More To Me Than That
Chapter 2: Challenges of Friendship
As Sonic and Rainbow continued their daily "race," another familiar group of friends
went into the same milkshake place Sonic was at just a
few minutes ago. Tails (the nerdy two-tailed fox I told you about earlier) and Twilight (the
lavender nerdy pony I also told you about earlier) strode arm-in-arm inside the milkshake
shop. The interior was a rather bright shade of pink alternating with white-and-red
stripes. There was a large booth whose smells of luscious candies and other confections
seemed to illuminate everything in the shop with its invigorating smell. The plush and
comfortable booths that lined the side of the shop were all next to a giant window giving
the customer an easy-eyed view of the town while they chilled and enjoyed their snacks. A jukebox which played various music from all over
Equestria in different times
and small round chairs scattered around the place finished ones impression of this kid's version of a '60's ice-cream parlor.
The two continued their conversation as a beach-tan colored pony in a candy-cane
colored apron appeared at the booth. Twilight looked at the pony and asked, "Excuse me,
but is Pinkie working here today?" The tan pony politely responded, "No, but she'll be
here in a few minutes. Want me to let her know that you two are looking for her?" Twilight
smiled and responded, "Sure, that would be great." A good few minutes went by since
Twilight and Tails ordered their ice-cream and drinks when Twilight broke her view from
the window (where she was trying to see if she could find Pinkie) and
quickly turned to Tails. "Oh Tails, I have something for you." Tails took a break from his
hot-fudge sundae and looked over to Twilight who shoved him a present across the table.
The package was wrapped eloquently in sparkling purple paper and laced with a lilac
colored ribbon. Tails looked curiously at the present; then back at Twilight's face, whose
expression told him that she was eager for him to open the present. Then he looked
quickly back down at the present and opened it.
What Tails found inside was a shiny crystal necklace whose glamour would have almost
surpassed the Elements of Harmony in such beauty. Almost.
Tails then looked back at Twilight, who smiled and said, "Call it a token of our
friendship."
Tails smiled back and said, somewhat-jokingly and somewhat-curiously "Is it because
you're the Ambassador of Friendship or is it because you're Twilight Sparkle?" Twilight
briefly laughed at the statement, then said, "Both; but mostly because I'm Twilight
Sparkle." Right after she said that, the small brass bell which hung above the big wooden
door rang indicating that someone opened it.
Well, for this case, it was more thrown open than opened. A black-and-red hedgehog
entered with an edgy smirk on his face. This hedgehog (unlike Sonic) possessed a very
edgy and dark demeanor, whose sharp red eyes and black pupils demanded outright
respect and authority.
Shadow wasn't a villain, he wasn't exactly the "friendliest" guy around. He was loyal to
those he trusted, but that trust would needed tohave been earned; and it did not come
easy. Emotional? Try getting the rocks to cry out. Weak? Oh,
let's just say that he's the ultimate life form. And for good reason. Even if he didn't have
the teleportation and chaos abilities that made him especially threatening, his physical
strength was rivaled by very few and the training he received from when he was a G.U.N.
(Guardian Units of Nations) agent made him a formidable face for anyone to be around.
Dumb? Well, although a dumb person can hold a lot of power, Shadow was anything but.
To sum it up in a nutshell, you better
be extremely grateful when he chooses to play for your team; and a bit fearful/respectful
when he doesn't. As he strode down to the booth where Twilight and Tails were sitting
and blankly staring at him; he stared intently into their eyes. "So Twilight," Shadow asked
in an edgy tone of voice, which he couldn't help because that's how his voice usually
sounds, "A fox, an edgelord and a beautiful mare all meet at an ice-cream shop..." "Lay
off Shadow," Tails said, rather ticked that Shadow started that joke. "You know we're just
friends, right?" Tails said, asking Shadow about him and Twilight. "You and Twilight? A
thing?!" Shadow said, scoffing at the thought, "Don't make me laugh Tails. I may not be a
nerd like you," he said, jabbing Tails with contempt but I know one thing about reactions.
Opposites attract; but similar isotopes...repel!" Shadow then eyed Tails with a
razor-sharp countenace that sliced him to the core harder than his words already have.
Shadow's "speech" riled up Twilight quickly, but before Twilight could do anything,
Shadow shouted…
"Chaos...Control!"
Which froze Twilight in time, then Shadow looked at Tails, smirked and said, "I'll let you
break her out of this one, 'buddy.'" Shadow then turned to a waitress who walked up and gave Shadow a paper bag which contained the meal
that he ordered earlier.
