Dawn of the Storm

by Real Solaris

San Pelimine Desert: V/S Metal Storm (Edited)

Far into San Pelimino Desert, Team Speed boosts through the desert expanse, dust and sand flying from their feet and wings. While known for its insane heat record during the summer months, today was a lucky day for Team Sonic, as Celestia’s sun was blocked by fluffy white clouds going in every direction, so it was much cooler than usual.

But even with the nice weather, Sonic and Dash weren’t all that excited about it. For their squadron to keep up with them, they were forced to slow down considerably, much to their annoyance. But even at this pace and with how cool it was, running/flying for a solid thirty minutes would wear out any non-athletic flier, and Dash noticed this. They’d started to lag behind, and the ones carrying the unicorns were the most worn out of the bunch.

“Babe!” Dash cups her hooves around her mouth, projecting her voice down to her husband. When he looks up to see what she wanted, Dash points back to the guards who are falling behind. “Those dudes are starting to get tired! We need to take a break soon or they won’t be of much use later!”

“Right!” He gives a thumbs up, and then quickly scans the desert. “Over there!” He points to a tall rock formation in the distance, close to the rocky cliff face that encased the desert. Dash nods and angles her wings to slow herself. Once she reaches the guards, she starts flapping again.

“Head for that rock formation up ahead!” She shouts, pointing to it. “We’ll take a break there, so just hang in there a little longer!”

The fliers begrudgingly nod. Their exhaustion took a huge toll on them, and they weren’t sure if they’d be able to make it. But by some miracle, and what felt like an eternity to them, but was, in reality, five minutes, they teach the formation. Once they reach the top, any flier not carrying a unicorn drops like flies, panting and gasping for air. The ones carrying unicorns drop them unceremoniously, getting a few flares from their passengers, but they heed them no attention and flop spread eagle, their wings burning from their prolonged use.

“Great job, guys!” Dash compliments, landing much more gracefully than her fellow winged ponies. “All of you take a break, you’ve earned it.”

They simply grunt in response, then go back to sweating bullets and panting on the ground. Dash rolls her eyes, chuckling before turning to the unicorns.

“They’re gonna be like this for a while, so keep watch over them,” The unicorns salute and quickly surround their fellow guards at ten intervals. Dash then turns to Sonic. “How ‘bout you and I head out to find the storm while these dudes hang here?”

“Sounds like a plan,” He says, stretching his legs. “Let’s split up to cover more ground. I’ll head north, you go south, and if we find anything, we’ll break the sound barrier to notify the other, deal?”

“Deal,” She nods, and a cocky grin appears on her face. “First one to find it wins!”

“Are you sure you want to take that bet?” Sonic asks, raising an eyebrow.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Dash chuckles, her grin turning devious. “You scared you’ll lose? Or are you… chicken?”

His eye twitches, and he turns to his wife with a determined look. “Oh, it is ON!”

The two jump off the rock tower and land down below at the same time. Sonic faces north in a runners starting position, and Dash faces the opposite direction, arching her body. Sonic starts the countdown.

“Ready…” He braces his arms on the ground as he runs in place, his feet quickly becoming a red möbius strip as he revs up for a Super Peelout.

“Set…” As she continues the countdown, Dash manipulates her magic through her muscles and feathers, strengthening them as her wings buzz to life. As she preps for her version of the Super Peelout, the wind generated from her insane WBPM (Wingbeats per minute) whips sand everywhere. Both speedsters tense their bodies for launch, all they needed was to say the word, and…

“GO!”

*BOOM*

The colliding shockwaves from the double Sonic Boom shake the landscape, and they threaten to topple the rock tower the guards were on, but it holds up. Streaks of blue and rainbow race away from each other, the ones leading them determined to 1-UP the other in this insane test of speed and luck.

---

After ten minutes of flying south and scanning the skies for anything, Dash spots a color in the distance that isn’t a natural color of the desert - purple. Concentrating on it, her Pegasus magic lets her eyes zoom in, and she can now see the edge of the Storm she was looking for in clear detail.

“Looks like I won this race, babe!” She whoops to herself, shaking her focus off the Storm to reset her eyes, and then performs a double loop-de-loop in celebration. “Rainbow Dash, 1, Sonic, ah-0! Now to tell him I found it!”

