The Rainbooms' tour bus was speeding down the street in the city of Canterlot. Rainbow Dash was currently on the wheel, while the girls were screaming in terror and hung on to their seats for their lives except for Pinkie Pie, who was happily humming a random, yet catchy tune. Rainbow used every trick she could think of to stay ahead and lose any possible pursuers, including making random turns at every couple of blocks, blowing past red lights, driving through alleyways, and even drive through a couple of dirt roads. Little do they know, Tempest was hanging on to the side of the bus while dodging many tree branches, trash cans, walls, and debris to keep herself on. She was determined to get herself on that bus and catch those girls.
The bus eventually pulled into a backroad with no other cars around. The girls and Spike, sans Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, were shaken up from Rainbow’s driving experience, while Sonic was still out cold on the seat near Sunset. The rainbowed-haired tomboy in question whooped loudly in excitement.
“Awwwww yeah! Told ya I could get them off our backs, thanks to my awesome driving skills!” Rainbow boasted.
"Yeah, it was fun!" Pinkie cheered. "Let's do that again!"
"No!" Everyone screamed fearfully.
"Heavens please no!" Rarity screeched as she quickly pulled out her pocket mirror and checked herself frantically. "I don't think my hair can take this much crazy driving!"
"Yeah, it was even worse than the time when Granny Smith takes the wheel on this bus!" said Sunset. She then quickly gave Applejack an apologetic look. "No offense AJ!"
"None taken," Applejack responded casually before giving Rainbow Dash an infuriated look. "As fer you, are ya outta yer mind!? Yer drivin' nearly got us all killed more times than Ah can count! Not ta mention, the amount of drivin' violations you've done alone could cause the law firm to have a field day!"
"Hey! With everything that happened moments ago, getting speeding tickets was the last thing to worry about!” Rainbow Dash retorted while still keeping her eyes on the road. “And you should be thanking me! If it weren’t for my skills and quick thinking, we would've been caught. And it's safe to say, that we finally lost them!"
As soon as Rainbow finished her statement, a fist smashed through one of the windows from the main entrance of the bus, scaring everyone in the process. The fist then retracted and, to everyone’s horror, revealed to be Tempest with a determined glare.
"You were saying Rainbow Dash!?" Applejack shouted.
Before Rainbow Dash could retort, she was startled when Tempest punched through the window again, breaking the entire window out of the frame. She then started to reach into the door to try to grab the handle. Not wanting to let the agent get in, Applejack, Sunset, Pinkie Pie and Twilight rushed over and tried to knock the agent off, while Rarity held Fluttershy protectively from the back seat. They punched, slapped, scratched, poked, everything they could think of, but Tempest held them off while her grip remained firm on the window.
“Stop that!” Tempest grunted, ignoring the blows from other teens. “Let me on this bus!”
Seeing his friends in trouble, Spike jumped off of Fluttershy’s arms, ran across the floor, and leaped onto Tempest's arm to take a huge bite on it. But to his shock, her arm was too solid and he recoiled as a result, while Tempest hardly even flinched. Spike laid on the ground, whimpered from the pain in his jaw.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted in alarm before she and Fluttershy went over and checked on her dog.
During the commotion, Sonic finally came to, feeling groggy from earlier. "Ugh… what's going on?" he muttered.
He slightly turned his head and noticed the commotion from the main entrance of the bus. His eyes then widened at the sight of Spike on the floor with Brainiac and Animal Girl with frantic expressions. Then his eyes were set on the other girls, sans Skittles, was trying to wrestle some other lady with a scar off of the door. Sensing that they need his help, he quickly rushed over to them and appeared over Sunset’s shoulder and in front of Tempest, startling everyone.
"Oh hey there! Cool scar!" Sonic exclaimed.
As Tempest yelped and recoiled in shock at the sight of Sonic, Sunset took this opportunity to punch Tempest right on her face. This caused Tempest to finally let go of the window of the bus and fell onto the street. They all watched as Tempest rolled roughly across the ground and then stopped face down in the middle of the street. Despite that gruesome sight, Rainbow Dash pressed hard on the gas pedal, to put more distance between themselves and that Agent lady for better chances of escaping.
As they were more further and further away from the fallen Agent, everyone began to calm themselves down after their crazy encounter with Tempest, but their hearts were still beating pretty fast.
"...she seems like a cool lady!" Sonic remarked, receiving some stares from others.
Tempest groaned loudly in pain as she was lying in the middle of the road. Despite that her whole body was in pain, her thoughts were on that creature she just saw seconds ago.
What the heck was that thing!? Tempest thought. Did I just saw a blue creature? Was it from the same world as her… or was it from a different world? Tempest winced, gritting in teeth from the sharp pain from her rib. Whatever the case, this isn’t good! I bet that creature was what that infernal doctor was after… and he knows about the girls too! He’s going to chase after them… not unless I get to them first!
As Tempest slowly gets back up, a car slowly approaches her and comes to a stop. Tempest looked up just as the driver’s window rolled down, revealing Grubber.
