Shadow The Hedgehog, Friendship is Darkness

by Stalin with Da Spoon

Chapter 2: A... Sort of Friendly Introduction

Edge of the Everfree Forest.

The wind blew through the manes of the CMC's and Shadow's quills, as they slowly walked through the forest. On several occasions timerwolves could be seen watching and prowling from within the bushes along the path they walked along, but a quick glare from Shadow result in their quick retreat, likely as a sign of fear, the little fillies still bombarding him with questions. Shadow was currently only paying attention to his own thoughts, lost deeply in his own thoughts, until Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"Hey, mr Shadow, were almost out of the forest!" Shadow looked up to see an opening between the trees at the end of the road, dividing the large trees to reveal a wide green meadow, bathed in sunlight. He had to admit, the sight was quite beautiful. As they slowly approached the opening, Shadow winced as more sunlight shined directly in his face, as the ponies ran ahead of him and into the meadow. As he finally stepped out of the woods, he observed his surroundings, taking in the sights and smells, as he thought to himself.

'Maria would have loved this place...'

As Shadow was busy thinking to himself, Apple bloom tapped him on the foot.

"Hey mister, ya wanna come with us to meet our friends?" Shadow contemplated on it for a moment, before realizing that these friends could help him track down his team, as he then nodded. "Alrighty then, this way to fluttershy's cottage!" She said turning and pointing to a small home in the distance, as the ponies took off towards it, with Scootaloo declaring a race.

"Betcha I'll get there first!"

"Oh, you're on!"

Shadow grunted, as he looked at the ponies rush forward. He could easily crush them in this race, but he decided to just let them have their fun, as he slowly walked behind the crusaders, until they eventually reached the front door of the cottage, finding themselves swarmed by bunnies. A lone bunny walked up to Shadow, as it nuzzled him, and while nobody was looking, he lightly patted it on the head, while Scootaloo knocked on the front door, as it quickly swung open to reveal a yellow pony pegasus with light pink hair wearing a wide smile as she looked down at the crusaders.

"Oh, hello little ones, how are you today?" Scootaloo happily replied.

"Were doing great miss Fluttershy, we were just off in the everfree forest, and we almost got attacked by timberwolves, but then Shadow here saved us!" She said gesturing to the hedgehog standing behind them, as Shadow looked at Fluttershy, nodding in confirmation, as the shy pegasus had lost her wording, before she simply just fainted. The ponies quickly ran over to inspect the fallen pony, before Sweetie bell looked up to Shadow.

"Shes all good, but I think she likes you!" Shadow simply shook his head, and after a few seconds, the shy pegasus slowly rose up and opened her eyes, to look at the crusaders around her, and Shadow simply in front, a cold stare on his face. Finally, Fluttershy found the courage to speak up.

"U-umm... Hello... Shadow" Shadow grunted in response, as Scootaloo got beside him.

"He was so cool, you should have seen him, he whacked those timberwolves into next week, ain't that right?" Shadow decided not to toot his own horn, so to speak, as he simply just nodded again. "And hes a cool and dark brooding loner edge lord, ain't that right?" The other crusaders lightly chuckled, as Shadow couldn't help but a have a light smile on his face, with Fluttershy slowly getting to her hooves as she walked towards the hedgehog, who was around her height.

"Well... Shadow, I thank you for helping protect these little ones from harm..." Shadow finally replied with his voice in a serious tone.

"Its just what I do. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and find the rest of my team, goodbye." He said right before his air shoes activated and he rocketed off across the meadows, with the crusaders cheering and Fluttershy watching in amazement, and Scootaloo reacting appropriately.

"He's so cool!"

Crystal Empire, outskirts of the royal crystal castle.

The sounds of Omega's powerful mechanical stomping could be heard approaching the gate, as the metal behemoth made his way towards his objective, examining the fear in the eyes of the several guards in front of the door, as he then came to a stop, and spoke in his cold mechanical voice.

"IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN LIVING, YOU WILL OPEN THIS GATE AND ALLOW ME TO ACCESS YOUR CASTLE, SO I MAY UTILIZE IT TO COMPLETE MY MISSION." The royal guards held their ground, although they were all shaking in their armors, as they held their spears high.

"B-by order of princess Mi Amore Cadenza, you are to stand down and submit to arrest for terrorizing the citizens of the empire!" Suddenly, more guards surrounded Omega, who was undeterred. "We have you surrounded!"