Taking a ninety-degree turn upward, she pumps her wings hard. She bursts through the clouds, climbing higher and higher into the sky. Reaching the desired height, she lazily closes her eyes, relishing in the warmth of Celestia’s sun as it soaks into her fur. She hums in delight as she stops flapping, and gravity soon pulls her back down. Once she feels her head point down, her wings snap open, as do her eyes. Dash moves her hooves in front of her and starts to pump her wings faster and faster while pouring her magic into them. As she draws closer to the ground, a Mach cone forms in front of her, and she pushes herself to go faster. The cone sharpens to a point, and Dash can feel her wings trying to pull themselves off her back, but she knows she can handle it. With one final, practiced push, she shoots forward as the sound and spectral barrier break with deafening *BOOM*, creating the famous Sonic Rainboom she was known for as she pierces the clouds.

Dash instantly pulls up to avoid hitting the ground, her wings complaining from the sheer force she was exerting on them, but she was so used to it that it barely registered in her mind. Circling, she can see the rainbow shockwaves easily push the fluffy clouds miles away, opening to leave the clear blue sky behind. She bleeds her momentum into the air and comes to a stop, hovering as she concentrates on her wellspring.

‘Looks like I’ve got enough magic left for another fifty-ish Rainbooms,’ Dash thinks, refocusing on the outside world. ‘I can’t believe how far I’ve come since I first performed it. I could barely manage one without collapsing back then, but now I can do forty to fifty in a row without destroying the tendons and muscles in my wings!’

As she thinks, she spots the shockwave of another Sonic Boom in the distance, and she can see the blue blur that is Sonic closing in on her location fast.

‘I guess I have Sonic to thank for that,’ She smiles as her eyes zoom in on her husband in the distance. ‘I remember when we first met, I hated, no, despised him for being faster than me. So I trained to catch up with him, and over time, he helped me see my potential, and even go beyond that to reach for the stars.’ She touches the golden wedding band on her right fetlock, caressing it as memories of that beautiful day come to her, still crisp to this day. ‘Without him, I don’t know where I’d be.’

Dash then boosts ahead to meet Sonic midway, using a bit of her magic to create a small Rainboom on launch. Once she passes Sonic, Dash pulls up and performs a large loop, and once she reaches the apex, she flips right side up and glides down to him, flapping as little as possible. Reaching the hedgehog, she starts flapping again, but not before lovingly kissing his cheek, surprising him.

“Where did that come from?” He asks, his face a mix of happiness and confusion as he rubs the spot she kissed.

“Am I not allowed to kiss my man when I want?” Dash says, clutching her chest and acting hurt.

“I’m not saying you can’t!” He chuckles, playfully rolling his eyes. “I’m just wondering why is all.”

“Just thinking about how far I’ve come thanks to you,” She says, moving in front of him and flying backward, her face close to his. “I love you, Sonic.”

“I love you too, Rainbow Dash,” Sonic says, cupping her cheek and pulling her close. The kiss isn’t as long as the many others the two have indulged in, but it still held just as much love as them. Separating from the weird backward flying and running kiss, Sonic smirks as he lets go of Dash’s cheek. “Last one there’s a rotten Eggman!”

Before her love-drunk mind can process what he said, Sonic sidesteps around her and boosts away. When it finally clicks, Dash whips around to see Sonic running away, laughing.

“Wha-?! Hey!” She exclaims, shaking the last vestiges of the kiss away before boosting off. “Get back here, that’s not fair!”

"Hmm, lemme think!" He shouts, running backward to face her. He scratches his chin in mock thought. "Nah!"

Laughing, he turns around and boosts off. Dash laughs as well, pouring more speed on to catch up. The two ensue in a catch-up tag race, laughing as they play with each other. But as they reach the edge of the storm, their playful laughter slowly morphs into shocked silence. Both speedsters screech to a halt, horrified by what they see. Under the storm’s influence, the sandy earth is now a dull grey, and puddles of purple liquid dot the muddy ground, occasionally glowing pink. Hot pink lightning strikes the ground at random, scorching whatever it hits. What made it worse was that it was spreading fast, about a few dozen hooves a minute due north.

“Sweet Chaos, I can see why Real wanted to get rid of these things!” Sonic exclaims, the magnitude of the situation finally setting into his mind. “This place looks like a wasteland! Heck, it almost puts that robotized part of Green Hill to shame!"

“We need to get back to those guards and tell ‘em about this, ASAP!” Dash exclaims, taking to the air. Nodding to each other, they boost back to where they left their squad. No longer playing around, they make the trip in a matter of seconds, the shockwaves from their speed rippling through the desert. They unknowingly disrupted the storm with their Sonic Booms at launch, but they’re long gone to see the clouds start to flash violently. Back at the rock formation, the sudden appearance of both speedsters startles the guards, but they calm down once they see who came out of nowhere.

“We found the storm!” Dash exclaims, ruffling her feathers back into place. “It’s about a hundred or so miles south, and it’s spreading fast!”