"Boss, you alright?" he said.
"I'm fine!" Tempest said with a grunt as she stood completely up. She was confused at the sight of strange markings on Grubber’s face but chose not to comment about it. "I need to follow these girls!"
Grubber nodded. "No problem boss, I'll take ya!"
Tempest shook her head. "No, I'll follow them myself! Now get out of the car!"
Grubber blinked. "What?"
"Get out of the car!" Tempest ordered.
"...but that's my car!"
"Get Out!"
Not wanting to face her wrath, Grubber quickly got out of his car, allowing Tempest to get in.
"So you're just gonna leave me here?" Grubber said in disbelief.
"Yes, and you still have a job to do!" Tempest said coolly before slamming the door. "He’s already onto them, so I want you to stay here and keep an eye on Dr. Robotnik, keep me updated on everything he’s doing, and most importantly... keep him away from those kids!"
Without another word, Tempest rolled up the driver’s window and then sped down the street, leaving Grubber behind.
…
…
…
“...well how do ya expect me to do my job without my car!?” Grubber shouted towards Tempest’s direction.
For the next few minutes, Rainbow Dash took a few more random roads just in case if their pursuer was still chasing them. Once the Equestria Girls were sure that they weren’t followed, they eventually pulled off the road and hid behind a random billboard sign to evaluate the situation.
“Alright, I think we’re safe… for now,” Rainbow Dash stated as she shuts off the bus.
Rainbow then turned towards the back of the bus where she saw her friends in various situations. Rarity was still fussing with her hair and nearly sobbing over it while Applejack rubbed Rarity’s back to comfort her. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was busy treading Spike's injury around his jaw with Pinkie Pie assisting her, while Twilight looked over them worriedly with Sunset by her side.
“How is he?" asked Twilight with shakiness from her voice. "Is Spike okay?”
“None of his teeth are broken, thank goodness,” Fluttershy replied with a sigh as she was putting away her first aid kit that she packed in the bus ahead of time. "But his jaw is aching after biting that lady's arm. I did what I can with the clove oil for his teeth and gums and a cold compress on his jaw, but other than that, he should rest and not move his jaw for now."
Twilight let out a long sigh of relief before giving Fluttershy her grateful smile. "Thank you so much, Fluttershy!"
"Yeah, you rock Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "It's a good thing that you're a trained Veterinarian!"
Fluttershy blushed from the comment while shyly stroking her pink hair. "Oh, i-it was nothing. A-and besides, I'm technically in training. I'm not a full-fledged Veterinarian yet!"
"Even so, we’re so glad that you’re here to help Fluttershy!" Sunset said with a grin before frowning. “But what was that agent wearing that’s so hard for Spike to bite?”
“My guess would be some kind of body armor,” Twilight theorized as she softly petted her dog who whimpered in response. “But that’s impossible because Spike bit her in her forearm!”
“Maybe she was also wearing an armor for her forearms?” Rarity guessed, who just joined in on the conversation after fixing her hair along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
Twilight furrowed her brow. “It’s possible and that would make more sense, but her arms would’ve looked bulkier under her uniform and slowed her down if she’s chasing us. Not to mention, even with her armor, no normal person could’ve easily punched through a bus door window.”
“So we’re dealing with some kind of super-soldier?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed before throwing her arms up. “Terrific! So let's recap: Half of our country is out of power because of some mysterious wave, then those G.U.N. soldiers showed up at our school, then some nutjob almost killed us with his egg-shaped robots and now we’re being chased by some super-soldier agent lady! Did I forget anything else?”
"We also met that blue creature who is with us right now!" Pinkie said helpfully in her up-beat attitude while pointing behind her.
Rainbow, as well as the others, looked in the direction where Pinkie was pointing. Sure enough, the blue creature in question was at the back of the bus, sitting on one of the large musical instrument cases, waving back at them with a sheepish grin. They have nearly forgotten about their new passenger from Twilight’s house during Robotnik’s visit. He was still a mystery as to what that creature was and how he was related to this whole mess. To Sunset, she wanted to get to the bottom of this now that they’re out of danger.
With a determined look, Sunset strolled over to the blue hedgehog, ready to interrogate him.
"Alright, listen here buster!” Sunset began with a serious expression. “You need to start talking, right now! Who are you? What are you?"
"I told you, I'm a hedgehog," Sonic responded with an annoyed expression. "I feel like that's obvious. And I'm in big trouble."
Sunset gave Sonic an incredulous look. "Oh, you're in big trouble? You're not the one who punched some sort of government weirdo back there."
"He's lucky that Ah wasn't the one who punched him!" Applejack muttered darkly.
"Not to mention, running from the government, which I’m sure that we’ve became wanted criminals now," Twilight added.
"You think you have problems?!" Sonic challenged. "I lost my rings!"
"Rings? Now wat in Sam’s hill are ya talkin’ about?" Applejack asked with a confused expression.
"I think he was talking about his bag full of rings that he dropped after one of them expended it into a giant portal," Sunset answered.