"THE ONLY THING I AM SURROUNDED BY IS FEAR, AND SOON TO BE DEAD PONIES IF YOU DO NOT MOVE OUT OF THE WAY." As Omega stated his threat, the guards knew he wasn't bluffing, as they quickly backed away, the gate beginning to swing open, as Omega slowly stomped through, looking to see the castle standing before him, as he looked up to the very peak, his thrusters igniting on his back as he rocketed upwards, just high enough to where he latched onto a wall, and began to climb using his claws to grip the wall as he made his way up the side of the castle, the guards below viewing what was happening with both amazement and fear. As Omega neared the very peak of the castle, a bolt of magic impacted him, as he lost his grip, and fell to the ground below, leaving a large crater. Luckily, due to his armor being extremely tough, he simply stood up with a simple few dents and scratches in his armor, as he turned around to see a very annoyed Princess Cadance and shining armor looking at him.

"How dare you waltz into my empire, terrorize my citizens, threaten my guard, and attempt to seize my castle with your metal hands!" Omega clearly was not afraid of this pushover princess and her prince, as he slowly scanned her, seeing she was emanating powerful energy waves and determining her as a legitimate threat.

"ARE YOU THE ONE KNOWN AS PRINCESS CADANCE? IF SO, I REQUIRE ACCESS TO THIS CASTLES HIGHEST POINT TO COMPLETE MY MISSION. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DEFY ME, OR FACE BATTLE." As the machine spoke, Cadance felt a chill go down her spine, as she wondered what this large machine would need to get up to the highest point for. Shining then asked the question she was thinking of.

"May I ask why you need to reach up there?"

"TO SURVEY THE LANDSCAPE AND ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH THE REST OF MY TEAM, AFTERWARDS WE LOCATE THE CHAOS EMERALDS AND RETURN HOME TO SLAUGHTER DR. ROBOTNIKS MACHINES." As the machine mentioned robotnik, its mechanical fists pounded together, symbolizing the machines rage of the doctor. The guards behind cadance looked very confused, as well as the princess herself, before she spoke in defiance.

"Well, I am happy that you at least have a good reason to utilize it, and from what I can see, it does not appear to be nefarious... However, you don't have to scale up the side of it, you could simply just walk up there!" Omega turned around as he scanned the castle, locating a path straight to the top, as his head turned to Cadance.

"AFFIRMATIVE." And with that, the machine blasted off into the castle, and after a few moments, appeared at the very top, as the machine began to observe its surroundings, taking into account the local landscape and weather patterns. Then, a radar dish extended out of its head, scanning for the rest of dark team. Then, two signals were displayed in the machines feed, highlighting the locations of Shadow and Rouge.

"LOCATIONS CONFIRMED, SETTING COURSE FOR LAST KNOWN LOCATION OF SHADOW." The large machine then jumped from the peak of the castle, its hover thrusters engaging as the mech slowly hovered down to the ground and landed in front of Cadance and Shining Armor. "LOCATION OF ALLIES CONFIRMED. SETTING COURSE FOR PONYVILLE." And with that, the large mech boosted forward, heading out of the city as Shining armor and Cadance looked at each other confusingly.

Back at Ponyville...

Shadow slowly strolled through the town, as ponies looked at him suspicion, clearly having not ever seen anything quite like a walking red and black hedgehog. However, it did not deter a certain pink pony from appearing before Shadow with a smile on her face.

"Hiya mister, Im Pinkie pie, are ya new to town? if ya are, I gotta throw you a new person party! Here, have a cupcake!" Pinkie quickly handed the hedgehog a cupcake, as he just looked at her with a very confused look on his face, before he decided to go and stuff it in his mouth, as he actually enjoyed the flavor, as he smiled.

"Pretty good." Pinkie smiled and nodded, before another voice spoke up, coming from behind Shadow, as he saw Fluttershy and the crusaders quickly catching up to him.

"Oh, I see you have met Pinkie, Shadow, that is good to see." Shadow nodded, as he turned back to the pink pony who was currently smiling ear to ear, and decided to finally get an answer to a question he had for a while.

"So, does anyone know where I even am?"

Comments

[ThePerverted1EyedBrony]

Well, this may end in a fun way.😈

And I can’t wait to see the fireworks.😈

[Darth Wrex]

Oh... Rats.

[sinewystatue382]

continue it

[Stalin with Da Spoon]

11244481
Perhaps.

[ThePerverted1EyedBrony]

11244488
Please continue it.

It’s one of two shadow stories I’ve found that have my interests, and this one is the only one I’ve actually read the chapters of, while the second one I have only read the summary.

But all that is up to you, so all I actually ask of you…

Stay safe, have fun, and remember to smile.