Shadow the Hedgehog? (Pt. I)
As the ponies expected, looking for Pinkie Pie was easier said than done. Looking for Sonic or Rainbow Dash would’ve been one thing; at least they could be seen when they were moving, if only as a blur and only for a few seconds at best. But everypony, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, knew that the pink party pony was another matter entirely. After all, how do you locate or keep track of a pony that can chase down the fastest runners and fliers just by bouncing and can appear INSIDE of mirrors? Still, they hoped, with the pink pony as unpredictable as she could be at times, they could pick a random spot to start searching and Pinkie would show up there.
As they headed in the direction they had last seen Pinkie Pie, both Espio and Apple Bloom were brought up to speed on the current situation. By the time they were finished, the group had wandered out of Ponyville and they were now standing near a dirt path the ponies all recognized that went straight into what appeared to be a white forest.
“So where are we now?” Knuckles asked no one in particular.
Applejack answered, “This here’s Whitetail Wood, Knuckles. It’s where the Running of the Leaves takes place.”
Tails asked, “What’s the ‘Running of the Leaves’?”
Sonic spoke up, “It’s one of Equestria’s seasonal events. When autumn rolls around, all the ponies get together and run through the forest in order to knock the leaves off the trees. At least that’s what I gathered from what Applejack told me.”
Tails and the others looked over at the earth pony at that. She nodded, “Yup. That’s the basic idea behind it.”
Tails asked, “So does that mean you ponies are heavily involved with Equestria’s seasons?”
Rainbow Dash said, “Seasons AND weather! Cloudsdale produces all of the weather in Equestria! Rain, snow, wind… everything!”
Cream spoke, “That sounds fascinating, Miss Dash!” Cheese chirped happily in agreement.
Rainbow frowned, “‘Miss’ Dash?”
While Applejack chuckled at her cyan friend’s reaction, Espio said, “Please do not call Miss Cream out on her manners. She was simply being polite, as her mother taught her to be.”
Looking back at the trail leading into Whitetail Wood, Tails asked, “Do you think Pinkie Pie could’ve gone in there?”
Twilight said, “Maybe. With Pinkie Pie, it’s not always easy to guess what she’s going to do next.” Looking around, she added, “If she did come here, it’s not going to be easy to find her.”
Sonic nodded, “Hm. Even though she’s pink, it does look like all that white could hide her if she’s standing in the right place, doesn’t it?”
Spike said, “I doubt she’d just stand in the middle of a white forest. Unless she’s ranting like she was earlier, the only times Pinkie Pie ever really stands still is when she’s talking to somepony or when she’s trying to do something.”
Fluttershy softly asked, “But she could be standing still, right? Um, I mean, she has been able to stand still for other reasons, hasn’t she?”
Rarity exclaimed, “You’re absolutely right, Fluttershy, she has! How will we ever find her if is indeed standing still in Whitetail Wood?!”
Applejack looked over at her and said, “Ah think you’re overreactin’ there, Rarity. Pinkie does have her odd habits, but Ah’m sure she wouldn’t wander too far off the main path.”
Rainbow nodded as she flew up above everyone’s heads, “Right, so if she’s in there, we shouldn’t have to search hard to find her! That means Sonic and I can do a quick run through Whitetail Wood and easily find out whether Pinkie Pie is in there or not! And if she’s not, we can start searching somewhere else!”
Sonic pointed a thumb towards where the Running of the Leaves track began as he looked up at Rainbow and said, “Okay, I’ll start searching this way.”
Rainbow looked down at him as she replied, “All right. I’ll start from the other end.” Sonic nodded and then they both took off, a blue streak and a rainbow streak disappearing into Whitetail Wood.
Knuckles grunted, “Showoffs.”
Applejack said, “Mm, personally, Ah think Rainbow Dash is the bigger showoff, Knuckles.”
Tails turned to Twilight and asked, “So aside from the weather and the seasons, what else is controlled in Equestria?”
While the rest of the group waited to hear their report, Sonic and Rainbow Dash zoomed through Whitetail Wood at a slower than usual pace so it would be easier to spot Pinkie Pie, knocking some leaves off the trees as they went. After a short time, they met up at a fork in the road, coming to a stop in front of the arrow sign pointing out the forest trail. Rainbow landed on the ground and asked, “Any luck?”
Sonic shook his head, “Nothing. I thought I saw something moving behind the trees a few times, but every time I turned around and went back to look, there was nothing there. What about you?”
Rainbow replied, “I saw a portal back down the path, but that’s about it. I didn’t see anything moving.” She then asked, “Are you sure you saw something moving? I mean, did you see a shadow or anything?”
Sonic looked back down the path as he answered, “All I saw was a silhouette, and it looked familiar…” After a moment of silence, he said, “How’s this for an idea: show me where you saw the portal, then we’ll double back to the forest entrance and see if we can find whoever was creeping around back there.”
Rainbow replied, “Sounds as good a plan as any. Follow me!” She spread her wings and lifted off the ground. She then led the way through the forest with Sonic following close behind.
Soon…
“So unicorns used to move the Sun and the Moon in olden times, and now Princess Celestia and Princess Luna do it? That’s very interesting,” Tails commented.
“It’s amazing!” Cream added, to which Cheese agreed.
Rarity said, “Surely it’s not all that surprising.”
Spike nodded, “Yeah, your world is similar to Equestria. So you must have something that moves your Sun and Moon as well.”
Knuckles spoke, “No, not really. Our Sun and Moon rise and set on their own. As far as we know, nothing is moving them.”
Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof as she said, “Really, that’s interesting… But the Sun and Moon are still very important, right?”
Tails nodded, “Oh, absolutely! Just because they’re different doesn’t mean they’re any less important than yours are. And their importance can be different depending on where you are. Like the kingdom of Soleanna has a Sun god that the people all revere, and in Shamar, the people celebrate the Feast of Sun and Moon. So yes, the Sun and the Moon are important around the world.” Twilight nodded in understanding.
Before anyone else could say anything, Espio spoke, “Look, here come Sonic and Rainbow Dash.” Everybody turned towards the entrance to Whitetail Wood and saw the two speedsters approaching, Sonic skidding to a stop in front of the group and Rainbow slowing down and landing on the ground next to him.
Tails was the first to speak, “Hey, guys. Did you find Pinkie Pie?”
Rainbow shook her head, “We covered most of Whitetail Wood twice and we didn’t find anything, not even a strand of Pinkie’s hair.”
Sonic added, “When we were searching on our own, I thought I saw something, but it didn’t look like a pony. After we met up, I didn’t see it again.”
Knuckles groaned, “Great. So what do we do now? Are you sure we need to find her right now? We can’t just find her later?”
Rarity said, “Of course we can’t, Knuckles! Pinkie Pie is not only one of the Elements of Harmony, but one of our best friends! We can’t just leave her alone without any idea about what’s going on!”
Twilight nodded, “You’re right, Rarity. No matter what, we can’t go on without Pinkie Pie. We have to find her!”
Espio asked, “So where do you propose we look for her, Twilight? Is it unreasonable to assume that she might have gone back to that bakery?”
Rainbow said, “Nah, no way, Esp… Ep…”
The chameleon calmly provided, “Espio.”
Rainbow replied, “…Right. Anyway, she could’ve gone back to Sugarcube Corner, but she’s just as likely to have gone anywhere else! Even when we’re in the middle of something, she can be hard to keep track of!”
Cream murmured, “Oh my… I hope she’s okay…”
Tails nodded, “Yeah, me too, Cream. I know we’ve just started looking and all, but I’m already starting to worry about Pinkie Pie.”
After he said that, the tree he was closest to asked, “Really? That’s so sweet of you!”
Everybody looked at the tree, Tails’ eyes wide as he stared at it. “Did that tree just talk?” he asked incredulously.
At that, Pinkie Pie fell out of the tree’s leaves and landed in a sitting position in front of the group, giggling. “No way, silly! Trees don’t talk!” She then held a hoof to her chin as she wondered, “Or was that pillows?”
