Chapter 1: Hedgehogs In Ponyville
It was a warm and sunny day in Equestria. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were gathered at the Ponyville train station waving goodbye to Rarity who had just got on the train to Manehattan.
"Goodbye, everypony. Wish me luck!" Rarity said, leaning out of the train window and waving back to her friends.
Once the train was out of sight, Spike hopped on Twilight's back and she spread her wings. Twilight hugged her friends goodbye and started to ascend with Spike.
"Ready Spike?" Twilight asked.
"Ready Twilight." Spike replied with a thumbs up.
"Then hold tight. Canterlot, here we come!"
Twilight and Spike took to the sky and they began their journey to Canterlot.
"See you later, girls!" Twilight yelled to her friends from the sky.
"Don't have too much fun without us!" Spike said while waving goodbye.
Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash all waved goodbye until Twilight and Spike disappeared over the horizon. Pinkie Pie began to tear up once she could no longer clearly see Twilight in the sky.
"Cheer up Pinkie." Said Applejack. Giving Pinkie Pie a comforting hug. "It's not like we're never gunna see them again."
"But they're going to be gone for SO long!" Pinkie cried out. Tears flowing like waterfalls out of her eyes.
"... You mean only three days?" Rainbow Dash said in a confused tone with a cocked eyebrow.
It felt like it had only been a few hours since Rarity, Twilight, and Spike had left for Manehattan and Canterlot. Two days had already past and Twilight's friends were doing their usual shtick. Except for Pinkie Pie, who hadn't stopped crying since Twilight left. Applejack was keeping herself busy at Sweet Apple Acres, bucking apples, and Fluttershy was at her cottage having another one of her tea parties with Discord.
"-and then the unicorn said to the sheep, "That's not a rock, that's a parasprite." Discord finished telling his favourite joke to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy burst into a fit a laughter. She managed to control her laughter and took a sip of her tea. Fluttershy picked up a plate of snacks and held it up to Discord.
"Care for another cucumber sandwich, Discord?" Asked Fluttershy.
"Don't mind if I do, Fluttershy, my dear." Discord grabbed one of the sandwiches and took a bite. "Delicious as always. Say, Fluttershy, did I ever tell you the joke about the changeling who... Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy was looking out her window. Her eyes wide open, and her mouth agape. Discord looked out the window too and was equally shocked by what he saw. A strange portal, flashing many different colours with sparks jolting out of it was hovering in the sky above the Everfree Forest. Discord felt a strong jolt of energy run up his spine, which sent a wave of pain threw his head, and caused him to wiggle and shake very violently. The energy was so strong it caused Discord to fall to the floor.
"SWEET CELESTIA ON HER THRONE!" Discord said as the shaking had started to settle.
"Discord, what's wrong?" Asked Fluttershy, looking back and forth between Discord and the portal.
"There is an unbelievable amount of chaos energy coming from that portal." Discord said, struggling to stand as he was still recovering from the pain. "I have not felt any sort of energy THAT powerful since the other princesses gave all of their magic to Twilight."
"Discord, look!" Fluttershy pointed at the portal.
The portal was getting smaller and smaller, but just before it disappeared, a strange blue creature dropped out of the portal and fell into the Everfree Forest. The creature was screaming as it was falling, but went silent when it collided with the trees.
"Was that a pony that fell out of that portal?" Fluttershy said with a concerned tone in her voice.
"I'm not sure." Discord said, still looking at the sky in case the Portal came back. "What in Equestria was that portal?"
"Maybe we should go into the Everfree Forest and make sure that creature is okay." Said Fluttershy
Discord broke his stare from the sky and shot his attention to Fluttershy as she started walking towards the door. Discord snapped his fingers and a steel gate dropped in front of the door.
"Are you quite sure Fluttershy?" Discord asked with a worried tone. "I'm aware that helping animals is your forte, but we don't know what that creature is. And not to mention, it came through a portal made out of pure chaos!"
"But, Discord it could be hurt really badly. Besides, why should I be scared when I've got the LORD of chaos to keep me company in case something goes wrong?"
Discord blushed at Fluttershy's compliment.
