight nodded. "Yes Sunset, I'm trying to see if I can find this Blue Devil!"
Sunset stared at Twilight in disbelief. She didn’t expect Twilight of all people, would be interested in this so-called mysterious creature after listening to Lyra’s story yesterday. Sure, it was Twilight’s nature to investigate anything that is out of ordinary but searching for a mysterious creature that was not from Equestria still sounds far-fetched.
"Um… no offense to both you and Lyra,” Sunset said slowly. “But the idea of a mysterious creature living in the woods sounds ridiculous… and that's coming from me!"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "Well you're one to talk! Didn't you believe that there was a sea monster at our beach once?"
Sunset blushed as she recalled that particular memory. "Well… you got me there!” Sunset admitted. “But I learned not to jump into any conclusions from what I saw since. Besides, didn't you believe the sea monster was real too?"
"I said no such thing," Twilight said simply as she placed her bag near the bushes. "If you recall, I was actually investigating the area so that I can find a logical explanation of why we thought we saw a sea monster." She pointed at the center of her camp. "It's the same thing here! While I also believe Lyra's story was farfetched, but it still fascinated me because of how mysterious it sounds. Not to mention, I’ve done a little research last night and I noticed that the wind capacity at certain parts of this city increased significantly for the past decade. So the fact that this has been going on for years even before you showed up, makes this all the more interesting. Even if this creature is not real, I still want to find out the truth."
Sunset was intrigued by Twilight’s words. While she expected that Twilight would research after hearing Lyra’s story, but Sunset had no idea that there would be some evidence of strange signs in town before she came to this world. Could there possibly be a mysterious creature living near Canterlot City this whole time or is there more going on?
"Well... I'll admit, even I'm curious,” said Sunset. “Considering that this Blue Devil isn't from Equestria… assuming it's real that is!" Sunset frowned. "But even so, how will you be able to find this creature? It's not like it will suddenly walk over to you to say “hi”."
Twilight smirked as if she was expecting that question. "Well Sunset, there were two key things Lyra mentioned which may help my field study!" She dug into her backpack to take out a small white food bag. "The first was that this creature apparently eats chili dogs! Which was why I purchased these today."
To demonstrate her point, Twilight opened her white bag and took out three chili dogs, which was covered in foil and showed it to her friend. While Sunset wasn’t a meat person, she’ll admit that the food smelled pretty good.
"Huh, so that's why you wanted to stop by at the food court!” said Sunset with an understanding smile. “No offense, but I never view you as a chili dog person!"
"I think that title goes to AJ and Rainbow Dash," Twilight joked, causing the two of them to chuckle. "Anyway, with these, I could get that creature’s attention!"
Sunset had a look of worry and dread on her face. "You're not going to try to catch it are you?"
Twilight appeared to be offended by Sunset’s question. "Of course not Sunset!” She then grinned. “I just wanted to see it for myself! Unlike Lyra, I need to learn about this creature and understand it's skills before we do anything else. Which leads me to the second key part of Lyra’s story!"
"And what's that?" Sunset asked with interest.
"The creature's speed!" Twilight answered. "Lyra believes that this thing moves so fast, it becomes a blue blur. If what she said was true, then I need to know its exact speed!"
Sunset cocked an eyebrow. "How are you going to do that?"
"With this!"
Twilight dove her hand into her backpack and took out an item that appeared to be a hairdryer, but bulkier and more advanced. It even had two different screens; a smaller one at the pointed end and a bigger one on the other side.
"Uh… what is that?" Sunset inquired.
"It's a Speed Radar Gun!" Twilight replied. "It's a type of device that the police used to measure moving vehicles."
"Police?” Sunset said in a bewildered tone. Her eyes then widened slightly in realization. “Wait… was that your brother's?"
Twilight nodded. "It is."
"...please tell me you didn't steal that!" Sunset pleaded nervously.
Twilight huffed. "I didn't steal it, I borrowed it… without asking."
"...and how's that different from stealing?" Sunset deadpanned.
"I'm not doing anything illegal, I'm only using it in the name of science,” said Twilight in an assuring tone. “Besides, it's an older model, so he won't miss it!"
“Whatever you say Twi,” said Sunset as she rolled her eyes. "But in case your brother asks, I was not any part of this!"
Sunset only met Twilight’s brother a few times and he seems like a decent guy, but she was keeping on her toes around him since she and her friends were trying to keep Equestria a secret. The last thing Sunset needs was to get in trouble when her friend's brother happened to be a cop.
Sunset then decided to change topics. "So how high can this thing measure?"
Twilight did some tweaking with the device. "Well this thing can go as high as two hundred and seventy miles, but that's a typical max speed for most standard cars. It could read almost as high as a thousand, but I doubt anything could go that high."
"I see," Sunset replied as she crossed her arms. "And what if this said creature never showed up?"