Apple Bloom stuttered, “What the…?”
Knuckles asked, “How did she do that?”
Espio placed a hand on his chin as he wondered, “Some form of ninjutsu, perhaps?”
Applejack looked at him and said, “Ah don’t know what that is, but Ah don’t think Pinkie Pie knows anythin’ about no nin… ten… du…”
Espio, a little irritably, muttered, “Ninjutsu.”
Rainbow glanced over at him and said, “Gesundheit.” Espio frowned at that.
Twilight sighed at this exchange and then turned to Pinkie Pie, asking, “Pinkie, how long were you up there?”
The pink pony glanced up with her eyes and tapped her chin in thought before looking back at Twilight and answering, “Five seconds, I think.”
Sonic asked, “So what was that whole…” He used the fingers on both of his hands to mimic the party pony’s earlier actions.
Pinkie smiled, “Oh, that! I get super-duper excited when new ponies come to Ponyville! Just ask Twilight! Oh, but you’re not a pony, are you? You’re a blue hedgehog! And your friends are a two-tailed fox, a red echidna, a bunny rabbit and her Chao friend, and a chameleon! Nope, none of you are ponies!”
Tails stared. “How did she know what Cheese is? Even Fluttershy didn’t know when she first saw him!”
Twilight just sighed, “It’s Pinkie Pie, Tails.”
Rainbow nodded, “That’s about all the explanation you need.”
Whether she accepted this as the common answer to that question or seemingly didn’t notice it, Pinkie Pie said, “But now that you’re all here, we can have a party! A great big ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party! I’d say you all could use some new friends too, being new arrivals and all, but that seems to have already been taken care of!”
Tails scratched the back of his head as he said, “Yes, well, uh, Pinkie… I’m not sure a party is the best thing we could be doing right now.”
Twilight spoke before Pinkie could protest, “I’m afraid he has a point, Pinkie. I think we have something bigger to be worrying about right now.”
An elegant voice spoke up behind the group, “I believe you are correct, Twilight Sparkle.” Everyone except Pinkie Pie turned to face the owner of the voice.
“Princess Celestia!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Twilight recognized the figure walking alongside the Princess of the Sun and said, “And Princess Luna!” As the two princesses approached, all the ponies and Spike dropped into a bow. Sonic and his friends looked around before deciding to do the same. Both Tails and Knuckles did the same bow as Spike, Sonic, remembering his training, knelt on his left knee and placed his right hand on top of his right knee as he lowered his head, Cream held up part of her dress in a curtsey while Cheese did a bow in midair, and Espio bent his body in a bow while pressing his right fist into the palm of his left hand.
When the princesses reached the group, Celestia said, “Rise, my little ponies. There is no need for such formalities.”
The ponies and Spike rose at that, Sonic and friends doing the same since, they assumed, that included them. Rarity asked, “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what are you doing here?”
Luna hesitantly said, “We are… not quite sure ourselves, Lady Rarity.”
Celestia explained, “Luna was asleep and I was dealing with matters of state until a short while ago. I saw a white flash coming from Ponyville and walked out onto the balcony to take a closer look, only to realize it was coming towards Canterlot. Whatever it was must have knocked me out, for when I regained consciousness, I found myself surrounded by white. After some time of searching, I found Luna, still fast asleep.”
The Lunar Princess let out a loud yawn at that, covering her mouth with a hoof. After it passed, she looked at her older sister and asked, “I appreciate that thou woke me up, sister, but did you really have to do it THAT way?”
Celestia smiled at her, “Well, I tried prodding you and saying your name, but you just wouldn’t respond, Luna. What else was I supposed to do?” Luna looked away and shook her head, showing her disapproval of her sister’s ‘methods’. Celestia turned back to the group and continued, “After that, we tried to figure out where we were, and we’ve been wandering lost ever since. Until Luna noticed something amongst all the white, that is.” Her eyes then scanned the group, looking at Sonic and the others before saying, “It would appear you’ve all met some… new friends.”
Twilight spoke, “Y-yes, Princess. Would you like us to introduce you and Luna to them?” At both Princesses’ nods, Twilight held out a hoof towards the hedgehog standing next to her, and said, “This is Sonic.”
Sonic waved his right hand and casually said, “Hi.”
Spike gestured towards Tails and said, “This is Tails.”
The fox nervously spoke, “H-hello, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I-it’s nice to finally meet you… both.”
Applejack held a hoof on Knuckles’ shoulder and smiled, “This here’s Knuckles.”
The echidna, not used to meeting royalty, awkwardly grunted, “Uh, hey.”
Fluttershy looked at Cream and Cheese as she said, “This is Cream and Cheese.”
Cream shyly spoke, “Hello, your Highnesses.”
Rarity looked over at Espio and said, “And this mysterious fellow is Espio.”
The chameleon’s eyes had been looking at something off to the side, but they snapped forward again at the sound of his name. After a moment, he said, “An honor.”
Celestia nodded, “It is an honor to meet all of you as well.” Luna slowly nodded in agreement.
Sonic noticed Espio’s slow response and, as Rainbow Dash asked the Princesses about how long they had been wandering around, he looked over at him and noticed his eyes were off to the side again. He leaned over and whispered, “Espio…?”
The chameleon whispered, through his teeth, “Shh…” His eyes continued to move along the row of trees off to the side until he was looking at the tree directly behind the Princesses. As Celestia finished answering Rainbow Dash’s question, Espio’s left hand moved behind his back, grabbing something. A second later, in one swift movement, he sent a kunai dagger flying over the heads of his friends and between the two Princesses, its blade getting lodged in the bark of the tree!
After staring back at the dagger for a moment, Luna turned and glared at Espio, thundering in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!”
Before anything else could be said, a voice behind the tree put a halt on Luna’s anger as it exclaimed, “What in the world?!”
Both Princesses looked back at the tree, everyone else looking at it as well. Espio held his right hand up near his horn, both his index and middle fingers up as he said, “My apologies, your Highnesses.” He then looked at the tree and said, “It takes a stealthy foe to surprise a ninja. And if I remember correctly, that’s not your style… Shadow.”
At the sound of that name, a growl emanated from behind the tree and a black and red hedgehog stepped out from behind it, turning to look at the group with his red eyes. “Huh. I thought that figure creeping around in the forest looked familiar,” Sonic commented.
Applejack raised an eyebrow as she watched Shadow walk around to the front of the tree. “That’s Shadow?” she asked.
Twilight glanced over at Sonic and wondered, “How did anyone mistake him for you?” Sonic just shrugged.
Pinkie Pie popped up between them and said, “He’s a hedgehog, just like you, Sonic! Ooh! Is he your brother?”
As Shadow pulled the kunai out of the tree, Sonic replied, “No, Pinkie. If we were related, I think I’d be dead by now.” The pink pony just looked at him in innocent confusion.
Shadow walked over to the group, stopping a short distance away from the Princesses. He then threw the kunai in Espio’s direction, the chameleon easily catching it by the handle and slipping it away. Luna looked at him and said, “I am deeply sorry for using the Royal Canterlot Voice on you, Sir Espio. Thou art a good soul.” The purple chameleon nodded in understanding.
Celestia walked over to Shadow and spoke, “So your name is Shadow, is it? It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Princess Celestia.”
Shadow crossed his arms and curtly replied, “I know who you are.”
Although a bit surprised by his response, Celestia said, “I see. Then perhaps you will accept my friendship?”
Shadow grunted, “Shove it.”
Now THAT caused some surprise, as everyone except Sonic, Knuckles, and Espio openly gasped. Before Celestia could think of composing a proper reply, Sonic zipped over, getting between her and Shadow. He then asked, “Hey Shadow, what’s the big idea, man? She was just trying to be nice!”
