My Little Princess
"Now you see, the piano is superior to the harpsichord in a number of distinct ways. The piano has the ability to cover seven octaves rather than five…"
Please kill me.
"…not to mention that it can sustain its sound longer. Crescendos, diminuendos-"
Kill me now.
"Yeah, but you get a completely different sound from the piano, given how the strings are plucked rather than hammered. That, and the harpsichord is far more refined."
Says the person who hasn't played a harpsichord in years.
"Well, refinement is just a matter of taste darling. I mean, I know I have excellent taste in it but-"
"Excellent? Oh please."
And here we go, Sonic thought, watching the argument begin – a proper argument, not some academic discussion about instruments. This mission is over.
He'd never expected this, the hedgehog thought as he lurked in the air duct, watching his sister (disguised as a human) argue with a human (who'd been a pony in another dimension) who was a member of a species where only one of them had existed back on Mobius as far as he was aware, and given the different colorations, probably came from a fourth dimension come to think of it. When the Sonic Underground had been sent to bring Sleet and Dingo to justice after Robotnik fell, he'd expected the mission done within a week. He hadn't expected to enter a land called Equestria to find them. He hadn't expected to encounter everything from ponies to hydras before learning that they'd jumped dimensions again. He hadn't expected to have to contact Cyrus to devise holographic devices that would disguise him and his siblings in the human world, since unlike the denizens of Equestria, their forms didn't change by themselves when crossing the boundaries between worlds. He hadn't expected duplicates of those ponies to be found so soon, and for his sister to once again through the motions of "civilized debate."
"Argh! I've just had it with you Neanderthal!"
"And I've had it with someone who thinks the pinnacle of sophistication is hammering their fingers on the keys instead of actually playing an instrument!"
And Equestria…Sonic shook his head. Right now, Equestria was looking like a world he wouldn't mind going back to. If only because he didn't have to disguise himself. If only because by extension of that, he wasn't pretending to be a pony (not that he had anything against ponies, but at least Mobians were more than just one species). At least there he'd managed to have some fun racing Rainbow Dash.
"Alright then, play the piano!" Sonia yelled.
Sonic groaned. Sleet and Dingo were somewhere on campus, and it was clear by now that they weren't hiding in the music room. He'd gone into the air ducts as a way of getting info in his own manner, not to mention that he was tired of just walking around, trying to figure what Sleet and Dingo would look like. Because Dingo at least could be disguised as anything, and Sleet…he rubbed his eyes. Sleet could easily procure the same technology Cyrus had. The holograms took an existing form and built itself around it. So while his sister Sonia still had her usual attire, hair colour and style, her fur was skin, and her form a bit taller.
"Very well," his sister's new rival said…Rarity, Sonic recalled, assuming names remained true for alternate selves. "Für Elise, by Beethoven." She wriggled her wrists, and flexed her boots, likely ready to use the piano's pedals. "Let's see your precious harpsichord do this."
Sonic watched on. The name of the piece or its composer meant nothing to him, but as the girl began to play, he could tell that for all her talk of the piano being the superior instrument, she was good enough to present a case as to why it was the superior instrument.
Not bad, he admitted to himself. He fingered his medallion – he really should get going. He didn't know how long this piece would last, and even after it ended, he knew Sonia well enough to realize that she'd want to play her own piece. Heck, maybe even get out her own keyboard.
"Now the full name of this piece is actually Bagatelle Number Twenty-Five in A minor," the girl said, flicking back her neck and letting her hair dangle. "The exact date of its composition is-"
Sonic started moving. This mission would end today, he told himself. Either Sleet and Dingo were on campus or they weren't. And-
What the?
There was a rabbit. Right before him. A white rabbit on the edge of the duct's grill. A rabbit that he could swear was grinning at him.
"Shoo," he whispered.
The rabbit sat there. Staring at him. His black eyes piercing his very soul.
Let's not get melodramatic.
"Shoo," Sonic whispered again.
The rabbit still smiled…yes, he really was smiling, the hedgehog reflected. He'd heard someone call out for "my rabbit" and "Angel," in one of the corridors. He could only guess now that this was indeed the rabbit, and "Angel" was on its way to becoming the biggest misnomer in the history of the multiverse.
The rabbit began thumping its paw. And Sonic's eyes widened.
"Don't you dare," he whispered. "Don't you-"
The rabbit thumped its foot. The grill came down. And Sonic with it.
"Dareee!"
And he landed. On the piano. With a thud. To his right was Rarity, who screamed. To his left was Sonia who let out an expletive. And all around him light flickered as the hologram device gave out because of the force of the impact.
He, Sonic the Hedgehog, stood revealed. With two other girls whose mouths were hanging out so much they could probably have shovelled food in them as fast as Robotnik had.
"Sonic…" Sonia began, "what are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" he asked. "I'm looking for Sleet and Dingo. I'm completing the mission. You want to know what I'm not doing?" He felt a vein throbbing in his forehead. "Debating music!"
"You," Rarity began. "You…"
"Yes, I'm a hedgehog," Sonic said. "And before you scream, I'd like to point out that I know a bit of what's been going on here thanks to Twilight. And that at the least, you're familiar with she-demons, rainbows of death, anthropomorphic forms, sirens, inter-dimensional portals, and a talking purple dog who's actually a dragon. So before the screaming begins, ask yourself – is a talking hedgehog really out of the ordinary?"
It was a rhetorical question, and even if he avoided the screams, he was still dealing with a school environment. He'd never gone to school. None of the Sonic Underground had. But he knew enough about it to appreciate that no secret remained a secret for long.
"I'm a hedgehog too," Sonia said, deactivating her own cloaking device. "And before you ask, this is my brother. My annoying, impetuous, idiotic brother." She sighed. "His name's Sonic by the way."
Sonic made a mental note to tell his story to Manic as soon as possible. It was important that he not be fed any of Sonia's take on the events before he got his brother's. But first he still had to deal with the person who'd been playing the piano a few seconds ago. The person whose reaction would dictate how everything turned out from this point on.
"You've got something on your face," Rarity said suddenly. She drew out a handkerchief. "Here, let me help."
Sonic let out a sigh of relief. Maybe this wasn't a disaster. Maybe inter-dimensional portals and anthropomorphic animals weren't that far from left field.
"There," she said. "That's better."
"Thanks," Sonic said. He looked at Sonia. "Oh, and by the way – the piano really is better. Just sayin'."
"Shut up."
A/N
Like most oneshot crossovers I do this was based on the premise of "take a similarity and run with it." So in this case, iit was Sonia and human Rarity both being part of a band, both playing a keyboard/keytar as well as being able to play the piano, and both being the fashion concious member of said bands. So, er, go figure.