Tails was torn between whether to take care of Shadow or
to try and break Twilight out of Shadow's Chaos Control when Shadow quickly paid for
his meal and dashed out, not noticing that Pinkie came in at the same time because he
dashed out the door that Pinkie opened. She turned briefly to see Shadow and then went
in to find Tails and Twilight in their booth with their food when she quickly turned to see
Tails slap Twilight hard across the face sending her lying down in the booth. Twilight
came too, but not before she saw streamers quickly fly out of
Pinkie's "party cannon" suddenly binding Tails and sending him prone to his chair.
She then saw Pinkie rush in on Tails like there
were a billion bees in her bonnet and shaking Tails like a rag doll.
"Alrightyoucrazytwotailedfreak, whydidyoushakemyfriendaroundlikethat?!" she sparked,
shaking him even more vigorously now as
the events that took place around became more obviously clear.
"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted in a
way that garnered the attention of both the about 100 ponies inside the parlor and the
dozen or so that were eating their meals or on their way to nearby shops outside. Caring
less about that, she snarled and scolded Pinkie for her mistake saying, "Tails slapped me
to get me out of one of Shadow's Chaos Controls and if it serves you any purpose to do
so other than to ensure your personal safety against my rage, you will refrain from ever
calling any of my friends, especially
my best friend, a 'freak.' Because that is the biggest bale of fluff I have ever heard come
out of you
Pinkamena Diane Pie; especially when we both know it's not true. Now if you have
something else stupid to say, then I suggest you say it now!"
Pinkie stared at Twilight blankly for a bit, then sadly
cried and apologized, "I'm sorry Twilight. I didn't even see Shadow until he walked out past me. I guess I just didn't want to see one of my very
bestiest best friends in the whole wide world get punched and hurt, and I just overreacted."
The two friends compassionately hugged each other. "It's
ok Pinkie. I overreacted too because I just didn't want to see anyone hurting my friend."
The two continued to hold their embrace and the normal chatter resumed inside the
parlor as the atmosphere in the parlor confirmed that everything was ok.
Well...maybe not everything. When Pinkie and Twilight broke from their embrace to see a
confused and lightheaded Tails (who was listening in on the conversation although he
was somewhat tuckered out after Pinkie's violent shaking of him) almost about to fall
over and faint. Pinkie and Twilight looked at each other, obviously knowing what to do.
Take Tails out of the parlor, get him some air and most importantly, make sure he doesn't
pass out.
Meanwhile... in Winsome Falls...
"Come on Sonic, you gotta think of something I can give you for our 1-year friendship
anniversary." Rainbow Dash said to Sonic. The two of them ran/flew around several main
areas of Equestria for a bit before Rainbow decided to take her bestie out on a picnic to
Winsome Falls, a special camping location where she, Rarity and Applejack once camped.
Sonic resting underneath a shady tree near the falls seemed to verify Rainbow's notion
that he didn't seem to care that much about the 1-year anniversary. Not being as much as one for "traditions"
herself, she understood where her ocean blue friend was coming from. But this tradition
was very special to her, because it marked she and Sonic becoming allies, and even
more, as friends, for the very first time. So despite herself, she quietly walked over to the tree and gently nudged Sonic.
That effort resulted with him rolling around for a bit before stretching, yawning and getting up.
Rainbow gave a small laugh at the sight. "Good morning Sleepy." It took Sonic a while to
rub the sleep out of his eyes due to the somber and peaceful sleep he had experienced.
The reason for Sonic's pleasant rest was simply more than the peaceful atmosphere that
surrounded him and his friend, but that will be revealed later on in the story.
"Well good morning to you too Rainbow." Sonic
said in a joyful manner, gazing at what was now sunset over the horizon. "Beautiful
sunset, isn't it?" he asked his friend as he continued to stretch his muscles some more.
Rainbow looked at the sunset, smiling joyfully, then turning to his friend with the same
contented grin.
"Yes. Although a certain 'sleepy'" she said, giving Sonic a light punch to his shoulder,
"hedgehog almost would've missed it if a certain beautiful young mare didn't wake him
up." she finished, smirking at him. Sonic then turned and asked her friend, "So Rainbow,
anything special you might need from me for our 1-year bestie-ship?"
Rainbow shook her head quickly a couple times in utter disbelief, due to
the fact that he asked her the very same question she was about to ask him a few
minutes ago.
"I was going to ask you the same thing." she started, but then stopped as a very curious
and sneaky thought entered her head. "But first, I'm gonna challenge you hedgehog."
Both of them stared at each other for a bit, smirking at each other for a second.
"Rainbow, you know we can run 'til the hippogriffs come home, right?"
Rainbow gave a light chuckle before they both broke from staring. "I
don't mean a running challenge Sonic. But I still wanna challenge you. A special
challenge. This week up until the anniversary." she said, clarifying to Sonic what she
meant.
"Ok sister, lay it on me."
