Chaotic Origins

The next morning found Tails and Sonic cleaning up some more in the lab. While Sonic couldn't rewire machines or weld metal plates, he could organize and clean. So that's what he did. Tails was grateful for the help, for it was one less thing that he had to do.

     "Morning, everypony," yawned Twilight. She looked slightly disheveled, but with a poof of her magic, her mane and tail settled into place. She sighed.

     "Boy, do I miss Spike. He makes the best pancakes. That, and I'm used to spending most of my time with him," she mumured. Sonic looked up from the shelf he was currently putting back together.

     "Eh, he's a tough little guy. I'm sure he'll be just fine," he reassured her. She smiled and nodded slowly.

     "Speaking of breakfast, what are we going to eat?" asked Rarity, walking up the stairs. She was currently brushing her mane, making sure there were absolutely no tangles to mar its sheen.

     "Well, Tails or I could put something together, or I could run into the city and pick something up," he told her. Both mares frowned in thought. That was when Pinkie and Applejack walked in.

     "I think Spiky should make something!" Pinkie giggled. Applejack just yawned, but nodded in agreement.

     "Sure, why not?" Rainbow announced as she hovered up. She looked even more disheveled than usual, and her wings would sputter and stop every minute or so, causing her to suddenly drop before they would start up again at the last second. Then she yawned, the noise of it sounding like a bear's growl. "Boy, am I tired," she said, dropping to the floor again before her wings started back up.

     "Ah, know how ya feel, sugarcube. I woke up like Ah usually do at the crack a' dawn, but Ah fell back ta sleep considerin' there weren't nothin' ta do," Applejack explained. It seemed like her accent was even thicker than usual when she was tired.

     "I don't really mind whatever we do," mumbled Fluttershy, walking softly up the stairs. Her hooves made delicate clinking noises against the metal.

     Sonic finished reassembling the shelf before standing up straight and stretching.

     "I suppose I can make breakfast," he said. He blinked a couple of times to rid the sleep from his eyes. He then flipped open a door that no one else had noticed. The girls contented themselves by talking about the differences between their home and here while they waited for their beakfast. It wasn't long before a delicious smell wafted their way, delicate and sweet.

     "I wonder what that is," Rainbow said dreamily, and her eyes drifted shut before her head suddenly snapped back up. She grinned sheepishly before rubbing her eyes.

     "Alright, I'm finished!" announced Sonic. He walked out of the kitchen with two plates chock full of steaming muffins.

     "Mmmmmmm, blueberry!" squealed Pinkie Pie. She grabbed two, one in each hoof, before stuffing one in her mouth. She sighed contentedly. Applejack didn't waste any time eating hers either, although she was neater about it than Pinkie. Rarity took a cautious nibble before sighing in delight, savoring the tart blueberries and the hint of sweetness from the sugar that lightly dusted the top.

     "Ese ur de'wicious!" exclaimed Rainbow, her mouth full. Her face was one of utter bliss, and miraculously had very little blueberry on it.

     Twilight nodded happily. "You better be careful Pinkie!" she joked. "Sonic might put you out of business with these!" Sonic smiled before popping one in his own mouth.

     "One of the few things I can actually cook," he told them. "Otherwise, Tails does most of the cooking." The fox in question sneaked one off the plate before returning to his work, munching contentedly.

     "You guys should come here more often," he sighed. "Sonic almost never makes them."

     "What?!" Sonic cried in mock anger. "I just made some last week!"

     "After not making any for months!" Tails shot back. The two argued back and forth on this topic for a few minutes. The girls smiled knowingly at each other. Such was the way of siblings.

     "Well, this has been a nice slow morning, but when are we actually going to find our bad guy? We can't just go on like this, waiting for him to make the next move!" Rainbow suddenly spoke up. She wiped off the crumbs from her face with a fore hoof.

     "Well, what would you suggest we do?" Sonic asked her. She realized he wasn't mocking her, but had actually asked for her opinion.

     "Well, umm. I don't know exactly, but anything is better than sitting on our rumps!" she burst out. Sonic nodded.

     "Personally, I agree, but what would we do? We have no idea where he is, or what he's planning. Much as I'd love to track him down and beat the stuffing out of him right this minute, I also want to be prepared." He sighed in regret. "I hate sitting around and waiting, but I've learned over the years that waiting is better than taking on more risk than you need to." But then he smiled.

     "But you know what? Rainbow, let's have a little race. You and me. No surprises, no setbacks, just us and the open sky. You up for it?"

     Rainbow Dash stood up and flared her wings out in preparation, all signs of tiredness gone.

     "You've got yourself a race, mister. Hope you're ready!" she taunted. She grinned, anticipating an easy victory. Sure, she had seen him run, and he was pretty fast, but he couldn't get anywhere near her top speed.

