"This is ridiculous", Shadow the Hedgehog mumbled as he walked along the street. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."
"Will you relax?" replied Sonic the Hedgehog, who was walking beside him. "This'll be fun! And that's something you don't have enough of!"
"But I feel weird about this. It isn't like me at all!"
"Well, that's the whole fun of Halloween: you get to be somebody you're not!"
Shadow raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else. The two hedgehogs continued to make their way to the center of town, where the big Halloween party was going to be held. Sonic was looking forward to having a good time, but it had taken a bit of convincing in order to get his companion to join him.
After a while, the hedgehogs reached the city square, where they had agreed to meet their friends before the party. Three of them were already waiting in the grassy patch set as the meeting point: Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Cheese the Chao. Each of them was wearing a Halloween costume for the event. Amy was dressed as a witch, Cream had a skeleton outfit on, and Cheese was wearing bright fairy wings his rabbit owner had made for him.
Amy was the first to notice Sonic and Shadow approaching. As soon as she saw them, she grinned broadly and ran over to the blue hedgehog, throwing her arms around him.
"Sonic!" the pink hedgehog shouted excitedly. "You made it! I'm so glad you're here!"
And then something odd happened: Sonic laughed. It was the first time he had ever thought Amy running to meet him was funny. But, strangely enough, the reason he found this amusing was funnier still.
"I told you she would do that!" he whispered to Shadow, smiling.
Shadow, however, did not find the matter funny at all. The reason he didn't share Sonic's amusement... was that he didn't like people touching him, much less hugging him. For Amy had her arms around the wrong hedgehog, and she didn't even realize it.
An hour earlier, Sonic and Shadow had been working on their own costumes for the party. The costumes they were currently using had been Sonic's idea; he thought it would be funny to play a trick on his friends. He had picked up some dye in three different colors - blue, black and red - and brought it with him when he went to meet Shadow. The two hedgehogs had then each painted themselves in the other's color, switched shoes, and changed their quill styles. By the time they were finished, each hedgehog was looking at the other... and seeing a mirror image of himself.
Sonic continued to laugh as he watched his admirer hugging his friendly rival. Shadow then shot him an irritated look, and Sonic knew he would have to intervene. Shadow did not handle irritation well.
"Amy..." said Sonic carefully, stifling his laughter, and the pink hedgehog loosened her hold on Shadow to face the speaker. At first she didn't notice anything strange; she thought she was hugging Sonic and looking at Shadow. So Sonic tried again.
"Amy, it's me!"
Amy squinted at the black hedgehog for a moment, trying to decipher the meaning of his words. His voice was a bit different, and he was standing with his arms open and a smile on his face. This was not like him...
"Shadow?"
"Nope." This time the speaker was the blue hedgehog Amy was still holding, but his voice seemed somehow deeper and more annoyed than usual. The pink hedgehog looked back at who she thought was Sonic, furrowing her brow... and then she saw it.
It was the one physical detail that Sonic and Shadow could not change about themselves. Looking closely, Amy noticed that the blue hedgehog she was hugging had red irises. Turning to the black hedgehog, she also noticed that he had green irises. But that wasn't possible, unless...
Suddenly realizing her mistake, Amy screamed and released the hedgehog she now knew to be Shadow. At this, Sonic burst into laughter once more, and Cream and Cheese giggled along with him. As Amy began to yell at the temporarily black hedgehog for the mean trick he had played, even Shadow couldn't help but snigger a little. Sonic had been right; this was kind of fun.
Just then, the remainder of the group of friends arrived in the square: Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna. Tails had powdered his fur all over and put on dark eye shadow to make himself look like a ghost, while Knuckles was wearing the traditional clothing of his ancestral tribe.
The fox and the echidna walked over to the grassy patch where their friends were waiting. Once they reached it, they greeted Amy, Cream and Cheese, complimenting them on their costumes and receiving compliments back. Tails then noticed the blue and black hedgehogs standing behind the others.
"Hi Sonic! Hi Shadow!" he said, smiling. "Where are your costumes?"
The two hedgehogs exchanged glances, then, casually, each one brought his hand to his face. Shadow pretended to scratch underneath his eye, while Sonic lightly rubbed his nose. This gesture conveniently hid their smiles, and allowed Sonic to speak without giving away his disguise.
"Tails, come here for a second."
Tails was a bit confused by the request, but obeyed nonetheless. When he was standing directly in front of the hedgehogs, both Sonic and Shadow simply stared at him without saying a word. The two-tailed fox didn't understand what he was supposed to do now, so Amy gave him a clue.
"They are wearing costumes, Tails! Look closer."
So Tails did. He looked at the blue hedgehog, and saw he was staring back with a straight face and one hand on his hip. The fox then looked at the black hedgehog, and saw he was standing with his arms crossed and a sly smile on his lips. After a minute of quiet observation, Tails finally noticed the same detail Amy had: the hedgehogs had somehow switched eye colors. But that couldn't be right... no... they had switched everything except their eye colors!
Tails gasped as he noticed the giveaway traits, cueing hearty laughter from Sonic and light sniggering from Shadow. Amy, Cream and Cheese all started giggling, though Knuckles still didn't understand what was going on. The fox then grinned broadly, and pointed at the black hedgehog.
"Sonic!" he shouted, laughing along with everyone else. "This was your idea!"
The black hedgehog winked at the young fox. At this, the echidna's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He stared disbelievingly at who he had been sure was Shadow.
"Sonic?!"
The disguised hedgehog turned to face Knuckles, then, despite his amusement, managed to put on a straight face. He raised an eyebrow at the echidna, and put on a fake, deep voice.
"I'm not Sonic", he said in a surprisingly uncanny impression of Shadow. "I am the ultimate lifeform, the greatest being in existence."
At this, Shadow stopped laughing. He stared directly at the mirror image of himself, and spoke in his normal, irritated tone.
"I don't sound like that."
Everyone else looked carefully from one hedgehog to the other. They all knew Sonic had a tendency to attract trouble and laugh in the face of danger, no matter what form it came in. Sonic ignored Shadow's comment, crossing his arms and sticking his nose up in an exaggerated conceited attitude, and continued his impersonation.
"Sonic? Ha! That speedy blue hedgehog hack only wishes he were half as good as me!"
Sonic's friends all turned their attention to Shadow, waiting to see how he would react. The temporarily blue hedgehog stared at the black one for several seconds... then broke into a smile.
"OK" he said, laughing. "That actually does sound like me."
Everyone joined Shadow in his renewed amusement, even Sonic, who didn't mind the subtle teasing behind his rival's remark.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Tails excitedly. "The sun is setting! We should be getting to the party now!"
His friends all agreed, so they left the grassy patch in the square and made their way to the local clubhouse, where the event was just starting. The group of seven friends passed through the doors of the building towards the music that was playing loudly inside.
Before entering the room filling up with people dressed in costumes, Sonic looked subtly at Shadow, smiled, and winked at him. Shadow, giving in to the fun of being somebody different for one night, smiled back at Sonic, and followed him into the party.
All of the friends were certain they would have a good time tonight, even the normally dark hedgehog, who, for the first time in his life, actually felt like he belonged in somebody's circle of friends. It was going to be a great Halloween.