Chaotic Origins

Sonic groaned. He was currently in the Carousel Boutique, with the dreaded needles and cloth hovering all around him. He forced himself to stand still, for the temptation to fidget was very real.

     "Certainly your new color is very striking, darling. I dare say you've gotten even darker than you first were," Rarity commented. Sonic agreed, but didn't view it in the same way as the fashionista. Now he looked more like his dark form than ever before, and he didn't like the connotations.

     "Indeed, with that coloring you'd be the talk of the town without any help. But, of course, we just couldn't pass up a golden opportunity like this, now could we?" She smiled up at the hedgehog.

     "Apparently." Sonic replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Rarity scowled at his lack of enthusiasm,but didn't say anything else.

      A few minutes later, Rarity had the finished product ready. "There! Try this on." She levitated her newest creation over to Sonic, who obligingly pulled it on.

      It was a shirt and jacket combo, but Sonic left it unbuttoned. The suit jacket was a rich black, just a few shades darker than his fur. Two long tails hung from the back down to his knees. The shirt underneath was a light blue exactly the same color as Sonic's new markings. Over the three weeks since their appearance, they had grown brighter, contrasting even more with his fur. On the edges of the sleeves were two cufflinks of crystal, which nicely complimented the dark jacket.

     Sonic had to admit, it was much more comfortable than he had first expected. The inside was silky smooth and didn't pinch or pull anywhere. The collar fit smoothly around his shoulders.

     "Not bad," he admitted. It was almost worth the hours spent standing still doing nothing.

     Rarity knew honest praise when she heard it, and smiled at the hedgehog. "I'm glad you like it, dear. It is a bit simpler than most of my creations, but it suits you." Sonic snickered at her comment.

     "Literally," he joked. Rarity rolled her eyes at the bad pun, but smiled all the same.

     "Now then, I'll just keep this safe until the festival," and with that Rarity grabbed it in her magic and hung it gently on the rack. Sonic saluted and took off.

     Five minutes later saw him at the library with Twilight. He had promised to show up sometime today. He wondered why she couldn't just have told him whatever it was that morning, since he was staying in the guest room there, but he went with it.

     From the moment he walked in, he saw a disaster waiting to happen.

     "Twilight, what are you DOING?! Don't you know how dangerous they are?" Sonic cried. Twilight didn't look at him, because she had to focus completely on the Emeralds.

     "I'm trying to draw out their power like you were, but nothing's happening. Why won't it work?" She finally gave up, and the glow around her horn died down.

     "That's because you're trying to take it forcibly. You have to ask them for it." Sonic explained. He had gone through this very process when he had been practicing with the Emeralds.

     "Ask?"

     "Yeah, watch." Sonic picked up one of the Emeralds and forced his muscles to relax. As soon as he did so, the Emeralds began glowing, and they rose up off the ground. Twilight once again felt them giving their energy to the hedgehog. When she listened closely (magically speaking) she could almost hear them accepting his request. So she tried it herself. Relaxing, she formed the question in her mind, a plea for a small amount of energy.

     The answer was immediate. Pure, raw energy flooded her as the Emeralds granted her what she sought. She stiffened almost immediately though, and they just as quickly stopped granting the energy. Twilight panted, grinning at her success.

     "Wow, that was really good for the first time. When I tried the first time they created an explosion. But that was when I figured out how to work with them. They may seem like inanimate objects, but they have personality. It's something I've been trying to figure out for years."

     Twilight drank in every word. She had a lot of experiments in mind, and she would probably need the hedgehog around to keep the Emeralds stable. This was heaven to the scientifically gifted unicorn.

     Two failures, three explosions and one mini black hole later, Twilight had finished creating her machine. It was small, barely the size of a foal, and it had one gem shaped slot in the top. It was a simple box shape, but it had curved edges that gave it a modern look. Twilight looked on in satisfaction.

     Her machine had worked perfectly. It was designed to take the power of the Emeralds and transfer it into magical energy, which could then be given to any member of the pony race.

     They had tested it on Rainbow Dash, who had gone on to set a track record in her playground in the sky. Afterwards, as she came down off the power high, there had been no I'll side effects.

     Sonic wiped his brow in relief. Keeping the Emeralds stable was hard on a good day, and Twilight's machine had taken a lot of trial and error. But the final product was gratifying, and they had managed to finish it the day before the Harvest Festival.

     Sonic didn't know what to think about the Festival. It sounded like fun, but Rarity was insistent that he wear the new jacket. And that meant no running above average pony speed. Sonic chafed at the idea of walking for the whole festival, but he supposed it might be best. The turbulent winds he created in his wake were known to throw everything into disarray.

The Night Of The Harvest Festival

     "So here's to this year's Harvest Festival! Enjoy it everypony!" cried Pinkie from on the stage. Her speech concluded, she wasted no time in joining the party. She loaded herself into her party cannon (which stretched to accommodate her) and shot herself into the middle of the crowd.

     Twilight had asked Sonic to accompany her for the Festival.

     "After all," she had said."You need someone to show you around."