"Wait, a portal?" Rarity spoke up.
Sonic let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay look, rings are how all advanced cultures travel between worlds," he explained before turning to Twilight. "And now mine is on top of a pointy building I've only ever seen on your skintight T-shirt."
“Hey, it was a gift from my sister-in-law!” Twilight cried indignantly, but Sonic paid her no mind.
"So now I'd like you all to take me to Manehatten, so I can get back my rings and use them to get to the mushroom planet," Sonic concluded.
"‘Scuse me… a Mushroom planet?" Rainbow Dash asked skeptically.
“Yes!” Sonic answered.
Pinkie’s eyes lit up. "Ooh ooh, is the Mushroom planet have a kingdom filled with tiny people with mushrooms on their heads and also has a Princess who ruled over them, but constantly gets kidnapped by turtle-like creatures along with their evil king, but then she gets rescued by an Italian plumber who jumps a lot and collects a lot of things along the way?”
Everyone stared at Pinkie in silence for a moment after her random rambling until Sonic spoke up.
“Uh… what was she-”
"Don't mind her," Sunset interjected. "Pinkie's just being Pinkie."
“...riiiiiiiiiiight,” Sonic said slowly. "I doubt there's anyone living on that planet. And even if they were, for some strange reason, I… don't think I would like to live in that kingdom."
Pinkie frowned. “Why? What do you have against Italian plumbers?”
“Okay, we’re getting off track here!” Twilight interrupted. “We just recovered from that chase after getting attack by Robotnik and his robots, on top of finding out this strange blue creature– no offense.”
“None taken,” Sonic said casually.
“And G.U.N. is still investigating our town after that energy wave appeared out of nowhere last night. So we shouldn’t have any more surprises!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Everyone jumped from the sudden noise from within the bus, putting everyone on edge.
“What was that!?” Rarity yelped.
“Oh no! Is that agent back!?” Fluttershy whimpered in fear.
They heard another few banging until it was coming from the direction where Sonic was sitting. Sonic raised his hands in defense when everyone stared at him.
“Hey, don’t look at me!" said Sonic.
With narrowed eyes, Sunset gently shooed Sonic away, peering directly at the large instrument case where Sonic was sitting. Her suspicion was confirmed when she heard more banging noises coming from the case, telling her that something or someone was hiding inside of it.
Without speaking a word, Sunset glanced back at the girl's, silently asking for her assistance. Taking the message, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash approached the case and stood by Sunset while the rest of the gang stayed behind in caution. With nods between the three girls and mentally prepared themselves, Sunset took a deep breath and threw open the case.
The girls stopped their attack the moment they saw who was hiding in the case. Not only that, they found not one, or two, but three familiar stowaways inside the case.
"Apple Bloom?" Applejack cried.
"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity exclaimed.
"Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash shouted.
Sure enough, the three mysterious stowaways who were hiding in a large instrument case, was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, AKA, the CMCs.
"What are you doing here!?" The three older sisters screamed angrily in unison.
The CMCs winced from their older sisters’ fury. Apple Bloom, who has an ounce of courage, chuckled sheepishly.
"Uh, hehehe… it's a long story," Apple Bloom answered before beginning her tale.
One hour ago…
Somewhere from within the barn of the Apple Family farm, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were near the back of the bus, trying to open the rear doors without alerting anyone. Scootaloo was trying to use her lock pick on the door that she got from Rainbow Dash as her birthday gift last year, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood in front of her as their lookouts.
"How much longer Scoots?" Apple Bloom asked with urgency in her voice.
"Almost," Scootaloo assured. "I just need to do a couple more pins."
"Well please hurry Scoots!" Apple Bloom pleaded. "If Applejack saw us, she'll put me on pigpen duty fer a day as punishment again!"
"You think you have it bad?" Sweetie Belle retorted. "One time, I made Rarity so mad, she made me into her personal mannequin for her dresses all day! Heck, she'll probably gonna make me do that all week if she and your sisters found out what we're doing! I still don't see why we're doing this?"
"From wat Ah've heard, Manehatten is a great place!" said Apple Bloom, her fear of getting caught forgotten. "There are so many fun things to do over there!"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed. "The Rainbooms are going to be there for only a weekend where all the fun and excitement took place while leaving us behind in this boring town with no power!"
"Scootaloo, with everything going on involving Equestrian magic, this town is anything but boring!" Sweetie Belle deadpanned.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Okay, aside from that, our town is pretty boring in comparison. Besides, we could all have some fun too and have a normal day for a change."
Sweetie Belle frowned. "I'm not disagreeing with you, but still…"
"Got it!" Scootaloo announced, once she successfully unlocked the back of the bus.
The CMCs quietly opened the back door of the bus and climbed in. Once they closed the door behind them, the girls looked around the bus.
"Alright girls, we're in," Apple Bloom whispered. "Now, where would we–"
Suddenly, the preteens heard various voices and footsteps coming from outside of the barn and heading straight towards them, making them panic.
"Oh, crud! Someone’s coming!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, barely keeping herself quiet.
