Hello, everyone. It's been a very long time since the last time I posted any updates to my stories.
Some of you probably have a lot of questions with this. Well, I am answering now. No, I am not dead. Yes, I will finish all of my stories. I was abscent because I had no inspirations to work, and I had a lot of colledge work to do, and thus I had too little time to write. So ther is a lot updates to come, but as far as you remember, there are things to be done before publushing new chapter.
As for this story, all the credits comes to SoniXproject9 who was the writer of the original story.
Ponyville, 14:00.
In the midday a certain dark Mobian returned back to the castle of the Princess Twilight Sparkle to finally get a recommendation for his future job and ask her a couple of questions touching his future here in Equestria. He slowly approached the main entrance to the castle, and met with the same guards he met a few hours earlier when they didn't let him in. This time he did not stop before them, but the guards as well did not think of preventing him from entering the castle.
Shadow walked in, and as he appeared in the foyer of the castle he decreased his pace and looked around the space he was in. It was all colored in blue and had an absolutely solid size for the Princess so young and the place so small like Ponyville. He swore he could've walked back and forth from one edge of the town to another in like a couple of hours, but the castle for this place is huge. Not as huge as Emerald palace in Central City that's for sure, though, however, Ponyville isn't even close to Central City.
Central City is a gigantic and heavily populated city, where Shadow lived for the last twenty five years. It had a fast paced rhythm, huge skyscraper buildings, numerous green zones for the better air. Shadow even thought that an entire Ponyville is as large as the Strawberry Park which surrounds the Emerald Palace in Central City. And for such a small size, the Castle of Ponyville, the name of which he did not know, is pretty large.
Moreover, the Emerald Palace foyer had strict and calm colors like brown and beige to create the atmosphere of calmness for its visitors. Here, everything as if screams to be noticed. The combination of cyan, violet, and purple, where cyan is dominating, doesn't help to calm him down in the very least. But at least inside there was calm. He went further in the foyer and then he walked upstairs as he remembers very well that the Princess must be upstairs in the throne room, or its equivalent to a throne room.
A few minutes later, he found himself on the second floor and moved down the straight corridor towards the throne room. That's when he stopped when he heard the voice of a young boy which could be heard to his right. He lifted up one of his eyebrows and turned towards the source of the noise to see the double door. Behind those very doors he heard the voice.
"Awwww, yeah… You're looking great, Spike." A certain young voice spoke, and Shadow heard this voice already. As well as he heard the name Spike. It was the young dragon boy, who is constantly hanging out with that Twilight Sparkle girl. Curiosity sparked his mind, as he then slowly approached the door, and opened it.
The room turned out to be a changing room, or something like that. Inside, he saw this very Dragon kid, dressed in a black singlet shirt, which was slightly bigger than his size, blue jeans, and black sneakers. On his eyes he wore sunglasses. He was staring at himself in the mirror, and did a bodybuilder's poses to show off his "musculature". Shadow grinned upon seeing this, as he clearly saw that this boy lacks a lot of physique, but he decided to watch him to see if the kid will notice the presence of a stranger.
In the meantime, Spike breathed his gut in to pretend that he has strong abs on his stomach, and put maximum strengths into his arms as he then did a predator's glare which oftently was used by fitness maniacs.
"Grrrrrrr…" He growled at the mirror, before he chuckled and kissed the biceps of his left hand. He then nudged his eyebrows up and down towards the mirror. That's when he heard a male voice on his left hand's side.
"Quite a spectacular show you're putting on, huh?" The low male voice said, prompting Spike to yelp in suddenness as he jumped and dropped the sunglasses on the floor. He then turned towards the source of the noise to see Shadow the Hedgehog standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorknob, and grinning at him back. Spike then frowned.
"Don't scare me like that again." He complained as he then walked over to an alien and pointed a finger at him; "I nearly lost my breath."
"Mhm-hm." Shadow nodded simply, before giving him a wordy commentary about Spike's 'bodybuilding' show; "You're checking out your workout progress, I see?" He asked, referring to Spike's physique. The dragon kid widened his eyes curiously, and then looked down to see a regular person's body. He then sighed.
