Sonic's Freedom Fighters

by Amereep

For True Title... The Fastest Thing Alive

With four of the emeralds obtained, the gang now travels to Canterlot to obtain the last three gems and to confront the chimera. Currently, they're traveling on a path through the forest and everypony is trying to visualize at what Sonic is telling them.

"So the SWATbots can ride in Hover-Units."

"Yeah."

"Which allows them to fly through the air."

"Yeah."

"And they make it fly by using their magic."

"For the last time, there's no magic involved." The blue hedgehog groans with a slap of his hand to his forehead. "It is designed to fly on it's own. The SWATbots only controls it when they needs to fly."

With all the corrections about not using magic, Twilight had to ask Sonic "Does any of your people know any magic?"

"A few."

"Really!" she beams "I would love to meet them! Just think of what we can learn from each other."

Folding his arms, Sonic begins recalling the magicians he knows. "Well there's Lazaar, but he's probably out there somewhere trying to do good for the wrong he's done. As for Naugus..." he took awhile before answering "though I only met him once, I think he would rather learn magic from you guys instead. He seemed like the greedy type."

"Sounds like the place your from isn't very mystical at all." Rarity carried the conversation on.

"It has its share of oddities. There's a stream that makes plants grow in seconds and plants that can decay anything it touches. There's even a pair of stones that I used once to travel to the past with."

"Really!?" Spike was getting into the discussion, "What did you do there?"

"Well I raced against my younger self." he was starting to look boastful from his statement.

"And?"

"I beated myself."

As soon as he finished that statement, Sonic was suddenly jerked back by a strong tug on his backpack. He suddenly spun around and a glaring pegasus was inches away from his face.

"You know what?" Dash said in a harsh tone "I'm getting really sick and tired of hearing that nasally voice of yours." Everypony stopped walking to witness a confrontation starting between their blue friends. "Especially when it's spouting nonsense like that."

"Hey, them's fighting words." He retorted back a glare of his own.

"Darn right 'them's fighting words, 'rodent!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded "that was uncalled for."

"No, he's been getting on my nerves ever since we met him, and I'm not going to deal with it anymore!"

The hedgehog folded his arms while giving some patience to the pegasus, though the rapid tapping of his foot didn't convey that he had much to give.

The lavender pony groaned "Dash, I'm really worried about Princess Celestia. Can't you put your stubbornness aside until we save her. We just need to get to Canterlot and we can reach there faster if we don't have any fighting along the way."

Dash's ornery attitude quickly vanished "That's a great idea, Twilight!" She then turned an arrogant smile towards Sonic "We'll have a race to Canterlot." An eyebrow raised up on both his and Twilight's face, for reasons of being intrigued or confused by Dash's conclusion. "This'll knock that cockiness out of you."

"You can certainly try, but this hedgehog is unbeatable." He placed his arms at his hips "Where's this Canterlot at?"

"There. On the side of that mountain." She points off the trail the group was on and into the forest. Sonic had to climb run up a tree to spot the location.

From where he stood, the mountain seemed almost halfway taller then the tree he was on. "How could she see that place from the ground?" he wondered before he ran back down to the ground "Alright Dash, you're on."

"But guys-" Twilight protested.

"Don't worry, Twi" Dash interrupted the unicorn while she got into a starting position with wings spread open. "We'll wait for you guys when we get there. Can one of you guys give us a signal?" Sonic also kneels into position and begins to spin his legs in place.

"That's not what-"

"GO!" and from Pinkie's sudden outburst, the two blue racers leave a strong draft leading into the forest.

---

A forest is an ecosystem that mostly consists of plant life. They don't particularly have a specific order at where they grow; which makes it no place to run through. The two competitors were soon reminded of this as they had to dodge around trees, duck under branches, and hurdle over bushes.

"Darn these plants" Dash cursed mentally. She looked over at Sonic who was matching her speed "I need to go faster." Realization suddenly hit her and she began to fly higher. She was soon flying over the trees, and with nothing blocking her path, she was able to increase her speed.

The appearance of a rainbow streak overhead caught Sonic's attention. Looking over to confirm, he yelled up at the mare "HEY! NO FAIR!" His outcry was cut short by the wind muffling around Dash's ears. Despite her advantage, he persisted onward. His stubbornness eventually rewarded him with a clear perspective of his surroundings.