Scootaloo quickly looked around the bus, until her eyes landed on one of the instrument cases near the back door. She quickly opened one of them up and to her relief, not only it was empty, but the inside of the case looks big enough for the three of them to fit easily.
"Quick, in here!" Scootaloo urged.
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo immediately dived right into the case, while Sweetie Belle stood by, hesitant to jump in.
"Girls… I don’t think if this is a good idea," Sweetie Belle squeaked. "This doesn't look very safe. Not to mention, our sisters will really be mad at us if they found us inside."
"Well, what other options do we got?" Scootaloo challenged. "And ask yourself this: would you rather have your sister be mad at you before or after we get to Manehatten?"
Sweetie paused for a moment. On the one hand, that case wasn’t designed to store people in and safe to use, especially while it’s on a moving vehicle. Not to mention, she knew her sister will be mad at her already for secretly hitching a ride behind her back. No doubt that Rarity will be furious at her if she found her in that case that they’ll use for their band performance. But on the other hand, if they’re ever discovered after the trip, at least they’ll have a good excuse to stay in Manehatten without having to travel back home immediately.
Unless her sister saw her right now at this very moment.
“...traveling from inside the case it is then,” Sweetie sighed as she quickly joined inside the case.
Right as the CMCs shut the cover over them, most Rainbooms entered the barn and then climbed into the bus so they could meet up with Sunset and Twilight and Twilight’s house. The CMCs plan was to keep quiet and wait until they arrived at Manehatten without being detected so that they won’t be forced to be kicked out and leave behind.
Little did the three of them know, they’ll wound up getting caught in yet another crazy adventure.
By the time the CMCs finished their tale, the Equestria Girls, especially three respective older sisters, were not amused by their antics. Resisting the urge to yell at her sister, Rarity let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temples.
"You girls…" she stated with a stern glare. "What you three did was irresponsible! What if something happened to you while we didn’t know where you were?”
The three younger girls looked down in shame.
“We’re sorry Rarity,” Sweetie Belle uttered remorsefully. “We just wanted to go to Manehatten too.”
“Yeah, we also wanted to join in on the fun of touring with the most awesome band in the world!” Scootaloo chimed in.
“Heh, yeah it’s true. We are awesome!” Rainbow Dash boasted, only to shrink away somewhat when she noticed her friends glared harshly at her. “B-but that’s still not safe. It’s… bad,” she finished lamely before giving her friends a thumbs up.
Applejack shook her head at her brash friend before addressing her younger sister.
“Whelp, in any case, we should take you three back to town so y’all don’t get hurt. And we’ll let our folks come up with a suitable punishment for you,” Applejack stated sternly, leaving no room for argument much to the CMC's disappointment and dread.
“I don’t think this is a good idea AJ,” Twilight spoke up. Applejack was about to argue but Twilight quickly added, “In case you forget, G.U.N. is chasing us down right now!
“Yeah, we just escaped from the city!” said Rainbow Dash. “No doubt that they’re still looking for us! Heading back now would not only risk of us getting caught, but we’ll also risk getting them caught too!”
Applejack glared daggers at Rainbow Dash. “And ya think bringin’ ‘em with us is any better?”
Rarity gently placed her hand on Applejack’s shoulder to calm her down. “I don’t like this as much as you are darling, but they’re right. We don’t have much of a choice.”
“Besides, you all have superpowers from Equestrian Girl’s world,” Sonic added. “Nothing’s gonna happen to them with you girls around.”
The CMC’s jolted back in shock and fright, finally noticing the talking blue hedgehog in the room.
"Oh my gosh! Wat is dat?" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
"It's some kind of blue monster cat!" Scootaloo cried.
Sonic rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh, annoyed being wrongfully labeled as a cat again.
"Actually, I think he looks more like a hedgehog!" Sweetie Belle said with a squeak.
Sonic threw his hands up with a grin. “Finally! Someone actually got it right for once!"
The CMC's were taken aback.
“...he can talk too!?” Apple Bloom uttered in awe.
“And here I thought we’re gonna have a normal day for once!” Scootaloo muttered.
Sweetie Belle said nothing while her mouth was gaping in shock.
Sonic's eyes lit up. "Oh hey, I remember you three! I saw you girls play baseball the other day!"
The three younger girls stared at Sonic with surprised expressions.
"You've seen us play?" Apple Bloom asked.
Sonic nodded excitedly. "Totally! You three are awesome! You for knocking the ball out of the park and you two for nailing that amazing double play!"
The three girls smiled widely at Sonic’s praise.
"Heh, yeah. We don't mean to brag, but we are awesome that day!" Scootaloo boasted with pride while her two friends just shook their heads in amusement.
“Hang on! Backup... did you just say... Equestria?” Applejack interrupted with wide eyes.
“Oh yeah, I said Equestria!” Sonic responded to the cowgirl. “The world where Equestrian Girl come from, right?”
“Uh… who’s Equestrian Girl?” Fluttershy asked with a confused expression.