Shadow replied, “And I’m supposed to accept her and grovel at her hooves just because she’s a princess? I think not. If she can’t accept the fact that not everyone can love her just because she’s their ruler, it’s her problem, not yours.”
Rainbow Dash growled, “Why, you…!”
Sonic glanced back at her and said, “I’ve got this, Rainbow!” He then looked back at Shadow and examined his face. “Something doesn’t seem right about him. First he was sneaking around. Then he claims he knows Princess Celestia. Now he starts acing like this? I know he’s been dark before, but this is pushing it!” he thought. He then said, “Fact or not, that doesn’t mean you have to be rude about it!”
Shadow snorted, “Too bad.”
Knuckles growled, “You and your ego, Shadow… One of these days, it’s going to get you into trouble, trouble you won’t have anyone to help you out of!”
Sonic asked, “Speaking of days, do you have any idea what’s going on, Shadow?”
Shadow answered, “No. I don’t know where we are nor do I care. All that matters is this is where it ends for you, Sonic. I’ll put an end to you once and for all.”
Sonic glared at him for a moment, but then he put his hands on his hips and said, “Fine, Shadow. Where do you want to settle this?”
Shadow let his arms drop to his sides as he smirked, “I know just the place. Follow me.” He then turned and shot off into Whitetail Wood. Almost immediately afterwards, Sonic took off after him.
Twilight wanted to voice her protest, but Rainbow Dash beat her to the punch, yelling, “Beat him good, Sonic!”
Tails called, “Sonic, wait!” He wanted to give his friend the Warp Ring so he could get back easily, but he was already out of hearing range. Tails sighed and then called again, “Be careful!”
Twilight looked at him and asked, “Tails, you’re okay with this?”
Tails looked back at her and replied, “Not really. But once Shadow sets his mind on something, there’s no way to convince him otherwise. Sonic couldn’t run from this fight if he tried.”
Rarity said, “What an impudent hedgehog!”
The Princesses turned back towards the group, an awkward moment of silence following. It was broken when Applejack asked the one question that had been on her mind since the Princesses had shown up, “Princess Luna, Ah know you were asleep and all, but how the hay did ya manage to escape?”
The Lunar Princess raised an eyebrow, “I beg your pardon, fair Applejack?”
________________________________________
Sonic eyed the familiar forest around him as he slid along a green vine, recognizing it as part of the jungle on Prison Island. Just a minute ago, he had followed Shadow into the portal Rainbow Dash had found in Whitetail Wood, only for the black hedgehog to disappear as soon as they reached the other side. Although a bit thrown off at the sudden disappearance, Sonic was sure that Shadow would show up soon.
His hunch proved correct, as, after a bit more grinding on the vine, the black hedgehog leapt atop a large tree root a short ways ahead, pressing his left hand against the tree’s trunk. Sonic pointed at him with his left hand and grinned, “I found you, ‘faker’! Ha, how’s that for a bit of déjà vu?”
Shadow appeared to be momentarily unnerved by the word ‘faker’, but he quickly regained his composure and said, “I’ve no time to play mind games. I hope you can fight as well as you can shoot your mouth off.”
Sonic smirked as he jumped off the vine towards Shadow, “Look who’s talking!” Shadow leapt from the tree root, both he and Sonic passing each other in midair before they both landed and started running through the jungle, throwing punches and kicks at each other all the while.
Eventually, after swinging on some vines and running down a winding green path, a structure in the distance caught their attention. Sonic shot Shadow a grin before pulling ahead, heading for it. The black hedgehog growled and sped up, following him onto a metal pipe that curved downwards. After reaching the end of the pipe, Sonic took off running past a line of makeshift prison cells and scattered military supplies with Shadow in hot pursuit.
As they rounded a corner, they realized that there was a chasm between them and the nearest piece of land. Looking around quickly, Sonic noticed a rectangular metal platform poking out of the ground and jumped on it. It depressed for a moment before it shot up like a spring, sending Sonic flying to the other side of the chasm. Shadow looked on in surprise for a moment, as though he had never seen such a thing, before doing the same.
On the other side of the chasm, Sonic found, instead of a path, a river of radioactive sludge in front of him. “This has got to be bad for my health,” Sonic commented while looking at the green ooze. He glanced back to see Shadow coming in for a landing. He shrugged, “Oh well.” Turning back to the green river, he ran towards it, leaping off the edge of the platform.
Instead of landing in the river, however, he had leapt far enough to reach the edge of the ‘canal’ it was in and started grinding on a pipe sticking out of it. Shadow stopped at the edge and watched him for a second before doing the same thing. Sonic glanced back at him and wondered, “What’s he hesitating for? I’d heard he came here during the Black Arm invasion; he should at least have some idea what he’s doing.”
The pipe ended up branching off, taking them back into the jungle, the pipe itself going into a building full of vats containing the radioactive liquid. Sonic and Shadow leapt off the end of the pipe, managing to land on the floor rather than in one of the vats. They then burst out through the facility’s entrance and took off into the forest once again, Sonic still in the lead.
After a short while of running, Shadow had managed to catch up to Sonic, but he still wasn’t close to overtaking him yet. He began to fall back as Sonic approached a ledge, the blue hedgehog leaping from the edge and grabbing onto a vine. He used it to swing to a chunk of land that was high above the surface of the mostly unpolluted water below it. As he dashed towards the end of it, where he could see blue skies through an opening in a large tree, he grinned, “Looks like this game is over!”
A second later, however, the ground beneath him started rumbling, throwing him off. As Sonic tried to remain upright while moving, something green shot over his head and struck a tree branch, breaking it off and falling straight down towards where Sonic was headed! When he saw it, he quickly planted his feet on the ground, sliding as he tried to stop to avoid being crushed. The tree branch hit the ground before he could get under it, and Sonic came to a stop a short distance away from it as it rolled off the side of the path and the rumbling stopped.
Before Sonic could stand up, he heard Shadow say, “You’re right.” Sonic looked over his shoulder at the black hedgehog. Shadow frowned, “It IS over.” Suddenly, a green glow surrounded both of his hands and a green ring of fire began to form around Sonic. The blue hedgehog managed to climb to his feet, but before he could move, a green dome formed above him and began to push him down, his silhouette sinking into the ground. Shadow walked away as the green flames disappeared, walking through the opening in the tree as he smirked, “And I win.”
________________________________________
Sonic groaned as he began to regain consciousness, holding his right hand to his forehead as he used his left hand to help push himself up. After a moment, he found his balance and opened his eyes, looking around at his surroundings. He appeared to be in some kind of cavern, standing on a yellow pathway with quartz crystals all around him. He had enough room to move, but it didn’t look like he could move very far without running into a wall. “What the heck happened? Where am I?” he wondered.
Suddenly, Shadow’s face appeared in the crystal behind him and said, “You’re somewhere out of the way. Or more accurately, out of MY way.”
Sonic looked back over his shoulder and growled, “You! What have you done with Shadow?!”
The image on the crystal disappeared and reappeared on a crystal across from Sonic. “What are you talking about? I AM Shadow,” the black hedgehog replied innocently.
Sonic pointed at the image and yelled, “Yeah, right! Your attitude and lack of knowledge were suspicious enough, but what you used on me looked like magic! And Shadow doesn’t do magic!”
The image on the crystal gave a slow clap, “Bravo. You figured it out.” The image then vanished and reappeared on the crystal directly above Sonic, saying, “But just like one of your new friends, it’s too bad you’re the only one who figured it out. You won’t be getting out of here, but don’t worry. I’ll send your friends to give you some company after I’m through with them.”
Sonic glared and leapt up towards the image, yelling, “I’m not buying that garbage!” He curled up into a ball as he got closer, smashing the crystal into pieces. Landing on the ground afterwards, he growled, “You’re not going to have your way with my friends, faker! I’ll get out of here and stop you! And even if you do manage to get to them first, they’re going to get suspicious when you show up and I don’t!”
