Magic on Mobius: Chapter 5

Location: Shadow’s House

A thin stream of sunlight slipped through the window, bathing the bedroom in a gentle glow. As the sun rose higher, banishing the night, birds began to twitter merrily. The thin stream of concentrated sunlight slid slowly across the room as the sun rose higher, eventually landing on the sleeping face of Twilight Sparkle. The light shining through her eyelids, Twilight awoke. She sat up and stretched her arms high above her head, bed covers tumbling off her. That’s odd, she thought. I remember falling asleep on top of the sheets. The thought of the previous night sent another wave of sadness crashing into her, but she held her ground and pushed it back. She had spent long enough wallowing in her sadness last night. She didn’t need a replay of that to happen. She stood up slowly and practiced with her new body a bit more, making sure she had full control of it before leaving the bedroom, still wearing the dress she had worn the day before.

As she stepped outside the door, she noticed Shadow relaxed on the couch, feet stretched out in front of him, reading one of the many books that she had seen on his bookshelf. “Good morning!” she called cheerfully, grinning at Shadow as she walked over to him.

“’Morning,” he mumbled, not looking up from his book. Twilight giggled softly, knowing what it was like to be caught up in a good book and unaware of what was going on around you. A small, sharp pain struck Twilight in the stomach and she realized she was ravenous. She crossed the room to open the door Shadow had said led into the kitchen and nudged it open.

The kitchen, like most of the rest of Shadow’s house was small and might have been cozy if it had more furnishings to suppress the dark and lonely atmosphere. Another window was in here, bringing light into the room. To her left, some cabinets hung above a counter, cupboards and drawers beneath it. A refrigerator and an oven/stove hybrid stood slightly beyond the counter. To her right, a small, circular table stood, with two chairs pushed in at opposite sides. Deciding the cupboards and cabinets to be her best bet, Twilight headed to her left and opened the first cabinet she came upon. Empty. She continued down the line, open, open, open, open, empty, empty, empty, empty. She repeated the process with the cupboards and got the same result. All of them empty. She didn’t bother with the drawers, figuring they were too small to contain anything edible. She pulled open the fridge, a blast of cold air greeting her. Aside from a few ice cubes, it was empty too. How can he live in a house without any food? She wondered, her hunger pains growing. She exited the kitchen and went back to the living room, finding Shadow in the same position she had left him.

“Um, Shadow?” she said, attempting to draw his attention.

“Mmm?”

“You kinda don’t have any food in your house.” Shadow froze, his hand paused in the air as he turned a page. He closed the book and set it down with a sigh.

“Knew I forgot something,” he mumbled.

“How are you living in a house without any food?” Twilight asked bluntly.

“Let’s go get some food,” he said, ignoring her question. Twilight was miffed he didn't answer her question, but shrugged it off, figuring he had his reasons for not telling her. He stood up and looked over at Twilight, glancing up and down her critically. “And maybe a set of clothes for you. Unless…” he trailed off, thinking. “Do you know how you got the dress to change last time?” he inquired.

Twilight searched her memory, attempting to recall the exact details of when the dress had transformed. “I don’t remember doing it consciously. Rouge had just explained a few things to me, and I had wished that the dress wasn’t so skimpy. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, voila.”

Shadow nodded and headed over to the bookcase, searching the titles until he found the one he wanted. He pulled out a good-sized red volume and flipped through the pages, searching for something. When at last he had found what he was searching for, he walked over to Twilight, showing her a picture of a human girl wearing a pair of jeans and a navy blue v-neck, looking fairly fashionable. “Think you can get your dress to do a two piece?” he asked.

Twilight, however, hadn’t heard him. She had pulled the book out of his hands and was now looking at the cover. “ ‘So Sew! An expert’s guide to making clothes’?” she read off, her voice raising at the end as if asking a question.

Shadow shrugged. “I have a lot of free time on my hands. I typically spend it reading books and picking up useless skills. I never thought that this would ever actually come in handy, though,” he chuckled. “So, think you can manage jeans and a shirt?”

“Let’s find out.” Twilight closed her eyes, concentrating on the picture of the clothes Shadow had shown her. She felt something wrapping around each of her legs, the open feeling of the dress vanishing. Her fur prickled slightly as she felt the sleeves of the dress retract. Her midsection felt a similar reaction as the dress shortened. When she could no longer feel any changes occurring, she opened her eyes and looked down at herself. She was now wearing a comfortable pair of blue jeans, the ends flaring out a bit around her ankles, just high enough that she wouldn’t step on the backs and send herself tumbling. To her surprise and delight, her cutie mark had taken form on the front pockets of the jeans. Her shirt was a v-neck, very similar in design to that in the book, except that it was a bit short and showed her midsection. Also, the pattern on the shirt, instead of being a plain navy-blue, was still the swirling vortex pattern that had been on the dress, except the green had shifted to a purple color and the blue had become deeper and more rich. In her opinion, the outfit looked better like this. Then again, she wasn’t a fashion expert like Rarity. Rarity. The euphoria that had entered her upon the successful transformation flickered for a moment, replacing the happiness in her eyes with the worry and fear she had felt the night before. Hurriedly, she hid it away, letting the euphoria overtake her again. She glanced up at Shadow, hoping he hadn’t noticed the brief change in her mood. If he had, he didn’t say anything. He was currently looking her up and down with a critical eye.

