Way Past Equestria

by Onomonopia

A New Coat of Paint

"How's he doing?"

Sonic, Twilight and numerous doctors were standing around Silver's bed, where the hedgehog had been laying for well over a day now.

"According to our x-rays and tests, there are no real physical injuries on him. But for whatever reason, his mind hasn't come back to him," one of the doctors explained. "Whatever Sombra did to him, it messed his mind up pretty badly. He could wake up tomorrow. He could wake up ten years from now. We don't know."

"Well, do what you can for him," Sonic asked. The doctors nodded and got back to their tests, while Twilight placed a wing over Sonic's shoulder and moved him out of the hospital room. "This is all my fault."

"No, this is Eggman and Sombra's fault," Twilight corrected. "Unless you somehow screwed up Silver's mind when I wasn't looking."

"If I had stopped Eggman sooner..."

"Sometimes it doesn't help. I mean, we've killed Sombra numerous times for Faust sake and he's still causing trouble," Twilight grumbled.

"Have you tried just shooting him into the sun?"

"You know, now that you mention it, I should do that. If he can come back from that, he can have Equestria...need to talk about it?"

"Thanks Twi, but I'm good now. I allow myself a few moment of self pity everyday, then I pick myself back up and and keep running forward," Sonic replied. He smiled at Twilight and gave her a thumbs up as the pair left the hospital, before the sky went dark. The two looked up to see a massive circular object being moved over the city, which caused the ponies within said city to begin panicking. As they often did.

"Oh cool, they're bringing the Sky Patrol here," Sonic said. "Celestia told me she'd help us patch it up, but I thought she'd take us to it, not the other way around."

"I guess she wanted to study it while it was being repaired. Also, I should probably deal with that," Twilight sighed as the screaming got louder. She waved to Sonic before flapping her wings and flying down to the city, while Sonic dashed up to the castle to beat the Sky Patrol there. At the castle he found Rotor, Tails, and Pinkie all standing in the courtyard, looking up at the Sky Patrol.

"You're good. You're good. You're good..." Pinkie said as she waved glowsticks backwards. Celestia and Luna dropped the Sky Patrol in the middle of the courtyard, where it cracked in half, spewed sparks and burst into flames. "And perfect!"

"Broken, bleeding and on fire. This is one of your better crashes, Rotor," Sonic said to "help". Rotor didn't even flash him a look as he activated his nano suit, using the built in extinguishers to get started on the fire. Celestia and Luna used their magic to wrangle up the loose wires and parts, while Tails started to try to put things back where they belonged.

"Need me to do anything?" Sonic asked.

"At the moment, no. But once we've got this fire under control, go through the wreckage and pull out an important possessions that might have survived the crash," Rotor instructed. Sonic gave a mock salute, waited exactly five seconds and then raced into the still burning base, with Rotor only shaking his head in response. Sonic zipped around inside, moving past fallen debris, using his speed to extinguish fires and grabbed anything he considered important.

Sally's room was first and he went through it the quickest. A photo of her family, some of her battle plans, her diary (which Sonic had to fight very hard not to read) and onto the next room. Tails room was almost as easy. Family pictures, his cape and t-pup, a couple of comics and a gold medal he had received from the king for saving Knothole. Good times. Sonic zipped outside, dropped the stuff off and went back in.

Rotor's room was the easiest, because Rotor had told Sonic in the past that he kept everything of value in three blue colored, nearly indestructible containers. Sonic grabbed them and was gone. Bunnie and Antoine's room was the hardest, not just because it was two rooms in one, but because they had a lot of stuff Sonic would never let burn. He grabbed their wedding album, the jacket Antoine's father had given him, a cowboy hat that was all that was left of Bunnie's uncle, a robot repair kit, Antoine's family blade and cape, as well as a few other things that looked important.

Balancing all of that, he zipped by his room to see that it had already been completely consumed in flames. He stared at it for a second, let out a sigh, and moved on, bursting out of the Sky Patrol and skidding to a halt next to Pinkie. "Alright, everyone's special belongings, extra crispy. Don't ask me to go back in there, because the flames live in my room now."

"And just what are you doing with our things?" Sonic turned to see Antoine, Bunnie, Applejack and Rarity walking into the courtyard.

