//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Everfree Forest - Act 1 and 2 // Story: Sonic New World // by ColossalParadox //------------------------------// Sonic felt his heart pounding in his chest from the panic and worry he noticed the Crusaders gave off, and a little bit of panic struck him as well. He could tell that the friends the Crusaders had back in this "Ponyville" were in deep trouble and would need a hero, a Sonic hero. Sonic shed himself of the anxiety, put on a serious face, looked at the Crusaders and began to speak. "Point me in the direction of this 'Ponyville' you mentioned earlier Applebloom," Sonic said sternly, wanting to get an immediate answer. "It's this way," Applebloom said excitedly, pointing her right hoof in the direction she was speaking of. Sonic turned his head to look at the huge forest Applebloom pointed at. "We cut through it to get to you," Scootaloo added in. Sonic just nodded his head at this, then he began to speak. "Alright, you three had better stay here while I run to the town and see what is going on," Sonic said commandingly. "NO!!" Sonic jumped at this very loud exclamation that came from all three Crusaders. "Those are our friends over there," Sweetie Belle said, pointing her hoof in the direction of town. "If you go, we are going with you and there is not a thing you can do about it," Sweetie finished. Sonic sighed and shrugged at Sweetie's reasoning. Sonic knew they weren't going to take no for an answer, so he had to keep his defense up extra high for his and their sake. Sonic was raring to go, but there was a small problem he had to address before running off. "How do you three plan to keep up with me," Sonic asked. All three Crusaders gave him blank stares before saying anything. Scootaloo was the first of the three to speak. "What do you mean, 'how do we plan to keep up with you' Sonic," Scootaloo asked for the Crusaders. "Didn't I just tell you I was really fast," Sonic asked back. "We didn't believe you." Sonic stared slack-jawed at this comment, what would make them not believe him? "And to answer your pointless question," Scootaloo started, getting an angry look from Sonic in response, "we have my scooter right over there," Scootaloo said as she pointed to a stump that was a little in the distance from them. "It has a wagon attached to it so these two can ride along with me," Scootaloo said as she trotted over to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom and put her arms around them, pulling them into a semi-tight hug. "It goes pretty fast even with the other two weighing it down so you might have a hard time keeping up," Scootaloo said with a smirk in her voice as she rubbed her hoof on her chest and examined it. Sonic, at this point, was way past angry, he was more in between of being of furious and going on a rampage. Sonic knew though that he had to stay calm or else, "It", would happen. Sonic started to take this as more of a challenge rather than an insult. So Sonic began to calm down as he crossed his arms, leaned back, closed his eyes and chuckle. "Well, if your scooter is SO fast, why don't I put it to the test," Sonic asked with all the confidence he had in his voice. "What do you mean," Scootaloo asked back. "I mean a race, the first one through the forest and into Ponyville is the victor. I'll even carry Applebloom and Sweetie Belle so they won't be weighing you down, what do you say," Sonic asked as he held out his hand. Scootaloo pondered this for a moment before her train of thought was derailed by another roar followed by a loud scream was heard coming from the direction of Ponyville. Scootaloo quickly grabbed Sonic's hand with her hoof and shook it vigorously while saying, "Deal." __________________________________________Act 1__________________________________________ With all the arguing that Sonic and Scootaloo did they had forgotten what was important at the moment, so they worked fast to go see what was happening in Ponyville. Scootaloo ran over to the stump, grabbed her scooter and helmet, and went to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. Sonic also jogged to the entrance of the forest, scooping up Applebloom and Sweetie Belle on his way there, tucking them safely in the O shape his arms made, making sure they were secure. Now that they were all ready, it was time to race to Ponyville to stop the Timberwolves and to prove who was faster, but mostly stop the Timberwolves. "Someone countdown for us," Sonic asked, getting in a comfortable starting position. "Alrigh'," Applebloom said, "3," Scootaloo revved her engine, "2," Sonic got ready to take off, "1," the tension for both was unbearable. Scootaloo didn't know why she was worried that she was going to lose, but a bit of doubt still floated in her cloud of thought. "GO!!" Applebloom shouted and almost instantly, they were off. Due to Scootaloo being small, agile, and a bit acrobatic, she was able to dodge any hanging or sticking out branches they may hurt her, or her chances of winning the race. Since Sonic was bigger than the three fillies and because he had two to take care of and watch for, Sonic lost the lead. Thankfully his quick reflexes aloud him to see what was coming and dodge it easier and make some progress to keep up with Scootaloo. Sonic had to prove he was the fastest, but he couldn't go the speed of sound because of the