Twilight's Shadow

Twilight's Shadow

-Roughing It-

Shadow pushed aside another tree branch and continued further into the dark forest on the outskirts of the town and grumbled to himself in frustration. He had already fallen multiple times over assorted plants and tree roots since he had found the path into the forest and was beginning to become very agitated.

"Tch," Shadow spat as he continued down the pathway. "This is just great. First I randomly show up in some screwed up alternate universe, then I get blasted by some frilly unicorn and stared down by some pegasus that looked and sounded like she was completely helpless!"

It was then he arrived at some sort of river that cut through the path he was travelling on. There seemed to be nothing particularly dangerous or important about the river, it was just sort of there. Shadow shrugged and jumped in, expecting to plunge down and swim across.

Instead, he stopped short about ankle deep, still braced for impact.

He looked down at his legs and quirked an eyebrow. He couldn't see his trademark metallic shoes, but he knew they were right there, pretty much directly beneath the surface. He sighed and chalked it up to wacky, pastel physics, or something to that general effect.

Shadow took one step toward the other bank of the river and immediately regretted it. The ground shook, the water began to stir, waves rippling in the once calm stream. He shifted himself into a fighting stance and prepared for battle, when suddenly a large sea serpent rose from the tides...

...and flamboyantly stroked its obnoxious, somewhat familiar, two-toned mustache.

Well, it's official, Shadow thought as he stared blankly at the creature. I've finally lost my mind.

"Well, hello~!" the serpent called to Shadow, smiling at him. "It's not very often I get visitors around here, not since those nice ponies who saved my precious mustache from eternal ruin! What brings you to this part of the Everfree, mysterious stranger?"

Shadow blinked and shook his head, trying to make sense of the world. "Uh... ahem... my name is Shadow the Hedgehog, and I am actually here because I seem to have gotten lost in this black hole the townsfolk some time back call a 'forest.' May, i ask you a question, sir...?"

"Magnet. Steven Magnet~!" the serpent replied, beaming.

"... Magnet. Tell me, how is it that I'm not even knee-deep in this river, and yet you seem to be more than half submerged, although you are much larger than myself, as if this were a much larger body of water?"

Steven looked around and shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't see the issue here, Mister Hedgehog."

Shadow placed his hand on his head and sighed again. Of course he doesn't see any problem there. Physics obviously don't work the same here as they do back home. "Never mind, then. My other question is this... why is half of your mustache... you know... purple?"

"Oh, it was horrible~!" he wailed as he he put his "hand" on his head and threw his head back dramatically, as if he were in some poorly-produced middle school Shakespeare play. "It was long ago by this time, but to this day I cannot help but cringe at the sheer inhumanity of it all!"

It was then that Steven Magnet proceeded to share his riveting tale of life, love, and loss regarding the events of a certain night a little more than a year ago, on an occasion known as the "Summer Sun Celebration," in which some supposedly "tacky" cloud of mist had rushed past the serpent and torn half of his mustache clean off of his face. His hopes and dreams had been dashed, and he had lost all hope, but then suddenly, a band of heroes arrived to justify the crime against fabulosity that had been committed there that day!

Six ponies had rushed valiantly onto the scene, attempting to cross the river to continue their heroic quest, but Steven's blinding despair had prevented him from allowing their passage... until one brace, understanding pony made the ultimate sacrifice and parted with most of her tail to restore the great serpent's mighty mustache to its current glorious state.

However, it wasn't until about halfway through Steven's description of said "heroic ponies," that Shadow actually gave the sea snake his full attention.

"... and then there was this one pale yellowish pegasus, with a mane and tail the loveliest shade of pink, I tell you! Oh, but she was a shy little one, I could tell. Much more timid than the others. Though last I heard she started a modeling career or something, which both makes sense and doesn't make any sense whatsoever at the same time..."

Shadow's ear twitched as he listened carefully to the description and quickly realized that it seemed to fit perfectly with the pegasus he had met back in the treehouse. Butterfly, was it? No, that's not it. Uh, Flutterfly, maybe? No, no, that's not it either. Posey? ... No. No, that's not even close, where did that even come from? Oh wait, is he still talking? I should probably try to pretend I've been listening the whole time. Hopefully I don't zone in on some phrase that, taken out of context, sounds incredibly inappropriate like in all those movies that blue idiot forces me to watch...

"... it was sore for hours, but the end result pleased both me and the lovely dear!" Steven finished with a grin.

Oh, for the love of... "U-um...," Shadow stammered, attempting to keep his composure, "can you, uh, repeat that last part for me please?"

"Were you paying attention? Oh, I knew you looked somewhat out there! I was describing that white unicorn who pulled off one of my scales to cut off part of her tail to fix my lovely mustache!" Steven snapped.

Shadow growled inwardly, not wanting to anger any more intelligent life forms until he found a way to get back to his world. "Right, right, of course. I apologize, I'm not feeling quite myself at the moment."

Steven nodded and sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry for barking at you like that. The first impression you make on a stranger is always the most important, so I should try to keep more of a lid on my temper."

Shadow winced. Ow, he thought, remembering his inability to keep a lid on himself back in the library. Just grind some more salt into the wound, why don't you?

