Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle smiled when Shadow arrived at their clubhouse for the day. They were wearing their Crusader capes waiting for him to enter the clubhouse which he did.
"Hello girls" he replied, earning hellos and hugs from them.
"Shadow we got something for you" Scootaloo said. Shadow arched a brow before seeing a 4th cape that Sweetie Belle was handing to him. He looked at it for a bit, before looking at the hopeful faces of the girls.
/dammit…./ he thought as he looked back at the cape.
"We want to make you an honorary member of the Crusaders" Sweetie Belle said.
"You certainly do help us when it comes to our mission. So we figured making you a member would be a great idea" Applebloom said. He remained silent as he continued to look at the cape.
Twilight's House
"So kiddo, what do you want to know?" Rouge asked. Twilight looked at her before taking a deep breath.
"I want to know what he meant when he said 'looking at the stars from a different angle'" she said. Earning a sigh from Rouge.
"Sit down hun, this is gonna be a long tale" Twilight nodded and sat down. Rouge doing so as well.
"It all begins about 50 years ago. A colony in orbit of Earth named ARK. Developed by Professor Gerald Robotnik to help find a cure for his Granddaughter Maria's illness. It was there that Shadow came to be. A secret project named Shadow that Gerald made." She said, going on to explain the prototype known as Biolizard, Black Doom, the Shadow they know and love, his friendship with Maria, the military attack, Maria's Death, Shadow's imprisonment and reawakening. As well as everything he went through ever since he was found with Omega. Twilight sat there in utter silence and amazement. The entire tale took at least an hour or two.
"Wow…he's been through so much" she said, feeling kind of sorry for him.
"Yeah, but don't you start treating him any differently knowing what you know now. He wouldn't like that. At all." She said, earning a nod from the lavender unicorn.
CMC clubhouse
"Shoot" Applebloom said in a bored voice, looking at the 4th cape and the lack of Shadow. He had declined the offer and left. Much to the disappointment of the girls.
"We should've never asked" Sweetie Belle said.
"Ah who needs him?" Scootaloo said, trying to sound tough even though she felt sad since he turned it down. The other 2 just looked at her and sighed.
"I got an idea" Scootaloo said, "let's head to Zecora's I'm sure she can help us get our cutie marks" the other 2 smiled and nodded before they set out for the Zebra's hut.
Everfree Forest
The girls made their way through the forest to get to Zecora's hut, though something didn't feel right. They began to get nervous and scared as they continued.
"Maybe we should head back" Sweetie Belle said.
"y-yeah" Applebloom agreed.
"C'mon girls, don't you want to get your cutie marks?" Scootaloo asked before something stomped nearby. The girls froze and did their best to look toward the sound, what they saw was nothing short of shocking. The head of a Lion, the body and antlers of a Goat, and a tail that had a Snake head on the end. It was a Chimera, roaring loudly as it set its sights on the girls. They screamed before running as fast as they could to get away from it.
Twilights House
Shadow opened the door and entered the house. Seeing Rouge and Twilight who both looked up at him.
"Where are the girls?" Rouge asked, knowing that he went to the clubhouse. Shadow shrugged.
"Hopefully staying out of trouble" he said. Twilight just looked at him, sensing a lack of compassion toward the subject from him.
"Not really my problem though. It's not like I'm their babysitter or anything" he said.
"How can you say that? They're just little fillies." Twilight said, getting mad at him
"Ones that don't need me around." He said. "Besides I'd rather stick my head in a bucket of liquid nitrogen" Twilight stood and walked over to him.
"Where are they?" she asked sternly. He stayed silent looking at her. She got up in his face.
"Answer the question. Where are they?" she asked more sternly with some anger.
"Get out of my face" he said with a glare. She used her magic to grab and pin him to the wall.
"Now you listen here! They are just fillies, and ones that look up to you. If anything happens to them it'll be on your head!" Shadow was unfazed by her words and assertiveness. Giving a grin and arched brow, as if saying 'is that all?'
She growled at this point, "don't let what happened to Maria happen to them!" she shouted. Shadow's eyes shot open at that, he slowly began to break her hold.
"How dare you…"
"No! How dare you! Rouge told me you are a very compassionate and caring individual, who would do anything to help!" she shouted, interrupting him. He just looked at the ground sighing. Looking back up at Twilight he saw tears begin to fall.
"Please Shadow...i beg of you…" she said. Her hold vanishing. Shadow turned to Rouge and sighed again before taking out the green emerald he got from Rarity. Turning back to Twilight he knelt down to her since she was sitting and crying softly. Wrapping an arm around her to give her a hug.
"Thank you..." he said softly before standing up. "Chaos Control!" he teleported to the clubhouse. Twilight smiled at that, happy that he listened and put his pride aside.
