Dear Maria,

by CalmHeart

Back To You

Dear Maria,
Pinkie here! It's spring, and Twilight's just became ruler of Equestria! Ooohh, I'm so excited for her! That means we're not going to be seeing her a lot though, sadly.

She left some of her dimensional studies behind in the castle, so maybe Starlight or somepony else can help me find a way to help them get back to Equestria.

I'm going to do everything in my power to see Shady again. I just know they're working just as hard as us too!

From, a best friend, Pinkie Pie!

---

Tails worked in his workshop for weeks after the new year. He was dead set on finding a way back to Equestria, since Eggman was not doing anything world ending at the moment.

One spring day, Tails was working hard on his machine when Sonic walked into the shop. Behind him, a very reluctant but stone-faced Shadow followed.

Tails had completed the frame for the portal machine, now he needed assistance in finding the ponies' dimension.

"Sonic, Shadow! Glad you could make it."

Sonic smiled. "Anytime buddy!" Shadow stayed silent, until him and Sonic walked up to the frame.

"Make it quick, I have an assignment to get back on. Why do you need me exactly?" Shadow questioned as Tails came to stand next to Sonic.

"Well, I have a theory of how I can get a portal to appear exactly in Equestria, but to do that I'm going to need an item from there."

Shadow quickly catched on, and his hand came up to hold the gemstones.

He gritted his teeth.

"So you're saying that I need to give you something."

"I was thinking something small."

Tails and Sonic's attention went to the necklace Shadow was currently clutching in his left hand.

Shadow looked down.

"...I..."

"Come on Shadow, please?"

Sonic spoke, putting a hand on his shoulder and gesturing to the machine.

"This is what you want too, right?"

Shadow looked up to the contraption. Sonic spoke again.

"You promised her."

Shadow blinked, and looked over at Sonic.

'How could have he known that?'

Shadow sighed, and he brushed away Sonic's hand. His grip loosened on the necklace.

"Fine. But you better not break it."

Shadow went behind his neck and unhooked the necklace. He gestured to Tails. Tails walked over to him, and reached out his hand when Shadow hesitated. He looked away, and bit his lip.

It was only a moment, but Shadow gave Tails the necklace.

"Thank you Shadow."

Tails held it up.

"If I can figure out the particles of it, I can find out what particles their universe is made out of, and in turn, find their universe and make a connection back to their planet!"

Shadow nodded. He had attempted to stay stone faced this whole time, even through the moment he just had.

He turned.

"If you find anything, let me know immediately."

He began to walk away, and Sonic let him go. Shadow had work to do.

Sonic turned, and saw Tails already clearing a table that was nearby. Sonic walked up next to him. He smiled.

"You got your work cut out for you this time, eh buddy?"

Tails smiled back.

"Nothing a little bit of genius can't figure out."

Sonic kept smiling. He pointed to Tails' hand which held the chain.

"Hey Tails, can I hold that for a second?"

Tails answered sure, and handed it to Sonic. Sonic brushed the gems with his thumb, and turned them over.

On the back, there were words etched into the gems. Sonic turned them in the light until he could read them.

You Are My Shadow, Forever and Always.

Sonic blinked with surprise. He turned them over again.

He gazed at the blue and yellow gems.

He hoped that, for Shadow's sake, Tails would have a lucky breakthrough sooner rather than later.

---

Pinkie Pie sat in the library of Twilight's previous castle. She was staring intensely at the mirror to the other world Twilight used to visit. It was still running, the purple-ish pink swirling around.

Outside the room, five ponies had poked their head just out of the doorway.

The mane 4 and Starlight had found Pinkie there in the library, and wondered what she could be doing.

"How long's she been sittin' there for?" Applejack asked with concern, glancing at the friends, then at Pinkie.

"Almost 2 hours now." Starlight answered the question.

Fluttershy stared at Pinkie Pie with saddened eyes.

"We need to help her somehow." Fluttershy pulled away from the spying spot.

"Or at least, give her some comfort."

Rarity glanced at her friends, and she started to walk into the room. The others followed, not sure how Pinkie was feeling.