The ‘Shadow’ image appeared on a crystal to Sonic’s side and chuckled, “Forgive me when I say there won’t be any problems at all. You’re somewhere where you won’t be able to get back to them. And they’ll have no reason to be suspicious, especially if they’re anything like HER friends. I suggest you get comfortable; you won’t be going anywhere for a long time.” With that, the image winked out of existence with a mocking laugh.
Sonic began using Homing Attacks and Spin Dashes like crazy, smashing more crystals as he yelled, “Oh, I am DEFINITELY gonna get out of here now! And I’m gonna make you pay for thinking you can do anything to my friends on my watch!” He continued smashing crystals as he shot around the room, looking for a way out. Soon he hit a crystal and bounced off of it, landing on the ground and going down on one knee, panting. A second later, the crystal shattered and the wall behind it collapsed. Looking up, he spotted two familiar figures on the other side of the broken wall, looking back at him. “Shadow? Gilda?”
________________________________________
“And that’s what happened, yer Highnesses.” Applejack said as she finished recounting her, Twilight, and Sonic’s encounter with Nightmare Moon. The group had moved away from the path leading into Whitetail Wood, staying close so Sonic would be able to find them when he got back, and everyone was currently sitting on the ground.
Luna stared at the earth pony in silence for a long while before closing her eyes and saying, “I am afraid I have no recollection of such events, Applejack. Nor have I had any dreams recently of becoming Nightmare Moon again.”
Celestia nodded, “If anything had happened to Luna, I would’ve sensed it. But I detected no trace of that which transformed her all those years ago when I found her. It couldn’t have been her.”
Applejack said, “But… she recognized us!” She looked at Twilight and asked, “Didn’t she make it sound like we’d encountered her before, Twilight?”
Twilight nodded slowly, “She did… But some of the things she said, like what you noticed… What if that wasn’t Nightmare Moon?”
Rarity spoke, “Come now, Twilight. I’m as skeptical as the Princesses of this tale, but there’s no other mare quite like Nightmare Moon. Who could possibly want to pretend they were her?” The white unicorn failed to notice the slight glare Luna was giving her.
Pinkie Pie piped up, “You’re right, Rarity! There IS nopony like Nightmare Moon! So it must have been… another Nightmare Moon!”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Uh, Pinkie? Isn’t that basically what Rarity said ISN’T the case?”
Pinkie replied, “No, silly! I said ANOTHER Nightmare Moon! As in not the one we know!”
Spike scratched his head, “What? I’m confused…”
Tails asked, “Pinkie? Are you suggesting that the Nightmare Moon they saw… was from another universe?”
Pinkie replied, “Exactly! You guys are from another universe! So that means that, since time is a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, there could be ANOTHER universe, one where Nightmare Moon wasn’t changed back to Lunie! That portal could have been the entrance to another universe!”
Everybody stared at her in silence for a moment. Twilight eventually said, “That’s… actually a very plausible theory, Pinkie.” Pinkie looked proud at that; Twilight then added, “Although if it is true, there are still a few problems with it.”
Pinkie looked directly at her and asked, “What do you mean?”
Twilight explained, “Well, if that was another universe and Nightmare Moon was still around, then the night there would last forever. But when she appeared, she said that night would be eternal ‘this time’. She wouldn’t have said that if an alternate version of the Elements of Harmony had failed to stop her.”
Pinkie held a hoof up to her chin and rubbed it for a moment before saying, “Hmm… true.”
Twilight continued, “And speaking of the Elements of Harmony, after that thing took Nightmare Moon, we found Applejack’s Element, seemingly left behind.” She looked over at her saddlebags (which she had set off to the side) as her horn lit up, a magenta aura surrounding the flap on her right saddlebag. The flap then opened and she used her magic to lift the apple-shaped necklace out, holding it up in front of her.
Pinkie Pie looked at the necklace with narrowed eyes, examining it VERY carefully. She soon backed off and said, “Yep, it looks real to me!”
Celestia asked, “You found that in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, Twilight?”
The lavender mare replied, “Well, Sonic found it actually, but yes, Princess.”
The Sun Princess looked down and murmured aloud to herself, “First this Nightmare Moon tale, now this… What is going on in Equestria? And how did the Elements of Harmony get caught up in all this?”
Spike offered, “Twilight and Tails said we were traveling through time and space, Princess. The Elements probably got scattered thanks to that thing that sent us all to this place.”
Rainbow nodded, “Could be. That would explain how Gilda happened to come across my Element necklace.”
Celestia looked up and asked, “Your Element has been found too, Rainbow Dash?”
The rainbow-maned mare replied, “Yeah.” She turned to Twilight and said, “Show her, Twilight!” The unicorn nodded and used her magic to pull out the Element of Loyalty necklace, holding it up next to the Element of Honesty necklace. Celestia wrapped her magic around both necklaces and levitated them in front of her face, examining them for herself. She soon agreed that they were indeed the real Elements.
Before anything else could happen, a female voice, one that Knuckles and Rarity recognized all too well, spoke above them, “Well, what have we here?” Everybody looked up to see Rouge slowly coming down towards them, her wings flapping to slow her descent.
“Ah, Rouge!” Knuckles said, standing up as she landed. He wondered what she was doing here, although he guessed she wasn’t looking to finish that conversation they had started back at Sonic’s birthday party.
He didn’t get much time to ponder her intentions as Rarity also stood up and glared at Rouge, saying, “And just what are you doing here?”
Rouge simply smirked, “My! And here I thought Knuckles was the only one who knew how to give a charming hello.” Rarity’s frown deepened at those words.
As he, along with everyone else, stood up, Tails asked, “Uh, Rouge? If you don’t mind telling us, why are you here?”
Rouge replied, “Hm… Well, since you asked politely…” She trailed off for a moment, giving Rarity another look before saying, “Let’s just say a little birdie told me a certain hedgehog was around here.”
Knuckles asked, “Are you talking about Shadow?”
Rouge nodded, “Mm-hmm. So I thought I’d come out and see what he’s been doing since the last time I saw him.”
Rainbow Dash spoke up, “He’s been acting like a huge jerk is what he’s been doing!”
Rouge mused, “Oh? How so?”
Scootaloo said, “He was sneaking around, spying on Rainbow Dash, Sonic, and the rest of us until Espio caught him!”
Apple Bloom nodded, “He was bein’ rude to the Princesses!”
Sweetie Belle added, “And he was acting all high and mighty when Sonic stood up to him!”
Rouge held a hand to her chin for a moment before saying, “Mm, I suppose the sneaking around and being rude is a little unusual for Shadow, but I’d hardly consider Shadow acting all tough around Sonic to be unusual. They’re not exactly the best of friends, so to speak.”
Applejack glanced off to the side and said, “Speakin’ of not gettin’ along, Ah think ya might wanna hide yerself, Spike.”
The baby dragon looked confused. “What are you talking about? Why would I want to hide, Applejack?” he asked.
The orange earth pony smirked at him out of the corner of her eye, “Well, ‘Little Miss Pink and Hammer Happy’ is comin’ this way. And she don’t look too happy…”
Spike started to sweat at that. “Uh, okay. Listen, if Amy’s looking for me, um… I’m NOT in here!” he exclaimed as he dove into Twilight’s open saddlebag, pulling the flap closed.
Rarity, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and the Princesses all looked at where the dragon was hiding in confusion for a moment before turning to look at each other. Tails and Twilight, meanwhile, both exchanged a nervous look before facing forward as Amy came to a stop right in front of them. “All right, where is he?” the pink hedgehog demanded angrily with her hands on her hips.
Tails nervously scratched the back of his head as he asked, “Uh, who, Amy?”
Amy replied, “Sonic! He told me he would be right back and I haven’t seen him since! He’s been with you, hasn’t he?!”
Spike poked his head out of Twilight’s saddlebag and let out a sigh of relief as Cream spoke up, “Shadow challenged Sonic to a battle, Amy. I don’t think they should be fighting, but Shadow was acting so mean to him and Princess Celestia.” Cheese and the Cutie Mark Crusaders nodded in agreement.