     As true as that might have been, Sonic would have been much happier blitzing from stall to stall. As it was, he shifted uncomfortably inside his coat. While it might have been comfortable, it was a warm night and Sonic would rather have gone without. Even so, he was drawing stares from ponies who had come from other cities and towns to enjoy the local holiday.

     Rarity came up to his side, examining the coat for any blemishes and imperfections.

     "Oh, I do wish I'd done something different. It's so dreadfully simple, but I just don't have the experience with your build to really elaborate. It's simply a crime against fashion to a he you looking so drab!" Twilight looked at Rarity questioningly. She was no expert on the matter, but Sonic looked fine to the lavender unicorn. But before she could comment, Sonic spoke.

     "Rarity, I'm a bipedal, walking talking hedgehog in a world of ponies. I think I stand out plenty." Besides, Sonic thought ruefully, I wouldn't survive anything fancier than this.

     "Oh, I know. There's just so much more I could have done." Rarity sighed.

     "There's always next time, Rarity." Twilight said, causing Sonic to wince. There was no way he was going through that again. Before Rarity could get any ideas, he decided to change the subject.

     "I'm gonna go talk to Applejack. See ya!" He disappeared into the crowd. Rarity looked miffed, but Twilight was laughing.

     "I'm don't think he enjoyed the idea of another fitting. He's like Rainbow in that respect." Twilight giggled. Rarity nodded in agreement.

     "Indeed, they are very much alike. In fact, I've noticed that Rainbow Dash goes out of her way to spend time with him. I wonder if we have a blossoming romance in our hands." Seinfeld the look on Twilight's face, she grinned mischievously, her pretty eyes sparkling. "Or perhaps you've taken a fancy to our mysterious friend? Well, you'll certainly have some competition. I do believe our friend Applejack has her eye on him as well."

     "Rarity!" gasped Twilight. She blushed, her whole face turning red. "Whether it's true or not, please don't say things like that during the festival! Who knows who could overhear!" Twilight looked around nervously.

     "Alright, I won't. But remember, I'll be keeping an eye on you two." Rarity reminded her.

     As for Sonic, he breathed a sigh of relief. Rarity was like Amy sometimes. Way too girly. He caught up to Applejack, who smiled up at him but didn't say anything.

     "So where you heading?" he asked Applejack.

     "Ah'm just going to check up on our stall. We're selling some hard cider and Ah want ta make sure everypony's behaving themselves."

     "Oh. ... So how good is your cider? I haven't gotten to try any yet."

     "Some of the best east of Apploosa if Ah do say so mahself. Ah don't mind if you try some." Applejack said proudly. By the time she finished speaking, they had made it to the stall, which was being run by Big Mac. He nodded at them.

     "Everything going good, Mac?"

     "Eeyup." For some reason, Big Mac was staring at Sonic when he spoke. When Sonic tilted his head in confusion, the stallion just shook his head and served up two mugs of the Apple Family famous hard cider.

     Sonic took a long swig, savoring the taste.

     "It's sweeter than some I've had, but not bad." Sonic judged. He took another sip, enjoying it slowly. Applejack watched his reaction, suddenly thinking of something.

     "Say, sugarcube, how old are ya?"

     "19." As soon as he said this, Applejack grabbed the mug from his hand and put it back on the counter. He glared at her.

     "Hey, what was that for?"

     "Ya can't be drinking at 19! Ya'll are too young. It'll addle your brains."

     "Well, it would if it were possible for me to get drunk."

     "What do ya mean?"

     "I mean, that as a side effect of being able to run so fast, I have a hyperactive metabolism. Any alcohol is gone before it can reach the bloodstream. Believe me, I've tried to get drunk, but it just doesn't work."

     "That doesn't excuse ya! It's mah hard cider, it's mah rules. No more for you!"

     Sonic groaned, but didn't argue. He knew that technically he shouldn't drink anyway, but it never bothered anyone back on Mobius. Then he raised an eyebrow. It was weird that they seemed to have the same drinking laws here as they did back on his world. They had a completely different physiology. Wouldn't it be different here?

     But he shook his head, and went to see what else came with the Harvest Festival.

     Sonic was puzzled. He kept on seeing things that looked like they came from Mobius. Here and there he would see a sign or advertisement. In the distance he would see skyscrapers. Every time he blinked, though, they disappeared. Finally, he decided to call it an early night. He snuck back to the library, making sure no one saw him leaving the Festival.

     Rather than settling into the bed that Twilight had set up for him, he climbed into the round windowsill. It bothered Twilight that he preferred hard surfaces rather than a standard bed, but he didn't budge.

     So the guest bed remained pristine, untouched in the last month or so Sonic had been here. He liked being near the sky anyways, so the window was the perfect spot. As he looked up at the stars and down at the lights of the festival, he swore he saw Mobian style things down there. But they still disappeared the moment he looked away. His gaze swept over the room, nearly missing the rather obvious oddity.

     He almost fell onto the floor when he recognized a console that looked exactly like one of the ones Tails used. Sonic blinked in surprise. Then it was gone. He frowned. Something was really off here.

