Chapter 1- Losing control
It was just a normal day for Sonic and his friends. None of Tails' crazy experiments; Knuckles was back on Angel Island with the Master emerald and the rest of the chaos emeralds were safely with Shadow; all but one. Sonic was bored. He'd borrowed one of the emeralds so that Tails could try to access the hyper emeralds again.
"Ugh! Could this be any slower? Are you sure you don't need to test my speed or something again?"
"You could practice your swimming again." Tails suggested. Sonic shuddered at the thought and shut up. He still remembered the last time he had tried to learn how to swim; coincidentally, that was the last time he was almost eaten by a killer whale.
It was at that moment, much to Sonic's relief, a large fleet of airships arrived.
"Sonic the hedgehog!" A familiar fat man boomed over a megaphone. "Would you be so kind as to hand over the seven chaos emeralds?"
"Sure, you'll have to catch me first, though!" He responded, grabbing the emerald from Tails and homing attacking his way through a wave of Badniks up to the first airship.
"So, what do you need them for now?" Sonic asked "Death ray? Mech suit? Giant waffle-iron?" Sonic taunted, bouncing off of a few more robots as he did so. He was now up to the lowest airship.
"Well, Sonic. If you must know, I was going to turn you into a werehog again but-" He was interrupted by a tapping on the window in front of him.
"If you're done with your evil exposition; we were fighting." Sonic stated.
Eggman pulled out a small pistol from it's holster and fired.
"So, you decided to fight me for once? I guess you've finally lost it Doc." Sonic said whilst casually dodging bullets. However, he was unable to dodge the large metal claw that held him in place. Eggman seemed to forget the emerald held behind the blue rodent's back. The claw dropped him into container with transparent walls and a set of flashing controls on the outside.
"Nice try, Ivo, but I've got better things to do than hang around with you all day." Sonic told him, pulling the green gem into view. Eggman almost looked as if he was smirking when he looked up. "Chaos control!"
Sonic didn't appear behind Eggman as he had planned. Hell, he didn't even land on Mobius.
"Eggman?" Sonic called out. No response. "I guess I didn't picture it clearly enough." He reasoned "Chaos control!" Sonic tried again. He didn't move. He looked down at the emerald and saw it had been drained of it's colour, that usually meant the power would be gone too. "Just great." He sighed, then ran off the hill he was perched on towards the closest town he could see.
The residents of said town barely acknowledged the blue blur as he neared the sound barrier. Not the reaction he was used to.
"Rainbow, what have we told you about flying so fast so close to the ground?" One of the residents, a tan horse with grey hair asked, rhetorically. Sonic had seen weirder; she, apparently, had not. As Sonic slowed down, she backed up from him and screamed.
"Hey lady, wait!" Sonic called out to her as she ran. Shortly after, he was tackled by another horse, this one orange and wearing a cowboy hat.
"Slow down pardner." She told him, not that he had much choice in the matter.
"Sorry." Sonic responded. "Not my style." He said, already climbing out from under her legs and preparing to run. He planted his face firmly into the ground as he ran, probably due to the tightening lasso around his waist and arms.
"Now, are you gonna tell me yer name, feller?" The probably female creature asked again.
"I'm Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog." He offered, straightening up as best as he could. "What are you supposed to be?" He asked.
"A pony. Mah name's Applejack, pleased to make your acquaintance" The orange pony responded. "Now, could I get you to come with me?" She continued. Sonic shrugged and they headed towards what Applejack called the library. It was really just a huge tree that had been hollowed out and another pony had moved in.
"Gah!" A small reptile gasped as he opened the door to Sonic. "W-what is that thing?" He asked Applejack, his eyes never leaving Sonic. Applejack had explained what she had been told: him being a hedgehog sent here by an evil doctor.
"Hi, Sonic's the name." He introduced as another pony, this one purple with a horn sticking out of it's head, trotted into the front room; dropping her books as she laid eyes on Sonic. He made a show of picking them up before they reached the ground and the purple reptile, Spike, almost fainted. "Speed's my game." He finished.
"Please, sit." The purple pony, a unicorn, urged him; suddenly very excited. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. Spike tells me you're a hedgehog, correct?" Sonic nodded. She faced a desk and a scroll and quill levitated towards her, the glow surrounding the objects matching the one coming off her horn.
"Spike, maybe you should prepare a letter to the Princess." Applejack offered. "I'll go get the others, just in case." She added.
"So, Sonic, how old are you?" She asked.
"Fifteen." He answered.
"Where did you come from?"
"Mobius." She gave him a confused look at that. "Okay, not on Mobius anymore." He said to himself.
"How did you get here?" Twilight continued.
"No idea. It was just another ordinary day of taking down an army of evil robots and their master." He stopped smiling at that point. "What about you? Where am I?" He pressed.
"You're in Equestria." The purple mare responded, looking at him as if he'd just asked what colour the sky was. "Wait a minute, an evil army of robots is just an 'ordinary day' for you?" She asked. Sonic chuckled while the mare sat in disbelief.
The orange pony was walking back to the library, this time accompanied by four other ponies, all wearing golden and jeweled necklaces. They had entered seconds before and already the pink one was asking him questions.
"Hey! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name name?"