Tails asked, “What do you mean he said he would be right back? Up until now, he’s been with us ever since we left the town hall.”
Amy argued, “No he hasn’t! I found him by himself in the street, and he said he wanted to spend some quality time with me!”
Twilight asked, “What? I’m sorry, but that can’t be right, Amy. Sonic hasn’t gone off by himself until a short while ago, and we haven’t seen you until now. There’s no way he could’ve been with you.”
Amy glared at her, “That’s a lie! I know what I saw and heard!” She clasped her hands together and held them up near her head as she dreamily said, “Sonic was so sweet to me, saying all these nice things and wanting to be close to me…”
Knuckles snapped her out of her daze by saying, “Give us a break, Amy. When did you have THIS daydream? I mean, come on! Sonic deciding that spending time with you is more important than the fate of two worlds? Are we really talking about the same Sonic?”
A familiar voice said, “Well, of course!” Everyone turned to see Sonic walking out of Whitetail Wood. “I’m one of a kind!” he grinned.
“Sonic!” Amy exclaimed, practically skipping over to him. Once she was in front of him, she demanded, “What took you so long?!”
Sonic replied, “Sorry, Amy. Shadow held me up.” He then smiled, “Not to worry, though. He won’t be bothering us ever again.”
Rouge asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Sonic looked over at her with a level stare, seeming to barely acknowledge the bat’s presence, and said, “Exactly what I said. He was being a jerk and I put him in his place. He’ll think twice before trying to get between me and Amy again.”
Amy squealed, “Oh Sonic, you’re the best!” She then wrapped her arms around him, hugging him. Surprisingly, Sonic did not resist; he just calmly smiled and wrapped an arm around her.
Knuckles stared, “WHAAAA?!”
Spike, who had pulled himself out of Twilight’s saddlebag at this point, growled, “That liar! He’s been holding out on me!”
Rarity said, “Ooh! Sonic has a special somepony? That is SO sweet!”
Twilight stuttered, “But… he doesn’t, Rarity!”
Applejack nodded, “That’s right! He pretty much said so himself!”
Rarity was about to protest, but Rouge cut her off, “They’re right, you know. Sonic spends more time trying to avoid her than he does with her. And honestly, I can’t blame him.”
Espio said, “Something is not right about this.”
Tails nodded, “Yeah…” He walked over to Sonic and Amy and asked, “Sonic?”
The blue hedgehog looked at him, saying, “Hm?”
Tails asked, “How exactly did you beat Shadow?”
Sonic shrugged, “Why do you want to know?”
Tails replied, “Well, it… it’s just kind of weird that you’d suddenly want Shadow to stop bothering you. I mean, running into him, comparing your skills and all that… you’ve always enjoyed doing that, right?”
Sonic said, “Yeah well, sometimes you should watch what you say to people. You push someone too far and you’re going to regret it. And he definitely pushed his luck this time, trying to stop me from getting back to Amy.”
Tails looked confused, “But that’s never stopped you from saying things to Eggman. And what’s with this sudden fixation on Amy?”
Amy suddenly let go of Sonic and turned to Tails, glaring, “What, do you have a problem with that?”
Tails backed up a step in surprise, stuttering, “W-well, no, but…”
Back with the group, Twilight adopted a worried look, thoughts and memories beginning to come to her as she watched Amy yell at the fox, “But nothing! Sonic’s obviously had feelings for me for a long time and has finally decided to show them! He’s already said that we should get married soon! You’re just jealous!”
Rarity called, “Stop getting in the way of their love, Tails! It’s very apparent even to me that he loves her! Why can’t you see that?!”
Sonic walked up to Tails, who was beginning to tear up, and said, “They have a point, you know. You really shouldn’t be sticking your nose into adult matters, boy. So why don’t you buzz off and mind your own business,” he poked Tails on the nose, “Pixel Brain?”
Tails muttered, “Pixel Brain…?” Sadness suddenly gave way to anger and Tails slapped Sonic’s hand away, pointing at him and saying, “You’re not Sonic! Sonic would never act like such a jerk!”
Amy yelled, “See?! You really are jealous!”
‘Sonic’ asked, “What’s wrong with you, kid? Why do you have to be such a twerp? Why do you have to get between me and my girl?”
He flinched as a voice behind him yelled, “Because she’s not YOUR girl, faker!” ‘Sonic’ started to turn around, but was stopped when something slammed into his back. Tails quickly leapt back as ‘Sonic’ was pushed forward for several seconds before he was sent flying, hitting the ground hard and sliding for a second. He then looked behind him and up, seeing Sonic standing there with his left hand on his hip. Shadow ran up along his left side, coming to a stop next to him and crossing his arms, and Gilda landed on his right side as Sonic said, “And I don’t recall saying she was mine!”
‘Sonic’ stared at them, “What?!” He flipped onto his back and pointed at them, demanding, “How did you three manage to escape?!”
Gilda and Sonic smirked as they cast a sidelong glance at Shadow, who responded by uncrossing his arms and holding his left arm out to his side, his hand containing a yellow gem that caused Rarity’s eyes to start sparkling. Tails, who had come back over by Twilight along with Amy, saw it and exclaimed, “That’s a Chaos Emerald!” Rarity snapped out of her daze at the fox’s words.
Shadow nodded, “That’s right. We could’ve easily gotten out of there by ourselves, but you made it all too easy by leaving this somewhere where we could find it.” ‘Sonic’ gritted his teeth at that.
Some of the group members were still trying to process the fact that there seemed to be two Sonics instead of one. Amy was the first to voice her confusion, “I-I don’t understand! How did my Sonic suddenly become TWO Sonics?”
Gilda growled to herself and then glanced back at Amy, yelling, “How dense are you?!”
Shadow gestured to Sonic, saying, “He’s the real Sonic. SHE is nothing but an imposter.”
Twilight asked, “‘She’…?” Her eyes then widened as she muttered, “Oh no, it can’t be…!”
Suddenly, the fake Sonic stood up as a green glow surrounded his hands and his eyes began to glow bright green. A ring of green flames then surrounded him and more flames burst out of the ground surrounded by the ring, engulfing him and forcing everyone to close their eyes for a moment. When they opened them, they were all shocked to see the fake Sonic beginning to get taller. As he was growing, the quills on the back of his head burst out, revealing long light blue hair that had a few holes in it, and a pair of insect-like wings burst out from beneath the quills on his back. He dropped down on his hands as both his arms and legs suddenly changed into holey, black horse legs and a light blue tail burst out of where the short tail used to be. A long, jagged black horn then burst out of his forehead, shattering the imposter’s mask completely.
A pair of green eyes opened as the flames began to dissipate and a dark laugh filled the air as it was revealed to be none other than Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings! She smirked, “I’ll give you fools this. You’re more resourceful than I would’ve given you credit for!”
Gilda stared at her, aghast. “What… What is that?!” she exclaimed.
Twilight called, “She’s the Queen of the Changelings! She’s able to take on the form of somepony and gain power by feeding off another’s love for whoever she’s pretending to be!”
Sonic looked back at her, asking, “They feed off of love?!”
Chrysalis chuckled and said, “I didn’t think you would forget, Twilight.” She then looked at everybody and sneered, “For those of you who don’t know, she is correct. Yes, I am the Queen of the Changelings.”
Celestia glared at her, “Chrysalis! What are you doing here?!”
Chrysalis leered at her, “I could ask you the same thing, Celestia. I didn’t think you ever left your beloved castle. But very well; what would you like to know?”
Sonic pointed at her and said, “How about why you were pretending to be Shadow!”
