> The Fastest Thing Alive? > by AppleJack96 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Key to the Universe > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was the eve of the Summer Sun Festival, and everypony in Ponyville was enjoying the party, everypony except one lavender unicorn mare, who had sat reading while the party moved around her "C'mon Twi, this party is wun of the best Pinkie's ever thrown!" Applejack shouted above the music Twilight's horn glowed with magic and a pair of ear defenders appeared over her ears, shutting off most of the sound, some of the music still somehow seeping in, Twilight cried out in desperation, she only wanted some peace so she could study the book in more detail, was that really too much to ask? It obviously was for a loud crash echoed through the Library and Pinkie Pie leapt through the hole that had about five seconds ago housed a door "Twilightyougottacomeseethisit'ssoamazinglyamazingIthinkI'mgonnaexplode!" Shouted Pinkie Pie "Say that again... But slower" Said Twilight, removing her conjured ear defenders in a flash of violet light "Twilight you gotta come see this it's so amazingly amazing, I think I'm gonna explode!" Shouted Pinkie Pie "OK" Sighed Twilight, placing the book on her chair and following an overly exited Pinkie Pie through the door "Yo, Tails!" Shouted Sonic, pulling to a stop next to his 'brother', the twin-tailed fox kit known as Miles Prower, however most of his friends called him Tails "Hey Sonic, long time no see!" Said Tails, smiling up at Sonic, who was stretching out his leg muscles "where have you been?" "a better question would be where haven't I been" Chuckled Sonic "I visited south island, the place where it all started" "Hmm... we haven't been there together in such a long time" Said Tails "Sorry, I should've..." began Sonic "Hey don't worry about it!" Interrupted Tails "we could go tomorrow, in fact we could go now if you really wanted to!" "But how?" Asked Sonic, a puzzled look formed across his features "With this" Answered Tails, picking up a small metal device just big enough for the palm of his hand "What is it?" Asked Sonic "A teleporter!" Cried Tails "this little machine can take us anywhere in the whole universe in a single press of a button, I haven't however ironed out all the kinks, so it kinda doesn't take you where you want to go, it could even drop us out in space, however when it's done it will essentially be a key to the Universe" "Sounds like it could be useful..." Said Sonic "It will be, I just need a couple more hours" Said Tails "at the minute it will only take us about 10 miles out from our current location anyway, the battery needs an upgrade, co-ordinate settings need to be configured, and a stellar map needs putting into the database on my data-pad so I can access the co-ordinates for other planets" "Wow! Sounds like you've got a lot to do" Said Sonic "I'll go for a run around the city, and come back to you in about four hours, sound good?" "That's plenty long enough" Said Tails "Kay see you then!" Sonic shouted, as he left the workshop About Four Hours Later: "I think it's finally done!" Shouted Tails in triumph "Awesome!" Said Sonic as he skidded to a halt behind Tails "Right" Said Tails, as he placed his Data-pad on the table and clicked through a few options, "Ah, here it is! Co-ordinates relative to Mobius are, X:256, Y:-675, Z:15," "Where are you taking us?" Asked Sonic "To a planet that has similar atmospheric conditions to Mobius that I discovered, this means that there may be life there too" Explained Tails "Sound pretty awesome!" Said Sonic smiling "I guess we might need to take these with us" He produced the seven Chaos Emeralds, and placed them on the desk next to Tails, "Ah, Sonic, these are the perfect power source for the teleporter!" Said Tails, he removed the battery from the rear side of the device and attached cables to each Chaos Emerald and back into the battery compartment "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE SONIC!" Shouted a red Echidna, busting through the door "Too late Knucklehead" Said Sonic as he pressed the button on the device in Tails' hands Knuckles ran towards the Sonic and Tails, and the three of them disappeared in in a flash of golden light "I don't see what you mean" Said Twilight "But, I saw it, just a minute ago!" Said Pinkie "It looked like a star, but it was getting bigger!" "I'm sorry Pinkie, but Ah have to agree with Twi' I don't see what the all hubub is about" Said Applejack "FIRE!" shouted a pony in the crowd "THE EVERFREE FOREST IS ON FIRE" "On it!" Said a cyan pegasus mare who was hovering above the crowd, she flew down picked up Twilight by the hooves and flew as fast as she could without hurting her friend when the pair arrived at the source of the fire they found three strange creatures lying in a deep crater, one a tall blue hedgehog creature with long swept back spines, another appeared to be a fox, but it had two tails, the last was completely unidentifiable, it was a large red creature the