The afternoon blue sky began to earn a bright orange and yellow glow as the sun began setting behind the distant hills. The white clouds had a bright pink colour as the sunlight shone on them. The front yard of Canterlot High School had a number of students exiting the doors, ranging from a student walking by themselves or a group chatting together. For the students, it was only another regular day of high school at Canterlot High; nothing out of the ordinary.

Flash was walking down the stairs from the entrance doors with Brawly Beats and Ringo; two other musicians who along with Flash formed a music band known as the Flashes with the instruments of a guitar, bass or electric keyboard and drum set.

"Man, I still can't believe Sonic managed to beat the Diamond Dogs just by dodging them and knocking them out in one foul swoop," Flash chuckled to his buddies.

Brawly laughed along with Flash, "I know, right, dude? The blue guy's seriously acrobatic. All those flips and breakdancing while avoiding their punches without breaking a sweat? And I thought Rainbow Dash was the tough one at the school."

Ringo snickered while playfully elbowing Brawly's arm, "Just don't let her hear ya say that cuz she'll come after ya."

As the trio continued to laugh about the subject, Flash's expression swiftly changed when he started to catch something off, a smell. He sniffed as he could smell something, and it didn't smell environmentally friendly, "Uhh, guys, you smell something?"

Brawly and Ringo took a moment to sniff for the strange smell. Brawly was quick to catch it as well, "Yeah, what is that?"

Ringo went through processing his thoughts on the smell, "Is that… smoke?"

Upon realizing that the smell was indeed smoke, Flash's eyes widened with a gasp. He and the rest of the students ran forward to reach the sidewalk in front of the school. They all looked over to the left to see something that made their jaws drop down; a large cloud of thick black smoke was rising into the air from Canterlot Park along the road down the left of the school. Fire could be seen as the source of the smoke from far away.

The students all watched and pondered with each other as the smoke rose higher into the air, slowly fading into thin air in the process. "Yo, what in the world's going on out there?" Brawly asked in wonder, "Was there an accident?"

"I don't know," Flash scratched his head, "It looks like it's coming from the park downtown. But what could cause a fire like that?"

Then before anyone else could get the chance to say anything, there was the loud sound of a clang, echoing from so far away it sounded like it was coming from across the globe. And following the sound, an object could be seen flying across the sky with a trail of dust following it. The object was Metal Sonic, but he was so far away from the ground that he just looked like a dot shooting over like a rocket.

The students watched with arched eyebrows as Metal flew over their heads before he started falling down and disappeared behind the hills. As everyone pondered what this was all about, Flash happened to look back over at the smoke. His eyes widened once more as he saw something coming. Something bright and blue. And really, really fast. Sonic's streaking blur of blue light and electricity went shooting straight across the road and past the school like a supersonic jet. The amount of speed Sonic went at caused a powerful gust of wind to follow, causing the students' hair and clothes to move in the breeze until it died down. Due to being on the sidewalk right next to the sidewalk, some of the students were blown right off their feet and fell to the ground.

The students were all left stunned by what they had just witnessed. First the cloud of smoke and then a sudden blue blur of light zooming right past them at extreme speeds. Flash was sitting on the ground panting in surprise; his face full of shock as he looked in the direction the blur went. Something had clicked in his mind, he got lucky to see something in the blur just briefly. For a brief second, he thought he saw someone in the blur. For a brief second, he thought he saw, "…Sonic?"

(Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Doomsday Zone - Jahn Davis Remix)

Following the road to the highway where the blur had gone and coming back to where the action was now taking place, Sonic and Metal charged forward towards each other. Sonic jumped off the ground while Metal flew at him with his rocket engine. Both speedy fighters were about to collide with each other…

When in slow motion, Sonic started moving at high speeds and did a front flip with an axe kick. With enough force, his foot whacked Metal on the top of his head, causing him to fall to the ground and slide across the road with enough sparks going off from the friction. Metal was quick to throw his hands at the ground and front flip back up before he turned around and started flying at Sonic again.

Without hesitation, Sonic started running straight down the road with Metal following him on his tail. It didn't take long for the two speedy rivals to get next to each other and move at the same speed. Both took a moment to look over at each other with stern glares before turning their eyes back on the road. With a long turn to the left ahead of them, they both began drifting intensely with a cloud of dust following Sonic.

