Spectrum

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Classes are about to begin again, but I'll probably keep the same schedule. I really don't have much to say here.

DISCLAIMER: I don't like having to do this. BTW, didn't Sonic say something about this while back? Ah well, Sonic Tails belong to SEGA Sonic Team and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belong to Hasbro.

Chapter 10: Pathos

Sonic's eyes opened. He found himself lying in the middle of a clearing in a forest. The dusk clouds covered the sky, making it difficult for Sonic to see, even without the rain in his eyes. He felt himself laying on the grass, soaked with rain. The air had a salty… scent to it. He heard the wind howling through the trees, the low, rolling thunder warning him of danger, and the rain falling in a torrential downpour. He also heard the sound of someone sobbing. The voice sounded young; maybe a child? He got up and walked towards the source of the noise.

"Man… this place is so… sad. There's no happiness, there's no hate, and there isn't even any anger, just…pure sadness." He said to himself. As he walked closer to the sound of the noise, the rain gradually grew softer, the wind flew through the trees less violently, and the thunder boomed ever quieter. He found the child, a blond-haired boy, in a brown T-shirt, white gloves and socks with small gray fasteners, and red sneakers with white toes and gray soles.

"Why? Why did they do it? It's not fair! Mom… Dad…" The kid sat, clutching a cracked photograph of him, an adult male, and an adult female, who Sonic presumed were his parents. The rain picked up again and the child's tears on the portraits blended in with the tears from the clouds.

"It hurts… It hurts… so much…" Sonic walked ever closer to the child but the child heard his footprints and quickly turned around. He held the picture to his chest, and backed up a little bit. "Who are you? What do you want?" The kid asked.

"My name is Sonic the Hedgehog. I don't want anything, except to know why you're all the way out here." The kid clutched the photograph tightly and fell to his knees in grief. "I'm not going to hurt you in any way, I just to know your name."

"Why? Why do you want to know?"

"Well, I can't leave you out here. Chances are you'll catch a cold."

"My parents…they said the same thing… before them… they…" Sonic walked up to the child and put a hand on his head, causing the child to look up at Sonic.

"Were they attacked? Or worse?" The kid teared up again, sniffles and sobs wracked his speech.

"Today… was my… my mom's… 40th birthday… then… two men… black sunglasses… suits… they told… my mom… "Come with us"… she wouldn't… my dad asked them to leave… they pulled a gun… then a loud bang… my dad fell… my mother tried to escape with me… then another bang… I ran for my life… I took this photo with me." Then without warning, he latched onto Sonic. "THEY DIED! THEY DIED FOR NO REASON! NO GOOD REASON AT ALL!" He wailed. The child bawled his eyes out. Sonic closed his eyes in silence, letting the child vent out his sadness and confusion. This kid watched both of his parents die, murdered by assassins. Sonic never knew what it was like to see his parents die; the evil doctor roboticized his father, but luckily his mother didn't get caught by Eggman's robots. Still, he grew up without a father and he spent a lot of time away from his mother.

"So now you see. This is sadness."

Sonic's eyes opened and he saw a grey hedgehog with a melancholy look in his eyes. The hedgehog walked up to Sonic and put a hand on the child, who stopped wailing immediately. "Be cured of your sadness, child, and join the ones you love." A purple light emitted from the boy and kid felt himself disappearing. The child looked up at Sonic, with a sad smile.

"My name's Satil."

"Satil."

"When I see Mom and Dad, I'll say hi to them for you, mister!"

"Heh. You do that, buddy. Give them the biggest hug you can, too, and tell them that you love them."

"Right!" The kid embraced Sonic once more, and Sonic ruffled the child's hair, feeling the kid's arms around him slowly vanish. Once the child disappeared, Sonic looked back at the grey hedgehog.

"You must embody sadness, then."

"Indeed. I am Lora. My name comes from the Spanish verb 'llorar', which means 'to cry or to mourn.'"

"I can't imagine what it's like to bear all this."

"How could you? You've never been so sad to the point where you've cried. The reason why three hedgehogs you've seen so far are grey is because you haven't fully realized these emotions. You've been joyful, but you've never truly been happy, have you? You may hate the doctor, but you've never hated someone to wish for them to die by your own hand, and you've never been sad to the point where you've cried."

"I… guess I haven't. Everything's been going so well for me that I never kept track of my emotions."