“How are we going to approach it?” A female thestral asks. “If it’s spreading fast, we need to contain it before it gets out of hoof.”

“Hmmm…” Sonic muses, tapping his foot. “Usually my plans consist of rushing in and kicking butt, though that usually only works against Eggman. Gimme a minute to think.”

Sonic walks to the edge, staring far into the horizon where the storm was. ‘C’mon Sonic, you can do this!’ He thinks, bonking his forehead with a fist. ‘You’ve done this before, so you can do it again!’ His foot starts tapping again, but much faster than before. So fast, that the sand beneath Sonic’s foot turns to glass from the intense heat generated by his shoe hitting the sandy earth. Dash sees how much Sonic is struggling, so she trots up beside him to see if she could help.

“Hey, you good?” She asks, nuzzling his cheek. “You’re thinking, I thought that was Tails’ thing.”

Sonic chuckles, pulling her into a side hug. “True, I’m not known for planning. It's just that I finally realized how bad the situation is, and I’m not sure how things are going to go.”

“Hey, you’ll think of something,” Dash says, pecking his cheek. “You’ve got what it takes, and if I know you, and I do, you’re sure to think of something soon. Now hurry up, I’m getting bored just sitting here! My wings are itching to move fast and move now!”

He laughs, Dash's attitude to get moving and be moving relaxing him. “Alright, alright, I’ll think of a plan!” Sonic says, elbowing her back. Then something about what that thestral said earlier clicks in Sonic’s head. Snapping his fingers, he exclaims, “I got it!” and turns to the others, gesturing for them to come close.

“Okay, so building off of an idea one of you had, here’s what we gotta do…”

---

Forty minutes later, Team Speed heads toward the storm clouds, and they’re shocked by how far the storm had gotten. It had grown by about 50% from when Sonic and Dash saw it, reaching the cliff they were perched on.

“Damn, it’s worse than I thought,” Sonic mutters, but he shakes it off as he turns to the guards. “The plan is still the same! Contain the storm while Dash uses a Rainboom to destabilize it. The unicorns will keep their teammates safe from anything that might hit you, but still be careful. Any questions?”

Getting none, Sonic grins and gives Dash a thumbs up. “Alright Dash, you’re up! Everypony else, you know what to do!”

Dash boosts up as Sonic biceps into a ball and revs a Spindash. The guards split into groups of twenty-five going east and west in teams of five. Sonic releases his Spindash and shoots off the cliff into the nearest cloud. Instead of falling through it as any non-flier would, electricity sparks from his quills as he collides with it, wrapping around a good chuck and vaporizing it. Thanks to years of having the cloud walking spell cast on him by Twilight and her increase in wellspring size and types of magic she had thanks to her ascension, Sonic had absorbed the Pegasus magic the spell had in it. The magic had fused with the Chaos energy already inside him, creating an artificial wellspring that allowed him to wield Pegasus magic. He uses it to wield wind and electricity similar to how Tionic’s powers worked, but minus the time dilation - Sonic could already do that. He also uses the magic to create swords of wind and electricity, finally becoming The Knight of the Wind he was destined to be, as well as the Master of Lightning.

High in the sky, Dash looks behind her, scanning the Storm for the eye. She quickly spots it and turns around. “Alright, time for this storm to meet a Sonic Rainboom!”

Dash boosts downwards, a Mach cone quickly forming in front of her hooves. Right as she’s about to hit the clouds, she breaks the spectral barrier again and takes a sharp turn to fly level with the ground. The rainbow shockwave destroys the eye of the storm, making the whole storm light up like the tree in Manehatten on Hearth’s Warming. Pulling up, she angles herself to follow the edge of the new ‘eye’ and plows through them, going further and further out with each pass.

On the outskirts of the storm, the guards are easily corralling the storm and simultaneously trimming it down from the outside. Sonic is just using Homing Attack after Homing Attack, popping clouds left and right and leaving a trail of gaps in the storm as he goes.

“WOO!!” He shouts as he comes out of a record combo. “Seventy-two homing combo! Hey, did you guys see -!” Looking down, he sees that he’s much higher than he realized. “- oops.”

Thinking quickly, Sonic angles himself above a cluster of clouds and performs a Stomp, letting him fall faster. He busts through the cloud, his magic tearing into the neighboring ones as he hits the ground. He then boosts to the cliff and runs on the side, using it the launch himself back into the action. What he didn’t see was the sudden increase of acid rain coming from the clouds, which corrupted the ground beneath even more than it already was.

Slowly but steadily, Team Speed chipped away at the storm until it looked more like a purple malnourished donut than a terrifying storm. They were so focused on finishing the job that they didn’t notice the puddles of acid start to move into one large pool, bubbling and hissing as more of the liquid pooled in.

