A year passed, and Sonic proved to be quite the rambunctious kid, but one who possessed a heart of gold rivaling Pinkie Pie’s. Before long, his friendly demeanor- and a few conversations with Rainbow Dash- had won over even the most hostile Ponyvilleans.
Soon after the first anniversary of Sonic’s adoption- which Rainbow decided to place as his birthday- the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration was announced to be in Ponyville. Rainbow received a message from Canterlot requesting that she take care of the event’s weather, and she couldn’t have been more excited to receive such an important job.
Sonic didn’t really understand, but he was happy that Rainbow was so excited.
The day before the event, Sonic was listening to some of DJ Pon-3’s new music while Rainbow was out clearing the clouds at the edge of the town. A lavender unicorn with a dragon on her back walked up and frowned at the clouds overhead.
“Y’know, I thought there was supposed to be a pegasus clearing the clouds,” the unicorn scoffed.
“Rainbow Dash, I think,” the dragon piped up.
“That’s my mama!” Sonic offered, jogging over to meet them.
The unicorn yelped when she saw him. “What in the name of Celestia are you?” she asked curiously, clutching Sonic in a pink aura. Sonic yelped as he was lifted off the ground, raising his arms in front of his face, and a rainbow blur zipped down instantly.
“Hi, Mama,” Sonic whimpered.
“That’s my son you’re messing with!” Rainbow protested. “Let him go!”
The unicorn blinked and dismissed her magic. “Alright, I’m sorry. I take it you’re Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow nodded, holding Sonic protectively.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn explained. “Princess Celestia sent me to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow. I heard you were supposed to be taking care of the weather?”
Rainbow nodded again with a small grin. “Yep! If you’ll notice there’s not a cloud in the sky at the edges of Ponyville, and I would have already gotten everything else done if you hadn’t tried to-”
“Alright, I said I was sorry!” Twilight groaned. “Well, it does appear that you have the weather under control, so I’ll be on my way to check out the decorations.”
“Oh, that’s Rarity!” Sonic replied happily. “Be careful around her.”
“...Why?” the dragon asked.
“She’ll try to stick you in a super fancy dress,” Sonic groaned.
Rainbow snickered. “Yeah, be careful.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright, then.”
She trotted off, apparently not noticing the dragon had hopped off her back.
“I’m Spike!” the dragon offered.
“I’m Sonic!” Sonic replied.
“SPIKE!” Twilight suddenly called. “GET OVER HERE!”
“Uh, maybe we can hang out later?” Spike suggested. Sonic eagerly nodded before Spike rushed ahead.
Rainbow quickly rushed around to finish clearing out the clouds above while Sonic returned to his music, before Pinkie hopped up and smacked a pair of invitations in front of them.
“Party at the Golden Oaks Library!” she whistled.
Rainbow snickered. “I assume for Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn from Canterlot?”
“Yep!”
“What time?”
“Sunset, since it’s doubling as a Summer Sun Celebration party!” Pinkie explained before bouncing off.
“Heh, guess you’ve got your chance to hang with Spike at sunset, then,” Rainbow chuckled. “C’mon, let’s go run your music stuff by the house and check on Fluttershy to try to get her ready for meeting Twilight.”
“Sounds good to me!” Sonic agreed.
As sunset fell, Sonic and Rainbow were ushered into the library by a very excited Pinkie Pie. The lights were turned off as they heard Fluttershy fawning over Spike while Twilight just groaned. Rainbow and Sonic held back a few shared snickers.
Twilight shoved herself and Spike in and slammed the door.
“Rude much?” Spike muttered.
Twilight sighed. “Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time. Now, where's the light?”
Pinkie took her cue masterfully and turned the light on with a fanfare of kazoos.
“Surprise!” the crowd of ponies in the library called.
“Howdy-doody, Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie proclaimed. “I’m Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!”
“How do you know my name!?” Twilight demanded.
Rainbow sighed. “I told her, don’t worry. She hasn’t broken reality to learn about you... yet...”
Twilight looked aghast while Spike chortled. Fluttershy let herself in and Pinkie recovered from the interruption and began chattering away at Twilight, who looked like she’d prefer Tartarus over Pinkie’s chatter.
“...And so I figured since you were coming to look at the Summery Sunny Celebration, I thought it’d be a super-stuPENdous welcoming party idea to combine them, and now that you’re here you can make lots and lots of friends!” Pinkie finished.
Twilight glared. “I. Am not interested. I’m only here to-”
“-Make sure Ponyville is ready for the Celebration,” Spike interrupted, “and make some friends, like Princess Celestia said!”
Twilight glared.
“Can we have a minute?” Spike muttered. “You guys can go ahead and start the party, we’ll be right back out.”
Pinkie nodded sagely, while Spike led Twilight up a set of stairs into a concealed room. Rainbow was quickly distracted by a member of the weather team checking in about what the schedule would look like after the Celebration, and Sonic took the time to slip away, unable to resist the temptation to eavesdrop.
“Spike, really!?” Twilight demanded.
“What?” Spike frowned.
“Why’d you have to-”
Spike cut her off. “If you’ll look at the scroll, it specifically says you’ll need to make friends here! She wants you to stop being such a loner! Even I know it’s not good for your mental health to stay stuck in a tower without any extra company!”
Twilight sighed. “Fine, I’ll participate. But I won’t like it, and as soon as I possibly can, I’m going to look up the Elements of Harmony and figure out how to get Princess Celestia to listen to me!”
Sonic hurried back down quietly and waited for Spike to come down. The dragon appeared triumphant, if slightly grumpy, and Twilight looked frustrated and angry beneath her obviously forced smile.
Rarity and Applejack made eye contact, nodded, and swept Twilight into the party, not letting her sulk alone for a moment. Spike met up with Sonic and Rainbow and the three shared some comics and action book interests. As midnight approached, Spike realized how relaxed Twilight looked and mentioned something to Sonic, who grinned.
“Rarity and AJ are good at that. It’s... awesome how much they work together,” he sighed. “Even though they’re so dif- diffa-”
“Different?” Spike suggested.
“I’m not good with big words yet,” Sonic sighed.
Spike laughed. “Actually, how old are you?” he wondered.
Sonic frowned. “I... dunno. Mama became my mama... a little longer than one year ago, but...” he trailed off with a yawn. “Um, Mama thinks I was three or four when she found me.”
“Twilight hatched my egg... like, thirteen years ago?” Spike sighed. “But I’m still a baby by dragon standards... and it sucks, because Twilight still treats me like a baby. Even if I’d be basically a teenager by pony standards.”
“Good thing I don’t have to deal with that yet,” Sonic sighed. “Wake me up when it’s time for the sunrise...”
“Taking a nap?” Spike guessed.
“I think Mama’s bedtime of two hours after sunset is fair,” Sonic groaned as he curled up.
Spike chuckled and went off to grab a cupcake... before grabbing two and making sure to save one for Sonic.