Sonic Adventure: Equestrian Style

by Someguy458

Spike the Dragon's Story

It was a beautiful day in Equestria.

Too bad Spike was stuck inside, sweeping the floors.

He'd always been happy to do this before, but something felt off today. Maybe it was the fact that Twilight wasn't actually busy with any projects, and yet she was still reading instead of helping? Well, whatever it was, it got Spike wishing he didn't have to do the chores today.

Be careful what you wish for.

"Did you feel that, Spike?"

The baby dragon looked up from his work, caught off guard by the sudden question. "Feel what?"

Instead of clarifying, she rolled her eyes at herself, then ran outside. Spike quickly set the broom down and ran out to join her, but whatever it was that she'd felt was already gone. "Twilight, what happened?"

She muttered, "The start of another adventure..."

He blinked, unsure of what to make of that. "What?"

"Gather the girls and bring them here," she ignored his question. "I need to gather some things from the basement."

With that, she ran back inside, leaving a confused Spike in her wake.

---

About half an hour later, everypony was gathered in the foyer of the Golden Oaks Library.

"What's this all about, Spike?" Applejack drawled. "Ah'm missin' out on market season."

"And I was taking care of this poor, hurt mousey," Fluttershy cooed, carrying a white mouse with a leg cast.

Spike shrugged, "I dunno; something happened earlier, and Twilight asked me to gather you girls."

Rarity piped up, "Is this about that odd surge?"

He blinked, "Surge?"

She nodded, "I was sewing up a new ensemble for Sweetie Belle, when I felt a magical surge downtown." She gestured to her horn, implying that it was her connection to magic that allowed her to feel it.

Spike shrugged, "Like I said, I'm only doing what Twilight asked."

And speak of the devil, Twilight chose that moment to emerge from the basement, carrying a strange device in her magic. "Thank you, Spike. Now, you girls may be wondering why I called you all here."

Everypony nodded. Twilight turned on the device, and the screen flickered on to show a simplistic outline of Equestria. "Half an hour ago, there was a disturbance in the space-time continuum that caused several unidentified things to scatter across Equestria."

She lit her horn as she continued, "According to Starswirl's Theories of Magic Dynamics, anything affected by magic, however briefly, will retain a lingering trace of that magic for some time. I've used a spell to hone in on that magic, allowing us to track whatever it was that came through."

While she spoke, her horn cast some kind of spell into the device. After a moment, several dots appeared across the map of Equestria, ranging from Canterlot to Appleoosa and centering on Ponyville. Twilight turned a knob on the side of the device, and the picture zoomed in until each dot could be seen individually.

And one of them was moving towards the center of the screen.

Twilight seemed to notice this. "It appears one of them is headed this way, from the Whitetail Woods. We should—"

Pinkie gasped, "New friend!" And with that, she happily pronked out of the library.

Spike stared at the mare as she bounced out of sight. "That mare is something else..."

Twilight blinked, then shook her head. "Alright, I suppose that's one problem sorted. That leaves us with..." She took a moment to count the remaining dots, then sighed, "sixteen more..."

The others groaned, not liking the sound of that at all.

---

Soon, the targets were given. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were to head into the Everfree Forest to find the six scattered in there, Fluttershy would investigate the signal at Marigold Lake, Applejack would find the one near Sweet Apple Acres, and Spike would join Twilight in locating one that landed somewhere downtown.

This left two dots in Canterlot, one near the Pie Family Rock Farm, and two near Appleoosa (as well as the one that Pinkie was already headed out to intercept). The two in Canterlot would likely be handled by the Princesses, and the group decided to deal with the others once their current objectives were taken care of.

With all of that settled, the group split up to find their objectives.

---

"So," Spike began as he rode Twilight down the street, "what exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything out of the ordinary," Twilight replied, not taking her eyes off the device in her magical grasp.

Spike nodded, then began to look around. Everything seemed normal; the flowers were in bloom, a sale was happening at the jeweler's, a large group of ponies was gathered around a smoldering crater, some birds were—

Wait a second...

A sale at the jeweler's?!

Spike almost let his excitement drive him to get off Twilight and rush to the shop, but he paused again. What was that third thing again?

He blinked, turning his attention back towards a nearby alleyway; the crowd was still forming around a large impact site.

Oh.

"Is that 'out of the ordinary' enough?" Spike pointed towards the scene, grabbing Twilight's mane to get her attention.

