//------------------------------//
// Sonic's Adventure 
// Story: My Little Pony: Companionship is Magic- Rainbow's Sonic Adventure 
// by Twinkie Sprinkle 
//------------------------------//

Chapter One: Sonic's Adventure

Rainbow Dash trotted into the Starswirl the Bearded Wing of Canterlot's Magic School for Gifted Unicorns with a saddle full of books on her back. She felt extremely small every time she entered the great hall of the famous historical magician, like she lost a few centimeters in height every time she entered.
She turned and looked back. Firefly was waving goodbye to her, and casually she waved back, as she and her mother went their separate ways.
Rainbow Dash then turned her attention towards finding her way around. It was Thursday, the beginning of half a week in Canterlot studying magic with her new friends. The hall seemed empty, and not a sound could be heard. For a moment she thought she was actually early for once, but quickly noticed unicorn professors in the rooms nearby. A thought popped into her head and she began looking for a pink alicorn pony in the lounge room.
"Rainbow Dash? Rainbow, where are you?" called a calm, melodic young voice from the back of the lounge. It seemed be coming from a far away pinkish blob with purple, pink, and yellow striped triple toned hair.
Striding casually into the lounge, Rainbow noticed Princess Cadence and looked sorry, like she was waiting for her.
"Late again...?" she asked, her voice sounding like an admission.
Cadence simply laughed softly, straightening her ponytail out a bit with a hoof. "Just a little. It's no problem Rainbow...and besides, I'm just glad you're here so I can see if you can answer a little riddle for me! Ahem...What has wings and magic spells, but does not fly?"
"Does not fly...? Uhmm..." Rainbow pondered the question, but after quickly getting frustrated, decided she was stumped. "I got nothing." she smiled sheepishly.
Cadence leaned next to Rainbow's ear, smirked and whispered into it with a wink. "You're standing in it."
The little filly's eyes widened.
"Oooohh! You're so smart, there's no way I could get that." Rainbow lay her saddle full of books on the nearest couch, examining them. "And I'm supposed to be practicing my lateral thinking too, thanks for reminding me that I suck so bad at it." she admitted, looking crestfallen.
Cadence nuzzled Rainbow's cheek gently as she walked up to the couch, hugging her a bit with one of her wings.
"Not to worry, Rainbow," Cadence said gently, "The greatest geniuses are often the ones who have made the most mistakes."
Rainbow nodded.
"I haven't felt like much of a genius lately." she admitted solemnly.
Cadence sat down carefully on the couch and smiled at Rainbow. "Maybe you'll feel better after you get your present. Twilight Twinkle told me she wrote something special that she thinks you'll really like."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Twilight... uh, Sparkle told me her mom was writing a book, ever since the Rainboom when we met. Where'll I find her?" Rainbow then asked.
Following the directions as best she could, Rainbow soon found herself in the study room, looking for Twinkle.
Rainbow tried not to stare back at the ponies, all unicorns, who were looking at her with strange looks. Her tiny, underdeveloped wings made her a strange sight in some parts of Canterlot, especially here. She quickly found Twinkle, tapping her on the shoulder.
"Hey, Twinkle..."
Twinkle's mouth dropped in surprise as she quickly looked down at Rainbow and smiled cheerfully. "Oh, Rainbow! I'm so glad you made it...I'm sure you're going to love my latest novel!"
"Your latest novel? How many have you done by now?" Rainbow's head tilted quizzically.
Twinkle rubbed her chin, thinking, then laughed softly. "A bit too many too count. Though...most of them weren't too different from each other, you know? Lots of science fiction stories about heroes exploring space. This one...it's kind of like that, but I tried thinking a little outside the box for it. I think you'll find something really special about the hero in this story. I'm not sure how the public at large will respond to him, but I made sure he's not quite like anything anypony's ever seen before in an adventure tale," Twinkle explained, finishing with a smirk and a wink.
Rainbow nodded and took in as much as she could as her attention swayed between Twinkle and the room at large. Some ponies were still looking at her while others were chatting idly as they did, and Rainbow wondered what was going on.
"Oh, a new hero... cool." she smiled and nodded approvingly. "And a sci fi... I guess it'll be... interesting!"
"Righty-o!" Rainbow winked, picking up the book in her mouth and stuffing it in her saddlebags. "How long before you can get it out there, in shops and stuff?"
"I'm...not quite sure yet." Twinkle said with a blush and a small chuckle. "I'll need to keep making copies on my own first, and try to introduce it to a small test market. If enough ponies like what I've written, then I can finally get a big company to start mass producing it."
"You should get Twilight to make copies for you, with her magic!" Rainbow half-joked, chuckling to herself. She was unaware she was suddenly onto something, as she looked back at Twinkle.
Twinkle stared widely, wondering why she hadn't thought of that. "That's a brilliant idea, Rainbow! It would be so much faster than using the printing press, and, given that Twi's as crazy about books as I am, she'll love a chance to create more of them! You're really clever...it looks your studies are paying off!" Twilight exclaimed, before leaning down to ruffle Rainbow's mane with a hoof.
"Hee hee!" Rainbow grinned, feeling like a genius. "Oh, speaking of... I'd better go find her so we can share what we've learned. I'll seeya around!" she trotted off casually, past the larger adult ponies busily engrossed in their own conversations and stufdies.
"Have fun, sport!" Twinkle said with a wave as she watched Rainbow leave.



