Nix: Collision

        Celestia eyed the creature before her, unsure of what to make of him. He was a blue hedgehog, but unlike any species in Equestria. He stood on two legs, and wore white gloves and red-and-white shoes on his feet. He had a few bruises from when Rainbow had tackled him.

        “I’m telling you!” he protested. “I haven’t done anything—”

        A blue barrier suddenly formed around his mouth, muffling him. Celestia looked at Luna in shock. “You will speak when told to,” Luna ordered. The hedgehog nodded and, after a moment, Luna released the spell.

        “Who are you?” Celestia asked first.

        “I’m Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!” Sonic answered. Though he said it with confidence, inwardly he was faltering under the princesses’ stern gazes. “And, like I said, I have not done anything—”

        “Are you really going to lie to us?” Luna asked, narrowing her eyes at the hedgehog.

        “I’m not lying—”

        “We have countless witness accounts of you attacking those guards!”

        “But—”

        “We have physical proof of your role in that earth pony’s demise!”

        “I—”

        “Do you honestly expect that we would believe your lies?!”

        “I am not lying!” he snapped.

        “Luna,” Celestia called, “let him speak.”

        The moon princess glared at her sister, but conceded. She maintained her cold gaze towards the hedgehog.

        “Please! Let me explain!” Sonic pleaded. “I just woke up not minutes ago in some random forest! I had just fallen through a white rift—”

        Celestia started. “What? You were involved with that?”

        Sonic gulped. “Well, not exactly.” He quickly explained how he and his friends had been fighting Doctor Robotnik, and how a mechanical malfunction occurred. “It must have sent us here!”

        “I see… do you know about the massive energy everypony felt when those rifts opened up?”

        “Energy?” Sonic thought about it for a few moments, before answering, “You must be talking about the Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik was using them to power his machine.”

        “Just how powerful are these ‘Chaos Emeralds?’” Luna asked.

        Sonic briefly described the extent of the Emeralds power. He didn’t go into too many details, as he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and regroup with the others.

        “Please, you have to let me go! I have to find my friends!”

        “And why should we let you go?” Luna asked. “So you fell from the sky. That still doesn’t explain why you murdered those three ponies!”

        “Again, I didn’t murder anybody!” Seeing how Luna wasn’t buying it, he tried to formulate an excuse. “Look! If my friends and I fell through that rift, that means Robotnik did too! And you are all in grave danger!”

        “A likely story!” Luna scoffed. “Your friends couldn’t manage to stop him, yet we only needed four pegasi to stop you!”

        Sonic couldn’t help but agree with that. Nevertheless, he tried once more: “That doesn’t matter! I don’t know what you guys have faced in the past, but you’ve never faced someone like the Doctor!”

        “Enough!” Celestia ordered, making the two fall silent. “Sonic… your concerns are noted. Rest assured, however, that Equestria will be fine against the Doctor.”

        “But—”

        “You are still under suspicion for the murder of three ponies, however. And, so far, you have done little to provide counter-evidence of your involvement.”

Haven’t you heard a word I’ve been saying? Sonic wanted to shout, but he kept his mouth shut.

        “We will deal with this Robotnik matter sometime else. In the meantime, you will be sentenced to the dungeon indefinitely.”

        Sonic’s quills drooped as he took this news in. Even Luna was shocked at her sister’s choice. .Celestia noticed Sonic’s look and shook her head. “I am sorry; but this is my decision. Guards!” she called, two of them rushing in. “Take Sonic to one of the prison cells below.” They nodded and quickly removed the hedgehog from the premises.

        Once they were gone, Luna turned to her sister. “Celestia! Have you gone mad? We should have sent that creature to the sun!”

        Celestia shook her head. “Perhaps… but, he has said he was involved with that white flash earlier. I would like to investigate the matter further.”

        Luna sighed, but protested no further. “I hope you’re right in this, Tia.”

        “Me too, Lulu.”

