Sonic and Rainbow Dash had both been shocked when they saw chaos appear out of the emerald, but now it was Sonic's turn to be shocked again, and it was Dash's turn to be terrified.
The two super-fast creatures had been racing towards Ponyville, casually discussing the events that had recently occurred.
"You know, I think i'm starting to like this place Dash, its peaceful, friendly inhabitants, its my kind of place!" said Sonic, keeping his pace steady so the pegasus could "keep up".
"Well, I don't know if I want you to stay here, there can only be one fastest thing alive in a world you know." the rainbow maned pegasus replied with a smirk. Racing alongside the blue blur, rainbow dash was having experiencing a thrill she hade'nt had in a long time: having someone that rivaled your own abilities and pushed you to your limit.
"Rainbow Dash, STOP!" The cyan pegasus was shaken back to reality by Sonic's call of warning. When she came to a stop she found herself face-to-face with a weird, glowing creature. It appeared to be made out a of a gas and, its two large eyes glowed a bright pink in the dark night.
The creature took a swipe with one of its large claws, the blow connecting with Dash's side. The pegasus crashed into the ground, aches and pains coursing throughout her entire body.
"Grrr, agh, RAAAAGGGHHHHHH!" Dash whirled around to see her blue friend be enveloped by a dark mist, his coat growing darker, his hands turning into spiked claws, his body grew bulkier and less streamlined. When the mist dispersed Rainbow Dash was looking at a growling, dark, spiny sonic the hedgehog. Another roar caught the pegasus's attention, turning her head away from the "monster-hog" she saw one of the shadow-creatures charging at her. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the oncoming pain.
"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" a rough growling voice called out from behind Dash. Suddenly a shadow raced over Dash's head, the Shadow materialized into a clawed fist that smashed into the creature with a solid "THUD", a few moments later the creature turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared altogether.
"Heh, that was almost too easy!" The owner of the fist said, the arm reverting to its original length.
"S-So-Sonic?" Dash whimpered, shaken, scared, and confused as to what stood before her.
"I'll explain on the way to ponyville, but Dash i'm still...me...sort of" the hedgehog said.
***
"So, when the sun goes down, you turn into...THAT?" Dash asked, the surprise in her voice was crystal clear.
"Yeah that's it put simply" the "warehog" replied, staring at the full moon that seemed to blaze like the sun in the night sky. Suddenly Sonic stopped staring at the moon and started laughing, falling over with laughter in fact.
"What's so funny Sonic?" Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head in confusion, as the warehog continued to howl with laughter.
"Sorry Dash, its just that, well, you sounded exactly like me when I first turned into a warehog!" the navy blue hog replied, continuing to chuckle.
"Heh, yeah i guess that is kinda funny Sonic." the blue pegasus replied.
***
The two blue beings continued to fight the minions of a creature sonic called "Dark Gaia". When Dash asked what or who Dark Gaia was, the warehog gave a shudder.
"Hey, if you dont want to talk about it, that's okay to" Dash said, not wanting to pressure her friend or make him uncomfortable.
"No no, its okay Dash, I guess I'll start from the beginning" The hedgehog said. As the two walked, fought, and ran, Sonic explained that Dark Gaia was a super-powerful being that had been awakened by Sonic's arch-enemy, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, whom Sonic always called "Eggman". The hedgehog continued to explain that to awaken Dark Gaia, Eggman had needed to pierce the planet's crust with concentrated energy, harnessed from the 7 chaos emeralds, but that at the time Sonic had used the emeralds to turn into something called "Super Sonic" to foil his plan. But in doing this he had allowed Eggman to lead him straight into his trap.
After being told to speed up the story, the hedgehog quickly explained that In awakening Dark Gaia, Eggman had actually broken apart the planets continents, and how it had been up to the Blue Blur and his new found friend Chip, to restore the planet and seal Dark Gaia back in its core.