     They put up two posts at the starting line, and had set up a series of posts that led into a set of canyons. They would wind through these before turning with a straight shot back to the lab. Rainbow crouched, ready to go, when she noticed Sonic stretching.

     "What are you doing?"

     "Limbering up," he told her. "I'd rather be loose and ready for the competition than starting off with stiff muscles." She pondered his words, but ultimately decided to just resume her crouch.

     He finally assumed a crouch next to her, bending on one knee with his other leg stretched out behind him.

     "On the count of three," Tails began.

     "ONE!" called out Pinkie.

     "Two..." Rarity announced.

     "THREE!" Twilight yelled. She shot a burst of magic, and with that the runners were off. They tore off across the desert straight, leaving twin trails of dark blue and rainbow.

     Rainbow smirked, pushing herself to the fastest speed she could hold for a long period of time. She looked back, expecting to see the hedgehog traveling in her wake. Instead, she saw only her own dust trail.

     "Looking for someone?" asked a cocky voice beside her. She yelped and looked down to see the very hedgehog she was looking for running beside her with ease. Not only that, but he was running... BACKWARDS.

     "How are you doing that?" she asked, pushing herself just a little bit harder now.

     "What, this?" he asked, before clasping his hands beind his head. "Just a little trick I learned. What, you jealous?" and he smirked at her.

     "What? NO! Just, surprised, is all. Besides, I'll pull ahead of you in the canyons."

     "And why is that?"

     "I saw them! They get real narrow, You're gonna have nearly no room to manuever, so you'll have to slow way down to make turns. With the lead I'll get in there, I've got this race in the bag!" Indeed, they were almost at the steep cliffs and austere ridges of the plateaus. Sonic grinned evilly.

     "We'll see about that!" he challenged, before he disappearred like a shot into the nearest canyon. Rainbow flicked her goggles down onto her head before she blasted after him.

      She twisted and turned and dived and wove her way through the canyons. She kept her eye on the occasional post driven into the walls of the canyon so she would know she was on the right path. But, to her surprise, the dark blue hedgehog was nowhere to be seen. She passed another corner, and she swore she saw him disappear down the next one down. But his blue trail led along the wall instead of down on the very narrow path below. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

     So far, she was lagging. But she blamed that on the height restrictions. She couldn't fly more than twenty feet in the air until they got out of the canyons. But once they were on that last straight away, all of the sky was open to her. Even in the canyons, she could feel the air she cupped in her feathers with each stroke of her wings, as it whistled past her ears. She was one with the wind and sky, and today, she would prove it.

     Sonic smirked to himself as he rocketed along the walls of the canyon. For all her confidence, she was the one being slowed down by the twists and turns of the course. He could practically hear her fuming as she hugged his trail. Really, he had hoped she'd be more of a challenge!

     "Having fun, Rainbow Dash?" he taunted, his voice echoing back along the course.

     He could see the end of the canyon as it curved back upon itself, making a long, winding, and complicated loop. He readied himself, pushing off with his legs at the last moment, springing toward the ground. He angled himself so he would hit smoothly, hardly feeling a jolt as he turned. The exit of the canyon faced slightly in the wrong direction, so he drifted, trailing the ground with his fingers, before shooting off like a bullet, now heading straight for the finish line.

     It was a hundred or so miles between him and the finish line, and he couldn't even see the workshop or his friends. Even so, he knew the area by heart, and could even now tell his aim would be perfect. It helped to have the posts in the ground. He looked over his shoulder to see Rainbow winging high into the sky, pushing herself up into the clouds.

     As the finish line came into view, still little more than vague dots on the horizon, Rainbow did an aileron roll, diving with her wings straining; they flashed back and forth like a hummingbird. He saw a white cone forming around her hooves, and suddenly realized what she was doing.

     'A lot of work just to break the sound barrier', he mused. But then he took off even faster than before, creating a blast wave of sound as he made a Sonic Boom.

     Rainbow stared in shock and envy as Sonic effortlessly performed the very thing that it took so much work for her to do. She gritted her teeth and pushed even harder. She could feel the barrier between her hooves and the air, pushing her back. As usual, she just pushed harder, finally snapping the last thing between her and true speed.

     Tails and the gang watched in awe as the double Boom was executed, one creating a blast wave of blue, the other leaving a trail of vibrant rainbows across the sky. Sonic approached, sending gusts and dust devils in his wake as he raced across the ground. Rainbow was almost level with him as her flight path brought her very close to the ground. The disturbances in the wind that her passage caused combined with Sonic's own, creating massive dust devils and swirling tempests. But still, she trailed the hedgehog.

     She flapped her wings harder than she had in her whole life, her goggles threatening to tear off her head from the friction. Each stroke pushed her a little closer, a little nearer the finish line. She wasn't gaining on Sonic though. She was a matter of a foot behind him, but she wasn't gaining.

