Rainbow Dash groaned as she regained consciousness, only dully taking note that she was in a bed.

That was one doozy of a dream I had last night, thought Rainbow as she put her hoof on her face and rubbed it.

A split second later, she realized her hoof... didn't feel like a hoof.

Rainbow's eyes flew open as she sat bolt upright in the bed she was in. She looked at what both her front hooves had become. They looked like monkey hands. They had five... fingers, or whatever they were called, on each hand, or whatever they were called.

Rainbow then looked down at the rest of her body. Her bones had been rearranged, although her wings remained intact, and there were two weird lumps on her chest. And she was highly certain that she wasn't wearing these clothes when she touched that vortex...

The vortex... maybe that hadn't been a dream... which meant that she'd been transported to who knew where!

Rainbow began to hyperventilate, before letting out a scream.

But, what came through the door, Rainbow was highly certain wouldn't help, mostly because they were hallucinations.

Before Rainbow's eyes were what seemed to be a tall, blue, hedgehog wearing bright red sneakers, a yellowish orange fox kit with two tails wearing red and white shoes, a coffee-cream colored rabbit in a red dress, around the head of which was a small blue and yellow creature with a red bow tie. All of them, save for the blue and yellow creature, were standing on two legs and wore white gloves.

"Calm down, sleeping beauty! There's nothing to worry about," the blue hedgehog said.

"What do you mean there's nothing to worry about? I get sucked through a magical vortex, and next thing I know I get transfigured into some kinda two-legged pegasus and there's a talking blue hedgehog in front of me!" said Rainbow.

The blue hedgehog scratched the back of his neck. "Riiight. Anyways, I suppose we should introduce ourselves. This is Tails," he said, pointing at the two-tailed fox.

"Hello. Would you mind if I anaylized your blood?" asked Tails hopefully.

"What for?" asked Rainbow, who was strongly reminded of both Twilight AND Scootaloo.

Tails was about to explain, before the blue hedgehog cut him off. "Tails, I don't think this is a good time to try to advance medical science," he said.

Tails nodded. "Right, Sonic," he said.

The hedgehog, Sonic, continued. "Anyways, this is Cream. The little guy floating around her head is Cheese," he said, indicating the rabbit.

"Hello, Miss Pegasus," said Cream, a friendly smile crossing her face.

"Chao!" said Cheese, beaming just as much as his friend.

"Leaving already? Well, I'll see you later, I guess," said Rainbow.

Cream and Cheese gave Rainbow Dash a blank look. "Chao?" said Cheese.

"Yes, it's okay, you can go, don't let me stop you," said Rainbow, just as confused as Cream and Cheese.

It then dawned on Cream what Rainbow was thinking. "Oh! Did you think Cheese was saying goodbye, Miss Pegasus? Because he wasn't. That's just how Chao talk," explained Cream.

"Oh... my bad. So, that just leaves you, eh, blue?" said Rainbow Dash.

Sonic chuckled as he gave Rainbow a thumbs-up. "Got that right! I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog! And I'm the fastest thing alive," said Sonic.

Rainbow couldn't help but smile. This blue hedgehog reminded her so much of herself. "Fastest thing alive? As if! I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!" said Rainbow, swinging her legs out of bed and, with a little difficulty, stood to face Sonic dead in the eye.

But, Rainbow didn't get the back talk she was expecting. Instead, what she got was more blank looks.

"Uh... Equestria?" said Sonic, confused once again.

"Oh, come on! You've never heard of Equestria? Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? Land of Ponies? Cloudsdale Weather Corporation? Any of this ringing a bell?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Uh... no? Tails, buddy, ever heard of a place called Equestria?"

"Not that I recall... hang on, let me check," said Tails, before activating a small device that brought up a holographic projection of the world. "Apotos... Spangonia... Chun-Lun... nope, there is no Equestria in the world of Mobius."

Rainbow Dash was stunned. There was no such thing as Equestria here? How was that possible?

Suddenly, Rainbow remembered when Sunset Shimmer had taken Twilight's crown to an alternate world called America, where, according to Twilight, they were decades, if not centuries, ahead of Equestria in terms of development... perhaps that vortex Twilight created had done something similar.

