That night shadow was sleeping, but it was not a restful sleep. He was tossing and turning. He was having a nightmare but it was nothing new. It was a regular nightmare. In his dream he was running through a long hallway. He was being guided by a girl with long blonde hair. She looked back at him "hurry shadow" she said. They got to a large room with a view of earth. Shadow stood in the middle of the room and stared out the window. The girl ran around looking for something. She seemed to have found it. She put her hand around a lever and pulled it. A glass case closed around shadow. He looked at her and put his hand on the glass "maria" he said. Maria smiled sadly at him "shadow...i beg of you...please, do it for me...for a better future" she said. A man ran into the room and pointed a gun at maria "freeze" he said. Maria looked at him and then to shadow. She quickly pulled another lever. The man pulled the trigger. Shadow banged on the window "MARIA" he yelled. He saw one last glance at her, but she had turned into pinkie pie "Sayonara, shadow the hedgehog" she said.
Shadow woke up in a cold sweat and saw pinkie sitting next to his bed. Pinkie smiled "finally you woke up, you kept grunting in your sleep" she said. Shadow laid back down "just a dream" he said. Pinkie leaned in "what was your dream about" she asked. Shadow sighed "go to sleep" he said. Pinkie started laughing "okay i'll start first, I was dreaming about a cupcake in space that-" she was interrupted by shadow sitting up and putting his hand up "fine" he said. Shadow looked up at nothing "it was a dream about how my best friend, maria died" he said. Pinkie's smiled faltered for a second. Shadow looked at her "yeah, not a happy dream" he said. Pinkie smiled softly "tell me about her" she said. That took shadow by surprise "what" he asked. The smile on pinkie face didn't move "tell me about maria" she said. Shadow looked down in thought "she was a bright, happy girl. Always smiling, even at the worst of times. She only wanted everyone around her to be happy" he said. He looked up and saw pinkie smiling warmly at him. Shadow blushed slightly and laid back down "whatever, I told you so go to sleep" he said. Pinkie jumped into bed "alright goodnight" she said. Shadow pictured maria in his mind, he smiled slightly "goodnight" he said.
The next morning tails was sitting and reading a book, but he couldn't focus on it because he kept looking over at twilight. He wanted to ask her to dinner but was so nervous. He took a deep breath and put his book down. He turned towards twilight "hey, wanna go out for dinner" he said as casually as he could. Twilight smiled and nodded "sure, sounds fun. Let me know when" she said. As she got up. She walked into her room. Tails wiped his forehead "she probably thinks I'm being weird" he thought.
In the next room twilight buried her head in her pillow "i can't believe I handled it like that, I was being so weird" she thought. She tried to calm down and think rationally "i need to talk to rarity" she said to herself. She walked out the door and towards the boutique. Once she got there she saw that rarity was with a customer. Twilight got her attention "i need to talk to you" she said. Rarity walked over "twilight, I was with a customer. What is this about" she asked. Twilight's face reddened "tails asked me to dinner" she said. Rarity smiled and walked back to the customer "i'm sorry we're closed, you'll have to come later" she said as she pushed her out the door. She then sat down with twilight. Twilight was trying to avoid eye contact "what should I do" she asked. Rarity gave her a determined smiled "just be yourself, you're a smart and beautiful mare. He'd be lucky to have you" she said. Twilight smiled up at her "thanks rarity, I feel a bit better" she said. Rarity got up "now, let's go to the spa. You could use some relaxation." she said.
Later that day tails was pacing around the library. Spike walked in and looked at him with confused him "hey tails, something wrong" he asked. Tails stopped and turned to him "uh just stretching my legs" he lied with nervous smile. Spike tilted his head "okay" he said. He walked past tails "do you know when twilight will be back" he asked. Before tails could answer the door opened and twilight walked in. tails turned to her and his eyes widened. Twilight had gotten her mane done, it wasn't too fancy but tails could notice. Twilight tilted her head and smiled at him "are you ready" she asked. Tails found his voice again "uh yes, let's go" he said. They walked out the door.
They had walked to a nice restaurant. They walked in and sat down in a booth. They waited quietly for a few seconds. Tails was trying to think of a conversation topics but something caught his eye "is that...knuckles" he asked. Twilight looked over to the entrance "yeah, and that's fluttershy with him" she said. Knuckles locked eyes with tails and after a few seconds of shock he and fluttershy walked over "hey mind if we join you" he said. Tails nodded and knuckles sat next to him while fluttershy took the seat next to twilight. Knuckles turned his head to tails "so what are you guys doing here" he asked. Tails rubbed the back of his neck "we are just out for dinner, what about you" he said. Knuckles looked over to fluttershy "we're celebrating our victory" he said. Fluttershy smiled sheepishly "it was sweet of him to invite me out" she said. The conversation was interrupted when a waiter walked to their table "may I take your orders" he said. Twilight looked up at him "yes i'll have your vegetable stew" she said. The waiter wrote that down and looked at tails "and what about you" he stared at him for a second "sir" he said. Tails took a quick glace at his menu "the tomato bisque please" he said. He nodded and turned his head to fluttershy. She mumbled something quietly. The waiter sighed "can you speak up" he asked. Before she could try again knuckles spoke up "she said she'll have the garden salad, and i'll have the fruit salad" he said. The waiter wrote that down and walked off. Fluttershy smiled at knuckles "thank you" she said.