“Not bad,” he critiqued. “Most girls would kill to have a dress-shirt-whateveritis like that. We seriously need to find out what is up with it. After fixing your hair,” he added as an afterthought. Twilight looked up, as if trying to see the top of her head. Shadow chuckled. “There’s a mirror in the bathroom, if you want to use it.”

Twilight nodded her thanks and opened the door to the bathroom. Along with the typical things a bathroom contained, there was a full-length mirror resting on the not-so-far wall, making it so that Twilight could see her reflection immediately upon entering the restroom. Twilight froze, her hand still on the doorknob, as she gazed into her reflection. Though she had seen bits of herself several times and had adjusted to the sight, she was not prepared to look at herself full-on and see somebody else entirely. She grasped and held tight to the similarities she found between herself and the creature in the mirror, like the mane and eye color, but the overwhelming differences bore down on her, forcing her into a void of fear and sadness.

Shadow walked up behind her, standing in the doorframe. “What, do you need me to fix your hair too?” he joked before peering around her into the mirror. He was taken aback by what he witnessed. Her face was slack, her eyes unfocused, and sweat was beginning to form on her brow. Her eyes displayed the all-too-familiar pain of one who felt like they had lost everything, similar to the look she had on her sleeping face the night before, when Shadow had looked in on her. Shadow, understanding her pain, desperately wanted to prevent her from going through all the suffering and confusion that had followed him. He gently laid his hand on her shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. Her eyes shot back into focus and she peered up at him through the mirror. Their eyes met, and Shadow squeezed her shoulder again.

“I understand what you’re going through. If you need someone to confide in, I’m here for you. You can count on me.”

Twilight’s eyes held his gaze, the fear and sadness melting away to be replaced by calm and comfort. Suddenly, a small growl came from Twilight’s stomach. She broke their gaze and looked down at the floor, embarrassed. Shadow removed his hand from her shoulder and adapted the neutral expression he usually wore. “Come on then, let’s get your hair fixed.”

Twilight looked back at her reflection, now noticing that her hair now held soft waves and looked a bit ruffled, but not in a bad way. “Nah, I’ll leave it. I kinda like it like this. Besides, I don’t have a brush or comb to use on it.”

“Good point,” Shadow noted. He held out his hand for her to take. “Shall we be off then?”

Twilight accepted the hand and held it gently. “Let’s.”

Shadow closed his eyes and focused on where he wanted to go. “Chaos Control,” he whispered, and the two vanished from the house.

In a flash of green light, the two appeared in a small grassy field surrounded by woods on all sides. Before either could register anything else, somebody yelled, “Watch out!” A second later, Twilight and a blue blur hurdled into the trees, landing in a pile of bushes. The thing that had hurdled into her stood up quickly, rubbing its head. It was an anthropomorphic hedgehog, similar in looks to Shadow, except his fur and quills were a pure cobalt blue and his eyes emerald green instead of red. He glanced around, searching for whatever he had run into, and his eyes zeroed in on Shadow, who was walking towards him.

“Hey, Faker! Long time no see!” he called happily out as Shadow grew closer. Shadow merely passed him by, ignoring him completely.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Shadow continued to ignore him, heading towards the bushes where he had landed.

“Hey!” As the blue hedgehog put his hand on Shadow’s shoulder, obviously annoyed, Shadow turned his head and hit him with a murderous glare, causing the blue hedgehog to draw back his hand and retreat a few steps. Shadow bent down and reached into the bushes, pulling something out with both arms. To the hedgehog’s immense surprise, Shadow dragged an unconscious, cute lavender girl out of the bushes. Oh man, did I do that? he thought to himself, worriedly. Shadow crouched by her and shook the girl’s shoulders, calling out to her.

“Come on, sleepy head, rise and shine.” The girl awoke with a groan and sat up, holding her hand to her head.

“Seriously, Rainbow Dash? Watch where you’re going next time you’re speeding around. You could really hurt somepony…” the girl trailed off as she looked up at the blue hedgehog that had run into her. “You’re not Rainbow Dash,” she said, her ears drooping slightly, clearly dismayed.

