Rainbow Dash has been strolling through the woods for what it felt like hours now, exploring the area in a huge circle. Her mood hasn't improved ever since her outburst at camp and then her fight with Sunset earlier. She couldn't help but felt angry that all her friends are against her, but also felt guilty for how she acted. Deep down, she wanted to go back to camp and apologize to her friends for her behavior, but her pride and ego prevented it. Instead, she continued to just walk around near the area until she cools down. When would that happen, Rainbow wasn't certain.
At one point, she decided to take a different route, which led her out of the woods and into the plains area. The plains itself was a very open area of land full of grass, dirt, and some flowers and there was even a lone tree just near her. But up ahead is what got her attention the most; a large cliff section of the area. From over the cliff, she could see the rocky ground and shallow river below her. Despite the lovely view, it looked like a very long drop from where she stood, probably about several hundred feet. It would be for the best for her to stay away from the cliff.
Rainbow sighed again as she watched the river flowing before placing her hand on her pocket, feeling her most precious item. She always carried that item with her whenever she went like a lucky charm. Whenever she was lost or upset, she would always clench on her item, as if she was trying to make a connection to somebody, hoping desperately to seek some kind of advice.
Was I in the wrong? Rainbow thought somberly. Did I really judge too harshly and unfairly? I may have gone too far, but how could I trust him? She then gripped on her 'charm' a bit tighter. Please Unc… tell me what should I do?
"Dash?"
Rainbow broke out of her thoughts and immediately let go of her charm. She looked up towards the sound of a voice from a tree and then frowned the moment she identified who was up there. Up in that lone tree branch, was none other than Sonic. He doesn't seem to be happy to see her either, yet he also had a curious expression as he looked down on her from his spot.
Oh, great! Rainbow thought sarcastically before letting out a huff in annoyance.
"What are you doing here, rodent?” She demanded. “Stalking me?"
Sonic frowned, hurt and offended from the nickname she gave him and her open hostility.
"Well, if you must know, I decided to come here on my own to clear my head after your oh-so-kind words!" Sonic responded in his not-so-happy tone.
Rainbow Dash felt a twinge of guilt from her words earlier, but brushed it off, too stubborn to admit her actions were wrong.
“Well, I suggest you go elsewhere!” Rainbow retorted.
Sonic's expression became slightly hardened from Rainbow’s tone. He hopped off from the tree and landed on the ground near her, startling the tomboy teen in the process.
“What is your big deal!?” Sonic remarked, having enough of her treatment towards him. “I understand that you don’t trust me, but ever since we met, you’ve been treating me like I’m some sort of bad guy!”
Rainbow scoffed as she threw her arms up. “How can I? You are the one who lured the government to us with that blue wave of yours! If you ask me, you’re probably doing that on purpose!”
Sonic eyes narrowed as he stood in front of Rainbow. “Oh really? Let me ask you this Einstein, why would I want people to come chasing after me when I’m only trying to live my life? And why would I want to work with those men in black suits who wanted to study me like some guinea pig? And what would be my gain of getting us all captured by some mad doctor who is obsessed with egg-shaped robots?”
Rainbow stood in silence as Sonic glared angrily at her for like an eternity. A moment later Sonic let out a long sigh, anger drained from his face somewhat.
“Look… what happened at the baseball field was only by accident due to my… 'episode', and I didn’t mean to make things worse to you girls. And despite what you think, I’m not the bad guy! I would never hurt you or your friends! Besides, you have no right to judge… because you don’t even know me.”
Once again, Rainbow Dash felt a twinge of guilt pecking at her heart. While she won’t admit this to anyone out loud, she has acknowledged that she went too far on her accusation earlier. However, while this creature doesn’t seem to be malicious in some way, she and her friends are in this predicament because of his actions. And it doesn’t help the fact that he wasn’t completely truthful either, making him a little suspicious.
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Well, I may not know you, but that still doesn’t change the fact that you’ve been stalking us and put us all in danger! Just why were you watching us, huh? What is your agenda?”
“I have no agenda!” Sonic insisted loudly. “I just… I just like watching people, okay!? Is that a crime?”
“No, but it’s creepy as heck!” Rainbow argued as she crossed her arms. “And that didn’t answer my question! Why us? Of all the people in the world, you only watched me and my friends! Why is that?”