Meanwhile Twilight Sparkle was pacing the bookshelves of the Starswirl the Bearded wing anxiously, finding her unable at the moment to choose which of the many, many spell manuals to actually pick up and read.
Rainbow Dash trotted happily along, humming a bland tune to herself, proud of her idea.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm!" she hummed, noticing the familiar purple coat of her friend and doing a double take, walking towards the nearby bookshelf. "Hey, Twi!" she greeted.
Twi shook her head wildly as she stopped staring at one of the shelves, as if she were coming out of a trance. "Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said with a joyful smile as she looked at her friend's face. "You're looking really happy today!"
"Your mom just gave me a new book, plus I came up with an idea that she really liked, to get it published. How about you try learning a cloning spell, to copy her books?"
"Wow, learning a new spell and putting more books into this world! Is it my birthday!?" Twilight shouted, before leaping to her hind legs and clapping her front hooves in joy, giggling in anticipation.
"Maybe it is." Rainbow grinned.
"What's the title of the book? Maybe I can even tell what it's about just by hearing it!" Twilight cried out as she returned to all fours and started alternating all her hooves in a stomping dance with a big toothy smile in response to Rainbow Dash's own grin.
"Not this one, I don't think..." Rainbow put her saddlebags down and grabbed the book, revealing the cover. It showed a spiky blue creature standing on two legs, with arms and hands, a small black button nose and two black eyes. It wore thick white gloves and red shoes, both with a thick white buckle around them. "Sonic's Adventure."

That night, Rainbow lay awake in bed, a comfortable room in Canterlot overlooking the night sky. The full moon shone over her, but the filly had already hid herself under the covers, a tiny nightlight casting her silhouette. Time passed, and the battery ran out, forcing her to stop reading and go to sleep.

Morning came as it always did on another day of her Canterlot half of the week, and as soon as she was up she was hanging out with Twilight in their 'library', a nearby bedroom suite close to the Academy. The two were dropped off by Twilight's parents, Twilight Twinkle and Moonshine, who took the young pegasus in with them during her stay each week. The two spent the day studying, talking and occasionally having visits from Twilight's unicorn teachers, Rainbow's mother Firefly or even Princess Celestia herself.

