Hello, fellow readers! And welcome back to Shadow of Harmony! What do we have now:
JeaSonDash: I am planning for their paths to converge at some point in this story, so it's a safe bet to think it would be around there. I'll be sure to answer the best I can without spoiling anything and I greatly appreciate the support as I really want this story to succeed the others I've lost motivation in. Thanks man, same to you. And Sunflower is Babs Seed's older sister, btw.
danielle: Uh... thanks? Not sure what you mean, but thanks.
Marilia Helena: Uh, two things here:
1. Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. It means a lot.
2. I'm not one to do shipping, as previous stories will tell you just that. If you like shipping characters, that's OK. I'm just not one of those people who does that as my main focus in a story.
Thanks for the feedback! With that said, let's continue!
Chapter 10: Rough Falls
Mountain near Ponyville
Shadow was currently walking with the Mane Six as they were reaching their destination of the smoky mountain, containing the rogue dragon within at the peak. Fluttershy was a bit behind them as her eyes look up towards the smoking peak, feeling fear take over as her hooves start to slow down before hearing Rainbow call out to her:
"Come on, Fluttershy! We don't have all day!"
Her hooves sped back up as the others were starting to go up the mountainside, or flying in Rainbow's case with Fluttershy doing the same as her friend kept talking.
"It's best that I go on ahead, see if there's danger up there." She isn't wrong in thinking that suggestion.
"I'll go with you." Shadow is the warrior of the group, best for him to take those risks.
Applejack was hesitant, but allows it when the others outvoted her. "Come right back, ya hear? Safety in numbers in all."
Once the two went ahead, Fluttershy still can't help but look up again when she hears Twilight ask her something:
"Fluttershy, what do you think the dragon will be like?"
"U-Uh-" The only sound that came out of her mouth in response before a much louder one echoes throughout the mountain:
SNORE!
The rumbling echo was more than enough for Fluttershy's wings to snap close, making her fall and slide down the mountainside before Twilight quickly uses her levitation spell to catch her. As she brings her up to them, Rarity comments on what just happened as she had finished putting on a striped pink scarf:
"Did he really have to be a snorer too?"
"He must REALLY be comfortable up there." Pinkie adds before wondering, "What do you think he's sleeping on?"
"I've read that dragons make nests out of jewels and gold they've collected." Twilight answers as she places Fluttershy back on her hooves, only for the pegasus to slide back down and reactivates the levitation spell to catch her.
"Where do they even get all of that?" Applejack brings up a good question, which the others couldn't answer.
Meanwhile, Shadow and Rainbow has gotten up fairly far ahead and saw nothing threatening in the vicinity before backtracking. On their way back, Rainbow starts a conversation with him:
"I'm surprised Fluttershy even came along."
That got Shadow's attention to say the least, "Why's that?"
"I've known her since we met at flight camp as little fillies and if there's one thing I know about her, is that she's easily scared." She explains to him.
"How easy?" He wonders, mainly curious.
"Dude, she got startled by her own shadow once." She regretfully recalls to prove her point, "And I still don't know how."
Shadow only shakes his head at the silliness of that, "You think she's still like that now?"
"I wish that wasn't the case. I've told her that she needs to be brave, but she always forgets about it." Rainbow recalls from all those times she told her.
He'll admit, that is a bit weird. Then again, he doesn't know much about them to have any sort of answer.
"We'll see if she remembers, then." He simply retorts.
The two arrive back to find the group has reached the top of the mountainside with Twilight looking at the map again, likely to double check their route as Applejack notices their return:
"Ya'll find anything?"
"No danger so far." Rainbow kinda sounded a bit disappointed as she said that.
Shadow simply nods in agreement before his eyes shift to seeing Fluttershy trying to open her wings, to no avail.
SNORE!
And the dragon's snoring wasn't making it easier. Twilight puts the map back in her bag soon after before calling out, "Come on. We have to hurry."
She lead the way as Shadow decides to stay in the back of the group this time, just to make sure Fluttershy doesn't fall behind since she can't use her wings right now for some odd reason. The path he and Rainbow just checked out was unsurprisingly uneventful as they walked the path up to where it wraps into a large crevice. Fortunately, they took the opinion of taking a shortcut.
