Dear Maria,
It's been... A long time since I had written to you. I just needed to tell you...
I'm somewhere I'm not supposed to be.
I have found myself in a strange land, inhabited by talking, candy colored, ponies. (My opinion, they look more like horses.)
I met a pony. She's an inch taller than me, dark fuchsia mane and tail, pink body. She has balloons on her flank. (Apparently they're called cutie marks.) Her name was Pinkie Pie.
She was overly happy and nice to me. Didn't seem to care that I was a hedgehog. No one has ever treated me with such a level of unconditional compassion since yourself. I'm going to befriend her. She's asked me to come over to her place tomorrow to tell her more about myself. Should I be as open to her as with you?
...Why does she remind me of you?
I don't know. I'm just going to be myself for now. Maybe...
I could have another friend as kind as you were.
Love, Your best friend and brother,
Shadow the Hedgehog
Shadow approached the brown and pink cupcake looking building, known as Sugarcube corner. He was curious, about her. She just seemed different than anybody else he'd met before.
He stood at the door, and inhaled. He knocked on the door.
The door cracked a sliver, but no one answered.
Shadow sighed, and opened the door.
It was unusually empty inside, and a little dark. This confused Shadow.
'She said that she'd be here...'
Suddenly, lights came on, and the chaos of a party sounded. Some ponies were cheering surprise, some blew party favors, and music started to play. Confetti had exploded out of every corner, and tables of confections had grown up from the ground.
"Surprise!"
Shadow was not expecting this. He stood there with a blank face, not knowing what to think.
This time a bubbly voice shouted in front of him.
"Surprise!"
Shadow blinked, coming back from his surprise.
The pony in front of him was the pink, cheery Pinkie Pie.
"I threw this party just for you! Ooh, I just knew you needed one! Are you surprised?"
He looked at the pink mare, and gave a simple response.
"Very. Although, when you said we'll talk later, I wasn't expecting you to drag half this town with you."
He glanced around the room, and noted how many ponies were in the space.
Pinkie giggled and turned to look at her guests.
"It's what I do." She turned back to him. "You aren't cranky about it, right?"
Shadow shook his head.
"No, no. I'm not. Just a little overwhelmed."
Pinkie Pie beamed. "Good. Cause' it looked like you needed some surprise!" Shadow eyed a table of confections, and realized he was quite hungry.
He began walking to the table, Pinkie not leaving his side.
"So, how did you get here? Are you from a different part of Equestria? Maybe from across the sea! Ooh, or, or!-"
"You remember that emerald I asked you about?" Shadow interjected, reaching the table and grabbing the nearest sweet, which was a brownie.
"Uh huh, and I said I didn't see it, silly!" She giggled.
"Well, it's called a Chaos Emerald. Where I come from, they are the most powerful objects in the world." He explained calmly before taking a bite of the brownie.
Pinkie gasped with joy.
"You're from another universe where there are 7 of these emerald thingys, and you used one to teleport and you ended up in this universe, now having to find it so you can get home!?"
Shadow nearly choked on the brownie. How could she have known?
He swallowed, and stared at her.
"How did you know that?"
Pinkie Pie beamed.
"Just a hunch."
She hopped away from him, leaving Shadow with a lot of questions that would not be answered.
Shadow stayed long after, watching the other guests leave one by one.
He had met Pinkie's 5 best friends, and had decided that they were trustworthy. She seemed to really value her friends, all of them, which he had to assume was also the entire town.
Shadow had to give it to her, that was impressive. How could you make an entire town like you?
Pinkie waved the last guest goodbye, and turned to see Shadow deep in thought, his eyes closed and arms crossed. Pinkie Pie beamed.
"So? How was it? It wasn't bad at all, huh?"
Shadow dropped his arms and stared at her.
"It was alright. I'm not much for parties and being social though."
Pinkie giggled and hopped over next to him.
"You remind me of Fluttershy! Albeit, a darker one at that."
Shadow glanced at her, then turned away.
"Yeah. I get that a lot. The dark tone I mean."
This had been said of him by many on multiple occasions, so it didn't really effect him.
But Pinkie seemed to notice a shift of emotion in him. She kept on a big smile.
"Don't worry about it! I meant it in a good way, like dark as in mature, or something!"
He almost wanted to smile at that. Her overly sweet demeanor was something to be amazed by.
Suddenly, she gave him a big hug.
"I'll make you break out of your shell yet, and maybe even get a smile on that face!"
Shadow blushed with embarrassment. He wasn't expecting a hug, but he knew that he should have, considering her personality.
He gently pushed her away.
"Yeah, good luck with that."
He started toward the door, Pinkie trailing behind.
Shadow stopped, and turned. Pinkie smiled innocently.
"I still haven't gotten a smile from you!"
Shadow rolled his eyes, and turned, smirking.
Pinkie gasped happily. "Yay! I saw that smile!"
Shadow felt his smirk turn more into a smile.
"That was a smirk. Not a smile."
He walked out the door, Pinkie standing in the doorway.
"Well I'm counting that!"
Shadow allowed himself to quietly chuckle.
"Whatever."
Pinkie watched him walk away. Perhaps a little too long.
She blushed lightly, and chuckled to herself.
"Come on Pinkie, you have got to stop starring off into space."
Shadow spent the rest of the day searching for the emerald in and out of the town. He didn't find it, but he did find someplace to sleep. By now, it was dark, and the sky was a dark indigo-violet color.
The sleeping place was a single slumped tree, looking over the entire town. He climbed up the tree, and laid upon a slumped branch.
He stared up at the stars, pondering multiple things.
Where the emerald had gone, why he was brought here, how to get back...
"Pinkie Pie seems nice."
He didn't know where that came from. Though, he didn't seem to mind.
'Huh.'
He put his hands behind his head.
"Maybe this won't be so hard."