She took one look, gasped, then began to gallop towards the scene of the incident. Spike yelped in surprise, holding on tighter as her speed increased.

After a moment, they reached the crater. Twilight peered into the pit, and gasped at what she saw. Spike needed a moment to move so he could see, but he was also stunned at the sight.

It was something made completely out of metal, shaped vaguely like the creatures on the other side of the Mirror Portal. It had a barrel-like torso with several adornments, such as four vents on the front, a small silver fin down the middle of its chest, and three small metal flaps that resembled a robe. Its head was just an outcropping of metal on the top, adorned by two red 'eyes'; its arms were covered in plate metal adorned with upside-down 'U' shapes, its hands made of razor-sharp fingers, and the whole forearm looked like it could swivel to reverse its facing direction (making the hand face into the elbow); its legs were rather normal, with metallic coverings and two 'toes' (in the same way that a flipper has 'toes'); and on its back was what looked like an engine with two exhausts at the bottom.

Twilight was staring with immense curiosity; everyone else, including Spike, was staring with apprehension.

Finally, somepony broke the silence. Namely, it was Roseluck, who screamed before fainting.

Twilight held up a hoof. "Remain calm, everypony! I've got this under control!"

To emphasize her point, she made a show of lighting her horn and scanning the creature. After a moment, her expression moved even further into fascination.

Spike knew that face anywhere, and braced himself.

"Oh my goodness! Spike, this thing is incredible; it's almost completely metal!"

The baby dragon blinked. "Well, I kinda figured from looking at it. What's so special about that, though?"

Twilight was now gushing. "I can sense a lot of copper in it, structured like a nervous system. And copper conducts electricity, so..."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "It's a machine?"

"An alien machine! Spike, think of all the technological advances we could achieve if we study this thing! Celestia will be so proud of me!"

Spike sighed.

Then something registered. "Wait, you said 'almost completely metal'?"

Twilight nodded. "There seems to be some kind of organic-based power core at its center. Now come on, Spike; help me get it back to the Library."

To that, Spike let out a groan. If looks were anything to go by, the machine seemed to be incredibly heavy.

Today just wasn't his day.

---

Eventually, with much effort between the two of them, they managed to pluck the machine out of the crater and haul it back to the library. Bringing it downstairs, Twilight cleared off a table and heaved the machine onto it.

Then she got to work. Her magic brought out several tools, and she began to probe over the metal monstrosity.

Spike shifted impatiently. "Uh, Twilight? What about the other things you detected?"

The alicorn froze for a moment. "Oh, I almost forgot! Spike, you can head out and try to find another one if you want."

Spike eyed the machine. Even though it was motionless, and had been that way the entire time, it still freaked him out to no end. "Yeah, I think I'll go do that."

With a nod, Twilight summoned the tracking device and turned it back on. The little dragon took it and observed the dots for a moment.

'So,' Spike began to formulate a plan, 'if Rarity went into the Everfree, that means she has... Six creatures to deal with?! That's way too much, even if she has Rainbow with her; I have to help!'

Making up his mind, he handed the device back to Twilight and began to rush up the stairs. He could barely hear her call out "Be careful!" before he was out the door.

---

Spike hummed a little tune to himself as he searched the forest. "♪I wanna fly high...♪"

Suddenly, he heard some rustling in the nearby foliage. He fell completely silent, slinking into a nearby bush himself for cover.

When he poked his head out, he was in for a surprise.

Resting atop a large rock was a strange creature. It looked like an orangish-yellow fox, but it stood on two legs instead of four. Three tufts of hair jutted out from its forehead, and its chest and mouth-area were covered in white fur. It wore white gloves on its hands, and red-and-white shoes on its feet. The most distinguishing feature about it was the two tails it possessed.

Spike stood there for a moment, observing the creature as it caught its breath. Eventually, Spike decided it looked harmless enough to approach. "Uh... hi?"

The creature blinked, taking a moment to respond. "H-hey..."

Spike flinched. He sounded young; too young to be out in the woods on his own. He decided to act casual, as to not freak out the creature. "W-what's up?"

And then the creature started laughing. "What's so funny?" Spike asked defensively.

The creature managed to reply between laughs, "I don't know!"

...okay, maybe the creature was less stable than he'd thought.