Chrysalis snorted, “Hmph. He brought it on himself. I was trying to find out what had happened and he wouldn’t cooperate. He did not leave a good impression.” She then smirked, “But somewhere along the way, he mentioned you, Sonic.” She began pacing around the trio as she continued, “He said some things about you, and I suspected you might be a problem if I left you alone as well. Thankfully, my magic allowed me to send Shadow to the place where I woke up, the same place I sent you. Once he was out of the way, I started searching and eventually came across Ponyville. I had to stick to the shadows, but the waiting paid off, since I soon saw your little group walk by.”
Applejack stomped a hoof in anger, saying, “That’s why Ah had a feelin’ somethin’ was watchin’ us! Ah shoulda guessed somethin’ was up!”
Chrysalis smirked, “But you didn’t, I see. And I got a good look at Sonic while you were passing by. Just like with Shadow, I decided to test out being in his form. I didn’t expect to get grabbed by that pink hedgehog while I was trying it out, though. It seems my disguise turned out better than I had thought.”
Amy screamed, “The Sonic I was with was actually a girl in disguise?! EW, THAT’S SO DISGUSTING!”
Sonic slapped his right hand against his face and groaned, “Amy? Not a good time for this.”
Chrysalis chuckled and said, “It was worth putting up with her to get some of her love. She was just letting it pour off of her, and I had no qualms about taking it.” She then shot Twilight a look as she smirked, “Of course, it was nothing like your brother’s love, Twilight. Then again, he WAS a rare find.” Twilight gritted her teeth and glared at her in anger. Chrysalis continued, “Not that I was going to complain, of course. After our last encounter, I was willing to take what I could get.”
Sonic asked, “So why the Shadow ruse? And why’d you imprison Gilda too?”
Chrysalis smirked, “Well, of course I needed to get you out of the way. That griffin needed to be removed from the picture as well. I saw her sneaking around behind me, so I gave Amy an excuse so that she wouldn’t see what I was going to do and got that griffin to reveal herself. Just like with Shadow, I managed to catch her with her back turned and sent her away. Not long afterwards, I learned that you were back, so I decided to make my move. I put you away as well and went back as you to get as much love from Amy as I could. But you had to escape and get in my way, didn’t you? Especially when I was enjoying what was about to happen to your little fox friend.”
Sonic looked back at Tails at that and noticed the telltale signs that the fox had been on the verge of tears not long ago. Rarity looked at Tails nervously and said, “I’m terribly sorry, Tails. It was terribly unladylike of me. I should not have said the things I said.” Tails just waved at her, indicating he had no hard feelings towards her.
Amy growled, “That’s it! Not only did you pretend to be Sonic, you also got me to act mean towards Tails!” She summoned her hammer out of nowhere and leapt over everybody’s heads, screaming, “I’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU MYSELF, YOU MONSTER!”
She started to fall towards the Changeling Queen, her hammer held back above her head. She didn’t fall far, though, before she was surrounded by a green glow, which held her up in the air, causing her to blush and pull down her dress, dropping her hammer in the process. Sonic looked back at Chrysalis and saw the same glow surrounding her horn. He yelled, “Let Amy go right now!”
Chrysalis looked at him for a moment before saying, “As you wish.” The glow around her horn and Amy disappeared, the hedgehog girl falling straight down.
Sonic turned around and dashed in her direction, stopping under her and catching her in his arms. He looked down at her and asked, “Are you okay, Amy?”
She looked up at him and said, “I feel much better now, Sonic, though I am still mad at her for tricking me like that!”
Sonic set her down and turned back around to face Chrysalis, but before he could move, he felt feathers on his back. He turned to his side to see Celestia standing there, her right wing outstretched. She glanced down at him and said, in a voice that certainly implied she was angry, “Stay back, Sonic. You’ve been through enough already.” She then walked forward, stopping between Shadow and Gilda and spoke, “I will take care of her.”
Shadow held up his right fist, pressing it against Celestia’s chest piece and said, “You will do no such thing.” Celestia looked down at him as he lowered his fist. “She has insulted the Ultimate Life Form. I will deal with her myself,” he growled.
Chrysalis laughed and said, “Oh, that’s rich! I’ll put an end to your delusions of grandeur right now!” She lowered her head and charged towards him, horn pointing directly at him.
Everybody tensed up at this sudden action, but Shadow remained calm. He held up the yellow Chaos Emerald, saying, “Chaos Control!” The emerald suddenly gave off a bright flash and suddenly, to everyone else, Chrysalis seemed to be moving in slow motion. Shadow quickly dashed to her side and jumped up. Bringing his right fist back, he punched her in the side of the face, knocking her away and sending her flopping across the ground for a moment.
Celestia, Luna, Gilda, Spike, and the ponies all stared in shock at this display while Sonic and his friends hardly seemed fazed by it. Chrysalis soon lifted her head up and glared at Shadow. “Y-you…!” she growled.
Shadow said, “Don’t bother. With a Chaos Emerald’s power, I control time and space. You can’t break free.” His gaze then hardened as he added, “But if you still think you stand a chance, I’ll be happy to amuse you.”
Chrysalis growled, “You DARE mock me?!” She struggled to stand up, saying, “I’ll make you pay for your defiance!”
Shadow slid the Chaos Emerald back into his quills, preparing for battle. He turned his head as Sonic called, “Shadow!” The black hedgehog shared a look with the blue hedgehog for a moment before the latter said, “Kick her butt!” Shadow nodded and turned back to the Changeling Queen. Sonic then looked at the others and said, “Come on, everybody, let’s give these two some room to brawl.”
Sonic’s friends, along with Gilda, surprisingly, got the hint and began to move away from the immediate vicinity. Spike and the ponies, however, seemed surprised by Sonic’s decision to leave Shadow to fight the Changeling Queen by himself. Rainbow flew in front of Sonic and exclaimed, “Sonic, you can’t be serious! You’re going to let HIM fight Queen Chrysalis all by himself?! If he’s going to fight her, then he’s going to need somepony to back him up! Besides, I want to kick her flank too!”
Sonic leaned into her face and, with narrowed eyes, calmly replied, “I said EVERYBODY. That includes you and the princesses, Dash.” The pegasus looked ready to retort, but Sonic leaned closer and said, “I’m telling you this for your own safety. You DO like your wings where they are, don’t you?”
Rainbow leaned back at that, staring at him in surprise. After a moment, she finally relented and said, “Ugh, fine.” She then flew back to where everyone else had gathered: behind some trees to watch from a distance. Sonic followed her, as did Spike, the Princesses, and the rest of the ponies after a moment.
Once they were all in the same spot, Twilight walked over to Sonic and asked, “Sonic, are you sure Shadow will be all right? I mean, after she managed to catch you and all…”
Sonic replied, “Of course! She did her spell thingy when I wasn’t expecting it. Shadow and Gilda were caught unexpectedly too. She’s gonna be sorry she tried to take care of Shadow with a cheap trick like that.” He then looked at her and asked, “Speaking of which, do you think you could put up a force field around where they’re fighting? Just to make sure the queen doesn’t try to run from him?” Twilight nodded after a moment and focused her magic into her horn, a magenta aura surrounding it.
Shadow looked up as a magenta shield suddenly appeared around the general area he and Chrysalis were standing in, closing it off to the rest of the world. “What’s this?” he wondered.
“This must be Twilight’s own shield spell. Looks very similar to her brother’s,” Chrysalis mused aloud. She then smirked as she stared at Shadow, “Too bad she didn’t put it around you. Not that it would help you in the slightest.”
Shadow grunted, “Hmph. This just makes everything easier. I won’t have to chase you down like the coward you are.”
Chrysalis screeched, “COWARD?! I’ll show you who’s a coward!” She then shifted her head downwards, pawing at the ground for a moment before charging towards Shadow. A moment later, Shadow responded in kind, charging towards her.
Once they were close enough, Shadow lowered his body and slid across the ground, sliding under Chrysalis as she was about to strike him. As he was about to slide out from under her, he thrust his right leg out, catching it on one of her back legs and tripping her. While she was still up, he quickly stood up and kicked her away, causing her to go sliding across the ground.
