//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A Robotic Reunion // Story: Shadow The Hedgehog, Friendship is Darkness // by Stalin with Da Spoon //------------------------------// Crystal City The train station of the Crystal City was quite desolate, due to the train currently being broken down. However, this did little to curve a certain robots rage as he stared down a nervous train conductor. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS MODE OF TRANSIT IS UN-AVAILABLE?" "I told you, the train's broken down! It ain't goin anywhere till someone comes to fix it." "WHAT IS THE ESTIMATED TIME FRAME OF ARRIVAL FOR A DESIGNATED REPAIR SPECIALIST?" "I dunno, a couple days?" "UN-ACCEPTABLE TIME FRAME, MUST REACH PONYVILLE IMMEDIATELY." "Well, what am I supposed to do!?!" "WHAT IS THE DISTANCE TO PONYVILLE?" "Uhhhh... Few miles?" "ACCEPTABLE DISTANCE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION." Suddenly, Omega's thrusters ignited as he rocketed forward, jumping onto the train tracks and rocketing along them towards his destination, leaving a very confused conductor as they just shook their head and walked away. Ponyville. "So does anyone know where I even am?" "Well, your in Ponyville, silly!" Pinkie said, happily getting up in Shadow's face, who politely pushed her away slowly, quite surprised by her... Eccentrics. Regardless, he found it slightly enjoyable. "I see... No doubt that I am no longer on Earth then... Very well. It is nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie..." "Nice to meet you too, but your kinda weird! Like, not the bad kind of weird, more like the cool kind, your like a hedgehog, but with legs, and edgy!" Shadow couldn't help but snort at the wording of the pink pony, as Fluttershy slightly chuckled as well. "Indeed, you are quite the unique creature Shadow..." "Of course, I was created to be the ultimate lifeform... Now tell me, have you by chance seen the rest of my team?" "No, what do they look like?" "Well, one is a bat with black wings and white fur named Rouge, and the other is a giant robot with violent tendencies called Omega." "Oh my... You have some quite unique friends..." "Trust me, you don't know the half of it..." Shadow had met a lot of unique people to say the least, like Big the cat, or Vector the alligator. Or was he a crocodile? Shadow was not exactly sure. "So, how'd you get here Mr shadow?" Pinkie said, with an inquisitive look on her face, as Shadow was about to answer, before realizing not even he was entirely sure. All he remembered was bringing the three chaos emeralds together and them having an unknown reaction, sending him here. "I am not exactly sure, Pinkie. The last thing I remember are bringing together the chaos emeralds..." "Ooooooooh, whats a chaos emerald?" "The chaos emeralds are powerful objects from my world that can grant those who use almost limitless power, especially when brought together. Perhaps bringing three together caused me and my team to be sent here..." "Oooh oooh, I have an idea! We can go to Twilight, shell know what to do!" Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "Indeed, plus I have a feeling she would very much like to meet you Shadow." Shadow decided to go along with it, thinking this Twilight could help him find his team and get home, as he nodded in compliance. "Very well, where is your friend?" "Oooh, she's off in her castle over there-" Before Pinkie could finish, several yelps and hollers could be heard from the Ponyville train station. As Shadow and the ponies turned to the commotion, Shadow could faintly make out the outline of a rapidly approaching Omega, his jet engines propelling him at high speeds. Shadow was honestly both surprised and not surprised, fully aware of his robotic allies ability to locate and reach his objective with ease. Shadow simply raised his hand in front of his pony friends. "Don't worry, he's a friend." The ponies had a confused look on their face, as Omega pulled right up to Shadow, towering over him as Pinkie and Fluttershy stepped back. "Hello, Omega, good to see you." "GREETING SHADOW, GOOD TO SEE YOU AS WELL. I TRUST THESE PONIES HAVE DOWN YOU NO HARM?" "Yes Omega, they have been very friendly and from what I've seen, are not even a threat, so stand down please." Shadow said, gesturing to the fact Omega had both of his miniguns deployed, which quickly retracted into his arms and were replaced with his claws. "UNDERSTOOD, STANDING DOWN." Now seizing the opportunity for introduction, Pinkie jumped up in the robot's face with a big smile across her face. "Hiya, I'm Pinkie pie, it's nice to meet you Mr. big robot! I gotta throw a party for both you and Shadow now!" While intitally caught off guard, Omega showed no emotion besides petting the pink horse on the head, feeling surprisingly content. "GREETINGS PINKIE PIE, I AM E-123 OMEGA, THE ULTIMATE E-SERIES ROBOT." "That's a cool name!" Whilst Pinkie accepted the head pats from Omega, Fluttershy was on the brink of fainting, but stopped herself as she simply smiled at the scene, glad to see this robot was at least friendly, as Shadow spoke to Omega. "Omega, do you know where Rouge?" "AFFIRMATIVE." Cue him standing up and turning to point at Canterlot in the distance. "Oh hey, your friends at Canterlot! That's where Rarity and Rainbow are too! So convenient!" Fluttershy simply nodded in confirmation of Pinkie's statement, before remembering they should probably go see Twilight, as she turned to Shadow. "Would you still like to go see Twilight, Mr Shadow?" Shadow simply turned to Fluttershy and nodded. "Yes, I would like that." And with that, the ponies lead the hedgehog and killer robot to the castle of friendship. However, watching from a distance, nestled into the leaves of a tree, lay a tiny camera drone, with the mark of... The eggman empire. ??? A lone figure sat in his chair as he stared at the screen in front of him, watching as Shadow and Omega, along with their new friends walked away, as they slowly smiled to themselves, and slowly pulled out a chaos emerald in their hands, and smiled, before letting out a distinct chuckle, before turning around in their chair. "Orbot, Cubot!" Two odd shaped robots quickly hovered up to their master. "Yes, doctor?" "Yeah, what ya need doc?" The man quickly stood up out of his seat, revealing himself to be... Doctor Ivo Robotnik, also known, as Eggman. "I need you to observe Shadow and the rest of team dark to see if they find those chaos emeralds... Once they do, alert me at once... Meanwhile, I shall be studying these strange ponies..." Cubot and Orbot saluted as they floated away, while Eggman turned to look at the screen, smiling to himself, already cooking up his greatest plan yet.