***

J

        “Argh…” I groaned, eyes closed. “Son of a—” I gasped as pain suddenly rocketed up the back of my head. It was enough to make me curse, but I managed to bite my tongue. The pain slowly died away, and I gradually opened my eyes.

        A wooden ceiling greeted me, and I noticed that I was in a comfy bed. I checked my jean pockets, and was relieved when I felt the Tetraforce charm and Lantern Ring safely tucked inside.

I noticed that my jacket had been removed. I glanced around, seeing another bed next to me. I saw a familiar form covered by a blanket. I shuffled out of my bed and gently shook the form.

“Mmm… hmm?” Tails murmured from beneath. He blinked twice, before looking up at me. “Jared!”

I nodded. “Glad to see you’re awake.”

He got out of bed, glancing around at our surroundings. “Ugh… where are we? Last thing I remember was falling through that portal…”

“Yeah, about that,” I said, rubbing the back of my head and grinning sheepishly. “I’m… sorry that happened.”

Tails smiled at me. “It’s alright, Jared. It’s not entirely your fault.” I smiled a bit at that, but still felt immensely guilty.

“To answer your first question,” I said, “I think we’re in some cottage of some sort.” I shook my head. “Though I don’t remember ever walking in here.”

“That must mean we were brought here by someone,” concluded Tails. “But by who?”

I walked over to a nearby window, peering outside. Directly in front, I could see a small town, with several roads branching out in the four cardinal directions. I presumed that they would lead to other places.

“And why are we in someplace secluded?” I wondered aloud. “Shouldn’t we be in town or something?”

Tails shrugged. “Maybe this was the closest place a person could get to.”

“That’s a possibility.” I glanced to the side of the window, seeing the edge of a forest. “If that’s the case, then perhaps we had fallen into the forest over there.” I shook my head, feeling the remnants of the fall. “But that still doesn’t make any sense. Why here? We should be in a hospital.” I shivered. “Or, if this place like my universe, in a governmental facility.”

“Maybe they thought we would be better off staying here instead of the town.” Tails placed a hand on my shoulder. “No offense, Jared, but I’m pretty sure that your universe is among the ones that does that whole ‘lock them up’ stuff.”

I sighed. “I would hope that it is the only one…” My eyes flicked back to Tails face, where I saw concern in his eyes. Something occurred to me. “Where are the others?” I asked.

“The others?” He blinked, before continuing, “Oh, our friends? I’m not sure.”

I pressed a finger to the communication device in my ear. “Hello? Anybody read?”

All I could hear was static. Tails tried to do the same thing, coming up with the same result.

“Couldn’t you send out a telepathic message?” Tails asked.

I shook my head. “I have to be able to know exactly where everyone is in order to that. And that takes a lot of concentration.”

We looked down, lost in our thoughts. “What do you think, Nix?” I asked after a moment.

Silence.

“Nix?”

Again, I heard nothing from my hedgehog companion.

Panic rose up in my throat. “Nix? C’mon, talk to me.” I closed my eyes. I know you’re there… right?

I couldn’t feel his presence, nor hear any semblance of his voice. “Oh, no,” I groaned. “Don’t tell me that portal somehow messed up my connection to him!”

Tails, meanwhile, had taken off his communicator and was inspecting it. It didn’t seem to be physically damaged. “It looks like the devices have been damaged internally,” he noted.

“Any chance you can get them fixed?”

“If I had some tools, perhaps. But, as you can see, I don’t exactly carry wrenches around with me.”

I sighed. “Great. So we’ve landed in some random place, had our communications ruined, I lost my connection to Nix, and we have no idea where the others are. How could this possibly get worse?”

“Sonic could be mistaken for Shadow again.”

I gave him a flat look. “Don’t even joke like that.”

Tails walked up to the window, looking outside. “Do you… you know—”

“Recognize this universe?” I finished. “Oddly enough, no.” I gestured outside. “But it looks… familiar. I’m not sure why. Maybe if we explore a bit, I’ll remember.” He nodded in understanding.