“And… done!” Sonic exclaims, doing a final Homing Attack on the last storm cloud before Stomping to the ground. “Whew, now that was a workout! How’d you hold up, Dash?”

Landing next to him, Dash wipes a bead of sweat off her forehead and ruffles her feathers. “An occasional lightning bolt here and there, but nothing too much,” She says, but something catches her eye as the guards land beside them. “Buuuut, I can’t say the same for all of us.”

Turning, Sonic spots one of the thestrals looking more like a charred mess of overcooked barbecue. She hadn't been fast enough and was struck by a lightning bolt, so her deep navy blue mane and tail stood on end, smoking slightly. Her dark grey coat was charred a deep purple, a few spots still sizzling. Even her armor was affected, though a little tinge of blue and black showed through here and there.

“Eesh, that does not look pretty,” He grimaces, licking his fingers as he walks over and pinches one of the burning spots on the thestral out with a little *pssh*. She shakes her head, jostling the purple soot off her face, though there were still a few spots left, especially on her wings.

“This’s gonna take a lot more than a bath to get rid of,” She groans, attempting to rub off the soot stuck to her leathery wings.

“So, what now?” Dash asks. “We head back to Canterlot to tell the princesses we managed to stop it? That almost seemed too easy, even for a major storm like that.”

“Probably,” Sonic speculates, looking over the ruined landscape that resulted from the storm’s acid rain. “But we can’t be too sure. I’ll do a quick loop around the area, and see if I spot anything. I’ll be right back.” He boosts off and comes back instantly. “I got nothing. The place is quiet, almost too quiet.”

“Whad’ya mean, too quiet?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” He repeats, narrowing his eye as he gazes around the landscape. “This place is completely devoid of everything.” He pauses for a moment. “Well, except for the giant pool of purple acid rain smack dab in the middle of all of this, and bubbling menacingly.”

“What?!” Rainbow exclaims before facehoofing. “That would’ve been helpful to mention that first! Where is it?”

“It’s just this way,” Sonic points to the heart of the barren landscape. “C’mon, I’ll show you!”

Sonic boosts off into the desolate area, Dash and the guards flying right behind him. The guard follows suit, though a little slower. They eventually catch up to the couple, both standing by the edge of a pink pool of some kind of sizzling liquid.

“So, how exactly do you know this is made of acid?” Dash asks, gesturing to the purple liquid.

To show her, Sonic kicks a small rock into the bubbling liquid. The rock hits the surface with a loud hiss, smoke billowing from it as it disintegrates.

“…never mind.” She gulps, nervously backing away from the edge. “By the way, where the hay did this even come from? I didn’t see this while we were taking the storm out.”

“I don’t know, Dash,” Sonic frowns, his foot rapidly tapping the ground. “This just came out of nowhere. I also noticed that this is the only acid pool here. You’d expect there to be hundreds of them all over the place after a storm like that, but it seems like it’s all been concentrated here for some reason.”

As if the universe had heard the hedgehog, the acid bubbles violently, like something was boiling it underneath. Team Sonic backs away from the edge as fast as they could, for fear of getting hit by flying drops of acid. But as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

“Huh. Well, that was weird.” One of the guards comments. “Honestly thought something was going to happen. Guess not.”

Sonic and Dash facepalm/hoof at the same time, and groan as something does happen. A ball of purple acid rises in the middle, growing bigger as it draws the pool into itself until it’s the size of a small Ponyville house. Then it shrinks - but as it’s shrinking, stone hands appear from the sides - though they wouldn’t be called hands, they were more like razor-sharp claws made of crystals. The claws connect to bulky stone forearms, but spindly upper forearms are made of metal. Its feet were made of metal and colored red with purple gems sticking out the sides. Connected to it was a chunk of rock with yellow pipes holding the feet to it. Just like the upper forearms, its legs were very thin compared to everything else.

They connect to a stone torso, two metal spikes coming out of the back and a metal grill covering its chest, and shoulder guards made out of jagged purple crystals covering the shoulders. The head is made of metal and stone, and six sharp spikes made of crystal protrude from the back of its head. The ears and head were made of stone, and a metal muzzle with a sharp black cone for a nose completes the look. Its eyes glow red, murderous intent behind them as it gazed at the startled Team Speed.

SYSTEMS ONLINE

AREA SCAN…

TARGETS IDENTIFIED: NUMBERED 52

MAIN TARGET IDENTIFIED - SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

THREAT LEVEL: HEDGEHOG

TOP SPEED: UNKNOWN

NEW MISSION PARAMETERS - DESTROY HEDGEHOG

POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 40%

“What the -!” Dash exclaims, stepping back. “W-what the hay is that?!”

