Rainbow Dash looked around in awe as she took in the sights of the beautiful seaside of Apotos. It reminded her of a Haytalian city back in her world. Sonic took notice of this and chuckled.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "It's just... Equestria has sights like this but so few exist and if they do they're normally deathtraps," said Rainbow as she stared at the sea.

"Well, that's a shame... I'd think a world that controlled nearly all the forces of nature would be the very definition of eye-candy," said Sonic.

"You'd be surprised. Equestria has its own share of problems. Of course, me and my friends have usually been able to handle the more serious ones, but other than that-" said Rainbow, before Sonic interrupted her.

"Wait... the 'more serious ones?'" asked Sonic, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah. Me and my gal pals have been on all sorts of crazy adventures. We’ve had to go up against a corrupted princess of the night, the spirit of chaos incarnate, an army of shapeshifting pony insects, a demonic unicorn king, a bunch of crazy vines that tried to strangle the land, and a comic book villain,” said Rainbow as she counted them off her fingers.

Sonic whistled. “And I thought some of my adventures were a bit out there… you know, I wouldn’t mind hearing more about them. Over, say… dinner,” he said.

Rainbow tilted her head a bit in confusion. “A date? Now? Shouldn’t we be looking for the Chaos Emerald?” she asked.

Sonic laughed. “Of course not now. But, I was thinking tonight, AFTER we’ve found the Chaos Emerald,” he explained.

Rainbow smirked. “Ah, okay… sounds like fun,” she said. With that she flared her wings and began a slow aerial recon over the area before seeing a purple gleam catch her eye. “Hey I think I found it!”

“Where?!”

“Up north a bit! Hard to say but I think it’s stuck in a rock!” Rainbow shouted as she flew over and hovered on the spot to help him out.

‘Just like Excalibur once was…. that was a WEIRD adventure.’ Sonic thought to himself as he sped towards the area Rainbow was hovering over.

Once Sonic reached the spot where Rainbow was hovering, he spotted the Emerald in what looked like part of the wreckage of a large stone arm that looked vaguely familiar to Sonic.

“What do you think this arm is all about?” asked Rainbow as she hovered around the arm.

Sonic smiled as he remembered the last time he had been in Apotos. “Chip…” he muttered.

Rainbow heard this and looked at Sonic with a quizzical look on her face. “Chip?” she asked.

“Long story. Hey think you can help me get this sucker out?” Sonic asked. Rainbow nodded as the two begin trying to remove the emerald.

...

“So… you think you can just waltz into a GUN-secured zone, attempt to steal government property, take on the Ultimate Life Form, and not get captured? You must have some form of death wish,” said Shadow, walking around the dimly lit interrogation room, a look of irritation on his face.

Lightning Dust, her hands bound to the back of the chair she was in, chuckled a little. “I’ve got more problems than you, Eggman, or anyone in this world realize. And worse yet, those problems might be heading here, too,” she said.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, now interested in what this pegasus had to say. “Please…” he said, sitting down in the chair across from Lightning. “...tell me about these… problems.”

Lightning looked down towards the ground. “My world used to be a wonderful place to live. I had friends, family, a surrogate little sister who thought the world revolved around me. Then, SHE showed up, and everything changed for the worse,” she explained.

“And who’s she?” Shadow asked thoroughly interested what tyrant could’ve come from this pony’s world.

“Achroma… a tyrant that puts the likes of Nightmare Moon to shame. Her reign started quickly and she’s ruled over us ever since… it’s been Tartarus ever since she and her Horror Guard showed up,” Lightning said as she suddenly gasped a little causing Shadow to notice something… her eyes were watering up. Lightning was… crying. Immediately though she straightened back up and looked Shadow dead in the eyes.

“And… I suppose she sent you and your friends here to get the Emeralds, to make herself even stronger and expand her reign?” asked Shadow.

“N-no… it was the Resistance who did that. Well, they sent ME here anyways. We thought that if we could get the Emeralds, we could have the power to match Achroma, and finally take her down once and for all,” explained Lightning.

“So… that makes you a double agent.”

“Pretty much, yeah… please, you’ve got to let me go. I NEED those Emeralds, to save my world,” begged Lightning.

Before Shadow could respond, a white female bat wearing purple and black light body armor with matching heeled boots, and long white gloves entered. “Shadow, me and Omega would like a word with you."

Shadow stood up and looked down at Lightning Dust. "Wait here," he growled, before turning on his heel and walking out with the bat.

Just outside the interrogation room, the bat, along with a powerfully built red and black robot with a red Omega symbol on his left shoulder stood waiting for him.

"What is it?" Shadow growled.

“Computers state that the equine in that room is responsible for several million dollars worth of property damage yet her bio signatures confirm that what she told you was true,” said the robot, known as E-123 Omega.

The bat, named Rouge, frowned. "I'm willing to bet that neither Dr. Eggman nor her friends in the jumpsuits know that she's playing for both sides. But, nonetheless, what if this Achroma and her Horror Guard end up here? If she is telling the truth, they could do far more damage than the Black Arms during their invasion," she said.

Shadow frowns. "Then we will fight. What else is there to-"

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the base. “What the heck?!” screamed Rouge. Shadow ran back into the room. Where Lightning had a stony expression.

“Listen. Shadow, Shade or whatever your name is. You have to let them take me back. I can feed you and the others intel from the inside," she said.

"And how do I know I can trust you?" Shadow asked Lightning.

Lightning frowned. That was actually a good question...

Rouge then entered the room. "Shadow! We have a bunch of robots and ponies tearing up the place! We need you, now!"

Shadow looked between Rouge and Lightning, weighing two different alternatives. Either he could fight tooth and nail to keep a vastly unknown enemy from getting their star fighter back, or he could turn Lightning loose and use her as a plant.

Shadow made his decision. He pulled out his light green fake Chaos Emerald, and cried, "Chaos Control!" before disappearing in a flash of green light.

Both Rouge and Lightning looked baffled by Shadow's actions. But, before either of them could respond, Shadow returned, holding what looked like a necklace with a GUN emblem on it.

"Take this. It contains a tracking device, so we'll be able to monitor your movements. Now," said Shadow, unfastening Lightning's cuffs. "I believe your ride-"

Before Shadow could finish, Lightning elbowed him in the back of the head, knocking him out, before knocking Rouge out with a roundhouse. Before leaving, Lightning grabbed the necklace.

"Sorry. Needed to keep up appearances," she said before leaving.

...

“So you mean to tell me that the only scared member of your friends is the one that tamed this… Anarchy?”

“Eh… Discord. And yeah. I didn’t believe it at first either but it’s true," said Rainbow. As she and Sonic continued to eat, she couldn't believe how wonderful this all felt. She and Sonic, who was almost exactly like her in almost every way, except that he was a blue hedgehog. Yet, she couldn't help but lose herself in his emerald green eyes.

Meanwhile, on Sonic's end, it felt almost exactly the same way. He just couldn't help but feel the same way towards Rainbow that he'd once felt towards Blaze before that green lunatic took her away from him.

Before either of them knew what was really happening, both of them had their eyes closed, and were leaning in towards each other. Their lips met, and it suddenly felt like fireworks were going off inside of them. They didn't know exactly how long they kissed, but it must have been a good five minutes or so.

Once they broke apart, gasping for air, Sonic took Rainbow Dash's hands in his own.

"Rainbow... I love you," he told the blue pegasus.

"Sonic... I love you, too."