Thursday 4:00 PM
Sonic sat atop the bleachers overlooking the track and field. He was currently waiting for Silver to come so he could help him record his time. This is where he always came after school is let out to just run. He would sprint until he could barely move his body.
The past two day it felt like he and his friends were settling into a regular routine:
Get up and go to school, sit through classes til end of school, go home, do homework (with Shadow's help), and go to sleep with bouts of searching for the chaos emeralds during free time.
With no luck searching the mall on Monday, Shadow figured that they should wait until the weekend to finish searching the mall. During which they searched both the school and other places in Canterlot. As if finding the chaos emeralds by themselves was not hard enough, they also had to blend in like they were normal students here.
Sonic of course was anything but normal.
Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, by his recall Silver should have arrived ten minutes ago. He probably assumed that Rarity was keeping him in his art class for a reason he didn't know.
He looked up at the hills, the sun's light gradually turning into a more orange hue.
"Ugh! Silver, how long are you gonna friggin' take!?" Sonic shouted at the air.
He eyed a couple of students on the sidewalk outside the field. All of them were on their phones.
"Hmph! What we need is a couple of those." Sonic said to himself. However his mind subconsciously knew that it probably wasn't going to happen for a while.
However his train of thought was interrupted when he felt someone was approaching him from the left. He expected it to be Silver, but he double taked when he saw who it really was.
"Uhhh....hi." Flash greeted Sonic.
Sonic didn't answer at first. He definitely recognized him, his black jacket, and spiked up blue hair were the definite traits.
There was only one thing he didn't remember about him.
"Uhhhh......who are you?" Sonic blurted out. This cued Flash to recoil in astonishment so much that he nearly fell backwards.
"Seriously man!? You forgot my name!? Am I really that forgettable?" Flash flusteredly thought. However, not wanting to appear rude, he quickly composed himself.
"The names Flash! Memorize it okay?" Flash poked the side of his head. This didn't cue much of reaction from Sonic unfortunately.
"Sigh What do you want?" Sonic asked, not exactly in a talkative mood.
Flash hesitated from speaking at first, wondering if his answer would suffice.
"Just.....wondering what you're up to?" Flash replied.
"Yeah well...." Sonic gestured around himself, as if to tell flash that he got what he was asking for. "Here ya go." He then looked back at the field.
Flash was unsure of what to say next. He turned around, but didn't walk away. He contemplated talking to Sonic some more. He let out a sigh as he gave in and turned back to Sonic.
"You mind if I take a seat?" Flash asked him. Sonic looked back over at Flash, who was awaiting an answer from him.
".......yeah sure." Sonic replied
Flash sat down next to Sonic. He was rather surpised Sonic allowed him to sit next to him considering his mood.
He tried to think of something to talk about with him. Unfortunately, he knew next to nothing about Sonic apart from a brief exchange about their hairstyles. He gave him a quick lookover, to see if he could make some sort of observation about him. The first thing his eyes gravitated to were his bright red and white shoes.
"Haven't seen those shoes anywhere. Where'd you get them?" Flash asked him. Sonic paused before he spoke, knowing that he couldn't say anything about where he's from.
"Uhh.....overseas. Why do you ask?" Sonic replied. Flash leaned down to get a better look at them. He then looked back to compare them with his own shoes. He remembered paying a good sum for those shoes, yet seeing Sonic's shoes made him feel jealous.
"Heh! Pretty cool huh?" Sonic crossed his legs, a smug grin forming on his face. The sun caused the gold buckle on his shoe to glisten. Flash was even more jealous than impressed.
"Sigh Say, do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try, you never seem to make your mark?" Flash asked Sonic. Sonic shot Flash a quick glance, wondering what he was talking about.
"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked him.
Flash thought for a moment before elaborating.
"Well it's just.....I don't really feel like I'm good enough for someone." Flash finally said. Sonic raised an eyebrow as he tried to deduce what Flash was alluding to. But then his eyes widened when he figured it out.
"So....your talking about......girls.....right?" Sonic asked him.
"Wha!" Flash doubletaked at Sonic, his face blushing slightly.
"Uhhh.....well I uh.....you see...." Flash stuttered as he tried to keep his composure. Sonic grin got bigger as he was enjoying seeing Flash flustered.
"Well....uhhh.....yeah." Flash eventually settled down as he knew that Sonic was correct in his assumption.
"You know what I mean?"
"Well I'm afraid I can't help you there man." Sonic replied quickly. Flash double taked even harder this time.
"That so?" A disappointed Flash replied. He looked back over at Sonic, noting how laid back he was, wondering why he was like that.
"So what are you waiting here for anyways?" Flash changed the subject. Sonic slouched back, cradling his head with his hands.
"Waiting for my bro Silver. He's supposed to time running around the track." Sonic explained as he settled into a small nap.
"Oh! I know! You're training to beat Rainbow Dash aren't you?" Flash asked him. Sonic double taked himself, surprised at Flash for being more perceptive than he thought.
"Well.....yeah. She's the fastest in school right?" Sonic clarified to Flash.
"Heh....Duh. And she doesn't let anyone forget it." Flash further espoused Rainbow Dash's extroverted tendencies.
"Hmph! Nobody's faster than me." Sonic let off some steam from thinking about Dash.
"Well that's a pretty tall order." Flash rubbed his head. "Although, I wouldn't mind seeing Dash dethroned." Flash added. Even he felt that Dash was somewhat overrated.
"Heh. Same here." Sonic heartily agreed with him.
They both smiled at each other. Sonic felt rather satisfied that there was someone on his wavelength.
Flash looked at the time on his watch, then he turned back to Sonic.
"Say if you want. I could time you." Flash offered.
"Really?" Sonic's mood perked up a little.
"Sure, I have a few minutes" Flash replied.
His mood having improved slightly, Sonic rose from his seat with renewed vigor, ready to run.
"I'll give you the signal." Sonic told him. He then jumped over the other seats in front of him down to the lowest part of the bleachers, before finally dropping down to the track from the platform. Flash scratched his head to why Sonic didn't take the usual way down. Wanting to get a better look of Sonic's run, he decided to head down to the lowest seat on the bleachers.
Sonic took his place at the starting line. He looked up at Flash who was leaning against the metal guard rail waiting for Sonic to give him the signal to start the timer.
"You ready!?" Sonic called to him. Flash had his phone out with a timer app out, ready to start timing. He waved back to Sonic, signaling that he was ready. Sonic threw Flash a thumbs up and then proceeded to get into the running position.
"Okay! Ready......." Flash put his hand up. Sonic readied himself to run. "......Set.........GO!!"
Flash swung his hand down and Sonic immediately burst from the starting line sprinting around the track.
Nearby, Silver burst out through the school doors, panting and sweating heavily.
"Man! That test was terrible. I had to do make up work!" Silver recalled what made him so late. "Whew! I better go apologize to Sonic for being so late." He started to make his way towards the bleachers where he thought Sonic would be. However he noticed Sonic out on the track as he approached the bleachers.
"Huh? Why is-? Oh, Sonic must've started without me." Silver concluded in his head. He made his way onto the bleachers where he saw Flash watching Sonic run around the track.
"Hey there!" Silver greeted him. Flash looked over to him. "You're uhh.....Gash.....right?" Silver attempted to guess his name from memory.
"Uh...It's Flash actually." Flash corrected him.
"Oh! Right! I knew I saw you before." Silver's memory immediately cane back to him.
"You're Sonic's bro aren't you?" Flash asked. "I always see you two together, along with that tall dark and scary dude." Flash explained, remembering the first time he met Shadow, sending a slight chill down his spine.
"You mean Shadow?" Silver asked.
"Oh. That's his name? Fitting." Flash snarked slightly. Silver began streching a little.
"Yeah. He's always been like that." Silver replied, finishing his streching.
"HEY!!!" They both heard Sonic yell at them from the track. They both looked and saw that Sonic was about to finish his fourth lap.
"Why don't ya pay attention!!" Sonic chastised Flash for getting distracted.
"Oh crap!" Flash exclaimed as he remembered that he was timing Sonic. He quickly looked back at his phone which thankfully was still recording his time. He watched closely as Sonic approached the finish line, preparing to press the stop button on his phone.
"Come on! Come on! COME ON!" Sonic said to himself as he pushed his body towards the finish line. He eventually staggered his way across the finish line with Flash pressing the stop button. Sonic dropped to his knees in exhaustion, taking repeated gasps for breath. Flash and Silver rushed down to see if Sonic was okay.
"Sonic! You alright?" Silver asked him. Silver and Flash both looked at the time on Flash's phone. It read 5 minutes 59 seconds.
"Pant Never mind that! What's my time!?" Sonic brushed aside thier first question. Flash and Silver looked at the time on Flash's phone. It read Five mintues and Fifty Nine seconds.
"Well, the bad news is that you're still no where near Dash's time." Silver broke the news to Sonic. A deadened expression fell on Sonic face as he slumped backwards onto the ground behind him, feeling defeated.
"The good news however is that you're below the six minute mark!" Silver added, a bit exciment in his voice. While it didn't do much to improve his mood, he did feel some satisfaction knowing that he was closer to Dash's time.
"Sigh Better than nothing I suppose." Sonic admitted. Sonic got up and began patting himself off.
