//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Shadow’s in Equestria: A Sonic the Hedgehog/MLP Crossover // by Lord Shadow Eclipse //------------------------------// Shadow followed Sunset through her usual classes until they came to the cafeteria to get food. Once he got his tray, he went to go sit with Sunset, Wallflower Blush, and Juniper Montage. These girls were sitting separately from the rest of Sunset's usual friend group and were sitting at their own table. As one would expect, everyone in the cafeteria walked over to the table to interact with Shadow. There were all looking at him with awe and were giving him a barrage of questions. "Are you from another world?" "You're really a hedgehog?" "You're shoes look cool." "What's the food on your planet like?" The Ultimate Lifeform tried his best to answer all their questions without popping a blood vessel. As he was nearing his boiling point, Sunset stood up and waved them off. "Everyone, everyone! Shadow's trying to simply eat his food in peace! There will be more time to answer any questions later. Right now, leave Shadow in peace for the time-being," Sunset said. The crowd dispersed to go back to their own tables to eat their lunches and Shadow gave Sunset a grateful look. He let out a calming sigh as he continued to eat his food. Sunset sat down next to Shadow. "Sorry about that, Shadow. I guess an anthropomorphic hedgehog is a lot for them to take in," Sunset said. "It's fine. Their curiosity is understandable," Shadow said. "I do appreciate you for making them leave." The group sat in silence for a while until Juniper spoke up. "So, what are we going to call our group of former villains?" That was something Sunset hadn't thought about, yet. Now that Juniper brought it up, it sounded like a good idea to come up with a name for their former-villain friend group to give them a sense of unity. She put a thumb to her chin in thought for a good name. Shadow's ears perked slightly when he heard the question. "You're... forming a group of former villains?" he asked. "That's quite an admirable endeavor." "Thanks, Shadow. Me and Juniper and Wallflower here all used to be villains ourselves until we changed our lives for the better," Sunset said. "If you don't mind my asking, what exactly did you do?" Shadow asked. Surprisingly, the girls seemed eager to share their "exploits" with him. Juniper went first. "I trapped Sunset's friends in a magic mirror and was going to destroy them by shattering the mirror," Juniper said. "Me? I used a magic stone to erase everyone's memories of Sunset as revenge," Wallflower shared. "All I did was turn into a rampaging she-demon and attempt to take over multiple worlds," Sunset said with a chuckle. Each of the girls were laughing at the memories of their past actions as if it was something to laugh about. Shadow found it a slight bit odd, but at least they could laugh it off. He began to wonder of he should tell them what he tried to do in his past. If they learned that he tried to destroy Mobius, they may think that he didn't deserve to be around them. They may reject him completely, an outcome that made Shadow's heart race slightly. "There's no way they'd want me around after I tried to destroy my home planet. Better to just ask if I could join them," Shadow thought. "Would it be alright if I join your group?" Shadow asked. "Obviously, I am the only one of my kind here on this planet and none of my companions have arrived here with me. It would be nice if I had others to talk to while I try to find my way home." "Of course you can join us, Shadow," Wallflower said. "We'd love to have you with us until we find you a way back to wherever you came from." "Thank you," Shadow said. "I wonder what Maria would say right now. She'd probably say she's proud of me for making new friends on a different planet." The bell rang to signify the end of lunch period. As they walked back to the classes, Shadow looked out the front doors of the school and saw the large horse statue just outside. His internal Chaos Energy slowly surged the longer he looked at the statue. Something about the statue was reacting to his own energy, elevating his curiosity. "Odd. Maybe I should try looking into that statue later," Shadow thought. "I hope the rest of my comrades are doing alright." Planet Mobius - With Sonic and Co The fight was over. Eggman got away, the base was destroyed, and the Blue Blur regrouped with his friends just outside the perimeter of the base's walls. Sonic was upset about the fact that Shadow pushed him out of the way of Eggman's beam, but not as upset as Rouge, who was crying tears of combined anger and sadness. "What the hell happened back there?!" she shouted. "What did Egghead do to Shadow?!" "Rouge, calm down. We'll figure out what happened," Sonic said soothingly before turning to Tails. "Tails, any ideas about what happened?" Tails thought back to what happened during the fight. Eggman fired up a new device and fired a beam at Shadow. It could've been a new weapon, but the machine didn't look like it was designed to kill the target. But if it wasn't meant to kill the target, the only other option was that Shadow was still alive, just not on Mobius anymore. "I have reason to believe that Shadow is still alive, but he's not on Mobius anymore. I think Eggman's beam may have sent him to another world entirely," Tails replied. Rouge grabbed Tails by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Are you sure Shadow's still alive? Can you find a way to bring him back?" "I'll have to try to see if I can track him throughout the universe first. After that, I'll create a way for us to bring him back," Tails replied. "That's good to hear. I miss sparring with him," Knuckles said. "He has a mean right hook." "And I enjoy him joining me and Cream for tea," Amy said. "Shadow has good