“He’s referring to me,” Sunset answered with a blush, embarrassed with the nickname.
Pinkie Pie giggled. “Oh my gosh! Equestrian Girl! That totally suits you!”
Sunset narrowed her eyes at her.
“And you know about our powers?” Rarity pressed, trying to move along with the conversation.
“Oh totally! I knew you all have different powers from that world,” Sonic answered, much to the girl’s shock. He then pointed at Sunset and Twilight. “Equestrian Girl can read people’s minds or whatever and Brainiac can use levitation.” He then pointed at Fluttershy and Rarity. “This girl can talk to animals, and you can make diamond shields.” He then pointed at Applejack and Pinkie Pie. “She has super strength, and she can make any candies explode… among other mysterious powers I can’t quite figure out.”
Pinkie Pie snorted. “Yeah, it's true! I can be mysterious!”
Sonic then pointed at Rainbow Dash, who stood at the back of the group. “And this girl can run at super-speed, especially every morning when she’s late for school but still have time to stop at a place called Donut Joe’s.”
Rainbow Dash nearly fell back in astonishment. “H-how’d you know?” she demanded before her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Are you also with the government?”
Sonic tilted his head. “You mean that McNosehair guy? No! Of course not!” He then pointed at Sunset. “I knew all about you because she told me!”
“What!?” Rainbow exclaimed before turning to Sunset.
Sunset frowned. “Okay, that’s the second time you’ve said that, but we never met before!”
“Technically, we never met in person,” Sonic said cryptically.
Rainbow growled and stepped forward towards the hedgehog. “Alright pal, I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but Sunset was asking you a question! How do you know about Equestria? And about us?"
Sonic frowned. "But I wasn't playing any games Skittles! I–"
Rainbow’s pupils shrank and her face went red in anger. "What did you call me!?"
Everyone was taken aback by Rainbow’s intense anger. Even Sonic suddenly felt nervous with Rainbow’s sudden change of attitude.
"I… I called you Skittles,” Sonic said nervously. “You know? A candy made of rainbows? I just thought–”
He never had time to finish as Rainbow suddenly stomped her way over to the front of the bus to pull the switch, opening the bus’s side door.
"Get out!” she shouted.
“W-what?” Sonic asked with a confused expression.
Even the girls were surprised by Rainbow’s sudden display. Before anyone could say anything, Rainbow spoke again.
“Look, this is the worst possible time for us to get ourselves into trouble, okay?” Rainbow growled in anger. “We were trying to make our band a name for ourselves and you just… happen to show up and know a lot about us after being chased by the government! And you give us no reason to trust you! I don’t know what you said to Sunset and Twilight, but you asked us to save your life, and we did! So now, just go… find your rings… and go to your mushroom land or whatever. I don’t care! And hopefully, I'm gonna wake up in my bed and pretended this whole crazy experience was just one big dream after eating too much junk food and drinking too many AJ’s apple ciders again. Okay? Now leave!”
“Rainbow Dash!” Sunset shouted angrily.
Sonic stood there with a shocked expression, feeling hurt by the accusation, especially from one of the girls he admired. He wanted to speak up, but the look of anger on Rainbow’s face prevented him to do so.
Sonic let out a sad sigh as he stood up. “Okay… goodbye.”
Without a word, Sonic slowly walked towards the front of the bus, not looking at any of the girls, and stepped out of the bus.
Rainbow watched as the hedgehog keeps on walking towards the crop field, making sure that he really was leaving. Once she was satisfied that he was far enough, she turned back to her friends, only blinked in confusion when everyone was giving her looks of disproval.
"...what?" said Rainbow.
"That was uncalled for Rainbow Dash!" Sunset scolded. "He didn't do anything wrong, and we were trying to get answers from him!"
Rainbow scowled. "I'm uncalled for!? This guy somehow knows about our personal life! How was it not suspicious to you people?”
“He didn’t say anything personal to you at all Dashie!” Pinkie pointed out. “All he said was you use to like to use your powers to run to Donut Joe’s and that he called you–”
“I know what he said Pinkie! Don’t ever repeat that!” Rainbow screamed.
“Rainbow Ashley Dash!” Fluttershy yelled angrily, catching everyone, including Rainbow by surprise. “That’s enough! While I understand why you’re upset, but that’s no reason to be a meanie, especially to your friends!”
Rainbow Dash blinked owlishly at Fluttershy before she turned her head towards Pinkie Pie, only to grimace in guilt when she sees her party-loving friend was on the verge of tears.
“I… I’m so sorry Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow said quietly. “I was out of line.”
With a sniff, Pinkie nodded with a small smile, letting her friend know that she forgives her.
Rarity frowned. “Why is that nickname bother you so much Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow looked uncomfortable at the question, but Fluttershy spoke up in her defense. “The reasoning behind that nickname is... personal to her, so please leave that be,” Fluttershy requested.
Rainbow gave her shy friend her grateful smile. “Thanks, Flutters, I–”
She immediately claimed up the moment Fluttershy glared at her. “But that’s still no reason for your attitude missy! Both to Pinkie and that poor creature!”