“Silver Sonic,” Sonic smirks, easily recognizing the robot even if was made from different materials. “Dude was built by Eggman to take me out years ago. But ever since the last Death Egg was destroyed, Egghead hasn’t made another one of ‘em.”

“So what’s it doing here then?!” Dash exclaims, gesturing to the metal/rock robot.

“No idea,” Sonic shrugs, and cups his hands over his mouth. “HEY, SILVER SONIC!”

The giant stone golem glares at the speedster, its eyes glowing red and making everyone except Sonic flinch.

“What’s up with the new look?!” He shouts, doing what he loves to do with any metal copy that Eggman dishes out at him - taunt them. “You tryna add a bit more color to your look? If I’m being honest, your old one was a bit bland, don’t you think? The purple compliments your eyes! Maybe you could use a new name to go with your new look? Storm Sonic? What about Storm Metal?” Sonic snaps his fingers as he has an epiphany. “Ooh, wait! How does Metal Storm sound?”

The golem’s eyes glow purple as pink lightning crackles from its fingers and forms a ball of hot pink plasma. It throws the orb with incredible speed, surprising Sonic, but not enough for him to easily kick it away. He then appears on his massive counterpart’s head, laying on his side as he wiggles a finger in his ear.

“That actually took me by surprise for a second there,” He says, cracking an eye open. “If you don’t like compliments, then just say so instead of trying to kill me!”

HEDGEHOG PRIORITY NUMBER ONE. DESTROY HEDGEHOG

Metal Storm tries to smack Sonic flat with a lightning-infused hand, but he’s back by with the others long before it reaches him, so it ends up hitting itself.

“Heh! Oldest trick in the book.” Sonic chuckles, rubbing a finger under his nose. “Come on, show me what you got!”

“Sonic,” Dash growls, starting to panic a little now. “What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us killed?!”

“Pfft!” Sonic scoffs, pointing at the golem with a thumb. “This old bucket of bolts? It couldn’t take me out even on its best day!”

In response, Metal Storm curls into a giant stone Spindash, four crystal spikes coming out of it with smaller ones dotting its surface. It spins in place, tearing up the ground as Storm Lightning crackles from the crystals. It shoots forward with insane speeds, surprising Sonic as he barely sidesteps the attack.

“Wha-?!” Sonic exclaims, watching the golem tear across the landscape and pull a U-turn. “How did it get that fast?!”

“What did I tell you, Sonic?!” Dash groans, dragging a hoof down her muzzle. “You just had to antagonize the thing, didn’t you?!”

“It’s what I do with these copies, alright?!” Sonic retorts, jumping over Metal Storm again as it came back for a return trip. The golem unfolds and slides to a stop before scanning the area. It locks onto the guards, making them flinch.

NEW TARGETS ACQUIRED

TARGET STATUS: PEGASUS, THESTRAL, AND UNICORN, GUARD OF CANTERLOT. NUMBERED 50. ALLIES OF HEDGEHOG

THREAT LEVEL: LOW

TOP SPEED: 80 - 120 MPH

NEW MISSION PARAMETERS - ELIMINATE ALLIES OF HEDGEHOG

POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 100%

It aims its hand at them, another ball of plasma forming as it grows in size. Realizing what it was doing, Sonic’s eyes widen in horror as he turns to the guards.

“LOOK OUT!” He shouts, hoping they could get out of the way in time. Thinking quickly, a unicorn casts a shield spell, and while it wasn’t strong enough to hold the orb back, it gave the other unicorns enough time to cast their spells to strengthen the shield. The shield doubles in size, seemingly pushing the orb back and keeping them safe. But out of nowhere, the plasma orb shatters the shield, the magical backlash ripping into the unicorns’ horns and giving them the world’s biggest headache.

Their pain was nothing compared to when the orb hit them and the others.

The guards scream out in pain as Storm Lightning courses through their bodies, frying their internal organs, nerve endings, and leylines. As quickly as it happened, the guards collapse, charred with deep purple ash.

“NO!” Sonic and Dash shout, rushing to their side. Luckily, the pegasi and thestrals were still alive, but in excruciating pain. Having flight magic, they were trained to redirect and harness lightning without being seriously hurt. Unfortunately, the unicorns didn’t have this or the specific training to do this and took the full force of the attack, their bodies unable to handle the raw power of lightning and leaving them near death’s door. Both speedsters quickly check all of them and worry flashes across their eyes when they check the unicorns.