like of which Twilight and Rainbow had never seen, Twilight immediately went about healing their minor wounds, while Rainbow used small tornadoes and strong wind gusts to put the fires out "Hey, Rainbow Dash" Said Twilight having finished healing all of their minor wounds "can you go and find Fluttershy, She needs to see to these creatures" Rainbow flew off, a loud BOOM! echoed across the clearing and a rainbow lit the sky briefly, it was then that Twilight noticed a strange collection of gems surrounding the three creatures, she recognized them as a Diamond, a Ruby, two Sapphires of varying shades, Amber, Amethyst,and an Emerald, each of the seven gemstones were cut in exactly the same way, and a soft glow emanated from each Just then Rainbow arrived back an unwilling Fluttershy in tow, however as soon as she saw the injured animals she gave up on struggling and ran to their aid "Uhhhhh... my head" Moaned the hedgehog-like creature Fluttershy gasped and put her hooves over her mouth, and began to back away "Now where are we?" It said as it raised it's head, and looked around the clearing "Whoa, I think I must'a hit my head harder than I thought" "Sssssoonic?" Groaned the fox "Tails!" Spluttered the hedgehog, it began coughing and eventually coughed up blood and fell back on the floor "Don't move little creatures" soothed Fluttershy "I'm going to take you back to my cottage so I can treat you properly" she Picked up the small fox over her back and gestured for Rainbow and Twilight to so the same with the other two creatures "looks like I'll have to have late night tonight" Giggled Fluttershy, and the Three ponies left the clearing, with the creatures hanging limply across their backs > Chapter 2: The First Race > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic woke up with a start, his nose twitching to the smell of freshly baked bread, 'Uhh... what happened last night?' he thought, he turned his body round with the intention of getting up and looked around bleary-eyed "Oh your awake" said a soft feminine voice, Sonic looked round to the source of the voice and focused his eyes on it, It was a yellow pegasus "Oh, hi there who are you?" He asked "EEP" Cried the pegasus and ducked under the nearby desk "Don't worry I'm not gonna hurt ya" Said Sonic "Rrrealy?" Asked the pegasus "Course not" Replied Sonic "Why, back where I'm from I considered a hero" "Oh, um what's your name?" the pegasus asked "Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" Said Sonic, proudly "And you are" "I'm Fluttershy..." She replied "I'm sorry didn't quite catch that last part" Said Sonic "I'm Fluttershy" She said "Well Fluttershy, nice to meet you!" Said Sonic, holding out his hand to her, she placed her hoof in his hand and he shook it "Uhhhh... Sonic..." Said Tails' voice behind him "Yo Tails, how ya doin buddy" Asked Sonic "I'm fine" Replied Tails "Just a few cuts and bruises" "What happened to us?" Asked Sonic "Well... I did tell you it was a prototype and may not work properly..." Said Tails "What do you mean?" Asked Sonic, suddenly panicking "It' dropped us from the atmosphere, you passed out during the decesnt, Knuckles and I managed to slow the decent sufficiently enough for us to survive, but whereas I took a few scrapes from branches, Knuckles broke a few bones and isn't going anywhere for a while" Tails coughed into his hand, and fell back to the pillow Fluttershy had provided him with "You shouldn't strain yourself, get some rest please" Said Fluttershy "Heh heh, okay Miss Fluttershy" Said Tails closing his eyes "So what do you do for a living" Asked Sonic "I tend to my animals, and other peoples if they are away" Replied Fluttershy, smiling "Cool, I guess that's why me and my friends ended up here" Said Sonic, jokingly "Yes, that's right my friends Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash helped me get you here" Said Fluttershy "I guess I'll have to go thank them" Said Sonic "Do you know where I can find them?" "Twilight will probably be in the library, and Rainbow could be anywhere in Ponyville or Cloudsdale, I'll help you look for her" "Okay, thanks!" Said Sonic "I'll be back later to ask for help to find her then!" he stepped out the door and began to jog at a leisurely pace towards the town he could see sprawled out before him, he then began to speed up, not quite hitting his top speed, and a cyan-coloured pegasus flew up alongside him "Wow you're pretty fast" Said the pegasus "Thanks, you're not bad either" Said Sonic "This isn't even as fast as I can go!" Boasted the pegasus "Heh heh, sounds like a challenge to me" Said Sonic "I'll have you know I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive" he then picked up to maximum speed and a sonic boom followed a blue streak stretching out in front of the pegasus "Oh it is on!" She shouted and sped up Another sonic boom echoed through the town and sonic saw a rainbow coloured streak keeping in his backdraft, attempting to use his own speed against him "Yo, that's pretty cool!" Said Sonic, turning on