"In the end, chip turned out to be Dark Gaia's exact opposite: Light Gaia, or Gaia Colossus. And he saved my life, but he was also sealed in the core along with his counterpart." The hedgehog finished, a crestfallen look on his face.
"Im sorry Sonic, I didnt mean to force you to remember those events." The prismatic pegasus apologized.
"Its ok Dash, it actually helped me a bit, It feels good to have shared what was on my mind" the warehog replied, a smile on his face.
***
Solaria was fast asleep when Tails And Amy came back from their "scouting" mission.
"We didn't find an exit, or any sign of an exit, while looking around." The fox reported, looking at Solaria with a hint of concern.
"How is she?" Amy asked, worry seeping into her voice and expression. Shadow glanced at the sleeping girl, noting her pained expression and the way she was now thrashing about in her sleep.
"I really cant tell, one moment she is fine the next it looks like she is having a nightmare" He said, he also now seemed worried by this late development, that being Solaria was getting frequent headaches, passing out from a few every now and then. She was almost always restless when she slept, and seemed to grow ever-more tired with each passing minute .
"Maybe she is sick, oh I wish my friend Fluttershy was here, she would know what to do." Pinkie Pie said, looking more sad than worried.
Suddenly, without any warning, Solaria shot into the air, fully awake and eyes glowing. A gold aura had enveloped her, a faint symbol orbiting her. The symbol looked like a bright glowing sun. Shadow and Pinkie recognized it almost instantly.
"Thats the symbol that was on that unicorn-pegasus hybrid I fought with Sonic!" Shadow said in a shocked voice.
"'Unicorn-pegasus hybrid'? Oh you must mean Princess Celestia, she is an alicorn" Pinkie said, her smile still on her face.
Solaria landed on the ground, looking at each member of the group in turn. Her eyes still glowing a bright gold, the symbol now on her gloves.
"Pinkie Pie, it is good to see you're okay!" Solaria said, but not in her own voice. this voice was more like that of what Shadow had heard from the "princess" while fighting her and her "sister".
"Twilight told me what had happened, after Mr. Cake told her what had happened, to you and this Amy Rose?" Celestia/Solaria said, turning her/their head to face Amy, who gave a little wave in response.
"Twilight also informed me of this 'alicorn knight' who sent someone named "Tails" to someplace as well?" she/they asked, Pinkie nodded and pointed to the two tailed fox in response.
"And - wh-" Celestia said before Solaria pinned Shadow to the ground. Everyone looked at the hedgehog/princess in shock.
"You!" Solaria growled in Celestia's voice, her body now radiating a steady pulse of energy.
"Your the one who nearly killed Luna!" She said, Solaria's gloves igniting, burning Shadow's arms.
Shadow grimaced from the pain, kicking solaria in the midsection. The golden hedgehog skidded across the floor, stopping and taking a fighting stance.
And then, she collapsed to the ground her body smoking. Shadow rushed to her side.
"Solaria, are you okay?" He asked, as she began to stand, her color reverting to her normal silver and orange, the symbol was gone from her gloves. As she got up she looked much better than in the past few days, more awake and more alert.
"Come on guys, I think I know a way out of here!" She said, her body now glowing a yellow hue as she started to rotate like a drill. Soon a cone of swirling energy was swirling around the tip of her fingers, now she really did look like a drill made out of pure energy.
"Lets go!" she said, shooting up into the ceiling, the cone cutting through the rock with ease, making a path big enough for all of them to fit in. Everyone found their own way of ascending up the tube and made their way towards the moonlight that shone down into the tunnel.
***
Omega stomped through a dense area of forest,scanning the terrain for his target. Suddenly a certain blue blur caught his attention. He didn't hesitate, he just activated his arm cannon, and fired straight at the blur.
The shot connected with deadly force, exploding on contact sending the blue blur into the shadows of the trees. Flames spewing out of its metallic body.
"Target has evaded defeat, continue scan" the robot deduced, stomping off towards the crash site of his target.