Once on a straight road, Metal rose into the air behind Sonic and raised his left arm, deploying his missile launcher. Three of his remaining missiles fired out and flew towards the Mobian, locking onto his movement. Thinking quickly, Sonic used his Quick-Step skill to shift right to the left side of the road with the first missile just missing him and exploding upon its impact on the ground. He Quick-Stepped again to the right side of the road and the second missile also missed him. With a third Quick-Step, he was back in the middle of the road, but this time he reached out with his hand and managed to grab the third missile, holding it in place.

Metal's targeting system in his visor locked onto Sonic, and he fired his last missile towards his opponent. Sonic's ears twitched as he could hear the missile coming at him from behind. Thinking quickly, he jumped into the air with a spin and threw the other missile he caught straight at the other. Both missiles collided with each other, resulting in a loud explosion. The explosion went off right in front of Metal, causing the robot to get forced backwards and collide with the ground and bounce around before he was back in the air with his rocket engine.

Sonic kept his eyes looking forward as he ran across the highway road, the blur of blue light and energy glowing brightly as his lightning sparked around him. It wasn't long before he could hear the sound of a rocket engine approaching from behind him again. Metal charged at the Mobian from high in the air, his arms out ready to strike. He boosted his rocket and started diving at Sonic quicker.

Sonic looked over his shoulder to see the robot coming at him. Reacting quickly, he leaped forward in the air just before Metal managed to reach him. He shoulder-rolled across the ground to get back onto his feet with a Power Ring in his hand which he grabbed from his backpack while recovering. Slipping the Ring onto his wrist, he jumped up over Metal's head performing a Spin Jump. The Ring on his wrist began glowing brightly as he spun faster and faster.

With the Ring glowing brightly with concentration, Sonic began performing Homing Attacks on his opponent. He bashed around the robot at intense speeds, landing most blows on his head with sparks and smoke bursting out from each blow. As he dashed forward for another attack, Metal was quick enough to catch him spinning with his hands, leaving Sonic vulnerable. The robot then threw his opponent down at the ground and the Mobian hit the ground on his back, spinning out of control in the air.

Metal deployed his machine gun from his gauntlet and cocked it, preparing to fire. Sonic's eyes snapped open as he forced his hands at the ground to catch himself before jumping off, flipping backwards to get on his feet again. Quickly turning to run forward, he started boosting with intense speed as Metal began firing his machine gun at him. The muzzle flashes shone brightly as the bullets hit the ground just missing their target, leaving clouds of dust from every impact.

Sonic boosted forward as quickly as he could avoiding Metal's gunfire. He jumped left and right with shoulder rolls and front flips, dodging incoming bullets that got close to him. His energy shone around him in the bright blue blur of light and lightning. As he continued running forward, he turned his head to look over his shoulder at Metal as a drop of sweat was going down the side of his head, processing the situation with his opponent, "Man, I knew Metal's always been getting tougher every time we fight, but I don't remember him having missiles OR a machine gun before! Egghead's really gone and done it with the upgrades!"

Once more, it was quick for Metal's machine gun to run out of ammo. Noticing this and seizing the opportunity, Sonic jumped up in the air and performed a Humming Top attack on Metal, spinning with his leg at high speeds in a tornado-like manner while kicking his robot rival several times before front flipping with an axe kick, knocking said robot to the ground. Metal collided with the ground a few times, causing him to fall behind as Sonic landed on the ground still running at his speed.

Metal was quick to catch back up to Sonic. The Mobian started boosting his speed, once more his blur of lightning sparked bright. Metal responded in kind, creating a boost of his own, his rocket engine firing harder as the robot left a dark blue blur following him. Both opponents started Spin Dashing and clashed into each other several times. With another clash, the two speedsters locked onto each other, sparks flashing out from the friction between them.

Sonic quickly rolled to the side before coming back and bashing Metal away, jumping out of his Spin Dash state and started running again. Getting ahead while Metal bounced away into the trees, he looked at his surroundings, looking for an environment that could be useful to his advantage; either through the forest on his left to use the thick trees or over the snow mountains on his right for the open space.

This was a decision Sonic needed to make quickly as his ear gave an involuntary twitch again. He looked behind to see Metal was charging at him again, only this time he was covered in an aura of yellowish-orange electric energy, using his V. Maximum Overdrive Attack to catch up even faster. The robot's eyes glowed brightly as he charged like a literal rocket towards his target. A quick chill of fear shivered down Sonic's spine, "Yikes-yikes-yikes! I hate that attack!"