"Oh, alright. Let's go rescue that... whatever that creature is."
Discord snapped his fingers and in a flash of light, Fluttershy and Discord were in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy and Discord stayed close to each other as they searched the general area Discord had teleported them both to. Scanning their eyes around the dark forest for a few minutes, they had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. Unsure if he had warped them to the correct spot in the forest, Discord raised his paw ready to snap his fingers again when suddenly.
"Discord, wait!"
Fluttershy spotted what looked to be a red shoe poking out of a bush. Discord snapped his fingers to make the bush disappear so they could get a good look at the blue creature. The creature appeared to be a bipedal animal with big spikes protruding from its head and back. It was wearing big white gloves and bright red shoes. The creature was unconscious with bruises, scratches, and scuff marks all over its body, and was covered with twigs and leafs from the branches it collided with during the fall. Fluttershy used her right wing to brush the twigs off the blue creature.
"Oh dear. You poor thing." Fluttershy said, gently stroking the creatures head with her other wing.
"What is this creature supposed to be?" Discord asked "A Tartarus rat?"
"I'm not sure." Fluttershy said while using her wings to brush as much foliage off the blue creature as she could. "I've never seen a creature quite like this before."
"Get... get..." The creature started to speak with a very tired, and feeble tone in its voice. "Get back... here, Doctor."
The creature's voice trailed off into quiet incoherent mumbles. Fluttershy moved her ear closer to the creatures mouth to try and hear what it was saying, but unfortunately all she could hear was very faint moans. Fluttershy turned to Discord with a confused look on her face.
"Doctor?" Discord questioned out loud while stroking his beard in contemplation.
Fluttershy turned her attention back to the blue creature. She began to use her wings to lift the creature and place it on her back.
"Come on, Discord. Let's get this poor animal inside my cottage."
Discord raised his craw to snap his fingers to teleport himself and Fluttershy back with the creature. But before snapping his fingers he glared up at the sky, thinking to himself.
"What was that portal?"
Fluttershy had set up a makeshift bed on her couch for the creature to rest on. Fluttershy was gently dabbing a damp cloth on the blue creature's forehead. Fluttershy left the cloth on the creatures head, pulled out her stethoscope and placed it on the creature's chest.
"Oh my goodness. Its heartbeat is so fast."
Fluttershy removed the stethoscope and pulled a blanket over the creature.
"I still can't figure out what this creature is. Any ideas, Discord?"
Fluttershy asked Discord, who was sitting at the window, starring at the spot in the sky where the portal had appeared, stroking his goatee while pondering to himself.
"Discord, what's wrong?"
Fluttershy walked over to Discord and placed a comforting hoof on his back. Discord paused for a moment but continued to stare out the window. He began to speak, but did not break his attention from the sky.
"It was so immensely powerful that it caused me to lose control of my own body. I couldn't think clearly. How could such a small portal be generating that much chaos energy?" Discord asked with a frustrated tone in his voice.
"It's called chaos control." A voice came from behind them.
Discord and Fluttershy slowly turned their attention to who the voice came from. The creature was sitting up on the couch, clutching its head in pain.
"Chaos control?" Discord asked.
"Oh, you're awake." Fluttershy said, walking over to the creature.
Fluttershy picked the damp cloth back up and handed it to the creature, who proceeded to dab the cloth around its own forehead. The creature gave a thankful nod and smirk to Fluttershy, and gave the cloth back to her. Fluttershy then placed the cloth back on the stool. The creature threw off the blanket, stood up and began doing some stretches as if it was about to run a marathon.
"Well, I appreciate the hospitality, but I gotta run." The creature said to Fluttershy, swinging its arms back, getting ready to run off.
Discord snapped his fingers and the section of the floor that the creature was standing on turned into soap. The creature then began to run in place at an insane speed to the point that its legs became nothing but a blue and red blur. The creature stopped and starred at Discord.
"How the heck did you do that?" The creature asked Discord.
"If you don't mind, we'll ask the questions here." Discord said to the creature in a threatening tone.
With another snap of Discord's fingers the creature was lifted upside down into the air, wrapped in chains. Discord walked over to meet the creature face to face.