fillies he held in his arms. Scootaloo thought she was in the clear, but soon she saw a blue blur out of the corner of her eye. Of course, it was Sonic, catching up with her. She threw her scooter into a higher gear to try and get ahead, but it did not seem to help at all because Sonic still kept up and even gained on her, getting to the point of being neck and neck. Sonic looked over to Scootaloo and Scootaloo looked to Sonic. Sonic gave the biggest and smirkiest grin anyone would ever see and gave a two finger salute to her in a way where he could still hold on to Sweetie Belle without dropping her. After that, Sonic just blasted off, getting who knows how many feet ahead of Scootaloo, leaving a big dust cloud behind and literally leaving her to bite the dust. She coughed into her hoof and used it to try and clear the dust away. After the dust cloud dissipated though, she just saw nothing but forest. No Sonic, no Applebloom, no Sweetie Belle, nopony. That is, until she heard the growl. __________________________________________Act 2__________________________________________ Sonic ran still, jumping over logs and ducking branches. He was getting sick of seeing all the trees and just wanted to win and get to ponyville, there were others to save. Finally, he saw a light at the end of the trail and headed straight for it. After somersaulting over some more fallen trees in the path and dodging branches, he finally burst through the Everfree forest entrance into open space. He could see ponyville in the distance so he slowed to a stop. He put the two ponies who shook in his grasp down, and waited for Scootaloo, doing a little victory dance in the process, then lied down on the ground to wait for the slow-poke. Sonic waited, and waited, and waited, but still no sign of Scootaloo. What Sonic thought was a scream from Ponyville turned out to be coming from the forest, Sonic thought Scootaloo was in trouble, so he sprang to his feet, told Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to stay put, and rocketed back into the forest. He was now able to to more agile stunts without having to carry the two small horses, which made jumping and dodging branches a lot easier. He followed the source of Scootaloo's screams to a little clearing with a hut in the back, along with a lion-looking animal, a Zebra, and the very frightened Scootaloo cowering behind the Zebra. The Zebra was throwing some types of glass bottles that broke and produced a little puff of smoke, but all it did was anger the creature. That is when the Zebra spoke up. "Back you manticore beast, this little filly is not to be your feast," the Zebra said, Sonic noticing she spoke in rhymes. "Thank Celestia you arrived Zecora, or I would have been done for," Scootaloo said with a bit of shakiness in her voice. Zecora only nodded as she continued fighting the beast. The manticore could not longer take the annoyance of the smoke bottles and lunged toward Zecora, pinning her to the ground and causing Scootaloo to scream and take refuge behind a rock. This was Sonic's cue to take action. "HEY, UGLY," Sonic insulted the beast causing it, Zecora, and Scootaloo to look in his direction. "Eat, THIS," Sonic said as he ran a few feet steps ahead and jumped into the air. Things slowed down in this instant, the only thing anyone was concentrated on was Sonic. Sonic was locked onto the manticore now and the timing was just right. He blasted off in the shape of a ball, using nothing but the air behind him and hit the manticore square in the nose, causing it to fall back and whimper. Scootaloo was amazed at the performance she just saw, it was just like Sonic said, it was very powerful indeed. Scootaloo had just witnessed a "Homing Attack." The manticore ran off whining, holding its face with one paw as it did. Making sure it was gone, Zecora got up and dusted herself off, then motioned for Scootaloo to come over to her. After Scootaloo was beside her, Zecora began to speak. "Tell me, creature of blue, just who exactly are you," she asked Sonic in rhyme. "I would love to stay and explain," Sonic began to answer, "but I have a Ponyville to save, get your scooter Scootaloo." Scootaloo nodded and ran over to her scooter, secured her helmet, picked up her scooter and began riding. Sonic gave the same two finger salute he gave to Scootaloo earlier before to Zecora while bouncing backwards before turning completely and speeding off. Zecora just stood there in a surprised state, still amazed at what she just witnessed. Zecora soon followed suit after remembering something about Sonic mentioning Ponyville needed saving. As she walked, Zecora wondered how one being could be so fast. 0o0o0 After getting back to the entrance of the forest Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were all over them, scared and excited about what happened. When Sonic got them to calm down, Applebloom asked the question that the two uneducated Crusaders were begging to know. "Wha' happnd," Applebloom asked. Scootaloo looked to Sonic, who gave her a smile and tilted his head towards the other Crusaders, signaling for her to go ahead and tell them. Scootaloo breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, looked to her friends, then answered. "Guys," she said slowly at first with a frown, but her frown soon turned into a very bright smile, "I think I witnessed Sonic's homing attack."