"Awww, no… I was just dreaming if I'll have something like these… magazine photos with male models having perfectly toned physiques." He said as he then looked at Shadow with a dreamy smile on his face; "I don't have too much time to work out really."
Shadow hmph'd; "If you spent your time working out instead of observing yourself, you'd make more progress than that…" He commented calmly, and was still grinning.
Spike pouted his lips and frowned at the newcomer; "You know a lot about working out, Mister?" He asked.
Instead of giving him a wordy answer, Shadow unzipped his leather jacket, and pulled his black shirt up to demonstrate his perfectly toned six pack abs. Spike widened his eyes at this as he then chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. Shadow then put the shirt back to cover his stomach, and crossed his arms around his chest again. He smirked at the dragon kid as he again did his trademark eyebrow trick as if asking "Well?".
Spike scratched the back of his head again; "Well… that was impressive…" He said; "I take it… you worked out a lot, sir."
Shadow then hmph'd again; "Working out is a part of my previous work." He replied; "I had to train myself several hours per day to be in a perfect shape and always be ready to strike."
Spike widened his eyes at this; "And what kind of a job it is, or… was in this case?" He asked, lifting both of his eyebrows up.
Shadow sighed; "Oh, right. You were not in the room where I explained it to the ladies." He said; "Let's just say that I was some sort of a secret agent."
"Secret agent?" Spike asked, amazed; "That's… pretty cool."
Shadow ceased to smirk; "No, that was not cool at all." He then stood up into his full height of 194 cm; "Listen… Uhhhh… Spike, right?"
Spike nodded.
Shadow then continued; "I have arranged a meeting with Princess Twilight if that's possible." He explained why he's here, really. The Dragon kid stared at the dark Hedgehog with a questioning look on his face, but then he smiled and walked out of the changing room.
"Oh, alright." He said; "Follow me, I'll show you."
Shadow silently followed Spike. He, though, didn't even smirk, and turned serious again. The more time he spends here the more questions he develops, touching Midnight's issues with this place. How can it be ruled by tyrants if people are so simple and happy here? This kid especially. He doesn't feel any discomfort, and not showing any signs of depression, or something like that. And not any signs of fear. Sure there can be some persons to support hard regimes, but this kid is definitely not one of them.
"So, what brought you to Princess Twilight?" Spike asked casually, snapping Shadow out of his thoughts; "I mean, I remember that you arranged the meeting, but what is the reason?" He asked, looking up at the dark Hedgehog.
Shadow shrugged simply; "I wanted her to give some recommendations about my job here." He explained, looking down at the kid; "I need a job to earn a living."
Spike nodded; "Aaaahhhh, I see." He said; "And you're gonna work in Ponyville?"
"Or any other city, or a town as long as they're paying well." Shadow answered another question. The two then stopped their pace near the huge double doors.
"Why don't you stay in Ponyville?" Spike asked, smiling widely; "This place is so nice to live in."
Shadow frowned slightly; "Well, that may be the case, but are there any jobs where I'll be paid well?" He asked, as Spike then scratched the back of his head.
"I don't know, but I think you will find one." He said, as he smiled again, and then he opened the doors and walked in; "We're here." He said as he then motioned Shadow to follow. The hedgehog sighed again, as he walked after the Dragon kid and appeared in some sort of a library with huge shelves filled with numerous books. He looked around the shelves with a curious look on his face, as he thought that this girl is indeed a fan of reading.
"Will you show me how to work out to have a physique such as yours?" Spike asked again as they stopped near the chair.
Shadow looked at him and sat on the chair with a sigh; "Let's first solve my problem." He said as he tossed his right leg over his left, staring straight at the Dragon kid; "And then I'll think of it." He said in the final. Spike gave him an excited smile as he gave a series of happy nods, and looked away.
"TWILIGHT!" He yelled loudly; "TWILIGHT, YOU HAVE A GUEST!" He then went to another part of a library to find his sister-like figure.
Shadow shook his head in disapproval of the kid's behavior, but he had to admit that he at least was not annoying. He thought that kids are not really that annoying, considering that he had an experience of speaking with Tails and even Cream when they were younger. He then sighed and started looking at the shelves aligned with books, and he saw how many of them were here. Numerous, thousands of them. Maybe in one of them he may find information about what he needs.
