Guest review-answering time!

Guest: Haha! Thanks for the very vehement review! Actually, there's a backstory to Silver's answer. He'd read the book before, you see. He saw that Sonic was thinking about the book, and then that he was suddenly looking anxious, and so Silver figured out his train of thought. Being a bit of a scamp, he decided to mess with Sonic's head. Silly hedgehogs. XD

Bearvalley3365: Thanks for the reviews, but no thanks. I'm not gonna risk fighting with Mephiles, and I think he's moved in for good. He's got a little evil moving van and is unpacking all his little evil boxes. I think you may want to take your OC's somewhere safer . . . Sorry. :(

AND NOW . . . fair warning.

This chapter and the next one will contain many references to My Little Pony. I know it's annoying to read references you don't get, so if by some miracle you've never heard of My Little Pony, feel free to skip these two chapters if you want.

Also, I know some people out there really don't like My Little Pony. If that's you, you may want to skip these two chapters too. It'll just be annoying for you, and I'm not here to annoy anyone.

And lastly, if you are a Brony and really love ponies . . . yeah, you may also want to skip these. There will be pony references, but not necessarily positive ones. I am NOT by any means a pony hater. I'm a casual Brony myself; the show is average okay, and I really enjoy all the fan content on Bronyland. But there are some things about the show that just don't sit well . . .

Holy cow. I think I just established that these two chapters are going to please no one. This should be interesting. :S

Oh well. Into the teeth of the storm!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co., or My Little Pony!

Sonic was out on one of his usual runs one day when he ran into Shadow.

"First to Green Hill!" he called, breezing past his rival.

"Not again, Faker," groaned Shadow, but he couldn't just stand still and let Sonic outdo him. The two hedgehogs tore across the landscape, most of the time neck-and-neck; Sonic reached the hill first by just a few meters.

"Faker," growled Shadow, catching his breath. "Next time you want to race, go find that stupid Rainbow Dash. I've got better things to be doing with my time."

"Aw, you wouldn't say that if you'd—" Sonic came up short. "Waaait, isn't Rainbow Dash one of those pony-whatsits from that cartoon?"

"Yeah, a pony-whatsit," said Shadow drily. Sonic burst out laughing.

"Wait, seriously?! You're one of those Bronies?"

"Pipe down, Faker, or I'll send Amy into permanent mourning," warned Shadow.

"Woah, woah," Sonic backed up, waving his hands and trying to get ahold of himself. "Take it easy! I've got nothing against Bronies; I know Silver's one, and I think Tails and Knux are about to join him. And Cream and Amy are big on the show too. No shame." He chuckled. "I just really didn't think you'd be the type to like it."

"I don't really follow the show," said Shadow indifferently. "I just read the fanfictions."

"Ohh, is that so," chuckled Sonic, and fell silent. Still, a few seconds later he again twitched with silent laughter and sang under his breath, "Sha-dow's a Bro-ny . . . "

"All right, Faker," said Shadow through his teeth. He shoved Sonic unceremoniously back onto a boulder. "Siddown, and let me tell you a couple of good pony stories."

"Oh, go right ahead," said Sonic, waving a hand amusedly. "This I gotta hear."

Shadow perched on a rock of his own, and proceeded to tell Sonic such a load of grimdark and horror fanfics that you could paper a room with them. He finished up with the infamous "Cupcakes," in which Pinkie Pie turns Rainbow Dash into the titular baked good. No, I haven't read it myself, and I certainly do not advise anyone else to. Shadow knew how to tell a story concisely but still keep in all the horror; Sonic's eyes grew wider and wider as the narrative progressed.

"And then," concluded Shadow, "she decided she would have it stuffed. And that's all. There's others, but those were the best ones."

By now Sonic was looking at Shadow like he was all four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

"That's My Little Pony?" he managed at last.

"That's a portion of its fanbase, yes," said Shadow. "Good, isn't it?"

"No."

"I like it," shrugged Shadow. "But I have to read them on non-G.U.N. computers. Rouge swears if Omega ever ran into one of those fanfics, he'd blow out his sentience circuits and revert to Flicky-power."

"I wouldn't be surprised," said Sonic, still a little dazed. "Dude, seriously? That's My Little Pony?"

"The show itself is pretty innocent," shrugged Shadow. "After all, you said yourself that Cream watches it. And most of the fans are pretty normal as well. But naturally, when people see cute little colorful ponies, their first instinct is to have them mutilate each other."

"That's . . . that's just sick."

"Makes for good reading, though," smirked Shadow. "I always thought 'Cupcakes' was particularly interesting."

"Seriously?"

"Think about it," said Shadow. "There are a lot of character parallels. That Rainbow Dash pony is blue and speedy and has too much attitude, same as you. And the Pinkie Pie one is pink and cheerful and ditzy, like Amy. Silver tells me there was even an episode where Pinkie Pie chases Rainbow Dash around."

He raised his eyebrows at Sonic significantly. Sonic gulped.

"You . . . you don't mean . . . "

"You may be justified in running away from Amy," said Shadow solemnly. "If I were you, I wouldn't let her catch me alone."

"Good . . . grief . . . " said Sonic dizzily.

Suddenly, Amy herself came dashing in.

"Sonic!" she squealed, throwing herself at her favorite hedgehog.

"Gah," gulped Sonic, too unnerved even to struggle much. "Uh . . . hi, Amy."

"I'm so glad I found you!" said Amy happily. "I know you must be hungry after your morning run. You wanna help me make cupcakes?"

"HolycowNO!"

Sonic was gone even faster than usual.

"Awww, Soniiiiic!" Amy wailed after him. She stamped her foot in frustration. "Aw gee, he always used to like my cupcakes . . . "

Meanwhile, Shadow watched the proceedings with a quietly amused smirk. Amy sighed disconsolately and turned to leave, glancing thoughtfully in Shadow's direction.

"Don't look at me," snorted Shadow. "I'm not helping."

"Don't worry, I wasn't about to ask," retorted Amy. "I don't bake with bitter people. It ruins the flavor."

Shadow laid his ears back in silence as Amy trotted off.

"I'm . . . going to pretend I didn't hear that."