"By the way, where the hell were you Silver?" Sonic demanded to know what took Silver so long. Silver flinched a little at Sonic suddenly putting him on the spot.
"Well, excuse me! You don't have art class where you have no experience what so ever and have to follow along with a bunch of experts!" Silver retorted irritatedly.
"Sigh Whatever. Now come on. I'm gonna try again." Sonic stated. Silver and Flash double taked.
"What-! th-! You just finished! Don't you wanna rest!?" Flash was understandably baffled that Sonic wants to continuing running after pushing himself so hard.
"Yeah! And you look exhausted. Not to mention you're gonna stink up the place if you sweat anymore." Silver added onto Flash's statement, holding his nose at that last part. Sonic however was not phased by their warnings.
"And when did I ask for you're opinion?" Sonic rebuked him. Silver had a disdained face as he watched Sonic trudge back to the starting line. Flash, also observing Sonic, was more confused unlike Silver.
"Man. Your bro isn't exactly the reasonable type." Flash commented to Silver.
"Hmph! That's putting it lightly." Silver pouted. Sonic eventually got to the finish line, where looked back and saw that Silver and Flash were still standing there looking at him.
"Well!? What are you guys waiting for!?" Sonic shouted at them.
Nearby, Sunset was observing them from behind the bleachers on the opposite side of the field. While she knew that Twilight told her to leave them be, part of her just couldn't help but be curious.
"I have no idea what blue boy is thinking" Sunset thought to herself, allowing herself to use Dash's nickname for Sonic.
She crossed her legs and sat back as she watched Sonic start running once again. She looked over at the bleachers where Silver and Flash were timing Sonic. Seeing Flash made her mind briefly flash back to when she was her bad girl self and how she used Flash just for her own gain.
She let out a sigh, not proud of herself at all for those times.
However, her train of thought was interrupted when she felt her phone buzz in her jacket pocket. She quickly took it out and saw that it was Twilight's phone number.
"Hey Twilight. What's up?" Sunset answered the call, putting her phone to her ear.
"Hi Sunset. I'm about to conduct a new experiment on the emerald. I'm gonna need your help." Twilight told Sunset.
"Um okay. But.....I thought Rarity didn't want us doing experiments in her garage anymore." Sunset told her, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Rarity's wrath.
"Oh don't worry. I'm doing this one in her backyard." Twilight replied. "Also I don't think this one involves explosions so we don't have to worry."
"Alright. I'm on my way." Sunset confirmed. She hung up, put her phone back in her pocket and got up to head back to Rarity's house. She shot a glance over at Sonic, Silver, and Flash before she departed. Sonic was still running, but he was staggering and clearly out of breath.
She begun to make her way off the bleachers. She took one last look at the three as she came to the ground. She then turned around and made her way around the school.
Nearby, unbeknownst to Sunset, Shadow had been spying on her from the rooftops. He had snuck in through the maintenance door and climbed up onto the roof. His eyes went back to Sonic, Silver, and Flash. While he wasn't too sure if Flash was to be trusted, he seemed gullible enough unlike Twilight and her friends.
"It's been almost two weeks since we've been here" Shadow thought to himself. He wasn't liking the odds they were facing. And with Twilight and her friends threatening to expose their secret, the risk of them being found out was ever present. "We haven't had any luck finding the other emeralds besides the one that Twilight had." He let out a sigh as the weight of this situation sunk into his human body.
".......maybe we should ask for help." The idea crept into Shadow's mind. "......No! No........I can't risk it." The idea was expelled from his mind as quickly as it entered. "Let's just stick to the plan. Another emerald is bound to show up eventually." With that in mind, he stood up and walked along the edge of the roof in the direction of Sonic, Flash, and Silver.
"Pant! Pant! Pant! Oh god!" Sonic once again stumbled across the finish line, gasping for breath. He fell backwards on his bottom as sweat poured down his face even more than the last time.
Silver and Flash ran up to check on him as well as give him the results of his run.
Looking at his phone, Flash had an uneasy look as he knew that Sonic wasn't going to like the result. Sonic noticed the look on Flash's face as he approached.
"Don't tell me." A depressed Sonic hung his head.
"Yeah.....you're just getting slower." Flash told him the result, Silver internally braced himself for Sonic incoming wrath.
"Grrrr! I don't get it!!!" Sonic pounded the ground angrily. "How the hell is Dash able to run for so long!?" Sonic angrily questioned Dash's ability.
"Um....maybe you could take it slow the first few laps?" Flash proposed meekly. Sonic gave him an unimpressed look.
"Oh great advice einstine." Sonic sarcastically told off Flash. "While your at it, why don't you try turning lead into gold."
Flash was somewhat insulted by Sonic's comment, cuing him to give Sonic the cold shoulder, letting out a grumpy 'Hmph!'.
"There must be something with her." Sonic mused about Dash's stamina.
"That's because it has nothing to do with her." They heard Shadow's voice behind them. They looked behind them and saw Shadow on the roof of the school looking down at them.
"Shadow? H-How did you get up there?" A suprised and baffled Silver asked him.
"Pfft Show off" Sonic muttered to himself.
"Just thought I get a better view up here." Shadow responded. He then proceeded to jump off the ledge of the roof. The three gasped as Sonic and Silver knew that Shadow still didn't have his powers so jumping down from that height would definitely hurt him.
But midway through the fall, Shadow grabbed a window ledge stopping his fall, then he flipped forward as he dropped down the rest of the way unharmed. Sonic and Silver breathed a sigh of relief, but were also surprised that Shadow was still incredibly agile despite not having his powers.
Shadow approached the three, Flash tensed up a little for he remembered the first time he saw him. Shadow didn't pay much attention to Flash for Sonic was the one he was talking to.
"I honestly can't believe you haven't figured it out yet." Shadow told him.
"Hey!" Sonic wasn't about to have any of Shadow's lectures again. He stood up, rather clumsily as he was still tired, and went over to Shadow to give him a piece of his mind. "What the hell you talking about? Huh?" He got up in Shadow's face.
"It's your stamina." Shadow said right out. "You're using it up too early in the race. By the time you reach the second lap you have no energy left for the final stretch." Shadow explained. "Not to mention you waste your energy with unnecessary movements."
"Yeah it's no wonder Dash keeps beating you." Silver added. Sonic responded by giving him an angry look, cuing Silver to be quiet. Shadow rolled his eyes as he knew that they were wasting time. However his eyes then noticed Flash.
"And what are you doing here?" Shadow projected an air of hostility, hoping to scare Flash off. Flash jumped a little at Shadow suddenly putting him on the spot. But he didn't back down.
"Uhhh...I..I was just helping Sonic time his runs." Flash explained himself. Shadow still was giving him the stink eye, causing flash to look around awkwardly. "......is that a problem?" Shadow rolled his eyes, not just at the fact that Sonic and Silver were getting unnecessarily friendly with the locals of this planet, but also at Flash's meekness.
"Sigh Listen kid. Let me put it this way." Shadow spoke to Flash. "Me and my brothers are not exactly in the business of making frie- GRRRRROOOWWWLLLL!!!!" Shadow's train of thought was interrupted when he heard a stomach growling. His head snapped to Silver whom he assumed the growling came from.
"Uhhh......" Silver wasted no time as he quickly pointed to Sonic.
"Eh!? Hey!" Sonic protested at Silver pushing the blame on him. Silver however wasn't backing down that easily.
"Heh. Who else could it have come from?" Silver shot back at Sonic, the two butted heads as they argued. However their quarrel was interrupted when the heard another loud stomach growl.
The two slowly turned their heads towards the real suspect: Shadow.
"Wh....what are you looking at me for?" Shadow protested. However another stomach growl answered his question. Sonic and Silver both had a smug smile on their faces as they knew that Shadow was hungry.
Shadow's face flushed red in embarrassment all while Sonic, Silver, and Flash were spitting as they tried to contain their laughter.
"Tch! Will you cut it out!" Shadow finally snapped as he angrily turned around and crossed his arms so they wouldn't see him blushing. Then Sonic, Silver, and Flash finally let it out, laughing at Shadow's expense.
"Well, if you guys want. I can treat you guys to dinner." Flash offered them. Sonic and Silver's ears perked up at Flash's proposal while Shadow wasn't exactly on board with it.
"Thanks. But we really should be get-"
"Oh yes yes yes! Please" Sonic and Silver interrupted Shadow, much to his ire.
"Yes! Anything other than cafeteria food!" Sonic cheered on. However their cheer was cut off when Shadow pushed Sonic out of the way by his face.
"Will you two settle down. Were not here to goof around." Shadow reprimanded them.
"Oh come on Shadow. Did you forget that were broke?" Silver retorted.
"Yeah. We've been eating nothing but cafeteria food ever since we got here!" Sonic joined in Silver's protesting. Flash double taked when he heard this knowledge.
"W-Wait? Seriously!?" Flash asked. Shadow's stomach growled once again, causing him to wince in embarrassment. While he didn't like it, he admittedly wanted some better food in his stomach.
"Sigh You footing the bill?" Shadow asked, not caring how rude he sounded which fortunately Flash didn't mind.
"Sure. I recently got my paycheck." Flash told them.
"Yes!" Sonic and Silver pumped their fists.
"Sigh Okay kid. Lead the way I guess." Shadow reluctantly agreed to his proposal.