Looking for anything useful ahead, Sonic could see a street light pole on the right side of the road. The perfect way to get off the road quickly. Metal dashed forward with Overdrive almost reaching the Mobian, ready to penetrate his target. But just before he managed to catch up to his opponent, Sonic shifted to the right side of the road and reached out for the pole. Grabbing it and holding on enough, he spun around it while Metal went flying right past missing him. Briefly afterwards, Sonic let go of the pole and started running up the nearest mountain, pushing his speed further.

As Sonic ran up at the terrain, his blur grew longer, and the energy shone brighter. The faster he went, the more wind he created. Lots of flowers were getting pulled out of the ground by the gust of wind from Sonic's speed and flying away in the air. The clouds he ran through received a hole from the speed he went at. The blur was so bright that it could be seen going up the mountain from really far distances. So far that it could even be seen all the way from CHS.

Reaching the top of the mountain, Sonic leaped off of the ledge and landed on top of the snow. Though it wasn't long until Metal suddenly flew past upward. Still covered in his Overdrive aura, he was several feet in the air before he turned his rocket downward and started shooting down towards Sonic. Sonic's head jolted up as he saw Metal coming at him from above and yelped in surprise, "WHOA!"

Acting fast, Sonic dashed forward right before Metal hit the ground hard. The very second he hit the ground with his Overdrive attack, there was a loud crashing noise going off as an earth-shaking thud followed the slam. Snow blew away from the area like smoke from the explosion of a bomb. The sound could be heard echoing all the way from the mountain to Canterlot and the cloud of snow and dust could be seen shooting off in an expanding ring until it faded.

Meanwhile on Mobius, Tails was laying down on the ancient and partly mossy stone floor at the top of the ruined temple on Angel Island. He seemed to have fallen asleep earlier possibly due to waiting longer than expected for something. Though it appeared that he didn't have to wait any longer as a bright light slowly began shining over his face, causing him to wake up. As he sat up from the ground, he looked over to his right to see something that had just appeared in the air, a Portal Ring portal.

The other Mobians around Tails who had also fallen asleep were waking up and observing the portal that shined and glowed before them. After a short moment, it made a sound as its energy and particles briefly shifted before two figures suddenly appeared jumping out of it. Once they were on their feet, the portal behind them vanished from existence. One of the figures was Shadow and the other was another Mobian male hedgehog.

This hedgehog bared an appearance similar to Sonic, only with specific differences. His fur was fire yellow, his muzzle fur had a peach coat to the Blue Blur, and he had two coloured eyes. His left eye was brownish-green and his right eye was light blue, however, both the pupils were white indicating that he was blind. He wore pure white gloves with cuffs on his hands. His shoes were the exact same type as Sonic's with a similar red colour and the difference being that the highlights were black, and the buckle was silver. He also wore a strap around his neck which had small yet brightly glowing white crystal. Unlike Sonic, he didn't have any scars on his face or stomach.

The rest of the Mobians all stood up as Shadow held his hand out in front of the hedgehog, "Everyone, this is Gage. Gage the Hedgehog. He and Sonic have worked together in the past."

Gage gave everyone a salute with a wink, "Sup, guys? Nice to meet ya."

Amy couldn't help but look at Gage. There was something about his eyes that she could figure out. Why were the pupils white? Was he blind? If so, how was he able to see?

"Umm, I don't want to sound harsh," Amy spoke out, "But are you… well, you know… blind?"

That kind of question from Amy almost made everyone else give her a blank expression in response to what she said, it felt a bit offensive even though she said she'd try not to be. Luckily, though, Gage just let out a chuckle as he apparently didn't seem to be offended by it at all, "Yeah, a disability I was born with, but hey, I've managed."

Rouge put her finger on her chin as she couldn't help feeling curious about the candidate Shadow had chosen, "It's a pleasure to meet you, dear. But Shadow, how exactly is this specific hedgehog going to help us find Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds?"

Shadow pointed his finger at something hanging from Gage's neck, "With this."

Gage raised his hand and took hold of the crystal on his strap to show it to the Mobians, "This is my Elemental Chaos Crystal. It's a very rare gemstone that can only respond to the DNA of the individual that obtains it. It's actually what gave me the ability to see, and it actually has the power to open a portal to travel to different dimensions, that's as long as you use a single focused thought."

A hopeful expression made its way onto Cream's face, "So does this mean we'll be able to save Mr. Sonic and bring him back home?"

Gage raised his finger as he answered Cream's question, "There is a downside to this, though. I can't just do it whenever I want. It requires the use of high levels of its energy to the point where once used, its power will be very drained and need days if not weeks to recharge."

Blaze had her arms crossed as she asked Gage while looking at Eggman's teleporter down below the ruins, "Then I suppose we'll have to rely on faith and hope that this can work. Do you know if you can figure out what dimension that Sonic and Eggman have been sent to with your crystal and the coordinates that were last used on that?"

Gage took a moment to get a good look at the machine down below, and the next thing to follow was a smirk of confidence growing on his face, "Sure can. Even better, we'll be able to recreate the portal and have them and the Chaos Emeralds all pulled back here."

The rest of the Mobians gave a nod in agreement to the plan. Tails stretched out his hands cracking his knuckles, "Alright, let's get to work."

Back on the Earth in the other dimension, the sound of the collision on the mountain echoed across the land. The ground could be felt shaking briefly from the surface. Civilians could see the snow and dust cloud that had burst out from the crash landing caused by Metal.

On the mountain, Sonic laid in the snow half-covered in it. He groaned as he struggled to get up, shaking his head to get any bits of snow out of his hair. He then rubbed his face to get bits of snow off, "Man, if I'm going to take Metal down, I gotta end this quick."

As Sonic finished digging the snow out of his face, his attention was caught by a glowing light, a familiar glow with a glimmering energy sound. His eyes snapped open as his realization kicked in and he looked over to see that the Chaos Emeralds he had flew out of his backpack. Looking over his shoulder he saw that the zipper had somehow gotten open, but luckily nothing else seemed to have fallen out.

Using his speed, he rushed forward to quickly grab the Emeralds. He was successful in taking the blue and yellow Emeralds. But when his hand reached for the red, a jetting object suddenly whooshed past grabbing the Emerald in the process right before Sonic managed to grab it. He jolted back as he knew just what it was that snatched the Emerald, "CRAP!"

Metal flew upward with the red Emerald in hand with his engine. He continued his way up until he reached the top of a small mountain peak. Shortly afterwards, Sonic had rushed up and jumped onto another peak yards from Metal's position.

Both Sonic and Metal stood their ground. They stood and watched each other, their eyes locked on one another. The wind blew quietly with the snow moving along with it. Sonic's hair and hoodie shifted along with the breeze.

Metal stared down at his organic foe without a single thought of anything else. The red Chaos Emerald glowed brightly in his hand. Sonic's eyes shifted briefly as he noticed the glow from the Emerald before he looked down at the two Emeralds in his own hands. Despite having one Emerald more than Metal, there was a chance that his robotic duplicate could beat him. And then take the Emeralds.

After a moment of thought about this, Sonic turned his attention back towards Metal and called out to him with boldness in his voice, "Alright, Metal. Here's what's gonna happen; we're gonna use the Emeralds we have. Don't hold anything back. Come at me with everything ya got. The winner walks away with the Emeralds and the loser gets nothing. That sound fair?"

Once a quick pause had gone by, Metal made beeping noises as he nodded in response. He raised his hand with the red Chaos Emerald as it started glowing brightly. The next thing he did was shove into his depression, locking it in place. Its energy began sparking out with particles as a red Chaos aura began forming from underneath the robot's feet. Metal slowly crossed his arms in front of him as his body began to form a red glow. Once its colour had formed, he swung his arms out as aura began bursting out of him, the energy blowing the snow around him away. His eyes began glowing brighter than before with the energy of the Emerald.

(Texas Faggott - Back to Mad - Super Mario Bros. Z Style)

Fully charged with power from the Chaos energy of the Emerald, Metal's jet engine was immediately fully powered up. He shot off the peak at intense speeds with a force so strong from his feet that the top of the peak burst into pieces. With a "hmph" in response to this, Sonic raised his Emeralds in the air in his hands, both glowing intensely as their energy soured around his arms and into him. His body began adopting a bright golden glow as the Emerald's energy built up before they disappeared into his hands as an aura started bursting out of him as well. He slammed his fist on the ground with one foot shifting backwards right before he shot off his peak like a bullet with his energy following him in a bright streak.

Both of the blue fighters charged at each other with their speed increasing by the second, their streaks of energy growing and shining. They began spin dashing with electricity sparking in the process. Upon collision, the two spinning fighters pushing against each other caused the energy to burst out of them like steel being cut with a loud electric sawing noise. The energy intensified by the second; the glow brightened, and the sparks spread further. Pushed to the furthest, the combined energy of the three Emeralds by Sonic and Metal fighting ended causing an explosion of light and particles to go off with clouds of smoke following.

The explosion of energy caused Sonic and Metal to shoot up into the sky. Soaring through the clouds, the two started going at it with as much force as they had. They did a pair of homing attacks against each other until they were locked back into a Spin Dash matchup. Sonic was quick to break it up when he did an axe kick, causing the robot to go down. But Metal was quick to fly back up and throw a strong punch in Sonic's gut, causing the Mobian to let out a shout of pain. Metal then grabbed his opponent by the neck and started throwing punches at his face. He managed to land a few punches before Sonic caught the fist and gave his robot rival a high kick. Following the high kick, the Mobian performed a Humming Top, kicking Metal several times in a circle and then launched him higher in the air with a backflip kick.

Metal fired away high into the sky from Sonic's attack. He shot up so high that he went over the clouds and an airplane could be seen from really far away in the background. He was quick to reboot and use his engine to start flying straight back down. Under the clouds, Sonic was skydiving down the sky heading back towards the mountain; he planned to get close enough to the steep side so that he could Spin Dash against it to start running on his feet. He could hear the sounds of a rocket above him, and he looked over his shoulder to see Metal bursting through the clouds, shooting straight at it like a jetting rocket with his hands ready to strike, much to the hedgehog's surprise.

Metal reached Sonic within seconds and grabbed hold of him tightly. His engine burned brighter as he started diving down even faster towards the mountain. The amount of intense speed towards the ground caused heat to build up in Sonic's back as it faced the earth, much to his discomfort, "OW! Hot-hot-hot!"

As the two fighters dived closer and closer to the mountain, the heat got worse for Sonic as wisps of fire began spurting on the right shoulder and left leg of his clothes. Thinking quickly, he grabbed Metal's arms to pull them off from around and shoved his foot in the robot's face, forcing him to look away and cause his engine to go off balance as he began spinning down towards the mountain. Sonic then placed his feet on Metal's chest and jumped off of him with enough force to send himself towards a steep side while causing the out-of-control flying robot to go crashing into deep snow.

Sonic was close to reaching the steep side of the mountain. As he skydived closer to it, he quickly patted on the flames on his clothes to put them out before they spread. He started Spin Dashing at intense speeds with all of his focus on getting this just right; his lightning flickered brightly around him, and the wind howled around him. The moment he made contact with the rock of the side, he shot straight into a rolling dash down the mountain with relative ease.

Metal's clenched fist burst out of the snow with the energy of the Chaos Emerald soaring around him. He blasted his way out of the snow with it all blowing away like an explosion as he flew upward into the sky before doing a U-turn to chase after Sonic again.

Sonic's ear twitched again as he could hear Metal following him from far away. He looked over his shoulder once more to see that his rival was a distance away yet able to still follow him. He huffed as he knew if this went any longer, civilians could be at risk. Looking forward at the bottom of the mountain, he saw the forest from before just across the road; countless trees were close to each other, making it difficult for both him and Metal alike to take sharp turns at intense speeds, though there were some small yet visible open areas. The perfect place to pin the robot and take him down.

Metal's eyes glowed brightly with his Chaos Emerald's aura bursting out further, seemingly indicating that he had just had enough of the fight. The Emerald in his depression shone its light at its brightest with particles spewing out. He threw out his arms and legs as a Chaos-powered Plasma Pulse blast began firing out. The energy beam blasted across the ground, leaving a path of shattered and burned rock along with smoke from the heat of the attack. The blast was gaining on Sonic quickly down the hill, but Sonic's speed was quickly building up with the blue energy blur around him glowing brighter and brighter.

Within seconds, Sonic started boosting even faster, getting far ahead of the Plasma Pulse beam and rushing into the forest at the bottom of the mountain. Once his attack was deactivated, Metal's visor began using long-range scanners in an attempt to locate Sonic. After looking left to right, the Mobian was detected heading straight ahead. Boosting his rocket engine, the robot started flying over the forest to catch up to his enemy.

Metal flew over the forest following Sonic with his sensors tracking him. The Mobian continued running in a relatively straight line through the thick trees, making it easy for the robot to stay on his tail. But then, after another quick scan, the hedgehog was out of sight. In confusion, Metal looked around from left to right trying to find Sonic again, only this time he was having trouble locating him.

Before Metal could get his chance to find his target, a bright blue blur suddenly shot out from below, knocking the robot higher into the air. Sonic suddenly appeared right above Metal and axe-kicked him forward down towards the ground. The robot went crashing into the grass with a loud landing sound with dirt and stones flying away in the process.

After his intense landing in the ground, Metal crawled out of the hole in the dirt; albeit covered in dirt and scrapes with his armour damaged. Sparks of electricity crackled around him. The glow in his eyes flickered as he struggled to stand up straight.

After a moment, Sonic suddenly stomped onto the ground several feet away from Metal. Specs of his hair adapted the same blue glow as the one in his eyes with his lightning sparking out. Due to the amount of damage he suffered, Metal couldn't stand still for more than a few seconds until sparks of electricity caused him to jolt at times.

Sonic's fists clenched tightly as his lightning intensified. Knowing this was his chance, he slightly slid one foot behind the other as he prepared to sprint at Metal. The aura from his Emeralds began bursting out of him brightly in a blue glow like his lightning with particles flickering and wind blowing the leaves and branches in the trees. He swung his arms outward as he let out a shout with his voice echoing loudly, "NO MORE PLAYING AROUND!"

Sonic suddenly boosted forward at full speed. He bashed into Metal with enough force that the robot was knocked off the ground. As he went flying backwards, Sonic landed against a thick tree and jumped forward again, repeatedly bashing and boosting into Metal in several directions until the robot was knocked high into the air. Once several feet in the air over the forest, he started receiving homing attacks from Sonic from above and below left and right.

Sonic appeared right above Metal fully covered in Chaos energy and his lightning. He flipped forward in the air with an axe kick so strong that Metal was launched straight down with an intense velocity and SLAMMED into the ground with a crash and dirt bursting out from the impact.

Sonic landed on the ground next to the crater with one knee and fist down. He slowly raised his head as the blue glow in his eyes disappeared. The Chaos energy in his aura and the lightning slowly faded away as he stood to his feet. He raised and looked at his open right hand, which now held the red Chaos Emerald. The fight was over. He won.

Sonic allowed himself a deep, calming breath as he smiled at his victory, "Better luck next time, Metal."

Then mere seconds right after he said that, Sonic's ears twitched as he could hear a jetting sound behind him. He turned around to see Metal shooting out of the crater in the ground. But instead of turning down to face him, he fired off higher and higher into the air away from him, albeit jittery. Once he was high enough in the air, Metal stayed where he hovered in the air with his rocket. He stared at Sonic below on the ground who glanced back at him with a stern look.

Though Metal didn't have the ability to speak, he could imagine his own voice from when he became Neo Metal Sonic in his 'mind' as his eyes gave off a small glow, "I will surpass you."

With that out of the way, Metal turned from Sonic and began flying away through the sky. As he watched his robot rival recede from view, Sonic pulled his glasses off and hung them on the collar of his shirt once more. All he could think about was how Metal could've ended up in this dimension and what it meant if he was here.

Sonic looked at the Emerald in his hand once more as he thought to himself, "Chances are the rest of them are here somewhere too. And if Metal got yanked into this world… Eggman's here too. But where could he be?"

Sonic's train of thoughts was derailed as he could hear the sound of sirens approaching. The police were arriving. His questions were going to need answering for another day. Feeling he's been here long enough, Sonic sprinted away out of the forest. His blue blur could be seen from high above as he ran down the high back to Canterlot City.

Over at Canterlot High, students had just started leaving for home. Some went walking down the sidewalk at the front while others headed to their cars in the parking lot at the back of the building. Very few would stay for a little while depending on their hobbies. Outside on the left side of the school, there was a soccer field with lines of white on the grass to separate the teams during games and nets for the goalies, along with a few pairs of bleachers for audiences to sit down and watch from.

The field was quiet with only the sounds of the wind blowing in the background and birds chirping in the sky. No student at CHS seemed interested in staying in this area after school for a while. Except for one as a soccer ball went flying into the soccer net on the left side of the field. Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of the field on the white line spray-painted in the grass. A pair of soccer balls were lined up along the line as she kicked one into the net at a time. Her hat, glasses and hoodie were set aside on one of the bleachers on the ground-level seats while she practiced.

Through every swing of her leg kicking a soccer ball into the net ahead of her, Rainbow showed an expression of focus on concentration. For every next one she kicked, she would take a moment to examine the distance between her and her target with a deep inhale and exhale. She wouldn't let any noise distract her from her hobbies. That was until there was an unusual sound, someone nearby letting out a groan of… pain?

Unsure of what she just heard, Rainbow turned around to see something that she wasn't expecting to appear, or rather someone. Sonic was leaning against the side of the bleachers looking beat up with his clothes a bit dirty. He held his right shoulder while quietly moaning in pain, "Ow… that was not pleasant at all…"

The first thing to come to Rainbow's mind upon seeing this was what could've happened to Sonic. First, she saw him all tidy and standing straight, and now he looked like had just gotten into a fight with thugs. Unbeknownst to her, he did get in a fight with Metal very recently. Regardless of what could've happened, she began walking over to Sonic.

Sonic rubbed his sore shoulder to release some of the tension; even with his superspeed healing, it would take several hours for the pain to go away. He began rotating it to try and get the tension out a little quicker when he happened to hear a voice, "Hey, you okay?"

Sonic raised his head to see Rainbow approaching him. Knowing he wasn't going to hide the fact that he got in a fight, he simply placed his hand over the burned spot on the shoulder of his hoodie, "What? You mean this? It's nothing, just one of those instances where some random dude picks a fight with me. Gotten out of worse."

Rainbow observed the damage on Sonic's clothes from the bits of dirt to the burnt marks on the shoulder of his hoodie and side of his leg, "You definitely look like you've gotten in a fight. A tough one too."

Rainbow was silent as she looked at Sonic with a sense of curiosity. She remembered seeing him earlier today; they unintentionally bumped into each other and seemed to be good to each other. More than that, she seemed to be thinking about something of him that she hadn't earlier, "Say, I don't think I got your name, but I've heard what the other students said about you. Sonic, yeah?"

"Yep, that's me," Sonic answered while stretching his shoulders, "Don't know if you heard, but these guys, the Diamond Dogs, they tried recruiting me into their group. Told them no, and they went after me to the cafe. Naturally, they got their own butts handed to them, and they got a full month of detention."

"Oh, I've heard," Rainbow answered with a chuckle, "Those guys might look tough on the outside, but their brains are about as dry as a rock. Some students recorded the whole thing, and it's got a lot of views online already."

"Really?" Sonic asked with an arched eyebrow.

Rainbow reached into her pocket to grab something, "Yeah, check it out."

Pulling out her cellphone, Rainbow showed Sonic a video of his "fight" against the Diamond Dogs on the Internet. Within its first few hours, after it was published, it received over a hundred thousand views with likes going up. The comments below praised Sonic's breakdancing and victory while relentlessly mocking the Dogs' attacks and wipeouts.

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle at some of the comments which made fun of the Dogs, "'Just charge at him? Really? That's your plan? No wonder you can't get any more people in your group'. Wow, they're not getting any mercy."

"Nope," Rainbow agreed with a laugh as she put away her phone, "I swear, they say they're smart almost every day, but today they just proved they're the dumbest guys ever in the school. No, scratch that; in the country."

Sonic nodded in response with a smile, "Yeah. Well, gotta go find my friend. See ya, Rainbow Dash."

Sonic gave Rainbow a salute as he started walking past her and back towards the school. Rainbow chuckled as she turned away to look at the soccer ball in her hands. Though, whatever she was about to have in mind seemed to pass as she perked her head back up in realization; Sonic said her name. She didn't remember getting the chance to tell him. She turned back around to face Sonic, "You heard of me?"

Sonic was walking along the field when he happened to hear Rainbow ask him the question. He turned back around to face her, "Hmm?"

Rainbow placed one hand on her hip while spinning the soccer ball on one finger with the other, giving him an arched eyebrow and a cocky smirk, "You said my name. I didn't tell ya myself. But I figured you'd hear about me since I'm one of the most popular girls in the school. Though you outta be careful cuz I'm the best athlete CHS has to offer."

The expression of ego was clear on Rainbow's face; she most definitely was the most popular athlete student at CHS. Sonic crossed his arms with a smirk at her, "Oh, yeah. I've heard you're the captain of every single team. That true?"

Rainbow bounced the ball off her finger and held it between her arm and waist, "You bet. And as long as I'm around, I ain't losing my title."

"Anyone ever posed a challenge for that?" Sonic arched an eyebrow with a smirk.

Rainbow put her free palm against her hip, "Lost count quite a while ago. You think you can take my title? I'd like to see you try."

Sonic chuckled as he didn't seem phased by Rainbow's challenge; he was rather amused as he waved his head to flick some hair out of his face, "Well, I mean, I could; I just don't think it'd be worth anything."

"Aw, what's the matter, blue boy?" Rainbow asked, her taunting attitude increasing, "You ain't man enough to play against the ultimate CHS captain?"

"I don't fight girls," Sonic responded, a quick pause followed before he pointed at CHS behind him with his thumb, "...unless they're serious troublemakers. Besides, I gotta get back to my friend. We were doing some research on some… big topics. Don't wanna get her worried if I'm out too long."

This statement made Rainbow laugh in amusement, "You? Doing research? You don't look like some dude who could be an egghead. Plus, it may be the end of the day at school, but we get to stay at least another hour. I'm sure they'll be fine. Why not spare half an hour? C'mon, let's shoot some shots."

Sonic stood a moment, pondering about this. He looked at the school over his shoulder with his finger on his chin. After some quick thought, he gave a casual shrug as he responded, "Eh, what the heck? I've got time."

Rainbow grinned as her challenge was accepted, "This oughta be fun."


FanFiction story written by Sandstorm - Books based off of the original screenplay of Meghan McCarthy

Characters of Sonic the Hedgehog owned by: SEGA and Sonic Team

Characters of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie) owned by: Archie Comics

Characters of Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) owned by: IDW Publishing

Characters of Sonic the Hedgehog (Film Series) owned by: Paramount Pictures

Characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls owned by: Hasbro


STORY ELEMENT INSPIRATIONS

Sonic the Hedgehog - Main Series Games by: SEGA and Sonic Team

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Series and Films by: Hasbro, Inc

Sonic the Hedgehog - Archie Comic Series by: Archie Comics

Sonic the Hedgehog - IDW Comic Series by: IDW Publishing

Sonic Cinematic Universe - Film Series by: Paramount Pictures

Super Mario Bros. Z - Fan Crossover Web Series by: Mark Haynes (Alvin-Earthworm)

Sonic Legacy - Fan Comic Series by: Sonic Paradox

Sonic Chaos Adventure - Upcoming Fan Webcomic Series by: Team Chaos (YouTube)

Sonic 06 Rewritten - Games Rewritten by: Garrulous64 (YouTube)

Break the Walls Down - Sonic and MLP Fan Story by: Super Saiyan D (FIMFiction)

Equestria Girls: Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic and MLP Fan Story by: sonicfan05 (FIMFiction)


CHARACTER DESIGN INSPIRATIONS

Sonic the Hedgehog - Main Series Games by: SEGA and Sonic Team

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Series and Films by: Hasbro, Inc

Sonic Boom - Game Series by: SEGA and Sonic Team

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Film by: Paramount Pictures

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - Fan Comic by FrostbiteWhiteKnight (DeviantArt)

Super Mario Bros. DX - Fan Crossover Sprite Series by: Smashinity (YouTube)

Other specific elements for character designs are inspired by various artists on DeviantArt.


SONGS

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Doomsday Zone - Jahn Davis Remix

Texas Faggott - Back to Mad - Super Mario Bros. Z Style


REFERENCES

The overall battle between Sonic and Metal Sonic is heavily similar to and inspired by MonkyBoi on YouTube.

The moment when Metal Sonic dives into the top of the mountain is an homage to Mark "Alvin-Earthworm" Haynes' Super Mario Bros. Z (Outdated Original Series) - Episode 6: Brawl on a Vanishing Island, particularly when Sonic runs up the mountain and dodges Yellow's attack.


This Fan Fiction story is written out of love and inspiration from the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog and My Little Pony. Anyone who is interested in using concepts, materials or ideas of character designs from my stories is allowed to do so as long as they ask me and say where the idea originally came from.