Chapter 8: Bonding
It was early in the morning on Angel Island. Sonic had woken up and decided to go outside, "I feel good this morning.", he said as he stretched, "I wonder if Dashie is still asleep.". Sonic looked around and eventually saw Rainbow Dash sleeping on the roof of Tails' workshop, using a cloud as a bed. Sonic had a devious smile on his face as he jumped up onto the roof. He slowly approached her, trying to keep from laughing out loud as he got close. He got up close to Rainbow Dash's ear and whispered, "Sonic is faster than me.".
Rainbow Dash, still asleep, repeated what Sonic had whispered to her, "Sonic is faster than me..".
Sonic was giggling like a child who had done something mischievous, "Sonic is way past cool.", he whispered again.
Rainbow Dash smiled and sighed dreamily in her sleep, "Yes he is.".
Sonic stopped giggling and blushed slightly, "What..?".
Rainbow Dash, eyes shot open as she got up and saw Sonic standing next to her, "Uh, what are you doing..?", she asked with a light blush on her face.
"N-Nothing, I was just..uhhh...looking at the sky...yeah!", Sonic said with a sheepish smile.
"O-Okay.", Rainbow Dash replied. The two remained silent for a few seconds until Sonic broke the silence.
"Hey Dashie, thanks for saving me yesterday."
Rainbow Dash blushed, "Hey, it's no problem. You would've done the same for me.".
"I guess you're right."
Things stayed quiet between them until Sonic, once again, spoke up.
"So, Dashie.", Sonic said nervously, "Since we're both not busy today, do you maybe wanna hang out or something?".
Rainbow Dash smiled happily, "Sure!".
"Awesome.", Sonic got up and jumped off the roof, landing back on the ground, "I know somewhere that we can go, but you have to fly us there.".
Rainbow Dash hovered in the air next to Sonic, "Okay, where to, Sonic?".
"It's a city called Station Square, I'll tell you about it on the way."
"Alright.", Rainbow Dash hovered above Sonic, allowing him to grab on to her front hooves. Sonic jumped up and grabbed on to her hooves. The two flew off into the horizon. As they flew away, Tails had woken up and was outside, watching the two speedsters flying towards the horizon.
"I wonder where those two are going.", Tails said with a yawn.
Moments later..
As they were arriving at the city of Station Square, Sonic was telling Rainbow Dash about the time he defeated Perfect Chaos.
"Wow, you really saved the entire city from that water monster?", Rainbow Dash asked with great interest.
"Yup.", Sonic said with a confident grin on his face, "But as I said before, I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends.".
"Awesome!"
Sonic saw Station Square below him and Rainbow Dash, "Dashie, fly down, we're here.", he said smiling.
Rainbow Dash did as Sonic said, flying down and landing next to a road. She looked around at the large city. There were people walking on the sidewalks, cars driving on the roads and large buildings that reached the sky. "Whoaaa, this place looks so awesome!", Rainbow Dash said excitedly.
Sonic chuckled, "I'm gonna take guess and say that you probably don't have cities like this where you're from.".
"We have cities, but they're not as big as this one.", Rainbow Dash replied, amazed by the sights in the city.
"Well then, since this is your first time in Station Square, I'm gonna take you on a tour.", Sonic said, smiling.
"Sounds cool. Let's go!", Rainbow Dash said eagerly.
"Okay okay, just take it easy.", Sonic said with a chuckle, "Just follow me and I'll show you around.", Sonic began walking on the sidewalk.
"We're gonna walk?", Rainbow Dash asked disappointed.
"Yup, why do you ask?"
"Sonic, we're the two fastest things alive, I thought we were gonna speed through here.", Rainbow Dash explained.
Sonic continued walking as Rainbow Dash followed, "Sometimes you gotta take things slow, Dashie."
Rainbow Dash sighed, "Fine..", she had an annoyed expression on her face as she followed Sonic.
