Chaotic Origins

It truly surprised Sonic when they told him they didn't have the Elements of Harmony.

     "Right now, they are with the Tree of Harmony, where they belong." Twilight finished explaining.

     "Fat lot of good they do us there," complained Sonic. Then he got an idea. "Where exactly IS the Tree of Harmony, anyways?" he asked.

     "In a cave under the castle in the Everfree. Why?" Twilight told him.

     "Be right back," was all he said before he sped off. Twilight looked at the other Element Bearers in confusion. It only took a moment before he returned, though, except he was carrying six jewels.

     "SONIC!" Twilight yelled. "I JUST EXPLAINED WHY WE PUT THEM BACK!"

     "Chill! We only need them long enough to defeat this guy. Even then, we might not use them. No one will know." Sonic reasoned. Twilight shot him a glare.

     "I have to tell Princess Celestia! I'm not going to lie to her!" Twilight protested.

     "Fine. Tell her that a crazed bipedal hedgehog that can run faster than the speed of sound took them. You were following said hedgehog to retrieve the Elements when you ran into a guy that spelled major disaster. You coincidentally may or may not have needed the Elements to defeat the guy. So just tell her that."

     "But that's still a lie!" Applejack protested.

     "Oh really?" Sonic asked, an evil looking grin on his face. He suddenly disappeared in a trail of dust.

     "Catch me if you can!" he taunted, his voice echoing back to them.

     "Oh, it is ON!" cried Rainbow Dash, who took off after him. Tails and Knuckles shared a look.

     "It's almost scary how good of an idea that is," Knuckles said.

     "Yeah!" agreed Tails. "Coming up with good ideas is my thing!" When Knuckles just gave him a look, he seemed to shrink a little. "What?" he asked defensively.

     "Well, we might as well go after him," sighed Twilight.

     "What exactly have we gotten ourselves into?" mused Rarity. The rest of them took off running after the speedy duo which was already far ahead of them.

     "Too slow, RD!" called Sonic, as he dodged another one of her attempts to grab him. He couldn't run QUITE as fast as he would like to, since his arms were full of the six jewels. He could still go fast enough to dodge Rainbow, though, so he was content to coast. He soon saw what he was looking for.

     "Hey RD!" he taunted. "See that slight disturbance in the air up there?" He pointed to where it hung in the sky, shifting the jewels to one arm in order to do so. Rainbow's sharp eyes quickly picked out what he was referring to.

     "Yeah. So what?" she called back.

     "Last one there is a rotten egg!" Sonic told her. He quickly bounded up the sides of two trees, ricocheting between them to build up speed. Rainbow had the advantage that she could fly straight for it, which she did. She strained her wings, picking up as much speed as she could in the short distance she had. She was just about to burst through it when a blue blur suddenly shot up beneath her. In surprise, she flared her wings, killing her speed...just as Sonic rocketed through the portal.

     She still had a good deal of speed though, so she burst into the strange hallway only to crash into Sonic. He managed to angle himself so that they rolled down the hallway rather than through another door, but he dropped all the jewels. They clattered to the floor with harmonious sounds, almost like the tolling of a bell. When the two speedsters finally came to a halt, Rainbow was on top of Sonic. She stood over him triumphantly, one fore hoof on his chest and her wings flared.

     "HA! Caught you!" she crowed victoriously. Sonic grinned wrily up at her,

     "So you did. But the objective was to get here first, not smash the poor guy you were racing." he remarked. Rainbow was suddenly aware of the awkward and somewhat intimate position they were in. She backed off, her cheeks turning red. Sonic got up and dusted himself off, taking note of Rainbow's embarrassment.

     "Don't worry about it, RD. It's happened to me before, and we don't have to tell anyone. Besides, it was a dirty trick on my part to surprise you like that." Sonic patted her shoulder. Rainbow grinned back at him. Her cheeks were still red, but not as much as before.

     "Thanks."

     "Eh, no problem."

     "I would have won if you hadn't surprised me though."

     "You go ahead and keep thinking that, RD."

     "But I would've!"

     "SURE you would."

     "Ugh!" Rainbow crossed her forelegs over her chest and plopped down on  her rump. Sonic just chuckled in amusement.

      It took a few minutes for the rest of the gang to reach the portal. Fluttershy flew up on her own wingpower, and Tails lifted Knuckles up. Twilight lifted up the rest with her magic before teleporting herself up. They found Sonic and Rainbow Dash exploring a little ways down the hall. Sonic immediately noticed their arrival, dashing up to them. Rainbow followed close behind.