"Son-" He began
"Cool! What's your favourite colour? No, no! What's that gem in your hand? Is it yours? Did you steal it? Are you a super sneaky master thief who came here for the elements of harmony?" She was shut up by a white pony with a purple mane clamping her hoof over the pink one's muzzle. She removed it when the pink one began licking her hoof.
"Sorry, Pinkie Pie's just excited. Now, if you don't mind, dear, we're all positively itching to know where you acquired that lovely gem you're holding." The white unicorn asked.
"This?" Sonic asked, gesturing to the chaos emerald, which seemed to be slowly regaining it's colour. Pinkie Pie nodded and waited for a response. "It's a chaos emerald. It gives me power."
"Chaos?!" A yellow pony in the back shrieked, cowering behind her wings. Sonic just stared, trying to see if she was serious, she seemed to be. Sonic had had enough of this place for one day.
"Don't mind her, dear, she's just shy around new people." The white one explained politely. "Well, my name is Rarity. I'd simply adore it if I could further observe that fine stone. Would it be alright if I held it for a while?" She asked, fluttering her eyelids as she did so. Sonic couldn't say no if he wanted to.
Once Rarity had finished admiring the emerald, a blue pony with a rainbow mane took it out of her hooves and squinted into it.
"Funny." She exclaimed. "I don't feel powerful. Well, not any more than I usually am." She concluded.
Sonic took it back and briefly explained how the chaos emeralds worked; how only the embodiments of chaos could wield them. The ponies tensed up at the mention of chaos.
Nobody spoke for a while. Sonic thought about the world he was in now, more importantly; if it would have chili dogs. He noticed that the ponies were watching him, did they want something? Were they planning on stealing the emerald? If they were, Sonic was confident in his ability to get out of there but he had now idea where he would go.
"So, do you like cupcakes or muffins?" The pink one asked.
"What?" Sonic asked, not fully comprehending what she meant.
"For your party, silly. I need to throw a party for a guest." She explained.
"Do you have chili dogs?" Sonic asked.
"Chili what?"
"You know, fried meaty little packages of awesomeness?" He continued
The ponies froze at that last part.
"M-meat? Like, from animals?" Twilight asked, stunned.
"I take it that's not something you have here." Sonic sighed. The mares all shook their heads, almost in unison, and the yellow one at the back sobbed.
"Look girls, it's been fun but I need to get home." He told them. Without waiting for a response, he was already speeding out the door and down the path that lead from the library. "Huh, weird." He said to himself. "Looks like the emerald's getting more powerful though, maybe I can use it to get home soon."
"Maybe." He heard a voice from beside him. "Say, why'd you run out like that?" The voice pushed. Sonic looked around and saw the blue pony from the library, the one with the rainbow mane. She was keeping pace. She didn't even look tired, granted, neither was Sonic but still. Anything other than Sonic and Shadow should be passing out and gasping for breath at this speed.
"So, you gonna come back so Twilight can find a way to fix this?" She asked. "I'd rather not make you but I won't care if I have to."
Sonic was curious now. "Sure, I'll come back. If you can beat me in a race."
"First one over to that castle on the mountain?" The rainbow pony asked, smirking. Sonic didn't reply, he just smirked back and picked up the pace. The pegasus pony matched his speed; two blue blurs homing in on their target, crossing miles of land at a time, none of them speaking. When they reached the steep cliff underneath Canterlot castle, they both moved up in perfect ninety degree angles. Unfortunately, neither of them could see who passed through the castle gates first. Not that that would stop either of them from bragging their victory.
Unfortunately, neither the cobalt hedgehog or his cyan accomplice had foreseen what came next. Namely: being attacked by the castle guards and hauled into the dungeon.
"I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way." The restrained pegasus next to Sonic informed him. One of the guards standing watch shushed her and she scowled.
Sonic remained there for a total of thirty minutes before the princess and her royal guard came in to speak to him. The princess was huge, taller than Sonic and the other ponies with a large horn and wide wings; her mane was flowing with several different colours. Not as alluring as Rainbow's but much more regal.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash." She began. "And her friend. I apologise for this, had I known he was with you then we would not have brought you here."
"Hey lady. Can I get out of here?" Sonic asked, finally bringing himself to attention.
"Not soon enough." The princess snapped.
"Princess Celestia, please could we leave?" Rainbow Dash asked ignoring the princess's sudden outburst.
"Certainly." Celestia responded.
"B-but princess!" One of the guards began before the princess raised a hoof to silence him. She turned to face Sonic, attempting to mask her clear annoyance.
"Now, now. He won't be here for long, will he Rainbow Dash?" She consoled.
"No ma'am. We'll get the elements of harmony right on it!" The blue mare responded.
The two were escorted out of what Sonic later discovered was called 'Canterlot' by two palace guards in shining golden armour. Sonic was being hidden under a sheet inside a cart being pulled by the guards. He still found it weird how the princess seemed to want Sonic as far away as possible; as quickly as possible. At least Twilight was curious as to where he came from.
When they finally reached the tree-brary, Twilight told Sonic that she had to use the elements of harmony on him in order to send him home.
"Of course." She added. "There is the slight possibility of you being turned to stone." She informed him while placing a ridiculous tiara upon her head.
"Wait, what?!" Sonic protested, outraged.
"Just kidding." She assured him. "Mostly."
Before Sonic could respond, he was hit by a beam of rainbow light coming from the six mares' jewelry. He was unable to move and all he could see was white; for a few minutes he thought he'd actually been turned to stone.