I glanced at the doorway, and saw that my blue leather jacket hung on it. I grabbed it, making sure that the Grapple Gun and the spare batarangs were alright, before putting it on. “I guess we’d better see whoever took us here, huh?” I suggested. Tails nodded in agreement.

We didn’t even get out of the house before we were met with something peculiar.

It was a horse creature, though smaller than normal. It had a butter-yellow coat to it, with a pink mane and bright. blue eyes. A pair of wings sat on its sides. It had what appeared to be a trio of butterflies on its flank. It eyed us in shock, mouth open, and was carrying a tea set in its hoof.

I didn’t bother questioning the latter detail; I was so used to finding weird creatures in my adventures that it was nearly a given.

“Um… hello!” I said, trying for a reassuring smile. “Could… could you show us to your owner, please? We’d like to speak to them.”

The horse creature said nothing, mouth still gaping. I sighed. “I don’t know what I expected; for it to talk?” I facepalmed. “It’s a horse… of course it wouldn’t.”

“Actually, I’m a pony,” the “pony” said in a feminine voice, before squeaking and placing a hoof on her mouth.

I stared at her for a few seconds, both Tails’ and my mouth open in shock. “Y-y-you can talk?!” Tails stammered.

“Y-y-you can, too?!” the pony stammered back.

I was busy mentally facepalming. What exactly did I expect? It was only a matter of time before I found a talking equine.

The pony’s eyes suddenly rolled back, and she fell back, dropping the tea set. “And… she’s out. Great,” I muttered.

***

“I’m sorry!” I apologized to the pony. “I didn’t mean any offense when I asked for your owner!”

“I-it’s okay,” the pony said. We had managed to revive her a few moments later, and through considerable effort, managed to get her to talk to us as calmly as she could. “I wasn’t hurt or anything.” We had already cleaned up her mess, and were sitting comfortably in the living room.

“Um… if you don’t mind me asking,” the pony implored, “… who are you two?”

“I’m Tails!” Tails said, smiling brightly.

“I’m Jared Berberabe,” I said, slightly grinning. “You can just call me Jared.”

“Those are nice names,” she said quietly. “But… I’m sorry… what exactly are you?”

“Hm? Oh, I’m a fox,” Tails said.

“I’m human,” I answered, tilting my head. “I take it you’ve never seen one of my kind before?”

She shook her head. “Um… no…”

Tails smiled kindly at the pony. “So what’s your name?”

“Um… I’m…” She mumbled something incoherent.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Tails asked.

Before the pony could answer, I did so for her. “Her name is Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Huh? Y-you could hear me?”

I nodded, grinning. “But,” she continued, “how?”

“Let’s just say I can do things like that,” I answered, refraining from going into too much detail about myself. “Anyway, I presume you are the one that found us in the forest?”

“Y-yeah. How’d you know you came from the forest?”

“For one thing, my jacket has a few traces of green on it, most likely a result from foliage. Tails here has a few shrubs in his fur.” Tails glanced down at himself, before rubbing away the shrubs. “Also, as this is the closest place to the forest, I would assume that anyone who found us in there would send us here, for want of efficiency.”

“That’s… that’s really smart!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “How’d you know all that?”

“Eh heh heh,” I chuckled. “Like I said, I’m known for doing things like that.”

“But… how’d you both end up in the forest?”

Tails began telling her how we had gotten here, starting with how we had attacked Doctor Robotnik’s base. He went into great detail talking about the white portal. Fluttershy’s eyes widened even further when he had finished.

“Y-you mean, you were involved with that white rift?” she asked.

Tails nodded. “Yes. Have you seen any of our friends around?”

“I-I don’t think so. I only found you two. Please don’t be mad!” she added quickly.

I gave her a confused look. “It’s alright, Fluttershy, we’re not mad.”