"Sweet. Follow me. We'll take my car." Flash waved them to follow.
"....Your car?" The three asked.
Flash took them to his car which was parked a little ways from Canterlot high, and Sonic and Silver's eyes widened in excitement.
"Holy Smokes!! This is your ride!?" Silver jaw dropped in awe. Flash's car was a black sports car with yellow thunderbolt designs on it.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." Sonic knocked on the black finish of the car as he admired it. Flash blushed slighting in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head. Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic and Silver's immaturity.
"Uhh...Hehe. Thanks but....it's not my car. It's my Dad's." Flash admitted.
"Wow. Your parent must be loaded then aren't they?" Sonic theorized as he looked inside at the Dash board.
"Uhh. Yeah. But.....they're not around much." Flash said, sounding less cheerful. Sonic, Silver, and Shadow all look over at Flash, wondering what he looked sad about.
"Dad is always on business trips, and Mom is always out shopping." Flash explained sadly. Sonic and Silver looked at each other wondering how they could lighten the mood.
"Curious. What is this thing's specs?" Shadow ran his hand on the hood of Flash's car. Sonic and Silver were surprised that Shadow was the one to lighten the mood.
"Huh? Oh! Well....." Flash walked up to the hood of the car. "It's got a 275 horse power 2 Liter V8 engine with seven speed manual transmission with Active rev matching...." Flash started feeling cocky as he showed off the vehicle. "Comes with dual mode exhuast and magnetic suspension. So it's not just fast, it's smooth as well." Flash finished explaining.
"Oooooooo...." Sonic and Silver continued gawking at the car.
"So how fast is it?" Sonic asked abruptly. While somewhat confused at Sonic's question, Flash was happy to answer.
"Well, it can go from 0 to 60 in aproximately 5 seconds flat." Flash answered boastfully.
"Hmph not bad." Sonic replied. "Pffft That's nothing compared to me back home."
However the conversation was interrupted by the sound of stomach growling once again.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get in this puppy!" Silver excitedly wanted to get in.
"There's one problem." Shadow noted. Flash, Sonic, and Silver all looked at him. "There's only two seats." The three looked at the car again, and then at how many people there were.
"Oh...." Flash realized the problem.
"Eh....It's no problem." Sonic said. Shadow, Flash, and Silver gave him a confused look. "Does this thing's roof retract?" he asked.
"Oh! Yeah." Flash quickly reached inside the car and pressed a button on the dashboard. A mechanical whirr sounded as the roof retracted into the back.
"Sweet!" Sonic cheered as he hopped onto the back of the car. "Two of us will just ride on the back!" Sonic put on a smug smile. Flash and Silver were on board with Sonic's plan. But Shadow wasn't easily convinced.
"We don't want to attract attention. You sure the police won't notice?" Shadow asked. Sonic however just laid back and cradled his head in his hands, cuing an annoyed grunt from Shadow.
"You're no fun Shadow. Come on. Let's live a little." Sonic said nonchalantly. Shadow, Silver, and Flash exchanged a brief glance at each other, wondering if they should either go along with Sonic's advice, or heed Shadow's concern. However before Shadow could say anything else, his stomach growled once again. Flash, Silver, and Sonic all looked at him awkwardly.
"Sigh You....." Shadow pointed at Sonic suddenly. "If you cause any trouble. You're gonna regret it." Sonic looked around awkwardly.
"Soooo.....I take that as a yes?"
Ten Minutes later
"Woohoooo!!! Yeah!! This is awesome!" Sonic cheered as the wind blew against his face. He and Silver were riding on the back of Flash's car while Flash drove. Silver was holding on tight to the car for fear of falling off while Sonic was riding with no hands all the way.
Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's immaturity. That being said, he was rather impressed by the performance of Flash's car. The ride felt smooth meaning that Flash wasn't exaggerating the specs of the car. It also meant that Sonic and Silver were less likely to fall off due to a bumpy ride.
"Hang on were turning up here." Flash told them as he turned the car around the corner.
"You guys must not have many cars where you're from." Flash noted.
"Eh....our town is small so.....we just walked everywhere we went." Silver made up a story for that. Sonic had a disappointed face as that seemed like a lame explanation to him.
Flash continued driving with the three in tow. They eventually entered the shopping district of town.
"Uhh....quick question. Where are we going to eat anyways?" Silver asked as he continued hanging onto the side of the car. Flash thought for a second for they didn't discuss where they were going to eat.
"I dunno. Where do you guys wanna eat?" Flash asked them.
"Is there a place with Chili Dogs?" Sonic asked flatly.
"Wha-!?" Flash doubletaked and swerved a little when he heard what Sonic said. The swerving caused Silver lose balance slightly.
"Wha! WHA! Whoa!!" Silver nearly fell off the car due to Flash suddenly swerving.
Flash took a moment to process what Sonic said.
"I'm sorry what?" A bewildered Flash asked. Sonic rolled his eyes, for apparently the concept of his favorite food is completely lost on the people here.
"You know. Chili Dogs." Sonic replied. "Hot Dog with Chili slathered on top, with lots and lots of Chili peppers!" Sonic explained, his mouth salivating. Flash however was more confused and baffled by such a topping for a hotdog.
"............Who puts Chili on a hot dog!?" Flash said out loud. Sonic once again was dumbfounded. He didn't even know how to express his bafflement.
"Well....there is a place that serves hotdogs." Flash managed to get over his inability to comprehend the concept of Chilidogs. "It's a few blocks down this way." He pointed to his right. "How about it?"
"Sure. I'm game." Silver replied.
"Eh....whatever." Sonic was indifferent. The three all looked at Shadow, awaiting his answer. Shadow didn't really care, in fact he cared more about finding the chaos emeralds than eating. That being said, he was hungry.
"Alright fine. Just don't make a scene you two." Shadow told them.
"Yeah yeah whatever." Sonic waved off Shadow's advice.
"Alright. Hang on." Flash said as he made a sudden right.
"WHAAA!!" Silver exclaimed as he nearly fell off again. Sonic on the otherhand just enjoyed the ride.
Meanwhile
Over at Rarity's house, Twilight and Sunset were once again conducting experiments on the emerald. They promised Rarity that there would be no explosions this time. While Rarity allowed them to continue their experiments, she demanded that they do it outside in the backyard. The request was reasonable enough so they moved their operations to the backyard under a canopy.
Their setup was similar to last time, with the emerald sitting on a much more sturdy metal apparatus, connected by wires to a oscilator. They had bought yet another pair of plexiglass panels to protect them from any sparks, (much to the despair of Sunset's wallet)
"So explain to me again Twilight, what are we doing this time?" Sunset asked Twilight as she carefully connected the wires to the metal apparatus, the clamps let out a little spark as she connected them.
Twilight was writing down some notes before she turned to Sunset to answer her question.
"It's similar to last time, however were not doing it to get the emerald's reaction." Twilight began explaining. She walked over to the oscilator and adjusted some of the knobs on it's face. "Were going to measure the energy output of the emerald by channeling electricity in safe amounts."
"Okay?" Sunset was trying to come to a conclusion on what Twilight was trying to do. "And how does that help us understand the emerald?" Sunset asked.
"Were not just going to measure the energy of the emerald. Were also going to conduct the same experiment on....." Twilight rummaged through her backpack. ".......THIS!!!" Twilight pulled out the gold ring she had found after meeting Sonic. Sunset got closer to get a better look at it.
"Is that.....solid gold?" An impressed Sunset said, reaching her hand out to touch it. But Twilight pulled it away before her fingers touched it.
"Oh I wouldn't touch this thing with you barehands either." Twilight explained. "This thing shocked me too, albiet to a lesser degree." She was wearing Rarity's garden gloves to protect her hands.
"I see. And where did you find that thing?" Sunset asked.
"Funny, that's also another reason why I'm running this test." Twiliight began explaining again. Sunset continued listening, leaning slightly on the tables. "This ring fell off of Sonic after I talked to him. " Twilight further eleborated. Sunset's eyes widened as she put two and two together.
"So what you're trying to do is.......see if this ring and the emerald have the same kind of energy." Sunset aired her thoughts. Twilight gave her a nod, telling her that she was on the right track.
"But if that ring came from Sonic. Then that would mean........." Sunset was hesitant to finish the next part of her sentence. Twilight had a concerned look on her face.
"Now, I don't think this is definite proof, but it would definitely tie those three into whatever this emerald is." Twilight explained. Sunset felt somewhat vindicated, but she didn't feel the need to express it in anyway. After all she was past her days of gloating and putting people down.
"Well.....what are we waiting for?" Sunset put on her safety goggles. "Let's get this thing started." Twilight smiled at Sunset's enthusiasm and proceeded to put on her safety goggles as well. She picked up the clipboard that was on the table and reviewed the procedure that she wrote down for the experiment. Then she walked over to the camera they set up on a tripod and made sure it was on and recording. She then walked back over to the table and began going over their experiment procedure.
"Okay, this is experiment number 2: Comparing the emerald's energy wavelength to this ring that fell off Sonic's person. The purpose is to see how similar the emerald's energy is compared to the ring. " Twilight spoke to the camera. She turned to Sunset and nodded, which was the signal to Sunset to start the experiment.
Sunset threw the switch, and began slowly turning the dial on the oscilator. Once again the metal apparatus began sparking as Sunset turned it up.