That's really the only logical explanation as to why there's no Equestria, thought Rainbow.

"So... tell me more about this 'Equestria.' Are there any other pegasi there?" asked Tails, grabbing a pen and paper.

"Well, yeah, there's tons of pegasi. We're in charge of weather stability. There's also unicorns who can do magic, earth ponies, they're farmers and grow our food, and alicorns, which are our leaders and are kinda a mixture of all three pony types... so, what about you guys? Who makes your weather, grows your food,  and do magic?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Sonic, Tails, and Cream all scratched their heads, but it was Tails who spoke up. "Well... the weather kinda makes itself, I don't really know how to answer your food question, and we don't really have any spellcasters that I'm aware of," explained Tails.

"Wait... how in the wide, wide world of... wherever I am, does the weather 'make itself?'" asked Rainbow.

 Tails smiled. "Well, it's really quite simple. The sun's heat causes the water from lakes, rivers, and oceans to evaporate, but not quite on the scale where they'd turn into deserts," he said, answering Rainbow's unspoken question. "Anyway, when the vapor reaches the upper atmosphere, it condenses into clouds. When the clouds get too heavy, it rains or snows. The water from the run-off goes back into the ocean, and the cycle starts all over again."

"Okay, I didn't really need the whole egghead explanation of it, but thanks for clearing it up," said Rainbow.

Sonic took the opportunity to speak up. "You know, Rainbow, I'm sure you're curious about this new world you've ended up in, so... how's about I show you around the city?"

Rainbow thought about the offer. She did want to know more about the world she'd become trapped in... so, what harm could come from letting Sonic show her around?

"Yeah... sure," said Rainbow.

"Great! But, I have a question for you: you think you can keep up with me?" asked Sonic.

Rainbow chuckled. "I think the real question is, can you keep up with me?" she said.

...

After a high-speed, super sonic race, which actually ended in a tie despite both racers arguing about it for over five minutes, Sonic showed Rainbow Dash the city of Station Square.

To say Rainbow got culture shock would be an understatement. It was more like culture electrocution.

Although Rainbow had seen some pretty vast and sprawling cities before, not even Manehattan could hold a candle to this place. Everywhere she looked she saw devices the likes of which she'd never imagined, like flat TVs, metal carts of various shapes and sizes that seemed to run themselves, and small electronic briefcases that the tall, fleshy creatures that Sonic called "humans," used as typewriters or music players, even as means of communication.

Needless to say, everything looked far more sophisticated than anything in Equestria was.

Or probably will be in my lifetime, thought Rainbow, her mouth starting to get dry from all the gawking she'd been doing after spending at least two hours in the city.

"It's a lot to take in, huh?" said Sonic, smirking at Rainbow's awe.

"It's... amazing! Equestrian technology looks like stone tools compared to this place! And we have magic!" said Rainbow.

"Yeah, well, you'll get used to it. Say, wanna grab a couple chili dogs?" asked Sonic.

"What's a chili dog? Some kinda ice cream?" asked Rainbow, tilting her head in confusion.

Sonic laughed. "No, it's a kind of hot dog. Come with me and I'll show ya," he said.

...

Although a chili dog wasn't quite Rainbow Dash's becoming, she did enjoy what she'd learned was called a "corn dog."

As the two speedsters sat eating in the restaurant, Rainbow Dash began to take note of the way people looked at Sonic... it was almost the exact same way the ponies looked at her before and, provided she was with her friends, the Mare Do Well incident; the way a normal civilian looked at a hero who would always be there to protect them.

When Rainbow asked Sonic about this, the hedgehog chuckled.

"Well, when you've saved the world from certain disaster as many times as I have, you're bound to get those kind of looks," said Sonic.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you saved the world? From what?" asked Rainbow, her jaw dropping at this news.

"Well, lots of stuff. Usually some form of ancient entity that grew out of Eggman's control," explained Sonic.

"What's an-" asked Rainbow, before a loud crackling sound hit her ears.

Sonic and Rainbow turned to see that the TVs were acting weird, like something was trying to interfere with the transmission.

"Speak of the devil..." muttered Sonic.