For a moment, Sonic was very hesitant to respond, feeling small from the way Rainbow staring down at him like he committed a crime. After a moment of silence, Sonic looked away.
“I… I can’t say,” he answered quietly.
Rainbow frowned, not satisfied with the answer. “‘You can’t?’ What do you mean, ‘you can’t’?”
“I can’t tell you why,” Sonic clarified, rubbing his arm for comfort. “I’m not comfortable talking about that now... you probably won’t believe me anyway.”
“What makes you so sure that I believe you now?” Rainbow countered, losing patience with the blue creature. “You know, I honestly don’t know why Sunset decided to help some freak like you, but if it was me, I probably would’ve let that Ro-butt-nik or whatever his name is to just... take you away! At the very least, you won’t cause any more trouble to my friends and be out of our lives!”
Sonic felt stung by her words. It would seem that no matter what he does or says, Dash would just hate him no matter what. Next to Equestria Girl, he really wanted to get along with this girl ever since he first saw her since they both have the same interests, but it would seem that would never become a reality.
Sonic bowed his head, eyes hidden from his quills. "Maybe I'm wrong about you," Sonic spoke in a low tone, before looking back up to Rainbow with an angry look. "You're not an awesome person at all! You’re nothing but a jerk! In fact, your new nickname is the Jerk Girl!"
Rainbow Dash was taken aback by his tone but then got angry at the words he said. "Hey! I am not a jerk!"
Sonic scoffed. "Could've fooled me Skittles!"
"Stop calling me Skittles!" Rainbow snapped.
Sonic crossed his arms. "Why?"
Rainbow scowled. "Why what!?"
"Why don't you like being called 'Skittles', Skittles?" Sonic pressed.
"Because I don't want you calling me that, that's why!" Rainbow retorted.
Sonic shook his head, clearly not buying it. "No, I want a real answer! Why are you so defensive with that nickname? ...was there a particular reason behind that nickname?"
Rainbow Dash glared daggers at the hedgehog. "That’s not of your business rodent!” She pointed at Sonic’s chest. “You're the last per– creature that I ever tell you anything about my personal life since you won’t tell me about yours! So just… back off you freak!"
Sonic clenched his fist from her name-calling but kept himself composed. Just as he was going to retort, a thought came to him and then let out a malicious smirk.
"Fine! Have it your way... Skittles!"
Rainbow growled angrily, knowing that the blue hedgehog was calling her that forbidden nickname on purpose now.
"I told you to knock it off!" she barked.
"Hey! You called me a 'creature', 'thing', 'rodent', and a 'freak'!" Sonic pointed out, unnerved from Rainbow’s angry tone. "It's only fair that I called you 'Skittles'!"
"Stop that!" Rainbow shouted.
"What's wrong? Are you gonna cry Skittles if I don't?" Sonic taunted.
Rainbow Dash's face turned red in anger. "I'm warning you!"
Ignoring Rainbow’s anger, Sonic began to chant playfully much to Rainbow’s annoyance.
"Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles, Skittles…"
Having enough of his antics, Rainbow suddenly stood in front of him and brought her face so close to his that their noses were touching. She narrowed her eyes at him as if she was daring him to speak again.
"Call me 'Skittles'... one more time!"
Not backing down from her subtle threat, Sonic narrowed his eyes at her.
"...Skittles."
With a loud infuriating scream, Rainbow tried to tackle the blue hedgehog, only he vanished at the last second and caused her to land face down on the ground. She spat some dirt out of her mouth as she got up, quickly surveying the area to find that creature.
“Having fun playing with dirt?”
Rainbow Dash looked up and scowled furiously when she finally spotted Sonic, who was standing on the branch of a tree above her with a cheeky grin on his face. Rainbow Dash felt her whole body shake, angry and humiliated that the blue rodent was purposely provoking her just to make her look like a fool and for him to show off his speed like he’s better than her.
"That does it!” Rainbow Dash roared. “You think you’re so funny, hotshot? Well, you’re not, hedgehog! I’m going to take you down a peg!”
Sonic cocked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that Skittles?”
Rainbow held back a growl at the nickname as she tried to ponder what she can do to defeat that guy. Despite how infuriated she was at the blue rodent, she couldn’t bring herself to hurt him. Besides, violence wasn’t her style unless it was necessary.