"Oh just going through some pictures, remembering all the good times," Sonic replied. Then the Sky Patrol exploded again and, with a shrug, Sonic placed the items next to their owners. "That and Rotor's redecorating the Sky Patrol with fire, so we figured it would be a good idea to get our stuff out of there first."

"Aw, Sugar look, it's our wedding album!" Bunnie said. She picked up the album and opened it up, motioning for the ponies to crowd around as she started to flip through the pages. "Here we are at the castle, Sally did such a good job decorating. Here ya are...wow, such a dashing man."

"And yet I was nothing compared to your beauty," Antoine said as he flipped the page.

"Oh my goodness, you looked divine!" Rarity exclaimed as they saw Bunnie in her wedding dress.

"Ah have to admit, ya look amazing."

"Of course she does. Ma cherie outshines the stars as she is. In a dress like zat it is no contest," Antoine scoffed.

"Thanks, Sugar-Twan," Bunnie giggled as she gave him a peck on the cheek. Antoine smiled at her before he spied his cape and sword, picking both of them up and examining them. Aside from some ash, they were fine.

"Thank you, Sonic," Antoine softly said.

"No sweat Twain. I know what you went through for those," Sonic replied. Bunnie and the ponies were too busy going through the wedding album that they didn't notice what Antoine was doing.

"So, do zey still look good on me?"

He had his family's red cape slung over one of his shoulders, while his family's blade hung off of his hips. He had combed his hair back a bit and had an air about him of confidence and strength. For a long moment, all the girls could do was stare, before Rarity elbowed Bunnie in the side.

"You have no idea how envious I am of you right now," she teased with a smile. Bunnie giggled and walked over to Antoine, examining the cape.

"Ah'm surprised yer wearing this, hon. Ah thought ya wanted to keep it safe, since it's all that was left of yer family's home."

"Well, I am thinking that with things are as bad as zey are, perhaps I could use my family's strength right about now," Antoine replied. Then he flashed a smirk over at Sonic and the Sky Patrol. "And considering the place zat I was keeping it safe in is currently on fire, perhaps zer is no safer place than with me."

"Hey, it's no longer on fire. Now it's just smoldering," Rotor grumbled as he walked up to the group. "Sorry Sonic, I couldn't save your room."

"Hey, I've got everything I need right here," Sonic replied.

"You sure. Because you're guitar..."

"Stuff can be replaced. Friends can't," Sonic curtly replied.

"So you don't want the guitar then?" Pinkie asked. All eyes turned to Pinkie, who was holding Sonic's guitar in her hooves. "Because if you don't want it..."

"Whoa, when did you grab this?" Sonic asked.

"When I realized it was important to you," Pinkie replied. Sonic raised an eyebrow at that, decided not to question it and strummed the cords a few times to make sure it was working.

"Alright princesses! It's up to you now!" Rotor called up to the princesses. Celestia and Luna's horns glowed bright and together their magic pushed the Sly Patrol back together. Celestia then fired a beam of magic as hot as the sun and used it to weld the two halves together again. Luna lifted up one of the wings that had fallen off and Celestia reattached that as well, making the Sky Patrol whole once more.

"It looks all good inside!" Tails called out. He flew out through a hatch in the roof, flying over to the group. "I've gotten most of the wiring up and running, so we've got power, but the engines are still fried. Everything else should at least work now."

"Well, it doesn't look pretty, but this will get the job done," Rotor nodded with approval.

"It's that what people used to say about you?" Tails asked.

"Used to? I still hear that," Rotor chuckled. "How about the scanner for the Chaos Emeralds? That up and running?"

"Yes, but it's just like Discord said. There's too much chaos and the scanners are all giving me a bunch of false reads all over the planet," Tails explained as he brought up a graph. "So we're going to have to rely on him until I can narrow the search."

"We could really use Nicole's help right about now," Rotor muttered, getting the ponies to look at him with confusion. "Oh sorry. Nicole is another core member of the Freedom Fighters. She's...a living A.I. that takes up residency inside of a portable terminal that we can charge with a power ring to give her a physical form. Make sense?"

"Nuh-uh," all three ponies said at once.

"She's like a genie in a bottle," Sonic translated and the group all went "Oh" all at once.

"Does she grant wishes?" Pinkie asked.

"She work miracles, which is almost the same thing," Sonic said. He then gazed out across the land, tapping his foot impatiently. "And hopefully Sally and Rainbow Dash will return with her soon. Because I'd hate to think what would happen without her on our side.

||--O O--||

"This is Knothole?" Rainbow asked. "Place looks like it's seen better days."

