> Sonic EGX (Book 1)
>  by Will of Radiance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Episode 1 - It Begins (Part1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location: Mobius; Outside of Emerald Town



“BAMM!!!” The sound of clashing strikes echoed throughout the hills. “BLAMM!!!”  The force from the clashes were so intense it sent ripples through the grass. “GRRRYAAA!!!! 'BAAMMM!!!'” Two male voices cried out as they clashed once more.

The two were mobian hedgehogs, one had blue fur and green eyes, wearing red and white sneakers with a gold buckle on the side. He was Sonic the Hedgehog. The other had black and red fur and red eyes, an arrow-shaped patch of fur on his chest, as well as white and red hover shoes. He was Shadow the Hedgehog. The two were sparring, testing each others physical and fighting abilities.

“Pant Pant Here I come Shadow!!” Sonic cried, proceeding to charge at Shadow at full speed. 

“Hmph! Don't get cocky.” Shadow countered, readying himself for Sonic's incoming assault. Sonic threw a fast series of punches at Shadow. Shadow breathlessly dodged them all in rapid secession, then he jumped away from a finishing flip kick from Sonic. Sonic advanced rapidly at Shadow once again and wound up a punch aimed at Shadow's head. 

“Eat this!!” Sonic yelled as he threw his attack at Shadow. However, Shadow stood his ground and caught Sonic's punch. Sonic flinched in surprise. 

“Gotcha” Shadow smirked. 

“GAHH!!” Sonic cried out as Shadow drove his fist into Sonic's stomach, knocking all the air out of him. Sonic slumped forward clutching his stomach. Then Shadow spun around and delivered a powerful reverse roundhouse kick to Sonic's face.

“DAHH!!” Sonic yelled as he flew back from Shadow's strike. He tumbled backwards as he hit the ground, but he managed to roll back onto his feet. “Pant Pant Dang” Sonic spat, his body aching from the blows he exchanged with Shadow. 

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Shadow said disappointingly, walking towards Sonic. Sonic looked up at Shadow, still panting his lungs out, 

“I’m trying my hardest!” Sonic insisted.

“Well you’re not trying hard enough!” Shadow countered harshly. He stopped a few feet in front of Sonic, who was still catching his breath. 

“If you keep fighting at this pace, Eggman will defeat you.” Shadow said firmly. Sonic would have talked back some more at this point, but for some reason, he felt like he should let Shadow portray his point. “You want to protect this world, then show me you can” Shadow pointed at Sonic, demanding that he continues fighting. Sonic wiped the blood off his mouth, and smirked. 

(BGM)

“I’m far from done Shadow.” He said, standing up. He pointed at Shadow with determination.

“I will protect this world, and I will defeat Eggman again!” Sonic stated with fiery passion. Shadow smiled a little, impressed by Sonic’s determination. Sonic assumed his fighting stance. 

“Come at me Shadow! Hit me with all you’ve got!” 

“Hmph. Maybe he’s actually grown a bit after all these months.” Shadow thought, impressed by Sonic’s bravado. 

“In that case….” Shadow assumed his fighting stance, and then his body bursted with a red aura that surrounded him. This was his Chaos drive mode. 
“…I won’t hold back!” Shadow finished. 

Sonic smiled, eager to keep on fighting. “Hee..Hee…. Alright Shadow! LET’S DANCE!!” Sonic yelled, then charged at Shadow at full speed.

“Hmph!” Shadow smirked as he prepared for Sonic’s attack. He let out a Chaos Spear at Sonic. Sonic leaned to his left, the chaos spear just barely grazing his head. 

“GRRYAAAAA!!!” He yelled as he jumped toward Shadow and threw a powerful spin kick to Shadows head. 

Shadow anticipated Sonic’s attack and flipped back from his attack. But Sonic followed up with another spin kick. Shadow didn’t have time to evade, so he had no choice but to block. 

BAMMM!!!! 

The impact made a powerful shockwave which made the grass around them sway violently. 

Shadow pushed Sonic away. Sonic flipped away from Shadow, and then charged at Shadow once again. However this time Sonic rapidly swerved left and right so it was harder for Shadow to follow him. Shadow anticipated Sonic to attack again so he prepared to counter his attack.

“Try this!” Shadow attacked Sonic with a reverse roundhouse kick. However instead of attacking again, Sonic jumped over Shadow’s attack, and flew past Shadow. He rolled back on his feet, and attacked Shadow again. “How ‘bout this!!” He shouted as he threw a punch towards Shadow’s head.  

Suddenly, Shadow spun around at a blinding speed and caught Sonic’s punch just Sonic reached him. Sonic gasped in surprised. 

“How could he have seen that coming?”  Sonic thought. 

“Hmph! Nice try.” Shadow mocked him, he pushed Sonic’s arm away and kicked him back. 

“OOF!!” Sonic exclaimed as he slid back. He shook his head in frustration. “Grrr! I’m not done yet!” He charged once more. 

“Hmph! Try this!” Shadow let out a Chaos Spear directly at Sonic. Sonic anticipated Shadow’s attack and skidded to a stop, then he leaped fifty feet into the air, narrowly avoiding the Chaos Spear. 

Sonic looked down at Shadow as he flew through the air, trying to determine what to do next. Then he got an idea “Heh lets see what he thinks of this!” Sonic thought. He focused, and began charging his energy into his fist. Then, two seconds later, a sphere of blue wind began encircling his fist. He pulled his fist back. 

“Eat this! SONIC BLAST!!” He threw his fist toward Shadow. BOOM!! The compressed energy in his fist shot towards Shadow with a loud gunshot-like sound.Shadow smirked as Sonic’s new attack came rocketing towards him. 

“Impressive.” Shadow thought, actually somewhat impressed by Sonic’s progression. He leapt away from the bullet shaped energy projectile’s path. 

BAAMMM!!! 

The attack caused an explosion of blue spiraling energy that lasted for a second, and left a five foot wide crater in it’s wake.

Sonic began diving toward Shadow, at the same time firing his Sonic wind attack at Shadow. Shadow dodged rapidly avoid Sonic’s attacks, at the same time firing off Chaos Spears at Sonic. Sonic swerved left and right, attempting to avoid Shadow’s chaos spears as he descended. “Gah!” Sonic yelled as one grazed him on his arm, sparks flying off his arm. He shrugged off the pain and kept diving towards Shadow.

Shadow stopped firing chaos spears. “Hmph, how ‘bout this!” Shadow leapt toward Sonic, Red colored chaos energy trailing behind him. 

“GRRRYAAAA!!!!” the two mobians shouted as they rocketed toward each other, their fists surging with chaos energy. 

BAAAAMMMM!!!!!!

The two mobians clashed attacks, releasing a large red and blue shockwave. Then the two hedgehogs broke away from each other and ripped into an intense melee clash, shouting loudly as they rapidly exchanged blows. After five seconds of exchanging punches and kicks, they kicked each other back.

They both slid backwards on the grass. Sonic’s arms and legs ached intensely and were covered with numerous bruises. But Sonic’s fighting spirit kept urging him to fight. Shadow smirked at Sonic’s improvement.

“Heh, is that all?” Shadow remarked sarcastically. 

“Ha!” Sonic laughed at Shadows comment. “You kiddin’ me? I’m just getting’ started!” Sonic said with pride, performing a flashy spin kick. 

“Hmph!” Shadow wiped his nose, still impressed with Sonic. 

“Hmph! Then what are you waiting for?” Shadow taunted while smirking. Then Sonic and Shadow continued fighting into the night. 

(BGM end)

As the moon began to rise, Shadow decided to call it a day. 

“Oh man! I’m beat!” Sonic groaned as he tossed himself onto the grass behind him. He was exhausted, his entire body ached, was covered in bruises, and his arms and legs felt like jelly, considering he had been exchanging blows with Shadow.

Shadow, on the other hand, remained completely unscathed, as if fighting this hard was like a casual walk in the park. He walked over to Sonic who was still lying on the grass. 

“Need a lift?” Shadow extended a hand to the Blue hedgehog. Sonic looked up at him, and saw that Shadow was kind of smiling at him, like a brother. 

“Is he smiling? That’s new.” Sonic smiled back and took his hand. 

“Heh Thanks a lot” Sonic thanked him. 

“Don’t mention it”

“Uh no, I really appreciat-"

“Ever” Shadow glared at him briefly. 

Sonic immediately fell silent “Ooookay.”

“Well that’s enough for today, let’s head back to Emerald Town.” Shadow said. Sonic walked up next to him. 

“Hey Shadow, thanks for doing this. You know, training me and stuff.” Sonic said to him. Shadow didn’t show it, but he was really thankful towards Sonic for accepting him as his friend, despite all the things he has done. 

“Well, what can I say? You and your friends have done so much for me. So I thought I should return the favor” Shadow explained. Sonic smiled at Shadow’s statement. 

“Heh no problem, were always here for ya Shady” Sonic patted him on the back. Shadow’s eye twitched at that name.

“I swear, If you call me that one more time, I will break you.” Shadow said through clenched teeth. 

“Alright geez calm down” Sonic said nervously, holding his hands up.

“Whatever, let’s just get back to town.” Shadow began walking toward the small town in the distance.

“Oh yeah, let’s go, I’m starving.” Sonic rubbed his growling stomach. 

“Just you wait Shadow, will defeat Eggman when he returns!” Sonic thought proudly. 

Sonic followed Shadow back to town, exhausted but filled with a new sense of purpose, he felt like he really was ready for what was to come. 

(or was he?)

Three hours and Nine Chili dogs later

Sonic sat underneath a tree which lay on a small hill outside of Emerald Town, looking up at the stars, marveling in the beautiful light they shined down on his world. 

 “It’s been nine months already,” Sonic thought to himself. “I’ve been almost everywhere, I’ve seen so many places, met so many people-“ He let his head rest against the tree trunk behind him, and continued pondering his thoughts and dreams. “But are there other worlds out there? I mean –Chris’s world was just a glimpse of what was out there, but what about worlds that….were like Mobius.” 

He continued to wander in his thoughts into the night. He soon found that he was drifting to sleep. The more questions he asked, the more sleepy he became. He decided to let himself fall into sleep. Soon enough he was fast asleep snoring under the tree. As he slept he felt like he was ready for anything. However as he began to sleep, he began to hear small voices in his head, like whispers. He couldn’t tell if they were real or if they were just a dream.



Location: Canterlot City

In the world of Equestria, Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle has failed to return to her dimension in time due to a malfunction with her dimensional teleportation device. Since then she has been staying with Rarity. While she still had her friends here in the human version of equestria, she still had trouble adjusting to both this world, and her human form. Ever since then, she has been waiting for the portal in front of Canterlot high to open so she can return to her world. 



“Whew what a day” Twilight said as she stretched while she walked from Canterlot High.

“You look pretty tired Twilight” Said Spike, Twilight’s talking dog companion and assistant. 

“Yeah, I had three exams today.” Twilight sighed, exhausted from the amount of schoolwork she had to do today. 

“I see your studies have done a number on you Twilight” Said Rarity who walked up next to her. Twilight chuckled a little at her remark. 

“Well, you know me.” Twilight smiled. Rarity smiled back.

“So how did your day go Rarity?” Twilight asked. Rarity thought for a second.

“I guess everything went fine…” Rarity said. “…other than I was almost strangled by that green haired brute Scrouge.” Twilight gasped in horror.

“You mean that new transfer student who goes around beating students up as he pleases?” Twililight asked fearfully. Rarity nodded. 

“Thank goodness I was saved by the bell.” Rarity added.

Twilight sighed in relief. 

“What a relief, I nearly got into trouble with him last week.” Twilight said, remembering the panic she felt when Scrouge glared at her. 

“Sigh Seriously something needs to be done about him.” Twilight continued. 

“I mean, why hasn’t princes- uh I mean Principal Celestia done anything about it?”

“My theory is that he tells whoever he beats up not to tell on him, otherwise he will really give to them.” Rarity speculated. 

Twilight sighed in disbelief. “ If only somebody would stand up to him, maybe he’ll become less violent.” 

“I wish we could just talk to him, but I doubt he would listen.” Rarity added. Twilight sighed again. 

“But on the bright side darling, you won’t have to worry about him in a while, because you’re going back to your world soon” Rarity smiled.

“Huh? Oh yeah, that’s right, the portal back to Equestria is opening in a month” Twilight remembered. 

“Yes, you must really miss your home back in your dimension” Rarity said. Twilight chuckled a little “Yeah….I do” She remarked reminising about her home and her friends. 

Rarity glanced at her watch and noticed it was getting late. “Why don’t we get home Twilight, It’s getting dark” She said. 

Later that night, Twilight was in the backyard sitting on the grass, writing in her magic journal to Princess Celestia back in Equestria.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I hope you, Princess Luna, and my friends are doing fine without me. I hope things are going well. As for me, I’m still trying to adjust to this world. But I’ve also made several new friends here, who have helped me fit into this world. By the way, Sunset Shimmer is doing fine, and she sends her regards as well. I miss you all so much, but, I should be returning in about a month or so. So until then, I look forward to seeing you all again.

Sincerely 
Princess Twilight Sparkle. 

She closed her magical book, knowing that the letter is on the way to Princess Celestia. Twilight then looked up at the stars.

“Wow…this world holds just as many wonders as my world does” Twilight thought, awed by the shining stars in the night sky. She tried counting them, but there were simply too many to be counted. She laid back on the grass, and continued looking at the night sky.

“I wonder…is this the only world in this universe, or are there thousands upon thousands more like this one?” Twilight said to herself. She continued to look up at the stars for nearly an hour, and she was still entranced by the star’s beautiful light. She could feel herself drifting to sleep as she continued to look up at the stars. 

“Heh, It’s like..I could…look at them….forever” Twilight said, as she slowly drifted to sleep. She smiled as she went through all the memories that she had here in this world, and knew that she would make the best of the last few weeks here, then she fell asleep on the soft grass outside. 



However as she fell asleep, Twilight began to hear very faint whispers in her head. She couldn’t tell if they were real or not.

Sonic and Twilight tossed and turned in their sleep as the whispers continued, and got louder and louder. As they continued to sleep, the whispers slowly formed into words.

The universe is changing….Darkness will rise from the ashes… an ancient foe….bent on extinguishing all like….and plunge everything into eternal darkness.

Two heroes will rise…to combat the threat…both of different realms…one of will…one of light.

It all begins…when three brothers….are summoned to a realm unfamiliar….to defend the Magic of friendship.

For it is these two children…who will become…the protectors of the universe…who will combat the crazed entity….in a fierce battle… to the death….will decide the fate of the universe….For if they fail…..he..will cast his judgement….upon all life.

Then everything went silent. Both of them saw nothing in the darkness that engulfed them. However, they sensed a presence behind them. They both turned around, to see…...each other?








“.............Who are you?” They both asked in unison. Before they could say anything else, they both disappeared from each other’s sight. The last thing they heard was a word.


	Cyclone





Next Day Morning

Sonic opened his eyes to see the sun rising up on the horizon. His mind began racing, wondering what that mysterious dream was last night.

“Man, that was the weirdest dream I’ve ever had.” He said while standing up. He tried to think if the dream was connected to any foe he’s fought in the past.  “Who was that girl?” He asked himself, he searched his memories for any trace of a lavender skinned girl with purple hair, but he came up with nothing. “And what was that screech….and that figure…and that……word.” 

“Cyclone” Sonic spoke the word outloud. Ever since he woke up that word was burned into his head. 
“What does it mean?” Sonic continued pondering, the wind brushing against his face. Finally Sonic sighed, and decided to think about it later. He turned to his left and he immediately saw Shadow standing in front of him.

“AH!!!” Sonic yelled as he jumped twenty feet into the air and got stuck in the tree. 

“It’s me you faker.” Shadow said nonchalantly. He looked up and saw Sonic’s legs sticking out from the branches. 

“Dhch! Don’t scare me like that Shadow, it’s not cool!” Sonic complained, trying to push himself out of the tree. 

“Stop complaining and get out of there!” Shadow countered as Sonic fell out of the tree and landed on his back with a thud.

“OWWww!” Sonic yelled as he hit the ground.

Shadow grabbed him by the quills and stood him up. 

“Whoa hey hey hey,ow! Not the quills.” Sonic said as he landed on his feet. 

“Focus, let's start training” Shadow started walking toward the hills. Sonic groaned with disappointment.

“Already!? Come on we already trained for most of yesterday, can’t we rest a bit?” Sonic retorted.

“There’s no telling how powerful Eggman will be when he returns, so you must become as strong as you can.” Shadow explained. “Besides, I think you’ll like what we're about to do today.” 

Sonic raised an eyebrow at his last statement. “Like what?” 

Shadow looked back at him and smirked. “We’re gonna run” 

Sonic immediately smiled at the word. “Hah! Then why didn’t you say so!?” He said jumping with excitement.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Shadow turned towards the hills. “Better keep up.” Then he sped across the hills, leaving Sonic in the dust. 

“Heh you think you can outrun me? Don’t make me laugh!” Sonic boasted, then he chased after Shadow into the distance.

Location: Canterlot City

Twilight sat at her desk tapping her pencil on the surface. She had been wondering about the dream she had last night. The teacher was talking about various important moments in history. While the class was listening intently, or writing down notes, Twilight was thinking about her mysterious dream.

“I’ve never had any dream like that before. What did those words mean? And…what was that screech, and that figure? I’ve never seen it before.” Twilight thought intently. “And…..who was that boy?” She tried searching her mind for a sky yellow skinned boy with blue hair, but she couldn’t find anything. “Could it be a new threat? Does it mean…there are other worlds out there? But…what about-“

“Hey Twilight, you alright?” Her thoughts were interrupted by her friend Sunset Shimmer, who noticed that she looked worried about something. 

“Wha-Oh! Sunset, um…what did you say?” Twilight didn’t quite hear what she said.

“I just asked if you were alright, you looked concerned about something.” Sunset replied. “did something happen yesterday?” 

Twilight reminisced for a second about the dream, and the first thing that came to her mind was the mentioning of the Magic of Friendship. 

“I had a mysterious dream last night” Twilight began explaining. “It said that ‘Darkness will rise from the ashes’” 

Sunset raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Do you think it’s a new threat? Does it involve the elements of Harmony?” Sunset asked, concern building in her voice.

“I do remember it mentioning the ‘Magic of Friendship’” Twilight confirmed. “But it also mentioned ‘Three brothers’” 

“Hmm…..” Sunset thought while scratching her chin. “Did it mention anything else?” 

Twilight tried to remember what the rest of the dream was, but most of it had already left her mind. 
“Sorry, a lot of it is still fuzzy” Twilight said.

“Hmm…..why don’t you think about it later, we have a history quiz today.” Sunset said.

“Oh right!” Twilight said, snapping back to class. 

“Aw Yeah!!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she bicycle kicked the ball toward the goal. The goalie didn’t even have time to react as the ball zipped into the net behind him. 

“Aww dang it!” the goalie sulked. 

Coach Armor blew his whistle loudly. “Game Point! Game goes to Rainbow Dash’s team.” 

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow boasted, pumping her fist in the air. The other members of her team cheered as well.

“Oh yeah! That was fun!”

“You got that right!” 

Rainbow took notice of her team’s enthusiasm and smirked. “Heh, not bad you guys. You keep going at this rate and you’ll be on the same level as me.” Rainbow said, juggling the soccer ball. 

“Hey, give the other team some credit, they put up a good fight too.” One of her teammates mentioned. Rainbow glanced over at the other team, who were sulking after their defeat.

“Eh, I guess so. But what’s most important is that we all won! Am I right!?” Rainbow changed the subject quickly.

“Yeah!” The rest of her team replied enthusiastically. Then they heard Coach Armor blow his whistle again. 

“Alright everybody, that’s all for today.” He called out. Everybody began to collect their stuff and rest a little bit. Rainbow Dash was packing her stuff when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

“How many wins ya think that is?” Said a female voice with a southern accent. Rainbow looked behind her and she saw her friend Applejack. 

“Heh, it’s twenty two this month.” Rainbow smirked, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “What can I say, I am the best player in the school after all.” Applejack chuckled at her friend’s boasting. 

“Well, ya better be careful. Because ya never know when someone will come and take that title from right under yer nose.” Applejack wryly told her. Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Pffft! Like that’s ever gonna happen. What makes you say that?” Rainbow replied.

“I’m just sayin’. You should just keep yer game up if you want to keep yer title.” Applejack shrugged her shoulders.
Rainbow Dash eventually understood where she was coming from. 

“Heh, don’t worry. Anybody who wants the title has to go through me!” Rainbow boasted. 
“You can count on it.” Applejack smiled at her friend. 

The school bell rang, and all the students began flooding out of Canterlot High doors. Outside the front doors, Twilight Sparkle was at the statue, looking at the mirror from where she came from her world into this one. A feeling of dread began to build up in her stomach. 

“One more month.” Twilight thought outloud. She touched the smooth cool surface of the mirror. She half expected her hand to pass through it, but she only felt the cold glass surface of the mirror. She sighed in disappointment, letting her arm down. 

“I’ve been away from home for so long.”  Twilight thought. She looked at her human hand. Even after spending half a month in her human form, it still felt weird and unfamiliar to her. The feeling of dread still lingered in her stomach. 
“But, what if something bad happens, and I end up staying for another month….or….” She clutched her skirt in fear and dread of what she thought next. 
“……I’m stuck here forever” Her heartbeat began rise as she grew more scared. 
“But even if I do leave, they will probably feel like I abandoned them. Like I didn’t care for them at all.” She clutched her skirt more tightly, she began panting nervously, and tears began to well up in her eyes. However, just before she was about to break down, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” A familiar voice said behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Fluttershy with a worried look on her face. The feeling of dread and sadness slightly went away. 
“You’re getting homesick aren’t you?” She asked. Twilight whipped the tears from her eyes. 

“Yeah, I guess so.” Twilight admitted. “But, don’t worry, I’ll be fine by tomorrow.” She smiled at her friend. Fluttershy smiled back. 

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure you’ll make it home safely.” She assured Twilight. Twilight smiled at Fluttershy trying to comfort her, but the thought of abandoning her friends came back to her. 

“Fluttershy….” She asked her. “Hmm?” Fluttershy replied. Twilight hesitated before speaking again. 

“….when I leave, and I don’t see you and the others for a great deal of time, will you think I abandoned you?” Twilight finished. Fluttershy gasped in surprise.

“What makes you think that Twilight?” Fluttershy asked worryingly.  Twilight sighed. 

“I guess being here for longer than usual, that I’m actually starting to consider this place my home.” Twilight explained. 
“It’s just the thought of leaving you, who have done so much for me, is just wrong.” Fluttershy nodded in understanding. 

“Hey guys!” They heard an enthusiastic voice behind them. They turned and saw it was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks when she saw Twilight’s expression. 

“Uhh…what’s up?” Rainbow asked, realizing that she may have stepped in at the wrong time. 

“Yeh’ what’s goin’ on?” Applejack said behind her. 

“Oh, Twilight’s worried that we will feel abandoned when she leaves.” Fluttershy explained. Rainbow gave a surprised look on her face. 

“Pfft-wha-? What are you talking about?” Rainbow said. “After all you’ve done for us, we would never feel that way.” 

“Really?” Twilight asked. 

POP!! “You bet!!!” Pinkie Pie popped out behind Rainbow Dash with a burst of confetti. 

“WAH!!!” Rainbow exclaimed at Pinkie's sudden entrance. 

“You are the absolutely, positively, the best thing that’s ever happened to us, like EVER!” Pinkie shouted happily. Twilight gave her a heartfelt smile. Then Sunset and Rarity showed up, having heard their conversation. 

"That’s right Twilight Darling.

”You never abandoned us, so we will never abandon you.” Sunset finally added. 

“Yeah!!” Spike popped his head out of Twilight’s backpack. 

Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes again. She was so happy that she still had her friends (or at least copies) here with her. She wiped the tears from her eyes. 

“Thank you, all of you.” Twilight said, trying to hold back more tears. “…so much.” 

“Daw, quit yer cryin’ and com’er!” Applejack said. “Yeah!” Pinkie said. The girls then shared in a heartwarming group hug. 

“Were always here for you.” Sunset said to her.

Close by, Flash Sentry just exited Canterlot High's doors to see Twilight and her friends hugging. He smiled at how they were getting along so well. 

“Heh, look at em', so upbeat.” He remarked. 
“Even Sunset's come around.” 

He was about to walk over and talk to them, however he was suddenly overcome with a sudden sense of guilt. He stopped in his tracks and held his head confusedly. He didn't understand why he suddenly felt this way. Then he remembered the time when he made Twilight cry when he was under the influence of the Dazzlings. And he never even apologized.

“Is…..that the reason?” Flash pondered. 
“Or…..is it something else?” He shook his head in frustration when he couldn't come to a definite conclusion. He looked at them again seeing them talk cheerfully to one another. He decided to not talk to them right and head home. As he walked past them, he took one last glance at Twilight. He half expected her to look back, but she continued to talk to her friends without noticing him.  
He sighed and continued on his way. 

“No matter what you think of me Twi, I'll….try to be there for you.” 
> Episode 1 - It Begins (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location: Mobius – Green Hill Zone

(BGM)

“YEEEAAAHOOOO!!!!!” Sonic shouted with excitement and glee as he sprinted through another one the naturally formed loops of the Green Hill zone, then vaulted over a 20 meter wide chasm. He landed into a safety roll, then dashed off at break neck speed to catch up with Shadow. 

“Alright where are you Shadow?” Sonic said, the wind blowing in his face. His eyes darted left and right for any sign of his dark counterpart. He ran out of the forest into a meadow, then his eyes widened when he saw Shadow standing right out in the middle of the meadow. 

“There you are!” Sonic shouted. 

“What took you so long faker?” Shadow snarked at him. Shadow then sped off in another direction in a black and red streak. 

“Why you.” Sonic growled as he skidded to a stop and then burst off in Shadow's direction. 

Shadow rapidly parkoured over various rocks and boulders, and continued to speed off towards a loop in the distance. He looked behind him to see if Sonic was following him. He didn't see any sign of his blue counterpart. 
“Hmph. He probably fell asleep under a tree or something. Lazy bastard.” Shadow snarked. 

“Ahem.” Shadow heard a voice next to him. 

Shadow gasped in surprise, he looked to his left to see Sonic, running backwards next to him, arms crossed. Shadow smirked, impressed that he's been able to keep up for this long. 

“Heh, not bad, I was starting to think you were out of shape, somehow” 

“Pfft HA!” Sonic boasted, taken aback when Shadow said 'out of shape' “You kiddin' me? This just feels like a walk in the park.” 

“Hmph, don't get to cocky, kid!” Then Shadow spun around and swept Sonic off his feet with a sweep kick. 

“Wha-Whoa! Hey!” Sonic shouted as he was swept off his feet and tumbled across the ground. Shadow then sped ahead of Sonic who continued to tumble behind him. 
Sonic flipped back onto his feet still running, pissed that Shadow was toying with him again. 

“Dammit! Shadow, you'll regret that!” He swung his arms behind him, causing his speed to instantly triple, causing a blue wind cone to surround him. This allowed him to rapidly catch up with Shadow, soon enough he was on Shadow's tail. “Ya think that would slow me down huh?” Sonic boasted.

The two were closing in on a loop. Shadow looked behind him and saw Sonic catching up. He smirked before instantly speeding ahead and ran through the loop in mere seconds. Sonic readied himself to dash through the loop.

“Alright, here we go!!” He swung his arms behind him again, this time quadrupling his speed, creating a sonic boom behind him. He was about to run through the loop, when suddenly a bright flash of light appeared in front of him.
“Dah! What the heck!?” He covered his face from the blinding light. When the light dissipated he saw a familiar white figure in front of him. 

(BGM end)

“Wha! Watch out!” Sonic panicked, trying to stop, but his immense momentum carried him forward. 

“Wha? DaCH!!” The figure shouted as Sonic crashed into him. They both rolled forward in a ball, their momentum was great enough to go through the entire loop without losing speed. They exited the loop still rolling for a few meters before finally coming to a stop. The two hedgehogs groaned with pain after their little stunt.

“Owwwwwww.” Sonic groaned, his back and sides ached from crashing into that interloper. 
“Why don't ya watch where you're goin'!” Sonic protested to the unknown person, getting back on his feet. 

“Oww. Sorry, I didn't think I would appear right in front of you.” The person replied. Sonic looked up and saw it was someone he knew all too well. It was Silver the Hedgehog, Sonic's friend/rival from the future. 

“Silver!?” Said a surprised Sonic. 

“Sonic!?” Silver said back. “Man I never thought you'd be the first person I'd run into.”

“And I never thought I'd run into you.” Sonic went over and offered a hand to him, which Silver gladly took. 

“Good to see ya buddy.” Sonic gave him a pat on the shoulder. Silver was honestly surprised that Sonic was so happy to see him. 

“Heh, uh, yeah..good to see ya too.” Silver rubbed the back of his head nervously. 

“So, why'd you come back from the future all of a sudden?” Sonic asked. Silver's smile instantly faded. 

“The future's falling apart again.” He said with worry. Sonic's smile also faded. 

“What?! What are you talking about?” Sonic asked, worry building in his voice. 

“I can't really explain it. I mean first I think things are all well and fine, and then suddenly things start going wrong.” Silver explained. Sonic thought for a second. 

“Well, can you tell me some of the things that happened?” Sonic asked.

“Well first thing is that people started to disappear into the void, next thing is the world itself started to fall apart, like it was fading away from time and space.”   Silver explained. Sonic nodded in affirmation. 

“Wait a minute, if everybody in the future disappeared, then why didn't you?” Sonic asked. 

“I'm still confused about that too. The reason I'm here in the first place is because of this portal that mysteriously appeared. 

“Portal?” Sonic raised an eyebrow at his explanation. 

“Yeah, and there was this mysterious voice in my head telling me to go into it.” 

Sonic scratched his head for a minute, trying to make sense of everything that Silver told him. 
“Well, we better go tell Shadow, before anything else happens.” Sonic decided. 

“Yeah, he should know what to do! Say, speaking of which, where is he?” Silver said, wondering how Shadow was doing at this time.

“I was actually following him until you showed up. Show off didn't even bother to come back.” Sonic snarked.

“And what makes you say that?”

“GAH!!!” The two hedgehogs jumped when they heard Shadow behind them.

“Sh-Shadow!? How long have you been standing there?!” Sonic protested. 

“Long enough.” Shadow countered. He turned to Silver.
“I didn't think I would be seeing you again.” Shadow said to him.

“What up Shadow?” Silver said enthusiastically, offering a fist bump. Shadow smiled and returned the fist bump. 
“I take it you've heard everything I said?” Silver asked. Shadow nodded in confirmation. 

“This really proves problematic. This is just like back with Solaris threatening to destroy all of time and space.” Shadow explained.

“But it can't Solaris again, can it?” Sonic speculated. 

“Probably not, but we should expect someone like him to be behind all this. It takes someone with near godlike powers to do something like this.” Shadow explained. 

“Why don't we talk about this at my place, it's getting late now.” Sonic said, point back to the crimson sun setting on the horizon. 

“Yeah, not to mention I'm starving.” Silver added.

“Alright, fair enough.” Shadow replied. The three hedgehogs began to head back to emerald town. As they walked Sonic gave Silver a friendly nudge. 


“Hey, it's good to have you back man.” Sonic smiled at him. Silver blushed in embarrassment. 

“Heh, It's great to have friends like you two back in the past.” Silver replied warmly. Shadow looked back at the two hedgehogs as they began chatting. He smiled a little bit. 

“A year ago they were bitter enemies. Now look at them . They're like brothers.”  Shadow thought, heart-warmed by the friendship they've formed. He will never express these feelings to them, but the feeling warmed his heart nonetheless.

But meanwhile, in the shadow of a nearby tree. An evil presence was watching them, through a pair of red bloodshot eyes. He looked at the trio with a seething hate. Just the sight of them did not even amount to one-one millionth of the hate he had for all life in general. 
The amorphous shadow being then detached it self from the shadow of the tree he was hiding in, stretching the shadow of the tree as he exited. He then proceeded to follow the hedgehogs back to emerald town, keeping his distance so that he wouldn't be noticed. 

“Hate……..that's only feeling I have for you three……..and the entire universe will suffer for the trouble you caused me.” The being seethed. 

Meanwhile Miles “Tails” Prower, Sonic's sidekick and eternal companion, was in his lab working on a schematic for a new and improved version of the X-Tornado. He speculated that this new version would remove several flaws that the previous versions had, as well as having completely new features and capabilities added to it. 
“I'm certain this new X-Tornado will be my magnum opus.” Tails said to himself. 
“I'm pretty sure this new model will surprise Eggman's mustache off.” Tail snickered at his own statement. 
He finished drawing the last few dimensions of the left wing thruster before sitting back in his chair. 
“Whew! That's the left thruster done.” He wiped some sweat off his forehead. He looked back at the main schematic for the new model. “Sigh….Fifty Eight more parts to go.” Tails sighed when he realized he still has a ton of drafting left to do.He looked at the shelf above his desk. He saw a framed picture of him, Sonic, and Knuckles, all in front of the master emerald. He continued looking at the various pictures from his past adventures with his friends. He saw his human friend Chris, Amy, Cream, even Silver, as well as several other friends. His heart was warmed at the sight of all of his past memories. However his smile faded and his heart sunk when he looked at the potted flower at the end of the shelf. His mind flashed back to that of a certain plant girl who he had feelings for. He wanted to say her name, but…..for some reason…..he couldn't.
“Three years huh?” Tails said to himself. He sighed, trying to push the sad memory out of his head. 
“It's just a memory, nothing more.” He decided to get back to work on his schematics.

Location: Eggman’s base.

(BGM)

Somewhere else on Mobius lay a facility, with robots patrolling the electric fence that surrounded the perimeter of a mechanical fortress. The center of the facility lay a tower, with an insignia resembling the face of one of Sonic’s enemies, Eggman. 

Eggman slumped in his chair with a face filled with sheer boredom. It’s been over a year ever since he saw his arch nemesis Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of his friends. While he had a plan in the works, it unfortunately was in development hell. 

“Siiiiiiiiigh Is this what life has come down to? Sitting and waiting for my defeat?” Eggman brooded over the memories of the numerous times he’s lost to Sonic and his friends. It’s happened so many times that he’s come to expect it. 

Two robots entered the room, one was a tall and slim yellow humanoid, while the other was a short, stout, purple humanoid. They were known as Decoe and Bocoe.

“Umm….Doctor….” Decoe said hesitantly. 

“Just spit it out you two, tell me what’s delayed this time.” Eggman said nonchalantly, expecting the worse news.

“Uhh...well um…..phase 2 of the plan is only 18% complete from 15% last week.” Bocoe said looking at the tablet displaying the results. Eggman let out a frustrated sigh.
“And….?” Eggman groaned. 

“Well...the drone maintenance system has been riddled with unfixed bugs.” Boeco added. This didn’t help eggman’s mood at all. 

“Grrrr!!” Eggman got up with a frustrated grunt and began pacing the room. Decoe and Bocoe looked at each other, unsure of what to say. 

“What do we tell him Decoe?” Boeco whispered. 

“I don’t know! He’s so depressed right now anything could set him off.” Decoe whispered back nervously. 

“Well...maybe say something that will cheer him up!” Boeco suggested.

“Like what? There haven’t been any new developments at all. We haven’t even located the chaos emeralds.” Bocoe said checking his tablet. 

The two took a few seconds to rack their memory circuits for an idea. Eventually, a light bulb lit up inside their heads. (Literally)

“Hey Doctor….” Decoe lifted a finger. Eggman stopped and looked at them. Decoe hesitated, but Bocoe continued speaking. 

“-do you happen to remember that strange artifact that you just wrote off as ‘garbage’ that you found a few days ago?” This managed to get Eggman’s interest.

“What about it?” Eggman questioned them. 

“Don’t you think you should look at it some more instead of just putting it in the maximum-security chamber?” Decoe asked Eggman, obviously confused as to why Eggman show so much disinterest in the artifact he found. 

“What difference does it make!?” Eggman shouted at them, causing the two robots to fall silent. 
“It’s all gonna end the same anyways. Even if I managed to get a hold of the chaos emeralds, Sonic and his band of misfits always find a way to ruin my plans.” Eggman sulked. He continued pacing the room back and forth. Decoe and Bocoe were even more confused than before. It wasn’t like Eggman to lose hope. If there was one thing that Eggman had, it was persistence. He never gave up despite his failures and humiliations.

“So…..are you saying you’re giving up doctor?” Decoe asked him. Eggman held his head in frustration, trying to calm down. 

“I honestly don’t know. I’m starting to wonder if any of my conquests to conquer the world had any chance of succeeding in the first place.” Eggman said, letting the humiliation of his countless failed plans sink in. He slumped back in his chair and started stroking his mustache.
“It’ll take a miracle…..something out of this WORLD to lift my spirits again.” Eggman sulked. 

BWWWOOOOM BWWWOOOOM BWWWOOOOM!!!!

Suddenly, the emergency alarm went off, turning the entire room red. 

“Grrr what is it now?” Eggman man still maintained a nonchalant tone despite the blaring alarm.“Has another critical malfunction occurred in the maintenance chamber?”

Decoe and Bocoe looked at their tablets.

“Um...no doctor. It’s that artifact you found.” Bocoe responded. This managed to peak Eggman’s interest. 

“What’s going on with it?” Eggman asked. Then the automated emergency system spoke.

“WARNING, UNKNOWN ARTIFACT ENERGY READINGS AT CRITICAL LEVELS.” 

This made Eggman sit up in his chair. 

“I’m going to see this for myself.” He stated. He made his way to the maximum security chamber. He made it to the chamber’s entrance, which opened up to a massive enclosed room, save for a small glowing shard in the middle.
Eggman took a step out into the empty space. However just before his foot fell down, a hexagonal platform caught his foot. He continued walked as more hexagonal platforms created a path for him, the one’s behind him disappearing.
He made it to the middle of the chamber which held a glowing red shard, that was emanating an ominous black aura from it. It was suspended in mid air by two modules on it’s top and bottom. 
Eggman waved his hand, which brought up a holographic information screen. Indeed he saw that the energy levels were definitely rising. The shard’s aura was getting bigger and bigger by the second. 

“Doctor! What should we do?” Decoe spoke to him through a COM link. 

“We have no idea what that thing does! It could destroy the entire base!” Boeco worryingly added

Eggman looked at the shard, with it’s pulsating black aura growing slowly. A grin grew upon Eggman’s face. For he saw something in this artifact that he failed to see before. He let out a sinister chuckle. 

“It looks like things are about to get a little……. interesting.” He said. Decoe and Bocoe looked at each other in confusion.
Eggman continued looking at the glowing shard, eager to see what this artifact had in store for him. 

(BGM)

Back at Sonic's house, the three hedgehogs were discussing their course of action against this new threat. Sonic had whipped up some microwavable Chilidogs for himself and Silver. Silver, who had not eaten ever since this whole thing started, gladly wolfed down the chilidogs. 

“Sheesh, you must've been really hungry.” Sonic remarked. Silver wiped some chili sauce off his mouth. 

“You bet, but man is that spicy! How can you eat that all the time?” Silver asked. 

“I can handle the spiciness and you can't” Sonic smirked. 

“I sure can!” Silver protested, eying Sonic's chilidogs. There was a brief moment of silence. 
“You gonna eat that?” Sonic responded by taking a huge bite out of his Chilidog. 
“Aw…...” Silver said disappointingly.

(BGM end)

“Stay focused you two, this isn't a heartwarming reunion here.” Shadow lectured the two. 
“We need to figure out who's behind this whole thing.” 

“Alright alright Shadow sheesh.” Sonic complained nonchalantly. 

“Don't give me that faker! You're acting like this is just childs play! “ Shadow lectured him.

“I save the world all the time, so this is nothing new.” Sonic shrugged.

“Right, I forgot how cocky you can be.” Silver remarked. 

“That's enough! Let's get back on track!” Shadow stated. 
“Let's start with what we know.” Sonic and Silver finally decided to listen.

“We know that something that's going to happen in the present is going to destroy the future.” Shadow went over everything they know about this incident.
“We currently don't know what’s causing this, so our first priority is to find out who or what is behind this.” Shadow explained further.

“How about we ask Eggman. He's bound to have answers.” Sonic speculated. 

“Bad idea.” Shadow replied quickly.

“What!? Why not?!” Sonic protested. 

“We don't want to provoke him into doing something dastardly or stupid.” Shadow explained.
“We know how well that went last time it happened.”

“Uh heh heh, right.” Sonic chuckled. 

“Now back on track.” Shadow continued. He looked to Silver. 
“Kid, you have any ideas?” Silver was a little irritated when he called him 'kid'.

“Who're you calling kid?” Silver remarked. 

“The fact that you nearly killed Sonic over a lie that Mephiles told you.” Shadow stated. 

Silver fell silent, remembering his less than stellar actions nearly a year ago.
“Right….don't remind me.” Silver reminisced. 
“Anyways,  we don't really have many leads. I was actually thinking of paying old man Eggman a visit to ask him a few questions.” Silver gave his take on the situation. 

“But like I said, it's a bad idea.” Shadow said again. 

“You're probably right. But Eggman is the only person who could possibly know anything about this.” Silver replied.

“That is a good point.” Shadow remarked. “But he's been silent for a long time now. He could be planning something big as we speak.” 

“Well what are our other options?” Sonic asked. The three thought for a few seconds. 
“You think it's the Black Arms?” Sonic asked. 

“The who?” Silver questioned. 

“It's a long story. But I think I put them well out of commission.” Shadow explained. They thought for a few more seconds.

"SighWelp I'm out of ideas." Sonic slumped back on the couch.
"Silver, you're the one who saw everything that happened, can you tell us anything else?" Sonic asked further. 

Silver scratched his chin as he thought, trying to remember any other details he left out. He then gasped as he remembered something.
"Oh yeah! I remember hearing a voice in my head as I went through the portal!" Silver remembered. Sonic and Shadow continued paying attention. "It was only one word, but it ringed in my head."

"What was the word?" Shadow asked.

"..........Cyclone" Sonic's ear immediately perked up when Silver said that word.

"Are you serious?!" Sonic leaned forward towards Silver. 

"Uh yeah. You mean you've heard it to?" Silver replied. 

"Not just that. I also had a dream before that. It was saying things to me." Sonic explained to them. 

"And you neglected to bring this up earlier?" Shadow prodded him. 

"I didn't have a chance to. Oh! Also I saw a person......it was a girl, she had purple hair." Sonic explained further. Shadow and Silver were perplexed at his explanation.

"Do you know who this girl is?" Silver asked. Sonic shook his head in response.

"So this dream rattles off a bunch of words and shows you a person you don't even know? Just what the hell is going here?" Shadow said with annoyance in his voice at how complicated this has become.

"Well excuse me, I just told you what I saw!" Sonic retorted. 

"Guy's come on! We need to figure out what's going on before this threat kicks down our front door!" Silver said.

The second Silver finished his sentence, the sound of an explosion outside rocked the house, throwing the three off balance. 

“Whoa!! What was that!?” Sonic yelled, his heart racing from the sudden explosion.

“Don't know, lets find out.” Shadow said calmly, readying himself for what's about to come. “Sonic, bring the Chaos emeralds.” 

“Right!” Sonic dashed to a cabinet in the corner of his living room, and brought out the seven glowing gemstones.

“Seriously!? You've been hiding them here?!” Silver questioned, confused as to why Eggman hasn't snatched them yet.

“Yeah, I know right? I'm surprised Eggman hasn't snatched them yet.” Sonic smirked. 
"Catch!"  He tossed one of the Chaos emeralds to Silver. 

“Whoa!” He almost dropped the emerald as he caught it. 

“I'll take two, you take the rest.” Shadow said. Sonic tossed two of the emeralds to him. They put the emeralds away (In god knows where, since they've been able to pull it right out of their buts at times) They all heard the sound of another explosion outside. 

“Let's go!” Sonic said to the others. 

“Right!” Shadow and Silver both replied. They all ran outside, where the townspeople were panicking from the chaos that suddenly turned up out of nowhere.  Several trees were uprooted, houses were on fire, and dust covered the entire town

“HELP!! SOMEBODY HELP!!” A mobian civilian cried out running to them. Silver ran up to him. 

“What's going on?” Silver asked. 

“Th-There are these black creatures coming from town square! They're destroying everything!” The civilian replied frantically. The three hedgehogs looked at each other. 

“Well it's definitely not Eggman.” Sonic added. 

“Let's head there immediately.” Shadow pointed to town square which lay in the middle of the town. The other two nodded. 

“You get to safety, we'll take care of this.” Silver told the civilian. The civilian nodded and ran off to find someplace safe

(BGM)

The three started to head towards town square. They all saw smoke coming from the center of town. Shadow looked around to see glowing claw marks among the destruction. He also felt an ominous and malevolent presence, slowly getting stronger as they headed toward town square. 

“Hey Shadow. Doesn't this feel familiar?” Silver asked, who was getting similar vibes as Shadow. 

“You feel it too?” Sonic asked, who also had the same feeling.

“Yeah. You're right.” Shadow replied. 
“This feels too familiar.” However he was cut short when he sensed something about to pounce on them.

“Watch out!” Shadow shouted, as a group of four legged creatures jumped out in front of them. They were lizard like monsters with black skin with glowing red veins. They had spikes going along their back's and their tails had serrated spikes at the tips. Their teeth and claws were all glowing white, and their head seemingly had no eyes, or at least no visible ones. The creatures leered at the three hedgehogs, ready to attack them. The three hedgehogs got ready to fight. 

“I'm guessing these guys are what crashed our party?” Sonic asked, ready to . 

“I would believe so.” Shadow replied, clenching his fist, causing lightning to crackle off his arm. 

“You think you can still handle this buddy?” Sonic asked Silver. 

“Pfft! You serious? If I can go up against the likes of you two, then these will be a piece of cake.” Silver replied confidently, he activated his psychic powers, causing him to glow cyan. 

Sonic smirked with confidence. He cracked his knuckles, ready to slug the first one that moves in the face.
“Heh, that's all I needed to hear.”

Then one of the creatures leapt into the air, ready to pounce on them. However almost immediately, Sonic leapt towards the creature at a blinding speed, slammed into it's torso, spun it around rapidly and slammed back down into the ground, all in a matter of two seconds. 
“Heh, not done yet!” Then he slammed down into the downed creature with a spin attack, killing the creature instantly. The creature imploded into several red whisps that dissipated into thin air. Sonic got back up, ready to face the next one. 
“Who's next?” Sonic snarked. Shadow and Silver rocketed past Sonic to face the other creatures. 

Silver avoided a strike from one of the creatures, then threw several pieces of debris at it with his psychokinesis, knocking it off balance. Then he jumped up, avoiding another one of the creature's laser breath. Then he raised his palm, and then slammed it into the ground, letting out a shockwave which stunned the two monsters. 
“Take this!” Silver shouted as he grabbed them both with his psychokinesis, and slammed them into each other and then threw them into the others. 

Shadow flash stepped away from one's attack, reappeared above it then smashed it into the ground with an axe kick. Then he flash stepped again to right in front of one's face and sent it reeling back on two legs with a flip kick. Then he saw he was about to be flanked by three of the creatures from behind. 
He remained calm, then in a split second, he flash stepped and smashed one to the ground, the flashed back to the one reeling back and struck it again, then he struck the second one in the head, dislocating it's jaw, then struck the one reeling back again, then he blasted the third creature in half with a chaos spear, then finally he pierced through the final creature's chest, grabbing the energy core inside it. 
“Dead on!” Shadow shouted as he ripped the energy core out of the creature's chest, flipped back onto the ground and then crushed the core in his hand as the creatures' corpses imploded into red whisps. 

Sonic rapidly rushed around the creatures, barraging them with blows from all sides. He ducked under an attack from one of the creatures, then struck another one to the side, then defeated five of them at once with a rapid series of punches. 
Then he noticed two of them about to fire at him with their laser breath. He then dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding them. Then he jumped up and spin dashed into the ground between them, knocking them into the air.
“Hey Silver!” Sonic called out. 

“Huh?” Silver turned to him.

“Play ball!” Sonic then kicked the two creatures towards Silver. Silver anticipated Sonic's move, then he lifted a giant piece of debris into the air and then crushed the two creatures underneath it. 

The three hedgehogs continued to fight the creatures relentlessly, however no matter how many they defeated, more came to replace the ones they defeated. The three stood back to back, panting heavily as the battle continued on. 

“Pant Pant How many are there?” Sonic asked. 

“They just keep on comin’” Shadow, realized that no matter how many they defeated, more just took their place.

“They must be coming from a source, we destroy that and they should go away.” He theorized.

“Okay, but one question, where is this source?” Silver asked. 

“Don’t know, but were gonna have to fight through them to find it.” Shadow replied, expecting a hard fight ahead of them. Sonic was about to lunge at the monsters again, but he stopped when he saw something digging through the ground behind the hoard of monsters. 

“What the..?” Sonic said in confusion. Then suddenly, a red-figure burst out of the ground underneath one of the monsters, launching it upwards with an upward punch. Sonic and the others looked up and saw it was Knuckles.
“Knuckles!” Sonic shouted, relieved to see him. 

“Ha, don’t think I’d let you have all the fun!” Knuckles smiled back before finishing the creature off with a downward strike, slamming the monster into the ground. Then he grabbed the two on both his sides by their heads, slammed them into each other and then went into a spin attack holding both of the creatures by their heads, slamming them into the other monsters behind him while yelling crazily. "DoorARARARARARA!!!!"

“Whoa...are all of your friends like this?” Silver asked Sonic, surprised at Knuckles ferocity. 

“Heh, nah, you should see Amy.” Sonic replied. Knuckles landed in front of the three. 
“What shakin’ Knux?” Sonic offered him a fist bump. 

“It was getting a little boring up there at angel island, so I stopped for a visit.” Knuckles smiled, returning the fist bump. 

“Shadow.” He greeted Shadow. Shadow nodded in response. Knuckles eyes turned to Silver. 

“Who’s this guy?” Knuckles asked.

 “I-” Silver was about to say something, but he was cut off by Sonic. 

“He’s an old friend.” Sonic interrupted. 

“I can speak for myself thank you.” Silver said sarcastically. 

“We can leave the introductions for later, you three go and destroy the source” Knuckles told the three. 

“You think you can handle it?” Shadow asked. Knuckles turned around to see another hoard of monsters approaching. Knuckles casually counted them. He stopped at nine. 

“Pffft! It’s a walk in the park.” Knuckles bragged.

“Good, we’re counting on you.” Sonic replied. Knuckles grinned with confidence and he ran off to fend off the remaining monsters.

“Let’s go. We need to finish this as soon as possible.” Shadow said. 

“Right!” Sonic cracked his knuckles. Silver nodded in agreement. The three sped off towards town square. 

(BGM end)

(BGM)

At the town square, a large black and red fleshy growth was spawning the black and red monsters that were destroying the town. At the same time, it has captured several of the town’s residents, and assimilating them into it’s black fleshy mass. They all moaned in pain, as red veins began gouging into them. At the center of it was a beating heart like core, which was oozing the black substance all over the place.

A tall figure stood in front of the core, eyeing the core’s progress. He wore a black cloak which obscured his face, however it looked like he was wearing black and red armor underneath. Then he noticed the core’s pulsating ceased. The color of the mobian citizens had completely drained out, turning them almost monochrome. 

“Hmph, this batch is finished.” He said in a dark, spiteful voice. He waved his hand, which commanded the black ooze to release the captives. The mobians were released from the black growth, falling to the ground like used husks. 

The mysterious figure eyed the black mass, deciding if has gathered enough energy yet. Then he swung his arm to the left, summoning a floating red eye. He turned to  the eye, and knelt on the ground, as if he were addressing a superior.

“Master, the assimilation core is nearly filled. All that’s left is to activate ” The figure spoke to the eye. Then the eye responded in a dark guttural language. 
“Master, I assure you nothing will stand in our way toward universal assimilation. It will be done.” He replied. The eye continued to talk to him some more before finally dissipating into nothing. The figure stood back up and walked back in front of the core.
“It’s only a matter of time……..” He said, eyeing the bulging heart at the center of the black growth with an evil visage. However, he was interrupted when he sensed a presence behind him. 

“SONIC BLAST!” He turned to see a blue bullet of energy streaking towards him. He narrowly jumped away from the projectile, causing it to hit the ground beneath him. He landed back on his feet, growling with anger at the sudden intervention. 
Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were standing outside the center of town square, facing the dark mysterious figure. The dark figure stood up, eyeing the three hedgehogs, waiting for them to make a move, however, his attention remained on Sonic in the middle. He glared at him with malevolent contempt. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver looked at the dark figure, waiting for him to speak, or make a move. 

“Who is that?” Silver asked, getting a bad feeling in his gut from this mysterious figure. 

“Shadow?” He turned to Shadow, thinking that he would know something about this person.

Shadow shook his head. “Never seen this guy.” 

Silver’s eyes widened in shock. “What do you think of it Sonic?” Silver said turning to Sonic. Sonic and the Dark figure exchanged a long stare with each other. For some reason, Sonic felt something familiar about this person, even though he couldn’t remember if he had seen this person at all. Yet the feeling that he had seen this person before was unsettling to him.

“Hmph! I have no idea who this guy is. But one thing's for certain, he messed with the wrong hedgehog’s home.” Sonic said confidently, cracking his knuckles. He began slowly walking towards the figure. Shadow and Silver walked behind him. The hooded figure remained stationary as the three hedgehogs walked towards him. He threw his cloak back showing his black armor underneath. 

“So you are the three who the master was talking about.” The figure said to the three hedgehogs.

“Who’s this ‘master’ you’re talking about?” Shadow questioned him.

“And more importantly, what are you doing to everybody here!?” Silver questioned him angrily. The figure uncrossed his armored arms and began advancing towards them. 

“Hmph! You inferior creatures are in no position to ask questions.” He talked down to them in a condescending tone. 

“Your world is to be assimilated. There is nothing you can do to stop it.” The person talked down to them. The three remained vigilant, and were not intimidated by the person’s words. 

“Ha! That’s not very nice. You waltz into our house, throw a party, and you don’t even tell us why? That’s low man!”  Sonic himself remained cocky and defiant towards the dark figure. 

The dark figure growled silently in annoyance of Sonic’s taunting. However, he still maintained a calm yet sinister tone with the three hedgehogs. 

“You fools have no idea what you’re going against.” The figure explained to them. The three hedgehogs quickly exchanged glances at each other, confused as to what he was saying.The figure began slowly advancing towards the three hedgehogs. The three stood their ground. 
“If you continue to stand in my way, the consequences for your world will be dire. So I believe it would be wise if you get on your knees immediately and beg for forgiveness.” The figure pointed at them, commanding them to kneel. Sonic couldn’t help but feel aggravated that this person who he knows nothing about, is telling them what to do. 

“And if we don’t?” Shadow replied callously. The figure let out a sinister chuckle at Shadows reply. Then he bent his knees slightly, as if he was preparing to leap towards them. 

“In that case….” 

Suddenly the figure sped towards the three at blinding speed. Sonic read the figure’s move and rushed towards the figure. Sonic and Dark figure clashed with their hands locked, try to push each other back. 

“Pant Pant Who are you!?” Sonic asked through clenched teeth. The feeling that Sonic knew this person grew even stronger. Sonic tried to push him back, but soon realized that the figure was noticeably stronger than him, causing him to lean back as the figure’s armor dug into Sonic’s hands painfully.

The figure leaned in closer to Sonic, and spoke into his ear. “......your worst nightmare.” 

Suddenly Sonic saw visions of people dying, robots gunning people down, and buildings on fire, all in red. Sonic’s eyes dilated, he began hyperventilating, and his limbs began trembling. His strength began to wane, and the dark figure began to overpower him. 

“Sonic what’re you doing!?” Shadow yelled to him, confused as to why sonic wasn’t doing anything. 

“Get out of there!” Silver also yelled. Sonic couldn’t regain his focus for the horrific visions were still playing in his head. Convinced that Sonic wasn’t going to do anything, Shadow threw a chaos spear at the figure. The figure quickly broke away from Sonic to dodge the incoming chaos spear, but the energy bolt grazed him on the shoulder. 

“Silver!” Shadow called to Silver to make his move. Silver then lifted a large piece of sheet metal from the debris using his psychokinesis and then threw it around the masked figure and bent it to restrain him.

“Grrrr!! You little-!” The figure angrily struggled to break free of his restrains

Sonic staggered backwards from the shock of the hallucinations he just witnessed. Silver helped him back on his feet. 

“You alright?” Silver asked.

“Pant Yeah. I have no idea what happened though” Sonic replied, still recovering from the shock that he just went through. 

“Well buck up, things are about to get worse.” Shadow steeled himself. 

The figure burst out of his restrains with ease, causing shrapnel to scatter everywhere. The black figure grunted angrily. He assumed a fighting stance, intending to charge at them. 
“If you insolent lower creatures are going to stand in my way, then my only option is to send you all to hell!” The figure shouted maliciously.

Sonic had already recovered, and instantly took a fighting stance. 
“I don’t know what your deal is buddy…..” Sonic readied himself to charge. “....but whatever it is, I DON’T LIKE IT!!!” Sonic charged the figure rapidly. The dark figure did the same. The two rushed towards each other at blinding speed. They finally clashed, their forearms pushing against another. They briefly exchanged a fierce glance at each other before pushing away from each other. Sonic charged at the figure again, winding up a punch to his opponent's face. The figure read Sonic’s move and quickly dodged to the left, then he threw a backhanded strike to Sonic, who ducked under the blow. They exchanged rapid kicks and punches for straight five seconds. 

Sonic leaned to the side avoiding a punch from the figure, however in bullet time, he noticed something about this figure. He couldn’t help but feel perplexed. He used his speed to break away from the figure, and then sped around the figure and attacked from behind. 
However the figure was able to read Sonic’s move and then caught Sonic’s punch without looking at him. Sonic flinched in shock at the figure’s level of skill. The figure threw a side kick at Sonic, but Sonic side stepped the attack, and shoulder checked the figure using his speed. 

“Grrraah!!” The figure exclaimed as he stumbled backwards, Sonic then flashed stepped multiple times, hitting the figure from all sides. 

“Heh! Who’s the inferior one now!?” Sonic taunted him as he continued rushing around him barraging him from all sides. 

“Why you little!!!” The figure said angrily. Sonic was about to strike him again, but the figure flash stepped away from Sonic’s attack. 

“What the-!?” Sonic exclaimed. The figure appeared behind Sonic and attacked. However, Sonic noticed the figure’s move and threw a punch of his own. However, Sonic’s punch went right through the figure.

“What!?” Sonic exclaimed, realizing he had attacked an after-image. He sensed the figure behind him, and he leaned to the side, avoid the figure’s side kick. However he again sensed something familiar about the figure, just looking at the figure’s fighting style. However Sonic’s curiosity caused him to lower his guard, and the figure was able to deliver a powerful punch to Sonic’s gut.
“Gah!!” Sonic exclaimed as his breath was knocked out of him. Then the figure knocked him back with a reverse roundhouse kick. 
“Waaaah!!!” Sonic shouted as he flew back and smashed into a nearby wall. Sonic struggled to get back on his feet after the last blow he took. He also was still perplexed by the fact that something about this figure was familiar. 

“Silver! Let’s take him!” Shadow began rapidly advancing toward the dark figure.  

“Right!” Silver shot into the air using his levitation. Shadow charged at the figure preparing to strike. The person turned to see Shadow rapidly closing in on him. 

“It is pointless to resist!” The figure suddenly vanished from Shadow’s sight. Shadow gasped in shock, when he sensed the figure right behind him.

“Shadow! Behind you!!” Silver shouted to Shadow. However before Shadow could turn to face him, he was already met with a fist to his face.

“GRRRAAH!!!” Shadow felt the figure’s fist dig into his face. He staggered backwards. The black warrior then attempted to follow up with a powerful spin kick. But Shadow ducked under it, avoided another kick from the warrior, then retaliated with series of spin kicks. None of them connected, and the dark figure smashed Shadow into the ground with an elbow strike. 

“Hmph, is this all that the ‘ultimate life form’ has to offer?” The figure said mockingly. 

“Hey!” A voice from above shouted. The figure looked up and saw Silver levitating in the air with several large pieces of debris floating around him.
“Take this!!” Silver swung his hands toward the figure, causing the pieces of debris to rocket downwards towards the figure. 

However, the warrior wasn’t phased. He avoided the projectiles and then started leaping on the incoming pieces of debris to close in on Silver. Silver looked at the figure in shock of his incredible fighting ability. 

“Oh man. Who is this guy!?” Silver said. The figure rapidly closed the distance by jumping in on the incoming debris. Silver avoided a kick from the warrior, then circled around him and threw a psycho kinetically charged punch to the figure’s head. But the figure avoided Silver’s attack just by tilting his head to the side. He then proceeded to grab Silver’s arm and throw him down to the ground. 
“Whoa!!” Silver tumbled towards the ground. He managed to stop himself from hitting the ground with levitation. But then the figure appeared next to him and smashed him into the ground with an Axe kick. 

Sonic charged at the figure, further enraged that the figure was beating on his friends. 
“You son of a-!!!” Sonic ripped into his spin dash attack. The figure put his hands out, and stopped Sonic’s spin attack. Sparks flew off the warrior’s gauntlets as he pushed against Sonic’s attack. 

“Weak, very weak!” The figured mocked him, then his hands because gathering dark energy into his hands. After a few seconds, his hands erupted in a burst of energy, canceling Sonic’s attack. Sonic stumbled back, shocked that the figure was able to cancel out his spin dash. 

“Crap! Is there any way to even hurt this guy!?” Sonic struggled to regain his balance. Then the black figure vanished from his sight again. Sonic didn’t even have time to react as the hooded warrior drove his foot into Sonic’s back. 

“GAAH!!!” Sonic cried out, his spine roaring with pain. The figure wasn’t done yet. He continued to barrage Sonic with attacks. He didn’t leave Sonic any time to put his guard up. The figure began laughing with sadistic glee as he continued to wail on Sonic.

“He he he..Ha Ha HA! HA HAHAHAHA!!!” His laughter grew maniacal as he punched Sonic up into the air. 

“NOW DIE!!!” the figure leapt into the air, and then drove Sonic into the ground with a dive stomp. 

Sonic felt all of his body explode into pain as the figure crushed him underneath his foot. He struggled to breath as the figure continued to drive his heel into Sonic’s chest. The figure went back to his stoic yet sinister demeanor. 

“Who…….who the hell are you!?” Sonic grunted defiantly at the figure, struggling to speak in between breaths. In response, figure drove Sonic deeper into the ground with a burst of black energy from his foot. 
“DAHH!!!” 

“Who am I?” The figure boasted. 
“I’m everything you’ll never be!” 

Sonic couldn’t muster up any more words to spit back in the warrior’s face. The figure continued crushing Sonic underneath his foot.

“You feel it don’t you?” The figure continued. Sonic managed to open one of his eyes and look at him. 
“You feel our similarities?” 

Sonic opened his eyes in shock at the notion that his hunch was right. His fighting style was almost identical to his own. The way he maneuvered, the way he attacked, was shockingly similar to his own.  But…..How?
“What….grh! What are you saying!?” Sonic struggled to get his words out of his gut. The figure only stared at him through his metallic mask.

“Such a shame, that my predecessors turned out to be so pathetically weak!” The figure condescendingly mocked him.
“NOW DI-”

The figure was cut off, as he was blasted away by a blue energy blast from his left. Sonic went blank at the shock that he was almost about to die. He looked to his left, what he saw lifted his spirits. It was Tails, wearing some sort of advanced arm cannon on his right arm. 

“Sonic!!” Tail yelled to him, he flew over to his side. 

“Tails! Get away this guy is dangerous!” Sonic told his friend. 

“Not a chance! You’re my best friend! I’m not going anywhere if this guy is gonna hurt you!” Tails boasted proudly. Sonic was both surprised and inspired by Tails’s bravado, and couldn’t help but smile. The dark figure recovered from the blow Tails dealt to him, even more enraged than before. 


“Another pest to take care of eh?” The figure talked down to Tails. 
“You’ll regret interfering with me boy!” The figure then rushed towards Tails. 

Tails read his move and, using his arm cannon, shot a grenade at the figure. The grenade exploded into an electrical wave that paralyzed the figure in his tracks. Tails took advantage of this, and rushed towards the figure. His arm cannon transformed into a large gauntlet, which glowed with blue energy.
“Take this!!” Tails shouted as he drove his charged up gauntlet into the warrior’s chest, causing the figure to slide back a considerable distance. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver watched him. Even Shadow was impressed at Tail’s fighting ability. 

Tails knew he pushed him back, but he also knew judging from the impact, that he didn’t do much damage to his armor. 
“pant You’re right Sonic, this guy isn’t normal.” Tails remarked. 

The figure recovered from Tails blow, he was both irritated and surprised at Tail’s fighting ability. 
“You’ll regret doing that boy!” The figure rushed towards Tails once again. 

Tails took the initiative and transformed his gauntlet back into an arm gun. He then launched a salvo of laser blasts from his cannon
The warrior dodged the laser blasts while rapidly closing in on Tails. Tails kept firing trying to get a good shot on the warrior, but the figure proved to be too fast to hit. 
“Who is this guy?” Tails said 
“He’s moving almost like you Sonic!” The figure managed to close the distance between them and knocked Tail’s arm cannon away, throwing Tails off balance. 

“Insolent boy! Begone!” The figure threw an energy charged strike at Tails. 

However, before the attack hit Tails, it was stopped by Silver, who managed to recover just in time to save Tails. 

“You alright?” Silver asked, trying his hardest to keep his psychic shield up. Tails nodded in reassurance. However the figure readied another charged attack. Silver looked back and he knew that his attack would break his shield. 

“H’ooo man.” Silver said, bracing himself for the attack. 

However, before figure could attack, a spiked fist came out of the ground below him and punched him in the jaw.

“DRRRAHHH!!” The figure cried out as he flew into the air. 

“Take this!!” The red fighter then sent the figure flying into the ground with another attack.

“Knuckles!” Sonic said, another wave relief flew over them all. Knuckles landed back on the ground.

“Hey thanks man!” Silver said lowering his shield. 

“Heh, no problem...er...what was your name again?” Knuckles asked. 

“Uh...it’s Silv-” Silver was interrupted when their opponent suddenly appeared in front of Knuckles and grabbed him by the neck. 

“GAH! cough AKC!” Knuckles struggled to break free of the warrior’s grip. 

“I’ve had enough interruptions for one day.” The figure frustratedly said, tightening his grip on Knuckles. 
“Just for that...I’ll dispatch you first!” The figure readied a burst of energy in his hand. 

“Hey!!” Sonic cried out. The figure looked to his left, and was met with a kinetically charged punch to his face. The figure flew backwards and slammed into the pulsating black mass behind him. Knuckles got back up, rubbing his sore neck.

“cough Thanks.” Knuckles thanked him. 

“No prob. But were far from do- Gah!” Sonic fell to his knees, his left side throbbing with pain. 

“You alright?” Tails rushed to his side and helped him stand. 

“I’m fine.” Sonic reassured him, his hand on his side, still throbbing with pain. “Just a nick.” The five friends faced the giant black mass, ready to face the dark warrior once again. 

The warrior emerged from the dust. However his hood was off now, and it revealed his head. He was wearing an armored mask adorned with various red markings. However his most glaring feature was his black swept-back hair, highly reminiscent of Sonic’s blue quills. The entire group looked at the figure with cautious anticipation.  

“What the hell?” Knuckles remarked curiously. 

“Sonic, who is this guy?” Tails asked him. Sonic tried search his mind for an answer, but he came up empty. But he pushed the thought aside, this guy is threatening his home and friends, and that is something he won’t stand for. 

“Doesn’t matter, this guy’s going down, no matter what!” Sonic shouted. The five stood together, ready to face their adversary. 

The figure brushed himself off, his movements were filled with suppressed rage. He obviously was getting frustrated at their resistance. 

“This universe is filled with foolish naivety.” The figure spoke, his rage and power building. 

“Fools like yourselves, who claim to fight for justice, for peace. Your ideals are nothing when it come to what the universe really needs.” The figure ranted. He slowly walked towards the group, who were ready to react to any move he had. 

“You gonna keep ranting? Or are we gonna finish this?” Sonic taunted him. With that said, the warrior assumed his fighting stance, and let out a battle cry, causing his black and red aura to explode. The group got ready to fight. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver all activated their respective battle auras, Tails and Knuckles got ready to fight as well. 

The figure and the heroes of Mobius stood still for a good few seconds. However just as they were about to charge at each other. The black mass behind the dark warrior suddenly erupted. 

“What the hell!?” Sonic exclaimed. 

“What happened!?” Silver asked. 

Tails looked quickly at the holographic screen on his arm cannon. 
“Oh man! The energy levels are going crazy in that thing!” He said reading the numbers on the screen. 

“But why!?” Shadow asked. 

The warrior stared at the pulsating black mass.

“What…..what have you done!!?” The figure angrily questioned them, enraged that his work has been sabotaged. The mass started to glow brighter and brighter, and began to pulsate at a much faster and unstable rate. 

“We have no idea what that thing is gonna do. We should run!” Tails examined. 

“But what about the town!” Silver asked frantically. 

“No time! We need to go! NOW!!” Shadow said. However before the group could move, the black mass imploded and then collapsed into a small singularity, pulling everything nearby in. 

Everybody was knocked off their feet. Large pieces of debris flew into the miniature black hole. The group struggled to hold on to whatever was firmly placed into the ground. 

“Waaaa! What’s going on! Whoa!!!” Silver lost his grip, and he flew backwards towards the singularity, only to be caught by Knuckles. 

“Get a hold of yourself, er, whoever you are!” 
“THE NAMES SILVER!! MEMORIZE IT ALREADY!!” Silver angrily shouted at him. 

Sonic struggled to hang on to something while the gravitational force pulled at his feet.
“Damn! Tails! How to do we stop this thing!?” Sonic asked amidst the chaos that was going on. Tails was holding on with his grappling hook from his arm cannon. 

“I don’t know! I don’t even know what that thing is!!” Tails said, unable to think during the chaos around him. Sonic was at a loss for words, he had to do something or something horrible would definitely happen. But suddenly while he was struggling to hold on, he felt a hand grip his ankle. 

“What the-?” He looked back and saw the black figure dangling from his leg.

“Don’t think you’ve escaped me!!” His hands held tightly onto Sonic’s ankle. 

“Why you! Screw off!!” Sonic proceeded to kick him directly on the head. But the warrior still held on nonetheless. He continued kicking the warrior in the head, but the warrior’s grip didn’t falter one bit. 

“You pest!!” The figure snapped, and applied a surge of dark energy directly to Sonic’s leg.

“GAAAAHHH!!” Sonic cried out in pain as the figure fried his leg. 

“Sonic!” Shadow shouted to him. Sonic looked up and saw Shadow with a chaos spear in his hand. 

“DUCK!!” Shadow launched the chaos spear directly towards Sonic. Without thinking, Sonic instinctively jolted his head down.

“What the-!?” The warrior was cut off when Shadow’s chaos spear flew straight over Sonic’s head and hit him squarely between the eyes. 

“GYAA!” The figure lost his grip on Sonic, and flew straight into the glowing singularity behind him. Sonic looked back up at Shadow, and gave him a quick smirk. Shadow returned the gesture with a smirk as well. 

But their troubles were not over.

“Whoa!!” Sonic exclaimed as the pillar he was holding onto began to give away. This caused the chaos emeralds to fall out of his pack. 
“NO!!!” Sonic reached back to try and catch one. But this caused him to lose his grip on the pillar.
“WHAAAAA!!!” Sonic cried out as he flew backwards into the singularity behind him.

“SONIC!!!!” Tails cried out, despairing that his friend is gone. However he lost his grip, and he too flew into the singularity.

“AHHHHH!!!” Tails cried out. 

“TAILS NO!!” Knuckles yelled.

“Watch out!!” Silver yelled, a large piece of debris hit them, causing them to fly towards the singularity. 

“Watch it!” Shadow managed to grab Knuckles arm as he flew past him. 

“Hang on!!” Shadow’s arms strained against the gravitational force of the singularity. 

“I don’t think there’s gonna be anything to hold on to!” Silver cried out. However the chaos emerald Silver was holding fell out of his bag.

“Oh crap!” Silver managed to barely catch it with his psychokinesis. However the sudden jolt of movement from him managed to cause Shadow to lose his grip.

“Wha-DAMMIT!!!” Shadow cried out as he, Knuckles, and Silver all fell into the black hole. The black mass proceeded to glow brighter and brighter, and pulsate much faster. Then finally, it exploded into a giant white dome of light, which shined as far as the trees outside of town. 

Despite the giant explosion, the town was left mostly unharmed, however, it’s inhabitants were gone, and the black fleshy growth in the center has vanished. As for Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Tails, and Knuckles, they were sent off to a place unknown.

To Be Continued
> Episode 2 - Chaos Stranding (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location: Canterlot City

The sound of the last bell rang throughout Canterlot High School. Students filed out of the class rooms, eager to get back home from their busy day. Among them Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Rarity walked together, sharing any interesting moments from their day. 

“I forgot half of my art supplies for my art class today, so I had to improvise in order to complete my daily drawing.” Rarity elaborated. 

“So, what did you use instead?” Sunset asked. 

“Oh, I had to use my little sister’s old crayons.” Rarity pouted. Twilight and Sunset still held interest. 

“Well, how did it turn out?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I bet it was still worth an A+!” Spike said from within Twilight’s backpack. Rarity was silent for a moment. Then she finally sighed in defeat.

“It was only worth a C.” She slumped forward in disappointment. Twilight and Sunset looked at each other, wanting to say something.

“Well…..at least it’s a passing grade.” Sunset continued, trying to cheer her up.

“Yeah, that has to count for something.” Twilight added, putting her hand on Rarity’s shoulder

“I suppose so, but there goes my chance at a perfect grade.” Rarity continued to sulk. They exited through the school’s front entrance to the outside. 

Twilight looked briefly at the mirror in front of the school entrance. She felt a little bit of anxiety enter her heart, for anything could happen in the month that she had left. However she pushed the thought out of her head. She still was with her friends after all. Her feeling of dread eventually left her stomach as she walked back home with her friends. 

The sun began to set, casting a scarlet hue among the clouds and the tops of the trees. The three continued to chat as they took a shortcut through a part of Everfree forest. Twilight looked up at the sky and saw that the stars had begun to come out already. She awed at how they all sparkled in the twilight sky, just like her name.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Sunset joined in on her stargazing. Twilight sighed, wondering how to answer her question. 

“These stars look so familiar….” Twilight began. “but…..they feel so different.” She finished. Sunset picked up on her still lingering homesickness.   

“You still not getting used to this?” Sunset asked.

Twilight looked at her human hand and tried opening and closing it a few times. She felt her fingers hesitate and lightly twitch at different intervals. No matter how she looked at it, she still saw her hand as a pony hoof.
“Sigh…..I don’t know……” Twilight played with the hem of her skirt nervously, struggling to come up with an answer. “Did you have trouble adjusting to this world Sunset?” She turned to Sunset. 

Sunset thought for a few seconds. She chuckled a little when she remembered the first time she came across this world. She remembered struggling to get used to her human muscles, and stumbling all over the place, as well as learning things about the human world..

“Heh, I felt exactly the same as you did….” Sunset answered. 

“Really?” Twilight replied. Sunset nodded back

“Yeah, lost and out of place…….I 100% know the feeling .” Sunset put a reassuring hand on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight smiled, endeared that her friend was able to relate to her so much. 

“But, no matter what Twilight…” Rarity put her hand on her other shoulder. “...we’ll be there 100% of the way darling.” 

Twilight sighed, overwhelmed by the kindness her friends have shown her. 

“Oh….thank you guys.” Twilight wrapped her arms around her friends in a group hug, with them returning the embrace. 

“Hey don’t forget about me!” Spike popped out of Twilight’s bag, and hopped on Twilight’s head. Twilight giggled a little at Spike’s comment. 

“Heh, don’t worry Spike, we won’t forget you.” Twilight held him in her hands. Spike smiled, and replied by licking her face. 
The group shared a friendly laugh at Twilight and Spike’s exchange. Twilight placed Spike back in her bag. 
“Okay, let’s get going girls, it’s getting dark already.” Twilight said cheerfully, filled with hope the future. Her friends nodded in agreement, and they proceeded to continue walking back home. Twilight took one last look at the stars before walking off with her friends. 

However as they walked through everfree forest, Twilight’s magic sense kicked in, alerting her to something in the sky above her.
“Huh?” Twilight stopped in her tracks and looked up into the sky through a hole in the treeline. She saw a bright yellow flying object slowly streaking across the sky. 

“Twilight? What is it no-?” Rarity was interrupted when she and Sunset also saw the flying yellow object. It’s yellow glow slowly began to engulf the trees around them, and cast a bright yellow light through the treeline. 

“What is that?” Sunset asked, all of them curious and cautious of the mysterious phenomenon happening before their eyes. As the object got closer, Twilight’s magic sense cringed, for the energy, it was emitting was not Equestrian Magic, but some sort of otherworldly energy. Twilight’s eyes remained fixed on the flying object, however she gasped in horror when she realized that the object was heading straight for them. 

“Girls run!” Twilight yelled to her friends. 

“What?” Sunset asked, confused as to what is going on. 

“No time just run!!” Twilight repeated, she turned in the other direction and began running. The object streaked towards the three girls at a blinding speed until finally, it impacted the ground behind them, creating a large shockwave shaking the ground beneath them. 
Rarity gasped when she saw the object strike the ground behind them and saw the shockwave was about to impact them. 

“Watch out!” Rarity yelled to her friends. The three girls were swept off their feet and blasted backwards into the air. 

“AHHHH!!” The three girls screamed in fear as they were thrown backward. Twilight braced herself for when she impacted the ground. However, the impact never came. 

“Twilight!” Sunset and Rarity called to her. Twilight opened her eyes and saw that she, along with Sunset and Rarity were floating in the air, surrounded by a yellow sphere of ethereal energy. 

“Girls…..wh-what happened!?” Twilight asked. 

“I…..have no idea-OH!” Rarity blushed when she noticed the front of her skirt was lifted up, and immediately pushed it down. 

“What is this energy?” Sunset asked, looking around her. 

“It….must have stopped our fall-AH!” Twilight speculated but was interrupted when the energy around them dissipated and they dropped to the ground. They landed on the ground, unhurt but still frightened.  

“Pant pant Are you all okay?” Twilight asked her friends, getting up and patting the dust off her clothes.

“I’m fine, how about you Rarity?” Sunset turned to Rarity.

“Oow. I guess so.” Rarity said, rubbing her bottom, which ached from landing on the ground. Sunset helped Rarity up on her feet.

“Y-you alright Sunset darling?” Rarity asked Sunset, still shaken by what just happened. 

“I’m fine. Don’t worry alright” Sunset replied, giving Rarity a confident yet reassuring smile. Rarity smiled back at Sunset. 	

“Hey what’s going on!?” Spike popped out of Twilight’s backpack. 

“That’s exactly it Spike, we have no idea.” Twilight replied. She then noticed the yellow glowing object behind her, casting a golden glow against the trees around it. Twilight and Spike turned to see a small crater at the impact site. 

“What is that Twilight?” Spike asked, partially retreating into Twilight’s backpack. Sunset and Rarity also took notice, walking up beside Twilight. While Twilight’s magic sense was still hemorrhaging from the energy that the object emitted, her curiosity still egged her on to investigate.

Twilight began walking towards the impact site. However she was stopped by Sunset, who grabbed her shoulder. 

“Twilight! We don’t know what that thing is. What if it’s something dangerous.” Sunset warned her. While Twilight was heartfelt by her friend’s concern, something inside her still urged her to investigate.

“Thanks Sunset, but we can’t just leave this alone. Also, think about what would happen if this world found this thing” Twilight explained, alluding to the fact that both herself and Sunset were both not actual humans, but Ponies from another dimension. Sunset took a moment to process what Twilight said. 

“You do have a point, but still, we should approach this cautiously.” Sunset replied. Twilight nodded in agreement with her. 

“What do you think Rarity?” Twilight asked her. 

“Um…..” Rarity twiddled her thumbs nervously. She didn’t want to leave her friends, however, she was also afraid of whatever just stranded on their planet. However she eventually worked up the courage, and decided to join them.

“Alright, let’s go.” Rarity nodded to her friends.

“Right!” Twilight said confidently.

The three girls walked towards the crash site, where the object was still glowing like a star. Not only that, but the closer Twilight got, the more her magical senses cringed. Twilight and her friends walked up to the rim of the crater. As they looked down at the glowing meteorite, they all shielded their eyes from the object’s intense light. 

“Ah! What is that Twilight?!” Sunset’s eyes hurt from looking at the object. Twilight struggled to come up with an answer, for her magic senses were now screaming that she was so close. She could feel the object’s energy overwhelm her own magic energy, so much that it made her body shudder a little

Suddenly, the object’s glow started to slowly dissipate. After a few seconds the light died down enough that they were able to look at it. The girls were finally able to lay their eyes on the mysterious object.

“Oh my…..” Rarity was at a loss for words. “Is that a……?” Rarity could make out the shape of the object. Twilight leaned in closer to get a better look despite her magic sense still aching. 

“I think it looks like-AHH!!” The ground beneath her gave way and she slid down the edge of the crater. 

“Twilight!” Sunset and Rarity yelled as they both reached their hands out as Twilight slide down the edge of the crater. 

“Ah! Whooa! Ooof!!” Twilight tumbled down the side of the crater until she eventually hit the bottom. 

“Oww…” Twilight’s right side and arm hurt from the fall. Her backpack fell off her shoulders during her fall,where a disoriented and confused Spike popped out of the backpack. 

“Whooooa.” Spike stumbled out of Twilight’s backpack, dizzed from rolling around in the pack during the fall. Spike shook his head to get out of his stupor. 

“Twilight! You alright!?” Rarity called from the rim of the crater. Twilight sat herself up, her side and holding her hurt arm close to her body. 

“Pant I’m alright!” Twilight called up to them. 

“Twilight!” Sunset slid down the side of the crater to go and help her. 

“That was nasty fall, you sure you’re alright?” Sunset worriedly asked, helping her friend/mentor up. 

“Pant I’m fine, Thanks Sunset.” Twilight smiled at her, dusting herself off. They both looked back at the glowing object. Twilight and Sunset’s magic senses were still trembling from the sheer energy that the thing was giving off. They both slowly made their way towards the object. Once they were close enough, they were finally able to get a glimpse of what it looked like up close. 

“It’s an…...emerald?” Twilight said, her mind searching for any possible explanation to what it was, but she came up with nothing. 

“What’s an emerald doing in outer space?” Sunset promptly asked, also wondering what in the world this object was. 

“Wait! It…. it’s an Emerald!? I want to see!” Rarity called from the edge of the crater, her caution completely dissipated when she heard two say ‘emerald’. 

“Just stay there Rarity! We’ll be right up!” Sunset called back to her.

Twilight knelt down to look at it, it’s searing energy wearing off enough for her to get close. She slowly reached her hand to grab it. But the instant her fingers touched the surface of the emerald, she was hit with a sharp stinging pain as the emerald let out a small burst of energy.

“AH!!” Twilight jerked her hand back in response. 

“You alright?” Sunset asked.

“It must be our conflicting energies.” Twilight theorized. “Our magic isn’t compatible with this thing?” Sunset thought for a moment on how to handle the emerald.

“Well in that case…” Sunset took off her black biker coat. She hesitated for a second, wondering if her idea would work, before grasping the emerald with her coat. The light the emerald gave off immediately went out, causing the forest to go dark once again. Sunset sighed, relieved that her idea of grabbing the emerald with her coat worked. 

“Sunset, is it-?” Twilight asked, worried that the emerald might have hurt her. 

“I’m fine Twilight.” Sunset confirmed to her. “Let’s get out of this crater first.” 

Twilight nodded in agreement, and they proceeded to climb back up the side of the crater. Twilight had some trouble climbing back up, but Sunset was there to help her. The two girls eventually got up the side of the crater, where Rarity immediately pestered them for a look at the emerald.

“Can I see it!? Can I see it!? Please?!” Rarity hopped around them excitedly to see the emerald. 

“Just a moment Rarity.” Sunset told her. Sunset carefully unfolded her jacket which contained the emerald inside. Once again, the emerald’s glow lit up the forest around them  in it’s brilliant yellow light. 

“My…….word…….i-it’s gorgeous” Rarity was at a loss for words. She was completely taken aback by the emeralds gorgeous glow. Twilight and Sunset were also mesmerized by the emerald’s beauty. However Twilight remembered that it just crashed landed on their world a few minutes ago. 

“What should we do with it Twilight?” Sunset asked her. The three girls stared at each other, unsure of what to say, or what course of action they should take. 

“Let’s get home girls…” Twilight covered the emerald back up, taking it in her hands. “....we speak of this to nobody else.” 

“But what about Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, wondering why she didn’t mention the others. 

“We’ll inform the others tomorrow in secret, to be sure nobody else besides us knows about this.” Twilight explained. 

“Wait, do you think this has to do with that dream of yours?” Sunset asked. Twilight gasped as she just remembered her dream that she had about two days ago. She tried to think of some connection between her dream and this emerald. But she was interrupted when she heard police sirens approaching. 

“We’ll discuss this later, we need get home quick!” Twilight replied. The others nodded in agreement, and they both scrambled to get away from the scene before the police arrived. While Twilight knew that the emerald that she carried was certainly of another world, she had no idea that this was just the beginning of a conflict that would span the entire universe. 

Next Day Morning

“Oh maaaan….!”  Sonic groaned as he lay on the ground.  He felt like his entire body had been mangled and twisted all out of shape, and then improperly twisted back into it’s original form. On top of that he felt heavier and bigger than usual. 
“Oh god, what happened last night?” Sonic tried to recall what happened before he passed out. He rubbed his heavy eyes, but as his hands pressed against his eyelids, he noted that his hands felt smaller and they didn’t feel like they had gloves on.  

However before he could question that, he finally remembered what happened before he passed out. 
“Silver, Shadow! Where are you!?” Sonic called out, still rubbing his eyes. He sensed the presence of another person lying next to him. 

"Ugh…..Sonic….is that you?” He heard Silver call out to him. Sonic finally managed to open his eyes a little, and he managed to get a hazy view of the environment around him. From what he could make out, they were in the middle of a forest, however he could hear the faint sound of cars in the distance, which meant that there was civilization nearby.

“Sigh...yeah I’m here Silver.” Sonic confirmed to him. He rubbed his eyes again, and he was able to fully open them, and see the area around him clearly. 
“How about you..? You doin’ alri-” Sonic turned around to face Silver, but he double-taked when he saw that Silver did not look like his usual self. 

He didn’t look like a hedgehog, but more like a human. He had pale turquoise skin with two black markings on his face. He still had his white hair and yellow eyes, however he was wearing a dark grey jacket with his circular marking on it, with fur lining the collar, as well as beige pants and his usual boots. 

“What the-!? Silver! What happened to you?!” Sonic said to him, caught off guard by Silver’s new appearance. Silver opened eyes, and double taked as well when he looked at Sonic. 

“Wha-What happened to you Sonic!?” Silver replied. 

“Wh-What are you talking ab-” Sonic lifted his hands up and saw that his hands had no gloves, and were Yellow in color. 

“What the hell!! I-I-what’s going on!?” Sonic stood up, but then immediately stumbled backwards and fell on his butt. 

“Ow!” He got on his hands and knees, and then saw his reflection in a puddle of water. His hedgehog like form was replaced with a blue humanoid form. He had Yellow colored skin, and jet blue spiky shoulder length hair which was reminiscent of his blue quills. He also was wearing a white T-Shirt, with a black sleeveless vest, and a pair of jeans with rips in them.

“WHAT THE HE-!” Sonic was almost about to freak out, however steadied himself and took deep breaths to calm himself down. 

“Sonic! Where are we? Why are we humans!?” Silver too was also exasperated at their current situation. Sonic tried to come up with an answer. But so much had happened in the last few hours that he felt overwhelmed just thinking about it. 

“I have no idea Silver.” Sonic replied, looking at his human hand, poking it in various places to test if it’s senses were working. While it wasn’t too dissimilar from his original hands, they still felt like a new pair of gloves to him. He tried standing up, but again he found it difficult to balance.

“Wha-Whoa! WhoA!! OW!” Sonic fell back down on his human behind. Silver, amused by Sonic’s pratfall, suppressed a small chuckle.
“
You alright?” Silver asked. 

“Ugh! Yeah….but damnit this body feels weird. Being five foot ten isn’t easy.” Sonic rubbed his bottom. Silver tried standing up as well, but then immediately fell back down like Sonic. 

“Ow!....man…..by the way where's Shadow and your other friends?” Silver asked. Sonic looked around to see if there were any signs of familiar faces, but to no avail. 


“Don’t know, but I don’t think Shadow would be far off, we should go look for him.” Sonic pondered, managing to stand up on his feet, still struggling to balance. He briefly listened to the vehicles in the distance to get a bead on which direction they should head. 

“Sounds like there’s a town over there.” Sonic pointed to their left. 
“Lets see if we can ask around to see where we are.” Sonic helped Silver up on his feet. He too had difficulty balancing in his new form but was able to right himself.

The two made their way through the trees and bushes towards the sound of civilization nearby. While they journeyed, Sonic thought about the fight they had with that mysterious black warrior. What the warrior had to say certainly troubled him, but what troubled him even more was the fact that the warrior fought just like him. 

“Who the hell was that guy?” Sonic held his head in confusion and weariness. 
“What was he doing to the towns people? Who was he working for? I pretty sure I’ve never seen him before, but why did he feel so familiar…..like….he was another me!”  He stopped in his tracks as more and more questions began to cloud his mind. However before he was about to give in to anguish, he felt a hand grip his shoulder, snapping him back to reality.

“Sonic, you alright?” Silver asked him. Sonic realized he was making Silver worry. He smiled, glad that he had someone watching his back. 

“I’m fine, just…...a bit overwhelmed right now.” Sonic replied. “Let’s just try and get to that town alright.” The two began moving forward again. While they walked, Silver decided to hang back a little to take in his surrounding. Since he had lived in an apocalyptic wasteland for most of his life, he couldn’t help but be mesmerised by an place so full of life. 

“Wow, this place is beautiful.” Silver said, gazing at the lush greenery around him. 

“Heh, you’re not wrong.” Sonic noted. They made their way through some bushes, and on the other side they managed to see some buildings through the trees.

“Hey! I see some buildings over there!” Sonic pointed to the buildings in the distance. 
“Let’s get over there quick!” 

“Right!” Silver agreed with him. The two quickened their pace. 

But Silver suddenly stopped when he heard something rustling in the bushes behind him. 

“Huh? What was that?” Silver said nervously. 

“What was what?” Sonic asked.

“I thought I heard something” Silver slowly moved towards the source of the rustling. Sonic decided to stay close behind him just in case.

“Uhh...hey Shadow is that you!?” Silver called into the bushes. The rustling continued for a few seconds, until it suddenly stopped and a menacing growl came from the bushes. This caused Silver to back away in fear. 

