Yknow, this ship "could've" worked, had Elise have been an animal like sonic, been more capable in her own right, had more personality to play off of sonic, and just in general a bit older, while keeping the royalty angle.

Wait, that's just princess Sally from Sonic SAT-AM.

If I had to take this story for a spin I would have changed it to the following:
Take it in a viewing sonic as a lost big brother/father figure angle and the princess being a bit younger.
Honestly a kiss to the cheek/forehead or a hug would have saved this scenario a lot more than the odd romantic cross…
Have the intro cutscene start with a very introverted princess who does thing by the book and it being a very relatively quiet parade with the princess in a hood, with the future changed instead the princess would be a very extroverted like Sonic and the parade being like Samba de Amigo with the princess being beloved by the audience but the princess falters a slight bit when she sees Sonic vanishing into the crowd while adding a flower to her head as a small tease.

Either that or make Elise: Sally Acorn