     "So who won?" asked Twilight. Rainbow hesitated, almost dreading saying that she lost.

     "It was a tie," Sonic answered. Rainbow shot him a surprised look, which Sonic pretended not to see. When no one else was looking, he winked at her before picking up the Elements.

     They walked down the corridor at a sedate pace, but Rainbow would dash up a ways, explore the doors, then dash back down to the group. This repeated several times before Applejack snapped.

     "Consarned it! Would ya kindly stop that, Rainbow? It's gettin' on mah nerves. It won't kill ya to walk at a normal speed!"

     "But that is my normal speed!" Rainbow complained.

     "I think that she meant speeds normal for your average pony, Rainbow," Twilight explained. Rainbow groaned.

     "But I don't want to be average! Right, Sonic?" Rainbow asked, turning to the hedgehog. He frowned.

     "I am not getting dragged into this," he told her. She glared at him, but he ignored her. She gave up.

     "Fine! I'll walk. You happy?" she snapped.

     "Yes. Yes I am," Applejack told her with a grin.

     That lasted about five minutes before Rainbow started doing it again.

     They looked into many worlds. Water worlds, desert worlds, mountain worlds, lava worlds, you name it, they saw it. One in particular caught Sonic's eye. He handed the jewels off to Tails before running up to it.

     "Check this out," he breathed.

     Through the portal, they saw a vast portion of space. In the middle, though, was a planet. It looked a lot like Equis, or Mobius. Blue ocean, green landmass, swirling clouds. But half of it was destroyed, the other half sucked in a swirling tempest of earth into an invisible vortex. Once it reached a certain point in space, it disappearred. The planet was slowly being ripped apart, piece by piece. The brightly glowing mantle was exposed, but the glow it gave off was dim, almost as if the light itself was being sucked away with the debris. While they watched this destruction, galaxies and stars and solar systems glowed brightly, unaware of their brethren's demise.

     "A black hole," Tails said, breaking the silence.

     "It's beautiful," Twilight said.

     "It's awful," Fluttershy whispered.

     Everyone turned to Sonic as he reached forward to lean against the rim of the portal.

     "Just goes to show," he said softly, reverently, "that everything comes to an end. No matter what."

     "That's a depressing thought," Rainbow said sadly.

     "Not really," Sonic objected. "Some people might think of it as depressing, but I see it as encouragement. It makes me want to spend every minute of every day doing something worthwhile. I don't want to waste a moment of the time I've got. I may live in the moment, but I'm always looking to the future."

     "That's...very wise of you," Twilight finally said. The depth of wisdom that Sonic carried now rivaled that of Celestia's. He seemed like he was all-knowing, all-seeing. But he was just himself at the same time. It was a confusing effect, but Sonic carried it with dignity.

     It confused Rainbow Dash, though. Here she thought he was just another speedster like her. Instead, he turned out to be like some age-old Buddha guy. Tails, of course, noticed her bewilderment. Falling to the back of the group where Rainbow was, he nudged her with his elbow.

     "Don't let it bother you. Sonic's a lot smarter than he lets on. He'll do that sometimes: say something profound and make everyone else wonder what they missed. He doesn't do it often, though. It takes the right moment." After explaining, Tails sped up to rejoin the group. Rainbow frowned, lost in thought. It made sense, actually. Sonic always seemed to be one step ahead, always anticipating the next move. He was always thinking. He was reckless, regretless, and sometimes he seemed brainless, but he wasn't thoughtless.

     Because of her apparent inability to look where she was going, she ran right into Twilight, having not noticed the group had stopped. The hallway stretched on, but Sonic was peering into one portal that showed the inside of what looked like an old stone temple. He stepped into it, looking all around to make sure he was correct.

     "This is it!" he called back. Everyone filed into the wide area. They all noticed the various craters and holes that marked where Sonic had been smashed, thrown, or blasted into the floor and walls.

     "This is awful! Do you really think you need our help when you seemed to have beaten up that guy plenty already?" asked Twilight. Sonic flinched, looking away in embarrassment.

     "Actually, I, um... He beat me, not the other way around." He stared at the ground, his ears back. Fluttershy looked at Sonic in concern.