The two continued walking. Rainbow Dash was looking at the many sights that Station Square had to offer. Many of the people they passed by greeted Sonic and some even took a picture of him.
"Wow, you sure have a lot of fans huh?", Rainbow Dash said.
Sonic chuckled, "I guess you can say that. But I don't really do what I do for the fans, I do it because it's the right thing to do."
Rainbow Dash smiled, "This kinda reminds me when I tried to be a hero back home."
"Oh really?", Sonic asked.
"Yeah.", Rainbow Dash replied, "Basically, after I saved somepony, I was getting a lot of attention. The fame kinda went to my head and I tried to do more heroic stuff but my friends dressed up as hero to stop me from bragging or something.".
"That seems a little unnecessary, why didn't they just tell you that you bragging too much?", Sonic asked her.
"I know right!", Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "I get what they were trying to do but they didn't have to do that."
"Yeah..", Sonic saw a familiar hotel up ahead and smiled, "Dashie, see that building up ahead?", Sonic asked as he pointed over to the hotel.
Rainbow Dash looked at the hotel, "Um, yeah?".
"That's where I stayed when I was on vacation before Chaos attacked.", Sonic said, "But the cool part about it is that they have an awesome beach at the back of the place."
"A beach? That doesn't sound very cool if you ask me.", Rainbow Dash retorted.
"Trust me, you're gonna think differently once you see it.", Sonic said, running to the hotel, "C'mon!".
Rainbow Dash quickly followed him to the hotel.
Moments later, at Emerald Coast
Sonic and Rainbow Dash were on the beach behind the hotel, known as Emerald Coast. (A/N: In case you, for some reason, don't know, Emerald Coast is the first level in Sonic Adventure.). "Here we are, Dashie. Emerald Coast.", Sonic said proudly.
Rainbow Dash looked around, unimpressed, "Still seems like a regular beach to me."
Sonic grinned as he came up with an idea, "Wanna have a rematch race, Dashie?".
Rainbow Dash looked at him and smirked, "Sure, but this time I'M gonna win.", she said confidently.
Sonic chuckled, "Whatever you say.". He got into a running position, "I'm ready when you are."
"Me too.", Rainbow Dash was ready to take-off, "Where do we go?", she asked.
"Just keep going down the beach, you'll know where to from there.", Sonic was looking ahead, ready to race against Rainbow Dash for the second time.
"Alright!"
The two speedsters were in running/flying position. Sonic began the count down, "3...2...1...GO!". Sonic and Rainbow Dash took off at the speed of sound. They ran/flew down the beach, reaching a boardwalk area that extended outwards to some small islands. Sonic ran on the boardwalks as Rainbow Dash flew overhead, maintaining a constant speed. Up ahead was a rock formation in the shape of a shuttle loop with a ramp at the end. Sonic saw this as an opportunity to get ahead of Rainbow Dash.
Sonic smirked, "See ya later, Dashie!", he said teasingly as he accelerated, going through the shuttle loop and soaring off the ramp on the end.
Rainbow Dash saw this and grinned, "You're not gonna beat me easily, Sonic! This time I know what you can do!", she flew past the shuttle loop as Sonic landed on a new land mass.
Sonic and Rainbow Dash were now on an island just outside Station Square. Both of them were trying their best to surpass each other.
"This isn't gonna end in a tie like last time, you know that right?", Sonic said as he was treading the island.
"I know. It's because I'm gonna win!", Rainbow Dash exclaimed, increasing her flying speed and getting ahead of Sonic.
Sonic smirked and performed a Spindash to catch up to the pegasus. Rainbow Dash was ahead, nearing the end of the small island. She couldn't see any more land for miles, just the wide open ocean. Sonic had caught up and also saw the vast ocean ahead of them.
"Looks like I'm gonna win! There's no more land to run on and I know you can't swim!", Rainbow Dash said with a cocky attitude as she continued her flight.
Sonic simply grinned at her remark, "Who said I had to swim?".