Today, both fillies were lying side by side engrossed in their books, Twilight's was a book about baby dragons, and Rainbow's a guide to simple flight maneuvres.
"So, have you figured out how to make that baby dragon you hatched talk yet?" Rainbow peered over her friend.
Twilight blushed with a slightly embarrassed smile as she looked up from her book at Rainbow. "Not...quite yet. I tried to teach him to say my name, but it just comes out as 'Bwiwight Spawkaw.' I hope I'll find something in this baby dragon manual about teaching them speech. At least he's a friendly little guy, though, heh."
Rainbow chucked, especially at the sound of Twilight's name pronounced like that.
"Ooh, do you want me to show you this move I've been studying?"
Twilight's eyes went wide as she grinned in anticipation. "I'd love to!"
Almost anticipating her response, Rainbow had already gotten up and started stretching her legs, before flapping her wings and hovering in the air a meter or so above Twilight, before pulling back and taking off in an upwards curl, attempting to narrowly miss the bookcase. Her head slammed right into it with a thud.
"Ow!" she fell back to the ground. The bookcase began shaking, its heavy books falling from their shelves as everything came crashing down. "Uh oh...!"
"Eep!" Twilight squeaked out, straining with much difficulty to keep the bookcase from falling over completely with the psychic aura from her horn. She closed her eyes, grunting hard, but still found herself unable to push the piece of furniture back in place, only just barely keeping it from toppling as it tilted in place, slowly but surely dropping by the second.
Rainbow's hooves were holding it up like a pillar, her wings flapping as she strained to lift it up. Suddenly the flapping caused her to lift into the air, pushing the bookcase until it was finally upright again.
"Phew... that was close!"
Twilight started in shock at the bookcase, then laughed, smiling up at Rainbow. "Wow, you're really strong, Rainbow!"
"Thanks...!" Rainbow puffed, her wings beating repidly before landing gently on the ground. "I didn't even know what I was doing! Sorry about the books, and the fact that we nearly died under a giant bookshelf."
"Actually it was kind of...fun, being in danger like that. I'm not real sure why," Twilight remarked with a toothy grin and a deep blush.
Rainbow looked at the pile of books around them.
"Maybe we should clear these up before anyone sees what happened."
"Oh, right!" Twilight spat out as she began hastily trying to user her horn to place books, one at a time, back in their proper order.
Rainbow picked one up in her teeth, flying up to look where to put it. It took her noticeably longer to sort books, but in minutes the only ones left to sort were the ones way up high that even Twilight's telekinetic powers couldn't reach.
Twilight giggled happily, watching Rainbow sort the last of the books on the final, highest shelf. "You're so good with your wings, Rainbow Dash!"
It took time, especially for the impatient winged filly sorting them, but eventually everything was placed back in order, and the two could get back to their reading. Rainbow glanced over her saddlebags, to the copy of Sonic's Adventure she was so desperate to read. She quickly grabbed it and placed it on the floor to continue reading. She's remained strangely quiet about the book ever since she received it from Twilight Twinkle, having said something about not wanting to spoil it and saving the explanations for when she was done. She had read plenty of books since coming to Cloudsdale to study for the first time, but this one was special in the way that she treated it like a rare and important treasure, said nothing about what she was reading and became totally engrossed every time she opened it up, barely stopping to eat. She sat down and read where she left off.
Twilight, meanwhile, returned to trying to find a way to teach speech to baby dragons. Mere minutes after the two had started reading, the surprisingly soft sound of metal boots clanging against the floor suddenly sounded through the hall. Twilight looked up from her book suddenly in shock, noticing that Princess Celestia was approaching.
Rainbow quickly hid her new book under the flying one, not keen on getting caught.
Celestia, feeling somewhat mischievous, used her telekinesis to pick Rainbow's new book and take a look at it. She laughed softly before placing the book right back where it had been. She could sense Rainbow's anxiety easily, and decided to try and soothe the young filly's emotions by dropping down to sit at Rainbow's level, and letting her whole body and spirit radiate a invisible, but very noticiable serene energy that seemed to flow throughout the whole room. "Stories about the adventures of imaginary heroes are very enjoyable, Rainbow Dash. I know this from experience. But remember to keep honing your own skills...the world moves quickly, and one must move quickly to keep up," Celestia explained in her impossibly soft and gentle voice, effortlessly smiling as she did so, before raising to her hooves again and giving Rainbow a playful wink.
Rainbow simply nodded, looking stunned, before chuckling softly to herself a moment later.



The following week, Rainbow was attending a special session of flight practice that she had been attempting to study for. She, her mother Firefly and Celestia were standing on a long, flat piece of cloud almost exactly where Cloudsdale had once been, now moved further away. The Princess was there for a special reason, to create a storm similar to the one Rainbow had flown through when she first landed in Canterlot. This storm, however, was to be much weaker, and be an illusion entirely under the Princess' control. It would form a thick fog while Rainbow and Firefly flew the distance to Canterlot together, an exercise in both surviving storms and sensing the psychic aura of others.

