When the blinding light faded from their eyes, Rarity and Fluttershy quickly looked around to find Sonic. They both saw him lying on the ground, blood flowing from some of his wounds. Both girls rushed to his side, trying to avoid touching him to make things worse. Sonic groaned as he pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position.

"You shouldn't move." Fluttershy whispered.

"I'm fine." Sonic said through gritted teeth.

"How are you even alive?" Rarity asked.

Sonic was able to force a smile and pull his hand out of his backpack. He was tightly gripping a golden circular object in his hand.

"A ring!" The two girls gasped.

"Yeah, the magical properties of the ring are stopping the serious wounds from killing me. If I had more I would be fine, but since I only have the one, I'm still going to have plenty of wounds. However, if I let this ring leave my immediate presence, then the wounds will come back and that won't exactly be good." Sonic explained.

Neither of the girls really knew what to say. After Sonic had just saved their lives and nearly died in the process. It was then that the two girls understood how their friends felt towards him. However, Rarity didn't know about Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy didn't know about Twilight. The one thought passing through their heads was that they couldn't let either of the other girls know.

Sonic grunted as he slowly got to his feet. Both girls rushed to his side and supported him.

"We need to get going." Sonic said through once again gritted teeth. "I may have gotten us out of the situation, but I didn't put us too close to the town."

"How far away are we?" Rarity asked.

"Maybe a mile or two from Emerald Town. I could get us there faster if I could run, but in the condition I'm in, running probably won't be an option."

"Don't worry," Fluttershy whispered, "we'll get you back." So the three set out, Rarity and Fluttershy supporting Sonic as they walked at a slow pace. At this point, Rarity would have been complaining about walking through such a dusty area, but she found herself unable to complain while she was helping her hero.

They walked for about an hour before a ringing noise could be heard. Sonic reached into his bag and pulled out the communicator Tails had given him.

"Are you alright Sonic?" Tails' voice came out of the communicator. "I haven't heard from you in a while."

"I'm perfectly fine. I found the girls and we're on our way now. We got into a fight against an army of robots, so that's why we're taking so long." Sonic responded.

"So you're all ok?" Twilight's voice asked.

"We're all fine, couldn't be better. We'll be back soon." Before anyone else could ask a question or object to his responses, Sonic put the communicator back into his bag.

"Why did you lie?" Rarity asked.

"I didn't lie, like I said, we're all fine."

"Maybe we are, but you're not." Fluttershy quietly objected.

"As long as I've kept everyone safe, I'm just fine. No matter what happens to me." Sonic answered. That statement made the girls smile. "Anyway, we should hurry, we should try to get back before dark so the others don't get too worried." The girls both nodded their heads and they all increased their pace.

Within another hour, Emerald Town came into sight. Rarity and Fluttershy were so happy they let go of Sonic and ran towards the town. Once that happened, Sonic stumbled and fell onto the ground, forgotten by the elated girls.

---

Tails was waiting by his workshop with Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. The group of four saw Rarity and Fluttershy running towards them.

"You guys are alright!" Pinkie Pie shouted as soon as the two girls made it close to the group.

"I'm so glad to see you alright." Twilight said with a sigh of relief.

"I don't mean to be a downer here," Applejack said, "but where's Sonic?" Rarity and Fluttershy both looked at each other as they realized what they had done. After a brief explanation of Sonic's condition, the two girls led the others to where they had last seen the blue blur. It didn't take long for them to find the area, and all six people in the group gasped at what they saw.

It looked like a murder had gone on in front of them. Sonic's body lay motionless on the ground, and a lot of blood surrounded the body. None of them could see his face, so no one knew if he was even alive at that point.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted in an attempt to cause him to stir. When it became clear he wasn't going to move, the group rushed over to him. Tails put his fingers on Sonic's neck, hoping to feel a pulse.

"What happened to the ring?" Rarity asked.

"What ring?" Twilight asked.

"Sonic had a ring with him that he said could heal the worst of the wounds, maybe if we found it, Sonic could use it to get better."

"Don't bother searching for it. If he dropped the ring when you two ran towards the town, it would have disappeared by now." Tails said, still searching for a pulse.

"What do ya mean, disappeared?" Applejack asked.

"When a magic ring like the one Sonic possessed is dropped, there is a very short time to pick it back up before it disappears."

"There must be something we can do." Twilight said.

"I'm going to fly him to the hospital. I felt his pulse, but it's very faint. If I hurry, maybe I can get him there before it's too late." Tails said as he carefully picked up Sonic's limp body. Spinning his tails as fast as he could, Tails flew into the air and towards the hospital.

---

We now find ourselves with Rainbow Dash as she begins to wake at the hospital. As she opens her eyes, she hopes that being in the hospital was just a bad dream and that she was at home. To her dismay, she was met with the sight of her hospital room. Bored out of her mind, she turned to look out of the door. She saw Tails standing near the room, talking to a nurse. Hoping that he was there to take her out of the hospital, Rainbow Dash smiled and waited. She was surprised when he walked away without even entering the room.

Rainbow Dash then called in the nurse. "What was Tails doing here?" She asked.

"Mr. Prower was asking about his friend Sonic." The nurse responded.

"Why would he be asking about Sonic?"

"He was checked into the hospital last night in critical condition."

"What happened to him!?"

"I don't know, you would have to ask your friends or the doctors who worked on him." So Rainbow Dash got out of her bed, figured out the room Sonic was staying in, and quickly went to visit. As she approached the room she heard loud voices.

"You can't make me stay here any longer!" Came a voice that was easily recognizable as Sonic's.

"You're not in the condition to leave, you have to stay so we can help you!" Came an unknown voice.

"Just try and stop me!" Sonic shouted. A few seconds later, there was a loud crash that sounded like breaking glass. Rainbow Dash quickly hurried into the room and was met with a strange scene. One of the doctor's in the hospital was reaching towards the window, Tails was attempting to apologize to said doctor, and Sonic was in the process of escaping the hospital. It wasn't hard to put together what happened. Sonic had jumped out of the window in an attempt to escape.

When he landed on the ground, he took off running, attempting to get as far away from the hospital as he could. As Rainbow Dash looked upon the scene she couldn't help but smile at the brashness of her hero.