//------------------------------// // Volume II - Chapter 1: On The Open Road // Story: Equestria Girls: Sonic the Hedgehog // by sonicfan05 //------------------------------// It has been an hour that the gang was still traveling on the road in their tour bus with Applejack taking the wheel once again. They even “fixed” their bus door window by placing a piece of cardboard and some duct tape around it before hitting the road. It wasn’t an ideal fix, but at least they don’t have to worry about the airflow or raindrops in case of rain.  Despite being on the road for so long, it was an awkward ride between the Equestria Girls and the blue hedgehog. Ever since they let him join, none of them spoke to the creature. They were still uncertain and suspicious to him, but he didn’t give them any impression that he’ll bring them harm. Luckily, their awkwardness was somewhat reduced when the CMCs did most of the conversation with the hedgehog. The girls talked about various topics such as movies they watched, their school, and their friends, which seems to make the blue hedgehog interested and excited more. For a short time, the four of them already formed a friendship. While that warmed the hearts of the Equestria Girls, but they’re still a bit cautious around the creature. “So… you’ve been spyin’ on our sisters this whole time?” Apple Bloom inquired after hearing Sonic’s story of how he knew the Equestria Girls for quite some time. “Well… I wouldn’t call it spying," Sonic said with a sheepish smile. "We’re all just hanging out, only I wasn’t invited and no one knew I was there.” Apple Bloom tilted her head. “...isn’t dat the same thing?” “He does have a point, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo interjected. “There is a difference between spying and just hanging out without anyone knowing you’re there.” “Yeah!" Sweetie Belle added. "Like last week when we “hung out” at Rarity’s room during their sleepover under her bed without them noticing.” “You what!?” Rarity shrieked, turning around towards her sister with an angry look. Sweetie Belle recoiled at her sister's glare while slapping her hand over her mouth. “Oops!” Before Rarity could scold her sister, Applejack spoke up while still keeping her eyes on the road. "Ah still can't believe that not only you've been stalkin' us this whole time, but yer also the Blue Devil!"  "Yeah, Crazy Lyra was right!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "I think you need to rename her Super Observing Lyra instead," said Sonic. "She was trying to capture me ever since she first saw me at the park when she was smaller." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Well, shoot... now I owe Lyra an apology!" "We all owe her an apology," Sunset added before she frowned. "That is if we ever get out of this mess. I wish I could call Principal Celestia before we destroyed our phones." Twilight placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “I understand your frustration Sunset, but we have to be cautious about this. And I know it's scary right now, but all we can do right now is get to Cadance at Manehatten without getting detected by the government.” “Brainiac is right Equestrian Girl!” Sonic added before flashing his cocky grin. “Plus, we have powers! So if anyone is chasing us, we can take ‘em with my speed and your magic!” Twilight cleared her throat with an uneasy look. “Let’s just hope we don’t come down to that unless we have no other option.” "That reminds me," Rarity spoke up. "Why did you call Sunset "Equestrian Girl" and Twilight "Brainiac"?" "Well, as I told these two earlier,” Sonic replied as he pointed at Twilight. “I called her “Brainiac” because I've seen her with her machines and she's really smart.” He then pointed at Sunset. “And her “Equestrian Girl” because she's from Equestria." Twilight blinked with a surprised expression. "Wait, you’ve seen me with machines? When?" Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I saw you one time when you were building that robot dog thing during a rainstorm in that shed of yours." Twilight’s cheeks were red. Both out of embarrassment and indignant for that the creature to loudly reveal her private project to her friends and the way he nonchalantly called her private lab. "It's not a shed, it's a lab!” Twilight spoke up with an annoyed expression. “And for your information, it used to be my family’s garage before I converted it into my private lab for me to do my experiments." Sonic shrugged. “Ah, shed? Garage? Same thing!” Twilight scowled. “No, it isn’t!” "Ooh! Do we have any nicknames too?" Pinkie interrupted with a chirp. "Of course!” Sonic answered happily, ignoring Twilight who had a pouting expression. “For you, I call you “Cotton Candy Girl” because your hair looked like cotton candy and that you liked sweets!" Pinkie giggled with a snort. "Cotton Candy Girl! I love it! And that's so true about my hair! Heck, it even tasted like cotton candy.” To demonstrate, Pinkie brought her hair close to her mouth and nibbled a bit with a satisfying hum. “Wanna taste?" She offered. "Uh… no, but I'll take your word for it," Sonic declined politely. He then turned to Applejack. "Moving right along, for you, I called you “the Cowgirl” because you lived on a farm and always wear a cowgirl hat." "Ah see,” Applejack responded while still driving. She smiled as she briefly touched her hat. “Although, if ya want to be specific, this here is called a Statham hat. It was passed to me by my pa and Ah’m proud to wear it!" “Oh cool!” Sonic exclaimed excitedly. “I would love to show you my big red hat... but I have to leave it behind when those bots chased me.” The girls, especially Sunset noticed his attitude changed drastically all of a sudden when he mentioned his hat. The hedgehog appeared to be sad... and something else among the lines. They wondered what could cause the creature to be suddenly miserable. Fluttershy, who felt pity for the creature, decided to try to cheer him up. “Um… what about me?” Fluttershy asked, as she petted Spike, who was sleeping on her lap. Thankfully, that seemed to work as Sonic flashed her a huge smile. “Easy! You’re “Animal Girl” because I saw you talk to animals.” Sunset nodded. “Makes sense. Fluttershy loves all kinds of animals and even understands them!” Sonic eyes widened as he turned to Fluttershy. “You mean you can really understand what any animals were saying?” Fluttershy happily nodded. “Oh yes. Thanks to my ability, I can understand every creature!” “Oh, I thought it was because you were crazy, but that was actually pretty cool!” said Sonic as he gave her a thumbs up.  Fluttershy blinked, not sure what to think of his statement. “Um, thanks… I guess?” “And what about me darling?” Rarity inquired. “I’m calling you “Fashion Queen” because I’ve seen you created all kinds of clothes at your shop,” Sonic replied. “Well technically, that shop belonged to one of my relatives,” Rarity said nonchalantly before screaming, “And you’ve seen my designs!?” Before any of them blinked, Rarity was standing in front of Sonic with stars in her eyes. “What did you think? Did you like them? Tell me, which one catches your eye the most?” Sonic slowly backed away from the fashionista as far as he can into his seat while staring at her warily. “Uh, to be honest… none of them really. I’m not really into clothes.” Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as Rarity’s pupils shrank and her left brow twitching. Sweetie Belle, who noticed her sister’s telltale signs, let out a loud groan. “Oh, now you’ve done it,” she muttered. Before Sonic could ask what she meant, Rarity exploded. “Not into clothes!?” Rarity screeched, shaking her head rapidly. “No. No no no no no! This will simply not do! I just have to make you an outfit! Oh, why did I not bring my portable sewing kit!?” “Because it was unnecessary and we forced ya to leave it behind after packin’ too much of yer stuff already?” Applejack deadpanned. “But a lady should always be prepared!” Rarity argued. Applejack, while glancing at her friend from a rearview mirror, cocked an eyebrow. “To make a dress?” “You never know darling!” “Uh…” Sonic uttered, not sure what to think of what he witnessed. “Don’t mind her,” Sunset assured. “She’s always like this even the smallest thing.” “Although, now you got my sis into fashion overdrive! So expect her to give you a new piece of clothing whether you want it or not,” Sweetie Belle warned. Sonic groaned. “Great. I set her off all because I said I wasn’t interested.” Rainbow Dash snickered, seeing the creature’s suffering. “Yeah, that’s Rares for ya! Maybe you should’ve nicknamed her Drama Queen!” Rarity heard Rainbow’s statement and glared at her. “I wouldn’t be the one to talk, Skittles!” Rainbow Dash ceased her sickering and her expression darkened. “Don’t call me that!” “Chill out Dashie!” Pinkie soothed. “What’s wrong being named after a candy?” “I doubt that he nicknamed her after some candy Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said skeptically. “Actually... that’s pretty much why,” said Sonic, much to everyone, especially Rainbow’s disbelief. “Her