Sonic reached the end of the forest and was now on a grassy field. Canterlot still seemed quite a ways away, but as for Dash, she wasn't that far. She was a pretty easy target to spot with her rainbow mane against the dark grey clouds in the sky.

"Alright" Sonic began psyching up "Juice and Jam Time!" before he began speeding up.

The distance between the two runners didn't seem to change at first, but after a few minutes, the gap was shorter between them. This change is thanks to a small advantage Sonic had which Dash lacked; a strong opposite force. When Sonic runs, he needs something to push his feet off of, the same goes for Dash's wings. Pushing off something solid (ground) can launch you farther then pushing off gases (air).

Sonic was now a couple of feet away from the determined mare when a cold wet chill hit him. It soon occurred to him that it was starting to rain and by the flicking lights in the distance, it appeared to be a thunder storm. He looks up at Dash to try to read her mind and it seemed that she was pretty set on continuing despite what lies ahead. Sonic shook his head to remove the rain drops from his face and preservers on forward.

They were now dead even when the terrain changed once again. The grass was starting to get shorter and gravel began to appear; it wouldn't be long before they had to start climbing. It seemed like Sonic was going to be taking the lead for awhile, but he suddenly began to lose his speed drastically. She was getting farther away and his feet were getting harder to lift with every step he took. He wasn't getting tired, it just felt like something was cementing his feet to the ground. When he looked down at the cause, he grunted at what he gotten himself into.

"Oh man."

"Mega-muck."

---

Dash made a sharp turn up and was skimming along the side of the mountain. Lightning flashed every so often and with every flap of her wings, she would flick off the rain that landed on them. She looked back down to see how she was doing.

There was no hedgehog in sight.

She refocused on ascending the mountain, now having a triumphant smirk on her face. "I knew that jerk couldn't keep up that speed forever." It would only be a matter of minutes before she would reach Canterlot. Her eyes sharpened to see farther into the storm and after a few more flaps of her wings, she saw in front of her...

A streak of lightning smiting against the mountain.

The flash of light was enough to make Dash rub her eyes, the cracking sound made her clench her ears, and the vibration... the vibration shook the mountain enough to shake a rock out of place and conk Dash's head. The blow takes away her equilibrium and she begins to fall. She managed to stay conscious but her world wouldn't stop spinning. She was flapping her wings to regain balance but she couldn't judge which way was up. The sensation was too much for her and she had to close her eyes so she could steady her head. She collides with a rock and falls a little farther. Dash's lightheadedness soon began to fade and she started to become aware of her surroundings. She didn't feel like she was falling anymore, it felt like she was... hanging by her arm. "I guess my arm got snagged into that rock I hit." Dash thought to herself before it finally registered to her "That was pretty soft to be considered a rock!"

"You okay there, featherbrain?"

Rainbow shot both her head and eyes up to see that hedgehog in sight. His hand was holding around Dash's wrist while the other hand securely held onto the side of the mountain. She could tell through the rain that he had a confident smile that said everything is alright; but everything was not alright with Dash. She felt anger, she felt enraged, why, she even felt....... pathetic. Pathetic not because she was saved, but because she was saved by.... him. She felt like she would've rather accept hitting the ground and breaking every bone in her body then to be hanging in the air feeling her pride broken.

The storm was getting worse and after one spinning hedgehog later, Sonic made a small cave in the mountain for the two of them to wait in for the storm to end. There was just enough room for the two of them to have their own personal space to sit in. It wasn't very comfortable, but it had to make due for now.

Rainbow Dash was sitting as close to the wall as she possibly could, away from the other occupant of the tunnel. She was watching the rain continue just like Sonic was. Her wet fur was starting to make her shiver, catching his attention.

Sonic reaches into his backpack to take out a blanket and extends it to her "Here."

She harshly backhands it away and rotates her body to lay her back on the side of the cave. "I don't need your sympathy" Dash glares out into the rain, wrapping her legs close to her chest.

"What's your problem? I'm just trying to help."

"Yeah, w-well, I can take care of myself. Everypony else can too, so we don't need you around to help us."

She was acting tough, but her quivering voice didn't help prove her point.