“Um...Silver I think we should-” Sonic tried to tell him that they should continue on, but he was interrupted when a large creature leaped out of the bushes and over their heads. 

“WHAA! What the-!!” The two ducked under the large creature. 

“Sonic! What was that!?” Silver said confusedly. Sonic looked behind them.

“Uh…...Silver…” Sonic said in fear of what he just saw. Silver turned around, and he had the exact same face as Sonic. 

The creature was a wolf-like creature with glowing green eyes. However, in place of fur, it instead was covered in a wood like epidermis, which made it all the more menacing to them. The creature slowly advanced on them

“Sonic….W-What do we do!?” Silver said, taking cover behind Sonic. 

“Heh..I know what we gonna do…” Sonic cracked his knuckles, ready to fight. 
“...were gonna beat the crap out of it!” Sonic assumed his fighting stance. The creature only proceeded to snarl at him more. 

“Alright! Let’s do thi-WHAA-OOOF!!” Sonic tried charging towards the creature but ended up falling flat on his face. Silver suppressed another chuckle. 

“Oww!” What the-?” Sonic said, confused as to why he didn’t speed towards the creature. However at that moment he realised something. 

“Don’t tell me! Are our powers-” Sonic came to the realization that his powers were gone. Silver, having heard Sonic’s revelation, Silver tried lifting a boulder using his psychokinesis, but no matter how hard he focused, the rock wouldn’t budge. 

“Oh no…..you’re right!” Silver also realized that his powers were gone. But their despair was cut short when the wolf-like creature, charged towards them. 

“Oh geez move it!” The two scrambled to evade the creature’s attack. The creature turned to face them once again, preparing to pounce on them. 

“There’s no  way we're beating that thing without our powers, RUN!!” The two proceed to run towards the buildings in the distance with the creature trailing behind them. While Sonic ran, he expected that the harder he pushed his legs, the faster he went. But no matter how hard he pushed his legs, he remained at the same speed.

“Pant Pant Dammit!! This is so awkward, running at this speed!!” Sonic commented, scrambling through the bushes, whacking branches out of the way. 

“We need to find Shadow quick!” Silver added, thinking that perhaps he wasn’t as unlucky as them, and still retained his powers. He looked back to see the creature hot on their tail.

“This way!” Sonic bolted to his left, catching Silver off guard. 

“Ach! Hey wait!!” Silver slipped as he tried switching directions. The two came to another small clearing. Then Sonic noticed some climbable trees.

“Climb the trees, quick” Sonic told Silver. 

“Are you sure-” Silver was cut off when he heard the sound of the creature coming their way. The two of them climbed a tree to try and hide from the creature. Once they were a suitable distance off the ground, they looked around for any sign of the creature. 

“I think he’s gone.” Sonic told him, his eyes darting around for any sign of the creature. 

“Are you sure?” Silver replied. The two waited for a few seconds for any sounds. But all they heard was the trees and the birds in the background.

“Sigh, I think so…” Sonic said, relieved that they had escaped their adversary. “Let’s go and look for Sha- WAH!” 

Sonic was interrupted we he felt himself being pulled down by the leg. They both looked down to see the creature from before pulling at his leg, snarling viciously at them. .

“Are you kidding me!?” Sonic exclaimed. He lost his grip on the branch he was hanging from and tumbled over the creature and landed behind it on the ground.

“Ooff!!” Sonic didn’t have time to lick his wounds, for the creature was already up in his face.

“Grr...screw off!” In an act of desperation, Sonic kicked the creature in the face, causing it to reel back. 

“Sonic, run!” Silver shouted. However he didn’t notice that the branch he was hanging onto was breaking. Sonic, still on the ground, backed up from the approaching creature, but then found his back against a tree. 

“Grr….this isn’t good!” Sonic didn’t have many options. He looked around for a way to escape, but the creature would get him before he could escape. Then the creature pounced on him. Sonic braced himself for the incoming attack. 

But just before the creature got to him, from out of nowhere a foot drove itself into it’s face, throwing it to the side. 
Sonic stood befuddled at what happened just now. But then he noticed a tall black figure standing in front of him, facing the creature. 
“Who’re-?” Sonic cut off when he saw the creature lunge towards the person. However the figure’s arm suddenly jotted out and grabbed the creature by the head, then proceeded to slam it into the ground, with enough force to damage the ground beneath it.

“Buzz off!!” The figure then sent the creature flying into a tree trunk with a devastating kick.  The creature whimpered in fear, and went into the bushes with it’s tail between it’s legs. 

Sonic and Silver looked at the mysterious newcomer, wondering who it could be. After looking for a few seconds, Sonic realized who the person was.

“Sh-Shadow? Is that you?” Sonic asked cautiously. The figure slowly stepped out of the shadows to reveal a tall orange-skinned boy with swept back black hair with red highlights. He wore an open grey jacket with a black t-shirt underneath. He also wore black pants with his Shadow's trademark hover shoes. 

“Hmph! Who else would it be faker?” Shadow replied in his usual aloof and somewhat cold demeanor. 

“Where were you?” Silver asked, still hanging from a tree branch. 

“I was somewhere else. I only managed to find you because of all the ruckus you guys made.” Shadow explained. 

“Well it’s not our fault, we couldn’t fight it off because our powers are gone.” Sonic picked himself up, and dusted himself off. 

“Well, you’re right. It appears our powers are not compatible with these bodies.” Shadow commented, tensing his muscles a little, still trying to get a feel for his new body. 

“So….what are we gonna do without the-WHAA! OW!!” Silver’s branch snapped and he felt to the ground with a thud. Shadow walked over to him.

“Best course of action would be to find civilization” Shadow helped Silver back on his feet.  

“Sigh Thanks.” Silver thanked Shadow for helping him up. 

“Yeah, we had the same idea.” Sonic agreed with him.  But then Silver remembered something important. 

“Wait! What about the chaos emeralds!?”  Silver blurted out worryingly. 

“Huh-? Oh right! ” Sonic searched the pockets on his clothes which were conveniently on him when he came here. To his shock he didn't find any.
"Shoot! I don't have any of them! What about you guys?" Sonic asked Silver and Shadow.

Shadow and Silver also searched the pockets on their clothes for the chaos emeralds.
Shadow came up with nothing.

"This isn't looking good" Shadow said disappointedly. 

"Oh! Hey guys! Look!" Silver brought his hand out of his pocket with the Cyan Chaos emerald. 

The three breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Well I guess one is better than nothing." Sonic remarked. 

"Yeah, but the other six must be scattered in this world." Shadow speculated. 

“Then we need to find them fast, before they fall into the wrong hands!” Silver said diligently. 

“I agree, wouldn’t want somebody activating chaos control by accident, and making things even worse.” Sonic added his two cents. Shadow gave the two a small smile, in response to their agreement.

“In any case, let’s head for those buildings over there.” Shadow pointed towards a few buildings in between the trees. 
"Silver you hang onto that emerald." Shadow entrusted the emerald to Silver.

"Uh...Right!" Silver put the emerald into the pocket of his jacket. 

“Right!” Sonic and Silver quickly agreed with Shadow. The three proceeded to make their way through the forest, moving through the bushes and in between the trees. While they made their way forward, Sonic decided to consult Shadow about the recent events that happened.

“Say Shadow. What do you thinking happened to the mysterious guy that we fought back on our world?” Sonic asked.	

“Hmmm….” Shadow took a few minutes to think. 

“What if he got transported here too?” Silver said nervously, uneager to face that warrior again, still feeling a little pain from the places he hit him.

“If he were here, then he would probably be already causing trouble.” Shadow replied.

“Why do you say that?” Sonic asked. 

“Remember, he was the first to fly into that portal, and wormholes have weird effects on time, so it’s possible that he’s been here for months, maybe even years.” Shadow explained. They continued to make their way towards the buildings. They were now close enough that they could somewhat make out what it is. 

“The town is just ahead, lets go.” Shadow told the other two. They finally got out of the forest, and looked at the civilization before them. They were in front of what looked like a school, for it had a track and a field. One thing they also noticed is that the civilians all were humanoids with colored skin, just like them. 

“Huh...looks peaceful enough. I mean nobody looks to be in danger.” Silver noted. 
“Come to think of it, this place is actually kinda pretty.” 

“Looks can be deceiving kid, so don’t let your guard down.” Shadow replied less optimistically. Shadow proceeded to go ahead. 

“Geez what a downer..” Silver muttered under his breath. 

“Come on lets go!” Sonic called to Silver. They crossed the street, and walked over to the side of the building.

“It….looks like a school.” Silver pointed out. 

“How do you know that?” Sonic asked. Silver pointed to the track and field to their right. They both looked over to see if anyone was there. They saw nobody on the field at the moment. 

“Hm...nobody’s there.” Silver commented. 

“Well it does look like it’s pretty early in the morning.” Shadow replied. Silver then noticed that it was rather cold. 

“Brrr! It’s cold, can we go inside?” Silver asked, shivering a little from the cold. 

“Alright, but don’t cause any trouble alright?” Shadow told him. Silver nodded in response. They find a maintenance door which lead inside. They walked down a rather dimly lit corridor. 

“Geez it’s dark….I can’t see.” Sonic complained. 

“There’s another door up ahead.” Shadow pointed to a door at the end of the corridor, with light on the other side of it. They go through the door and exit the hallway. They find themselves in a hallway lined with green lockers. It was adorned with green patterns on the walls. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver look around for any sign of a person. 

“Uhh...no one's here.” Sonic shrugged his shoulders. But Shadow thought otherwise.

“I wouldn’t be too sure.” He replied.

BRRRRRRRIIIIINNGGGG

The sound of a school bell rang, surprising the three. 

“GAH! What the-!?” The two were caught off guard by the sudden loud noise. Then dozens of students began flooding out of the classrooms.

“Whoa! Big crowd!” Sonic exclaimed as the crowd of students pushed against him. “Hey, watch where you’re goin’!” A student jeered at him. 

“Eh-excuse me. Sorry. Ow!” Silver had a hard time staying with Sonic and Shadow as the crowd pushed and elbowed him from all sides.

“Grr! Stay together!” Shadow called to them amidst the crowd. 

A few minutes later, the three managed to get out of the crowd, and were catching their breath in a corner. The crowd had calmed down enough so that it was possible to walk through the hall unhindered. 

“Pant Okay pant...we are definitely in a school.” Sonic said in between breaths, tired from all the pushing he had to do. 	

“Oww. Did not expect that coming.” Silver’s side ached from someone elbowing him hard in the side. 

“Get a grip you two..” Shadow chastised them both. The two managed to get their energy back shortly. 

“Okay, what’s our next move?” Sonic asked Shadow. 

“Our first priority is finding the rest of the chaos emeralds.” Shadow looked around for any signs of suspicious characters. “We should search this place. There’s a chance that one of the students here got their hands on a chaos emeralds.” 

“Can’t you just sense where they are, Shadow?” Sonic asked.

“Yeah, you do have more experience in chaos energy than both of us after all.” Silver added. Shadow took note of their observations, and checked if any of his senses were acting up. But he felt nothing of the sort. He deduced that his chaos energy senses were still disabled. 

“Hmmm...my powers must still be adapting to this body.” Shadow told them. 
“We’ll need to be more vigilant in our search.” 

“Aww..” Sonic and Silver let out a sigh of disappointment now that their search was going to be longer than they thought. But they both sucked it up, and were willing to move forward.

“Alright let’s go.” Sonic said. Shadow and Silver nodded in agreement. 

The three of them went off to search the school, still confused as to where they were. While they had no idea of what was to come, they couldn’t just stand back while the safety of not just their world, but also this world was at stake. 



Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had just got out of their last class, and were strolling along to their last class. 

“Yeesh….that class just wouldn’t end!” Rainbow Dash complained, stretching her back from sitting for over two hours. She seriously didn’t like history class.

“Really Dashie? Things just passed by in a flash for me!” Pinkie said in her typical cheerful/ditzy voice. For Pinkie, her wild imagination caused time for her to move faster than normally. 

“Hmm...I wonder why.” Applejack said sarcastically, alluding to how Pinkie was always off in her own world. Sometimes they wonder how Pinkie is able to keep and smile even when things were feelings down. They continued chatting about their day while they walked to their class. 

However they immediately stopped talking when they noticed a Green haired boy, wearing shades, wearing a dark leather coat about to pass them. They all looked at him nervously. However as they passed by him, he immediately stopped and glared at them. They all gasped in fear as his gaze pierced their soul. He just stood there silently for a few seconds. The three girls were to scared to say anything to him. But then a few seconds later, he stopped glaring at them and continued on his way. 

“Piss off you bunch a…..” He bitterly said under his breath as he walked down the corridor. The other students looked at him as he walked by them. The three girls took a moment to catch their breath. 

“Holy….crap! That was tense!” Rainbow Dash’s heart was pounding in her chest. While she hadn’t had to deal with Scrooge personally, she still made it clear to avoid him most of the time. 

“You tell me. I thought he was gonna strangle us to death er somethin’.” Applejack wiped some sweat off her forehead. Pinkie on the other hand, didn’t seem phased at all. 

“I don’t know about you, but I think he looks funny when he’s mad!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Dash and Applejack gave each other an annoyed look in response to Pinkie’s comment. They brush it off and they continued on their way towards their next class. 

“Seriously what is it with that guy? I haven’t seen anybody like that at CHS before.” Applejack noted, the person’s gaze still burned into her head. 

“What was his name again?” Rainbow Dash tried remembering his name, but came up empty. 

“Umm..was it...Sebastian? Shawn? Shane? Seymour?...” Pinkie began listing off names beginning with S. Then the name finally came into Dash’s head.

“Scrooge! Scrooge was his name!” Dash stated as the name finally came into her head.. 
“I swear….that guy has issues.” 

“I don’t know about that. Maybe he’s just misunderstood.” Applejack tried being sympathetic to Scrooge. 

“But that guy has been suspended four times already! I’m surprised principal Celestia hasn’t expelled him!” Rainbow Dash stated fiercely, getting angrier the more she thought about it. 
“..And that’s not even mentioning those he beats up!” 

“We know Dash! But getting angry about it won’t solve anything.” Applejack tried calming Dash down. While she understood where she was coming from, she didn’t want her to get too heated over this. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and managed to calm herself down, though thinking about Scrooge still irritated her. 

“Sigh I know….sorry.” Dash apologized to the others for her behavior. While she was still aggravated, she understood where her friend was coming from.  Applejack smiled at her, and patted her on the back. 

“Anyhoo, you guys remember Twilight tellin’ us to meet after school or somethin’?” Applejack asked. She remembered getting a text from Twilight for all of them to meet after school.

“Oh yeah! Twilight said she, Rarity, and Sunset found something last night.” Rainbow Dash remembered. She had gotten the text as well. 

“Let’s talk about this more after class alright?” Applejack replied, noting that it was almost time for their next class. The three girls nodded in agreement and they hurried to their next class. 


Meanwhile, in another part of the school, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were wandering around the school hallways, trying to get a feel for the place, as well as looking for any suspicious activity. They were already getting weird and suspicious looks from the other students. 

“What are we gonna do without our powers? If we face something on par with Eggman in this world, we’ll get creamed for sure!” Silver said nervously, his mind going back to their run in with that wolf like creature. 

“Perhaps, but if we move carefully and avoid any trouble, we should be fine.” Shadow said calmly, assessing their situation and devising a plan in his head.

“Ugh! How long are we gonna be here anyways?” Sonic asked, not looking forward to spending time here.

“As long as we need to find the chaos emeralds, and find a way home.” Shadow responded quickly. Silver felt a little relief that he was with Shadow who knew .

“Heh, nothing phases you, huh, Shadow?” Silver complimented him. Shadow gave him a brief glance, and gave him a small smile.

“Just focus on what's ahead, and we’ll be fine.” Shadow replied confidently. As they walked down the hallway, a question popped into Sonic’s mind.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” Sonic said. They stopped to hear Sonic’s question. 

“Out of all the places to get transported to, why this place?” Sonic explained his confusion to them. Both Shadow and Silver were stumped by that question. While Shadow had the most experience with Time and Space manipulation, he still couldn’t come up with a clear answer. But they didn’t have time for questions right now.

“That’s a question for another time. For now, don’t cause any trouble.” Shadow anticipated that both Sonic and Silver had a high probability of causing trouble around here.  Sonic became a little irritated that Shadow was alluding to him. 

“You saying that I’m a troublemaker?” Sonic protested. 

“To degree, yes.” Shadow answered nonchalantly. 
“I’m just saying if we get caught, our chances of getting home are zero.”

“Yeah, it’s just as Shadow said, we stay out of trouble, we won’t get caug-” 

“Excuse me, are you three new here?” Silver was interrupted by a woman’s voice from behind them. The three turned around to see a tall woman with yellow eyes, white skin, and long pale multicolored hair.

The three stood silent for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. Silver in particular was panicking on the inside, considering that he was the one who spoke too soon.

“Uh, well we- eh…..” Silver studdered as he tried to come up with an answer. But fortunately, Shadow stepped in to answer for him. 

“Yes, we are. Were just a bit lost, that’s all.” Shadow thought quickly and gave his answer. Silver sighed, relieved that Shadow saved him in the nick of time. The woman gave them a sincere smile.

“Well, then let be the first to welcome you three to Canterlot High School.” She said sincerely. 

“So that's what this place is called” Shadow thought to himself. 

“My name is Principal Celestia.” She introduced herself. The three were a bit surprised that she was being so sincere to them. It was rather refreshing that they were not met with hostility for once. 

“Uh...heh heh….thanks.” Silver replied, rubbing the back of his head nervously, still a little shaken. 

“I see that you haven’t been properly checked in. If I could take a few minutes of your time, I could sign you all in.” Celestia explained to them. Shadow stepped in again to speak for them. 

“Of course.” Shadow said calmly. 

“Alright then if you all could please follow me to my office.” Celestia showed them the way to her office. The three agreed to her request, and they proceeded to follow her down the corridor. Sonic walked next to Shadow and whispered into his ear. 

“Nice save..” Sonic whispered to him. 

“Just stay calm and no sudden movements.” Shadow responded. 

The three followed Principal Celestia back to their office. As the entered the office, a line of pictures on the wall caught Sonic’s attention. They all had a picture of an orange skinned girl with red and yellow hair. She was in a different dress in each picture, but she looked more arrogant and hostile as the pictures went down.

“Heh, her hair kinda looks like bacon.” Sonic snickered a little at his thought. 

“Alright, take a seat you three.” Celestia told them. The three took a seat in front of Celestia’s desk, while Celestia sat at her desk and brought out a folder from one of the drawers. 

“I’m just going ask you a few questions regarding your background and education. It will only take a few minutes, so you’ll be able to get to your classes in time.” Celestia explained. Sonic felt completely unenthusiastic about attending school of all things. Shadow had no strong feelings about school whatsoever. Silver on the other hand was rather interested in how this would turn out.

“So may I start with knowing your last names please.” Celestia asked them politely. The three looked at each other, unsure of how to answer at first. But then Shadow stepped in again.

“Our last name is Genesis,” Shadow answered. Sonic and Silver gave him an odd look, confused as to why he would pick that name of all things.

“Um, your last names are all Genesis?” Celestia raised an eyebrow. Silver stepped in to add onto Shadow’s charade.

“Uh you see, were all brothers.” Silver clarified. 

“I see.” Celestia’s suspicion died down a bit now that she understood why they all had the same name. However, she still found something odd about their last name. 

“What an odd last name.”  She thought.


“Alright, may you please tell me your hometown or where you went to school last?” Celestia asked them again. Shadow stepped in for them once again. 

“Were from a small town on the coast called ‘Emerald Town’. It’s a very obscure place, it’s not even on the map.” Shadow explained to her. 

“Okay then....” Celestia took some time to write what he said down. She proceeds to ask them some more questions. Most of them related to their background, medication, and some other miscellaneous things. About twenty minutes passed during that time. 

“Alright, that should be everything I need to know.” Celestia put everything she wrote down into a folder and put it in her desk. She then brought out another folder and passed out a paper to each of them. 

“Those are your schedules for your classes here at CHS” Celestia explained to them. The three each took a look at each of their schedules. 

Sonic’s schedule is that he had history in the morning, algebra at 10:00,  after lunch he had biology, and P.E at 3:00. 

Shadow had Algebra 2 in the morning, Physics at 10:00, History after lunch, and Geography afterwards. 

Silver had history in the morning like Sonic, Algebra at 10:00, Art after lunch, and P.E at 3:00

Celestia put the folder back in her drawer.

“That should be everything. Just make sure you get to your classes on time, study hard, and maybe make some friends.” Celestia said optimistically. The three got up from their seats and prepared to leave. 

“Thanks a lot Ms. Celestia.” Silver said politely. The three got up and exited Celestia’s office. However, just as Shadow was about to leave, he turned to thank her.

“Thank you.” He said before exiting the room. 

After they left, Celestia sat back in her chair.

“It’s been forever since I felt those senses go off.” Celestia rubbed her face wearly.  Something about the three perplexed her. Although she hasn’t used her magic in centuries, her magic senses sensed an extremely familiar energy from them that she hadn’t felt for nearly a millennium. 

“I felt it the second I approached those three. Don’t tell me…..is it…..” Celestia’s eyes dilated when she realized that it might be something she swore to never speak about. But then she considered that her senses might be overreacting again. 

“....No! no, it’s not possible! I must be overthinking things.” She pushed the thought out of her head. She had a ton of paperwork to do, and she was not looking forward to it. 


Sonic, Shadow, and Silver walked down the hallway, looking at their schedules. Sonic was not enthusiastic about attending school at all. In fact it made him loath being in this school even more.

“Awwww geeezzz! Do I seriously have to attend school?” Sonic complained, really not liking the situation he was in. 

“Deal with it faker, it’s not like we're enjoying this either.” Shadow countered back. 

“I don’t know….I’m actually kind of interesting in this.” Silver said. 

“Pssh!.....I’m the fastest thing alive Silver. I don’t do school.” Sonic retorted arrogantly. 

“Alright that’s enough! For now we just play along and don’t get into trouble okay?” Shadow firmly told them. 

“Okay okay fine.” Sonic said irritably. 

“We’ll meet at Lunch, got it?” Shadow told them. The two nodded in agreement. Then they all went off to go their separate classes. Sonic walked alongside Silver with a irritated look on his face. Silver looked at Sonic, wondering why he was being so bitter about this. 

“Why are you so upset about this?” Silver asked him. Sonic took a few seconds to calm down. 

“Sigh I’m sorry. Just not having my powers and everything just really ticks me off.” Sonic explained. 
“Plus this new form is just weird.” He was still adjusting to his new body. Silver understood where he was coming from. He too was still adjusting to his new body, and not having his powers made him nervous. However he remembered Shadow’s words.

“I know what you mean, but we can’t just charge in head first like we used to do. We gotta do this carefully, otherwise our chances of getting home are gone.” Silver explained, a hint of optimism in his voice. Sonic looked at Silver, surprised by his optimism. For some reason, he felt a brotherly connection to him now. He couldn’t help but smile and laugh.

“Thanks bro!” Sonic put his arm around him and offered him a fist bump. 

“B-bro?” Silver was taken aback by Sonic’s sudden sincerity. He never thought Sonic would call him bro of all thing.

“Bro? As in….brother….?” Silver thought. While he didn’t know what to think, he was endeared by Sonic’s brotherly affection, and gave Sonic a heartfelt smile.

“Heh! Yeah!” Silver happily returned the fist bump. Part of him couldn’t believe that a time, they were bitter enemies. Now here they are, Sonic treating him like a little brother. They continued walking to their next class. 

Meanwhile, while Shadow was walking to his next class. He overheard Sonic and Silver’s conversation. Mixed feelings began going through his head. His mind went back to his memories of Maria and all the wonderful times they had together. The memories caused a small smile to form on his face. But then a gunshot sounded in his head, shattering those memories, causing him to stop and hold his head in anguish. 

“Ghh! Ah!” Shadow literally felt the pain as the memories flooded back in. However he couldn’t allow himself to give into despair. He took deep breaths as he brought himself back to his original composure. After he finally calmed himself down, he continued onward to his next class. But the memories kept wanting to crawl back into his head.

“It’s just a memory…..it’s just a memory…..”
> Episode 2 - Chaos Stranding (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sat at her desk, reading her book. She couldn’t stop thinking about what happened last night, the night that mysterious object fell from the sky and nearly killed them. She currently had it with her in her bag, because she felt it was too risky to leave it at home. She put Spike in charge of watching it when she wasn’t watching it. She wish she could go back to equestria, where all of her texts on mysterious objects from other worlds are. She could research it over there, but the portal still isn’t opened yet. 

“Oh….I can’t take my mind off of that emerald.” Twilight thought as she slumped forward on her desk. She was completely stumped. She had nothing in her brain about an emerald from space that reacts caustically to equestrian magic. While she doubted that the school’s library had anything, she figured she could check it out anyways. 

“Hey Twilight, everything alright? You’ve been stressing out over that thing a lot recently.” Sunset Shimmer worried about Twilight stressing out so much. Twilight sighed, not knowing how what to think of this whole situation.

“Sorry, what happened last night really scared me.” Twilight explained her feelings to Sunset. 
“I’m just scared that this is something I don’t know how to react to.” Sunset understood how she felt, she had a lot of experience using friendship magic, so finding something that she didn’t understand about it would make her nervous.

“Don’t worry Twilight, we just need some time to- uh...figure things out! That’s all.” Sunset said to her. Twilight looked at her friend, grateful that she was being considerate of her. 

“Thanks Sunset, but this still concerns me a lot. I….just can’t help it.” Twilight replied, still thinking about what happened last night. Sunset sighed, she had been thinking about it too, and it worried her as well. However she knew that they needed to keep a level head, otherwise they will start making bad decisions and worsen the situation. Sunset looked at the clock and noticed it was time for class to begin. 

“Um, why don’t you think about it later, class is beginning.” Sunset told Twilight who hadn’t noticed. Twilight sighed disappointedly.

“Sigh Okay, we’ll inform the others about it after school okay?”  Twilight told her. 

“Right” Sunset quickly agreed. Some of the last of the class’s students entered the classroom. However one particular student caught Sunset attention with his black and red spiked hair. 

Shadow entered his algebra 2 classroom. He immediately noticed people’s eyes dart to him. He scanned the classroom for any prying eyes. He became suspicious of a certain yellow and red haired girl in the class when their eyes met momentarily. Only for her to immediately look away. Shadow thought nothing of it and looked for a place to sit.

“Oh I forgot! Um class!” The teacher rose from his seat when he noticed Shadow in the classroom. 
“Everyone, I forgot to mention that we have a new student here!” Shadow grunted a little under his breath. He didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself, but the teacher was doing just the opposite. All the student’s eyes were now on him. 
“Why don’t you introduce yourself to the class now.” The teacher smiled.  Some of the students were whispering about him to each other. They waited for him to speak. Shadow figured that he should just introduce himself and take a seat.

“My name is Shadow. Nice to meet you.” Shadow said as politely as possible, though his deep voice certainly didn’t help. The other students continued to look at him and whisper to each other about him. 

“Well, we're happy to have you here at Canterlot high! Why don’t you take a seat and we’ll get started.” The teacher pointed at a seat next to Sunset Shimmer. Shadow said nothing as he walked over to his seat. 

“What’s with that look on his face?” One of the students whispered to another, alluding to his perpetual frown.

“He looks like a delinquent.” Another student whispered. 

Shadow ignored their whispering and took his seat next to Sunset. Once Shadow took his seat, Sunset thought that while she was very suspicious of him, she thought she should at least try and be friendly with him.

“Um...Hi there.” Sunset said, trying to get his attention. Shadow glanced over at her. 

“I’m Sunset Shimmer. It’s um...nice to meet you.” Sunset said cheerfully. Shadow’s expression didn’t change. He thought that he didn’t have any business with someone he doesn’t know at the moment. He proceeded to look away from her.

Sunset felt a little uneasy at his cold demeanor. She thought that maybe he wasn’t much of a talker. She sighed, a little sad that he was the cold type. But just as she turned away from him, she heard him speak. 

“Nice to meet you too.” Shadow finally said with a hint of sincerity in his voice. Sunset was a little surprised by his response. She smiled a little at his reply. 

“Alright class. Since we have gone over a lot of the material in this class, I was thinking that today’s opening problem should be something much more difficult than before.” The teacher started speaking. Nearly the entire class groaned with disappointment at the assignment. 

“Now class! Don’t think for a second that math is useless.” The teacher started furiously writing on the chalkboard.  The problem to be solved spanned nearly the entire board. It consisted of several different segments, sometimes each enclosed in several brackets. Finally the teacher finished writing the problem. Immediately the entire class was baffled at the complexity of the problem.

“Is this a little overboard” One student whispered.

“Our teacher is completely bonkers.” Another said. 

While Twilight was no stranger to advanced equations, the way the professor wrote it made it extremely hard to follow.
“This is a little extreme even for me.” Twilight said to herself, still attempting to figure out the problem in her head, but to no avail.

“Now I’m sure at least a few of you have been paying attention, so I’m sure a few of you can answer this problem.” The teacher confidently spoke. The class remained silent. The teacher sighed disappointedly.
“Sigh Alright, perhaps to incentivise you, whoever answers this equation correctly will get extra credit. “ The teacher attempted to give the class a little more motivation. 

While it didn’t seem to do much, it did manage to get a few students to noticeably start thinking about it. Sunset herself was already thinking about it and in fact had almost come up with the answer in her head. She was about to raise her hand to answer to question, but another voice beat her to it. 

“I’ll do it.” Shadow said quickly. The entire class gasped as he spoke. Sunset and Twilight were particularly surprised. The teacher on the other hand was very pleased.

“Ah yes! Perfect! Can you please come up and give us the answer?” The teacher asked Shadow. Shadow got up from his seat, walked over to the chalkboard, and picked up the chalk. Some of the students continued to whisper to each other, commenting on his appearance, or demeanor. 

“The guy looks like a delinquent, he probably just wanted to show off or something” Some of the other students whispered to each other. 

“Heh, really? The guy with the absurd hairstyle is gonna do this problem?” A few female students giggled a little. 

As Shadow read the problem, he remembered his time with his creator, Dr. Gerald Robotnick. He remembered the doctor teaching him advanced calculus and physics whenever he wasn’t with Maria. It came easily to Shadow, especially in his young age. However, Shadow began to block the memories out, for he didn’t want the following memories to come flooding back. Sunset and Twilight watched Shadow with curious eyes. Sunset in particular was curious as to what Shadow would actually do. 

After analysing the problem for a good few seconds, Shadow started writing on the board. He wrote quickly, but not as furiously as the teacher. He wrote his answer on the board and set the chalk down. 
The class was rather surprised that he was able to answer it. Shadow stood back to let the teacher read his answer. 

“Will that suffice?” Shadow said aloofly. The teacher looked at his answer for a little while. He then double taked at how accurate his answer was. 

“I-um….that...is correct…” The teacher studdered. The entire class was taken aback. Some were impressed with his knowledge, others were skeptical. 

“Whoa, the guy’s real smart for a delinquent.” One student said to another. 

“Pfft...what a show off.” Another student arrogantly said under his breath.  
Sunset and Twilight were rather taken aback that he was able to answer the question correctly. 

“I wonder where he learned advanced algebra from.” Sunset speculated, her interest in Shadow began to rise. Twilight was both impressed and a little concerned. While she certainly didn’t doubt Shadow’s answer, his mysterious and somewhat cold aura made it somewhat uncanny.

“He certainly is a strange person.” Twilight kept her guard up. She knew anything could happen in this world, so she decided that she should tread carefully around things she doesn’t fully understand. 

“What makes you say that Twilight?” Sunset asked her.

“Oh! uh...I don’t really know. It’s just he seems….so…..well….” Twilight struggled to finish her sentence, then she noticed Shadow sit down next to them, his cold aura evermore imposing.

“...uh...cold….” Twilight finally finished her sentence as Shadow’s cold aura washed over her. 
Sunset looked back over at Shadow. His cold demeanor certainly didn’t go over her head. 

“Well, I do agree he doesn’t exactly strike me as the friendly type.” Sunset replied quietly as to not let Shadow hear her. But despite her attempts to hide her voice, Shadow could still hear her. 

“Hmph….It appears I made quite a stir with that. People are already starting to doubt me.” Shadow thought, knowing that he didn’t expect to make any allies anytime soon. He expected people’s opinions of him to lower now. 

“But I don’t know. He could be a nice person underneath all that.” He heard Twilight say a few seconds later. He was rather caught off guard by this. 

“Yeah I guess so. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover after all.” Sunset replied

After listening in to their conversation, Shadow began to ponder the possibility of them being potential allies. 
“They certainly aren’t hostile or confrontational. And there is something about them that’s different from the others. They may make reliable allies.” However he remembered the weight of their situation.
“But are they capable of handling a conflict of this scale? I have no idea what the inhabitants of this world are capable of.”After pondering for a little bit more he decided to play it safe. 
“Probably best not to involve anybody in this.” Shadow thought. However, he then remembered the two people he was stranded with.
“I better tell those two to not make any relationships here.” Shadow said to himself. 

“Hmm? You say something?” Sunset looked over at him with curious eyes. Shadow was unaware that she was listening to him. 

“Huh?....oh uh….nothing…..” Shadow replied, trying to divert her attention from him. 

“Hmm?” Sunset still was slightly suspicious of him. While she wanted to ask him more questions, the teacher began speaking, interrupting her thoughts. 

“Alright class, with that out of the way let us start the lesson.” The teacher said. Sunset and Twilight got out their pencil’s and notebooks. Shadow did his best to try and look like he’s paying attention, even if it wasn’t a subject he was interested in.


Meanwhile in another Classroom. 

“Now class, if you look in page 152 of your textbook, you’ll find….”	

Sonic was having the most boring time of his life. He was slumped forward over his desk, barely awake. The history teacher was rattling off terms and things that he didn’t even known, let alone interested. He let out a noticeable yawn as the disinterest further pushed him to go to sleep. Silver on the other hand was really into what the teacher was saying. He was writing down everything the teacher put on the board. 
Sonic was just about to fall asleep when Silver tapped him on the shoulder. 

“Hey Sonic, don’t fall asleep man. Aren’t you the least bit interested in this?” Silver whispered to him. Sonic grumbled tiredly as he looked over at Silver, slightly annoyed.

“Silver, were not here to actually go to school, we're supposed to find a way back home.” Sonic complained. Silver was befuddled by his statement. 

“Well at least we can try to blend in!” Silver whispered back while simultaneously writing down notes. Sonic let out another yawn and proceeded to stretch some more. 

“Yeah…..well you do that, I’m just gonna sleep...like him.” Sonic gestured to the student next to him, who was fast asleep on his desk. Sonic then proceed to plump his head on his desk, after which he immediately fell asleep. 

Silver rolled his eyes in annoyance of Sonic’s laziness, letting out a sigh. “I just don’t get you sometimes.” Silver said out loud. 

“You don’t get what Silver?” The teacher suddenly spoke to him. 

“Oh!” Silver jumped in his seat, he looked around and saw the other students looking at him awkwardly (the one’s that were awake anyways. 

“Uhhh….um….it’s nothing..uh..ma’am..” Silver apologized politely. The teacher then looked at Sonic who was asleep on his desk. 

“Mr. Sonic, can you give us the answer to question number 13 please.” The teacher spoke to him. Sonic remained asleep, much to the annoyance of the teacher and the amusement of the classroom.

 “Mr. Sonic!”  She said in a raised voice. 

The Silver’s anxiety rose the longer Sonic didn’t respond. He tried to nudge him gently to wake him up. 
“Sonic….!” Silver said between clenched teeth. He repeatedly nudged him frantically, trying to wake him up. 
“Sonic!!” Silver said slightly louder. 

“Hmm!!” Sonic swatted Silver’s hand away in tired annoyance. Silver having enough of Sonic’s defiance, grabbed him by his blue hair and slammed him on his desk.

“DAHH!! Silver! What the hell is wro-!” 

“Mr. Sonic!!”  The teacher said loudly.  Sonic fell silent, and looked around, the entire class was looking at him.  He remained silent as he didn’t know what to say. 

“Can you tell us the answer to question 13?” The teacher told him, with a stern look on her face. Sonic’s heart sank as he realized that he didn’t know any of the material. 

“Uhhhhh…..” However he eventually gave in.
“Sigh…..I’m sorry I don’t know.” Sonic admitted regretfully. The teacher sighed disappointedly.

“Sigh Well at least your honest about it. Just try and stay awake, otherwise it’s detention for you.” The teacher said firmly. Sonic gave a sigh of relief, that could have gone a whole lot worse. But his relief was short lived when he realized that he still had to sit through this boring class. 

“Hey Silver…..” Sonic said drowsily, his eyelids getting heavy once again. 
“How much longer do we have to sit here?” 

“You serious? It’s only been thirty minutes and there’s still two hours left of this class.” Silver replied. Sonic just sat there with a blank expression on his face before he plopped his head on his desk from the frustration of being in this situation. 

2 Hours Later

BRRRRRRNNNNNNGGGGGGG

The hallways of Canterlot High sprung to life with students pouring out of their classrooms, each chatting with one another. Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer stepped out of their Alegbra 2 class. They were now talking about their next move regarding the mysterious emerald they found. 

“You wonder why it hurts us when we touch it Twilight?” Sunset asked, remembering the emerald’s volatile reaction to their touch. Twilight herself was juggling a bunch of ideas in her head as well.

“I don’t know much about that either. I’ll probably run some tests on it to see if I can get an idea of how it works.” Twilight told Sunset. She gave out a concerned sigh.

“I’m just concerned if we run into any trouble because of this.” Sunset began to catch on to how stressed Twilight seemed to be. 

“You really seem to be on edge as of late. ” Sunset asked her. Twilight noticed Sunset’s concern for her.
“I mean, you’ve been like this even before this. You sure you're alright?” Sunset continued. Twilight sighed in defeat and decided to explain her feeling to Sunset.

“I’m sorry, guess I’m still a little homesick. I shouldn’t worry you.” Twilight explained. Sunset gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Don’t worry Twilight, no matter what happens, we’ll get you home safely.” Sunset said with a sincere and determined smile. Twilight gave her a heartfelt smile back.

“Thanks, I don’t know what I would do without you guys.” Twilight told her. 

Sunset gave her a reassuring smile, however she noticed Shadow exit the classroom. Shadow scanned to the hallway for a while, deciding what his next move should be. He recalled that he had lunch after class. So he proceeded to head for the mess hall.

“Hey look, it’s the new guy.” Sunset pointed at him. Twilight looked at him and got a strange feeling. Ever since he arrived in class, her magic senses have been going off, similar to how they went off when she was near the emerald. 

“Did you feel it Sunset?” Twilight asked if her magic senses felt the same thing. Sunset recalled her magic senses going off a little, but they weren't as acute as Twilight’s. 

“Yeah…” Sunset’s curiosity rose along with Twilight’s. 

“I’m gonna go talk to him.” Sunset began to follow him. 

“Wha-!? Hold up!” Twilight stopped her. 

“You sure about this? We don’t want to reveal our secret to him.” Twilight explained worryingly. Sunset gave her another reassuring smile.  

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him anything. I got this!” Sunset confidently flipped her hair and went off to go talk to Shadow. 

Twilight sighed hoping Sunset is able to handle herself. 

“Sigh…...maybe this stress is getting to me, maybe everything will be fine.” Twilight told herself. Spike popped out of her backpack. 

“Yeah….as long as anything doesn’t happen to the mirror, we should be fine.” Spike reassured her. Twilight smiled at Spike’s cheerful reassurance. 

“Right! Now how about we head over to the library.  We’ve got some studying to do!” Twilight said. “You said it!” Spike agreed, and they both headed to the library, to try and find anything on the mysterious object.

Sonic stretched as he and Silver stepped out of class. He felt so relieved to get out of that desk he was confined to for two hours. 

“Ahhh! Finally! I thought my head was going to explode!” Sonic said full of relief. 

“Seriously could you be anymore stereotypical?” Silver rolled his eyes at Sonic’s lack of patience. The two headed towards the mess hall where they were to meet up with Shadow to discuss their next course of action, pushing their way through students. As they made their way to the mess hall, Sonic became curious about Silver’s time in the future.

“So Silver..” Sonic began talking to him. 

“Yeah?” Silver replied.

“So….uh…..what was it like in the future? Ya know….before all this?” Sonic asked him. Silver was slightly surprised that Sonic expressed interest in the future. 

“Well...things are certainly better. We are starting to rebuild what’s left, and it looks like people have hope for the future.” Silver explained, with hope in his eyes. Sonic felt happy that Silver’s home was doing good. 

“Heh, that’s great man.” Sonic complimented him. Silver smiled, heart warmed by Sonic’s compliment.

 “Um….did Blaze ever come back?” Sonic asked. 

The smile faded from Silver’s face, as the memory of Blaze sacrificing herself to seal Iblis came back. He sighed, trying to hold back his strong emotions. 

“No…...she’s still gone…..” Silver stopped in his tracks, his emotions rising, as the memory of blaze played in his head. Sonic stopped walking, noticing Silver’s sadness. Then Sonic began feeling sadness in his heart. He also considered Blaze a friend, and it saddened him to know that she wasn’t revived after Solaris’s defeat. But he knew Silver hurt the most from this loss. He went over and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Silver looked up at Sonic.

“I miss her too. But I’m sure she’s proud of how far you’ve come.” Sonic told him confidently. 

“Sonic I…..” Silver was so heartfelt by Sonic’s compassion that he didn’t know what to say. But he then took Sonic’s words to heart. He gave Sonic a determined smile.

“Thanks!” Silver said proudly to him, happy that Sonic was at his side. 

“Heh! That’s the Silver I know!” Sonic patted him on the arm.  Silver chuckled cheerfully at Sonic. But then they both heard growling, and it was coming from their stomachs. 

“Yeeesh, I’m hungry..” Silver rubbed his stomach. 

“You tell me, I don’t think we’ve eaten since we got here. Come on let’s go!” Sonic ran ahead of Silver towards the mess hall.

“Heh Yeah!” Silver smiled and ran off after him. However as he ran through the hallway, he accidentally bumps past a green haired boy.

“Oof! Uh Sorry!” Silver apologized. The boy didn’t say anything at first, but then he turned and glared at Silver, which made him incredibly uneasy. Silver backed away slowly, afraid of what he was going to do. The boy growled under his breath for a few seconds, before he turned and continued on his way. Silver let a sigh of relief, he thought the person was going to slug him. 

“Who was that guy?” Silver asked, still a little nervous. 

“Hey Silver! Come on ya slowpoke!” Sonic called from down the hall. With that, Silver turned and ran down the hall to join up with Sonic.  

Meanwhile, in another part of the school, Shadow was walking towards the mess hall, making his way through the crowds of students. As he walked, he decided to see if his powers came back. He quickly tensed his muscles, expecting his arm to crackle with electrical energy. But nothing happened. He sighed and continued on his way.

“I hope those two haven’t caused any trouble yet.” Shadow said to himself, reminding himself of Sonic’s capacity to cause trouble. 

Sunset peeked around the corner as she tailed Shadow. She sees him walking down the hallway, thinking he is oblivious to her presence. With that she came out from behind the corner and proceeded to walk down the hallway, walking at a slightly swift pace to catch up with him. As she approached, her magic senses began fluctuating.

“There’s obviously something up with this guy.  Never seen him before, so I should probably try and be on good terms with him first. “ Sunset thought to herself. She cleared her throat and prepared to speak to him.

“Um, hi there!” Sunset called out from across the hallway. Shadow paused and looked to see the yellow and red haired girl from earlier wave to him. He stayed on guard, wondering what this girl wants with him. 

“I couldn’t help but notice that you’re new here.” Sunset walked up to him, remaining friendly and sincere. Shadow still kept his guard up, but decided to respond to diffuse any unnecessary tension. 	

“Yes…...what of it?” Shadow replied. 

“Well, I just thought that you maybe would want some help knowing the place.” Sunset said sincerely. 

“I don’t need any help. Mind your own business” Shadow wasn’t ready to put his trust in a stranger just yet. He turned and started walking again. Sunset was befuddled at Shadow’s skepticism, and she wasn’t going to have any of it. 

“Wh....? Now hold on a second!” Sunset called out to him. She ran up in front of him and stood firmly in his path. Shadow stopped walking, as Sunset was standing in his way grumbling under his breath in annoyance. 

“You don’t have to be so cynical.” Sunset said to him sternly, not willing to back down. Shadow didn’t back down either.

“Who said I was being cynical? I just said I didn’t want any help.” Shadow replied calmly. 

“Well- still, I don’t see as a reason to push people away like that.” Sunset argued back. Shadow began to get slightly annoyed with her. 

“Sigh….look, I already established that I’m new here. And I’m not ready to put my trust in a stranger just yet.” Shadow’s tone got slightly more fierce. 
“Now if you’ll excuse me.” He walked around Sunset and continued on his way. 

But Sunset wasn’t about to give up yet. 
“Let me ask you….” Sunset questioned him. Shadow decided to stop momentarily to hear her out. 
“Do you even know where you’re going?” Sunset asked decisively. 

Shadow doubletaked. Then he realized that he didn’t even know where the cafeteria was. He grunted under his breath in slight embarrassment. Sunset smirked at his little blunder. 
Shadow slowly turned around to speak to her. 

“Okay ...maybe I don’t know this place as much as I thought.” Shadow begrudgingly admitted to her. He honestly had no idea where he was going. Sunset giggled a little at how he got flustered. 

“Well, that’s all you had to say if you didn’t know where to go.” Sunset dropped her stern tone for a more friendly one. 
“So how ‘bout it? I give you a tour of the school, and you won’t get lost again. Plain and simple!” Sunset said cheerfully, hoping that her optimism would win him over. 

Shadow took a moment to weigh his options. 
“I still don’t trust her, for all I know she could be trying to pry into our secret.” Shadow thought to himself, still looking at Sunset, who still had a sincere smile on her face. 
“But then again…...I don’t know that much about this world, so maybe I could get some valuable information about this place. But I’ve got to stay on guard.” After thinking for a few more seconds, he finally had his answer.

“Sigh Alright you win. Show me around this place.” Shadow answered her. 

“Great!” Sunset cheered, happy that Shadow came around. 
“Just follow me then. I’ll give you the grand tour!” She gestured for him to follow her as she walked down the hall. Shadow reluctantly began following her. 

"Be quick. I’m not here to be a social butterfly.” Shadow commented cynically. 

“Don’t worry! We’ll be done and at the mess hall in no time.” Sunset said, still miffed at how cynical he was being. 
“What is his deal anyways? I get that he’s anti-social, but he takes the cake for that stereotype!” Sunset thought to herself. 

“She’s a nice girl I’ll admit.” 

Sonic and Silver opened the doors to the mess hall, where they saw dozens of students sitting at tables eating their lunch, chatting amongst each other, and doing various other things like doing their homework. 

Sonic and Silver smelled the food that was being prepared, and it only made their stomachs growl harder. 

“Oh man, It’s about time I got my hands on a Chili dog. I’m starving.” Sonic said after smelling the food in the air. 

“I wonder what kind of food they have here?” Silver said curiously. However, he noticed some of the other students turn their eyes to them.

“Uh I think we better move, people are looking at us.” Silver said to Sonic, trying to push him along. 

“Yeah but what about Shadow? He was supposed to meet us here.” Sonic stated, remembering that they would meet Shadow later at the cafeteria. 

“We’ll just have to wait for him, come on!” Silver pushed Sonic towards the line of students over by the buffet. 

They both grabbed a tray and waited in line. The line was considerably long so they couldn’t exactly see what was up on the menu. Sonic quickly grew impatient.

“Ugh! I never signed up for this!” Sonic complained. 

While Silver was irritated with Sonic’s complaining, he couldn’t help but agree with him, for he was starving. However his attention was diverted when he heard a female voice pass by. He turned to look out of curiosity. He saw a girl with white skin, Curled Purple hair, and diamond blue eyes. She wore a white dress shirt, a purple skirt with a three diamond pattern on it, and purple boots. 

She was walking by the line with a tray of food with another girl. For some reason Silver couldn’t take his eyes off her. He thought she was beautiful. When she smiled, she was even more angelic. Her beauty caused him to not pay attention to his surroundings. 

“Silver?” He heard a voice say to him, but he didn’t respond to it. 
“Silver!!” The same voice yelled at him. He suddenly snapped back to reality. He stood with a blank look on his face as he saw that the line had moved, and Sonic was further up. 
“You’re holding up the line.” Sonic said casually. Silver looked back to see the line of students looking slightly irritated or raising an eyebrow at him. He suddenly felt incredibly embarrassed. He let out a nervous chuckle.

“Heh Heh...uh sorry.” Silver apologized nervously before moving up the line. 

After ten minutes, they finally managed to get to the food. There was a moderate variety of food, like mac n cheese, chips, cereal, etc. What you would usually find at a school cafeteria. However Sonic didn’t care about most of that because he was busy looking for the Chili dogs. He was not pleased

“Grrrrr…. come on where are you?” Sonic said eagerly, his stomach growling more as he looked. 

Silver on the other hand had grabbed a sizable portion of mac n cheese, along with some chips and a drink. He noticed that Sonic had not grabbed anything yet. 

“What’s up, aren’t you hungry Sonic?” Silver asked, grabbing a cupcake. Sonic continued to look frantically for any chilidogs. 

“Aw come on!” Sonic complained as he couldn’t see any sign of a chilidog, or a regular hot dog for that matter. However he saw the cafeteria lady on the other side of the buffet. He figured that maybe he could ask her. 

“Uh excuse me?” Sonic called to her. The cafeteria looked over in his direction as she was refilling one of the trays in the buffet. 

“You don’t happen to have chilidogs do ya?” Sonic asked her. The lady gave him a confused look. 

“What?” She answered. 

“I said do you have any chilidogs?” Sonic repeated, getting slightly annoyed. The lunch lady just continued to give him a confused look. 
“..........................Never heard of em’” She finally replied. Sonic’s mind went blank for a second, his brain trying to process what she just said. 

WHAAAT!!??” Sonic blurted out loudly. 

“Wah!- Sonic what the-?” Silver was startled by Sonic’s outburst.

“You’re kidding me right!? Please don’t tell me you just said that!” Sonic was up in the lunch lady’s face, unable to take in what she just said. 

“Oi kid what’s your deal!?” The lunch lady demanded that he backed off.

“You don’t understand! I can’t possibly live without-”

 Silver panicked as he looked to see the other students giving him  and Sonic suspicious and weird looks. Silver bolted forward and grabbed Sonic by the hair.

“OW Hey! Silver! What are you-!?” Silver pulled him back. The lunch lady had an incredibly irritated look on her face. 

“What’s his problem?” She asked as she scowled at the two of them. 

“Uhhhhh..he’s just having a rough day alright” Silver chuckled nervously as Sonic fought against the grip on his hair. 

“Is he now?” The lunch lady raised a suspicious eyebrow. 
“Well he better behave or otherwise he’s out of the messhall. Got it?” 

“Heh heh yes ma’am.”  Silver laughed nervously and proceeded to drag Sonic by the hair down the line. 

“Grr hey Silver knock it off will ya!” Sonic got Silver to let go of his hair. 

“Geez you didn’t need to be so rough!” Sonic complained. Silver rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Did you forget that we are in unknown territory? Last thing we need is to attract unwanted attention. “ Silver said, grabbing a hot dog. 

Sonic eyed Silver’s hot dog, and he immediately envisioned steaming hot and delicious Chili slathered all over it. His mouth began salivating and stomach began growling.

“B-But my Chili Dog…” Sonic whimpered, distressed at the fact that he probably won’t be seeing another chili dog for some time. Silver rolled his eyes and put a hot dog on his tray. 

“Oh quit being such a baby.” Silver replied, and went off to go find a table. Sonic sighed frustratedly and followed suit. 
Nearby a certain Rainbow haired girl was eyeing the two. She raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly who those two were. 

“Who the heck are those two?” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself. However another thought entered her head.
“.....and where the heck is Sunset?”



“.....And right here is the library. CHS has quite the collection of books, so I’m sure you won’t get bored.” Sunset introduced the library to Shadow. Shadow took a brief look at CHS’s library, it had two levels, both with tall bookshelves, at the top was a glass dome which allowed light to pass through. He took a few moments to survey the library’s layout. 

Sunset still maintained an air of cautiousness around Shadow. She was keeping an eye out for any suspicious behavior from him. “He seems to be acting normal. Though that doesn’t explain my magic senses going off.” Sunset thought to herself. 

“Hmph, looks nice I guess.” Shadow commented. He then turned to head to the next place. Sunset ran up in front of him. She thought for a moment about what she should say to him next. She wanted to know more about him, but didn’t want to probe too much to make him uncomfortable.

“So are you from nearby or did you just move into town?” Sunset asked him. Shadow didn’t want to answer her question, but he didn’t want to make her any more suspicious so he decided to make up a story.

“I’m from out of town.” Shadow said half truthfully, hoping that it was enough to stop her asking questions. 

“Really? Where are you from?” Sunset asked further, turning to face him, walking backwards as they went through the hall. Shadow grunted under his breath. He decided to make up another backstory. 

“Well, I’m from a small town on the coast. The town isn’t even on the map so you wouldn’t know it.” Shadow explained. Sunset smiled at him, happy that he at least gave an answer. 

“So what’s it like back home?” Sunset further asked. 

“I don’t want to talk about it” Shadow decided that he had lied enough. Sunset assumed that he had a troubled past.


“Oh…...okay…..sorry” Sunset apologized, worried that she may have triggered some unhappy memories. Speaking of unhappy memories, her mind flashed back to the time when she was a much more cruel and manipulative person. She stopped walking for a moment as the memories came back, rubbing her arms nervously. Shadow noticed her change in behavior.

“Is something wrong?” Shadow asked her. Sunset heard him, but didn’t respond at first. Her heart cringed as she remembered how badly she treated everyone back then. But she got back control and shook off the bad feelings.

“Sorry, just had some bad memories.” Sunset replied. She walked ahead of him. Shadow wondered what she was thinking about. “Bad memories huh?” Shadow thought, relating to her on a certain level. However he remembered what he was supposed to do and continued following her. 

The two came up on the mess hall. Sunset knew that this was the last place to show him. 

“And last but not least we have the mess hall. It opens at 11:30 am and closes at 1:30 pm. And since it is the end of our tour, we have about….” Sunset checked her phone to look at the time. “an hour and a half left for lunch.” Sunset finished explaining.
Shadow could hear the students behind the door. He knew it was crowded. Of course it wouldn’t impede him from finding Sonic and Silver since he could spot them from a mile away.

“And I assume that’s it right?” Shadow asked Sunset. 

“Yep, that's pretty much the whole school.” Sunset nodded at him. Shadow went over what he learned in his mind. While he hadn’t completely memorized it, he still had a good idea of the schools layout, and he had Sunset to thank for that.

“I learned alot about this place. Thanks.” Shadow thanked her, trying to sound as polite as he can be. Sunset giggled cheerfully at his compliment. 
“You’re welcome!” Sunset replied sincerely, happy that she helped out someone. Shadow was taken aback by her sincerity.

“What’s with this girl? I came here expecting everyone to be on my case. But she was willing to help me, a total stranger, on a whim.” Shadow thought. 

“Well anyways. I should get going.” Shadow told her. 

“Right! Also if you have any other questions feel free to ask me!” Sunset replied, closing her eyes excitedly. Shadow was certainly endeared by her sincerity, he remembered that he had a mission to do. 

“Hmph. I guess so. See you around.” Shadow said discreetly.

“Yep! No probl- Huh!?” Sunset opened her eyes to see that he had completely vanished. She looked around, but she didn’t see him anywhere. 

“.......Weird guy.” Sunset said to herself, pondering on how he managed to slip away undetected, and who he was exactly
> Episode 2 - Chaos Stranding (Part 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in the mess hall Sonic and Silver had managed to find a seat and were busy eating their lunch. Silver was still interested in what else this world has to offer. He was actually tempted to take out his homework and start working on it. Sonic on the other hand wasn’t as enthusiastic. He didn’t remember anything from the class. The only thing that was on his mind was getting home, and Chili Dogs. 

“Grrr….where’s Shadow? He was supposed to meet us here.” Sonic tapped his fingers impatiently.

“Maybe he’s talking to someone.” Silver implied, after swallowing a bite of his hotdog. 

“Wha-? After he told us to not talk to anyone? That’s a lot of bull!” Sonic complained. 

“What’s alot of bull faker?” Sonic heard an imposing voice next him. He and Silver looked to their left. They both jumped in their seats when they saw Shadow with a tray of food, towering over them. 

“Shadow! When did you get here?” Silver nearly choked on his juice when he saw him. Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance

“Just now. You two didn’t cause any trouble did you?” Shadow asked them. Silver immediately remembered Sonic’s freakout at the food line. 

“Uhhhh...yeah! We didn’t cause any trouble.” Silver tried to hide the nervousness in his voice . Sonic nodded, going along with it.

“God, they’re terrible liars.” Shadow knew they were lying, but he didn’t prod them on it. 

“Anyways, I know we’ve only been here for a short time, but have any of you got any leads on the chaos emeralds?” Shadow asked them. 

The two took some time to think if they noticed anything. The only thing Sonic recalled was sleeping in class and Silver was too busy soaking in all the new material he was learning. 

“Sorry I got nothing….” Sonic shrugged his shoulders.

“Me neither.” Silver added. 

“Hmph. Figures” Shadow put on a disdained face, disappointed with their results. Granted, he didn’t find that much either. But he remembered his interaction with that yellow-red haired girl from earlier.

“However, I did manage to figure out the layout of this school.” Shadow told them. 
“Hopefully we can navigate our way around this place better.”

“Right? So where do you suppose we look next?” Silver proposed, munching on some chips. 

Shadow took a moment to think, while Silver and Sonic continued to chow down. 
As Shadow was thinking, Sonic noticed that Shadow hasn’t even touched his food. 

“Er…...Hey Shadow, you gonna eat?” Sonic asked as he took a bite out of his hotdog (Which didn’t have any chili on it :(  )

“Hmm?” Shadow looked up at him, slightly annoyed that he interrupted his train of thought. 

“Wait a sec, I thought you didn’t even need to eat Shadow.” Silver pointed out.

“I don’t…..” Shadow quickly replied, then proceeded to take a bite out of his Sandwich. 
“Tastes good though”  He added after he swallowed. 

While they continued to eat they continued to discuss their next course of action. 

“Say guys, I was thinking that while we look for the chaos emeralds, we should learn more about this world at the same time.” Silver proposed. Shadow and Sonic continued listening while they ate. 
“The more we learn about this world, the easier it will be to blend in!” 

“Now that you mention it, that is a good idea.” Shadow commented on Silver proposition. Silver chuckled a little at Shadow’s compliment. 
“I remember seeing a library here, I think it would be good if we take a look there next.”
But then Shadow remembered another thing he needed to tell them.
“Oh right! I should mention to you guys. We shouldn’t involve anybody here in the world. In other words, we shouldn’t get to friendly with them.” Shadow explained. Silver doubletaked, befuddled at how cynical Shadow was being. 

“What? Why not?” Silver protested.

“We let them get too close we might not just endanger our mission, but we would also might bring unnecessary harm to them as well. This isn’t their fight.” Shadow explained further.

“I guess he does have a point.” Sonic added as he finished off his chips.
“I mean, no offense to this world’s inhabitants but they don’t seem like the fighting type.” Sonic noted.

“In any case, I’ll take a look at the library to see what I can find.” Shadow said to them. 

“There’s also still the issue of our powers.” Sonic commented, still miffed that he can’t ran as fast as he used to.

“Yeah, if we face something or someone along the lines of Eggman, I don’t think we’ll be able to do much without our powers.” Silver added onto Sonic’s point.

“My answer to that is wait, and hope that our powers come back eventually” Shadow responded. Sonic groaned impatiently, frustrated that his powers weren’t coming back any time soon. 

“...and when do you suppose that will be?” Sonic said impatiently.

“...I’m not sure, but if we continue to look for the chaos emeralds, we probably might find a way to get them back.” Shadow further explained. 

Sonic sighed again. He wasn’t looking forward to looking for the emeralds without his powers. But he knew that the safety of this world and his was practically in their hands, so he decided to suck it up.
“Sigh Fine.”

“Good, in any case let’s finish eating and get to work.” Shadow told them.

“Right!” the two responded. They then proceeded to continue eating their lunch. 

Meanwhile, the same Rainbow haired girl from before was eyeing them. After seeing Silver and Sonic’s shenanigans, she couldn’t help but be a little curious. 

“Hmmm…..I know I haven’t seen those three before. They must be new here.” Rainbow Dash speculated. She then noticed Applejack come over with a tray of food.

“Hey Dash!” Applejack greeted her.

“Oh! Hey AJ.” Dash greeted back. Applejack sat down across from her.

“Say? Just who were you lookin at?” Applejack noticed that she was eyeing the three over at the other table.

“Huh? Oh! it was nothing. Just haven’t see them here before.” Dash explained to her.
“I saw two of them cause a bit of a commotion at the food line.” She alluded to their shenanigans from earlier. 

“Seriously? What for?” Applejack asked her. Rainbow tried to remember exactly what it was about.

“I think it was about them not having ‘Chili dogs’. Whatever those are.” Rainbow explained. 

Applejack was confused when Dash brought up Chilidogs.”
“Uhhhh….Chilidogs?” Applejack asked.

“Yep, that’s what I heard.” Dash confirmed. There was a brief moment of silence as they both tried to comprehend what a ‘Chilidog’ is.

“...........who puts Chili on a hotdog?” They both said in unison, in the same confused and bewildered tone.



Meanwhile in the CHS library, Twilight Sparkle was browsing through the history section of the library, thinking that maybe there would be something in the books that would say something about the mysterious emerald in her pack.
Speaking of the emerald, she decided to check with Spike if it was still there.
“Hey Spike! How’s that emerald doing?” Twilight looked down at her backpack, and she saw Spikes head pop out from within the backpack.

“It’s still just sitting in there! Glowing like the sun.” Spike told her, slightly dazed from how bright the emerald was shining in the backpack. Twilight had asked him to keep an eye on it while she wasn’t looking.

“You sure you’re okay in there Spike?” Twilight noticed that he was a bit dazed.

“Oh no! It’s alright. I’m just following the Princess of Harmony’s orders!” Spike said enthusiastically, putting his paw to his head in salute. Twilight giggled at Spike’s loyal bravado.

“Hee Hee! Thanks so much Spike!” Twilight thanked him. She then went back to looking through a history book. She had been browsing for almost an hour. She was so into finding out what this thing is, that she forgot about lunch. 

“Sigh No good!” Twilight sighed frustratedly as she closed the book in her hands and then added it to the pile of other books that had nothing about the emerald in them to her side. Twilight held her head in defeat. She had searched through all of the history section and she didn’t find anything. 

“You doing alright Twilight?” Spike sensed that she was distressed. 

“Sigh Not really, I skimmed through every book in the history section and I’ve found nothing.” Twilight wallowed in disappointment. 

Spike hopped out of her backpack and onto the table.
“Well….It’s not like this place even bats an eye to the magical stuff that happened before. So why would they even record anything like this in the history books?” Spike argued. 

Twilight was rather surprised Spike came up with that explanation. 
“That’s…..actually a really good point Spike!” Twilight said, impressed with Spike’s speculation. Then something clicked inside Twilight’s brain. 

“Wait! I remember reading something related to that!” Twilight looked through the pile of history books next to her, and brought out a single book. On the cover it read: “The Void Era” 

“‘The Void Era’” Twilight spoke it’s name aloud. 

“‘The Void Era?’ What’s that?” Spike asked, his curiosity increasing.

“This book says that it’s a section of this world’s history where no information about it exists.” Twilight explained, reading through the text.
“There are no records, documents, or anything pertaining to this period of time.” Twilight explained further. 

Spike put on a look of confusion.
“Well, that doesn’t make sense, if there are no documents or records of it, than why is it recorded here?” Spike asked further.

“I don’t know….but it’s written here so someone has to know something about!” Twilight said full of determination. 

Twilight took a deep breath as she tried to come up with an answer to that question. Then she sighed and laid the book out in front of her. 
“I…..have no idea Spike” Twilight said in defeat.
“......and honestly…...that scares me.” Twilight held her arm nervously. She sighed again in exhaustion, resting her eyes a little, tired from all the reading she was doing. 
But then she opened her eyes widely when she heard a growl come from her stomach. Both Twilight and Spike looked down at her stomach.

“Heh heh. Listen to that.” Twilight blushed in embarrassment. 

“Oh yeah, lunch started over an hour ago! We should hurry before the cafeteria closes!” Spike looked at the clock.

“You’re right Spike! Also we need to tell the other about this emerald!” Twilight quickly got out of her seat and grabbed her pack. 
“We can discuss this more with Sunset after school. Hop in Spike!” Twilight turned so that her pack faced Spike. 

“Right!” Spike jumped off the table and into Twilight’s pack. 

The two proceeded to head off towards the cafeteria. 



“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” 



“Huh?” Twilight suddenly stopped when she heard a voice to her right, not to mention her magic senses were going off in the same direction. She looked to her right to see a familiar figure standing in the middle of the aisle, leaning against the book cases, looking at a book in his hand. She recognized him as the new student from her Algebra 2 class, noticing his sweptback spiky black hair.

“Oh! It’s you! Umm ...Shadow right?” Twilight said to the person, trying to seem friendly and sincere. 

The person didn’t move or say anything. He just continued looking at his book. This made Twilight a little uneasy. She started approaching him slowly. 

“I’m honestly surprised to see you here. I didn’t take you for reading type.” Twilight continued to try and make friendly conversation with him. The figure continued ignoring Twilight, still absorbed in his book. 

Twilight noticed that the closer she got to him the more intense her magic senses went off, but there was something about him that she sensed that felt off, almost sinister. Twilight decided that since she wasn’t eliciting a response from him, she figured she should just go to the messhall.

“Well ummmm……..I see you are really invested in that book there so I'll just being going now!” Twilight said politely. 


However just as she was about to turn and go, the person snapped the book shut, startling Twilight. There was a brief period of silence. Twilight stood still, somewhat frightened at the figure’s sudden movement. She wanted to say something, but was scared to do so. 

“Tell me. What do you think of this world?” The person asked Twilight, in a deep dark voice. 

Twilight stood there, puzzled at the question he asked her. 

“W…..What do you mean?” Twilight replied, getting uneasy from the person’s ominous aura. The person then turned and started approaching her with his book in his hand. 

“You want to know what I think? I believe this world is……..pathetic!” The figure’s suddenly caused the book he was holding to disintegrate in his hand. Twilight gasped in shock at the figure’s actions as she watched the dust fall from his hand onto the ground. “..and quite frankly that goes for this world’s inhabitants as well.” The person added. 

Twilight, angered at the person’s cruel words, decided to stand her ground against him.

“I don’t know who you are, but you have no right to say things like that!” Twilight pointed right at him. 
“This world is alien and foreign to me, but it’s beautiful nonetheless, and the people of this world have been nothing but kind to me! SO DON’T YOU DARE SAY THIS WORLD IS PATHETIC!!” Twilight raised her voice in anger. 

The person didn’t seem phased by Twilight’s monologue. He let out a disappointed sigh as he continued to walk towards her. Twilight, not willing to back down, stood where she was with an angered but slightly scared look on her face.

“You’re just like the rest of them. Foolish and naive.” The figure was now uncomfortably close the Twilight. Twilight now realize that he was noticeable taller than her. However she remained defiant nonetheless.

“A-and…..what makes you say that?” Twilight replied, her fear starting to show through her voice. 

The figure stared her down, saying nothing for a few seconds. Twilight’s breathing began to shudder in fear. Then the person put his hand to his left eye closing. Twilight just stood there, too scared to move. 

“Why don’t you have a taste……..of PURE DESPAIR!!”

Suddenly, the person dug his finger into his eye-socket and then pulled it down, revealing a purple, bloodshot, sinister eye.

Upon looking into the eye, Twilight’s began hallucinating. She saw visions of this world being invaded by purple creature, as well as a mysterious black ooze spreading throughout the world. She then saw visions of people being slaughtered and killed by this creatures.

“No……...No! MAKE IT STOP!” Twilight began to get light headed and she began losing strength in her legs. She collapsed holding her head in pain all while the terrible hallucinations played in her head. Among these hallucinations she began to hear voices of her friends.

 “Twilight! Help us!” She heard Sunset among the visions of death and destruction. 


“Someone……...please! HELP ME!!!” Twilight cried out, not knowing if anybody was around to help her. 



Nearby Sunset was browsing the science section when she heard Twilight’s call for help. She turned in the direction of Twilight’s cry for help. 

“Twilight?” Sunset immediately dropped the book she was reading and ran over to where she heard her. She found Twilight in the middle of an aisle  on the ground holding her head, trembling in fear. 

“TWILIGHT!!” Sunset immediately rushed over to help her. 

“Twilight! What wrong!? Come on speak to me!” Sunset shook her, trying to snap Twilight out of her stupor. 

Eventually Twilight’s hallucinations died down and she didn’t feel weak in her body anymore. She opened her eyes, gasping for breath. 

“What…...what happened?” Twilight asked, her voice still shuddering in fear. She looked up to see Sunset Shimmer helping her. 

“S-Sunset..” Twilight heart filled with relief at the sight of her friend. She looked up and she saw that the person who did this to her had vanished. Even the book that he had turned to dust was gone. 

“Twilight what happened?” Sunset asked her, eager to know who would dare do this to Twilight. Twilight managed to sit up and she tried to recall what happen.

“There ...there was a person. He….he was saying cruel things about this world. So I tried to confront him. ” Twilight explained still trembling fearfully. 

“....and then what?” Sunset asked further.

“I….I…” Twilight stutter as the next part was much harder to explain, not to mention she didn’t want to think about the terrible hallucinations she saw. 

“I’m not sure…..but he did something to me.” Twilight explained the best she could. 

While it wasn’t much to go on, it didn’t stop Sunset from wanting to know more. 

“This person, what did he look like.” Sunset asked, seeing if it was anyone she would recognize. Twilight took a moment to recall what the person looked like. 

“He looked like that new guy from our class. Sh-Shadow was his name.” Twilight recalled, still shaking a little. 

“What!?” Sunset was shocked at her answer. “I was just talking to him a few minutes ago!” She drove her fist into the floor in anger.

“Damn! So he was playing us from the start!” Sunset fumed.

“...wait! This guy…...didn’t seem like the guy from class…” Twilight elaborated further, managing to get a hold of herself a little. 

“Huh?” Sunset listen in further. 

“While I sensed energy in him, it was different from Shadow’s.” Twilight explained. 

Sunset calmed down a little knowing that it was a little more complicated now. 

“Are you sure?” Sunset confirmed with her. Twilight nodded back. Sunset got looked around to see if there was any sign of anyone other than them. She saw no one within their vicinity. 

“Sigh Here...come on.” Sunset offered her hand to Twilight, which she took. 

Her legs were still shaking a little as Sunset helped her up, but she managed to retain her balance. 

“You alright?” Sunset noticed Twilight was still uneasy. Twilight rubbed her eyes to clear her head. She then straightened out her shirt and skirt.

“I’m fine, let’s discuss this with the others.” Twilight said, her voice much more calm now that she collected herself. 

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. She nodded in agreement and they both started going to the cafeteria. Sunset collected her thoughts as she walked beside Twilight.

“Twilight says that it wasn’t Shadow who did this. But for all we know he could be hiding something from us. Me and Twilight sensed mysterious energy coming from him after all. Damn! I’ve been too careless. I need to keep a closer eye on him.” Sunset thought to herself, sensing that something was starting to happen in this world. 

1 Hour later

Soon after the clock hit 12:30, the students of CHS began flooding out of the cafeteria. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver met outside the cafeteria doors, discussing their plan. 

"We each have different classes at this point, so I guess this is where we part ways for now." Shadow explained to Sonic and Silver. 

"Where should we meet after we finish?" Sonic asked, still not looking forward to spending another hour or two sitting in a desk. 

"I suggest we meet outside the school. Once we get out, we can start broadening our search more." Shadow explained. 

"Sonic and I actually have P.E at the same time after this period, so we should be able to touch base with each other." Silver remembered their schedules.

"Right. So are we good to go?" Shadow confirmed with them.

"You bet!" Silver replied enthusiastically. 

"Sigh Whatev's" Sonic replied, less enthusiastically. Shadow was slightly annoyed at Sonic's attitude, but he didn't have time to lecture him now. But then his instincts told him that Sonic would cause trouble while he wasn't looking. 

"Oh! And one more thing. Don't cause any trouble. Ok." Shadow said to the two of them, although he was specifically talking to Sonic. 

"Sure thing!" Silver remained enthusiastic. Sonic only proceeded to shrug his shoulders.

With that the three parted ways to go to their separate classes. He looked at his schedule, and saw that he had biology next. He sighed with discontent as he put his schedule away. 

"Out of all the places we got sent to in the universe......why this one." Sonic mumbled to himself. 
He was also starting to get annoyed with how Shadow was treating him. While he didn't say anything, he knew Shadow was alluding to him when he told them to not cause any trouble. 

"Stupid Shadow. Who the hell does he think he is!? I know how to handle myself, so why is he treating me like a kid?" Sonic continued to bitterly mumble to himself about how Shadow was treating him as he walked through the hallways. 
"I swear, first thing I'm gonna do when I get my powers back is challenge him to a one on one!" Sonic punched the air in front of him. 
"Uuugh! I seriously don't wanna sit through another hour of absolute bor-OooF!"

"Oww!" 

As Sonic rounded a corner, someone ran face first into him, causing him to stagger back slightly. While he managed to stay upright, whoever ran into him was knocked backwards off their feet. 

"Ow! Geez! That's the second time someone's ran into-[iGasp!" Sonic saw the person who ran into him was a Girl. 
She had Pink hair, and cream yellow skin. She wore a white tank top, a green skirt with a pink petticoat, and wore green boots with white highlights.

"Ow...." The girl held her arm, which hurt a little from her fall. 

"Oh geez. A-Are you alright?" Sonic knelt down to help her. However as he extended his hand to her, she gasped in fear and hid behind her hair. 

"Uhhh....are you okay? I'm sorry if I scared you." Sonic tried to offer his hand to her again, but she continued to hide behind her curly pink hair, letting out a scared squeal. Sonic could tell she was obviously scared of him. So he thought he should introduce himself to her.

"Uh...hey...My name is Sonic. Sonic the He-Uh...Genesis." Sonic introduced himself, trying to sound as friendly as possible. The girl looked at Sonic with her innocent turquoise eyes. 

Sonic put on a smile when he saw her eyes. This served to ease the girl's shyness a little as she slowly came out from behind her hair. 

"Uhh.....m-m-my name i-is..........Fluttershy" The girl spoke softly. So softly that Sonic could barely make out what she said. 

"Uhhh.....I'm...sorry I didn't quite catch that" Sonic put his hand to his human ear as he asked her name again. 

".......It's Fluttershy" She spoke even softer.

Sonic still couldn't hear her, but he didn't want to make her even more nervous by asking again, so he tried to guess the name in his head.

"Butterguy?..........that an......interesting name" Sonic blurted out what he thought he heard. 

This was followed by a long awkward silence.

Fluttershy's face went from shy, to utterly confused. Sonic sensed that him guessing her name didn't help the situation at all. 

"IT'S FLUTTERSHY!" She suddenly said loudly, causing Sonic to stumble backwards in surprise. 

"Ah! Okay! Okay! Blutter-uh..Dutter-wait no! AGH!!" Sonic pulled at his hair frustratedly as he tried to pronounce her name correctly. However she heard Fluttershy squeal in fear again. He looked down to see her hiding behind her legs. 

Sonic face palmed, frustrated that he scared her again. He knelt down again to speak to her.

"Sorry....about that....uh.....for scaring you..uh....Fluttershy" Sonic himself started to blush slightly in embarrassment. Talking to girls was never his strongest suit. At least he managed to get her name right this time.  

Fluttershy peeked from behind her legs, showing her innocent eyes again. Sonic offered his hand to her again. She slowly reached for Sonic's hand. 
Upon grabbing Sonic's hand, she immediately sensed the energy emanating from him. From this energy, she got an idea of what kind of person he was. While his energy was filled with unbridled confidence, it also held kindness and loyalty. It somewhat reminded her of Rainbow Dash. But she also sensed that his energy wasn't from equestrian. 
But before she could question it, she gasped as she was pulled up onto her feet by Sonic.

"There! You okay Fluttershy?" Sonic asked after helping Fluttershy onto her feet. Fluttershy nodded politely. 

"Sigh Great! Sorry about that." Sonic apologized, rubbing the back of his head. 

Fluttershy's knew from reading Sonic's energy that he wasn't going to hurt her, so she was less shy towards him now.

"Um.....are you new here?" Fluttershy asked in a more normal tone instead of her soft shy voice.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Just arrived actually." Sonic replied. 

"Really? Where from?" Fluttershy got closer to him, her curiosity growing. 

"Uhh....." Sonic remembered that he had to try and keep a low profile. 
"Out of town." Sonic quickly answered
"Anyways, I need to get to class. Nice to meet you." Sonic tried to quickly diffuse the conversation. He then started to walk down the hallway. 

"Um.......excuse me! Does your class happen to be Biology?!" Fluttershy called out to him. Sonic turned to face her, surprised that she knew which class he was going to. 
"If your looking for the classroom, then it's this way." She pointed down the hallway opposite of the direction Sonic was going.

".....oh" Sonic realize he was going to wrong way. 
"Well that's a coincidence." Sonic walked back over to her. Fluttershy blushed a little as he got close, still somewhat shy towards him.
Then an idea came into Sonic's head.
"I know, how 'bout we go class together?" Sonic smiled, trying to make her feel less shy.

"Uh..Oh! S-Sure!.......Thank you....for helping me" Fluttershy stuttered a little as she smiled back. 

"Man...she's so shy. But... that smile  Sonic wondered what the reason for her shyness is. 

"Heh. Well, thank you for pointing me in the right direction." Sonic gave her a wink and a thumbs up, trying to cheer her up. Fluttershy giggled a little at his compliment. 
"Well....what do you say? Shall we go to class together?" Sonic waved her over to his side. 

"Uh...yeah!" Fluttershy ran up beside him, still slightly blushing. 
Fluttershy's heart was racing. She had never met this person, yet he was being so kind to her. And the energy that she sensed from him was further proof of that. 

"He's slightly awkward, but......I can tell he's a good person. Kind and inspiring........I'm glad I met him." Fluttershy thought to herself, her heart fluttering inside her.

As they continued to walk to class, after his interaction with Fluttershy, Sonic began to slightly reevaluate his thoughts on this world.

"You know, maybe this place isn't so bad.
> Episode 2 - Chaos Stranding (Part 4)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silver was walking down the hallway looking for his next class. His next class was art, so he looked at his schedule to see what class number it was. 

"Lets see, room 15." Sliver read his schedule. He was still genuinely interested in what this world had to offer. It wasn't everyday that he visited a world that wasn't a post-apocalyptic wasteland, so he wanted to see as much of it as he could. Soon enough he found the classroom and went inside.

Inside the classroom, he saw student sitting at drafting tables already practicing sketching what was on the front desk. There were fruit bowls, a small sculpture, and various other trinkets that the students were drawing.
Silver decided to make himself scarce and find a seat. 
As he passed by the other students, he observed that there were very talented students here, judging from their drawings. It intimidated him slightly.

"Man, looks like I have a long way to go." Silver said to himself, knowing that he had pretty much no art experience whatsoever, aside from the crude drawings that he did as a kid. 
However out of the corner of his eye, he saw that pretty purple haired girl that he saw earlier, sketching alongside the other students. His eyes were immediately drawn to her. He didn't know what it was, but something about this girl just made his heart skip a beat. 

"Whoa! It's....her again" Silver thought, beginning to blush a little. He was so entranced by her beauty. Then he noticed that there was a seat open next to her.
"Oh man! There's even a seat right next to her! Silver tried his hardest to contain himself.
"But.....do I take it? What will she think of me? Wait a sec- Shadow told us to not-" Silver mind began jumping all over the place, as he began sweating nervously, all while debating with himself whether or not to take the seat next to her. 

While Rarity was busy doing her rough sketch, she happened to sense a person next to her. 
She looked over to see Silver, sweating nervously, while scratching his head. It appear that if he was confused about something. 
"Hmm.....haven't seen him before. Rarity thought to herself. However since he appeared to be having trouble with something, Rarity decided to help him out. 

"Well, Hello there! Do you happen to be new here darling?" Rarity smiled at him. 
"Ah!-uh...." Silver jumped when he heard Rarity speak to him. His faced was now fully blushed red, and his heart was pounding in his chest.
"Oh crap! What do I say? What do I say!?" Silver couldn't think straight, as he never really properly introduced himself to a girl before.

Rarity could see that he was nervous, which made her giggle a little. She decided to calm him down a little.
"Aw... there's no need to be shy darling." Rarity stood up and walked over to him. 
Silver tensed up when she walked over to him. His breathing began to get faster, as he could barely contain his nervousness. 
"Oh geez! She's getting closer! What's she gonna do? Is she gonna-" Silver suddenly stopped hyperventilating when he felt her put his hands on his shoulders. 

"Relax....." Rarity said in her most soothing voice possible. 

Immediately, all tension in Silver's body completely dissipated as Rarity lightly pushed his shoulders down. He could finally think straight now that he's calmed down. 
"Uh....thanks..heh heh." Silver thanked her. Rarity giggled at his sincerity.

"Not a problem darling!" Rarity winked at him. 
"Say, how about you take the seat next to me?" Rarity offered the open desk next to her to him. 

"Oh uhhh....really?" Silver replied, trying to not blush again in front of her. 

"Of course!" Rarity grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the desk. 

"Whoa!" Silver didn't even have time to reply as he was swept into the chair by Rarity.

"There! That wasn't so hard now was it!" Rarity said cheerfully. 

Silver began to noticeably blush again. Not only was he entranced by her beauty, he was absolutely endeared by her kindness. 
"Wow....she's wonderful...." Silver swooned internally. 

"Oh! I forgot my manners. My name is Rarity. I may I ask what is yours my dear." Rarity politely asked, sitting back in her seat. 

"Rarity....that's....such a nice name. I'm..uh Silver." Silver politely said back, still blushing nervously. Rarity giggled some more at Silver's childlike sincerity. She could already tell that he was a genuine person.

"HIYA RARITY!!" Suddenly Pinkie Pie popped out from behind Silver with a burst of confetti. 

"WAH! Who the-?" Silver jumped again, surprised to see a poofy pink haired girl pop out from behind him. 

"Oh! Well if it isn't Pinkie....you sure know how to make an entrance as usual." Rarity greet Pinkie with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. 

"Oh man what a day I've had Rarity! First I tripped and fell into a vat of chocolate pudding! Then I met a talk dark figure with long arms and no face! Then I-" Pinkie jumped all around Rarity as she shared her made up stories. 
Rarity knew that Pinkie was making up these stories, but she didn't prod her on it and continued to listen to them like a mother would to her child. Silver just looked at Pinkie with utter confusion. 

"Uhhhhhh......" Silver was unsure of what to say, as he was too bewildered by Pinkie's wacky antics. 
Rarity then noticed Silver's look of confusion. Apparently Pinkie was too excited to even notice Silver.

"Pinkie!" Rarity said firmly. This caused Pinkie to pause in a wacky pose. 
"Would you please show a little manners and introduce your self to our new acquaintance." Rarity gestured  over to Silver. 

"Huh?" Pinkie literally flipped over like a piece of paper to face Silver. Silver, still utterly bewildered by her cartoonish antics, tried to force a smile.

"Uh......hi?" Silver gave her a little wave. There was a brief silence.



"OMG! OMG! OMG! I had no idea we had a new student in class today!!" Pinkie suddenly zoomed right in front of Silver. 

"Whoa hey! Take it easy!" Silver leaned back in his chair as Pinkie got right up in his face. 

"Uh Pinkie-" Rarity tried to calm her down, but Pinkie's couldn't contain her excitement

"Are you a new student!? What's with the marks on your face!? What's with the hair!? Are you from out of town!?" Pinkie began jumping all around Silver barraging him with questions in her excited stupor.

Rarity held her head in slight annoyance. 
Sigh oh Pinkie you're always like this. Rarity thought disappointingly. 

"Uh....hey listen! It's nice to meet you but.....can't we introduce our selves properly!?" Silver said amidst Pinkie's barrage of questions. 
Then Pinkie suddenly stopped upon Silver finishing his sentence, again in a goofy pose. There was a brief period of silence, with the three of them saying nothing.
"Uhhhh....?" Silver was unsure of what to say. But before he could say anything Pinkie suddenly hopped back into her seat, with her fluffy pink hair bouncing slightly.

"My name is Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie suddenly became much more formal in her tone, though she still retained her upbeat demeanor. 
"So you're the new student everyone's been talking about! Nice to meet you!" Pinkie smiled at him. Rarity proceeded to giggle at Pinkie's sudden change in tone.

Silver became slightly concerned at the notion that people were already talking about them.
"Uh, wait. People are already talking about us?" Silver asked her worryingly. Rarity wonder why he would be worried about such a thing.

"Oh yeah. Rumors do spread pretty fast here at CHS. But they go away just as fast." Pinkie casually waved off the notion. 
Then she suddenly whipped out her lunch box, put it on the table, and then quickly ate whatever was inside it. She then proceeded to fall asleep, with a bubble coming out of her nose. Silver was at complete loss for words.

"Uhh.....she's asleep." Silver said, still trying to comprehend Pinkie's logic. 

"Sigh I'm afraid that's Pinkie Pie for you darling. So nonsensical." Rarity gave a laconic description of Pinkie's personality. 
"But despite that she's a sweetheart inside!" Rarity added. 

"Huh....interesting..." Silver rubbed his human chin. While Pinkie Pie certainly was a unpredictable and goofy person, upon thinking about it some more, he actually found her antics rather funny, as he found himself slightly snickering about it. 


"Alright everyone class has begun!" The teacher announced from the front of the classroom. All the students in the class faced towards the front, paying attention to the teacher. The teacher examined the room, and noticed Silver sitting in the middle row of seats.

"Oh that's right. We have a new student today." She gestured over to Silver. Silver tensed up slightly, worried if he was going to have to introduce himself to the class. 
"Could one of you share their art supplies with him please?" The teacher added. 
Silver breathed a sigh of relief when the teacher said that. 

"Oh right? Your a new student here soooo......." Rarity searched her backpack for some spare pencils and erasers. Silver looked over to see her searching her backpack.

"Huh...Oh no it's okay I'll just-" Before Silver could finish his sentence, Rarity already was handing him a set of pencils, an exact-o knife, and an eraser.
"Uhh...I.." Silver blushed yet again in embarrassment. 

"Oh, It's quite alright darling." Rarity replied, her eyes gleaming with generosity. Silver was again endeared by her kindness. He smiled back and took the tools she offered him. 

"Sigh Thanks." Silver thanked her. Rarity giggled cheerfully in response. 

"Oh you! If you need anything else just let me know ok darling," Rarity said back. She then looked back at her sketchpad, brought out her own tools, and started sketching.

Silver turned to his desk. But he couldn't stop thinking about how kind Rarity was too him.
"Wow.....she's wonderful. I barely even know her and she's being so kind to me. Silver daydreamed about Rarity in his head. 
"....not only that, she's pretty too!" He was tempted to look over and gaze upon her beauty. However he managed to not stare, and continued daydreaming about her. 

"You're so naive."

Silver gasped when he heard a familiar voice in his head speak to him. He immediately stopped his daydreaming, overcome with a slight sense of guilt. 

"Sigh I'm sorry. I haven't forgotten about you.......Blaze" Silver thought, the memories of his time with Blaze penetrating his mind. He did his best to hold back the emotions going through him. 
He sighed as he let those memories rescind into the back of his head.
"Besides, I have a mission to do. I can't involve anyone in this. Silver remembered Shadow's words. He glanced back over at Rarity, who was continuing to sketch, humming to herself. 
Silver blushed a little, still remembering her kindness. However he decided to focus on blending in and finding the chaos emeralds. With that, he decided to pay attention to what the teacher was talking about. 

Rarity on the other hand, was thinking about Silver. But It wasn't about his looks or personality, it was about the energy she sensed from him. 
Rarity had a magic sense similar to Twilight's. Although not as sensitive, it was still able to pick up on magical energies, and she definitely sensed energy coming from him. 
"Hmm.....how intriguing. His energy is unlike anyone else's here." Rarity thought to herself, noting how different Silver's energy was to all the other students around her. Everybody else's energy had the same feeling to them, but the way Silver's energy felt to her stuck out like a sore thumb. 
From what she sensed, his energy was foreign, and didn't feel like equestrian magic. But it also was warm, innocent, devoid of any malice, which endeared her. 
"I should relay this to Twilight after school" Rarity decided to relay this information to Twilight later. 

1 Hour later

BRRRRRNGGGGGGG

Once again the halls filled with the sound of footsteps, and chatter of dozens of students.
Sonic stepped out of his biology class, and proceeded to stretch his legs having sat for nearly an hour without moving his legs. 

"YeeeaAAAAA!!!! Finally!" Sonic said as he stretched his body. However he double taked when he heard a familiar scared squeal next to him. He looked behind him to see Fluttershy, looking scared. 
"Oh....uh..sorry." Sonic apologized, feeling bad about scaring her with his loud exit. 

"Oh..I-It okay....I shouldn't have been scared in the first place." Fluttershy apologized back, holding her arm nervously. She still was somewhat shy towards him, given the fact that she just met him.

"I still don't understand why she's gets so scared easily. It's like she could burst into tears any minute" Sonic still wondered why she was so shy. Part of him wanted to make sure she doesn't get scared again. However Sonic then remembered that he had P.E next, and figured that he should be off now. Though he felt bad about leaving Fluttershy, considering how innocent she appeared. 

"Welp...I'm off. Nice to meet you I guess." Sonic quickly said goodbye to Fluttershy, and began walking to the school track. 

"Oh.... wait!" Fluttershy called to him. Sonic turned to hear what she wanted to say. Fluttershy hesitated before speaking, afraid of how he would react. 
"Uh....I-Is it alright if I come with you?" Fluttershy blushed as she finished her sentence, nervous about what he would say. 
Sonic put on a look of slight confusion. 

"Uh.....sure. Do you have P.E next too?" Sonic asked.

"Um.......no." Fluttershy said quietly, trying to think of a suitable excuse to try and hide the fact that she just wants to stay with him.
"I-I....I just.....uh....wanted to see a friend I know that's all!" Fluttershy finally responded. 

"Okay then...why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...I just-"

"Hey Sonic!" Fluttershy jumped when he heard a voice call to Sonic. Sonic looked to his left, to see Silver run up to him, panting heavily from trying to find him. 

"Pant  Pant There you are! I thought I wouldn't find you in this crowd." Silver said to him, still catching his breath.

"Well what's the hurry?" Sonic asked.

"I just wanted to go to our last class together, you know just to make sure we don't lose each other you know." Silver elaborated. Sonic nodded in understanding. Silver then looked to his left, and saw Fluttershy observing their conversation. She looked away shyly when he looked at her. 