“The pegasi and thestrals are fine,” Dash says with relief, but her expression darkens. “But the unicorns are almost dead. They need immediate medical attention or they’re going to die in a few minutes.”

“We gotta get them out of here,” Sonic says and glares at his counterpart. “With that thing still around, they’ll be in danger. Dash, can you distract it while I get everypony out of here?”

“You got it!” Dash salutes. “One distraction, coming up!” She launches at Metal Storm, easily getting its attention.

NEW TARGET ACQUIRED

STATUS: PEGASUS, WIFE TO SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

TOP SPEED: MACH 500

THREAT LEVEL: RED

NEW MISSION PARAMETERS - DESTROY PEGASUS ALLY TO HEDGEHOG

POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 70%

“Alright, you pile of pebbles!” Dash shouts, coming to a stop and hovering in front of Metal Storm. “Let’s see if you can keep up with pure awesomeness!”

Boosting underneath Metal Storm’s legs, she turns around to land a roundhouse kick to the back of its head, knocking it off balance. The robot stabilizes itself, but a haymaker to its head from Dash stumbles it. Capitalizing on the opening, she goes in for another, but Metal Storm somehow catches her punch. Changing its grip, Metal Storm flings Dash across the landscape.

“GAAAHH!!” She screams, trying to stabilize her unplanned flight and stop a crash landing. Dash realizes that she wouldn’t be able to save it when the ground rushes up at her, so she braces herself. Dash lands hard, creating a deep groove in the ground until her momentum was spent. Shaking the cobwebs and dirt from her head, she slowly gets back up, groaning as she holds her head. “Urg, that’s gonna hurt in the morning.” Looking up, she spots Metal Storm Spindashing straight for her, leaving a trail of turned dirt behind it.

“WOAH!” Dash exclaims, scrambling to her hooves. She pours as much magic into her feathers as she dares and flaps her wings, creating an electrical shockwave as she barely avoids the golem. Slowing the flow of magic, she wipes a bead of sweat from her forehead. “That was a little too close for comfort. Hopefully, Sonic’s faring better than I am.”

Back with said hedgehog, he’s getting ready to move the downed guards. “Just hang tight, everypony,” Reaching into his quills, he pulls out the Red Chaos Emerald and concentrates on where he wants to go. Raising it into the air, he shouts- ”Chaos Control!” -and the Emerald shines a bright white-red light. With a flash, they’re gone.

—{Canterlot, Canterlot Hospital…}—

The Canterlot Hospital is fairly quiet today, with only a few Ponies, Mobians, and surprisingly a griffon sit in the waiting room. There wasn’t anything particularly exciting going on, no life-threatening injuries or surgeries that would decide the fate of an unlucky soul. In the lobby, an earth pony attendant is at the reception desk, looking through files and organizing them into their respective places. Her shift was about to end when a white-red light flashes in front of her desk, blinding her and causing the ones sitting nearby to cover their eyes. When it dies down, it reveals a group of fifty guards that were charred a deep purple and groaning in pain. Standing in front of them is Sonic, holding the Red Chaos Emerald.

“I have twenty pegasi and thestrals that need medical attention and ten unicorns in critical condition,” Sonic quickly explains to the receptionist. “They’ve been hit with some seriously potent lightning, and I’m not sure how long the unicorns have left. Can I count on you to help them out?”

“Uhm, s-sure?” The attendant stammers, still trying to process what was happening, the fact that she was talking to Sonic the Hedgehog alone still shocking her. “I-I can do that.”

“Good,” Sonic nods. “Tell your doctors to get down here now and work fast. Now, I gotta go. Chaos Control!” In a flash, he’s gone, leaving the attendant in slight shock. She shakes her stupor off, regaining her professionalism, and immediately picks up the phone, pressing a hotline button that dials one of the doctors.

“Doctor Hooves? We’ve got a code red in the lobby. Get as many ponies as you can down here, because we’ve got ten unicorn guards in critical condition, as well as some thestrals and pegasi that need a quick look over.”

“I’ll be down in a moment. Can you hold the fort until I arrive with more staff?”

“Yes, see you in a moment, doctor,” She hangs up and quickly focuses her attention on the groaning guards in front of her desk. “…I’m not paid enough for this.”

—{Back at the San Pelimine Desert…}—

Dash flies around Metal Storm while landing hit after hit, but her attacks don’t do much damage to the golem besides chip the rock or scratch a crystal.

“Damnit! How hard is it just to take this thing down?!” She growls, dodging another ball of plasma. Flying down, she uses her speed to knock the robot off balance, then pull a full 180 to hit it square in the chest. This sends the robot flying back, the impact denting the metal grate on its chest.