“Ah agree,” Apple Bloom spoke up. "He may look strange, but he doesn't seem like a bad… er… critter."
"Yeah, and he's nice too," Sweetie Bell added before frowning. "I wish that he didn’t have to leave."
"Um, girls? Everyone… he's still out there," Scootaloo announced while looking out the window.
Everyone turned to the windows, looking at the direction where Scootaloo was facing. Sure enough, the blue hedgehog was still out there, standing at the side of the road with a longing expression.
With an irritated growl, Rainbow Dash stepped outside the bus, causing the rest of the girls to follow her outside. The CMCs were about to follow as well, but Rarity stopped them.
"No girls! You three stay right there!" Rarity ordered.
"But Rarity," Sweetie protested, but Applejack cut her off.
"Let us handle this! Besides, you three are still in trouble!"
The three younger girls slumped in defeat.
"You can look after Spike in the meantime," Twilight offered kindly as she handed her dog over to Sweetie Belle, trying to cheer them up a bit. "Please look after him."
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Okay, Twilight, we will!"
Satisfied, Twilight stepped outside of the bus, where her friends were. They stood there watching as Rainbow Dash continued to berate the blue hedgehog.
“Why aren’t you moving?” Rainbow demanded impatiently.
“I don’t know where Manehatten is,” Sonic responded.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and pointed behind him. “It’s east!”
Sonic titled his head. “East?”
"Yes, east!" Rainbow snapped. "Just go straight shot. You can’t miss it!”
Sonic raised his hands. “Okay, okay. Fine! That’s cool. I’m totally cool saying goodbye now!”
With that, much to the surprise of everyone, Sonic turned and ran across the field at a high speed and disappeared before either of them could blink. Before either of them could make a comment, within the next few seconds, they immediately saw a blue blur coming towards them. When it stopped in front of them, everyone was staring in awe to see not only Sonic again so quickly, but also the fact that he was now soaking wet and somehow had some seaweed, a small starfish on his right temple, and a fish sitting on top of his head.
With an annoyed expression, Sonic let out a long sigh. “So!” he stated calmly. “As I crashed into the cold, dark water of the Atlantic, I realized a few things. A: I have no idea where I'm going. B: Saltwater stings. C: I shouldn't even be on this planet right now, but I am. Why?” Sonic then shot glaring daggers in a direction towards Sunset and Twilight. “Because you two shot me!”
Both the girls winced at his angered tone.
“Yeah… we know–” Twilight began before getting cut off by Sonic.
“You shot me!” Sonic accused.
“Okay, okay. We heard you!” Twilight then rubbed her neck, feeling awkward. “You don’t have to… rub it in… jeez…”
With a huff, Sonic continued to rant as he listed off with his fingers. “I'm wet. I'm cold. There's a fish on my head! And clearly, I'm not gonna be able to do this on my own!”
As Sonic paused and breathed through his nose to calm himself, the girls just stared at the hedgehog, still not sure what to make of this creature. It was at this moment, the CMC’s poked their heads out from the window of the bus.
“C’mon sis! Can’t ya help him?” Apple Bloom asked, feeling bad for the creature.
“Yeah, he just wanted to travel to another planet to find his new home,” Scootaloo added. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Yeah, please girls?” Sweetie Belle begged softly.
With a pleading expression, Sonic then looked at Sunset right in the eyes. “Please… help me.”
Sunset silently stared at the blue hedgehog for a moment as she weighed her options. Her mind was telling her not to help him again since he still didn’t have any good reason why they should trust him. After all, that wackjob doctor was after him, not her and the girls. Celestia knows what he had done to gain the attention of the government. Another reason, as much as Sunset hated to admit this, but Rainbow Dash had a very good point that they just technically fulfilled his request and he also saved their lives with only a few seconds of distraction that gave Sunset an open opportunity to strike Robotnik down. So they should be considered even and maybe have less chance to get in bigger trouble when they’re no longer associating with him.
However, even after the fish comedically slides off of Sonic’s head, Sonic still had that sad puppy look on his face. It was the same pleading expression he gave her earlier back at Twilight’s house when he needed help hiding him from Robotnik. He doesn’t look dangerous or any evil at all. He was only an innocent creature who somehow got caught in this mess and only wanted to live his life in another world.
Just like her.
She felt a bit ashamed of herself for even considering ditching this creature. And it wasn’t fair to pin the blame on this fiasco to him as well. They were also involved with G.U.N. because of her, and now their actions put themselves further into the spotlight. They’re probably going to be chased down by Tempest Shadow regardless after she basically told Sunset that she knows her history from the school hallway.
And even without that, it was also their fault that he was also in this mess too. That creature was trying to leave this planet and she and Twilight blew that chance for him. Sunset couldn’t help but feel guilty at that. She remembered her feelings the first time she traveled to this world and then learned that the portal only opens for only a brief time, and then have to wait for thirty moons before the portal opens again. The thought that she was so close to being cut off from her homeworld forever scared her. While the circumstances were different between her and the creature, she at least understood what it was like to be stranded in this world. But the difference between her and the hedgehog was that Sunset has friends, but this creature is all alone and has no one to turn to.