"Oh hey there! What's your name?" Silver smiled as he quickly introduced himself to her. Fluttershy then shyly retreated away from him as he spoke, unsure of what to think of him as she's never seen him before.

"Oh! uh! umm.....it's......eh-" Fluttershy studdered as she tried to overcome her shyness to say her name, but to no avail.

"Uh..it's Fluttershy." Sonic quickly intervened, not wanting to go through the process of her coming out of her shyness just to say her name. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nutter......why? That's a weird na-" Silver misheard what Sonic said. 

"IT'S FLUTTERSHY!!" Fluttershy suddenly yelled with her face blushing, obviously frustrated that another person has mispronounced her name. Silver and Sonic jumped at Fluttershy's sudden outburst. 
However Fluttershy double taked and then covered her mouth shamefully, embarrassed that she raised her voice again. 

"Uhhhh....sorry.....Fluttershy?" Silver apologized, making sure to get her name right. 

"Huh? Oh no! Uh....it's....a...alright....uh...whats...nn..your n-name?" Fluttershy asked him.

"Hm? Oh! um...it's Silver. Nice to meet you." Silver replied, easing up a little. 

"Yeah, she's a shy one." Sonic told him Silver about her shyness. 

"Oh really? Then...sorry if I made you nervous." Silver said to Fluttershy, trying to appear friendly. Fluttershy held her arm nervously, ashamed that he was apologizing for her shyness.

"Oh.....i-it's okay.....it's my fault anyways." Fluttershy said, her voice filling with sadness. She felt terrible that her friends and other people had to put up with her shyness. She wished she could break out of it, but she could never find the courage to do so. 
Sonic and Silver looked at her confusedly.

"Uhhh....cough" Sonic tried to think of a way to defuse the tension between them. Then he remembered his next class.
"Say uh...since we're all together, how about we go to P.E together okay?" Sonic tried to defuse her shyness. 

"I'm down for that!" Silver said cheerfully. 

" O-Oh! uh...s...sur-"

"Hey Fluttershy!" A rainbow haired girl suddenly popped out from behind Fluttershy.

"AHH!!" Fluttershy yelped in fear at Rainbow Dash's sudden arrival. Sonic and Silver also jumped back a little in surprise. 
"Eh...oh Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy smiled, relieved that it was someone she knew. 

"The one and only!" Rainbow Dash boasted. She then looked over at Sonic and Silver. She immediately recognized the two of them from the messhall, making her even more suspicious due to the fact that they were with Fluttershy. 

"Hey! You two are the guys from the messhall." Dash alluded to their previous antics, putting on a smug smile. Sonic and Silver both tensed up as they gulped nervously. 
"Fluttershy. These two giving you any trouble?" Dash asked Fluttershy.

"W-Wha-Uh...n-no. Why d-do you say that?" Fluttershy replied.

"Uhhh......yeah, what do you mean?" Silver asked. Fluttershy also looked at Dash confusedly, wondering what she was alluding to. 
Dash could tell that they were playing dumb, and she wasn't having any of it. 

"You know, the blue guy here saying something about....what was it?" Dash took a moment to recall what she heard. 
"Oh! Chilidogs?" She finally remembered. 
Sonic and Silver froze up, unsure of what to say in response. They exchanged quick glances at each other, thinking that the other was going to say something. 

"Hey! Say something!" Silver nudged Sonic. 

"What!? Why me!?" Sonic retorted through clenched teeth.

"You're the one who made such a ruckus in the first place!" Silver countered, slowly getting irritated.

"Oh yeah!? Well it's not my fault that this place doesn't have-!" Sonic and Silver continued to bicker and argue with each other, all while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watched. Rainbow Dash's face went from smug, to just plain bewilderment. 

"Theeey're.....not from around here...are they?" Rainbow Dash asked Fluttershy. Fluttershy nodded in response, just as confused about those two as Dash was. The two otherworlders continued to argue for about a minute, which already made Rainbow Dash impatient. 

"Okay! Okay! Hey! That's enough!" Rainbow Dash interrupted their arguing. They both looked at her confusedly. 
"Tell you what, let's just say.....I didn't see anything. In exchange, you both tell me your names." Rainbow Dash bargained with them. 
"Starting with you...Blue Boy." She pointed at Sonic. 
Sonic and Silver glanced at each other, believing Dash's deal to be fair. 

"Okay then." Sonic prepared to introduce himself. He stepped forward, and breathed deeply before he spoke. 
"The name's Sonic! Sonic the Hedgeho-Mmfff!!" Just as Sonic was about to finish saying his name, he felt Silver slap his hand over his mouth. 

"G-Genesis! His name is Sonic Genesis! Heh Heh...." Silver frantically tried to correct Sonic. Dash raised an eyebrow at them.

"Reeeaally?" Rainbow Dash said, not buying their facade.

"Yeah?" Silver said nervously, still restraining Sonic.

"....Because it really just sounded like he was about to say Sonic the Hedgehog? What do you have to say to that?" Rainbow Dash countered, her smug smile reforming on her face. 

Silver and Sonic began sweating nervously. They both frantically tried to come up with an explanation in their heads. 
"Dammit I totally screwed up this time!" Sonic commented on the predicament they were in. Rainbow Dash still continued to give them her smug stare, which didn't help them at all. But suddenly, Silver got an idea. 

"Uh....yeah! Sonic the Hedgehog!" Silver finally said. Sonic doubletaked at what Silver said. Rainbow Dash raised a confused eyebrow. 

"Silver what are you-? Ow!!" Sonic was about to question him, but was interrupted when Silver grabbed his spiky blue hair.

"You see! Heh heh... his hair, makes him look like a hedgehog. People back home called us hedgehogs all the time...heh heh...." Silver explained, still trying to keep a straight face as he was pointing at Sonic's hair. 

Rainbow Dash was not amused at their sense of humor. (Fluttershy giggled slightly in the background)
"Ha ha ha Very funny." Dash sarcastically commented. 

"Uh...I hate to interrupt, but don't you all have P.E in like 10 minutes." Fluttershy quietly reminded Dash. Dash checked the time on her phone.

"Oh shoot you're right!" Dash exclaimed. She was about to run off with Fluttershy, but she stopped to talk to Sonic and Silver.
"Say, you guy's don't happen to have P.E now do you?" Rainbow Dash asked them. 

"Oh! We do as a matter a fact." Silver responded, letting go of Sonic's hair. 

"Silver!" Sonic said to Silver through clenched teeth, not wanting to associate with Dash anymore than they needed to. 

"Heh! In that case you can tag along if you want. But don't come crying if you can't keep up slowpokes." Rainbow Dash smirked. She and Fluttershy began walk down the hallway. 
Sonic miffed at being called 'Slowpoke', decided to give her a piece of his mind. 

"Slowpoke? Oh yeah for your information, I'm the fastest thing alive where I'm from!" Sonic boasted, not having any of Dash's mockery.

"Sonic what're you doing!?" Silver said through clenched teeth. 

Dash sensing a challenge, stopped and turned to face him. 

"Oh really?" Dash said smugly. "That's quite the title you have." She walked over so that she was right in his face. She noticed that he was at least half a head taller than her, which mean she had to look up at him, but that didn't intimidate her in the slightest
"Is that really what they call you?"Dash asked him, wondering where he got all this bravado from.
Sonic was actually somewhat surprised he found somebody as cocky as he was in this world, so he decided to return the favor. 

"Hmph! You bet! What do you say to that Skittlehair?" Sonic countered. Dash flinched a little at the name he just called her, but she didn't let it bother her, and remained cocky all the same. 

"Yeah well, why don't you prove it at P.E Blue Boy?" Dash challenged him. 

"Ha! Bring it on!" Sonic accepted her challenged. 

"Then it's settled!" Dash offered a fist bump. Sonic, while surprised at the gesture, returned the fist bump with a smirk on his face, putting a little force into it. Dash, happy and excited for the challenge flipped her hair, and began walking down the hallway.


"Um....I'll see you there!" Fluttershy waved to them. She then ran off to join Rainbow Dash. Sonic looked at Rainbow Dash with an annoyed face. Something about her just ticked him off for some reason. He didn't know what it was, but it irritated him nonetheless. 

"Uhhh....Sonic are you alright?" Silver asked him, wondering why he looked so irritated. 

"Huh? Oh nothing! Sigh I'm just glad that's over." Sonic replied, glad that the girls didn't figure out their secret. 
"Nice save by the way." He added. 

"Well, learn to think before you speak ok. You nearly gave away our secret." Silver told him, beginning to walk down the hallway, following Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

"I couldn't help myself alright?" Sonic complained back as he caught up with Silver.

"ah forget it." Silver replied. 


Somewhere else in CHS

Shadow was making his way to his Geography class, maneuvering his way through the crowds of students, trying to make himself as discreet as possible. He had already taken in a lot of information about this mysterious new world they were in. Unfortunately because his Chaos energy senses haven't kicked in yet, he had no idea if this world's people had any powers at all. But he remembered that their first priority was finding the Chaos Emeralds. However he was also equally concerned about Sonic and Silver.

"Sigh, those two better not be causing any trouble" Shadow thought, knowing full well that they were a handful to keep track of. 
He admittedly, like Sonic, was rather irritated that he didn't have his powers. If he had them, he could sense where the Chaos emeralds were from anywhere in this school. He looked down and his hand again and tensed his arm muscle, trying to conjure electrical power into his hand, but to no avail. 
He sighed frustratedly, kind of understanding Sonic's attitude. But he retained his focus on what was most important, the chaos emeralds.
"We currently have three of them, so the other's have to be around here. However that means we'll need to search outside the school as we-" Shadow's train of thought was interrupted, when he accidentally bumped into someone.

"Ow!" Flash Sentry said as stumbled a little after bumping into Shadow, while Shadow barely flinched. 
"Uh sorry about that." Flash said to him. Shadow glanced over at him, analyzing what kind of person he was at first glance. To him he seemed fairly average, and not that threatening. There was a period of brief silence between the two. Flash was slightly intimidated by Shadow's cold expression. 

"Hmph.....whatever." Shadow quickly diffused any tension between them and carried on his way. Flash looked at Shadow confusedly, wondering who he was.

"Who was that guy? Pretty sure I haven't seen him around before" Flash speculated. However he then noticed that he heard a sort of resonating sound in his mind. 
"What the-?" He held his head, wondering what the sound was. He also felt his skin lightly pulsating with an energy that was unknown to him. 
"Uhh... what's going on with me!?" Flash said to himself, starting to sweat as he didn't know exactly what his body was doing. But before he could question it, the strange pulsating in his body gradually stopped and the sound in his head ceased. Flash managed to calm himself down, however he was utterly confused about what just happened. He tried to think of an explanation but nothing about what happened made sense to him. 
"That was weird...." Flash decided to forget about it, and proceeded to carry on his way. 

Meanwhile

Sonic and Silver were sitting on the bleachers looking over the field. Sonic was just biding his time as he waited for P.E to arrive. Silver on the other hand was taking in his surroundings. He just couldn't help but be interested in this world, considering the time he was born in. Sonic noticed that Silver was looking around alot. 

"Sigh Silver I know you're interested in this world, but....don't you think it's better if we try to act more like the other students here?" Sonic commented. Silver couldn't help but be confused by Sonic's comment.

"Uh, what do you mean, how is being interested in this world not normal?" Silver asked him.

"I'm just saying. Isn't it more normal to act just as disinterested as everyone else? Like this guy for example." Sonic motioned to a depressed looking student sitting above them. 
"Hey you! School sucks doesn't it?" Sonic turned and asked the student. The depressed student glanced over at him, pausing for a few seconds before mumbling: "Yeah.....Same here"

"See? What did I tell you?" Sonic said feeling like his theory was confirmed. Silver was just as disinterested in Sonic's hypothesis as Sonic was interested in school. 

"Well fine, you act all disinterested while I learn things about this place that may actually help us." Silver retorted. 

"Hey, I have nothing against this world or anything....I just want to get home as soon as possible. That's all." Sonic gave a nonchalant shrug. However he saw Rainbow Dash out of the corner of his eye, who was stretching down on the field, while also talking to a blond hair girl wearing a 10 gallon hat. 


"So, what's your reason for not being here first again?" Applejack asked as she stretch one of her legs, making sure her hat didn't fall off. 

"Hm? Oh...ran into the guys who made a scene at the messhall." Rainbow Dash said as she warmed up by jogging in place. "Turns out the Blue haired guy is pretty sure of himself." 

"Really? How so?" Applejack asked, wiping some sweat off her forehead, curious about the two newcomers. 

"Well, he called himself 'The fastest thing alive'" Rainbow Dash relayed what she heard him say, trying to hold back a chuckle. Applejack doubletaked at her answer.

"Seriously!? Sure I know you're cocky, but he takes the cake." Applejack replied. Dash smirked at AJ's remark at her being cocky.

"Yeah, he even said he's going to prove it." Dash continued, stretching her back as she spoke. 

"Well...who knows? What if he is? Remember what I said a few days back, at how someone might just take your place at the top all of a sudden?" Applejack theorized. Dash was somewhat surprised Applejack even thought of that notion. 

"Oh yeah? What make's you think he's the one who's gonna beat me?" Rainbow Dash got in AJ's face. 

"I dunno? Just saying." AJ shrugged her shoulders.

Coach Armor blew his whistle loudly, signaling that P.E had begun. 
"Alright everyone P.E has started! Let's go!" Coach Armor shouted. All the students who were waiting on the bleachers and on the track headed over to the center of the field. He happened to notice Sonic and Silver, who he didn't recognize from the other students he usually had today. He tried to recall if he was told by Celestia if there were going to be any new students, but nothing came up in his mind. 
"I didn't know we had new students today."  Armor said to himself. He shrugged the suspicion off before he could question it. 
"Ok guys. Apparently we have some new faces here today. Other than that it's the same routine: warmup, strength training, and aerobics." Armor explained to them.
"Should be easy for you two to follow along. Just watch what the others are doing." Armor further explained to Sonic and Silver. 

"Right!" Silver said enthusiastically. Sonic just shrugged disinterestedly. 
With that, Armor proceeded to walk them through various warm up exercises, which involved stretching and aerobic exercises. Silver had no problem following along with the exercises, while Sonic just did the minimal amount to follow along, still bored out of his mind. 
After about  ten minutes of warming up, Coach Armor waved them over to do some strength training.
The exercise was bench pressing. Coach Armor had all the students gather in front of the two weight benches.

"Alright everyone, I'm sure you all know how to do bench presses. We'll start at 45 pounds, and for every 10 you manage to do I'll add on another 5 pounds. Don't try and over-exert yourself. Just do as many as you think you can without straining muscles." Coach Armor explained to them. Silver was rather worried about how he would do, while he knew that he was physically capable, he was nowhere near Sonic's level of physical strength. Sonic himself wondered how strong he would be without his powers. 

Two by two the students went up and lifted the bar. Rainbow Dash went up and managed to get to 95 lbs before she couldn't do anymore. She went back to sit next to Applejack, letting out a disappointed sigh. 
"Sigh Man, could have done more." She grumbled to herself, her arms sore. While she didn't want to admit it, physical strength wasn't her strongest suit. 

"Ah don't be so hard on yourself. You can't be the best at everythin'" Applejack smirked as she got up to go and lift. All the students visibly looked up at Applejack as she went over. 

"Hey, how many is she gonna do time?" One student whispered to her friend. 

"Man AJ is strong! How much time do you think she spends at the gym!?" Another student said. Sonic and Silver noticed the other students whispering about Applejack's strength. Silver scooted over over to Rainbow Dash who sat nearby.

"Hey, is your friend really as strong as they say?" Silver whispered to her. 

"Just watch." Dash said without looking at him. Silver and Sonic saw Applejack get on the bench and grip the bar. With that she started lifting at 45 which she got through no problem, and she blazed through most of the single digits. She then moved onto 100 pounds, then 105, then 110, then 115! As the number went up, the group began chanting the numbers as they went up. 

"120!..........125!.........130!" Silver began chanting along with the other students. Sonic looked over and smirked, knowing that Silver was having a good time, not to mention he was also surprised at Applejack's strength. Rainbow Dash smiled as her friend showed off her strength. 
Soon enough Applejack was on 200, and she was still going! Though she was visibly starting to sweat now. 
"Okay, c'mon baby!" Applejack strained as she continued lifting. When she was on 230 pounds, she was starting to grunt as she lifted each time

"Come on AJ get to 300!" Dash cried out. Applejack focused on lifting, she was currently at 275. She paused for a moment to catch her breath. 

"Hey, you good?" Coach Armor said, worrying that she might have over exerted herself. 

"Pant Pant I'm good. Just put the next weight on." Applejack replied, sweat running down her forehead. Armor said nothing as he put the next set of weights on. Applejack put her all into lifting the last few sets. When she finally finished 300 she sat up and yelled "300!!" As she pumped her fist into the air. All the other students cheered as she got up and went over to sit by Rainbow Dash. 

"Heh, show off." Dash snarked as Applejack sat next to her. 

"Oh pfft! You're one to talk!" Appljack snarked back. The two then laughed at each other, knowing that they both did their best. 

"Phew! Very nice Applejack. Now who's next? Oh it's you two." Coach Armor looked over at Sonic and Silver. All the other students instinctively glanced over at them. Sonic could sense Rainbow Dash eyeing him with her smug smile. Since he accepted her challenge, he guessed that he had to beat her weight limit. 

"Alright I guess I'm up." Sonic got up and walked over to the bench. 

"Do your best Bro!" Silver cheered him on. Sonic sat on the bench and gripped the bar. He was ready to see if he retained any of his physical strength in his current form. 
Upon lifting the 45 pound weight, he found that he lifted it with relative ease, only facing a little resistance. A brief feeling of relief ran through his arms. He then continued to lift some more. He got through 50 through 75 no problem however 80 lbs it where he started to have trouble. He managed to lift 80 and went on to 85. He began visibly sweating and was grunting each time he lifted. 

"Uh..you okay? You gonna call it quit's here?" Coach Armor offered for him to stop. While the offer was tempting, as he was tired and his muscles were burning. But if he called it quits here, then Dash would be able to lift more than he would, and he wasn't going to have that. 

"Pant I can....Pant do more" Sonic replied. With that Coach Armor put 90 pounds on the bar. Sonic strained as he lifted the bar 10 times. Then Coach Armor put on 95 pounds. 

"Okay okay okay..." Sonic then gave it all the strength he could muster to lift the bar at 95 pounds. Afterwards Sonic managed to lift 95 pounds. He gasped deeply when he finished. 

"You done?" Armor said to him. 

"Pant Pant Yep.....whew." Sonic said as he sat up and walked over to sit by Silver and Dash. His arms were pulsating and his head was covered with sweat. But he didn't care, he at least was even with Rainbow Dash's weight limit. 

"Heh...not bad....for a newbie." Rainbow Dash said in a semi-mocking tone. 

"Hee Hee...oh yeah....I'm just getting started!" Sonic said, his confidence growing. He wasn't gonna let Dash one up him that easily. Dash on the other hand wasn't going to let Sonic take her place, so she prepared to beat him in the athletics exercise.

"Alright last one! Silver you're up!" Coach Armor called to Silver. 

"Huh!? Oh me?!" Silver wasn't paying attention when Coach Armor called him. 

"Yes you. Now come on we don't have all day." Coach Armor replied, getting somewhat impatient. 

"Okay okay I'm coming!" Silver quickly got up and walked over. He could immediately feel all the other students eyes follow him as he walked up to the bench. It made him nervous, but he didn't let it show. 
He sat on the bench and gripped the 45 pound bar. He took a deep breath and prepared to lift. 
"Ok....here goes!" Silver then lifted with all the strength he could muster. However, Silver found that no matter how hard he tried to lift, the bar wouldn't budge. 
"Huh?........" Silver said in confusion. There was no way he couldn't lift 45 pounds! He tried pushing again. This time he just managed to lift the bar off the hooks, but he couldn't straighten his arms. Soon his arms gave in and the bar sank down with a loud clang, leaving Silver panting in exhaustion. 

"Uh.......you really can't lift 45 pounds?" Coach Armor said in disbelief. Sonic himself was confused as well. He thought that Silver's life living in a post apocolyptic world would have increased his strength. 

"Pant Pant No! No way I can't do this!" Silver then gave one last push as he strained his arms to lift it. However after about 10 seconds of straining himself, he fell limp on the bench, his strength completely drained. Everyone was silent for a minute. Rainbow Dash wanted to make a snide comment about him, but even she felt too bad for him to say anything. 

"Um.....you okay?" Coach Armor said, still bewildered that Silver couldn't lift 45 pounds."

"Pant pant pant I'm done." Silver managed to say through his exhausted stupor. He got up and slowly walked back to sit by Sonic, as his face turned red from utter embarrassment. Luckily the other students didn't saying anything. Silver sat down beside Sonic, the embarrassment churning in his stomach. 
Sonic, feeling bad for tried to say something to him.

"Uh, you okay Si-"

"DON'T JUDGE ME OKAY!" Silver immediately got defensive. Sonic fell silent, and decided to not say anything to him for a while. 

"Okay, that's all of us let's move on to the next exercise guys." Coach Armor announced. All the students then moved to the center of the field to start aerobics. Coach Armor still felt bad for Silver, and was also still confused as to why he couldn't lift 45 pounds. 
"Man, poor guy. Must not eat enough protein." Coach Armor speculated the reason for Silver's lack of strength. He was about to go over and join the other students, but then he accidentally bumped in the weight lifting equipment, knocking one of the weights off. The weight fell to the ground with a loud 'CLANG!!". 
"Whoa!" Armor stumbled back in surprise from how unexpectedly loud the sound was. However, he then noticed something about the weights. He got down and looked at how heavy it weighed. It said 95 pounds. Armor then realized that he forgot to switch the weights that Sonic had when Silver came up. A wave of embarrassment swam over him as he realized this. 
"Man, sorry kid." Coach Armor said. 

Meanwhile

Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer were in the middle of their last class for the day: Physics 2. The teach presenting an example of how time and speed can be used to calculate distance using a specific equation. 
Unfortunately for Twilight, she couldn't focus on that at all. Her mind was still on that malicious person she encountered in the library that supposedly looked like Shadow. Her heart was racing and she was sweating even though it was only room temperature. She put her hand on her chest and sighed.
"Don't worry Twilight. Everything will be fine. You have friends here who will look out for you. There's a solution to this. There has to be. Twilight told herself, trying to calm down. Granted it didn't help much, but the personal pep talk managed to allow her to keep her composure in class for the most part.

Sunset Shimmer was more calm about this situation. But she was equally concerned about this predicament as much as Twilight was. She was also angry at whoever it was that wanted to threaten Twilight, and all of her instincts pointed to Shadow. Though she had no empirical evidence to prove that theory, she still needed to stay on her guard.
"Ok. Something is definitely going on. That new guy Shadow is up to something. Twilight says that it wasn't him. But I can't draw any conclusions yet. For now I need to focus on protecting Twilight, and finding out what's going on." Sunset organized her priorities in her head, while simultaneously focusing on class. "I can try looking for Shadow later"

Inside, Twilight's backpack, Spike was keeping a close eye on the glowing yellow emerald. He had to keep his distance because even his touch caused it to react. While he watched the emerald intently, he wondered how Twilight was taking all of this. He knew that Twilight could handle herself back in the Alternate Equestria, but here, he felt like she didn't have a full grasp of how things worked. 
"Twilight, I hope you know what your doing. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. Spike thought, his concern for Twilight growing. He then let out of long yawn. All this watching of this mysterious emerald made him tired. With that he decided to take a short nap.

While Twilight managed to keep her composure for a little while, it was broken when she suddenly heard the dark figure's voice in her head. 
"You and this world are all pathetic!" She heard the figure say in his spiteful voice. Twilight held her head in anguish as it started to hurt from the figure's words. 

"No. Your wrong!" Twilight spoke back in her mind. The voice said nothing in response, but the pain in Twilight's head persisted. Twilight could barely open her eyes, as the pain in her head was like a migraine, and it wouldn't stop. On top of that her own thoughts were jumbled, and she couldn't think straight. 

"Twilight. Twilight! Twilight!!!" She suddenly brought her head up when she heard a voice call to her. Now that she could see straight, the pain in her head gradually went away. Everyone in class was looking at her, including Sunset, who was looking her with worry in her eyes. Twilight's faced blushed embarrassingly. 

"Twilight, are you okay. You don't look so good." The teacher said to her, she had called on her because she look like she was having a migraine. 

"Sigh I'm sorry, I....just have a lot on my mind today." Twilight replied. The teacher felt a little sympathy for Twilight.

"Well, if you are not feeling 100%, feel free to catch some air for a minute or two okay?" The teacher said to her. Twilight sighed in relief. She needed some air after what's been going on.

"Thank you. But I'm okay now, I promised" Twilight assured the teacher. 
Sunset felt a bit of relief now that Twilight was okay. However just to be sure, she reach over and put a hand on Twilight shoulder.

"Huh?" Twilight looked over at Sunset, wondering what she wanted to say.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Sunset reassured her. 

Twilight smiled at Sunset, silently thanking her for looking out of her. The two then turned their focus back to class. 

"I need to figure out what going on as soon as possible." Sunset's knew she had to find out what was going on before Twilight went home. She knew that they were going to meet with everyone later, so she was going to relay everything that she knew to everyone so that they can all help Twilight get home safely. 

Meanwhile

Back out in the sport field. All the students were getting ready for the mile long run, which was four times around the track. They were all lined up, stretching before the Coach Armor blew his whistle. 
Silver was still somewhat depressed at how he couldn't lift 45 pounds, but he didn't let it bother him so much for at least he could try and make up for it with his running. Sonic, unlike the others, wasn't stretching. He didn't feel like he needed to warm up like the others, because he thought he would naturally be fast like the others. Silver looked over at Sonic and noticed that he wasn't stretching like he was. 

"Uh....aren't you gonna warm up a little Sonic?" Silver asked him. He knew that Sonic was fast, but he didn't have his powers like before, and the fact that Sonic was acting like he could run as fast as he could back home, which he couldn't. 

"Ehh....don't need to, I'm feeling good as is already!" Sonic's confidence in his new body's abilities were high. "Yeah, this should be a piece of cake."

"Pfft! Keep telling yourself that blue boy." He heard Rainbow Dash snarkily  comment as she stretched her arms. He noticed that Dash had taken the spot next to him. "You remember our challenge right?" Rainbow Dash reminded him of the challenge he proposed to her. 

"Huh? Oh! Right!......uh......what was it again?" Sonic asked, confused as to what the challenge was exactly. Rainbow Dash put on an irritated face. 

"Uh...Duh...whoever finishes the mile run first wins......idiot" Dash explained, as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Sonic was silent for a few seconds, as he realized how stupid his question sounded. 
"Uh....yeah! I knew that." He said, rubbing his head embarrassed. 

"Pfft Oh sure you did." Dash snarked under her breath. Like Silver she also noticed that Sonic wasn't stretching, which made her even more confused and suspicious towards him. 
"Your joking right? Even the most fit athletes stretch before running. Is he actually serious about that whole title thing?" Dash thought to herself, while still thinking his title was insane.

"Okay everyone take your positions!" Coach Armor called out to all the students. 

"Oh, looks like were starting." Silver pointed out to Sonic. 

"Yeah, yeah, I see that." Sonic replied nonchalantly. 

All the students got into position, waiting for coach armor to blow his whistle. Sonic and Rainbow Dash exchanged a glance, ready to out do each other in this exercise.

"Hmph! Hope you're ready......to eat my dust!" Dash mocked him. Sonic only chuckled a little in response, her mocking not affecting him at all. 

"Seriously kid, you don't know what true speed is." Sonic mocked back, his cockiness growing even more. 
At this point Dash was so astounded at Sonic's confidence it actually almost intimidated her. She had never met someone with as much confidence in their abilities other than herself. But that notion only drove her to push herself even hard so she could beat him. So she only smirked in response and looked back at the track ahead of her. 

Sonic looked forward at the track ahead of him. He knew that he didn't have his speed, but he knew that he's got to be faster than most of the students here. A smirk grew on his face as he prepared to blow all of their minds. 

"Ok guys! Everyone on your marks!" Coach Armor signaled all of them to get ready. Everyone assumed the runner's start position, ready to take off at the sound of the whistle. 
"Get set!" Everyone prepared to start running. Sonic readied to burst out from the start. 

"GO!!!" Coach Armor blew his whistle loudly. 
The second Sonic heard the whistle, he broke out into a full sprint leaving everyone behind him. 

"Ooh yeah!! That's right baby! I'm outa here!!! Wohooo!!!" Sonic cheered as he sprinted, everything around him appearing blurry. This is what he was waiting for, the chance to let loose and run. And even better, Dash was far behind as well. 

However from Dash, Silver, and the other student's perspective, Sonic was just sprinting really hard. Dash looked at Sonic with an utterly confused face as she maintained an even yet aggressive pace. 
"Uhh.....does he know that this exercise is about stamina, not speed? Is he that stupid?" Dash thought. Sonic's obliviousness utterly baffled her. However she then knew at the speed he was going at, he would tire out. Silver on the other hand, worried that Sonic had overestimated himself. 

As Sonic sprinted out of the first turn, he looked back and saw that everyone else were only halfway through the first turn, and he was already about to go into the next turn and finish the lap. This served to boost his confidence even more. 
"He he...What can I say I am the fast thing ali-" Before he could finish his sentence, he noticed that he was feeling a sensation that he hadn't felt in a long time. He was breathing heavier than usual, his heart was racing, and to his dismay, his legs and arms were getting heavier!

"Pant Pant Pant What....Pant..What's going on!? Pant!" Sonic said in between breaths as his sprint gradually slowed down to a stagger. Sonic tried to maintain his sprint, but the feeling in his body just prevented him from going any faster. Eventually Sonic realized what he was feeling. He has ran out of breath!
Eventually, Sonic's stamina was so low that his pace was now a slow walk by the time he exited the turn. He kept taking repeated gulps for breath to satiate his lungs.  
"Pant Pant Pant Okay......this is something I haven't felt in a long time." Sonic admitted to himself. After years and year sof being able to run at supersonic speeds with no physical limitations, it has made him complacent in his own abilities. He saw that he was walking up to the finish line to clear the first lap. Then he also noticed that Coach Armor was looking at him with the same confused expression from before. 

".......what?" Sonic asked as he continued to catch his breath. 

"Uhhhh......you do know this is a stamina based exercise right kid?" Coach Armor said, wondering if was legitimately something wrong with Sonic's head. Sonic stopped to say something to him. 

"Pant Pant Pant Well.....at least I'm done with one lap okay?" Sonic said, taking some pride in that he almost sprinted around the entire track. 

"See ya slowpoke!" Sonic heard Dash taunt him as she darted past him, crossing the finish line. 

"What the- Hey!" Sonic said as he forgotten that there were other's behind him. Then he saw other students running past him, which only made him more frustrated.

"Why you!!" Sonic broke into another full sprint again to catch up with the other runners.

"Tch! Hey what did I just say!?" Coach Armor yelled at Sonic for blatantly ignoring what he just said to him. Sonic was able to briefly catch his breath and start sprinting again. Sonic sprinted his way past the other students as he tried to reclaim first place.

"Doh! Hey watch it!" Applejack said as Sonic nearly elbowed her in the ribs.
"Just what do you think your doing?" Another female student said as he moved past her.
"Sonic, slow down already!" Silver retorted at Sonic as he shoved his way past him.

"Not in a million years!!" Sonic eventually made his way to the front where Rainbow Dash was leading the crowd, and then sprinted right past her.

"Later Skittlehair!" Sonic mocked her back as he rushed past her. 

"Wha?" Dash double taked at Sonic's persistence to keep sprinting. She just couldn't understand what was going through his head for him to think that he could sprint an entire mile. On top of that, him straight up passing her two times in a row started to irritate her. 
"Okay....." Dash gritted her teeth in annoyance as she began to pick up her pace. "......fastest thing alive my ASS!!" 
Dash then pulsed her leg muscles as she dashed ahead of the crowd, rapidly catching up with Sonic. 

Sonic looked back to see Dash rapidly catching up with him. 
"Oh shoot!!" Sonic increased his pace to try and match Dash's speed. At this point, the two were way ahead of the other students, and had already finished the second lap. 

Sonic panted hard as he desparately tried to out run Rainbow Dash. However he felt the fatigue and tiredness gradually envelop his body each time his feet hit the ground. 
Dash gradually caught up to Sonic as she showed that she could sprint as fast as he could. She could hear Sonic panting from how hard he was sprinting. 

"I don't know what kind of track you ran on where you came from.....but I think you're about at your limit!" Dash said to Sonic as the exited the last turn and were about to go into the last lap.

"Pant Pant Pant! Oh yeah! Says who!?" Sonic retorted. 

"Says me!" Dash pushed herself even harder and managed to overtake Sonic. 

"Why you littl- Pant Pant"Sonic's fatigue caused him to stumble forward and lose his forward momentum. He slowed to a stop, bent over taking deep gulps for breath. He was sweating all over his body, his legs and arms were shaking, and his lungs felt like a vacuum sucked all the air out of them. 
Sonic spent a good fifteen seconds catching his breath, before he started walking towards the finish line. 

"Hey kid come on! Everyone's finished already!" He heard Coach Armor shout at him. 

"Yeah yeah I'll be- wait?" Sonic doubletaked, he then looked up to see that everyone else had passed him while he was catching his breath. He saw some students, Silver included, catching their breath. However a lot of the other students were huddled around Rainbow Dash, cheering for her. Dash herself was jumping with with joy at her victory.

"Oh yeah! That's right! I'm the best!" Dash boasted to all the other students who continued cheering her on. Sonic stood dumbfounded at what just happened. He just lost a race. The thought of it utterly infuriated him, and the more he looked at Dash's smug face just made even angrier. 
Unable to contain his anger, Sonic didn't bother finishing and just angrily walked off the track. He proceeded to angrily kick a soccer ball that was laying on the ground as he walked off. 

Dash happened to notice Sonic walk off. She didn't know why, but she wanted to know more about why he ran the way he did. While she did feel tempted to rub her victory in his face a little, she thought that she would interrogate him instead. 

"Hey hold up you guys I'll be back." Dash told the other students who were cheering her on, and went over to talk to Sonic. Applejack noticed that Dash had stopped soaking in the attention earlier than usual. 

"Hey Dash! Wher' ya goin?" Applejack asked her as she continued to catch her breath. 

"Oh uh....I'm gonna talk to Blue boy. He didn't look too good." Dash explained, then continued to go find Sonic. Applejack was confused, it wasn't like Dash to go talk to a newcomer.

"Pfft for all I know she's probably gonna rub her victory in his face." Applejack rolled her eyes as she thought of what Dash was going to do. 

Sonic had walked back into the halls of CHS with angry, yet defeated face. He felt humiliated. All his life he was the fastest thing in the world(his world at least), and now he got tired just from running a mile. The humiliation hit his stomach like an actual punch to the gut. 

"For the love of...God damn son of A....!" Sonic bitterly cursed as he pounded a nearby locker with his fist, the sound reverberating through the hall. He kept cursing the notion that he lost in his head, but the more he denied it, the more the loss sunk in.
"This.....this can't be....." Sonic looked down at his hand as he leaned his head against the lockers, devastated that he wasn't as fast as he was back home. Just the thought of that shook him deep down to his core. His mind flashed back to the scene of a young version of him, standing in front of a burning orphanage. Then a sentence formed in his head.

"You weren't fast enough

"Shut up!" Sonic pounded the lockers again as he shouted at the voice in his head. 

Rainbow Dash, who heard the pounding from outside, peeked in from outside, where she saw Sonic with his arm against the lockers. After hearing the loud banging from outside, she figured he wasn't feeling too good.

"Dang, he looks pissed" Dash thought. As tempting as it was to boast about her victory to him, she figure that would only piss him off even more. With that in mind, she slowly entered, and closed the door behind her. 

"Uhhh......hey there." Dash said. Sonic flinched at the sound of her voice. He slowly looked over and saw Rainbow Dash standing by the doors. Surprisingly her face wasn't completely smug, as it also had a little hint of empathy. But it didn't help improve his mood at all.

"Grrr......what do you want? You here to gloat?" Sonic said bitterly. Dash was surprised that Sonic knew about her temptation to gloat at him. But she maintained her prideful stance.

"Eh...not exactly." Dash replied, walking closer to him. "Look, I know you're new here and everything. But I'm gonna be honest with you......you made yourself look like an idiot out there." 
Sonic wanted to react angrily, but he knew it was true in a way. Granted, he didn't say anything in response. 
"....and I not saying that to be a jerk or anything. Its just....uh....I mean......who runs all out at the start of a mile run anyways?" Dash continued, still bewildered that Sonic went all out sprinting at the start. 

Sonic was both angry and confused. He didn't know if Dash was trying to help him, or to put him down. 
He let out a defeated sigh. He tried to think of something to say back to her. 

"Whatever.....just....." Sonic hesitated before continuing. 

"Just what? Come on.....say anything you want to me. I can take it." Dash said to him, prepared for whatever insult came her way. Sonic looked back at her. While she still had her smug smile, he could see in her eyes that she did feel a little empathy for him. But regardless, he wanted to get her back eventually.

".....I was a lot faster back home. I......honestly don't know what's going on with me today." Sonic said, turning and leaning against the lockers on his back. It was technically true that he was faster back home, but he knew that she wouldn't understand how fast he really was.

"Hmm.....well maybe the long trip here made your legs rusty or something." Dash said, instinctively giving her own legs a little stretch. While she was still skeptical about how fast he claimed to be, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Although it didn't appear to make Sonic feel any better. 
"Look, if you want a little advice from me, take it slow at the beginning. You'll just burn yourself out sprinting at the beginning." Dash offered some advice to him. Even she made that mistake at one point in her life, so in a way she understood why he was frustrated. 

"Hmph!" Sonic scoffed at her advice. The thought of going slow sickened him. However he stopped leaning against the lockers and turned to face her.
".......you owe me a rematch....." Sonic pointed at her, regaining a little of his confidence. "Mark my words, you haven't seen me at my best!" 

Dash smiled at his statement. She respected that he was willing to stick up for himself. However it didn't mean she was going easy on him. 
"Well then......How about next time on P.E, we race again, once you're at your best? How about it?" Dash proposed offering a fist bump to him. 

Sonic was somewhat surprised at her offer. While he was still upset at his loss, he still took solace in the fact that Dash was willing to give him a second chance. 
"Grrr......fine...." Sonic said with some bitterness still in his voice, and proceeded to return Dash's fist bump. 

Of course, Dash was satisfied at him returning the fist bump. 
"Well then.....I'll be waiting......blue boy" She said half mockingly. With that she flipped her hair and then went to exit the door. 
"You think you're the fastest huh? Well then, catch me if you can then....'Sonic Genesis'!" Dash knew Sonic was determined to beat her, so she knew that she couldn't let up, for she was determined to keep her place as the best athlete in the school. 

Sonic watched as Dash exited the door. He tapped his foot irritably as he thought to himself. He now had incredibly mixed opinions about Rainbow Dash. Her arrogant and cocky demeanor irritated him, but her capacity to show empathy lessened that feeling. However the fact that he lost a race did not fly with him. 

"Just you wait.....Rainbow Dash." Sonic said, knowing that he now had a new rival to beat. 

To be continued
> Episode 2 - Chaos Stranding (Part 5)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silver was still catching his breath outside with the other students. He realized that he himself wasn't exactly in the best shape either. In fact he came in second to last in front of Sonic. However aside from that, he was wondering what Sonic was doing. 

"Oi you!" He heard someone next to him. He looked to see that it was Applejack speaking to him. "Are you friends with that Blue whipper-snapper?" She asked. While Silver didn't know the Applejack's name, he decided to make conversation with her anyways. 

"Uh....yeah. Were brother's in fact." Silver replied, as he wiped some sweat from his forehead. 

"Brothers?" Applejack tried comparing Silver to Sonic, and she didn't really see anything in common between the two, other than their absurd hairstyles. 
"No offense but, I fail to see the resemblance." She commented. 

"I...guess she has a point" Silver admitted that he was very different from Sonic in many ways, but he needed to keep up the facade if they were to blend in. 

"Oh uh well.....let's say.....I take after our mother.....and he takes after our father." Silver made up a quick explanation for their difference. 

"Oh." Applejack nodded in understanding. She then thought that maybe she shouldn't judge, as she had a ton of family members who were very different from her. 
"It's just that.....well....he seems like a handful. Like someone else I know" Applejack further elaborated, her last comment alluding to Rainbow Dash. "But you.....you seem alright ta me." 

Silver chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head at her compliment. 
"Oh please! You're too kind!" Silver replied. 

Applejack then saw Rainbow Dash exit out of the building. She remembered her saying that she was going to talk to Sonic. 
"Looks like Dash is done talkin' to yer brother." Applejack pointed over at Rainbow Dash. Silver looked over and remembered that Sonic had angrily stomped off after coming in last.  

"Oh right!" Silver ran over to go talk to Rainbow Dash. He wanted to know what Dash said to him. If she said anything to put him down he would be mad. 
"Hey!" Silver called over to Rainbow Dash. 
Dash looked over to see Silver running up to her, wondering what he wanted with her. 

"Hey, you're Blue boy's friend right?" Dash asked pointed her thumb back towards the door. 

"Eh yeah. I just wanted to ask. What were you talking to Sonic about?" Silver asked her. Dash raised an eyebrow, confused at his question. 

"Uhhh....what? You think I went to rub my victory in his face?" Dash replied, slightly making fun of herself. While she admitted that she loved to relish in her victories, she wouldn't go so far to personally rub her victory in one person's face. 

"Uhhhh....I don't know? Just wondering"Silver was silent for a minute, unable to think of anything to say. 
Dash sighed as she was getting impatient. 

"Look, I just told him to cool off and we'll race again the day after tomorrow okay." Dash smiled, hoping that her explanation would suffice. Silver gave out a sigh of relief, glad that Dash didn't say anything bad to him. 

"Yeah well uh.....thanks. Just wondering." Silver thanked her. 

"Don't mention it" She replied back. Then she walked past Silver to go talk to Applejack. Silver then went inside the school to go find Sonic. Dash looked back briefly at Silver, wondering why he was worried about Sonic so much. But she pushed the thought out of her mind as she continued to walk over to Applejack, who was with the other students. 

The other students were done cooling off. Applejack straightened out her shirt and skirt, adjusted her hat, and tapped her boots to make sure they were on tight. 
"Whew, I'm beat." Applejack wiped some sweat off her forehead, noting at how out of breath she was after the run. 

"...and I'm still 110% today!" Applejack heard Dash boast. She saw Dash to her right, with her confident smirk on his face. 

"Heh...as usual." Applejack continued the sentence for her. Dash chuckled at the faux praise Applejack gave her.
"I take it everything's fine with him right?" Applejack asked her about her talk with Sonic. Dash groaned in annoyance as she was irritated that everyone was asking her about it. 

"Yeah yeah yeah....it's fine. Don't worry about it." Dash waved the question off. Applejack couldn't help but be a little irritated at Dash's response. But before she could prod her about it, they both heard Coach Armor blow their whistle. 

"Okay everyone, that's it for today. We'll gather again the day after tomorrow." Coach Armor called out the end of class. The rest of the students went to retrieve their backpacks from behind the bleachers. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both figured they should do the same. 

Meanwhile inside the school. Sonic was still wallowing in his defeat. While Dash giving him a second chance made him feel better, his pride made him harbor some resentment towards her. He leaned against the lockers, hanging his head. On top of his loss, the feeling of being without his powers began to sink in. 

Silver entered the building, where he saw Sonic leaning against the lockers. He knew that Sonic was prideful about his speed, but he never saw what would happen when he lost.

"Hey...you okay man?" Silver asked, closing the door behind him. Sonic looked over at him, somewhat relieved to see someone familiar. 

"Sigh I'm fine." Sonic said, his tone becoming more like his usual cocky self. He wanted to maintain his prideful image to Silver as his self proclaimed big brother. 
Of course Silver could sense that his loss hit him hard, despite him trying to hide it. 

"Well.....I'm glad you're alright. Besides we got a mission to do, so how about we try looking for Shadow?" Silver proposed. "Class is over now, so we should be more free to look for the chaos emeralds." 

"Speaking of which, do you still have the one we have." Sonic asked, he wanted to make sure that they still had the emerald with them. 

"Huh? Oh!" Silver searched through his pockets for the Cyan Chaos emerald. At first he panicked slightly when he didn't find it in his pants pockets. But then he felt it in the pocket of his sweat shirt, and breathed a sigh of relief. 
"It's still in here, thankfully." Silver said to Sonic. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as well. With that Sonic started walking down the hallway.

"Let's go little bro. Let's go find Shadow." Sonic called to Silver as he started walking. Silver paused for a moment when Sonic called him 'little bro'. A smile formed on his face. It was rather heartwarming to him to be regarded as a brother. He then proceeded to follow Sonic down the hallway.

Meanwhile

Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were walking down the halls of CHS, discussing how to uncover the mystery of the mysterious emerald in their possession. They had already notified the other's to meet in their band room where they usually practice music. 
Twilight had managed to calm her nerves after her encounter with the sinister figure in the library. While she was still terribly worried, she didn't let it bother her. She knew she had her friends to back her up. 
Sunset on the other hand, while she was just as concerned about the situation, she was also equally concerned about Twilight's well being. While she didn't have any exact proof, she couldn't help but be suspicious of Shadow, considering he matched the description that Twilight gave her. But that didn't matter now, all that mattered was the Twilight was safe and that they were going to show the emerald to everyone. 

"Okay, so as usual, we don't speak about this to anyone else." Twilight explained to Sunset, knowing full well what could happen if people knew about the emerald. 

"Right. We should also have a plan in case our cover is blown." Sunset added. "No offense to Pinkie and Dash, but I feel like they might accidentally blow our cover." Sunset knew Pinkie and Dash's capacity to run their mouths, so she felt that they needed to be prepared for that. Twilight giggled a little at Sunset comment.

"Oh, don't worry about them, I trust they'll know how to handle themselves." Twilight replied, still believing in their trust. "But you're right, we should come up with a contingency plan in case things go wrong." 

They both walked towards their band room when they saw a familiar face.
"Twilight! Sunset!" Rarity ran up to them. 

"Rarity! So glad you're here!" Twilight greeted her. 

"As am I darling!" Rarity stroked her hair in a flamboyant fashion. Twilight and Sunset giggled slightly at her entrance. "Now can I see the emerald!? Can I see it again please!?" Rarity began pestering them, jumping up and down eagerly almost like Pinkie Pie.

"Now hold on Rarity, let's wait until everyone shows up first okay?" Sunset told her. 

"Aww." Rarity pouted. 

"Speaking of which, do you know where the other's are?" Twilight asked her. 

"Actually, I do remember Pinkie following me, but...." Rarity looked behind her to see if she was anywhere but she didn't see her anywhere in the halls.

"HEY GUYS!" Pinkie suddenly popped out from a locker behind them, causing the three to jump in surprise.

"Pinkie!? H-How you get in there?" Sunset asked, utterly confused at how she got into the locker behind them, Twilight and Rarity also sharing her confusion.

Pinkie thought for two seconds before replying. "Oh idunno. I just appear where ever the author of this fanfic tells me to!"(Que Pinkie winking at us) Twilight, Rarity, and Sunset just looked at Pinkie with utter confusion, as they tried to comprehend her logic. 

"Um.......You know what never mind!" Twilight decided to not question her logic and move onto the most important matter at hand. "At least Pinkie's here with us. All that's left is Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy." 

"Hey guys!" The four girls turned to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack running down the hallway to join them. Rainbow Dash skidded to halt as she reached them. 

"Well speak of the devil!" Rarity commented on their convenient timing.

"Ha! I win!" Rainbow Dash boasted, skidding to a halt as she reached while triumphantly pumping her fist into the air. Applejack on the other hand took a few more seconds to reach them. She staggered to a halt as she reached them, catching her breath. 

"Pant Why does...pant everythin'....pant...have to be a race with you?" Applejack complained to Dash in between breaths. 

"Heh, don't blame me....you're the one said that I had to maintain my title right?" Dash countered smugly. While Applejack was irritated at her smug statement, she let it go, noting that it was just how Dash was. The two turned their attention to Twilight. 

"Sorry about the urgent notice everyone, but this is important and we need to discuss this." Twilight explained to them, her voice conveying  the urgency of the situation at hand. 

"Yeah, but let's make it clear to all of us, that we are not to talk about this to anyone else other then ourselves. Are we clear?" Sunset Shimmer said sternly, looking at Dash with prying eyes. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie all nodded their heads in agreement, but Dash sensed that Sunset was accusing her of something. 

"What? What're you looking at me for?" Dash said defensively. Sunset knew fully that Dash knew what she was alluding to, but she chose not to be confrontational as there was a more important matter at hand. 

"All Sunset is saying is that if this gets out, there will be serious consequences. That's why we need to be careful when talking about this." Twilight further explained to them. 

"Hmph....fine by me. Besides, nothing exciting has happened ever since our thing with the Dazzlings, so this is our problem and our's alone am I right!" Dash pridefully stated, excited to learn what this was all about. 

"Yep yep yep yep yep!! Let's have another adventure!" Pinkie energetically added. Dash snickered a little at how Pinkie shared her excitement. 

"Well what're we waitin' for? Spill the beans already." Applejack pitched in her interest at the topic at hand. 

"Yes! I want to see that gorgeous glow again!" Rarity finally said, jumping with excitement. Twilight and Sunset smiled at each other as they  saw that from the group's responses that they were all on board with this, which was more than enough confirmation for them. 

"Alright then! In that case let's go in!" Twilight opened the door to their band room. 

"Woah! Hold up a sec!" Applejack said, looking around the hallways. The group stopped to hear what she had to say. 

"What is it AJ?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah! What's the hold up?" Dash said, tapping her foot impatiently. Applejack looked back at the group and counted how many of them were present, including herself. She counted six, when there should be seven girls.

"Were one person short....." Applejack finally said. 

".....wait......where's Fluttershy?" Twilight said, concern growing in her voice. 


Meanwhile

Sonic and Silver were walking to the entrance of the school down the halls of CHS. Sonic was still miffed about his loss to Rainbow Dash, which caused him to be less energetic as he used to be, as the loss dealt a severe blow to his confidence. 

Silver on the other hand, found himself day dreaming about Rarity and how beautiful she was. Her curled purple hair, her pure white skin, and her sapphire blue eyes, it made him swoon so much that there were literal hearts in his eyes. 
"Oh Rarity....so kind, and so lovely....with an adult charm... Silver swooned internally. However his daydreaming was cut short when he felt a fiery and furious female presence looking down on him during his daydreaming. 

"Wha!" Silver popped out of his daydream. He assumed that the presence he felt during his daydreaming was Blaze furious with him for falling for another girl. He immediately felt ashamed of this. He slapped his head a few times to keep himself grounded in reality. 
"Dang it! Dang it! I'm sorry Blaze!" Silver said internally, not wanting to know how Blaze would feel if she could read his thoughts right now. 

"Hey...what's up with you?" Sonic asked, noticing Silver hitting his head a few times. 

"Eh..." Silver studdered, worried that Sonic knew what he was daydreaming about. "Uh....nothing..nothing, just, clearing my head, that's all." 

"Yeah well, let's go meet Shadow. He's probably waiting for us at the entrance of the school." Sonic pointed down the hallway. 

"Right." Silver agreed. They both continued walking through CHS's hallways. However as they walked,for some reason, they both couldn't get the question of 'why are they here?' out of their heads. 

"Hey Sonic. I know we asked this before but, I can't help but ask why are we here in the first place." Silver asked Sonic, the question permeating his mind. Sonic wasn't really in the mood to think that hard about it, but he figured that he should answer anyways. 

"Sigh Well I don't know....Shadow said that wormhole work in weird ways or something like that?" Sonic speculated, going back to what Shadow had said. The two stopped walking to talk some more. "I mean, we could've just been thrown into this world by pure chance. Idunno?" Sonic shrugged his shoulders as he didn't really have much to say on the matter. 

"Yeah but....." Silver tapped his foot as he tried to think of a way to articulate his thoughts. "....what if we were sent here for a reason. I mean like.....we were sent to this specific world for a reason." Silver speculated that maybe they weren't sent here by mere chance. Sonic on the other hand wasn't that interested in Silver's hypothesis. 

"Sigh Look Silver. It doesn't matter what world were in. All we gotta do is lay low, find the chaos emeralds, and stay out of tro-"

BANG!

Sonic was interrupted when they both heard someone slam a locker followed by a scared yelp from around the corner nearby. 

"The heck was that?" Silver said, a feeling of caution growing in his body. 

"Let's go check it out." Sonic said walking over to the where he heard the sound. Silver followed close behind him. 

"How 'bout ya say that again!?" They heard a bitter and angry voice interrogate someone. "You got somethin' to say about me huh!?" 

Sonic and Silver peek and around the corner. The both gasped at what they saw. They saw a green haired boy with yellow skin, wearing a black biker jacket, white T shirt and ripped black jeans. He was looking down at someone with his fist against the locker where he supposedly punched it. And the person that he was looking down on was, to their horror, Fluttershy, who was cowering under this person's leering eyes with her back against the lockers. 

"I-I-I I'm s-sorry. I j-j..just w-wanted-d t-to-" Fluttershy voice and body shuddered with her knees and feet apart as she tried to say something, but to no avail as she was too scared to get it out.

"Don't give your damn excuses!" The boy snapped at her angrily, causing her to let out a scared squeal. "I bet you think you're better than me, don't you, you little coward!?" Fluttershy now looked like she was on the verge of crying as tears began forming in her eyes. She would try and run away, but he had trapped her against the lockers. 

Silver looked around and noticed that the other students were just ignoring what was going on, which made no sense to him. 
"Why isn't anyone doing anything!?" Silver whispered to Sonic, frustrated that people were ignoring this. 

"Grr it's because they are too afraid to get involved." Sonic replied, his anger rising by the second at what was going on. 

"P-.......Please.........I didn't...." Fluttershy begged him to listen, her fear permeating through her voice as she sunk down lower to the ground. 

"Don't give me that damn crybaby act!" The boy continued berating her. Unable to handle the combination of terror and blows to her self esteem, she began crying. 
As Sonic saw her cry, his instincts to do something about this kicked in, and he started moving towards Fluttershy and the bully without saying anything. 

"Sonic wait!" Silver grabbed Sonic's shoulder stopping him. "We can't rush into this blindly!" 

"Grr Do what ever you want." Sonic shrugged off Silver's hand. "I'm putting this guy in his place!" He continued walking towards the bully.

"Tch! Sonic!" Silver tried to reason with him. Sonic didn't listen as he cracked his knuckles ready for the inevitable confrontation ahead. He just couldn't

"Ha! Look at you! I bet you have no backbone whatsoever! You know what you look like right now? A weakling! That's what." The bully continued to berate Fluttershy, who still was crying in fear. All of Fluttershy's insecurities were in full force right now as she cried. She just wanted him to stop and go away at this point. But there was nothing she could do. 

"Hmph! Well if you're gonna be that way, then maybe I should get a little-" 

"Hey!" Scrooge was interrupted by a voice to his right. He looked over to see a person he hadn't seen before in school. "Why don't you back off!" Sonic said forcefully, trying to intimidate him. 
Fluttershy looked over, and a wave of relief flew over her body when she saw that it was Sonic. 
Unfortunately Scrooge wasn't intimidated by his words.

"Pfft! And who the hell are you? Buzz off you scrub!" Scrooge insulted him. Sonic ignored his insults and then walked closer, preparing to get a little physical. 

"I said..." Sonic then forcefully pushed Scrooge back, causing him to stagger a little. "...back off!" Sonic's voice was even more forceful and to the point this time. 
While he was caught off guard by Sonic's move, Scrooge chuckled a little as he knew that he was going to give Sonic one hell of a pounding. 

"Heh heh heh. You.....should not have done that." Scrooge said maliciously, making his hostility very apparent. Sonic held his ground, not showing any signs of intimidation whatsoever. 

"I don't know who you are....but you don't have the right to berate people like that! You got that!?" Sonic said forcefully, holding his ground. 
Fluttershy, while relieved to see Sonic, was still too scared to move as she didn't know what was going to happen. 
The tension in the air rose to the point where other students were noticing. It appeared that a fight was inevitable. 

"Hmph! You got some balls I'll give ya that." Scrooge crassly complimented Sonic. "But I don't give a rat's ass about what you say! So why don't you get off your high horse and screw off!! You blue rat!" 

The second Scrooge said 'blue rat', something snapped inside Sonic that caused him to briefly lose control of himself. Then, in an instant, Sonic delivered a devastating punch to Scrooge's gut. 

"AGH!!" Scrooge reeled back, clutching his stomach, which felt like a bowling ball had been dropped on it. This made all the other students gasp in surprise. 
Silver's body tensed up as he knew what was about to go down as gonna get messy. 
After punching him, Sonic looked at his fist, noting at how he made Scrooge reel back in pain. While he was surprised at his strength, at the same time he was dreading what was about to come next. 

"You.......ARE DEAD!!!!!" Scrooge suddenly lunged at Sonic and grabbed him by the neck, catching Sonic off guard. Then he proceeds to slam him into the lockers towards Fluttershy.

"AH!" Fluttershy screamed in fear as she ducked under Sonic body as he slammed into the lockers behind her. She frantically scrambled from underneath to get away from their fighting.  
Scrooge held Sonic against the lockers, with his grip getting tighter and tighter. Sonic tried pulling Scrooge's hand off his neck, but Scrooge's grip was strong, which prevented him from getting Scrooge off him. Sonic knew that there was no turning back now. It was time to fight!

"Alright! Bring it!" Sonic managed to kick Scrooge off him with a front kick, causing him to stagger backwards. Then Sonic threw a series of wild punches at Scrooge's face. The first two managed to hit him, but then Scrooge dodged the next two by leaning his body boxer style. Then he caught the next punch thrown by Sonic, pulled him towards him and then kneed him in the stomach. 

"GAH!!" Sonic's felt Scrooge's knee dig into his stomach. Scrooge then threw Sonic back against the lockers, then walked towards him winding up a devastating punch. Sonic managed to recover from the last strike he gave him and saw Scrooge about to throw his haymaker. 
"Oh geez!!" Sonic cried out as Scrooge's fist blasted by his head and into the locker behind him, making a large dent in the metal. 
"Hey! You need to cool off!!" Sonic grabbed Scrooge's head and head butted him, causing him to stagger backwards again. While he was staggered Sonic ran up and then kicked him into the lockers on the other side of the hall. Then Sonic ran towards him, readying a hay maker of his own. 
"Alright take this!" Sonic then threw his strike at Scrooge. But Scrooge read Sonic's move and moved his head to the left, causing's Sonic's attack to miss. Then he grabbed Sonic by the shoulders and then threw him to the side. 
"Whoa!" Sonic yelled as he tumbled to the ground, landing on his back. 

"Ha! Come on! Is that all you've got!?" Scrooge taunted Sonic, a smirk forming on his face as he seemed to be enjoying his fight. Then he marched over and then attempted to kick Sonic in the face. Sonic rolled to the side, avoiding Scrooge stomping on his face, managing to get back on his feet. 

"Pant Pant I'm just getting started!" Sonic taunted back, he too was starting to enjoy the fight. It was about time that he saw some action. 

"GRRRRRYAAAA!!!" The two wound up their fists as they advanced on each other and threw their strikes, which resulted in both their fists clashing in a devastating punch parry, creating a small shockwave. Their fight managed to draw a small crowd of on lookers as they observed the fight from a safe distance. 

Fluttershy still sat on the ground as she watch the fight in horror. While she was relieved that she was saved by Sonic, she knew that this fight would not end well for both Sonic and Scrooge. If she didn't do something, one of them will be seriously hurt. With Scrooge preoccupied with his fight , she decided to slip away from the fight, and go find Principal Celestia. 

Silver clutched his hair as he watched Sonic fight Scrooge, realizing that everything was going wrong.
"Oh god! What do I do!? What do I do!? What do I do!?" Silver frantically paced, trying to figure out what to do. Then he finally got an idea. 
"I know, I'll get Shadow!" Silver than ran off from the fight, as he went off to find Shadow. 

Sonic and Scrooge pushed against each other with their finger's locked with each other. While Sonic was strong, Scrooge appeared to be stronger in terms of physical strength, as he started to push Sonic back little by little. 
Knowing that he was about to be overpowered, he managed to break free of Scrooge's grip, and the punched Scrooge in the nose, which stunned him briefly. 
Then Sonic attempted to tackle Scrooge to the ground, charging into his stomach. However Scrooge managed to keep his footing, and then proceeded to elbow Sonic in the back two times, causing Sonic to let go of his stomach. Scrooge then grabbed Sonic's hair and brought him up to eye level and then gave him a head butt to the face. 

Sonic stumbled backwards, his face and nose aching with pain from Scrooge's most recent attack. He managed to regain his footing, but he didn't have time to react as Scrooge threw a round house kick at him. Sonic managed to put up his guard and block the attack, but the force was so great that it tore through his guard and hit him in the face anyways. 

"WAH!!" Sonic fell to the side from Scrooge's attack. Scrooge advanced on him while he was down, ready to step on Sonic's leg, or worse. However Sonic acted quickly and kicked Scrooge in the shin, preventing him from attacking while he was down. He then quickly got back up on his feet and threw a side kick at Scrooge's stomach. 

"Oof!" Scrooge stumbled back. Sonic then charged at Scrooge full force, with his fist clenched. Scrooge saw Sonic advance and blindly threw a random punch. Sonic dodged to the side, Scrooge's fist grazing his face as it flew by then drove his fist into Scrooge's stomach. 

"GAH!!!" Sonic's attack had enough force to lift Scrooge off his feet and throw him back. Scrooge flew back a few feet before landing on his back, sliding across the school floor a little. 
Sonic rubbed his fist, which was a little sore from punching Scrooge so hard. He was getting tired at this point due to no having his usual athleticism. 

"Pant Pant Pant Are we done here?" Sonic said to Scrooge who was still clutching his stomach on the ground. He looked around at the small crowd who was watching them with eyes fill with worry and anticipation. 
"This isn't going to go anywhere good?" Sonic knew that this wouldn't end well. 

Scrooge was furious at this point. He hadn't met someone who actually fought back against him. But that only gave him more incentive to get even more violent. 
"Ha! That's rich! Coming from the guy who started this fight!" Scrooge spat back at him, his voice full of spite. He slowly got up, the pain in his stomach subsiding. 

"You expect me to do nothing while you were picking on her? Give me a break!" Sonic retorted. He started advancing, ready to knock Scrooge out if he continued fighting.  Scrooge stood up, panting heavily as he prepared to slug Sonic face as soon as he got close. 

"And you should learn to mind your own damn business!" Scrooge continued to berate Sonic. 
Sonic could tell that Scrooge did not intend to stop fighting. So he clenched his fist tightly as he prepared to cut this fight short. Sonic remained silent as he approached Scrooge slowly.

"If that's how you're gonna be, then you can bet your ass it's my business!" Sonic retorted, not backing down. Sonic then prepared to end this fight quickly by knocking Scrooge out. 

"I'm sorry...." Sonic pulled his fist back. ".....but you wouldn't listen!" Sonic then let his fist fly toward Scrooge's head. The small crowd that gathered gasped as Sonic's fist impacted Scrooge. 
However Sonic gasped in surprise as he saw that Scrooge had caught his fist just as he landed the blow. 
Scrooge tightly gripped Sonic's fist as his anger rose by the second. He hadn't encountered anybody who had actually stood up against him, but that only made him want to get even more violent. 

"Listen?.......Ha! Don't give me that shit!" Scrooge said, his voice full of spite and anger as he slowly rose while gripping Sonic's fist.Sonic, knowing that he was in a bad spot, tried to pull away. But Scrooge's grip was strong which prevented him from letting go. 
"Just who do you think you are? Tellin' me what to do." Scrooge continued to rise, his grip on Sonic getting tighter and tighter. Sonic continued to try pulling away, but Scrooge just kept holding onto him. 
"I don't care what anybody says. I DECIDE WHAT I DO, NOBODY ELSE!!" Scrooge yelled at Sonic in the face. "And if you got a problem with that.....!" Scrooge suddenly grabbed Sonic by his collar. "....THEN YOU CAN GO TO HELL!!!" 

"WhooOOOAAAA!!!" Sonic exclaimed as Scrooge suddenly lifted him off the ground over his head and then slammed him into the ground behind him. 
"GAHHHH!!!" Sonic's back surged with pain as he impacted the ground below. The crowd also was shocked at Scrooge's pile driver. 
Sonic struggled to get his bearings as he tried to get back up. The blow had left him dazed, with his vision fading in and out. However, he managed to see Scrooge about to stomp on his face through his blurred vision. 

"Oh geez! Sonic managed to roll to the side, barely avoiding Scrooge's foot, but Scrooge didn't let up as he continuously tried to stomp on Sonic. Sonic could feel the ground shake a little from Scrooge's feet pounding on the ground. He kept rolling to the side until he bumped into the lockers. Sonic re positioned himself to see Scrooge above him, about to kick him in the face.

"No where to run now punk!!" Scrooge then attempted to drive his foot into Sonic's head. But Sonic again managed to avoid his foot, as it slammed into the lockers once more. Then Sonic scrambled to his feet and then lunged into Scrooge's stomach catching him off guard. 

"Ack! Why you!!" Scrooge fell backwards as Sonic tackled him to the ground. Sonic then keeled over him, with Scrooge clawing at his shirt and face. 

"Fine! If you're gonna be that way!...." Sonic decided to not hold back anymore, and proceeded to start punching Scrooge in the face. He managed to get in one punch before Scrooge put his guard up. Scrooge then managed to grab Sonic's collar and then threw him to the side. 
"Ack! Hey!" Sonic tumbled to the side as Scrooge threw him off of his stomach. He tried to get back up but before he could, Scrooge had already thrust his knee onto his chest, preventing him from getting up. 
"Oh crap!" Sonic knew he was in a bad situation. 

"Heh Heh! That's right! You scared now rat!?" Scrooge taunted him as he prepared to wail on Sonic. Sonic attempted to put his guard up, but before he could do so, Scrooge pinned his arm's down with his other leg and hand. Scrooge then proceeded to repeatedly slug Sonic in the face. 

"ACK! GAH!! DAAH!!!" Sonic exclaimed in pain as Scrooge went to town on his face. Sonic struggled to maintain consciousness, as his vision and senses blinked on and off. 
Finally Scrooge stopped hitting his face, but not before kicking him in the side, causing him to slide on the floor towards the lockers.

"Owwwww." Sonic groaned in pain as he struggled to get up. His face ached, his nose was bleeding, and multiple area's of his body were aching. He hadn't experienced being almost defeated in a long time. But his pride wouldn't let him back down. 

"Pant Pant You done already!? Come on! I was just starting to get interested. Don't tell me you're gonna chicken out and run away. Are ya?"  Scrooge continued to taunt him, also feeling tired as he hadn't had to exert himself in a while. 
With that Sonic slowly stood up, blood dripping from his nose, his stomach and body aching, and a little dizzy. He wasn't about to lose this guy. 

"Pant pant Pant I can do this all day." Sonic put his fists up, ready to continue fighting

Meanwhile

Shadow was waiting outside the front of the school waiting for Sonic and Silver. However he was increasingly getting irritated as he expected them to be here 10 minutes ago. 

"Grrr! Those two are late. What are they doing?" Shadow said, his irritation growing. He would give them both a talking to once they got here. 

"Shadow! Shadow!! Shadow!!!" Shadow heard Silver's voice from inside the School. He looked to left see Silver burst out of the school doors with an increasingly worried look on his face. 
"Shadow! We got a problem! A huge problem!!" Silver ran up to him. 

"Calm down. What's going on?" Shadow maintain his calm demeanor. 

"S-Sonic...he's fighting with someone!" Silver explained quickly. 

"What!!?" Shadow's calm tone instantly broke. "What the hell is he doing!?" Shadow asked for more details. 

"T-t-there was this guy, he was picking on another student, so Sonic butted in and he started fighting him." Silver explained further. 

"Oh, for tHE LOVE OF-!!" Shadow was seriously pissed with Sonic, especially after explicitly telling him to not cause any trouble. However he decided to waste no time getting angry and take action. 
"Come on! Let's clean up this mess!" Shadow told Silver to follow him. They both went inside to go and find Sonic.
"Damn that faker! When I find him, he's going to get it!  Shadow was burning on the inside with rage. 

Elsewhere. 

Principal Celestia had just walked out of a meeting with one of the school faculty and was on her way back to her office to finish some more paperwork (as usual). She sighed, tired from today's work. She had been doing paperwork all day, aside from attending three boring meetings. She wanted to do something different with her life aside from the boring grind.

"Sigh I swear I don't get enough sleep these days." Celestia said to herself, holding her head tiredly. 

"Principal Celestia!!" She heard a young female student's voice. She turned behind her to see Fluttershy running towards her. Celestia wondered what she had to say.

"Oh Fluttershy. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Celestia asked her, noting her extremely worried expression. Fluttershy caught her breath for a few seconds, clutching her chest as her lungs felt empty. 

"T-Th-There's a fight going on!" Fluttershy told her, her voice stuttering as she spoke. 

"What!? Who's fighting!?" Celestia asked, worry growing in her voice. 

"It's Scrooge and- an- and this new student. H-His name is Sonic!" Fluttershy explained quickly. Celestia gasped at those two names. 

"Oh my goodness! Again!?" Celestia has had to deal with Scrooge getting into fights before, and this was the third time this month. "And Sonic....he just came into CHS today." Celestia now questioned Sonic's integrity as a student.
"Fluttershy, take me to them quick!" Celestia told Fluttershy. 

"Right!" Fluttershy told her. Celestia then followed Fluttershy as they hurried over to where the fight was taking place. 

"Scrooge. Just what have you gotten into this time?! And Sonic you better have a good excuse for this!" Celestia thought, as she had enough on her plate to deal with already.


"TAKE THIS!!!" Scrooge's fist struck Sonic in the face once again, causing Sonic to stagger a little. But Sonic recovered and wound up a punch of his own. 
"GRRRYAAAA!!" Sonic let out a battle cry as he let his fist fly and struck Scrooge square in the jaw. Their fighting had grown more intense. They were throwing and punching each other all over the hallway, causing the crowd watching them to stay back even further. 
Sonic had taken several strikes to his face and body now, causing it to ache considerably. But the adrenaline kept him from breaking down and allowed him to keep fighting. On top of that, deep down, he was actually kind of enjoying himself.
Scrooge was in a similar condition to Sonic, breathing heavily and his body was aching. He wanted to cave in Sonic's head for daring to stand in his way, but at the same time

HYAAAAA!!!" Sonic and Scrooge clashed fist's once again, the force of their punches canceling each other out. They then both clashed fists with their other arms, causing them to push against each other for a few seconds before finally butting heads and pushing each other back.

Pant Pant Pant How long is this gonna go on?" Sonic said to himself. He had been fighting Scrooge for about fifteen minutes now, and he still showed no sign of backing down. Fortunately for him, he still had adrenaline going through his system, and he intended to make the most of it.

"Pant I've have just about had it with you!" Scrooge charged toward's Sonic, his fist ready to fly. Sonic widened his stance, ready to counter attack. Scrooge let his fist fly at Sonic's head. Sonic read his move and dodged to the side, and then proceeded to throw a blow of his own. But Scrooge also read Sonic's attack and dodged it as well. He then grabbed Sonic's arm as it flew past him and pulled Sonic towards him.

"WHA!!" Sonic exclaimed as he was jerked forward. Scrooge then proceeded to put him in a headlock. "Ack! Hey what are you-?" 

"What do you think of this?!" Scrooge then proceeded to give Sonic an atomic noogie!

"GAH!!!! WHAT THE- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!?" Sonic exclaimed as Scrooge wedged his fist into the top of his skull. To Sonic, this wasn't one of the playful noogies that he gave Tails on occasion, he was literally trying to noogie him to death. 

"HAHAHAHA!! How do ya like that!?" Scrooge said as he continued to furiously rub his fist on Sonic's head. 

"GRRRR!!! Knock it off!!!" Sonic proceeded to elbow Scrooge in the belly, not having anymore of this. 

"DAH!! Why you!!!" Scrooge threw Sonic down to the ground in response. 

"GAH!! Ow..." Sonic groaned as he hit the floor below, his head stinging. He swore that Scrooge managed to take some hair off his head from that. But before he could do anything else, Scrooge thrust his foot on his throat.

"ACK!!! *cough* Hey!!" Sonic couldn't breath as Scrooge stepped on his throat. 

"HA! Come on! Sure that can't be all you've got!?" Scrooge taunted him some more, which only served to annoy Sonic even more. 

"Why......you!! Get...OFF!!" Sonic, fed up with this elongated fight, grabbed Scrooge's foot and managed to pry it off his throat.

"Huh!?...What the-?" Scrooge lost his balance for a second. 

"How do you like this!!" Sonic then sunk his teeth into Scrooge's leg.

"GAAH!!! Hey what are you doing!!?" Scrooge tried to shake Sonic off his leg, but Sonic held on tight with his teeth. Sonic growled as he continued biting into Scrooges leg even as his body flapped on the ground. He didn't care if he looked ridiculous, if Scrooge had the audacity to humiliate him with that atomic noogie, he was going to do the same. 


Meanwhile, Fluttershy was leading Celestia to where the fight was taking place. 
"Oh please please please don't be hurt!" She worried if Sonic or Scrooge were already hurt during their fight. She wouldn't forgive herself if they got hurt because of her. Fluttershy and Celestia rounded a corner and they immediately saw the fight. The two gasped as they looked at the damaged lockers and the small crowd that was watching them. Right now Sonic and Scrooge were rolling on the ground as they fought. 

"OH MY GOODNESS!! THIS STOPS NOW!!" Celestia cried out as she ran towards the fight to stop them. The small crowd of students cleared out of the way as she made her way towards them. Sonic and Scrooge did not stop fighting even at the sound of her voice. 
"Both of you! Stop this instance!!" Celestia tried to pry the two apart, but they still didn't pay attention to her. 

"Grrr! Come here! You wanna piece a me!!?" Scrooge snarled at Sonic as he clawed at his face. 

"Ha!! I have plenty for ya so bring it!!" Sonic spat back at Scrooge while he comically pounded on Scrooge's head. Celestia continued to try and pry them apart, and the fact that they were not listening to her was starting to annoy her. 

"Alright! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" Celestia, using a small fraction of her former power, used it to pry the two apart with considerable force. 

"Woah!" The two of them said as they were pulled away from each other. They were both surprised at Celestia's surprising strength. 

"NOW WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!?" Celestia yelled at them both as she held them back, as they still tried to take potshots at each other. 

"GRRR!!! He started it!" Scrooge snapped at Sonic, pointing at him. 

"HE CALLED ME RAT!!" Sonic snapped back. The two continued to try and fight each other while trying to break free of Celestia's surprisingly strong grip. Of course this only served to anger Celestia even more, and she wasn't having any more of it. 

"I said...THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" Celestia shouted even louder, causing the two of them to stop their fighting and fall silent. The crowd also fell silent. 

Sonic and Scrooge were both too scared to say anything back to Celestia. They exchanged a brief look with each other, expecting the other to say something. 

"I don't care what the reason is. Fighting is not tolerated in my school! UNDERSTAND!!?" Celestia was seriously angry with the two of them, especially considering they have smashed several lockers during their fight. 

Sonic had now realized that he had seriously screwed up.
"Damn! I knew I should've taken Shadow's advice!" Sonic thought to himself. He didn't expect Celestia to be so scary when she was mad. 

"Grrr..Screw off Celestia! I don't have time for this" Scrooge thought to himself. He seriously didn't want to be punished by her again. 

"And as far as I'm concerned, you both are responsible for this mess you've made!" Celestia gestured at the smashed lockers. Sonic looked at the smashed lockers, and looking at the damage, he and Scrooge were in for some serious trouble. 
"..and that only means one thing! YOU BOTH ARE HEADED TO DETENTION!" Celestia finally announced their punishment. 


Meanwhile

During the events of Sonic and Scrouge's fight, Twilight, Sunset, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, were searching around the school for Fluttershy. They were worried if something had happened to her. Twilight and Spike quickly searched the library. Twilight checked each aisle in the library while Spike checked the smaller areas of the library. 
"Spike did you find her!?" Twilight called down from the upper floor of the library. 
Spike accidentally bumped his head on a monitor at the sound of her voice as he was checking behind the computers.
"Ow! Uh...no nothing here!" Spike reported. 

Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were out in the field searching for her. Applejack was looking near the bleachers while Dash was making rounds out in the field looking for her. Applejack didn't find Fluttershy near the bleachers, so she decided to check in with Dash and see if she found anything. 

"Hey Dash! Ya find er'? Or are ya just showin' off again!?" Applejack yelled out to Dash from atop the bleachers, figuring that Dash was just making laps around the track just for fun. Dash skidded to a halt at AJ's call. 

"What's the big idea!? I was not!" Dash retorted. "Besides I see no trace of Fluttershy over here." Dash called back to AJ. Applejack sighed disappointingly. This only put more worry in AJ's stomach as she wondered where Fluttershy was. Dash on the other hand grew even more impatient. 

Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer was searching the other classrooms for Fluttershy. She repeatedly opened every classroom door that wasn't locked and scanned each classroom in search of her. She figured that if Fluttershy was scared, she would hide in the most obscure place possible. Unfortunately no matter how many classroom's she checked, Sunset couldn't find her.

"Sigh Damn! Fluttershy, where are you!" Sunset swore under her breath as she ran through the hallways, her yellow and red hair flowing behind her. She now was convinced that something had happened to Fluttershy. Her magic senses told her that she was still in the school, but it didn't give an exact location. "Could've it have been that person who attacked Twilight in the library!?" Sunset thought to her horror. 

Ten minutes later, the four girls met back at the band room, where Rarity and Pinkie were waiting. 

"I didn't find her in the library. What about you girls?" Twilight reported her findings, and asked if the others had found her. 

"We didn't find her out in the field." Applejack reported. "Considering that Dash actually checked thoroughly "

"I heard that!" Dash retorted, hearing AJ's snide comment. 

"I couldn't find her in any of the classrooms! This is bad!" Sunset reported as she arrived, skidding to a halt. "Hey Twilight, you can still sense her right?" Sunset wanted to confirm with Twilight, since she also 
had magic senses like her. 

"I do, but I can't pin point where she is." Twilight replied, even when she tried to focus her magic senses, she couldn't find where she was, which seriously worried her. 

"Oh dear...what if something happened to her?" Rarity was shaking with worry, she couldn't even sense where Fluttershy was. Pinkie on the other hand, still had her same carefree smile on her face. 

"Maybe she went to find the Dragonballs!" Pinkie blurted out. The group gave Pinkie an extremely confused look. 

"The what?" Sunset said, just as confused as the others. 
But then, Twilight felt a familiar magic with her magic sense nearby, and it felt like Fluttershy's!

"Gasp Girls wait!" Twilight focused on her magic sense. "Fluttershy she's..." Twilight and the others looked down the hallway to Twilight's left, and they saw Fluttershy slowly running up to them.

"Pant Pant H-Hey everybody!" Fluttershy waved to them. She was tired from everything that has happened. She felt like her legs could give out at any second. 

"FLUTTERSHY!!" The group were all relieved to see her. They all ran up to her to see if she was alright. Fluttershy tripped as she ran towards them.

"W-whoa ow!" Fluttershy whimpered as she collapsed on the ground exhausted. The other's rushed over to help her. 

"Fluttershy! Are you okay!?" Twilight asked, kneeling down to help her. It didn't look like she was hurt, just exhausted. 

"What happened? Where were you?" Sunset asked Fluttershy about what happened to her, as she got down next to Twilight

"Yeah? What's the deal. You made us all worry!" Dash followed up, wanting know what happened as much as Sunset did. 

"Please, tell us everything darling." Rarity asked as well. Fluttershy wanted to answer all their questions, but she was overwhelmed at the moment.

"Girls! Slow down! Can't you see she's overwhelmed?!" Twilight said to them. She wanted to give Fluttershy a chance to calm down considering how exhausted she looked. The other's kept quiet as they let Fluttershy explain what happened to her. 

"Pant I-I....It was Scrooge." Fluttershy finally caught her breath. The others gasped in horror. 

"Why that pompus, stuck up, bastard!!" Rainbow Dash angrily pounded one of the lockers near her, furious at Scrooge. 

"Oh that brute has another thing comin'!" Applejack cracked her knuckles, wanting to give Scrooge a piece of her mind. 

"Tsk! Calm down you two! Violence will only make this worse!" Sunset tried to calm the two down. 

"My goodness! Just what did that brute want with sweet darling Fluttershy?" Rarity said, shaking in her boots with fear. 

"Ooh! I wonder if he wanted some of those cookies that Fluttershy made!" Pinkie speculated, still retaining her upbeat and cheerful tone.

"Oh please, I doubt that was what he wanted Pinkie." Rarity scoffed at her explanation. 

"A....A-Actually....that's...actually close to what happened." Fluttershy replied to Rarity, still somewhat tired.

"Huh!?" The other's were surprised at Fluttershy's comment. 

"Tell us more Fluttershy." Twilight said in a calm voice. Fluttershy continued to catch her breath as she prepared to explain. 

"I-I...wanted to....try and reach out to him." Fluttershy explained. "So...I-I offered him....some cookies I made earlier." The rest of the mane 7 listened intently to her explanation.
"B-but....I must have said something to make him angry." Tears began forming in her eyes.
"A-all I want was to find out....sniff..why he's so angry....sniff" Fluttershy tried to keep herself from sobbing, but she couldn't hold it back. She eventually started crying, feeling horrible for how she wasn't able to reach out to him. 
The rest of the mane 7 were also sad alongside Fluttershy. 

"How horrible." Twilight said, frustrated at how Fluttershy's kindness was only met with cruelty. 
"Why is he like this....all she was trying to do was help!"Twilight thought, holding her frustrations back. Rarity went over to comfort Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, you poor thing. I'm just glad you managed to get out of there unscathed." Rarity said. Fluttershy managed to stop sobbing. 

"Sniff A-Actually....I d-did have some..help" Fluttershy further explained, wiping away some tears. 

"Huh? Are you saying you were rescued?" Sunset asked her. The other's listened intently, wondering who it was who rescued her.

"Y-yes...I...I...forgot him name....b-but....he was brave...and he had blue hair...." Flutttershy gave a brief description of Sonic.

"Hmm...Blue hair.....Blue hair....." Rainbow Dash could have sworn she remembered someone with Blue hair from earlier. 
"Hey wait! This guy's name didn't happen to be Sonic!? Was it!?" Rainbow Dash blurted out. Fluttershy gasped as she finally remembered his name. 

"YES! Sonic! Sonic was his name!" Fluttershy yelled. 

"WHA!!?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack exclaimed. The other's were more confused as they didn't know who Sonic was at the moment. 
"Y-You're serious?! It was blue boy who saved you!?" Dash couldn't believe that Sonic was the one who saved Fluttershy. She nodded in confirmation, smiling at the teams reactions. 

"Yes...b-but...they began fighting....and I was afraid that they would get hurt.....s-so.....I went...to find principal Celestia." Fluttershy explained further. The group continued to listen intently. 
"After that.....I went to....go find you....." 

The group were relieved and surprised at Fluttershy's story. Dash and AJ were more surprised that it was Sonic who saved her, while the others were relieved that Fluttershy was okay. 

"Sigh Well in any case, at least you're safe Fluttershy." Twilight smiled, happy that Fluttershy was safe. The other's also were happy to see Fluttershy unharmed. Twilight helped Fluttershy to her feet. While her legs were still shaky, she managed to keep her balance and stand. 

"Sigh Thank you." Fluttershy thanked Twilight. 

Now that they had all finally gathered, they all knew what was next. 
"Okay everyone, let's get back on track. We all what were here to discuss right?" Twilight cheerfully said to the rest of the Mane 7.

"Yeah!!!" They all cheered.

"......uhh.....what exactly are we talking about?" Rainbow Dash forgot what was it exactly they were supposed to talk about. Now that the others though about it, they too had forgotten what they were supposed to talk about. 

"Spike!" Twilight said to Spike from within her backpack. 

"Yep?" Spike popped out from inside her backpack.

"Show everyone what we found yesterday!" Twilight told him. With no hesitation, Spike searched through Twilight's backpack. In a few seconds, Spike came out with the glowing yellow emerald in his mouth. 
The girls gazed at the emerald's beauty. 

"Whoa! What is that!?" Dash shielded her eyes, curious and amazed about what she was looking at. 

"Holy Guacamole!" Applejack shared Dash's curiosity. Fluttershy's eyes gleamed in the light of the emerald as she gazed at it in wonderment. Pinkie's curiosity also rose as she looked at the emerald. 

"Hey who turned on the lights?" Pinkie commented on the emerald's glow illuminating the halls. Sunset and Rarity had already laid their eyes on the emerald, but it still amazed them, especially Rarity. 

"Oh my word! It's still so gorgeous!" Rarity's excitement made her jump with joy. Twilight giggled at their reactions. She couldn't wait to tell them the whole story.  

"I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, but they will be all answered in time!" Twilight reassured them. The group were all excited to learn more about this mysterious emerald. With that, they all filed into the band room.

Meanwhile

"You sure this was the place?" Shadow said through gritted teeth, trying to hold back his anger. Shadow and Silver were at the place where Sonic and Scrooge fought. Silver had hoped that they would get Sonic in time, but apparently they were too late as all they saw were the remains of their fight. 

"Uhhh....." Silver was really nervous as Shadow looked like he could punch someone right now. "I'm sure this was the place." Silver was sure that this was where they were fighting, but all that was left was the smashed lockers. 

Shadow let out a frustrated sigh. 
"Well if anything, at least it's obvious that he was here." Shadow said, he judged from the damage done to the lockers, he knew that Sonic and some other person was fighting. But there was still no sign of Sonic or any other familiar faces "Next question is, where did he go?" Shadow and Silver looked around for any traces of Sonic. 

Nearby Celestia was looking for Sonic's two brothers. She had already place Sonic and Scrooge in detention, and she wanted to inform them of what Sonic has been up to in the past half hour. She looked down one of the hallways and to her relief, she saw Shadow and Silver.
"Oh thank goodness! There you are!" Celestia ran up to them. 

"Huh? Oh man!" Silver jumped a little at Celestia's appearance, while Shadow remained calm. 

"Great, she's probably here to question us about Sonic" Shadow thought, knowing that Celestia was coming to talk to them about Sonic. 

"I'm sorry, but I had to talk to you as soon as possible." Celestia explained. 

"So...what's going on?" Shadow remained calm. 

"It's your brother. He is in detention for fighting with Scrouge." Celestia broke the news to them. 

"Oh no!" Silver exclaimed, afraid that they were going to get in trouble as well. Shadow too was shocked, but he wasn't that surprised. He held back his anger and calmed down.

"Sigh I thought that's what happened." Shadow replied, he knew this would happen eventually. 

"Now...you two aren't in any trouble, but I would like to hear what you would have to say for your brother." Celestia wanted to hear what Sonic's brother's had to say in his defense. 

"Uhh....I would like to say something..." Silver volunteered to speak in Sonic's defense. 

"Hmm?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at what Silver had to say.

"Uh...Sonic wasn't fighting because he wanted to, he was helping somebody who was being bullied! You can't fault him for that right? He he he..." Silver explained. He was afraid of getting in trouble, but he also wanted to help Sonic as well. 

"Sigh He has already used that excuse with me, and I'm afraid that's not going to fly." Celestia found Silver's explanation to be unsatisfactory. 

"Uhh...but....can't you-"

"Silver that's enough." Shadow interrupted Silver. "Look.....as his older brother, I'll take full responsibility for his actions. I should've kept a closer eye on him." 
Celestia continued listening to Shadow, now somewhat sympathetic towards them. 
"But....can you, just this once...let him go. I'll be sure to give him a talking to afterwards." Shadow asked Celestia as sincerely as possible, something he never thought he'd do in a long time. 

"Hmmmmmm......." Celestia tapped her foot as she thought about Shadow's proposition. While she knew that Sonic was a new student, he still needed to learn the rules around here. Silver tensed up, wondering what Celestia was going to say. 
She thought for a good minute or two before answering.

"Sigh Okay then. But if I catch him doing something like this again, the consequences will be more severe, got it?" Celestia finally said. Silver breathed a sigh of relief. Shadow too was relieved yet he still had many harsh words for Sonic. 

"Thank you." Shadow politely said to her. 

"Right then, follow me." Celestia gestured for them to follow. With that, Shadow and Silver followed her to where Sonic and Scrooge were in detention. 

Meanwhile

Sonic and Scrooge were sitting in a classroom, going through their detention, while Miss Cheriliee was making sure they didn't get out of control. They were sitting on opposite sides of the class from each other, taking turns giving each other mean looks. 

Sonic for one, was angry that he had to spend two hours in detention. But he was even more angry at Scrooge, both for picking on Fluttershy, and having the nerve to call him 'rat'. He wanted to give him a piece of his mind, but Miss Cheriliee would get on his case if he did. 

Scrooge was equally angry at Sonic as he was at him. He had never encountered anybody who got in his way. But he wasn't going to have any of it. He wasn't going to let anyone, not even Sonic tell him what do do. 

"Grrr. Just wait until I get my hands on you. Ya blue rat." Scrooge said under his breath. 

"WHADYOU SAY!!?" Sonic spat at Scrooge from across the classroom. He apparently heard Scrooge call him a blue rat again. 

"GRR!!! YOU HEARD WHAT I SAID!!! YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT!!!?" Scrooge spat back. 

"HEY!!" Miss Cherilee intervened and proceeded to smack them both on the forehead with her ruler. "One more peep out of you two and you will be in for double detention!" 

Sonic and Scrooge fell silent, while their forehead's steamed red from where Miss Cherilee struck them with her ruler. They both decided to play it safe a shut up for now. They both waited for a good ten minutes for something to happen.

However, instinctively, they both decided to look at each other. They didn't know why, but they both guessed that they were too bored at the this point. 

"...........what're you looking at?" Sonic said to Scrooge. Scrooge hesitated a little before speaking. 

"Tch! That's my line punk!" Scrooge retorted. The two fell silent for a few seconds, while still staring each other down. They didn't know why, but they both got the feeling that they would fight again someday. 

"Hmph!" Scrooge finally looked away from Sonic, through with looking at his face. Sonic proceeded to do the same. A few more minutes passed by until Sonic heard voices outside the room. The classroom door opened, and Principal Celestia came in. 

"Celestia? Their detention isn't over yet." Miss Cherilee commented. 

"I know, but at his brother's request, I've decided to let Sonic go early." Celestia explained. Sonic gasped with hope as he heard Celestia speak. 

"You sure? What if he does something like this again?" Miss Cherilee asked.

"His brother assured me that he will straighten him out. For now he goes." Celestia further elaborated. 

"Sigh Yes!" Sonic said, relieved that he was getting off the hook. He saw Celestia open the door for him, where he saw Shadow and Silver outside.