After she stopped, Chrysalis turned to look at Shadow, glaring at him as he ran towards her. “You… You don’t know who you’re messing with!” she screamed as she channeled her magic into her horn and fired a green beam at him.
Shadow simply moved to the side as he continued moving, dodging the beam. “A straightforward attack… I’d hardly call that a threat,” he said as he neared her, this time punching her away.
Chrysalis looked at him from where she was on the ground and used her magic, her horn glowing green as she growled, “How about this, then?!”
Suddenly, a wall of green flames burst out of the ground around Shadow, surrounding him. “Ah, a technique like the one you used to trap me… Yes, this seems like a much smarter tactic!” As the flames began to get closer, he smirked, “But ultimately, it will do no better.” Focusing for a moment, he bent his legs and then jumped, leaping out of the ring of flames. As he neared the height of his jump, he murmured, “Something tells me this will be a short fight…”
Chrysalis, having stood up while he was surrounded by the flames, grinned, “I have you now!” She fired a green beam directly at where the black hedgehog was going to be in a second.
Shadow noticed what she was doing and yelled, “Chaos Control!” At those words, he disappeared in a flash of light.
Chrysalis’ head turned to the side as Shadow suddenly reappeared next to her. “What?!” she exclaimed.
She had no time to say anything else, due to Shadow suddenly roundhouse kicking her. “Whoops. You’re too slow,” he said dryly.
From where she was, Chrysalis turned her head and fired another beam at the black hedgehog. Shadow stepped to the side to dodge it and then held up his left arm. He then brought it back and then forward, saying, “Chaos Spear!” At his words, a large purple spear suddenly appeared and went shooting towards Chrysalis, who leapt off the ground and fluttered her wings to fly over it, the attack exploding harmlessly against the force field.
On the other side of the field, everyone, including Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, was intently watching the fight. “Goodness, he’s not shy about showing off his power at all, is he?” asked Princess Luna.
“No kidding. Just look at them go,” Spike said.
Applejack looked over at Rainbow Dash and asked, “What do ya think now, Rainbow? Still wish you were a part o’ that fight?”
The cyan pegasus looked over at her and said, “Eh… not so much anymore. I kind of like my wings and, well, every part of my body, to be honest, where it is.”
Princess Celestia looked over at Sonic and asked, “Is Shadow always like this?”
Sonic replied, “If you get him mad enough, yeah. When he goes all out… well, let’s just say it’s not safe to be around him.” He looked over at Tails and Twilight and walked over to them. Once he was next to them, he asked, “Twilight, how’s your force field doing?”
An explosion against the side of the field made the lavender unicorn flinch for a moment before she said, “It’s holding up so far. For how much longer without me recasting the spell, I don’t know.”
Sonic replied, “Well, don’t worry about it, then. I don’t want you to exhaust your magic again.” Twilight nodded; Sonic then looked at Tails and asked, “You all right, bud? Did the queen say something to you?”
Tails, as he twisted one of his namesakes in his hands, murmured, “…Sort of. When she was pretending to be you, I got suspicious of her behavior and Amy ended up getting mad at me. And then she said some stuff… I know now that it wasn’t you, but…”
Sonic caught the hint and moved in front of him, placing his hands on his shoulders and saying, “Tails.” When the fox looked up at him, he continued, “Whatever she said was just rubbish. She can copy my appearance, but she can’t copy my personality. I would never get mad at you. You’re more likely to get angry at me. After all we’ve been through and all the time we’ve spent together, I could never look down on you. You’re my best friend. No…” He smiled softly, “You’re my little bro.” Hearing that made Tails feel like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he hugged Sonic, the blue hedgehog returning the brotherly display of affection.
Twilight smiled to herself as she looked at them. “Sonic is Tails’ BBBFF…” she thought. A sudden cracking sound caught her attention and she turned to look at the force field. One of Chrysalis’ beams had struck the field and had caused it to develop a crack, similar to when the changelings were about to break through the force field around Canterlot. “It won’t last much longer…” she murmured.
Sonic let go of Tails and they both looked over at her, Tails asking, “What did you say, Twilight?”
The lavender unicorn looked at them and pointed at the crack, saying, “The force field is going to break soon.”
Gilda came over as Shadow struck the force field, having narrowly missed Chrysalis, and said, “Ah, don’t worry about it. Shadow’s got that weirdo on the ropes.”
The three of them looked back at the fight and saw that Shadow was still standing strong while Chrysalis was tiring out. “Yeah, you’re right, Gilda. Might be a good thing the force field is going to shatter soon,” Sonic noted.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
755 users online
709,003 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Whoo! I'd hoped to have this up sooner, but wow! I really went with something I'm not so good at. I just hope you guys thought it was good. At least I got it up before I go back to school on Monday. I'll try to keep updating as regularly as I can, but you know... school, school, school.
Now, first of all, for everyone who thought Trixie was going to appear in this chapter, don't start throwing things at your screens just yet. Trixie IS going to appear (she's already appeared, actually). The thing is, from the beginning, I was already planning for Gilda to appear in the Classic Era and Trixie to appear in the Modern Era. No matter where I decided to place them, though, that still left the question of who the third rival was going to be. I kept bouncing back and forth between ideas. The Diamond Dogs? Flim and Flam? I was pretty close to settling on either Iron Will or possibly the teenage dragons from "Dragon Quest", but then I saw the season two finale and was all "yep, gotta include the changelings somehow". Since the comparison was made in the last chapter, you can think of Chrysalis as the FiM equivalent of Metal Sonic. I actually like this idea better; I get to portray Shadow acting rude like he was in the console version of the game and write it off as it being an imposter and still not stray too far from his character.
And since I brought in the Cutie Mark Crusaders, despite the fact that they weren't there when everypony was taken, I figured I could bring in Celestia and Luna without them being turned to stone, just like the rivals.
I think that's about it. Again, I hope you guys liked this chapter and sorry about giving you another really long chapter. I got into it again and I certainly hope I didn't go overboard.
All right, chapter notes...
When everybody's bowing to Celestia and Luna, Sonic's bow is a reference to the way he bowed to Lady Nimue in "Sonic and the Black Knight" while Espio's bow is a reference to the way Monkey Khan and Sally bow to the Bride of Constant Vigil in Sonic Universe #16.
As you can probably guess, I switched up the location for the battle against (fake) Shadow. Instead of taking place in "Final Rush" with some elements of "Space Gadget" thrown in, it takes place in "Green Forest" with some elements of "Prison Island" (like the rivers of radioactive sludge) thrown in.
Although it's never stated, the place Chrysalis sent Sonic, Shadow, and Gilda to was Quartz Quadrant. Its appearance was based off of how it appeared in the ending credits of "Sonic CD".
When Chrysalis is pretending to be Sonic, she refers to Tails as "Pixel Brain". Sonic often referred to Tails by this nickname in "Sonic the Comic".
The whole "Charles Darwin" thing comes from this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9SD18UQ-w
When Rouge throws the fake Espio, the whole "at... someone or something" thing is a reference to throwing enemies in the game "TMNT IV: Turtles in Time", since the turtles throw enemies at the screen.
When Twilight is using Sonic and Tails to attack, it's a reference to the Combo Attack from "Sonic 4: Episode 2".
Yes, I decided to sneak Chaos, Tikal, Big, and Omega into this story. I don't know how often they're going to appear in the rest of this story, just in case you were wondering.
Now, I'm going to put this out there now so there's time to think about it. I'm trying to decide where to have everyone go after the Era boss in the next chapter. One reviewer pointed out that, since "Sonic Rush" got a level in place of a "Sonic '06" stage on the 3DS version, that it technically counts as a free spot. So I'm trying to decide what to put in that free spot. My top choices right now are either Flame Core or Coral Cave, but if you guys want to suggest any other stages to me, I'll think about them. Just remember that I'm planning to have the boss that appeared in the original game have some kind of appearance, so if you suggest a stage, it would be best if said stage didn't end with an Eggman boss. He's already scheduled to show up later. That is all.