She then wondered what Princess Twilight will do with this creature. Will she help and give him a chance as she does to her? While the answer was obvious, Sunset should probably discuss with her friends before making her decision.
“Girls, huddle!” Sunset announced suddenly.
Getting the message, the Equestria girls, sans the CMCs and Sonic, gathered around and formed together into a huddle away from the hedgehog so that they could discuss the situation in private.
"So, what do you think girls?" Sunset whispered.
"Well, I'm thinking why are we even having this discussion?" Rainbow Dash remarked quietly. "I don't trust this creature! He could be secretly planning to get us all captured by the government!"
"Well Rainbow Dash, if he was, then why did he stick up for us against Robotnik and helped take out a few robots?" Twilight pointed out. "If he really was against us, he could've left us behind or assisted him."
"He does seem nice," Fluttershy commented thoughtfully. "And kinda cute."
Rarity quickly glanced at the creature in question. “While I don’t see any ill intentions from him either, but I’m not sure I agree with you about him being “cute” darling.”
“What are you talking about Rarity? I think he’s cute!” Pinkie chirped before she leaned closer to her ear. “And he looks a thousand times better than his original design!”
Rarity gave Pinkie an odd look.
"Yeah well, he may have “helped” us, but he knows a lot about us, including Equestria!" Rainbow argued before facing Sunset. “He also mentioned that you told him! Care to explain to that Sunset?”
“Sunset, is that true?” Rarity asked. “You met him before?”
Sunset shook her head. “No! He claimed that I told him, but this is the first time I met that creature!”
“It’s true,” said Twilight, vouching for her friend. “We first saw him breaking into my lab earlier, which was over fifteen minutes before you all arrived.”
Rainbow Dash huffed. “Well, even so, that cat, hedgehog, needlemouse– whatever the heck that thing is, somehow knows about us and has superspeed to boot!”
“Ah thought you’ll be ecstatic of meetin’ someone else who’s also as fast as you!” said Applejack with a bit of amusement in her voice.
“Not if it’s from some random creature who happened to show up when the government showed up and has knowledge about us,” Rainbow argued before narrowing her eyes. “I don’t like this! How do we know that this was all a ploy by the G.U.N. just to give them the information they need before finding the portal and then capturing us?”
Sunset let out a long sigh. “Look… I know you are all warily about this creature, and I don’t blame you. But… my gut is telling me that he’s not evil and he needs our help. We can’t just abandon him! Plus, it really was our fault that he lost his bag of rings. Helping him get them back would be the right thing to do.” When her friends remained unsure, she gave them her pleading expression. “Please girls… if you’re not gonna trust him… then you can at least trust me.”
There was only silence coming from the rest of the girls with contemplative expressions, making Sunset worried that she wasn’t able to convince her friends. Then her worries were immediately washed away when Twilight gently squeezed her shoulder and gave her a supporting smile.
"I agree with Sunset, we should help him,” said Twilight. She then blushed as she smiled sheepishly. “And... I’m also to blame for accidentally shot him with the tranquilizer gun.”
Before Sunset could utter her thanks to her friend, another one of her friends spoke up.
“Of course I want to help him!” said Pinkie with a little bit of excitement in her voice. “We’ll retrieve his rings and then we shall throw him a party afterwords as a celebration!”
“I... I want to help him too,” Fluttershy spoke up, much to everyone’s surprise. “He may not be an ordinary creature, but I vow to help any creature who needs help, no matter what species they are.”
“Thank you, girls!” Sunset said with a smile before glancing at Applejack and Rarity. “What about you two?”
Both girls had unsure expressions, still on the fence about the creature. After a moment of silence, it was Rarity who spoke up first.
“Oh very well Sunset,” said Rarity with a sigh. “While I have some doubts, but I do trust your judgment. And a lady should never turn down anyone- er, any creature who needed help!”
“Ah’m still not sure about dat creature,” Applejack spoke up with a serious expression before smirking. “But Ah’ll gladly lend y’all a hand.”
Sunset nodded with a smile. She then frowned when she turned to her last friend who had yet to give her her answer.
“Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash had a deep frown, no doubt that she still wasn’t completely convinced about their “passenger”. Of all her friends, Rainbow Dash is the most stubborn of the group, a bit more than Applejack. Sunset knew that it usually takes a lot to get Rainbow Dash to trust someone, but luckily, she’s also the most loyal of the bunch. Her loyalty to her friends usually outweighs her distrust of others. After a long pause, Rainbow finally speaks.
“I don’t trust him! And I still think he’s very suspicious!” She then sighed with a bit a reluctance in her features. “But… I trust you more Sunset. I never leave you or any of you girls hanging no matter what!”