“Are you sure? We were fighting with a red echidna, a pink female hedgehog?” Tails asked. Fluttershy shook her head at those descriptions. “What about a black hedgehog?” Again, she shook her head. “A blue hedgehog?”

She suddenly gasped, flying into the air quickly. “W-w-what about him?” she shrieked.

“He’s our friend!” I tried to reassure her, but to no avail.

“F-friend? Why would you be a friend to somepony as mean and evil as he is?”

“What are you talking about, Fluttershy?” Tails asked, worried. “Sonic wouldn’t do something bad!”

“H-here!” She flew over to a table, coming back with a newspaper in her hooves. She handed it to Tails. “R-read the front article!”

Tails began reading. “Three ponies attacked and killed… suspect caught… blue hedgehog?” He looked back up at Fluttershy. “You mean they think that Sonic murdered those three ponies?”

“Well,” Fluttershy said quietly, “he’s the prime suspect. So far, there hasn’t been any other evidence that anypony else was involved.”

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“P-probably in a Canterlot dungeon.”

I walked up to a window. “And which way is that?”

“It’s to the north of Ponyville.” Noticing my questioning look, she added, “The town directly in front of us.”

I nodded, before walking over to the door. I pushed it open, and sunlight blared in my vision, making me squint.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked.

“They’ve got the wrong guy,” I answered.

“B-but the evidence… and the witness accounts…”

“I know Sonic. I’ve known him for five years. And I know he would never harm an innocent’s life.” I glanced at Tails. “Coming?”

He nodded, and walked out with me.

“Wait!”

We turned, seeing Fluttershy fly out behind us. She looked away briefly, before looking at us, determination in her eyes. “I… I’d like to go, too.”

“Really?” Tails asked.

She nodded. “If you say that Sonic’s your friend… then he must be a good person.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“Because… I think you two are good people. And you would never be friends with a bad person.”

I smiled. They’re friends with Shadow and me, though. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Oh!” she gasped. “I forgot you two can’t fly.”

“Er, actually,” Tails said. He began whirling his twin namesakes, gently flying into the air.

Fluttershy gaped in shock, unable to believe that this fox was able to fly.

Tails flew over and reached his arms down. Taking the cue, I reached up, allowing him to grab my wrists. “You okay, Tails?”

“Yep!” he answered. “C’mon! We’ve got a friend to save!”

***

“That stupid Guardian and his antics!” Robotnik growled at the monitor. “It’s lucky that my base managed to survive the pull between dimensions! How fortunate that we managed to land somewhere secluded, away from everybody else!”

A robot rolled up to him. “Sir, here is the report you requested on this land.”

“Excellent! Let’s hear it.”

The robot yammered off statistics, ranging from oxygen levels to potential profit from mining minerals. What Robotnik was more interested in, however, was the level of technology this world had.

“Observations suggest they have yet to create anything advance,” the robot droned. “They have steampunk era technology, nothing more. They appear to use medieval weapons over advanced arms.”

“I see,” the doctor murmured, rubbing his chin.

“However, our sensors indicate that there is a large amount of energy present at a specific location. Specifically, a city built into the side of a mountain.” The robot pulled out a chart, showing it to the doctor. The readings indicated a mass influx of energy all together, but suggested that individually, the power was miniscule. Much like the emeralds, Robotnik noted.

“What kind of power are we dealing with here?” he asked.

“We require further analysis to decide that,” the robot replied. “However, our reports suggest that this power is about as powerful as the emeralds.”

“I see.” Robotnik looked down at the robot. “Repair all of our troops. Swatbots, Egg-Robos, anything that can be salvaged. We’ll be paying that city a visit later on; they have something I want.”

“Yes, Doctor.” The robot wheeled off.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Doc?” Orbot asked him. “I mean, Sonic and the others are still here.”

“Don’t worry,” he replied. “I’m prepared this time.” He turned away, facing the monitors once again. He drummed his fingers together, smiling evilly.