"Okay Sonic, you can go now." Celestia opened the door for him, where he saw Silver and Shadow waiting for him. 

"Yes! Freedom!" Sonic eagerly got out of his seat and headed for the door. 

"Wha-!? GRRR!!!" Scrooge let out a frustrated grunt when he saw Sonic head for the door. "Just you wait punk. I won't forget this!!" Scrooge muttered under his breath. 

Sonic felt Celestia look at him with prying eyes as he exited the classroom, he could tell that she was still made at him. However he felt relieved when he saw that Shadow and Silver waiting for him outside. 

"Sigh Hey guys.." Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. Silver only waved to him while Shadow said nothing, still clearly angry with Sonic. Sonic was about to walk but he felt Celestia grab him by the shoulder. 

"Let me make this clear. If I catch you fighting with Scrouge again, it could mean suspension for you. Okay?" Celestia said, still sounding firm but much calmer the last time she spoke to him. 

"Sigh Ok..." Sonic said insincerely, just wanting to get out of that room as soon as possible. 

"Let's go you two." Shadow began walking down the hall, wanting to give Sonic a good talking two. Sonic and Silver began following Shadow. 

"Uh...thanks!" Silver said to Celestia ran to catch up with Sonic and Shadow. Celestia smiled and waved back. 


Shadow led Sonic and Silver a considerable distance from where they picked up Sonic. For Sonic it felt good to finally get out  of detention and stretch his legs. He didn't know if he could last more than an hour in that room, especially with Scrouge. 

"Sigh Well now that that's over, thanks alot for - BAMM! OWW!!!!" Sonic was about to thank Shadow when he was suddenly met with the back of Shadow's fist slamming into his nose. He reeled back clutching his nose which felt like it was hit with a sledgehammer.  Silver flinched at Shadow hitting Sonic in the face. He knew Shadow was angry, but not this angry. He wanted to say something, but was too afraid of Shadow's anger. 

"Oohhh.....god!! What did you do that for!?" Sonic said, still clutching his nose. Suddenly Shadow's armed moved at blinding speed, grabbed Sonic by the collar and pulled him right up in his face.

"Do you have a death wish faker!? Do you want to get us caught!?" Shadow interrogated Sonic, his rage permeating through his voice. "At this rate, we'll never find the chaos emeralds!"
Sonic knew that Shadow told him to stay out of trouble, but he wasn't going to let Shadow berate him like this. 

"Will you cut it out!?" Sonic pushed Shadow off him, causing him to let go of his collar. "I can take care of myself!" 

"Pfft! Yeah right! And look at where you ended up!" Shadow countered, getting seriously irritated with Sonic. 

"I agree! Sonic, your recklessness not only got you in trouble, it could have gotten us in trouble!" Silver added. 

"Hmph! Like you were any help." Shadow now directed his anger at Silver, annoyed that Silver could have done more to stop Sonic from getting into this situation. 

"Wha-? Hey! I tried to stop him you know!" Silver objected to Shadow trying to bring him into this drama. 

"Well you obviously didn't do enough...Kid!" Shadow crushed Silver's argument. Silver wanted to object more, but Sonic spoke before he could. 

"Hey! Leave Silver out of this!" Sonic clearly didn't like how Shadow tried to throw some of the blame on Silver.

"Fine! Let's hear your excuses then!" Shadow turned his attention back to Sonic. 

"Is helping someone who's crying an excuse!?" Sonic angrily retorted, angry that Shadow considered his reason's for helping Fluttershy an 'excuse'.

"I don't care who was crying! The fact is that your rash actions have potentially put us in danger!" Shadow put down Sonic's argument. 

"Oh yeah!!? Well I felt it was the right thing to do! So I don't give a damn!!!" Sonic angrily argued against Shadow, breathing heavily from yelling so loud. For as long as he remembered, helping someone who was crying was a must in his code of conduct. And he wasn't going to let Shadow crush that notion. 

There was a brief period of silence as the three stood in the hallway. Silver didn't know what he should say to follow up, while Sonic and Shadow stood face to face, both their will's in direct conflict with each other. 
While Shadow  was mad at Sonic for acting rashly, he at least had good intent behind it. But regardless, he couldn't let Sonic do this again in the future. 

"Just because you feel it's the right thing to do, doesn't mean it's always the right thing to do." Shadow said in a more calm but still intimidating voice. He walked closer to Sonic, so that he was up in his face. 
"Brians and smarts kid......and you're short on both." Shadow harshly criticized Sonic. He then proceeded to walk past him and continued down the hallway. Sonic didn't even bat an eye as Shadow passed him. He stood with a perpetual frown as he tried to contain himself. Deep down he knew that what he did was wrong, but at the same time, he pride kept him from admitting it. 

"Uhh...Sonic...." Silver finally worked up the courage to say something. Sonic didn't say anything, continuing to fester. Eventually, Sonic finally let out a frustrated, yet defeated sigh. 

"You know......he's........probably right....." Sonic admitted to himself. He knew that he probably should have gone to get help instead. Now, Celestia is probably going to keep a closer eye on them because of him. Because of that, he couldn't help but feel........ashamed. Silver was rather taken aback at Sonic's words. He didn't think that Sonic would agree with Shadow's harsh words. 
"But that doesn't mean I have to like it!" Sonic added, his pride causing him be at odds with Shadow. Silver put on a disdained face, realizing that he had spoken too soon. 

Sonic decided to move on and follow Shadow, remembering their mission. 
"Hey! Let's go little bro!" Sonic waved Silver to follow him. 

"Huh? Oh right!" Silver was so busy thinking about everything that transpired in the last hour that he forgot what was going on now. He ran over to walk beside Sonic. He could see Sonic was still incredibly conflicted about his argument with Shadow, but he decided to bother him about it anymore. 

Sonic looked at Shadow as he walked ahead of them. While he had a lot of respect for Shadow, at the same time, he felt immense jealousy. He hated how he talked down to him earlier. He also remembered his beef with Rainbow Dash, and how his defeat at P.E. seriously did a number to his pride. 

But regardless, they had a mission to do, so Sonic, and his two brothers, Shadow and Silver, walked ahead towards whatever challenge that this world threw at them next. 

Meanwhile

Nearby, Celestia had observed the three argue with each other from a safe distance. She couldn't make out what they were saying exactly, but she at least confirmed that Shadow took giving Sonic a talking to seriously. 

"I wouldn't exactly go so far to punch him in the face.....but...I'm glad he tried to settle things with him." Celestia was glad that Shadow tried to be the adult of the three brothers, so she felt she made the right decision in letting Sonic go early (she hoped). However she then remembered that Scrouge was still in detention. While she knew Scrouge was also involved in the fight, she did feel slightly sorry for him. She walked back to the classroom where Scrouge was in. 

She saw Scrouge still sitting in the classroom waiting out his detention. She recalled that this was the third fight he had gotten into in his time at CHS. She let out a defeated sigh, not knowing if what she was going to say next was the right thing to say. 

"Scourge...." Celestia entered the classroom. Scrouge glanced at Celestia. ".....sigh you can go now to." Celestia finally said. Miss Cherilee, who was still watching him, doubletaked in confusion. 
"Your mother is probably worried sick about you......" Celestia continued, making her empathy towards Scrouge apparent. 

Scrouge didn't say anything at first. But he let out an exasperated sigh, then he got up and walked towards the door. Celestia held the door open for him as he walked by. Scrouge stopped as he walked past Celestia, sensing that she wanted to say something. 

"Scrouge, I know it's hard ....but......please, try to control yourself." Celestia pleaded with Scrouge. She anticipated that Scrouge probably wouldn't listen like each of the times that she had tried to help him. But she had hoped that her words would at least get him to try and improve his attitude.
Scrouge was silent for a few seconds. 

"Sigh Whatever..." Scrooge begrudgingly replied, then he proceeded to walk off. 

Celestia sighed, knowing that dealing with Scrooge was a difficult task.

"You're letting him go to?" Miss Cherilee questioned Celestia's decision to let Scrouge go. "Sigh I hope you know what you're doing." 

".........I hope so to." Celestia replied. 



Over in the Mane 7's band room, the girls were all huddled around the mysterious new emerald that Twilight had placed on the middle of the table. Twilight and Sunset's magic senses were still trembling just from being near it. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both equally curious about this mysterious object. Fluttershy to also shared the groups enthusiasm while Pinkie was literally cartoonishly teleporting all around the emerald, getting a good look at it from all angles. Rarity on the otherhand still could not contain her excitement upon gazing at the emerald.

"Wow! It's....it's beautiful!" Fluttershy said, entranced by the emerald's glow. 

"Heh. Yeah. That's what Rarity said when she saw it." Sunset chuckled at Fluttershy's almost identical response compared to Rarity's.

"Whoooaa nelly! This is some find Twilight!" Applejack expressed her amazement at the emerald. 

"Heh, you bet!" Rainbow Dash added her two bits. "....can I touch it?" Dash reached her hand out to touch it. 

"No!" Sunset slapped Dash's hand away before she could touch it.

"Ow! Hey why not!?" Dash objected, rubbing the spot where Sunset slapped her hand. 

"Sorry Dash, but this emerald doesn't seem to be compatible with our magic." Twilight explained. "Because of that, whenever we touch it, it causes a caustic reaction to our magic. But I just don't know why." Twilight rubbed her chin as she continued to ponder a reason for it shocking her. 

"I don't have the same magic senses like you two..." Applejack said to Twilight and Sunset. "But I still get the feelin' that somethin's off about this thing." Applejack explained how even she could feel it's immense energy despite not having developed Magic senses like Twilight and Sunset. 

"I agree Applejack, why is an object like this emanating so much power?" Fluttershy added, being able to sense the incredible amount of energy from the emerald. 

"Sigh I wish we knew the answer to that Fluttershy." Twilight replied, unable to think of a reason off the top of her head. The girls (except pinkie), were silent for a moment, as they tried to think of any reason's for this emerald's power, let alone it's reason for being here in the first place. 
As Spike was thinking along with the Mane 7, he looked and saw Fluttershy's geode around her neck glowing faintly.

"Hey! Fluttershy! Your geode is glowing!" Spike pointed his paw at her neck. Fluttershy looked down, and gasped when she saw that her geode was indeed emanating a faint glow from the center.

"You're right Spike!" Fluttershy replied, lifting her geode a little to see it better. The glow wasn't too bright, but it was bright enough to be noticable.  The other's took notice and checked their geode's and to their surprise, their geode's were glowing as well. 

"Heh would ya look at that!" Applejack exclaimed at her geode's glow. 

"My......do you think it has something to do with emerald?" Rarity speculated. Twilight thought for a few seconds, perplexed by their geode's strange reaction. . 

"I don't know. How did we not notice earlier?" Twilight said. She knew that the emerald's energy wasn't compatible with their magic, yet it was making their geode's react this way. 

"Sigh This thing just continues to raise more question the longer I think about it." Twilight sighed as she slouched in her chair, tired from all the question's the emerald was raising. The girls were once again stumped on what the emerald was, let alone where it came from. 

"Oh wait!" Spike popped out of Twilight's backpack, the other's directing their attention to him. "You wouldn't believe how we found it!" Spike brought up how they found the emerald in the first place. This caused an idea to pop up in Twilight's head. 

"Oh yeah! I forgot to mention, this emerald fell from space when we found it!" Twilight explained again. This information caused the rest of the group to gasp in shock. 

"Yeah, and it nearly killed us." Sunset added, causing the group to gasp again. 

"T-th-th..that thing......nearly killed you!?" Fluttershy trembled in fear at the notion, while Dash and AJ's jaw hung in disbelief. 

"Yes. But, miraculously we were unhurt in the collision." Twilight recalled how the emerald enveloped her, Spike, Sunset, and Rarity in a sphere of yellow energy that prevented them from getting hurt. 

"Oh ho ho man! I've totally gotta check this thing out!" Rainbow Dash couldn't contain her curiosity and went to touch it again.

"For the last time No!" Sunset blocked Dash's hand from touching it again, annoyed at how Dash seemed to blatantly ignore her warnings.

"Oh come on! I was only going to put a finger on it." Dash retorted, annoyed at how bossy Sunset was being to her. 

"Just touching it will hurt you dummy!" Sunset countered, getting even more annoyed with Dash. 

"Sunset's right darling. The slightest touch hurts us. I'm surprised Pinkie hasn't touched it" Rarity commented, noting at how Pinkie was still popping all over the emerald looking at it. 

"Yeah! I swear some of my fur was burnt off in that backpack!" Spike complained, showing some of the fur on his side. 

"Heh. Long story short, this thing could be potentially dangerous." Sunset added.

"That begs the question, what do we even do with this thing?" Applejack asked, wondering just how they would use it when it isn't compatible with their magic.

"Me and Twilight have been thinking about that AJ." Sunset replied. 

"Right. So listen carefully girls, this is what were going to do about this." Twilight said to the rest of them. This prompted the rest of the main 7 to listen intently. 

"So, what we do is-" 

"Were going to promise that we won't speak about this to anyone else but us, and hide the emerald over at Twilight's place so that nobody can find it! Meanwhile we will continue investigating where this emerald came from, and in the off chance that people find out about the emerald, Sunset and Twilight will cast a spell to erase their memories! squee!" Pinkie quickly rattled off in less than ten seconds.

The rest of the main 7 all hung their jaws in disbelief and confusion. Twilight and Sunset were especially surprised at how Pinkie was able to rattle off their plan before they even explained it. 

"How.......how did you know our plan Pinkie?!" Twilight said, baffled at Pinkie's explanation. 

"Just a hunch." Pinkie shrugged off her question with her typical cheerful nonchalant demeanor. The rest of the Mane 7 were still utterly confused. 

"Well.....that's Pinkie for ya." Applejack commented, scratching her head, deciding not to question Pinkie's logic. 

"Well uh......did everybody get that?" Sunset asked if everyone managed to hear Pinkie's quick explanation. Most of the mane 7 nodded in confirmation. 

"Okay then, since were all on the same boat. I think it's about time I got a better look at this thing!" Rainbow Dash once again, reached for the emerald, only to be stopped by Sunset again. 

"Tch! Did you not listen what we've said the past two minutes?!" Sunset chastised her. Dash put on a disdained face, being through with Sunset telling her what to do.

"You know what? Screw it! I'm touching it!" Dash threw Sunset's warnings to the wind and moved in to touch it. 

"Wh-! Dash! DON'T!!" Sunset yelled at her to stop. But it was too late because Dash had already placed her entire palm on top of the emerald. The second Dash's hand touched the emerald, her pupil's dilated as she felt a sharp, shocking pain travel through her entire body.

"WhoawoawoawoawoawoaWOAWOAWOAWOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Dash yelled as she was enveloped in an aura of yellow energy. The other mane 7 backed away in fear. The energy current shocked Dash for five seconds before it finally launched Dash across the room and crashing into Pinkie's drumset. The other mane 7 winced at Dash's blunder. 

"Aw geez! That's gotta hurt!" Applejack noted. 

Dash lay on the ground, her body smoking a little from the emerald shocking her, with one of her legs piercing into one of  Pinkie's drums. Now Dash new what Sunset was talking about. 

"Okay....................lets.....not touch that thing." Dash finally admitted. 
Sunset facepalmed at Dash's stupidity. Twilight gave out a sigh, knowing that keeping this emerald a secret was going to be a challenge. She held her head tiredly, still uncertain about the secrets of this emerald.  

"You okay Twilight darling?" Rarity noticed Twilight looking tired. 

"I'm okay Rarity. Just worried that all." Twilight reassured Rarity. She already knew that Sunset was worried about her, so she didn't want the others to worry. Meanwhile Fluttershy was helping Dash pull the drum on her leg off. 

"Oh yeah! There was another thing that we wanted to discuss guys!" Sunset announced. 

"Uh yeah that's great, but can you give us a few seconds?" Dash replied as Fluttershy tried pulling at the drum on her leg. 


A minute later, Dash had recovered from her blunder with the emerald and the rest of the mane 7 were ready to talk about the next point of concern. 

"So long story short, Twilight was attacked by someone in the library." Sunset explained. The rest of the Mane 7 gasped in response. 

"Oh goodness!" Rarity exclaimed. "How long ago was this?" 

"It happened today." Twilight confirmed, remembering the hallucinations she saw  

"Well that's great! First Scrouge shows up and now this guy!" Dash commented angrily, slouching in her chair. 

"What did this guy look like?" Applejack asked, wanting to know who he looked like. 

"You girls haven't met him, but I believe he looked like a new student from our Algebra 2 class." Twilight explained, recalling the dark figure's similar appearance to Shadow. "I believe his name was....Shadow"

"Yeah. He had Orange Skin, Red and Black spiky hair, and red eyes." Sunset gave a brief description of Shadow's appearance. The other's thought for a few seconds if they have seen anyone like that. 

"Well....anyone could look like that." Rainbow Dash commented. "What made this guy special?" Dash asked further. Sunset and Twilight rattled their heads together to think of anything that made Shadow special aside from his appearance. 

"Oh wait! He had a peculiar energy coming from him." Twilight finally remembered how she sensed energy coming from Shadow. 

"Yeah. It was faint, but certainly didn't feel like equestrian magic." Sunset added. "...and I can't wait to give him a piece of my mind." Sunset cracked her knuckles, her rage growing slightly

"Sunset, we don't know if it was him who attacked me." Twilight put her hand on Sunset's shoulder to calm her down..

"Sigh I know, but, we can't be too sure." Sunset replied, calming down a little, just as unsure of the situation as Twilight was. 

"Oh! Speaking of strange characters. There was another new student in me and Pinkie's art class." Rarity mentioned. "It's probably just me, but he had a hairstyle very similar to what you described."

"Did you feel any strange energy coming from him?" Sunset asked her. 

"Yes. But If I may, this energy didn't feel hostile in the slightest." Rarity explained as she adjusted her hair slightly. "But I agree, he is someone we should keep an eye on." She added half truthfully as she somewhat wanted to see him more, keeping herself from blushing.

"Okay, so we have these two new guys to keep track of." Twilight reconfirmed. "Did anyone else see anybody suspicious today?" Twilight asked the rest of the group. Rarity and Fluttershy shook their heads, Dash and Applejack shrugged their shoulders, while Pinkie was preoccupied blowing a big bubble gum balloon the size of her face, which proceeded to pop in her face, with the gum stretched across her face.

"Okay then, I say we can call this meeting adjourned?" Twilight asked. 

"Yes paleeezz!" Dash said impatiently, quickly standing up from her chair and stretching. 

"Yea, I need to get back home anyways. Big Maci'll probably get on ma case." Applejack added. The other girls nodded in agreement to end the meeting. Twilight and Sunset exchanged a glance and nodded.

"Okay then meeting adjourned then." Sunset called the meeting over. With that, the Mane 7 got up from the seats to leave. Twilight put the emerald in the front most pocket of her backpack, using a napkin to grab it without getting hurt. She looked at the time, seeing that it was almost an hour after school ended. 
The Mane 7 filed out of the band room, with them chatting to each other about the emerald and the other aspects of their day.

Twilight was the last to leave the room. She already had a lot of questions lined up in her head about what was going on. First this emerald, then that mysterious figure in the library. She sighed tiredly as she walked down the hallway. 

"You gonna be okay Twilight?" Spike asked, noticing she was walking a bit slower than usual. 

"Oh, I'm okay Spike. Maybe some free time would calm my nerves." Twilight replied, not wanting to worry him. She figured that relaxing a little would ease her mind before tackling this problem. She then thought Rarity would want to do something before they went home. She then ran up to ask Rarity if she wanted to go out tonight.

Later

Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were outside the entrance to Canterlot High, discussing their next move. Sonic and Silver were sitting on the steps while Shadow was sitting down. The three were still not adjusted to their situation, and they haven't gotten a bead on any of the chaos emeralds yet. 

"Okay guys what's our next move?" Sonic asked. He still was on edge towards Shadow because of their argument earlier. 

"Well, considering that we nearly blew our cover multiple times today, I suggest that we lay low and just act like normal students here." Shadow explained, his arms crossed. 
Sonic looked over at the horizon to see that the sun was going down behind the hills. 

"Uh, there's also another problem." Sonic raised a finger. Shadow and Silver turned to listen. "We need a place to crash.". The other two looked over the horizon to see the sun setting. 

"Well, you have a point." Shadow agreed with him. They would look even more suspicious if they were just sleeping on the streets.

"Well what should we do? Sleep out in the woods?" Sonic pointed towards the place they woke up in this world. Although, he wasn't particularly excited about the idea. 

"Heck no! We'll have to deal with all sorts of creatures in there." Silver objected to sleeping in the woods. "On top of that, we would probably start to stink after a few days." 

"Yeah....good point." Sonic replied. 

" We don't have any money, so it's not like we can afford a house here." Shadow added. "We might not have any other choice." Shadow implied that, sleeping in the woods may be their only option. 

"Sigh Is that really what were gonna do?" Sonic complained. "And besides, we have no idea how long were gonna be here, so it's not like were getting a permanent house here." Sonic was not excited about staying here. 

"We'll stay here as long as we need to. Understand" Shadow replied, his tone getting more firm. 
Meanwhile, Silver was thinking about possible places to stay in their current situation. After a few seconds of thinking, he finally got an idea. 

"Hey guys!" Silver said to them. "I might have an idea! Follow me!" Silver then led the two back into the school.


Silver lead them into the library. Sonic and Shadow were confused as to why he brought them back into the school.

"Uh....Silver, why'd you take us to the library of all places?" Sonic asked him, not particularly pleased with being in the school again. Shadow thought the same thing, but didn't say anything as he wanted to see what Silver was on to. 

"I took a few minutes to explore the library before P.E. I gotta say it's pretty impressive." Silver complimented the library's vast collection.

"Yes, but how does that relate to us staying here?" Shadow questioned, unsure of where Silver was taking his idea. 

"Well, I happened to stumble upon this little place over here." Silver lead them upstairs and through a few aisles of books. They eventually got to a small corner of the library, where there were books stacked almost like a makeshift bed. 

"Uh....what's up with this place?" Sonic asked Silver.

"Well, for one, it looks like nobody ever comes here." Silver noted at how the books here were dusty. "And on top of that, it looks like somebody has already used this place to stay." Silver noted the makeshift bed made out of books along with a crumpled sheet that looks like it was used as a blanket. 

"Really! Wow!" Sonic was impressed with his little brother's resourcefulness.

"Hmph. Not bad kid." Shadow expressed his approval of Silver's ingenuity. Silver blushed and scratched the back of his head embarrassingly.

"Oh please! I had to find new places to sleep everyday back in my timeline." Silver recounted how he had to find new places to hide from Iblis and his monsters. 

"Well, it works for me! I call dibs on the bed!" Sonic quickly threw himself onto the makeshift bed.

"Ow!" Sonic exclaimed as his bottom hit the hard books. "Dang! It's harder than it looks....eh....you want the bed?" Sonic offered the bed to Silver now that he knew it wasn't as comfortable as he thought 

"Heh, nah. You keep it." Silver chuckled, he was fine with sleeping on the ground anyways. 

"Alright. You two stay here. I'm gonna have a look around." Shadow told them.

"Huh? What for?" Silver asked before Shadow took off. 

"The schools almost closing, I can more easily explore this place without any people around." Shadow explained. "Besides, there could be something here that were not aware of." 

"You sure you won't get caught." Silver worried. 

"Hmph. Don't worry 'little bro'. They won't catch me that easily." Shadow smirked at Silver, reassuring him that he will be okay he then proceeded to go off an explore the outside of the school some more. Silver was caught off guard when Shadow called him 'little bro'. He didn't recall Shadow hearing Sonic call him little bro before, so why would he call him that?

"Hey Silver, you alright?" Sonic asked as he lay on the makeshift bed, noticing Silver spacing out. Silver didn't respond for a few seconds. 

"Silver?" Sonic wondered what was on Silver's mind. Silver then shook his head, getting back to reality. He walked over at sat beside the makeshift bed. 

"I'm fine." Silver replied. Sonic shrugged his shoulders, knowing that it was nothing to worry about. The two brother's sat silently, wondering what was in store for them the next day. They had managed to get through one day, but they didn't know how long they would be here in total. 

"Hey Sonic." Silver said to Sonic. Sonic lifted his head to listen. 
"I want to ask......what did you mean when you called me.....'little bro'?" Silver wanted to know why Sonic and Shadow have begun referring to him as their little brother. Sonic laid his head back, thinking about why. 

"I dunno.....It just felt natural." Sonic replied off the top of his head. 

"Natural?" Silver wasn't satisfied with Sonic's response. 

"Well, it's just that, after all we've been through, I feel like I've known you forever." Sonic reminisced about first meeting Silver, and how they both became friends. 
Silver then realized that the more he thought about it, the more he felt the same way.

"You're right." Silver admitted to feeling the same way as Sonic. While he wasn't proud of his actions in the past, he was grateful that Sonic still considered him a friend, let alone a brother. 

"Of course, if you don't want us to call you that, then you can just say." Sonic wanted to know if Silver had any problems with being called that. 

"Oh no. It's fine." Silver replied quickly, glad that Sonic was taking him into consideration. "Besides, I.......kinda always wanted a brother." Silver smiled, the feeling of having a brother warming his heart. 
Sonic smiled, glad that Silver was happy. He then sat up in the bed and then put his hand on top of Silver's head. 
"Wha-?" Silver said, confused by Sonic's gesture. Sonic smiled back at him, indicating that he was just giving him a brotherly gesture. 
Silver eventually realized that Sonic was just playing with him. They both shared a laugh, as they both wondered what kind of adventures they will share in this mysterious world. 
Silver then yawned and stretched a little, becoming sleepy. 

"Well, why don't we go to sleep, we gotta get up early tomorrow." Silver noted, remembering that they need to blend in. 

"Ugh. Man." Sonic groaned disappointingly. "Ah whatever. You sleep well okay?" Sonic laid back on the makeshift bed. 

"You too!" Silver replied, making himself comfortable on the ground next to Sonic. 

Sonic looked up at the ceiling. While outwardly he was fine, inside he was frustrated. He didn't have his powers, he has no idea where in the universe he was, and he is stuck in school. But, he knew that if they just sat on their laurels, their world and this one would be in danger. 
His mind flashed back to when he fought that hooded warrior back home. 

"I'm everything you'll never be!!" He remembered the warrior saying, recalling how the warrior fought very similar to him. But before he could question it, he found himself drifting to sleep. 


Location: Canterlot City Suburbs 

Shadow looked down from atop Canterlot High as the sun set in the distance. He had already gotten a good feel for the layout of the school, so getting lost wouldn't be an issue. But the next goal would be to explore the town outside the school. 
He looked down at the students leaving the school, seeing if there was any sign of that yellow and red and haired girl from earlier. 
After looking for a few seconds, he found her walking home with a Rainbow haired girl he didn't recognize. 

"She's the only one I've made contact with in this world apart from the principal" Shadow thought. "She's probably already suspicious of us. I can't take any chances." 


As Sunset walked home with Rainbow Dash, she paused as she felt her magic sense go off. 

"Huh?" She turned to see what it was. She didn't see anything behind her. She focused on her magic sense more, and found that the source was coming from above. She looked up on top of CHS and she saw Shadow, looking directly at her. 

"What the-!?" Sunset said outloud. 

"Sunset? What's up?" Rainbow Dash asked. Sunset turned briefly to speak to her.

"It's- huh?...." She turned back to where she saw Shadow, to see that he was gone. "Nothing. It's nothing." Sunset then continued walking along with Dash. 


Shadow emerged from the cover of the shadows. He knew that Sunset was a sharp one, so he will need to be careful around her, especially considering that he didn't have his powers. He knew that despite how peaceful this world looked, it was hiding a secret that they were bound to uncover. 


TO BE CONTINUED
> Episode 3 Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonic and Silver were fast asleep in their little corner hidden in the library, with Sonic sleeping on the makeshift bed made of books and Silver on the ground. The library was dark and quiet, with the center of the library lightly illuminated through the glass dome above by the stars and the moon. The entire school was empty, so they didn't have to worry about being caught.

Silver was sleeping quietly on the ground, wrapped in his sweatshirt to keep himself warm. 
Sonic on the other hand, didn't feel the need for covering himself while he slept, so he just relaxed on the makeshift bed with his hands cushioning his head. 
Unfortunately, Sonic was not having the best time sleeping, despite being on the makeshift bed. He frowned as the feeling of not having his powers, having to attend boring classes, and being one upped by Dash all frustrated him to his core. He imagined Dash taunting him, with her tongue sticking out and pulling her eyelid at him. 

"Grrrrr...!!! Why you!" The frustration caused Sonic to bolt upright from sleeping position. He breathed heavily as he stared ahead, letting his anger towards Dash burn off. He finally let out a sigh as he calmed down, closing his eyes wearily. 

"Hey, what's going on Sonic." Silver asked, still wrapped in his sweater, with his white hair sticking out. Unfortunately, Sonic's out burst woke him up, leaving him feeling drowsy and tired.
Sonic looked down to see Silver peeking out from his sweater blanket. He felt somewhat bad for waking him up. 

"Sigh It's nothing......" Sonic reassured Silver, laying back down on the bed. Silver didn't say anything at first. He then thought that maybe something was bothering Sonic, despite him saying otherwise.

"Are you still mad about losing to that Rainbow haired girl?" Silver asked, having forgotten Rainbow Dash's name. Sonic doubletaked as his ego strained upon hearing Silver mention her. He really didn't want to admit that he was upset at his loss, but then he sighed and decided to speak truthfully to him. 

"Sigh A little I guess."  Sonic admitted, looking up towards the stars through the glass dome above. He felt like his power was back on mobius, left behind, leaving him powerless here, and his loss to Rainbow Dash really hammered that fact in. 
"It's that smug smile! I swear it drives me nuts!" Sonic pounded the makeshift bed underneath him angrily, with Dash laughing at him in his mind. Silver flinched a little at Sonic's anger. While he understood why Sonic was angry, at the same time Silver remembered how Dash told him that she wanted to challenge him again the day after tomorrow. 

"Yeah but.....didn't she say she will race you again the day after tomorrow?" Silver reminded Sonic of her talk with him. 
Sonic put his hand to his chin as he remembered what Dash said to him. While he did remember Dash telling him that, he couldn't help but feel like Dash was being patronizing towards him. He thought that perhaps she told him that out of pity, which frustrated him. 

"Sigh You know what...never mind! Just go back to sleep." Sonic frustratedly laid back down on the makeshift bed and closed his eyes, leaving Silver hanging. 

"But I.....yawn!" Silver was too tired to respond. He figured that he should probably try and go to sleep as well, so he proceeded to wrap himself in his sweatshirt. 

With that, the two otherworlders fell asleep, awaiting the next day to come. Silver, as he fell asleep, thought about Blaze, and how much he missed her. 
Sonic managed to push Rainbow Dash out of his head, and managed to fall asleep. He could finally rest peacefully now. 

However, about an hour into his slumber, Sonic began to hear whispers. Not outside, but in his head. Then suddenly, he began to see the image of a person in the darkness, he couldn't make out who it was. The whisper's in his head gradually began to get louder and more clear. Eventually he discerned it as a female voice calling out his name. 

"Sonic.......Sonic.....Sonic......Sonic" The voice called out to his name. 

"Huh? Who's there!?" Sonic called out in his mind. The figure in the distance didn't respond. But before he could call out again, he saw the pitch black environment turn into above the stratosphere of the planet, gazing at the world in almost it's entirety. 

"Whoa!" Sonic was surprised at the sudden change in landscape. He stumbled a little, thinking that he was going to fall, but he relaxed when he found that he was held up by an invisible platform beneath him. He looked around at his surroundings, figuring that the planet below him was the world that he and the other's currently were on. 
"Okay....." Sonic wasn't sure what to say about what he was seeing right now. He looked around some more, but then he saw the figure in front of him earlier, her appearance much more clear now. He ran towards her, wondering who it was. 

She had long, waste length violet hair with a purple and pink stripe, with lavender skin. She wore a blue button up shirt with puffy sleeves,a purple pleated skirt, with purple leg warmers and black loafers. 
He squinted his eyes when he saw her, swearing that he saw her somewhere before. He scratched his head as he tried to remember where he saw her, but he couldn't find her anywhere in his memories. 

Before he could ask any further questions, suddenly the girl turned to face him, revealing her purple irises. She looked just about as confused as Sonic was when she locked eyes with him. She tilted her head curiously, as if she wanted to know more about him. Believe it or not, Sonic found himself tilting his head as well, as if he was mimicking her. 

"Who.....are...." Sonic slowly asked who she was, but he was suddenly cut off when they both felt the invisible ground beneath them shake, knocking both of them off balance. 

"Whoa! What the-!?" Sonic stumbled a little, managing to stay upright. The girl gasped in fear as she stumbled a little. Sonic looked around for any sign of what caused the shaking. But he didn't find anything in front of him. So he decided to ask the girl if she knew.
"Hey! What's going on!?" Sonic called out to her. 
Once again, she didn't respond, but she her eyes were dilated as she was horrified at what was behind her. Sonic was confused as to what she was scared of, but then he noticed a red light had enveloped them both. He turned around, and what he saw, horrified him. 

It was a super massive black planet enveloped in a red glow, thousands of times larger than the planet below. It was so massive that it nearly enveloped the entirety of space around them. In it's center was a pulsating red symbol, from which red veins branched out and spread across the planet. At the end of these viens appeared to be other planets, that had been merged with this gigantic planet. It appeared to be drawing energy from these subjugated worlds and feeding it into the center. The planet gave off a menacing, ear-splitting roar, which was powerful enough to make the planet around them shake. 

Sonic slowly backed away from the eldritch abomination he gazed upon. His heart was racing, his breath was shuddering, and he was trembling in fear. He had no idea what to do, he was powerless and had no way to even run from this thing. 
Suddenly, he saw the veins that covered the planet detach from the surface. They lingered in space around it for a few seconds before suddenly stretching towards them.
Sonic gasped in fear as he saw them rocket towards him, the girl, and the planet below. He eventually succumbed to his fear, and started running towards the girl. 
The girl didn't move as Sonic ran towards her with the eldritch veins closing in on the planet, continuing to stare at the super massive celestial body. 

"Hey!!??....what are you doing!!? RUN!!" Sonic yelled at her. He proceeded to grab her hand as he passed her, with her finally running with him as they feebly tried to escape. Sonic looked behind him as he saw just how massive the elongated veins were as they were now close enough to literally skewer the planet. The two of them kept running and running, but it felt like they were getting no where. The red viens had now begun to envelop the planet below, causing massive fissures to form and lava spewing out from the world. 
"No....NO!....NOOOOO!!!!" Sonic screamed as he and girl were obliterated by the massive veins. 


"NO!!....STOP!!!" Sonic bolted upright, reaching out in front of him. However he stopped when he realized that he was back in the library where he was sleeping. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that it was just a dream. He looked down to see Silver still sleeping on the ground. While it was still early in the morning, it was certainly a lot brighter in the library. Sonic moved to sit on the edge and began to think about the dream he just had. 

"Another weird dream........" Sonic thought, remembering the first one he had back on mobius. He began comparing various aspects of both dreams in his mind, and he immediately drew one comparison. 
"Wait.....that girl!.....who...." His train of thought was interrupted when he heard someone approach from outside their little corner. He got up and hid behind the entrance to their hideout. 

"Hey! Who's there!?" Sonic called out, trying not to sound to loud. He quickly looked moved out from his hiding spot, only to see a pair of intimidating red eyes in front of him.

"AHH!!" Sonic stumbled back, startled by the mysterious interloper. "Who're-!? Oh?" Sonic then realized who it was.

"It's me faker." Shadow berated him in his usual calm, yet intimidating tone. 

"Shadow? Where the heck have you been all night?!" Sonic retorted, irritated at Shadow's untimely arrival. 

"Hmph. Unlike you two, I don't need to sleep." Shadow crossed his arms as he touted his superior physical abilities, which cued an annoyed grunt from Sonic. 

"Yawn! Hey, Sonic......" Silver came from around the corner putting his jacket back on. "Oh, hey Shadow. Where were you last night?" 

"I was taking a look outside the school. I didn't explore as much as I wanted to on account of not having my powers." Shadow explained, opening and closing his fist, noting how he didn't have the same strength as before. 
"Anyways, the school's about to open. We need to be out of here before the librarian comes in." Shadow told them. The three wasted no time in leaving their little hiding spot, and headed out of the library. 


It was a windy day outside, with more clouds in the sky than yesterday. The wind caused Twilight and Rarity's purple hair to flutter in the wind behind them as they walked to CHS. 

"Oh dear! I detest windy days like this." Rarity complained as she straightened out her hair, it covering one of her eyes from being blown around in the wind. 
Twilight wasn't that bothered by the wind, although her hair occasionally got in her face.  

"You going to be alright?" Twilight asked Rarity behind her. Rarity finished straightening out her hair before replying.

"Oh I'll be fine Twilight, I just- Oh!" Rarity was interrupted when a sudden gust of wind caused her lavender skirt to be lifted up around her waist.
"Oh goodness!!" Rarity's face blushed as she immediately pulled her skirt down over her thighs, afraid of appearing indecent. Twilight, hearing Rarity's exclamation, turned to see what was bothering her. 

"What wrong!?" Twilight asked. 

"Eh...heh heh....it's nothing...." Rarity replied embarrassingly, still tugging at the front of her skirt, preventing it from flying up. She looked up at Twilight to say something, but then she blushed again when she saw Twilight's purple skirt flying up, revealing her pink undergarments. And for some reason, Twilight wasn't embarrassed about it. She didn't even seem to notice her indecent situation. 

"Uh.......Twilight....your....." Rarity pointed at Twilight's windblown skirt, trying to get her to notice her indecent situation. But Twilight only gave her a confused look. 

"Huh?" Twilight looked down at her skirt, and saw that it was perfectly normal. Unfortunately for Rarity, the wind had past, causing their skirt's to stop blowing in the wind before Twilight noticed. 
"Uh.....is something wrong with my skirt?" Twilight asked, putting her hands on her skirt, wondering what Rarity was getting at. Rarity was silent for a few seconds before responding. 

"Um....it's nothing! False alarm." Rarity decided to not to prod her further and continued walking, not wanting to embarrass her. Twilight shrugged her shoulders and continued walking as well. 

"Uh....I guess Twilight doesn't know that showing your undergarmet's in public is incredibly indecent." Rarity pondered the reason why Twilight didn't show embarrassment at her indecent predicament. But she pushed that thought out of her mind as she and Twilight approached CHS.

2 hours later

Sonic sat at his desk, enduring the boring grind of class. Silver sat next to him, listening intently to what the teacher was saying. Sonic still couldn't understand why Silver was remotely interested in learning stuff that had no use to them at the time, but he thought Silver put up a good front for their cover. That and Sonic noticed that other students had the same bored and tired expression as he did, so he thought he was fitting in pretty well. Granted, he had to keep himself from falling asleep, which was easier said than done. 

Sonic let out a yawn as he kept his drooping eyes from closing. Silver let out an annoyed grunt at Sonic's typical laziness, but continued listening to what the teacher said. Sonic continued biding his time with his elbow on his desk, with his head leaning on his hand. 

"Man.....I already miss Green Hill Zone." Sonic thought to himself, the image of Green Hill Zone with it's naturally formed loops. However, his body tensed up when he realized that he wouldn't be able to go even through the smallest loops without his speed. Then he started to get frustrated when he remembered how Rainbow Dash beat him yesterday.

"That's it, I gotta work on getting my speed back!" Sonic thought, determined to show Dash what his true speed was. But for now, he continued to sit at the desk, biding his time while he waited for class to end. With how bored he was, he began to wonder if sitting through class was really worth getting his powers back.

1 hour later

The school bell rang, cuing students to flood the hallways. Twilight and Sunset pushed their way past some students in the crowd. 
"Oof ow! Sorry!" Twilight said as she bumped accidentally into some students. 

"Ow! Hey watch it!" Sunset snapped as her skirt was stretched by being snagged by a student's backpack before snapping back against her thigh. 
They tussled with the crowd for a minute or two before the hallways cleared up a little. Twilght squeezed past another student and into the clear. 

"Phew! That was a doozy." Twilight noted, brushing off her shirt.

"Tell me about it." Sunset added. The two continued on towards their classes.

Nearby, Shadow was walking to his next class. He kept his eye out for anything that seemed suspicious. Of course without his powers he had to rely on his other senses. He let out an annoyed sigh, knowing that this would be much easier if he had his powers.

"Sigh I'm starting to get why Sonic is so annoyed with this place." Shadow began to slightly sympathize with Sonic's grievances. But he decided to stop his internal complaining and get back to work. He walking around a corner, shifting his way through some students when out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl from yesterday who showed him around the school: Sunset, alongside the girl who sat next to her in his algebra class.

"Hmph. No doubt they'll recognize me. Best to not draw any attention " Shadow thought. He continued to walk down the hallway without making eye contact with them. 

"Hey Twilight." Sunset nudged Twilight and quietly signaled towards Shadow, who was walking by them from across the hallway. Twilight instinctively shuddered a little at the sight of Shadow, whose silhouette matched that of the person she encountered in the library. 
The two stopped in front of their classroom door, keeping their eyes on Shadow.

Shadow kept himself from making eye contact with them as he walked by. However he felt something that caused him to pause for a second. This feeling was alerting him to something nearby, in the direction of the two girls. But he resumed his pace, not wanting to attract attention to himself. 

Twilight and Sunset kept their eyes on him until he was out of earshot. Both of the magic senses had gone off, pointing in the direction of Shadow.  Twilight sighed, wanting to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. 

"He's up to no good. I can feel it." Sunset wanted to get answers from Shadow, as well as give her a piece of her mind for trying to hurt Twilight.

"Sigh I don't know Sunset. Like I said, the person in the library only looked like Shadow. That doesn't mean it was him." Twilight tried to prevent Sunset from jumping to conclusions. Sunset thought that Twilight was probably right, but she couldn't be too careful. With that, they both headed into their first class. 

Sonic and Silver entered their first class. Sonic plopped down on the seat, 'totally wanting to get started with class.' (Sarcasm). He let out a sigh as he waited for the borefest to begin. 

"Well look who it is." A snarky female voice next to him said. Sonic flinched as he realized who he was sitting next to. He slowly looked to his right, to see Rainbow Dash sitting with her head resting on her fist, with her smug smile looking at him. 

"........Oh great" Sonic said, his mood becoming even more depressed. 

"Heh. What's the matter? You can't be still salty about yesterday are you?" Dash said semi mockingly. Sonic said nothing in response. Just thinking about his loss yesterday put a huge dent in his pride. Dash could sense he was still miffed about losing. As much as she wanted to make fun of him, she could tell that he was quite the competitor, which she respected.

"Look man. You lost okay? That's a fact." Dash told him. Sonic proceeded to grunt a little in response.
"Course, that doesn't mean you have to like it." Dash continued. Sonic looked back over at her, wanting hear what she had to say.
"Let's just say, you weren't at your best yesterday. Maybe you were tired from sitting in class all day or something. Trust me I know" Dash explained.

"Heh, something we agree on." Sonic begrudgingly agreed with her. 

"So like I said, we'll race again the day after tomorrow when you're 110%. Then you can show me how fast you really are and kick my butt. Right?" Dash put her hand on his shoulder. Sonic, while still annoyed that he had to sit next to her, couldn't help but agree with her.

"Sigh Sure.....I guess." Sonic said, becoming slightly less depressed. 

"Good!" Dash said enthusiastically, patting Sonic on the shoulder. "I'll be waiting! Heh heh." Dash leaned towards him mockingly. She then got back in her seat. Sonic continued sitting at his desk, simply waiting for the class to end. Then he felt Silver nudge him a little.

"Hey man. Could be worse." Silver said optimistically. Dash happened to hear Silver's comment, making her a bit miffed.

"Hey! What do you mean by worse!?" Dash objected angrily, looking over at Silver. 

"Uh nothing! Nothing!" Silver held his hands up, chuckling nervously. 

The teacher entered the room and went behind his desk. 
"Alright! Class has begun!" The teacher called out, causing all the students to cease their chattering and pay attention. Sonic and Dash were silent, but internally they were envisioning their rivalry in the future.

"Heh! Don't think for a second that I'm gonna let you off easy blue boy. I may be giving you a second chance, but I'm still number one around here, don't you forget it! Dash spoke in her head, not going to let some newbie one up her. 

"Just you wait Skittlehair. You don't know the first thing about who I am!" Sonic thought, eager to get his powers back and leave Dash in the dust.

1 hour later

10:00

The school bell rang once again, and students began flooding out of the classrooms and flooding the hallways. Sonic and Silver pushed their way through the hoards of students until they were in the clear. 

"Grr! Almost there! Gah!" Silver managed to squeeze out from the sweaty backside of a burly student and stumbled out into the clear. Sonic was able to find away around by hugging the lockers, and managed to rejoin Silver. 

"Pant, man! Are we gonna have to do that every time?" Silver protested, still brushing himself off. Sonic rubbed his shoulder after being hip checked by a random student in the crowd.

"I hope not! This is exactly why I hate places like this. No place to move." Sonic complained at how claustrophobic the school halls was. Silver, while not as cynical as Sonic, couldn't help but agree with him. 

"Eh it's not too bad Blue boy." Sonic heard Dash next to him. He glanced to his left to see Dash right up in his face. 

"Hey! What the-!" Sonic flinched and stumbled backwards a little. Dash chuckled a little at his reaction. 
"Wait. How did you get past the crowd?" Sonic asked, wondering why she looked unfazed.

"Because I'm awesome. Deal with it." Dash smugly stated with her cocky grin, which cued an annoyed expression from Sonic. 

"Say, do you have another class with us?" Silver asked her, noticing her presence.

"Nope. Looks like we part ways here!" Dash told him, turning to head down the other hallway. "Well, smell ya later "Hedgehogs" Dash taunted before heading down the hallway, but not before sticking her tongue out and pulling her eyelid at Sonic. 

Sonic having enough of her taunting, decided to throw the exact same taunt back at her. 

Dash double taked at Sonic mimicking her taunt, she didn't expect him to resort the same humor she did. Dash chuckled a little in response and continued walking down the hallway, leaving Sonic still fuming. 
Silver couldn't help but feel the same way a little, but he quickly pushed that thought out of his head. He began walking down the hallway, but he stopped when he noticed that Sonic was still looking down the  hallway down where Dash had left them. 

"Uh Sonic.....?" Silver raised an eyebrow, wondering what Sonic doing, still looking down the hallway. Sonic didn't answer, as his eyes were still fixated on Dash as she walked down the hallway.
"You still looking at Dash?" Silver spoke again. 

"Huh? Wha?........No I wasn't." Sonic finally noticed Silver talking to him, sort of embarrassed. 

"Sigh Well why are you just staring out into space then?" Silver asked. "Come on!" Silver continued walking down the hallway. Sonic briefly looked back down the hall where Dash headed off, but she had already dissipated into the crowd.

"Hmph!" Sonic let out a last harrumph before following Silver. 


Meanwhile

Fluttershy was outside her math classroom, waiting for class to begin. She nervously looked around for any sign of Scourge. But she was also looking out for Sonic, she wanted to both thank him for saving her, and apologize for getting him sent to detention. 
She let out a sigh, trying to get over her anxiety. She didn't know how to apologize to Sonic, as she barely knew him, and she didn't want to appear rude.
She clutched her arm. Her anxiety beginning to eat at her self esteem. 

"Why.....why am I like this?" Fluttershy asked. She felt pathetic, it was bad enough that she was terrified of Scourge, she couldn't even talk to Sonic normally. 
"I wish I was like Rainbow Dash, or Applejack. Brave....... and strong." She envied her other friend's confidence, which was something that she lacked.
"But why.........why!?.......why am I so.........so...." Fluttershy clutched her arm tighter, as her insecurities began to overwhelm her.

"Hey Fluttershy!" She heard a voice, along with a hand on her shoulder. 

"AHHH!!" Fluttershy screamed. She let out a whimper as she slowly opened her eyes to see who was speaking. She saw that it was Rainbow Dash, which made her breath a sigh of relief. 

"Uh.....it's just me...." Dash said, somewhat annoyed with Fluttershy's shyness. Of course, this was nothing new to Dash. Fluttershy has been like this ever since she met her. 
"Sigh Shy, you're never gonna get up to the likes of me if you're scared by even a knat." Dash said to her. Fluttershy wiped some of the tear building up in her eyes.

"Sniff I....I know...." Fluttershy agreed with Dash, though it didn't do much to make her feel any better. Dash had been giving her these kinds of pep talks for a while now, hoping to get Fluttershy over her anxiety, with limited results.

"I know you know. But knowing isn't enough!" Dash pumped her fist, trying to encourage Fluttershy. But it only served to unintentionally make Fluttershy feel worse. "You wanna get over your fears, you gotta face them head on! Like I did!" Dash praised herself. Fluttershy slouched against the lockers as her self esteem dropped.

"Yeah, easy for you to say." Fluttershy said to herself.

"Ey there" Fluttershy and Dash heard another voice from across the hall. They looked and saw Applejack from across the hallway, leaning against the lockers, arms crossed, her hat obscuring her eyes.

"Dash, you picking on Fluttershy again?" Applejack said sternly. Dash double taked, taking offense to Applejack's comment.

"Wha- Pickin-......" Dash stepped forward to give Applejack a piece of her mind. "Hey! I may be cocky, but I'm no bully like Scourge." Dash defended her actions, getting up in Applejack's face.

"Hey calm down. I was just kiddin' alright." Applejack tried to diffuse the tension. Dash, while still visibly offended, decided to back down anyway.

"Hmph! Fine. I was only trying to help Fluttershy." Dash said begrudgingly, stepping away out of confrontational range.. 

"Anyways. Say Dash, you keepin' an eye on those two from yesterday?" Applejack asked her, walking over to Fluttershy. 

"Huh? Oh yeah. Turns out I have a class with them." Dash reported. Then she raised an eyebrow when she wondered why she would ask about them.
"Wait, why are you asking about them?" Dash asked her. Applejack tipped her hat up so that it didn't obscure her eyes.

"It's only a hunch, but I honestly think they have something to do what's been happening recently." Applejack said what's been on her mind. 

"Huh?" Dash said, perplexed by the thought. 

"W-What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked Applejack. Applejack scratched her chin as she thought out her reasoning.

"Think about it. This emerald crashes on earth. Then those two weirdo's arrive the next day. Don't ya think that's a coincidence." Applejack speculated. This got Dash and Fluttershy thinking for a few seconds. After a few seconds of thinking, Dash began snickering to herself.

"Pffft! Hee hee! Really, Blue boy has something to do with this?! Ha! Hilarious." Dash boasted.

"Huh?" Applejack and Fluttershy wondered what Dash was talking about. 

"So what if their weirdos. Doesn't mean they have anything to do with this." Dash arrogantly dismissed Applejack's theory, making Applejack a little irritated. "And besides, after Blue boy's dismal performance yesterday, I hardly think he's part of this."
Applejack wanted to say something in defiance of Dash's arrogance, but let out a sigh when she thought that it would just be a waste of time. 

"Sigh Whatever.....just somethin' to think about." Applejack brushed off Dash's snide comment, walking over next to Fluttershy.

"But I will admit. Blue boy is pretty interesting. " Dash admitted, getting Applejack and Fluttershy's attention again. "I mean, I haven't seen someone with that much fire in him in a long while." Dash remembered Sonic's immense confidence, which was something that she couldn't help but respect. 
Applejack smiled, knowing that Dash couldn't resist a rival

"Hmm. And you want to race him again right?" Applejack speculated, knowing full well that Dash never turned down a challenge.

"Yep. I'll race him again tomorrow, when he's at full strength!" Dash thrust her fist into the air, excited to face Sonic again tomorrow. 


Nearby, Shadow was eavesdropping on their conversation. 
"Great. They're onto us." Shadow said under his breath. He quietly moved along so that they wouldn't notice him. 

2 hours later
12:00 pm

Sonic and Silver opened the doors to the messhall. They both looked around for any sign of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, or anyone they talked to here. Thankfully they didn't see them anywhere among the students yet. 

"Okay. Let's not make a scene this time okay." Silver said to Sonic, remembering him flipping out over chili dogs. 

"Yeeeah. Let's not." Sonic agreed with Silver, noting to himself to not make a scene again, although, he swore that he was on Chili Dog withdrawal right now. They both got their food without making a fuss and found a table near the windows. 
They quietly ate their food while they waited for Shadow to get back. They both were somewhat drained, and slightly depressed. 
Sonic looked over at Silver as he bit into his 'normal' hotdog, noticing that he looked slightly depressed. 

"Hey, what's up?" Sonic asked, curious to know how he was doing. 

"Hmm? Oh I'm fine. Just......" Silver paused for a moment, trying to think about his reason for feeling so depressed. 

"Just what?" Sonic wanted to hear what Silver had to say, while chewing on some chips. 

"Sigh......guess it's getting a little annoying being without our powers and everything." Silver explained. Sonic swallowed what he was chewing. He completely understood how Silver felt. 

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Sucks doesn't it." Sonic leaned back in his seat, understanding Silver's frustration.

"I'm wondering if we'll ever find the chaos emeralds like this. Because I can't sense them without my powers." Silver explained further, noting how he could sense any energy now.

"Huh? You can sense the chaos emeralds?" Sonic asked, unaware of Silver's ability to do so. 

"Huh? Y-yeah I could sense them. I could always sense sources of energy, whether it be objects or people." Silver explained. "I could even sense yours when we first met." 
Sonic couldn't help but be a little intrigued about this whole energy sensing thing.

"Really? So, what does it feel like. I don't really know because, well....., I don't really have this sense." Sonic explained to him.
Silver double taked when Sonic said that he didn't have a sense. 

"What!? What are you saying?" Silver said, baffled that Sonic didn't have an energy sense. Sonic was rather confused at his bewilderment. 

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Sorry, but, I was told that anyone who can use their energy could at least sense a little energy." Silver explained. "That's how I was able to read your moves when we first fought."

"Hmmm.......well, what does it feel like to sense energy. Maybe I've been missing something." Sonic asked, sitting back as he began sipping his drink. 
Silver rubbed his chin, trying to think of a way to explain it to Sonic. It was hard to necessarily describe the feeling as it pretty much was second nature to him. Regardless he decided to try and explain it anyways.

"Well, from what I remember, it feels like a stream of energy going through your heart. Depending on the energy, it feels different each time." Silver did his best to explain the feeling to Sonic. Sonic continued listening, still sipping on his drink.
"For example, your energy feels intense, wild, but noble at it's core." Silver explained how Sonic's energy felt. "Shadow's felt dark, powerful, yet......kinda sad." Silver recalled how he felt about Shadow's energy. Sonic stopped drinking for a little while, wondering what Silver meant by that. 

"Hmm......I don't know. But I don't remember feeling anything like that. And if I do feel anything like that, I probably ignore it most of the time." Sonic explained. Silver put on an unimpressed face. "But to be honest, I would have put grumpy in his description of his energy." Sonic snickered a little at his own snide comment towards Shadow. 

"Heh, talking crap behind my back are we now faker?" The two heard an intimidating voice as soon as Sonic finished his comment. 

"Huh? Eeep!!" Silver jumped when he noticed Shadow standing over them. Sonic just nonchalantly looked over at Shadow.

"Oh....there you are Shadow." Sonic said to him, like nothing ever happened. Shadow decided to ignore Sonic's snide comment, and sat down next to Silver. 
"You sure took your time." Sonic commented.

"I made sure I didn't run into anyone on the way here." Shadow explained. "Anyways, we've run into a problem." Sonic and Silver stopped eating.
"It looks like some people here may be onto us." Shadow said, looking back and forth for any sign of Sunset Shimmer, or those girls that he eavesdropped on. 

"Gulp! Oh no. Is are cover blown?" Silver said worryingly. Sonic didn't say anything, but he was noticeably worried. 

"Not yet. But any more stupid moves, and are cover will be blown." Shadow further elaborated. Silver breathed a sigh of relief, and Sonic relaxed a little.
"Oh, and another thing. It appear's I've regained my Chaos energy senses." Shadow said, which caught Silver and Sonic's attention.

"Wait really!?" Silver said louder than usual. 

"Ssshhhhhh!!! Be quiet!" Sonic said through clenched teeth, not wanting to attract attention. 

"Uh...sorry. You said you got your senses back. How do you know?" Silver asked, reverting to a more subdued and quiet voice.

"Well, it turns out I think I sense a chaos emerald nearby." Shadow explained further, still sensing the energy nearby. Sonic and Silver flinched at his words.

"Really! Awesome!" Sonic said enthusiastically.

"Ssssshhhhhh! Quiet!" Silver said through clenched teeth. 
"So....where is it!?" Silver asked, eager to know where it was. Sonic leaned from his seat, wanting to know where the emerald was. 
Shadow decided to break the news to them. 

"It's in that girl's bag." Shadow pointed out into the crowd of students without even looking. Sonic and Silver looked into the crowd where Shadow was pointing, and their eyes went to a backpack that was on the ground beneath two girls. One had lavender skin and purple hair, the other had orange skin and yellow and red hair.
Their hearts sank. The first Chaos emerald they find is now in the hands of some girl.

"You're kidding me?" Sonic said, hardly believing what Shadow told him. 

"Great. This just got a whole lot harder." Silver added, sharing Sonic's plight. Shadow let out frustrated sigh, agreeing with Sonic and Silver's comments.

"We need to be careful. If they catch us, then were good as gone" Shadow warned the two of them. "I've seen those two before. And the red and yellow haired one is little bit too interested in me." Shadow explained further. Sonic chuckled a little when Shadow said that one of those girls was 'interested' in him. 

"Wait! I have an idea!" Silver raised a finger into the air. Sonic wanted to shush him again, but he felt it would be just redundant at this point. Shadow waited for Silver to further elaborate on his idea, as he thought he may be onto something.
"I could sneak up, and take the bag right under their noses!" Silver stated confidently. Shadow's hopes immediately dropped, as did Sonic's anticipation.

"Uh.....that sounds like a terrible plan." Sonic commented. "Seriously, I'm not even that stupid"

"I agree. No offense but I don't think someone like you is very good at sneaking." Shadow added, not wanting to risk getting caught on Silver's sneaking skills.

Silver felt rather dejected at their comments. "Oh come on! This is our only chance to get it! We might not get another chance!" He attempted to convince them. 
Shadow still wasn't convinced, still sitting with his arms crossed with his perpetual scowl. 

"Just wait. If we make a move now. We'll run the risk of getting caught." Shadow told him firmly. 

Silver however wasn't going to give up on his plan so easily. 

"Oh would you look at that! My plate is empty and I'm still hungry." Silver faked still being hungry, planning on using it as an excuse to walk away. 
"I'm uh......just gonna go.....get seconds." With that he quickly scurried off with his plate 

Sonic and Shadow were silent for a few moments, wondering if Silver really was going to get seconds.
"Were getting caught aren't we?" Sonic said depressingly. Shadow only let out an exasperated sigh. 

Twilight and Sunset were eating their lunch while thinking of the next course of action they should take regarding the emerald, all while unaware of Silver hiding nearby. 
Twilight bit into her sandwich, still thinking about the secrets that the emerald held. However she sighed as asking all these questions in her mind made her tired. Part of her just wanted to forget about the emerald and just go about her life until she made it back to Equestria. But she knew that she didn't have that luxury.

"Hey Twilight, you okay?" Sunset noticed Twilight looking tired. Twilight didn't respond at first, which only served to worry Sunset even more.

Twilight put her arms on the table, deciding to relay her thoughts to Sunset.
"Sigh Sorry. It's just I wish I could think about something else other than this emerald." Twilight explained. 

"Oh. Well....Sure. What do you wanna talk about?" Sunset smiled as she was happy to just have a casual talk with Twilight.
Twilight thought for a few seconds about what she wanted to talk about. Since she was just thinking about her home back through the portal, she figured she should ask Sunset about her life back there.

"Do you.....miss life back through the portal at all?" Twilight asked, wondering if Sunset felt homesick the way that she was right now. 
Sunset thought for a few seconds, wondering if her feelings were really the same after living here for approximately five years. She then put down her drink and gave her answer.

"This might come off as a shock to you but.....not really" Sunset answered. Twilight was visibly surprised and confused. 

"Really!? B-But don't you have family and friends back home? Even Celestia wrote to me that she wonders how your doing." Twilight replied, somewhat concerned that Sunset would think that. 
Sunset anticipated that Twilight would react that way, she she figured she should explain why she felt that way. 

"Unfortunately, when I was still my old bad self. I cut off all ties with my family and friends back in Equestria." Sunset explained, guilt crawling into her heart. Twilight calmed down as she listened to Sunset's story. 
"I lied to, exploited, and abandoned them." Sunset continued, her voice filling with sadness. "I just don't think they want to see me again, after how I've treated them." Sunset finished, wrapping herself in her arms as the guilt sank in. Twilight felt Sunset's sadness. She felt a little bad that she didn't know about that. But she wouldn't let Sunset feel that way for long.

"Well, like I said, Celestia still worries about you. So, you're not completely alone." Twilight told her, hoping to cheer her up. Sunset smiled back at Twilight, relieved that she was friends with her.

"Well, that's Celestia for you. She always looks after her students." Sunset replied. "Even those who go off the beaten path." She added at the end. Twilight chuckled a little at her comment.

"Also, I wouldn't give up on your friends and family. They.....probably miss you." Twilight continued. Sunset wasn't so sure about her last statement. But she smiled none the less as the notion of seeing her family and friends again warmed her heart. 

"Sigh Thanks Twilight." Sunset thanked her.

Nearby, Silver was still sneaking up on them. While he was heart warmed from eavesdropping on their conversation, he knew that he had a mission to do. He hid behind one of the pillars in the mess hall about twenty feet from them. He figured that they would see him if he got any closer so he decided to get down on his hands and try to sneak the bag from under their noses. 
"Carefully......" Silver said to himself as he creeped on all fours. 

"Say, that can't be the only reason you don't want to go back. Is it?" Twilight asked, wanting to know more. 

"Hmm? I guess so. After coming here, I just figured that....this is where I belong." Sunset gave a quick explanation of her feelings for this place. 
While Twilight couldn't argue with how Sunset felt about the human world, she couldn't say she herself felt the same way.

"Really? No offense but, I found the whole experience first coming here very scary!" Twilight replied, recounting how she fumbled and staggered around on her wobbly human legs. 
Sunset was about to respond, but she was cut off when noticed something on the ground beneath them. 

"Twilight...." Sunset said trying to alert Twilight to the thing beneath them. 
Unfortunately Twilight was caught up in describing her experience coming here. 

"Being 5 foot six inches and walking on two legs felt like I was walking on stilts. Not to mention my hooves turned into.....these things" Twilight continued, noting that she still had trouble using her hands. Admittedly even though she's been here longer than usual, her fine motor skills were practically non existent.

"Twilight." Sunset said a little louder.

"Not to mention these clothes I had on. Where'd they come from?" Twilight continued rambling, not noticing what Sunset was looking at. "Not that I mind them of course, though I wouldn't exactly agree with the choice of-"

"Uh...Twilight" Sunset finally said.

"Hm? What is i- uh?" Twilight finally noticed what Sunset was looking at. She looked down at the ground to see a boy with white hair, on his hands and knees, reaching out to grab her bag. 

Silver was completely frozen as the two girls stared down at him. The purple haired girl had a look of utter confusion, while the Yellow and Red haired girl had a scowl on her face with her arms crossed. He began sweating nervously, knowing that he was in an extremely bad situation. 

"Uhh....?" Twilight honestly didn't know what to say, for it looked like he was trying to peep up their skirts! The thought of this caused her to blush slightly, placing her hands between her legs. Sunset added by giving out an intimidating grunt at him. 

"Uhh....." Silver was literally panicking on the inside. His eyes frantically darted back and forth as he tried to think of a way out of this mess. "Oh god! What do I do?! What do I do?!! WHAT DO I DO!!!?"
There was silence for a few seconds.

"Tch! Stupid contacts!" Silver frantically waved his hands all over the floor, appear like he was searching for something on the ground, while also squinting his eyes to appear if he was near sighted. Sunset when from visibly aggressive to just plain confused, with Twilight sharing the same expression.

"Oh there it is!" Silver suddenly held up an imaginary contact lens. "Better go wash it off heh heh!" Then he proceeded to dart away from them before they could say anything else. 
The two looked in the direction he darted off in, still utterly confused as to what just transpired. 

"Oooookay? That was weird." Sunset commented, still suspicious of just what he was doing on the ground.

"Maybe he's new here?" Twilight inquired. 

"Must be, because I've haven't seen him here before." Sunset decided to let it pass, for she has seen weirder things happen at this school than this.


Nearby, Silver was hiding behind a pillar, sweating his tush off and hyperventilating from being nearly caught. 
"PANT PANT PANT PANT That was close.....too close." Silver said to himself, relieved that he didn't get caught. But now that he was too scared to go and try again. With that he slumped back to Sonic and Shadow in defeat. 
"Well...I've done all I can do.......sorry guys." Silver apologized as he sat back down with them. Sonic and Shadow were not very surprised at Silver's failed attempt. 

"Sigh How are we going to get it now?" Sonic let out a sigh of disappointment, knowing that he won't be getting his powers back any time soon. 

"Not to mention those two girls are suspicious of us already." Shadow added. The three were silent for a moment as they were at a loss. Not only did they not have their powers, but the first chaos emerald they find is out of their reach. 

"For now let's just keep an eye on them from a distance." He further explained. Sonic and Silver wished that they could just grab it right now. Sonic knew that if he had his speed he could snatch if from right under their noses, while Silver thought that with his psychokinesis he could also get it. But they both let out a disappointing sigh and decided to roll with Shadows plan. 


Back over at Twilight and Sunset's table, Sunset was keeping a close eye on the three, particularly on Shadow. She had watched Silver go back to the table as he ran off after they spotted him. While Silver did his best to appear innocent, Sunset didn't buy his act. Looking at them, she suspected that Silver, as well as the blue haired person sitting next to him were related to Shadow. She knew that considering Silver's suspicious behavior a minute ago, that he had something to do with Shadow. She decided that from now on she will be keeping a closer eye on all three of them.

4 hours later 

Class has been dismissed and the main seven had gathered outside on the soccer field to discuss their day. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were playing Soccer out in the field while the rest of them were on the bleachers talking with each other. 

"You felt the energy coming from that guy, right Twilight?" Sunset asked Twilight while munching on a granola bar. 
Twilight recalled her magic senses going off when looking at Silver earlier. She was too caught up in her confusion that she didn't notice. 
Rarity and Fluttershy were listening intently on what they had to say. 

"You're right Sunset. You remember Shadow from our math class? We sensed energy from him too." Twilight added as she finished going over some books she borrowed from the library. 

"I swear, those three are getting more suspicious by the day." Sunset stated. 

"Three?" Twilight asked, wondering who the third person she was alluding to was.

"Oh. There was a third guy with spiky blue hair sitting with them." Sunset explained. "Come to think of it, those three have a thing for spiky hair." She continued, noting to herself how ridiculous their hair looked in comparison to everyone else 

"By the by, did this suspicious person so happen to have white hair?" Rarity said, having a hunch that she knew who it was.

"Oh yes! He did! How'd you know?" Sunset asked. 

"He did!? Then.....that's the person in my class." Rarity replied,  her heart sank slightly at the thought that Silver was being unscrupulous. "He seemed like such a good boy"

"So it was the person that Rarity mentioned yesterday that was snooping on us." Sunset commented. 

"I....wouldn't jump to conclusions yet." Twilight replied. "For all we know he could've really just been looking for his contacts." She further elaborated, willing to give Silver a chance.

"Yeah! Besides, I hardly doubt that a sweet boy like him would ever hold malicious intent!" Rarity agreed with Twilight, still reminiscing about how she met Silver yesterday.

"Hey, I could be wrong. But we can't just rule out the possibility that they are up to something." Sunset replied, still holding on to her hunch. 
Meanwhile Fluttershy was combing her hair while she was listening in to their conversation. She remembered meeting Silver along with Sonic. To her, Silver didn't seem bad. 
She was about to pitch into the conversation, but she was cut off when a soccer ball hit the bleachers near her.

"AHH!!" Fluttershy yelped in surprise, looking at where the ball landed, noticing it bounce out back into the field. She shivered a little from the shock before letting out a sigh of relief. 

"Ey Dash! Watch it! Ya nearly hit Fluttershy!" Applejack chastised Rainbow Dash from out in the field. 

"Would you lay it off!? I know what I'm doing!" Dash spat back as she ran up to the bleachers to retrieve the ball. She happened to overhear a little of Twilight, Sunset, and Rarity's conversation and decided to pitch in her two bits. 
"Say, if you are so suspicious of them why don't we just confront them about it?" Dash proposed. This got Twilight and Sunset's attention. 

"Well, I guess that would be the extreme way to go." Sunset commented on the idea. Twilight on the other hand wasn't so enthused by Dash's suggestion. 

"But we can't just accuse them of things that we don't know that they did! Were not vigilantes " Twilight refuted Dash's idea. Dash leaned against the fence separating the bleachers and the field. 

"I'm just saying, if we don't do something about this, it could come to bite us in the ass." Dash understood Twilight's point, but she wasn't going to back down just yet. 

"Y-you....don't think Sonic is.......bad......do you....?" Fluttershy questioned Dash's reasoning, not liking the notion that Sonic may be a bad person when she already placed her faith in him. Dash took a few moments to think about her question. 

"I never said blue boy was bad. In fact, I think he's one of the more interesting guys here." Dash replied still maintaining her confident demeanor as she continued playing with the soccer ball with her feet, causing Fluttershy to be slightly relieved. 

"Are ya sayin' ya like him?" Applejack said mockingly. Dash double taked and accidentally kicked the ball away, her confident demeanor immediately turning into a flustered one. 

"Tch! I do not! What made you assume that!?" Dash retorted angrily, unaware that she was blushing. Fluttershy and Applejack giggled a little at Rainbow Dash's outburst. However Dash managed to collect herself a little as she attempted to explain herself. 
"Besides! He's way in over his head, not to mention he's a idiot." Dash explained smugly with her arms cross and head up. Applejack rolled her eyes and proceeded to ignore what she just said. 

"Sigh I don't think we can come to any definitive conclusions about them just yet everyone." Twilight stated, causing every to pay attention to her.
"So....I think we shouldn't worry about them so much" Twilight continued, wanting to focus more on solving this problem instead of seeking out conflict with potential foes. Dash let out a disappointed groan at how her idea was being rejected. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all nodded in agreement with Twilight's sentiment. Sunset on the other hand wasn't so sure.

"Sigh I'm not sure Twilight. I just can't rule out the possibility that they have something to do with this." Sunset explained how she felt about the situation. Twilight, while she disagreed with her at the moment, she smiled understandingly knowing that Sunset was just looking out for them.

"Well, in that case. I'll leave you in charge of keeping an eye on them. Ok?" Twilight smiled at her, placing a hand on Sunset's shoulder. Sunset looked over at Twilight, realizing that she is becoming more like Celestia day by day. She smiled back at her.

"Heh! Thanks Twilight. I'll make sure they're not up to no good. For all of us!" Sunset said, determined to do her part. 

"That's the spirit!" Twilight complimented her. "Is everyone else in?" Twilight asked the others enthusiastically as she stood up. 

"Eh......sure. Why not." Dash made herself comply begrudgingly. 

"Yep, let's solve this mystery together!" Applejack said positively with Pinkie bouncing on the soccer ball they've been playing with. Rarity and Fluttershy also agreed with Twilight on their new course of action. 
As the group prepared to leave, Sunset looked back at the school, knowing that she would have to come face to face with Shadow eventually. But she decided to go along with Twilight's plan and focus on uncovering the mystery of this mysterious emerald, while keeping an eye on the three new students at the same time. 

Inside Canterlot High, Scourge was walking down the hallway towards the entrance, wanting to go home. Ever since his fight with Sonic the day before, he has been seething about how he's going to take him down the next time they fought. As he continued walking with a perpetual frown on his face, his presence garnered dirty looks and condescending whispers from the other students. But he didn't pay them any mind, for he was used to it. 

"That Blue rat is gonna get it. I swear." Scourge said under his breath. He exited the school, quickly went down the steps, and began his walk back. However he heard someone stumbling nearby as he exited the school. 

"Wh-Wha-WHOAA!!-Ooof!!" A female voice cried out followed by the sound of them crashing into a trash can. Scourge looked over to see a female student face down in the trash can with her legs dangling upwards out of the can.
"Oh of all the times! Grr...the great..and, hrg..powerful..Trixie, should not...Ack!...have to suffer....Blech!....such humiliation!" The girl said through mouthfuls of trash as she tried to pull herself out of the trash can to no avail. She kicked her legs frantically, causing the trash can to rock back and forth spilling trash everywhere. However she was unaware that her skirt was flipped upside down, showing her white panties! Scourge blushed slightly at what he saw, though he kept his same grumpy expression. He just stood and watched as Trixie continued to struggle in her mortifying situation. 

"Dch Agh! Come on!" Trixie continued kicking her legs in the air. "I- Grr! swear! I will- Dch!- make whoever-Agh- placed this garbage can here....PAY!!" Trixie angrily shouted. But before she could say anything else, she felt a hand grab her boot. 
"Huh? What the- WHOOAA!!" She felt her body being pulled upwards out of the trash can. She then saw a boy's upside down face as she hung above the trash can. 

"Uhhh.....?" Trixie with her face covered with a banana peel, not knowing what to say. Scourge didn't say anything back, still having his grumpy face, albiet his face still blushing. Trixie eventually realized that this person had helped her out of her predicament. "I.....WAH!!OW!!" Trixie was dropped on her head before she could say anything else. 

"Hmph!" Scourge let out an annoyed grunt as he dropped Trixie on her head before she could thank him and continued walking onwards. 

"Ow! That was....unnecessary." Trixie sat up as she rubbed the side of her head. "Huh?" Trixie then realized that her skirt was still flipped up, showing her frilled white panties! 
"AH!!" Trixie immediately blushed with embarrassment and brought her skirt down, bringing her knees together. She let out a sigh as she let the embarrassment pass. She looked up to see the person who helped her walking away. As she looked closer, she actually recognized who it was. 

"Um...thank you!" Trixie waved to Scourge as he continued walking away. Scourge heard her, but he didn't acknowledge her thanks. While Trixie was put off by his Scourge's aloofness, she blushed as she actually found it charming about him. 
"Sigh" Trixie let out a romantic sigh. While she was aware of his violent behaviors, she liked to believe there was a better person underneath all that. 


Nearby Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were returning to their little hidey hole in the library. Silver was still bummed out that his attempt at getting the chaos emerald failed. Shadow remained quiet as always. Sonic on the other hand, was diverting his thoughts to the dream he had last night. Of course this was hard for him to do as he was also obsessing over his rematch with Rainbow Dash. 

"Sigh So what do we do now?" Silver asked Shadow as they walked down the hallway. Shadow thought for a moment before answering. 
"From what I observed from them, that the Yellow and Red haired girl is pretty feisty" Shadow explained, recounting his time talking to Sunset Shimmer. 

"Wait?" Sonic interrupted. "You mean that bacon haired girl?" Shadow and Silver looked at him with utter confusion at what he said. Sonic sensed that he confused them.
"...............What? I mean, does her hair look like bacon heh heh?" Sonic chuckled to himself at his own comment. Unfortunately Shadow and Silver were not amused. 
"Nevermind, does she have a name?" Sonic quickly changed the subject. Shadow and Silver decided to promptly forget Sonic's stupid comment. 

"Sunset. Sunset Shimmer." Shadow replied. Sonic and Silver took a few moments to take that name in. 

"Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sunset Shimmer. What is it with the names here?" Silver asked bewildered by the names of this world. 

"Well, our names probably are weird to them so don't act so surprised by it." Shadow brushed of Silver's question before he started asking more. They were coming up to the library when Sonic suddenly stopped after bumping into someone as they rounded a corner.

"Oof!! Hey watch it!" Sonic retorted to whoever he bumped into. Shadow and Silver looked to see who bumped into Sonic, Shadow recognized who it was. 

"Ow. Sorry." Flash apologized quickly rubbing his shoulder. Flash looked up to see who he bumped into. Two of them he didn't recognize, but the black/red haired taller he did.

"Oh! Hey...It's you again." Flash said to Shadow. Shadow was surprised that Flash still recognized him. Sonic and Silver gave Shadow a confused look.

"Uhhhh......you know this guy?" Sonic asked. Shadow was a bit hesitant to answer as Flash was now looking at them confusedly as well.

"I don't. I just happened to bump into him yesterday." Shadow quickly explained. "Let's go, we've wasted enough time." Shadow quickly changed the subject and started moving again. Sonic, Silver, and Flashed looked on as he walked off.

"Um...is he always like that?" Flash asked the two. 

"Eh pretty much." Sonic shrugged. 
Flash then figured that he would try and talk to them since he had little success talking to Shadow. 

"So uh....you guys are new here right?" Flash asked them in a friendly tone. Sonic and Silver glanced at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say. But they both subconsciously decided to answer him.

"Pretty much, got here yesterday. Still not used to it thought."  Sonic said tiredly, proceeding to stretch his arms afterwards. Flash smiled at Sonic's comment, understanding how he felt a little bit. 

"Heh yeah. Oh by the way. The name's Flash, Flash Sentry." Flash extended his hand to the two of them. Silver extended his hand first. 

"Silver. Silver Genesis." Silver sincerely shook Flash's hand.

"Sonic." Sonic quickly said his name afterwards. Flash looked back momentarily wondering what Shadow's name was. 

"Um what about his name?" Flash asked them what Shadow's name was. 

"Hmm? Oh, he's Shadow." Sonic replied. "He's the grumpy one of us."

"Heh, yeah. I can see that." Flash chuckled at Sonic's comment, with Silver letting out a small chuckle afterwards. The two figured that they should get to their hiding place soon.

"Well, it was nice talking to you Flash. But we need to get going." Silver said, continuing on ahead. . 

"Ok then. See you around." Flash replied as he walked down the adjacent hallway, leaving Sonic and Flash behind. 

"Well, see you." Sonic said goodbye to Flash and began following Silver to the library. 

"Bye." Flash said and continued on his way. "Oh one more thing, nice hair cut." Flash complimented Sonic on his hairstyle, which was, coincidentally, the same color as his spiked up hair do. Sonic took a moment to observe Flash's hairstyle, and he admitted, it wasn't bad.

"Heh, thanks. Yours ain't bad too." Sonic complimented back with a smirk on his face. Flash chuckled in response running a hand through his hair. The two blue haired boys went their separate ways, with Flash going down the hall, and Sonic going into the library. 
However Flash took a moment to look back, as his curiosity for them grew.

"What was that thing I felt when I was talking to them?" Flash pondered. A mysterious feeling crept into his being as he was talking to them, and it pointed to the three otherworlders. The notion both confused and frustrated Flash. 
"Sigh This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder" Flash held his head, not wanting to question it any further as it already concerned him too much. He proceeded to go on his way and head home.

To be Continued
> Episode 3 Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonic, Shadow, and Silver have retreated to their little hiding spot in the school library, musing over their next move after their failed attempt to get the first chaos emerald they found in this world. Sonic was slouched against the bookcases twiddling his thumbs, Shadow was leaning against the entrance to their hideout, his head hung low as he thought about their next move, and Silver sat on the makeshift bed make of books, skimming through the books that lined their hideout. 

Sonic let out a frustrated sigh as he laid his head back against the bookcases, not only sick from not having his powers, but also frustrated that the first chaos emerald they found is practically sitting right in front of them, yet is so far away. 
"Sigh So what's next?" Sonic said to Shadow, still sounding depressed. Shadow took some time to think as they were in a complicated situation

"This is a tough one, even for me." Shadow admitted to them. Sonic and Silver both drew their attention to him, for it was unusual to hear him say that. Shadow knew that without his powers there was only so much he could do. Even though he had his chaos senses back, his physical abilities were still that of an average human of this world.
"If we do nothing, this world will most likely fall into chaos." Shadow speculated what actions they could take, and the outcomes they might have. "But if we overstep our bounds and get caught......." 

".......who knows what will happen to us." Silver finished Shadow's sentence for him. Shadow looked over at Silver and grinned at him, glad that his head was in the right place, unlike someone else he knew. 

"What? Are they gonna put us in captivity and study us like aliens or somethin'?" Sonic spat out sarcastically.

"We are aliens dummy!" Silver refuted Sonic's statement. "To them at least." 
Sonic sighed frustratedly, irritated at the prospect that they couldn't do anything at the moment.

"Look, we have to do something. Who knows what that girl is gonna do." Sonic stated. The group were at a loss, unsure of what to do at this point. Sonic looked over and saw Silver pull out a book from one of the bookcases. Silver looked at the books cover and saw that it was the school's year book from three years ago. Silver's interest rose as he sat down on the make shift bed and prepared to read it. 

"I wonder what this book is?" Silver thought out loud, unaware of what a 'yearbook' is, since he has never been to a real school in his life. 
"Hey Sonic. What's a yearbook?" Silver asked him, wondering if he knew what it was. Sonic tried to think of an answer, only to realize, that he himself have never been to school either, so how would he know that? 

"How should I know? I've never been to school" Sonic replied. 

"It's basically a collection of student photos from years back." Shadow explained for them. "It's something they do for sentimental reasons." 

"Sentimental reasons?" Silver replied. He decided to open the book and look what's inside. What he found genuinely surprised him. Just like Shadow said, the pages were a collage of pictures from the previous years of the school. 
"They......they all look so happy." Silver noted how all the students in the photo's were smiling and happy. He continued turning the pages observing the students, however he double taked when he saw a familiar face in the corner.

"Oh hey! It's Rarity!" Silver said outloud. This got Sonic and Shadow's attention. "Oh she's also with those other girls we met at P.E." 

"Wait? Does that mean-" Sonic got up and sat next to Silver to look at the book. To his annoyance, he saw Rainbow Dash among the girls in the picture. "Oh there she is! That little-" Sonic angrily vented at the sight of her. Silver gave Sonic a weird look.

"Dude, will you give that a rest." Silver reprimanded Sonic. He looked back at the picture of the girls and saw that they looked younger then they when they saw them yesterday. He also noticed that Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie was among them, not to mention the two girls he tried from the mess hall that he tried to get the chaos emerald from.
"Huh? These pictures must be from a few years back" Silver noted at their younger appearance. "I wonder if there are other pictures of them in here." He began looking through the pictures for any more of them. He found a picture of Rainbow Dash cheering as she crossed the finish line in first. "I will admit she does seem full of herself." Silver admitted that he agreed with Sonic on her being arrogant. 

"Sigh Silver why don't you put that away Silver, it's not like it's gonna help us get home faster." Sonic complained tiredly, slouching against the bookcases. Silver gave Sonic an irritated look. 

"Well, too bad I'm reading it anyways!" Silver retorted before sticking his head back into the year book. Sonic grunted frustratedly. He was at a loss for words, so he sucked it up and admitted that Shadow would have a better idea.

"Well Shadow, what's the call for tomorrow." Sonic asked Shadow, who has been quiet during their small conversation. Shadow said nothing for a moment. "Pfft, always the silent treatment" Sonic scoffed to himself.

"Silver, you just said that those two girls have friends right?" Shadow asked Silver, recounting their conversation about the year book. 

"Huh? Oh right!" Silver realized that Shadow was referring to the yearbook he was holding. He held the book up and pointed to a picture of the girls. Shadow glanced over to look at the picture. To his surprise and his dread, he recognized three of the girls from earlier, as he eavesdropped on their conversation regarding Sonic. 

"Sigh For now lets wait for an opportunity to grab it. We've only been here two days, so we should observe their movements before trying to grab it." Shadow explained his plan, which unfortunately cued an unsatisfied grunt from Sonic.

"And what if something happens to them while we wait?" Sonic interjected. Shadow once again said nothing as he thought of an answer. He was silent for one full minute before he turned to speak to them.
"I don't know." Shadow finally said. Sonic was taken aback when Shadow said that, it wasn't often that he heard Shadow admit that he doesn't know. He didn't know what to say in response. Silver was also somewhat unnerved at what Shadow said.
"But make no mistake." Shadow interjected, getting Sonic and Silver's attention again. "We're gonna get it back, regardless of what happens." Shadow stated strongly. Shadow's confident statement caused Sonic to grin a little in admiration of his confidence.
"Why don't you two go to sleep. It's only going to get harder from here on." Shadow told them. 

"Ok dad." Sonic scoffed sarcastically, as he climbed and laid on the book bed, closed his eyes, and tried to fall asleep. Shadow ignored Sonic's snark, and looked out towards the library from the entrance to their hideout. Silver looked up at Shadow, wondering what he was going to do. 

"Uh....hey Shadow, are you gonna go out and explore again?" Silver asked him. 

"No. Without my powers there's only so much ground I can cover." Shadow explained. Silver nodded in understanding. 

"Yeah, we should probably wait for the weekend." Silver added. He was about to return to reading the book on his lap but he stopped when he heard Shadow yawn. He looked up to catch a glimpse of Shadow covering his mouth as he yawned. Silver was surprised, for he's never seen Shadow tired before, yet alone see him yawn. "Er...you....tired Shadow?" Silver asked him. 
Shadow tensed up a little in embarrassment. The last thing he wanted was to come off as weak, so he had to deflect the issue quickly!
"What are you talking about? Do I look tired to you?"" Shadow tried to play dumb.  Unfortunately Silver wasn't that gullible. 

"Uhh....I saw you yawn." Silver stated what he just saw, not falling for Shadow's deflection. Shadow tensed up even more, and actually started blushing a little. He scowled, trying not let the embarrassment get to him.

"You didn't see anything." Shadow deflected Silver's question again and turned away, signaling that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Of course Silver didn't buy Shadow's facade. But, knowing that he wouldn't get Shadow to talk again, he decided to let it go. 
Shadow did find it rather concerning that he was beginning to feel tired. It was something he rarely felt given his immense power and enhanced abilities. He looked down at his hand, and tensed his muscles to see what he felt. While he would usually not feel much, he actually felt his arm strain a little as he tensed it. The more he thought about it, the more he came to understand how Sonic felt. (Though he wished that his attitude would be better.) He looked back at the two, to see that they have fallen asleep. 
As he looked at his two companions sleep, he realized that right now, he himself should rest. For without his powers, he is mortal, like them. While the thought tugged at his pride, he sucked it up and sat down against the bookcases, looking up at the moon through the  glass dome ceiling. 

2:00 am

Twilight lay in bed trying to fall asleep. However her dry throat eventually forced her to open her eyes. She let out a sigh as she forced herself to sit up and pull the covers off. However as she got up from her bed, her foot slipped causing her to lose balance.
"Wah! Whoa!" Twilight exclaimed as she wobbled on one foot. However she managed to regain her balance and put both her feet on the ground, granted her legs trembled a bit. 
"Sigh Come on! I've been here for almost a month. Why am I not used to walking on these legs?" Twilight was frustrated at her body not being able to adapt to this world. However she pushed the thought out of her mind for now. She was thirsty, so she tiredly walked out of her room and down the stairs. Arriving at the bottom of the stairs she headed to the kitchen, and opened the fridge, and began searching for something to drink. 

She returned to her bed room while sipping from a water bottle. She was about to climb back into bed, but her magic sense prevented her. She turned in the direction her magic sense was going off in. She looked at a small drawer in her desk. Instead of going back to bed, she set her water bottle on the dresser next to her bed and walked over to her desk. Her magic sense strained more as she got closer. She slowly opened the drawer, which emitted a bright yellow glow. Twilight shielded her eyes momentarily before looking back in the draw. Inside was the yellow emerald, laying on a piece of cloth. 
Twilight gazed at the emerald, still not fully believing that it came from outer space. 
She carefully grabbed the cloth around it as to not touch the emerald itself. Carefully, she placed it on her desk, then sat down in her chair as she continued to look at it, as it's glow illuminated her room. 

She glanced over at the pile of history books in the corner of her desk. By her count she had fully skimmed through all of them. And not one of them held anything on the emerald. However she then got out her backpack, and brought out the only book that might had something to do with this. 
She set it on her desk and turned to a random page. Already she was confused. It wasn't just the fact that a book on the 'Void Era' existed that confused her, it was everything else in it.  Just vague descriptions of certain periods of time. With names like 'The Great Separation' and 'The Year of Black Sky'. There were even terms like 'The conceptual plane' and 'Rasenkon', which Twilight thought was outright another language. If she looked at this without context, she would've thought these were the ramblings of an insane lunatic.

She glanced back at the emerald and pondered just what connection that it had with what was in the book. 
"Maybe there's a mention of it in the appendix." Twilight said to herself, as she began flipping to the very back of the book. However as she turned to the last few pages, she saw nothing on the pages. 
"What the-?" She skimmed through the remaining pages only to reach the back cover, finding nothing new. Twilight grunted in frustration as she slouched back in her seat.

“Twilight.....you yawnalright?” Spike drowsily asked as he was temporarily woken from his sleep. Twilight looked back at Spike, feeling bad that she woke him up.

“I’m fine. Just go back to sleep Spike.” Twilight to,d him. Although spike was tired, he sensed that she was having trouble understanding the emerald. 

“Hey don’t worry Twilight, you’ll figure this out.” Spike encouraged Twilight. 
Twilight smiled at his compliment, but her smile faded as her mind went back to the emerald and the book.

“I wish I could Spike.” Twilight replied sadly.

“You will....!” Spike said enthusiastically as he jumped out of his basket. “Right......?
Twilight thought to herself if she indeed could figure out this emerald. However she then wondered if she should, as her mind flashed back to when she met that dark figure in the library. She held her head in anguish as she remember the hallucinations he gave her. However she managed to force the thought out of her head and focused back on thinking about her approach to solving this mystery.

“I’ll probably talk with Sunset about it tomorrow. Perhaps she has a different way of thinking about this that I’m ignoring.” She said as she finally put the emerald away in the drawer. Twilight then got up from her seat, strolled over to her bed, climbed into bed and pulled the covers over.

“Well, just don’t overwork yourself Twilight.” Spike got comfortable in his basket, as he prepared to go to sleep.

“Thanks Spike.” Twilight said as she pulled the covers over her shoulders, and rest her head on the pillow. While she wanted to close her eyes, she found it hard to do so on account of her mind still on the emerald. 
“Sigh Whatever you are.....” she looked back at the drawer where the emerald was held, her magic sense highlighting it. “....please don’t hurt my friends.”



8:00 am

"YAAAAAWWWNNNN Oh man....I didn't sleep a wink last night" Sonic yawned loudly as he and Silver walked down the hall to their first class, pushing their way through the crowd of students.

"Seriously, do you gotta be so loud?" Silver expressed his annoyance at Sonic's laziness. Shadow had already separated from them to go to his other class, leaving Sonic and Silver on their own. 
As Sonic and Silver walked into their History class, Sonic looked around for any signs of Rainbow Dash. To his surprise, he didn't see her anywhere, causing him to breath a sigh of relief.

"Sigh Finally I can get some peace and qui- DAHH!!" Sonic felt someone pull on his blue hair/quills, followed by a familiar, yet annoying giggle. He turned and to his dismay saw Rainbow Dash, who was still giggling  from her little prank. 