"Then I guess my field study will just be a bust and call this whole thing a hoax," Twilight said casually with a shrug. She then grinned widely. "But if there really is such a creature like that out there, this would be one of the greatest discoveries of all time! Just think of all the possible scholarships I could get into with that!"
Sunset blinked. "Scholarships?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah! Specifically, colleges or universities! Since we're close to graduation, I'm already planning ahead to become a scientist. Of course, I have a strong chance to go into one thanks to my grades, but it doesn't hurt to build a resume."
Sunset gave her friend a genuine grin. "I think you'll be a great scientist Twilight!"
"Thanks Sunset!" said Twilight with a smile. "So, do you have any plans for what you want to do after graduation?"
Sunset paused, not expecting this kind of question before. If anyone asked her years ago when she first entered CHS, she would be happy to ditch the school and return home with power just to rub her former’s mentor’s face. But ever since she reformed and made wonderful friends, power wasn’t her goal anymore. She was deep in thought for a while before Sunset let out a sigh.
"To be honest Twilight… I don't know. With so many things going on at our school and this city, I never really thought about that. Quite frankly, I had no idea that the end of our last year was so soon. I'm… at a loss."
Twilight gave her friend an understanding smile. "Well don't you worry Sunset. Our graduation date is months away, so you'll have plenty of time to decide. Try not to stress about it, okay?"
Sunset smirked. "You? Giving me advice to not stress out? I think the apocalypse is among us!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Oh ha-ha, very funny Sunset!" said Twilight but smiled in a good-natured way. "Well anyway, do you want to join me, Sunset?"
Sunset shook her head. "I love too, but I promise AJ that I help her host a snack stand for her sister's little league baseball game. Maybe some other time, but will you be alright here Twilight?"
"Oh I'll be fine!" Twilight assured, waving off Sunset’s concerns. "I've done a lot of scientific investigations by myself at Crystal Prep before, so I'll be fine!"
"I know you will, but just… be careful, alright Twilight?" Sunset said softly. "You remember what happened back at the Friendship Games, right?"
Twilight nodded with a gentle smile. "Don't worry Sunset, I will be careful. I promise."
Sunset smiled. "Alright then, I'll see you later at your house for our sleepover!"
The two greeted farewell before Sunset parted ways, leaving Twilight all alone. Twilight immediately got to work by removing the wrappers from all three chilidogs before placing them on the plate. Next she placed the plate full of chilidogs in the middle of the field where the "X" was located before she turned and headed into the bush a few feet away from the plate. She crouched down onto her stomach where her radar gun was before taking her binoculars from her coat pocket.
"Alright Blue Devil, time to find out if you are real or not," she whispered before looking into her binoculars towards the middle field where her plate of chilidogs was located.
"Oh boy, this is so exciting!" Twilight squealed quietly.
"Okay… maybe not that exciting," Twilight sighed as she lazily laid on her side with a bored expression.
It’s been over two hours since she was laying in that same spot, watching the three uneaten chilidogs which were probably cold by now. While she knew that her stakeout would probably end up a dud, but at the same time, she also expecting something to happen with everything going on in town lately. While the young scientist wasn’t too bothered with not seeing the creature, but she was not looking forward to dealing with Rainbow Dash’s sassy comments later on like “I told you so” or “it was to be expected”.
And deep down, she was actually hoping that the creature was real. Not just for her academic credit, but also for her own excitement of possibly meeting a new creature that was never heard of before. Sadly, it was not meant to be.
"Maybe the girls are right," said Twilight with a sigh. "Perhaps there is no blue creature in these woods. I should probably head home and prepare for the sleepover."
Twilight placed her binoculars down and turned to her backpack to began packing up her things.
Suddenly, Twilight heard a brief ‘whoosh’ sound, followed by a sudden wind blowing against her body. This admittedly made Twilight look up with a semi-alarmed expression.
"What was that?" she muttered.
Twilight immediately turned back towards the plate of chilidogs and she noticed something different about them.
There were only two chilidogs instead of three.
“H-huh?” Twilight balked. “Where did one of those chili dogs go?”
Suddenly she heard a beep coming from her Speed Radar Gun. She turned towards the reader, only to be stunned as soon as she read the number that was on the display.
296
Twilight blinked once.
Twice.
Three times.
“W-what the?” she whispered.
Twilight even took off her glasses as she stared at the numbers, making sure that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. Even in her blurry state, she could still make out those same numbers.
"This… this can't be right!" she muttered as she placed her glasses back to the bridge of her nose.
She had seen her brother’s Speed Reader in action many times and saw a high number on that device a few times before, but she never seen a number go that high before. At first, she thought it could be the wind, but then quickly dismissed that because her radar only measures moving objects. Then Twilight figured that the movement might’ve come from an animal, but she also dismissed that idea. According to Fluttershy, the fastest animal in the world was a cheetah, but there aren’t any cheetahs around in Canterlot City, not even from the town’s zoo. Even if they were, no cheetahs, or any animals for that matter, could ever run that fast.
