Project ART

Sonic's House – Ponyville

Sonic sat on his couch, smiling contently as he flipped through today's paper. It had been a few days since the Nightmare Moon incident, and nothing exciting had happened since. The unicorn he'd met the day before the Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight Sparkle, was ordered to stay in Ponyville to study friendship, and Princess Celestia had given him his own residence in the town.

He smiled as he read through the immature comics on the back of the paper. As much as he liked speed and adventure, there were times Sonic just liked to sit back, relax and…

"SOMEPONY HELP ME!"

Sonic sighed. The week had been going so well too. Reluctantly, he got off the couch and headed for the door. Opening it quickly, he saw the entire town's population was gathering near the west entrance to Ponyville. With his curiosity getting the better of him, Sonic started pushing his way through the crowd.

"Please!" he heard somepony say as he got closer. "There's this… thing that tried to kill me!"

"Relax." Said the familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle. "I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this."

As he found himself near the front of the crowd, Sonic saw Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow and Jawsome supporting a beaten-up stallion. "What's going on?" he asked as he made his way towards his friends.

When Sonic became visible, the stallion's eyes widened. "No." he said. He started kicking and bucking. "Nononono! Stay away from me!"

Sonic reeled back and raised his hands defensively. "Take it easy pal." He said. "I just asked what happened!"

The stallion stared daggers at Sonic. "YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!" he yelled, causing everyone's eyes to move to Sonic. "You attacked me in the path through the Everfree Forest!"

"Uh, sorry sir." Sonic said calmly. "I just came out of my house a few minutes ago."

The stallion continued bucking. "LIES!" he said. "ALL OF IT; LIES!"

He suddenly slumped forwards, completely unconscious. Sonic looked to Twilight, who's horn was glowing magenta. As they carefully handed the stallion over to Nurse Redheart and Mayor Mare, the violet mare looked back at Sonic in full deadpan. "We need to talk." She said emotionlessly.

Golden Oaks Library – Ponyville

As soon as Sonic and his friends entered the library, all the windows, curtains and doors were locked, the lights turned out and the room was filled with a magenta light. "Twilight?" He asked. "What're you doing?"

"Did you attempt to murder that stallion?" asked Twilight's disembodied voice.

"No, I did not." Sonic said confidently.

"Did you attempt to harm that stallion in any way? Physically, mentally or otherwise?" came Rarity's voice.

"No." Sonic said.

"Did ya hire anypony t' harm that stallion?" asked Applejack's voice.

"No." Sonic repeated. He exhaled a sigh of relief as the magenta glow faded and the lights turned back on. There were his friends and sister, a look of relief on their faces.

"I told you he was innocent!" Rainbow said.

"How could you even think Sonic would attempt to murder somepony?" Jawsome chipped in.

"It never hurts to check, darling." Rarity said.

"But something doesn't add up." Twilight said. "There are almost no known bipedal creatures in Equestria that could be mistaken for Sonic. He's practically a unique creature! Either the stallion was completely delusional or there's another one of Sonic and Jawsome's species."

Sonic's ears perked up at that. "There could be another one like me?" he asked.

"Unless he was delusional," Twilight said. "Then, yes; all evidence points to that conclusion."

In an instant, Sonic was out the door; taking off into the Everfree Forest alone. Rainbow gave Twilight a look. "You just had to say that didn't you?"

As Sonic continued to bolt through the Everfree, he noticed the atmosphere began to change. The normally dark-green bushes and leaves became dark and burned. The smell of cooked meat and smoke has hanging sickeningly in the air. He passed by a large tree, a whole burned straight through the trunk. He looked away and plugged his nose as he passed by the rotting carcass of a Manticore, a large 5-claw claw mark etched across its throat.

He stopped when he heard somepony begging. "P-p-please!" the voice, obviously a mare's; said. "Is it bits you want? Trixie has bits! Just don't hurt Trixie!"

Sonic followed the sound of the mare's voice, quickly finding himself on the edge of a small circle of burned trees. In the center of the clearing, a light-blue mare in a cliché wizard's hat was being lifted by the throat by an armored version of Sonic, himself.

"ALL ORGANIC LIFEFORMS MUST BE ERADICATED." Said the armored Sonic in a monotone voice. "DR. ROBOTNIK HAS BROUGHT MOBIUS TO ITS KNEES, AND WILL SOON DO THE SAME TO THIS PLACE."

Hearing the word 'Robotnik', Sonic jumped into the clearing. "YO!" he called. The armored hedgehog turned its head 180 degrees to face him. Although slightly intimidated by its soulless eyes, Sonic continued. "I've heard that somepony that looked like me was attacking travelers in the Everfree forest, so naturally I had to check it out."

"MOBIAN LIFEFORM DETECTED" said the armored hedgehog.

"Is that what I am?" Sonic asked. "Huh, you learn something new every day."

"AFFIRMATIVE." Stated the armored hedgehog. "DNA READS MOBIAN HEDGEHOG BUT SPECIFICS DO NOT MATCH ANY KNOWN OUTLAWS." It dropped the mare in its grasp, who immediately turned-tail and ran, and turned the rest of its body to realign its head. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF AT ONCE!"