"Where did you come from? Why was that portal made out of chaos energy? What in the name of Tartarus is chaos control?"
"Discord!" Fluttershy said in a very stern tone. "Put him down and get rid of those chains!"
Discord begrudgingly stepped away from the creature and snapped his fingers. He placed the creature on the couch and the chains vanished. Fluttershy gave Discord an angry look as she walked over to the creature.
"I'm very sorry about that. He's very protective of his friends. Why don't we start from the beginning. My name is Fluttershy and this is Discord. What's your name?"
Fluttershy held her hoof out to shake the creature's hand. The creature stood back up, brushed himself off, reached his hand out and returned the shake.
"I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Hedgehog?" Asked Fluttershy in a very confused manner.
It was very quiet at Sweet Apple Acres today. Applebloom was at school while the rest of the Apple family were at home doing their chores. Applejack was out in the fields bucking apples to make some tasty cider for Twilight, Spike, and Rarity when they return. In the middle of bucking the trees, Applejack stopped when she heard a strange noise. She looked up and saw a portal flashing many different colours.
"What in tarnation?" Applejack yelled out, looking at the portal.
Applejack jumped out of the way when she noticed something falling from the portal and was heading straight for her. As the object got closer to the ground, Applejack realised that it was some sort of black, spiky creature. The creature landed on the ground in a knelt position, then stood up. Applejack was confused, concerned and intrigued. What was this creature? And where did it come from? And more importantly, was it friendly?
"Who are you? What are you doing on my farm?" Applejack asked the creature.
The black creature turned to Applejack and looked at her with a very stern look on its face. It turned its body all the way around to face Applejack and spoke.
"Where the hell am I?" Said the creature, folding its arms.
"... You're at Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack replied hesitantly.
The black creature scanned its eyes around and saw nothing, but apple trees, surrounding them as far as the eye could see. The creature looked at Applejack again as he reached behind his back and pulled out a handgun.
"Where is Dr. Eggman?" Asked the creature.
"Doctor... what?"
Chapter 2: Pink Skies In Manehatten
It was the final night of DJ Pon-3 (aka Vinyl Scratch) and Octavia Melody's collaboration tour. The entire Manehatten concert arena was completely packed with ponies and creatures from all over Equestria. Rarity was in the left stage wing, admiring the wonderful outfits she made for DJ Pon-3, Octavia, and the dancers.
"Well, I do believe I has really outdone myself this time." Rarity merrily stated aloud to herself.
Octavia and DJ Pon-3 finished the final song of the night as the audience erupted with a thunderous applause. DJ Pon-3 and Octavia walked to the front of the stage, took a bow and left. Octavia exited to the left of the stage to walk with Rarity to the greenroom.
"Bravo, Miss Melody!" Rarity said with a little skip in her step. "You and Miss Scratch were amazing as always."
Octavia grabbed a fresh towel and placed it over her own neck, then turned Rarity with a very exhausted smile on her face.
"Rarity please, just call me Octavia. Besides, myself, Vinyl, as well as all of our wonderful dancers should be the ones praising you. Those outfits that you designed were absolutely stunning, my dear."
Rarity and Octavia entered the greenroom where Vinyl was asleep on the couch. Octavia walked over to Vinyl and gently stroked her mane.
"Poor Vinyl." Octavia said softly. "This tour has been so stressful for all of us, but Vinyl has been struggling so much. It's not easy being on a long tour with such a high production value when you never talk" Octavia placed a gently kiss on Vinyl's forehead, then pulled a blanket over her. "I can not possibly thank you enough for all your hard work, Rarity."
"It was a true pleasure, darling." Said Rarity. "And, of course visiting Manehatten is always wonderful." Rarity and Octavia let out a little laugh. "Now you two get some rest, and enjoy your time off."
Rarity and Octavia shared a hug, waved goodbye and Rarity exited the venue.
It was early hours of the morning as Rarity walked back to the hotel she was staying at. She had a nice slow walk back as for the first time in Celestia knows how long, it was a quiet night in Manhatten. Looking up at the beautiful night sky, she let out a long, relaxing sigh.
"Well... looks like I have a day all to myself."