Just as Twilight continued to ponder over this, she heard another movement, followed by a wind blowing towards her direction. Twilight immediately turned towards the source and her jaw nearly dropped when she noticed that there was only one chili dog left that was sitting on the plate in the middle of the field.
“What? Another one was taken?” Twilight exclaimed as she was rubbing her eyes. “How!?”
Just then, she heard another few ‘beeps’ coming from her radar machine. Twilight glanced at her machine and her eyes nearly widened at a different and higher number on the screen.
691
“Wha– over six hundred!?” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. She then frantically inspected her device for any signs of damages. “This... this has to be a mistake! Don’t tell me my brother’s radar is broken!”
She really hoped that she didn’t somehow accidentally wreck the equipment, otherwise her brother would be upset at her. Even if her radar gun isn’t broken, then what other explanations could have been that resulted numbers higher than expected.
As she was fussing with her tech, she heard another movement from the side of her. This time, she turned towards the source as quickly as she could, only to get temporarily blind due to strong wind to her face.
“AH!” She yelped as she covered her face. “What was–”
As she slowly raised her hand off of her face, her eyes widened in shock when she spotted the food plate. Or at least, what wasn’t on the food plate.
"NO! The final chili dog is gone!" Twilight cried as she stared at a now empty plate.
Just as before, more ‘beeps’ were coming from her radar gun. Both out of nervous and curious, Twilight slowly turned to her machine. Once her eyes were on the display screen, her face froze in shock when she saw a new and even higher number.
760
"W-what!? Seven hundred and sixty!?" Twilight shouted, couldn’t believe what she was seeing. "That’s impossible!"
Questions were flooding all over her mind while trying to keep herself from having a mental breakdown. How could not one, but all three chili dogs disappear so quickly while it happened right in front of her? How or what caused those numbers to go up higher with every chili dog taken? Had she finally lost it?
Suddenly, she heard a loud burp coming from her right. Startled, Twilight immediately turned towards the source and nearly froze in fear. All she saw was a huge bush between the two trees just distanced away from her. But what really got her attention was something inside the huge hole in the middle of the bush; a pair of eyes. She thought she was looking at an animal for a moment, but then she quickly realized it was no ordinary creature when she noticed that those eyes were not only bigger than an average animal but the color of those eyes was green.
“H... hello?” Twilight uttered after she finally found her voice.
The eyes widened for a brief moment before it disappeared into the bush and then shot out of it from the other side, leaving a trail of the blue blur.
Twilight eyes widened at the sight she was witnessing for a moment before she quickly snapped herself out her shock.
“Stop, wait!” Twilight shouted as she quickly got out of her own bush and ran after the mysterious being.
Twilight ran as fast as she could to chase after that blue blur, but the blur went farther and farther in every second. While she was never an athletic person, Twilight pushed herself further to pursuit this mysterious being. She couldn’t believe that not only Lyra’s stories turned out to be true, but also that this creature turned out to be real! She refused to let this potential new discovery to escape from her grasp, even if her legs give out from all her running.
Unfortunately for Twilight, she failed to notice a tree root sticking out from the ground. As a result, it caught Twilight’s ankle, making the young scientist trip and fall almost face-first to the ground. She groaned as she slowly lifted her head up, only to see that the mysterious blur disappeared like it wasn’t there.
“Oh great!” Twilight muttered in frustration, as she slowly freed her foot from the root.
As she was messaging her ankle, her thoughts were back at the creature she saw. Or at least, what she thinks she saw.
This isn’t possible! Twilight thought. I wanted to think my mind was playing tricks on me, but from those chili dogs, the blue blur, those eyes… they’re REAL! Could it be what I saw really was a…
She stopped her inner monologue when she noticed something strange within the tall grass from the corner of her eye. Curious Twilight slowly crawled towards the area and pushed some tall grass out of the way. She then stared in awe when she noticed a strange thing lying in between the grass.
"...what in the world?" Twilight whispered.
It was a long, thin, and bright blue thing that looked like a piece of hair or a needle. Slowly, she reached over towards the mysterious thing to touch it. As soon as her hand made contact with it, she was surprised that the thing felt soft and warm to her. She then lifted the item close to her face to inspect it a bit. Judging from its texture, it appeared to be some kind of quill that comes from an animal. It also appeared to be glowing somewhat like a mini light bulb which baffled the young scientist. A moment later, the light from the quill dimmed a bit, but Twilight could still feel some energy from it.
Twilight blinked at the quill while questions were running around in her brain: How could there be energy from within the quill? Exactly how much energy was in that quill? Was it from this mysterious creature she saw seconds ago? Does this mean the creature really was real? And why was it here?
