Way Past Equestria

by Onomonopia

How Fast Can Things Go Wrong?

"Ten seconds in and we're already in quicksand. I call that a record."

Pinkie, Flutteshy, and Tails pulled the vine as hard as they could, finally succeeding in pulling the blue blur out of the quicksand he had landed in the moment they arrived. Sonic shook off the sand with a grumble, while the others started looking around. At first it looked like a standard Equestria jungle, but a closer look revealed plenty of things that didn't belong there. Such as spring pads, spikes sticking out of the strangest places and weird, ghost looking creatures that were just within sight.

"So did Celestia really have to ditch and run? She couldn't stick around to help?" Sonic asked Fluttershy.

"Celestia...isn't one for doing missions. She generally leaves it to us," Fluttershy replied.

"So she leads from the back? Sounds like a poor leader."

Well, she's technically retired and..." She motioned for Sonic to come closer so she could whisper. "She's getting up there in age. Don't say anything to her about it, but there are a lot more gray strands in her mane now."

"Yeah! Besides, Twilight is technically in charge of Equestria now and she goes on missions with us all the time!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Celestia has also been defending Equestria for well over ten thousand years, so I think she's earned a break."

"Well, I guess if I got that old I'd be down for some down time every now and then," Sonic said with a shrug. Then he glanced over at Tails. "What's up big guy, you holding up?"

"My scanner is picking up something deeper in the jungle. Something that gives off the same readings as that tiara Rarity had," Tails explained. "If I had to guess, I would say that the next Element is somewhere in there."

"Alright. So I'll just zoom in, grab the sucker and..." Sonic began. Then he took a step and nearly sunk in quicksand again. "Or I'll just take it slow and stay with the group. Ugh, we should have let the fliers handle this one."

"Well, what's done is done. So let's push on forward and have some fun!" Pinkie exclaimed. She started to hop ahead while humming a song, ignoring the quicksand completely. Sonic and Tails flashed a look to Fluttershy, who shrugged with a smile as she flapped her wings and flew over the quicksand.

"Want a ride, Sonic?" Tails asked as his tails began to spin.

"No thanks. This is the perfect chance for me to really put my moves to the test," Sonic said as he crouched down. A reckless smile crossed his face before he gave a thumbs up to Tails. "Go on ahead. I'm going to push myself."

"Alright, but if you get caught in the quicksand again, we'll be just up ahead," Tails said before he took off. Sonic waited until the rest of the group was a good distance ahead before he kicked off the ground, rocketing forward with a speed unmatched. He ran along until he felt himself step on the quicksand, which had barely begun to pull at him before he ripped his leg back, spun around onto solid ground and continue to push on ahead.

Sonic continued to do this, running over quicksand again and again, while continuing to free himself, until he got to the point that the quicksand didn't even have time to start pulling him before he was already past it. With a chuckle, he rocketed ahead to where the rest of the group was, running over the quicksand without any issues anymore.

"Well you took your time," Tails teased. Sonic shrugged as he walked up to Fluttershy and Pinkie, both of who were looking at something.

"Hey guys, anything interesting happen while I was catching up?" Sonic asked.

"Well, aside from that..." Sonic looked to where Fluttershy was pointing to see that a massive, and I mean massive, python was curled up around the base of a tree, which had a tiara with an apple on it resting atop its branches.

"That's one big snake," Sonic said.

"I know! It's amazing!" Fluttershy said as she pulled out her guidebook. "This python must be at least twice the size of the ones mentioned here in this book! That could make it anywhere between two hundred and two twenty feet! Think of all the muscle packed away in that thing."

"Glad to see that you're so excited," Sonic replied. He then shook out his legs and prepared to run. "So how do you guys want to do this? Have me run up the snake and grab the prize? Have Tails and Fluttershy fly over and grab it without waking up the snake? Or do we let Pinkie handle it?"

The group all looked over at Pinkie, who was currently playing the trombone along to the sounds of frogs croaking.

"Flying over seems to be the best option," Tails said. "If you run up it there's the chance you could wake it up. And while you could probably out run it, I don't want a giant snake on the loose if I can avoid it."

"Alright, sounds like a plan," Sonic agreed. "Guess I'll kick back, enjoy the show and-"

A vortex of darkness tore a hole in the sky and a moment later five beings landed in front of the group. A black, mechanical horse like creature with holes in her legs and green wires for a mane. Two, strange beings, one pink, one green, but both of them had black eyes devoid of intelligence. A giant wolf that looked like it was made from metal trees. And finally, a red echidna who eyes were devoid of anything.

"Chrysalis...a Lumberwolf?" Fluttershy asked.

"Zeena, Zazz and...Knuckles," Sonic whispered. "Knuckles, what are you doing with these pack of losers?...Did Eggman trick you again?"

"Careful Sonic, Knuckles doesn't look like himself," Tails said. Then Knuckles brought up his fists and locked eyes on Sonic. "Okay, that's totally Knuckles, but you know what I mean. Looks like Sombra and Eggman don't want us to get that Element. We're going to have to fight through them."

The two groups squared off against one another, each preparing for the battle to begin.

And then the jaw of a giant snake snapped down on Knuckles and swallowed him whole.

Both sides took a moment to process that Knuckles had just been eaten...and now there was a giant snake in play.

"Fluttershy, go for the Element! The rest of us will keep these guys busy!" Tails instructed. The team of evil turned back to the heroes, just in time for Zazz to take a kick to the face curtesy of Sonic. Zeena fired a blast of green energy at him, but the hedgehog was already gone. Two blows to the side of her head told her where he had gone and Sonic laughed as the two ogres collapsed to the ground.