taste in tea and I enjoy baking cookies for him." Rouge turned to Amy when she heard that, her ears perked up in curiosity. "Shadow joins you and Cream for tea?" "Yeah, he does so whenever GUN gets his nerves bent out of shape," Amy replied. "You'd be surprised how much of a tea connoisseur he is. And Cream loves having him around to play with her." "That's... really sweet, actually," Rouge said. "Nice to know Grumpy Quills cares about others." "Huh. Never knew Shadow was the 'tea and babysitter' type," Sonic said. "Alright, let's see if we can get Cream's babysitter back!" The crew zoomed off to try to get Shadow back. Sonic was just as worried as Rouge for Shadow's well-being. Yeah, the two had a more friendly rivalry nowadays, but he still cared for his brooding friend. "Hang on, Shadow. We'll get you back, buddy," Sonic thought with determination. "I swear it!" Earth - With Shadow and the Rainbooms The school day concluded quickly enough. Shadow's fully stomach made him fall asleep during chemistry class, but he wasn't there to learn. He was simply there to be kept company during the day. Sunset led Shadow and the others towards the football field to show them the crater Shadow made. "This is where Shadow and I first met. He simply appeared out a ball of light," Sunset said. "Do you have any idea how you got here, Shadow?" Fluttershy asked. "I was joining my comrades in a fight against a known supervillain on my planet and he used a machine to send me to your planet," Shadow replied. "Knowing Sonic, he's more than likely celebrating his victory with a hug plate of chili dogs right now." "'Sonic'? He's one of your friends?" Applejack asked. "More like a friendly rival. He can be annoying, but he has a hero's heart, so he has my respect," Shadow replied. "In fact, it was me saving his blue butt that got me here in the first place." "What's Sonic like?" Pinkie asked. "He's brash and reckless, but he's noble and kind. He's a hedgehog like me, and we're both known for our speed," Shadow replied. That got Rainbow Dash to look to Shadow with a great deal of interest. A competitive gleam shone in her eye as she spoke to Shadow. "You're really fast? Can I see some of your speed?" Rainbow asked. "Sure. A good run sounds good right about now," Shadow replied. The whole football field had a track surrounding it, a perfect place for Shadow to showcase his speed. He settled on the track and did a few warmup stretches and got into a running position. Shadow primed his rocket skates and shot off like a bullet. Despite the wind in his ears he could hear the screams and gasps of the girls as he continuously looped around the football field at tremendous speed. Shadow was going so fast that the world around him was nothing but blurry blobs. He could make out Rainbow Dash looking particularly shocked at seeing a display of speed. Shadow smirked as he came to an instant stop. "How was that for speed?" Shadow asked. "That... was... AWESOME!!" Rainbow asked. "How are you that fast?!" Shadow clicked his skates on the ground with a smirk. "My rocket skates. I'm fast enough on my own, but my rocket skates give me a great boost." "Where'd you get rocket skates?" Twilight asked, taking a closer look at said skates. "My creator gave them to me. He was a good man, a great man," Shadow replied. "Wait, you said 'creator'. What do you mean by that?" Rarity asked. Shadow looked away from them as he spoke. There was a nostalgic familiarity in his voice as he spoke, and it was a tone that made the girls slightly concerned. "I'm a bio-engineered organism created by a brilliant scientist named Gerald Robotnik, who was in charge of a government science space station called the Space Colony ARK. I was created for the purpose of curing his terminally-ill granddaughter, Maria Robotnik," Shadow replied. "She was my best and only friend. Maria was brighter than the stars we often looked at from within the ARK, and I loved her dearly." "Maria sounds like a good person," Twilight said. "Yeah, both she and Professor Robotnik were good people," Shadow said. "They were my family, but the government that hired the professor feared the power I can use, so they sent soldiers to storm the ARK, take me away, and kill the scientists involved with my creation." That last bit got their eyes wide. Sunset spoke tentatively. "Does that mean that... ?" she asked before Shadow finished for her. "Yes. The professor was captured by the soldiers and he ordered me to escape the ARK with Maria," Shadow said. "I got into one of the escape capsules, but Maria didn't follow me. Instead, she closed the capsule and was about to launch my capsule until one of the soldiers came into the room. He order her to get away, but Maria pushed the button. The soldier... shot her right in front of my eyes." At this point, as the memory of Maria's death came flooding back into Shadow's mind, his eyes began to form tears. He tried to keep his usual expression, but it was hard to do with him seeing Maria falling to the ground with blood pooling around her. Shadow's breathing pitched as he tried to keep the tears and memories at bay. He would've burst into a crying fit if it hadn't been for the warmth that suddenly enveloped him. He opened his eyes to see that Sunset was hugging him. "Shadow, I'm so sorry you went through something so awful," Sunset said. "I don't care that you were made in a lab or whatever, we'll never abandon you." Those words struck deeper than Sunset would ever know. No one had ever said those words to him after Maria's death. He felt as if a huge, painful weight had just been lifted from his chest. After 50 years of pent-up pain, Shadow felt something inside him give away, and wept true tears. He sank into Sunset's embrace and cried into her shoulder. Until he found a way home, he would protect this planet as well as Mobius.