Rainbow went first, easily leaping the gap by gliding with her wings and lands on the other side no problem, as Twilight simply exercises her magic with a simple teleport spell to reach the other side too. Though, the others are gonna be a bit harder.
"So, any ideas?" Rarity asks the others still on her side.
"Easy! It's just a hop, skip, and a jump!" Pinkie answers before proving to do just that.
Pinkie leaps onto the other side over a sizable gap, cleanly landing no problem and turns around with a smile. "See!?"
"We saw, Pinkie." Rarity said as Applejack went to perform it herself and succeeds as she lands next to the pink pony.
Rarity was a bit hesitant, but knows her magic isn't as strong as Twilight's to perform a simple teleport and resorts to attempting the leap instead. Much like the others, she manages to land on the other side where the rest are, leaving Shadow and Fluttershy as the last ones. The latter was rather scared, her wings being fearfully closed right now not helping the situation.
"Fluttershy?" Shadow calls her name to get her attention, "What's wrong?"
"U-Um... t-the gap is so wide..." She answers in a meek voice that he barely heard.
"You still have your legs. A simple jump will be enough." He reassures her as she looks down over the ledge, which made things worse for her and made her back up in fright.
"Come on, Fluttershy! We don't have the time to spare!" Applejack calls out to them from her position.
"I-I don't know..." Fluttershy still didn't move from her spot.
Shadow was tempted to carry her the rest of the way, but decides to take the gentle approach.
"Fluttershy, watch me." He told her to do, which she opens one eye to watch.
Without resorting to skating, he took two steps back before running to the ledge and leaping to the other side.
He then turns around to face her, "Just like that. You can do it too."
Fluttershy has both her eyes open now, the added encouragement helping a bit as she slowly stands up and got ready to leap.
"I can do it..." She mutters under her breath, "I can do it..."
The others watch as the shy pegasus took a moment to remind herself of her animals. Them under the sunshine with no smoke in sight... and vice versa. Taking the chance, she goes for it and leaps!
Upon landing on the other side, cheers all around as Shadow gives her a simple nod of approval.
"Great job, Fluttershy!" Rainbow calls out before adding, "But, can you do it two more times?"
Turns out, that was one of three sizable gaps in between where the crevice starts and where it ends with three equally tall mountains for platforms. The others did just that to group back up on the other side and kept following the path towards the peak.
Meanwhile, in Manehattan
Sonic has just gotten off a transmission with his friends back in Mobius, which luckily happened when he went to the restroom with no one inside. He may have yet to find Shadow, but he's only scratching the surface of this new world. Looking in the mirror, he forms a simple plan in his head.
After catching this jewel thief, he and Stylite can get back to searching. Since there's a police force in the city, he can ask them to keep an eye out for Shadow in case he's either in the city or arriving at said city as the two are somewhere else.
With that in mind, the blue blur left the restroom and enters the chief's office where he, Stylite and another officer was trying to form a plan.
"Whatever plan we make, she ends up always being a step ahead of us." Chief Stablemaker mentions, "And I've yet to figure out how she does."
"From what you told us, she isn't an ordinary thief. She's been doing this for some time and knows the ins and outs of her skills." Stylite summarizes, "What we should do is a trap."
"I doubt it. Even if we did set one up, she's rather particular in what she targets." The chief clarifies.
Sonic then finds himself remembering a certain bat agent and gets an idea, "I got just the thing for jewel thieves like her."
The others were perplexed by this until he pulls out his Chaos Emerald, its green glow catching their eyes upon sight.
"What's that supposed to be?" The other officer in the room asks him.
"Great question, miss. Where I'm from, this is known as a 'Chaos Emerald'." Sonic answers as he casually tosses it up in the air repeatedly, "While it's quite the gem, they also hold great power. Quite the collector's item to have, right?"
"Which will make it too tempting for the thief to not take." Sty catches onto where his blue friend was going with this.
"There is one problem." The chief points out, "How can we make it look convincing?"
Sonic catches the emerald and held it tight as he thinks about how, with Stylite wanting to suggest something, only to keep his mouth shut.
"Why don't we get an archeologist to showcase it?" The other officer suggests to the three, "Over at the museum?"
"Yeah, just have somepony pose as one and put on a show for the emerald." Sty adds to the idea.
"I like it! Good idea, miss..." Sonic pauses a bit as he doesn't know her name.