Music:
Searching for Pinkie Pie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKp-S6Y7CLY
Random Pinkie Pie Appears! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGcj9w4Wh8U
The Princesses of Equestria - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq61raXkB_0
(fake) Shadow Appears - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dyxeG5x-vY
Sonic vs. (fake) Shadow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gucRkfhMmyk
Trapped - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isf9rRHY6Bw
Nightmare Moon Theories - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e03B60HaWTA
Amy Appears - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9O3BhEPNHA
There's Something About Sonic... - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ATaFxHxNtI
The True Face of the Imposter - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI3UguJa2mY
Shadow vs. Queen Chrysalis - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6esDAilTi8
Changeling Attack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vblaTqrLEdI
Changeling Free-For-All - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnO6t6q_mwo
Victory...? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4iYFVZwZoI
Invasion of Ponyville - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPvoVAX2XU
Desperate Struggle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JvKAgBHJuo
Reinforcements! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKLcroA7V-A
Turnabout is Fair Play - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04LmryRJMEY
Shadow's Trust - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCGMM3zYLWs
Great chapter the fight scenes were awesome. I can't help but wonder if the ponies will run into a old chaos loving enemy of theirs.
1160878
That was just epic bro!!!!! Great chapter once more, totally loved it.
Next to come : Boss =P
Impressive. I love how you nodded to the one scene from Sonic 2006 where Shadow used the chaos emerald to kick and insult the Changeling Queen (instead of Silver). I may actually have to read again to see if I caught all the references from the games and comics. Two thumbs way way up!
What this isn't the Boss fight of this era ?
I mean I know it was a rival fight, but it also felt like a boss fight as well. Still it was a nice update to the story and great usage of Shadow the Hedgehog and his powers,
Still, I wonder what the Boss fight of this world is if it isn't the Changeling Queen and her army ?
Nice job showcasing almost everyone in the battle and it was great to see Big again, I think I know who Big could pair up with...
.
Yet it was a great to see the combinded might of Team Dark, Team Sonic and even Team Rose in a battle like that. Now I wonder if anyone has any strength left for the upcoming Boss fight.
Also nice job with the Princesses and even Pipsqeak made an appearance in the story.
While I can understand that this is a Sonic storyline crossover, I'm hoping that Rainbow Dash gets a chance to face off a boss too in the story.
Still, great update and nice usage of everyone, even Espio and Shadow. I cannot wait to see where this story takes place next.
Take that, Chrysalis! That's for messing with the Ultimate Life-form!
Great chapter, still, I kinda already figured out that NMM is a changeling when you mentioned her horn is curved near the end in that chapter.
1164509
You think so, huh? I'm not so sure about that...
1164095
Well, I'm planning to switch things up a bit in the Modern Era, maybe include a few end-of-level bosses. Does that sound good to you? It would mean Dash would get a chance to shine before facing the Time Eater.
Well then I would use Coral Cave as the next level to start the Modern era off.
For one thing it would be a great chance to spotlight Rarity and Rouge in action due to the fact that most of the level has gems in it.
My second reason is that it would give the girls a chance to learn of Blaze'S world.
Anyway keep up the good work.
Dude... Just awesome... You rock... I can't find any other words to describe your work.
Regarding your question about the next level after the boss, I want it to be Flame Core. My first Reason for that is that this level is full of tension, with lava traps, a volcano and fire monsters. It is a level in my opinion that makes more promise of adventure than coral cave
Second, I would love to see the mane six react to such an enviroment.
Third, it would be so much more different than the other levels that would appear after that, thus preventing anything repetitive.
Fourth, Sonic and the others would have no idea about this place, as they can't remember it, so this would add a reasonable amount of confusion and mystery.
Also, I have question for you, GreenS21: From which point in time did Sonic get his friends?
1166445
Technically, they're all from the present, but they were found in different points in the past. Sonic and Knuckles were able to get the Master Emerald by traveling back to the Ice Cap Zone and from there used the emerald (since it's able to do things like tell Knuckles to look for the Egg Carrier in "Sonic Adventure") and the Warp Ring to locate Big and Omega.
Will you be including Discord as a boss fight or similar? It would be interesting to see how he would interact with Shadow. Partly because some of Shadow's past deeds would probably repulse even him, but also because it would allow a scene along the lines of...
"Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?"
"If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have."
1173420
Will I be including Discord? Why... of course not. *eyes shift from left to right nervously*
1174731
Your mind powers will not work on me, boy! I do know your plans, and you now know that I know! But as you are reading this, you now know that I know you know that I know! But to know that you know that I know you know that I know, you would need to know that I don't know you know that you know that I know you know that I know! You therefore cannot know that you know that I know you know that I know, and by doing so you reveal your intentions! You will not "be including Discord", because Discord has been included from the very beginning! All of this is a thought passing though Discord's mind as he is turned to stone by the elements!
In all seriousness, though, I cannot wait for the next chapters. Not only is this fic well-written in its own right, but there are next to no Sonic/MLP crossovers out there.
Reading through the chapter again, I'm surprised that neither the Elements nor either of the princesses expressed any sort of suspicion towards the Chaos Emeralds. They have the Elements of Harmony, which embody, as one might expect, harmony, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to be wary of the Chaos Emeralds embodying chaos. Especially since their powers are far more destructive than the Elements - Chaos Spear and even (to a lesser extent) Chaos Control are both combat-focused powers. Of course, none of them have yet seen Chaos Blast or any of the super forms, so that may well change things...
1174887
Well, yes, that's true. I haven't shown that on-screen very much, but I've tried to. Like after the Nightmare Moon fight, when Twilight and Applejack were suspicious when Sonic told them about the Chaos Emerald. Off-screen, Tails told Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Scootaloo (and maybe the Mayor) about them while they were waiting for them to get back. And I'm going to try to have the Princesses approach Sonic about the subject in the next chapter (I want to try to avoid another 20,000 word chapter, but I'll try to sneak something in).
1175003
Ah, no worries, then. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.
Wow...you weren't kidding when you said everyone would be fighting the chapter. I love the way you incorporated Big, Omega, Tikal, and Chaos in. It was fun to see characters who were not in the game appear. After reading your first comment, I now having fingers crossed for an appearance from Iron Will and/or Garble to appear, as they are some of my favorite antagonists on the show. However, I do love Chrysalis so I was happy to see her added into the story.
) so please, write more soon!
Looking forward to later chapters (especially the Trixie battle
I demand a rematch between Shadow and Chrysalis simply for this bit of dialogue:
Chrysalis: Ugh, who or what in the name of Tartarus are you?
Shadow: I am the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog. I was created to protect the Earth, and I do that because it is what I choose to do. THIS IS WHO I AM!!!
Dr. Whooves was there!
Where's Derpy though? Did anyone else notice that?!
shadow is the best
I think you need to make some corrections in chapter 10. If my memory serves me correctly, you have altered the sentence where Chrysalis mentions gathering her swarm to this in order to fit with the comic:
However that doesn't fit with Twilight's statement later in the story:
I might be wrong here but I just thought I should tell you.
"But just like one of your new friends, it’s too bad you’re the only one who figured it out.
So that means that, since time is a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, there could be ANOTHER universe, one where Nightmare Moon wasn’t changed back to
LunieLuna! That portal could have been the entrance to another universe!”What a fight! Methinks Chrysalis has racked up some Frequent Flier Miles by now, maybe she should take a vacation and give villainy a break.
Btw, was the Changelings' shapeshifting disabled permanently, or just temporarily?
*Espio to Shadow after he throws the dagger* HA! SNOOPING AS USUAL, I SEE-oh wait, that's not normal.
That was the first thought that went through my mind when I read that part XD
sega doesn't do what nintendumb
ROAST COUNT: 1
YES! And this is why Shadow is my fave!
1666336