"Ok were at 50 watts." Sunset told Twilight, struggling to keep her eyes open from the bright sparking that their experiment was causing.
"Ok! Hold it there!" Twilight said as the quickly jotted down the readings that the oscilator was feeding back to them. "Alright, move up to 75 watts." Twilight said after she finished writing. Sunset then slowly turn the knob up to 75. The sparking again got louder and more erratic.
"Alright! Were at 75!" Sunset said.
"Hold!" Twilight quickly wrote down the readings on the oscilator again. "Alright, move up to 100."
"You got it!" Sunset confirmed as she started to turn the knob again. The sparking got more violent and erractic, the sparks bouncing off their plexiglass sheild.
"Ok! Where at 100 watts now!" Sunset shouted through the loud sparking. Twilight frantically wrote down what the ocsilator read as she wanted to turn off the power as much as Sunset did judging from her voice.
"Ok! Turn it off!" Twilight shouted back. Sunset wasted no time talking and turned the generator off.
"Phew!" Sunset wiped some sweat from her head. She was worried that they were going to have a repeat of the first experiment. "Okay, I take it we do the same thing on that ring?" Sunset asked. Twilight was quickly scribbling on her notepad as she was running the numbers through a couple mathmatical formula's, which she intended to do the same with the readings from the ring.
"Right. "I'll get set it up." Twilight said once she finished writing. She ran around their plexiglass shield and to the table holding the emerald, where she swapped the emerald with the ring. She quickly ran back where she turned to the camera again. "Alright. Now were going to get the energy readings of the ring." She spoke into the camera. She turned back and grabbed her clipboard, which qued Sunset to get ready to turn on the power again.
"We all set?" Sunset asked, placing her hand on the switch. Twilight looked at the ring one the plexiglass, wondering how the reaction would differ from the emerald's
"Okay. Let's do it in 3.....2......1-"
"HEY TWILIGHT! SUNSET!!" Pinkie suddenly popped out from under the table.
"WAAH!!!" Twilight and Sunset fell backwards in surprise, both of their legs flying up.
"Watcha doin'?" Pinkie innocently asked them.
"Tch! Pinkie! Were conducting an experiment with dangerous artefacts!" An annoyed Twilight scoffed as she got up and dusted herself off.
""Yeah! You could've electrocuted yourself!" Sunset said as she noticed that the oscilator tipped over on it's side when Pinkie surprised them and quickly went to go put it back up.
Pinkie popped back up on her feet, but then her eyes were drawn to the emerald on the table.
"Oooooo......shiny!" A mezmerized Pinkie went to grab the emerald that was on the table. Twilight's eyes dialated as she knew that nothing good would come if Pinkie got the emerald.
"NO! PINKIE!!" Twilight rushed over and swiped the emerald in her gloved hands before Pinkie's finger's could touch it. "This thing is dangerous!" Twilight firmly told her.
"Awww come on! Just a little look!" Pinkie reached for it again, only for Twilight to swipe it away again.
"And I said no! And that's final!" Twilight said, raising her voice slightly hoping that Pinkie would take the hint. Unfortunately Pinkie's innocent smile turned into a mischievous one as she tried reaching for the emerald again forcing her to keep it away from her again, but Pinkie didn't stop as she forced Twilight into a playful game of keep away, with Pinkie giggling as Twilight kept the emerald away from her.
Sunset, who was observing their shenanigans , let out a groan as Pinkie was disrupting their experiment.
"Hey Sunset!" She heard a bragging voice behind her. She glanced behind and saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack enter the backyard.
"You two seem to be having fun." She noted, observing Twilight playing keep away with Pinkie.
"Well. Fortunately we haven't made any explosions......yet." Sunset told them, wondering to herself how the experiment with the ring will turn out.
"Well, we were thinking about getting dinner for everyone. You want anythin'?" Applejack said to her. " We've already asked Rarity and Fluttershy, just want you girl's opinion."
"Oh....well, anything is fine I guess. Just....get something not too heavy okay?" Sunset asked.
"Hmhmm.." Applejack nodded, then looked over at Twilight. "Hey Twi! What do you want!?" She called over to Twilight, who was still in the middle of her keep away game with Pinkie.
"Hrrg!! Pinkie!....Uhhh......I'll.. Just have what ever Sunset's having!" Twilight replied, her mind zigzagging between keeping the emerald away from Pinkie, and answering Applejack's question. Pinkie made one more attempt to grab the emerald from Twilight once more, but Twilight moved it out of the way once again. However as Pinkie ran past Twilight her boot hit Twilight's ankle causing her to fall forward.
"Woah!" Pinkie yelped as she fell forward towards the other girls and fell flat on her face.
"I'm sorry Pinkie, but we can't have you horsing around here." Twilight firmly told her. She then looked to Dash and Applejack. "Say do you girls think that you could take her with you? We'd really appreciate it!" Twilight said desperately wanting to get back to their experiment.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were rather hesitant to bring her along for her tendency to get them into silly or embarrassing situations.
"Ehh.....can't Fluttershy watch her?" Dash asked.
"I think she's too occupied taking care of her animals." Applejack answered her. "Seriously that rabbit of hers is a handful. Rainbow Dash let out a sigh for she knew that Pinkie was inevitably going to do something to embarrass them. She walked forward and stood Pinkie up.
"Okay Pinkie, if your gonna come. You better behave yourself. You got that Pinkie!?" Dash told her callously, gripping her by her shoulders firmly. She expected Pinkie to jump out of her arms with excitement. Except....she didn't.
"Oh...uh......okay...." Pinkie said meekly, her voice lacking the energy and innocence it once had. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were confused at Pinkie's jarring change in demeanor. They exchanged a look before turning to go get in Applejack's truck. But as Dash turned she felt something grip her hand. Looking back she saw that Pinkie had grasped her hand in both her palms, her eyes as wide as a shy child.
"......Pinkie?" Dash asked, very confused with how she was acting. Upon looking closer she noticed that Pinkie's hair wasn't poofy and fluffy anymore. No it hung straight downward past her shoulders and it also was a slightly darker hue than usual.
"Sigh....Will you quit your moping and come on already?!" Dash growing impatient pulled Pinkie along, with her finally walking behind her holding Dash's hand. They rounded the corner of the house and went towards the front.
"Okay, we are now getting the reading of the ring." Twilight spoke into the camera before turning to continue the experiment.
"You ready?" Sunset asked turning to Twilight. Twilight nodded in response, cuing Sunset to turn on the generator and adjust the oscilloscope.
The ring made an fizzing electrical ringing as electricity began flowing into it. This ringing grew louder and louder as Sunset increased the voltage. Twilight quickly jotted down this difference.
"Okay! Were at 50 watts!" Sunset yelled, plugging one of her ears from how loud the sound was.
"Let's move up to 60!" Twilight yelled back, who was just as annoyed by the sound as Sunset was. Sunset began to turn the nob past 50 watts. When she turned it past 55 watts, the ring began to hover slightly on small arcs of electricity. Twilight once again wrote down what the ring was doing in her notebook.
"Okay were at 60 now!" Sunset announced.
"Keep going!" Twilight said. Sunset kept turning the nob. When she turned past 70, the ring began spinning and a small yellow halo of energy began forming around it, which of course Twilight made sure to write down. The ring's spinning got faster and faster.
"Were at 85!" Sunset called out again. "Geez we should've gotten some earmuffs!" she protested the loud ringing it was making. The rings spinning had now grown so fast that it was a blur, it's shape nearly unrecognizable.
"I don't like this!" Sunset said, growing more nervous as the ring's spinning was causing it to vibrate like it was going to fly out and hit them in the face. Regardless she continued turning the knob. She turned the knob to 95, the ring was now shaking frantically as it spun, like a rubber ball bouncing in a box.
"Okay! Were at 100 watts!" Sunset shouted through the loud ringing, which Twilight could barely hear.
"Hold it there!" Twilight frantically scrambled to write down what was happening. The ring was bouncing even more violently than before, it started to repeatedly hit the table beneath it, making a loud rythmic banging sound.
"Twilight I don't like this!!" Sunset yelled as her ears were aching from the ringing and the banging the ring was making.
"Just hold on!!" Twilight yelled back, clearly not enjoying this any more than Sunset was. With a few more quick strokes of her pen (In her mouth. She'd been writing everything down with her pen in her mouth) she finished writing down the last of the readings.
"Ok! Turn it off!!!" Twilight yelled once again. Sunset wasted no time and turned off the generator, however the second she flipped the switch, the ring suddenly shot out at blinding speed towards Rarity's house.
"WHOA!!!"
"Watch out!!!" The two girls were knocked off their feet and fell to the side as the ring pierced through their plexiglass shield, through their canopy and into a window on the top floor of Rarity's house.
"Ugh ow!" Twilight's shoulder hurt a little from falling over, but she tensed up when she looked up and saw that the window on top floor was completely shattered.
"Oh no.......Rarity is not gonna like that." Sunset added, having also noticed the broken window. She went over and helped Twilight onto her feet.
"Lets clean up everything before Rarity notices." Twilight whispered to Sunset, fearing Rarity's reaction. "I'm afraid Rarity won't forgive us this time around."
Suddenly a girlish shriek came from the window upstairs, sending a chill down the two girls spines.
