“W-wh-wh," Sonic stuttered, “who and what are you"?
“Well," the horse with the southern drawl began, “Ma’ names Applebloom and this here’s Scootaloo an’ Sweetie Belle”, Applebloom said while pointing to the others in which they were announced. “And together," they said in unison, “we are the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, YAY!!".
Sonic had to cover his ears to protect his ear drums from the shouts that came from the three fillies. Sonic sat up in the middle of them, unable to speak. He was astounded at the place he was sent to, how were they able to talk, how was it even possible? Then again, he was in no position to think that because he had a talking, engineer fox as a best friend and a bunch of other animal friends that were able to speak as well. That is when it all came crashing back down on his conscious.
“I," Sonic started, “OH NO, WAIT!”. Sonic began to frantically look around himself and the three fillies who gave him curious and confused looks as he searched the immediate area. “WHERE ARE THE CHAOS EMERALDS!?!". This gave the three fillies a look of horror and bewilderment as they still processed part of what he just said.
“Did you say, ‘chaos’ emeralds," Scootaloo asked.
Sonic stopped his panicked search of where he sat on the ground and immediately turned his attention to the orange Pegasus filly. “You’ve seen em’,” Sonic asked with hint of hope in his voice.
“No," Scootaloo responded, making Sonic's look of hope vanish completely from his face, “it is just… strange".
Sonic now gave Scootaloo a look of confusion and asked, “Strange how"?
“It is strange because,” the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, deciding who would finish the response, “it’s strange because we thought Discord only had the power to create chaos”, Sweetie Belle finished.
“Who’s Discord," Sonic asked, causing the Cutie Mark Crusaders to gasp in surprise.
“Discord," Applebloom began, “is the demi-god o’ disharmony and chaos, wherevr’ he walks, everything will be out o’ tune and be all… Wonky, a' guess would be the best word to describe it.”
“What are you, a dictionary," Scootaloo retorted.
“Oh, so you wanna start this now in front of our new friend," Applebloom practically barked than asked.
“Maybe I do," Scootaloo snapped back.
Applebloom pounced on Scootaloo and began tumble and wrestle around with inaudible arguing occurring as they did. Sonic and Sweetie Belle just sat there watching it happen. Sweetie had the biggest grin of amusement as Sonic looked on, astonished and confused. After a few seconds of the fight, Sonic looked to Sweetie Belle.
“Does this usually happen when they meet someone new," Sonic asked.
“No," Sweetie answered, “only when Scootaloo feels like getting under Applebloom’s skin”.
From the commotion, Sweetie and Sonic could make out a few phrases as they fought. Some such as “HEY, NO BITING” and “EYE POKING IS CHEAP”. This was better than any other entertainment you had to pay for, at least to Sweetie Belle. Sonic, though, could no longer take any more of it. Sweetie looked at Sonic amazed as he stood up, he was about a foot taller than the fillies were, and walked over to the fighting friends to break them up. He got to them and grabbed both by the scruffs of their necks and picked them up out of reach of each other.
“Alright, ALRIGHT, break it up you two," Sonic commanded.
“Oh come on whoever you are, let me at her, I almost had her," Scootaloo complained still swinging her hooves in Applebloom’s direction.
“You almost had me," Applebloom sarcastically asked, “your mind must be all sorts o’ messed up Scoots, probly from those hits I got in on ya”. This angered Scootaloo and she swung even harder at Applebloom, but it was all for not because she was nowhere near close enough to hit her while she was in Sonic's grasp.
Sonic felt his blood boil as they still went at it, trying their hardest to hit one another as they dangled in Sonic’s hands. Applebloom and Scootaloo insulted each other some more until Sonic hit the breaking point and yelled, “ENOUGH," causing Applebloom, Scootaloo, and even Sweetie Belle to look at Sonic in fright. “I swear," he began again after a few seconds of peaceful silence, “the way you two fight and argue, I would say that you were married to each other”. This caused Applebloom and Scootaloo to look at each other and get a look of disgust on their faces and Sonic an amused smile on his. Sweetie Belle burst out into an uncontrollable fit of squeaky laughter, causing both Applebloom and Scootaloo to give her a look of anger.