"It is because of your friends, Sonic. Your friends give you no reason to be sad. Also, you're confident in your ability to defeat anything that stands against you and your friends. Confident to the border of arrogance, actually."

"Look, I know that in fights, my friends might get captured, and their safety might be used against me. But that's happened to me before, and I still won."

"Yes, but you said it best. What's going to happen the first time they expect you to be there and you're not?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I've never, ever felt helpless, or powerless. I never felt like there's anything I can't do."

"Then until you face an event so tragic, so grievous, so mortifying that you actually cry out of sadness, and attack out of hatred, you'll never understand. You'll meet four more hedgehogs. After you meet with them, you will simply dream of nothing, until you feel each and every emotion. Right now, you have a heart of grey," Lora spoke, putting his hand on Sonic's chest. "None of the current emotions are residing within you… except for hope. Your heart is a greyish blue-ah, it looks like you're waking up. You'll probably meet Kibo tomorrow. He embodies hope. I'm gonna warn you right now, Sonic, it'll be like looking in a mirror. He has your color. Solaris forbid you should have any misfortune, but this will the last meeting we have until you are consumed with sadness and grief."

Sonic woke up in the guest room of the Carousel Boutique. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat on the edge, contemplating what Lora had told him. Sonic never hated anyone enough to kill, not even Dr. Eggman. Sure, just the evil doctor's presence made Sonic sick but he wanted him gone, not dead and gone. Sonic's always been happy-go-lucky, so that filled the happiness quota, didn't it? Sonic could never recall a time when he allowed himself to cry, not even after Shahra died, so he's never felt consumable hatred, despairing sadness, or jubilant happiness. Then again, why would he ever want to feel that sad or harbor that much hatred?

He took out the Chaos Emeralds and held them in his hands. These seven stones had several elements of power, yet they seem so… harmless. Except for the fact that any jewel lover would see it as their own child. Come to think of it, the Chaos Emeralds reacted much differently when Twilight Sparkle and Sweetie Belle used them. Sonic never saw the Emeralds turn into strands of energy and enter the user other than when the user consumed the negative energy. Well, today he had to meet Twilight; maybe she could shed some light on the subject.

Sonic, this is Tails. Do you read me?

"I'm here, little bro. Shoot."

Spike hasn't come back to the Golden Oak Library ever since last night. Have you seen him?

"Not since Monday. What do you think happened?"

Ever since I started spending time with Twilight- ohhhhh.

"Ohhhh."

Aw, nuts. Sonic, we have to find him before he gets himself hurt. You know how bad people can get when jealousy consumes them.

"You're right. I'll see what I can do." Then the transmission cut. Sonic went into the bathroom and handled his dental and personal hygiene before stretching his muscles. Knuckles, Shadow, and the rest of the cast were due any day now and if everyone came, then he would have to keep a constant watch. If Amy ever saw so much as a glimpse of him ever again, he bet his life that she'd make mincemeat out of him. Just then, Hondo Flanks trotted out of his room and started charging Sonic. Sonic saw this coming and put out his arms, as if trying to stop Hondo Flanks in his tracks. Hondo increased his speed and flew right into Sonic, causing the hedgehog's sneakers to make skid marks on the floor from the friction.

"Hey there, Tronic! Beautiful mornin', ain't it?" Hondo laughed.

"Yep, it's pretty gorgeous outside today, Mr. Flanks."

"Hey, no need to be formal, son! Call me Hondo!" Hondo chortled, slapping Sonic on the back with his hoof. "So you're coming back tonight, right?"

"Can't say I can, Mr. Fla-I mean, Hondo. Today, I'm with Twilight Sparkle. Then I'm free tomorrow and then the following day…"

"The following day, you'll race Rainbow Dash for the title of Fastest Thing in Equestria, or at least that's what the flyer says." Sonic saw a flyer in Cookie Crumbles' hoofs and took it.

SONIC vs. RAINBOW DASH

THE BLUE NEWCOMER VS MS. 20% COOLER

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE

FASTEST THING IN EQUESTRIA!

THIS SUNDAY, CLOUDSDALE COLLUSEUM 12:00 PM

TICKET: STALLIONS 10 bits MARES 7 bits ACCOMPANYING COLTS OR FILLIES 5 bits each

This information was written in gold, over a well-drawn picture of Sonic smirking at Rainbow Dash while stretching and Rainbow Dash rearing back with a confident grin on her face.

"So… they've already got flyers, huh? That's… pretty cool."