Sonic over-exaggeratingly bowed. "Where are my manners?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm Sonic the apparently-Mobian hedgehog. And you are?"

"I AM METAL SONIC." It said. "LORD ROBOTNIK'S ULTIMATE KILLING MACHINE."

"Metal Sonic, huh?" Sonic asked. "I don't know whether to be flattered or angry!"

"YOU SHOULD BE HONORED." Metal said. "YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE KILLED BY THE FASTEST BEING IN THE UNIVERSE."

Sonic got into a fighting stance, one which Metal Sonic copied. "Fastest in the Universe, huh?" the normal hedgehog asked. "We'll just have to put that to the test! BRING IT ON!"

Author note: Yes, I made a Trixie cameo. Shoot me.

Also, I would suggest playing Stardust Speedway from Generations or Vs. Metal Sonic from Sonic 4 Episode 2 now. Seriously: stop reading and go to YouTube. I'll wait...

Ready? GO!

Sonic threw the first punch, Metal easily stepping out of the way. With Sonic off balance, Metal brought his knee up and struck Sonic in the stomach, winding him. "IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU SURRENDER." Metal said. "I HAVE BEEN PROGRAMMED WITH A MASTERY OF ALL KNOWN MARTIAL ARTS. YOU CANNOT WIN."

Sonic scoffed, still holding his stomach. "Good to know." he said. "Than I'll use no martial arts."

"ERROR: GRAMMAR FLAWED." Metal said.

Sonic chuckled. "You'll get the idea." he said. Before Metal could process anything, Sonic tucked himself into a ball and launched himself at Metal's head, sending the robot flying. Sonic landed gracefully and brushed the dirt off his body. Metal immediately retaliated, literally rocketing downwards and slashing Sonic across the chest with its razor-sharp fingers.

Sonic clutched his chest as blood started to leak from his wound. He glared at Metal, who started to slowly approach. Acting on instinct, Sonic curled into a ball and rolled right into Metal Sonic's feet, knocking the robot down. Not taking this for granted, Sonic quickly did a back-flip over Metal, front-flipping and bashing Metal's head into the ground with the heel of his sneakers. As he landed, he saw Metal's head pushed deep into the Everfree dirt, its body twitching madly as sparks flew out of its joints. He smirked. "You're too slow, Metal." he taunted as he turned back towards Ponyville.

As he began to leave however, two metallic arms wrapped around his sides and lifted him off the ground. As he looked behind him, he saw Metal's soul-piercing gaze staring back at him. "So you can fly too!"

"AFFIRMATIVE, I CAN." the machine said. "BUT YOU CANNOT." Looking down, Sonic realized just how high up they were. "FAREWELL."

With that, Metal punched Sonic hard in the face, sending him rocketing towards the ground. The world around him was spinning; no possible way to tell which way was up, down, left or right. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. Two words that he didn't know, but he was sure could save him. Reaching behind him (where he put it subconsciously, he didn't know), he pulled out the emerald Nightmare Moon had given him. With no other options, he lifted the Emerald above his head.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" he yelled, disappearing in a flash of green light.

Metal Sonic watched as Sonic vanished. "MASSIVE ENERGY USAGE DETECTED." it stated. "SCANNING ENERGY SIGNATURE... SCANNING... MATCH FOUND IN RESTRICTED FILES. ACCESSING RESTRICTED FILES... ENERGY SIGNATURE MATCHES THAT OF THE LEGENDARY 'CHAOS EMERALDS'. MARKED AS A MUST-HAVE ARTIFACT BY LORD ROBOTNIK." Metal flew into the air. "TRACKING POSITION OF THE EMERALD... SEARCHING... LOCATION FOUND." He turned towards a small village, just barely visible on the horizon. "TO PUT THIS INTO LAYMAN'S TERMS: WATCH OUT, SONIC. 'CAUSE I'M COMING FOR YOU NOW."

Rainbow Dash was waiting in her cloud house, waiting for any news regarding her brother. She wanted to search for Sonic herself, but Twilight claimed that it would be too dangerous with that 'thing' roaming around the Everfree Forest. This, however, just fueled her worries. If this thing could take a fully-grown stallion out without any trouble, Sonic's skinny body wouldn't stand much more of a chance.

"Who am I kidding?" Rainbow asked herself, face-hoofing. "Sonic stood against Nightmare Moon, no random attacker could get the best of him." She laughed a bit more before melting into her cloud-couch. Just as she started relaxing, however; a green flash of light blinded her, before fading to reveal Sonic face-planting into the wall. "SONIC!" she yelled, hurrying to his aid.

She looked over her brother, noticing the bruises and cuts all over his body. His eyelids fluttered open, his green eyes staring into her magenta eyes. "Rainbow?" he said weakly.

"Sonic, thank Celestia you're alright!" Rainbow said. "What happened?"

"Found the attacker." Sonic said. "It's a robot that calls itself 'Metal Sonic.' Beat me up real badly."

"Looks like it." Rainbow said, staring at the claw-mark on her brother's chest. "Hold on, I'm bringing you to the hospital." Sonic, being too weak to object, grabbed onto Rainbow's neck as she flew him down to Ponyville. "While we're on the way there," Rainbow continued. "Mind explaining what exactly a 'Robot' is?"