Upon arriving at the clubhouse he noticed they were gone, and soon his ears could hear screaming. Not only that, but they could hear roaring.
"Dammit!" he said before seeing the cape he declined earlier. He looked at it before picking it up and tying it around his neck. "I'm on my way girls" he said before heading toward them.
Everfree Forest
The girls managed to get out of reach of the Chimera but it was trying desperately to get at them. They were scared, in tears and hoping someone would save them.
"Chaos Spear!" a voice rang out before something struck the Chimera in the side, sending it away from the girls as Shadow soon came into view. The girls were happy to see him, and soon they felt surprise and shock that he was wearing the Crusader cape.
"C'mon ugly. Let's go!" he said before the Chimera charged at him. He strafed to avoid it and fired another Spear, hitting it and sending it into a tree. The beast roared before trying to bite him with its tail. He dodged the attack easily, "Chaos Control!" he shouted before vanishing. The girls got worried but soon saw the Chimera getting tossed around from being attacked from seemingly nowhere. Shadow behind it, watching it get pummeled by the attacks he did while time was frozen. The beast cried out in pain before looking at Shadow and running away, scared of him.
He turned to the girls and knelt down. "Sorry I'm late girls" he said. They all smiled and jumped out of their hiding spot to hug him, tears rolling down their faces.
"Thank you so much Shadow!" they all exclaimed happily as he hugged them back.
Ever since that day, you could see Shadow with the Crusaders. Wearing the cape even. When asked about it he'd always reply "it's for protection" though they knew it was more than that. Seeing that made Twilight smile happily that she was able to convince him that he was better than that.
"Thank you Shadow" she said softly to herself.
Eggman's Base
Metal laid down the griffon in front of Eggman and Trixie. "So she failed" Eggman said, earning a nod from the bot. Trixie scoffed before going up to Gilda.
"Get up you worthless Griffon" she said before sending Chaos Energy from her horn into Gilda. A few new marks appeared on Gilda as she awoke in agony from the energy being pumped into her. The old marks growing in size as her body became tainted by the energy. She panted when it finally ended.
"What did you do to me?" she asked weakly.
"Simple, I made it to where you shouldn't overestimate yourself. And you must now focus on not underestimating them." She said sternly. "Does the Great and Powerful Trixie make herself clear?" Gilda nodded as she scoffed at her. Gilda's sclera, the white of her eye, had red marks on it. Eggman saw this, as well as red marks on Trixie's body, tail and mane.
/seems the corruption has started/ he thought.
Corruption?
Uh oh....
660045 what's the corruption?
856120 do you really want to know?
A curruption. Is when somebody uses the power for evil. But soon the emerald takes control of the user which began to lose control of their body
why? just why? power corrupts, Trixie, CORRUPTS!!!
"Not really my problem though. It's not like I'm their babysitter or anything" he said.
"How can you say that? They're just little fillies." Twilight said, getting mad at him
"Ones that don't need me around." He said. "Besides I'd rather stick my head in a bucket of liquid nitrogen" Twilight stood and walked over to him.
"Where are they?" she asked sternly. He stayed silent looking at her. She got up in his face.
"Answer the question. Where are they?" she asked more sternly with some anger.
"Get out of my face" he said with a glare. She used her magic to grab and pin him to the wall.
"Now you listen here! They are just fillies, and ones that look up to you. If anything happens to them it'll be on your head!" Shadow was unfazed by her words and assertiveness. Giving a grin and arched brow, as if saying 'is that all?'
She growled at this point, "don't let what happened to Maria happen to them!" she shouted. Shadow's eyes shot open at that, he slowly began to break her hold.
"How dare you…"
"No! How dare you! Rouge told me you are a very compassionate and caring individual, who would do anything to help!" she shouted, interrupting him.
Am I missing something? Did Shadow ever say that he himself hurt the CMC in any way shape or form? Because that would be the only reasonable reason on why Twilight would be saying 'you are a very compassionate and caring individual who would do anything to help'. And did Twilight actually know about the CMC offering him a cape and him choosing to decline? Not that it matters considering he did nothing wrong. He has the right to not wear the cape that was offered to him. Which is why I was kind of annoyed at Twilight for this outburst {especially for the whole bringing up a topic that she should know is a very sensitive to Shadow after learning about his past} even if I understood that she just wanted the CMC safe {Another reason why this was annoying me. I mean in the show, she and her friends leave the CMC alone all the time [okay maybe not ALL the time but you get my point]. So she has no excuse to go yelling at Shadow for leaving the CMC alone when she herself had done the same thing on multiple occasions.} Sorry if this turned into a rant. I just feel as if the outburst was a bit.. I don't know... dumb, out of place, abrupt. One of those three things. But that is just my opinion.