"Geez don't do that! The quills are sensitive ya know!" Sonic complained, rubbing the back of his head.

"Uh....quills?" Rainbow Dash raised an eye brow when he said quills. Sonic froze up, realizing what he said. 

"Forget that you heard that." Sonic quickly deflected her question, and went inside the classroom. Dash, while still confused by Sonic referring to his hair as quills, shrugged it off and went inside as well. 
The three took their seats in the class and proceeded to wait for class to begin. 
"Oh by the way.." Dash leaned over to speak to Sonic, who proceeded to roll his eyes in annoyance. "P.E was canceled today." This was enough to get Sonic's attention. 
"So our rematch will have to wait for now." Dash finished. 

"Why was it cancelled?" Silver asked, overhearing their conversation.  

"I dunno. I think it had something to do with the P.E equipment or something." Dash shrugged her shoulders. 
Much to Sonic's dissapointment that he won't get his rematch with her, at the same time he was somewhat glad that he now had time. 

"Well, so how are we gonna settle this then?" Sonic asked, still wanting to finish what they started. Dash thought for a moment about how they were going to have their match. 

"We'll just do it after school, the entire field is empty after school, so there won't be anything to bother us." Dash explained. "Just you and me." 
Sonic appeared to be satisfied.

"Heh! So were doing this after school?" Sonic smirked, ready to show her how fast he really was. Dash smirked back, not about to lose that easily. 

"You bet!" Dash enthusiastically replied, her competitive spirit showing through and through. She offered him a fist bump. Sonic while he was reluctant to give his current rival a fist bump, decided to return it anyways out of respect. Dash gave a satisfied smile to Sonic. 
With that, they both continued waiting for class. Silver, who was listening in on their conversation, was rather surprised that they were able to get along for a least a few seconds. 

"You know, despite what you may think, you guys are very si-"

"Shut up." Sonic and Dash cut him off before he could finish his sentence.


10:20 am

Fluttershy was slowly walking to her next class, with Pinkie Pie hopping along behind her, chewing on a lollipop, humming cheerfully. However in contrast to Pinkie's cheer, Fluttershy had her arms crossed shyly, and walked pigeon toed as she made her way through the crowd.

"Uh excuse me- ow! Sorry!" Fluttershy apologized as she pushed and bumped her way through the crowd. Pinkie on the other hand was just playfully skipping through the crowd like it was nothing, munching on a cookie this time. 
Fluttershy managed to get to the edge of the crowd, but then her skirt got caught on someone's backpack.
"A-Ooh!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she stumbled forward a bit. She looked back to see her skirt caught in the zipper of someone's backpack, who was unaware of Fluttershy's predicament.

"Gasp Oh no!" Fluttershy blushed as she saw her skirt being lifted. She tried pulling her skirt, but it wouldn't come free, surprisingly the person wearing the backpack still didn't notice her. 
Her face got even redder from the embarrassment. 
"Come on!" She pulled even harder, hearing the stitches of her skirt tear and stretch, until-
RIIIPPP!!

"AHH!" Fluttershy fell forwards onto her knees. She let out a whimper as held her aching knees in pain, tears forming in her eyes. 
"Oooww...." She whimpered as she tried holding back the tears. However she gasped when she saw that her skirt was torn, which made her even more sad. She sighed as she held her torn skirt, her insecurities tearing at her heart once again. 

"Hey Fluttershy! Out of the crowd alread-" Pinkie Pie poked her head out of the crowd looking for Fluttershy, stopping when she saw Fluttershy trembling on the ground, clutching her knees. 
"Hey Shy! You practicing for drama class or somethin'?" Pinkie hopped over Fluttershy and knelt down to her eye level. Fluttershy looked up at Pinkie confusedly, tears still in her eyes.

"N-no, I....I-I just tripped" Fluttershy said, wiping tears from her face. She sighed, disappointed in herself that she was so sensitive.

"Well, your not going on any trips if you're gonna stay down there!" Pinkie got up and offered her hand to Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked up at Pinkie with her innocent eyes. Pinkie's cheerfulness eventually made her smile and took her hand. 
She yelped in surprise as Pinkie yanked her up from her feet. Pinkie giggled cheerfully, happy that Fluttershy was smiling. Pinkie then proceeded to skip on ahead humming cheerfully. Fluttershy looked at Pinkie as she skipped down the hall, envying her cheerful personality, wishing that she could be like that. But knowing that she should get to class, decided to move on. 

She rounded the corner of the hallway to catch up with Pinky. But she bumped into someone causing her to stumble backwards against the wall.
"Ow! S..s-sorry. I- Gasp!" Fluttershy looked up, and froze in terror at who it was. Scrouge, who was looking at her with and anger filled stare. Fluttershy couldn't even move as her body only shook as she backed up against the wall. Scrouge continued to glare at Fluttershy as she trembled before him, terrified of what he would do next. The two stared at each other for a good minute. 
But the staredown was broken when Scourge finally let out a grunt and continued walking down the hallway. Fluttershy thought her heart had stopped as she remained perfectly frozen in her terrified position. 
Pinkie, who came back to check on her, looked at Fluttershy quizzically. 

"Um....Hey Shy?" Pinkie hopped all around Fluttershy's frozen body, wondering what made her frozen. "Last time I checked, it wasn't winter yet...." Pinkie then poked Fluttershy a few times to try and get a reaction, still no reaction from Fluttershy, queuing Pinkie to tilt her head quizzically.

"Yawn  Hey Pinkie, what're you tilting your head fo- Huh?" Rainbow Dash, who was going to her next class, happened to stop by to see what Pinkie and Fluttershy were up to. She was looked just as confused as Pinkie, queuing her to tilt her head quizzically like Pinkie Pie. 

"Um....Fluttershy?" Dash then proceeded to poke Fluttershy in the arm like Pinkie did. There was no response from her for a few seconds, then suddenly she let out a relieved sigh before fainting and falling over towards Dash and Pinkie.

"Whoa Whoa Hey!" Dash exclaimed as she quickly caught Fluttershy in her arms. "Fluttershy what's gotten into you?" Dash looked down at Fluttershy, who was out cold in Dash's arms. 

"Oh! I think I saw that Seymore person pass by me a few seconds ago." Pinkie replied. Dash was confused at Pinkie's statement, not seeing how it related to Fluttershy fainting. 

"Seymore? Pinkie what're talking ab- Wait!? HIM!?" Dash figured out who Pinkie was talking about, her face flushing red with rage. 
"Why I OUGHTAA!!" Dash threw her fists up in a fury, unaware that she was still holding Fluttershy.

"Ow!" Fluttershy cried out as Dash dropped her, causing her to hit the ground below her. 

"Huh?" Dash looked down and realized her blunder. "Oh shoot! Sorry Shy!" Dash apologized quickly. 

"Ow....I-it's okay." Fluttershy replied as she got up shakily while rubbing her aching bottom. Dash then looked around for any sign of Scourge, wanting to give him a piece of her mind. 

"Drat! He's not anywhere. That bastard!" Dash cursed at the air, causing other students passing by to take notice. Fluttershy was somewhat embarrassed that Dash was getting angry for her sake. 

"Um.....It's okay Dash....he d-didn't do...a-anything..........I think." Fluttershy blushed slightly, while Pinkie decided to do some drawing in the meantime. 

"Tch! No it's not okay! He can't keep bullying you like this!" Dash retorted angrily. "Sigh I swear Fluttershy, this is why I keep trying to encourage you the way I do." Dash crossed her arms and sighed disappointingly. This didn't do much to raise Fluttershy's spirits. 
"So, why do you even take it from him anyways?"
Fluttershy blushed even harder as she didn't know how to respond to that question. 

"Uh...well I.....um.....It's just....." Fluttershy went pigeon toed as she looked away in shame. Meanwhile Pinkie was doing some drawing on the floor while they waited. 

"Well, what's your excuse then?" Rainbow Dash said rather callously, causing Fluttershy to cower backwards, shuddering a little. 

"I....I..I...." Fluttershy studdered as Dash scowled at her. Eventually Fluttershy couldn't take the pressure anymore and proceeded to run off towards her class.

"Uh. Hey Fluttershy!" Dash called out to Fluttershy as she ran down the hallway with tears trailing from her eyes. At that moment Dash realized that she pushed Fluttershy too far. 
"Sigh Dammit. Guess I went too far." Dash said to herself. As much as she was annoyed by Fluttershy's cowardly tendencies, she knew that it was literally how she was for as long as she knew her. 

"Hey Dash!" Pinkie said behind Dash. 

"Huh?" Dash turned to hear what Pinkie had to say.

"You looked funny when you're mad. So I drew a picture of you mad! See?" Pinkie held up a crudely drawn picture of Dash in her angry state from a few moments ago, which only served to infuriate Dash once again. 

"THAT DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE ME YOU DUMMY!!" Dash blew up cartoonishly in Pinkie's face.

12:30 pm

It is lunch time and the two mobian otherworlders Sonic and Silver were heading to the lunch room, expecting to meet Shadow there. Sonic was pumping himself up for his rematch with Dash, while Silver couldn't take his mind off of the chaos emeralds. Sonic noticed Silver looking worried about something, so he decided to chat with him. 

"Hey whats up? You don't look so good." Sonic asked him. 

"Sigh Sorry, can't take my mind off that chaos emerald. It feels like were so close to it, yet we can't reach it." Silver shared his disappointment with Sonic.

"Yeah, I know. I myself can't stand it either. It's annoying." Sonic agreed with Silver. "Next time we see her, lets go get it ourselves." Sonic proposed. 

"What? No! Shadow said to hang back and wait for the right moment to move in!" Silver objected to Sonic's proposal. 

"Hey wait! SHH!" Sonic pulled Silver to the side. Silver felt himself jerked to the side as Sonic pulled on his collar. 

"Ow hey! what's the b-MFFF!" Silver was about to object but was pulled by Sonic who put his hand over his mouth before he could say anything. The two hid around the corner as they looked down the hallway. Silver wasn't entirely sure what Sonic was freaked out about, so he forced Sonic's hand off his mouth to speak.
"What's going on? You look like you've seen Iblis." Silver whispered to Sonic irritatingly. 

"It's her. The girl who has the Chaos Emerald." Sonic whispered back. Silver looked down the hallway and, to his surprise, he saw Twilight and another girl further down the hallway. This cued the both of them to be silent for the moment.


Twilight and Sunset were talking at the end of the hallway while Sonic and Silver spied on them from afar. 

"You going to the library again Twilight?" Sunset asked Twilight worryingly. 

"Yeah. There's something I've been wanting to look into more the last time I went there. I also wanted to discuss with you about this book" Twilight explained, getting the book out of her backpack and showing it to Sunset. She took a look at the books cover.

“I never seen this book before, let alone here.” Sunset examined the book’s cover, but she didn’t recognize it. “Well, it looks interesting, so I’m happy to talk. Besides I can’t let that guy from before get you.” Sunset added.


"Thanks Sunset. You sure you want to skip out on lunch?" Twilight knew that she was skipping out on lunch each time she went to the library, so she felt bad that Sunset was skipping lunch just to protect her. "Besides, I have Spike with me. He's has to count for something." Twilight vouched for Spike's ability to protect her. This qued Spike to poke his head out of her backpack.

"Hey! I've been with Twilight far longer than you Sunset. I think I'm more than qualified to protect her."  Spike bragged to Sunset. Sunset chuckled at Spike's comment

"Oh I'm sure you are. But what's a little puppy gonna do against a devil like me?" Sunset joked as she booped Spike on his nose.

"HEY! I'M NOT A PUPPY I'M A DRAGON!!" an enraged Spike objected at Sunset's joke. Sunset and Twilight laughed at Spike's reaction. 

"Okay then, let's get going shall we Sunset?" Twilight hiked her backpack up. Sunset nodded in agreement and the two girls set off towards the library. Meanwhile Sonic and Silver were eavesdropping on their conversation from behind t. 


"Looks like their headed for the library. Wonder what their up to." Silver pondered. Silver was about to continue walking to the messhall, but Sonic said nothing as he began running down the hall.
"Er- Sonic where are you going?"  Silver asked from behind the corner that they were hiding behind. 

"I ‘m gonna take the emerald from them now! I can't wait any longer!" Sonic stated loudly. Silver double-taked at his statement.

"WHAT!?" Silver objected loudly. 

"SHHHH!" Sonic shushed Silver as he probably shouted loud enough for them to hear. He looked around for any signs of students who were looking at them funnily. Fortunately for them there seemed to be no students nearby. Sonic sighed with relief and decided to explain his reasoning to Silver.
"Listen. We might not get many chances until something bad happens. So we gotta take every chance we got!" Sonic explained fiercely, determined to get the chaos emerald no matter what. Silver on the other hand did not approve of his plan. 

"What are you crazy!? You saw how I almost got caught by those two! I don't think I can do that again!" Silver further objected to Sonic's plan, remembering the chills he felt down his spine when those two girls noticed him trying to grab her backpack. 
Sonic let out a frustrated groan at Silver's lack of motivation. 

"C'mon man! This could be our last chance like I said!" Sonic held his ground. "Besides I've gotta plan. So c'mon!" Sonic waved Silver to follow as he rushed forward down the hall. Silver wasn't sure whether he should follow him or not. He knew that Sonic was crazy, and forming plans that actually work wasn't his strong suit. 
But then again......he thought that maybe a crazy plan is exactly what they needed. With that, he finally decided to run up and join Sonic. 


Meanwhile in the mess hall, Shadow was waiting for Sonic and Silver to show up, which to his frustration, weren't here. 

"Where are they?" Shadow grunted angrily at their absence. He didn't bother getting any food for he wasn't hungry. He figured that he should go and look for them since they weren't here. He was about to go an look for them when he noticed someone walk up to him.

"Hey. You're Blue Boy's bro aren't you?" a sassy voice said to him. He looked to his left to see a Rainbow haired girl talking to him as she leaned against the table across from Shadow. To his shock he recognized the her as one of the girls who was talking about them. 
"No offense, but your bro, he's a handful." Rainbow Dash told Shadow, her voice full of snark. Shadow while rather put off by her snarky tone, he couldn't help but agree with her. 

"Hmph. You're not to far off." Shadow smirked, but something in him didn't like the notion of someone else mouthing off his little brother.
"But I'd appreciate it if you don't bad mouth him. Got it!" Shadow glared back at her. Dash while a little intimidated by Shadow's glare, she eventually chuckled at his comment.

"Heh heh heh! You really are his brother. I can respect that." Dash laughed off Shadow's intimidation, while admiring his big brother disposition. Dash then got up from her position walked closer to Shadow.
"I should tell you that me and blue boy are having a race after school." Dash relayed her deal with Sonic to Shadow. 
Shadow snarled internally "Damn it Sonic! I said not to get involved"
"He lost pretty badly to me last time. So he challenged me to a rematch." Dash further explained. Shadow clenched his fist tightly as his anger increased. "Sonic.......you......son of....!"
Dash then snickered as a funny thought entered her head. 
"Oh. And get this. He calls himself 'The fastest thing alive' HA! Priceless." Dash got carried away and started mocking Sonic despite Shadow's protest. 
"Ha ha! I'm sorry....I know you asked me not to make fun of him. But it was just too funny!" Dash apologized halfheartedly. To her surprise Shadow actually seemed to calm down. 

"Yeah. He's a big show off." Shadow admitted. "He's thickheaded and doesn't know when he's in over his head." Dash was rather surprised at how Shadow was suddenly willing to talk about Sonic that way. 

"Well, at least we agree on some things." Dash smirked at him. 

"Hmph, the same thing could be said about you." Shadow fired back towards her.

"HEY! HE AND I ARE NOT ALIKE GOT IT!!" Dash blew up in Shadows face. Shadow maintained his disinterested expression without even flinching. 

"Ahem! Hmph! Well, he and I are gonna have a race later, and I'm gonna show him whose boss just like last time." Dash managed to compose herself, and started walking away, not wanting to continue the conversation. But Shadow wasn't going to let her walk over Sonic's pride that easily.

"Be careful. He may be an idiot, but he's better than you think." Shadow warned her, not looking back at her. Dash double taked as she stopped walking, also not looking back at Shadow.
"Trust me. He surprised me when I underestimated him." Shadow continued, reminding him of their fight on space colony ark. 

"Geez! first Applejack says that and now this guy? What's going on around here!?  "Dash was becoming increasingly irritated.  "Hmph! Well we'll see soon enough!" Dash retorted arrogantly, and she continued walking off. 


In the library Twilight and Sunset were searching through the library history section for any mention of 'The void Era'. Twilight had a list of terms that she had written down from the void era book, and was thoroughly looking through each book that was on the table she was sitting at. 

"Oh come on! It has to be here somewhere!" Twilight rapidly flipped through pages of a history book. "Sigh No good!" Twilight snapped the book shut and threw it on the stack of books that was almost as high as the table, she then got out another book that was on the table and began flipping through the pages. Sunset came around the corner straining to lift another stack of books. 

"Hch! This is the last of the modern history section Twilight." Sunset said as she dropped the pile of books on the table with a loud Thunk!. She wiped some sweat off her forehead, worn out from carrying so many books. "Gee, I think this is replacement for P.E" Sunset said tiredly. Then she heard a grumble come from her stomach. She rubbed her stomach, realizing she was hungry from skipping lunch. Twilight overheard Sunset's stomach growl. 

"Sunset you can go if you want. I'll be fine. Promise." Twilight felt bad that Sunset was skipping out on lunch for her sake. 

"Yeah!" Spike said from around the corner. The two looked and saw Spike with a large encyclopedia in his mouth, straining himself to keep it upright. 
He swayed back and forth trying to keep the encyclopedia upright, before finally thumping down beside Sunset's leg. 
"She has me! Remember!" Spike said proudly. Twilight and Sunset both laughed at his statement. 

"Not a chance. I'm not letting that guy get the jump on you again." Sunset's tone suddenly shifted to be more serious. Twilight sighed in defeat.
"I guess there's no convincing you. Thanks Sunset." Twilight thanked her. Sunset smiled back sincerely, ignoring how her stomach was growling and how hungry she was. With that she sat down and started perusing through the books with Twilight. 

The library was silent for a few minutes as they looked through book after book. Sunset occasionally looked around for any signs of people spying on them. 
"Ugh! Nothing again!!” Twilight slammed the book shut and pushed it across the table. Sunset flinched a little at Twilight’s outburst. Spike gave out few dog wines.

“This really seems to have stumped you Twilight.” Sunset commented as Twilight held her head in disappointment. Sunset went over to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. Twilight looked up at sunset, regretting her outburst.

“Sigh Sorry Sunset. Guess I am stumped.” Twilight apologized. “It’s just I can’t stand not understanding something.” 
Sunset then remember the other thing Twilight wanted.

“Say, you wanted to talk about that book right Twilight?” Sunset asked, bringing the book over to them. 

“Oh right. Eh...why don’t you take a look at it. You’ll see what I’m so concerned about.” Twilight said.

Sunset opened the book and they read what was inside. Sunset was awed at what she read. She couldn't even believe that she missed a book like this in the library. 
"Why would there be an era that even history books don't cover?" Sunset wondered why there was even a 'Void Era' to begin with.

"I don't know. Even this book doesn't really cover anything. It's just a lot of speculation, theories and rumors." Twilight explained. Sunset looked more closely and she realized that the book didn't have any pictures. Just vague descriptions of certain periods of time. With names like 'The Great Separation' and 'The Year of Black Sky'. There were even terms like 'The conceptual plane' and 'Rasenkon', which Twilight thought was outright another language. If she looked at this without context, she would've thought these were the ramblings of an insane lunatic.
"I don't know what to make of this book. Are these things in it even real?" Twilight held her head as she speculated. 

"Not only that. If it's called the 'Void Era' and there is supposedly no information on it, why does this book even exist?" Sunset pointed out that despite having such a name, a book like this still exists. 
This question really stumped Twilight as she somewhat mentally strained herself to come up with an explanation. Yet none came to her head.  She sighed as she slumped back in her chair, unable to even think of a slightly plausible explanation for not just Sunset's question, but all the things in the book as well. 

"For now, let's keep digging and hope that something from this book is mentioned somewhere else." Twilight explained her next course of action. 

"Right" Sunset agreed with her. They both started perusing through their collected books once again, searching for any of the names or terms that were mentioned in the book they found. 

"Yawn Yeah well you do that. I'm gonna take a nap okay?" Spike yawned as he climbed into Twilight's backpack to take a nap. 


Meanwhile nearby, Sonic and Silver were spying on Twilight and Sunset. While they heard most of their conversation, they weren't exactly interested in thatas they were in finding an opening to try and steal the chaos emerald back. 

"Looks like they aren't going anywhere." Sonic said as they spied on them from behind a bookcase across from the girls. Silver peeked out from behind Sonic, noticing the two girls. His shivered a little as he remembered how they nearly caught him yesterday. 

"Uhh....I don't suppose you have a plan do you?" Silver asked Sonic, half expecting the answer to be no. Sonic turned and smirked at him confidently.

"Heh! Course I do." Sonic said proudly. Silver was slightly surprised that Sonic actually had a plan in mind, though he wasn't very excited for what it was.
"I'm gonna go cause a distraction near them, then while they go over to see what it is, you go and get the emerald from their backpack." Sonic explained his plan, which Silver to his surprise wasn't too excited about.

"Why do I have to go get it!? You saw how they were glaring at me! They must think I'm some sort of creep!" Silver reminded Sonic of how he failed to get the emerald the first time. Sonic sighed disappointingly. 

"Look, it’ll be easier this time. I just have to draw them away, and you sneak over and grab it. Simple!" Sonic tried to convince Silver again. 

"Oh? And how do you intend to draw them away?" Silver questioned Sonic, not showing any confidence in his plan. Sonic smirked confidently again. 

"Just watch me! You circle around behind them and wait for the right moment, while I distract them got it!?" Sonic explained to Silver. 

"Uh I-"

"Good!" Silver didn't have time to reply as Sonic interrupted him and began sneaking closer to the two girls. Silver sighed in defeat and decided to follow Sonic's orders and circle round behind them. 

Sonic slowly but briskly crept up to where the girls were studying. He stopped about four bookcases away from them, peeking around the corner. His instincts told him to be wary of the yellow and red haired girl. But that didn't worry him, for his plan didn't involve him getting seen. 

"Okay let's do this!" Sonic stretch his fingers as he began putting his plan into action. 
Silver crept up slowly from the other side of the two girls. He was incredibly nervous as he didn't want to face the glare of Sunset again. He hid behind a bookcase about fifty feet away from them. He looked across from them to see that Sonic was preparing to do something. His eyebrow slowly raised as he was not excited for what he was planning. 
But then he heard the faint sound of books being stacked on top of each other. Then he happened to see a stack of books coming from between the tops of the bookcases where Sonic was.
"Sonic, what are you doing!!" Silver fumed through his teeth, as he saw Sonic stack another book on top. 

"Okay! Good to go!" Sonic said quietly as he stacked one last book on top. Now came the next part of his plan. He rubbed his hands in preperation. Then he strained himself as he proceeded to pick up the large pile of books. 
"Hrrrg!! Hch! Okay! Wha Whoa!" Sonic briefly lost his balance and stumbled backwards a little. Silver pulled at his hair in panic as he saw Sonic's pile of books almost fall over. 
However Sonic managed to regain his balance before he fell over. To his relief, the two girls haven't noticed him yet. He stabilized himself before he initiated the next part of his plan. 
"Sigh Okay. Here goes nothing!" Sonic said to himself knowing that he was going to humiliate himself with this part of the plan.

Silver wiped some sweat off his forehead as he nearly had a panic attack from seeing Sonic's blunder. 
"Geez Sonic, you're gonna give me a heart attack." Silver whispered to himself. 

"Oh mah! These books are so big and heavy!" Sonic said in the most feminine voice he could muster. Silver cringed at what he just heard. 
Twilight and Sunset looked in the direction of the voice, their suspicion rising. 
"Oh I wish somebody- Hrg! would come and help me with these books!" Sonic continued, trying to maintain the obnoxious feminine voice.
Twilight and Sunset looked at each other unsure of what to do in this situation. 
Silver unable to handle Sonic's embarrassing performance, proceeded to facepalm, a little too loudly. 

"Wait. I heard something." Sunset looked in the direction she heard a faint slap, cuing Twilight to look in that direction as well. Silver scrambled to hide as he covered his mouth.
"Crap!" Silver's heart raced as he panicked on the inside.
Sonic noticed that the girls were looking over in the other direction. He rolled his eyes frustratedly as his performance wasn't enough to draw them over. 

"Grr. Fine!" Sonic decided to take drastic measures. 
"Whoa whoa whoaa! OW!!" He intentionally fell backwards causing the large pile of books to fall on top of him. This caused the two girls to redirect their attention back to Sonic, who was in excruciating pain from all the books that fell on him. Silver poked his head out from the corner to see what happened.

"Oh no! I dropped all my books! Would someone please help me!?" Sonic tried maintaining his feminine voice, although it noticeably cracked a few times. But he didn't care for the two girls attention were now on him. 

"Looks like someone had a nasty fall." Twilight closed the books she was currently skimming through and got up to go help whoever fell. 

Sonic, hearing the girl's footsteps get closer and closer, knew it was time to book it. 
"Oh geez! Time to go!" Sonic said in his normal voice as he scrambled out of the pile of books and ran out of the aisle away from them. 

Twilight peeked around the corner to see who fell over. 
"Hello?" She said. She saw no one, but then she gasped when she saw a large pile of books strewn all over the aisle. 
"Geez. What a mess. Somebody needs to learn to put their books away." Twilight commented on the mess of books. She was confused as to where the person who asked for help went, but she knew that she couldn't just leave these books on the ground.
"Hey Sunset. Can you help me put these books away?" Twilight called over to Sunset. 

"Hmm? Oh sure." Sunset got up from her chair and walked over to Twilight. Sunset also gasped in surprise when she saw the mess of books.
"Yikes! Who the hell did this?" Sunset asked. 

"I don't know. Whoever was asking for help just disappeared." Twilight shrugged her shoulders.

"Sigh Well I guess we better start cleaning up." Sunset sighed frutratedly as she stretched her arms. With that, she and Twilight started cleaning up the books. 

Sonic watched the two girls clean up the books from a moderate distance. He looked at where the girls were sitting and saw the backpack that held the chaos emerald on the ground beneath the table unattended. 
Sonic knew this was the perfect opportunity to grab it. He looked further to the right to see Silver about two book cases away from the table. 
"Come on Silver. This the perfect moment! Go get it!" Sonic whispered. But for some reason Silver wouldn't go get it. He just continued looking at the girls as they cleaned up the books. 
"What are you doing!?" Sonic said as he increasingly got more frustrated. He waved over to Silver to get his attention. 
"Hey! Silver! Psst! Over here!" Sonic said loud enough so Silver could hear him, but not too loud to get the girl's attention. He waved his arms frantically to get his attention. 

Eventually, Silver noticed Sonic waving to him from the other side of the library. After Silver made eye contact with him, Sonic started vigorously gesturing and pointing towards the table. Silver knew that Sonic was telling him to go get the chaos emerald while the girls were distracted. But Silver was too nervous to go get it, and was too afraid to mess up. He looked back at Sonic and shook his head, telling him that he didn't want to.
Sonic put on an annoyed and disdained face.

"You serious!?" Sonic said through his teeth, his frustration rising even more. He proceeded to aggressively gesture towards the table, as if he was commanding Silver to go over there. But Silver wasn't having any of it 
Silver aggressively shook his head and crossing his arms in an X shape at Sonic, telling him 'NO'. The two spent over a minute arguing with each other using crude sign language. 

"Come on! This may be our only chance." Sonic said through his teeth. Silver sighed as he finally gave up and decided to give it a shot. 
He gulped nervously as he crept closer to the table. He occasionally glanced over at the bookcases across from the table where the girls were cleaning up the mess that Sonic left. He finally reached the book case nearest to the table. His eyes immediately went to the backpack that sat on the ground.
He gulped nervously as he slowly crept towards the backpack. 

Twilight was about to put some books back on the shelf, but she paused when she felt her magic sense tingle in the direction of their table. 
"What is.....that?" Twilight questioned what her magic sense was alerting her to. It felt like a person, but she didn't recognize who it was, which concerned her. 
"Eh, it's probably just Spike" Twilight shrugged it off and went back to cleaning up books. She figured the reason she didn't recognize Spike's magic is that she sensed it through multiple bookcases.

Sonic kept watch on the girls from afar to make that they didn't notice Silver. Silver eventually started crawling under the table. 
"Almost there......you know what? This actually might wor- Ow!" Silver accidentally bumped against one of the table legs, causing a stack of books that was on the table to fall over with a loud thud. Silver froze up, panicking inside. 
Sonic tensed up as he watched the books fall over. He looked over at the girls expecting them to notice. But to his surprise, the girls didn't seem to hear the books falling over at their table. He sighed with relief and he gave Silver the thumbs up, telling him that it was okay. 
Silver saw Sonic's thumbs up and continued crawling under the table. Eventually, Silver finally was just within arms reach of the backpack. Silver smiled with excitement as he was about to get the chaos emerald. 

"Whew! That was a tough one." Twilight said as she put the last book away. 

"Yeah you bet." Sunset said as she wiped some swat off her forehead. "Let's get back to studying shall we?" 

Silver gasped in panic as he heard the two girls conversation. He needed to move quick other wise he was going to get caught again! He reached for the bag, but he found that just couldn't reach it from where he was. 
"Come on! Come on!!" Silver said through his teeth as he stretched his arm as much as he could. Sonic's teeth chattered as he watched Silver. Then Sonic gasped as he saw the two girls exit the aisle to return to their table. 

"Oh god hurry up Silver!!" Sonic panicked as the girls got closer. 

Silver stretched and stretched his arm until he finally grabbed hold of the bag. The second he got a hold of the bag, he bolted out from under the table and booked it down the aisle. He disappeared down the aisle just before the girls rounded the corner. 
Sonic thought his heart stopped as he watched Silver run away. Then he let out a huge sigh of relief as he slumped on his back. Just watching Silver made him feel like he was in his shoes at the moment.

Silver took deep gasps of air as he held the backpack close to him. He couldn't believe that he managed to pull it off. But....he did. He smiled with pride in his accomplishment, and pumped his fist enthusiastically. But now the moment of truth. He put the backpack on the ground and began opening the backpack. As he did, the bright glow of the emerald began leaking out, causing Silver to shield his eyes a little. 
He pulled open the backpack and even though the glow was bright, he was certain it was the chaos emerald. 

"Wow! There it is! We got it!" Silver smiled as his excitement grew. But his cheer was cut short when he heard a menacing growl come from the bag.
"Uhhh......" Silver grew suspicious of what else was in the back. He leaned in forward to take a closer look, when suddenly a barking purple dog leapt out of the bag at Silver!

"AHHH!!! What the heck!!" Silver cried out as he tossed the bag away with the dog still in it. The dog leapt out of the bag and continued to snarl and bark at him. 

Twilight and Sunset were about to sit down when they immediately turned their heads in the direction of the barking. 
"What the heck is that?!" Sunset asked. Twilight's heart skipped a beat when she recognized the barking.

"That sounds like Spike!" Twilight shouted. She and Sunset rushed over to where the barking was coming from. 

Sonic was both confused and panicked at what was going on. He had no idea what Silver did to pull a dog out of the bag, but he knew if he didn't move fast, they would both be busted. He rapidly paced back and forth pulling at his hair and biting his nails at what he should do. 

Silver was also panicking as he tried looking for a way out of this mess, which wasn't easy due to him up against a wall with a small purple dog barking loudly at him. He frantically looked for an escape route. 

"Spike! What's going on!?" Silver heard one of the girls nearby, causing him to panic even more. 
Sensing that he had little options, he quickly scrambled to his feet and started running in the opposite direction. He saw Sonic over where he was watching him and began running over to him. 

"Sonic! Sonic! Sonic! Let's get out of here!" Silver said as he rushed through the bookcases over to where Sonic was. Sonic grabbed Silver's arm as he ran past him. 

"Hey Hey Hey! What the hell happened!?" Sonic demanded that Silver explain himself. 

"No time! Let's go GO!" Silver insisted that they leave as he pulled at Sonic's shirt frantically. Sonic decided to not question him and proceeded to book it along with Silver. They frantically ran downstairs, past the computers, burst through the doors and slammed them shut. 
The two took repeated gasps for air as they calmed down from the frantic series of events that just occurred. They both slumped down to the ground from pure exhaustion. 

"Okay.....now tell me. What the hell just happened over there?" Sonic demanded once again. Silver was still too shaken to say anything. 
"Did you at least get the emerald?" Sonic asked. To his disappointment and frustration, Silver shook his head slowly.

Back in the library, Twilight and Sunset were talking to Spike about what happened. 
"Spike, what happened? And why is my bag way over here?" Twilight asked Spike as she sat down to talk to him, her concern growing as she glanced around for anyone besides them. 

"Someone tried to steal your backpack!" Spike blurted out, causing Sunset and Twilight to gasp in fear. "Good thing I was in there huh?" 

"Calm down. Spike. What did this person look like?" Twilight asked Spike, wanting to know if it was the person who was in her room last night. 
Spike visibly tried to remember what the person looked like, but he yawned as he realized that his eyes were very drowsy when he hopped out of the bag considering that he was napping at the time.

"Sorry, I didn't exactly get a clear look at his face." Spike relayed what he saw, much to the disappointment of Twilight and Sunset. Twilight tried to rationalize the last few minutes in her head. She remembered sensing something earlier as she was cleaning up the books. She assumed it was Spike, but now that this happened, she figured that it was someone else. In fact, looking at Spike now, she saw that his magic energy was very small compared to what she sensed, so it couldn't have been Spike that she sensed. 

"I.....I think I sensed someone back when we were cleaning up those books" Twilight told them about her magic senses going off, getting Spike and Sunset's attention. 

"Really?" Sunset replied, wondering why her's didn't go off. 


Sonic and Silver had retreated to the cafeteria where they were catching their breath from their second failed attempt at retrieving the chaos emerald. Silver had just finished explaining what happened to Sonic, causing Sonic to fume with anger. 

"For the love of...! A stupid dog!? Really!?" Sonic couldn't believe that his perfect plan fell into ruin because of something so absurd. "Who keeps their dog in their bag anyways!?" Sonic continued to angrily pout as he slammed the cafeteria door open. 

"Calm down! It's a miracle we even got out of there unnoticed." Silver tried to get Sonic to settle down, but his words did little to calm him down noticably. They spotted Shadow over near the table that they usually sat at. 
Sonic proceeded to storm over to the table, not really caring about other students giving him weird looks, cuing embarrassment from Silver.
"Uh... heh heh. He's having a bad day." Silver apologized as they walked past the other students. 
Shadow glanced over to see the two walking over. 

"About time." Shadow grunted with anger at their lousy punctuality. 

Sonic and Silver were about to reach their table when they were stopped by a familiar voice. 

"Hey blue boy! Don't forge-" Dash said from a table near them, where she was sitting with Applejack. 

"WHAT!!!?" Sonic blew up at her, furious at being interrupted, especially by her.

"WHOA! Hey! What's your problem!?" Dash got up in Sonic's face, not willing to take any of his crap. 

"Yea! Wut gives!?" Applejack pitched in her protest. Sonic and Dash stared each other down, sparks flying between their eyes as their fierce spirits sent chills down Silver and Applejack's spine as well as other nearby students. However Dash broke the tension as she held up her palm telling Sonic to stop.

"Let's save it for our race later alright?" Dash told Sonic. To Silver's surprise, after a few seconds, Sonic managed to calm himself down. 

"Fine then." Sonic stepped back, finally settling down. The two looked each other in the eyes. While Sonic was annoyed by her presence, at the same time, he couldn't help but think that she was kind of similar to him, being hyper competitive and brash. Dash was thinking the same thing, but the one thing she couldn't put her finger on is, why he was like this to begin with. He was still like this even though she beat him two days ago. 

After about a minute of staring at each other they both went back to their respective tables. Shadow did not look pleased as Sonic and Silver sat down. Sonic happens to notice Shadow's disdained expression.
"........What?" Sonic tried playing dumb with him, although in the back of his mind he knew it wouldn't work on Shadow, for he was too sharp to be deceived by him.

"You're late..." Shadow replied darkly, his arms crossed and a cold stare coming from his eyes. "Mind telling me what you were doing?" 
The two brother's sat silently as Shadow eyed the both of them, waiting for them to speak. Silver, intimidated by Shadow's glare, nudged Sonic so he would say something. 

"Hey.....say something.." Silver prodded Sonic through his teeth. 

"Wha....why do I always do the explaining?" Sonic muttered back at Silver. 

"You're the one who prodded me into your stupid plan!" Silver protested back, getting louder.

"Oh yeah!? Well your the one who didn't nab the emerald when it was right in front of him!" Sonic proceeded to get louder as he argued with Silver.

"Oh shut up! You got a lot a nerve to-" The two eventually devolved into childish bickering. Shadow's expression changed from disdained to annoyed. He thought that he was literally babysitting for these two.  He let out an exasperated sigh as he ran his hand down his face. He spotted Dash and Applejack in the corner of his eye, literally looking at the two as they argued with the most bewildered expression. 
Dash noticed Shadow looking at them.

"Uhh......is.....this what you go through on a daily basis?" Dash asked him, feeling a little sorry for Shadow. While he was reluctant to reply at first, but he sighed again as he couldn't help with agree with her.

"Yeah...it's a living." Shadow said sarcastically. Dash chuckled a little at his comment. She was about to reply back, when she was interrupted by Sonic and Silver's annoying argument.

"Tch...WILL YOU TWO CUT IT OUT!!" Dash erupted at them. Applejack just kept the same disinterested expression despite Dash's overreaction. 

“Hey girls!” Applejack heard a familiar voice in the crowd of students. She and Rainbow Dash saw Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy waving to them.
The rest of the main seven sat with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and they were sharing their stories of the day.

“I.......I...ran into Scourge again.” Fluttershy shyly told them, trying not to shed tears. This cued a gasp from the rest of the girls save for Dash and Pinkie. Fluttershy blushed slightly at the notion that all of them were worried for her.
“It....it’s no big deal.” She clutched her arm in embarrassment. 

“It is a big deal! We can’t let some bully keep picking on you!” Sunset stood to her feet in anger. Fluttershy just looked away in shame.

“Damn straight! I could slog him in the face if I had the chance.” Applejack stood to her feet as well. Twilight sensed no good to come of them getting angry and decided to intervene.

“Girls! Calm down! Getting angry won’t help anything.” Twilight spoke firmly, standing up as well. Sunset and Applejack fell silent at Twilight’s firm voice, cueing them to sit down. Rarity on the other hand wasn’t willing to let the subject go so easily.

“Forgive me Twilight, but I still firmly believe that it’s an issue that needs addressing” Rarity stated civilly, wanting to continue the conversation in a more civil manner. 
Inside Twilight agreed with her, but she couldn’t easily come up with a solution. She sat down as she searched her thoughts for a more nuanced answer.

"I know what you mean. But I've never dealt with people like him back on the other side of the portal."  Twilight explained holding her chin as she was deep in thought. "And he's stubborn too!" Twilight added, slightly annoyed at the fact. 

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big issue if Shy wasn’t such a crybaby.” Dash interrupted Twilight’s train of thought. Her statement cued the rest of the main six to look at her, surprised, and put off that she made such a callous statement. Fluttershy just looked away in shame, for she knew part of it to be true. 

“D-Dash! How could you say such a thing?!” Rarity was the first to break the silence as she slammed her palms on the table. 

“Yeah Dash! Why say that?” Twilight added, sharing Rarity’s anger. Applejack growled under her breath as she clenched her fists. 

“Hey! I’m just saying. Fluttershy is......well......sighshy. So it’s only natural for a bully like him to pick on her.” Dash defended her point. “Bullies pick on cowards. That’s all I’m saying.” Dash added further. This however did not sit well with Applejack and Sunset. 
Applejack stood up and proceeded to grab Dash by the collar of her shirt and pulled her up to her face. Dash gave out a grunt in defiance.

“Hey! You callin’ Fluttershy a coward!?” Applejack angrily questioned her.

“No I’m not! Well I...uh” Dash grabbed Applejacks wrist and pried them off her shirt, however she trailed off when she could formulate an answer. Twilight’s anger rose as she stood up once again.

“Girls that’s enough! Can’t you see what your bickering is doing to Fluttershy!?” Twilight gestured over to Fluttershy, who was on the verge of tears. Applejack and Dash were quick to realize their mistake. 

“Oh man. Sorry Fluttershy.” Applejack apologized to Fluttershy, clearly regretting fighting with Dash.

“Hmph. Yeah sorry.” Dash begrudgingly said. Looking over at them, Sunset was glad to not have participating in fighting with Dash.

“Sigh Can we please keep on track girls?” Twilight said as she sat back down. She felt like a parent trying to manage a whole family. “You going to be okay Fluttershy?" 
Fluttershy wiped the tears from her eyes, trying not to cry. 

"Y....sniff....yeah.....I'll be fine." Fluttershy attempted to regain her composure, although the other's could see right through her that she was clearly hurt by their fighting. 
Twilight gave an annoyed glance at Dash, some anger still residing in her, but breathed deeply as she was determined to get back on track. 

"Alright.....well our first piece of news from me and Sunset is, according to Spike someone tried to steal the element of harmony from my backpack." Twilight reported. This cued yet another shocked gasp from everyone aside from Sunset and Twilight.

"Okay! Who's the guy Spike!? Cuz I've got something for their ass!" Dash stood up and cracked her knuckles. 

"Yeah! Whose the rascal!?" Applejack shared Dash's fighting spirit, much to the chagrin of Twilight. 

"Uh...Well I....uh.." Twilight didn't exactly know how to put it. 

"Well cool it you two. Because I don't know." Spike popped his headout of Twilight's backpack and answered for her. "I was sleeping, so I couldn't get a good look at their face." Dash and Applejack's expressions turned from fierce to disappointed.

"Aww....." Dash slouched back down in her seat. 

"Dadgummit"  Applejack swore under her breath. 

"Sigh Thanks Spike. Although....." Twilight thought about Sunset's hunch about Shadow. "Sunset do you think it may be Shadow.....or any one of them?" She asked Sunset.

Sunset turned to look at the three otherworlders sitting a table away from them. Silver and Sonic were still bickering with each other. Shadow had the most tired and miserable expression on his face. He let out a groan as he let his head hang backwards.
Sunset raised an eyebrow for a second, not sure what to think of them, though she was definitely more skeptical of Shadow. 

"Well, despite my reservations on Shadow, our three newcomers don't seem to be causing any trouble." Sunset relayed her thoughts. However Dash wasn't so sure about that. 

"Wait, what about that time blue boy over there picked a fight with Scour-......" Dash glanced over at Fluttershy, who looked at Dash with worrying eyes. ".....uhhh....Grass head." Dash substituted his name with something else. 
Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment.

"You don't have to not say his name for my sake" Fluttershy said under her breath. 

"Oh come on Dash, you meet all sorts of people here. I'm sure there are plenty of thickheaded and wily people like him." Sunset disputed Dash's point. 

"Heh Heh Like yourself" Applejack snarked under her breath. 

"I heard that!" Dash snapped at Applejack, who apparently didn't speak softly enough. 

"What about you Rarity? Anything for you and Pinkie?" Twilight turned to Rarity. 

"Well, our Silver haired boy over there hasn't done anything suspicious. I think he's just a little shy." Rarity explained to the group. 

"Okay anybody else have anything?" Twilight asked. 

"Ooh ooh! Me and blue boy over there are gonna have a rematch! Anybody wanna come?" Dash suddenly blurted out. 

"Uh....no offense Dash, but that doesn't seem like news to me." Sunset replied to Dash, unimpressed with her statement. 

"It is!" Dash retorted. "I mean, he was pretty torn up about it. So maybe he wasn't at his best." Dash continued to explain. 
The others looked at each other for a minute, deciding whether or not they should go to Dash's event or not.

"Ehhh. Sorry but Macintosh called me earlier today and said I needed to get back as soon as possible." Applejack replied. Rainbow Dash was not happy with this. 

"What? Aw come on!" Dash complained. 

"Um, I'm afraid I'll pass as well Rainbow Dash." Rarity added regretfully. Dash looked over at Rarity in disbelief. 

"Yeah Rarity wanted me to try on some new clothes she designed." Twilight further explained to Dash. 

"Like anyone would watch you win for the millionth time." Spike spited Dash under his breath. Twilight frowned slightly at Spike’s comment, cuing her to nudge him slightly.

“Bah! Come or not I don’t really care.” Dash scoffed, resting her head on her hand. She glanced over at the three otherworlders, particularly at Sonic.

“Well, now that Dash said her piece. Does anyone have anything else to report?” Twilight asked everyone. She kept her ears open to whoever had to speak. She looked around the table and she was met with either silence or a head shake. She last look over at Sunset to see if she had anything else to say. Sunset looked back over at Shadow, scratching her chin as she thought of what she should do regarding them.

“Sigh I guess I’ll tag along with Dash to her little match with blue hair over there.” Sunset admitted, getting Dash’s attention.

“Heh, so now you show interest.” Dash snarked in response.

“Well I’m not exactly going to watch your match, I just wanna keep an eye on those three.” Sunset replied, gesturing over to them. 

“Um.........” Fluttershy raised her hand, cuing everyone to look at her. “..........I-I’ll come along...Sunset.”  Fluttershy said quietly. Sunset was rather surprised at Fluttershy’s statement. 

“Uh......why?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow. Fluttershy opened her mouth but didn’t say anything, for she was too shy to tell her why. She glanced over at Sonic, blushing slightly.

“Well I guess it couldn’t hurt to have another pair of eyes.” Sunset admitted. Twilight took another look around the table to see if anyone still had something to report. She was met with silence.

“Well then, if no one has anything else, I guess we can call this meeting adjourned.” Twilight announced to everyone.

“Right!” Everyone replied. The group proceeded to go back to eating their lunch. Rainbow Dash took a bite out of her sandwich as she looked back at Sonic. Her eyes gleamed with competitive spirit as her resolve to beat Sonic made her heart beat increase. Across the table, while the others were eating their lunch and engaging in small talk, Fluttershy before she was about to sip her juice, she looked over back at Sonic. She didn’t forget what he did for her two days ago, blushing as she thought about him.

1:30 pm


Shadow, Sonic, and Silver were the first to leave the cafeteria. After the two explained their second failed attempt to grab the chaos emerald, Shadow knew that they had to put as much distance as possible between those girls. 

"Listen. Under any circumstances do not talk to them. Got it!?" Shadow told the two, trying to contain his anger with them. 

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Sonic halfheartedly replied. 
Shadow watched as the two walked to their classes, letting out an annoyed grunt.

“Ugh....how much you wanna bet they’re gonna cause more trouble.” He mumbled as he dragged a hand down his face. 

“Ooh I know!” A cheery and hyper voice said. 

“What the-?” Shadow looked to his left, but he saw nothing. He looked to his right, nothing. Little did he know, Pinkie Pie, was keeping out of his vision by rotating around him. 

“Down here!” Pinkie poked her head between his legs. 

“What?” Shadow looked down. But again nothing. His eye twitched, his ire slowly growing and growing. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Grr!” Shadow spun around frustratedly with a snarl on his face. He saw a girl with poofy pink hair with a innocent and beaming smile. After a few seconds his snarl faded. 

“What the hell do you want?” Shadow asked, still annoyed but not snarling. Suddenly Pinkie held out a coin in front of his face. Shadow didn’t know what to say.

“Heads or tails?” She said quickly. 

“Uh..........heads?” Shadow said a random side, not that he cared about the result. With that Pinkie put it on her thumb, then she flipped it high. Shadow followed the coin with his eyes as it spun in the air. The coin then impacted the ground and spun on its rim. Shadow and Pinkie waited for what side for it would land on. It spun for a good ten seconds, then it slowly started to slow and slow until.......it stood on its rim not falling on either side.

“What are the frickin odds?” Shadow thought, baffled at the fact that the coin landed on its rim of all things. Suddenly Pinkie got on the ground and looked at the stood up coin, with her eye cartoonishly stretching out at it, leaving Shadow bewildered and confused.

“Hmm.........hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!” Pinkie thought hard about what the result should be. Then she stood up, and leaned in closer to Shadow.

“I’d say 50/50!” She finally said. Shadow’s confusion did not stop.

“I....don’t think that’s how it works” Shadow questioned her logic. Pinkie giggled at his response and then zipped right next to him.

“Oh why not? One fifty for each bro!” Pinkie explained her version of ‘logic’ to him, which still made no sense to Shadow.

“That’s still not how it works.” Shadow retorted again. 

“Oh I wouldn’t waste time arguing with Pinkie about that” another female voice said.  They both looked down the hallway to see Sunset Shimmer leaning against the lockers with her arms crossed, appearing to have been observing their banter.

“Oh it’s you.” Shadow said. Suddenly A frown appeared on Pinkie’s face and she jumped over to Sunset.

“Hey! Her names not ‘you’! It’s Sunset Shimmer!!” Pinkie pouted. Sunset let out a little chuckle at Pinkie sticking up for her. 

“Heh heh, thanks Pinkie. But I can handle myself. Even around guys like him.” Sunset snarked as she flipped her hair and approached Shadow.
Shadow sensed that Sunset wasn’t as friendly the last time. Regardless, he didn’t want to do anything to make her suspicious of him, though he wondered what made her less friendly right now.
Although Sunset took Twilights advice to heart that it wasn’t Shadow that attacked her in the library, part of her just couldn’t be sure. Nevertheless she brushed off her jacket and tried to appear pleasant.

“She your friend?” Shadow asked, glancing temporarily over at Pinkie Pie. 

“Yeah, she’s a handful.” Sunset agreed with him, looking back at Pinkie who was sitting on the floor drawing a crude picture of sorts, who didn’t seem to notice them looking at her.

“Hmph, I agree.” Shadow replied. “You need something?”
She approached Shadow, still maintaining an air of confidence to show that she wasn’t scared of him despite his dark demeanor.

“Oh just checking up on the new transfer students.” Sunset replied nonchalantly, as she played with a strand of her hair “You still getting lost?” She joked as she leaned in closer with a smug look on her face, alluding to their first meeting.
It didn’t cue any response from Shadow, though he was slightly annoyed. 

“Thanks, but I know my way around here” Shadow replied, and he turned to walk away. 

“Hmph!” Sunset pouted as she placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot in annoyance of Shadow’s stubbornness. “Still stubborn as usual.” Pinkie popped out from behind Sunset,  Both of them observing Shadow as he walked down the hallway. Not content with letting him go so easily, she started walking after Shadow.......with Pinkie still popped out from behind her, for Pinkie was hanging on to her back with her legs, giving the illusion that she was popping out from Sunset.
Sunset however was only willing to put up with her antics for so long. Sunset then ran an exasperated hand down her face. 

“Pinkie...........get off please” Sunset told Pinkie. 

“Hmm? You say something?” Pinkie apparently didn’t hear what she said. Sunset groaned in annoyance and then proceeded to partially take off her jacket and shook it vigorously.

“Huh- wha! Whoa!” Pinkie yelped as she fell backwards, bouncing cartoonishly on her head a few times before rolling to a stop. Pinkies eyes spun as she was dizzy from her pratfall. Then she shook her head and looked up and saw Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy looking down at her. 

“Hee hee, having fun?” Twilight joked as she leaned down to talk to Pinkie.

“Hmph. It was fun...” Pinkie turned pouty as she got up. “....until Sunny became like that shadowy character. “ The three were confused at Pinkies statement.

“Shadowy character?” Rarity questioned.

“Oh I think she’s referring to Shadow” Twilight answered her. 

“Wait.....his name was Shadow?........weird.......” Pinkie scratched her head. This cued laughs from everyone.


Meanwhile Shadow was walking to his last class of the day. He planned to observe Sonic’s race later today. Not he wanted Sonic to do it anyways. Under normal circumstances he would stop Sonic from doing it in the first place. But knowing him he wouldn’t listen to him anyways. He rounded the corner, but then he stopped when someone bumped into him.
“Ah tch!!” A callous voice said. 

“Sorry. I didn’t see you” Shadow quickly apologized. He was only met with a menacing growl. He looked at the person to see it was a green haired boy wearing a black jacket. He noticed that his hair looked uncannily looked like Sonic’s hair. The person glared at him for a few seconds, trying to intimidate Shadow. But Shadow wasn’t phased, though he remained on guard.

“You......you’re that blue rats brother.” Scourge seethed at him. Shadow tensed up slightly. He then he connected the dots in his head, and realized who it was.
“You stay out of my way, because he’s mine.” Scourge leaned in closer as he leered at him. Shadow kept his perpetual frown. “Unless.....you want to be next?” Scourge threatened him. Despite the fact that everyone could see and hear their conversation, the other students didn’t say anything or want to get involved.
Shadow clenched his fist as his rage grew as his big brother instinct kicked into action. He so wanted to teach him a lesson right here and now. But his realistic side stopped him, for he knew that if he caused a scene, it would put not just him, but also Sonic and Silver in a heap of trouble. Not to mention he didn’t feel as confident in his fighting abilities without his powers. Not wanting to start anything, he pushed his way past Scourge, not even making eye contact.

“Hah! That’s right! Run away you loser!” Scourge mocked him as Shadow walked down the hallway. Shadow ignored him as he pushed past the other students. “Can’t believe the little brother has more balls than the big brother!” Scourge threw in one last insult before he lost sight of Shadow.
That last insult hit more close to home than Shadow expected, his eye twitching slightly with rage. But regardless he kept it in. 

2:30 pm

Over in the art class room, Silver was doing his best to try and follow along, with various results. 

"Now if I just...." Silver attempted to draw the curvature of the bowl that was on the desk. Unfortunately, his hand wobbled as he pressed against the paper, ruining his straight curve. 
"Oh come on!" Silver voiced his frustration, proceeding to turn to a new page and starting over. 
Rarity was finishing adding the final details on her fruit bowl when she notices Silver hasn't even successfully drawn anything, in fact, he had restarted over ten times judging from the number of pages he's folded over on his drawing pad. 
Then she overheard Pinkie giggling on her opposite side. She looked over to see Pinkie not even trying to draw the bowl, and just doodling with her crayons all while humming childishly. 
Rarity let out a defeated sigh at Pinkie's childish antics. She then turned to Silver to help him. 

Silver again was struggling to try and draw a straight line, but once again his line veered off into a messy scribble. He slumped back in his chair, letting out a frustrated sigh. He didn't dare look at the other students work and feel even more bad about his lack of artistic skill. 

"This assignment is graded you know darling." Rarity grabbed Silver's pencil from his hand. Silver looked over at Rarity who had his pencil in her hand. He blushed slightly as he didn't know what to reply to her with. She moved her stool closer to Silver so she could draw on his pad. 
"May I?" She gestured towards his drawing pad, asking if she can draw on it. Silver took a while to process what she was saying before finally snapping back to reality. 

"Huh? Oh! uh yeah sure!" Silver finally managed to blurt out. Rarity giggled at his embarrassment, then proceeded to lightly sketch on his pad. As he looked at Rarity's hand seemingly glide over the paper, he felt both amazement and utter defeat at her skill as he felt that it would take forever to get to her skill level. 

"Geez...you make it look easy." Silver commented as Rarity already finished off the bowl and two of the fruit. Rarity giggled again at his comment. 

"Oh please, it takes a lot of practice. You don't learn it overnight darling." Rarity replied as she finished off the banana. "Just relax, and use smooth strokes." She then handed the pencil to Silver.
"Now you try." 

Silver took the pencil from Rarity and internalized what he saw Rarity do, as well as what she said. His eyes darted between his drawing pad, and the grapes in the bowl. He started sweating as he was nervous if he could do it. Rarity noticed that he was nervous.

"Sigh Look relax. You'll never finish unless you try." Rarity said to him, getting kind of irritated with his hesitation. 
Then Rarity noticed the teacher get up from her chair. 

"Alright class five more minutes and the assignment is over." The teacher announced to the class. Silver gasped in panic.

"Speak of the devil." Rarity commented. Not content with leaving nothing on the paper, Silver decided to just go for it. 

"Eh! Eh! EH! Come on!" Silver furiously waved his pencil over the paper, with Rarity giving him an awkward look. He furiously drew for about four minutes straight until he was out of breath. He caught his breath for a few seconds, and then looked up to see the results of his furious scribbling. 
To his shock and confusion, the drew the grapes...as cubes! 
Rarity was just as bewildered as Silver. 

"Uhh....not bad I guess?" Rarity commented, she had to give him points for creativity at least. However she looked at the time and saw that there was only a minute left. 
"You better put the finishing touches quick, she wants this fully rendered!" Rarity tore off the page with her drawing from her pad. Silver looked around to see the other students turning in their drawings, and they all looked fully rendered!

"Oh shoot! Uhh..." Silver once again started furiously waving his pencil all over his drawing pad. But then Silver paused for a second, when he realized that he was getting way too into this. 
"What am I doing? I have a mission to do here. I can't get too into this" Silver thought. Despite what he was thinking, it didn't stop him from shading in his drawing. In fact it helped him calm down, causing him to draw much more cleaner.

"Alright! Pencil's down please!" The teacher announced to the class. "Leave your assignments on the desk.

"Aw what!" Silver exclaimed as he was interrupted.

“If you didn't finish, you can finish it tomorrow after I give feedback." The teacher further elaborated. Silver breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to tear off his page and brought it up to the teacher's desk. He walked up to the teacher's desk and placed it on her desk.
Pinkie skipped over next to him and put her page on the desk. Silver looked over and double-taked at what Pinkie drew. It was an extremely crude drawing in crayon of Rarity, and him holding hands, with a heart in between them, with the fruit bowl they were supposed to be drawing above. Silver's face flushed red with embarrassment. He looked over at Pinkie, who had a childish yet innocent expression. 

"HeeHee! You two should kiss!" Pinkie playfully teased him. Silver froze up with his jaw hanging. He legitimately didn't know what to say to that. Then Pinkie stuck her tongue out at him and skipped away. 
Rarity, who was packing her stuff, noticed Pinkie skip back to her desk, and noticed Silver frozen up by the teacher's desk. 

“Sigh What is it this time?" Rarity said as she put her purse down and went over to Silver.
"Something wrong?" She asked him. Then she saw what Pinkie drew. Like Silver she fell silent and her faced blushed red. The teacher, who was busy erasing the board happened the notice the two at the front of the desk. 

"Um.....is there a problem you two?" The teacher asked them. Rarity was the first to break the silence. 

"Huh? Oh! Uh nothing! Nothing." Rarity explained frantically, her face still flushed red with embarrassment. Silver was the next to speak.

"Yeah! Yeah! Uh......I'll just be going!" Silver played along with Rarity, and he proceeded to speed walk to the door and disappeared into the hallway. Rarity and the teacher looked at the door as it closed. The teacher was curious about their relation to each other.

"Um.....do you two......have.." The teacher was about to ask about their relationship, but Rarity cut her off. 

"No we don't! No we don't!" Rarity quickly insisted, even though she didn't know what the teacher was asking. Rarity however didn't know what to say after that. She went pigeon toed and brought her knees together in embarrasment because of the awkward situation she was in. 
"I'll.....just be going now." Rarity backed away towards her purse, quickly grabbed it and left through the door. The teacher had the same awkward stare on her face. 

"Sigh Kids these days" The teacher slouched back in her chair.

3:00 pm

The bell finally sounded and students flooded the halls once again. Sonic burst out from his class and immediately started heading towards the field for his rematch with Dash. 

"Alright Dash, here I come. You're not winning this time." Sonic spoke to himself as he made his way through the crowds of students. The crowds were not as crowded in the direction he was going since most students were going home right now. 
As he walked however, his mind started to drift. He began thinking about if they would ever get home, and why they were even here in the first place. His brisk pace slowed to a stroll as he was deep in thought.

Nearby Twilight was on her way home alongside Sunset,Rarity and Fluttershy. Twilight was a little on edge after Spike told them that someone tried to take the element of harmony inside her backpack. Rarity happened to notice Twilight with a worried face. 

"Twilight dear. Worrying about this 24/7 is unhealthy for your complexion." Rarity advised Twilight stopping to talk to her. Twilight stopped to listen to what she had to say. 

"Yeah, we shouldn't let this muddle our plans." Sunset added. Fluttershy shyly nodded in agreement.

"Oh, don't worry about me girls. I'll be fine." Twilight replied cheerfully, although she wasn't exactly cheerful inside.  She was still thinking about what all of this is, even though she told herself that she shouldn’t worry so much, for both her and her friend’s sake. 

"Well, whatever you say. Just let us know if something's wrong." Sunset replied then continued walking, with Rarity and Fluttershy following. Twilight sighed, knowing that she wasn't completely fine. Since she was the leader she couldn't afford to burden the others with her troubles. She tugged at her skirt a little as she thought about what to do about her uneasiness. 

"You're not okay, are you?" Spike poked his head out from her backpack. Twilight looked back at Spike, and sighed as she admitted that he was right. 

"Yeah.......I think I'm starting to get homesick again." Twilight speculated. She leaned against the lockers as the stress of this whole situation was taking it's toll on her. 

"You going to be alright?" Spike asked. Twilight looked and smiled to try and not worry him.

"Oh I'll be fine. I just need some sleep and I'll be fine tomorrow. Besides, it's the weekend, so we get to sleep in" Twilight explained, remaining optimistic about the situation. 

"Oo Oo!! Can we go get some chicken wings?" Spike began drooling at the mouth. "With Blue cheese dressing?" Twilight giggled at his excitement. 

"Sure. Just don't stuff yourself alright?" Twilight replied. With that she went ahead to join up with the others. She made her way down the halls coming up on the front entrance. However she gasped slightly when she saw the Blue haired boy from her dream come into the light that shone through the glass dome above. 

Sonic looked up to see the Lavender haired girl from his dream come into the light. Their eyes remained locked on each other as they approached. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as they maintained eye contact. 
They both were overcome by am irrational yet surreal sense that.....they knew each other. They both knew that they have never seen each other, yet this feeling still purveyed through them nonetheless.  
As they passed each other, they both simultaneously turned to look each other in the eye. They looked into each other eyes, both confusion and curiosity going through their minds. They stared at each other for a solid minute before one of them broke the silence. 

"Uh.......do......we...know each other?" Sonic finally spoke. Twilight's eyes darted from side to side as she tried to search for an answer in her head. She didn't know if she should say yes or no. 

"Ummmm.........I.....don't know...." Twilight replied, chuckling nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. Sonic joined in on the nervous chuckling as this was a very awkward situation. Twilight looked at him closer and realized that he was one of the new students. 

"Hey, you are one of the new students here right?" Twilight asked him. 

"Huh? Oh yeah. I don't think we've met." Sonic replied. Twilight stepped forward and introduced herself. 

"My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." Twilight smiled as she offered her hand to him. Sonic was surprised and heartfelt by her sincerity. 

"Sonic. Sonic th-'cough' Genesis." Sonic shook her hand. They fell silent once again after they released hands, unsure of what to talk about. They both waited for each other to break the silence between them.

"Twilight, I don't like this guy! He doesn't smell right." Spike poked his head out from her backpack. 

"Tch! Spike!" Twilight pushed Spike back down. Sonic raised an eyebrow as he spotted Spike poke out of Twilight's backpack. Twilight looked back at Sonic, worried that he may blow her cover. She chuckled nervously as she tried to think of an explanation. 
"Sorry. Spike he's well....uh...." Twilight unfortunately was drawing a blank.

"Hey...Don't worry about it." Sonic replied. Twilight relaxed a little. "Where I'm from, you see all kinds of things." While he was definitely surprised at Spike's ability to talk, it didn't really bother him that much. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, though she was now curious as to where Sonic was from exactly. 

"Where are you from anyway?" Spike poked his head out again. Twilight didn't object to him speaking this time as she was curious about that as well. 
Sonic hesitated for a moment as he needed to be careful about what he said. 
He put his hands in his pockets and stepped back a little. 

"Let's just say, I'm from out of town. " Sonic said. Twilight raised her eyebrow slightly as she wasn't exactly satisfied with his answer. 

"Um....where exactly?" Twilight questioned him further as she tilted her head quizzically. Sonic tensed up slightly as he was close to blowing his cover with her. 

"It's a place called Emerald Town. It's near the coast, but it's not even on the map." Sonic quickly remembered Shadow's explanation as he pointed his thumb in a random direction thinking that he was pointing at the coast of the place. Twilight noticed the direction that he was pointing, which wasn't towards the coast. 

"Uh....that's not where the coast is." Twilight pointed out to him. "It's that way." She pointed in the opposite direction that he was pointing. 
Sonic tensed up again. 

"Uhhh....." He was drawing a blank this time. His eyes darted back and forth nervously as he tried to come up with a response, all while he could sense Twilight becoming more and more suspicious of him. 
"Well crap. I should've paid attention in geography class." Sonic joked as he scratched the back of his head. 
Twilight, while confused at first, she giggled at his sincere albeit lackadaisical statement. Sonic chuckled back, as he tried to lighten the mood. 
Twilight stepped back from him giving him more space.

"It's okay. When I first got here, I didn't know where things were either." Twilight joked back. The two fell silent once again, unsure of what to say. Sonic then noticed the clock to his right and read the time. 

"Oh shoot! I'm supposed to be at the field now. See ya!" Sonic then dashed off in the direction opposite of Twilight. 
Twilight was rather surprised at his sudden departure. However as she watched him run off, she heard the sound of a metallic object drop in front of her. She looked down and saw gold ring on the floor. 

"Is that....a gold ring?" Twilight assumed it must belong to Sonic. She was surprised that he had it in the first place, for she didn't notice them on his wrists. She bent down to pick it up, but then she paused when her magic sense went off suddenly. 
"What the-" Twilight paused before her fingers touched the ring as she wondered what was making her magic sense go off. 

"What's wrong?" Spike poked his head out of the bag. Twilight didn't answer him, which only made him more concerned.
"I must be imagining things." Twilight then moved her hand to pick up the ring. 

"Ah! Tch!" Twilight's jerked her hand back as she felt her hand get zapped like a static shock. 

"You alright!?" Spike jumped out of the bag in front of Twilight. Twilight rubbed her fingers which stung from being shocked. 

"Yeah.......... Weird." Twilight looked back at the ring on the ground. She assumed that it was just a common static shock one would get from a door handle, but her magic sense was still tingling. But then she realized that it felt similar to the shock that she felt when she touched the emerald. She froze up, as more questions formed in her mind, particularly about Sonic. She looked back up to see Sonic just as he ran around the corner. 
"Just.....who......"

She knelt down and got a tissue out of her backpack and used it to pick it up to prevent her hand from contacting it. She stood back up as she examined the ring more closely. Spike pawed at her leg, curious about what she was thinking. 
With her other hand, she lightly touched the ring with her index finger. Yellow energy immediately arced from the ring to her finger, giving her a small shock, confirming her hunch. 
But while her suspicion was at an all time high, she still felt she should return it. 

"Come on Spike." Twilight put the ring in her pocket along with the napkin, then she picked up Spike and put him in her backpack. 

"We going home?" spike asked. Twilight shook her head. 

"I'm going to return this ring to him." Twilight replied. She then proceeded to walk to the field. 

"But what about Sunset and Rarity?" Spike asked as Twilight was completely sidetracked. "Shouldn't we tell them?" Twilight paused for a second to think. 

"Well, I’ll go tell them that I’ll be attending Dash’s race after all.” Twilight told him, as she put the ring in her pocket and ran off to find them.


Meanwhile, Silver was sitting beside the library door waiting for Shadow. He couldn't stop thinking about Pinkie's little drawing of him and Rarity holding hands. 
"She's not insinuating that........I like her? Right" Silver was irritated at the thought. He shook his head as he tried pushing the thought out of his head. 
"Where's Sonic. I haven't seen him since lunch." Silver stood up and looked down the hallway for signs of him, but didn't see anything. 

"You're here." A deep voice said behind him. 

"Oh Geez!!!" Silver jumped in shock. He turned his head to see who it was. He breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was Shadow. 

"Tch! Don't do that. Your voice isn't exactly pleasant to listen to." Silver complained as he caught his breath. 

"Hmph. I'll take that as a compliment." Shadow joked back.

"By the way. Have you seen Sonic anywhere?" Silver asked him since Sonic was on his mind at the time. 

"My guess is he's at the field." Shadow replied, looking back in the direction of the field.

"Huh? Why?" Silver replied again, the answer escaping his mind. 

"He's challenged that Rainbow Haired girl to a race." Shadow told him, slightly annoyed at Sonic's impulsiveness. Silver took a few seconds to think.

"Oh shoot! I forgot!" Silver slapped his face. "We should go. I don't wanna miss this." Silver told Shadow. 

"Might as well. Don't want Sonic to blow our cover." Shadow replied. Silver nodded in agreement and the two proceeded to walk to the field. 

"Ya think Sonic can win?" Silver asked Shadow. No answer came from Shadow as he didn't really care if Sonic won or lost. He was just worried about Sonic doing something stupid.
Silver raised an eyebrow at Shadow giving him the silent treatment. 

"You're not still mad at him are you?" Silver asked Shadow again.

"I'm always mad at him." Shadow bluntly stated. Silver was rather put off by his response. He tapped his chin as he tried to think of what to say next. 

"You're not mad at me as well are you?" Silver asked sadly, as he didn't want to disappoint Shadow. 

"You......not as much." Shadow replied. While it certainly wasn't as harsh as he expected, Silver was still bothered by Shadow still being somewhat mad at him. 

"Why?" Silver had to know why Shadow was mad at them. Shadow sighed frustratedly as he wasn't in the mood to discuss his personal feelings. 

"You shouldn't be getting too close to these people." Shadow stopped and turned to talk to Silver. 

"But....Were just blending in." Silver tried to explain, but Shadow didn't seem convinced. 

"By that I meant only interact with them when you need to. Not get close and personal with them." Shadow reprimanded him. "It's not their fight." Shadow then turned around and continued walking. However Silver clenched his fist in anger at Shadow's statement. 

"This is their world right?! So shouldn't we at least tell someone!?" Silver raised his voice. Shadow stopped walking. Fortunately most of the students have gone home so they didn't have to worry about anyone getting suspicious of them. Shadow thought about what Silver said. 

"I'll admit, he has a point. As it turns out, the inhabitants of this world are capable of manipulating some form of energy. But...... " While Shadow found the prospect of asking for help tempting, his current relationship with Sunset prevented him from fully trusting people here. 

"Sigh They wouldn't understand. Just don't attract unwanted attention." Shadow continued walking. 

"But......Sigh" Silver gave up trying to reason with Shadow as he rounded the corner. With that he picked up the pace to catch up with Shadow.

CHS Field

3:30 pm

Sonic was leaning against the side of the bleachers with his arms crossed, waiting for Rainbow Dash to arrive for their rematch. He tapped his foot and tapped his fingers impatiently for he couldn't wait to show up Dash. 
But part of him was worried. He knew that he didn't have his powers, and he knew that Dash was incredibly athletic just from observing her. Then again, he did notice that he himself was slightly more athletic and strong then most people here. However he shook his head vigorously as he didn't want anything to discourage him from winning. 

"Okay. Guess I should warm up." Sonic began to do his usual routine of stretches. I won't let her win this time.. He admitted that despite having a human body at the moment it still felt relatively the same, save for a few places feeling out of place. He stretched for two minutes before finally stretching his arms up high. 
"Whew! Okay." Sonic exhaled as he finished warming up. "Now where is that skittle haired brat?" He looked around for signs of Dash. 

"Well well, looks I found myself a Blue Hedgehog." 

"Wuh?!" Sonic double-taked and looked up behind him to see Rainbow Dash sitting on the side of the bleacher looking down at him from the highest seat with her legs dangling. 

"Uh....Heh, took you long enough." Sonic tried to appear confident in front of Dash despite his flustered reaction. 

"Oh can it Blue boy. I've been here long before you even got out of class." Dash crossed her arms as she snarked back at him. She then proceed to drop down from the 25 foot high bleachers and landed on her feet in front of him as her Rainbow hair trailed behind her.
Sonic smirked as he was glad that his chance at payback has arrived. 
"So....you ready to get this on?!" Dash got right up in Sonic's face as she asserted her will to dominate him in this race. 

"Ha! This won't be anything like last time!" Sonic asserted his will to leave her in the dust. Spark flashed between their eyes as their wills collided. With their spirits ready to compete, they both started to head to the track. 

"Hey Dash! Sonic!" Another female voice caused stopped them in their tracks. They looked behind them, to see Twilight, Sunset, and Fluttershy who had just exited the school. 

"Oh....Hey guys!" Dash greeted them cheerfully, jogging over to them. She looked around to see Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie were absent.
“I guess the others went home already huh?” Dash said disappointingly.

“Yeah, Applejack went to help Macintosh, and Rarity wanted to get back home to try on some new dresses she made” Twilight explained. 

“Oh.....” Dash replied. Twilight looked behind Dash to see Sonic watching them talk.

"Heh Looks like we have an audience." Sonic commented as he walked over to them. Twilight noticing Sonic walking over and figured it was a good time to give the ring back to Sonic. She was about to reach into her pocket to grab the ring that was wrapped in a tissue, but before she could take it out she heard Sunset step forward to talk. 

"So, you're Shadow's brother right?" Sunset approached Sonic, with her hands on her hips, not wanting to seem hostile, but still on her guard. Fluttershy hid behind Sunset as spoke too shy to speak to him. 

"Huh? Oh uh...yeah I am." Sonic double taked in surprise to Sunset speaking to him. "Why? You've met him?" Sonic was suspicious of why she would ask him that. 

"More or less." Sunset replied, trying to diffuse any suspicion he had. But she saw that he still had his eyebrow raised. "Let's just say......he's a handful." Sunset recounted her last meeting with Shadow. Sonic smirked at her statement. 

"Heh.....tell me about....it" He trailed off when he realized that he'd seen Sunset before, but he didn't know where. He began thinking about where exactly he saw her. Sunset, Twilight, and Rainbow dash waited for him to say something. 

"Uhh....something wrong?" Sunset didn't know what he was thinking about. After a few seconds, it finally hit Sonic. 

"Oh yeah! You're that bacon-haired girl I saw in the principal's office." Sonic blurted out. 

"Wha-!?" Sunset double taked with her jaw hanging open, absolutely flabbergasted at what he said. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight also were surprised at what he said. Though they realized that they should be more concerned about Sunset’s incoming fury. Sonic eye's darted from side to side, unsure of what warranted such a response. 
A scowl slowly formed across Sunset's face.

"Wha......what did you call me!?" Sunset said angrily as she leaned towards him aggressively causing him to lean back. Fluttershy got scared and went to hide behind Twilight. Then Dash spat out air as she tried to contain her laughter. Sunset’s eye's darted to Dash who instantly covered her mouth to hide her expression as well as contain her laughter. 
"You....you didn't just laugh at that did you?!" Sunset's anger continued to rise as she stomped her foot. Dash spat out air again as she snickered under her breath. This did not help Sunset's mood at all.
"Grrrrrr!..........STOP LAUGHING!!!!" She snapped at her. Behind her, Twilight held back a chuckle, for she too couldn't resist finding it a little funny. But it wasn't enough for Sunset heard her anyway. 

"Oop!" Twilight covered her mouth in embarrassment as Sunset looked at her in complete disbelief.

"Not you too Twilight!" Sunset complained. 

Rainbow Dash managed to regain her composure and walked over to Sonic.  
"Nice one" Dash playfully punched his arm lightly. "Though I wouldn't advise saying it again." She whispered in his ear .(human ear). 

“Gotcha” Sonic smirked as he nodded with her. 

While arguing with Twilight, Spike who overheard Sonic's comment burst out of Twilight's backpack laughing. 
"Tch! Spike!" Twilight reprimanded him, which didn't help Sunset's mood. But before her temper exploded, she just let out a frustrated sigh and straightened her hair as she regained her composure.
Fluttershy peeked out from behind Twilight as things calmed down.

“Sorry, I let my uh........temper get to my head.”  Sunset apologized to the group, fiddling with a lock of her hair.

“ I-I didn’t know you s-so sensitive about your hair Sunset.” Fluttershy said to her, coming out from behind Twilight. Sunset was rather confused by her statement.

“No I’m not....!” Sunset blurted out, only to regret doing so for now she was wondering how her hair looked. “Well uh.....yes i am. It’s just.....” she looked back at Sonic, still ticked off that he had the nerve to call her hair something so humiliating. 

“So are we gonna get this race on already?” Dash grew impatient. 

“Yeah let’s get it on before the author continues dragging this chapter out!” Sonic replied

Hey! I’m going as fast I can Sonic.

Sonic and Dash began to head to track to start the race. 

“Well I guess I’ll start the race for them.” Sunset volunteered to be the referee for the race.

“Alright. Oh wait! I wanted to talk to Sonic first.” Twilight said. She ran over to Sonic and Dash. 
“Hey Sonic, wait!” Twilight called to him. Sonic and Dash stopped and turned to hear what Twilight had to say. 

“What’s up Twilight?” Dash asked, wondering what Twilight would want with Sonic.

“Sorry, it’s just that you dro-“  She was about to reach into her pocket the grab the ring from her pocket, but she was interrupted when she heard the school doors slam open.

“Pant Pant I thought you said you knew the layout of this place!” Silver complained, apparently tired from walking around the school. Shadow pushed his way past Silver.

“Oh be quiet. I just made a wrong turn that’s all.” Shadow dismissed Silver’s complaint and walked ahead towards the group.

“Oh sure you did.” Silver sarcastically remarked.

Sonic and Dash looked over to see Shadow and Silver approaching.
“Oh look it’s my bros” Sonic looked behind Twilight to see them walking towards them. 

“Here to cheer you on I guess? I can support that.” Dash commented. Sunset, Twilight, and Fluttershy also noticed Sonic’s brothers approaching. Silver noticed Sunset and Twilight in the group, and shuddered a little, since he had a few close encounters with them.

“What’s up with you?” Shadow noticed that Silver was shaking a little, as well as had an uneasy face. Silver then leaned in closer to whisper to him.

“Those two are the girls who almost caught me trying to get the emerald.” Silver explained to Silver. Shadow let out an exasperated sigh. 

“ Just stand back and let me do the talking” Shadow told him. Silver decided to heed Shadow’s advice and hung back.

“Well, look who showed up.” Sunset approached Shadow as he approached them. Fluttershy went and hid behind Twilight, for she was slightly scared by Shadow’s perpetual frown. Sunset then noticed Silver next to Shadow. She then remembered where she saw Silver from.

“Oh it’s you.” Sunset said to Silver, causing him to freeze up in panic, for he thought that they knew that it was him who tried to snag Twilights backpack.
“You still looking for your contact lenses” Sunset joked with him. Silver was silent for a few seconds, still nervous from his cover almost being blown.

“Oh! Uh yeah! Heh heh. Those things are annoying right?”  Silver played along with Sunset. 

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t wear them.” Sunset replied. Silver was about to reply back again when he felt Shadow elbow him lightly.

“I said let me do the talking” Shadow whispered to him. Silver was about to object, but Shadow walked to Sunset before he could say anything.
“I’m just here to make sure Sonic doesn’t cause any trouble” Shadow explained. Sunset looked back at Sonic and Dash, and failed to see what the trouble was.

“Why? They’re just having a race?” Sunset asked.

“Well you don’t know him like I do.” Shadow replied dismissively, then headed to the bleachers to watch. Silver wanted to stay and talk to Sunset, but Shadow pulled him aside before he could say anything.
Sunset scratched her looked at the three other newcomers with a bewildered expression. Apart from her suspicions of Shadow, and her still lingering fury at Sonic, she just didn’t know what to think of them.
Twilight, who was observing their conversation, had similar thoughts. However she remembered what she came here for. She quickly turned around, and grabbed the ring I her pocket which was wrapped in the tissue she picked it up with and prepared to give it back to Sonic.

“Hey Sonic I-“ However she stopped when she saw that Fluttershy was in the middle of talking to him already.

“Uh......I.......th-thank you....for h-he....helping me last time.” Fluttershy shyly thanked Sonic. 

“Huh? Oh sure....it was nothing.” Sonic replied. He was about to turn and go to the track , but then he felt Fluttershy grab his arm. He looked back at her, wondering what she wanted now. He looked back over at the starting line, to see Dash stretching. He figured that he should go over there lest he get taunted by her a second time. 
"Well I better go see ya." He waved goodbye to her and headed off to the starting line. 

"Oh uh.....bye." Fluttershy meekly waved goodbye. 
Twilight who was observing their conversation, suddenly realized that she was supposed to give the ring back to Sonic.

"Uh.....wait Sonic!" She ran past Fluttershy, who was still blushing from her interaction with Sonic, towards the track where Sonic was heading to talk to him. But she was too late as Sonic was bickering with Dash some more. She sighed in disappointment. She looked back at the ring she held in her hand, wondering if she would ever get it back to him.
"Sigh I guess I'll give it back after he's finished his race." Twilight told herself. 

"What's wrong Twilight?" Fluttershy asked Twilight, walking up behind her. 

"Oh it's nothing." Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "Let's go to the bleachers and watch." With that, the two girls went to the bleachers to watch the race. 

Shadow kept his eyes on Sonic as he sat with Silver atop the bleachers. He was still not pleased with the situation, and would prefer to have kept their distance. But then again, he was dealing with Sonic, so it's not like he expected him to listen. 
Silver on the other hand was still nervous in the presence of these girls, considering that Twilight and Sunset were the one's that they attempted to steal the chaos emerald from. 
He looked over to see Twilight and Fluttershy approaching them. 

"Uh....Shadow...." Silver nudged Shadow's shoulder repeatedly. Shadow grunted under his breath in annoyance. 

"I see them. Just relax." Shadow told Silver to calm down, though it didn't really do much to stop Silver sweating profusely. He looked over to the left to see the two girls reach the top of the bleachers. Shadow didn't even look over at the two girls as they approached. Silver noticed Shadow not looking at them and figured that he should do the same.

"Hey Shadow, and uh.......sorry I didn't get your name ." Twilight greeted them but failed to recall Silver's name, with Fluttershy retreating behind her as usual. Despite trying to follow Shadow's example, Silver could not help but turn his head and greet them. 

"Uh.....heh heh....eh Hi.." He meekly greeted him. Twilight raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was acting like Fluttershy behind her. Shadow rolled his eyes in embarrassment at Silver's attempt at 'blending' in

"You okay?" Twilight asked him. 

"She still doesn't know that we tried to steal her backpack." Silver was somewhat relived that she didn't know about their failed (and lousy) attempt at burglary. But something in his gut prevented him from feeling completely safe. 

"Gasp!! Pant pant I can barley breath in the- Huh?" Spike burst out from Twilight's backpack, gasping for breath, but then he double-taked when he saw Silver. 
Silver froze up when he saw Spike pop out out of her backpack, then it occurred to him that he was the dog that was in Twilight's backpack!

"It's him! Why that little!!" Spike bared his teeth at Silver.
Twilight was unsure of what to make of Silver's behavior now. 

"Uh......is...it alright if we sit here?" Twilight asked. Silver didn't hear her question at first, as his eyes were still locked with Spike who was silently leering at him from Twilight's shoulder. 

"Huh!? What!? Uh.....yeah sure....no problem!" Silver smiled nervously as he managed to snap his mind out of his frozen state. Twilight gave him grateful smile and she sat down next to him with Fluttershy, while Spike was still glaring at him.  Silver blushed slightly as they sat down next to him. 
"Say um.....where's Rarity?" He asked, expecting that she would be with them. 

"She had some things to do at home." Twilight explained. Spike peeked out from Twilight's backpack again, and leered at Silver again. 
Silver tensed up again. He tried to not look at Spike, but his fierce expression seemed to pull his eyes to Spike's. 
Spike let out a low growl at Silver, making his hostility blatantly clear. Twilight heard Spike's growl and noticed that Silver and Spike had their eyes locked.

"Oh Spike! You want to come out for a while?" Twilight asked. She unzipped her packback and lifted Spike out and next to her, all while Spike was giving Silver the stink eye. 
Silver was now even more uncomfortable now that Spike was out, but he couldn't let it show, he needed to ease the tension. 

"Uh....nice dog." Silver smiled nervously as he tried to maintain his friendly appearance. 

"Oh thanks! His names Spike." Twilight said merrily, petting Spike on the head, which didn't do anything to change Spike's hostile expression. "Why don't you say hi Spike?" 
Spike double taked. Like hell he going to be all hunky dory with him! He continued giving Silver the stink eye. 
Silver slowly reached his hand out to attempt to pet him on the head, only he hesitated and just rubbed him on the nose lightly. 

"Uh......nice doggy.." Silver said nervously. But Spike's growl only grew louder and louder, until he suddenly snarled and bit his finger!

"OW!!!" Silver jerked his hand back, clutching it in his other hand as he rubbed the bite marks. 

"SPIKE!!" Twilight yelled as she yanked Spike away from Silver, with him still growling. 
"Eh...uh...I'm terribly sorry! He's usually so nice!" Twilight apologized quickly to Silver, then turned away to reprimand Spike.
"Spike what's gotten into you!?" Twilight whispered to him fiercely.

"He's the one who tried to steal the chaos emerald!" Spike whispered back just as fiercely. Twilight raised an eyebrow at Spike's statement, then glanced back at Silver, who was sucking on his bitten finger while trying to hold back tears, which didn't help convincing her. 

"Uhhh.......him? Really?" Twilight was reluctant to believe Spike's theory. 

"I'm serious! He's in cahoots with that blue haired dude!" He motioned over to Sonic down at the track. "And I bet that Shadow guy is in on it too!" Spike explained as he whispered, let out a few dog whines hoping that Twilight will believe him. 
Twilight looked back at Shadow and Silver. Now that she focused more, she realized that they both had a faint but noticeable magic signature. She remembered sensing a faint magic signature back in the library, but she knew that it could've been any other student's magic she sensed. She felt the same sensation with Sonic's.
All other people have a very faint magic signature, compared to her friends, who have very pronounced and defined magic signatures. 
Then again, looking at Shadow's magic signature, she still sensed that something was off about it. 

"I......think you've been sleeping too much Spike." Twilight told him, cuing a dejected jaw drop from Spike. "I wouldn't go accusing everyone of being the culprit." With that she went back to observing the match. Spike facepalmed at Twilight's reluctance to believe him. He peeked out from behind Twilight to glare at Silver. Silver who was still sucking on his finger, glanced over and saw Spike glaring at him. 
Spike proceed to give him the 'I'm watching you' gesture with his paw, which only proceeded to weird Silver out because he didn't even know what it meant. 
Fluttershy, who just decided to stay out of the whole ordeal, thought she might calm him down by rubbing him on the head. 
While it didn't stop him from glaring at Silver, it at least stopped him from growling, for in his dog form he couldn't resist a good headpat.

As Shadow looked down at Sonic, who was just about to started the race with Dash. As much as he angrily disapproved of Sonic's decision, he let out a groan as he realized that it's too late to stop him now.  
"Just don't do anything stupid faker" Shadow thought. 

Down at the track, Dash and Sonic were doing some last stretches before they begin. Sunset was waiting for them to finish, before she starts the race. 
"So.....you nervous blue boy?" Dash asked him snarkily. Sonic was almost insulted by her question. 

"Heh! As if! Do I look like I'm nervous?" Sonic snarked back at Dash. Dash finished stretching her left arm, but she was not convinced. 

"You know I'm wondering something." She replied. "If I beat you last time? What makes you think you can beat me now?" Sonic double taked for she made a good point. He didn't show it, but part of him was starting to ask that very question. 

Sunset was sitting on the bench near the edge of the track waiting for them to finish. She looked at the time and figure that it was time to start. 

"Okay. Are you two ready get started? I have a lot of makeup homework to finish back home." She said as she got up and walked to the middle of the track a few meters away from them. The two noticed her walk to the middle of the track. 

"Well, that's what you get for playing videogames all night." Dash jeered at her. Sunset let out an annoyed sigh, not even acknowledging her taunt. She shook her head as she wanted to get back on track. 

"Okay, so we going four times around right!?" Sunset yelled to the two, her hands on her hips. 

"You said it!" Dash acknowledged, hopping a few times to finish her warmup. 

Over on the bleachers, the others saw that the race was about to start. 
"Oh look, I think they're about to start!" Silver said excitedly. Shadow rolled his eyes and looked away in disapproval for Sonic. 

"Oooh..." Twilight shared Silver interest, along with Fluttershy watched quietly, secretly rooting for Sonic. 

Before he got into position, Sonic looked up at Twilight and Fluttershy seeing that they were watching. Twilight noticed him looking up at them. She smiled while giving him a thumbs up. Next to her Fluttershy shyly waved back at her. Sonic smirked back at them while also giving them a thumbs up.  Twilight giggled a little at his response, while Fluttershy held her cheeks as they turned red. 
Sonic looked to his left to see Silver, who was also waving at him. However Sonic's smile faded when he saw Shadow, who only had a look of disapproval. Sonic scowled as he was frustrated at Shadow's current disposition.  

"Looks like your older bro couldn't care less about this huh?" Dash commented, noticing that Sonic was looking up at Shadow. 
While Sonic was determined to beat her, he was somewhat comforted that she understood him somewhat. 

"Yeah, you get used it." Sonic turned back to face down the track. 

"Okay! You ready!?" Sunset said to the two. 

"RIGHT!!" They both said in unison. 

"Okay. Then on your mark!" Sunset pointed at them as she began the countdown, cuing both of them to assume the running man position. Sonic inhaled a big breath of air into his human lungs, remembering how he ran out of breath the last time he ran. 

"I may not have my powers yet, but at least I know how much stamina I have unlike last time. So I swear! I'm not losing this!!." Sonic strengthened his resolve. 

"Get set!" Sunset raised her hand.  Dash glanced over at Sonic and smirked, ready to show Sonic whose the fastest in Canterlot High. 

"Your out of your league blue boy. I'm show you just how far behind you really are!" Dash too strengthened her resolve to win. The others on the bleachers (except Shadow) watched with anticipation for the race to start. Silver was shaking his leg while Twilight and Fluttershy were on the edge of their seat. 

There was a brief moment of silence, as the tension rose and rose until........

"GO!!!!!!" Sunset swung her hand down cuing the two to bolt from their starting line at breakneck speed. 

"Whoa!!" Sunset exclaimed as the two rushed past her, causing her hair to blowout behind her from the immense backdraft that followed them. She looked back as she saw them make the first turn.
The two racers rounded the first corner within the first few seconds. Sonic looked to his left and saw Dash maintaining pace with him. She glanced over and him and smirked as they exited the first corner and into the straight away. 

"So......how you holding up. You tired yet?" Dash taunted him. Sonic didn't say anything and just focused on running. While his heart was pounding, at least his lungs didn't feel like they were about to explode at the moment. They both ran neck and neck with each other into the next turn.
"Oh don't worry, you'll be tired." Dash mocked him again. 

"I'm not even gonna tell you to shut up!" Sonic spat back as he pulsed his legs, increasing his speed making him pull ahead of Dash. Dash was surprised at his resolve to win, which made her resolve to win grow as well. 