Sweetie Belle noticed their hateful gazes and slowed herself to a few chuckles, eventually stopping completely and clearing her throat. She was able to say, “Sorry," with a sheepish grin, but she still giggled a bit at them, looking away with her eyes closed and her hoof covering her mouth hoping to stop the flow.
Sonic chuckled, causing all three to stare at him with blank looks. He noticed them and began to speak. “I’m going to put you both down now, but you have to promise not to fight anymore, and by the way”, Sonic paused and looked at Scootaloo, “my name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog”. Applebloom and Scootaloo nodded in agreement at the same time and Sonic placed them both back on the ground.
They both rubbed their necks where Sonic had grabbed them as Scootaloo said, “Man Sonic, you are strong, you lifted us both without any effort what so ever”.
“Well," Sonic gushed, “I have lifted some heavy things in my days and will more than likely need to in the future so I got used to doing heavy lifting”.
“How much can you lift," Sweetie Belle asked with peaked interest.
“Well I never really measured it before but I would say at least twice my size," Sonic answered.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders all Ooooed at this as they all began to ask him various other questions. Some included who his other friends were, where he was from, but one question beckoned them all.
“So," Scootaloo started, “tell us more about these ‘chaos emeralds’, what makes them so special?”.
“The chaos emeralds are very powerful gems from my world that turn thought and passion into power. There are 7 in total and are colored in red, yellow, blue, light blue, purple, white, and green. When all 7 are gathered together, they create this very powerful force called ‘chaos control’ which can do different things such as teleport you to far locations, open a portal to another world; which has happened to me, or create a very wide blast if not contained or controlled. Unlike most, I am one of few who can use just one emerald to create a weakened version of chaos control. Though, once they are all gathered together and chaos control is created and done with they spread out all over the place and must be recollected again. My arch-enemy, Dr. Eggman," Sonic was interrupted as the Cutie Mark Crusaders giggled at this. Sonic gave them an agitated look and they quieted down.
“As I was saying," Sonic continued, “my arch-enemy, Dr. Eggman, must have collected them all behind my back with his robots because I always stopped whatever plans he thought up and put into action and was going to try and control another world with their power by using a special made portal designed for the chaos emeralds, not once has he gotten away with anything, not as long as I’m around”. Sonic’s eyes suddenly shot open, unaware that he had closed them, and a look of fear came over him.
The Crusaders noticed this and Sweetie Belle asked for them, “what’s wrong Sonic”.
“If I’m here," Sonic began to answer, “that means there is no stopping Eggman from trying to take over my world again, that is why I need to collect them again, so I can go back home”.
"What about your other friends," Applebloom asked, "can't they stop him".
"Maybe," Sonic answered, "but I am what you might call a 'leader' and without me they would attack without order and Eggman could probably take them down, but I hope they are strong enough without me".
All three fillies looked at Sonic horrified. This Eggman guy didn’t sound too nice to them, so they were going to find out about him more.
“What about this Eggman character," Applebloom questioned, “he doesn’t sound too nice”.
“He isn’t”, Sonic answered, “he is an evil genius mastermind that will do anything and everything he can to get his way. He claims to have an IQ of over 300 and he uses it to build his robots that he calls ‘mechs’ to try and stop me and to also do his dirty work. He also puts little animals inside them to power them. They aren’t that hard to destroy however, one little homing attack and they’re done for and the animals are freed without a scratch”.
The Crusaders became puzzled at this response. “What the hay is a ‘homing attack’, huh," Scootaloo asked in a demanding tone.
“My homing attack is one of my so called ‘talents’ that I have, just like using chaos control," Sonic responded with a smirk in his voice.
“Well Sonic," Scootaloo said, “will you show us this homing attack and afterwards tell us more about your other special traits, if you have any”.
“Alright," Sonic said as he stood up, the crusaders standing as well, “do you have anything for me to demonstrate it on”?