Sally couldn't help but agree as she used her blade to cut through another fallen tree, one of hundreds that showed just how bad the place had been hit by the worlds merging. The town near their old base was completely in ruins and there were no signs of it's citizens anywhere. That was concerning.

"Despite how bad things look out here, I promise you that the old Freedom Fighter HQ is still standing. Rotor modified it to be able to take a nuclear blast and it's done so before. It will be standing," Sally promised. She cleaved through another tree to finally find the stump she was looking for. She grabbed the edge and tried to pry it open, but it wasn't until Rainbow came over to give her a hoof that they finally managed to open it.

"So this Nicole is still here?" Rainbow asked. "Because she must be pretty important if she was worth fighting through all those shadow monsters and robot people to get to."

"Nicole is very important. Next to Sonic, she's the most important person in my life," Sally whispered.

"Then why leave her out here?"

"She was out here scanning some anomalies when the worlds merged. At first I got an all clear from her, but she's gone quiet. We're out here making sure she's still safe," Sally instructed. The pair moved through the underground tunnels until they came across a large room, one with a massive computer in the center of it. Sally raced to the computer and checked the plug in port...only for her heart to go cold when she grabbed a note instead of her closest friend.

'Dear Ponies/Freaks,

It's me, your old pal Sombra. Sorry that I missed you, but I found a new friend at this place and I just couldn't wait to get home to show her to Eggman. She's great! She's stubborn, resilient and can take being ripped apart on a molecular level like a champ. Don't worry, everytime I break her, Eggman puts her back together, though she seems a bit different than she was. Eh, I'm sure it's all fine. And just think, if you had been a little faster, maybe she wouldn't be in my clutches. That's what happens when think your secrets are safe from me.

Your pal,
Sombra

P.S. why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know every moment Nicole spends with us is a moment she is in agony. And knowing that she's hurting is sure to hurt all of you. And that's just too good to pass up on. See you all very soon.'

Sally let out a roar and slammed her blade through the computer console, causing sparks to erupt as the lights flickered. Rainbow waited until Sally stopped swinging her blade around before she approached the princess, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'm such an idiot. The moment I knew what was going on I should have retrieved Nicole," Sally whispered. "And now she's in the hands of two lunatics. How could I let this happen to her?"

"Sombra and Eggman have grabbed a bunch of our friends and family in order to hurt us. We'll get her back, just like we will all the others," Rainbow promised. "We've already gotten Silver. One down, however many to go. But we'll prevail. We always do."

Sally gave Rainbow a look before she smirked, retracting her blade and pressing a button on her wrist. "You're right. And it's going to be sooner than Eggman would ever think. Because little do they know there's a secret tracker within Nicole, one that no magic or tech can sense."

"Great, so you can sense it?"

"Um...no. However, there is one who can, but that's going to be a problem in and of itself," Sally replied. Rainbow Dash and her started heading for the exit, while Sally began to plan. "Because that person is Amy."

Author's Note:

"So are you and Nicole a thing?"

"For a moment I thought we would be, but then nothing ever came of it. Actually, now that I think about, nothing ever came from my romance with Sonic. Or with Monkey Khan. Or with Antoine. Or Geoffrey. Or anyone really."

"That many failed romances?"

"Guess it just means I'm flying solo for the rest of my life."

"Trust me sister, it's the best way to go."

"So you're never settling down with someone?"

"Nope. Never. And you can take that to the bank, because I'm staying single for LIFE!"

Comments

[Omegamorph]

Well I pretty much want to give Sombra a face kicking now. BTW, Sonally all the way as far as comic continuity goes on this end. Though I would be open for Sonmina If I didn't have that commitment. I also suspect the cape and sword Antoine has might be from an issue that sadly never saw the light of day.

[Onomonopia]

10876879
While it never had an official release, some fans bought the art for the sonic universe issue where Antoine gets them and finished it themselves.

[GTthe4th]

Who's talking to Sally in the Author's Note? Rainbow Dash?

[badninja]

10876961

Probably Twilight. It was implied in the last episode that Rainbow and Applejack where a couple. Several conversations during the early parts of this chapter also point in the direction that those two had something important that was about to happen that they are putting off because of the current crisis.

[Omegamorph]

10876912
Yeah saw that. Hoping to se more from that end on what's available.