“HA!” Dash exclaims with a cocky grin, pumping her hoof. “How do you like that?!”

Metal Storm responds by rushing at her with a lightning-infused fist cocked back. “Oh, crap!” She exclaims, trying to get out of the way, but she can see she wasn’t going to make it. Before it hits, a blue blur slams into the golem’s face, knocking it down.

“You having fun with old Metal here?” Sonic quips, landing next to Dash. “I hope you saved some for me!”

“Pfft! As if I’ll let you have all the glory!” She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “But I would like some help, this thing is a lot harder to take down than I thought.”

“No problemo!” Sonic grins, cracking his knuckles. “Now, how ‘bout we show this pile of pebbles to the cliffside?”

“Gladly,” Dash smirks, flaring her wings as electricity crackles along her feathers. “It owes me some payback from throwing me like a rag doll earlier.”

“Then let’s show him what we got!” Sonic says, curling as he boosts forward. He slams into the golem, denting the metal covering its chest. After Sonic bounces back, Dash slams her hind legs into Metal Storm’s chest as hard as she could, denting the plate and knocking it back a few meters. It seems to barely faze the golem, as Metal Storm gets back up and charges. Its fists crackle with electricity, arcing up and down its arm as it builds up power. The golem thrusts its arms forward, and two hot streams of plasma fly at the speedsters. Sonic and Rainbow dodge in time, hearing loud explosions behind them as the plasma comes into contact with the ground.

But before Sonic’s feet touch the ground, he’s intercepted by Metal Storm, who connects a heavy uppercut with his jaw and sends him spiraling high into the sky. “NOOOoooOOOoooOOOOOO!”

“SONIC!!” Dash screams, watching her husband spiral upward. She grins her teeth, growling as her head snaps to Metal Storm, and red slowly covers her vision. Pulling from her wellspring, she coats her wings and hooves in a massive electrical aura and charges. Combined with her rage and electrical boosts, Dash blitzes Metal Storm like there was no tomorrow. Electricity strikes the golem everywhere, damaging it every time her near-light-speed punches and kicks land. In her blind rage, Dash didn’t see the sudden lightning-infused fist aimed for her face until it made contact with a loud *CRACK*. Dash is blasted into the ground, upending even more dirt and rock before she stops. Feeling something warm trickle down her lip, she wipes it off with the back of her hoof to see her blood soaking into her fur.

“I gotta admit, you’ve got a mean right hook!” Dash shouts, shaking the dirt and pebbles from her coat. “But I’ve met fillies that hit harder than you!”

Flaring her wings and magic, she takes to the skies once more and boosts at Metal Storm. The golem prepares another electric punch, but she dodges under it and flips over its head, quickly maneuvering behind the golem before roundhouse kicking it. The spines on its back crack off, revealing the back of what looks like a jet engine inside. Before Dash can figure out what it was, a crystal claw slashes out at her, but it only slices air as she puts some distance between them.

‘Jeez, Sonic wasn’t kidding when he said this thing was tough!’ Dash thinks. ‘I have damaged it, but I had to use a lot of magic for those attacks! Wait, where’s my -‘

Right on cue, a shout draws her attention upward, and a smile breaks loose on her face.

“GERONIMOOOO!!!!!!”

Sonic slams into Metal Storm’s head with devastating force, cracking the golem’s head and slamming it into the ground. The impact jostles the golem’s internal hardware, causing it to shut down. Backflipping off the head, Sonic runs over to where Dash landed, a worried look on his face.

“Hey, are you alright?” Sonic says, eyeing the scratches along her body. “You look like you taken a beating.”

“Yeah, I’m alright!” Dash says, wiping the remaining blood from her nose as she smiles. “Gonna take more than just a punch to the face to take me out!”

“That’s my girl!” Sonic pecks her cheek, then turns to the downed golem. “I think I see a few weak spots on Stormie here.”

“Yeah, I can see a few as well,” Dash nods. “One on the head made by you, and another on its back.”

Right on cue, the Windows startup sound plays from Metal Storm as it comes back online, eyes glowing red.

SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE

RUNNING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC…

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT:

• CORE REACTOR AT 89%
• DEFENSE SYSTEMS AT 53%
• WEAPONS SYSTEMS AT 62%
• STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY AT 74%

CURRENT MISSION: DESTROY HEDGEHOG AND PEGASUS COUPLE

POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 51%

ACTIVATING STORM CORE

The rock around Metal Storm’s chest cracks and falls away to reveal a turbine similar to Metal Sonic’s. Electricity arcs from the crystals all over its form, and they begin glowing as power is drawn into them.