“Nah. The name’s Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog, fastest thing alive,” he responded flashing a grin and striking his signature pose.

“Yeah, I could feel that.” She rubber her head, still slightly dazed from the impact.

Sonic winced at the pain in the girl’s voice, approaching her. “Sorry about that. You and the Faker just appeared out of nowhere and I didn’t have time to stop. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll manage,” the girl replied. She attempted to stand, but quickly crumpled as she put weight on her left hoof. “Ow…” she muttered quietly, under her breath, attempting, and failing, to hide the pain she felt.

Shadow, with a carefulness that Sonic had never seen in the faker, gently rolled up the edge of the girl’s left jean leg, examining it closely. “Looks like your ankle’s sprained. You’re going to have to stay off it for a little while.”

“I have a buddy who can help you get back on your feet real quick, if you'd like,” Sonic cut in, feeling guilty about hurting the girl.

“You’re talking about Tails, right?” Shadow asked. Sonic nodded. “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re probably right about having him help her.”

He turned to the girl. “You up for a bit of a road trip? It’s not that far to Tails’ house.” The girl shrugged.

“Why not? The sooner I can walk around, the better.”

“Oh, so you want to get there fast?” the blue hedgehog asked mischievously. Sonic scooped the girl up in his arms, finding that she was surprisingly light.

“What are you-“ the girl began before Sonic took off at high speeds, racing through the forest. The girl shrieked and wrapped her arms around his neck and burying her head into his chest, terrified of the trees that Sonic just barely managed to sidestep. Sonic looked back to see that Shadow was following him and closing in, a look of anger on his face. Seeing this as a chance to annoy the faker, he swerved off his path and poured on the speed, attempting to lose Shadow. He did this for several seconds before looking back and realizing that Shadow was no longer following. Must have lost him. He returned to his original path and forged onward. After a few seconds, Sonic skidded to a halt in a different clearing from the one they had just been in and stopped in front of a nice-looking house.

“Honey, I’m home,” he called out into the house as he walked through the open door. A young looking two-tailed yellow fox looked up from the book he was reading.

“Sonic!” he replied happily as his best friend and hero entered. “Who’s that?” he inquired, looking at the girl cradled in his arms.

“This girl I ran into while out for my midmorning run. Literally. Do you think you could grab me an icepack? I kinda sprained her ankle when we collided and landed in some bushes.”

“Sure thing. Just set her down on the couch there while I get some ice,” replied the fox as he scurried into another room.

Sonic looked down at the girl, still clinging onto his neck with her eyes squeezed shut. “You can let go of me now,” he said. The girl, blushing slightly, eased her grip and set her arms on her lap. Being careful not to jostle her left leg, Sonic set the girl gently down on one side of the couch Tails had in his living room, pulling up an ottoman for the girl to rest her leg on. He plopped down next to her, staring.

“Yes?” she asked after some time, somewhat uncomfortable at being stared at.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Can't say I've met any pony Mobians, either. A horse once, yes, but no ponies. What’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle, but please, call me Twilight,”

“Well, Twilight, where ya from?”

“Another dimension,” Shadow responded, walking into the room behind Tails, who was carrying an icepack.

“How did you-“ Sonic began before being cut off.

“Tch. I knew you were heading over here, so I teleported here ahead of you. I’m not going to chase you when I know where you’re going, Faker.”

Sonic was about to retort, but was distracted when Twilight took a sharp intake of breath as the icepack was placed over her sprained ankle.

“Sorry, sorry!” Tails exclaimed as he backed away from Twilight.

“I’m good, I’m good,” she replied, exhaling slowly. She looked at the two-tailed fox, an amused look appearing on her face. “You’re Tails, I assume?” she inquired.

“Yeah. My real name is Miles Prower, but most people call me Tails. What’s this I heard about you being from another dimension?” he asked curiously.

“I was just about to ask the same thing,” Sonic added in.

Twilight gestured to the open space on the couch next to Sonic. “Please take a seat. It’s a bit of a long story.” She leaned her head back and looked at and upside-down Shadow, who had taken up leaning on the wall behind her. “You too, mister! I don’t know the whole story from the Mobian side, so you’re going to have to fill in where I can’t, okay?” Shadow grumbled. “Please? For me?” she asked, her sweet, melodic voice taking on a pleading tone.

“Fine,” he scoffed, plopping down on the opposite end of the couch, Tails sitting in between him and Sonic. Fortunately, it was a big couch, so nobody was cramped. They all settled in, relaxing for the long story.

“Okay,” she began, Shadow with his arms folded and eyes closed, Tails looking at her eagerly, Sonic looking at her with some emotion she couldn’t quite place. “For me, it all started out on a beautiful day in the kingdom of Equestria…”