"Ain't it?! You and Rainbow Dash are gonna keep that stadium off the hoofs and at the edge of their seats! I'm getting jacked just from thinking about it!" Hondo said, stomping his hooves in vigor.

"It's going to be quite an event, Mr. Sonic, but you don't seem worried about it in the slightest."

"First, just call me Sonic, Ms. Crumbles. I'm not big on formalities. Second, if Rainbow Dash is the fastest thing in Equestria, then that's just all the greater challenge! I'm getting pretty pumped myself." Then Rarity had trotted up the stairs and a smile instantly came to her face.

"Oh, Sonic! Good thing you're up, I need you to try something on before you leave." Sonic looked at Rarity for about 2 seconds before something popped into his head.

"Rarity, you haven't seen Spike around lately, have you?"

"Spike? I can't say I have. As a matter, he was supposed to come in yesterday to take care of Opal. When I went to see her after you had gone to sleep, my outfits had been torn to shreds. Speaking of outfits, could you go into the fitting room and try these on?" She presented a black blue-streaked tuxedo jacket with black pants but in addition, he received a white dress shirt to wear underneath the tux.

"Sure, Rarity." Sonic went into the dressing room and quickly tried on the outfit. Black was a much better color than white when it came to style. Sonic had always wanted to know how he would look in a butler's outfit, but if he didn't have to wear pants, everything would be perfect. He walked out and Rarity trotted a circle around him, admiring how well the outfit fit him, how studly he looked. "To be honest, I don't think this can be improved from what it is. This is practically perfection." Sonic smiled.

Since I'm wearing the outfit, might as well. He thought, and, with a flourish, bowed himself to Rarity. "Sonic the Hedgehog, at your service, milady." Rarity responded with a gleeful giggle, as well as repetitively stamping her hoofs. "Bless my stars, Sonic! If you were a colt, I'd make you into my butler. You're more charming than the rattle on a serpent." She put her hoofs on his shoulders and kissed his cheek in gratitude, making the hedgehog blush.

Flash.

"Why don't you keep this outfit and I'll make some improvements to the one you wore yesterday."

"Thanks, Rarity, I-" Sonic then heard a beeping on his wrist-com. It showed a picture of Twilight's cutie mark. "Well, looks like I better get going to the Golden Oak. Till next time, milady." Rarity just giggled in return. "Oh, just hurry along, darling. You're going to make me blush up a storm." Sonic then sped off in the direction of the Golden Oak Library again, while Rarity fanned herself with her hoof.

My, my, my. You really are something, aren't you, Sonic the Hedgehog?

Unfortunately for the two of them, Spike had followed Sonic because of Twilight's fascination with Tails. He felt like he needed to get some air and think things through. Spike didn't like it when his best friend paid more attention to someone other than him, but he knew that jumping to conclusions would only serve to create a giant mess. Twilight and Tails would probably end up looking for him, no doubt. A scolding for running off to start, followed by something less punitive. In the end, Twilight would probably forgive him because, well, he hasn't done anything wrong to her home. As a matter of fact, other than to get away from Twilight's suggested favoritism with Tails, Spike didn't know why he was stalking Sonic.

He hadn't made any advances towards any of the ponies, even Rarity, so why do I have a feeling that going to see Rarity would leave me with a very unpleasant feeling in my stomach? Then again, I might have snacked on a bit of fool's gold… I'm sure it's nothing… In fact, I'll just turn right around and go back to the Golden Oak. Yep, not suspicious of the hedgehog at all. He's not a low-down, dirty, rotten, conniving little- Huh, why is my face on the window? Why are my hands on the window? What am I looking at? Oh, Sonic got kissed by Rarity and now he's heading to Golden Oak.

…

…

Wait, WHAT?!

Tails turned a page in another book. He and Twilight have become really close considering they both were the brains of the respective teams. But Tails always seemed unsteady when around Twilight. Did he think he wasn't worthy of being her friend simply because she was practically royalty and he was only a traveler? Then again, she wasn't required to form any sort of relationship with Tails. Maybe she did enjoy his company.

"Hey Tails."

"Is she- Oh? Hey, Twilight."

"So what are you reading today?"

"A different kind of equine race in Equestria that seems to bear a strong resemblance to insects."