     "Bwahahahahahahah! You got your flank handed to you? After all that about how you don't NEED our help, but you got pulverized by that guy?" Rainbow Dash laughed. Sonic looked away in embarrassment. Seeing his expression, she immediately felt bad. "Aww, don't be so serious. I don't mean it." Rainbow walked up and smacked him on the back with a hoof. Sonic winced in pain as she did so. Twilight noticed this and jumped in.

     "What kind of cheater is this guy to get you in the back?" asked Twilight.

     "Actually, that one was from a friend of mine. He shot me."

     "Why would he do that?" wondered Applejack. Sonic winced again just thinking about it.

     "To get my attention," he answered with a sigh. This left the Mane 6 flabbergasted. What kind of person would shoot you just to get your attention?

     "We should go get the Chaos Emeralds," suggested Knuckles. He had stayed mostly silent for the trip. It had been a little strange to travel with six ponies. But he didn't want Sonic to be the subject of teasing. While he didn't usually try to defend the hedgehog, he couldn't in good conscience let it happen. He himself didn't want to go against his Onigami guy. His suggestion went over well, though, and Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. He shot Knuckles a grateful look as they left.

     Sonic and Tails went on ahead to make sure the workshop was in order. Knuckles ran after them, but couldn't quite keep up. Rainbow decided to lag behind with her friends, but would fly off in every direction to explore. She would swing by back to the group every few minutes before taking off again. Pinkie was bouncing and rolling with the tumbleweeds, vanishing and appearing at will. Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity trotted at a steady pace, talking all the while. Fluttershy would join the conversation every once in a while, but spent most of her time trying to lure out the small desert lizards and gophers.

     Once they got to the workshop, they found Knuckles and Tails waiting for them. Once they all walked in, Sonic came up a set of metal stairs with the seven Chaos Emeralds in his arms. He set them down on the table.

     They were about to debate their strategy of attack, when suddenly the Elements began glowing. They rose up out of Twilight's magic, swirling in a circle. The Chaos Emeralds did the same. Both of them began crackling with energy, small strikes of colored lightning lashing out at random. Several of Tails' machines shorted out with the sudden charge of energy.

     "Oh NO!" yelled Sonic. "Twilight! Can you get the Elements to calm down?"

     "But I don't know what's going on!" cried Twilight. She held one hoof over her eyes.

     "One of them is chaos, one is harmony. They don't mix! The Elements are trying to rectify the chaos, and the Emeralds are striking back! Once the Emeralds get like this, I can't stop them!"

     Twilight focused her magic on the Elements, but her magic slid around them like water around a rock. When she tried harder, she was blown back by the sheer amount of energy they were giving off. The Elements began creating a rainbow glow as they prepared to attack the source of chaos. The Emeralds were doing the exact same thing, glowing brighter and brighter. Finally, Sonic realized there was no stopping what was about to happen.

     So as the light reached its climax, and both sets of gems let loose their full destructive power, Sonic stood right in the middle and blocked both blasts with his body. He was surrounded in a rainbow glow, flashes of gold spiking here and there.

     Sonic yelled in pain as the blast intended to destroy objects of immeasurable power hit him instead. His first thought was that it would last an instant before blowing up in a huge explosion. Instead, the gems kept pushing at eachother, the beams growing more and more intense. Sonic was supended in the air. It was even more painful than being shot with the Elements alone, as it was like every molecule in his body was being ripped apart and then mashed together again. He tried in vain to absorb the energy rather than it ripping through him, but it overwhelmed even his resolve. So he was left, screaming in pain, as his soul was ripped apart.

     There was so much noise that it sounded deathly quiet to Sonic's ringing ears. It took him a moment to realize he was falling, no longer held up by the beams of light. He hit the ground in slow motion, hardly feeling pain as his tired eyes struggled to remain open. He vaguely saw the Emeralds hovering in a circle above him. In that moment, he hated them, as they floated there so serenely, as if nothing had happened. Slowly, the ringing in his ears died away, leaving the voices of his concerned friends.

     When Sonic didn't respond to any of his friends' queries, Rainbow couldn't help but ask.

     "Sonic? Are you dead?" Rainbow waited eagerly for an answer.

     "Yes," he moaned softly. Rainbow snickered to herself.

     "Well, he still has a sense of humor, so he must be fine," Tails announced. He pulled Sonic up to a sitting position. Sonic was still so weak that he leaned heavily on his friend just to do that much.

     "Sonic? How did you do that?" Tails asked him.

     "Do what?" he responded softly.