Pinkie Pie felt a heavy weight on her heart as she stared at the portal. But at the same time, she felt determined.

"Pinkie darling, are you alright?"

She snapped out of her gaze, and blinked. She turned to see her friends' concerned faces. Pinkie stood, and glanced back at the mirror.

"If Twilight can use a book's magic to go to that world, shouldn't there be a similar magic to make a portal to Shadow's and Sonic's world?"

Her response pleasantly surprised the group, and they were pleased she wasn't feeling upset.

Starlight thought about it.

"Well, that book is a direct link to Canterlot High, since someone has the other book in that world. Maybe if there is an object that Sonic or his friends left here, it has to have a strong connection to their world. And maybe we could use that."

The 5 nodded, and Rainbow flew up to the top of the portal.

"Hey, yeah. All we'd have to do is copy this mirror portal."

"I can send a letter to Twilight and ask her for some directions on this." Starlight suggested. Pinkie beamed at her friends.

"Alright then everypony, let's get to work!"

Both Mobians and ponies worked on finding the gap between worlds throughout the week. Twilight sent a letter of instruction and encouragement to the girls, and they were able to create a replica of the mirror. But it was gold instead of blue-ish-silver.

Tails had found their dimension, and was working on a stable connection to it. Slowly but surely.

---

Pinkie Pie was visited by Maria one night.

"How have you all been getting along?" Maria asked, referring to the mirror project.

They were in the Ponyville café, ponies and humans all sitting around, in comfortable and busy silence.

Pinkie Pie and Maria had worked on numerous dreamscapes together, and had become good friends.

Maria sat in a chair, in front of their table. She was wearing a purple dotted white blouse, and black stretchy pants. Pinkie was sitting on a cushion filled with candy, some of which would be eaten by her throughout the dream.

"We've finished the portal!" Pinkie beamed, and took out two chocolate bars. She handed one to Maria, and ate the other in one fell swoop. Maria giggled as she bit into her chocolate.

"But now, we need something."

Maria was curious. She cocked her head, and swallowed.

"What's that?"

Pinkie stood, and moved her hooves around.

"Well, we need an object from their world, that they left in this world, so we can use the magic from that to get to their world."

She put her hoof to her forehead, then back into the air.

"But we have no clue what to do for that!"

Maria set her chocolate down.

"That is quite a predicament."

She stood, and suddenly she was holding a coffee cup.

Maria walked up to Pinkie Pie as she gasped happily.

"Hey, you communicate to Shadow to through these dreams right?"

Maria nodded.

"Yes, I can."

Pinkie gasped again, her grin spreading across her face.

"Then maybe you could help us!"

Maria shook her head.

"I don't think I can, Pinkie. I'm a ghost, not an object."

Pinkie skipped around her.

"But you can read Shadow's diary!"

Maria suddenly realized what Pinkie was saying.

"And it's still in Equestria..."

Pinkie stopped bouncing and came to a stop in front of Maria.

"Soooooo, if some of your presence resides in this diary-"

"-It could be used to open up a portal to my world! " Maria finished Pinkie's thought with enthusiasm.

Pinkie bounced up and down.

"Yes, yes, yes! My thoughts exactly!"

The coffee Maria held disappeared.

"It's worth a shot!"

The café around them dissipated.

"I can't wait to tell Shadow!" Maria exclaimed happily.

"And I can't wait to see him!" Pinkie gave a huge smile, and began to wave.

"Bye Maria!"

---

Starlight placed the book in its place.

"And you're absolutely positive it's going to work?"

Pinkie nodded her head immensely.

"Abso-tlutely-luty!"

Applejack came up next to Starlight.

"Let's hope you're right."

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity stood beside Pinkie and Starlight. Pinkie and Starlight were in the middle, staring at the mirror.

Starlight readied her magic.

"Here goes nothing."

---

Tails was putting the coordinates to their dimension into his machine, when he herd something. 'A.. teleporting sound?'

Something was in the machines' outline. He took a step back, and looked up. A blue portal was forming. Tails' eyes widened.