They all looked around, but were unable to find anything that Sonic could demonstrate his homing attack on. All three sighed together and looked down with their eyes closed, that is when an idea sparked in their heads. “Hey," Scootaloo began to ask as Sonic looked at her, “why don’t you try it on one of us”. All three crusaders put their heads together and gave the most innocent smiles they could make.
Sonic’s eyes became wide at the idea and immediately began to shake his head no. The crusaders gave him an upset looks as they all asked together, “why not”?
“Didn’t I say it could destroy a robot, what do you think it would do to you," Sonic asked in an angry, panicked tone.
The smiles the crusaders had plastered on to their faces slowly melted away. They went into deep thought about it, but decided he could do it later. “Alright," Scootaloo began, “how about you tell us about your other talents then, since we have to skip over the homing attack”. The other crusaders all nodded their heads in approval to the idea Scootaloo pitched.
“Weeelll," Sonic contemplated, “I can demonstrate this one talent I have called a spin dash, it helps me to get a boost and take out enemies that can’t be homing attacked, would you like to see it”? Sonic knew it was a rhetorical question for he already knew what they would say, yes. As expected, they all nodded with each other, so Sonic had no choice but to show them now. He crouched and placed his hands on the ground and began to charge up, making sure he was faced in a direction the crusaders weren’t in.
The three fillies looked at him in awe, as they saw him spin around in a stationary circle with some mystical forces flying in and out of him until finally, he took off. It was difficult for the crusaders to keep up with him because he moved really fast, he even left behind a blue streak as he went and rolled in a circle around them until finally stopping where he had started.
Sonic stood up and waited to hear the responses that would soon follow the action of what he just did.
Scootaloo, of course, was the first to speak. “Do you ever feel sick when you do that," she asked. Sonic chuckled at this question but soon answered it.
“The first time I did it, I felt a bit queasy. After a while though, it just feels second nature to me," Sonic said. “And while it may look like I am spinning in a circle, I’m not. That force that gathers around me just makes me look like I am doing that. I am actually stationary in the ball I’m in, that is how I was able to control where I rolled”.
The crusaders stared at Sonic in astonishment, but were soon right back into it. “TELL US MORE," they all commanded at once.
“Let’s see," Sonic pretend pondered, “I have this special little amulet that allows me to turn into something else. I gained a special power from the first time I used chaos control I call ‘Sonic Wind’ where I basically kick a line of wind at an enemy to stun and/or destroy them. Hmmm, what else," Sonic thought long and hard about it, with his thumb and pointer finger rubbing his chin and his eyes closed in deep thought. Sonic’s eyes shot open and he snapped his fingers. “Of course, how could I be so dumb, it is like the best thing about me”. This caused the crusaders to get all giddy with excitement as Sonic was about to reveal to them his best quality. “I can run really fast”. That response caused all three of their excited smiles to fall. Scootaloo scrunched her eyebrows together in anger and confusion.
“Hey," Scootaloo said angrily, “how is running special, if running is a special talent then everypony should have another cutie mark like that”. The other crusaders agreed with Scootaloo’s statement.
“Well, because I can run REALLY fast," Sonic retorted.
“Well how fast are we talking here," Scootaloo asked, “probably not any faster than AppleJack or Rainbow Dash”. All three looked to him waiting for an answer. Sonic leaned in to whisper to them.
“Try the speed of sound," Sonic said in their ears with a smug smile. This gave them all a surprised look to their faces and caused a smirky smile to crawl its way onto Sonic’s face as he leaned back away from them and crossed his arms.
“U-um," Scootaloo stuttered, “prove i-," Scootaloo was cut short as they heard a howl in the distance. Sonic’s ears perked up as screams of terror followed shortly after it. “Oh no," they all said together. “Sonic comin’ here must have disturbed em’ and now they’re on a rampage in Ponyville," Applebloom exclaimed.
“Wh-what was that," Sonic asked, panicked.
All three of the crusaders looked to Sonic with fear tears welling up in their eyes and said the answer to his question together in unison, “Timberwolves”.