"So why are the two of you working with Eggman? Did he promise you power? Unlimited machinery to control? Access to his secret mustache wax?" Sonic asked the pair. Without a sound the two rose back up, their blank eyes slowly turning towards Sonic. "Well that's not creepy at all."

Tails flew around green blasts of magic as he got closer to Chrysalis, who let out a robotic shriek as she created a cage of magic around Tails. The young fox glanced around at the cage for a second, before he pulled out a ring he had around his wrist. "Sorry whoever you are, but I've dealt with magic users and roboticized creatures before."

He hurled the ring towards Chrysalis, who didn't even bother to dodge out of the way. The ring expanded around her body and then rapidly contracted, entangling her as the magic in the ring cancelled out her own magic. Then her horn glowed once more and she teleported out of the rings grasp, appearing behind Tails. The young warrior had just enough time to gasp while Chrysalis struck...only for her to vanish under a hundred pounds of fronting and sprinkles.

"That was close. Thanks for the save, Pinkie," Tails said.

"You're welcome, Tails! I've been meaning to give you and your friends a "Welcome to Equestria" cake, but I though it looked better on Chrysalis," Pinkie replied. The cake began to move and the pair got ready, just in time for Chrysalis to burst out of the top of the cake. With another mecha roar, she charged at the pair who dodged around her attacks.

With two, loud roars the Mechawolf and the giant python slammed their heads together, shaking the jungle. The wolf snarled as it went in with its fangs, snapping at the python's throat. The snake slinked back and lashed out with its tail, wrapping around the wolfs back end. With a yank it ripped the Mechawolf's legs out from underneath of it, sending it crashing to the ground. It let out a hiss as it charge forward, only for something to snap its head to the side. Another blow dropped now unconscious snake to the ground, where it's jaws were slowly pried open by a red echidna.

"Knuckles! You're alive!" Tails said while Pinkie had Chrysalis tied up with silly string. The echidna snapped its eyes towards Tails and lunged at him, getting a yelp out of the fox as he took to the skies to avoid the attack. Pinkie hopped off Chrysalis and prepared to defend Tails, but a whistle cut through the area and caused Knuckles to glance behind him.

"Come on Knuc, picking on a little kid? That's pretty low," Sonic taunted. "But I could see why you would go after him instead of facing me. After all, I'm smarter, faster, better looking...and much stronger than you."

Knuckle lunged at Sonic and threw a punch that would have knocked the hedgehog's head clean off of his body if Sonic hadn't gotten out of the way in time. "Whoa, did I strike a nerve there? I'm guessing that this mind control you're under isn't that strong if your old knuckle headed self peeks through like this?"

Knuckles continued to swing at Sonic, who continued to lead him away from the others. Tails and Pinkie finished up with Chrysalis before they were approached by Zeena and Zazz. "Careful Pinkie, these guys are really dangerous. They have energy attacks, incredible strength and can control all forms of machinery. We'll have to bring our A game to-"

Twin anvils slammed onto both of the ogres heads and dropped them without a sound. Tails stared at the fallen foes, before looking up at the sky, and then he turned to look back at Pinkie. "Did you...?"

"What? Sometimes you gotta remember the classics," Pinkie said with a smile. A mechanical roar caused them to turn to see that Mechawolf was getting back up, its red eyes focused on the pair of them. "I'm going to need a bigger anvil."

"I got it guys!"

All fighting came to a stop as all sets of eyes turned to the top of the tree, where Fluttershy was holding the Element high. She then noticed that all eyes were on her and she slowly shrunk back down. "Never mind. Don't mind me. Go back to your fighting..."

Knuckles tried to make a break for Fluttershy, but a kick in the back of the head stopped that. The Mechawolf snarled as it bounded for the tree, while Pinkie fired a swamps worth of taffy under its feet from her cannon. The creature stepped in the taffy, got stuck instantly and fell over on it's face. With a roar Chrysalis broke free of the silly string that had held her and rocketed towards Fluttershy, only to be knocked out of the sky as Tails slammed into her wings.

"Well it's been fun guys, but I think it's time we head home," Sonic said as he swept Knuckles legs. "Yo Celestia, if you're there, we could really use a ride right about now!"

"Very well. But it was fun to watch."

Four flashes of solar light erupted around the heroes, teleporting them out of the battlefield. The forces of darkness took a moment to recover, before they looked around to see that the heroes were gone. Zazz helped Zeena up while the wolf and Chrysalis activated their repair protocols. And Knuckles simply stared at the spot where the Element had been...before a thin smile crossed his face.

Author's Note:

"Come on Knuckles, I know you're in there somewhere! Fight it. For us!"

Knuckles took a swing.

"What about Rouge? Don't you miss her?"

Another swing.

"How about me? Your friend?"

A flurry of punches.

"Oh I got it. Hey Knuckles, Angel Island fell out of the sky again and the Master Emerald got shattered."

Knuckles came do a dead halt.

"NOT AGAIN!"

Comments

[MLPMekarm]

that all ways seem to get to the knucklehead.

[badninja]

Well I think they just fell into a trap.

[MagicLover2128]

That’s omake bit at the end made me laugh.

[Late_Night]

And then the jaw of a giant snake snapped down on Knuckles and swallowed him whole.

oh fuckles, they got Knuckles