hair reminded me of that same candy I tasted once.” Rainbow scowled as she crossed her arms. “Oh great, I’m nicknamed after a candy. That makes me feel so much better!” “I was nicknamed after a candy and I don’t mind!” Pinky chirped. “But mine is so lame!” Rainbow whined. “I thought “Skittles” suits you perfectly Skittles!” said Sonic, only to make Rainbow Dash angry. “Stop calling me Skittles!” she shouted. There was tense silence after her outburst. Even poor Spike nearly jumped out of Fluttershy’s arms due to Rainbow’s shouting. Sonic back away a little in fear, afraid that he unintentionally made her angry again, while her friends stared at her with mixtures of concern and irritated expressions. Fluttershy in particular gave Rainbow Dash her warning glare for going out of line again. Seeing her friends’ faces, Rainbow calmed herself down with a resigned sigh. “It’s Rainbow Dash, okay?” she said as she crossed her arms. “You can call me that, or Dash, or even Dashie, but not Skittles... okay?” Sonic nodded. “Okay, no problem Ski– I mean, Dash!” Everyone silently sighed in relief after the exchange and Fluttershy nodded at Rainbow Dash in approval. “Well, I don’t mind you calling me Cotton Candy Girl!” Pinkie giggled before pointing at herself. “But since we’re properly introducing names, I’m Pinkie Pie!” She then pointed to each of her friends. “Over there is Fluttershy, Spike, Rarity, and Applejack.” The girls in question politely waved at the blue hedgehog with a smile, while Spike simply grunted before falling back to sleep into Fluttershy’s warm arms. Pinkie then pointed to the three younger girls next to him. “Those three over there are younger sisters of AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. Well, technically, a sister figure to Rainbow Dash, but sisters nonetheless. Anyway, their names are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo! But as a group, they’re known as CMC!” Sonic tilted his head. “The CMC?” “The Canterlot Movie Club! Yay!” The young trio chorused loudly, nearly shattering the creature’s and everyone else’s eardrums. They even caused poor Spike to abruptly wake up from his slumber again, muttering angrily among the lines of “almost catching a flying floating bone” before falling asleep again. “We like to watch a lot of movies and analyze them for our ViewTube series!” Apple Bloom explained. “Sometimes, we created some pranks and music videos just for the fun of it!” Scootaloo added. “But we also like to help and offer our advice to other people to help rediscover their talents!” said Sweetie Belle. Sonic smiled. “Oh cool! What kind of movies?” “We like all sorts of movies,” Scootaloo answered. “But our favorite series was Daring Do!” Sonic gasped. “No way! I love Daring Do!” “You watched Daring Do too?” Apple Bloom exclaimed excitedly. “Which one is your favorite?” Sweetie Belle asked. Sonic grinned. “Daring Do and the Secret Rings!” “Nice! Ours too!” said Scootaloo. Sunset smiled at the site. Despite having some mixed feelings about that creature, it warmed her heart that the CMCs are forming a friendly bond with him. She almost admitted to herself that she was also warmed up to him personally. She was concerned however when she noticed his sudden sad attitude earlier when he mentioned his cave. She mentally noted to look into it later, but right now they need to move along with their introductions. And maybe get some answers from this creature. “We’re getting off-topic,” said Sunset before pointing at Twilight and then herself. “She’s Twilight Sparkle, and I’m Sunset Shimmer, but you knew that already.” Her face then became serious. “Now, will you please tell me how you knew all about us and Equestria?” Sonic huffed. “For the third time, you told me!” “How!?” Sunset stressed, nearly losing her patience. “How could I possibly have told you if we never met before?” “You told me through our letters,” Sonic revealed. There was dead silence within the bus as the girls stared at the hedgehog in shock, but not as much as Sunset, who was staring at him with her eyes as wide as dinner plates. “L...Letters?” Sunset uttered. “W-what letters?” “Oh you know, our letters!” Sonic replied casually. “We always exchanged them with each other as pen pals by leaving them underneath that one rock behind the bench at the park every week.” Sunset felt her heart thumping hard within her chest and her throat became dry as sandpaper from the implication of his words. No… it can't be! Sunset thought before she swallowed.  “Who… who are you?” she asked quietly. “You really don’t know?” said with a semi-surprised expression. With a grin, he pointed at himself with his thumb. “I’m Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog!” Sunset’s eyes widened further in shock. “You’re Sonic!?” Once again, Spike was rudely awakened from his sleep due to an outburst. In his half-asleep state, Spike let out an annoyed grunt. “Ugh! I’ll never get any sleep at this rate!’ Sonic nodded. “Sure am!” Everyone, except for the CMCs, was also shell-shocked with Sonic’s bombshell as the true identity of Sunset’s secret pen pal. “No way…” Rainbow Dash uttered, eyes wide. “Sunset’s secret pen pal… was this talking blue hedgehog this whole time!?” “...didn’t see dat one comin’!” Applejack drawled, still focusing on the road despite that her eyes were as wide as the others. Sunset felt her head was spinning. Of all the possibilities of who her pen pal would be, a talking blue hedgehog creature was probably the last thing that came to her mind. So many questions come to her mind: How long was he around before becoming her pen pal? How much does he know about her and her friends, as well as Equestria? What was his intention of talking to her through their letters? And was their friendship... even real? Before she could ask any of those questions out loud, Sonic let out a loud gasp and rushed to one of the windows. “Oh my gosh, stop the bus!” Sonic shouted. This caused everyone on high alert. Applejack in particular almost slammed her brakes from the tone of Sonic’s urgency. Even Spike once again woke up abruptly from his slumber, but then became alert like the others after hearing Sonic’s serious shouting. “What!? What is it?” Sunset exclaimed. “Did that agent find us?” Twilight guessed. “Or a monster?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “Or something scary?” Fluttershy squeaked in fright. Sonic shook his head. “No, that!” he exclaimed with a smile before pointing outside. Everyone turned to face the window just in time to see a large billboard with a large image of, what appears to be, a rubber band ball. “The World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball?” Sonic read excitedly. “We gotta see it!” There were collective groans all around the bus. Everyone, sans Pinkie, annoyed that it was only a false alarm and not any real danger. Spike in particular was annoyed most of all for being woken up for something so trivial instead of any real emergency.  “Oh for Pete’s sake!” Spike growled. “Ooh! I wanna see it too!” Pinkie exclaimed with a huge smile. “No, no, no!” Twilight yelled sternly, shaking her head with narrowed eyes. “Out of a question! This is not a family road trip! We can’t make any unnecessary stops, otherwise, G.U.N. will dissect you and arrest us!” She closed her eyes with a sigh. “Now... if we keep going at this rate without stopping, we should be at Manehatten in less than–” The next time Twilight opened her eyes, she, as well as the others, became alarmed when their certain guest disappeared from his seat. For that matter, he disappeared completely from their bus and somehow, no one even noticed. “Wha… where did he go!?” Twilight exclaimed. Within seconds, Sonic reappeared back on the bus and onto his seat, much to everyone’s shock. What they all noticed right off the bat was that the hedgehog didn’t come back empty-handed. He was wearing a red baseball cap with the official Rubber-Band Ball brand on the front and he was carrying various stuff in his hands, including many mini Rubber Band Balls. “Eh, you’re right. It was lame,” Sonic said with a shrug before showing Twilight one of the items with a grin. “The gift shop was cool though! I got you a mouse pad!” Pinkie Pie sagged in disappointment. “Aww, I wish I was there!” “Don’t worry, Cotton Candy Girl!” Sonic assured with a grin before picking up another item. “I got you this thing!” The item in question was a wooden paddle ball with a red ball, which was attached to the paddle with a string. Pinkie’s eyes lit up the moment she saw the item. “Ooh, I love this toy!” Pinkie cried happily before taking it. “How did you know that I like this?” Sonic winked. “Just a hunch.” “Seriously?” Rainbow Dash groaned as Pinkie started playing with her new toy. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, the ball Pinkie was bouncing was not only too close to Rainbow’s head, but the sounds of the ball bouncing were way too loud than she cared for. Fluttershy blinked. “Wait… how’d you get ahold of those items?” “Please tell me you paid them with your money,” Twilight begged. Sonic tilted his head in confusion. “What’s money?” Twilight’s left eyebrow twitched rapidly in response. “Terrific! Now we’re wanted for petty theft on top of this!” Rainbow Dash complained with a huff. “Well, at least it’s just a mouse pad and a paddle-ball,” Sunset offered meekly, trying to reduce the tension. “Oh, but that’s not all!” Sonic added as he counted his fingers. “I also got a mug, a t-shirt, a couple of hats, a rubber bracelet, magnets, and even smaller versions of the rubber band balls!” Most of the girls cringed at the number of items that Sonic "helped himself" from the gift shop, while Rainbow Dash felt even more annoyed at the blue rodent and Twilight was trying to keep herself from freaking out. Sonic then turned towards Rainbow Dash and took out what appears to be a package of candy. “I even got you some Skittles, Skittles!”  He winced when Rainbow Dash scowled at him. “Oh, right... can’t use that name anymore!" He said sheepishly. "Sorry, wouldn’t happen again!” He then turned to Sunset with an excited grin. “So, when are we gonna get there?” “We will get there when we get there!" Sunset answered before she narrowed her eyes at him. "Just… don’t go anywhere anymore, okay? In fact, from now on, do exactly as I say, all the time! Got it!” Sonic saluted. “You got it Equestrian Girl!” Sunset frowned. I’m still not used to that nickname. She thought. While she was still shocked that this hedgehog turned out to be her pen pal and wanted to ask him more questions, right now, her top priority was to help everyone travel to Manehattan safely. There are plenty of times to get her answers later. She’ll have to wait to talk to him alone when the next opportunity presents herself. After all, there are certain topics she wanted to discuss with him that not even her friends know about. “Hehehe, this is fun!” Pinkie giggled, as she continued to play with her paddle-ball near Rainbow’s head, much to the athlete's annoyance. “...this is gonna be a long road trip,” Rainbow muttered. "You can say that again," Spike huffed as he tried to get back to sleep in Fluttershy’s arms once again. Tempest narrowed her eyes as she stared intensely at her GPS, provided by G.U.N. A while ago, she pulled her car over to the side of the road and checked on her device to keep track of the location of the fugitives through their phones. Unfortunately, up until an hour ago, their signals have vanished completely from her screen. She theorized that the girls either destroyed their phones or something happened to girls, leading them to get hurt, or worse. She hoped it was the former, rather than the latter. If it was the latter, then those girls are clearly more clever than she expected. She admitted to herself that she underestimated these girls. They are no ordinary teens. They were able to evade her every time they were within her grasp despite her government training. They were able to do all of that without their powers. Her mood soured when her thoughts were drawn to Sunset Shimmer, the leader of the group. Her face still hurts from that punch that girl gave to her, but she was quick on her feet and really determined to protect her friends, Tempest will give her that.  And that creature. She had no clue who he is, what he is and why he was with those girls. All she knows is that Dr. Robotnik is after that creature. And the fact that the girls are also associating with him, puts them in even more danger than ever before. All the more reason for her to catch up with them first before he does. Her Commander will not be happy after hearing about her latest update with the girls. Tempest winced from the sudden pain from her arm, especially where their purple dog bit her earlier during struggle during the bus chase. “That darn mutt!” Tempest growled. She dug her hand into her suit pocket and took out some sort of a high-tech pen. With a sigh, Tempest pulled up her sleeve from her right arm, revealing her forearm. But instead of flesh, her arm was made of cold, gray metal, specifically, Titanium metal. Tempest frowned as she recalled how she earned this arm before she joined her father at G.U.N. It was a memory that she would rather forget, but one look at her arm is a constant reminder of her past lives and actions and must live with for the rest of her life. She wished that she could just erase her past. She sighed heavily when she spotted those small bite marks that were left by the dog. With a small sigh, Tempest used the pen to activate a mini flame as she began to patch up the marks. Those girls and that creature would have to wait.