the spot to face her, while still maintaining his speed he then turned back round and sprinted the last few feet, before pulling to a stop in front of some kind of tree house that had sign above the door which claimed it was a library he heard a screeching behind him, and didn't need to turn around to know that it was the pegasus "That was pretty good race how 'bout we go again sometime!" Said Sonic, Good-naturedly "Fine but you're going down next time!" Growled the pegasus "Hey, what's your name, I like to know my opponents names after kicking their but in a race" Chuckled Sonic "Rainbow Dash" The pegasus spat "Hey, you helped me and my friends out, thanks!" Said Sonic, grinning "Wait... You were one of those three guys that fell from the sky?" Asked Rainbow "Yeah, why?" Replied Sonic "Well Fluttershy said that you wouldn't be awake for at least a week, yet here you are after three days AND performing a sonic rain-boom while running on the ground!" Said Rainbow "I'm sorry, a sonic what?" Asked Sonic Confused "Sonic rain-boom" Groaned Rainbow "It WAS my signature move, and now it's been copied by a strange creature that walks on two legs!" "hey, that wasn't a Sonic Rain-boom, just a regular old sonic boom!" He said, proudly "It's like I said though, I'm the fastest thing alive, although you did put a pretty good challenge to that spot" Sonic then turned towards the library leaving a disgruntled Rainbow to wallow in her self-created pity > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic knocked on the door to the library, a number of other ponies were gathering in the streets around him, he began to feel uneasy with all the ponies staring at him when the door behind him opened and a purple unicorn stood in the doorway "Oh it's you!" She said "Come on in... Quickly!" Sonic stepped through the door and it slammed behind him. "Hey, I was told you helped me and my friends the other day after our accidental skydive" He said "Yes... did you see a blue pegasus as you were on your way here?" She asked "Yes..." Said Sonic "I beat her in a race to get here, why?" "Wait... you beat Rainbow Dash?" Asked the unicorn "Yeah why?" Asked Sonic "Nopony beats Rainbow" She replied "She's not been bested in a race since her time at flight school" "Well I just did" Said Sonic, grinning cockily "by the way what's your name?" "My name is Twilight Sparkle, I am student to the high ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia" Said Twilight proudly "And you are?" "Name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" He said, giving her a thumbs up as he did so "Nice to meet you Sonic, now if you don't mind I have some research to do" Said Twilight, her horn glowed and the door opened before pushing him outside and shutting the door again 'Well that was a bit rude' Thought Sonic as he began a steady jog across town, nothing too fast as to create any level of sonic boom, the level of speed he reserved for running through towns and cities As he was running a small orange pegasus pulled up alongside him her little wings flapping so as to propel a scooter upon which she was riding "Hi there, I'm Scootaloo!" She Said "I saw you beat Rainbow Dash in that race this morning!" "Hi" Said Sonic "My name's Sonic" "How fast can you go?" Asked Scootaloo "Faster than the wind blows" He replied smirking "Did you do a Sonic Rainboom this morning?" She asked "because I heard two, and Rainbow Dash can only do one at a time" "Not a Sonic Rainboom exactly, but a regular Sonic Boom" Replied Sonic "But you don't have wings!" Said Scootaloo "do you do it on foot?!" "Yep, Wanna see?" Said Sonic "Yeah! of course I do!" Exclaimed Scootaloo Sonic grasped the handles of the Scooter and began to push steadily increasing speed, but remaining just under Mach 1, wind in their faces almost as solid as a wall, as soon as sonic reached the edge of down he reduced his speed and released the scooter, before running off into the distance, Scootaloo watched in awe as a blue ring spread into the air just above a blue speck on the horizon which was now moving up the mountains with little to no speed decrease, until it reached the top and stopped before leaping high in the air and coming back down the way it came Sonic was loving the feeling of freedom as the wind whipped around his curled up body, before again breaking the sound barrier and launching off an outcrop on the side of the mountain and spreading his limbs out wide the sight of Ponyville flying by beneath him, he turned in the air and braced for impact, his feet collided with the roof of a house before he pushed off again, leaping from rooftop to rooftop before arriving back where he had left Scootaloo who was now clopping her hooves together madly "That. was. AWESOME!" yelled Scootaloo Sonic bowed low and said "Thanks Scoots, do you mind if I call you that?" "No" She replied "Cool" Said Sonic he turned and looked over his shoulder towards the afternoon sun and his stomach grumbled "Man, didn't know it had been that long, I've got to get back to Fluttershy's