"Oh right. This is Officer Fluffles. She's been helping us out on this case for a couple of months." Chief Stablemaker finally introduces her to the two.
"Nice to meet you." She simply said to them.
Sonic smirks as he puts the emerald away, "Same. All right, let's do this!"
Back at the Mountain
Shadow and the Mane Six were currently walking the main path up to the peak as Twilight kept her voice quiet while letting out a warning:
"Avoid any sudden noises. The smallest peep could trigger a rock slide." That isn't good news at all.
Fluttershy was rather afraid of that, "A-a roc-"
She was shushed by Twilight when she spoke a bit too loudly before they continue on their way. Only the sounds of their footsteps were heard as they went, with the exception of Rainbow who was flying by them. Looking back to check on the others, she brushes against the leaves of a tree branch without realizing it, causing a few of them to come loose.
One of them just happens to float towards Fluttershy, who was walking while staying low without noticing it as it goes above her and lands on her back.
"ROCK-" The smallest touch was enough to set her off, but Shadow was quick enough to cover her mouth.
The group froze as her voice echoes throughout, waiting for any signs of a possible rock slide starting. Thankfully, no such thing happened within the minute they waited before the girls let out a collective sigh. Somehow, for some nonsensical reason, THAT'S what tips it off.
Pebbles were heard dropping onto the ledges above one by one, making them worry as they started to fall faster and faster until the ground began to violently shake.
"Run!" Shadow shouts, ordering them to get to the other side as soon as possible.
He was right to call this as their current position was getting pelted by rocks and dirt until boulders start to emerge. Shadow realizes that Fluttershy was frozen solid in fear, which forces him to make a split second decision:
Throwing her to safety.
"Fly!" He orders her to do, which she barely processes as he picks her up and chucks her in the direction of the others.
Upon doing so, he swiftly gets into a spindash and barely manages to charge up a light speed attack before avoiding getting crushed by one of the falling boulders. Like a life-size pinball, he starts to ricochet throughout the rock slide to cover the others as they ran through to safety.
Rainbow was managing the best out of them, using her acrobatics to avoid the falling debris as they try to fall on her. However, as she rolls out of the way of a large boulder, a smaller one came right after in her direction before:
CRUNCH!
Shadow lands right into it, breaking most of it apart on impact and leaps off it, splitting the remains in half. He then slams another large boulder as Rarity was dodging and weaving through the smaller ones, jumping off to see Pinkie managing to hop on top of one before leaping off and smashing a massive one with her head as it came down in front of her... so yeah, she's doing good.
Landing on a small boulder, he leaps up high to see Twilight and Applejack falling a bit behind. The former was making narrow escapes as she teleports, but doesn't have the stamina to keep it up as the latter was trying her best to keep up while avoiding the debris. Using his shoes, the remaining energy from his light speed attack channeled into them before the rockets on the soles burst to life, blasting him towards the two.
Noticing Twilight was slowing down, AJ went to go help as she notices a group of boulders falling ahead where she is. Shadow was just about to warp, but sees Applejack was quick to jump into action as she pushes Twilight and her away from the immediate danger... right over the edge!
Shadow homing attacks a boulder higher up to get a good view of where they are and sees an impressive feat. Applejack managed to pull out her lasso and flung it to a nearby tree hanging off the path's edge, swinging her and Twilight upwards into the air before Rainbow comes in and creates a whirlwind around them to carry them to safety.
Seeing them out of harm's way and the rock slide starting to get worse, he channels Chaos energy around himself to form a barrier before jumping off the boulder he was on and performs:
"Chaos BLAST!"
The barrier grew in seconds upon him shouting, the blast of red energy destroying the rock slide and a large chunk of the surrounding area in the process. A massive gust of wind came from this, making the others stand their ground before it dissipates along with the blast disappearing. What was left once the smoke settles was a large shallow crater with a massively deep crevice in the place where the mountainside was before.
The others have seen this attack before back when he fought Nightmare Moon, but this one was easily twice as big than their clash in the town hall. Shadow had landed in the middle of it and makes his way to the others when Rainbow realizes something:
"Where's Fluttershy?"
A noise was heard as it started to get louder, making Shadow look up and see you know who falling down towards him. "She flew."
The shy pegasus was still scared stiff as her wings were still snapped shut, making her fall right into Shadow's arms as he caught her and places her safely on the ground.