     It was the same everywhere he went. He had run across almost the whole of Equestria, and everywhere he went, he saw Mobian buildings, Mobian signs, Mobian clothing designs, and even Mobians themselves. It just didn't make sense. He ran all night long, burning the midnight oil as he thought.

     'Could our worlds be merging? But there's no reason for that to happen. Could that Lawbringer guy be bringing these things here? But there's no reason for that either.' All night he thought of, pondered, and discarded ideas. There didn't seem to be any pattern to it though. They seemed to appear randomly.

     Finally, as the sun's rays broke over the horizon, Sonic decided to go back and ask Twilight about it. If anyone could figure out what was causing him to see things, she could. So he curved, angling himself for a straight shot to Ponyville.

     "Hey Twi? Have there been any rumors about people seeing things that looked, well, otherwordly?" Sonic asked. It certainly wasn't what the unicorn was expecting him to ask after being gone the whole night.

      "No, I haven't heard of anypony seeing things. Why?"

      "I keep seeing things that come from my world. But every time I look away they disappear." Sonic explained. Twilight frowned. Walking up, she placed a hoof on his forehead to check for fever, but he irritable brushed her away.

     "I'm not sick! I would have noticed. It takes a pretty strong bug to take me down."

     "Well, there's no fever, so I have to agree with you. Maybe it's from stress? You did go without any sleep. And didn't I hear Applejack saying you had some hard cider?" Sonic shot her a look of disbelief.

     "No, I've done all-nighters before, and they never bothered me. It has to be something else."

     "Like hard cider?"

     "No!"

     "Okay, okay. You don't have to snap. Then the only other thing I can tell you is that you've gone stark raving mad. We'll have to order a straight jacket, and find the proper asylum-"

     "You're kidding me, right? I haven't gone mad! That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day." Sonic protested.

     "If you keep acting like this, I'll have to restrain you," Twilight replied, dead serious.

     "But why?"

     "I've been watching you the whole time you've been here. Not only have you shown extreme flightiness, you're hyperactive, fidgety, and suspicious of everything. You can't sit still, and you have a short attention span. You refuse to believe anything that intrudes on your own little private reality. All of those are symptoms of classic Dimensia. I'm doing this for your own good. We'll find you a good doctor who can help you with your problems."

     Sonic stared at her in shock. Then his gaze changed to one of anger. His eyes narrowed.

     "The Twilight I've been getting to know over the past few weeks would never say that! You're not her! What did you do with her?" Sonic cried. His anger boiled, and threatened to spill over into violence. 'Twilight' cringed, flinching away from his wrath.

     "I am her! You're the one that's changed. You need help! I'm trying to provide it!" As she spoke, items in the library began gaining Mobian attributes before Sonic's eyes. That was when Sonic realized the full truth. Twilight wasn't the one who was fake. This WORLD was. This whole region, the reality he had been living in for the past few months, wasn't real at all.

     Sonic snarled and lunged at Twilight, determined to get some answers before she could escape. He didn't know how close she had been to running either. But in the middle of his lunge, it was like time stopped. The library, and the world by extension, crumbled away until Sonic was surrounded in black. Everything slowly took vague shapes, until suddenly everything clicked.

     Sonic was launched into the middle of the room, taking two people with him in his sudden departure. He picked himself up, shaking away the strange dizziness he felt. Looking around, he noticed two others picking themselves up from the ground. He immediately recognized them.

     "Tails! Knuckles! What are you doing here?"

     "Well, we WERE trying to get you out of that, but we kind of got interrupted," replied Tails, rubbing his head.

     "Next time you shoot out of something, try NOT to hit us," grumbled Knuckles. He picked himself off the ground and dusted himself off. Tails did the same.

     "Sorry, but I didn't know I had company," retorted Sonic.

     "So how did you get in that thing? And why?" asked Tails, pointing to the strange capsule. Sonic walked up to it, noting it's strange curved edges. It almost looked like a bullet.

     "What is it anyway?" Sonic asked, ignoring Tails' question.

     "I'm not sure exactly. From what I can tell, it's supposed to create a virtual reality in someone's mind. I think it also doubles as a stasis pod."

     "How long was I in it?"

     "Since this morning," Knuckles told him.

     "This morning?! But I've lived for a month in there! Look, I even still have these weird markings!" Sonic gestured to himself, where the markings glowed on his almost black fur. Tails frowned at them.

     "I noticed those, but I never figured out why they are there or what they do. They almost look like-"

     "His dark super form!" Knuckles finished. The three of them shared a look. Whatever it meant, they all knew it wasn't good.

     "YOU HAVE AWOKEN TOO EARLY! NO MATTER, I HAVE FINISHED MY PURPOSE! I HAVE NO NEED OF YOU ANYMORE!" A loud voice reverberated around the confines of the temple. The voice was unfamiliar to Tails and Knuckles, but Sonic recognized it immediately.

     "Lawbringer!" he yelled, his voice echoing off the stone.