As he tried to back away, though, the fox noticed. "W-wait, don't go! I'm sorry, I just— argh, I can hardly think straight with all these blue spots I'm seeing!"

Spike, recognizing the symptom, began to put the pieces together. "Blue spots? You didn't happen to touch any blue flowers, did you?"

"Actually, yeah," the creature confirmed, scratching his head. "Is that bad?"

He sighed. "That was Poison Joke. It's like Poison Oak, but instead of causing a rash, it likes to play little pranks." That would explain the strange behavior — and maybe even the creature's strange appearance, too.

The creature muttered something, but Spike couldn't hear it, so he decided to continue. "Come on," he extended out one of his hands, "One of my friends has the cure."

That friend, of course, was Fluttershy; she still had some left over from when she used Poison Joke to secretly sing with the Pony Tones.

The fox reached out its own hand, but missed. It tried again, this time barely intercepting his claw. "Thanks. My name's Tails."

"I'm Spike." He helped Tails up to his feet, and, helping to support him, they began to walk towards Fluttershy's cottage.

---

"Wait, did you hear that?" Spike froze suddenly, listening out for a noise he'd just barely caught.

Tails perked his ears, but seemingly didn't hear anything. "I don't—"

Suddenly, a crash came from some distance to their right, accompanied by the buzz of an insect's wings. Spike quickly moved himself and Tails behind a tree, and they waited.

Another crash sounded, this one closer. The buzz was growing louder. Another crash.

Finally, a gigantic bugbear crashed through the foliage. It was big, powerful, and angry. Spike trembled, not daring to say anything as the creature tore through the forest.

Thankfully, it didn't see them, and just continued on its path. The little purple guy breathed a sigh of relief, "Whew, thank Celestia we didn't— Wait a second... That thing's headed towards Ponyville!"

"Whozzat?" Tails asked dumbly.

Spike looked back at Tails, torn over what to do. 'What am I supposed to do?! We'd never be able to reach Ponyville before it, nor would we be any good at slowing it down.'

Finally, he sighed in defeat. "I wouldn't be much help against that beast anyway... I'm sure the girls can manage."

With that, he worriedly continued them on their journey.

---

Eventually, they reached the edge of the forest, where Fluttershy's familiar cottage was. Spike pushed open the door, letting them both inside.

After preparing the antidote for Tails, he stepped out to give him some privacy. As he waited, he decided to look around for the house's owner. "Fluttershy, you back yet?" he called out, not so loudly as to scare any nearby animals.

Suddenly, Angel came rushing down the hallway, looking rather frightened. "What is it, Angel?" Spike asked, as if the bunny could actually say something.

Angel pointed towards Fluttershy's bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. Spike walked over and pushed it open, then froze at what he saw.

It looked like another of whatever Tails was, but this one was a cream-colored rabbit instead of a fox. And it was sleeping in Fluttershy's bed.

"WHAT THE—!?" Spike shouted. The exclamation startled the creature awake, and it looked at him with fearful brown eyes.

"Cream!?" Tails gaped from the doorway, drawing both of their attention.

"Mister Tails!" The little rabbit exclaimed, lunging out of the bed to hug him.

Spike, on the other claw, was still shocked. Tails's appearance wasn't just another prank by the Poison Joke? "Wha— you're still— that's what you— HUH?"

"How'd you end up here?" Tails asked, ignoring Spike for the moment.

"It was so weird; I woke up this morning at the edge of a forest, then I found this place. I only meant to rest my head for a little while, honest!"

He sighed in relief. "I'm just glad you're okay. But where's Cheese?"

She looked on the verge of tears as she exclaimed, "I don't know! He could be all alone, lost somewhere like that forest! I'm worried for him, Mister Tails..."

"Me too," he gripped her tighter into the hug, and they stayed like that for a moment.

Then Tails broke off the hug and turned back towards Spike, who was still staring at them with a slack jaw. "Alright, let's try this again: Hi, I'm Tails, I'm an 8-year-old inventor fox, and I have no idea how we got here. Nice to meet you!"

He extended out a gloved hand, snapping Spike out of his stupor. "Wh—what are you?!"

"I just said, I'm a fox."

He shook his head. "You're not like any fox I've ever seen..."

"And you're not like any lizard I've seen."

He huffed, "I'm a dragon!"

Tails's eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded curtly, "Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't call me a 'lizard'."

"Okay, sorry, I didn't know," Tails held up his hands in a disarming gesture.