"Is everypony all right?" Applejack asks them.
"Thanks to you, I am." Twilight gives her a hug as she told her that.
"Still, we would have avoided it if a certain pony kept her mouth shut." Rainbow passively retorts.
Fluttershy looks away in contempt as the others didn't hear the retort, except for Shadow who did. And while he was tempted to call her out on it, their main priority was the dragon right now:
SNORE!
Which a familiar sound reminds them of the task at hand, or hoof, right now.
"It managed to sleep through ALL of that!?" Rarity brings up a good point.
"Like I said, REALLY comfortable." Pinkie reiterates from earlier as they continue their quest.
Thankfully, there wasn't too much left before they actually reached the peak where the dragon resides, if the smoke coming out of the cavern's entrance wasn't enough of an indication. The group now stood in front of it as Twilight breaks down her plan:
"Rainbow Dash, you fly up and clear the smoke."
With a nod to confirm the order, the speedy pegasus goes up to do just that as she continues:
"Rarity and Pinkie Pie, in case things get a little hairy in there, you'll create a diversion for us to retreat."
Pinkie understood this as she pulls out a rubber chicken from... somewhere, which confuses the two until Twilight went back on her plan.
"Applejack, you'll be ready with the apples in case the dragon decides to attack."
AJ nods as she held two apples in her mouth, tossing up before kicking them into a tree nearby with a confident smirk. Shadow was impressed so far with said plan, but where does he-
"Shadow, you're our last resort if this plan doesn't work." He turns to Twilight as she said this, "With your strength, you'll be able to force the dragon to leave."
"Got it." He simply said in response.
"However, it shouldn't come to that. Me and Fluttershy will convince him to leave without having to resort to force after we tell him of the hazard his smoke is." She tells them as Rainbow comes back down from clearing the smoke, "Is everypony ready?"
The others nod in agreement as Twilight enters the cave, not noticing the obvious as she ventures inside.
"So, any idea of waking up a dragon without upsetting him?" No response came, making her stop. "Fluttershy?"
The lack of the shy pegasus made her sigh as she went back out, seeing the others try and convince her to go in.
"I-I can't go in." She tells him as she didn't budge from where she was, making the other ponies groan.
"Great, you're scared of caves now." Shadow was really tempted to facepalm at Rainbow's comment, but held back as he retorts. "OR she's scared of the dragon."
"What!?" Twilight was shocked to hear this as she goes to Fluttershy, "B-But, you have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals!"
"Yes, but they're not dragons." She clarifies.
"You LITERALLY went up to a giant manicore without fear before." Rainbow reminds her from their adventure in the Everfree Forest.
"Yes, but he wasn't a dragon." She reiterates.
"Spike's a dragon and you're not scared of him." Pinkie brings up a good point there.
"Yes, but he's not a fully grown, ferocious, sharp-clawed, fire-breathing, gnashing teeth that is able to eat a pony in one bite-" She stops right there as the thought scares her to the core.
Twilight was trying to make sense of this as she speaks, "But if you were so afraid, why didn't you say something in the first place!?"
Fluttershy took a moment to think before answering, "I-I was afraid to even leave the library when Shadow told me of what would happen if the dragon never left. The poor animals with no sun to see, the plants wilting away, our home becoming empty..."
She then starts to tear up a bit, "I want to help, but all I've been on this trip is a hindrance. You having to carry me up the mountain, being the last one to clear the gaps, and that rock slide... one of us wouldn't be here if I didn't-"
"Hey, hey, hey." Rainbow flew down to her and lands as she tries to calm her, "When I said what I said back there, it wasn't to blame you. I was just angry and... well, I'm not proud to have said it."
Fluttershy sniffles a bit as she listens to her friend, "Look ever since we met, you always need me to step in when you're back into a corner, but I can't always be there to fight your battles. And I saw it once, you're capable of standing up for yourself. You just gotta dig deep and... let it out."
Rainbow then points her hoof to her, "And that's what you have to do now. Dig deep and tell that dragon what's what!"
The others stood there as the shy pegasus stares at the cave, the smoke coming out and the dragon that sleeps within. The thoughts of her friends, the animals, the plants, their home becoming a wasteland... that's enough to make her mad. Livid, even...
So why isn't she moving?