Sonic said, lending an ear to Rainbow Dash. It took her but a few seconds as how to
explain her plan. "Ok, so this isn't a win-or-lose challenge. I mean, it is, but it's not. What I
want you to do is think of somebody/pony special, but don't actually contact them until
the Mobiquestrian anniversary. Think about a few special reasons that they're such an
awesome friend to you, then video yourself telling them those things." Sonic scratched
his chin for a bit, with questions inside of his head. "Well, how many reasons am I
supposed to have?" he asked. "That's a good question Sonic." Rainbow
responded. "You can write/do as many reasons as you like, but I think at least 10 will do.
I'll do the same thing as you, and then we'll send the videos to our friends and they'll vote
on whose video was better. Music on the video is fine, but no special effects, animation,
etc... Just you telling your friend how special they are." Sonic then smiled and gave a
thumbs-up to Rainbow. "Sounds like a fair-enough challenge. But what will the wages
be?" Rainbow looked in both directions for a second, then asked, "I didn't think that far
ahead yet. Can you give me a sec?"
Sonic nodded, then watched her friend do a Sonic-Rainboom, probably up to go sit on
some cloud. This gave Sonic some time to think for a bit.
Sonic POV Thoughts:
"Well this is a nice opportunity. I'll finally be able to figure out how to tell Rainbow how
much her friendship really means to me. If I can actually figure out how to tell it myself in
my own head to my own head. Too bad that I can't see her until then, but then again,
some fresh perspective on her would help, and besides, she didn't say I couldn't see her.
I just gotta not tell her what I'm really doing, that's all. Besides, there's no way in
Ponyville she'd pick me. I heard Pinkie telling me about someone named Spitfire that she
wants to get to know better. Oh well, as long as the
consequence isn't something that stupid, this oughta be a piece of cake."
Meanwhile, up in the clouds somewhere...
Rainbow's POV Thoughts:
"Come on Rainbow Dash, you gotta find something that you can make Sonic do if he
loses this. No, not if. When he loses this. There we go girl. When he loses the challenge.
After all, there's no way that he can be as awesome as I am. Although come to think of it,
he is pretty awesome. There's no way I'm saying that he isn't. He is. There's just no way
he's gonna be awesomer than me this time, that's all.
Now, who would I ask for advice about how to say what I feel about Sonic? Hmm...? Of
course, Twilight! She's obviously smart when it comes to that sort of thing. Although
Sonic might pick her, which makes sense because she reminds me a lot of that other
nerdy guy Sonic likeshanging around with. Tails, was it? The fox guy? He's actually
pretty legit in my book too.
I think I'll ask both of them first, but also ask them for other people to ask. Now let's see
about this challenge… I think it would be ok for us to ask the other friend's pony/friend
they picked, since we wouldn't know who we picked anyway. There'd be no way Sonic
would pick me, I mean, he's bound to pick Twilight or Tails, which is fine by me because
he's been around Tails the longest, and he's also pretty
good friends with Twilight. Probably the closest Equestrian to him besides me. Now let's
see about the consequence. It can't be too dirty in case I lose, and if it was something
that I... Wait a minute, that's it!
Normal POV:
Rainbow then flew straight back down to see Sonic leaning up against the same tree that
he was napping by earlier. "Well it's about time you showed up. I was about to go take a
nap." Sonic said, pretending to yawn.
"Hey, one nap a day is enough for you." she said, in a pretend stern voice.
"Anyhow, the loser will have to pay the winner 100 bits for them to buy their special
friend." she proposed. Sonic then thought it over for a bit,
"Hmmm, where in the world am I gonna get 100 bits? Oh well, just more motivation for
me to try harder I guess." Then Sonic stuck out his hand for Rainbow to shake. "It's a
bet." she said, with the two friends shaking hands. Then they
both looked at the sky seeing it was about to get dark soon. "Well it's been fun, but I
gotta run." Sonic said to Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, and I gotta fly. And get my research done
tomorrow, so how about we ask each other about our progress on the 4th day of this
week from today, Tuesday." Rainbow proposed again. "Alright, Tuesday it is." Sonic
agreed. "Hey, you're awesome!"
Rainbow Dash called as she flew back into the clouds. "Because someone awesome
made me awesome!" Sonic called out in
response, as the two left, thinking about what to say to each other, but not knowing it
was to each other that the other would say their words to.
Alright, so I just wanted to give you a heads-up, I'm not the smartest when it comes to
MLP knowledge because I haven't seen the show that often or heard that much about it,
so I could be wrong on a few things sometimes. For example, I actually just guessed
what Pinkie's shop would look like and basing it off of her personality. Other MLP
information I have gathered from Wikipedia, other Fanfiction writers and other MLP
fan-sites, which lead me to pick Winsome Falls as the place
Sonic and RD would hang out at because it would seem the most "chill." If
anybody/pony/brony whatever sees any other mistakes in me writing this, please let me
know so I can make it right.