It was an unusually quiet day in Manehatten. Rarity was relaxing in her room at the High Hoarse Hotel, laying on the bed wearing a crimson dressing gown and reading the latest instalment of The Adventures of Shadow Spade. Rarity finished the chapter she was on, placed a bookmark in between the pages and set the novel on the bedside table. Rarity hopped off the bed and walked to the bathroom. Using her magic, she removed her dressing gown and turned on the shower. Rarity raised her left front hoof to step into the shower, when she suddenly heard somepony screaming outside.
"What in Equestria is that?!" Another pony questioned.
Rarity turned off the shower and ran to the hotel room window. She looked up and saw something pink falling from the sky.
"Pinkie Pie?"
Rarity was very confused. What was Pinkie Pie doing in Manehatten? And why was she falling from the sky? As fast as she could, Rarity ran out of her hotel room, down the stairs, through the lobby, and on to the sidewalk. Rarity's horn started to glow as she used her magic to catch Pinkie Pie just before she hit the ground. Rarity placed her friend gently on the sidewalk.
"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here? And how did... you..."
Rarity's voice trailed off when she realized it was not Pinkie Pie. It was a pink creature with what appeared to be dreadlocks, and wearing a red dress. The creature stood up and gave Rarity a hug so big that it knocked the wind out of her lungs.
"Thank you so so so much for saving me." Said the pink creature. "That was a close one. I thought I was a goner."
"You're quite welcome, dear." Rarity said, struggling to breath from the creatures hug. "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but I think you're crushing my ribs."
"Oh!" The creature said, letting go of Rarity allowing her to get her breath back. "Sorry about that. Where are my manners? I'm Amy Rose. It's nice to meet you."
Amy held her hand out for a handshake. Once Rarity got her breath back she straightened herself out and accepted the shake.
"Charmed, darling. My name is Rarity."
Rarity began walking around Amy. Eyeing her up and down, very confused.
"Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking Miss Rose, but... what are you?"
Amy was a little taken aback by Rarity's question. Amy could tell that these creatures were ponies, so how come Rarity could not tell what Amy is? Then again, Amy did look different from most hedgehogs. Or maybe these ponies had never seen a hedgehog. In fact, Amy had never seen ponies quite like these.
"Well, I'm a hedgehog."
"A hedgehog?" Rarity was now more confused than before. "I don't think I've ever seen a hedgehog quite like you before. But maybe Fluttershy has. Where are you from, dear?"
"I live in Station Square. Wait a second!"
Amy's eyes suddenly widened and she started frantically shooting her head in all directions.
"Are you quite alright, Amy?" Asked Rarity.
Amy looked back at Rarity with a panicked look on her face. Amy grabbed Rarity by the shoulders and pulled until they were both face to face, noses touching.
"Where am I? Where's Dr. Eggman? Where's my darling, Sonic?" Amy cried out in Rarity's face.
"Amy, please let go of me." Rarity said looking around at all the other ponies staring at her and Amy.
Amy let go of Rarity and straightened herself out. She let out a long sigh to calm down.
"Sorry about that, Rarity." Amy softly said, trying to hold back tears.
Rarity stepped forward and placed a comforting hoof on Amy's shoulder.
"Come with me, Amy. Why don't we talk over food and drink?"
Rarity and Amy headed up to Rarity's room. Amy sat on the end of the bed as Rarity gave her a glass and filled it with wine. Rarity then hovered a plate with caviar and crackers over to Amy. Amy took one of the crackers off of the plate and let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Rarity. You're so generous."
Rarity took a seat on one of the chairs in the room.
"Well, generosity is my element, darling." Rarity proudly stated with a hoof on her chest.
"Element?" Amy mumbled with a mouth full of crackers and caviar.
Rainbow Dash was relaxing on a cloud hovering above Ponyville. All was quiet in the skies and throughout the village. Until Rainbow heard Fluttershy, Discord and a third voice she did not recognise making conversation on the ground. Rainbow stood up, looked down and was confused when she saw Fluttershy and Discord walking around Ponyville with Sonic.
"What in Equestria is that?" Rainbow Dash asked aloud. "It looks... awesome!"