Sunset gave Rainbow Dash her biggest smile. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash!” Her expression became serious again as she addressed her friends. “Alright, since going back to Canterlot City was out of the question, the best we can do is to lay low and continue to travel to Manehatten with little to no detection as possible. We were all planning to go to Manehatten anyway, so why not we go to that building he mentioned and picked up his rings along the way?"
"Except we planned to go there to have fun, not getting chased by the government!" Rainbow Dash huffed. “And even if we did help that... thing, what are we going to do about G.U.N.?"
The girls felt grim from this. They had nearly forgotten about their current situation. Even after the blue creature escaped from their world, that doesn’t mean that they are out of the woods once it’s all said and done.
"Well… Cadance has certain connections,” Twilight suggested. “Maybe we can go to her and have her help us?"
"Ah guess it's as good of a plan as it can get," said Applejack with a shrug. "As fer that critter, while we are helpin’ him, we should probably keep an eye on him just in case."
“That’s one plan I’ll actually get behind on,” Rainbow commented before smirking. “Maybe I’ll even figure out what makes this guy so fast!”
Everyone rolled their eyes at Rainbow’s remark.
"Alright, so it's settled," said Sunset, concluding their meeting.
With nods, the girls broke out of their huddle and turned towards the blue hedgehog, who remained in his spot since his return.
“Alright… you can come with us,” said Sunset, speaking up for the group.
“Really?" Sonic cried out in joy. He used his speed to shake all the moisture out of his fur, only to end up looking like a giant fluff ball as a result. "You're all gonna help me?”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah. You did save us by distracting one of those drones earlier, so it's the least we can do.” She then rubbed her neck sheepishly. “And also… it was a little bit of our fault that this was happening to you.”
“Not a little bit. Entirely," Sonic corrected with a frown. "It is entirely your fault.”
“Okay, okay. It is entirely our fault,” Sunset spoke up before Rainbow Dash could argue. “So… are you coming?”
Sonic smiled. “Yes.” He said as he shook himself again at high speed until his body was back to normal.
The CMCs smiled, happy for him that he can now join in on a trip and for them to make a new potential friend.
"Hey, come on up and join us, blue dude!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
Sonic widened his smile. "Sweet!" Within a millisecond, Sonic zipped right back inside the bus and sat with the CMCs on one of the bus seats.
“Road trip! Woohoo!” Sonic cheered.
"Woohoo!" The CMCs cheered alongside the blue hedgehog.
Rainbow Dash groaned loudly as she buried her face into her hand. "Ugh… what are we doing?"
"Inviting our new friend with us on a trip to Manehattan?" Pinkie answered in her upbeat tone.
Rainbow Dash gave Pinkie an irritated look. "It was a rhetorical question Pinkie!"
"Oh… what's 'rhetorical'?"
Rainbow Dash simply rolled her eyes.
"Before we get back on a bus, we need to do one more thing before we go!" Twilight announced.
"And what's that Twilight?" Sunset asked.
"We need to… destroy our cell phones," said Twilight with a sigh, much to everyone’s shock.
"Are you crazy Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "We can't destroy our phones!"
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, how are we gonna let our families know without our phones?"
"Or using our GPS?" Fluttershy added.
"Or checking our social status on MyStable while shopping online for the best outfits for next Tuesday and streaming a new episode of 'Love and Pain' while arguing with some fanboy in the comments on which is the better pairing at the same time?"
Rarity paused when her friends were giving her odd stares.
"What? Some people multi-task!" Rarity defended.
"Look girls," Twilight spoke in a serious tone. "We're on the run from the government. They'll do anything in their arsenal to catch anyone who is on their hit list, including tracking us with our phones. In order to have better odds of not getting captured, the first thing we must do is to get rid of them, including credit cards and any other devices."
The girls were hesitant by Twilight’s plan, but Sunset spoke up.
"She's right girls… we're fugitives now. We do what we have to do to keep ourselves ahead of them, otherwise, it will be all for naught."
The girls were still not happy with the idea, but deep down, they all knew that Twilight was right. After a minute of silence, it was Applejack who spoke up for the group.
"Alright Twi... if you think that this was fer the best, then we'll do it," Applejack said reluctantly.
Twilight nodded. "Good. And make sure you get your sisters too."
One by one, each one handed their phones over to Twilight. Rarity had a much difficult time with the idea of losing her phone, but after a gentle nudge by Applejack, she finally relented. It took a while to convince the CMCs to do the same until they eventually agreed after Twilight filled them in on their situation and reasoning. Once Twilight gathered all of the phones, including her own, Twilight used her telekinesis power to lift the phones in the air and then slowly compressed them into a ball until they're eventually crushed and disintegrated to oblivion.
"It is done," Twilight said simply.
With somber expressions, the Equestria Girls slowly walked back into the bus. Applejack suddenly stopped walking and faced Sunset with a serious expression.
“Sunset, ah hope ya know what yer doing,” Applejack said quietly before she turned and headed into the bus herself.
With an unsure expression, Sunset looked up at the window where Sonic was sitting and let out a sigh.
“I hope so too...”
- END OF ACT 1 -