Steven glanced at the watch he wore on his wrist that had either been there the whole time or had just magically appeared there, which, if Shadow were to be completely honest, wouldn't have surprised him at all at this point, and gasped. "Oh no! I'm late~!" he shrieked. "I'm sorry, Mister Hed--"

"Shadow. Just Shadow will do."

"--Mister Shadow! I really must be going now! Ta-ta!"

With one final stoke of his mustache, Steven Magnet dived back down into the water and vanished from sight. Shadow stood there for a few moments and took one cautious step toward the middle of the river where he had once been, expecting some sort of massive drop-off or something... but he never found one.

"Hm. Well. I've honestly probably never been this confused before in my life. And coming from a two-time amnesiac, that's really saying something," Shadow mused as he watched the water ripple. "Congratulations, Equestrio, or whatever it is you're called, you've officially blown my mind."

And with one last confused look around, Shadow the Hedgehog crossed the depth-changing river and continued his expedition into the dark, dreary Everfree Forest.

Shadow walked unhindered down the path for what seemed to him like a few hours but in all actuality was probably only about an hour tops before he reached a long, precarious looking rope bridge. The ropes supporting it looked like they had been rather recently repaired, but the planks were worn and creaky, and a good chunk of them were missing.

"Oh, this is just fan-freaking-tastic. Nothing but gumdrops and ice cream all around in this stupid forest. Stupid place getting my hopes up by showing me firendly, purple, mustached water dragon things and then screwing me over with this stupid death bridge. Thanks a lot, forest. Thanks a lot."

"So, are you done ranting?" a familiar feminine voice asked from behind Shadow. "Or do you need me to leave you alone while you yell at the bushes for a few more minutes?"

Shadow stopped dead and turned around slowly. Just as he thought, the last person--or rather, pony, he would have wanted to see him have a mental breakdown was now standing in front of him, a smug smile adorning her stupid purple face.

"... We are never to speak of this moment ever again," Shadow stated firmly.

"I dunno," Twilight replied, looking at her hooves in the same way, Shadow noticed, that human females would look at their nails. "I kind of want to go back home and tell Fluttershy about this whole thing. She might get a kick out of it."

"You wouldn't."

"Maybe not... if you agree to come back to the library with me."

Shadow raised his eyebrow in confusion, something he somehow knew he wasn't going to stop doing anytime soon. "Why? I would've thought you'd want me out of your home for good."

"Because, Shadow the Hedgehog, you know absolutely nothing about Equestria. Not only do I know a lot about Equestria, but I am also on very good terms with the two demi-goddess alicorns who run Equestria. I think you could probably use my help."

Shadow was about to shoot a retort back at the purple unicorn, but as he opened his mouth, he quickly realized that he had nothing to say. He slowly closed it and turned around.

Twilight walked closer to Shadow and sat down next to him. "Well? Would you like me to help you?"

Shadow stood there for a few moments, his expression neutral and unwavering. Finally he nodded. Slowly and surely he nodded. "That would be helpful, yes. Better than wandering around this stupid forest forever."

Twilight smiled and looked out across the bridge alongside Shadow. "By the way... I feel really bad about the whole thing with you back home... I'm sorry."

"Tch, you still on about that? Don't bother dwelling on that. I am the one who started it, after all."

"Yeah, but I snapped at you and left a you-shaped indent in my wall."

"I hit it that hard? Huh. Didn't even notice."

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. "Whatever, Mister Macho."

"By the way, Twilight...," Shadow began as he turned to face her. "How'd you even find me out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Oh, it was simple, really. I just used a modified version of a spell my friend taught me to search for those golden bracelets you're wearing, and then when I pinpointed your location, I just warped to you."

"Huh. You did all that with your, uh... unicorn magic?" Shadow asked, still wary of the whole concept of "magic."

"Oh, yes!" Twilight answered excitedly. "There's so many things magic can do, and what I did was just some of the more basic spells I can perform!"

"Advanced tracking procedures and teleportation are 'basic' magic tricks for you? Hm. I'm new to this whole magic thing... but you sound like...," Shadow paused, mulling over the proper way to continue his statement. "... You sound like you're a cut above the average unicorn. Special."

Twilight stopped for a moment, but shook her head and shrugged. "Maybe a little, but I don't let that get to my head. It's important to remember that no matter how powerful or how special you are, you shouldn't brag or boast about it, and you should save your powers or talents for when they are really needed."

They stood in silence for a minute or two, then Shadow turned around and walked beside Twilight. "So, you planning on taking us back to your tree anytime soon?"

"In a minute. First I want to know something. You can teleport too, right? then why didn't you just go across the bridge."

"Too far. Don't have the weird, mystical objects from my world that I need to do fancier things easier."

"Wait, so mystical stones or something give you extra power?" Twilight asked, curious.

"Yeah," Shadow replied flatly.

"Have you ever used those stones to defeat some wacko, evil guys?"

"I lost count after seventeen... wait, was it seventeen?"

"Looks like we have more in common than either of us thought, Shadow..."

Suddenly there was a flash of bright, violet light and the forest was silent, save for the wind whooshing past the trees and undergrowth as the Everfree returned to its natural, uninhabited state.