house, see ya tomorrow" Sonic turned on the spot and dashed away, skirting around Ponyville when he saw a bright flash of light above him, he dodged to the side and looked behind him and there was Shadow "I've found you, Faker" Said Shadow > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic ducked under the first punch shadow threw his way and swiftly retaliated with a sweeping kick that knocked Shadow's feet from under him,Shadow grunted and disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared above Sonic "CHAOS... SPEAR" Shadow yelled, a spear of bright light hit sonic square in the chest and sent him sprawling his body spasming as the electrical energy flowed through him "Ouch! that actually hurt Shadow, whats wrong?" Asked Sonic "Where are the Emeralds?!" Shadow demanded "Calm down!" Yelled Sonic "These ponies mean no harm, lets at least leave the main town" "Fine, meet me at the entrance to that forest in half an hour, and for your own sake DO NOT be late" Said Shadow, he then turned on his heel and skated away "Well that was weird" Sonic said to himself, he turned around and came face to face with a bright pink pony "OHMYGOSH" shouted the pony, and ran off in the opposite direction with speed close to matching Sonic's own "And that was weirder..." He said, he began to jog towards Fluttershy's house Books continued to fly over Spike's head, as Twilight took one glanced at the title and threw it across the room "There must be a book somewhere on this!" Twilight cried out on exasperation "But those creatures aren't from any where around here, It's really unlikely that there is a book on them" Said Spike lifting a book from the floor, only to have it ripped from his fingers by a purple aura of magic Twilight let out a long groan "I've searched every book and there is still nothing!" "I told you" Said Spike smugly "Spike" Twilight ordered "take a letter, Dear Princess Celestia, yesterday evening during the Summer Sun Celebrations in Ponyville a fireball crashed down in the Everfree Forest, at the center of the crater left were three strange animals the likes of which i have never seen, I have searched the entire Ponyville Library and found no books on the subject. Is it possible I could make visit to the Royal Library to check an old reference guide I once saw there? Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle" "..Sparkle. Done" Said Spike, he carefully rolled the parchment and breathed emerald flames onto it They then waited for a few minutes before Spike belched loudly and a new sheet of parchment landed on the floor in front of him, he unrolled it and read it aloud to Twilight "My dearest Twilight, I am not at the castle at the moment as I am away on a diplomatic mission in the Griffin Kingdom, therefore I cannot grant you access at this time, I would however advise you take these creatures to Canterlot and meet my sister outside the Moon Tower at midnight tonight, I shall send word ahead for you. Your mentor Princess Celestia" "Spike, we're going to Fluttershy's" "OW, GET OFF ME YOU CRAZY PONY!" "Uh oh, sounds like Knuckles came to" Said Sonic, he leapt from the floor to the lower branches of Fluttershy's house-tree and then to the window "Knuckles calm down she's just trying to help!" Cried Tails Sonic glanced over to Fluttershy who was curled into the corner whimpering as Knuckles towered over her one of his rested on his chest, and his breathing as shallow and pained "She was on top of me, holding me down while she rubbed some weird gunk into my chest fur" Said Knuckles "And now I'm struggling to breathe, is that what you call helping?" "Dude she did the same to me and Tails and now we're both fine you just need to relax a bit more. enjoy things... And not beat up the medic" Sonic suggested Knuckles let out a low growl before closing his eyes in defeat "I guess you're right Sonic... This time, sorry miss..." he held a paw out towards her "Fluttershy" Whimpered Fluttershy, She gingerly put her hoof in his paw, and he helped her to her hooves before limping off and laying back down on the bed "Yo Tails, I need your help buddy, follow me" Said Sonic, he hopped out of the tree and looked up to see tails fly down "What's up Sonic?" Asked Tails "Shadow's here, I don't know how but he is" Said Sonic, "He's asked me to meet him outside the forest, with the emeralds, in fifteen minutes" "But we don't know where they went after we got here" Said Tails "Where what went?" asked Fluttershy, who was hovering just behind the pair, startling them "Well we're missing some gems that belong to us, They're kinda important to the survival of our home planet" Explained Sonic "Umm. were there 7 of them in all different colours?" asked Fluttershy "Yeah!" Exclaimed Tails "Do you know where they are?" "Well I think Twilight took them to the library, to examine them, because they had the same powers as the biggest meanie in Equestria" "Great thanks!" Called Sonic already breaking into a run "Sonic wait for me!" Shouted Tails, his tails spinning to propel him faster