"Heh Heh! That's what I like to hear!" Dash increased her speed as well. The two exited the second turn and into the straightaway, crossing the finish line completing the first lap. 

On the bleachers, Silver was on the edge of his seat as he watched the race while Shadow just observed with a disinterested expression. Twilight and Fluttershy were watching as well. While she didn't show it, she was secretly rooting for Sonic. 
Shadow looked over at Twilight and saw her backpack at her feet. He was tempted to try and grab the chaos emerald inside now, but he reminded himself that it would be too risky.  

While she was watching, Twilight accidentally knocked her backpack off the bleachers, causing it to fall in between the gaps in the seats. 

"Ah! Oh great!" Twilight sighed at her clumsyness. "Hang on, I dropped my backpack. I'll be back." She was about to get up to go get her backpack. 

"Um don't get up. I'll go get it." Shadow sensed an opportunity to get the chaos emerald, and got up quickly to go get. 

"Huh? Uh...that's okay. I'll go-" Twilight was slightly embarrassed by his courtesy, but she was interrupted by Shadow.

"I insist." Shadow dismissed her objections as he moved past her and went down the stairs. Twilight raised an eyebrow at his sudden courtesy. 
Silver was curious as well. But then he realized what Shadow was doing.

"Wow Shadow, you're a genius!" Silver grinned as he went back to watching the race to avoid suspicion from the two girls. 

Sonic and Dash finished the second lap and were still moving at max speed. Dash looked to see Sonic was still keeping pace with her, which impressed her since she knew that he got tired earlier the last time they raced. 
"Okay not bad! And I was beginning to take you for a phony!" Dash snarked at him as they exited the first turn. 

"Ha, you think I'm going my fastest right now. Where I'm from, I am much faster than this!" Sonic taunted her back. To his surprise he hasn't gotten tired yet. 

"Oh pfft yeah rig-WHOA!!!" Dash's lost her footing slightly, causing her to stumble and lose speed. Sonic looked back to see that Dash was falling behind. A excited grin grew on his face. 

"Ha!  What's wrong!? You getting tired!?" Sonic taunted he pulled ahead of Dash. 
Dash managed to regain her footing, letting out a frustrated grunt as she began to pick up her pace again. 

"Yeah. That's right. Just tire you're self out like last time." Dash said, keeping a steady pace as to conserve stamina. 

Coming up on the next turn, Sonic sped into the curve still maintaining his current speed with a wide grin on his face. He was going to win!

"Ha ha! Ha! Look's like I'm on a roll!!!" He yelled excitedly as he came up to the finish line. However just as he was about to finish the third lap it happened. His lungs started tightening up, his heartbeat skyrocketed, his breathing became erratic, and finally his arms and legs started shaking. 
"Pant Pant Pant Pant Damn! Not again!" The debilitating feeling of being out of breath permeated through his body. His pace slowed and slowed as he stumbled across the finish line. He tried to increase his pace, but to no avail as his body gave into the fatigue, and his pace slowed to a slow jog. 
Sunset who was watching the match from the bottom most seats, noticed Sonic staggering across the finish line. She remembered Dash describing how Sonic lost their last race. Looking at him, it looked like Sonic was going to collapse. 

"Hey! You gonna be okay?" Sunset called out to him. Sonic didn't answer for he didn't even had the energy to speak, and he just trudged along forward at a staggering pace. Then she heard brisk footsteps to her left, realizing who was catching up. 

"Later slowpoke!" Dash taunted as she rushed past the staggering Sonic at full speed. 

"What!?" Sonic yelled in surprise as she sped past him entering the last lap. He again tried to increase his pace, but his body just wouldn't let him. The agonizing feeling of fatigue made his body shudder. 

"Oh no! It's not looking good!" Silver stood up as he grasped his head in panic at Sonic about to lose. Twilight was also concerned as it was hard looking at Sonic struggle to keep up, and Fluttershy had her hands over her mouth as she panicked from seeing Sonic about to lose. 

"No, No, No!! Damn it! DAMN IT!!!" Sonic swore in his mind as he tried to keep his pace up but Dash just kept getting farther and farther away down the track. . "I can't lose! I don't want to lose! I have to win!! Sonic felt his resolve to win fading as his fatigue began affecting his mind. 



"I........want to win................................"



"Hey........... A gruff old voice said in his mind. "HEY!!!" 
Inside his mind, Sonic looked up and saw a blue mobian hedgehog. However he noticed the two tuffs of grey hair that extending from the middle of his head.
"Why don't you stop feeling sorry for yourself and buck the hell up! The hedgehog said. "You want victory? You want to win!? Have you forgotten why you trained with me in the first place?! It was at that moment that he knew who was talking to him. 

"No............I haven't" Sonic replied, his resolve slowly rebuilding. The figure then turned to face Sonic, and smirked at him in the same way that Sonic did. Sonic smirked back not only at the fact that his resolve is restored, but also at the sight of the person's face.

"Then what are you waiting for?" The figure asked. With that Sonic's mental world dissolved in a flash of light as he returned to reality. He was right back where he was on the track. He saw Dash about to exit the first turn of the final lap. 
His hands were shaking, his lungs felt like they were about to burst, but he didn't care anymore. He wasn't about to let Dash show him up again.

"Come on, come on, come on, COME ON, COME ON!!!!" Sonic yelled as he forcefully willed his body to move faster. He felt the fatigue and pain in his body increase exponentially, but he forced his mind to ignore the pain. Surely enough Sonic's speed began increasing drastically and he began to catch up with Dash as she sped down the straightaway. 
Silver stood up in surprise when he saw how Sonic was speeding up through sheer force of will. 

"Come on Sonic! Go for it!" Silver yelled from atop the bleachers, stood up from his seat to cheer on his brother. Fluttershy tightened her hands that were on her chest as she watched Sonic strain his body. Her body got more tense as she silently rooted for Sonic in her mind. 

"Sonic, I know you can win! Please.....do it!" Fluttershy thought.
As Twilight watched, she was bewildered by Sonic's demeanor. 

"He's out of breath, yet it's as if he's........yelling at himself to run faster. And.....his body is listening!?" Twilight thought as she observed Sonic doing just that. "Just.....who is he?" She continued to think. 

Sonic was now running as fast as he was when he started, and was getting faster and faster by the second. Soon enough he was right on Dash's tail, who was at the halfway point. 

"GRRRRYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" Sonic let out a battle cry as he came up on Dash's six. 

"What th- WHA!!?" Dash looked behind her to see Sonic in a full sprint, albiet he was sweating like crazy and his breathing sounded erratic, but in his eyes she saw the spirit of someone desperate to win. 
"Wha.....how're you......how di-" She was at a loss for words as Sonic gradually closed the gap between them. 
"You're supposed to be out of breath! How are you sprinting!!?" Dash exclaimed, absolutely flabbergasted at Sonic's sudden burst of speed. 

"PANT PANT PANT Like I'm gonna lose PANT....TO THE LIKES OF YOU AGAIN!!!" Sonic spat at Dash between breaths. They were neck n neck as they entered the last turn of the track, approaching the home stretch. 

"Me PANT......out of breath!? PANT PANT Bullshit!!" Sonic now felt like every cell in his body was on fire, and his bones were about to disintegrate.
"I......WON'T LOSE............AGAI-ah!" Sonic lost his footing, causing him to trip. Everyone looked at Sonic as he flew forward. Dash gasped as she saw Sonic about to hit the ground face first. 
"No.......it can't........it can't end like this!!" Sonic despaired as fell towards the ground, he didn't even have time to brace himself. 

Sonic then hit the ground face, sliding to a stop, his body going limp. Dash looked back to see Sonic on the ground, then looked at the finish line which was a few meters in front of her. Victory was right in front of her. 
Suddenly, Dash slammed on the breaks skidding to a halt right before she crossed the finish line, where Sunset was just about to announce the race over. 

Sunset was surprised that Dash stopped just before she was about to win. 
"Uh Dash?" Sunset said to her, wondering what was going through her head. Dash then suddenly turned and ran to help Sonic, who was still face down on the ground.

Twilight honestly couldn't believe what Dash was doing. She was putting Sonic's well being over her victory.
"Oh Dash." Twilight thought, proud of Dash for what she was doing. 

Silver looked on, and he admitted that his opinion of Dash grew as well. But before he could go over to check on Sonic, he heard a voice whisper in his ear. 

"Psst! Silver!" Silver heard Shadow whispering. 

"Huh? Shadow? Where are...?" He looked around but didn't see Shadow anywhere. 

"Down here." Shadow whispered again, Silver looked down to see Shadow beneath the bleachers. 
"Meet down here quick!" Shadow told him. 

"Uh...why?" Silver asked. Shadow responded by holding up Twilight's backpack, which had fallen between the cracks. Silver had to stop himself from gasping with excitement, lest he alerted Twilight. He looked over at Twilight and Fluttershy who had left their seats and were heading down to check on Sonic. 
He proceeded to discreetly head down the bleachers with them and then run to the back to meet up with Shadow. 

Dash ran over and knelt down to attend to a downed Sonic. 
"Pant pant Hey! You okay blue boy!?" Dash said worryingly. She shook Sonic, only to get no response, which worried her even more. 

"Wow Dash, haven't seen you this concerned for a guy. What's going on?" Sunset said mockingly as she knelt down beside Dash.

"Oh shut up!" Dash spat at her. She proceeded to flip Sonic over onto his back so she could see his injuries. To her relief he was still breathing, but he had bruises on his hands, knees and face, and his nose was bleeding. 
Sonic eventually managed to open his eyes. His entire body ached and was taking repeated gasps for air. He looked to see Dash looking down at him, with a concerned look on her face. 

"You okay?" She asked him. Sonic took a moment to process what was going on. The last thing he remembered was he was running his lungs out, and falling face first onto the ground. He struggled to sit up on account of his sore body. He looked at Dash, and a frown formed on his face when he realized what happened. 

"I.......lost again didn't I." Sonic said, the feeling of defeat setting in his stomach. 

"Well, not exactly. Dash hasn't crossed the finish line yet." Sunset mentioned, gesturing to the finish line. This didn't do much to improve Sonic's mood. He felt pathetic. Dash sensed that he didn't look to good, and figured that she should say something.

"Hey, don't feel so down. At least you managed to make it interesting for me." Dash smugly proclaimed. She proceeded to stand up and offered him a hand up. Sonic looked at Dash who had a half sincere, half smug smile on her face. Despite her attempt at sincerity, all he felt from her was pity, which made him even more angry. 
Sonic proceeded to get up, ignoring Dash's offer for help. His hands and knees shook from the pain as he stood. 

"I don't need your help." Sonic stated coldly as he wiped the blood from his nose. Sunset was rather miffed at Sonic's response.

"Hey! Dash offered to help you and all you can say is-" Sunset angrily reprimanded Sonic, but Dash cut her off. 

"Sunset, stay out of this." Dash interrupted. She walked closer to Sonic. "Hey tell you what. Since I didn't technically cross the finish line, lets just call it a draw! How about it?" Dash proposed. Sunset and Twilight were even more surprised at that Dash was willing to call it a draw. 
Sonic thought about for a moment, a solemn expression drew across his face. 

"No." Sonic spoke. Dash was confused. 

"I'm not going to settle for a half assed victory like that. " Sonic proclaimed. Dash crossed her arms defensively, but still listened to what he had to say. 
"If I want to beat you. I'm doing it for real!" He proclaimed strongly as he put his fist to his chest. 

Dash didn't say it, but she couldn't help but respect his conviction. She let out a sigh and a smile grew on her face. 

"Well, your call blue boy." She flipped her hair and then began to walk back to the entrance. But before she left she turned and said. "By the way if you want to beat me, you gotta get on my level. And you're a long way from there Blue boy."  This only served to anger Sonic more, as if she was adding insult to injury. 
Sunset rolled her eyes at her comment. 
Sonic let out a exasperated sigh as he watch her walk off. He wanted to be angry, but he didn't have to energy, or the motivation to let it out. 
Sunset noticed that Sonic looked depressed so she walked over to him to try and console him. 

"Uh....hey. If it makes you feel better. You're probably one of a few people who made Dash consider a draw." Sunset told him. Sonic looked up at Sunset, who had a caring smile on her face. 

"Sigh Don't talk to me." Sonic turned away, his pride starting to make him bitter. Sunset was irritated at how head strong he was. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but she then realized that he was sort of like Dash, which made her come to the realization that maybe arguing with him wasn't the best thing right now. 

"Sigh Whatever." She adjusted her hair and straightened her skirt before following Dash. As Sunset left. Fluttershy ran up to him. She shyly played with a strand of her hair as she tried to think of what to say. 

"Um......S...sorry that you lo....." Fluttershy trailed off for fear of making him angry. Sonic glanced at her, seeing her nervously grasped her arm and shifting her knees.

"Forget about it." He looked away again. Fluttershy looked at him with eyes slightly tear up, and pulling at her skirt,fearing that she made him angry at her. Unable to take his rejection, she ran off following Sunset. Twilight watched as she ran off to join the others. Twilight figure that she should say something. She walked forward to him, thinking of what to say to him. 

"Well. There's always next time." She said half cheerfully. Sonic didn't respond, he just leaned against the fence separating the bleachers from the field. Twilight sighed, unsure of what to say. 

"Look, It's not the end of the world just because you lost. I mean it could-" Twilight tried to reason with him, but Sonic cut her off. 

"You don't understand!" Sonic snapped at her, however he instantly regretted it when he saw her shocked expression. 
"Please just.....leave me alone." He said in a more calm, yet sad tone. He looked away from her, wallowing in his depressed state. 
Twilight wanted to say something, but she felt the more she tried to talk to him, the more she made things worse for him. It was obvious to her that this meant a lot to him for some reason. 
She let out a defeated sigh and she walked over to join the others. 

As Sonic leaned against the fence, his mind wandered back to the fated day that he obtained his immense speed. However, it was also the day of his greatest failure.

"I'm....I'm gonna get you out!" A young Sonic cried out as he tried to lift a piece of debris pinning a young mobian woman down. He was surrounded by flames and burning debris, as he desperately tried lifting the debris off her. As he struggled and strained, he saw noticed the woman crying. 
Suddenly another adult mobian, picked up the young Sonic and carried him away from the woman. 

"NO! NO!!! NO!!! PUT ME DOWN!!! I CAN SAVE HER!!! PLEASE!!!" The young Sonic cried as the man carried him out of the burning building. He reached out to the woman, wanting to save her. However it was all in vain, as more burning debris fell on the woman ending her lift. 

Sonic held his head in anguish as the memory played out in his head. He thought he had escaped those memories years ago, yet they have come back to haunt him all the same. And this memory made him utter words he dreaded hearing. 

"I.........wasn't fast enough." 

Meanwhile, Shadow and Silver were about to open Twilight's backpack to see what's inside. Shadow could feel the immense energy coming from within the backpack.

“Well what are you waiting for? Let’s open it and grab it!” Silver prodded Shadow impatiently. Shadow wasted no time arguing and quickly unzipped her backpack. Immediately a bright purple glow emanated from the backpack, quint the two to momentarily shield their eyes. A grin grew across Shadows face, for it was about time they made some progress.
He reached inside to grab the emerald, only to be met with a sharp stinging pain.

“DAH!!” Shadow jerked his hand out of the backpack. He proceeded to drop the backpack with its contents spilling out onto the ground, including a golden crown adorned with a vibrant glowing gemstone. 

“What the-?” Silver’s eyes immediately went to the crown on the ground with the glowing gemstone. He got closer to it, slightly shielding his eyes. He proceeded to touch the gemstone on the crown.

“Ow!!” Silver jerked his hand back as a surge of energy arced from the gemstone to his fingers. He sucked on his finger a few seconds after. “That is not a chaos emerald.” Silver said with absolute certainty. 

“Definitely not” Shadow added. The two got closer. While Shadow didn’t show it, his chaos energy sense was hemorrhaging from the sheer energy the crown was emitting.

“Um Shadow what is it?” Silver asked him, wondering what something like this was doing in her backpack.
Shadow was about to say what he thought it was, but then he saw Twilight and her friends about to leave in the corner of his eye.

“I think that’s the least of our concerns.” Shadow replied. Silver noticed Twilight and her friends as well and knew exactly what he meant. “Put her stuff back in quick!” 
The two scrambled to put Twilight’s books and pencils in her backpack. Finally Silver delicately picked up the crown with the tips of his fingers, feeling them sting as the energy conducted from touching the metal, and dropped it into her backpack. With that Shadow zipped the backpack, and began walking over to Twilight.

Twilight, Sunset, Dash, and Fluttershy were about to go back into the school, when Twilight suddenly stopped as she touched where her backpack was supposed to be.

"Oh shoot! I forgot my backpack." Twilight finally realized. 

"I think you dropped it in between the bleachers." Spike added. Twilight was about to go retrieve it when she saw Shadow and Silver run up to her, with Shadow carrying her backpack. 

"I believe this is yours?" Shadow handed over the backpack to Twilight. 

"Oh, thank you." Twilight took the backpack from Shadow. Spike proceeded to glare at Silver from Twilight's shoulder. Silver retreated a little, rubbing his right index finger, remembering how Spike bit him. 
'Why don't you get in Spike." Twilight held open the backpack for him to get in. 

"Hmph!" Spike looked away from Silver with completely disapproval, and proceeded to hop into the bag.

"Seriously what is with him today?" Twilight thought. She proceeded to swing her backpack onto her shoulders after zipping it up. 

"Say um......how's Sonic?" Silver asked the girls, feeling more comfortable speaking now that Spike was out of sight. 
The girls looked at each other, unsure of how they should respond. 

"Well.....uh....he was-" Fluttershy tried to speak first, but she was interrupted by Shadow.

"He lost didn't he?" Shadow asked.

"Well......kinda." Dash interjected. Shadow and Silver looked at her confusedly, unsure of what she meant.
"I proposed that it would be a draw, but refused and accepted the loss. " Dash continued. Shadow was confused.

"Why?" Silver asked, just as confused as Shadow. Dash didn't say anything at first. 

"Well, something about wanting to beat me for real or something" Dash shrugged. "I'll admit, that's something I can definitely respect. Your bro is something else" She smiled at the two. Shadow and Silver were still confused.

"Well, smell you later" She then walked ahead as she proceeded to go head home. Silver let out a small grunt, irritated at her snarky quip.

"Look's like your bro is taking it pretty hard." Sunset spoke to him. "No offense, but he's kind of a sore loser."

"Sunset!" Twilight reprimanded her, put off by her sudden rudeness. 

"I'm just saying, he seems to be really upset about it" Sunset replied defending her position. 
Shadow let out a frustrated sigh.

"Don't worry about it." Shadow replied. "That's just how he is."  
Sunset didn't know how to reply to him, neither did Fluttershy or Twilight. 

"Well If I were you. I'd give him a pep talk." Sunset advised Shadow. " I'm sure he'll listen to his brothers more than us." Sunset then followed Dash back into the school.

"Uh...eh...e-excuse me!" Fluttershy shuddered as she excused herself from the group. Only Twilight remained of the girls. She looked back at where Sonic and Dash's race took place, then looked back at Shadow and Silver. Shadow was silent, for he didn't know what to say and only had his stoic expression on his face.

"Come on. Lets go." Shadow said to Silver. Silver only let out a defeated sigh. Shadow and Silver were about to head over to Sonic.
"You know......I don't exactly understand why he's torn up about this.....but....." Twilight finally said to them. Shadow and Silver stopped to hear what she had to say. Twilight looked back at where Sonic was. "......I think deep down he's a good person" Twilight stated. 
Shadow was surprised to hear Twilight say that about Sonic. Silver smiled a little at her comment. 
Twilight knew that her friend's opinion of Sonic was low, but she felt like she had to have some faith in him despite everyone else not liking him. 
"Sigh I'm sorry....just speaking my mind." Twilight apologized, feeling bad for not just sharing her personal feelings, but also for Sunset and Dash's behavior. Shadow didn't respond, for he didn't care that much for what she said at the moment. But Silver stepped forward to say something.

"No.....thanks for saying that." Silver thanked her. Twilight smiled at him. 

"Well.......goodbye." Twilight then headed into the school to rejoin her friends, but not before Spike poked his head out of the bag and gave him the stink eye. Silver ignored it and turned to Shadow. 

"Hey.....let's go check on Sonic." Silver said, worried about how he was doing. Shadow let out a sigh, while he wasn't exactly happy with Sonic, he did need to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. 

"Yeah....might as well." Shadow begrudgingly agreed with Silver.
So Shadow and Silver walked back to the track, with the sun just on the horizon turning the sky a vibrant pink. Upon looking around, Silver saw Sonic sitting in the middle of the field looking out into the distance. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was doing.

"Wonder what's up with him?" Silver asked. 

"I dunno, I could never fully understand him." Shadow shrugged off Silver's question. He approached Sonic, who didn't seem to notice him.
Shadow wasn't entirely sure how Sonic was doing now, but he decided to take whatever he would say. 

"You seem depressed" Shadow said honestly.

".......Yeah......" Sonic admitted. Shadow was surprised that Sonic didn't fight back. 

"That's new." He replied. But then he remembered the time. They needed to get back to the library before the school closes, otherwise they'll have no place to sleep. 

"We should get back. The school's gonna close soon." Shadow explained to him. Sonic looked back at Shadow with the most depressed look on his face. Shadow was rather put off at seeing Sonic looking so depressed. But he pushed his mind back to the topic at hand. 

"Come on let's go already. You don't want to sleep out here do you?" Shadow prodded Sonic to come along. Sonic let out a sigh.

"......Sure...." He replied rather dismissively. Then he proceeded to get up from his episode of moping. With the three together, they finally decided to head back into the school.
As they made their way towards the library through the mostly empty school halls, save for a few students who remained. Sonic walked slowly behind the other two, the same vigor that he once had was completely gone. Silver looked back at him, concerned if Sonic was actually okay. 

"You don't look so good. You gonna be alright?" Silver paused briefly to talk to Sonic. Sonic didn't respond at first, proceeding to slowly walk past Silver with the same depressed expression.

"Don't mind me...." Sonic mumbled as he walked past Silver, not even looking at him. This didn't do anything to lower Silver's concern for him. He wondered if Sonic's second loss against Dash caused him to be like this. 

The three entered the library and headed up to the second floor. 

"Hey Shadow, you think Sonic's gonna be okay?" Silver asked him. Shadow briefly looked back at Sonic who had the same dejected expression. 

"Don't worry, he'll bounce back.....I think" Shadow reassured Silver. They made their way up the stairs and headed towards their little corner.

"Yawn Man I'm tired. Looking to getting some sleep tonight." Silver stretched his arms, as he was sore from walking around all day. But then he bumped into Shadow who suddenly stopped in front of the entrance to their hideout.

"Uh....Shadow? What's wrong?" Silver asked. 

"I.....think we've been compromised." Shadow whispered to them. Confused as to what he meant, Silver and Sonic peeked around the corner into their hideout. To their surprise and displeasure, Miss Cherillee was organizing the books. The three just stood there, waiting for her to notice them. Believe it or not, she did eventually notice them. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what they were standing there for.

"Ummm.......can I help you boys with something?" Miss Cherillee asked them, somewhat annoyed at that there were students in the library close to closing time. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver said nothing for a few seconds as they all were afraid that what they would say next would completely blow their cover. The situation continued to get more and more awkward, when suddenly, Silver quickly grabbed a random book from the cases.

"I uh- wanted to- to check out this book." Silver studdered. Miss Cherillee looked at the book he was holding, and was even more confused. 

"Um......a book on the history of chalk?" Miss Cherillee pointed out. Silver was sweating like crazy as he was both terrified and embarrassed, embarrassed that he grabbed a book on chalk of all things. Sonic noticed that Silver was in trouble so he decided to help him out. 

"Uh yeah! Heh heh! It's for our......our uh......" Sonic wasn't sure how to continue his excuse. 

"Our history assignment. " Shadow blurted out.

"Yeah!" Silver agreed with him. 
Miss Cherilee still gave them a skeptical look, and wondered why exactly they were here so late. But she let out a sigh and figured that they were innocent enough, plus she was too tired to bother.

"Okay.....follow me." She waved them to follow her. 
So the three followed Miss Cherillee to the librarians desk and she checked out the book for them, and then quickly pushed them out of the library. 

"Next time, don't come so close to closing time." Cherillee told them. Then she closed the doors on them. The three finally dropped their pleasant façade. 

"Well that's just great!! They discovered our hideout!" Silver angrily vented. Sonic just let out a sigh while Shadow just hung his head in utter disappointment. 

"What....what do we do now?" Sonic worryingly said. Shadow didn't respond for he was trying to think of a solution to their problem. 

"I......don't know." Shadow finally said. Sonic and Silver's hearts dropped. If Shadow didn't know what to do, then they were in a huge mess of trouble. They were stranded once again.
> Episode 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

7:30 PM

The sun was on top of the hills, casting an orange hue on the surroundings. Despite it's warm color, it warned that cooler temperature's were approaching, a sentiment that did not make the three otherworlders feel any better. The three were sitting outside the entrance of Canterlot high on the bottom steps leading up to the doors. At this hour most students would have headed home. Not them, for their hideout was discovered, and they are now left homeless. 

"Sigh.........So what's the plan?" Sonic asked the others. Shadow and Silver looked about as depressed as Sonic. The sun was setting, and the warm colors of the sunset were gradually fading into a cold dark blue. 

"Find shelter. That's our plan." Shadow stated, not willing to waste time sitting around. "Any idea's you two?" He looked to Silver and Sonic. Unfortunately, their depressed expressions didn't inspire any confidence.

"Purchasing a house here is definitely out of the question. Were broke." Silver bemoaned. Then he suddenly began shivering as it was starting to get cold.

"Well.....if anything we can always just sleep outside." Sonic suggested, cradling his head and making himself comfortable.  

"Shiver Um in case you've forgotten Sonic. I don't have my fur in this form!" Silver refuted his idea, shivering in his boots. Sonic looked at Silver shiver and then suddenly realized that he was extremely cold as well.

"Ah!! Shiver Good point!" Sonic exclaimed, as he shivered alongside Silver. Shadow rolled his eyes at their silly banter.

"Well that may be our only option at the moment, unless something comes up." Shadow admitted.
The three were at a loss. They all said nothing as they waited for the cold embrace of the night to arrive. However, nearby someone was watching them. 

"Psst! Hey there!" A upbeat voice said to them. The three looked up the stairs to see a boy with grayish amber skin and green braided hair that went past his shoulders. He wore a dark grey cap, red T shirt, and brown vest with a green recycle button. "Look's like you two are lacking some lodgings. Am I right?"  He observed. 
Shadow sneered, not content with  getting acquainted with another person from this world.

"Tch! And who gave you permission to eavesdrop?" Shadow coldly replied. The boy's sincere smile didn't fade despite Shadow's cold tone. 

"Heh heh. No one, so I gave myself permission!" The boy replied cheerfully. The three were not sure if what he said was serious or just a joke. 

"Sigh Go on." Shadow begrudgingly. The boy got up and walked down the stairs closer to them, and put his arm around Shadow being all friendly like

"Okay! Now, if you all looking for a place to crash, then head over my grandpa's place." He hands a flier to Shadow. Shadow took it and looked at what it said. It said 'apartments for sale' in over-the-top stylized letters. With a picture of an older man who had the same hairstyle as the boy's except it was grey.

"Thanks but.....we're kind of broke." Shadow told him. 

"Hey! No worries man." The boy patted Shadow on the back. "Read what's on the back." 
Shadow turned the flier over, and raised his eyebrows in surprise at what it said. Sonic and Silver saw his reaction, and got up to look at what the Shadow was looking at. 

"It's a coupon" Silver commented. "It says the first month is free." 
The boy smiled, proud of his grandpa's generosity.

"Yeah, he's been struggling to get new tenants. So he's been trying to attract new one's with these coupons." The boy explained. Shadow was rather confused if this was legitimate or not.

"You sure this is for real?" Silver asked him. 

"Of course!" The boy began to walk away. "Just show him that flier and tell him that Sandalwood sent you!" He explained. 
"Welp! See you around!" He gave the three a wink before walking heading off. 
The three looked at Sandalwood as he took off, wondering why he was helping them of all people. 

"Are you sure this is legit? He could be scamming us for all we know." Sonic was skeptical of the coupon. 

"Well, if not were gonna have to sleep out in the cold. Shiver" Silver began shaking from the cold. 
Shadow let out a frustrated sigh.  

"What choice do we have?" He admitted that they didn't have many other options. He folded up the flier and put it in the pocket of his jacket. He then started walking straight ahead from the entrance. 
"Come on. Let's check it out." Shadow called them to follow him. Sonic and Silver looked at each other, wondering if they would actually find a place to sleep. 

"Well, it'll beat sleeping outside so...." Silver got up and began following Shadow. Sonic was about to get up, but he stopped when he remembered how he acted with Rainbow Dash and the other girls. While he regretted how he acted,part of him was still angry that he lost, and wouldn't let him let go. He let out a sigh as he got up and followed Shadow and Silver as they headed into the city.

"Hold on. Silver. Do you have the chaos emerald?" Shadow turned to Silver. Silver remembered the chaos emerald, and frantically started searching his pockets for them. To his relief he found him in his back jacket pocket. 

"Right here! Whew! Good thing I stopped by my locker to grab it." Silver explained to them. 

"The weekend's almost starting. If we left them in your locker, somebody definitely would have found them." Shadow further commented. 

"Yeah. And we can't have that." Silver replied as he put the chaos emeralds away. The three decided to waste no time and get moving. 
However, Sonic paused as he looked back at the school once again. Looking at it, all he felt was the urge to leave this place as soon as possible. He let out a sigh, as he proceeded to follow Shadow and Silver. 


The three walked around the suburbs surrounding Canterlot high. But their unfamiliarity with the place caused them to get lost, causing them to loop around in a circle back to the school. They tried again, but they got lost once more and ended up in someplace completely unfamiliar to them. 
The sun was now behind the hills, the last of the warm sunset receding behind the hills. The three mobians eventually found themselves in the business sector of the city, where the taller buildings and skyscrapers were. 

"Ugh, Shadow do you even know where were going?" Silver complained as he let out a yawn. Sonic and Silver were getting tired from walking around all night and were starting to fall behind Shadow. 
Shadow looked at the flier as they walked, and it did have an address. But he had no idea where it was due to not knowing the city's layout. He stopped, then turned to speak to them. Sonic and Silver looked at him, hoping he would say yes. 

"Not a clue." Shadow stated bluntly, causing Sonic and Silver to fall on their butts in a cartoonish fashion.

"Were never gonna get out of this cold." Sonic despaired as he shivered on the ground along with Silver. 

Shadow rolled his eyes at their melodramatic acting. He looked forward and he saw a map kiosk in the middle of a plaza. He walked over to figure out where they were exactly, leaving Sonic and Silver to wallow in their melodramatic misery.

"It can't end like this.......can it?" Sonic said as he laid on the cold concrete ground. Silver however was struggling to get back on his feet. 

"No! I won't let it end here? Agh!" His arms and legs gave in and he fell back down the ground. "Ugh......it's cold.Shiver" The two resigned themselves to their fate as they comically laid on the ground. 

Shadow eventually came back with a better understanding of the city's layout. He looked down at the two. His eye's rolled up into the back of his head from the pure annoyance he was feeling from their melodramatic performance. 

"Grunt Get up." Shadow lightly kicked Sonic in the gut. He knew that they were just being melodramatic. 

"Ouch! Watch it!" Sonic proceeded to get up, despite being slightly miffed at Shadow's prodding. Silver also got up, ending his melodramatic acting. 

"I think I know where we are, and more importantly where this place is." Shadow explained holding up the flier. 

"Oh yeah? So where is it?" Sonic asked. 

"Ten miles that way." Shadow pointed to their left. Sonic and Silver's hearts dropped at the notion of walking some more. Shadow already had started walking. They both let out a defeated sigh, and they wasted no time and decided to follow him. 

They were walking for an hour before they started to get tired. Sonic and Silver felt their steps getting heavier, their feet began to ache and they had trouble keeping their eyes open. Shadow on the other hand was still trucking ahead as if nothing fazed him. The bright lights of the city started to fade as they moved closer to the outskirts of the city.

“sigh What I would give for a chili dog and a warm bed.” Sonic bemoaned between bouts of trying to keep his eyes open. 

“Your still on about that?” Silver retorted tiredly, also struggling to stay awake. “Why do you like chilidogs anyways?” Silver asked as he rubbed his eyes. Normally Sonic would take offense at anyone who talked about his favorite food that way, but he was too tired to be angry so he decided tell Silver the story of why he likes chili dogs.

“Well....my uncle chuck got me hooked on them.” Sonic gave his brief explanation.  Silver raised an eyebrow for he never heard of Sonic having an uncle.

“Uncle chuck?” Silver inquired. Sonic realized that he never told Silver about uncle chuck.

“Yeah, we always ate them after a long day of training. And I’ll never forget the day he first gave me a chilidog.” Sonic smiled as he reminisced about being so tired and bruised after training with uncle chuck, and first tasting a chilidog. It was the most delicious thing he ever had. Then his mind went to uncle Chuck.
“Uncle Chuck was.......also the.....only family I had.” Sonic got slightly emotional. He shook his head as he didn’t want to bother Silver with his personal story. The the bright lights of the city were  now replaced with the dim glow from street lights and the occasional car that passed by.
“I’m sure you know how that feels right Silver?” Sonic tried to empathized with Silver, however he didn’t respond. 

"Silver?" Sonic looked to his side to see what was preventing him from responding, only to find that he wasn't beside him anymore. 
"Silver!?" Sonic panicked slightly at Silver's sudden disappearance. But his panic was short lived as he saw that Silver had collapsed against a light post, and was fast asleep. 
Sonic let out a relieved yet defeated sigh. 
"What a kid" Sonic thought. 

Later Sonic was still following Shadow as he carried Silver, who was fast asleep, piggyback style on his back.  The lights from the houses were now out, the only thing that was lighting their way was the street lights. They continued walking block after block. Sonic was wondering if they were ever going to find this place that Shadow was leading them to. The neighborhood started to look less developed and more houses started to look run down and abandoned.

"Pant Pant Shadow. You sure you know where were going? " Sonic said between breaths. Not only was he tired from walking all night, carrying Silver is beginning to take it's toll on his arms and legs. 
Suddenly Shadow stopped when he came to an intersection. Sonic stopped next to him, wondering what caused him to stop walking. He looked foward to see a five story tall apartment complex with a bright recycle logo above the entrance. The building looked rather very old and worn with vines growing up one side and signs of deterioration near the top, likely due to rain or sun damage. It was clear to the otherworlders that the person who owns this building didn't keep it very well. 

"I think were finally here." Sonic commented. Like Shadow, he wasn't too impressed with the state of the building. "Looks.......cozy, I guess." He sarcastically commented again. 

Shadow smirked a little at his sarcasm. "Yeah right". Suddenly they heard a banging coming from the entrance. 

"Ow! Hey take it easy told timer!" A tall man with yellow skin and red hair with white stripes wearing a blue and white striped shirt with a black bow tie came stumbling out of the door dropping a cardboard box on the ground, spilling it's contents, which appeared to be cheap looking plastic bowls. Then an almost identical looking man, the only difference is that he had a red mustache, backed out of the door as he was being pushed by a smaller, older looking man.

"Now listen! If you would just give us a moment of your time....I guarantee you...."  The man tried to reason with him but the  older man kept shoving him away from the door. 

"For the last time! Did you read the sign!!?" The older man pointed to the small sign next to the entrance with his walking stick which read: "No Solicitors!" 
The mustached man had a dumbfounded look on his face as he saw the sign, feeling stupid for not seeing it. But he looked back and scowled at his near identical partner, who proceeded to get very defensive.

"Hey c'mon it was dark! I couldn't see!" The non mustached man protested as he picked up the cheap bowls that were scattered all over the ground. 

"Besides, I don't want your cheap Tupperware anyways." The man coldly commented on their product. 

"Wha-!?" They both took deep offense to his comment. The non mustached one of the due stood up and walked over angrily with one of the bowls in his hand. 
"Now listen here! These bowls are made of state of the art Nylon Polym-"

"Don't care now get out!" The old man yelled. The he proceeded to hit them both in the shin with a sweep of his walking stick. 

"Ouch!!" They both cried out as they hopped on one leg holding their shins. 

"Go on get!" He pushed them with his walking stick. 

"Ah forget this! Let's get out of here!" The two decided to call it quits and grabbed their box full of Tupperware and ran, with a few bowls dropping out of the box. But just before they disappeared into the night, the mustached one of the pair turned around and said: "You'll be back! I guarantee it!" He then disappeared down the sidewalk.

"Hmph! As if." The old man scoffed at them as they ran off. "Who do they think the are, scamming people with their cheap products." He pressed down on one of the plastic bowls they were trying to sell him with his walking stick. After a few seconds, the bowl cracked and then eventually shattered into several pieces. However he sensed that he was being watched. He looked to his left to see three boys looking at him. 
Sonic, and Shadow had been watching the whole predicament. 
"What are you looking at?" He spat at them, still somewhat bitter from those con artists. 

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, not sure if they should ask this person for accommodations.

"Uh......we have a coupon!" Shadow was the first to break the silence as he stepped forward, showing him the coupon. The man raised his eyebrow, then he squinted his eyes to get a better look at what he had. 

"And just how did you find one of those? I thought I stopped putting them up a month ago." He stated skeptically. 

"Uh.....Sandalwood sent us!" Sonic blurted out, remembering the reason why they came here in the first place. The old man looked at Sonic, giving him the stink eye, which didn't help sooth Sonic's nerve's at all. 

"So you've met my grandson eh." His expression lighten up slightly, looking more pleasant but still slightly annoyed. "I thought I told him not to bother with that."  He tapped his foot and stroked his beard as he thought about the situation. Shadow and Sonic stood silently. nervous about what he would say next. 

The old man scratched his chin before he finally spoke again.

"Alright. Come on in." He waved them over as he headed inside. The two otherworlders let out a relieved sigh. They won't have to sleep out in the cold after all. With the night getting colder, they decided to head inside. 
Entering the lobby, it was very quaint, consisting of a waiting area made of a cheap looking couch, a coffee table and a CRT Television set. The old man went into a door which was labeled 'staff only'. He then reappeared behind a window which looked into a small office behind the wall. Looking around they could see some of the wallpaper peeling off, there a few water stains on the ceiling, and Sonic managed to catch the sight of a rat scurrying into a hole in the corner. The place was lit by two table lamps, one at the reception desk and one on the coffee table. There was a third one next to the TV, but didn't have a lamp cover, and no bulb. 

"Hm. Cozy." Sonic commented. Shadow smirked slightly at his comment. The old man then appeared in the office window. 

"Now, before you all settle in. I just need you to fill out some quick paperwork." He said as he placed a few papers on the windowsill. "Just date of birth, where your from. Nothing too personal."

"I'll take care of it." Shadow told Sonic. He then walked forward to sign the paperwork. Sonic then decided to go take a seat on the couch, for his arms were getting tired from carrying Silver for so long. After carefully setting Silver on the couch without waking him, Sonic threw himself on the couch stretching his arms and legs. He let out a big yawn, then he looked at the TV. He wondered if there was anything on. He looked around for the remote and he quickly found it next to Silver who was still fast asleep. He reached over to grab it. 

"NO WAIT!!" Silver suddenly shouted as he threw his arms towards the ceiling. Sonic jumped back in shock from his sudden outburst. Silver was quiet for a few seconds. "That's my.....pizz-" Silver trailed off as his arms dropped back to his sides, and went back to snoozing.
It took a few moments for Sonic to regain his nerve. He sighed as he was able to calm his nerves. He grabbed the remote and proceeded to look at it for a few seconds to see how close it was to his remote back home. 

"Hmm.....Looks similar" Sonic then proceeded to press the power button. Which turned on the TV which was on a random station.

"Tzzt! Hi! Milly Bays here with Detergo! The fastest and easiest laundry detergent you'll ever use!" An upbeat and energetic female spokes person appeared on screen. Uninterested, Sonic changed the channel.

"Tzzt! Does your house smell like ass?" The Tv showed a picture of a donkey. Still uninterested Sonic changed the channel again. 

"Tzzt! Hi it's Vince with Shamwow!

"Tzzt! -if you order right now, You'll also get the limited editi-"

"Tzzt! -In the latest news, Scientists and politicians are still baffled by the mysterious supernatural events that took place at Canterlot High School  two months ago." 

Sonic didn't change the channel this time, and he leaned forward in his seat as he listened to what the new reporter had to say. Shadow who was forging through the paperwork, overheard what was on the TV and glanced over to listen. 

"The first event was the sudden appearance of what looked to be a red winged demon who proceeded to destroy the front entrance of the school.  The television showed rather very unclear footage of a red winged demon in front of canterlot school, apparently controlling all of the students.

"The next event took place a month later during the schools music competition, where a giant spectral winged unicorn did battle with three spectral hydra's " Footage of a giant spectral Alicorn striking down three hydra's with a beam of magic energy from it's horn. 

While there haven't been any incidents for a month, authorities are still worried over the threat of a future incident. Mayor Mare has announced that the city will be taking measures to increase the city's security in the event that another incident happens. 

"Hmph. Crazy times we live in today." The old man said. Shadow's curiosity grew, so he turned to asked the old man about the events that were shown on the TV. 

"What happened exactly? At the school I mean." Shadow asked the old man. He only gave Shadow a shrug, indicating that he didn't know much. He sighed and went back to finishing the paperwork. 
"That's something we should investigate. It may end up helping us find the chaos emeralds" Shadow planned. 

As Sonic watched the magical events on the news, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the faint outline of a familiar person standing below the giant alicorn. 

"..........Twilight?....." Sonic finally remembered the name of the girl, his curiousity growing ever larger with more and more questions popping up in his head. Just what happened those months ago? What is this strange magic? Why are they even here in the first place? And just who was Twilight?


The time was 1:45 am in the morning. Shadow and Sonic , who was carrying Silver who was still sleeping, was following the old man up the stairs. They followed him up for three floors, before leading them down a hallway. He lead them down to the door at the corner of the building before he stopped, got out his keys, unlocked the door, went inside and turned on a light. 

"Well here's your room." He show them in. Shadow and Sonic went in to observe the room. It was about 30ft by 25ft with a wall separating the kitchen and the living room. The kitchen was small but had an opening in the wall in front of the sink to the living room, not to mention was furnished with a fridge, one burner stove, and a cupboard.
The living room was also the bedroom with a bunkbed, a couch, a small tv, and a small table by the opening to the kitchen. 

"Huh.....cozy." Sonic commented. He went over to the bunkbed and set Silver down on it. Shadow walked around the apartment, examining the apartment before looking out the window overlooking the parking lot outside, with the lights from the center of canterlot city faintly glowing in the distance. 

"So?" The old man spoke. Sonic and Shadow looked at him wondering what he was asking. "How is it?" He smugly asked them about the apartment. 

"It'll do." Shadow quickly answered. 
The oldman smiled. 

"Good. Now remember. The first month is free, but after that, you're gonna have to start paying." He explained to them. 

"And....how much is the rent?" Sonic asked as he sat down next to Silver who was still sleeping. 

"$1800 Dollars." He blurted out. Sonic and Shadow doubletaked at him. 

"How the hell are we gonna get that kind of money?" Sonic complained. The old man shrugged. 

"I don't know. Get a job. There's ton's of part time job offers on the bulletin board in the lobby." He motioned downstairs. Sonic and Shadow exchanged a glance, both considering the options that they have. 
Shadow sighed as he admitted defeat. 

"Well, It's not like we have any other options." Shadow admitted to himself. The old man raised an eyebrow. 

"Hmm? Something wrong?" He asked them. 

"Uh....no. It's nothing" Not wanting to draw any suspicion Shadow quickly changed the subject. While he was still somewhat suspicious of the three, the old man shrugged it off and turned to head back downstairs. 

"Well in any case. You three get some rest." He told the three as he opened the door to leave. "Good thing it's the weekend." 
Sonic let out a yawn, he didn't notice that he himself was tired. Shadow saw the old man was about to leave. He stepped forward to say something to him. 

"Uh....wait!" Shadow said. The old man stopped before he left to hear what he had to say. ".....Thank you." 

The old man smiled at Shadow. 

"Heh, by the way. Call me Sandalbark." The old man replied before he closed the door behind him. 

The two of them let out another sigh. They both couldn't believe that they managed to not only find shelter, but a full blown apartment. Eventually they decided to follow old man Sandalbark's advice and go to sleep.

"Well, I think Silver has dibs on the bottom bunk. So I take dibs on the top bunk." Sonic made his claim on the top bed apparent to Shadow, who only proceeded to roll his eyes at his pettiness. 

"Just take it. I don't need to rest anyways." Shadow replied as he walked over to the sliding door which lead out to the small balcony outside. Shadow opened the sliding door and went outside, letting a small draft inside. The balcony was only about eight feet wide, but it was wide enough for a small table and a chair. 

"Get some sleep. With our free time tomorrow, we can focus more on the chaos emeralds." Shadow explained, then he closed the sliding door behind him, leaving the dim glow of the night slighting illuminating the room. 
Sonic let out a tired sigh and got ready for bed. He slipped off his shoes, and climbed up onto the top bunk, throwing himself onto the bed. While it wasn't the softest, it sure beat sleeping on the floor in the library. 

As he looked up at the ceiling, which had a few places where the paint was peeling off, he recounted all the events that lead up to this point. He remembered Silver suddenly appearing in the present, then mobius was attacked by strange black creatures lead by a mysterious hooded warrior who appeared to mimic Sonic's fighting style. Then he along with the rest of his friends got transported to this world, and got turned into humans. 

"I wonder if Tails and Knuckles made it." Sonic thought to himself. He was starting to miss the company of the two, whether it was seeing Tails work with his gadgets, or sparring with knuckles. 
"It'd be pretty sad if......they didn't make it" The thought made him shiver a little. He turned onto his side. 
He then began thinking about his recent race with Dash. 

"if you want to beat me, you gotta get on my level. And you're a long way from there Blue boy." He recalled. He clenched his fist as rage built up in his heart. He slammed the wall with his fist, causing some dust and paint chips to fall on his face. 

"PFFT! Cough! Cough! Agh!" Sonic spat out dust and paint chips, foiling his attempt at falling asleep. "Sigh Dammit...." He brushed off the dust and paint chips from his bed and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep. 

"Yawn! Hey.......Sonic....." Silver said drowsily. Sonic looked down to see that Silver had awakened from his nap, realizing that he must woke him up in his minor bout of rage.

".....yeah?" Sonic replied, feeling a little guilty that he woke him up.

"Oh man.....where are we?" Silver asked, looking around the small apartment, wondering what transpired ever since he fell asleep. 

"Well, we managed to find a place to crash. Somehow." Sonic briefly explained. Silver sat up to look around more. He was pretty impressed and very relieved that they didn't have to sleep outside. 

"Wow......I was beginning to think that flier Sandalwood gave us was a scam." Silver speculated. 

"Heh! Yeah. Me too." Sonic chuckled. He was about to say something else but he let out a yawn instead. He forgotten how tired he was. 

"How about we go to sleep now. I'm beat." Sonic closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. 

"Hey Sonic." Silver asked him, worried that he kept him from sleeping. Sonic while he was somewhat annoyed from not being able to go to sleep right away, he decided to talk to him anyways. 

"Yeah?" He replied, not opening his eyes for he was too tired to even open them.

"I'm......sorry that you lost." Silver hesitantly said for fear of making him angry. Sonic wanted to be mad, but he was not just too tired, something else in him was preventing him from being mad altogether. 

"Forget about it." Sonic said tiredly, a hint of sadness in his voice. Silver was confused at Sonic's response. He thought that it wasn't like Sonic to get beat and then act like he has no interest. It sounded like he was giving up.

"What do you mean?" Silver asked, concerned if Sonic was indeed giving up. "You're not seriously gonna let Dash act like she beat you. Are you?" Silver pointed out. 

Silver's last point really hit Sonic's pride. But he was just too tired to argue with Silver.

"Sigh Silver just go to sleep." Sonic retorted back, making it clear to Silver that he didn't want to talk. 
Silver wanted to talk back, but he let out a yawn instead. He decided to follow Sonic's advice and closed his eyes. 
Sonic realized that his comment hit hit his pride harder than he expected. He clenched his fists again and gritted his teeth in rage.

"Dammit! Dammit!! Why couldn't I win!?" Sonic thought. But then he remembered what Dash said. 

"if you want to beat me, you gotta get on my level. And you're a long way from there Blue boy." He heard Dash say once again. Sonic's anger then faded, as he realized why he couldn't win. He simply wasn't fast enough. A fact that shook him to his very core.

"I am so pathetic." Sonic said to himself quietly, as he fell fast asleep.

Outside on the small balcony, Shadow was leaning on the balcony railing looking over Canterlot city. The city almost mimicked the night sky, with the tiny lights dotting the dark canterlot city. A faint glow further in the distance came from the business sector of the city. 
Shadow began assessing their current situation. 
They have managed to find a place to stay, and even better they won't have to worry about pay for a month. But that being said, that meant that they are on a time limit. 
They currently have two of the chaos emeralds.  If they had two of the emeralds, then he came to the conclusion that the other five were scattered in this world. Unfortunately, with their movements so limited that task was going to be very difficult and tedious. Not to mention, they had no way of locating them other than his minute Chaos sense. 

"Sigh Looks like were gonna be here for a long time." Shadow said to himself, not looking forward to the coming days. 
He decided to sit down on the small chair next to the table. A cold breeze blew throughout the night.  He decided that since he was out of his brothers view, he could go to sleep. And he did just that as he closed his eyes in the cool breeze of the night. 


5:00 am

The sound of an alarm rang throughout a dimly lit room, with light pouring in through the small cracks in the blinds.

"Snort! Aw geez. Shut up. Shut up!" Dash said drowsily as she slapped her hand all over her side table, trying to turn off her alarm clock. However her hand kept missing for her face was still in her pillow and she only succeeded in knocking her alarm clock off the table, along with some other things that were on there, like her phone, a pair of sunglasses, deodorant, as well as some other clutter. 

"Ugh! For the love of-" Dash cursed drowsily as she reached down behind the side table and unplugged the clock finally turning it off. She sat up in her bed rubbing her eyes open. She was dressed in only a red t shirt and pair of white shorts. She had not felt this tired in a while. 

"Man. The race with blue boy actually made me tired." She thought to herself. She subconsciously also told herself to never say that in front of her friends. 
She took a brief look around her room. It was really disorganized, with stray clothes draped over her dresser, desk, chair, and even the small tv. A small pile of magazines was in the left corner of her room. However in the right corner of the room, there was a bookcase with all the current novels of her favorite book series "Daring Do" nicely organized.

"Ugh....what a mess." Dash admitted, knowing that the reason for the state of her room is because she put off cleaning it over and over. 
"Oh well." She threw off the covers to get started on her morning routine. She hopped out of bed, stretching her arms and legs, removing their stiffness. The she went over to the blinds and threw them open. 
She looked up at the sky which was a gradient of deep indigo to vibrant pink. 
The light help open her drowsy eyes. She let out a loud yawn, her body still trying to wake up. 
She headed out of her room and into her kitchen. Her house only had one floor so she didn’t have to go down any stairs. 
She strolled into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out the orange juice and took a large gulp directly from the bottle. After that she put the orange juice away and grabbed a protein bar from the box of protein bars that was on the table and headed back to her room. About a minute after Dash headed back to her room, Sunset emerged from her room in her magenta pajamas letting out a yawn. She trudged into the kitchen and got out a cereal box from the cupboard and poured it into a bowl. 
Dash exited her room wearing a white skin tight tank top, black biker shorts, and knee length white socks. 
Sunset was about to pour in the milk when she saw Dash stroll through the kitchen and into the living room, which the kitchen opened up into.

“Morning” Sunset greeted Dash. 

“Mornin’” Dash glanced at at her, continuing to the door. Sunset noticed that Dash wasn’t as lively as she used to be. In fact upon looking closely she still looked tired.
“You alright? You look tired.” Sunset asked her, as she put the milk away in the fridge. 

“Heh, yeah right! What makes you think that?” Dash scoffed at Sunset’s comment as she slipped on her running shoes.

“Well, you did have a race with Sonic yesterday. Maybe your tired from it.” Sunset slyly commented. This made Dash scowl.

“I’m not even gonna tell you to shut up” Dash retorted in silent anger as she tied up her shoes. 
Sunset giggled under her breath. 
Dash stood up briskly, letting out an annoyed ‘hmph!’, still miffed about Sunset’s comment. She headed to the door to go start her run. 

“You know, it’s not like you to be so interested in a new guy.” Sunset inquired playfully as Dash opened the door, letting the cool morning breeze in. “So what is it that you see in Sonic, for you to try and encourage him? Instead of rubbing your victory in his face?” Sunset continued to inquire.
Dash stood in the door way, half confused and half angry. But she didn’t know why she was angry. She thought back to her race with Sonic. In her mind, even though she didn’t cross the finish line, she still won. Yet despite that, it still didn’t feel like a win. Her mind flashed back to she she first talked with Sonic.

“What do ya say to that Skittlehair!?” The thought replayed in her head, which made her furious inside. 

“Why!?” She thought. “Why does he make me so pissed?!” No matter how hard she tried to rationalize this feeling, she couldn't come up with a clear answer. 

"He's.......interesting." Dash replied as she grabbed her water bottle from the side table. "That's all." She finally said as she closed the door behind her. 
Dash stepped out onto the small lawn in front of her house as she began stretching. 

"Where I'm from, they call me the Fastest Thing Alive!" Dash seethed internally as she stretched her legs. 

"Hmph!" Dash pouted as she finished her stretches, her hair flipping back as she stood up. Her anger only served to motivate her even more as she walked down to the sidewalk to prepare to run. 

"Nobody talks to me that way....." Dash assumed the running position. ".....and doesn't regret it!" She broke into a brisk jog down the sidewalk, determined to not let this feeling hamper her pride. 


"6:30 am" 

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Snort! Huh?" Sonic abruptly woke up from his slumber. For a second he thought everything that happened was just a dream, only for a wave a disappointment to flow into his stomach as he realized that he still wasn't on mobius. 

"Sigh!" He sighed as he sat up and looked around at their current lodgings. He was able to get a better look at their apartment now that there was some light coming through the sliding door. 

"Could be worse I guess." He muttered to himself. Then he heard the snoring of someone underneath him. He looked down to see Silver still fast asleep. Then he heard the sliding door open.

"You're awake....." Shadow said to him. Sonic put on an annoyed face.

"What....no good morning or anything?" Sonic snidely commented. Shadow ignored his comment and came inside, shutting the door behind him. 
"So....what have you been up to." Sonic asked, laying back down on the bed. 

"Nothing, I just woke up." Shadow replied as he sat down on the couch. Sonic raised an eyebrow at his answer.

"I thought you didn't need sleep." Sonic questioned him. Shadow slightly tensed up, realizing he accidentally showed his weakness. 

"Of course I need to sleep.................once every year." Shadow made up an excuse. While Sonic wasn't completely satisfied with his answer, he quickly lost interest and went back to looking up at the ceiling. 

There was a long period of silence as the two mobians said nothing to each other. Only the sounds of the morning breeze and Silver's snoring could be heard. 

"So...........have your powers come back at all?" Shadow decided to finally break the silence. 

"Of course not stupid. I lost to Dash yesterday, remember?" Sonic complained, putting a pillow over his head. 

"That's not why I asked." Shadow retorted. "If a enemy like eggman were to suddenly attack, we need to have our powers or were toast." He explained further. 

"Ugh! You think I don't know that!?" Sonic protested. "Sigh So what do we do now?" 

"Same thing. We lay low and search for the chaos emeralds. We blend in and act like normal civilians in this world and keep interactions with other people to a minimum, especially those six girls at school" Shadow explained. 
Sonic tapped his fingers impatiently as he didn't like Shadow plan one bit. He grew more and more frustrated at their current situation until it eventually boiled over.

"GrrrrAAA!!!" Sonic yelled out frustratedly sitting up in his bed. "That's gonna take too long! The other emeralds could be on the other side of this world for all we know!" 

"We'll do this as fast as we can, even if it takes a year." Shadow replied, maintaining his calm demeanor. 

"Yeah! And Eggman's probably back home taking over the place! By the time we get home he probably would've already destroyed the planet out of boredom!" Sonic retorted, not backing down from this argument. 

"And I suppose you have a better idea!?" Shadow countered. 

"Tch!" Sonic hesitated as he didn't have an answer. But all this did was make him more angry. He hopped down from the bed to confront Shadow. 

"Look, there has to be a faster way. Can't we just come clean to those girls and explain our situation? Maybe they can help us!" Sonic proposed. Shadow doubletaked at his idea, thinking it was utterly stupid. 

"Absolutely not!!" Shadow snapped at him, standing up and walking over to him. "What makes you think they'll believe our story?"

"Just listen okay! There is something up with those girls. It can't be a coincidence that they came across a chaos emerald can it? Not to mention all that crazy stuff that was shown on the news yesterday." Sonic explained.

Shadow admitted, he had a point. His mind went back to that mysterious crown that he and Silver found in Twilight's backpack which they mistook for a chaos emerald. It also made him question why they were here in the first place. But he shook his head frustratedly, for his cautious outlook of this world prevented him from fully trusting the inhabitants of this world.

"No. We can't take any chances with them. We already interacted with them too much already." Shadow still refused Sonic's idea, which only served to infuriate Sonic even more. 

"C'mon! Are you serious!?" Sonic threw his hands up in frustration. "If someone like Eggman were to come here, then the people here are screwed!" Sonic continued to appeal to Shadow. 

"I'm not going to risk exposing our identities for something that hasn't happened!" Shadow stood to his full height. 

"And what if it does happen!? We don't have our powers! Were going to be sitting ducks!" Sonic continued to argue, his voice getting louder as he got up in Shadow's face. 
Shadow didn't relent 

"Except were not!! I don't trust the people of this world to keep secrets! Were laying low until we find a way home! And there's nothing you can do to change that!" Shadow doubled down on Sonic. Sonic and Shadow stared at each other both feeling the anger they had towards each other. 

"Fine then. I quit." Sonic seethed in anger at Shadow. Then he proceeded to stomp off towards the door, threw it open, and stormed off outside.

"Sonic!" Shadow angrily called him to come back. He ran to the door and looked out to see Sonic go down the stairs. 
"Sonic get back here!" Shadow angrily stormed off to follow Sonic. Upon reaching the stairs, Sonic was already almost to the ground floor, Shadow briskly followed him downstairs. 
"Sonic!" Shadow called as he entered the lobby on the ground floor just in time to see Sonic exit the apartment complex. 

"What's up with him?" Sandalbark said, who was sitting on the couch watching a show on TV.

Shadow ran outside of the complex to see Sonic walking down the sidewalk going further outside town. Shadow refrained from tailing Sonic any further, for at least Sonic wasn't going into the city. 

"Sigh What am I going to do with him." Shadow held his head, tired of having to deal with Sonic's attitude. 

Sonic briskly walked down the sidewalk, anger coursing through his mind. 
"Like hell I'm gonna stay here for a year!  Sonic thought as his pace continuously got faster and faster. "I need to get home! I need to get home!! Sonic's brisk walk then suddenly turned into an all out sprint. "I WANT TO GO HOME!!!!" Sonic screamed as he tore down the side walk at a breakneck speed. 
He just ran and ran and ran, hoping that his speed would just magically come back. But they didn't, for he could still feel the fatigue and pain seeping into his lungs, and spreading to his arms and legs. But he kept on running, his anger keeping him from stopping. 

7:30 am

Sonic lay on the grassy hills looking up at the sky. He was completely exhausted. It was a feeling that he could never get used to. He remembered back home he could run for hundreds of miles without breaking a sweat. His arms and legs were numb, his heart was beating like an engine being pushed to the redline, and was repeatedly gasping for air. 
Inside he was the angriest he's ever been, but he couldn't muster the energy to show it. 
He finally managed to catch his breath, at least so that his lungs felt normal. 
He sat up and he took in the surroundings. He was sitting on the hills surrounding the city. The morning sun gave the grass a golden color with a slightly pink hue, and the sound of leaves bristling on the trees that dotted the hills.  He could see the city down at the bottom of the hills. The scenery surrounding Sonic gave off a peaceful serene ambience.
Unfortunately, Sonic was not at peace. On top of the debilitating exhaustion he felt, his pride was shattered beyond belief. 
He struggled to sit up, his abs aching from the strain he placed on his body. He looked up at the sky, wondering where he would go from here. The thought of living here without his powers scared him. In his gut he knew that something or someone with evil intent will show up and begin terrorizing this world, and he couldn't do anything to stop them. Not to mention, his speed is something he was immensely proud of. Without it, it felt like a part of him was missing. 

"Sigh This sucks." Sonic sulked as he looked down on Canterlot city at the bottom of the hill.  "This sucks." He said quietly as he hung his head in despair. He daydreamed about green hill zone, with it's palm trees, rich clean air, and naturally formed loops. He missed it so much that he wanted to cry, but he didn't for he was too tired. 

Nearby, Rainbow Dash was jogging along the path. She was hoping to get a in few extra miles and train her leg muscles more, so she was jogging up the hiking trail. She maintained a slower yet steady pace, reserving her stamina for jogging uphill and down hill required more energy. 
She inhaled and exhaled heavily as she jogged up the hill. Her heart was beating harder than usual which concerned her deeply. 
"Did I seriously get tired from yesterday's race?" Dash worryingly questioned herself. She finally made it up the incline which leveled out as the path circled around the hill. 

"Wait- What the-" She doubletaked when she saw someone sitting on the hill. She slowed to a stop, taking a few seconds to catch her breath. She tried to make out who it was, but she couldn't make out the person's silhouette. So she focused harder, making use of her superior eyesight to look closer. 
Ever since she awakened her magic back when she first met Twilight, she noticed that her eyesight had drastically improved. She was now was able to see ants from on the ground from atop a ten story building. 

"The hell? It's blue boy." Her eyesight revealed who it was. "What's he doing out here? And more importantly, HOW'D HE GET HERE BEFORE ME!?" She commented to herself. While she was miffed that his appearance interrupted her morning jog, her curiosity caused her to want to investigate. 
Upon coming closer she could confirm that it was indeed Sonic. Now she knew that she really need to talk to him.
She tried approaching silently for he was still looking out into the distance. 
"Carefully....now." She whispered to herself as she slowly crept towards him, careful not to make any noise. Or step on anything.

"So.....you here to gloat or something?" Sonic suddenly said. 
Dash felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest. 

"Wha-!? How'd you know I was here?" Dash replied, still shaken from her state of surprise.

"I smelled you." He replied sarcastically. Dash was rather bothered by his response. 

"Hmph! Rude." She scoffed at him. 
"So, what're you doing all the way out here?" She inquired to him in an irksome tone. 
Sonic didn't answer for a while, causing Dash to get even more annoyed. 

"It's none of your business." Sonic replied coldly. Rainbow Dash let out a dissapointed sigh at his attitude. She knew that if he was acting this way, he was still angry about his loss yesterday. With that in mind, she decided to go closer to him.

"Look....I don't what sort of place you came from...." Dash went over next to Sonic.".....but if you really are as fast as you say you are. Your not gonna get anywhere by sulking all the time." She then proceeded to sit down next to him, making sure not to sit too close to him. She didn't want anyone thinking that they were a couple. 
Sonic glanced over at her nervously. He was baffled and infuriated that his new rival who he wanted to beat so badly was just sitting next to him for all casual like. 
Sonic repeatedly glanced between Dash and the view of the city, struggling to not appear awkward. 
He let out a frustrated sigh, not wanting to be in this situation. 

"Ok.....what's this all about?" Sonic asked her. Dash raised an eyebrow at his question. "Why are you being all nice and everything?" Sonic continued to question her. 
Dash looked out into the distance along side him, thinking about what she would say next. 

"Well.....I wouldn't call it being nice." Dash replied snarkily. Sonic didn't respond, not satisfied with her answer. 
"Look Blue boy.....I'm going to be honest with you, it can get kind of boring around here." Dash explained. Sonic glanced over at her, willing to listen for a little bit. 
"It's always the same people everyday. I mean Twilight and the others are cool and all but, honestly, they be a handfull sometimes. Especially Pinkie" Dash continued to talk. 

"Sigh What's your point?" Sonic said tapping his foot impatiently, cuing an annoyed grunt from Dash. 

"Okay, the point is. You and your bros are the most interesting people I've seen in a long time." Dash said enthusiastically. 

"Huh?" A perplexed Sonic looked over at her. 

"Oh and our races together. I had a ton of fun too." She continued, a sincere smile on her face. Sonic continued to be perplexed. His new rival was encouraging him, which was a new experience for him.
"All I'm saying is....It would it would really bum me out if you were to just give up on yourself." Dash put a hand on his shoulder, cuing a confused double take from Sonic. 
"So.....try and beat me why don't ya!" 

Sonic's was baffled at what she was saying. She was trying to stoke the fire within him and Sonic couldn't help but feel not just encouraged but also heartwarmed. 

"Beat you huh?" Sonic was no longer gloomy. He looked back down at Canterlot city in the distance. A faint smile forms on his face as the challenge he was faced with caused his heart to burn with tenacity. 
Dash smiled, knowing that her pep talk got to him. 

"Yep....so show me a good time!" Dash patted him on the shoulder, then proceeded get up and continue with her jog. As she continued to run, part of was confused with herself. Why did she encourage him anyways? She was practically giving her rival an advantage. Something that she would never do. 
"Eh! Probably won't mean anything. He'll never catch up to me." Dash pushed the though out of her head, arrogantly confident that her current physical condition will keep her at the top. 
She then focused on continuing her run. 

Sonic, filled with a new sense of purpose. Rose to his feet. He looked up to the sky, as if he was looking up at the challenge that was before him. He felt a sense of vigor and excitment rush through him. He reached up to the sky, as if he was reaching out to the challenge before him. This was a feeling that he had not felt in a while. He then clenched his fist as he swore to himself to train this new body of his, and beat Dash once and for all. 

9:30 am

Meanwhile, Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were at the site of where the first emerald crashed. Twilight had brought along some of her science equipment to analyze if there was any energy, such as a magic energy oscilator, along with some other assortment of equipment. She was currently using the scanner connected to the oscilator to scan the crater. She had taken a reading of the emerald's energy back home and wrote down the reading it gave. She was looking for any areas of the crater that had a similar reading. So far she wasn't getting any similar readings anywhere.

"Sigh Hey Sunset! You find anything?" She called over to Sunset on the other side of the crater. She was also going around with a scanner connceted to the oscilator. 

"Nope! Sorry." She called over, having similar luck. 
Applejack was clearing out the heavy boulders using her unnatural strength, to see if there was anything underneath that they missed. 

"Nothin' ere'" Applejack said as she lifted large boulder on it side to look underneath it, after which she let it drop on the ground with a loud thud.

"You think Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie found anything?" Sunset added. 

"Yeah, lets call them." Twilight got out her phone, which Rarity had generously purchased for her. However as she brought it out of her shirt pocket, her mind drew a blank when she tried to remember how to use it. 
"Uhh...How do you use these things again? Twilight thought to herself as she poked the touch screen of the phone. 

Applejack stretched her arms as she walked over to Sunset who was still looking around for any traces of energy. 
"Ahhh...Man just when I thought I could sleep in for once." Applejack rubbed her eyes, still a little drowsy. Apparantly the other's gave her a rude awakening. 

"Oh don't worry. You can sleep as much as you want when were finished." Sunset replied as she put down the scanner near the oscilator. 

"Yawn! Yeah.....I hope..." Applejack sat on a nearby boulder and tried to take a short nap, putting her hat over her eyes. Sunset looked over to see Twilight fiddling with her phone. After seeing her poke at it for a few seconds, Sunset giggled when she realized what she was doing. 
After five minutes of trying to figure out how to operate the phone and failing, Twilight let out a sigh of defeat as she turned to Sunset. 

"Uh....could you........call Rarity for me please?" An embarrased Twilight handed Sunset her phone. 

"HeeHee! Sure." Sunset grabbed her phone from her and proceeded to call Rarity, handing the phone back to Twilight once the phone started ringing. Twilight put the phone to her ear, waiting for Rarity to respond.

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were scouting the perimeter looking for anything suspicious. Rarity was examining some shiny stones she saw on the ground, Fluttershy was quietly observing the animals, and Pinkie was pondering the secrets of the universe. (It's Pinkie don't question it.)
Rarity eventually decided that there was nothing here and that they should move on. They already checked most of the perimeter, so they didn't have much more to look for.
"Hey there. We should move on. There's nothing her" Rarity said to Fluttershy in a gentle, motherly tone. Fluttershy looked over to Rarity, sad that she had to stop playing with the animals. 

"Aw....can I have can five more minutes?" Fluttershy complained innocently. Rarity smiled, endeared be Fluttershy's innocenence and absolute adorableness. 

"Oh Alright then. Don't get too dirty though." Rarity told her gently, noticing that her skirt was slightly dirty. Fluttershy noticed this and quickly brushed the dirt off her skirt, slightly embarrased. Rarity stood and went over to Pinkie, to check on her. 
Rarity saw Pinkie was sitting on a fallen tree. However she noticed something off with her. It was her hair. 
It wasn't puffy like it was before. Instead it was long and straight. 
Also she heard Pinkie mumbling to herself. She couldn't make out what she was saying, but it made her concerned regardless. 

"Pinkie?" Rarity spoke to her. As she got closer, she could slightly make out what she was saying. 

"Worthless.....Worthless. Can't do anything right. Worthless....Worthless.....Can't do anything right." She heard Pinkie mutter under her breath. This made Rarity even more worried for her. 
"Pinkie! Are you alright darling!?" Rarity went over and shook her on the shoulder gently. This cued no response from her. Rarity began to panic slightly at Pinkie's state. 

"Pinkie!.....Pinkie Pie! Speak to me!!" Rarity shouted, desparately trying to get through to her. 

"Yeah?" Suddenly, Pinkie's hair instantly reverted back to it's puffy state, as she greeted Rarity in her typical cheery voice. 

"Huh?" Rarity's panic instantly dissipated and was replaced genunine confusion. 

"P-P-Pinkie? Are......you alright darling?" Rarity said, bewildered at Pinkie's behavior. 

"Alright? People always say alright. If there's an alright, does that mean there is an alwrong? Or alleft?" Pinkie pondered to herself. Rarity wanted to question her further, but then she heard her cell phone buzzing in her pocket prompting her to take it out to see who it was. After seeing that it was Twilight she quickly answered it. 

"Hello? Twilight Darling?" Rarity answered.

"Hi Rarity. Did you find anything?" Twilight asked. Rarity looked around to see if there was anything they missed, but she didn't see anything that stood out. 

"Well....I'm afraid not." Rarity replied

"What about Pinkie and Fluttershy? Did they find anything?"  Twilight asked further. 
Rarity looked over to see Fluttershy still interacting with the animals and Pinkie still being Pinkie. 

"No. Sorry darling." Rarity reported. 

Twilight sighed, disappointed from not being able to find anything. The most that she found today were some odd energy readings, which she assumed to be leftover energy residue from the emerald, which didn't really explain anything else about it. 

"Hey Sunset, you find anything?" Twilight checked with Sunset, who was still scanning around for odd readings. 
Unfortunately like Twilight, she didn't find anything of interest. 

"Nope. Sorry." Sunset replied. 

"Applejack?" She asked Applejack next. However when she looked over at her, Applejack was fast asleep with her hat over her face. Twilight and Sunset had an annoyed look on their faces in response to Applejack's drowsyness. 
Twilight sighed again in defeat and admitted to herself that she won't find anything here. 

"Why don't you start packing Sunset. Were not finding anything here." Twilight said. 

"Yeah. Your right." Sunset agreed with her, then began to pack up the equipment to carry back to Applejack's truck.
Twilight put the phone to her ear to speak to Rarity again. 

"Why don't you and the others come back Rarity. Were done here." Twilight told her over the phone. 

"Alright then." Rarity said and proceeded to hang up. 

Twilight hung up and went to return the phone to Sunset, who proceeded to take it and turn it off. Twilight then proceeded to help Sunset carry the rest of the equipment back to Applejack's truck.
Twilight however was having trouble carrying some of the equipment up the steep incline of the crater.

"Hrrg! Gasp Pant Pant Hey Sunset. Can you wake Applejack up and help us. This stuff is heavier then I thought." Twilight wiped some sweat off her forehead after straining herself too hard trying to lift the ocsilator. Sunset looked back at the bottom of the crater to see Applejack still napping. She let out a frustrated sigh, and marched back down the crater where Applejack was still snooring.

"Hey! Lone snoozer. Stop slacking off and give us a hand." She proceed to clap her hands right in front of Applejack's face. 
"Huh! What!? Where? Who? Wh-! What?!" Applejack spazzed out from the sudden rude awakening. But she stood up right in Sunset's face, not happy at Sunset for disturbing her sleep.
"Ey! What's the big idea!? I was sleepin'!" Applejack angrily yelled at Sunset. 

"Can it! Will you help us out already?Were heading out" Sunset argued back, ghesturing to the equipment that was still at the bottom of the crater. 

"Oh....were leavin'?" Applejack asked, looking over at where Sunset was pointing to. "Geez. You didn't have to do me like that." She protested at Sunset's callousness. Sunset didn't say anything and turned and started walking back up the crater. 
Applejack rolled her eyes as she got up to go get the rest of the equipment. 
Twilight looked at Sunset as she walked up the crater with a confused stare, concerned and put off by her callous treatment of Applejack just now. 

"Why did you talk like that? You didn't have to be so mean." Twilight confronted Susnet as she passed by. 
Sunset paused. She genuinely didn't know why she acted that way, as if the words just fell out of her mouth. 

"I'm sorry Twilight. I.....don't know why I said that." She apologized to Twilight. However she glanced away in shame as she realized why she did it. 

"You okay?" Twilight asked, her worry increasing evermore. 

"Let's go" Sunset changed the subject as she continued up the side of the crater up towards Applejack's truck. Twilight looked at Sunset with increased concern, wondering what was the reason for her behavior.

"She gunna be alrigh'?" Applejack asked carrying some equipment, also wondering why Sunset acted the way she did. Twilight sighed, hoping that Sunset was okay.
Sunset was unbearably angry with herself. For she knew what it was that made her do that. 

"Dammit!!" Sunset held her head in anguish. "Get out of my head! Ð̷̯̥͍̻̗̳̺̻͍̤̝͐̈͗̓̀͋̀͐̂̊̚È̵͓̮̗̘͎̝͔̣̲̬̓͛̉̎͋̆̿͑̅̚͠ͅM̸̖̜͙̯̜͔̙̞̘̜͒̊̈́͒͆͋̐́͋͌͘͜Ǫ̶̧̛͈̩̖̤̫͔̹̈̄̅̐̅́̄̽͆͜͝ͅñ̵̡̛̠͈͈̹̫͓̟̠̯̪͑̑̊̈́͒͆̉̈́͆!"


10:00 am


Sonic was slowly walking back to the apartment complex. He was still tired, his heart still pumping hard though not as rigorously as it was an hour ago and his lungs still felt deflated. But his spirit, for some reason, was renewed. He hated to admit it, but Rainbow Dash's talk with him broke him out of his depressive stupor. 
His mind right now was set on one thing. Rebuilding this human form of his to be fast enough to beat Dash. 

"It's going to be hard. But I've been in worse positions. Soon, I'll be leaving Dash in the Dust!" Sonic motivated himself to train hard. But first, he had to talk to Shadow first.

At the apartment complex Shadow was sitting on the couch, waiting for Sonic to come back. He was also thinking of what to say to Sonic when he comes back. Part of him wanted to lecture Sonic for being reckless and juvinelle again. But he knew that lecturing him would be redundant and would probably make things worse. Granted thinking of something to say to him that wasn't a lecture was hard. 
"Sigh Why do I feel like a single mother?" Shadow sighed at his current situation. Then he hears the door open. He looks over and gasps slightly when he see's Sonic standing in the doorway. 

"Hey." Sonic greeted him. Shadow was both relieved and confused. Relieved that Sonic was back and not causing trouble outside, but confused for he didn't seem angry. 

"Uh......hey." Shadow greeted back. He stood up and walked over to him. 
"So. Um......how you feeling?" Shadow honestly didn't know why he asked him that for the words just fell out of his mouth. 

"Heh, that's new. Don't tell me you've gone soft." Sonic snarked at him. Shadow double taked as he realized what he said.

"Pfft. Yeah right." Shadow went back to his usual callous self breifly.
Sonic let out a sigh, for what he was about to tell Shadow wasn't going to be easy for him. 

"Look......I know that were stuck here, and we don't have many options. Doesn't mean I have to like any of it." Sonic explained to Shadow. Shadow kept quiet, listening to what he had to say. 
"But, I've realized that whining about it isn't gonna do anything. So, guess I have no choice but to go along with your plan." Sonic admitted. 
Shadow thought to himself for a few seconds. While he was genuinely surprised at Sonic's supposed change of heart, he wondered what caused it in the first place, not to mention will if he keep this attitude.

"What caused you to come to that conclusion?" Shadow asked, crossing his arms inqusitively.

"Pfft! I'm not going sentimental you know!" Sonic spat back.
Shadow just rolled his eyes at his comment. "I guess he hasn't changed much."

"But.......Sigh" Sonic paused, knowing that what he was going to say next was going to be hard. ".....without my powers......I'm just an ordinary guy." 

Shadow almost double taked at Sonic's statement. Was Sonic seriously showing humility? He expressed some slight difficulty believing it. 

"So.......I'll go along with what you say from now on." Sonic finished. A slight smirk form on Shadow's face. He had no idea what got into Sonic's head to make him say those thing, but for what it's worth, he'll take it. 

"Good. And you know. Maybe I can loosen up as well." Shadow replied to him. Sonic raised an eyebrow at his reply. 

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked. 

"Sigh Nevermind. But you're right about one thing. We need to get this done as soon as possible. So I say, let's focus on getting our powers back. However that works." 
This cued a smile from Sonic.

"I like to sound of that." Sonic agreed. "Let's shake on it?" Sonic offered his hand. 

"Hmph. I don't know what or who made you change your mind. But hey, I'll take it. " Shadow thought to himself, rather pleased with Sonic's change in character. 
"Yeah." Shadow shook Sonic's hand. Judging by his grip, he noticed Sonic felt weaker than usual. It caused a hint of concern in the back of his mind, but he figured that he was just tired. 

As the two mobian's shook hands, they both felt their camraderie slowly reforming. They still had dissagreement and disputes with each other, but they are learning to see past those problems and become better compainions. 
Meanwhile over in the corner, Silver, who had just woken up, was observing their conversation.
He had been secretly listening to their conversations while he was sleeping, and he was seriously worried that it would end up with the team splitting up. 
However, he let out a sigh of relief, when he listened to them reconcile. 

"Let's stick together from now on, my big bros." 

To be Continued
> Episode 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday 12:00 pm

The Mane 7 were gathered at Rarity's house. After failing to find anything significant at the crater where they found the emerald,  Twilight and Sunset, who both had labcoats on,  were running some experiments on the mysterious glowing yellow emerald they have in Rarity's garage. The others were off doing their own thing. Rarity and Fluttershy were making some snacks for the group, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were sparring in the backyard, and Pinkie was just playing videogames. (Griffon Ball D Ultimaniax Edition to be precise)

"Okay Sunset, is the emerald properly secure?" Twilight asked as she turned a few nobs on the scopes and ocsilators that were wired to a metal holding apparatus. 

"Putting it in right now." Sunset carefully lowered the emerald into the apparatus in insulated gloves to protect her hands. The emerald slid gently out of her gloves and into the apparatus with a slight metallic ring. Sunset the rushed back behind a couple of glass panels they had set up to protect against any "projectiles' that might shoot out. 
"Okay, you ready?" She asked Twilight. 

"Yep. Would you do the honor of pulling the switch?" She ghestured to a power switch which was connected to a generator, which they borrowed from Applejack, which routed power through the wires to the apparatus. Sunset became somewhat hesitant to pull it, for she didn't know what would happen. 

"You sure this is safe Twilight?" Sunset asked her. "I mean you remember what happened to Dash when she touched it right?" 
Twilight's mind went back to when she first showed the emerald to the group. When Dash proceeded to touch it, it blew her back into Pinkie's drum set. 

"Uh....yeah. Heh heh." Twilight chuckled nervously. "Well that's why we got these fiberglass panels right?”  She gestures to the transparent  fiberglass panels in front of them to protect them from any sparks or flames that might come from this experiment.

“Sigh yeah, at the expense of my wallet.” Sunset said disappointingly as she pulled open her wallet, which showed nothing but a dark empty hole. “ I really wanted that new skirt.”
Twilight felt slightly guilty at Sunset’s misfortunes caused by her curiosity for this emerald.

“Oh I’m sorry. I’ll promise I’ll make it up to you later.” Twilight apologized to her. 

“Oh don’t worry about it! This is more important than some skirt.” Sunset replied cheerfully, being 100% on Twilight’s side. 
Twilight gave her a heartfelt smile.

“Hee hee! Thanks.” Twilight thanked her.

With that, Twilight turned on the generator, which made a blaring mechanical whirring. 

“Alright! We ready?” Sunset prepared to pull the switch. 

“Oh hold on! Would you go start the camera please?!” Twilight asked Sunset, for she still didn’t know how a camcorder worked.

“ Wait were recording this?” Sunset asked as she went over to set up the camera on the tripod, but confused as to why they were recording at all.

“Of course! Good scientists always record their findings!” Twilight said excitedly. She was starting to get somewhat impatient on the inside, for she couldn’t wait to try this next experiment.

“Okay okay heh heh” Sunset chuckled, admiring Twilight’s enthusiasm. She proceeded to set up the camera and turn it on. 
“Alright, we are rolling Twilight.” She said as she rushed over to the table and put on her safety goggles.

“Okay!” Twilight said excitedly as she put on her goggles and went up to the camera. “Hello!? This thing is on right?” Twilight reconfirmed with Sunset.

“Yeah!” Sunset replied.

“Okay. So this is experiment number one. We are testing to see how this mysterious emerald reacts to a minimum of 100 watts of electricity. If everything goes well we will steadily increase the wattage until the reaction becomes too volatile.” Twilight spoke into the camera. Twilight then turned and grabbed her clipboard off the table to write down what happened. 

“You ready?” Sunset said as she put her hand on the switch. 

“Let’s do it!” Twilight gave her the confirmation. Sunset the pulled the switch and set the oscillator to 50 watts allowing the electricity to flow into the metal apparatus. 
After approximately 10 seconds of nothing seemingly happening, the emerald began popping sparks off its surface as the electricity began violently reacting with its energy. 

“Whoa!” Sunset exclaimed. She grew more and more scared of what was going to happen, so she kept her hand near the switch to kill the power should the worst happen.
Twilight was also wary of the resulting reaction with the emerald, but she quickly wrote down what was happening on her clipboard. 

“Doesn’t look too bad so far.” Sunset commented “Should we move on to the next step?”  She suggested. 
Twilight observed the emerald as it continued sparking. Their metal holding apparatus seemed to be staying together and the sparks, while loud, just dissipated soon after.

“Alright let’s increase the wattage.” Twilight told Sunset. 

“Right.” Sunset replied.

Outside, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were engaged in some friendly sparring. 

“Hah! Too slow!” Dash mocked her as she swiftly dodged Applejack’s straights. She then ducked under a backhand strike from her then spun around a delivered a backhand strike of her own, which struck Applejack on the side of the head.

“Hee Hee Hee!” Dash giggled arrogantly as the back of her fist dug into Applejacks cheek. But her cocky demeanor faded almost instantly when AJ show no signs of pain.

“Hmph! Too weak!” Applejack then knocked away Dash’s fist. Dash tried to retaliate with another strike with her other fist. But AJ just caught her fist and threw a punch of her own. But Dash predicted her attack and caught AJ’s fist, she grunted a little as her hand trembled in pain from the force of AJ’s punch.

With their fists interlocked with each other, Dash tried to break away but Applejack’s grip was too strong as she squeezed Dash’s fist in her hand.

“Hey hey hey! Ow ow! Watch it!” Dash yelled as Applejack squeezed her fist harder and harder.

“Hey Dash! Ya ever been to a rodeo?!” Applejack smirked as she held Dash from breaking away.

“What!?”

“Well let me show ya!!” Applejack then swiftly grabbed Dash’s boot and then swung upwards, causing Dash to be tossed up in the air.

“W-WHOA!!!” Dashed yelled as her body went completely horizontal. Then Applejack grabbed her by her boot again in midair and began spinning Dash around and around at increasing speed.

“WAAAAHHH! AJ!!!” Dash screamed as she got dizzier and dizzier and her eyes began spinning in her head. 

“Go long little doggy!!” Applejack then let go of Dash, causing her to fly towards the house as she spun uncontrollably through the air.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!!!” Dash yelled as she spun head over heels through the air.
“Oof! Ow! Doh!” Dash hit the ground and tumbled towards the house until she hit her head against the house wall. Dash’s head swayed as she was discombobulated from hitting her head.

“Ow geez! I don’t wanna know what a real rodeo is like.” Dash rubbed the back of her aching head.

“Oh that wasn’t even one tenth of a rodeo partner.” Applejack stood over Dash and offered her a hand.

“Hmph! I don’t need your help.” Dash denied Applejacks offer of help and got to her feet, though she had some slight difficulty getting up due to her dizziness.

“Really? Your pride’s that sensitive?” Applejack half joked. 

“Oh shut up!” Dash lightly punched AJ’s shoulder in protest. Applejack just rolled her eyes.  But before they could go back to training, they stopped when they heard the loud popping sound coming from Rarity’s garage.

“Ho boy, I wonder what they’re doing in there now.” Applejack said, concerned over what was going on in the garage.

“I.....assume that’s not what a rodeo sounds like. Right AJ?” Dash fearfully asked her.

“Nope” Applejack replied.

Back in the garage, the sparking from the emerald has grown more intense and their metal holding apparatus began glowing red hot like a stove top element as Sunset turned the dial on the oscillator. 

“We are at 100 watts now Twilight! Do we keep going?!” Sunset yelled over the loud sparking sounds. Twilight quickly finished writing down her findings.

“Yes. Slowly” Twilight gave the okay to increase the wattage. Sunset nodded and began slowly turning the dail further. The sparking from the emerald became louder and bigger and more frequent. The flashing from the sparking was so bright that it caused the two girls to avert their eyes.

“This is getting intense!!” Sunset said over the loud sparking

“Let’s keep going! It’s not too dangerous yet!” Twilight replied as the flashing made her eyes hurt. Sunset, despite dreading the climax of this experiment, followed her command and kept increasing the wattage.

“We’re at 200 watts now!” Sunset relayed the wattage again. Twilight began writing down her findings again, but then she suddenly heard a knock at the door behind them.

“Twilight! What the devil is going on in there! It sounds like a war zone!” Rarity said from the behind the door. Twilight and Sunset frantically exchanged glances as they tried to decide what to tell her.

“Uhhhh.....Everything’s okay Rarity!” Twilight went over to the door to speak to Rarity. 
However Rarity didn’t buy it.

“It doesn’t sound like it darling. You mind if I come in?” Rarity opened the door, but it was forced shut by Twilight, preventing her from coming in.

“Trust me! Everything is under control!” Twilight reassured her nervously. 

“Twilight look!!” Sunset called to Twilight. Twilight looked back at the emerald to see that the sparking had slowed, but now there were fist sized geometric clusters of energy now fragmenting off the surface of the emerald, floating away like little bubbles.

“Wow amazing!!” Twilight said, mesmerized by the sight. Sunset also stared in awe at the sight. “It’s like the electrical energy is being contained in those bubbles” Twilight hypothesized, noticing that electricity was clustering inside the geometric shaped bubbles.
However before they could go any further, the clusters burst, causing a small electrical blast, causing electricity to arc in every direction.

“Oh crap!!” Sunset exclaimed as the electrical arcs impacted the fiberglass causing it to melt partially and the force of the blast nearly knocked over their barricade.
“Screw this! I’m killing the power.” Sunset frantically pulled the switch to kill the power. However, it did not stop the energy clusters from forming, in fact the blasts seemed to be getting bigger and more powerful!

“What are you doing!? Turn it off!” Twilight yelled to Sunset, confused the as to why it was not stoping. Sunset repeatedly flipped the switch on and off to try and get a different reaction, but to no avail.

“It’s no use! The reaction is self sustaining!” Sunset yelled back. The blasts began causing damage to the garage, and their barricade was almost completely melted. Then one blast knocked over their table with all their instruments.

“Oh no! Ah! Ow!” Twilight exclaimed as she was knocked over by the falling table, which pinned her the ground.

“Twilight!” Sunset immediately rushed over to Twilight, ducking under an electrical arc that nearly struck her head. 
“Hold on!” Sunset lifted the table off Twilight and began helping her up. As Twilight got up, she saw the metal holding apparatus shake violently and was starting to crack. Twilight anticipated that it was going to explode at this rate.

“Sunset! Watch out!” Twilight quickly warned her. Sunset looked over to see the Apparatus on the verge of exploding. The metal holding the emerald cracked and twisted from the immense heat, until it finally exploded into dozens of pieces of shrapnel.  
Twilight fearfully braced herself, but then she felt Sunset grasp her body against hers, shielding her. Shrapnel flew in all directions. One piece flew out the window at Dash and Applejack.

“Whoa what the-!” Dash narrowly ducked under the piece of shrapnel that flew out from the window and lodged itself in a tree. 

Another piece impaled itself in the garage door nearly hitting Rarity on the other side. 
“Oh goodness!!” Rarity cried out as she fell backwards on her behind.

After the explosion, the blasts finally dissipated. Twilight opened her eyes to see Sunset who was still holding her close. Then she gasped in horror as she realized that Sunset might be terribly hurt.

“Oh no! Sunset!” Twilight cried out. Sunset was wincing with pain, but then she opened her eyes.

“Pant pant I’m okay. Are you?” She asked, more concerned for Twilights safety than her own. Sunset helped Twilight back on her feet.

“Yeah. I.........think so.” Twilight replied, checking if her body was harmed in any way. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be harmed other than her arm being sore from falling to the ground.
The two then looked at the results of their experiment. Their equipment was strewn all over the floor in front of them, their fiberglass barrier was melted, there were various burn marks all over the walls, and in the center of the garage was twisted remains of the table that the emerald sat on, with the emerald sitting in the center which had finally stabilized.

“Man what a mess.” Sunset commented. 

“How are we going to explain this to Rarity?” Twilight feared Rarity’s reaction when she would eventually see this.

“Alright! That does it! I’m coming in!” Rarity burst into the garage, not pleased in the slightest. Then her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw the mess they had caused. Sunset and Twilight chuckled nervously, knowing that they were in for a huge lecture.

“What a surprise. I let you two mad scientists use my garage and I left you alone. Well Rarity what did we learn today?” Rarity said to herself  in a deadpan tone. Twilight and Sunset were surprised and somewhat relieved that Rarity wasn’t too angry at them. Unfortunately a twilight still felt bad that they ruined her garage.

