Just gonna put a few notes in here: This arc of the story is a little bit like what Shakespeare would call a tragicomedy, usually featuring separation, grief, and guilt. Also, I'm gonna refer to my version of the Sonic/MLP crossover as the Disasterverse.

AND PLEASE DON'T SKP THIS: I'VE POSTED A TRAILER TO MY NEW MLP FIM SERIES PARODY. It's called MLPoop Captions is Magic (although I'm changing the name to MLPoop Fiendship is Captions). If you could check it out, that would be awesome.

ash the pokevenger: ?

BaconLettuceTomatoSweg: Yes! That's it! We need more Pinkie Pie!

flutterlikeanangel: …

Spike Hedgehog: Thumbs up.

Christian Ape99: Your comments are making less and less sense as they go on… let's go back to square one.

spisaacman: Cool… I do agree with BLTSweg, though… we do need a little more funny and a little less dark. Also, I will make more of an effort to refer to the time of day. Your comment made me read back and I haven't been doing that good of a job of it… maybe I'll rewrite… Oh, and that is improper grammar, and no. They're fifteen for crying out loud.

Cobalt Spikes was trying everything he could to escape from his bodybind, but the ropes were as taught as they could get and they were so well placed that he wasn't able to move at all. He could have sworn that they were so tight they were cutting into his skin and he was bleeding.

Those blows he'd gotten two days ago hadn't faded either. His wing was still snapped, and the ropes that bound his wings to his sides just made the burning pain worse. The scar was still open, yet it had stopped stinging, which was a plus. He had gotten a black eye too, which he hadn't found much difference in, except for the fact that he knew it was puffy and swelled.

Six days had passed... only one day away from the deadline Eggman had posed… one day away from the permanent damage the mad scientist had threatened to inflict on Cobalt's wings. If that was anything like the injury Rainbow Dash had gotten from the manticore on his second day in Equestria–with the bone jutting out everywhere and blood coating it–then he was in serious trouble if she didn't step it up and rescue him.

"Mmf…" he muttered through the muzzle ropes, lowering his eyes.

WITH RAINBOW DASH

Rainbow had decided to go back for Chip when a bird with a letter tied to its leg had come and visited her. The note had read that Chip had spent a lot of time in the temple at Stagonia and had had a breakthrough. She'd taken off and was tearing through the clouds as fast as her aching bones would allow.

She skidded to a halt on the cobblestone ground and shook off the impact of landing. She quickly used her momentum of landing to running momentum. She rested her wings at her sides and instead drained her lungs of air by running at top speed. She burst into the door and immediately sat down, her sides heaving for air. "I–it–what happened?!" she gasped.

"Ah, there you are." Professor Pickle smiled. Even though she was extremely tired, Rainbow couldn't resist scowling at his oblivious cheerfulness. "Where's your friend?"

"Somewhere else." Rainbow muttered.

"Well, I'm not one to question that. Cucumber sandwich?" he offered.

"No thanks. I'm only here to see Chip."

"Ah." The professor straightened his spectacles. "Now that is a matter worth discussing. It appears we'll have to change his title to another name."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, her anger vanishing instantly to be replaced by curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it appears that with the recovery of his memories, he has recalled his proper name: Light Gaia."

"Wait… he got his memory back?" her eyes suddenly brightened. "So it's possible…" she breathed almost in awe, then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "Never mind… just an idea. So like the opposite of that thing we're fighting?" she asked.

"Yes, quite." Pickle nodded. "I suppose you'd like to see him?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Rainbow smiled forcedly. It seemed that all her positive emotions had been faked in the last six days.

UPSTAIRS WITH THE OTHERS

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo greeted her idol happily.

"Where's Cobalt?" Miles interrupted, his voice cold.

"Somewhere else." Rainbow replied, using the same monotonous response she had with Professor Pickle.

"Eggman got him, didn't he?" Miles said in the same tone, his eyes narrowing. "You lost him. That's why you left."

"So what if I did?" Rainbow growled, feeling her anger rise up.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you." Miles spat bitterly. "I should've figured you'd fail like this."

"I DID NOT FAIL!" the cyan pegasus exploded, her wings flaring in anger and eyes taking on a wild, insane look. It was weird, though. She didn't even know why she was this angry. "I STILL HAVE AN ENTIRE DAY TO SAVE HIM AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN HELPING ME!"

"HE GOT TAKEN BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT HIM ENOUGH TO MAKE SURE NOTHING HAPPENED!" Miles yelled back.

"OH YEAH?!" Rainbow snarled. "IF YOU CARE ABOUT HIM SO MUCH, THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO SAVE HIM YOURSELF!" then her fury spontaneously turned into tears and she sat down on the floor again and started crying once more.

Second passed in which the only sound in the room was the quiet sobbing coming from the miserable pegasus. Then Miles spoke up. "I'm sorry." He muttered. "I shouldn't blame you. I'm as much to blame as you are. You're right, you care about him much more than I do. If I'd really cared about him, I would've never let him meet me."

"Wh–what do you mean?" Rainbow sniffed.

"It–" Miles took on a pained expression. "Nothing. It's nothing."

Scootaloo spoke up. "You seem tense."

"Only a little." Miles said sarcastically.

Rainbow wiped her eyes. "Sorry for blowing up at you. It's… just… well, I don't know what it is. Just… sorry." She sat up and tried to pretend like that whole scene had never happened. "So, where's Light Gaia, huh?"

"Right here!" the purple pixie creature said, fluttering in. "Hi Rainbow Dash!" he said cheerfully, but then his expression turned serious. "Now I suppose you'll need my help when you get to Eggmanland."

AT THE GOLDEN OAKS LIBRARY

Twilight Sparkle's research wasn't really yielding anything prevalent on the case of any common thread between Cobalt and Shadow. In fact, she was just hitting more dead ends the more she looked into it. It was like a math problem that looked simple from a distance, but when she took a closer look, she found it had more steps than she'd anticipated. But Rainbow's visit had given her another outlet for her obsessive research.

Simply due to their common traits, she'd formulated the theory that Rainbow and Cobalt were related, whether it be distant cousins or brother and sister, it would make sense if they had some sort of blood connection. She knew that to anypony else it would sound pretty farfetched, mostly because of the facts that they would probably remember each other, and also the prospect that they were in a romantic relationship. But in her books she'd read stories about siblings separated at birth, retaining absolutely no memory of each other. But then if that were true, Rainbow's parents must have kept Cobalt's existence a secret from her for fifteen entire years. That would've been hard alone, but considering the whole memory loss thing, that would've made it even harder. All in all it was a stretch, but you had to try everything in a mysterious case like Cobalt's, and evidence proved that this might be true.

She'd have to look into this theory a little more…

THAT NIGHT AT EGGMAN'S BASE

"So, aren't you even a little worried that your little girlfriend isn't going to make it in time?" Eggman sneered at Cobalt. Cobalt glared at him, glad at least that Eggman wouldn't get the satisfaction of a response.

"I mean, I would if I were in a situation like this, I'd be." Eggman went on. "Especially if I knew that in just a few hours I'd be getting my wings broken forever. Given, I don't have wings. But that would be to you like getting my arms broken forever would be to me, now wouldn't it?"

Cobalt let that one sink in. It was true, if is wings were taken away, he wasn't sure how he'd be able to cope with it.

"Maybe after I've taken over the world, I'll keep you and your puny little friends as pets." Eggman seemed to ponder the idea as if it were interesting. "Yes, it would be extremely funny to put you all in an endless maze for the rest of your lives. I could watch you wander and suffer until you died."

Cobalt wanted desperately to tell him to shut up so he wouldn't have to hear this stupid stuff anymore, but the muzzle kept him silent so that he couldn't shut Eggman up… or spew insults and choice words… whichever came first.

But all of a sudden, there was an explosion in the corner and an alarm went off. Two shadowed figures, one small and floating and the other walking on the ground, approached through the clearing smoke. "Hello, Eggman." One said, becoming more visible as the smoke cleared. Rainbow Dash (in her werepony form, because it was night) and Chip emerged from the smoke looking downright awesome. "I believe this is the point where I rescue my friend and where you acknowledge you've lost." Rainbow finished.

There was a shout of, "NEVER!" then Eggman pressed a button.

And all hell broke loose.

Part 2 coming soon… (remember the video, guys!)