The portal finalized, and was stable. He immediately scurried to the side controls. The portal was to Equestria. It came from there.

Tails was shocked. He looked up to the portal again. He slowly picked up his phone, and called someone.

"Sonic, get over here. I think we've done it."

---

Shadow walked into his office, exhausted. He had just come back from a five-day stake out. This one was especially draining; it was a trafficking case.

He had managed to find some new leads, and sent a few officers to check them out.

For his office work, He had started wearing clothes more often. It felt appropriate to him, and even though he didn't need the extra clothing, it felt more comfortable in a professional setting. People took notice of this recent trend, but Shadow didn't care.

Mainly, he often wore jackets and hoodies.

Today he wore a blue denim jacket, his phone in its pocket.

He sat down, and set his phone on his desk.

He had the rest of the day off, thankfully. But he was probably going to keep working anyway.

Shadow stretched his arms, and yawned.

He suddenly remembered what Maria told him last night.

'I should probably check up on it.'

He tidied his desk, preparing to leave. Then, his phone started to ring. he picked it up, and the screen showed Sonic's profile.

Shadow sighed, and reluctantly answered, bringing the phone to his ear.

"What is it Sonic, I'm busy."

"Oh, well, I guess you don't want to know that Tails connected to Equestria-"

Shadow abruptly stood, his eyes wide.

"He did?"

Sonic chuckled. He got him.

"Yeah. So, you know, if you're not busy or anything-"

"I'll be there in 5 minutes."

Sonic laughed with relief.

"Good, because we kinda sent a letter through the portal, saying you would be the first to test it."

Shadow walked towards the door, and sighed with annoyance.

"You're so predictable hedgehog."

Sonic gave the same amount of snark back.

"So are you."

Shadow hanged up, and began walking out of the building.

---

Shadow walked into the workshop, Tails and Sonic waiting for him.

Sonic noticed he was wearing the jacket, and he smirked, arms crossed.

"Ah, there he is, the lovestruck lifeform of the hour."

Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Shut up faker."

Sonic handed him his necklace back, and Shadow took it, not saying a word. He put his necklace around his neck, and the three began to walk across the shop. Sonic smiled smugly. He reveled in Shadow's newfound embarrassment. It was so much easier to find things to tease him about.

"I mean, seriously Shads, could you just marry her already? You've seriously got something fierce, and it's starting to scare me."

Shadow growled low in his throat, and stared at Sonic with unamusement. His hands tightened into small fists. Hints of red had appeared on his cheeks. He looked away.

"F-Faker."

Sonic continued teasing him, and poked Shadow's shoulder. "Awww, is that a blush I see on the ultimate lifeform? And stuttering too?"

"Sonic, I'm going to kill you!"

Tails got in the middle of them.

"Okay, calm down you two, we're here."

Shadow looked up to the portal.

Tails explained what happened. "Starlight and the main 5 had completed a portal on their world, and managed to create a path to this one."

Shadow didn't need to hear the details, he already knew, thanks to her.

"So, you going?"

Shadow turned to Sonic. Shadow quipped back.

"Wherever I go, you and your friends always tend to find me."

Sonic gave a genuine smile.

"Of course."

Shadow's face turned neutral, and he gazed at the portal. This was it.

He looked to Tails, whom gave a nod. Shadow slowly walked through the portal.

A room came to him. He walked out. He was in Twilight's old castle.

In front of him, a group of ponies.

He knew them.

The one in front of all of them, was her.

The pink mare. The one with the poofy fushia mane and tail. The one who's smile could give world peace. The one who loved him.

She began to smile, tears forming in her eyes. Shadow felt himself beginning to smile, also tearing up.

The two couldn't hold it in any longer, and ran to the other. Pinkie pounced on him with a hug.

"Shady!"

They fell to the ground, holding on to one another.

"Pinks."

They sat up, never wanting to let go of their embrace.

Pinkie pulled her head back to speak.

"I've-"

She was silenced by a long-awaited kiss from him, and she took it gleefully, sinking into the warm feelings she had kept kindling.

Finally.

Together again.