"Changelings. They have moderate arctic blue pupil-less eyes and sea-greenish black carapace coats. The queen has a dark arctic bluish gray mane that looks like a web. They had the appearances of equines, but they also had many insect-like characteristics such as fangs, bent horns, insect-like wings, and holes in their legs. They can also take the forms of other ponies, close friends, hated enemies, even royalty! However, the one difference among many that distinguishes the changelings from ponies; they don't have cutie marks."

"So that means that-wait, the changelings can take any form at all?"

"Indeed. All they have to do is look at you and the memory of your body is permanently imprinted in their minds."

"So, they could even take Princess Celestia's form?"

"No, their skills at imitation isn't that great. The only one who could ever take the form of her majesty is their Queen, Chrysalis. She's a scheming, cruel, fierce, and manipulative individual whose primary concerns are gaining power and feeding her changeling subjects. She don't see love as an emotion or a pleasant feeling towards someone you care about. Instead, she sees love as a source of food and she as well as her subjects feed off of it until the well runs dry. How such a detestable race was even allowed to exist in the first place is even beyond my comprehension."

"Hey, I'm sure she isn't all that bad." A voice came from behind them. They turned and saw Sonic in his tuxedo, with a light cornflower bluish gray colored kiss mark on his cheek. Tails, still not used to the more adult things in life, assumed the worst.

"WAH! Sonic, you got married?! No, wait, worse, you went around town, didn't you?!"

"'Went around town- what are you- Tails, what are you talk- what are you talking about!?"

"You're in a fancy suit, you smell nice, and you have a kiss mark on your cheek! Explain now!"

"Rarity wanted me to try on a tuxedo. It looked nice, and I could tell she liked being treated royally, so I acted like a butler for her. She enjoyed it and kissed my cheek, which, I can assure you, was in appreciation."

"That's not the problem here, Sonic. You need to wash that off before Spike comes back or-"

"I'LL DESTROY YOU, YOU LOW-DOWN, DIRTY, ROTTEN, CONNIVING LITTLE MARE-STEALING RAT!" Roared the now teenage dragon as he jumped onto Sonic.

Scootaloo at this point in time had sat with down with a map of the map of the racetrack. Rainbow Dash had called her yesterday and after hearing her big sister's advice, her mind locked onto one goal; making sure Rainbow Dash wins…no matter the cost.

(PHONE CALL)

"Y-y-you need my help? But y-y-you're the best pony in Equestria! Why would you need help from me?"

Because you're my baby sister. You may not have your Cutie Mark yet, but that doesn't make you less a pegasus than me or any other pegasus in Equestria. I know I can trust you on this, or can I?"

"No, you can trust me! Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it!"

I had a feeling I could count on you, sis. Okay, so here's what I need you to do. I honestly believe that your gut feeling about the hedgehog is correct. I think he is up to something. But we're going to need to prove it. Do you think you and your two friends could help figure out what makes him tick? We can use that to exploit his weakness, and expose him for the fraud he is.

Scootaloo turned to her two friends with a smug look of victory on her face. The two ponies looked at each other confused. "See, what did I tell you? I know when someone's up to something sneaky."

Scoots, you still there?

"Yes, big sis! Um… hey… he's uncomfortable when mares show him their flanks. Maybe if we can catch him staring at a mare's flanks deliberately, we'll brand him as a leech and he won't be able to show his face in public. We may even get him run out of Equestria if that image were to go public!"

That… reminds me… what this about that hedgehog and Fluttershy getting married?

"It's just tabloid garbage written by ponies who have nothing better to do in their lives."

... Weren't you, Rarity's little sister, and Applejack's little sister the ones who wrote that article in the first place?

"No, we didn't."

It says 'Written by CMC' at the top of the paper.

"It could be a different CMC."

There's a picture of all three of you smiling.

"The hedgehog will not win that race, big sister, I promise you-no, I Pinkie Promise he'll fail. Cross my heart, hope to fly-"

I'm not Pinkie Pie, squirt. You don't need to do that with me. But I'm counting on you, sis.

"I won't fail you, big sister." Then the line went dead.

(CALL END)

"We already have a picture of him proposing to Fluttershy, and I received word that Rarity gave him a little 'something'. That's your sister, Sweetie Belle! You mean to tell me that you don't think that's weird?"

"I like the hedgehog, and Rarity doesn't randomly hand out kisses. But maybe she wanted to do it because-"

"If you're going to say what I think you're about to say you may as well keep your mouth shut, Bloomie. I don't want anypony to even think that any of the Mane Six could like that bozo. You heard Rainbow Dash; he can't be trusted."