“Uh....sorry about your garage Rarity.” Twilight apologized to Rarity. 

“Hmph! You can apologize by cleaning up this mess. NOW!!” Rarity suddenly raised her voice at them before she stormed out, slamming the door behind her. 

“Whoa coming through Rarity!” They heard Dash behind the door, who proceeded to burst in with one of Pinkie’s donuts in her hand.

“Okay! Just what the hell is going on here!? What did I miss!?” She blurted out loudly. She took a bite out of her rainbow sprinkled donut. 
“W-Cough! Cough! WHOA!!!” Dash exclaimed at the mess in the garage, nearly choking on her donut. Applejack then poked her head in and had the same expression Dash had.
“Whoa nilley!” Applejack exclaimed. 

“Yyyyeah. Rarity wasn’t happy.” Twilight chuckled nervously.

“I bet. You should’ve seen Rarity’s face!” Dash snickered. Fluttershy and Pinkie were the next ones to poke their heads into the garage.

“Oh goodness!” Fluttershy meekly expressed her shock at the state of Rarities garage.

“Hey Dash! Wanna play me in Griffon Ball D?” Pinkie burst in past Fluttershy. Dash or the others didn’t answer for they were paying more attention to the mess in the garage. Pinkie’s attention finally went to the garage.
“Whoa!.....Looks like an episode of Griffonball in here.” 

“So.....is this experiment a success or failure Twilight?” Sunset asked her. Twilight thought for a moment, looking the mess and thinking about the actual results.

“It’s hard to say. I didn’t take any notes when the reaction started getting chaotic”  Twilight commented, as she picked up her clipboard and looked at the notes that she managed to take. 
“But at least we got the footage. Right?” She turned to the video camera, but her heart sank when she saw that the camera had been knocked over cracking the lens. 
“Sigh Never mind. This experiment’s a failure. I think we should stop for now.” Twilight said disappointingly.

“Yeah. And I think we should start cleaning up this mess.” Sunset added, looking at the work that they had to do. Twilight let out a tired sigh.

“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Twilight replied. “Can you girls help us out?” 
Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all agreed unanimously to help out. Applejack and Dash retrieved some brooms and dust pans from the cabinet and they all started to get to work cleaning the garage.

As Sunset was picking up the equipment that was on the floor, however she winced with pain as the shrapnel lodged in her back stung. 
“Ah!” Sunset fell to her knees as she yelled out in pain. Applejack noticed Sunset collapse to the ground.

“Sunset. You alright?” AJ asked, her concern growing.

“Pant Yeah. Just slipped that’s all.” Sunset assured her that she was fine. Applejack smiled back, glad that her friend was okay and went back to cleaning.
Sunset could feel the pain in her back decrease gradually as the wounds in her back rapidly healed, pushing out the pieces of shrapnel that were embedded in her skin. She felt the shrapnel slide down her back and fall onto the floor with a light metallic sound.

While Sunset was glad that she was alive, she knew what healed her, and it disgusted her.

“I did not ask for your help! Get out of my head!” Sunset yelled to the entity inside her.

“Hmph! Your welcome.”



1:30 pm

"So um.....what are you going to do exactly?" Silver asked as he walked with Sonic down the stairs of their apartment complex. 

"I don't have my powers. So I don't have my usual stamina. I don't have my stamina. So I can't run as fast." Sonic explained to him. Silver raised an eyebrow, unable to follow Sonic at all. 

"Ummmm.......okay? What do you mean?" Silver asked him to elaborate further. Sonic rolled his eyes at Silver's inabillity to understand his thought process. 

"But Dash must've built up all that stamina through years and years of training. So I'm gonna do the same!" Sonic elaborated further, but Silver still didn't buy his explanaiton. 

"Wait. I thought you didn't want to stay here long. Are you saying you're gonna train for....." Silver tried to estimate how many years it would take for Sonic to become faster than Dash in his head. "......10 years!?"

"I'm not finished! I'm gonna do the same, only 100 times faster!" Sonic pumped his fist. 

"Oookay....How are you going to do that exactly?" Silver asked. The two reached the bottom floor and headed outside. 

"Simple. I just do the same training I do back home." Sonic explained. 

"Which is....?" Silver asked. 

"Oh......throwing myself down a hill, jumping over chasm's, and climbing up a mountain." Sonic casually listed off his insane training regiment. Silver doubletaked in absolute bafflement. 

"Whoa whoa! Okay! I think you should start smaller Sonic. I don't want you to go killing yourself." Silver expressed his dissaproval at his plan. Sonic once again rolled his eyes at Silver's low expectations. 

"Come on! If I'm gonna beat Dash at my best, I have to push this new body to it's absolute limits! I can't do that if I don't do the right training." Sonic refuted Silver. They both walked outside into the parking lot. 

"Well....I doubt you can do any of those thing as you are now, without hurting yourself that is." Silver explained again. But Sonic wasn't going to back down anytime soon. 

"Pfft. Please. If I do get hurt. I'll always bounce back." Sonic began his usual routine of stretches. Silver let out a sigh, knowing that he wasn't going to get through to him any time soon. 

"Well.....good luck. Don't hurt yourself." Silver said reluctantly. 

"You know one thing that I've learned here is that if you want to get stronger really fast, you gotta hurt yourself a little." Sonic stated, recalling the time he lost his footing and fell face first onto the ground in his race with Dash. Silver tried to rationalized Sonic's thought process in his head, but even taking his match with Dash into account, he couldn't exactly make sense of it, leaving him scratching his head in confusion.

"Welp! See you around little bro!" Sonic bade Silver farewell as he broke out into a brisk sprint towards the hills. 

Silver shook his head in defeat. But he smiled when he knew that Sonic was back to his gung ho, devil may care self. 

"Sigh Little bro huh?" Silver said to himself, wondering if Sonic was going to call him that from now on. Not that he minded. 

"Your welcome to join me if you want!" Sonic called back as he ran off. Looking at his body, Silver also came to the conclusion that he wasn't as strong as he was on mobius. He looked up at Sonic as he ran off into the distance, pondering if he should follow or not. 

2:00 pm

Shadow was walking to the place where they first woke up in this world. He remembered that they landed close to the school, so he made his way there first, occasionally looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him. 

As he made his way through the commercial district of the city, he began to reevaluate his stance on asking for help here. While he knew that they had little in the way of man power, resources, and information, he couldn't bring himself to risk asking for help lest they exposed their secret. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he was actually afraid of not having his powers, like Sonic. 

"Sigh Let's just keep laying low I suppose." He told himself, though he wasn't really looking forward to it. 

Once he reached the school, he retraced his steps to where they first arrived. Going around the side of the school and entering the forest that lay a little ways from there. Almost immediately things started to look familiar. He recalled the tree where Sonic and Silver climbed to escape the strange wolf like creature. 

"Hmm. I must be close." Shadow examined. However before he could move on, he heard a rustle in the bushes nearby. Seconds later the same wolf like creature with bark like skin jumped out of the bushes, growling fiercely as it circled Shadow. 
Shadow remained calm, not backing away from the timberwolf.
But then two more timberwolves jumped out of the bushes, and began circling Shadow. 

Again, Shadow didn't back down, even though there were three of the circling him. 

The continued circling him, growling and snarling viciously at him. Shadow looked closer at one of them and saw some damaged bark on it's head. He smirked arrogantly when he remembered how he kicked it in the side of the head to save Sonic. 
The timberwolves then stopped circling and got ready to pounce, but before they could they stopped when Shadow gave all of them an intense, fierce, and debilitating look. They stopped growling as Shadow started into their souls, paralyzed with fear. After a few seconds, they whimpered as they dissapeared back into the bushes with their tails between the legs. 

"Hmph. I still got it." Shadow said, impressed with himself. 
He made his way throught the forest, pushing aside bushes and branches until he spotted a patch of ground that had a strange symbol burned into the ground. 

"This must've been where Sonic and Silver landed." He remembered landing a little ways off from them. He figured that they were so shocked in their current forms that they didn't see it. 
He knelt down to get a better look at it. He couldn't remembering seeing this symbol anywhere, however his minute chaos sense picked up traces of an unfamiliar energy, one that he has never felt in his life. 

But that being said, it gave him no clues as to where the remaining emeralds were, and this symbol didn't give him anything to go on either. He let out a sigh as he got up and departed. 

"Well, this was a waste of time." Shadow came here to gather clues on where to find the chaos emeralds and he was angry that he didn't find anything.

"I better head home. Those two are probably up to no good." Shadow feared that Sonic was causing trouble back at their apartment. 

He decided to take a different route through the residential district. However as he walked by a particular house, he felt his chaos senses alert him to a source of energy to his right. 

"Why would my chaos senses be going off now? " Shadow questioned his own chaos sense. It wasn't like his senses to go off randomly. Not to mention the energy he was sensing felt powerful and familiar. Almost like a chaos emerald. 

"It couldn't be....?" Shadow said aloud, but before he could speak any further he heard the garage door open. He heard the voices of seven girls behind the door. 

"Welp see ya later girls!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. 

"Yep. Smell ya later!" Rainbow Dash snarkily said. 

"Shoot!" Shadow quickly ducked behind a nearby bush to hide. He observed them as they said goodbye to each other. 
As soon as the garage door completely opened, he immediately recognized them as the girls from the school. He certainly recognized Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. He made sure to remain out of sight as he observed. 

"Hmph! I'll let this go this once. Just let me know when your experiments are going to involve explosions next time." Rarity was still pouty about her garage being messed up. 

"Were sorry! Again." Twilight apologized once more. 

"Ah Don't worry about it. We cleaned up didn't we?" Sunset jeered playfully at them. 

"Yeah. We'll send ya a tip." Applejack joked as she walked to her truck. The rest of the girls walked down the street waving goodbye as they all headed home. 
Shadow poked his head out from behind the bush to take a look. He looked inside the garage, and to his shock he saw the yellow chaos emerald sitting on the table. He dipped back into cover as he weighed his options. 

"So they did have a chaos emerald." Shadow thought. He was under the assumption that they just had a something that resembled a chaos emerald, recalling how he and Silver looked into Twilight's backpack. 
"But if that wasn't the chaos emerald, then......what was that thing in her backpack?" Shadow scratched his chin in deep thought. He remembered how it hurt Silver when he touched it. 

"Does this world have chaos energy as well?" Shadow speculated. Judging by his chaos sense there was a hint of a form of energy in the air, but it was all but unfamiliar to him. However he shifted his focus onto the chaos emerald. 
"Do I go try and snatch it?" Shadow knew that this was an opportunity, and that garage door wasn't going to be open for long. He peeked out from behind the bush to look at who was still there. Sunset, Twilight, Rarity, and Dash were all there. The presence of Sunset didn't give him much confidence in his plan. 
"Sigh No. It's too risky." He looked down at his hand, trying once again to summon his powers, but to no avail. The inconvience of not having his powers began to frustrate him. "I guess I'll just hang back and wait for another opportunity." Shadow decided it wasn't worth the risk. 

"Ahem!" Shadow's train of thought was interrupted when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He tensed up, slowly turned around, and saw Sunset Shimmer standing above him with a very inquisitive look on her face.

"Damn, she's good."


"So....what brings you here?" Sunset asked, Shadow could feel her words ooze suspicion. Shadow got up and dusted himself off. 

"Just going for a walk." Shadow made up an excuse. Sunset raised an eyebrow, not fully buying his excuse. 

"Okay.......what were you doing sitting on the street?" Sunset asked further, coming slightly closer to Shadow, not intending to let him go that easily. 

"I was just taking a rest." Shadow said, not wavering from her inquisitive eyes. Sunset tapped her foot as she thought about Shadow's reason for being here. While it didn't do much to lower her suspicion of him, she knew that she probably shouldn't cause a scene now. She eventually figured that he was innocent enough. 

"Alright." Sunset shrugged as she stepped back from him. Shadow let out a small sigh of relief, but he remained on guard for any more attempts to pry at their secret from her. "So, how are your brother's doing?" She asked. 
Upon remembering that he left Sonic and Silver back at the apartment, he began worrying that they were up to something that might expose them. 

"They're fine. Sonic's doing better.....I guess." Shadow told her. "Um....I have to get going." Shadow didn't want to appear anymore suspicious than he needed to, and he wanted to get home to make sure Sonic and Silver were not causing trouble. With that he turned and walked in the other direction at a quickened pace

"You know.....you don't have to push people away like that." Sunset told him. Shadow grunted as he reluctantly stopped.  "Why are you so intent on avoiding us?" Sunset crossed her arms, wanting to know more about why Shadow was acting the way he was. Shadow let out a frustrated sigh. He turned back towards her, preparing to explain to her. 

"Let's just say...." Shadow paused as he hesitated. Sunset waited for Shadow to speak with anticipation. ".....we don't intend to stay here for long." 

Sunset gasped slightly in surprise. 
"You're leaving? Why?" Sunset asked, growing even more inquisitive. 

"That's none of your business" Shadow said coldly, then he proceeded to continue walking back home. Sunset was again baffled by his coldness. 

"What the-!? Hey wait!" Sunset shouted at him as he walked away. Shadow chose to ignore her and kept walking down the street and not looking back. Sunset gritted her teeth as she became more frustrated with him. 
"You stop! You can't just-" She began to walk after him. 

"Sunset! What's wrong!?" Twilight said behind her, causing her to stop. Twilight looked over and saw Shadow walking down the street. 

"Is that Shadow. What was he doing here?" Twilight asked Sunset, worried that they maybe got into a fight. Sunset took a few seconds to calm down. 

"He said he was going for a walk or something." Sunset told her, walking back over to Twilight. "Then he tells me that they're leaving!" Sunset got increasingly more frustrated about Shadow's stubbornness. 
Twilight thought for a moment about how she would respond to her predicament. She looked back over at Shadow, who was almost out of view, and pondered his situation. While she admitted that Shadow and his brothers were a very peculiar, she thought that maybe Sunset was prying too much into their business. 

Twilight walked over to Sunset and placed a hand on her shoulder. 
"I know you mean well Sunset. But....maybe you should let them be for a while." Twilight explained to her. Sunset raised an eyebrow, confused at her line of reasoning. 

"But....Twilight. They've been acting suspicious ever since they got here. They've got to be hiding something." Sunset replied, still sure that the three new students were up to something. 

"I agree. But have they done anything wrong yet?" Twilight asked her. This caused Sunset to think for a second. 

"No. But......Sigh...you sense the energy coming from them right? It's not Equestrian magic." Sunset elaborated further.  Twilight admitted that the energy that came from the three was unlike anything she sensed. However she still maintained her stance of not prodding them further. 

"Yes.....yes I do. But we shouldn't meddle into their business. For all we know they could just be average people." Twilight explained, much to Sunset's dissapointment. "Not to mention we already have our hands full with this emerald we have, and that.....person...whoever he was that attacked my in the library." Twiight further elaborated. Having heard her explanation, while Sunset didn't like it, she eventually acknowledged that Twilight was most likely right on this matter.

"Sigh Alright. I trust you Twilight. As always." Sunset smiled back at Twilight, confirming her trust. 

"Hee Hee! Thanks!" Twilight giggle happily. 

"Hey Sunset! What's the holdup!? Slowpoke" They both heard Rainbow Dash call from down the street behind them. Sunset rolled her eyes in annoyance. 

"I'll be there in a minute okay! Don't get your spats in a twist." Sunset called back. Twilight giggled again at Sunset's comment. 

"Sigh Well I'm heading back. Don't overwork yourself okay?" Sunset told Twilight.

"Okay. And don't worry. We'll get through this. I'm sure of it." Twilight assured her. Sunset smiled back, thankful that someone like Twilight is her friend and mentor.

"Well. See you later." Sunset bid Twilight goodbye and headed down the street where Rainbow Dash was waiting impatiently. Twilight, feeling tired from cleaning up the mess in Rarity's garage, Twilight decided to go back inside for some rest and relaxation. 

Inside the living room, Spike was playing around with the ring that was in Twilight's bag, letting his dog instincts take over. Twilight walked in to see Spike playing with the ring. 

"Hey Spike, say where's Rarity?" Twilight asked him, looking around for Rarity. Spike was doing fancy tricks with the ring like spinning it around his neck and flipping onto his finger. 

"Oh she's upstairs doing homework I think." Spike replied, still playing with the Ring. Twilight sat down on the couch, pondering what Sunset said to her. She remembers having the same conversation with her a few days ago. While she agreed that Shadow, Sonic, and Silver are an odd bunch, she didn't exactly know how to approach them about it. 
Either they are completely innocent people just trying to live their lives, or they are hiding something and it relates to this chaos emerald, or worse, they have sinister intentions. 

"Sigh For Celestia's sake, I'm the princess of friendship. Shouldn't I try and be friends with them?" Twilight thought outloud. 

"Well....what's stopping you then?" Spike asked, pausing from playing with the ring. Twilight thought hard about that question. 

"It has to be Shadow. He's cold, reclusive, and.......well." Twilight couldn't find another word to describe him. 

"Edgy?" Spike said smugly. Twilight was confused at his choice of words.

"Ed...gy? What does that mean?" Twilight asked him. 

"Oh, it's a word that Sunset and Dash keep throwing around. Don't know what it means though." Spike explained. Though this didn't really please Twilight. 

"Well, you shouldn't going around saying words understand. You might accidentally offend someone." Twilight reprimanded him like a pouty mother. 

"Ok ok geez. Ok mom" Spike complained like a petulant child, and then went back to playing. Twilight grunted slightly at his response.

"I wonder he got that attidute?" She sarcastically thought to herself. She rested her head in her palms, wondering about what she would do next. Then her eye's fell on the ring that Spike was playing with. 

"Spike. That ring." She pointed to the ring he was playing with. 

"Oh this thing. I think I remember you getting it from Sonic, when you first spoke to him." Spike told her after shaking it around in his mouth. At that moment, something clicked in Twilight's mind.

"Spike let me see that." Twilight grabbed a tissue from the side table and knelt down from the couch to grab it. But as soon as she grabbed it Spike snarled vicously and began pulling on it with his mouth. 

"Eh Spike!!" Twilight protested at him. 

"Lego! I nut fineshed!" Spike protested back between growls and snarls, letting his canine instincts take over.

"Spike. You're a dragon, not a dog." Twilight said calmly, still pulling on the ring. Then Spike stopped growling and salivating suddenly when he realized what he was doing.

"Uh....sorry." Spike let go of the ring, embarrased that he was acting like a literal animal. Twilight looked at the ring as she held it in the tissue as to not get Spike's saliva over her hands. Upon thinking a little, she remembered that when she went to pick it up the first time, it shocked her, just like like how the chaos emerald did when she first found it. She began putting the pieces together in her head. 

"Does this ring have something to do with this emerald?" Twilight thought as she began piecing together this mystery. However she gasped slightly when she remembered who she got it from. 
"Don’t tell me......is....Sonic...

5:30 pm

Meanwhile up in the hills outside Canterlot city.

“Um.....Sonic. Are you sure you know what your doing here?” Silver asked him nervously, feeling the cool breeze on his face it only serve to worsen the chills he had at the situation he was in.

“Of course! I did this all the time back home.” Sonic arrogantly bragged. This did not calm Silver’s nerves at all, in fact it began to make him sweat profusely.

“All the time?!” Silver blurted out. He began sweating even more.

“Of course! Come on Silver. Didn’t you come from an apocalyptic timeline? I thought you’d be used to this.” Sonic complained back to him.
Silver admitted to himself that he did have a point, but it still didn’t account for how dangerous the situation they were in.

“Um. Couple differences. One I don’t have my powers, and two, WE ARE UP AT THE TOP OF THE FREAKING HILLS!!!” Silver elaborated, annoyed with Sonic’s ignorance to his current limitations and situation. They both were balancing on a very narrow peak on top of the hills which looked down on canterlot city. They were so high up that the skyscrapers of the industrial district looked like small blocks in the distance.

“Well....you didn’t have to tag along you know.”  Sonic retorted.

“Yeah. Good point” Silver conceded his point. The climb up here already made him sweaty, and the fear and anxiety just from being so high up made his back wet with sweat.
Sonic got ready to run down  the hill.

“Alright! On the count of three were gonna do it!” Sonic stated, getting himself pumped for all the excitement he was going to have. Silver shivered a little, as he was beginning to have second thoughts about all this.

“Uhhh.....hang on...your gonna okay right!? Even without your powers?” Silver asked, growing more and more worried for Sonic.
Sonic looked back giving Silver an inquisitive look. 

“Is that worry I hear from you?” Sonic teased him.

“Well it’s just.....if anything happened to you....Shadow would kill me.” Silver said, his voice shuddering as he imagined the kinds of words that Shadow would have for him.

“Oh pfft. Why should he care if anything happens to me? In fact, I think he’d be happy.” Sonic replied snarking. Silver didn’t say anything, for he was rather put off by Sonic’s response.
“Alright. One...” Sonic readied himself, sliding his left leg back across the dirt. Silver hesitated from saying anything further. He thought that Sonic will back out at the last second.
“..Two.....” Sonic bent his knees as he got ready to leap. Silver grew even more worried. Was Sonic seriously going to attempt to run down a seventy degree incline?

“Three!!!” Sonic then hurled himself off the edge and down the hills. At this point Silver lost it.

“GAAHH!!! YOURE INSANE!!!!!” Silver screamed as he saw Sonic disappear over the edge. Sonic fell at least fifteen meters until he hit the ground running. Already his pace was if he was sprinting as the incline caused his momentum to skyrocket. 

“OoooooOOOOOOHHHH YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH” Sonic shouted with ecstasy and glee as his speed grew and grew. While it was crude, it was the closest thing to being back home in green hill zone.

“Yahoooooo!!!!” Sonic cried out as he ran into the trees and bushes below. Silver watched as he held his breath with dread.

“Oh great. With any lucky he at least will have all his limbs on.” Silver paced back and forth as he thought about what to do next, as well as an explanation to tell Shadow. Then it dawned upon him, Sonic left him up here alone.

“Tch!! Well thanks a lot Sonic! How am I gonna get down from here?!” Silver angrily yelled down the hill to Sonic, even though he knew he couldn’t hear him. He looked down the hill that Sonic just ran down. The sheer height made him dizzy, especially without his ability to levitate. He looked at the place where they climbed up. He debated just climbing back down the way he and Sonic did.
“Ugh. No. That will take forever.” Silver belayed that thought and went back to thinking about how to get down. Then his eyes glanced over at where Sonic jumped off. He looked back down the hills and got chills again. But just before he threw away the idea of going down after Sonic, part of him urged to actually jump off after him out of pride.
“Oh that’s a low blow. I fought off Iblis, yet I’m scared of a little drop.” Silver deprecated himself, his pride getting worse and worse. “Oh Blaze would never let me hear the end of it” Silver forced himself to the edge. He forced his way past the gag reflex when he looked down the edge. 

“Come on Silver. Sonic’s normal like you, so if he can do it you can.” Silver gave himself a pep talk to try and drown out the feeling of terror in his stomach. He took in a deep breath and started inching his way to the edge. He took repeated gasps as he worked up the courage to take the first step.

“Okay.......gulp.....here goes” Silver said meekly. Then he proceeded to slowly lift his left foot over the edge. Then just as he was about to drop down, he turned around at the last second.

“No no no no no no. NO! Screw it Ill just climb down the way we came.” Silver gave into his fear, much to his own disappointment. But just before he was about to walk back, he felt the ground underneath him give way.

“Oh for the love of...” Silver didn’t even move as he just accepted his fate.

“Whoa whoa WHOA!!!!” Silver cried out as he slid off the edge. “AHHHH! OOF! OW!” Silver began rolling down the hill after Sonic, bumping into trees and rocks and the like.

“Yeeeaaahhhhahahaha” Sonic cheered excitedly as the wind blew in his face, trees and bushes rushed by him in a blur as he quickly manuvered in between the trees, rocks and bushes. It was natural to him for he did this at an even faster pace back home. He parkoured over a large Boulder, and slid underneath a fallen tree as he landed, then he proceeded to jump off another cliff dropping down into a steep incline.
As he landed he could feel his heart and lungs strain themselves to keep up with his body, but he didn’t care for he was in his element so he ignored the pain.

“OW! OOF! GAH! WAAAAHHH!” Sonic heard someone tumbling nearby. He looked to his left to see a spinning white ball,  from which the voice was coming from. He immediately assumed that it was Silver.
“AHHHH! SOMEONE HELP ME! I- OW!! OUCH!! DAH!!!" Silver cried out as he crashed into multiple tree's and rocks as he rolled down the hill uncontrolably, at about the same speed that Sonic was running. 

"Hahahahaha!" Sonic laughed heartily at Silver's predicament. "Well look who decided to join the party!" Sonic commented, enjoying Silver tumble down the hill in a cartoonish fashion. Silver then bounced against another tree, causing him to tumble towards Sonic. 
Sonic proceeded to smirk in a cocky manner and then as Silver was about to collide into him, he spun around and swept him with his opposite leg, spinning around once more before landing back on his the ground running. This stopped Silver from tumbling and stablized him briefly.

"Whoa whoa whoa WHOA!!" Silver shouted as he landed on his feet. His legs barely had enough to time to start moving as he began sprinting down the hill with Sonic. 

"What's the matter? Can't handle the speed?" Sonic mocked Silver as he struggled to keep his footing, stumbling over small rocks and boulders. 

"Ah! Ah ah WHOA!!" Silver cried out again as he nearly stumbled on some rocks. "Why did I even agree to follow you Sonic!?" Silver angrily questioned himself. This was not his idea of training. 
“Whoa! Uh Sonic! When do we stop!?!” Silver yelled to him as he dodged multiple trees and hopped over a small ravine. 

“Ha! You kidding? We’re not even halfway down!” Sonic yelled back. Silver double takes in astonishment. “Last one to the bottom is a rotten egg!” Sonic leaned forward which increased his speed even more and rapidly pulled ahead of Silver, disappearing down the hill. 

“For god sake! I don’t YoOOUUUAAA!!!” Silver tripped on a fallen log and started tumbling in a ball again, bumping and crashing into trees like a ball in a pinball machine. Sonic continued streaking down the hills dodging and weaving between the trees, rocks and bushes. Occasionally jumping over a ravine or small river. Meanwhile not too far behind him Silver was tumbling down the hill bumping into everything that was in his path.

6:30

Shadow was already home. He had pulled some fliers from the bulletin board downstairs looking at the various job listings. While finding the chaos emeralds was of the utmost importance, they were flat broke. If they were to pay the rent by the end of the next month, at least one of them needed a job. 
He looked over at the chaos emerald that sat on the other side of the coffee table, and let out a harrowed sigh when he realized that there were still six other chaos emeralds in this world, and one was in the hands of Twilight and her friends.

“From what I saw, it looks like they don’t know what it is.” Shadow remembered how he briefly saw the emerald at Twilights house. As much as he wanted to get the emerald back from them, he eventually came to the conclusion that there was just too much risk involved in attempting to get it back. 
“We should try looking for the other emeralds in the meantime. If anything, those girls will keep it safe for us.” Shadow planned mentally. His eyes drifted over to the clock on the wall, and double taked at the time.

“It’s six thirty already? Where are those idiots!?” Shadow snapped. He stood up, exited their apartment and went downstairs to go look for them. As he entered the lobby, he spotted Sandalbark in his office through the reception window. 
“Hey Sandalbark. You see Sonic and Silver come through here?” Shadow quickly asked him.

“Nope. Not that I know of.” The old man replied without even looking at them, continuing to look at his paperwork. Shadow rolled his eyes. “Lotta help you are.” Shadow muttered irritatingly. He stormed outside to look for them. He looked in the direction of town, wondering what trouble they were getting into.
“Ugh. I swear. I can’t take my eyes off those two.” Shadow muttered to himself. He was about to go into town to look for them. However he caught something in the corner of his eye. He turned towards the hills and he saw two tiny specks kicking up dust as they headed down the hill. Shadow looked closer and his jaw dropped when he was able to make out what the specks were.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Shadow said as he confirmed that it was Sonic and Silver running down the hill. (Silver was more tumbling down the hill). He let out an exasperated sigh as he trudged towards the hills to go get them.
“Idiots” Shadow grumbled as he walked towards the hills.

“Pant pant pant  oh yeah! pant pant That’s more like it. Pant pant pant pant” Sonic panted so heavily that he was spitting a little. He felt the exact same sensation that he felt when he raced Dash. His entire body was burning, his heart felt like it was going to explode, his body was drenched with sweat, and he had a few cuts and bruises from bumping into a few trees and rocks.
He could see that he was almost at the bottom. His pace had become sluggish as he fought back against his body’s limits, for he felt that his body could collapse at any moment. 
“Pant pant pant pant Just you wait Dash! Pant pant Next time we race.....I’m gonna..kick you AaaAAA!!!!” Sonic tripped on a rock, lost his balance and began tumbling down the hill.

"GAH! DOH! OW! WOOAAAH!!" Sonic crashed into multiple trees and bushes as he tumbled. He tumbled for five minutes before the ground started leveling out and he started to slow down. He finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill in the middle of a small clearing a little ways from the road. He was covered with dirt and sweat. He was partially unconcious, both from the sheer exhaustion and the blunt trauma of hitting multiple trees and rocks. 

"Sigh I can't leave you two for an hour. Can I?" He heard Shadow's voice as he lied face down in the dirt. Sonic drowsily lifted his head up to see Shadow standing above him, with a dissaproving expression.
"So what the hell are you guys doing?" Shadow scolded him. Sonic struggled to get to his feet, with dirt and grass caked to his face. 

"I'm just training." Sonic replied in an irritated tone, brushing off his clothes. Shadow raised an eyebrow, as he was both annoyed and skeptical of Sonic's definition of 'Training'.

"Sigh I don't think nearly killing yourself is going to get your powers back." Shadow told him. Sonic was too tired to even form a dissapointed expression on his face. Shadow turned around and started walking back the way he came. 
"I don't really care what you two do in your free time, but I suggest you devot more time to finding the chaos emeralds." Shadow said to Sonic and he began walking back home. 
Once again Sonic was too tired to say anything. Just as he was about to follow Shadow, he heard Silver finally tumble down the hill behind him, stopping a few meters behind him. He looked behind him to see Silver face down on the ground like he was a minute earlier. He walked over and knelt down to him to see if he wasn't too injured. Upon a closer look, he saw that Silver was knocked out cold. 

"Well, he's not going to wake up anytime soon, so......" Sonic told himself, as he turned around and picked up Silver, carrying him piggyback style. His already sore arms hurt even more as he carried Silver on his back. But he couldn't just leave Silver overnight in the woods outside. 
As he followed Shadow back home with Silver on his back, he contemplated his end goal with this rigorous training regiment. His mind was focused on one thing, beating Dash. That's all that mattered to him now. To tired to speak or even think, he headed home with Shadow, barely able to stay awake.

9:30 pm

Somewhere in the retail district of Canterlot city, there was a commotion going on at the local arcade. 

"HEY! You cheated and you know it! Get back here!" An angry adult player shouted to a person who was about to exit the arcade. 
The door swung open violently, revealing Scourge in the door frame. He ignored the irate gamer's comments and kept walking. The angry player followed him out into the mall, still shouting at him. 

"Hey asshole! You just gonna ignore me!? You cheated on that last round! Admit it!!" The irate player shouted at Scourge. Scourge stopped walking, and let out an exasperated sigh, knowing he was gonna have to deal with him. 

"You outta watch your mouth you sore loser! It's not my fault you suck balls!" Scourge insulted the player. "Why don't you go back home and play your toddler battle royal games?" He smirked, proud of his roast. This naturally made the person even more angry. 

"Oh you buc- YOU shut your damn mouth! I see you again, I'm going to beat the shit out of you!" The person threatened him. All this did was make Scourge chuckle. 

"Ha! I'd like to see you try. Pussy!" Scourge taunted him again. This was enough to drive the person off the deep end. 

"THATS IT!!!" The person charged at Scourge, his eyes full of rage. Scourge however was not intimitated in the slightest. 

"Pfft! You serious?" Scourge rolled his eyes at the person's pathetic attempt of an attack. The player threw a punch at Scourge as he reached him, only for Scourge to swiftly duck under his punch, grab him by the waist with both arms and then proceed to suplex him into the ground behind him on his head. 

Scourge proceed to get up from the ground, and walked over to the person who he just slammed into the ground. The person was discombobulated and was barely concious from the shock of being slammed on his head.

"Bit of advice." Scourge smugly proclaimed. "If you're gonna pick fights. Don't be a massive wuss!" Then he proceeded to kick the person in the stomach, causing him to cry out in pain. Scourge then proceeded to walk away from the arcade, leaving the person on the ground clutching his stomach. . 

"Dick. It's not my fault you used a low tier character." Scourge thought to himself as he walked back home passing the various shops. It was a 9:30, meaning that most businesses in the mall were closing down for the night. The last few patrons were exiting the stores and returning home, making the mall slightly crowded. Scourge didn't want to be too conspicous, so he took another way around to the exit of the mall. 
To his fortune, the route he was taking had almost nobody around. In fact there were a few stores that were closed down, making the mall seem very empty compared to the main strech of the mall. 

"Attention Canterlot Royal Mall customers. The time is now 9:45 and the mall will be closing in 15 minutes" The intercom announced. After the announcment ended, some of the malls lights turned off. For what ever reason the lights in Scourge's section of the mall all turned off. 

"Sheesh. Damn faulty lighting." Scourge complained. He continued walking along towards the exit. However he suddenly stopped when he felt a chill run down his spine. For whatever reason, he sensed that someone.....or something was behind him. He quickly turned around to the see the shillouette of Shadow behind him, which only served to both confuse and unverve him.

“You........you’re that blue rat's brother aren't you!?" Scourge yelled to him, becoming more and more uneasy as the person's shillouette against the faint light behind him made him appear ever more frightening. But Scourge wasn't going to be easily scared. 

"Grrr! What the hell do you want!? You wanna fight?" He yelled to him again. The person remained silent, continuing to look through Scourge with his obsured eyes. 

"Hmph! Well if you're just gonna be a creep, then I suggest you screw off." Scourge mouthed off at the person, realizing that he was getting nowhere, he turned and continued on his usual path. 

"Tell me......" The person asked in a deep, intimidating voice. Scourge paused, his heart jumped a little at the person's voice. He slowly turned around, and saw the the person was now only within arm's reach of him!
He didn't say anything for he didn't know how to react. 

"......What do you think of this world?" The figured asked him. Scourge at first couldn't get the words to leave his mouth. However he eventually mustered the courage to actually speak. 

"Well......" Scourge looked down at the ground as he formulated what he was going to say. He clenched his fist in anger as he prepared what he was going to say.
"....quite frankly......." An evil grin formed on his face. ".....This world can rot in hell!" Scourge said with every ouce of hatred he could muster. There was a brief silence. 

"Heh heh heh heh. Is that so?" The dark figure let out a devious chuckle. The grin on Scourge's face grew bigger. Finally someone actually gets him!

"Yeah! This world done did me dirty! And to hell with all the people as well!" Scourge angrily vented. But then his grin faded when he realized that he was talking to a completely stranger. Not to mention, why was he asking him this anyways?
"So what's it to you?" Scourge asked skeptically. 

The person turned around, and began walking back the way he came. 
"Heh heh. I'm glad that there someone in this world who.......shares my sentiments." The figure replied. Scourge wasn't really satisfied with his answer.

"HEY! Who are you?" Scourge called out to him.

"Don't worry.......you'll see me again......soon." The figure said. Before Scourge could say anything else, the figure suddenly dissapear in a flash of darkness. The mall was silent. Scourge was slightly shaken from the series of events. He even questioned if what he saw even happened. 

"Hey kid!" A gruff adult voice broke the silence, causing him to jump slightly. He turned to his left to see a security guard with his arms crossed. "Were almost closed. So scadadle out of here would ya?" 

Scourge sneered, for he didn't like being told what to do. 
"Hmph!" He put his hands in his pockets and stormed off. However despite being annoyed by the security guard, he couldn't stop thinking about that person who appeared before him.

"Was that asshole even real?" Scourge questioned again. But one thing was for sure, he definately meant what he said in regards to this world. He continued home, the thought of the mysterious figure lingering in his mind the rest of the way. Meanwhile the dark figure lurked in the shadows, watching him from afar. 

"Hmm......." The dark figure rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "......Perhaps this world can be of some use....."
> Episode 6 Enter the CMC
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday 7:15am

"Yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwn!!! Man. Barely got any sleep last night." Silver complained.

"Same here." Sonic agreed with him, struggling to keep his eyes open. 

"That's what you get when you throw yourself off the top of a hill." Shadow reprimanded him. 

The three mobian otherworlders were standing at the bus stop that was about 100 yards away from their apartment complex. The breeze was chilly and the sky was a pink tinted dark blue.
Sonic and Silver were still rather beaten up from their rigorous training regiment from yesterday. Their arms were still very sore, and they still had a few bruises on their face. 

They had been waiting for the bus for about ten minutes. Already Sonic was getting impatient as he tapped his foot impatiently.

“This is taking forever, I’d rather walk there myself.” Sonic protested drowsily. 

“It took us an hour to walk from the school to here, I doubt you’ll make it in time.” Silver replied in the same drowsily manner. This just cued a tired grunt from Sonic, who was apparently too tired to say anything more. 
Shadow then heard the sound of the bus coming down the street from around the turn in the road. 

“’Bout time” Shadow mutter to himself, just like Sonic and Silver he too was annoyed with having to wait for almost fifteen minutes for the bus. 

Zzzzzzzzz

Shadow heard snoring next to him. He looked back over to Silver to see that he had dozed off to sleep. With the bus about to arrive, he gave Silver a slight nudge to wake him up.

“Snort! Huh!? Wha-!.” Silver spazzed out a little from being awaken suddenly.

“You awake?” Shadow asked him. Silver’s eyelids were still heavy, but he was more or less awake.

“Uhhh.......kinda” Silver replied, still drowsy.

“You want me to pinch you?” Sonic added wryly, despite still being drowsy.

“No thanks. I’m good.” Silver replied as the bus stopped in front of them. The bus door opened revealing the bus driver.

“Canterlot High?” He asked them. The three all nodded in unison. Shadow was the first to step onto the bus. 

"Let's sit in the back. Don't want to attract to much attention." Shadow told the others.

Inside the bus, Sonic noticed that the seats looked increasingly degraded the further back they got, with the front seats looking relatively normal, and the back seats looked more downtrodden with the cheap leather looking cracked, and immature graffiti on the back of the seats.

“Hmm....comfy” Sonic remarked sarcastically. They sat down in the back, just as the bus started moving. Sonic and Silver sat on the left side of the bus, with Sonic sitting next to the window, with Silver sitting near the center. Shadow sat on the other seat across from them. Sonic leaned his drowsy head against the window waiting for the bus to get to Canterlot high, trying to fight the urge to fall asleep. Shadow did the same, only against the opposite window, and he was not at all tired. The composition of Sonic and Shadow looking out the windows away from each other perfect encapsulated the state of their relationship.

As the bus progressed towards the school, the bus stopped to pick up more students who sat in the seats in front of them. While they got a few weird looks from some students, they mostly just kept to themselves.

"Zzzzzzzzzz POP!" The snot bubble coming from Silver's nose burst, awakening him. 

"WAH! wha-!?" Silver exclaimed as he woke up suddenly. "Hey! How long have I been asleep!?" Silver asked frantically. This cued the other students in the front to shoot them wierd looks again.

"Relax. We've only been on the bus for fifteen minutes." Shadow replied. Silver sighed with relief.

"Sheesh. Am I that tired?" Silver said to himself, noting how heavy his eyelids were and how sluggish he felt. "Damn it! I should've never followed Sonic in his stupid training regiment!"
The bus then made another stop. 

"Ugh! Come on already!" Sonic complained impatiently. 

"Shut it..." Shadow said in a deadpan tone. Cuing a bitter grunt from Sonic. Silver looked down the bus, and noticed no one was entering the bus. 

"Hm? Is anyone even entering?" Silver raised an eyebrow. 

"Three! Two!! One!!!" He heard three young female voices chant. Then all of a sudden three girls rushed onto the bus in unison. 

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ARE HERE!!!" The three girls all cheered pumping their fists into the air. Only one of them was was facing the wrong way as the rest of the girls. The bus was silent, with all of the students looking at them awkwardly. 

"Eh? Scoot! You're facing the wrong way!" Sweetie Belle reprimanded her friend. 

"Yeah! Straighten' out would ya?" Applebloom added. 

"Eh!?...." Scootaloo noticed that she messed up their introduction. She proceeded to turn around by making little hops. Once she was facing the right way, she motioned for them to do the chant one more time. 

"Ok. One! Two! Three!" She chanted. 

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ARE HERE!!!" The three chanted once again. But also once again, the bus remained silent. 

"Take a seat will you? Don't wanna keep the bus waiting." The bus driver told them. 

"Awww!" The three complained that their intro didn't impress anybody. They trudged to the back of back of the bus with a sad and disappointed look on their faces.

Scootaloo looked up breifly and saw the three otherworlders at the back of the bus. She raised a suspicous eyebrow, having not seen them before.

"Hey, who're who those guys?" Scootaloo whispered over to Applebloom. Applebloom just shrugged her shoulders.
All the seats in the front and middle were taken so they had to go sit in the back. This wasn't anything new to them, for the bus always picked them up last. 

"Um....say Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo inquired to Sweetie Belle. "Rarity's your sister isn't she? So why don't you go to school with her instead of walking all the way over to the bus stop with us?" Scoot asked.  Sweetie Belle didn't respond at first, and had a solemn and sad look on her face. Scoot and Applebloom looked over at her, their concern for her growing. 

"It's......well.......complicated." Sweetie Belle finally replied. Scoot and Applebloom were rather confused with her answer, still having inquisitive looks on their faces. Sweetie Belle sensed that they were trying to pry into her personal family business. 
"Sigh Look I'd rather not talk about it. Ok?" Sweetie Belle told them to knock off the meddling. 

"Well.....were here if ya ever need to talk, alright." Applebloom put a caring hand on her shoulder. Sweetie Belle couldn't help but smile. 

"Thanks." She thanked the two. 

The two took their seats, opposite the seat Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were sitting. Scoot, who was sitting to the left of Applebloom and Sweetiebelle, couldn't help but be somewhat curious of the three newcomers, as she kept glancing over at them. She didn't know exactly what made her curious about them. Maybe it was their hairstyles? Whatever it was, they gave off a different vibe then the other students on the bus. 
Despite her best to not look like she was eying them, Shadow could tell that she was suspicious of them even without looking. 

"Ugh! Are we really that noticable?" Shadow let out an irritated sigh.
Shortly after they sat down, the bus started moving again. Scoot still couldn't help but be curious about the three new students sitting across from them. Eventually her curiosity boiled over, causing her to turn to Silver and ask him a quesiton. 

"So.....you guys are new huh?" She asked him. Silver was rather hesitant to ask, for he wondered why this random kid was suddenly taking an interest in them. 

"Um......who wants to know?" Silver replied, trying to sound dismissive of her. But Scoot wasn't going to have any of it. 

"Hmph! The Cutie Mark Crusaders! That's who!" She boasted, to the chagrin of Sweetie Belle. 

"Scoot! I.....wouldn't accociate with them just yet." She whispered over to her. 
Scoot was confused, for she didn't see any discernable reason to be suspicious of them. 

"Why not?" Scoot asked her. Sweetie Belle motioned to whisper something to her. Scoot leaned over to hear what she had to say. 

"From what I've heard, the blue haired one picked a fight with Scourge, trashing several lockers in the process." Sweetie Belle relayed. This made Scoots eyes dialate with excitement. 

"Really!? That's awesome!" Scoot cheered, a feeling of satisfaction flowed over her upon hearing that Scourge got some retribution. 

"Shhhhh!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shushed her. 

"What? It is awesome." Scoot retorted back, in a quieter voice. Sweetie Belle let out disappointed sigh at how Scoot didn’t get the bigger picture. 

“Let’s just say, troublesome types attract more trouble.” Sweetie Belle whispered back. Scoot just rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Silver looked over at the three girls, hoping that they weren’t too suspicious of them. He leaned over to Shadow to say something to him.

“Ya think their on to us?” Silver whispered. Shadow let out a quiet grunt, annoyed that so many people had their eyes on them.

“Just keep interaction with them to a minimum. We already got our hands full with those other girls” Shadow relayed back to him.

“Right.” Silver replied. 

Sonic wasn’t really paying attention to his brothers little exchange, for his minds was dreading having to endure yet another day of sitting in class, and possibly getting taunted by Dash.
Letting out a sigh, he just waited until the bus reached Canterlot high.

Location Canterlot High

The bell sounded as students flooded from the busses toward the school. The CMC pushed their way passed the crowds students as  they made their way towards the school’s doors.

“Hrrgg! Ahhhh!” Scoot stretched as she stepped out of the bus. “Not looking forward to trigonometry today.” 

“Why’s that?” Applebloom asked.

“I’m getting the results for the quiz I took on Friday. Suffice to say, I don’t think I did very good” Scoot said with dread. She could envision a giant red letter F looming over her.
Sweetie Belle sigh with annoyance, for she could tell what Scoots problem was.

“You know, if you had actually studied the material you wouldn’t have as much trouble with those quizzes.” Sweetie Belle told Scoot in a slightly condescending tone. Scoot let out an annoyed grunt.

“Well how do you know that didn’t I study for it?” Scoot acused them. Sweetie Belle wasn't impressed with Scoot's rebuttal. 

"Well if the results of the test aren't evidence enough, then explain why you texted me about the latest episode of Griffonball at 11:00 last night?” Sweetie Belle caused her. Scoot fell silent, knowing that she had just been checkmated. Applebloom looked at Scoot with prying eyes, a smug grin growing across her face. Scoot began sweating, desperately trying to find an out.

“Hey squirt! Hows it goin?” 

“WAAH!!” Scoot yelled in surprise as she heard a familiar voice behind her. She looked behind her to see Dash. She let out a sigh of relief for Dash managed to take their attention away from her trigonometry quiz.

“Oh! Hey Dash. Nothin much.” Scoot replied. 

“Say I didn’t see you at P.E. for a few days. What’s with that?” Dash asked her. Scoot was about to speak, but Sweetie Belle spoke first.

“I pulled her aside for some additional studying.” She interjected. “Of course we’ll see the results of that soon, won’t we.”  she leaned towards Scoot with prying eyes. Scoot rolled her eyes as she thought she was free of the looming F grade she was about to receive.

“Heh. Quizzes huh? They suck.” Dash sympathized with Scoot. 

“Tell me about it” Scoot seconded Dash’s sentiment, cuing Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to roll their eyes in annoyance. Then Dash noticed Sonic, Shadow and Silver just as they entered the school. 

"Say, was a certained spikey blue haired dude on the bus with you?" Dash asked her. 

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Scoot replied back. 

"Well, let's just say he and I have a little competition going on." Dash explained to them . 

"Really? Is he gonna try and beat you? Like that'll ever happen" Scoot asked, scoffing at Sonic's attempt to beat Dash.

"Um, Were going to head to class. You can tell us more about later, okay Scoot?" Sweetie Belle said to Dash as she grabbed Scoot by the collar and dragged her to school. 

"Wha-? Hey! Lemme go! I wanna hear the rest of the story!" Scoot protested against Sweetie Belle forcefully dragging her to school. Dash smirked for she was rather amused at how Scoot was being dragged off. 

"Well, I'll tell you about it after school! Okay squirt!?" Dash waved goodbye as she watched Scoot getting dragged off off to school. She giggled a little at Scoot's predicament before going hiking up her backpack and going off to class. 

2:00 pm

It was P.E and the students were already stretching, preparing for the mile long run around the track. Sonic himself felt too cocky to even stretch, for he felt that his training over the weekend had reinvigorated a little bit of his former stamina.

"Sigh You never learn do ya blue boy." A cocky voice next to him said. Much to his annoyance, Dash was once again next to him. 
"I mean seriously you're not even gonna stretch? Lemme guess your gonna sprint all out at the beginning again?" Dash condescendingly told him. 

"Heh, What happened to all those words of encouragement?" He replied sarcastically.  Dash got finished stretching her legs, and then she suddenly got up in Sonic's face with a pouty scowl on her face. 

"Listen here, newbie. If you even think for a second that I'm gonna let up because I told you to try and beat me, I'm gonna make you eat so much dust, you're gonna like how it tastes!" Dash lectured him, further leaning into him, forcing him to lean backwards.
Sonic kept a rather disinterested face. He began to think that he was getting used to Dash being like this. 
"Hmph!" A pouty Dash returned to her starting position. 

"Well, I'm sure everyone else here must love how it tastes." Sonic snarked back at her. Dash didn't even bother responding to his comments. 

Silver, who was next to him, was listening in to their whole exchange. He was tempted to comment, but he just let out a sigh when he realized it wasn't worth it. 

"Ya know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Dash likes your bro." Applejack leaned over to Silver with a wry smile on her face. Silver double taked at her comment. 

"Ha ha ha you're hilarious." Silver fake laughed. The idea actually almost made him laugh. The sound of Coach Armor's whistle suddenly sounded. 

"Okay people, you know what to do!" Coach Armor told the students, cuing them to get into their running positions.

Sonic and Dash exchanged a brief glance, their competitive spirits flashing for a brief second before they both nodded and got into their running positions. 

Meanwhile, Scoot, who was at the other end of the line noticed Sonic and Dash get into their running positions. She still didn't know what Sonic and Dash's bet was, and was still eager to know.

"Okay, 3....." Coach Armor began counting down. 

"Oh shoot!" Scoot forgot she was supposed to run too. 

"2......1"

Sonic and Dash prepared to race once again. After a short pause, Coach Armor blew his whistle cueing both Dash and Sonic to burst ahead of the crowd. Scoot watched as Sonic was matching Dash's pace. She almost couldn't believe that someone could match Dash in terms of speed. However she then realized that in her moment of awe, she forgot to actually start running herself. 

"Oh crap!" Scoot said as she frantically started running, trying to catch up to the crowd. 

5 minutes later

"Pant Pant Pant Dammit!" Sonic swore loudly as he took repeated gasps for breath. Unfortunately, he started to run out of breath on the last lap around the track, causing him to fall behind and come in fourth place. While it certainly wasn't as bad as last time, the fact that he still lost, stung at his pride. He looked over to see Dash celebrating her victory. He rolled his eyes angrily and stormed off towards the school. 

"Uh, Sorry man. Maybe next time?" Silver tried to cheer him up. Sonic said nothing as he sulked towards the school, and threw the school doors open angrily. Silver let out a disappointed sigh, rather frustrated that Sonic was still being a bad sport. 

"Whoa!" A curious Scoot said as she watched Sonic storm off into the school. "Your bro really wants to beat Dash huh?" Scoot asked Silver excitedly. 

"Yeah, Unfortunately." Silver replied sadly.

Scoot ran into the school after Sonic. Luckily he didn't get too far so it wasn't long before Scoot caught up to him. 

"Hey man!" Scoot called to him. Sonic kept walking, not even turning to talk to her. But Scoot wasn't going to let him ignore her that easlily. 

"Hey. I just want to say, you're real cool for wanting to dethrone Dash." Scoot praised him. Sonic was rather surprised at her comment. 

"Heh. Finally some respect around here." Sonic felt his pride get a little better, but still not enough to get rid of the sinking feeling of defeat that still lingered. 

"That so?" Sonic finally responded to her. 

"Yeah! Although I doubt you'll ever do it-" The slight smile on his face immediately faded as the small bit of hope he got was shattered. 

"Geez. Thanks for nothing kid."

"-I can definately respect the drive it takes to try and do something like that." 

"What, you president of Dash's fan club or something?" Sonic snidely commented. 

"Am not!!" Scoot retorted immaturely. 

"Pssh. Yeah sure kid." Sonic snarked back. Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance, for he felt that he souldn't be wasting his time anymore talking with her. 

"Look kid, I appreciate the encouragement but you better not but in on our races alright?" Sonic warned her callously. Scoot felt rather insulted by his response. 

"Hey! I'm not gonna 'Butt' in on anything." Scoot retorted again. "And just because I'm a fan of Dash doesn't mean I-eh!?" Scoot was interrupted when Sonic abruptly turned and started walking away. 
"Wha- HEY!!! Don't freaking ignore me!!" 

"Uh, yeah that's cool kid, I'll smell you later." Sonic snarkily waved off her pouty complaining. Scoot just stood there fuming with childish rage. 

"Hmph! No wonder he and Dash are going at it. They're almost identical!" Scoot commented on Sonic's abrasive personality. 

"Sigh I better go back and talk with Dash, I want her to tell me about the be- Oof!!" Scoot was interrupted again, when she bumped into someone as she turned around. 

"Hey! Watch where youre- uh?" Scoot fell silent as the anger in her stomach was instantly replaced by terror, as she looked up and saw that the person she bumped into was Scourge, who was giving her a utterly terrifying death stare from behind his shades. 

"Oh crap! It....it's him" Scoot paniced as she backed up slowly. 

"The hell's your problem brat?" Scourge spoke in his grizzyly threatening voice. It was enough to make Scoot start shaking. 

"Uhhh......uh....nothing." She said meekly as she continued to back. But she gasped as she felt her back press against the lockers behind her. 

"Doesn't sound like nothin'" He replied dismissively. He began slowly approaching her. Scoot began panicking more as she looked for a way out. But she was too scared to move. 
"You gotta problem with me brat?" Scourge asked her a loaded question. Scoot got the dreaded feeling that she was in for a bad time no matter how she responded. 

"Uh...uh...look I-I-I-I...didn't..." She chuked nervously as she tried to convince him to leave her alone, but she kept studdering. Scourge didn't budge an inch, and proceeded to crack his knuckles. Scoot's heart nearly stopped at the sound of his knuckles cracking. 

"Crap!! Someone.....Please!" Scoot begged for someone to come along and help her. 

"Hey!" As if someone had heard her prayers, a voice called out from her left telling her to stop. 

"What!?" Scourge said as a person came inbetween him and Scoot. Scoot looked up and saw Sonic standing in between  her and Scourge, a wave of relief sweeping over her body. 

"Grrrrr......it's you blue rat!" Scourge spat at him. Sonic kept his cool despite being called 'blue rat', which he hated. 

"I believe I said before, If you want someone to pick on, pick on someone your own size." Sonic stated. Scoot looked up at him, admiration shining in her eyes. 

"Wow! He's so cool!"

Unfortunately, Sonic's words were not enough to scare him off. A crude smirk formed on his face as 
Scourge approached Sonic. 

"And I believe I said, 'mind your own bucking business!'" Scourge replied in kind, anger coursing through every syllable in his voice. 

"Hmph!" Sonic let out a little chuckle. "Then make me....moss head." Sonic taunted him. 
The two had their eyes locked with each other, both of their fighting spirit was eager to burst at any second. Then suddenly the doors to outside opened, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle entering and immediately seeing what was going on. 

"Scoot!!!" They both exclaimed. Sonic and Scourge looked to see them in the doorway. Sonic recognized them from on the bus earlier. 

"Hey what's going on-gasp!" Dash joined the other two and saw Scourge and Sonic staring down each other. 

"Oh great! Just what I need. " Scourge sighed exasperatingly.  He turned back to Sonic, still giving him the stink eye. 
"We'll do this another time." He said spitefully. Then he walked off, his threatening aura still lingering as he walked down the hallway. 

"HEY!!" Dash suddenly yelled out. She began walking after him. "You can't just bully my friends and get away with it!"  She yelled at him down the hallway. "Get back here!-huh?" She was stopped by Sonic who grabbed her arm as she walked past him. 
"Huh? What the hell are you doing!? Why'd you stop me!" Dash yanked her arm out of his hand. 

"Oh don't bother with him. Besides, you heard what he said. He and I still have a score to settle." Sonic explained. Dash raised an eyebrow, confused by what Sonic meant. 
Sonic then got closer to her and gave her a slightly threatening look. 

"So leave fighting him to me." Sonic said. Dash remembered that Applejack gave her a similar look at one point, she immediately interpreted it as, 'Don't but in on our fight. While she definitely wanted to get back at Scourge for picking on Fluttershy, she couldn't help but respect a fight between two men.

"Heh. Whatever I guess." Dash shrugged her shoulders. "But I hope your speed soon matches that confidence of yours." Dash smugly flipped her hair as she walked pass him. 

"Pfft! What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic retorted. She looked back at him giving him that same snark filled look that annoyed him so much. 

"Heh. Because I know mine does Blue boy!" She smugly proclaimed before strutting down the hallway. Sonic was fuming internally, so much that Scoot could feel the heat on her face. 

"Keh! Just wait! You'll be eating my dust before you know it Skittle Hair " Sonic retorted back. He turned around to see Sweetie Belle and Applebloom with innocent eyes. 

"Uhhh....you need something?" He asked them.  

"Oh thank you so much for protecting our little Scoot!" Sweetie Belle thanked him from the bottom of our heat.

"Yea! If ya hadn't come along, who know what would've happened." Applebloom thanked him alongside Sweetie Belle with big innocent eyes.

"Tch! Hey! I don't need protecting!!" Scoot protested angrily at them unintentionally humiliating her. 
Sonic was slightly embarrassed at their immense praise, scratching the back of his head 

"Oh don't say that Scoot!"  Sweetie reprimanded her. "Now come over here and thank him!" She grabbed Scoot by the arm and dragged her over to thank Sonic. 

"Uh...heh heh. Look you don't need to thank me I just-" Sonic tried to prevent them from dragging Scoot into this out of embarrassment.

"Ummm.....eh....Th-Thank you...." An embarrassed and slightly humiliated Scoot thanked him. Sweetie Belle nudged her to continue. Scoot made an irritated face before she continued. 
"....f-for.....uhh...." She continued meekly. 

"Uh Sure cool kiddos. I'll catch you later." Sonic not wanted to deal with the embarrassment anymore decided to just turn tail and leave them. The three were rather offended that he shrugged of their gratitude, especially Sweetie Belle.

"Tch! Hey! Don't just shrug off our show of gratitude. You.....big....blue...uh....oaf!!" Sweetie Belle railed at him, angrily waving her fist at him. Sonic snickered a little at her 'insult' 

"Pfft come on kid. Scourge's roast game is better than yours" Sonic internally commented on her subpar insult  as he walked off. 

"Grrrrrr!!!!" Sweetie fumed as she cluctched her yellow skirt angrily.  "Hmph! I take back what I said. That blue oaf is not worthy of my thanks!" She stamped her foot poutily. Applebloom and Scoot looked at Sweetie Belle with confusion, unsure of whether to agree or to disagree with her. 

4:00 pm

The CMC were walking to the bus stop after school let out. Scoot was looking at her trigonometry exam with extremely depressed eyes, primarily focused on the giant F at the top right corner written in red ink. Sweetie Belle on the other hand was eyeing her own trigonometry exam. A satisfied smile was on her face as she eyed the big A+ on ther exam. 
Applebloom had a rather dissapointed look on her face looking at the B- on her exam. Scoot glanced over at her two friends, a wave of jealousy washed over her as she saw their test scores.

"Pssh! Look at you, with you're A's and B's." Scoot mumbled to herself spitefully. Sweetie Belle unfortunately heard her mumbling and wasn't about to have any of it. 

"Sigh What did I tell you. You don't study, you don't pass." Sweetie Belle said disappointingly. Applebloom took this opportunity to stick her tounge out at Scoot. Sweetie Belle however noticed Applebloom taunting Scoot and wasn't about to have any of that either. 

"And Applebloom! That's the fifth B- in a row!" Belle reprimanded her. Applebloom gave her an annoyed look. 

"Wut er you? Our mom or somethin'" Applebloom complained. 

"Well, I'm just saying. If we are a legitmate group we should all at least have matching grades shouldn't we?" Belle inquired to the two. 

"Screw that! Whoever invented these grades system outa be arrested!" Scoot angrily threw her papers on the ground and began stomping on them. 

"Eh Hey! Don't do that!" Sweetie Belle ordered her to stop. Scoot however ignored her and continued stamping on her paper's in anger.

Meanwhile, Rarity, Twilight, and Sunset had just exited Canterlot high and were on their way home.

"Hrrrg!! Oh man! Today was long!" Sunset stretched her arms and legs. 

"Yawn You can say that again" Twilight agreed as she stretched alongside Sunset. She herself was more tired than usual. She did another long research session for information about the emerald in the library by herself today, despite fearing that the person who attacked her a week ago would appear again. 

"What do you two think about going out to eat? We haven't done that in a while." Rarity suggested. 

"Oh most defiantly!" Spike poked his head out of Twilight's backpack, hearts in his eyes staring at Rarity. Twilight's then felt her stomach growl.  

"Sigh Okay okay..." Twilight lifted Spike out of her backpack. "We did a lot of hard work today. So let's treat ourselves." Twilight said cheerfully. 

"Then it's settled!" Rarity said. 

"Oh say uhh.....isn't that your sister over there Rarity?" Sunset pointed  over to the bus stop. Rarity and Twilight looked over to where Sunset was pointing and they saw the three cutie mark crusaders waiting at the bus stop. 

"Oh! Sweetie Belle!" Rarity called out her sister's name and went over greet her. Twilight and Sunset followed her. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle noticed the three coming over to them. 

"Oh! It's Rainbow Dash's friends!" Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle sneered a little when she saw Rarity. 

"Hey you three! You headed home!?" Twilight asked them.

"Pretty much." Scoot replied. 

"Well, we were about to go out to eat. We were wondering if you would like to come with us." Rarity asked. 

"Oh? Sure why not!" Scoot said excitedly. 

"Yeah!" Applebloom agreed with Scoot. "What about you Sweetie Belle.?" They both turned to Sweetie Belle, who was acting rather nervously. 

"Uhhh......no thanks..." She said. The whole group double taked.

"Huh? Why not?" Scoot asked. Rarity retreated a little, a slight expression of guilt on her face. 

"Ummmm......I.......have homework to do."  Sweetie Belle made an excuse. "So......I'll see you girls later." She proceeded to turn around and walk to the bus stop. Twilight, Rarity, and Sunset sensed that something was wrong with her. 

"Uh...Say Rarity are you and your sister....uh..." Sunset wanted to inquire about their relationship, but hesitated to for fear that she might be insensitve. Rarity let out a sigh, wishing that she didn't have to deal with this in front of her friends. 

"It....it's nothing darling. I'll go talk to her." Rarity told them as she walked over to talk to Sweetie Belle. Twilight, Sunset, Scootaloo, and Applebloom all exchanged a glance with each other as they all wondered if Sweetie Belle was okay, and if Rarity was getting along with her. 

Sweetie Belle tried to ignore Rarity as she walked up to her. Rarity followed her to the bus stop, wanting to at least have a little talk with her little sister. She hesitated before she talked though, for she knew that talks between her and Sweetie Belle usually turn sour. 

"Um....you know, there's such a thing as being too vigilant with your studies Sweetie Belle dear." Rarity said in her most pleasant voice possible. Sweetie Belle didn't look at her as she stopped at the bus stop, scowling as she didn't want to talk to Rarity right now. "So why don't you take a break and have some fun with us." Rarity smiled, hoping that she would reach Sweetie Belle somehow. 

"No thanks." Sweetie Belle said coldly. Rarity felt a wave of saddness creep into her heart. She was ashamed of herself that she wasn't a better older sister in the past. 

"sigh Sweetie Belle, look.....I know back then, I wasn't the best big sister but....." Rarity struggled to find the words to continue. Sweetie Belle's expression slowly went from a scowl to a meloncholic face, for she knew that Rarity was trying to reach her, but unfortunately she couldn't let go of the past that easily. 

"Sigh" Sweetie Belle finally turned to Rarity to talk to her. "Rarity, don't think you can just decide to be a good sister and expect things to be okay between us." She explained calmly. 

"I know, but I can at least try." Rarity replied. 

The other's watched as Rarity and Sweetie Belle talked. Scootaloo and Applebloom's concern for Sweetie Belle continued to grow more and more.

"Uh...ya think that we should go talk to her as well?" Applebloom suggested to the others. Twilight went and put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

"I think this is something Rarity and Sweetie Belle have to figure out." Twilight told her. 

"But!.....Sigh I suppose you're right." Scoot wanted to go talk to Belle, but she ended up agreeing with Twilight, for trying to interfere would probably make things worse. The group saw Rarity and Sweetie Belle walk towards them. 

"Um.....good news everyone." Rarity said to the group. Everyone noticed that Sweetie Belle still looked pretty down. 
"Sweetie Belle has agreed to join us!" Rarity smiled as she gave everyone the news. 

"Oh that's great!" Scootaloo cheered. Twilight, and Sunset were both relieved at the news as well. 

"I knew you would come around Belle!" Applebloom said happilly as she hugged Sweetie Belle.

"Uhh...heh heh. Yeah. Sorry about eariler." Sweetie Belle faked a smile. 

"Stupid Rarity. You just had to go and bring up Scoot and Bloom didn't you. " Sweetie Belle fumed internally for Rarity unintentionally guilt tripping her.

"But Sweetie Belle, even if you don't enjoy being with me, what about your friends!?" She remembered Rarity saying to her. But she didn't want to appear heartless in front of her friends, so she kept her grudge inside. 

"Alrighty then. Where should we go then?" Twilight asked. 

"Wings! Wings! Wings! Please!!" Spike popped out of Twilight backpack again, drooling at the mouth. 

"Spike. You had wings yesterday." Twilight told him. "And you made quite a mess as well." Twilight reprimanded him. 

"Eh. I can't help it." Spike said wiping some drool off his mouth. Sunset was looking on her phone for places to eat. 

"Eh, how about the usual cafe then?" Sunset proposed casually. 

"No problem with that!" Rarity agreed. 

"Eh. Yeah sure I guess." Sweetie Belle replied. 

"Sure!" Applebloom and Scootaloo agreed along with her cheerfully, pumping their fists in the air. With that, the six girls headed out. Sweetie Belle in a way wanted to be happy, even with Rarity around. But unfortunately, her past experience with her sister when she was younger kept her from accepting this happiness. 

"Say Sweetie Belle. Are.....are you happy?" Rarity asked her in a rather uneasy tone. Sweetie Belle didn't know how to respond. She wanted to portray her honest feelings, but she knew that wouldn't make things better.

"Y....yeah....I guess....." Sweetie Belle said, unsure if she meant it or not. 
Rarity smiled. Even if it wasn't much, at least she managed to connect with her little sister in some way. 
Rarity proceeded to take Belle's hand. Belle let out a little gasp of surprise, as her older sister grabbed her hand. 

"I'm glad...." Rarity said to her. Sweetie Belle looked into her sister's eyes, they were filled with compassion, not contempt like she remembered. 
A small but genuine smile appeared on Sweetie Belle's face. She thought that maybe she could get along with her older sister, even after those hard times. 
The two sister's then went to enjoy the rest of the day with their friends, with their hands in each other's grasp. 

Meanwhile a little ways a way, Shadow was spying on them whilst sitting on the steps to the school while pretending to read a book he borrowed from the library. While he knew that he couldn't grab the chaos emerald from them as they are now, he still felt the need to keep an eye on them. Unfortunately, today seemed pretty uneventful apart form learning that Sweetie Belle is related to Rarity.
"Well. This was a waste of time." He said to himself. He stowed the book in his jacket, got up and went back into the school to look for Sonic and Silver.
"Now where are those idiots." Shadow annoyingly referred to them, thinking that Sonic was probably up to no good again. 

"Alright, you ready?!" Silver called out. 

"Ready!" Sonic shouted back. 

"Okay. 3, 2,1.......GO!!!" Silver yelled as he swung his hand down. Sonic immediately burst from the starting line and sprinting around the track. In almost fifteen seconds he was almost half way across the track. 

"Sonic! Slow it down a little, you'll use up all your energy!" Silver called to him from the bleachers. Unfortunately, Sonic didn't hear him and he continued sprinting all the way around. Silver let out a sigh of dissapointment as he slumped back on a seat behind him. In almost thirty seconds he had already finished one lap around the track, with no sign of stopping.  
Silver just sat back as he waited for the inevitable to happen.

As Sonic made halfway around the track for his second lap, that's when the fatigue set in. 
"Pant Pant Pant Pant Dammit! Pant! Not again!" Sonic swore under his breath as his lungs began straining and his heartbeat began skyrocketing. He stumbled over the finish line for his third lap. 
Silver had counted four minutes right now. He had to count in his head for he didn't have a watch or a phone. Sonic had asked him to keep count of his time as he wanted to beat Dash's time of four minutes and thirty seconds. 
Unfortunately by the time he was half way through the third lap he was at four minutes thirty seconds, barely able to sustain a slow jog.  As he went into his final lap, he was at four minutes forty five seconds. Sonic was panting so loud that Silver could hear him from the bleachers. 
"Uh.....I don't think this is working for you." Silver commented. Sonic wanted to snap at him, but he was too tired to even speak. He eventually trapsed across the finish line a fourth time, panting his lungs out and covered head to toe with sweat. 

"Pant Pant Silver! Pant Pant Whats the time!?" Sonic shouted to Silver between deep gasps for air. Silver recounted the time he kept track of in his head. 

"Let's see......." Silver thought for a second. "I'd say......six minutes and ten seconds." Silver relayed to him. Sonic stompped his foot angrily as he heard Silver tell him his time.

"DAMN!" Sonic swore angrily.

"Geez. Don't shoot the messenger man." Silver mumbled under his breath.

"Sonic! Silver! The hell are you doing!?"

"Yeeep!" Silver jumped in his seat, he looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Shadow staring up at him from bottom of the bleachers. 
"Oh Uhh....Sonic asked me time his run. He really seems hellbent on beating Dash." Silver relayed to him. Shadow rolled his eyes in annoyance. 
"Seriously Faker? Were looking for the chaos emeralds and you're obssessed with a petty rivalry?" Shadow glared at Sonic angrily as he caught his breath. But he vented all his anger out with a sigh, as he decided that arguing with him would be a waste of time. He noticed that the sun was going down. 

"Let's head back."  Shadow told them. "Were gonna search the town tonight. If were lucky we might find one. "

"Hmm?" Silver was confused at Shadow's proposed course of action. "But what about the emerald that those girls have?" Silver asked. 

"It's too risky to try and take it from them. So for now, we look for the others. We'll devise a way to get that one back later." Shadow explained to him. Silver thought about his plan for a second.

"Well, to be honest. Wouldn't it be easier to just come clean to them? I mean, admittedly there's something strange about those girls." Silver explained. Shadow let out another dissapointed sigh as he has to explain why this course of action isn't right again. 

"Sonic asked me the same thing. I can't trust the resident's of this place to keep a secret, even if they are strange like us." Shadow replied, not wanting to talk about it. Silver was rather annoyed with Shadow's stubborness, then he remembered that he and Shadow saw a strange artefact fall out of Twilight's backpack.

"B-But what about-" Silver tried arguing back.

"No buts. We stay clear of them. We've associated with them too much already." Shadow interrupted him. "Now let's go." Shadow started walk to the front of the school

"Pant Pant Pant Hey What'd I miss?" Sonic asked as he walked to the bleachers covered in sweat. 

"Sigh Oh Shadow's just being his usual self." Silver snidely told Sonic. 

"Heh. Being an obnoxious buzzkill? Typical" Sonic joked along with him. 

"I heard that!" Shadow yelled at them from across the bleachers. 

"EEEP!" The two jumped in surprise. 

"Eh....let's go." Sonic decided to not waste anymore time and follow Shadow. Silver shortly followed suit. 

6:00 pm

Back in their apartment, the three were sitting around the coffee table in the middle of their small living room. Shadow had placed a map of the city on the table, which he had aquired from downstairs. He was going over the most likely area's where they would find one. He also had a newspaper on the table to look for any abnormal articles containing any hints.

"Alright, so what's our game plan?" Silver asked. Shadow was perusing through the newspaper while checking various points on their map. Sonic on the otherhand was just casually laying back, not looking particularly interested in what they were doing, much to their chagrin. 

"We've checked the school enough, so I say let's check this area." Shadow pointed to the shopping district. Silver looked at where Shadow was pointing.

"The shopping district? What makes you think we'll find one there?"  Silver asked. 

"There's a chance that the merchants there probably found one of them and are trying to sell it. It's just a hunch, but without my chaos sense fully active it's the best we've got." Shadow explained.

"What if somebody does have it? Are we gonna try and steal it?" Sonic proposed, still laying back on their cheap couch. 

"Sigh No. Last thing we need you going to jail." Shadow snidely chided Sonic.

"Hey!" Sonic protested. Shadow ignored his protest and sat back down as he continued his explanation.

"If somebody does have it, at least we'll know that it is indeed here. From then on we'll proceed to keep tabs on it." Shadow continued to explain. 

"Well, I guess that would be the worst case senario. Best case would be that find one that's been untouched." Silver added. "What do think our odds are Shadow?" Silver turned to Shadow. Shadow scratched his chin as he thought about their situation. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Shadow's answer.

"I'd say twenty percent we find one untouched." Shadow answered. Sonic let out disspointed sigh. He sat up as he aired his thoughts on their situation. 

"This is gonna be hard, you know, balancing school life and finding the chaos emeralds." Sonic noted. "What happens if we have to stay late, like if one of us gets detention or somthing?" Sonic asked. 

"Nobody said anything about this being easy. However that means we should take full advantage of our free time, especially the weekeends." Shadow explained. "And in the mean time, find a way to get our powers back." 
This managed to get Sonic's attention. He smirked as he thought about how once he get's his powers back he's going to cream Dash at her own game. In the mean time, he'll continue training to get fast enough to beat Dash as he is now. 

"Okay. Sounds good to me." Sonic sat up in his seat, confirming his involvment with Shadow's plan. Shadow turned to Silver to see if he's on board as well. 

"Well, I don't know of any other places to look so, let's do it." Silver replied. 

Satisfied with their responses, Shadow was confident in going ahead with searching the shopping district. 

"Alright. We search the shopping district tonight. We have a few hours left in the day so let's make the best of it. If we don't find anything we'll search tomorrow." Shadow explained to them. Sonic got up, with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Alrighty then. Now then, TO THE MALL!!!" Sonic shouted triumphantly, completely with a trumpet course and fanfare. Shadow and Silver looked at Sonic with the most awkward expression. 

"Uh......yeah. Love the enthusiasm." Shadow half heartedly completmented Sonic's sudden bravado.


7:30 pm

Sweetie Belle was licking her two scoops daquri ice cream that Rarity had bought for her while holding Rarity's hand as they walked through the mall. She had a giddy and innocent smile on her face as the last three hours some of the best she's ever had. The group initially were just going to have dinner, however they happened to meet up with Pinkie Pie, who convinced them to spend some time at the arcade. Afterwards she treated everyone to desert at the mall's bakery.

"Whoopie! I beat my high score on Transformers: Duelists!" Pinkie cheered. Scoot gave a rather annoyed look at Pinkie. 

"Well, that's because you beat all of us over and over." Scoot complained, still angry at Pinkie for abusing the mechanics of the most cheap character in the game. 

"Yeah! Isn't that character banned!?" Applebloom protested along with Scoot, clearly angry about losing repeatedly as well, proceeding to angrily lick her three scoops of apple sorbet with three slices of granny apples.
A smug grin grew on Pinkie's face, clearly not having any of their whining.

"Well in tournaments she is, and you never said we were in a tournament." Pinkie slithered right up in their faces, making her wide smug grin ever the more apparent. "And after all, you know the old saying, 'don't hate the game, hate the player." This only served to irritate Scoot even more. 

"Oh yeah! Well, that doesn't me- " 

"Uh....by the way, are you gonna eat that?" Pinkie pointed to Scoots large eight scoop tall ice cream.

"Huh? Whu-? Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Scoot panicked as her eight scoop tall strawberry-lemon ice cream began toppling to the side. She tried frantically to balance her ice cream, but she was too late as her ice cream tumbled to the ground. However instead of landing on the ground, the six scoops landed squarely in Pinkie's mouth. 

"Whu-?" Applebloom said, flabbergasted at how Pinkie was able to move so fast as to catch the ice cream in her mouth. The rest of the group looked at her with confused bewilderment. Pinkie proceeded to eat the four ice cream scoops that landed in her mouth in one gulp, quickly standing up and letting out a small burp afterwards.
"Never let any ice cream go to waste!" Pinkie proudly proclaimed, rubbing her belly satisfyingly before skipping down the main drag of the mall with glee.
The CMC looked at the remains of Scoots ice cream, which consisted of a measly  one and a half scoops. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom exchanged a brief glance before breaking down in laughter, leaving Scoot to sulk at the meager remains of her ice cream. 

Twilight looked at their whole exchange and couldn't help but giggle. Then proceeded to take a bite out of her blueberry crepe. Beside her Sunset was eating a churro, and Rarity was drinking an iced coffee. Pinkie had appeared to have already eaten as she skipped in front of them. 

Then out of the corner of her eye she spotted a few familiar faces. 

"Oh Hey! Dash, Fluttershy, AJ!" Twilight waved to the three as they walked into the center of the mall. 

Dash was checking her text messages when she heard Twilight's voice. They saw three girls looked over and saw Twilight and the other's waving to them. 

"Heh, well what do ya know?" Applejack said. The three walked over to join their friends. 

"Hey Dash!" Scoot greet her.

"Hey squirt. So, what are you guys doing here?" She asked them. 

"Oh, with recent events being really hectic and everything, I just decided to relax a little." Twilight explained. 

"Heh, going out on a school night? That's unlike you Twilight." Fluttershy commented. 

"Yeah, well what are you all doing here then?" Twilight asked them back. 

"Oh, Applejack needed to pick up some things from the grocery store, and I needed some deodorant so I decided to tag along." Rainbow Dash explained. The group all turned to Fluttershy, expecting her to share why she was here. It took her a few seconds for her to realize that they were expecting her to say why she was here. 

"Oh! M-me now? I-I was at the flower store. It's for my biology homework." She said

"Hmph, what? Are you gonna whisper to them and find out their secrets or something?" Dash teased her. 

"N-no." Fluttershy said meekly. Applejack stepped next to her to back her up.

"Hey hey. Lay off her alright Dash." Applejack defended her. Dash shot Applejack an annoyed look.

"Pssh whatever." 

"Well, now that were all here, what should we all do now?" Twilight asked all the girls. Sunset checked her watch for the time.

"Well, we have an hour an a half before 9:00. We could do one more thing before we go." Sunset told them. The girls all took a moment to think.

"I know! Eh-" Pinkie suddenly shouted, only for her to trail off. The girls waited with anticipation of what she would say. "Wait no we already did that." She mumbled to herself. The girls kept thinking on what to do.

"Oh whatever, let's just take another round at the boutique shall we?" Twilight suggested, for she couldn't be bothered to think of anything else to do. Sunset shrugged her shoulder's seemingly not having any objections. 

"Oh yes, yes! There was this cute new cardigan I wanted to try on!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly. But she knew that Applebloom and Scootaloo were here, so she wanted their opinion. 

"Is....that okay with you two?" Sweetie Belle asked her two friends. 

"Sure. No problems here." Scootaloo replied. 

"Yea. We stick together!" Applebloom enthusiastically said. Sweetie Belle's eyes sparkled with excitement, she began bouncing up and down eagerly.

"Oh can we go sis? Can we go?" She turned to Rarity, her innocent eyes as wide as a baby's. An ardent smile grew on Rarity's face as her little sister begged her to go. 

"Oh why not? This is our girls night out after all." She knelt down to her. 

"Oh yes! yes! YES!" Sweetie Belle jumped for joy at her answer. Twilight giggled at Sweetie Bell's giddiness. She then turned to Sunset to get her opinion. 

"So, what do you say Sunset?" She asked her.

"Well, were girls am I right? That seems to be a good default I guess." Sunset inquired. 

"You make a good point Sunset, but I wouldn't know about those two." Rarity replied to Sunset, gesturing over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Ey. Wut are you implying?" Applejack lightly protested. 

"Eh, I don't really care. I could use a new pair of sneakers anyways." Dash remarked nonchalantly. 
Twilight turned to Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

"What about you two. You down for one more run at the boutique?" Twilight asked them. 

"Sure, I-I guess." Fluttershy answered in her usual meek tone. Twilight then turned her eyes to Pinkie.

"Oh! I. AM. DOWN!!" Pinkie said as she flopped on the floor. "Literally" 

Twilight smiled as she got the confirmation of all her friends, but she still felt that she was missing someone. 
"Oh!" She suddenly remembered. "Hey Spike!" She shook her behind a little, shaking her backpack with Spike inside.

"What the-! Ow!" The girls heard Spike getting jostled in her backpack. Spike then popped his head out of the small unzipped opening in her backpack, his eyes rolling.

"I was asleep. What is it?" A drowsy and irritated Spike mumbled. 

"Hee Hee. Sorry. We were going to stop by the boutique before we headed home tonight. Just wanted your opinion. Spike was silent for a moment, confused by her question. 

"Uhh.......I'm a dragon. What would I need from a boutique?" Spike said sardonically. Twilight had a blank expression as she realized how absurd her question was.

"Yeah, fair point." She said before she and the other girls burst out in laughter. 

"Well, do whatever, I'm just gonna go to sleep in here okay?" Spike answered them tiredly. "Oh and no shaking the backpack!"

"Hee Hee. Okay Spike, sleep tight." Twilight chuckled wholesomely, before lightly pushing a tired Spike back down into her backpack and zipped up the backpack. Swinging her backpack onto her shoulders, she turned to the rest of the main 7. 

"Alrighty then. We all going to the boutique before we go home?" Twilight asked the girls. All the others, nodded in agreement. 

"Okay then. Let's go!" Twilight spurred them on. 

"YEAH!!" All of the cheered. 


The doors of the mall swung open, letting a brisk draft in. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver stepped into the mall, ready to begin their search for any sign of the chaos emeralds. 

"Alright guys. You know the drill. Just act like a normal patron, and look for any sign of the chaos emeralds." Shadow reiterated their plan to them. Silver and Sonic looked at the various shops lining the mall's walls. There was a numerous selection of shops, from boutiques, to electronics stores, and candy store. At the main drag at the end of the corridor, there was a bigger entrance which lead to the big general store in the middle of the mall. 
Silver was looking with much curiosity, while Sonic didn't look particularly interested. 

"Now do you remember what I told you two?" Shadow asked them to repeat something he told them before the entered. 

"Yeah yeah, don't talk to anyone, and meet back here in one hour and thirty minutes. You happy?" Sonic repeated what Shadow said to them earlier, with a annoyed and snide tone. 

"Yes. But don't give me that faker. This is serious." Shadow reprimanded him lightly. He turned to Silver, who was observing the shops from afar. 
"Silver!" Shadow raised his voice slightly, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Ah! Wha-? Yes?" Silver stuttered a little as he answered Shadow.

"You understand?" Shadow asked him. 

"Oh? Yeah of course." Silver answered him quickly. 

"Good. Let's go." Shadow wasted no more time talking and walked forward into the mall. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, now that Shadow was off his back. He was about to wander off to the video store nearby, when he heard Shadow raise his voice again. 

"And Sonic!!" Shadow yelled back at him. Sonic winced in surprise a little at Shadow's yelling. He looked back over at Shadow to reluctantly hear what he has to say. 
"Don't cause any trouble. And don't slack off" Shadow told him before he walked off. Sonic rolled his eyes in pure unadulterated annoyance. 

"Gee, where have I heard that before?" Sonic snidely thought to himself. Then he walked off to browse the video store nearby. 

With that, the three took off in separate direcitons to begin their search. For thirty minutes the three searched the stores. Sonic was causally checking the stores, but only the one's that interested him, which was mostly the video stores. He was bored out of his mind, so he mitigated it by watching the movies on the screens until he got bored. However at one point he got so engrossed in one movie that he forgot why he was here in the first place. Shadow had to come over and grab him by the ear.
Silver, while occasionally stopping to look at something that interested him, tried to stick to the task at hand. Though he did occasionally lose track of what he was doing, meaning he had to occasionally snap himself out of it and get back to searching. 

Sonic passed by a jewelry shop. Then he had a flash of knowledge. 
"Hmmm......this might be a good place to look." He said to himself, feeling confident in his intelligent conclusion. So he stepped inside, with it's black marble tile floor and it's ivory white walls giving a very posh and high class feeling. 
Observing the customers, it was mostly rich looking people with fancier cloths than the rest of the mall's customers, making him stick out like a sore thumb. He decided to keep his search in this store brief and quick. He began observing the jewels inside the glass cases. He could already feel the other customers shooting him dirty looks, for how he didn't fit in. 
He did his best to ignore them and continued searching. 
In the cases Sonic found your usual selection of jewelry, from small diamonds to medium sized diamonds, Pearl necklaces to gold plated watches, and bracelets adorned with diamonds to necklaces imbedded with emeralds, all of which had extremely high price tags. However he saw no sign of any large glowing emeralds. 

"Ugh! It was a good guess I suppose." Sonic let out a disappointed sigh. He could still feel the customers giving him dirty looks, so he decided to make himself scarce. 

"Excuse me sir. Are you having difficulty making a selection?" The store clerk asked him. He turned to see the store clerk, who was neatly dressed in suit and bow tie, standing behind the cash register. Surprisingly he wasn't giving him a dirty look unlike the other customers. 
While he remembered what Shadow told him at the entrance, he figured that it couldn't hurt to at least ask one person. Sonic slowly walked up to the check up desk to talk to him. 

"Uh......yeah." Sonic replied. The clerk put on a earnest smile.

"Well, I'm sure I can find something fitting both your occasion and your......well......status." The clerk began speaking before Sonic could speak. 
"So, what is the occasion? A dinner party? A family Reunion? A wedding perhaps?" The clerk asked him. Sonic was rather embarrassed at the last option. 

"Uh....no no. I'm looking for something specific. If you know what I mean." Sonic told the clerk. 

"Oh so you want to look at our catalogue?" The clerk asked him. 

"Uh I guess." Sonic replied.

"Well, no problem then." The clerk slipped beneath the desk to grab something. A few seconds later he placed a rather hefty sized black binder, which the clerk opened, revealing all of their selection, some of which Sonic didn't even see in the store. The prices in the this binder were even higher than a lot of the prices in the store. It started to overwhelm him a little. 

"So.....What kind of jewels are you looking for?" The clerk asked him. Sonic was still in awe of the utterly absurd prices some of these pieces demanded, and he didn't hear what the clerk had to say. 

".....Sir?" The clerk spoke to him. Sonic realized that the clerk asked him something. 

"Huh? Oh! An emerald." Sonic spoke to him. The clerk then quickly flipped through the pages until he got to the emerald section. Once again the prices nearly blew Sonic's mind. 

"Now! Feel free to browse and pick out something. " The clerk told him. 

Sonic didn't feel like wasting any more time in this store so he decided to break the news to the clerk. 

"Uh....no. Look I'm not looking for jewerly. I looking for an actual emerald." Sonic told the clerk. The clerk's smile faded as he looked at Sonic with utter confusion. 
"It's about this big." Sonic gestured with his hand the approximate size of the emeralds. "They come in seven different colors. And they glow like crazy. They're kind of hard to miss." Sonic explained to the clerk. The clerk's expression was now an annoyed frown. Sonic felt rather uneasy. Did he accidentally offend him?
Suddenly, the clerk closed the binder shut with a loud thud causing Sonic to jump slightly. 

"Sir. This is a jewelry store not a kindergarden daycare story hour. Go take your childish stories elsewhere please." The clerk coldly told Sonic before he put the binder away and began attending to other business. All Sonic could do was just stand there blankly, fuming on the inside.

"Pfft fine! This place is too pretentious anyways." Sonic muttered to himself angrily before he stormed off. 

As Sonic stomped out of jewelry store, he saw something in the corner of his eye. He looked to his left and doubletaked when he saw Twilight and her gang heading down the mall hallway. 

"Twilight?" What's she doing here?" He asked outloud as he moved behind one of the large planters in the middle of the straight to prevent them from seeing him. However his air of curiosity vanished and was replaced with annoyance when he saw Dash amongst the group.
"Ugh! It's her." He sulked. He also noticed the three younger girls he met earlier today with them as well. Looking at their expressions they all seemed to be just shopping and not doing anything worth paying attention to. 
"Hmm, they don't seem to be doing anyting suspicious. Still I should probably go tell the others about it." Sonic thought to himself. He then discreetly turned around and began walking in the opposite direction away from the girls, going to find Shadow and Silver.

Meanwhile, Silver had unfortunately lost sight of his original goal and was browsing a videogame store. He had taken a game case off the shelf that read "Griffin Ball D: Ultimate Fighters 2". As fun as it looked, he let out a sigh of disappointment as he remembered that he had no money, and no console to play it on. 
He put the case back on the shelf and wandered into another part of the store. There were a few demos available, but they were all  already taken by either kids or other gamers. 
However as he was about to wander to anther part of the store, he felt a sharp pain  in his ear as someone pulled on his earlobe hard.

"Ow Ow OW! Hey! Hey!"" Silver exclaimed as he nearly lost his balance as he was pulled to his left. 

"I can't leave you two alone for a second can I?" Shadow reprimanded him as he pulled on his ear, attracting the attention of some customers who looked at them with utter confusion.
Shadow let go of Silver's ear lobe as soon as they were outside the store.

"Geez Shadow! That hurt!" Silver protested as he rubbed his aching ear. 
Shadow let out a sigh as he shook his head in disappointment at Silver apparent lack of commitment.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten our mission here already." Shadow reprimanded him. Shadow got up closer to Silver as he wanted to make his next point explicitly clear. 
"Remember. Our priority is to find the chaos emeralds. Nothing else. Understood?" Shadow spoke in an intimidating inflection. Silver gulped as Shadow's red eyes stared into his soul.

"Yes sir." Silver replied meekly. 

"Good." Shadow reaffirmed. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw Sonic approaching them. 

"Yo!" Sonic greeted them. 

"Find anything?" Shadow asked him to report his findings. Sonic shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. 

"Nothin' so far." Sonic reported. "Even the damn jewelry store had nothing."  

Shadow and Silver let out a sigh of disappointment. Shadow then scratched his chin as he thought of their next course of action.

"We still have a lot of the mall to search, so we need to double our efforts." Shadow elaborated to them. "Especially you." He snarkily gestured to Silver.

"Okay I get it. Geez" Silver replied.

"Oh. And another thing." Sonic continued. Shadow and Silver listened to what he had to say. "Those girls are here." 

Silver eyes lit up with excitement suddenly. 
"Wait! So, Rarity is here!" Silver shook Sonic by the shoulders. Sonic had a look of complete bewilderment at Silver getting excited over a girl. 
Silver then realized that he made himself look really embarrassing in front of Sonic and Shadow.

"Oh uh.....so....what are they doing here." Silver composed himself and got back on topic. 

"From the looks of it, it looks like they're just shopping. Doing girl things ya know." Sonic relayed what he saw to them. Shadow thought for a moment on how the girls appearance in the mall would affect their search. 

"Well, as long as we don't make ourselves stand out too much then they should be much of an issue."  Shadow explained to them. "And I'm sure you remember. Don't talk to them." 
Silver rolled his eyes at that last statement. 

"In any case. We should stick together from now on. Wouldn't want them to catch one of us by ourselves." Shadow continued explaining. 

"sigh Yeah I guess." Sonic said in a rather uncaring tone.