Looking down at her hooves, they didn't inch from the dirt they were standing on. Her eyes shift from there, to Rainbow, to the others, back to her hooves, back to them-
"I-I... I-I..." Tears starts to flow again as she finally said, "I can't."
Silence fell upon them as the others saw her just cry. No one spoke as Rainbow comforts her friend, leaving the others to change the plan.
"All right. Me and Rarity will go in first, try to reason with him." Twilight told them, "If that doesn't work, you know the rest."
The group agrees with this as the two unicorns went in first, entering the cavern to see the red dragon in full. He slumbers upon a large nest of jewels and gold, just like the bookworm said before. Rarity was trying her best to stay focused as Twilight tries to wake it:
"Mr. Dragon?"
No response, not even a twitch as Rarity took a shot at it next:
"Yoo hoo, Mr. Dragon."
Hers was a bit louder, which did get something. The sleeping dragon turns its body to reveal its underbelly, bringing its claws to scratch it as it continues snoring.
"Mr. Dragon." Twilight repeats in a louder volume.
The dragon's eyes shot open, revealing yellow slit pupils as they stare right at the unicorns and lets out a deep growl.
"Oh good, you're awake. Sorry to wake you, but we have a bit of a problem that needs solving." The bookworm starts off the conversation, "See, my name is Twilight Sparkle."
"And I am Rarity." The seamstress introduces herself soon after, "And we come to you to address the smoking problem our land is currently having."
The dragon exhales more smoke out of its nostrils as Twilight spoke, "You see, we came all the way up here to talk to you and hopefully convince you to sleep somewhere else."
"Your smoke is quite thick, enough to cover the sun over our home. If left unchecked, it could remain for years and leave nothing but a cold empty world..." Rarity was more dramatic with her words, but still had what they were going for.
"I hope you understand. We don't mean to be rude, but we can't live in such conditions. Please, can you move to somewhere else away from our home?" Twilight asks him.
The dragon got up on its legs, stretching and groaning before scratching himself again.
"So, does that mean you'll go?" She asks as her hope was rising...
SLAM!
Only for it to be dashed as the dragon laid back down again in his nest, literally blowing a puff of smoke in their direction that chases them out. The two regroup with the others as the egghead spoke.
"Well, that didn't work..." Twilight admits.
Shadow cracks his knuckles upon hearing this before going in, "Allow me then."
The black hedgehog walks towards the dragon as he calls him out, his voice echoing within the cavern. "Hey, dragon!"
Said dragon shot awake and glares at the newcomer as Shadow continues, "You were just told nicely to leave and you spat smoke in their faces. So I'll ask you again. Are you gonna leave... or do I have to kick you out?"
The dragon's eyes narrow in anger as it rose on its hind legs again, easily towering over the black hedgehog as he simply smirks at this. Equipping his shield on his arm, he gets into a battle stance:
"I've faced bigger. Come on!"
The red dragon roars in fury, slamming its claws where the hedgehog was as Shadow leaps back to dodge it. The first thing at the moment is getting the dragon out in the open for a better fighting ground.
"Just try and catch me!" He taunts the beast.
The dragon took the bait as the ponies took cover from the debris when it came bursting out of the entrance. Shadow lands on his feet as he slid back, building enough friction to have his shoes launch him skywards with a built-up burst of energy from the soles, making the dragon take flight after him. Shadow charges up energy in his hand before calling out:
"Chaos Spear!"
A torrent of energy arrows rain down towards the dragon, all hitting the massive target somewhere to deal damage. To his surprise, the dragon wasn't slowed down by the impacts as it flew right at him for a bite. Right before the jaws closed upon him, he fires a blast of energy right into the mouth by instinct and pushes himself out of harm's way. That was able to stun it as he flew past him, allowing Shadow a chance to swing his shield across the scaly red back of the beast.
The ponies were watching in awe and worry, not expecting the two to take to the sky just like that. Fluttershy was the most shocked to see this, watching their friend take on what she believes to be a fearsome beast she couldn't bring herself to even look at.
"I refuse to stand by!" Rainbow suddenly shouts as she flies off into the fight, surprising the others.
The speedy pegasus flew up to where Shadow was as he was in free fall with the dragon coming back around to try and grab him. He was ready to attack again, only for Rainbow to snatch him just out of the dragon's reach. He was surprised at the sudden save before hearing Rainbow talk:
"Need a lift?"
