//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Fastest Thing Alive? // by AppleJack96 //------------------------------// Sonic ducked under the first punch shadow threw his way and swiftly retaliated with a sweeping kick that knocked Shadow's feet from under him,Shadow grunted and disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared above Sonic "CHAOS... SPEAR" Shadow yelled, a spear of bright light hit sonic square in the chest and sent him sprawling his body spasming as the electrical energy flowed through him "Ouch! that actually hurt Shadow, whats wrong?" Asked Sonic "Where are the Emeralds?!" Shadow demanded "Calm down!" Yelled Sonic "These ponies mean no harm, lets at least leave the main town" "Fine, meet me at the entrance to that forest in half an hour, and for your own sake DO NOT be late" Said Shadow, he then turned on his heel and skated away "Well that was weird" Sonic said to himself, he turned around and came face to face with a bright pink pony "OHMYGOSH" shouted the pony, and ran off in the opposite direction with speed close to matching Sonic's own "And that was weirder..." He said, he began to jog towards Fluttershy's house Books continued to fly over Spike's head, as Twilight took one glanced at the title and threw it across the room "There must be a book somewhere on this!" Twilight cried out on exasperation "But those creatures aren't from any where around here, It's really unlikely that there is a book on them" Said Spike lifting a book from the floor, only to have it ripped from his fingers by a purple aura of magic Twilight let out a long groan "I've searched every book and there is still nothing!" "I told you" Said Spike smugly "Spike" Twilight ordered "take a letter, Dear Princess Celestia, yesterday evening during the Summer Sun Celebrations in Ponyville a fireball crashed down in the Everfree Forest, at the center of the crater left were three strange animals the likes of which i have never seen, I have searched the entire Ponyville Library and found no books on the subject. Is it possible I could make visit to the Royal Library to check an old reference guide I once saw there? Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle" "..Sparkle. Done" Said Spike, he carefully rolled the parchment and breathed emerald flames onto it They then waited for a few minutes before Spike belched loudly and a new sheet of parchment landed on the floor in front of him, he unrolled it and read it aloud to Twilight "My dearest Twilight, I am not at the castle at the moment as I am away on a diplomatic mission in the Griffin Kingdom, therefore I cannot grant you access at this time, I would however advise you take these creatures to Canterlot and meet my sister outside the Moon Tower at midnight tonight, I shall send word ahead for you. Your mentor Princess Celestia" "Spike, we're going to Fluttershy's" "OW, GET OFF ME YOU CRAZY PONY!" "Uh oh, sounds like Knuckles came to" Said Sonic, he leapt from the floor to the lower branches of Fluttershy's house-tree and then to the window "Knuckles calm down she's just trying to help!" Cried Tails Sonic glanced over to Fluttershy who was curled into the corner whimpering as Knuckles towered over her one of his rested on his chest, and his breathing as shallow and pained "She was on top of me, holding me down while she rubbed some weird gunk into my chest fur" Said Knuckles "And now I'm struggling to breathe, is that what you call helping?" "Dude she did the same to me and Tails and now we're both fine you just need to relax a bit more. enjoy things... And not beat up the medic" Sonic suggested Knuckles let out a low growl before closing his eyes in defeat "I guess you're right Sonic... This time, sorry miss..." he held a paw out towards her "Fluttershy" Whimpered Fluttershy, She gingerly put her hoof in his paw, and he helped her to her hooves before limping off and laying back down on the bed "Yo Tails, I need your help buddy, follow me" Said Sonic, he hopped out of the tree and looked up to see tails fly down "What's up Sonic?" Asked Tails "Shadow's here, I don't know how but he is" Said Sonic, "He's asked me to meet him outside the forest, with the emeralds, in fifteen minutes" "But we don't know where they went after we got here" Said Tails "Where what went?" asked Fluttershy, who was hovering just behind the pair, startling them "Well we're missing some gems that belong to us, They're kinda important to the survival of our home planet" Explained Sonic "Umm. were there 7 of them in all different colours?" asked Fluttershy "Yeah!" Exclaimed Tails "Do you know where they are?" "Well I think Twilight took them to the library, to examine them, because they had the same powers as the biggest meanie in Equestria" "Great thanks!" Called Sonic already breaking into a run "Sonic wait for me!" Shouted Tails, his tails spinning to propel him faster