"Alright let go." Shadow turned and beckoned them to follow him. Silver and Sonic followed suit as they continued their search for the chaos emeralds. 


Meanwhile the main 7 and the Cutie Mark crusaders were making their quick stop at the boutique. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Sunset were trying on new shoes that they had taken an interest in. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had already bought what they wanted and were waiting outside. Pinkie was checking out the brand T-shirts, while Rarity was with her little sister trying out the new cardigan that Sweetie Belle had mentioned.

"Why! It looks wonderful!" An elated Sweetie Belle said as she twirled around in it. Rarity was holding her cheeks at how cute Sweetie Belle was being right now.

"Well. Am I cute big sis!?" Sweetie Belle turned to her older sister with her arms outstretched so that she could see her whole frame with the cardigan on. 

"Why you look simply adorable!" Rarity lauded how cute her sister looked, cuing a happy giggle from Sweetie Belle as she twirled again. 

"Sheesh. They said that five times already." Scootaloo and Applebloom were waiting nearby for them to finish. 

"Can we get it please?! Oh please, please, please!" Sweetie Belle begged her sister to get it for her. 
Rarity checked the price tag. She was expecting something reasonable, but then she double taked when she saw that the price was a whopping 45$.

"Uhhh. Hee Hee. I'd love to sweetie, but um. It's a little on the expensive side right now." Rarity told her. Sweetie Belle's smile faded. 

"Aw, b..but Rarity!" Sweetie Belle turned pouty. Rarity was in a rather difficult situation. She really wanted to prove to her little sister that she cared for her, but the cost of that was dropping 45 dollars on a cardigan. 
She sighed as she thought about how to go about this situation. 

"Now, now....It'll be hear when we come back okay?" Rarity said in a calm, motherly voice. "We'll wait till it goes on sale. Is that alright darling?" 

A pouty Sweetie Belle took a moment to think about her proposal. As much as she wanted this cardigan, she did have to admit, it was pretty pricy. 

"Promise?" Belle asked Rarity. Rarity smiled and held out her pinkie finger. A smile returned to Sweetie Belle's face as she interlocked her pinkie finger with her older sister's. 

"Promise." Rarity replied. While still somewhat pouty that she didn't get what she wanted, Sweetie Belle was confident that she could trust her sister. 

"Okay!" Sweetie Belle replied cheerfully. Rarity let out a relieved sigh. She managed to regain and keep her sister affection. 

"Alright. Now why don't you change out of that. We should be heading home soon." Rarity checked the time on her phone. Sweetie Belle went to change, while Rarity went to regroup with the others. 
She happened to notice Scootaloo and Applebloom who were waiting nearby and decided to inquire to them a little. 

"And did you girls need anything?" Rarity asked them.

"No. Were cool" Scootaloo replied.

"Thanks though." Applebloom thanked her. 
After breifly checking in on Sweetie Belle's friends, she went over to regroup with the main 7. 

Twilight put a pair of loafers she had tried on back on the shelf and then she checked her watch, which read 8:30 PM.

"Oh dear! We better get going soon." Twilight said to Sunset and Fluttershy. 
Sunset was about to try on a new skirt. 

"What!? Aw....can I just try this on really quick?" Sunset bargained with Twilight. Twilight sighed, who was she to deny a girl to see how she looks in something. 

"Alright. Go ahead." Twilight told her. 

"Thanks!" Sunset rushed into the changing room to quickly look at how she looks. 

"You finished Fluttershy?" Twilight turned to Fluttershy who had just walked out of the changing room next to the one Sunset entered.

"Hmm? Oh! Yes, of course." Fluttershy replied.
Twilight then noticed Rarity walk up to them. 

"Twilight dear. It's 8:30 now. We should get going soon." Rarity informed Twilight who was already aware of the time. 

"I know Rarity. Were just waiting on Sunset." Twilight replied. "Is your sister and her friends done with their shopping?" 

"Oh Sweetie Belle is still changing. They won't be long." Rarity confirmed to Twilight. 

"Sigh Thats good. I want at least a little time to work on our assingments." Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. While she enjoyed her time at the mall with her friends, she still had the thought of her school assingments in the back of her head.

"I know it's a school night. But there's nothing wrong with treating ourselves every once in a while." Fluttershy commented.

"Oh for sure. I definately needed a break. Especially with this emerald thing going on." Twilight noted. "Hopefully, now that I've rested up. I can work harder to figure out where this emerald came from." 

"Say. You don't happen to know where Rainbow Dash and Applejack went off too?" Rarity asked, looking aroudn the store for the two. 

"Oh! I think they're waiting outside." Fluttershy pointed to the entrance of the shop. 

"Hmph! At least they're being patient." Rarity commented on how the least patient ones of their group are being suprisingly patient.

Twilight's backpack on the ground rustled a bit as Spike climbed out of Twilight's backpack and stretched for a little. 

"Sheesh! What is it with girls and clothes? You spent almost a whole hour talking about shoes." Spike expressed his annoyance at their girly interests. Twilight and Rarity weren't having any of it. 

"Well excuse me that we ladies put in the effort to make ourselves appear pretty and feminine!" Rarity reprimanded him. 

"Yeah! And besides! What do you know?!" Twilight joined in on Rarity's scolding of Spike. Spike however wasn't phased by their reprimanding. 

"Uh....what do I know? I haven't worn clothes in my entire life." Spike said in a deadpane tone. Twilight and Rarity's scowls dissappeared as they comprihended his statement.

"You have a point, I guess." Twilight replied, cuing Spike to smugly scratch his ears. 

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle stepped out of the changing room and went to go put the cardigan she tried on back on the hangers. However as she put it back, she saw someone familiar in the corner of her eye. She looked out the window and caught a glimpse of Sonic as he exited a antique shop that was opposite the store that they were in. 

"Sonic? What's he doing here?" Sweetie Bell said to herself. 

"Hey. Belle. You about finished? Were about to leave." Scootaloo called over from nearby. Sweetie Belle didn't answer, which only irritated Scoot for she thought that Belle was ignoring her. 

"Ey Belle! Ya hear us?" Applebloom called to her. This time Sweetie Belle heard them. 

"Hmm? Oh! I think I saw Sonic here?" Sweetie Belle told them. 
The two were confused.

"Sonic? Why's he here?" Scootaloo asked. Sweetie only shrugged her shoulders in response. 

"Well, everyone needs to get out sometimes I guess."  Applebloom commented. 

"Hey girls! Were going now!" Rarity called over to them. 

"Were coming!" Sweetie Belle called back. 

"Say, think we should follow him? There's still some questions I wanna ask him"" Scootaloo proposed. 

"No. We shouldn't pry too much. They just got here after all." Sweetie Belle shot down her idea. She pressed her nose against the glass as Her eyes followed Sonic as he walked from the store, noting that Shadow and Silver were in front of him and wondering what they were doing here as well.

"Maybe they're here about that new movie that Twilight and her friends starred in." Scootaloo suggested. 

"Nah. They don't look like they're that up to date on current trends." Sweetie Belle said.

"True. I mean look at them. Especially those shoes." Applebloom commented on their appearance. Scootaloo snickered at her comment.

"Yeah. Especially with Shadow. What are those supposed to be? Hover boots?" Scootaloo continued with Appleblooms taunting of their appearance, cuing both of them to burst into laughter. Sweetie Belle let out a chuckle at their joking and went back to observing Sonic and co. She watched them as they rounded a corner and out of her sight. 
She let out an annoyed grunt as they left her sight. She was about to rejoin her friends, however she double taked when she caught a glimpse of Shadow again, who had just came into her vision from the left. 

"Wait wha....?" Sweetie Belle slapped her face against the glass again. Scootaloo and Applebloom wondered what she was looking at now. 
"S....Shadow? But......I though he..?" A confused Sweetie Belle said, as she had just saw Sonic, along with Shadow exit on her right. However Shadow didn't appear to be with Sonic and Silver. She looked closer and she noticed that despite almost looking like Shadow, this person lacked  the red highlights that Shadow's hair had despite the similar hairstyle. 

"Who......is that?" Sweetie Belle thought outloud. Then suddenly as the mysterious Shadow lookalike stopped in the middle of the hallway directly in front of Sweetie Belle's vision. A sinking feeling of dread crept into Sweetie Bell's stomach as she looked at him. 
Then suddenly the Shadow lookalike suddenly jerked his head towards her, cuing a sharp gasp from Sweetie Belle.

"Wha...What the...!!" A frightened Sweetie Belle said as she began trembling in terror as the lookalike's sickly green eyes stared into her soul. Upon looking more closely, she also realized that the person didn't have a mouth! Scootaloo and Applebloom were now getting very concerned about Sweetie Belle. 

"'Ey Belle. You alright?"" Applebloom asked as she got in closer. Sweetie Belle was paralyzed with fear as she had no idea what the Shadow lookalike was going to do. 

"Hey. If you're not okay then say something will you." Scootaloo and Applebloom walked next to her. However Sweetie Belle didn't seem to respond. 
Then suddenly, person suddenly teleported to the glass in front of Sweetie Belle, causing her to see his horrific eyes up close. 

"I see you." A demonic voice came not from the person but from inside Sweetie Belle's head.  Sweetie Belle broke out in a cold sweat and was trembling even more as she was completely paralyzed with fear. Then suddenly her mind briefly flashed with horrific images of her friends and sister laying on the ground in a pool of blood. 

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!" Sweetie Belle screamed as she fell backwards her hands over her eyes.

"SWEETIE BELLE!!" Applebloom and Scootaloo exclaimed. 

"Oh no!" Rarity exclaimed as she heard her little sister scream and rushed to her side. 

"Huh? What's going on!?" Twilight and the others wondered what was wrong. 
Sweetie Belle was trembling as she let out little whimpers of fear. 

"Belle! Belle!!" Scootaloo shook her lightly. "What happened!? Talk to us!" Scootaloo began sweating and panting heavily as she worried deeply for her friend's safety. 

"Out of the way!" Rarity commanded as she rushed to her sister's side. 

"Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle!! What's wrong!! Please tell me!!" Rarity held her little sister in her arms as she trembled. Eventually, Sweetie Belle stopped trembling and removed her hands from her eyes. She opened her eyes an saw her sister holding her. Tears formed in her eyes as she embraced her sister and broke down sobbing. 

"Sob OH RARITY!! I SO SCARED!!"" Sweetie Belle cried as she sobbed into Rarity's chest. Rarity held her sister close as she comforted her. 

"It's okay your sister's here." Rarity soothed her little sister. The rest of the main 7 looked over to see what was going on. 
"Now why don't you tell us what happened." Rarity calmed told her sister. Sweetie Belle wiped the tears from her eyes as she prepared to tell Rarity what she saw.

"Sniff Rarity. T....Th...There was a person. And.....I......I saw......." Sweetie Belle dreaded describing the last part of what she saw. Applebloom looked over at the window Sweetie Belle was looking out of.  

"Uhh....Belle. We didn't see nobody in the window." Applebloom said. 

"Sniff Huh?" Sweetie Belle replied.

"Yeah. There was nobody. You were just looking out the window at nothing. Then you just screamed and fell backwards." Scootaloo added what she saw to back up Applebloom's statement. 

Sweetie Belle's expression went from crying to completely bafflement. Rarity was also confused at what they said.

"I....Is this true?" Rarity asked the two. Applebloom and Scootaloo nodded. Rarity looked back at her sister, questioning just what happened to her. 

"Wh....What? You.....you two didn't see him?" Sweetie Belle asked her two friends who both nodded once again. Sweetie Belle refused to believe that was the case. 
"How! He was right in front of me! And you're telling me you didn't see him!?" Sweetie Belle suddenly stood up and walked up to her two friends. "Are you two blind or something!?"

"No! Why would we lie!?" Scootaloo retorted back. Sweetie Belle had an utterly dumbfounded look on her face. She knew what she saw, but if she had no way of proving what she saw if they claimed that they didn't see anything. 

"But...But....I...." Sweetie Belle scratched her head in complete bafflement. "I know I saw something. You gotta believe me!"

"Okay okay calm down. Now why don't you tell us what this person looked like." Twilight intervened and was willing to give Sweetie Belle the benefit of the doubt. 
Sweetie Belle, while dreading having to recall the person's face, she figured that maybe talking about it would calm her nerves. 

"Well, you know that person Shadow you've been talking about. It looked like him, except he had.......had...." Sweetie Belle struggled to get the next part out. "....he had green eyes and...and no mouth." She finished explaining. 
A shiver went down Twilight's spine as Belle finished, for her mind instantly went back to the time she was approached by an erriely similar looking person in the library. 

"Well sorry Belle. We didn't see nothin'" Applebloom replied. Sweetie Belle was at a loss for words, then she turned to her sister, hoping that she would believe her. 
Rarity tried to think of something to say to calm her little sister's mind. 

"Sweetie, I wasn't even there. I'm sorry." Rarity told her. Sweetie Belle just remained silent, with the same dumbfounded expression on her face. 

"Um....I hate to interrupt, but I think we should get going right now." Twilght said to Rarity. Rarity didn't answer for she was still contemplating the validity of Sweetie Belle's statement. 
"Rarity?" Twilight asked her. 

"Just hang on. We'll come soon." Rarity finally replied to her. She concluded that if what Sweetie Belle saw was true, then it would be best if they left and discussed it later, for the person she saw could still be around. 

"Sweetie Darling." Rarity spoke to her sister. "We'll talk about this at home. So we should leave." 
Sweetie Belle, who was still shaken by her experience, nodded in agreement. The image of the person's sickly green eyes still lingered in her mind, which she couldn't unsee no matter how much she tried to not think about it. 

"Right, let's go." Rarity told the three. The CMC all nodded in agreement and they followed Rarity outside the store. 
While Scootaloo and Applebloom didn't see anything in the window, Sweetie Belle's description of the person she saw still unnerved them. 

"Maybe the guy is invisible." Applebloom whispered to Scoot.

"Geez don't make this even more scary." Scoot whispered back. 

As the rest of the main 7 hurried out of the store with the CMC, Rainbow Dash and Applejack took curiosity in what happened. 

"Say, what the heck happened in there? Everythin' alright?" Applejack asked.

"Sweetie Belle said that she saw a creepy person in the window."  Applebloom told her older sister. 
"Problem is, me and Scoot didn't see anything." 
This only served to make Applejack and Rainbow Dash more confused. 

"So wait, only she saw it?" Applejack asked. She and Dash looked over at Sweetie Belle, who looked like she had the color scared out of her skin. 

"Well, she does look like she's seen a ghost. " Dash commented in a somewhat sarcastic tone, trying not to appear insensitive.

"Girls, I appreciate your concern, but I wouldn't talk about this right now." Rarity told the two.  
With that, the girls started to head home, with Sweetie Belle clinging to Rarity as they walked through the mall. Twilight looked at the two sister with worry. She remembered Sweetie Belle's description of the person, and she could've sworn that it was the same description as the person that attacked her in the library. 

"Is that person really Shadow? What does he want with us anyways?" Twilight thought to herself. The rest of the main 7 were also a bit on edge, especially Rarity, whose concern for her sister's safefy made her almost skittish. Twilight knew that whoever it was, it had something to do with the emerald. With this in mind she knew that she needed be on her guard even more. Not just for herself, but for her friends as well.

Shadow looked at the time, which read 8:55 pm. It was going to be a long walk back to their apartment so he figured that they should get going. 

"It's getting late. Let's head back." He told Sonic and Silver.  

"So far we haven't found crap." Sonic complained. "How much of the mall did we search anyways?" 

"By my guess, maybe one fifth. Thats not counting the stores that we don't think would sell emeralds." Shadow replied. He looked towards the entrance which was at the end of the mall hallway. Not wanting to waste any more time he urged Sonic and Silver to follow him to the entrance. 
However as they walked, he suddenly stopped when he saw the main 7 and CMC come walk around the corner. 

"Wait." Shadow stopped Sonic and Silver.  They both stopped beside Shadow as they knew to not attact their attention. Luckily for them, they didn't seem to notice them. Shadow looked for another way out of the mall. His eyes eventually focused on the maintanence door across from them. 

"This way. We'll take the maintanence door and leave from the back" Shadow pointed to the maintanence door. "Hurry!" Shadow prodded them on. Shadow, Sonic, and Silver made their way to the maintance door, which upon Shadow opening it, lead to a much narrower hallway. 

"You sure this will lead outside?" Silver asked. 

"I'm sure. Now come on." Shadow replied. The three then proceeded to enter the maintance door. 

Over with the main seven. Sweetie Belle, who was still clinging to Rarity, looked back and managed to catch a glimpse of Silver as he walk into the maintance door. While it perplexed her, she was still too shaken by what recently happened to think about it too much.

The three otherwolders finally got outside, the cold air hitting them like a wave as they entered into the back alley of the mall. 

"Brrr....it's cold. Come on let's get back home." Sonic shivered as the cold air washed over him. Silver, who was also shivering, vigourously nodded in agreement. As the two headed back in the direction of their temporary home, Shadow paused for a moment and looked back at the mall they had just exited. He recalled that just before they went into the maintanance hallway, he felt a strange, and ominous presence.  He didn't know what it was, however something in the back of his mind was telling him that he had sensed this before. Whether or not he remembered sensing such a presence, it felt sinister and evil. 

"Hey Shadow! You coming or not!?" Sonic called over to him from down the alley way. Shadow then went to rejoin Sonic and Silver, however he couldn't get the thought of that presence out of his mind. 
Just what was it? Or who was it? And why did it feel so familiar? These questions unfortunately yeilded no answers right now as this sinking feeling of dread created a pit in his stomach. He proceeded to carry this feeling all the way back to their apartment.

TO BE CONTINUED
> Episode 7 Unlikely Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 4:00 PM

Sonic sat atop the bleachers overlooking the track and field. He was currently waiting for Silver to come so he could help him record his time. This is where he always came after school is let out to just run. He would sprint until he could barely move his body. 
The past two day it felt like he and his friends were settling into a regular routine:

Get up and go to school, sit through classes til end of school, go home, do homework (with Shadow's help), and go to sleep with bouts of searching for the chaos emeralds during free time. 
With no luck searching the mall on Monday, Shadow figured that they should wait until the weekend to finish searching the mall. During which they searched both the school and other places in Canterlot. As if finding the chaos emeralds by themselves was not hard enough, they also had to blend in like they were normal students here. 
Sonic of course was anything but normal. 

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, by his recall Silver should have arrived ten minutes ago. He probably assumed that Rarity was keeping him in his art class for a reason he didn't know. 
He looked up at the hills, the sun's light gradually turning into a more orange hue.

"Ugh! Silver, how long are you gonna friggin' take!?" Sonic shouted at the air. 

He eyed a couple of students on the sidewalk outside the field. All of them were on their phones. 

"Hmph! What we need is a couple of those." Sonic said to himself. However his mind subconsciously knew that it probably wasn't going to happen for a while. 
However his train of thought was interrupted when he felt someone was approaching him from the left. He expected it to be Silver, but he double taked when he saw who it really was. 

"Uhhh....hi." Flash greeted Sonic. 
Sonic didn't answer at first. He definitely recognized him, his black jacket, and spiked up blue hair were the definite traits. 
There was only one thing he didn't remember about him. 

"Uhhhh......who are you?" Sonic blurted out. This cued Flash to recoil in astonishment so much that he nearly fell backwards. 

"Seriously man!? You forgot my name!? Am I really that forgettable?" Flash flusteredly thought. However, not wanting to appear rude, he quickly composed himself. 
"The names Flash! Memorize it okay?" Flash poked the side of his head. This didn't cue much of reaction from Sonic unfortunately. 

"Sigh What do you want?" Sonic asked, not exactly in a talkative mood.
Flash hesitated from speaking at first, wondering if his answer would suffice. 

"Just.....wondering what you're up to?" Flash replied. 

"Yeah well...." Sonic gestured around himself, as if to tell flash that he got what he was asking for. "Here ya go." He then looked back at the field. 
Flash was unsure of what to say next. He turned around, but didn't walk away. He contemplated talking to Sonic some more. He let out a sigh as he gave in and turned back to Sonic.

"You mind if I take a seat?" Flash asked him. Sonic looked back over at Flash, who was awaiting an answer from him. 

".......yeah sure." Sonic replied

Flash sat down next to Sonic. He was rather surpised Sonic allowed him to sit next to him considering his mood. 
He tried to think of something to talk about with him. Unfortunately, he knew next to nothing about Sonic apart from a brief exchange about their hairstyles. He gave him a quick lookover, to see if he could make some sort of observation about him. The first thing his eyes gravitated to were his bright red and white shoes. 

"Haven't seen those shoes anywhere. Where'd you get them?" Flash asked him. Sonic paused before he spoke, knowing that he couldn't say anything about where he's from. 

"Uhh.....overseas. Why do you ask?" Sonic replied. Flash leaned down to get a better look at them. He then looked back to compare them with his own shoes. He remembered paying a good sum for those shoes, yet seeing Sonic's shoes made him feel jealous. 

"Heh! Pretty cool huh?" Sonic crossed his legs, a smug grin forming on his face. The sun caused the gold buckle on his shoe to glisten. Flash was even more jealous than impressed. 

"Sigh Say, do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try, you never seem to make your mark?" Flash asked Sonic. Sonic shot Flash a quick glance, wondering what he was talking about. 

"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked him. 
Flash thought for a moment before elaborating. 

"Well it's just.....I don't really feel like I'm good enough for someone." Flash finally said. Sonic raised an eyebrow as he tried to deduce what Flash was alluding to. But then his eyes widened when he figured it out. 

"So....your talking about......girls.....right?" Sonic asked him.

"Wha!" Flash doubletaked at Sonic, his face blushing slightly. 
"Uhhh.....well I uh.....you see...." Flash stuttered as he tried to keep his composure. Sonic grin got bigger as he was enjoying seeing Flash flustered. 

"Well....uhhh.....yeah." Flash eventually settled down as he knew that Sonic was correct in his assumption. 
"You know what I mean?" 

"Well I'm afraid I can't help you there man." Sonic replied quickly. Flash double taked even harder this time.

"That so?" A disappointed Flash replied. He looked back over at Sonic, noting how laid back he was, wondering why he was like that.
"So what are you waiting here for anyways?" Flash changed the subject. Sonic slouched back, cradling his head with his hands. 

"Waiting for my bro Silver. He's supposed to time running around the track." Sonic explained as he settled into a small nap.

"Oh! I know! You're training to beat Rainbow Dash aren't you?" Flash asked him. Sonic double taked himself, surprised at Flash for being more perceptive than he thought. 

"Well.....yeah. She's the fastest in school right?" Sonic clarified to Flash. 

"Heh....Duh. And she doesn't let anyone forget it." Flash further espoused Rainbow Dash's extroverted tendencies. 

"Hmph! Nobody's faster than me." Sonic let off some steam from thinking about Dash. 

"Well that's a pretty tall order." Flash rubbed his head. "Although, I wouldn't mind seeing Dash dethroned." Flash added. Even he felt that Dash was somewhat overrated. 

"Heh. Same here." Sonic heartily agreed with him. 
They both smiled at each other. Sonic felt rather satisfied that there was someone on his wavelength. 

Flash looked at the time on his watch, then he turned back to Sonic.

"Say if you want. I could time you." Flash offered.

"Really?" Sonic's mood perked up a little. 

"Sure, I have a few minutes" Flash replied. 

His mood having improved slightly, Sonic rose from his seat with renewed vigor, ready to run. 

"I'll give you the signal." Sonic told him. He then jumped over the other seats in front of him down to the lowest part of the bleachers, before finally dropping down to the track from the platform. Flash scratched his head to why Sonic didn't take the usual way down. Wanting to get a better look of Sonic's run, he decided to head down to the lowest seat on the bleachers. 

Sonic took his place at the starting line. He looked up at Flash who was leaning against the metal guard rail waiting for Sonic to give him the signal to start the timer. 

"You ready!?" Sonic called to him. Flash had his phone out with a timer app out, ready to start timing. He waved back to Sonic, signaling that he was ready. Sonic threw Flash a thumbs up and then proceeded to get into the running position. 

"Okay! Ready......." Flash put his hand up. Sonic readied himself to run. "......Set.........GO!!"
Flash swung his hand down and Sonic immediately burst from the starting line sprinting around the track. 

Nearby, Silver burst out through the school doors, panting and sweating heavily. 
"Man! That test was terrible. I had to do make up work!" Silver recalled what made him so late. "Whew! I better go apologize to Sonic for being so late." He started to make his way towards the bleachers where he thought Sonic would be. However he noticed Sonic out on the track as he approached the bleachers.
"Huh? Why is-? Oh, Sonic must've started without me." Silver concluded in his head. He made his way onto the bleachers where he saw Flash watching Sonic run around the track. 

"Hey there!" Silver greeted him. Flash looked over to him. "You're uhh.....Gash.....right?" Silver attempted to guess his name from memory. 
"Uh...It's Flash actually." Flash corrected him. 

"Oh! Right! I knew I saw you before." Silver's memory immediately cane back to him. 

"You're Sonic's bro aren't you?" Flash asked. "I always see you two together, along with that tall dark and scary dude." Flash explained, remembering the first time he met Shadow, sending a slight chill down his spine. 

"You mean Shadow?" Silver asked. 

"Oh. That's his name? Fitting." Flash snarked slightly. Silver began streching a little. 

"Yeah. He's always been like that." Silver replied, finishing his streching. 

"HEY!!!" They both heard Sonic yell at them from the track. They both looked and saw that Sonic was about to finish his fourth lap. 
"Why don't ya pay attention!!" Sonic chastised Flash for getting distracted. 

"Oh crap!" Flash exclaimed as he remembered that he was timing Sonic. He quickly looked back at his phone which thankfully was still recording his time. He watched closely as Sonic approached the finish line, preparing to press the stop button on his phone. 

"Come on! Come on! COME ON!" Sonic said to himself as he pushed his body towards the finish line. He eventually staggered his way across the finish line with Flash pressing the stop button. Sonic dropped to his knees in exhaustion, taking repeated gasps for breath. Flash and Silver rushed down to see if Sonic was okay. 

"Sonic! You alright?" Silver asked him. Silver and Flash both looked at the time on Flash's phone. It read 5 minutes 59 seconds. 

"Pant Never mind that! What's my time!?" Sonic brushed aside thier first question. Flash and Silver looked at the time on Flash's phone. It read Five mintues and Fifty Nine seconds. 

"Well, the bad news is that you're still no where near Dash's time." Silver broke the news to Sonic. A deadened expression fell on Sonic face as he slumped backwards onto the ground behind him, feeling defeated. 
"The good news however is that you're below the six minute mark!" Silver added, a bit exciment in his voice. While it didn't do much to improve his mood, he did feel some satisfaction knowing that he was closer to Dash's time. 

"Sigh Better than nothing I suppose." Sonic admitted. Sonic got up and began patting himself off. 
"By the way, where the hell were you Silver?" Sonic demanded to know what took Silver so long. Silver flinched a little at Sonic suddenly putting him on the spot. 

"Well, excuse me! You don't have art class where you have no experience what so ever and have to follow along with a bunch of experts!" Silver retorted irritatedly.

"Sigh Whatever. Now come on. I'm gonna try again." Sonic stated. Silver and Flash double taked. 

"What-! th-! You just finished! Don't you wanna rest!?" Flash was understandably baffled that Sonic wants to continuing running after pushing himself so hard. 

"Yeah! And you look exhausted. Not to mention you're gonna stink up the place if you sweat anymore." Silver added onto Flash's statement, holding his nose at that last part. Sonic however was not phased by their warnings.

"And  when did I ask for you're opinion?" Sonic rebuked him. Silver had a disdained face as he watched Sonic trudge back to the starting line. Flash, also observing Sonic, was more confused unlike Silver. 

"Man. Your bro isn't exactly the reasonable type." Flash commented to Silver.

"Hmph! That's putting it lightly." Silver pouted. Sonic eventually got to the finish line, where looked back and saw that Silver and Flash were still standing there looking at him.

"Well!? What are you guys waiting for!?" Sonic shouted at them. 

Nearby, Sunset was observing them from behind the bleachers on the opposite side of the field. While she knew that Twilight told her to leave them be, part of her just couldn't help but be curious. 
"I have no idea what blue boy is thinking" Sunset thought to herself, allowing herself to use Dash's nickname for Sonic. 
She crossed her legs and sat back as she watched Sonic start running once again. She looked over at the bleachers where Silver and Flash were timing Sonic. Seeing Flash made her mind briefly flash back to when she was her bad girl self and how she used Flash just for her own gain. 
She let out a sigh, not proud of herself at all for those times. 
However, her train of thought was interrupted when she felt her phone buzz in her jacket pocket. She quickly took it out and saw that it was Twilight's phone number. 

"Hey Twilight. What's up?" Sunset answered the call, putting her phone to her ear. 

"Hi Sunset. I'm about to conduct a new experiment on the emerald. I'm gonna need your help." Twilight told Sunset.

"Um okay. But.....I thought Rarity didn't want us doing experiments in her garage anymore." Sunset told her, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Rarity's wrath. 

"Oh don't worry. I'm doing this one in her backyard." Twilight replied. "Also I don't think this one involves explosions so we don't have to worry." 

"Alright. I'm on my way." Sunset confirmed. She hung up, put her phone back in her pocket and got up to head back to Rarity's house. She shot a glance over at Sonic, Silver, and Flash before she departed. Sonic was still running, but he was staggering and clearly out of breath. 
She begun to make her way off the bleachers. She took one last look at the three as she came to the ground. She then turned around and made her way around the school. 

Nearby, unbeknownst to Sunset, Shadow had been spying on her from the rooftops. He had snuck in through the maintenance door and climbed up onto the roof. His eyes went back to Sonic, Silver, and Flash. While he wasn't too sure if Flash was to be trusted, he seemed gullible enough unlike Twilight and her friends. 
"It's been almost two weeks since we've been here" Shadow thought to himself. He wasn't liking the odds they were facing. And with Twilight and her friends threatening to expose their secret, the risk of them being found out was ever present. "We haven't had any luck finding the other emeralds besides the one that Twilight had." He let out a sigh as the weight of this situation sunk into his human body. 
".......maybe we should ask for help." The idea crept into Shadow's mind. "......No! No........I can't risk it." The idea was expelled from his mind as quickly as it entered. "Let's just stick to the plan. Another emerald is bound to show up eventually." With that in mind, he stood up and walked along the edge of the roof in the direction of Sonic, Flash, and Silver. 

"Pant! Pant! Pant! Oh god!" Sonic once again stumbled across the finish line, gasping for breath. He fell backwards on his bottom as sweat poured down his face even more than the last time. 
Silver and Flash ran up to check on him as well as give him the results of his run. 
Looking at his phone, Flash had an uneasy look as he knew that Sonic wasn't going to like the result. Sonic noticed the look on Flash's face as he approached. 

"Don't tell me." A depressed Sonic hung his head. 

"Yeah.....you're just getting slower." Flash told him the result, Silver internally braced himself for Sonic incoming wrath. 

"Grrrr! I don't get it!!!" Sonic pounded the ground angrily. "How the hell is Dash able to run for so long!?" Sonic angrily questioned Dash's ability. 

"Um....maybe you could take it slow the first few laps?" Flash proposed meekly. Sonic gave him an unimpressed look.

"Oh great advice einstine." Sonic sarcastically told off Flash. "While your at it, why don't you try turning lead into gold." 
Flash was somewhat insulted by Sonic's comment, cuing him to give Sonic the cold shoulder, letting out a grumpy 'Hmph!'. 
"There must be something with her." Sonic mused about Dash's stamina. 

"That's because it has nothing to do with her." They heard Shadow's voice behind them. They looked behind them and saw Shadow on the roof of the school looking down at them.

"Shadow? H-How did you get up there?" A suprised and baffled Silver asked him. 
"Pfft Show off" Sonic muttered to himself.

"Just thought I get a better view up here." Shadow responded. He then proceeded to jump off the ledge of the roof. The three gasped as Sonic and Silver knew that Shadow still didn't have his powers so jumping down from that height would definitely hurt him. 
But midway through the fall, Shadow grabbed a window ledge stopping his fall, then he flipped forward as he dropped down the rest of the way unharmed. Sonic and Silver breathed a sigh of relief, but were also surprised that Shadow was still incredibly agile despite not having his powers.
Shadow approached the three, Flash tensed up a little for he remembered the first time he saw him. Shadow didn't pay much attention to Flash for Sonic was the one he was talking to. 

"I honestly can't believe you haven't figured it out yet." Shadow told him. 

"Hey!" Sonic wasn't about to have any of Shadow's lectures again. He stood up, rather clumsily as he was still tired, and went over to Shadow to give him a piece of his mind. "What the hell you talking about? Huh?" He got up in Shadow's face. 

"It's your stamina." Shadow said right out. "You're using it up too early in the race. By the time you reach the second lap you have no energy left for the final stretch." Shadow explained. "Not to mention you waste your energy with unnecessary movements." 

"Yeah it's no wonder Dash keeps beating you." Silver added. Sonic responded by giving him an angry look, cuing Silver to be quiet. Shadow rolled his eyes as he knew that they were wasting time. However his eyes then noticed Flash.

"And what are you doing here?" Shadow projected an air of hostility, hoping to scare Flash off. Flash jumped a little at Shadow suddenly putting him on the spot. But he didn't back down. 

"Uhhh...I..I was just helping Sonic time his runs." Flash explained himself. Shadow still was giving him the stink eye, causing flash to look around awkwardly. "......is that a problem?" Shadow rolled his eyes, not just at the fact that Sonic and Silver were getting unnecessarily friendly with the locals of this planet, but also at Flash's meekness. 

"Sigh Listen kid. Let me put it this way." Shadow spoke to Flash. "Me and my brothers are not exactly in the business of making frie- GRRRRROOOWWWLLLL!!!!" Shadow's train of thought was interrupted when he heard a stomach growling. His head snapped to Silver whom he assumed the growling came from. 

"Uhhh......" Silver wasted no time as he quickly pointed to Sonic. 

"Eh!? Hey!" Sonic protested at Silver pushing the blame on him. Silver however wasn't backing down that easily.

"Heh. Who else could it have come from?"  Silver shot back at Sonic, the two butted heads as they argued. However their quarrel was interrupted when the heard another loud stomach growl. 
The two slowly turned their heads towards the real suspect: Shadow. 

"Wh....what are you looking at me for?" Shadow protested. However another stomach growl answered his question. Sonic and Silver both had a smug smile on their faces as they knew that Shadow was hungry. 
Shadow's face flushed red in embarrassment all while Sonic, Silver, and Flash were spitting as they tried to contain their laughter. 

"Tch! Will you cut it out!" Shadow finally snapped as he angrily turned around and crossed his arms so they wouldn't see him blushing. Then Sonic, Silver, and Flash finally let it out, laughing at Shadow's expense. 

"Well, if you guys want. I can treat you guys to dinner." Flash offered them. Sonic and Silver's ears perked up at Flash's proposal while Shadow wasn't exactly on board with it. 

"Thanks. But we really should be get-" 

"Oh yes yes yes! Please" Sonic and Silver interrupted Shadow, much to his ire. 

"Yes! Anything other than cafeteria food!" Sonic cheered on. However their cheer was cut off when Shadow pushed Sonic out of the way by his face. 

"Will you two settle down. Were not here to goof around." Shadow reprimanded them. 

"Oh come on Shadow. Did you forget that were broke?" Silver retorted. 
"Yeah. We've been eating nothing but cafeteria food ever since we got here!" Sonic joined in Silver's protesting. Flash double taked when he heard this knowledge. 

"W-Wait? Seriously!?" Flash asked. Shadow's stomach growled once again, causing him to wince in embarrassment. While he  didn't like it, he admittedly wanted some better food in his stomach.  

"Sigh You footing the bill?" Shadow asked, not caring how rude he sounded which fortunately Flash didn't mind. 

"Sure. I recently got my paycheck." Flash told them. 

"Yes!" Sonic and Silver pumped their fists. 

"Sigh Okay kid. Lead the way I guess." Shadow reluctantly agreed to his proposal. 

"Sweet. Follow me. We'll take my car." Flash waved them to follow. 

"....Your car?" The three asked.

Flash took them to his car which was parked a little ways from Canterlot high, and Sonic and Silver's eyes widened in excitement. 

"Holy Smokes!! This is your ride!?" Silver jaw dropped in awe. Flash's car was a black sports car with yellow thunderbolt designs on it.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." Sonic knocked on the black finish of the car as he admired it. Flash blushed slighting in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head. Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic and Silver's immaturity. 

"Uhh...Hehe. Thanks but....it's not my car. It's my Dad's." Flash admitted. 

"Wow. Your parent must be loaded then aren't they?" Sonic theorized as he looked inside at the Dash board. 

"Uhh. Yeah. But.....they're not around much." Flash said, sounding less cheerful. Sonic, Silver, and Shadow all look over at Flash, wondering what he looked sad about. 
"Dad is always on business trips, and Mom is always out shopping." Flash explained sadly. Sonic and Silver looked at each other wondering how they could lighten the mood. 

"Curious. What is this thing's specs?" Shadow ran his hand on the hood of Flash's car. Sonic and Silver were surprised that Shadow was the one to lighten the mood. 

"Huh? Oh! Well....." Flash walked up to the hood of the car. "It's got a 275 horse power 2 Liter V8 engine with seven speed manual transmission with Active rev matching...." Flash started feeling cocky as he showed off the vehicle. "Comes with dual mode exhuast and magnetic suspension. So it's not just fast, it's smooth as well." Flash finished explaining.

"Oooooooo...." Sonic and Silver continued gawking at the car.

"So how fast is it?" Sonic asked abruptly.  While somewhat confused at Sonic's question, Flash was happy to answer. 

"Well, it can go from 0 to 60 in aproximately 5 seconds flat." Flash answered boastfully. 

"Hmph not bad." Sonic replied. "Pffft That's nothing compared to me back home." 
However the conversation was interrupted by the sound of stomach growling once again. 

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get in this puppy!" Silver excitedly wanted to get in. 

"There's one problem." Shadow noted. Flash, Sonic, and Silver all looked at him.  "There's only two seats." The three looked at the car again, and then at how many people there were. 

"Oh...." Flash realized the problem. 

"Eh....It's no problem." Sonic said. Shadow, Flash, and Silver gave him a confused look.  "Does this thing's roof retract?" he asked. 

"Oh! Yeah." Flash quickly reached inside the car and pressed a button on the dashboard. A mechanical whirr sounded as the roof retracted into the back. 

"Sweet!" Sonic cheered as he hopped onto the back of the car. "Two of us will just ride on the back!" Sonic put on a smug smile. Flash and Silver were on board with Sonic's plan. But Shadow wasn't easily convinced. 

"We don't want to attract attention. You sure the police won't notice?" Shadow asked. Sonic however just laid back and cradled his head in his hands, cuing an annoyed grunt from Shadow. 

"You're no fun Shadow. Come on. Let's live a little." Sonic said nonchalantly. Shadow, Silver, and Flash exchanged a brief glance at each other, wondering if they should either go along with Sonic's advice, or heed Shadow's concern. However before Shadow could say anything else, his stomach growled once again. Flash, Silver, and Sonic all looked at him awkwardly. 

"Sigh You....." Shadow pointed at Sonic suddenly. "If you cause any trouble. You're gonna regret it." Sonic looked around awkwardly.

"Soooo.....I take that as a yes?"

Ten Minutes later

"Woohoooo!!! Yeah!! This is awesome!" Sonic cheered as the wind blew against his face. He and Silver were riding on the back of Flash's car while Flash drove. Silver was holding on tight to the car for fear of falling off while Sonic was riding with no hands all the way. 
Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's immaturity. That being said, he was rather impressed by the performance of Flash's car. The ride felt smooth meaning that Flash wasn't exaggerating the specs of the car. It also meant that Sonic and Silver were less likely to fall off due to a bumpy ride. 

"Hang on were turning up here." Flash told them as he turned the car around the corner. 

"You guys must not have many cars where you're from."  Flash noted.

"Eh....our town is small so.....we just walked everywhere we went." Silver made up a story for that. Sonic had a disappointed face as that seemed like a lame explanation to him. 
Flash continued driving with the three in tow. They eventually entered the shopping district of town.

"Uhh....quick question. Where are we going to eat anyways?" Silver asked as he continued hanging onto the side of the car. Flash thought for a second for they didn't discuss where they were going to eat. 

"I dunno. Where do you guys wanna eat?" Flash asked them. 

"Is there a place with Chili Dogs?" Sonic asked flatly. 

"Wha-!?" Flash doubletaked and swerved a little when he heard what Sonic said. The swerving caused Silver lose balance slightly.

"Wha! WHA! Whoa!!" Silver nearly fell off the car due to Flash suddenly swerving. 
Flash took a moment to process what Sonic said. 

"I'm sorry what?" A bewildered Flash asked. Sonic rolled his eyes, for apparently the concept of his favorite food is completely lost on the people here. 

"You know. Chili Dogs." Sonic replied. "Hot Dog with Chili slathered on top, with lots and lots of Chili peppers!" Sonic explained, his mouth salivating. Flash however was more confused and baffled by such a topping for a hotdog. 

"............Who puts Chili on a hot dog!?" Flash said out loud. Sonic once again was dumbfounded. He didn't even know how to express his bafflement. 

"Well....there is a place that serves hotdogs." Flash managed to get over his inability to comprehend the concept of Chilidogs. "It's a few blocks down this way." He pointed to his right. "How about it?" 

"Sure. I'm game." Silver replied.

"Eh....whatever." Sonic was indifferent. The three all looked at Shadow, awaiting his answer. Shadow didn't really care, in fact he cared more about finding the chaos emeralds than eating. That being said, he was hungry. 

"Alright fine. Just don't make a scene you two." Shadow told them. 

"Yeah yeah whatever." Sonic waved off Shadow's advice. 

"Alright. Hang on." Flash said as he made a sudden right. 

"WHAAA!!" Silver exclaimed as he nearly fell off again. Sonic on the otherhand just enjoyed the ride. 

Meanwhile

Over at Rarity's house, Twilight and Sunset were once again conducting experiments on the emerald. They promised Rarity that there would be no explosions this time. While Rarity allowed them to continue their experiments, she demanded that they do it outside in the backyard. The request was reasonable enough so they moved their operations to the backyard under a canopy. 
Their setup was similar to last time, with the emerald sitting on a much more sturdy metal apparatus, connected by wires to a oscilator. They had bought yet another pair of plexiglass panels to protect them from any sparks, (much to the despair of Sunset's wallet)

"So explain to me again Twilight, what are we doing this time?" Sunset asked Twilight as she carefully connected the wires to the metal apparatus, the clamps let out a little spark as she connected them. 
Twilight was writing down some notes before she turned to Sunset to answer her question. 

"It's similar to last time, however were not doing it to get the emerald's reaction." Twilight began explaining. She walked over to the oscilator and adjusted some of the knobs on it's face. "Were going to measure the energy output of the emerald by channeling electricity in safe amounts." 

"Okay?" Sunset was trying to come to a conclusion on what Twilight was trying to do. "And how does that help us understand the emerald?" Sunset asked. 

"Were not just going to measure the energy of the emerald. Were also going to conduct the same experiment on....." Twilight rummaged through her backpack. ".......THIS!!!" Twilight pulled out the gold ring she had found after meeting Sonic. Sunset got closer to get a better look at it.

"Is that.....solid gold?" An impressed Sunset said, reaching her hand out to touch it. But Twilight pulled it away before her fingers touched it. 

"Oh I wouldn't touch this thing with you barehands either." Twilight explained. "This thing shocked me too, albiet to a lesser degree." She was wearing Rarity's garden gloves to protect her hands. 

"I see. And where did you find that thing?" Sunset asked. 

"Funny, that's also another reason why I'm running this test." Twiliight began explaining again. Sunset continued listening, leaning slightly on the tables. "This ring fell off of Sonic after I talked to him. " Twilight further eleborated. Sunset's eyes widened as she put two and two together. 

"So what you're trying to do is.......see if this ring and the emerald have the same kind of energy." Sunset aired her thoughts. Twilight gave her a nod, telling her that she was on the right track. 
"But if that ring came from Sonic. Then that would mean........." Sunset was hesitant to finish the next part of her sentence. Twilight had a concerned look on her face. 

"Now, I don't think this is definite proof, but it would definitely tie those three into whatever this emerald is." Twilight explained. Sunset felt somewhat vindicated, but she didn't feel the need to express it in anyway. After all she was past her days of gloating and putting people down. 

"Well.....what are we waiting for?" Sunset put on her safety goggles. "Let's get this thing started." Twilight smiled at Sunset's enthusiasm and proceeded to put on her safety goggles as well. She picked up the clipboard that was on the table and reviewed the procedure that she wrote down for the experiment. Then she walked over to the camera they set up on a tripod and made sure it was on and recording.  She then walked back over to the table and began going over their experiment procedure. 

"Okay, this is experiment number 2: Comparing the emerald's energy wavelength to this ring that fell off Sonic's person. The purpose is to see how similar the emerald's energy is compared to the ring. " Twilight spoke to the camera. She turned to Sunset and nodded, which was the signal to Sunset to start the experiment. 
Sunset threw the switch, and began slowly turning the dial on the oscilator. Once again the metal apparatus began sparking as Sunset turned it up. 

"Ok were at 50 watts." Sunset told Twilight, struggling to keep her eyes open from the bright sparking that their experiment was causing. 

"Ok! Hold it there!" Twilight said as the quickly jotted down the readings that the oscilator was feeding back to them. "Alright, move up to 75 watts." Twilight said after she finished writing. Sunset then slowly turn the knob up to 75. The sparking again got louder and more erratic. 

"Alright! Were at 75!" Sunset said. 

"Hold!" Twilight quickly wrote down the readings on the oscilator again. "Alright, move up to 100." 

"You got it!" Sunset confirmed as she started to turn the knob again. The sparking got more violent and erractic, the sparks bouncing off their plexiglass sheild. 

"Ok! Where at 100 watts now!" Sunset shouted through the loud sparking. Twilight frantically wrote down what the ocsilator read as she wanted to turn off the power as much as Sunset did judging from her voice. 

"Ok! Turn it off!" Twilight shouted back. Sunset wasted no time talking and turned the generator off. 

"Phew!" Sunset wiped some sweat from her head. She was worried that they were going to have a repeat of the first experiment. "Okay, I take it we do the same thing on that ring?" Sunset asked. Twilight was quickly scribbling on her notepad as she was running the numbers through a couple mathmatical formula's, which she intended to do the same with the readings from the ring. 

"Right. "I'll get set it up." Twilight said once she finished writing. She ran around their plexiglass shield and to the table holding the emerald, where she swapped the emerald with the ring. She quickly ran back where she turned to the camera again. "Alright. Now were going to get the energy readings of the ring." She spoke into the camera. She turned back and grabbed her clipboard, which qued Sunset to get ready to turn on the power again. 

"We all set?" Sunset asked, placing her hand on the switch. Twilight looked at the ring one the plexiglass, wondering how the reaction would differ from the emerald's 

"Okay. Let's do it in 3.....2......1-" 

"HEY TWILIGHT! SUNSET!!" Pinkie suddenly popped out from under the table. 

"WAAH!!!" Twilight and Sunset fell backwards in surprise, both of their legs flying up. 

"Watcha doin'?" Pinkie innocently asked them. 

"Tch! Pinkie! Were conducting an experiment with dangerous artefacts!" An annoyed Twilight scoffed as she got up and dusted herself off. 

""Yeah! You could've electrocuted yourself!"  Sunset said as she noticed that the oscilator tipped over on it's side when Pinkie surprised them and quickly went to go put it back up. 
Pinkie popped back up on her feet, but then her eyes were drawn to the emerald on the table. 

"Oooooo......shiny!" A mezmerized Pinkie went to grab the emerald that was on the table. Twilight's eyes dialated as she knew that nothing good would come if Pinkie got the emerald. 

"NO! PINKIE!!" Twilight rushed over and swiped the emerald in her gloved hands before Pinkie's finger's could touch it. "This thing is dangerous!" Twilight firmly told her.

"Awww come on! Just a little look!" Pinkie reached for it again, only for Twilight to swipe it away again. 

"And I said no! And that's final!" Twilight said, raising her voice slightly hoping that Pinkie would take the hint. Unfortunately Pinkie's innocent smile turned into a mischievous one as she tried reaching for the emerald again forcing her to keep it away from her again, but Pinkie didn't stop as she forced Twilight into a playful game of keep away, with Pinkie giggling as Twilight kept the emerald away from her. 
Sunset, who was observing their shenanigans , let out a groan as Pinkie was disrupting their experiment. 

"Hey Sunset!" She heard a bragging voice behind her. She glanced behind and saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack enter the backyard. 
"You two seem to be having fun." She noted, observing Twilight playing keep away with Pinkie. 

"Well. Fortunately we haven't made any explosions......yet." Sunset told them, wondering to herself how the experiment with the ring will turn out. 

"Well, we were thinking about getting dinner for everyone. You want anythin'?" Applejack said to her. " We've already asked Rarity and Fluttershy, just want you girl's opinion."

"Oh....well, anything is fine I guess. Just....get something not too heavy okay?"  Sunset asked. 

"Hmhmm.." Applejack nodded, then looked over at Twilight. "Hey Twi! What do you want!?" She called over to Twilight, who was still in the middle of her keep away game with Pinkie. 

"Hrrg!! Pinkie!....Uhhh......I'll.. Just have what ever Sunset's having!" Twilight replied, her mind zigzagging between keeping the emerald away from Pinkie, and answering Applejack's question. Pinkie made one more attempt to grab the emerald from Twilight once more, but Twilight moved it out of the way once again. However as Pinkie ran past Twilight her boot hit Twilight's ankle causing her to fall forward.

"Woah!" Pinkie yelped as she fell forward towards the other girls and fell flat on her face. 

"I'm sorry Pinkie, but we can't have you horsing around here." Twilight firmly told her. She then looked to Dash and Applejack. "Say do you girls think that you could take her with you? We'd really appreciate it!" Twilight said desperately wanting to get back to their experiment. 
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were rather hesitant to bring her along for her tendency to get them into silly or embarrassing situations.

"Ehh.....can't Fluttershy watch her?" Dash asked. 

"I think she's too occupied taking care of her animals." Applejack answered her. "Seriously that rabbit of hers is a handful. Rainbow Dash let out a sigh for she knew that Pinkie was inevitably going to do something to embarrass them. She walked forward and stood Pinkie up. 
"Okay Pinkie, if your gonna come. You better behave yourself. You got that Pinkie!?" Dash told her callously, gripping her by her shoulders firmly. She expected Pinkie to jump out of her arms with excitement. Except....she didn't. 

"Oh...uh......okay...." Pinkie said meekly, her voice lacking the energy and innocence it once had. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were confused at Pinkie's jarring change in demeanor. They exchanged a look before turning to go get in Applejack's truck. But as Dash turned she felt something grip her hand. Looking back she saw that Pinkie had grasped her hand in both her palms, her eyes as wide as a shy child. 

"......Pinkie?" Dash asked, very confused with how she was acting. Upon looking closer she noticed that Pinkie's hair wasn't poofy and fluffy anymore. No it hung straight downward past her shoulders and it also was a slightly darker hue than usual.

"Sigh....Will you quit your moping and come on already?!" Dash growing impatient pulled Pinkie along, with her finally walking behind her holding Dash's hand. They rounded the corner of the house and went towards the front. 

"Okay, we are now getting the reading of the ring." Twilight spoke into the camera before turning to continue the experiment. 
"You ready?" Sunset asked turning to Twilight. Twilight nodded in response, cuing Sunset to turn on the generator and adjust the oscilloscope. 
The ring made an fizzing electrical ringing as electricity began flowing into it. This ringing grew louder and louder as Sunset increased the voltage. Twilight quickly jotted down this difference.

"Okay! Were at 50 watts!" Sunset yelled, plugging one of her ears from how loud the sound was. 

"Let's move up to 60!" Twilight yelled back, who was just as annoyed by the sound as Sunset was.  Sunset began to turn the nob past 50 watts. When she turned it past 55 watts, the ring began to hover slightly on small arcs of electricity. Twilight once again wrote down what the ring was doing in her notebook. 

"Okay were at 60 now!"  Sunset announced. 

"Keep going!" Twilight said. Sunset kept turning the nob. When she turned past 70, the ring began spinning and a small yellow halo of energy began forming around it, which of course Twilight made sure to write down. The ring's spinning got faster and faster. 

"Were at 85!" Sunset called out again. "Geez we should've gotten some earmuffs!"  she protested the loud ringing it was making. The rings spinning had now grown so fast that it was a blur, it's shape nearly unrecognizable. 
"I don't like this!" Sunset said, growing more nervous as the ring's spinning was causing it to vibrate like it was going to fly out and hit them in the face.  Regardless she continued turning the knob. She turned the knob to 95, the ring was now shaking frantically as it spun, like a  rubber ball bouncing in a box. 

"Okay! Were at 100 watts!" Sunset shouted through the loud ringing, which Twilight could barely hear. 

"Hold it there!" Twilight frantically scrambled to write down what was happening. The ring was bouncing even more violently than before, it started to repeatedly hit the table beneath it, making a loud rythmic banging sound. 

"Twilight I don't like this!!" Sunset yelled as her ears were aching from the ringing and the banging the ring was making. 

"Just hold on!!" Twilight yelled back, clearly not enjoying this any more than Sunset was. With a few more quick strokes of her pen (In her mouth. She'd been writing everything down with her pen in her mouth) she finished writing down the last of the readings.

"Ok! Turn it off!!!" Twilight yelled once again. Sunset wasted no time and turned off the generator, however the second she flipped the switch, the ring suddenly shot out at blinding speed towards Rarity's house.

"WHOA!!!"

"Watch out!!!" The two girls were knocked off their feet and fell to the side as the ring pierced through their plexiglass shield, through their canopy and into a window on the top floor of Rarity's house.  

"Ugh ow!" Twilight's shoulder hurt a little from falling over, but she tensed up when she looked up and saw that the window on top floor was completely shattered. 

"Oh no.......Rarity is not gonna like that." Sunset added, having also noticed the broken window. She went over and helped Twilight onto her feet. 

"Lets clean up everything before Rarity notices." Twilight whispered to Sunset, fearing Rarity's reaction. "I'm afraid Rarity won't forgive us this time around." 
Suddenly a girlish shriek came from the window upstairs, sending a chill down the two girls spines.

"Speak of the devil." Sunset dreaded what was coming next. Rarity poked her head out of the broken window to give the two a piece of her mind.

"Thats it! I forbid you two from conducting experiments on my property from now on!" Rarity shouted a them below. Sunset and Rarity struggled to come up with a convincing argument. 

"Oh please Rarity. I know we promised we wouldn't damage your house but....." Twilight looked to the side nervously, knowing that she couldn't come up with many excuses in this situation. 
".....We couldn't have possibly known that was going to happ-"

"No! Both of you clean up that pigsty down there and take your experiments somewhere else!" Rarity put her foot down and stormed back inside. 

Twilight and Sunset stood for several seconds as they took in the fact that they were just lectured like a couple of kids who were caught getting into trouble. 

"So......what now?" Sunset asked Twilight. Twilight let out a sigh as she went through the notes she wrote down on her clipboard. 

"Well.....at least we got some important data. I'll put it through some more formulas tonight, see if some new info comes up." Twilight tried to make the best of the situation. Sunset shrugged her shoulders as she somewhat agreed with Twilight.

"I'll see if Dash will let us do experiments at her house." Sunset told. Twilight agreed with the notion, noting to herself that Dash was probably more tolerant of the possibility of damage to her house. She even questioned why they didn't do these experiments at her place to begin with.

"Well, let's start cleaning all this up." Twilight said as she began taking the instruments off the table. 
Sunset was putting the oscilloscope away in a box when she heard the light pattering of a small dog approaching.

"Hey guys!" Spike greeted them cheerily as he carried something in his mouth. 

"Hey there Spike!" Twilight knelt down and scratched his head. Then she noticed the thing in his mouth. 

"Sorry about what happened with Rarity. So I thought I would bring this thing back." Spike noticed Twilight eying what he was carrying and dropped in front of Twilight. 
It was the ring that broke Rarity's window. She picked it up and began examining it. 

"What more secrets do you hold?" Twilight asked herself. 

Sunset folded up one of the folding tables and wiped some sweat off her brow as she looked at what she had left to put away. 

"Hey Twilight can you help me put away the plexiglass panels and the canopy?" Sunset asked her. 

"Okay I'll be there in a second." Twilight replied. She scratched Spike again behind the ears, with Spike giving her a satisfied smile. 

"Don't worry about Rarity Twilight, I'll make sure she's still on good terms with you guys." Spike said giving Twilight a wink. Twilight chuckled at Spike's mischievous plan. 

"Hee Hee! Okay. Don't butter her up too much. She'll become suspicious of you." Twilight replied. Spike returned the laugh and scurried off towards the house. With that, Twilight stood  up and went over to help Sunset. She made sure to put the ring in her pocket beforehand. 

Twilight helped Sunset move the plexiglass panels, tables, and other equipment onto the front yard. Since Applejack was away with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie getting dinner, they planned to ask Applejack if they could drop the stuff off at Rainbow Dash's place. 

"I'm sure Dash won't mind some more stuff in her garage, it's filled with junk anyways." Sunset told Twilight. While it would be a bit inconvenient for Twilight to not be able to do experiments at Rarity's house, traveling to Dash's house was not too much of a problem. 

"Phew! That was harder than it looked" A winded Twilight sighed as she wiped some sweat off her brow. Sunset who wasn't as winded nodded in agreement with her. 

"I wonder what the others are up to." Sunset asked, looking down the street. 

Meanwhile

Crunch! Mmmm! Damn! It's no Chilidog, but this hotdog is good!" Sonic said as he took a large bite out of his Hot dog with cheese, ketchup and mustard, crumbs falling on to the table and sauce smeared on his mouth. Silver sat next to him and was also enjoying his meal in the same manner as Sonic.
Flash looked at the two eat with appreciation and slight embarrassment at their lack of table manners. Shadow, who sat next to the two, shook his head in embarrassment. 

"Uhhhh......do you guys really don't have any fast food places where you're from?" Flash asked, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of place they were from. Sonic and Silver's mouth's were too full to even talk with them full, so Shadow answered for them. 

"Well.............not exactly." Shadow half lied, still wanting to maintain their ruse. "We just haven't had much food since we got here, aside from the cafeteria food."

"Yeah, Cafeteria food is pretty mediocre." Flash replied, though he wasn't entirely satisfied with Shadow's answer. Then he noticed that Shadow had not touched his food. "Um......are you gonna eat that?" Flash asked Shadow. Shadow wasn't particularly hungry. He pushed his plate over to Flash saying "Here" rather dismissively. Flash partook in some of Shadow's potato wedges.
Silver, who was sitting closest to the window, ate the last remnants of his burger and wiped the sauce from his mouth with his sleeve. He let out a satisfied sigh as he felt like his stomach was full. Then he looked to his left and he saw a person up against the glass looking at him. 

"AAH!!" Silver jumped slightly, causing Sonic behind him to choke a piece of hotdog. He recognized the person as Pinkie Pie, yet he noticed that her hair was different which perplexed him somewhat. She had a sad expression on her face which Silver found odd since whenever he saw Pinkie she looked about as energetic as a bouncy ball in a bouncy castle. 
"Uhhh....Pinkie?" Silver said, unsure of what to make of what she was doing. 

"Sigh Pinkie! Stop being weird will ya?" Applejack lightly reprimanded Pinkie as she pulled her to the side by the arm. 

"Hey! What's Pinkie doin'?" Dash called over to the other two from by the door. 

"I dunno. Pinkie's acting weird again." Applejack replied, lightly pulling Pinkie along, who followed along with a slight stagger. 

"Say is it me or is Pinkie acting weirder than usual?" Rainbow Dash asked, noting that Pinkie's behavior has been unusual. 
Applejack looked back at Pinkie who was looking at the ground idly.

"Come to think of it, she been nothin' but quiet during the trip here." Applejack pointed out.

"Heh! Pinkie being quiet for once? Imagine that!" Dash laughed to herself at the thought. She then opened the door to the diner, taking in the smell of deep fried food, with Applejack and Pinkie following her in. 

Sonic, having recovered from choking on a pickle, noticed the three girls enter. He silently nudged Shadow and gestured towards them. Shadow noticed them and immediately frown. 

"Oh great." Shadow muttered to himself. 

"Should we leave?" Silver whispered over to him. Unfortunately Dash looked over in their direction and noticed them. 

"No. Let's act natural for now." Shadow replied, taking a sip of his soda (which was orange cola). 

"Hmm? What are you guys talking about?" Flash asked, unfortunately Shadow's whisper was a bit too loud. 
Flash looked to his left and saw the three girls, whom he recognized as Twilight's friends.

"Say, aren't those Twilight's friends?" Flash asked, looking back at Shadow. Shadow only shrugged his shoulders, giving Flash the impression that they haven't met. 

"Hey, look whose here." Dash snidely pointed over at them. Applejack looked over and noticed the boys as well. 

"Heh, looks like they had the same idea as us." Applejack noted. 

"Wait here, I'm gonna go mess with them." A sly grin crept along Dash's face, and she walked over to where they were sitting. Applejack rolled her eyes in annoyance. She proceeded to stay in line along with Pinkie so that she could get their food. Glancing back over at Pinkie, who was still in her timid state, couldn't get used to how depressed Pinkie looked. 

"Well well well.....look who we have here?" Dash smugly said to them. This cued an extremely exasperated grunt from Sonic. Dash snickered under her breath for she knew that her mere presence was enough to annoy Sonic, which was pretty entertaining for her. 

"What do you want?" Shadow asked rather callously. 

"Whoa whoa! Hey! I just wanna chat." Dash tried to diffuse the tension, with little success due to the Shadow and Sonic's expressions. 

"Yeah well, do you mind? Were trying to eat here." Sonic replied, mimicking Shadow's callousness. Dash grumpily blew some of her hair away from her eyes, muttering 'you're no fun' under her breath. Then she just noticed that Flash was sitting across from them. She barely even noticed him in the first place. 

"Oh! Hey Flash." Dash greeted him. 

"Hey Dash." Flash greeted her back, he sensed that she didn't notice him until now which kind of let him down.

"Didn't think you'd be hangin' with the new guys." Dash noted, for she never saw him hanging out with anyone until now. She always took him for a loner. 
"Guess you and these guys share something in common?" 

Silver, who had finished eating his burger, was rather confused by her statement. 
"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Silver asked, be somewhat irritated by both her question and her smug tone. 

"I'm just saying. Wierdos attract other wierdos." Dash shrugged her shoulders, letting out a smug giggle afterwards. Flash was put off by her statement, but didn't know how to refute her. Silver scowled as he was rather angered by her statment , Sonic just let out a grumble, and Shadow just rolled his eyes. 
"Welp. Smell ya later." Dash 

"Grrr.....I oughta-" Silver was about to give Dash a piece of his mind, but Sonic lightly elbowed him beneath the table.

"I've gotten used to it. Just ignore her." Sonic advised him. Silver, while still bitter over her comment, decided to heed Sonic's words and carried on with eating. 

Applejack had just finished ordering and had taken a seat  at a table nearby with Pinkie, who was still incredibly quiet with her solemn demeanor still in play. The thought of Pinkie being so quiet and compliant with her still weirded her out. "I must be so accustomed to Pinkie being annoying that it doesn't feel natural." Applejack thought to herself as she looked over at Pinkie sitting across from her at the table. "Kinda like how I'm accustomed to Dash's brand of annoyance."
She noticed Dash walk over to them after toying with Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Flash. "Speak of the devil"

"So, you girls ordered?" Dash asked, sitting next to Pinkie. Applejack nodded in response. 
"So what'd you get me?" 

Applejack shrugged. "Eh, you'll see" She answered. 

"What do you mean?" Dash wasn't satisfied with her answer.

"Eh, you'll like it." Applejack replied. Dash, while still not satisfied with Applejack's answer, pushed the thought out of her mind and looked over at the three otherworlders, resting her head in her hands with her elbows on the table. 
Then her mind went to Pinkie, who was still in her usually timid mood. 

"Say, don't you think Pinkie's a whole lot better this way?" Dash asked Applejack, who admitted to herself that it was nice having Pinkie be quiet for once, still felt it was wrong.

"Yeah, I guess but......" Applejack trailed off.

"But what?" Dash inquired.

"Don't ya think it's a little weird. Like.....why's she like this all of a sudden?" Applejack explained, she looked back over at Pinkie who was looking just as shy and timid as Fluttershy at a scary movie. 

Dash looked over at Pinkie as well and thought for a few seconds. 
"Eh.....who cares. It's good for us huh?" Dash replied, not caring too much about Applejack's point.
Applejack furrowed her brow, not liking how Dash was interpreting Pinkie's change in behavior.

"Gee. So ya don't care if somethin' is wrong with Pinkie? I mean what if she's like this forever?" Applejack replied firmly, a hint of anger in her voice, wanting to make sure Dash got the point.

"Hey hey! I never said that!" Dash threw her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying that we should enjoy a little peace and quiet while she's like this." Dash explained. 

"Uh huh....and what if she gonna be always like this?" Applejack wasn't satisfied with her answer.

"I never said she's always gonna be like this either." Dash evaded her question. "I think she just needs a cupcake or some sweets or something and she'll be fine." She shrugged. 

"Number 97! Order's ready!" One of the restaurant's employee's shouted a number.

"Oh that's us." Applejack got up to go get their food.  "I'll be back" She walked over to the counter. 
While Applejack was gone, Dash looked over at Pinkie who was still looking sullen. Now that she thought about it, Pinkie being like this actually didn't feel quite right. Pinkie always knew how to make everyone cheerful and happy. She was always the group's little bundle of joy and the idea of her not being that actually kind of depressed Dash the more she thought about it. 

"Hey Pinkie. What's going on." Dash asked, thinking maybe that talking to her could get her back to normal. Pinkie let out a slight gasp, surprised by Dash talking to her. She looked over to see Dash looking at her with a sincere smile. 

"Uhh......n...nothing...." She replied meekly. Dash raised an eyebrow not content with that kind of answer. 

"Uh...that's not an answer." She replied "Come on, tell me what's on your mind." Dash continue to inquire into Pinkie's state of mind. 
Pinkie meekly averted her gaze, fidgeting with her hair. She was silent for several seconds before she finally spoke.

"Is......my.......life worthless?" Pinkie said her voice full of sadness.

Dash's smile instantly faded as Pinkie's question hit her like a basketball to the face. She could hardly believe that Pinkie would even say something that horrible.

"W...what the.....Pinkie. Are you okay?" A shaken Rainbow Dash asked her. Pinkie didn't answer, only continuing to look away from Dash, almost like she was ashamed. But Dash wasn't going to let her say such things. "This isn't worth Pinkie not being annoying! I gotta do something about this."
"Hey! Pinkie look at me!" Dash said commandingly. 

"EEP!!" Pinkie yelped in surprise as Dash raised her voice.

"I don't wanna hear you say that ever again. You got that?" Dash told her fiercely. Pinkie stared at Dash blankly, her mouth slightly agape as she couldn't find the words to reply with. 
"I don't what's going on in that head of yours, but always remember you're one of us." Dash continued. 

"Ey. What's going on 'ere?" Applejack had just got back from getting their food and overheard Dash. 

"I take back what I said. Pinkie is not good like this." Dash said to Applejack suddenly. "Especially if she's saying stuff like 'Is my life worthless'"

"Pinkie said that?" A flabbergasted Applejack replied. "I think we should talk about this to Twilight." 

"You know for once I agree." Rainbow Dash agreed with Applejack for once, which rarely happens between the two. "Come on let's go." She got up from her seat and grabbed Pinkie by the hand, pulling her lightly. But Pinkie wouldn't get up. "Come on Pinkie let's go." Rainbow Dash pulled slightly harder, trying to to be too rough with her. Pinkie eventually caved and got up. The three then made their way towards the exit.

Meanwhile, Flash and the three other worlders were also about to leave. 

"It's getting late. We should go." Shadow said as he got up. 
Flash looked outside the window and saw the day's hue was turning orangish, signaling that evening was coming. 

"Yeah, I should probably be getting home too." Flash got up from him seat. Silver was slightly disappointed for he was enjoying Flash's company.

"Aw jeez. Already?" Silver complained. 

"Oh stop complaining and lets go." Sonic retorted at him as he squeezed past Shadow. However he didn't notice Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie about to pass by, and as he put his foot outside the table, he accidentally clipped Pinkie's foot as she passed by.

"Wha- WHAA!!" Pinkie cried out as she stumbled forwards and landed face first on the ground.

"PINKIE!!" Dash and Applejack yelled as they rushed to Pinkie's side. An angry Dash looked around to see who tripped Pinkie, and she saw Sonic looking at the three with a blank expression on his face. Shadow, Silver, and Flash were also giving Sonic an awkward look.

"Uhhh......sorry." Sonic tried to diffuse the tension in the air. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop a fuming Rainbow Dash from standing up, walking over to him and grabbing him by the collar. 

"You gotta problem blue boy! Huh?!" Dash angrily got up in Sonic's face. 

"Whoa hey! Hands off! I didn't see her!" Sonic pulled her hand off his collar and shouted back at her with similar fury. 

"Don't give me that bullcrap! Pinkie is already miserable enough! Do you really need to make her even more miserable!?" Rainbow Dash retorted with even greater anger. 
Flash could sense that  this could escalate into something bad so he quickly stepped forward between Sonic and Dash.

"Okay hey! Calm down!" Flash said firmly as he pushed the two away from each other, which got them to stop fighting for now. 
"Dash, I'm sure it was just accident and he apologized." Flash said to Dash. "And Sonic, do you really have to make things worse by fighting?" Flash reprimanded Sonic. Sonic and Dash then both realized that they've made a scene at the restaurant, with all the other patrons looking at them awkwardly. 

"Sigh You're right. Sorry I guess." Dash said, scratching the back of her head in slight embarrassment. 

"Yeah me too." Sonic relented as well. "More importantly, how's Pinkie?" Sonic changed the subject. Dash took Sonic's advice and went to check on Pinkie who was still face down on the floor. 

"Pinkie! You okay!?" Dash and Applejack carefully and gently rolled the unconscious Pinkie onto her back. Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Flash watched as they tended to her. 

"She's still breathin'. And I don't see any blood." Applejack checked if Pinkie was injured anywhere.

It was just then that Silver noticed something different with Pinkie's hair. Last time he looked at Pinkie it was straight and hung down past her shoulders, but now it was poofy  and bulbous like usual.

"BOO!!!" Pinkie yelled as she suddenly sat up. Dash and Applejack jump back in surprise, both of them falling on the behinds. Sonic, Silver, and Flash were also surprised, 

"Uhh....Pinkie....you okay?" Dash asked. She saw that instead of appearing depressed and sad, Pinkie's eyes were wide as saucers and a big grin was on her face. 

"Okay!? I'm more than okay! I'mmmmmm FABULOUS!!" Pinkie quickly hopped onto her feet and struck a cute pose. 

The group was silent for a few seconds. 

"Welp. Looks like the old Pinkie's back." Applejack said as she stood up and dusted herself off. 

"Well, so much for that problem" Dash said as she did the same. Sonic just stood there bewildered at how the problem sort of just resolved itself. Even Shadow, Silver, and Flash were somewhat flabbergasted at the bizarre series of events. 

"Well......now that that's taken care of, hows about we go home, Twilight and Sunset are probably starvin' by now." Applejack   said to the group, not wanting the food to get cold.

"Yeah. Not a bad idea." Dash agreed with Applejack. 

"Um.....so....no hard feelings?" Sonic asked them. Dash gave him a unpleasant look. 

"Eh I guess so." Dash shrugged her shoulders. "But!....I've got my eye on you!"  Dash gave him the 'I'm watching you' gesture.  Sonic wanted to snap back at her with a snarky remark, but at this point he'd gotten used to it by now so he just rolled his eyes.

Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack left the premises shortly after. The sun had gone behind the hills and it had started to get dark, the street lights coming on for the night. The three hopped in Applejack's truck, Applejack handed the food to Pinkie in the back. 

"Eh, are you sure it's okay giving the food to Pinkie?" Dash asked Applejack. Applejack shot Dash a confused look.

"Why not?" Applejack asked. "Ya think she's gonna take a bite of yer food or sumthin'?"

"Wha-? No! I don't even know what you got me!" Dash protested, cuing Applejack to snicker a little under her breath. 
Dash looked back at Pinkie who still had a wide and innocent smile on her face and was looking at the bag of food with awe and curiosity. 
"It's just really weird how Pinkie was acting completely opposite of what she's usually like, and then suddenly she's back to her usual self." Dash explained. Applejack thought for a few seconds and she found herself agreeing again with Dash. She tried to think of a reason in her head. 

"Maybe she's going through a tough point in her life." Applejack theorized. "Like all of us do."
Dash wasn't entirely satisfied with Applejack's answer. 

"But if she's going through a tough time, wouldn't she tell us about it?" Dash asked back. She looked back again and saw Pinkie, with her giant smile still on her face, sniff the aroma of food coming from the bag and let out a satisfied and content sigh.  
Applejack thought for a moment, but she shrugged when she couldn't think of an answer.

"Eh, I'm sure Twilight will have an answer fer us when we get back."  Applejack said as she started up the engine. Dash put her head against the head of the glass. However as Applejack pulled out of their parking spot, Dash spotted Sonic, Shadow, Silver and Flash come out of the restaurant. She could help but follow them with her eyes as Applejack pulled out of the parking lot. 

"Whew! I'm stuffed!" Silver said as he rubbed his tummy. Sonic almost as if on que let out a loud burp as Silver finished his sentence. Shadow rolled his eyes at their immaturity. 

"Uh....thanks for footing the bill" Shadow thanked Flash. 

"Hey like I said, It was my treat!" Flash smiled back at them. 

"Say wouldn't mind if you could drive us home would you?" Silver asked. 

"Sure, where you guys living at?" Flash asked. 

"Oh we live in apartment complex near the border of town. Run by some guy named Sandalbark." Sonic explained. Flash's eyes widened slightly as if he recognized  that place. 

"Oh I know that place. Sheesh was that you guy's only option?" Flash asked them. 

"Yeah. And we only managed to get a place there due to a coupon we got for a free month there." Silver explained. 

"Yeah, but end of the month is in a few weeks. You guys better start finding jobs soon." Flash told them, he got out his keys and unlocked his car. 

"Well, you aren't the first to tell us that." Sonic remarked. 

The four piled into Flash's car and Shadow directed him on where to go. The stars were beginning to show above as the sky's blue color got darker and darker. 

"Say, I'm wondering what was going on with Pinkie back there." Silver asked. Sonic and Shadow looked back at him to better listen to what he has to say. 

"What about her?" Sonic asked. 

"You know how she's always energetic and cheery?" Silver asked. "She didn't seem that way at the restaurant." The four were silent with thought. 

"But then she returned to that way after she tripped and fell." Sonic added. "Why is that?" 

"It's none of our business. Don't think about it too much." Shadow told him. Flash gave him a concerned look.

"Geez. Harsh much?" Flash complained. 

"Eh. He's always like that." Sonic told Flash. Shadow didn't bother responding to Sonic's remark. 

Twenty minutes later Flash pulled up to the apartment complex where they lived.

"Well, here we are." Flash said. The three climbed out of his car. 

"Well, see you Flash." Sonic said goodbye. "You know, you're actually pretty cool" 

"Oh please. I'm actually not all that cool." An embarrassed Flash rubbed the back of his head, while downplaying their compliments. 

"Heh, there's no need to be so modest man." Silver encouraged him. 

"You know, I agree. You should be more confident." Shadow stepped next to Sonic and Silver. Flash was heartfelt at their comments, he chuckled slightly. 

"You know, I've met a lot of guys at CHS.......but never guys like you."  Flash told them. "Do you think......we could hang out again sometime?" He asked. 
The three looked at each other. Silver was kind of worried of what Shadow would say given that he wasn't too fond of associating with visitors. 

"Eh. We'll see." A skeptical Shadow finally said as he turned and headed back to the apartment complex. The three looked on as he headed back. 

"Ah don't worry about him. If you wanna hang out with us, just give us a call." Sonic said. 

"Thanks you guys." Flash thanked them. He shifted into drive and drove off after waving goodbye to them. He drove all the way home with a smile on his face. 

Sonic and Silver caught up to Shadow  who was already in the apartment complex going up the stairs. 

"So what do you think Shadow. Think we can count him as a friend?" Silver asked. 

"Again, I wouldn't get too close to the inhabitants of this world." Shadow once again iterated his seemingly cold mantra. Silver and Sonic looked at him disappointedly. 

"Ya know Shadow. If we stay here long enough I don't think that's gonna be an option." Sonic rolled his eyes at Shadow's stubbornness. They eventually get to their apartment room and began to unwind. 

"Well, at least it's Friday tomorrow. That way we can look for the chaos emeralds." Sonic said as he stretched a little. 

"As much as I hate to admit it. We also have homework to do." Shadow said. The cued a double take from both Silver and Sonic. "We'll have to do it over the weekend." This caused a loud "Awww!!" of disappointment from Silver and Sonic. 
"Oh quit complaining! I'll help you through it." Shadow reprimanded them like a disgruntled parent. 

"Well screw that I'm going outside!" Sonic walked over to the sliding doors and threw them open, slamming it against the wall. He walked out onto the small balcony and closed the door behind him with almost as much vigor as he when he opened it. 
Shadow and Silver looked over at the doors when Sonic entered. Shadow rolled his eyes in utter annoyance then went back to looking over their homework. 
"Well, I'm gonna hit the sack." Silver told Shadow, letting out a quiet yawn. He walked  over to the bunk bed and was about to throw himself on the mattress, but suddenly his body convulsed with weakness and nearly fell over, catching himself on the frame of the bed. 

"You alright?" Shadow noticed Silver leaning on the bed. He noticed that he had broken out in a huge sweat and was panting heavily. "You don't look so good". Just as he finished talking Silver let out a loud cough. 

"Pant pant I'm fine. Just......a bit cold." Silver took off his jacket and climbed into bed, pulling the covers over him. Shadow looked at Silver with worry. He made a mental note to himself to keep a closer eye on Silver in the coming days. 

Meanwhile Sonic sat on a chair outside, a light cold breeze blowing in his face as he looked towards the city. He was tired of being powerless. Yet he couldn't be angry, he wanted to but he couldn't. He thought that maybe all this blending in is getting to his mind. 
But then while he was reminiscing about green hill and his adventures with his other friends, for whatever reason his mind drifted to think about Twilight. He could put his finger on it, but he felt a strange connection to her. He tried thinking about other things, but his mind couldn't get off her. 

"Twilight. Who are you?"

Over at Rarity's house

"Twilight darling, You know I am more than willing to help however I can. But I will not tolerate anymore damage to my property! And that's final!" Rarity said firmly, going back to inspecting her makeup in the mirror.
Twilight looked at her blankly with one eyebrow raised. "I was just going to apologize for that" She thought. Spike looked up at Rarity, whining eagerly. 

"Well Rarity, I just wanted to apologize for the damage we did to your house."  Twilight apologized. Rarity looked over at Twilight, dropping her firm expression for a understanding one. "I'm just worried about this emerald. So much about it makes no sense to me. And you know I'm scared of what I don't 

"Oh Twilight, I do apologize if I seem unreasonable. It's just.....well. Don't you think you're freaking out just a teeeensy little bit about this emerald?" Rarity said to her. Twilight looked down in thought as she fidjeted with her hands behind her. "Now don't get me wrong the business with this emerald is important, but you've been fixated on this emerald for nearly a month now." 

"Well...what am supposed to do then? I have no idea how this emerald works, or what it even is. I just need to figure it out Rarity." Twilight insisted on her goal to understand the emerald, a distraught expression on her face. 

"And you will darling." Rarity got up and took Twilight's hands. Twilight looked up at Rarity with hopeful eyes. "You will solve this mystery. You are the smartest of the girls next to Sunset." Rarity encouraged her, a smile growing on Twilight's face. "All I'm saying is, you should relax a little. Clear your mind. The answer will present itself soon enough."
Twilight looked at the emerald that was sitting on a table next to Rarity's bedroom door, and she sighed when she realized that she's been letting this business get to her head. 

"Sigh You're right Rarity. I'm sorry for worrying you." A heartfelt Twilight replied. The two friends then gave each other a hug. Spike, who was sitting on the bed, watched happily as he knew Twilight's bond with her friends was unbreakable, even across dimensions. 

She went downstairs with Spike swiftly following behind her and went to the dining room, where Sunset was who had just finished packing their equipment (or what was left of it) into boxes to move to their next location. 

"So. How did it go with Rarity?" Sunset asked as she crammed a buch of power cords into a box and closed it."

"Well, we won't be able to continue our experiment's here. We'll have to continue it at Dash's house." Twilight explained. Sunset thought for a few seconds, she questioned if it were more efficient if they did it at Dash's house to begin with. 

"Okay, I'll need to check with Dash if she'll be okay with us using her place." Sunset replied. But her train of thought was interrupted when she felt something brush by her boot. She looked down and saw a squirrel eating a acorn. Then Twilight saw a white bunny hop onto the table and scratch it ear. 

"Well, I think I know who that is." Twilight said in anticipation for who she was about to see. They saw Fluttershy carrying a cat with two kittens and two birds in her hair enter the dining room from the door that led to the backyard. 

"Sorry everyone. I had to work overtime at the animal shelter. Not to mention Ms. Fluffles here just gave birth to two cute little kittens. " Fluttershy explained the reason for her absence, stroking the back of the cat in her arms. . 

"Heh. I bet you'd work there 24/7 if they'd let you." Sunset joked as she sat down in one of the chairs around the dinner table. Fluttershy giggled at her joke and proceed to gently set the cat and her kittens on the couch. 

"So, um.......what did I miss?" Fluttershy asked. Sunset and Twilight then explained to her their failed attempt at an experiment and how they will have to move their operations over to Rainbow Dash's house. 
"Oh my. So....that's why there was a broken window on the second floor?" Fluttershy asked, who noticed it on her way in. Twilight and Sunset nervously scratched their heads and let out a nervous chuckle as they recalled what happened earlier today. 
However the discussion was interrupted when they heard a stomach growl. Twilight looked down and embarrasingly realized that it was her stomach that growled. 

"Ha ha! Listen to that!" Twilight said.

"Where's Dash, AJ, and Pinkie? They were supposed to get the food." Sunset added. Then, almost on cue, the doorbell rang. Then the front door opened Applejack, Rainbow Dash, with Applejack carrying the food in four paper bags. 

"HIIYAA! The food's here!" Pinkie burst into the dinner room, from underneath the dinner table. She then bounced all over the room, including once on Sunset's head, before she finally landed in one of the dining room tables. 

"Ha ha ha! You sure know how to make an entrance Pinkie." Twilight commented cheerfully as she sat down next to Pinkie. 

"Welcome back Pinkie!" Fluttershy greeted her as she sat in the other seat next to her. Pinkie responded with her classic 'squee!' sound. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in annoyance at Pinkie's hyperactivness.

"Sorry for makin' ya'll wait! Had a run in with the new guys." Applejack reported, setting the food on the dinner table. Applejack's latter statement got Twilight's attention. 

"You mean, you saw Sonic, Shadow, and Silver there?" Twilight asked. 

"Oh yeah we did. And Sonic was a big jerk to Pinkie!" Dash said. 
Twilight grew rather concerned when she heard that from Dash. While she percieved that Sonic was brash and cocky (like a certain somepony in the room), but she never seen him be outright mean to them.

"Wait? Sonic was.....mean to Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked, her concern growing. 

"Nah. Sonic just tripped Pinkie by accident. Isn't that right Pinkie?" Applejack turned to Pinkie. 

"Yeah! Sonic is cool! I'm talking about blue, white, red, yellow COOL!" Pinkie listed off Sonic's color scheme. The other's just looked at her confusedly. 

"Well actually. Twi, me and Dash wanted to talk to ya about Pinkie for a minute." Applejack told her. 

"About Pinkie? What's wrong with Pinkie?" Twilight replied, her concern flaring up again. 

"How 'bout we talk about this over while we eat?" Applejack proposed, to which Pinkie and Dash were very much looking forward to. 

Fifteen minutes later

The Main 7 were chowing down on their meal, which consisted of burgers for Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Hotdogs for Rainbow Dash, Rarity,, and Pinkie Pie, as well as french fries and soda. 

"Ugh. This is definately not good for my calorie count!" Rarity protested at the choice of food that they got.

"Oh come on Rarity. It doesn't hurt every once and a while." Applejack replied. Fluttershy was feeding some of the fixins of her burger to her rabbit and squirrel, while Pinkie Pie was chowing down with little regard for table manners.
Rainbow Dash was about to take a bite of her burger when a large drop of ketchup dropped onto her lap. 

"Geez Applejack. Ya think you put enough sauce on this thing!?" Rainbow Dash complained as she grabbed a napkin and began wiping the sauce off her skirt. 

Twilight finished taking a sip of her soda, then turned her mind towards the problem of Pinkie Pie that Applejack wanted to talk about. 

"So Applejack. You mentioned that there was something wrong with Pinkie?" Twilight asked Applejack who was sipping her drink. 

"Well, Dash tells me that Pinkie was actin' all strange like." Applejack explained. 

"Yeah, she wasn't acting.......well......how she is now." Dash added to Applejack's explanation. Twilight looked at Pinkie who was playing with her food, acting all childish and playful as usual. 

"So, how was she acting differently?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash's features turned sullen as she remembered what Pinkie said. 

"Well, if I recall, Pinkie wasn't acting all cheerful and jittery like now. And.....she said.....something along the lines of....." Rainbow Dash was hesitant to repeat what Pinkie said at the restaurant for even she had a hard time thinking that Pinkie would saying something like that. "....'Is my life worthless?'"
The entire group, save Dash, Pinkie,  and Applejack,  immediately gasped and stopped eating as they all turned towards Pinkie with their mouth's agape. Pinkie, who was still digging into her food, paused when she realized that the other's eyes were on her. 

"Pinkie. said. WHAT!?!" Twilight exclaimed. 

"How terrible!" Fluttershy exclaimed along with Twilight.

"Goodness gracious!" Rarity added to the groups concern. 

"What the hell?!" Sunset also shared in the groups concern. 

Pinkie looked around awkwardly as the group looked at her with great concern. "What? I didn't say anything like that. The only thing I think is worthless are those little pieces of ballon you find after water ballon fights. Hee hee!" 
The groups gaze then fell from Pinkie to Dash. 

".......what?" Dash asked the group, feeling uncomfortable with the group awkwardly staring at her. 

"Are you sure Pinkie said that?" Sunset asked Dash. 

"Yeah, yer not pullin' our leg are ya?" Applejack further questioned Dash. 

"Oh come on! You'd think I'd make that up?" Dash protested at her friends, throwing her hands up in the air. "I mean......sure I make fun of her, but nothing like that!" Dash further explained, rather hurt that her friends didn't believe her, especially when it was about something serious like this. 
The group was silent for a moment. 

"Dash is right girls!" Fluttershy sudden blurted out. The rest of the group double taked at Fluttershy's statement, surprised that she would stick up for Dash. "Dash may have the brain of a hot-headed boar-"

"Hey!" Dash objected to Fluttershy's analogy.

"-but I don't think she would lie about something like this. Right Dash?" Fluttershy finished, giving Dash a smile as she sat down. 
Dash was breifly at a loss for words. She didn't expect Fluttershy to suddenly stick up for her. 

"Uhh......yeah. Thanks......I guess."  Dash replied rubbing the back of her neck. She wasn't used to being defended by Fluttershy, which made her feel rather awkward. 

"I agree." Twilight then began to give her piece. "If what Dash says is true, then we need to help Pinkie out." Twilight said with confidence. She then looked at Pinkie. 
"So Pinkie. Tell us, what's on your mind?" Twilight asked her. The group fell silent once again as they listened to what Pinkie was going to say. 

Pinkie, who was sipping on her soda while the girls were talking, looked around as the girls had their eyes fixed on her waiting for her to say something. Then Pinkie put her soda down on the table, then slowly raised her hand with her index finger pointing up at the cieling as she prepared to say something. 

"Inhale I'm-BUUUURRRRP!!!" Pinkie's burp reverberated throughout the house, and left a deafening silence just as abrubtly as it came. The group was quiet, but underneath, they were all desparately trying to hold in their laughter. Dash was the first to let it come out a little as her lips curled and sputtered out air. Then Fluttershy was the next to start snickering, covering her mouth as she tried to hold her laughter in.  Eventually Twilight and Sunset couldn't hold it in, followed by Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, until finally. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" All the girls finally burst into laughter, nearly falling backwards in their chairs. Twilight knew that this sort of humor was completely low-brow, but even she could help but laugh like a little filly at the timing of that burp. 
For three minutes Rarity's house was filled with their laughter, with Pinkie sitting with a content and somewhat devious smirk on her face. 

Twilight wiped away her tears as she tried to get a hold of herself. "Hehehehe...Okay...Hehe....Okay...I....did not expect that." Twilight said as she managed to stop laughing. 

"Pant Pant Pant Hoo! Hoo boy! Man! I haven't laughed like that in a long time." Applejack said inbetween breaths. 

The group eventually managed to settle down their laughter as Twilight tried to get the conversation back on track. 
"Okay....heehee!.....But seriously Pinkie, you feeling okay?" Twilight asked Pinkie. The others waited for what she was a bout to say. Pinkie took a deep breath as she prepared to finally talk to her friends. 

"Inhale Girls. You know me. I'm the cheery, energetic, and hyper one of the group. But sometimes I run out of fuel. I need a.......uh.....recharge." Pinkie tried explaining. The group exchanged looks with each other as they thought about what she said. 

"Soooo......you're okay then?" Twilgiht asked her. 

"Oh yes I am. Though, what I'm trying to say is. I.......well.......can't be hyper and energetic all the time. I need to cool down occasionally. " Pinkie explained, her normally cheerful demeanor fading slightly for second. . 
Rainbow Dash and Applejack both breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Sigh That's our Pinkie for you." Rarity commented. "Always stalwart to the end."

"Yep, I wouldn't doubt her for a second." Sunset agreed with her. 

"That's wonderful Pinkie." said Twilight. "But as always, don't be afraid to talk about your problems with us."

"Yeah. Were here for you." Fluttershy chipped in. 

"Hee Hee Hee! Of course! And I'm also here if you wanna here another one from me. Wanna hear it again!?" Pinkie suddenly snapped back into full energetic gear and prepared to let out another burp.

"Ack! No no no no no no!! It was only funny once! Don't ruin the joke!" Applejack frantically reached over and covered Pinkie's mouth. This only cued more laughs from the group. 

The group then proceeded to go back to eating their dinner continuing to enjoy chatting and gossiping. All the while, Twilight was incredibly thankful to have such good friends over in this dimension. Even lucky that it was exact copies of her friends back through the mirror.  However, in the back of her mind, the thought of the emerald lingered, nagging at her mind to understand it. Twilight knew that whatever the emerald was, unless she figured out what it was, it could bring great danger to not just her friends, but this entire world.