Chaos and Elements

The Ponyville Chronicles

"So. This is Ponyville?" Sonic asked, looking to his new friend. She nodded enthusiastically. He looked back over the small town. They were on a high hill, overlooking several locations. Off in the distance he could see a forest, and in another direction he saw a tall mountain, with what looked like a castle sticking out of the side. As he surveyed it, he noticed that Ponyville was actually pretty small, more akin to Blue Ridge than the Station Square he was expecting, but still larger than a few of the newer settlements back on Mobius. "It's small. With the way you were going on about it, I was expecting more of a big city type." Rainbow Dash looked at him quizzically. "Less small town, more skyscrapers and stuff like that."

"Oooooh, I get it! If you want a big city, you should check out Manehattan or Fillydelphia."

'Most likely at least one Emerald in either one of them.' Sonic mused silently.

"But a lot of stuff happens here, too! Mainly because it's right next to the Everfree Forest."

"Wild animal trouble?" Sonic could easily take care of that for them.

"No, because it's so magical and so many strange creatures live there, they sometimes wander into Ponyville. Like this one time, this showoff magician showed up, and she..."

Sonic tuned her out easily. 'There's definitely an Emerald in that forest, if it's as magical as she said it is....' He thought. 'Without the small pockets of Chaos energy flowing around, they'll probably be drawn to the most magic locations to keep their power.'

"Helllooooooooo!!!! Are you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh, I was thinking about the Emeralds and where they might be. Sorry, what were you saying?"

"That we should totally go see Twilight!!! She'll know what to do!"

"Are you sure we should walk through the city like that? Won't we cause an uproar?"

"No way, I'm not that famous!" Sonic gave her his best 'Tails-I'm-gonna-kill-you' glare, and she recoiled slightly. "Oh, you mean you. Maybe we will, maybe we won't."

Sonic sighed and replied: "Let's get this over with, then."

As they walked through the main square on the way to Twilight's library, Sonic got more than a few stares from the confused ponies, but most seemed content to go their own ways, and not bother the hedgehog. Only a few stared for more than a second.  One in particular, a mint green one with a harp...... was that a tattoo? He noticed all the ponies had different ones, and cursed himself for not being more familiar with the basics of the show. The pony just continued to stare, and Sonic made a mental note to stay as far away from that pony as possible at all times.

"We're here!" Rainbow Dash announced proudly, snapping Sonic out of his trance. He looked up at the library.

'A tree? Seriously?' Sonic thought as Rainbow knocked on the door. A white pony with deep purple hair and a tattoo-thing of three diamonds answered the door. She was a unicorn, and Sonic had no trouble remembering his mythology to notice that.

"Rainbow, darling, how nice of you to drop by!!!! And... err.. who is this?"

"My name's Sonic, and I'm assuming you're Twilight?"

"No, of course not!!"

"I'm sorry, I just assumed.."

"Oh it's no trouble at all dear. I am Rarity, best friend of Twilight Sparkle and the bearer of the Element of Generosity. Glad to meet you!"

'And I believe we have a contender for the 'Miss Conceited of Equestria,' if her tone is any indication....' Sonic thought. "Nice to meet you, as well."

"Oh, darlings, come in, come in! Let's get out of this dreadful heat!" It wasn't even that hot out. As the three walked into the library, Sonic briefly wondered if Tails's contact link with him had been lost. He hadn't heard from him in what he assumed to be about an hour. He briefly entertained the idea of sneaking off and trying to contact him, but dismissed the thought when he remembered that one screw up with Tails working the program had a 50-50 chance of either releasing him or deleting him if it crashed. He decided to not take the risk this time, and just play along with the ponies. "Twilight dear, Rainbow Dash has brought somepony to meet us." With the tone of voice and everything else about her, Sonic couldn't help but compare her to a non-slutty version of Rouge.

"Be out in a second!!" He heard several loud crashes and knew instantly that Twilight was going to be the Tails of the group. 'So we've got me, Tails and Rouge... wonder who else is here...' He wondered while the purple pony- also a unicorn- stumbled into the room.

"SO I'm guessing that you're Twilight?" Sonic asked.

"Yes! And you're...." She looked him over for a moment. He got the uncomfortable feeling of being scanned, like at an airport. "An approximately 3-and-a-half foot tall anthropomorphic hedgehog, weighing in at around 75-80 pounds, and have been exposed to a powerful, yet untraceable energy multiple times....... Fourteen to be exact." Sonic stood there and gaped at her.

"How...... how did you..." It was true. Down to the number of times he had gone Super. He was 3'4 tall, he weighed 77 pounds the last time he checked, and he'd been Super thirteen times, but the Time Eater had bumped that number to fourteen with his past self.

"Simple scanning spell. Only thing it won't tell me is your name!" She replied with a grin.

"Sonic.... the Hedgehog....." he said, after gathering what little dignity he had left after he had stared at her with an open mouth for the past minute and a half.  'At least nothing else can surprise me.' he thought.