"But it doesn't make any sense, why would Rainbow Dash warn us about him before the race? She wouldn't care who the opposition was, or how they attempt to win. It's no secret Rainbow Dash loves her speed and winning, but won't it disappointing to her if her victory was handed to her on a silver platter? I think Rainbow Dash is the kind of pony who likes indisputable victories the best." Scootaloo didn't like people telling her she was wrong about her knowledge of Rainbow Dash, especially after hearing her say that she trusted her, that she counted on her, therefore her eyes narrowed as she approached Sweetie Belle dangerously.

"Let me ask you something, Sweetie. Is there a single pony in Equestria that knows more about Rainbow Dash than I?"

"Well-"

"Let me rephrase that… is there a pony in Equestria who pays more attention to Rainbow Dash than I?"

"No, but-"

"Did she not make me, Scootaloo, her sister?"

"She did-"

"Then what makes you think that you know her better than me, Sweetie Belle?" After seeing how adamant Scootaloo was about exposing the hedgehog, especially with her main idol, Rainbow Dash, seemingly supporting her, Sweetie didn't see much of an opportunity to make Scootaloo reconsider her opinion on the hedgehog and help her see that she had everything about the hedgehog all wrong.

"I don't, but-"

"You don't, huh? I didn't think so. But you do have a point about her loving to win indisputably. She does love winning that way, but it'll infuriate her if that hedgehog wins due to some preset handicap. I'm going to make sure that hedgehog doesn't have a chance to race the following day."

"How?"

"Tomorrow, it's all out sabotage."

Sonic, now bandaged a bit, sat next to Tails, playing with his wrist-com. At the moment, he had nothing better to do except for study. Sonic felt antsy, cooped up in a room with nothing to do besides read. But, today he had to study a bit with Twilight and unfortunately for Sonic, the one thing among many that the two didn't share? A passion for learning. Twilight and Tails find learning something new every day exciting and well… Sonic doesn't. At any rate, Sonic looked up on the bookshelf and saw nothing but boring book after boring book that he didn't have time for, until his eyes landed on a book labeled "E. O. H' with different colored jewels sticking out. Sonic stood up and picked the book from the shelf and blew some dust off the edges. He turned the book over to the cover page and saw an orange apple-shaped gem, a pink butterfly-shaped gem, a blue balloon-shaped gem, a purple diamond-shaped gem, a red thunderbolt shaped gem, and a magenta star-shaped gem. He read out loud:

Elements of Harmony

Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Magic

"Hey, Tails! Come check this out." Sonic said to his brother, while walking back to where he sat. "These gems and these colors…they almost remind of the Chaos Emeralds." Tails took a look at the book and remembered one of Twilight lectures from the other day when they were playing classroom.

"Oh yeah! The Elements of Harmony."

"You know about these?" Sonic asked as he read a bit into the book.

"More like learned about 'em. They work similar to the Chaos Emeralds except their full power can only be achieved when all six of them are used at the same time, whereas one Chaos Emerald is significantly powerful on its own. The Chaos Emeralds can be used by anyone since it has both positive and negative energy, whereas the Elements of Harmony are bound to a worthy bearer and only contain positive energy. Unauthorized use of the elements could result in either imprisonment or banishment in Equestria, whereas the Chaos Emeralds have no stature on who is allowed to use them. There is a convenient similarity, however. More often than not, the Chaos Emeralds will fly into the sky and scatter throughout the planet and the Elements of Harmony end up going back into the chest in the reading room in the Royal Castle in Canterlot. So, unless both negative and positive energy are derived from the Emeralds, they won't fly off. In addition, the Elements of Harmony can neutralize evil, just as Chaos Emeralds can but the Chaos Emeralds both amplify evil as well as good." Sonic didn't like history lessons or hearing what he already knew, but the way Tails explained it, he could understand for some reason. He felt himself growing smarter, thanks his little brother. Twilight seemed to enjoy Tails speaking as well, considering she listened intently the entire time.

"Fascinating! So the Chaos Emeralds can amplify good as well as evil?" Sonic smirked and stood up, stretching his legs. The blood had run to his toes and a bit of numbness ran through his body.

"Well, yeah. They also bring the recently deceased back life, warp people through space and time, power machinery, and give the user super form… me, for example." Tails rolled his eyes with a smirk while Twilight giggled.