"What?", Rainbow Dash was confused as to what he meant.
The two speedsters reached to end of the small island they were on. Rainbow Dash continued flying without any worry, "What's he gonna do?", she thought whilst flying over the water. A few seconds later, she heard a loud booming noise and she looked back to see Sonic running on the surface of the water. "N-No way!", Rainbow Dash was surprised to see the blue hedgehog quickly catching up to her.
Sonic, now running on water, caught up to Rainbow Dash, "Hey Dashie, you should try the water, it's nice and cool today!", he said teasingly.
Rainbow Dash smiled at Sonic, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.", Sonic said, giving her a wink.
As they continued their race, they quickly realized that they didn't establish a finish line. "Uh, Sonic, where are we supposed to stop at?", Rainbow Dash asked Sonic.
Sonic thought for a bit, "Umm...how bout first one back to the city wins?".
"Deal!", Rainbow Dash said as she began to fly towards the direction of the city. Sonic did the same as he continued running on the water. The two were neck and neck as they traveled over the ocean. Moments later, they were approaching the city. Sonic and Rainbow Dash were nearing their top speeds, but still at the same speed as each other. Both of them saw the city ahead of them. Sonic and Rainbow Dash were each pushing their own limits to try to win. The two speedsters reached the shore of Station Square, ending the race with another tie. The hedgehog and the pegasus came to a complete stop, leaving a huge gust of wind as they stopped, startling a few people that happened to be standing nearby.
Sonic and Rainbow Dash were panting and sweating in exhaustion, "Another tie..wow.", Rainbow Dash said, trying to catch her breath.
"Yeah.", Sonic said, breathing heavily, "But hey, that was a good race.".
"I guess... But next time we race, I'll beat you for sure.", Rainbow Dash said confidently.
Sonic chuckled, "Okay Dashie."
The two stared at each other for a while as they regained their energy. "Hey Dashie, wanna go get something to eat?, Sonic asked Rainbow Dash.
"Sure, I haven't eaten yet so..", Rainbow Dash replied.
"Alright.", Sonic chuckled as he began making his way back into city, "Let's go!". Rainbow Dash followed him into the city.
Later that evening..
Sonic and Rainbow Dash were on a leisurely stroll through the city, talking about their adventures and their lives.
"So the pegasus ponies are the ones that control the weather in Equestria?", Sonic asked the cyan pegasus.
"Yup, and I'm one of those.", Rainbow Dash stated proudly.
Sonic smiled, "Wow, Equestria sure seems a lot different from Mobius.".
"Mobius is different from Equestria, but it's cool.", Rainbow Dash said as she looked up at the sky, "I wish I could show my friends this place.", she said with a bit of sadness in her voice.
Sonic noticed the sadness in Rainbow Dash's voice, "Feeling homesick, Dashie?".
Rainbow Dash slowly nodded her head, "Yeah..".
Sonic gave her a reassuring smile, "Hey, don't worry, we have all the Chaos Emeralds. I can take you home whenever you're ready."
"Okay..", Rainbow Dash felt a tiny bit better after hearing Sonic's words, "Sonic, you're cool guy."
Sonic blushed a bit and chuckled, "Hehe, thanks Dashie. And you're a cool girl.", Sonic replied, causing Rainbow Dash to blush and giggle. Sonic saw the sun setting over the horizon, "We should probably head back to Angel Island.".
"Y-Yeah, It's getting kinda late anyways.", Rainbow Dash said. She began to fly above him. Sonic grabbed onto her front hooves as she began to fly back to Angel Island. "Hey Sonic..", she said as she flew.
"Yeah Dashie?"
"Thanks for today, I had fun.", Rainbow Dash said in a soft tone and a very apparent blush on her face.
"N-No prob, I had fun too.", Sonic said, smiling at the blue pegasus. The two speedsters flew off into the sunset, heading back to Tails' Workshop on the floating island.