"So, Sonic, how'd you come to this world?"

"I honestly have no clue. I was helping a friend out with an experiment, and then the Chaos Emeralds went haywire and sent me here."

"Chaos Emeralds?"

"Seven gems, each filled with immense power. Together, they're nigh unstoppable. Apart, even, they're still dangerous in the wrong hands."

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"Soo.... We need to find them as soon as possible, so nopony uses them wrong?"

"Well, yes, and no.... You see, to unleash the full potential of the Emeralds, you need to be a Chaos Adept, like me, or one of my friends. But, still, they're dangerous because they can power thousands of tons of machinery with only one Emerald."

"Uh huh..."

"So, yes, we need to find them, so no one accidentally misuses them, but it's not that urgent."

"Wow." Rainbow Dash said.

"I concur..." added Rarity

"Do you have even the slightest clue as to where they could be, Sonic?" Twilight asked.

"Well, they're usually drawn to pockets of Chaos energy back on my planet. So, they would most likely try to find a magical source here. Rainbow Dash already mentioned the Everfree Forest, and from her description, I'm pegging it as a prime candidate. For one of them, at least."

"You talk about them like they're sentient."

"Well..... kind of, but not really. They're not sentient, per se, but they definitely have some kind of collective conscious thing going on. They have been known to reject people, but other than that, no. "

"They sound a lot like the-"

"Elements of Harmony, I know. From what Rainbow Dash here told me, I've drawn the parallels already."

"Hmm..."

"Huh? Twilight, I know that thinking face." Rainbow Dash said. "You've figured something out, haven't you?"

"No, but maybe the Elements and your Emeralds are tied.... somehow."

"So. you research that avenue of.... research... and I'll go hit the Everfree Forest and look for my Emerald."

"NO!!!!!" All three ponies yelled in unison.

"You can't go in there alone!!!!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "It's way too dangerous!!!!"

"I don't know about you, Dash, but I love danger. Makes it that much more fun!"

"Still, you need a guide, Sonic." Twilight reasoned. "We should go with you. In fact, all six of us should go!"

"Wait, no-"

"Spike! Go round up the girls, please!"

"Sure thing, Twilight, be back in a minute!" A vaguely lizard- looking being shouted as he ran out the door.

"But-" Sonic sighed and sat down. They'd made up their minds.

Fifteen minutes later, their supplies were packed and Sonic and Twilight were sitting across from one another at her kitchen table. Rarity had gone home to check on her sister, and Rainbow Dash... well, they had no clue.

"So, Twilight, wanna kill some time by telling me exactly how your world works?"

"Sure, Sonic, what do you want to know?"

"Well, considering I know absolutely nothing about your world...."

"Well, maybe we should start with the basics. First off, there are three types of ponies, Unicorns like me, Pegasi like Rainbow Dash, and Earth Ponies, which you haven't met yet."

"Go on."

"Unicorns can use magic freely, but are kind of frail compared to the other two."

"Squishy Wizard."

"Pegasi can fly, obviously, and their bones are light and porous, but vey strong. In addition, they control the weather."

"Sounds like my type." He briefly wondered what kind of pony he would be. Most likely a pegasus.

"And Earth Ponies aren't very magical, but they have a special connection to the ground and everything growing in it. On top of that, they're the most durable of the bunch."

"Still sounds like they got the short end of the stick."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, what's that tattoo thing that all of you seem to have?"

"What?"

"That." He said, pointing towards her flank.

"Oh! You mean my Cutie Mark!"

"Whatever it's called. What is it?"

"A Cutie Mark is something that everypony gets when they discover what their special talent is. Like mine indicates that I'm good at magic, or Rarity's says she's really good with jewels and stuff."

'I wonder what mine would be....' Sonic thought. 'A shoe? Finish line? I'll have to learn more about them before I decide.'

"Hey, y'all! What's this I hear about a trip into the Everfree Forest?" A very southern voice called from the other room. "Twi?"

"In here, Applejack." An orange pony with blonde hair and a what he now knew was a Cutie Mark of three apples came into the room.

"Well, howdy there, newcomer! I'm guessing you're that Sonic fella Spike was talkin' about."

"Pleasure to meet you, Applejack." He said, nodding towards the orange cowpony. He looked at Twilight. "She's an Earth Pony, right?" Twilight nodded. "Good. At least I got that down."

"And what exactly are you s'posed to be? I ain't never seen anythin' like you."

"I'm a hedgehog from another universe. In that universe, I'm the Fastest Thing Alive, a title I held proudly before I met Rainbow Dash."

Applejack snickered, "Yeah, that's our Dash alright." C'mon, Twi, I told Spike we'd meet him at Sugarcube Corner."

"Oh, ok. Come on, Sonic, we should get going."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting." He said as they got up. "Lead the way." He motioned at the door. And they were off once again, into an unknown world.