He then rested on the chair he was sitting on, and paid his casual attention to the table near his chair. His eye caught the sight of a photograph, where Twilight was pictured along with the white colored stallion with blue/dark blue hair, and dressed in some sort of a royal uniform. He then took the photo in his left hand and started observing it. The stallion was much taller than Twilight, and he saw the two of them wrapping each other's shoulders and grinning at the camera. They also had some family resemblance, at least the color of the eyes and general traits were familiar. Perhaps, it was her brother?
"TWILIGHT!" Spike's voice boomed from the farther side of the room.
"I'm coming, I'M COMING!" Shadow now heard Twilight Sparkle's voice, as he then quickly turned his attention to the source of the noise. He put the photo back on the table, and soon he saw Twilight Sparkle, dressed in a tight long dress and a pair of blue jeans walking out of one of the shelves, annoyed and distressed. She was walking along with Spike as she was frowning at him.
"Spike, how many times do I need to tell you, do NOT scream in a library." She scolded Spike, to which the Dragon kid shrugged, grinning awkwardly. Twilight then ugh'd and turned to the visitor.
"Shadow… I'm so sorry for making you waiting for so long." She said as she approached him, and sat on the chair next to him.
The dark hedgehog frowned; "Yes, you did not warn me that you have a high class visitor." He said as he crossed his arms around his chest.
Twilight gave him an apologetic look as she adjusted her hair; "Oh, that… Please forgive me, I did not expect her to come here today." She said as she then smiled; "She's like a sister to me, and when we start our chatting I forget about everything around me."
Shadow did an eyebrow trick; "She? Sister?" He asked, a bit confused; "Alright, nevermind, let's get to why I'm here." He changed the topic of conversation, as he doesn't really care what kind of a visitor Twilight had.
Twilight nodded as she pulled the scroll out of her jeans back pocket; "Yes, I received a scroll from the mayor, and she approved your candidature to be a new Ponyville's citizen." She said as she handed the scroll to Shadow, which he unwrapped and looked in to read it; "The only problem is that she asked for your surname. It's not really competent to have the first name only." Twilight finished as she rested her head on her hand, still smiling friendly at the visitor.
"I don't have a surname, really." Shadow said as he looked at Twilight; "I was always known as Shadow the Hedgehog and that's it. No one had a problem with that. At least back on Mobius."
Twilight shrugged; "How about you make up one?" She asked.
"Is that necessary?" Shadow asked as he lifted up one of his eyebrows, to which Twilight nodded.
"I'm afraid so." She explained; "Each of us has one."
"I don't have it?" Spike asked as he frowned at Twilight and gave her a frown, to which Twilight chuckled.
"Aw, Spike." She said as she looked at him; "You do have one, you just don't know it." She explained it to the Dragon kid, making him confused.
Shadow then sighed as he pondered at Twilight's offer to come up with the last name, which he never really had, but there was one name with which he might associate himself with, though, not in full, and not in straight order, but he probably would. He then looked into the scroll and nodded, before glancing at the lavender alicorn girl and handing it back to her.
"Good, let it be… Kintobor." He said, making both Twilight and Spike confused.
"Kintobor?" Twilight asked.
"Kintobor?" Spike asked; "What is that supposed to mean?"
Shadow looked at him; "It means my last name, boy." He said, as he then again took a quick glance at Twilight and stood up; "That's it?" He asked, looking at the Princess.
Twilight stood up as well, and took the scroll from his left hand; "More than you think." She said as she then walked into the farther corner of the room; "Follow me, please." She asked him to follow. Shadow first did not know what to do, so he then looked at Spike, confused, and pointed a thumb at Twilight, but the Dragon kid shrugged his shoulders as the response. The Hedgehog sighed again at this, and followed the alicorn girl to see what she was about to do.
Soon, he entered some sort of a working office along with the young Princess as he called her. He went through the doorway and looked inside as he stopped.