"I'm not complaining." He answers back before seeing the dragon on their tail, "Keep out of his reach! I'll wear him down!"
"Right!" Rainbow heard the order and does just that as Shadow goes on the offensive.
He channels energy into his hands before firing a barrage of energy arrows at the beast, causing it to dodge and spin to avoid a lot of them while some still either scratch the scales or hit dead on. However, even the hits aren't enough to slow it down as it kept up with Rainbow, to the two's dismay.
"I thought you were faster!" Shadow points out.
"I am! Without the extra weight!" Rainbow retorts, which does make sense.
Thinking of a way to outmaneuver the beast, it then opens its mouth to fire a fireball at the two. Not expecting the sudden attack, Rainbow quickly rises upwards to avoid it as it slams against the mountainside down below. The two were currently flying up the mountain as the dragon continues its assault with the fireballs, making Rainbow dodge or Shadow counter with blasts and even one or two energy slashes with his shield he developed earlier.
Upon reaching the peak once more, the dragon was about to unleash a powerful stream of fire when Rainbow realizes something:
They returned right back to where they were, with everypony else in the crossfire.
Shadow also saw their mistake and makes the decision in that moment as the fire bursts from the dragon's mouth, to jump right in the line of fire and blocks it with his shield. Channeling energy into it, it makes a barrier just large enough to cover the group from the danger.
Fluttershy could only let out a gasp as she watches, mortified at the sight that was unfolding before her. Fear was starting to build again, only for something else to rise along with it. She wasn't sure what it was yet, but it's rising fast.
Shadow felt the intense heat from the fire as he quickly channels more energy into the shield before swinging it, sending a shockwave strong enough to disperse the flames and knock the dragon off balance for a moment. He was quick to attempt a follow-up attack, but the dragon was actually faster as it makes a ferocious roar that sends the group flying across the peak.
Fluttershy quickly ducks for cover as the top half of the rock she hid behind was blown off, still feeling those two emotions now clashing against each other inside her at this point as the roar eventually subsides. Taking a peek over it, she sees her friends on the ground near the edge getting back up to their feet and hears the dragon land on the other side of the peak.
Shadow was honestly caught off guard on how tough the dragon turned out to be. He got a few hits in, but he was feeling a bit dizzy from the roar as he stood with his shield ready. The dragon was starting to loom over them as the group huddled behind Shadow for protection, trying to think of something to do against it... only to hear a familiar voice from a distance.
"How dare you..." They heard it as their eyes shift to Fluttershy, who has her head poking out from behind the broken rock with a face that shook their cores:
One of pure FURY.
"How DARE YOU!" She shouts, her voice echoing off the peak as she zooms up towards the dragon and lands on his snout. "Listen here, mister! Just because you're big, doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth, sharp scales, snore smoke and breathe fire!"
"But you do not, I repeat! You do NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS!" Her words were sharper than any blade as they cut through the scales of the dragon without physical contact, "You got that?"
Her stern stare right into the slit pupils was enough to make the dragon actually back its head away in shame as she spoke again, "Well?"
For the first time since they arrived here, the dragon finally spoke as he points his claw at Shadow. "But, he started it."
Technically speaking, he did start the fight, but only because he refused to leave. Still, Shadow kept his mouth shut for now as Fluttershy spoke up again.
"And I'm so sorry for that." He swears that she sounded a bit sarcastic there before she returns to her stern tone, "But you're bigger than he is, so you should know better."
"You should also know that you shouldn't sleep where your snoring can be a health hazard to other creatures." She outright tells him, making him do a nervous nod before he tries to speak. "But I-"
"Don't you 'But I' me, mister. Now what do you have to say for yourself?" No response came from the dragon as she reiterates, "I said, WHAT do you have say for yourself?"
To the others' sheer bafflement, the dragon openly wept as tears fell down upon the area like rain. The scene was surreal to watch, to say the least, and it got weirder as she comforts the dragon soon after:
"There, there. You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things. You just need to find a new place to sleep, that's all."
And that was that. The dragon went back into what remained of the cavern to collect his treasure as Fluttershy flew back down to the others, who let out a cheer for their shy friend with Shadow simply smiling at this turn of events.
"I told ya you could do it!" Rainbow hugs her, making Fluttershy smile more than she was already.