     "When the beams hit you, you rose up off the ground. You turned white and your eyes were gold. We could all hear you yelling, but, it looked like you were grinning. It was actually really cool." Tails told him.

     "I did?" Sonic asked, bewildered.

     "Yeah. your spines were even sticking up like when you go Super, but they were way longer than usual. And, your eyes were  red for a moment after it happened. But they're green now." Tails explained. Sonic gave him an alarmed look.

     "Good kind of red or bad kind of red?" he asked slowly.

     "Good kind," Knuckles said. Upon seeing the ponies' confused looks, Tails rushed to explain.

     "When Sonic goes Super with the Chaos Emeralds, his eyes turn red. Sometimes, though, he goes Super without the Emeralds. This only happens during times of great stress, when Sonic loses control of his emotions. Sonic seems like a different person. He acts more evil and cruel than the worst villain you've ever met. When that happens, his eyes turn into red spirals which start at his pupils and extend outward to fill most of his eyes." This seemed to alarm the Mane 6, so Sonic tried to reassure them.

     "It hasn't happened in a while. I know it sounds bad, but I just need someone to point out what I've become. Once that twisted version of me realizes what I've done, I can regain control." Sonic told them. Then his face fell. "I've done a lot of damage like that though, even going far enough to hurt my friends. If you see that happening, act quick. That form doesn't give you time to react or show mercy."

     "Ah guess that's why they're called CHAOS Emeralds." Applejack piped up. "If ya ain't careful, they'll steal yer soul and make ya create chaos. If ya know what you're doin' though, that won't happen."

     "Exactly," affirmed Tails. By this time, Sonic picked himself up off the ground. Tails tried to help him, but Sonic pushed him away and did it himself. Standing up straight, he looked at the Chaos Emeralds.

     "If we aren't careful, something like that could happen again. I'm gonna hang on to these. I might be able to keep them under control if I pay attention. You'll just have to do the same with the Elements."

     "Why'd you do that? Step in between the beams, I mean." Rainbow suddenly asked. Sonic answered without hesitation.

     "I didn't know what was going to happen if they hit eachother. They might have both been destroyed, and then we would have been truly and royally screwed. Or the resulting blast might have levelled the area around us for miles. Just the blast from me going Super can flatten buildings for several blocks. That could have destroyed half the continent. And it would probably kill us in the process, too."

     "But you could have been killed by doing that. That's a pretty risky move." Rainbow stared at him, her gaze intense.

     "Whether I was killed or not isn't important. What is important is that we have what we need to take down Onigami."

     Twilight broke in. "But you put your life on the line! What happened to living your life to the fullest?"

     "I said I wanted to spend my life doing something worthwhile. I didn't say that it had to be a long life, just that I spend it doing the right thing. Not getting the continent blown up? I think that counts as the right thing." he answered.

     "So you aren't afraid of dying," Rainbow said slowly. Sonic turned to her, his intense green eyes unnerving her a little.

     "No. I do not fear death. The only thing I fear is dying for the wrong reasons. I'm not saying I WANT to die, but I am not afraid of it." The Mane 6 stared at him in wonder. Here was a hero, one who was willing to give his life to do the right thing. He looked at them all, then grinned nervously.

     "I overdid it, didn't I?" he asked. Tails grinned back at him.

     "Just a little bit." Knuckles nodded emphatically in agreement. Sonic turned to look at them again, then his gaze zeroed in on Pinkie, who was grinning evilly.

     "Pinkie? Are you okay?" he asked. Her grin grew ever wider, eventually making him wonder if even NiGHTS could stretch her mouth that far.

     "You know, you seem a little sad. And you know what I do best?" she asked softly. Sonic shook his head slowly, wondering what to expect. Pinkie crouched, before suddenly springing into the air.

     "MAKING PONIES SMILE!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. She then lunged at Sonic, who barely dodged her. He took off in a dark blue blur, a similar pink blur right on his heels. They all could hear Sonic yelling.

     "Okay, okay, I get it! I'll be less serious now, okay? Pinkie, what are you doing? Pinkie? Wait, wait, waitwaitwait nonononononono! Stop! LET GO! PINKIE! YES! I PROMISE! What? What's a Pinkie Pie Promise? Fine! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. You happy? Wait, what are you doing NOW?...Pinkie?" The rest of the encounter was lost to the annals of time as everyone was laughing  too hard to notice what happened next.