"Speaking of which, I was wondering if I could use the Chaos Emeralds, I could gain a super form, too?" Sonic scratched his chin.

"It sounds a bit far-fetched, but it's not impossible. Then again, your body only had one recent experience with Chaos Energy." Twilight blushed as the memory of the incident came back to her. "Heheheh… yeah, so not just yet. But yesterday, Tails told me that the rest of your friends were on their way here. Any idea when they'll get here?"

"I'm going to guess, at this rate, probably sometime after the race. Whether immediately or whether the following days depends on space-time. Right now they're travelling through different dimensions in different reaches of time to get to us. I'm sure everything's okay where they are."

"This is not okay! This is NOT okay!" Knuckles roared as he, Shadow, Rouge, and the rest of the cast were running away from Boos inside of a haunted mansion. Vector held Cream and Cheese tightly, while Charmy held on to the end of Vector's chain. These Boos weren't anything like the ones Knuckles saw in Pumpkin Hill because whenever Knuckles looked back at them, they would be right behind them, blushing and covering their face. Here's what agitated Knuckles the most; he couldn't touch the ghosts…

But the ghosts could touch him.

(You all are probably familiar with what this next scene will look like, but if you don't, plug in "Yakety Sax". I'll try to make this next section worthy of the hilarious music.)

So he started running out of one door, and ran into the door right across from him, with a plethora of Boos following him. Then he ran out through the upper right door and ran down to the lower left door. The Boos ran out through the upper right door and right into the upper left door. Charmy, Vector, Cream, and Cheese ran screaming into the middle right door with a crowd of Boos following them…only for the Boos to affrightedly run right back into the previous door with an angry red Shadow shrieking after them. Rouge opened the top left door and looked both ways before tiptoeing out of the door carrying the Master Emerald with her. Then Knuckles came out of the bottom right door and made eye contact with Rouge. She quickly ran back into the door she came and Knuckles followed, waving his fists over his head with steam pouring out of his ears. He flung open the door with his fist and zipped inside.

The middle door opened and out came King Boom Boo, the king of ghosts, furious that his slumber was disturbed. He saw Cream and Cheese, who cowered at the size of the enormous ghost. He floated dangerously in their direction…then the frightened Boos, Rouge, and a livid hedgehog and echidna trampled the huge ghosts, giving Cream and Cheese time to run into the upper right door. The king of ghosts got up, roared ferociously, and flew into a random door. The middle left door opened and closed then the middle right door opened and closed. Charmy flew out of the top left door and into the bottom left door. Vector charged out of the middle left door and Knuckles came through the middle right door Then Rouge came out through the bottom right door and flew towards the middle. Then Cream and Cheese came out from the bottom left door and flew towards the middle. Then Charmy flew out of the top left door and towards the middle. Then the top right door open and closed. It all resulted in one huge collision and Espio the chameleon lost his invisibility. Then King Boom Boo and a crowd of Boos approached them from the top left door, but an angry Shadow came from the bottom right door and chased all of them into the top left door.

Blaze and Silver walked from the bottom left to the bottom right. Then the whole cast, save for Shadow started running to the bottom right door, followed by King Boom Boo and the frightened ghosts, then Shadow stopped in the middle of the hallway before letting loose his dark energy and engulfing the whole mansion in a 200 mile Chaos Blast.

"Wherever they are, I'm sure they're having fun." Sonic said to Tails, who had a cold feeling run down his spine. Sonic looked outside and saw the sun going down. "It gets dark early in Equestria, doesn't it?"

"No, sometimes Princess Celestia lowers the sun early which gives Princess Luna and the night more time over the day."

Sonic nodded his head in understanding. "Kind of like Daylight Savings Time back on Earth."

"Earth? Is that another planet you two have visited in your journeys?"

"Yep. It's kind of like Mobius, only much more electricity, and animals aren't the dominant species. It's a race of mammal hominids scientifically classified as 'Homo sapiens' or in layman terms, humans."

"Humans? What are they like?"

"Well, they're kind of like Yin and Yang. There are a lot of horrible humans on Earth like Dr. Eggman, but there are many good humans on Earth as well. Think of it like this; half of Earth is good and half of Earth is evil. It's just hard to find the good and the evil because their natures rarely remain the same for their natural lifetimes."

"Natural lifetimes?"

"Yeah, everyone back on Earth of Mobius has a lifetime. Don't you have lifetimes too?"

"I don't think I understand you, what's a lifetime?"

"Well, it's basically how long you live until the point where you die."

"Die? What's that?"

Sonic and Tails just realized something. If Twilight doesn't know what death is…then…maybe…?

"Twilight…" Sonic started "Have you had someone close to you go away for a while and you never saw them again?"

"Nope. Every single member of family to my great-great grandparents still keep in contact with me. They live in Cloudsdale with my great-grandparents, and my grandparents. Why?"

"Sonic, everypony in Equestria is immortal!"

"Either that…or they age very slowly. Like really slowly. Like the polar opposite of my max speed slowly."

"It's getting late. Sonic, you mind talking to Spike now? I don't want him sleeping outside." Sonic nodded and went outside.

Spike sighed at the moon with his arms crossed. Nothing had gone the way he wanted it to. Tails and Twilight had spent so much time together and just this morning, he saw the mare of his dreams, Rarity kissing Sonic the Hedgehog, whom she met only a few days ago. Of course he'd be upset and try to attack the hedgehog, especially since she let him keep one of her designs for free! But he didn't have any money to pay her with. Still, it hurt him that the two Mobians spent so much time with two of the mares that he cherished the most for different reasons. Twilight filled the role of big sister to him, and he loved Rarity more than he loved eating gems. He felt like they were being taken away from him, so he felt justified in attacking Sonic.

"I'LL DESTROY YOU, YOU LOW-DOWN, DIRTY, ROTTEN, CONNIVING LITTLE MARE-STEALING RAT!" Roared the recently-transformed teenage dragon as he jumped at Sonic, claws and teeth bared. The initial shock left Sonic vulnerable to a series of slashes to the face from the baby dragon. Sonic threw the dragon off him and stood back up, back-flipping to gain some distance. Unfortunately, he couldn't have positioned himself at a worse place, because Spike furiously barreled into him, sending both of them downstairs, crashing into a bookshelf, and flying outside the library. Tails and Twilight quickly followed. Sonic repulsed Spike with his feet, sending him into a tree, back first. Sonic took the reverie to try to talk to Spike.

"What's the deal, Spike? You're more pissed than Shadow!"

"Shut your mouth, you unforgivable traitor!" Spike roared as he swung at Sonic, albeit failing to connect on any of the attacks. Sonic did have some trouble evading the attacks, however. Most of the time, people aren't able to attack well because anger makes them lose focus, which makes their movements awkward and clumsy. Spike, on the other hand, seemed to have a good idea of where he wanted to go, and who he wanted to attack. So Sonic remained on the defensive. Then he jumped backwards into a tree, and hit Spike with a Homing Attack that had too much speed to counter. Spike ended up getting knocked to the ground.

He shook his head, gathered magic into his eyes, shining once, and then another time before blowing green fireballs at Sonic, who stepped to one side to avoid the first one, then stepped right to avoid the second fireball. But to his disadvantage, the fireballs acted as homing missiles, and once Sonic made contact with one, he transported a short height above Spike, who smacked him into the tree with his tail. "Okay, so mental note…don't get hit by his flaming green balls." Sonic got up and ran up to Spike and hit him with a Windmill kick before finishing with an Up draft that sent Spike into the sky. Spike shook his head again, slapped himself, eyes glowed thrice, and then he opened his mouth and formed a giant ball of green fire and sent right at Sonic, who jumped up in a Sonic Eagle form. He teleported above Spike and delivered the Eagle right to the noggin, ending the fight.

"Spike, don't do this! I really don't want to fight you if I don't have to."

"Then DON'T! Let me pummel you into the ground, you coward!" Spike yelled, as he brought down a double axe handle fist but Sonic blocked it and sent the dragon backwards with a kick. Tails jumped in between the hedgehog and the dragon, arm cannon at the ready.

"Spike, this isn't you! What happened?"

"YOU! You and that hedgehog! Ever since you two came to Equestria through that portal, Twilight's never once referred to me for anything! As for that hedgehog, that blue stinking, thieving, bilge rat, he put the moves on Rarity and she actually gave him a kiss! I've only ever once gotten a kiss from Rarity and I've bent over backwards for her so much that I should be a pretzel right now!" Then the image of Spike as a pretzel came into his head, causing Tails and Sonic to laugh uncontrollably. Spike growled and lunged for the fox and Sonic ran in front of Tails to protect him, then Spike made a face before collapsing to the ground unconscious. Then strands of green energy emitted from him and settled into the form of the Green Emerald, the Emerald of Hatred. Spike reverted back to his normal form and stared into the face of a disappointed Twilight, a shocked Tails, and an angry Sonic.

"Heheheh…I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Big time, bud. Big time."

Spike hung his head. It was bad enough that he took a Chaos Emerald without Sonic's permission, but the fact that he used its power to hurt his two new friends felt horrible. Now that the remnants of hatred had vanished from him, all he felt was confused. Why was he jealous of Sonic and Tails? Twilight said it herself, no one could replace him as her assistant. He was after all, her best friend, or at least, he thought so.

"Bit for your thoughts?" Came a voice. Sonic walked onto the roof and took a seat next to Spike.

"I'm the worst baby dragon/little brother in Equestria."

"Not a good bit." Sonic sighed. "Look, Spike-"

"I was jealous. Jealous of both you and Tails. Ever since you two stepped onto the scene a few days ago, Twilight's never done anything with me. All her attention's been on Tails. You've actually gone around helping others and making yourself useful and me… I just wallowed in my own jealousy. You and Tails probably get so much love back where you come from, huh? Saving the world from tyranny, turning super all the time, turning enemies into rivals, and rivals into friends. Tails… he's a genius, for crying out loud! He created a workshop, a desk, and a communicator without even using magic! He can relate to Twilight completely! They're both organized, they're both intelligent, and both of them can go through whole encyclopedias in 6 minutes easy and recite it what they read, cover to cover! IN VERBATIM! No one should be able to do that, no matter how smart! In the end…" Tears welled up in Spike's eyes. "I don't think I can be or do who you and Tails are, or what you've done! You're a supersonic hedgehog, he's a two-tailed fox who can keep up with you, and I'm… I'm just a baby dragon." Spike closed his eyes and the tears came down. Spike had betrayed the trust the hedgehog and the fox put in him and took one of the Emeralds without permission. After everything that happened today, he felt like he would never have that trust again.

He also felt a gloved hand on his head. He turned and looked at Sonic, who kept his eyes on the moon. "You have no reason to be jealous of me or Tails, Spike. Sure, me and Tails are celebrated often back home, but there are many things I can't do on my own. Flying is one of them, and I certainly can't breathe fire. I'm certainly not the faithful assistant of a Princess in Training."

"But you're so much better than me a lot of things."

"You know, Spike, you remind of Tails when he was just a kid, except you weren't bullied because you had two tails. He felt like I was really cool, the awesome hero who saves the day every time, and then one day, he saved an entire city from being leveled into rubble by Baldy McNoseHair! After that, I started realizing… pretty soon, Tails won't need my help anymore. He'll be a solo hero one day, and a great one at that, but still I'll miss him. What does this have to do with you, Spike? Well, you already have a really cool awesome hero and her name is Twilight Sparkle and she can do a lot of things…but she can't do everything. Tails is the best little brother a hedgehog like me could ask, and you're the best little brother Twilight could ask for. She needs you, bro."

"Bro? So you mean?"

"If you'd like, you can be my little bro, too! But I'm not going to treat you like a child, I know you'd hate it if I said you couldn't help with anything. I remember when I told Tails that I didn't need his help, he left me to fend for myself for 4 exact minutes! I would've been pound cake if it wasn't for him. So I'll be counting on you later on, alright? Just… don't try to do everything to help me. Do what you can. But no more Emerald eating unless it's not a Chaos Emerald, alright?" Spike rubbed his eyes and gave Sonic a sniffling nod. Sonic then held out his fist.

"Now put 'ere there, bro!" Sonic said, flashing a toothy grin. Spike stood sniffling, shaking with his arms clenched at his sides before leaping into Sonic's chest, bawling out apologies. Sonic smiled and wrapped his arms around the crying baby dragon, then looked towards the entrance and saw his little brother and Twilight standing there, trying not to hug the two. In the end, Sonic beckoned them to him and they ran to him, turning the hug into a group hug.

I'm running out of ideas.

To tell you the truth, I don't even know how I made this far. Then again, Ink's been the proverbial cornerstone of this entire thing. Not many people have the time to BETA fanfic chapters, you know. I've said it once, probably will say it again. Ink's the reason why this fanfic has reached such popularity. If you think it's lacking in quality, however, it's not her fault.

So, all the weekdays are done. The next day will be Sonic's free day. Wonder what I should have him do…or should have happen to him?

See you in a week!