The group then see the dragon takes it leave, flying off to another place far away from Equestria with its treasure in tow. Although, some of it did fall from his grasp and land near them, which Rarity couldn't help but marvel at the jewels.
"He may have been a bit of a jerk, but these dragons certainly have an eye for such accessories." She comments as she levitates a few closer to inspect them before putting them in her bags.
"Either way, now that is taken care of..." Shadow said as he places his shield back on his back, "Let's head back."
"Which will be faster than the trip up here." Applejack adds, "Hopefully."
"And throw a party to celebrate for our success!" Pinkie throws some confetti upon saying that, "Thanks to Fluttershy!"
"O-Oh, you don't have to..." Fluttershy plays the humble card as they were on their merry way back home.
As Pinkie tries to convince Fluttershy otherwise, Twilight thinks about what has recently transpired and knew just what to write about upon their return.
Meanwhile, back in Manehattan
The museum staff were currently setting up a small new exhibit at closing time as Sonic and the others spoke with the museum director about their plan.
"If it means we'll be able to show our 'Crystal Caverns' tour without fear of Rough Diamond, we'll gladly help in any way we can." The director was on board with this.
"You're doing a great service, sir." Chief Stablemaker assures him, "Once we showcase the emerald tomorrow, she'll come right for it."
"Considering its history, it's a magnet for that." Sonic casually comments, "Anyways, best to get going. Gotta rest up for the chase."
"It's THAT kind of artifact?" Stylite wasn't really a fan of that, "Oh boy..."
Once the exhibit was completed and the museum was closed for the night, it wasn't until it reached just past midnight when a small clicking sound was heard from the skylight above. Upon opening it, a rope was tied to the edge before unfurling to the end being above her intended target. Sliding down it until reaching the tip, the intruder now hangs over the pedestal that contains the Chaos Emerald in a glass case covered by a cloth.
Carefully raising it with a small hook, she was surprised to see...
Nothing?
"And they say I'm impatient." A familiar voice said, making the thief turn to where it spoke.
Leaning against the wall holding the Chaos Emerald was Sonic, a small smirk on his face as he casually tosses it in the air before catching it and putting it away.
""H-How do you-" The thief was astonished by this, only to be cut off by the hedgehog as he answers.
"Have it? Honestly, you got me there." Sonic admits, "I was sleeping when I felt something touch me and found this in my hand. I warped back to return it when I decided to wait the night and here we are. You're early to go to jail, Rough Diamond."
The thief wasn't sure how to process this until asking, "So, you're alone?"
"Just the way I like it." Sonic knew what she's thinking as he sees her hoof reaching for her belt.
Rough Diamond threw a smoke bomb to try and blind him as she zooms back up on her rope to the open skylight above, not noticing a blue blur reach the opening first before reaching the top. Quickly untying it and shutting it closed, she looks down for a moment to see the aftereffect. No smoke, and no sign of the hedgehog.
"Leaving so soon?" She heard his voice right behind her.
She quickly rolls away from him and runs off before leaping off to another nearby building, Sonic easily keeping up as they jump from building to building. Even if the various obstacles like air vents and pipes, the two didn't slow down in the least. And this worries Rough Diamond greatly, no pony or whatever he is has kept up with her for so long, which calls for a desperate resort.
Jumping off once again to a building farther below, she disperses all the smoke bombs she had in her belt to create a massive smokescreen. Once she lands, it'll be enough time to either hide or change paths to finally lose him and try again later.
Unfortunately, she didn't expect her pursuer to have another idea:
"Sonic Wind!"
An orb of wind energy poked through the smoke cloud before bursting, expanding into an equally massive sphere that disperses into a powerful whirlwind. She was floored, literally, when that happened since the burst sent her sliding against the roof before stopping roughly by hitting a chimney. She was quite dizzy from the impact as her blurred vision sees the hedgehog swiftly land on his feet before walking towards her.
"Kinda expected more, to be honest." He admits before her vision goes black.
And done! All right, that was a good chapter to stretch my action nerve for a bit.
Shadow gets to fight a dragon, Sonic gets to chase an infamous jewel thief, and I get to contemplate what to do with my other stories. Don't worry, this is at the top of my list for the year. I'm just making sure I don't burn out.
Not much to say this time, really. Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see ya next chapter!