Twilight sat comfortably by a window in the familiar Canterlot library, lighting her horn up and smiling softly to herself as she watched the illusory storm in the distance, wondering if Firefly or Rainbow would be able to sense her psychic energy from so far away.

Firefly looked back at the Princess, standing with Rainbow at what was supposed to be the starting line. The setup looked like a bizarre race, but to the three of them it felt nothing like it.
Celestia smiled at Firefly as she noticed the pink furred pegasus looking over at her. "You may be begin when ready," the Princess said with complete calmness and composure.
"Well Dash? You ready for some high speed flying?" Firefly looked back at her daughter happily. Rainbow nodded.
"Ready, set... go!" Firefly announced, and the two were off flying through the grey sky, quickly disappearing into the stormy clouds. It was hard to see all but Firefly beside her, who began to glow bright blue, her whole body becoming a pony-shaped light. Rainbow flew close, feeling safe as long as her eyes remained fixed on her mother, but slightly ahead, watching for anything to follow.

From a distance, Twilight noticed the bright blue glowing energy, amazed at Firefly's speed and power, figuring that Rainbow would be close by the speeding blue dot. She kept her horn lit as she looked out the window, hoping the training exercise would play out as well as possible.

Rainbow and Firefly looked up, sensing something in the distance. They couldn't see anything, but they could feel as though Twilight were there somehow, watching them, and could feel her hoping things would go well. Moments of flying through grey cloud later, and they could both see a purple light in the distance, soon escaping the clouds and stopping in front of a balcony over Clousdale. The light came from a nearby window, and Firefly opened it up.

Twilight's horn slowly dimmed, as she watched Rainbow's mother begin to enter. She stared for a moment, not quite sure how to react at first, but soon a soft giggle escaped her lips. "Yay, you found me!"
"I was a bit slow that time..." Rainbow admitted as she followed Firefly in.
"Oh well, it wasn't a race." her mother said comfortingly.
"I'm gonna grab some books and we can hang out together til lunch, okay Twilight?" Rainbow turned to her friend.
"Sounds wonderful, Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed as she rose to her back legs, clapped her hooves in anticipation, then dropped to all fours again.
"Good idea, we've got shopping to do while I'm here, but it can wait until you've had lunch. " Firefly told her, before walking away. "I'll see you then!"
"I'll go get my books. I'm trying to get to the end of the one Twinkle gave me." Rainbow explained, getting her saddlebags and looking at the bookcases for books. Eventually she had everything but the one she was looking for.
"Having some trouble, Rainbow?" inquired a familiar voice as the sound of metallic boots tapping against the floor filled the room. Princess Celestia walked slowly and gracefully among the bookcases as she approached Rainbow, making a leisurely stroll through the library as she made her way to the little blue pegasus filly.
"Uh, just looking for a book of mine..." she stammered awkwardly.
Celestia chuckled softly, whipping her face to a nearby shelf, and levitating one of the books from it with her horn's psychic energy. As she lowered it towards Rainbow, the cover made the identity of the book obvious.
"Oh, there it is..." Rainbow put it in her saddlebags. "I never have enough time to read it." she looked at Celestia for advice.
"An unfortunate side effect of the intensity of your training," Celestia said simply. "One that is necessary...unless, perhaps, you stumbled across a way to block the flow of the river time. But you and I both know that is impossible...don't we?" As Celestia finished speaking, she smiled and gave Rainbow a quick wink, before turning around and trotting out of the room, with as much grace and composure as she had possessed when she had entered.
Rainbow simply stared and looked baffled.
"Huh...?" she turned towards Twilight. "What was that all about?"
Twilight tilted her head, seeming very confused as well. "The Princess does seem to have an...unusual sense of humor sometimes."



The following day, Rainbow was back at the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the Academy in the morning. She looked into the entrance of the main archives. Celestia's words to her yesterday were on her mind.
'Block the flow of the river of time...?' She thought to herself, repeating Celestia's vague remark. 'I don't know what she means by that, unless she meant something to do with...' trotting inside the main archive room, she kept her eyes peeled for anything that might help. Scrolls and dusty old books were piled in a disorganized mess, but Rainbow noticed something that didn't belong.
"Nah..." Rainbow shook her head. "I can't tell any of these apart. Have you seen anything to do with time around here?"
Twilight rubbed her chin for a few moments, staring at the ceiling, deep in thought. She then looked back at Rainbow and shook her head. "Nope. Not a thing. Maybe somepony already checked it out?"
"I'll keep looking. Bound to be something around here, y'know." Rainbow quickly returned to her search.
Twilight chuckled. "Good idea. If I were you, I'd leave no stone...er, shelf unexamined."

