Sonic stretched as he awoke. He moved his head away from the tree that he decided to sleep on the night before. 'Rarity seemd like she needed the space. I can handle sleeping outside.' he thought, pushing himself up off the ground. He bent down slightly to continue stretching his now aching legs as well as his arms. 'That was a good night of sleep. Now if I can only find out where Shadow went, or if Tails somehow got here as well. Then maybe we have a chance of finding the Chaos Emeralds.'

"Another morning... Day one of being stranded in Equestria passed." he said to himself quietly, "One emerald down. Six to go." he added. The hedgehog looked around and saw the sun begin to rise, a true sight to behold. "Now, this is life. I just wish I was here under better circumstances."

A rainbow trail flew across the sky, Sonic hearing a familiar voice, "Where is he? He and I have a score to settle!" shouted Rainbow Dash, searching for Sonic. The hedgehog shook his head at the sight, seeing the pegasus as a stubborn one.

'That pony's more stubborn than Shadow.' his mind mused.

"Yo, Rainbow!" he called out at last.

Rainbow Dash turned her head at the sound of the voice and lowered herself to the ground once she saw Sonic from a distance. "About time I found ya! We got a race today! And I'm not losing this one!"

Sonic shrugged, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Back in my world, I'm called the Fastest Thing Alive for a reason." he bragged. "So, you may have some competition here."

"Ha! As if you can compete with me!" Rainbow boated back.

"I'm just warning ya." he teased.

A snarl came out of Rainbow, but she just chose to change the subject. "It's a simple challenge. We run around Ponyville to the castle, and first one to make it there wins. It stinks that my friends couldn't wake up to see me win though. Heck, I even tried to wake them, but they still slept!"

"Or they would've watched you lose." the hedgehog taunted.

Rainbow grunted at his taunt, but ignored it. "Anyway..." she growled, "On the count of three we begin."

"But first things first. We gotta establish some ground rules. Literally. You can't go too high off the ground and go over buildings. You gotta stay near the floor and act as though you're running. With wings. Got it?" Sonic established the rules right away.

"Yeah, sure." Rainbow nodded, "But that won't stop me from making you eat dust!"

Sonic rolled his eyes at her comment, "Let's just get this over with, shall we?" he asked her.

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

The hedgehog got into a running stance, the tip of his shoe kicking the ground. Rainbow Dash bent down, her wings unfurled and ready. "One..." she said.

"Two..." continued Sonic.

"Three!"

Sonic and Rainbow vanished in blurs of blue and rainbow. Aa they sped past the small houses of Ponyville, Sonic turned to see Rainbow, who continued to look on ahead with a scowl on her face, her wings flapping as fast as they could. Ponies who were awake at this time, peeked out their windows to find out what the strange noises were and some even stepped outside.

The hedgehog gritted his teeth, 'Man. She's faster than I thought! I gotta speed up!' he thought. His feet moved faster, to the point where it appeared his legs were moving in a circular motion. Rainbow was surprised to see him move up. She continued to flap her wings faster, stretching her hooves out to push herself ahead.

"Not bad!"

Rainbow merely scowled at Sonic's compliment. "Grr..." she hissed aloud in response, trying to move faster.

"C'mon! Step it up!" he taunted.

Sonic moved ahead, his arms stretched back and his legs moving in a figure eight motion. Rainbow Dash growled and continued moving. The two speedsters were neck-and-neck, the brief race almost coming to an end once they saw the castle ahead. "Catch me if you can!" Sonic shouted.

"Oh, I will!"

The blue speedsters sped ahead, even faster than ever before. Once they neared the castle, Sonic began to drag his feet on the ground, while Rainbow started to slow her wings down. The hedgehog immediately noticed that they were right next to each other, and at this point, they weren't able to speed up.

Sonic and Rainbow stopped at the same time when they arrived at the supposed finish line. "Gotta say. I haven't had a tense race like that since I first fought Shadow and Metal Sonic." he admitted. "But I think we managed to end this on a draw." he noticed after thinking for a moment.

"A draw!?" blurted Rainbow. "Aw..." she sighed. "One day, I'll prove that I'm faster than you!"

"Maybe." admitted Sonic, "Now... How about we meet properly? I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." he extended his hand. Rainbow Dash gave him a funny look before repeating his action. The two shook hand and hoof at last.

"Rainbow Dash." the pegasus introduced.

"How about this? Once I get this whole thing cleared up, we have a rematch? To prove who's the fastest once and for all?" Sonic offered to the competitive pegasus.

"Sure. What's the problem you got?"

Shrugging again, Sonic answered, "Ah, you know... Stranded in another world, ancient artifacts missing, scientist on the loose, friends separated. The usual."

"I think we can help." Rainbow answered. "Sounds like a fun adventure."

Clank!

Sonic and Rainbow turned their heads at the noise, "Uh... That didn't sound right..." Rainbow said. "Was that you?"

Clank!

Sonic shook his head, "No... But the sound of metal... That can only mean one thing."

Clank!

Strange red robots appeared in front of the castle, their lasers pointed at the blue speedsters. "What the hay are those?"

"Hahahahaha!"

Sonic sighed, "Of course he'd get his robots right away..."

A round man in a hovercraft appeared above the robot, "Hello there, Sonic! I'm surprised to meet you again so soon!" he admitted to the hedgehog. "And it seems you made a new friend."

"What are you doing here, Eggman!?" Sonic asked.

"I'm after the Chaos Emeralds. They're scattered across this world. And I want to make sure that I find them all before you!" Eggman revealed to Sonic.

"Well, unfortunately, I'm here to put a stop to those plans before you could even think about it! With Rainbow here with me, your dumb Egg Pawns are outnumbered." Sonic boasted to his nemesis. "I'm already one emerald ahead of you anyhow!"

"Do you think that you're the only one?" asked Eggman, revealing the Chaos Emerald in his possession.

"Hmph. I'll still get them all before ya!" bragged Sonic, "It's a hopeless battle this time!"

"Is it really?" Eggman asked.

"Yeah it is!" Rainbow shouted.

"Grr... Egg Pawns..." began the scientist, raising a hand.

Sonic and Rainbow readied themselves for a battle against the robots, now knowing Eggman's plan. "Follow my lead, Dash. Trashing these tin cans are a piece of cake." he said. Eggman lowered his arm as he gave a simple command.

"Attack!"