     She watched desperately as the gap closed between her wings and the end of the race. Even her rainbow trail seemed to mock her, its bright colors making her desperation seem silly and sugar-coated. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see her own horrible loss.

     "Rainbow! Look out! Dash!" her friends cried out, their voices mingling together. She opened her eyes and realized she was two and a half seconds from ramming into the metal walls of the workshop. Just before her hooves made contact with the silvery metal, something rammed into her side. It killed her speed and sent her tumbling to the left, yelping as she ran into several dead thorny bushes.

     "Owwww. You know, you'd expect a pegasus to be light and soft. You, on the other hand, are hard as a rock," complained a voice a few feet away. Sonic sat on his rear end, rubbing his sore head. Rainbow grinned.

     "Well, maybe you didn't do it right," she suggested, flaring her wings open. Sonic sighed.

     "Yeah, once is enough for me. Ramming into the side of a flying horse is not pleasant."

     "Pony," Dash corrected him.

     "What's the difference, RD?" he asked her. She scratched her head, trying to find an answer. He smiled to show her he wasn't serious.

     "Oh my goodness! Are you okay?" Twilight asked as she rushed forward. Sonic laughed.

     "Besides my bruised head and her wounded pride, we're fine," he reassured the worried alicorn.

     "Thank Celestia," she breathed, her previously tense wings hanging limp at her sides.

     Rainbow then proceeded to glare at Sonic.

     "You can do a Sonic Boom? Why didn't you tell me? And how can you do that without wings?" Rainbow asked in astonishment. Sonic just laughed.

     "Don't ask me. I'm just a guy who likes adventure."

     "And apparently dawdling as well," said a voice behind them. Sonic got up and turned to the speaker.

     "Shadow! You finally decided to show up," Sonic said with a sardonic grin on his face. Shadow scowled and looked at the ponies.

     "And now you spend your time with garish technicolor ponies. Why am I not surprised."

     "Hey! There's nothing wrong with being brightly colored!" protested Rainbow. Then she flared her wings in anger.

     "Who are you anyways?" asked Rainbow. her voice suspicious. Shadow laughed in contempt and crossed his as arms over his chest.

     "I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form," he repied, his eyes never wavering. Dash stared him down.

     "Oh yeah?" she challenged. "And what exactly makes you so ultimate, anyways?"

     "I was created by Professor Gerald Robotnik, and I will live forever." Shadow said. He glared at each pony in turn, daring them to contest him.

     "Really?" Twilight asked, trying to lighten the situation. "So why did this professor create you?" This made Shadow stop. He looked as if he were about to speak, but nothing came. Sonic quickly jumped in.

     "The Professor was studying immortality to help with treating disease," he told them. Shadow nodded in agreement. He hated accepting help, but he was relieved that Sonic had jumped in. This time, at least.

     Twilight cocked her head in interest. Here was another being that was immortal. While she didn't know the physics of it, she desperately wanted to find out. Rainbow, however, knew an incoming big-word storm when she saw one, and took measures to avoid the incoming hurricane.

     "So why are you even here?" Rainbow asked Shadow. Twilight pouted at being interrupted, but held her peace.

     Shadow shot an accusatory look at Sonic. "His new friend has been reported in remote areas of Japan by multiple GUN agents. I have orders from the commander to bring you in to fix it, considering it's your problem." Shadow shot another glare at Sonic. Sonic smiled snarkily back at him, completely ignoring the venom in his gaze.

     "It'll take too long to get to Japan if we use the Tornado," brought out Tails. Sonic nodded, deep in thought.

      "I could make a teleportation spell, but it'll take a while to make one for so many ponies at once," Twilight volunteered. Sonic chuckled, looking over at Shadow.

     "Well, then, shall we show them how we do things on Mobius, Shadow?" Sonic laughed.

     Shadow shrugged. "It is the fastest way," he admitted. Sonic pulled out a Chaos Emerald, and tossed it to the black hedgehog. Shadow caught it, and fingered it's crimson edge.

     He took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Chaos...CONTROL!" he cried out. They all disappeared in a flash of red and white light.

     When they came out of the warp, Twilight and the rest fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

     "What did you just DO?" asked Rarity, her eyes wide.

     "Ah'm curious mahself. And what in tarnation kept ya'll from telling us beforehand?" Applejack asked with narrowed eyes. Sonic laughed at their consternation. He, Shadow, and Tails had landed on their feet, unlike the ponies, who had not expected the sudden change in scenery.

     "It's called Chaos Control. With the Chaos Emeralds, we can teleport or even slow down or stop time," Sonic explained. "It's a little trick I learned from Shadow. Saved my life once."