Rainbow continued her search, as time passed. The room was messy, scrolls and documents were piled together without and proper organization. Nothing was arranged by name or subject. She simply didn't know where to look.

Behind her, a scroll magically appeared in the middle of the room with a silent flash of light.

As Rainbow searched a random shelf, she saw the title of a scroll in the corner of her eye, lying on the floor. She cleared some of the mess and read the title aloud.
"Latest Advances in the Field of Manipulating Time. By Doctor Whooves." she squinted, looking at the details. It looked old, and the date was written in a fancy, specialized style that she couldn't decipher. It was probably out of date, but it looked promising enough to her.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia walked silently in the distance past the shelves, peering at the young filly as she levitated a cup of coffee to her lips. The Princess made a quick, simple grin to herself, before leaving just as quickly as she had came, continuing to sip her drink.

Rainbow then quickly scanned the contents to see what was there. Something about a time warp caught her eye. She grabbed the scroll and walked out, heading for her and Twilight's study room.

Twilight began to slowly walk behind Rainbow, tilting her head as she wondered what the spiky maned pegasus was planning.

Rainbow quickly entered her and Twilight's room, laying the scroll and her copy of Sonic's Adventure on the floor, reading the contents of the scroll. She grabbed some sheets of paper and a pen, arranging the paper in a circle and drawing a circle over them, creating a barrier with herself, the book and the scroll in the middle. She opened the book up at the page she last left it on, and read carefully the scroll's instructions, telling her to concentrate on the inside of the circle she created. Rainbow closed her eyes and focused on the book.
"Focus..." she murmured as the circle she drew began to glow. All around her, something strange was happening as everything warped, slowing down as strange, mystical energy wrapped around her, protecting her in a bright blue barrier. Wind blew the book wide open to the first page, and Rainbow suddenly felt herself falling.

Twilight stopped in her tracks as she saw bright light pouring through the study room. Having no idea what that meant, she obeyed her first instinct and rushed forward. "RAINBOW DASH!" she cried out as she zoomed forward at full gallop.

An endless vertical tunnel erupted below the pegasus filly, and she fell through a flowing blue portal with a yelp and a scream. She watched the book, the scroll and bits of paper falling with her, floating above, and as the heaviest thing there was, quickly started to fall faster and further than the book, which she raised her hooves to grab, holding it tightly in her arms.

Back in her room, the blue light disappeared, leaving the room empty except for sheets of paper arranged in a circle, all ripped from the inside of the circle Rainbow drew, leaving a perfect spherical shape inside on the floor. But there was no noise or any other evidence of the pegasus having been there at all.
"Rainbow, Rainbow?" Twilight blurted out frantically as she finally manged to enter the study. She quickly noticed the circles of paper on the floor, and ran right up to them, staring at them with blank confusion, before pulling her head up, looking in no direction in particular, and gulping down her saliva as a small shiver went down her spine.
"Oh dear...this is a pickle."


Strange sights and sounds assailed Rainbow Dash from all directions. Robots and strange creatures came out of nowhere to attack her as she fell, but she clutched her book even more strongly. As she fell, she thought she saw a dark pair of glasses and an enormous ginger moustache on top of a round, peach skinned face staring down at her with a sinister grin. The face laughed a mischievous laugh.

A moment later, Rainbow Dash fell on her flank in a green, grassy field, rubbing her aching head. It was throbbing and spinning for a few seconds as stars clouded her vision. When she rubbed her eyes, she realized she was in a field of checkered orange bricks and grass. In the distance, a blue river and tall, spiky mountains dominated her view, apart from the deep blue sky and fluffy white clouds. It was unlike anywhere she'd ever been or seen, but as she struggled to control her gaping jaw, she knew it was uncannily like the description of a place in her book. The very first page.
"This is.... Green Hill Zone."

TO BE CONTINUED...