“Oh-ho! Looks like somebody’s pullin’ out the big guns!” Sonic grins, curling and spinning in place. His spinning form absorbs the light-blue orbs as he charges his Light Speed Attack. When he stops spinning and stands up, his whole body is covered in a blue light, the whites of his eyes being the only thing visible. Reaching a hand into his quills, Sonic takes a Red Power Ring out and hands it to his wife. “I guess we should too!”

Taking the ring, she absorbs it with a *VLING*, feeling the massive amount of Chaos energy flow through her veins and integrate itself into her wellspring. She coats her form in a massive, blue-green electrical aura, and her mane raises while her feathers take a reddish tone to them.

“GO!”

They explode from their spots and blitz Metal Storm at light speed. Even with its power boost, Metal Storm can’t keep up with them or defend, it can only stand there and take a beating until an opening showed itself. The couple land hit after hit in perfect sync, further damaging the golem as they strike both of its weak spots. Both speedsters come from opposite sides and slam their fist and hoof into the sides of its head, making its eyes flicker violently.

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT:

• CORE REACTOR AT 14%
• DEFENSE SYSTEMS AT 5%
• WEAPONS SYSTEMS AT 301%
• STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY AT 9%

POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 5%

ESTIMATED TIME LEFT BEFORE SELF-DESTRUCTION: 5 MINUTES

ALL SAFETY PARAMETERS DISABLED

BERSERK MODE ACTIVATED

The golem’s visor turns completely red, bloodlust radiating in the tiny black beads that remained in its eyes. This startles the speedsters, but the loud crack that echoes across the desert as the robot’s muzzle cracks apart send shivers down their spines. Metal Storm opens its maw to reveal a jagged set of very sharp crystal teeth and lets out an unnatural roar of pure rage for the speedsters.

“Well that’s not creepy or anything,” Sonic deadpans. He then turns to Dash holding a hand out. “Alright, looks like we’ll have to end this fast! Dash, you ready?”

“Born ready!” She grabs his hand, and the pair start spinning around each other. With Sonic still in his Light Speed form and Dash still souped up on Chaos energy, they quickly build up speed and power. Blue-green electricity crackles around the blue aura surrounding them, and once they feel like they’ve charged enough, they release the attack.

Metal Storm never sees it coming. The Chaos and Pegasus magic-infused Double Spindash rips through its turbine within a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a millisecond, obliterating it and reducing it to scrap. Sonic and Dash slide to a stop fat behind Metal Storm, powering down as they look back and grin victoriously.

The golem topples backward, shaking the ground slightly from its weight as the visor goes black and displays a countdown.

CR1T1C^L F^1LUR3

^LL 5Y5T3M5 5HUT D0WN

53LF D35TRUCT 1N T-M1NU5 10…

9…

8…

7…

“W-Wait, self-destruct?!” Dash exclaims. Even from how far they were, their ears could still pick up on the familiar sound of a ticking bomb. “We gotta get outta here!”

6… KRZT… 3… 2…

“Not enough time!” Sonic reaches into his quills, yanking the Green Chaos Emerald out before wrapping an arm around Dash. “CHAOS -“

1…0

“- CONTROL!”

KABOOOOM

The explosion shakes the desert itself, the shockwave seen and felt through the entirety of it. The purple-black mushroom cloud rising high above the clouds signifies the strength of the explosion, as anything within a hundred-mile radius would be flattened. At the same time, a green light flashes as Chaos Control warps Sonic and Dash away from the blast.

---

In the Canterlot Gardens, a flash of green light appears and disappears, dumping two ragged speedsters in its place.

“Sweet Celestia,” Dash groans, rolling on her stomach. “That was way too close for my liking. Let’s never do that again!”

“Yep,” Sonic sighs, putting the Emerald back in his quills before flopping on his back. The couple sits in relaxing silence for a while, but Sonic remembers something from earlier and sits up. “Hey, how’s your nose? Does it still hurt?”

Dash runs a hoof over her nose, wincing from the pain that shoots up her face. “Really tender, but I think the energy from the Red Power Ring healed it a bit.”

“How ‘bout we head over to the hospital and get that checked just in case?” He suggests, standing up and stretching his back out, getting a few pops. “We can also see if those scratches and marks all over the place need attention, and check in on the guards I left behind.”

“I guess,” Dash shrugs, slowly getting to her hooves. “But they better not be putting any needles in me.”

“Doubt they’ll need to do that for some scratches,” Sonic chuckles. He then kisses her cheek and pulls her into a side hug. “Thanks for the help out there. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself, babe,” Dash nuzzles Sonic’s cheek, wrapping a wing around his backside as they walk side by side.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Wait, who's Tionic the Hedgehog?