She mumbles "You should've never come."

Sonic sighs from her stubbornness and returns looking back at the rain "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little bit too loyal to my friends to just sit back and watch."

Dash tightens the grip around her by having her wings cocooning her. Two words kept echoing inside her head; Too loyal. She rubs her face into the feathers that comfort her.

The two stayed silent while the rain continued and Sonic was beginning to get a little impatient at just sitting around. It seemed that the lightning had stopped but the sound of the raindrops hitting the mountain was starting to sound monotonous. He was trying to tune it out, trying to concentrate on anything but the rain. Sonic was dissipating the noise at the best of his ability, and with a twitch of his ear, he heard a new sound.

It sounded like it was close by and seemed like it was trying to be covered. Source was easily found but was a bit of a surprise for the hedgehog to witness.

It sounded like Rainbow Dash was.... crying.

It let him feeling bit flustered on how to handle the situation. Her hostile nature towards him kept nagging him that he should mind his own business, but his peace of mind kept saying that he needed to help.

With a concerning voice, Sonic calmly asked "What's wrong?"

She shuddered from failing at hiding her lament. It took awhile before Dash replied "Why do you have to be better?"

His head tilted.

She rises her head "Nothing scares you, your always saving others, your faster, cooler, tougher, braver, ........loyal." before lowering it back down "What good am I, when my friends have someone better like you."

Sonic took a moment to reflect about the two of them. She was getting onto something, they did seem a lot alike; but was he really better?

He returned back to watching the rain and started going into thought. "Better, huh?" he began with and caught Dash's attention.

"Where I come from, you have to be better. Its basically a war for everyone, make a wrong move and you don't get a second chance to get better. You get turned into a robot, your will is taken away, and you are forced to help the very enemy that you fought to stop; leaving you only to watch the world being destroyed with the help of your own hands."

"Now I always believed that I was hot stuff, but I'm not the best at everything. I'm not really the strongest, I'm definitely nowhere near the smartest, and there were a dozen of times where I would've lost to Robotnik; ending up as a robot, but my friends were always there to help me out."

".........they're .....really all I have left. It kills me losing someone and if I lost them all," he leaned his head back as he thought of the scenario "honestly, ......I wouldn't know what I'd do. I know that your friends would be devastated if you left them. They would never think of replacing you with me because you say that I'm better." Sonic turns to her "You know why?"

Rainbow peeks a teary eye at him.

"Because I'm not better."

"You're more cautious for other's protection, you know the terrain of this land better, your determination is fearless, heck, you can even fly."

Dash's spirit was beginning to return. The realization of the qualities she had was soothing her and the complements from the frustration in her life was lightening her up.

"A team needs each other to make up for the faults that they have, to lean on others for support, to help make them better than they were alone and the only way your friends can be better is by having you around. So don't you ever think, not even for a sonic second, that you're not wanted, pal!"

She was wiping away the last tears she had before looking up at him "Sure thing, ......buddy."

---

The rain eventually stopped and the two blue team continued climbing, eventually arriving to level ground.

"Come on, Pinhead. Quit showing off and get up here already." Dash called down to Sonic.

"Said the one who flew up there!" he replied, grabbing onto another rock as he climbed.

She chuckles and bends down extending a hand towards him "Grab on." He does just that and she begins pulling him up.

"There you are!" spoke a third voice that made Dash put too much strength into her pulling and falls backwards from it, bringing Sonic along.

"Tw... Twilight!? How'd you get here?"

Indeed Twilight, as well as the others, were standing there and is waiting for the two of them to rejoin the group. "I was trying to tell you earlier that we were going to Hollow Shades to get a train ride here. I didn't want you two to race because you'd most likely be tired by the time you get here."

The two of them could hardly believe that there was another way of getting to Canterlot at such a fast speed. Not only that, it would've been easier to ride through the storm then running through it. The surprise simply made Sonic and Dash collapse to the floor.

The others giggle at their reaction and Twi simply sighs "Those two really are a lot alike."

Author's Note:

Truthfully, I was going to put this race as a bonus chapter when I started writing the story, but I realized that this would be a perfect place to put it. If you look back in a few chapters (like Castle Ruins chapter), I was hinting to this event.