“I challenge you… to a race!" Rainbow announced.
Sonic blinked. "A race?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow nodded. She pointed at the huge crater in front of then traced her finger around the whole area. "We're going to run this one big lap around that cliff while running through those woods and then on the flat plains and finally down the side road which leads back here. Whoever reaches back here first past this tree, wins!"
"So we're competing with speed, eh?" Sonic mused in interest before he leaped off of a tree and landed in front of Rainbow Dash with a grin. "Alright, I'm game!"
"Not so fast pal!" said Rainbow as she stretched out her arm towards him with an open palm. "Before we began... what do ya say we made ourselves a wager?"
Sonic titled his head both in suspicion and interest. "Go on..."
Rainbow Dash smirked. "If I win, and I will," Rainbow began, causing Sonic to roll his eyes a little. "You will leave… and never come back to bother us again!"
Sonic frowned. He figured that Rainbow Dash was using this race as of means to get him to leave the group. Despite that, Sonic will not back down on a challenge.
"Fine by me,” Sonic responded before pointing at himself with his thumb. “But if I win… you'll finally tell me the reason why you don't like being called 'Skittles'! No ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, or ‘buts’!"
Rainbow Dash's smirk was intently wiped away, replaced with a nervous expression.
Sonic noticed her sudden change of attitude and smirked. "What's wrong? Scared to lose?"
That did it for her.
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw. Her hesitation was wiped away as her competitive spirit and her resolve to beat this creature kicked in. "Oh… It. Is. On!" she growled.
Wanting to make sure this rodent didn’t go back on his deal, Rainbow Dash spat on her hand and then extended her arm towards him, expecting him to do the same. Thinking it was some sort of pre-challenge ritual, Sonic also spat into his hand. The two of them then smacked their hands together and shook on it, sealing their deal.
With that settled, the two of them got themselves into starting positions right near the tree. Rainbow Dash leaned forwards and placed her two outstretched hands in front of her while squaring her shoulders. She then kneeled one of her knees back a bit on the ground while keeping her other knee up forward. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the blue hedgehog was copying her position, much to her annoyance.
"Just so you know hedgehog,” said Rainbow with a determined glare. “Even before I have speed magic, I've been on the track team for years! So don't you ever underestimate me!"
"Oh, I won't!" Sonic responded, while also glaring at her. "And just so you know, I've been running all my life! So don't think a race against me is a walk in the park either… Skittles!"
Rainbow scowled at him for the insult before turning away to face the track in front of her.
Mock me all you want rodent! She thought with a growl. I'm gonna wipe that cocky smirk right off of your face when I beat you!
The two waited in silence as if they’re waiting for some kind of signal for their “race” to start. Just out of nowhere, a light breeze blew in their direction. Within that breeze was a single leaf, which had fallen off from the tree, floating down between the two racers. The two were eyeing the leaf as it slowly descended to the ground, their bodies tensed up in anticipation. When the leaf finally landed on the ground, the two immediately went off simultaneously within a millisecond.
Rainbow Dash immediately tapped into her magic from her magical geode amulet to activate the power of her speed at the start of the race, while Sonic just simply ran at the same pace as Rainbow Dash. The two are neck to neck, focusing on their running and the path ahead and neither showed any signs of fatigue. However, despite how fast she was running, Rainbow was internally struggling to keep up while Sonic had a calm smile on his face, much to Rainbow’s annoyance.
They both eventually reached the woods again and ran through them. The challenging part of running in the woods was the visibility of the path was tricker due to the leaves of the trees blocking the moonlight and that they have to dodge and go around anything that was lying in their path, including trees. Rainbow Dash managed to get herself ahead despite all that obstacle, but she knew it was only a matter of time for the blue hedgehog to catch up.
As she rounded herself around the corner, Rainbow Dash noticed a long tree branch hanging from the side of the tree. With a devious smirk, Rainbow Dash grabbed the branch that was hanging from the tree and pulled it as far as she could. When she felt a slight resistance, Rainbow Dash let go of the branch just as Sonic was coming around behind her. Before he had time to react, the branch hit Sonic right on his face, sending him back, and landed on the ground. Sonic sat back up with a pained grunt.
“Hey!” Sonic shouted angrily.
Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry at him before she ran further ahead with a victorious grin.
Sonic narrowed his eyes at Rainbow’s retreating back. “Alright, then Skittles… this means war!”
Sonic quickly got up and rushed forward, but ran right into a bush to hide between the trees.
Meanwhile, Rainbow chuckled to herself with a cocky grin, believing that her race is now in the bag after slowing down that blue pest. All she can do now is to keep on running until she makes it to the finish line. However, she failed to notice Sonic, who was running alongside her from within the bushes. Suddenly, Sonic leaped from the bushes and into the air, catching Rainbow by surprise. While Sonic was up in the air, he partly turned to face Rainbow, who had a look of shock and gave her a side smirk while giving her two-finger guns with one of his arms going underneath his left leg.
With a wink, Sonic quickly spun around and landed safely on the ground before he ran further than Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash quickly shook off her dumbfounded expression and let out a loud growl. “Oh no you don’t!” she shouted while trying to catch up to him.
With her eyes set on Sonic, Rainbow Dash speeds herself up a bit, slowly gaining up from behind Sonic. Just as she was about to reach the blue hedgehog, Sonic quickly sidestepped away from her. Before she could make a remark, she was suddenly slammed face-first into a tree. With a groan, Rainbow Dash slowly fell back into the ground, leaving a huge dent in the tree.
Rainbow Dash laid on the grass on her back in a daze; tiny bluebirds were spinning around in her vision. She was snapped out of it when she heard a chuckle. She sat up while clutching her aching head with one hand and her eyes narrowed when she saw Sonic standing in front of her with a cheeky grin.
"You're too slow!" Sonic taunted before he ran off again, causing Rainbow Dash to scream out in rage before following behind him.
They eventually got out of the woods and appeared on the open field again, able to see their path and giving them more space again. By now, they were at the halfway point of their race. Sonic appeared to be in the lead of the race while Rainbow Dash lingered behind, trying to catch up. As Rainbow Dash was getting closer, Sonic suddenly stopped, much to Rainbow’s confusion and suspicion.
What is he...
Sonic glanced behind him with a malicious glint in his eyes.
“If you can’t beat em’, blind them!” he declared loudly.
Before Rainbow could react, Sonic began to run around her in circles at a rapid pace, trapping her within a vortex of wind. The dirt from the ground was then picked up from the whirlwind and then quickly formed into a dusty tornado, causing Rainbow to obscured her vision outside of the tornado and temporarily blind. Rainbow coughed and spat the dirt from her mouth while shutting her eyes tightly and covered them with her arm to keep the dirt away the best she could.
“Y-you cheater!” Rainbow shouted angrily.
“Says the gal who hit me in the face with a tree branch!” Sonic retorted as he slowed down somewhat and stopped in front of her for a brief moment. “C'mon, step it up!" Sonic shouted before he shot forward with a huge cloud of dust appearing right behind him, leaving Rainbow Dash behind.
Rainbow Dash scowled, narrowing her eyes towards the sounds of Sonic’s feet, running away from her. That little weasel… this little rodent is a lot clever and faster than I thought! Rainbow thought in frustration, trying to keep herself at bay from the tornado. She had a look of determination as sweat began to drip down from the side of her head. At this rate, that hedgehog is going to beat me! ...looks like it's time to shift gears!
Rainbow managed to grasp her geode necklace and tapped more into her magic. Ever since she went overboard with her geode’s magic this one time, they all agreed to not use too much of their own magic unless it is an emergency. But as far as Rainbow Dash was concerned, beating that blue pest is her emergency.
Slowly, her physical appearance changed somewhat as more of her magic flowed right into her. Her hair suddenly glowed and then grew into a long ponytail to the point that it nearly reached her feet. In the middle of her long hair was a mysterious red hairband, which appeared out of nowhere, but kept her hair in place. Her rounded ears began to glow next. The magic made her ears disappear and then reappeared above her head. Not only that, but the magic also extended her ears into a pointed shape of a pony. Finally, the most noticeable change in her appearance was when her blue wings suddenly appeared from her back.
Feeling the much-needed boost from her magic, Rainbow Dash let out a huge smirk. Let's see who's "too slow" now!
Feeling confident, Rainbow Dash sped forward, easily escaping the dusty tornado, and ran after her opponent.