     "Indeed," said Shadow,"you are very hard to kill." He frowned as if that were a bad thing. Rainbow exploded.

     "Wait. You tried to kill him!?" she shouted. She turned on Shadow, preparing to attack.

     "Woah woah woah woah!" Sonic intervened, jumping between them. "That was a long time ago. It's no big deal! I hold nothing against Shadow, and neither should you!" At this, Rainbow slowly willed herself to relax, her wings folding back against her sides. Sonic nodded in approval.

     "Anyways," and Sonic looked over at the rest of the Mane 6, "Welcome to Japan! I believe this is Kyushu, right Tails?" In response, Tails held up his handheld, which showed a large string of islands along the coast of a continent.

     "Right! One of the main islands," Tails affirmed. The ponies took a moment to look around them. Rarity sniffed in disdain.

     "A pretty sight, but it's not at all civilized. How is a lady of refinement to survive here?" she asked, her voice a bit whiny. Sonic gave her a surprised look, as did Tails, who began to explain.

     "You wouldn't expect it, but Japan has one of the richest cultures in the world," he told them. "It's been around for hundreds of years, and it is the birthplace of today's version of the novel. In ancient times, it was considered the peak of refinement, just as China is the peak of technology and advancement today as it was back then. You wouldn't believe the innovations that we use today that they came up with! There's-"

     "History lectures aside," Sonic interrupted the yellow fox,"Japan is a pretty cool place. I mean, just look at it! Bright blue sky, picturesque mountains, even the rice terraces are nice. I don't know about you, but to me, it feels like home!" And with that, the blue hedgehog tore off down the valley in front of them, skirting a substantial but not huge river. Tails turned to Shadow.

     "So where exactly was Onigami last seen?" he asked.

     "Right here," the hedgehog answered, "but he seems to have moved on." As soon as Shadow said that, Tails handheld beeped. He pulled it out to see a symbol hovering on the edge of his scanning radius before disappearing. He tracked its movement carefully, thoroughly imprinting the location on his mind.

     "He's just over 50 miles from here. He's hovering right off the edge of my scanning limit. Wonder if it's on purpose?" he said to himself. Shadow looked down at the screen, memorizing the location for himself. He looked in the general direction of where he would be, frowning as he mentally calculated distance and time.

     "We can't use Chaos Control again. If he's as powerful as you say, then he'll recognize the energy flux it creates and will be gone before we appear. We'll have to go by foot, then." Shadow glared over at the ponies, but most of all Rarity. She was the one who seemed most likely to chicken out.

     "Hey you!" giggled a pink blur that bounced in front of his eyes so fast that he couldn't track it. "Let's turn that frowny upside-downy! Why are you such a grumpy-pants, mister?" The pony finally stopped bouncing, revealing her actual shape. Shadow looked at her bright pink fur in disgust.

     "Back. Off," he practically growled at her. She looked up at him, smiling even wider.

     "You look like you need a hug!" and with that, she turned words into action. Shadow suddenly found himself wrapped in the embrace of possibly the most annoying creature he had ever met.

     "If you don't want to die on this mountain, I suggest you get AWAY FROM ME." Shadow looked at her with a glare that could melt solid steel. She looked at him in confusion, slowly backing up and dropping to all fours. But then that insufferable grin was back.

     "Okay!" and she bounced off on springy hooves. Fluttershy looked at Shadow in open fear, her lip quivering and her eyes tearing up. He let out a snort and started walking down the mountain.

     "He's a jerk," observed Rainbow. Twilight looked at her sternly.

     "While he may not be easy to get along with, you shouldn't start calling him names, Dash."

     "But he is!" she protested.

     "Darling, we must act like ladies if we are to gain his favor. He obviously disdains outward shows of emotion, and is more liberal in how he takes action against things." Rarity flicked her mane out of her eyes. "Besides, he has quite the eye catching color, doesn't he?"

     "While Ah agree with the first part a' yer little spiel, his coat don't have nothin' ta do with this. Still, Ah think he takes things a little too far, if ya ask me." Applejack said.

     "H-he thre-threatened to k-k-kill Pinkie P-Pie," stuttered Fluttershy. The party pony in question just grinned wider.

     "Oh, don't you worry 'bout a thing, Fluttershy! Making ponies smile is what I do best, and I'm gonna make him smile if it takes me three party cannons and a Pinkie Promise gone wrong if I have to!" promised the earth pony. She eyed him as he made his way down the hill. "But, boy, is he a tough nut to crack. Not even a special super-duper-luper Pinkie hug cheered him up! But I'll do it, you'll see!" Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she planned her next attempt to make Shadow crack a grin.

     Tails watched in horror as the ponies (or Pinkie Pie, specifically) plotted to make Shadow smile.

     "There's no way this ends well," he whispered to himself.