Spike calmed down at that. "Alright, I forgive you. My name's Spike, I'm a dragon, and I live in Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle."

Tails raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

The little drake beamed proudly as he answered, "Only the smartest, most talented unicorn in all of Equestria!"

Both of them blinked. "Unicorn? Equestria?"

Spike looked at them as though they'd just grown second heads. "You're really not from around here, are you?"

Before Tails could answer that, a quiet yet shrill scream rang out. The three turned to find Fluttershy staring at them.

Who then proceeded to faint.

"Oh no, Fluttershy!" Spike jumped in concern, rushing over to her side. Luckily, she'd only fainted; she hadn't hurt anything on the way down.

"Wha— who's that?" Tails seemed bewildered at the sight.

"She owns this house," Spike replied, not taking his focus away from the fainted pony for even a second.

He heard Cream gasp. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to frighten anyone, I promise!"

Spike waved her off. "It's alright, she's really sensitive regardless."

"You did say her name was Fluttershy, right?" Tails pointed out.

Spike nodded, then turned back towards Fluttershy. Blowing a little bit of smoke into her nose (it was something them and Twilight had agreed upon doing if Fluttershy ever fainted), he sent her into a mild coughing fit, startling her awake.

As soon as she regained her breath, she turned her attention back to the strangers. "S-Spike, who are—?"

The drake placed a placating hand on her chest. "It's okay, Fluttershy. I think they came out of that rift-thing."

That piqued Tails's interest. "Did you say 'rift'?"

Spike nodded. "Earlier today, Twilight detected something like a tear in space or whatever. She sent us out to find whatever came out of it, which is how I stumbled upon you."

Tails absorbed this information. "A tear in space... That'd explain the disconnect!"

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "Disconnect?"

The fox-boy nodded. "We're unfamiliar with anything of this place, while you're unfamiliar with us. That rift provides us an explanation: we're literally not from here!"

Cream's eyes widened. "We're in another dimension?!"

Tails shook his head, "Not necessarily. We could've traveled through a wormhole to a different planet, or this may even be the distant future of our world."

"But it's still a possibility?" Spike asked.

Tails nodded. "Some of my friends have traveled between dimensions before, sometimes even on purpose. Though they need a lot of power to do that."

Fluttershy blinked owlishly. "Creatures from beyond Equestria? That's so fascinating! Tell me, what's your world like?"

So Tails began to explain what their world was like, focusing mostly on his friends.

But when he described someone named 'Omega', Spike realized something. "Wait a second, you said Omega is electric?"

Tails argued semantics, but confirmed it. Spike jumped, "I think I've seen him!"

Tails blinked. "You have?"

He nodded. "Before I went searching in the woods, Twilight discovered something large and metallic in a back alley of Ponyville. It was red, yellow, and black, with markings on its shoulders and sharp fingers."

Tails perked up. "Did the markings look like an upside-down 'U'?" Spike nodded, and Tails jumped, too. "That's him! Where is he?"

"Twilight's currently trying to figure out how to reactivate it."

"Well, then, what are we waiting f—"

Before they could continue, Spike belched out a scroll. Tails was seemingly dumbfounded at the sight. "What— how did that happen?!"

Spike picked up the scroll. "Princess Celestia used her magic to send me a letter."

The fox's eyes widened. "Magic?"

Spike nodded, "Yup."

Tails shook his head, trying to wrap his head around it. "B-but that's not possible; magic is just science we don't understand yet, it doesn't— it can't— how— what...?"

Then he fainted.

Spike and Fluttershy blinked, then looked to Cream. "Does he normally do that?"

She shook her head, "He's just never come across something he couldn't understand like that."

That made sense. "And you're not gonna...?"

"I've always believed a little in magic."

They nodded, and Spike proceeded to open the letter. But when he read it, something was off; half of this wasn't Celestia's horn writing. He checked the names at the bottom; this was jointly written by both her and Princess Luna.

Spike then actually read the letter, and gasped. Twilight was needed in Canterlot, right away!

Author's Note:

I'm finally back with another full-on chapter! And it's the first chapter that shows a different side to a scene in a previous chapter.

You know what that means: a whole lot of copy-paste in the second half! I've tried to keep it somewhat entertaining by providing Spike's thoughts, as well as skipping some dialogue and extending the scene a little at the end, but I dunno how well I did.