Near the window which was opposite of the doorway, Shadow saw Princess Twilight standing before her desk, her back turned to him, as she was bending a bit. Her left leg was bent in the knee area as well, as her foot was level to her back. Quite agile, Shadow had to admit.
Shadow smirked upon the view he had before his eyes, as Twilight Sparkle was a very good looking girl he admitted. She had pretty long and curvy legs, and saw it even without her wearing some sort of high heel shoes. Her tight yellow dress also helped single out her curves very well, so it was impossible to not to see that. He then finally entered the room, and slowly approached the desk. He stopped on Twilight's right hand's side, as he continued observing her from toes to hair. The physique she possessed was very rare for a girl of her type, and her tight clothes singled it out very well. It was hard to believe that this is actually the case.
"And we are grateful to welcome you to the town of Ponyville…" Twilight muttered the words she wrote on the scroll; "Blah-blah-blah… Digly-digly-digly… Mr. Shadow Kintobor." She finished as she then looked up at her guest who stood on her right. But only to give him a questioning look as she spotted the smirk on his face. She then widened her eyes.
"What is it?" She asked, to which Shadow ceased to smirk, and shook his head sharply.
"Nothing." He said; "Just some old memories flashed in my mind."
Twilight then stood in her full height, still much lower than him due to big height difference; "Do I remind you of someone?" She asked, as she blushed a bit, and smiled friendly; "Just asking."
"No." Shadow replied, as he crossed his arms around his chest; "That's just the simple flow of nostalgia."
"You're missing your home?" Twilight asked again, as she again smiled at him friendly.
Shadow leaned against Twilight's desk with his left hand; "Sometimes, but as I said… there is nothing left for me there." He said, to which Twilight walked closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"And how about your friends back there?" She asked; "Aren't they missing you?"
Shadow sighed sadly, looking straight into her eyes; "I don't think they are." He said as he then frowned; "You know, I need to tell you one thing… I… I wasn't completely honest with you when I told you a part of my story, when we had a meeting with you and the other ladies you call friends."
Twilight widened her eyes at this as she then sat on the top of her desk, and tossed one leg over the other, as her toes hung over the floor. She then nodded at him, thus letting him know that she is ready to listen.
Shadow then turned away from her as he started wandering around the room; "The truth is that… It was not eight years when I was working as a secret agent, but… twenty years really." He began; "While I was living back there I had a feeling that the time runs so slowly after… a certain bad event of my life."
"Twenty years?" Twilight asked, surprised a bit; "Why did you say that it was eight years?"
Shadow sighed again; "I don't know." He said; "I guess I still cannot believe that so much time has passed." He then looked at her; "Listen, I don't want to cause any problems to anyone, as much as I don't want anyone else causing me problems as well."
Twilight smiled and giggled; "Yes, I remember that." She commented; "You said it at the meeting. You are not up for parties, not really into being in big companies…"
"I don't mind big companies." Shadow protested as he did his trademark eyebrow trick; "At least as long as they're not too noisy."
"Well, big companies are always noisy, but… I can see where you're heading." She said as she then stood up from her desk and approached her guest. When they were near each other, Twilight put her hands on the top of Shadow's shoulders, still giving him a friendly smile.
"Whatever you were, and no matter how much time passed ever since… it doesn't matter for me as long as you're not a threat." She commented; "And even if you were, we know a way to fix it."
"How?" Shadow asked, being slightly intrigued, though, he never really believed in that.
Twilight giggled again as she then gave him a snide smile as she closed her right eye and put her index finger to her lips in a quiet motion saying; "It's a secret." She then suddenly hugged him tightly, making him questioned a bit at such a strange way of welcoming a stranger. Shadow was staring at her down, with his eyebrows cocked in disbelief, before he put his hands on her shoulders and broke the hug. When the hug was finished, the two looked into the eyes of each other, as Twilight was a bit surprised that he broke that embrace, while Shadow was still in disbelief.
"What was that all about?" Shadow asked; "The embrace…. I mean?"
Twilight blinked her eyes a bit, before she cringed awkwardly; "Oh, sorry… I completely forgot that you're not aware of our customs..." She said, giggling nervously; "As a Princess of Friendship, I am welcoming the newcomers with a friendly embrace. