Author

Alright gamers, bronies, and readers alike, I'm back; and this time I'm writing with a vengeance! I'm about to start some stuff! I'm getting tired of holding back.

I've read a lot of fan fiction that gives daily shout outs, and I believe I should do the same…I'm going to let you know that I take your comments seriously.

Maria, your comments have really been a spirit lifter throughout the entire story.

And I had a guess that thank me for blotting out the previews at the end of the chapters. If he or she didn't make that comment, I would have put it back on the last chapter.

Call me 'Caiahh...I'M GLAD YOU ENJOYED THE RACE!

And a guess have asked if Shadow and Sonic will duke it out…Your just going to have to stick around to find out.

---

In the outer edge of Sweet Apple Acres during a bright and early morning, a ritual was taking place. "Common, Knuckles!" Sonic shouted, "It's all you, man! It's all on you!"

"190!" Rainbow Dash counted down, keeping track of Applejack's score, "191…"

The two competitors pushed against the ground with all the strength that remained to push their heads above the ground. Knuckles can feel his muscles ready to give away, pleading for him to stop as a burning sensation fired through his arms. With his head lowered to the floor, he strained with everything he had to push his head off the ground.

"You call that a push up!?" Sonic shouted at him, "My momma can push better!"

"SHUT UP!" Knuckles screamed, lowering his head for another excruciating push for glory.

No doubt, Applejack was in an unbelievable amount of pain, and her cyan friend can see it on her face. Her arms may be on fire and wobbling, but what seemed like a miracle; kept lowering and lifting her head at a very slow pace. Applejack can tell that she had him beat; she didn't even see him lift up his head the last time she checked.

"192!" Rainbow Shouted, "It's all you, you crazy cowgirl!"

With her head lowered to the floor, she pushed against her hoofs in another round of fire and strain.

"93!"

Sonic didn't have to look twice to see the red echidna falling behind; three pushups away from Applejacks score, and he was getting slower and slower by each push off the ground.

There was only one thing left to do.

In a flash of blue blur, he took off to the streets with no one noticing or even giving him a bit of attention, all two eyes were on the two creatures of muscle. Knuckles couldn't even lower his head without collapsing.

"You in the home stretch, baby!" Rainbow cheered to her, "Just a couple more and you'll have him!"
Applejack, even to this day, couldn't describe what took place. Somehow or someway, her muscles numbed, all of since of pain simply melted away, and in one deep breath, she lowered that head and pushed up like a champion!

"94!" Rainbow shouted.

Again, with a countless stream of sweat soaking the grass beneath her, she lowered her head and pushed.

"95!"

Again.

"96!

Again.

"97!"

AGAIN!

"98!"

AGAIN!

"99!"

"Wohooooo!" A young stallion shouted behind her, wolf whistling and stomping his hoof on the ground, "You got it going on, girl! Common! Raise that flank!"

Thud

Applejack had her arms and legs spread out flat on the ground, in complete dishonor and disgrace. She heard another thud in front of her, just hearing her victory slipped through her hooves. Knuckles couldn't even move after hitting the ground, what he able do, however; was lift his eyes to see the expression on his competitor's face.

Fury…Was all he could translate.

No one knew how, but she quickly stood on her four hooves; hopping around in a complete one hundred and eighty degrees and charged at whatever was in front of her. The next thing Knuckles heard was a bloody scream and the sound of rope constricting. He was able to rest his head to his side and see what looked like a grey stallion, just a couple of years older than Twilight, being dragged across the ground with his four hooves tied helplessly in the air.

"Mac's been wantin' a kickin' bag for a while now." Applejack calmly mumbled to him with a small smile, "He'd be glad to know I'd got one for him."

It took Rainbow a second to comprehend what just happened. How could that mare perform one hundred and ninety-nine ups and hog tie a crazed stallion to the shed?

Just a reminder for the cyan pegasus never to tick her off.

Not a second later they heard hysterical laughing above them. Rainbow cast an eye upward to see Sonic lying on a tree branch kicking his little legs like a toddler.

"I've paid that guy twenty bits to say that!"

Rainbow couldn't help but at least chuckle a little with him. Sure, upset at him for ruining the competition, but hilarious more or less.

"…You think that's a little too much?" Knuckles scuffed, still paralyzed from exhaustion.

"Oh, common." Sonic waved him off, "We all knew AJ had you beat…Just thought I might lighten things up a bit."

A scream of pain echoed from the shed, lasting for several seconds before being cut off by a thud, then the screaming resuming.

"Yeeaaa." Rainbow nervously commented, "lighten."

Sonic rolled his eyes and jumped off the branch, landing beside the floating pegasus and sprinting to the shed. After a couple of minutes, he came walking back out with the gray colt beside him, bruises all over his body. They were too far away too hear what they were saying, but Rainbow could tell that Sonic was saying something to him. When he was done with his sentence, the colt slowly turned around; taking a couple of steps away from him.

And bucked him square on his stomach.

Sonic huffed out a puff of air and collapsed on his knees while the colt walked off with a satisfied smile. Rainbow didn't care to zip to him, but instead gently flapped to his direction until she was right beside the cocky hero. Suddenly a flash of purple erupted by them. The first thing Twilight saw was Sonic hunched over on the ground holding his stomach in with Rainbow dash hovering over him.

"What happened?" Twilight asked while kneeing beside the blue hedgehog, gently propping him up with magic.

"Karma!" Sonic spat, now standing on his two legs, "That's exactly what happened!"

Rainbow explained the story to her, but she simply shrugged it off to get to the point why she's there.

"Dash, I need you to come with me to the library."

"Uh, why?" She asked her in her usual tone.

"I've read up on something I need you to check out."

Sonic's pain began to dull, but was still hunched over.

"Oh no, Twilight!" Rainbow combated, "If you think you can lure me into reading those nerdy books like you did with Daring Do; you better think again."

"I promise you, you don't have to read anything." She insured, "Just come with me."

Rainbow groaned and floated right along her side. It would have been a boring trip, but she always had Sonic to talk to; he was all the company she needed.

"Hey, wait!" Knuckles shouted at the departing party, still on the ground aching, "You forgot about me!"

They must not have heard him, because after several seconds they disappeared over the horizon. With his muscles still burning like fire, he stumbled up on his feet, beginning a very painful voyage to the barn.

---

Rainbow gave a very loud groan when she saw Twilight levitate a thick book to a table, flipping through the pages. Sonic was beside her, reading through the texts with deep interest, even though it looked gibberish to him.

"I found something in here you might need to look into." Twilight informed. Even though an idiot can decipher Rainbow's annoyed expression, she persisted by flipping through the pages to the desired chapter.

"This better be good." Rainbow grumped with hooves crossed.

Twilight read through the chapter, reviewing her material before attempting to explain to her.

"As you probably know, unicorns can use their horn to transfer magic, right? Well, this book explains how magic itself manifests itself differently in every unicorn, so; I decided to test that theory the other day by-"

"Get on to the point." Rainbow huffed.

Twilight shuffled in place a bit before continuing, "Well, according to the book; unicorns aren't the only ponies that can harness magic."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"There are special individuals that can channel magic through their whole body."

Twilight levitated the book in front of her, revealing drawn illustrations of pegasus flying with rings and a shaded trail behind him. Rainbow couldn't help but read a handful of words on the pages, "Where are you getting at?"

"You know you can perform a Sonic Rainboom and no else could?"

Rainbow nodded.

"Well, I was just reading through that chapter and the first pony that came into mind was you. No normal pony could perform a Sonic Rainboom, but you can."

"So what you're trying to get at," Sonic butted in, "Is that Rainbow can use magic."

"I'm thinking it's probable." Twilight answered, checking over Dash's body, "It's not like a normal body can withstand G-forces. There has to be something keeping your body safe while at the same time strengthening your wings to handle enormous air pressure."

Rainbow smirked, "How come an egg-head like you didn't ask yourself that earlier?"

Sonic suppressed a chuckle while Twilight snorted at her question, "You didn't either."

"Alright, to-chae." Rainbow sighed, "Now if I could use magic, what kind of powers would I get? Like, I don't know…Something Awesome!?"

"That is what were about to find out." Twilight beamed.

Sonic looked to the corner of his eye and saw a little purple dragon peeping from the kitchen corner. When he shuffled his little legs to the group, Sonic could tell that he was busy in the kitchen.

"You're playing house wife?" Sonic snickered staring at his apron.

Spike took one glance at his cloth and cast a hateful glance before untying it, wadding it into a ball, and hurled it into the kitchen with a disgraceful throw. He has to break that habit!

"Don't forget, I'm feeding you." He growled at the blue hedgehog.

Twilight took one last skim through the chapter, making sure she understood everything.

"So how do I use magic?" Rainbow impatiently asked.

Twilight had to take in a deep breath in order to arrange everything in her head into words. How can she describe something complex as magic to a simple pegasus?

"Do you remember what it felt like using the Sonic Rainboom?"

Rainbow thought for a good long minute, "Uh…like awesome?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "No. Can you describe what you exactly felt? Like what did you feel coursing through your body when you broke the color barrier?"

Rainbow closed her eyes and took herself back to the race against Sonic. She can recall the adrenaline rushing through her veins as the sudden rush of wind pushed against her face, the sound of air plugging her ears, her vision blurring, racing against the most wanted creature that has ever stepped foot on Equestia's soil to defend her title. What was that sensation she felt when pushing herself to the max…What cause?

"What does magic feel like?" Rainbow asked the lavender unicorn.

"Power." She simply answered, now forming a theory in her head that might be able to solve this riddle, "What empowered you?"

Cause…The cause of her sudden outburst of speed. What was it? Determination? No, it couldn't be it. What drove her over the edge to save Rarity from certain death when her butterfly wings gave way? What drove her back at flight camp to break the forbidding barrier to go faster than anything possibl-

Wait…It all made sense now.

"…To stand by my friends in their time of need."

Her answer subconsciously silenced every creature in that room. Everything began falling into place for the unicorn. With narrowed eyes, she took a step closer to the cyan pegasus.

"Take that feeling and direct it."

They stood and watch as Rainbow closed her eyes. It wasn't clear what she was thinking, but whatever it was, it threw her into deep meditation. Everything became quite and still for the next few minutes, a pin drop would sound like a gunshot in that room.

Suddenly, Rainbow did feel something. A sensation she could only be felt during a Sonic Rainboom. A dim white glow covered her eye lids; she opened them to see what it was.

The first thing she saw was everyone around her slowly taking steps back, eyes widen either in horror or astonishment.

"What?" She asked a bit annoyed.

Spike could only point with his claw.

"Your…" Twilight choked out, pointing as well, "Your wing."

Rainbow looked to her side and her nerves literary shot at the sight. Her right wing wasn't in its usual cyan color, but instead, was glowing pure white, whiter than snow. It was twice the length than she remembered it, large feathers lined up at the bridge of it. It may be way out of proportion, but it felt no heavier than her other wing, which oddly enough, didn't change at all.

"What the hay is this?!" Rainbow almost screamed in panic.

Spike slowly approached her, his claw reached out to feel the tempting angel like wing sticking out of her side. As soon as the tip made contact with one of the soft feathers, he yelped and quickly retract it; sticking it inside his mouth.

"It burns!" He yelled.

Twilight very slowly approached the wing; she doesn't have anything in her library explaining this phenomenon, that's for sure.

"I-I don't know." She honestly answered her, "The book said that magic manifested differently in everypony, but this…This is incredible!"

Rainbow's eyes glided all over her charged wing, taking in every inch of the body part. It was the strangest thing she ever experienced. She felt enormous power raging from that one wing, and the weirdest part is that it's felt no different than her other wing; she had complete control over it, bending and turning them to confirm her suspension. Then an idea came to her that made her grin.

Flap it.

She lift that wing as high as she could, then using her back legs, sprang herself into the air. As soon as she pushed her wings down-

WHOOSH

Everybody was pushed down as air violently circulated throughout the room. Everything that wasn't nailed down was knocked to the floor, even the books on the shelves were chunked to the floor by the gush of wind pushing them back. There was only one thing she could say when experiencing something as radical as this.

"…FREAKIN SWEET!" She screamed to the top of her lungs, "Did everypony see that!? Did ya'll see what I did!?"

Rainbow didn't get an immediate answer, everyone was busy standing back on their feet and hooves, after a minute, she received her much needed praise.

"What gave you the half of mind to destroy my library?!" Twilight shouted while standing up, books covering the floor with everything else knocked down

Rainbow cheekily smiled, "heh, sorry; didn't expect that to happen."

Sonic stood on his two legs, beholding the giant white wing sticking out of her side, "You was right, that was sweet." He playfully put a finger on his chin, as if suggesting thought, "Like thirty percent cooler."

"It's twenty percent." Rainbow mumbled to him.

Her wing was still glowing white; twice the size of its usual self, but slowly, it began shrinking; loosing it's white glow until it returned to its natural color. The wing eventually returned to its natural size, appearing to be no different than the other wing.

Spike managed to stand back on his legs, "I guess we now know that magic doesn't limit itself to unicorns."

"I can't imagine what that thing can do in a fight," Sonic mentioned, "It scorched Spike's claws when he touched it, and his skin is made of dragon scales!"

The basement door opened suddenly. Tails poked his head out, scanning the room with a terrified look.

"What happened here?" He asked.

Twilight was about to answer his question until Rainbow spoke.

"Me." She simply answered, "That's what happened."

Everyone was quite for a minute; then chuckled at her boasting comment. Twilight found her mood to be lightened, even though nearly all the books on the shelves were thrown to the floor.

"For everyone's information," He announced, "The energy tracker I have been walking on is completed. When everyone's ready we can begin our search."

"Well, I don't know about everyone else." Twilight said out loud, "But I could go for some lunch before we set out."

"You said it." Sonic commented with his hands behind his head, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Twilight and Rainbow gave him such a death glare that it made him shiver.

"…Joke." He mumbled.

Tails used his headset to communicate with the others, telling them to meet up at Twilight's house.

---

Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy couldn't really eat anything that Spike served, hay sandwiches and grass wouldn't exactly agree with their stomachs; at least Spike was kind enough to fix them a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Twilight was sitting rather a little close to her crush, her chair just inches from his…Just a simple, eat together with all of her friends.

"Bet I can eat more sandwiches than you can!" Knuckles yelled to Applejack.

"No one is challenging anyone in my house!" Twilight shouted, "It's bad enough more than half of my library is destroyed."

"Uh, I must agree with Twilight." Rarity raised her voice, "How could you two act like animals around the table? You two are guesses after all."

"We are animals." Knuckles grumbled with a grin, then decided to push it by propping his two feet on his side of the table.

Rarity's pupils shrunk, but kept her smile. Knuckles found it rather a little cute to see her hold in her temper, "Animals? Dear, we're civilized creatures. We have standards around the table that must be followed. It's only matters."

Knuckles beat his chest a little with his fist, building up gas to his chest, "Well, (burp), we can choose not to follow them."

A little steam blew from Rarity's ears.

"You'd said it, Knuckles!" Applejack shouted, burping louder.

Knuckles took that as a challenge.

"If you two don't mind!" Twilight shouted them down, "We would like to have a decia-"

"(Burp)," Knuckles beat his chest with pride.

Every creature in the kitchen slide their own food away from them, looking upon the two with discuss, expect for Pinkie and Rainbow, who were giggling their heads off.

"Darling!" Rarity shouted at him with a hint of hatred, "WE are trying to eat! If you can't-"

"(BUURRP)," Applejack combated, whipping her lips with a napkin while giving the red echidna a sneer, "How about them apples? Ya varmint!"

Knuckles gave her a small smile, and then gently placed his two fists on her two shoulders; his face facing hers, "Sure…Let me show you my apples."

Twilight stood with both hooves on the table, "I've had it! I am aggressing that you two settle down, or I will have no choice but to kick you two ou-"

"(BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRP)."

The walls shook, the ground quaked, and the stench of breath filled the kitchen. Spike can only stand in awe of this amazing feat, his mouth hanging open in pure astonishment. Every creature was silenced; even Pinkie was taken aback by this earth shattering force.

Knuckles smiled in victory as he cast a sinister glare at the cowgirl. Her ears were flopped down, her once beautiful ponytailed mane was now literary spiked backwards.

Will she take this one lying down? Hay no!

With stench filling her nostrils, she opened her mouth, building up gas in her chest. She may taste the smell, but it didn't matter; she was going to show him how it was done at the farm. With gas forming in her, she prepared to give the biggest burp she ever had.

Until the gas shot out the other end.

The unholy noise could be heard all over the kitchen. It didn't take long for the smell to catch up. Every creature around her felt their nose burning like fire, begging for redemption. Applejack blushed furiously, her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

Thud

Something collapsed behind Applejack, she turned around and saw the seat behind her empty. Knuckles stood from his chair to investigate.

He found Fluttershy out cold, body sprawled, tongue out and one leg twitching.

Applejack and Knuckles looked up and saw Rarity hovering over them, her horn glowing and her eyes, for the first time AJ has seen, set for destruction.

"Uh…" Knuckles thought from the top of his head what to say, "Want to help me drag the body out?"

---

Sonic had a little space between everyone else (and of course with Knuckles and Applejack out of the picture…They won't be setting foot and hoof in the library for a while. At least Fluttershy was alright), he didn't mind socializing but he found this particular social gathering to be a little off for him. Just for a second, he cast his eyes to Rainbow's direction, watching her boasting about what happened and promising Twilight that she will help her clean the library. She was warmly smiling the entire time, and he couldn't help…But to smile with her?

Strange, he always smiled; smiling is nothing new to him. He couldn't think of a peaceful moment that he didn't smile, or at least snicker; but smiling when somebody, or pony in this case, is smiling? That's really off for him.

Secretly, he studied her during everyone's chatter, with his thumb and index finger resting on his chin. He felt something rising against his stomach, but couldn't really define what it was. It was a warm feeling, and his mind couldn't help but greedily accept it. He also couldn't help but notice how much Rainbow could relate to him, they were almost the same creature. Much of his surprise, he can fell his face warming up. What is this sensation? Why is he staring to develop feelings for this pegasus? He-

"HELLO!" Pinkie suddenly popped in front of him.

Sonic jumped and almost cursed out loud, his heart skipping two beats and his hair standing upwards like a cat.

"What are you doing sitting here all by yourself, you silly filly?"

After taking a couple of breaths to control his heartbeat, he gathered his thoughts and set his mind to answer her.

"Nothing," He answered her as calmly as he could, trying to smile, "Nothing in particular. I just wanted to be by myself."

"Aww…" She sympathetically moaned, ears flopping and her hair somewhat deflated, "It's never good to be by yourself. You get all sad and lonely."

His throat dried, she was the last thing in existence he wanted to see, "Uh, I-I was just thinking."

"What were you thin-"

She cut herself off suddenly. Sonic didn't know what was going through her head, but whatever idea she was getting, it didn't look good. Her smile disappeared and was replaced by suspension. She put a hoof to her chin and closed in on his face, her nose just about touching his. She noticed something about him that was off.

His face was red.

"W-why are you staring?" He cautiously asked, feeling her eyes reading his.

"There's something going on with you." Pinkie lowly asked, her eyes narrowing with mystery.

The first thing that popped to his mind was his observation earlier, "There is nothing going on," Sonic quickly answered, "There is absolutely nothing going on."

She kept her eyes on him for several long seconds, longer than Sonic wanted it to prolonged. Then, as if the heavens are giving him a pat on the back, Pinkie's hair puffed back to its original shape and her smile grew wider than her face could handle.

"OakieDokie." She dismissed.

Sonic thought that she would go away, but when you're a being who's only purpose is to bring smiles and giggles to everyone's hearts, you can never turn down a lonely buddy. She took a seat right by him.

"So I wanted to invite you to a party I'm throwing tomorrow night at Sugar Cube Corner." She spoke rapidly, "I've been wanting to throw ya'll a welcoming party but there was so much stuff popping up."

A party with Pinkie? Who's crazy enough to go to that?

"I thank you for the offer." Sonic calmly addressed her without trying to sound frightened, "But, uh…I can't take advantage of your generosity."

"Oh, but you must!" She insisted, "It won't be any fun without you."

"I-I-I-"

"Please…" She used her most formable weapon, puppy dog eyes and a pout lip.

What kind of cold, heartless creature would turn down that look? With much regret, he mumbled his answer.

"…Sure."

In a Pinkie fashion, she popped out of her chair and shouted for joy. Knuckles, Tails, and Amy gave her a weird look, but the other company ignored her antics.

It's not something you just simply adjust too, but somehow they adjusted.

For the rest of the meal, Pinkie was carrying a conversation with him. By conversation, it means running her mouth without stop without a period or a comma to break her sentences. He was being careful not to cast anymore glances towards Rainbow Dash. He didn't know if she had eyes from the back of her head…But he's not taking any chances.

---

"I knew the extraction would be a long shot." Dr. Robotnik mumbled to himself, staring at the bright projector above him, "Still, this footage is proving itself to be excellent observation."

Unit 21 unattached itself from the socket, opening its inner compartment and handing a small stack of papers to him.

"The energy readings from those two subjects were off the charts." It reported, "Your retrievers were not equipped to deal with that kind of bombardment."

"Sometimes you have to lose to know how to win." Robotnik commented to it, "That invasion gave me more insight of their power. It's not much as the battle I'm concern about, it's the war itself."

He unlocked the metal shielding covering the windows to reveal his newly formed base. What was once a rich tropical jungle became a fortress of towers and machines; they were tall oil-like rigs sticking out of the ground, the sound of drills echoing throughout the metropolis. Small, stubby machines were flying from one end of the base to the other. The fortress stretched miles and miles away from Robotnik's quarters, giant metal walls separating between the base and the outside world. Unit 21 looked out of the window with him, instinctively calculating the endless blocks of factories and manufacturing facilities.

"I must report that there are a limited number of organism we can capture." It reported, "My calculations predict that animals in the area will be exhausted within two months."

"No worries." He ensured it, "I plan to pay a personal visit to the monarchy, with a couple of 'gifts'. It's time to inform this kingdom what forces they're really dealing with."

"According to the retrievers report, the two targets will be located in the court room tomorrow noon. Shall I ready the machines?"

"Please do." He confirmed.

---

Discord made sure to stay out of Shadow's sight during his day long adventure through a dessert, just on the outskirts of a little town. Shadow has been teleporting from one end of the desert to another, blasting anything that stands in his way or that might hide the elusive gem. Discord, throughout the half hour of searching, could hear him mumbling under his breath, curses so fowl that it can make a sailor blush.

He has an idea how to help him, but he had to fight hesitation to open his mouth.

"Are you aware that Sonic is also among this world?" He asked.

"He's not my concern." He hissed, growing more angry by each empty rock, "I'll free Equestia from bondage."

"Oh…Well, what if I told you that he is now in possession of a Chaos Emeralds."

His ears perked up, turning his body a full 180 to face the bizarre creature, "What?"

"I don't know if this will help you or not, but I've been lazing around the top of Ponyville and I happened to find him carrying a Chaos Emerald while leaving town."

Shadow stood in place, glaring at Discord while thinking in his head of what to make of the situation. What was Sonic doing with a Chaos Emerald? Thinking back, that rift threw them into a foreign world, and those emeralds could be anywhere. He already had one emerald to begin with, and Discord helped him find the other.

If Sonic didn't have an emerald to begin with, how did he find one?

"Something is helping him." Shadow mumbled, "I had your help discovering the second emerald."

Discord smiled a bit, he may not be able to feel the presence of a Chaos Emerald if it's not welded, but maybe his little friend can snatch another for him. He can feel immense power radiating off of him, one more emerald and he might be able to take down the throne.

"You know, that was pure luck that the second emerald landed in my claws." Discord informed him, "those things store their power unless someone wields it, and I can't sense power if it's not active."

"Sonic might be able to help us." Shadow stated, "He's no stranger to ruthless tyrants. If we both work together then we might be able to take those rulers down…No, he may help me, but I want those two to suffer by my own hand."

I could try to corrupt Sonic, or at least cast a delusion spell on him. Discord thought, but after hanging around those six and visited Celestia and Luna a couple of times; he and his friends must know about me by now. One can't pull a prank if the victim is aware of the trick. Besides, they don't know what happened to this grumpy hedgehog, but they WILL KNOW if I corrupted Sonic or any of his friends. It's not like I can mind control them. If they do know, then Celestia will be on me like a, well… He chuckled at his own joke, Shadow.

"Then we better be on our way then." Discord cheered.

Two against one emerald, there will be a sure winner there.

"No need." Shadow grunt at him, "I left here with a headset in my ear. I did get a call a couple of days ago, but I was out of range when I fled into the Everfree forest. I could go ahead and call him now, he should be in range."

He pressed his figure against the button, speaking loud and clear, "Sonic, can you read me?"

---

Author's notes

Whew, another chapter down, this time I didn't have to jump through hoops to get this one done. I can do 5,000 words any day with the right plan. Everything is getting set up for a good, long haul.

About the deadline, College is starting back and I may need to yet again prolong the deadline. I'm going to say January 25. It'll give me plenty of time to plan. I swear to myself, this pet project is getting easier and easier to write. Last chapter was a lot of trouble, but things are starting to look up.

And as always, comments are welcomed. I cannot tell myself if this chapter sucks or not, you have to tell me that readers, tell me what you really feel. And don't forget to vote on my profile, I cannot stress about that enough!

And I have to ask ya'll something. I've been wanting to pose this story at FIMfiction, I have my account set up and everything else, but it WAY to much trouble trying to get my story typed in. Publishing is not the problem, it's just getting my story on the websight itself. I can get text in, but it's weird trying to format, like center and bold words and sentances. If anybody has information, please let me know. I would love to see this story posted on there, how about everybody else?

One more itty bitty thing…I have a little surprise coming a couple of days. I won't say what it is, but look forward to it.

I'll give ya'll a brohoof, A highfive, and some words of encouragement...KEEP STRONG AND FLUTTER ON!