Twilight decided to start a conversation "so tell us about your past" she asked them. Tails was caught off guard by the question "i don't know if you want to hear about that" he said. Knuckles elbowed his arm "go ahead tails" he said. Tails nodded "well as you can probably guess having two tails isn't normal so I was bullied a lot as a kid. I stayed home most days just reading and tinkering with small machines. One day I decided to run away from home because I heard my parents talking about putting me up for adoption" he said. Twilight didn't know what to say "that's horrible" she said. Tails face brightened slightly "but one day while walking down a forest path I saw a blue blur fly past me. I tried to follow him but when I lost him I saw a plane. I started to work on it because It was broken. Later that person came back and introduced himself as sonic and said that it was his plane. After he saw that I was able to fix it he asked me if I wanted to hang out with him and the rest is history" he explained. Twilight managed a slight smile "i'm glad that you were able to find friends after such a hard time" she said. Tails nodded "sonic and the others are my family now so I don't usually think about it" he said.
Fluttershy then turned to knuckles "what about you, what was your childhood like" she asked. Knuckles looked down with a neutral expression "i didn't have much of a childhood, my whole tribe died out while I was still young" he said. Fluttershy gasped slightly "you didn't have any friends or family? What did you do" she asked. Knuckles looked up at her "as the last of my tribe I was left with the duty to-" he stopped as he realized something. He looked down as if in thought then he got up "excuse me" he said As he walked out the door. Tails got up to chase after him but stopped when he saw fluttershy run after him. Twilight got tails' attention "maybe we should leave this to her" she said. Tails agreed and sat back down.
Fluttershy ran outside and saw knuckles leaning on a wall. Fluttershy walked over quietly and stood next to him. After a few seconds knuckles spoke up "i'm sorry I just needed a moment" he said. Fluttershy gave him a welcoming smile "if you want to talk about it, i'd be happy to listen" she said. Knuckles thought for a moment and then spoke up "the memories of the past just got me down" he said. Fluttershy frowned "knuckles I can tell that you're lying" she said. Knuckles looked at her with wide eyes "how" was all he could say. Fluttershy ignored his question "you don't have to tell me the truth but I would appreciate it" she said. Knuckle looked away from her "i was a guardian back in my world and I was just reminded of how important it is for me to get back" he said. Fluttershy felt slightly sad but tried not to show it "but that was the plan all along, wasn't it" she asked. Knuckles tried to look further away from her "there is...a small part of me...that doesn't want to leave" he said. Fluttershy gasped in shock. Knuckle clenched his fist "but I have to go back, the master emerald is in danger as we speak" he said. He felt fluttershy's head on his arm "i can't give you an answer but I trust you, so you can trust yourself too" she said. Knuckles throught about her words for a few moments. Knuckles looked up and smiled "let's get back in there" he said.
Meanwhile tails and twilight sat together in awkward silence. Twilight then looked up at him "so tell me about some of your other friends" she said. Tails was confused by the sudden question "do you mean the ones back in my world" he asked. Twilight nodded "yeah I just want to learn more about your friends" she said. Tails saw nothing wrong with that so he spoke "well there is this girl amy, who is a strong, dependable, and caring person" he said. Twilight frowned slightly "she sounds...great" she said. Tails didn't notice her reaction "yeah, other than sonic and knuckles she's one of my oldest friends" he said. Twilight faked a smile and tails chuckled at a memory "and she is obsessed with sonic" he said. Twilight perked up "she's in love with sonic" she asked. Tails nodded "sonic doesn't know how he feels about it yet, but I think he might feel the same way" he said. Twilight gave a genuine smile "that's good" she said. Knuckles and fluttershy walked back to the table "hey guys, sorry about that" he said as they sat back down.
After dinner tails and twilight got back to the library. Twilight looked around and saw no trace of spike. She looked over to tails "i think i'm going to hit the hay" she said. Tails nodded and sat on the couch "okay i'm going to read for a while" he said as he picked up a book. Twilight started walking to the stairs but she stopped and looked at tails. She walked behind him and gave him a hug "thanks for dinner" she said. She let go and walked up to her room. Tails looked up at her door and smiled happily.
Back at eggman hideout he walked in and saw a wrecked egg emperor and nothing else. He searched for some sign that he had won but found nothing. He walked into another room and came to someone "looks like it's up to you" he said.