Her little stakeout only leaves her more questions then answers that she doesn’t even know where to begin. Only one thing she knew for sure; she needed to do more research.
Starting with this mysterious quill.
That was close! While I'm glad Brainiac isn't hurt, but now she's suspecting that I'm there. Sonic thought as he hid behind a large fallen tree trunk while watching the teenaged girl from the distance.
Sonic had been watching Brainiac ever since she and her friend arrived at their campsite. He stuck around for so long so he could mess around Brainiac, but it was all in good fun.
And to help himself for some free chili dogs was a sweet bonus.
Unfortunately, those chili dogs were so good (and gassy), it made him burp loudly, revealing his position in the process. Thankfully, Brainiac only had a glimpse of him before he took off, except now she knows of his existence. Unlike "Crazy Lyra", Brainiac is very smart. She could easily find him with that mind of hers, but as long as he has his power, she won't find him. But just in case, he needs to lay low for a while.
I… should be getting home. Sonic thought with a sigh before running deeper into the woods.
In less than a minute, Sonic located his secret hideout, which was a small cave underneath the big tree. He spun into the cave, slide down the hole and landed on his red beanbag. Inside of his cave was full of things that he “found” over the years: a radio, posters, comics, toys, various street signs, many different hats including a large red cowboy hat (his favorite), and much other stuff he collected. He even has storage of food, which were mostly chips, cookies, and sodas he could find just to get by. This cave isn't anything fancy, but hey, it's home.
"Home, sweet home!" Sonic exclaimed with a yawn.
Usually, he won’t be home at this time, but due to circumstances, he decided to return home early. But he was unsure of what to do to pass the time and where to start. Sonic simply shrugged.
"Welp, while I wait for my “run-in” with Brainiac blows over, I'll just entertain myself for a while!"
In literally within a minute of his time, Sonic did every single activity he could to entertain himself from within his secret cave thanks to his super-speed: playing his guitar, jump rope with himself, do cardio exercising with his own treadmill, which was actually an old dryer that he found from the garbage dump, practicing with his nunchaku and reading every single issue of the Fili-Second comic, his favorite reading material. Shortly after that, he decided to play ping-pong (with an old highway sign as a table) against himself to keep himself from being bored. He served the ball to one side, only to hit the ball after he immediately appeared on the other side. This continued on throughout his intense game until at one point he hit the ball so hard, the ball ricocheted towards his bag of rings which was on the table, knocking it to the floor as a result.
Sonic gasped with an alarm expression. "...oh no!"
That was the same bag of rings that Longclaw entrusted him to take care of before he was transported to this world. He quickly ran up to his fallen bag to check up on the rings. With a sigh of relief, he gently placed the rings back to the bag. Sonic didn’t want anything bad to happen to the bag or the rings because they’re not only vital to his survival... but also a special memory of his friend.
He gently took out a piece of paper that was also in the bag to open it. It was a map of portals to many different worlds in the universe. Most of the worlds he and Longclaw have been to previously were crossed out after being discovered. He recalled from Longclaw that they were on a run since his birth. Every time they thought they found themselves a home, they ended up on a run again and teleported to the next world, all because someone wanted his power. The real kicker was, it was because of his own recklessness that made them flee for so long.
Including, on the day he fled to Earth.
Sonic shook those thoughts away as he stared at the image of Earth on the map before he slowly looked down towards the last word that wasn’t crossed out yet. He cringed at that specific world as he picked up one of the rings and tossed it into the air, causing it to grew big and revealed an image of a world filled with large, smelly, and stinky mushrooms as far as the eye can see.
Sonic greatly shuddered at the sight of that mushroom world. He remembered Longclaw’s instructions that in case if he was ever discovered by the humans, warping into the Mushroom World will be his final resort to his safety. He hoped that he wouldn’t come to that because he really enjoyed living on this planet and there was so much he still wanted to do here. He nearly got himself discovered after his encounter with Brainiac and decided to be a little more extra careful from then on.
That... and the thought of living in a world filled with mushrooms doesn’t sound appealing to him.
"...I hate mushrooms," Sonic mumbled.
Sonic sighed heavily as he shrunk the ring portal. He was extremely bored. He did every single activity he could think of several times within a minute. He needs to do something or else he'll be even crazier than he was already.
Then he remembered the conversation he overheard between Brainiac and Equestrian Girl, something about a baseball game at the school. He doesn't know what a baseball is, but it sounded like fun and he wanted to check it out. But he was nearly caught by Brainiac not too long ago due to his carelessness. No doubt that their "encounter" would still be fresh in that teenage girl's mind. Should he risk himself of going out again just to see a baseball game?
Sonic looked up towards the cave's entrance with a curious expression. Maybe a little peek at the school wouldn't hurt... right?