"Speak of the devil." Sunset dreaded what was coming next. Rarity poked her head out of the broken window to give the two a piece of her mind.
"Thats it! I forbid you two from conducting experiments on my property from now on!" Rarity shouted a them below. Sunset and Rarity struggled to come up with a convincing argument.
"Oh please Rarity. I know we promised we wouldn't damage your house but....." Twilight looked to the side nervously, knowing that she couldn't come up with many excuses in this situation.
".....We couldn't have possibly known that was going to happ-"
"No! Both of you clean up that pigsty down there and take your experiments somewhere else!" Rarity put her foot down and stormed back inside.
Twilight and Sunset stood for several seconds as they took in the fact that they were just lectured like a couple of kids who were caught getting into trouble.
"So......what now?" Sunset asked Twilight. Twilight let out a sigh as she went through the notes she wrote down on her clipboard.
"Well.....at least we got some important data. I'll put it through some more formulas tonight, see if some new info comes up." Twilight tried to make the best of the situation. Sunset shrugged her shoulders as she somewhat agreed with Twilight.
"I'll see if Dash will let us do experiments at her house." Sunset told. Twilight agreed with the notion, noting to herself that Dash was probably more tolerant of the possibility of damage to her house. She even questioned why they didn't do these experiments at her place to begin with.
"Well, let's start cleaning all this up." Twilight said as she began taking the instruments off the table.
Sunset was putting the oscilloscope away in a box when she heard the light pattering of a small dog approaching.
"Hey guys!" Spike greeted them cheerily as he carried something in his mouth.
"Hey there Spike!" Twilight knelt down and scratched his head. Then she noticed the thing in his mouth.
"Sorry about what happened with Rarity. So I thought I would bring this thing back." Spike noticed Twilight eying what he was carrying and dropped in front of Twilight.
It was the ring that broke Rarity's window. She picked it up and began examining it.
"What more secrets do you hold?" Twilight asked herself.
Sunset folded up one of the folding tables and wiped some sweat off her brow as she looked at what she had left to put away.
"Hey Twilight can you help me put away the plexiglass panels and the canopy?" Sunset asked her.
"Okay I'll be there in a second." Twilight replied. She scratched Spike again behind the ears, with Spike giving her a satisfied smile.
"Don't worry about Rarity Twilight, I'll make sure she's still on good terms with you guys." Spike said giving Twilight a wink. Twilight chuckled at Spike's mischievous plan.
"Hee Hee! Okay. Don't butter her up too much. She'll become suspicious of you." Twilight replied. Spike returned the laugh and scurried off towards the house. With that, Twilight stood up and went over to help Sunset. She made sure to put the ring in her pocket beforehand.
Twilight helped Sunset move the plexiglass panels, tables, and other equipment onto the front yard. Since Applejack was away with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie getting dinner, they planned to ask Applejack if they could drop the stuff off at Rainbow Dash's place.
"I'm sure Dash won't mind some more stuff in her garage, it's filled with junk anyways." Sunset told Twilight. While it would be a bit inconvenient for Twilight to not be able to do experiments at Rarity's house, traveling to Dash's house was not too much of a problem.
"Phew! That was harder than it looked" A winded Twilight sighed as she wiped some sweat off her brow. Sunset who wasn't as winded nodded in agreement with her.
"I wonder what the others are up to." Sunset asked, looking down the street.
Meanwhile
Crunch! Mmmm! Damn! It's no Chilidog, but this hotdog is good!" Sonic said as he took a large bite out of his Hot dog with cheese, ketchup and mustard, crumbs falling on to the table and sauce smeared on his mouth. Silver sat next to him and was also enjoying his meal in the same manner as Sonic.
Flash looked at the two eat with appreciation and slight embarrassment at their lack of table manners. Shadow, who sat next to the two, shook his head in embarrassment.
"Uhhhh......do you guys really don't have any fast food places where you're from?" Flash asked, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of place they were from. Sonic and Silver's mouth's were too full to even talk with them full, so Shadow answered for them.
"Well.............not exactly." Shadow half lied, still wanting to maintain their ruse. "We just haven't had much food since we got here, aside from the cafeteria food."
"Yeah, Cafeteria food is pretty mediocre." Flash replied, though he wasn't entirely satisfied with Shadow's answer. Then he noticed that Shadow had not touched his food. "Um......are you gonna eat that?" Flash asked Shadow. Shadow wasn't particularly hungry. He pushed his plate over to Flash saying "Here" rather dismissively. Flash partook in some of Shadow's potato wedges.
Silver, who was sitting closest to the window, ate the last remnants of his burger and wiped the sauce from his mouth with his sleeve. He let out a satisfied sigh as he felt like his stomach was full. Then he looked to his left and he saw a person up against the glass looking at him.
"AAH!!" Silver jumped slightly, causing Sonic behind him to choke a piece of hotdog. He recognized the person as Pinkie Pie, yet he noticed that her hair was different which perplexed him somewhat. She had a sad expression on her face which Silver found odd since whenever he saw Pinkie she looked about as energetic as a bouncy ball in a bouncy castle.
"Uhhh....Pinkie?" Silver said, unsure of what to make of what she was doing.
"Sigh Pinkie! Stop being weird will ya?" Applejack lightly reprimanded Pinkie as she pulled her to the side by the arm.
"Hey! What's Pinkie doin'?" Dash called over to the other two from by the door.
"I dunno. Pinkie's acting weird again." Applejack replied, lightly pulling Pinkie along, who followed along with a slight stagger.
"Say is it me or is Pinkie acting weirder than usual?" Rainbow Dash asked, noting that Pinkie's behavior has been unusual.
Applejack looked back at Pinkie who was looking at the ground idly.
"Come to think of it, she been nothin' but quiet during the trip here." Applejack pointed out.
"Heh! Pinkie being quiet for once? Imagine that!" Dash laughed to herself at the thought. She then opened the door to the diner, taking in the smell of deep fried food, with Applejack and Pinkie following her in.
Sonic, having recovered from choking on a pickle, noticed the three girls enter. He silently nudged Shadow and gestured towards them. Shadow noticed them and immediately frown.
"Oh great." Shadow muttered to himself.
"Should we leave?" Silver whispered over to him. Unfortunately Dash looked over in their direction and noticed them.
"No. Let's act natural for now." Shadow replied, taking a sip of his soda (which was orange cola).
"Hmm? What are you guys talking about?" Flash asked, unfortunately Shadow's whisper was a bit too loud.
Flash looked to his left and saw the three girls, whom he recognized as Twilight's friends.
"Say, aren't those Twilight's friends?" Flash asked, looking back at Shadow. Shadow only shrugged his shoulders, giving Flash the impression that they haven't met.
"Hey, look whose here." Dash snidely pointed over at them. Applejack looked over and noticed the boys as well.
"Heh, looks like they had the same idea as us." Applejack noted.
"Wait here, I'm gonna go mess with them." A sly grin crept along Dash's face, and she walked over to where they were sitting. Applejack rolled her eyes in annoyance. She proceeded to stay in line along with Pinkie so that she could get their food. Glancing back over at Pinkie, who was still in her timid state, couldn't get used to how depressed Pinkie looked.
"Well well well.....look who we have here?" Dash smugly said to them. This cued an extremely exasperated grunt from Sonic. Dash snickered under her breath for she knew that her mere presence was enough to annoy Sonic, which was pretty entertaining for her.
"What do you want?" Shadow asked rather callously.
"Whoa whoa! Hey! I just wanna chat." Dash tried to diffuse the tension, with little success due to the Shadow and Sonic's expressions.
"Yeah well, do you mind? Were trying to eat here." Sonic replied, mimicking Shadow's callousness. Dash grumpily blew some of her hair away from her eyes, muttering 'you're no fun' under her breath. Then she just noticed that Flash was sitting across from them. She barely even noticed him in the first place.
"Oh! Hey Flash." Dash greeted him.
"Hey Dash." Flash greeted her back, he sensed that she didn't notice him until now which kind of let him down.
"Didn't think you'd be hangin' with the new guys." Dash noted, for she never saw him hanging out with anyone until now. She always took him for a loner.
"Guess you and these guys share something in common?"
Silver, who had finished eating his burger, was rather confused by her statement.
"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Silver asked, be somewhat irritated by both her question and her smug tone.
"I'm just saying. Wierdos attract other wierdos." Dash shrugged her shoulders, letting out a smug giggle afterwards. Flash was put off by her statement, but didn't know how to refute her. Silver scowled as he was rather angered by her statment , Sonic just let out a grumble, and Shadow just rolled his eyes.
"Welp. Smell ya later." Dash
"Grrr.....I oughta-" Silver was about to give Dash a piece of his mind, but Sonic lightly elbowed him beneath the table.
"I've gotten used to it. Just ignore her." Sonic advised him. Silver, while still bitter over her comment, decided to heed Sonic's words and carried on with eating.
Applejack had just finished ordering and had taken a seat at a table nearby with Pinkie, who was still incredibly quiet with her solemn demeanor still in play. The thought of Pinkie being so quiet and compliant with her still weirded her out. "I must be so accustomed to Pinkie being annoying that it doesn't feel natural." Applejack thought to herself as she looked over at Pinkie sitting across from her at the table. "Kinda like how I'm accustomed to Dash's brand of annoyance."
She noticed Dash walk over to them after toying with Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Flash. "Speak of the devil"
"So, you girls ordered?" Dash asked, sitting next to Pinkie. Applejack nodded in response.
"So what'd you get me?"
Applejack shrugged. "Eh, you'll see" She answered.
"What do you mean?" Dash wasn't satisfied with her answer.
"Eh, you'll like it." Applejack replied. Dash, while still not satisfied with Applejack's answer, pushed the thought out of her mind and looked over at the three otherworlders, resting her head in her hands with her elbows on the table.
Then her mind went to Pinkie, who was still in her usually timid mood.
"Say, don't you think Pinkie's a whole lot better this way?" Dash asked Applejack, who admitted to herself that it was nice having Pinkie be quiet for once, still felt it was wrong.
"Yeah, I guess but......" Applejack trailed off.
"But what?" Dash inquired.
"Don't ya think it's a little weird. Like.....why's she like this all of a sudden?" Applejack explained, she looked back over at Pinkie who was looking just as shy and timid as Fluttershy at a scary movie.
Dash looked over at Pinkie as well and thought for a few seconds.
"Eh.....who cares. It's good for us huh?" Dash replied, not caring too much about Applejack's point.
Applejack furrowed her brow, not liking how Dash was interpreting Pinkie's change in behavior.
"Gee. So ya don't care if somethin' is wrong with Pinkie? I mean what if she's like this forever?" Applejack replied firmly, a hint of anger in her voice, wanting to make sure Dash got the point.
"Hey hey! I never said that!" Dash threw her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying that we should enjoy a little peace and quiet while she's like this." Dash explained.
"Uh huh....and what if she gonna be always like this?" Applejack wasn't satisfied with her answer.
"I never said she's always gonna be like this either." Dash evaded her question. "I think she just needs a cupcake or some sweets or something and she'll be fine." She shrugged.
"Number 97! Order's ready!" One of the restaurant's employee's shouted a number.
"Oh that's us." Applejack got up to go get their food. "I'll be back" She walked over to the counter.
While Applejack was gone, Dash looked over at Pinkie who was still looking sullen. Now that she thought about it, Pinkie being like this actually didn't feel quite right. Pinkie always knew how to make everyone cheerful and happy. She was always the group's little bundle of joy and the idea of her not being that actually kind of depressed Dash the more she thought about it.
"Hey Pinkie. What's going on." Dash asked, thinking maybe that talking to her could get her back to normal. Pinkie let out a slight gasp, surprised by Dash talking to her. She looked over to see Dash looking at her with a sincere smile.
"Uhh......n...nothing...." She replied meekly. Dash raised an eyebrow not content with that kind of answer.
"Uh...that's not an answer." She replied "Come on, tell me what's on your mind." Dash continue to inquire into Pinkie's state of mind.
Pinkie meekly averted her gaze, fidgeting with her hair. She was silent for several seconds before she finally spoke.
"Is......my.......life worthless?" Pinkie said her voice full of sadness.
Dash's smile instantly faded as Pinkie's question hit her like a basketball to the face. She could hardly believe that Pinkie would even say something that horrible.
"W...what the.....Pinkie. Are you okay?" A shaken Rainbow Dash asked her. Pinkie didn't answer, only continuing to look away from Dash, almost like she was ashamed. But Dash wasn't going to let her say such things. "This isn't worth Pinkie not being annoying! I gotta do something about this."
"Hey! Pinkie look at me!" Dash said commandingly.
"EEP!!" Pinkie yelped in surprise as Dash raised her voice.
"I don't wanna hear you say that ever again. You got that?" Dash told her fiercely. Pinkie stared at Dash blankly, her mouth slightly agape as she couldn't find the words to reply with.
"I don't what's going on in that head of yours, but always remember you're one of us." Dash continued.
"Ey. What's going on 'ere?" Applejack had just got back from getting their food and overheard Dash.
"I take back what I said. Pinkie is not good like this." Dash said to Applejack suddenly. "Especially if she's saying stuff like 'Is my life worthless'"
"Pinkie said that?" A flabbergasted Applejack replied. "I think we should talk about this to Twilight."
"You know for once I agree." Rainbow Dash agreed with Applejack for once, which rarely happens between the two. "Come on let's go." She got up from her seat and grabbed Pinkie by the hand, pulling her lightly. But Pinkie wouldn't get up. "Come on Pinkie let's go." Rainbow Dash pulled slightly harder, trying to to be too rough with her. Pinkie eventually caved and got up. The three then made their way towards the exit.
Meanwhile, Flash and the three other worlders were also about to leave.
"It's getting late. We should go." Shadow said as he got up.
Flash looked outside the window and saw the day's hue was turning orangish, signaling that evening was coming.
"Yeah, I should probably be getting home too." Flash got up from him seat. Silver was slightly disappointed for he was enjoying Flash's company.
"Aw jeez. Already?" Silver complained.
"Oh stop complaining and lets go." Sonic retorted at him as he squeezed past Shadow. However he didn't notice Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie about to pass by, and as he put his foot outside the table, he accidentally clipped Pinkie's foot as she passed by.
"Wha- WHAA!!" Pinkie cried out as she stumbled forwards and landed face first on the ground.
"PINKIE!!" Dash and Applejack yelled as they rushed to Pinkie's side. An angry Dash looked around to see who tripped Pinkie, and she saw Sonic looking at the three with a blank expression on his face. Shadow, Silver, and Flash were also giving Sonic an awkward look.
"Uhhh......sorry." Sonic tried to diffuse the tension in the air. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop a fuming Rainbow Dash from standing up, walking over to him and grabbing him by the collar.
"You gotta problem blue boy! Huh?!" Dash angrily got up in Sonic's face.
"Whoa hey! Hands off! I didn't see her!" Sonic pulled her hand off his collar and shouted back at her with similar fury.
"Don't give me that bullcrap! Pinkie is already miserable enough! Do you really need to make her even more miserable!?" Rainbow Dash retorted with even greater anger.
Flash could sense that this could escalate into something bad so he quickly stepped forward between Sonic and Dash.
"Okay hey! Calm down!" Flash said firmly as he pushed the two away from each other, which got them to stop fighting for now.
"Dash, I'm sure it was just accident and he apologized." Flash said to Dash. "And Sonic, do you really have to make things worse by fighting?" Flash reprimanded Sonic. Sonic and Dash then both realized that they've made a scene at the restaurant, with all the other patrons looking at them awkwardly.
"Sigh You're right. Sorry I guess." Dash said, scratching the back of her head in slight embarrassment.
"Yeah me too." Sonic relented as well. "More importantly, how's Pinkie?" Sonic changed the subject. Dash took Sonic's advice and went to check on Pinkie who was still face down on the floor.
"Pinkie! You okay!?" Dash and Applejack carefully and gently rolled the unconscious Pinkie onto her back. Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Flash watched as they tended to her.
"She's still breathin'. And I don't see any blood." Applejack checked if Pinkie was injured anywhere.
It was just then that Silver noticed something different with Pinkie's hair. Last time he looked at Pinkie it was straight and hung down past her shoulders, but now it was poofy and bulbous like usual.
"BOO!!!" Pinkie yelled as she suddenly sat up. Dash and Applejack jump back in surprise, both of them falling on the behinds. Sonic, Silver, and Flash were also surprised,
"Uhh....Pinkie....you okay?" Dash asked. She saw that instead of appearing depressed and sad, Pinkie's eyes were wide as saucers and a big grin was on her face.
"Okay!? I'm more than okay! I'mmmmmm FABULOUS!!" Pinkie quickly hopped onto her feet and struck a cute pose.
The group was silent for a few seconds.
"Welp. Looks like the old Pinkie's back." Applejack said as she stood up and dusted herself off.
"Well, so much for that problem" Dash said as she did the same. Sonic just stood there bewildered at how the problem sort of just resolved itself. Even Shadow, Silver, and Flash were somewhat flabbergasted at the bizarre series of events.
"Well......now that that's taken care of, hows about we go home, Twilight and Sunset are probably starvin' by now." Applejack said to the group, not wanting the food to get cold.
"Yeah. Not a bad idea." Dash agreed with Applejack.
"Um.....so....no hard feelings?" Sonic asked them. Dash gave him a unpleasant look.
"Eh I guess so." Dash shrugged her shoulders. "But!....I've got my eye on you!" Dash gave him the 'I'm watching you' gesture. Sonic wanted to snap back at her with a snarky remark, but at this point he'd gotten used to it by now so he just rolled his eyes.
Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack left the premises shortly after. The sun had gone behind the hills and it had started to get dark, the street lights coming on for the night. The three hopped in Applejack's truck, Applejack handed the food to Pinkie in the back.
"Eh, are you sure it's okay giving the food to Pinkie?" Dash asked Applejack. Applejack shot Dash a confused look.
"Why not?" Applejack asked. "Ya think she's gonna take a bite of yer food or sumthin'?"
"Wha-? No! I don't even know what you got me!" Dash protested, cuing Applejack to snicker a little under her breath.
Dash looked back at Pinkie who still had a wide and innocent smile on her face and was looking at the bag of food with awe and curiosity.
"It's just really weird how Pinkie was acting completely opposite of what she's usually like, and then suddenly she's back to her usual self." Dash explained. Applejack thought for a few seconds and she found herself agreeing again with Dash. She tried to think of a reason in her head.
"Maybe she's going through a tough point in her life." Applejack theorized. "Like all of us do."
Dash wasn't entirely satisfied with Applejack's answer.
"But if she's going through a tough time, wouldn't she tell us about it?" Dash asked back. She looked back again and saw Pinkie, with her giant smile still on her face, sniff the aroma of food coming from the bag and let out a satisfied and content sigh.
Applejack thought for a moment, but she shrugged when she couldn't think of an answer.
"Eh, I'm sure Twilight will have an answer fer us when we get back." Applejack said as she started up the engine. Dash put her head against the head of the glass. However as Applejack pulled out of their parking spot, Dash spotted Sonic, Shadow, Silver and Flash come out of the restaurant. She could help but follow them with her eyes as Applejack pulled out of the parking lot.
"Whew! I'm stuffed!" Silver said as he rubbed his tummy. Sonic almost as if on que let out a loud burp as Silver finished his sentence. Shadow rolled his eyes at their immaturity.
"Uh....thanks for footing the bill" Shadow thanked Flash.
"Hey like I said, It was my treat!" Flash smiled back at them.
"Say wouldn't mind if you could drive us home would you?" Silver asked.
"Sure, where you guys living at?" Flash asked.
"Oh we live in apartment complex near the border of town. Run by some guy named Sandalbark." Sonic explained. Flash's eyes widened slightly as if he recognized that place.
"Oh I know that place. Sheesh was that you guy's only option?" Flash asked them.
"Yeah. And we only managed to get a place there due to a coupon we got for a free month there." Silver explained.
"Yeah, but end of the month is in a few weeks. You guys better start finding jobs soon." Flash told them, he got out his keys and unlocked his car.
"Well, you aren't the first to tell us that." Sonic remarked.
The four piled into Flash's car and Shadow directed him on where to go. The stars were beginning to show above as the sky's blue color got darker and darker.
"Say, I'm wondering what was going on with Pinkie back there." Silver asked. Sonic and Shadow looked back at him to better listen to what he has to say.
"What about her?" Sonic asked.
"You know how she's always energetic and cheery?" Silver asked. "She didn't seem that way at the restaurant." The four were silent with thought.
"But then she returned to that way after she tripped and fell." Sonic added. "Why is that?"
"It's none of our business. Don't think about it too much." Shadow told him. Flash gave him a concerned look.
"Geez. Harsh much?" Flash complained.
"Eh. He's always like that." Sonic told Flash. Shadow didn't bother responding to Sonic's remark.
Twenty minutes later Flash pulled up to the apartment complex where they lived.
"Well, here we are." Flash said. The three climbed out of his car.
"Well, see you Flash." Sonic said goodbye. "You know, you're actually pretty cool"
"Oh please. I'm actually not all that cool." An embarrassed Flash rubbed the back of his head, while downplaying their compliments.
"Heh, there's no need to be so modest man." Silver encouraged him.
"You know, I agree. You should be more confident." Shadow stepped next to Sonic and Silver. Flash was heartfelt at their comments, he chuckled slightly.
"You know, I've met a lot of guys at CHS.......but never guys like you." Flash told them. "Do you think......we could hang out again sometime?" He asked.
The three looked at each other. Silver was kind of worried of what Shadow would say given that he wasn't too fond of associating with visitors.
"Eh. We'll see." A skeptical Shadow finally said as he turned and headed back to the apartment complex. The three looked on as he headed back.
"Ah don't worry about him. If you wanna hang out with us, just give us a call." Sonic said.
"Thanks you guys." Flash thanked them. He shifted into drive and drove off after waving goodbye to them. He drove all the way home with a smile on his face.
Sonic and Silver caught up to Shadow who was already in the apartment complex going up the stairs.
"So what do you think Shadow. Think we can count him as a friend?" Silver asked.
"Again, I wouldn't get too close to the inhabitants of this world." Shadow once again iterated his seemingly cold mantra. Silver and Sonic looked at him disappointedly.
"Ya know Shadow. If we stay here long enough I don't think that's gonna be an option." Sonic rolled his eyes at Shadow's stubbornness. They eventually get to their apartment room and began to unwind.
"Well, at least it's Friday tomorrow. That way we can look for the chaos emeralds." Sonic said as he stretched a little.
"As much as I hate to admit it. We also have homework to do." Shadow said. The cued a double take from both Silver and Sonic. "We'll have to do it over the weekend." This caused a loud "Awww!!" of disappointment from Silver and Sonic.
"Oh quit complaining! I'll help you through it." Shadow reprimanded them like a disgruntled parent.
"Well screw that I'm going outside!" Sonic walked over to the sliding doors and threw them open, slamming it against the wall. He walked out onto the small balcony and closed the door behind him with almost as much vigor as he when he opened it.
Shadow and Silver looked over at the doors when Sonic entered. Shadow rolled his eyes in utter annoyance then went back to looking over their homework.
"Well, I'm gonna hit the sack." Silver told Shadow, letting out a quiet yawn. He walked over to the bunk bed and was about to throw himself on the mattress, but suddenly his body convulsed with weakness and nearly fell over, catching himself on the frame of the bed.
"You alright?" Shadow noticed Silver leaning on the bed. He noticed that he had broken out in a huge sweat and was panting heavily. "You don't look so good". Just as he finished talking Silver let out a loud cough.
"Pant pant I'm fine. Just......a bit cold." Silver took off his jacket and climbed into bed, pulling the covers over him. Shadow looked at Silver with worry. He made a mental note to himself to keep a closer eye on Silver in the coming days.
Meanwhile Sonic sat on a chair outside, a light cold breeze blowing in his face as he looked towards the city. He was tired of being powerless. Yet he couldn't be angry, he wanted to but he couldn't. He thought that maybe all this blending in is getting to his mind.
But then while he was reminiscing about green hill and his adventures with his other friends, for whatever reason his mind drifted to think about Twilight. He could put his finger on it, but he felt a strange connection to her. He tried thinking about other things, but his mind couldn't get off her.
"Twilight. Who are you?"
Over at Rarity's house
"Twilight darling, You know I am more than willing to help however I can. But I will not tolerate anymore damage to my property! And that's final!" Rarity said firmly, going back to inspecting her makeup in the mirror.
Twilight looked at her blankly with one eyebrow raised. "I was just going to apologize for that" She thought. Spike looked up at Rarity, whining eagerly.
"Well Rarity, I just wanted to apologize for the damage we did to your house." Twilight apologized. Rarity looked over at Twilight, dropping her firm expression for a understanding one. "I'm just worried about this emerald. So much about it makes no sense to me. And you know I'm scared of what I don't
"Oh Twilight, I do apologize if I seem unreasonable. It's just.....well. Don't you think you're freaking out just a teeeensy little bit about this emerald?" Rarity said to her. Twilight looked down in thought as she fidjeted with her hands behind her. "Now don't get me wrong the business with this emerald is important, but you've been fixated on this emerald for nearly a month now."
"Well...what am supposed to do then? I have no idea how this emerald works, or what it even is. I just need to figure it out Rarity." Twilight insisted on her goal to understand the emerald, a distraught expression on her face.
"And you will darling." Rarity got up and took Twilight's hands. Twilight looked up at Rarity with hopeful eyes. "You will solve this mystery. You are the smartest of the girls next to Sunset." Rarity encouraged her, a smile growing on Twilight's face. "All I'm saying is, you should relax a little. Clear your mind. The answer will present itself soon enough."
Twilight looked at the emerald that was sitting on a table next to Rarity's bedroom door, and she sighed when she realized that she's been letting this business get to her head.
"Sigh You're right Rarity. I'm sorry for worrying you." A heartfelt Twilight replied. The two friends then gave each other a hug. Spike, who was sitting on the bed, watched happily as he knew Twilight's bond with her friends was unbreakable, even across dimensions.
She went downstairs with Spike swiftly following behind her and went to the dining room, where Sunset was who had just finished packing their equipment (or what was left of it) into boxes to move to their next location.
"So. How did it go with Rarity?" Sunset asked as she crammed a buch of power cords into a box and closed it."
"Well, we won't be able to continue our experiment's here. We'll have to continue it at Dash's house." Twilight explained. Sunset thought for a few seconds, she questioned if it were more efficient if they did it at Dash's house to begin with.
"Okay, I'll need to check with Dash if she'll be okay with us using her place." Sunset replied. But her train of thought was interrupted when she felt something brush by her boot. She looked down and saw a squirrel eating a acorn. Then Twilight saw a white bunny hop onto the table and scratch it ear.
"Well, I think I know who that is." Twilight said in anticipation for who she was about to see. They saw Fluttershy carrying a cat with two kittens and two birds in her hair enter the dining room from the door that led to the backyard.
"Sorry everyone. I had to work overtime at the animal shelter. Not to mention Ms. Fluffles here just gave birth to two cute little kittens. " Fluttershy explained the reason for her absence, stroking the back of the cat in her arms. .
"Heh. I bet you'd work there 24/7 if they'd let you." Sunset joked as she sat down in one of the chairs around the dinner table. Fluttershy giggled at her joke and proceed to gently set the cat and her kittens on the couch.
"So, um.......what did I miss?" Fluttershy asked. Sunset and Twilight then explained to her their failed attempt at an experiment and how they will have to move their operations over to Rainbow Dash's house.
"Oh my. So....that's why there was a broken window on the second floor?" Fluttershy asked, who noticed it on her way in. Twilight and Sunset nervously scratched their heads and let out a nervous chuckle as they recalled what happened earlier today.
However the discussion was interrupted when they heard a stomach growl. Twilight looked down and embarrasingly realized that it was her stomach that growled.
"Ha ha! Listen to that!" Twilight said.
"Where's Dash, AJ, and Pinkie? They were supposed to get the food." Sunset added. Then, almost on cue, the doorbell rang. Then the front door opened Applejack, Rainbow Dash, with Applejack carrying the food in four paper bags.
"HIIYAA! The food's here!" Pinkie burst into the dinner room, from underneath the dinner table. She then bounced all over the room, including once on Sunset's head, before she finally landed in one of the dining room tables.
"Ha ha ha! You sure know how to make an entrance Pinkie." Twilight commented cheerfully as she sat down next to Pinkie.
"Welcome back Pinkie!" Fluttershy greeted her as she sat in the other seat next to her. Pinkie responded with her classic 'squee!' sound. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in annoyance at Pinkie's hyperactivness.
"Sorry for makin' ya'll wait! Had a run in with the new guys." Applejack reported, setting the food on the dinner table. Applejack's latter statement got Twilight's attention.
"You mean, you saw Sonic, Shadow, and Silver there?" Twilight asked.
"Oh yeah we did. And Sonic was a big jerk to Pinkie!" Dash said.
Twilight grew rather concerned when she heard that from Dash. While she percieved that Sonic was brash and cocky (like a certain somepony in the room), but she never seen him be outright mean to them.
"Wait? Sonic was.....mean to Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked, her concern growing.
"Nah. Sonic just tripped Pinkie by accident. Isn't that right Pinkie?" Applejack turned to Pinkie.
"Yeah! Sonic is cool! I'm talking about blue, white, red, yellow COOL!" Pinkie listed off Sonic's color scheme. The other's just looked at her confusedly.
"Well actually. Twi, me and Dash wanted to talk to ya about Pinkie for a minute." Applejack told her.
"About Pinkie? What's wrong with Pinkie?" Twilight replied, her concern flaring up again.
"How 'bout we talk about this over while we eat?" Applejack proposed, to which Pinkie and Dash were very much looking forward to.
Fifteen minutes later
The Main 7 were chowing down on their meal, which consisted of burgers for Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Hotdogs for Rainbow Dash, Rarity,, and Pinkie Pie, as well as french fries and soda.
"Ugh. This is definately not good for my calorie count!" Rarity protested at the choice of food that they got.
"Oh come on Rarity. It doesn't hurt every once and a while." Applejack replied. Fluttershy was feeding some of the fixins of her burger to her rabbit and squirrel, while Pinkie Pie was chowing down with little regard for table manners.
Rainbow Dash was about to take a bite of her burger when a large drop of ketchup dropped onto her lap.
"Geez Applejack. Ya think you put enough sauce on this thing!?" Rainbow Dash complained as she grabbed a napkin and began wiping the sauce off her skirt.
Twilight finished taking a sip of her soda, then turned her mind towards the problem of Pinkie Pie that Applejack wanted to talk about.
"So Applejack. You mentioned that there was something wrong with Pinkie?" Twilight asked Applejack who was sipping her drink.
"Well, Dash tells me that Pinkie was actin' all strange like." Applejack explained.
"Yeah, she wasn't acting.......well......how she is now." Dash added to Applejack's explanation. Twilight looked at Pinkie who was playing with her food, acting all childish and playful as usual.
"So, how was she acting differently?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash's features turned sullen as she remembered what Pinkie said.
"Well, if I recall, Pinkie wasn't acting all cheerful and jittery like now. And.....she said.....something along the lines of....." Rainbow Dash was hesitant to repeat what Pinkie said at the restaurant for even she had a hard time thinking that Pinkie would saying something like that. "....'Is my life worthless?'"
The entire group, save Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack, immediately gasped and stopped eating as they all turned towards Pinkie with their mouth's agape. Pinkie, who was still digging into her food, paused when she realized that the other's eyes were on her.
"Pinkie. said. WHAT!?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"How terrible!" Fluttershy exclaimed along with Twilight.
"Goodness gracious!" Rarity added to the groups concern.
"What the hell?!" Sunset also shared in the groups concern.
Pinkie looked around awkwardly as the group looked at her with great concern. "What? I didn't say anything like that. The only thing I think is worthless are those little pieces of ballon you find after water ballon fights. Hee hee!"
The groups gaze then fell from Pinkie to Dash.
".......what?" Dash asked the group, feeling uncomfortable with the group awkwardly staring at her.
"Are you sure Pinkie said that?" Sunset asked Dash.
"Yeah, yer not pullin' our leg are ya?" Applejack further questioned Dash.
"Oh come on! You'd think I'd make that up?" Dash protested at her friends, throwing her hands up in the air. "I mean......sure I make fun of her, but nothing like that!" Dash further explained, rather hurt that her friends didn't believe her, especially when it was about something serious like this.
The group was silent for a moment.
"Dash is right girls!" Fluttershy sudden blurted out. The rest of the group double taked at Fluttershy's statement, surprised that she would stick up for Dash. "Dash may have the brain of a hot-headed boar-"
"Hey!" Dash objected to Fluttershy's analogy.
"-but I don't think she would lie about something like this. Right Dash?" Fluttershy finished, giving Dash a smile as she sat down.
Dash was breifly at a loss for words. She didn't expect Fluttershy to suddenly stick up for her.
"Uhh......yeah. Thanks......I guess." Dash replied rubbing the back of her neck. She wasn't used to being defended by Fluttershy, which made her feel rather awkward.
"I agree." Twilight then began to give her piece. "If what Dash says is true, then we need to help Pinkie out." Twilight said with confidence. She then looked at Pinkie.
"So Pinkie. Tell us, what's on your mind?" Twilight asked her. The group fell silent once again as they listened to what Pinkie was going to say.
Pinkie, who was sipping on her soda while the girls were talking, looked around as the girls had their eyes fixed on her waiting for her to say something. Then Pinkie put her soda down on the table, then slowly raised her hand with her index finger pointing up at the cieling as she prepared to say something.
"Inhale I'm-BUUUURRRRP!!!" Pinkie's burp reverberated throughout the house, and left a deafening silence just as abrubtly as it came. The group was quiet, but underneath, they were all desparately trying to hold in their laughter. Dash was the first to let it come out a little as her lips curled and sputtered out air. Then Fluttershy was the next to start snickering, covering her mouth as she tried to hold her laughter in. Eventually Twilight and Sunset couldn't hold it in, followed by Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, until finally.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" All the girls finally burst into laughter, nearly falling backwards in their chairs. Twilight knew that this sort of humor was completely low-brow, but even she could help but laugh like a little filly at the timing of that burp.
For three minutes Rarity's house was filled with their laughter, with Pinkie sitting with a content and somewhat devious smirk on her face.
Twilight wiped away her tears as she tried to get a hold of herself. "Hehehehe...Okay...Hehe....Okay...I....did not expect that." Twilight said as she managed to stop laughing.
"Pant Pant Pant Hoo! Hoo boy! Man! I haven't laughed like that in a long time." Applejack said inbetween breaths.
The group eventually managed to settle down their laughter as Twilight tried to get the conversation back on track.
"Okay....heehee!.....But seriously Pinkie, you feeling okay?" Twilight asked Pinkie. The others waited for what she was a bout to say. Pinkie took a deep breath as she prepared to finally talk to her friends.
"Inhale Girls. You know me. I'm the cheery, energetic, and hyper one of the group. But sometimes I run out of fuel. I need a.......uh.....recharge." Pinkie tried explaining. The group exchanged looks with each other as they thought about what she said.
"Soooo......you're okay then?" Twilgiht asked her.
"Oh yes I am. Though, what I'm trying to say is. I.......well.......can't be hyper and energetic all the time. I need to cool down occasionally. " Pinkie explained, her normally cheerful demeanor fading slightly for second. .
Rainbow Dash and Applejack both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sigh That's our Pinkie for you." Rarity commented. "Always stalwart to the end."
"Yep, I wouldn't doubt her for a second." Sunset agreed with her.
"That's wonderful Pinkie." said Twilight. "But as always, don't be afraid to talk about your problems with us."
"Yeah. Were here for you." Fluttershy chipped in.
"Hee Hee Hee! Of course! And I'm also here if you wanna here another one from me. Wanna hear it again!?" Pinkie suddenly snapped back into full energetic gear and prepared to let out another burp.
"Ack! No no no no no no!! It was only funny once! Don't ruin the joke!" Applejack frantically reached over and covered Pinkie's mouth. This only cued more laughs from the group.
The group then proceeded to go back to eating their dinner continuing to enjoy chatting and gossiping. All the while, Twilight was incredibly thankful to have such good friends over in this dimension. Even lucky that it was exact copies of her friends back through the mirror. However, in the back of her mind, the thought of the emerald lingered, nagging at her mind to understand it. Twilight knew that whatever the emerald was, unless she figured out what it was, it could bring great danger to not just her friends, but this entire world.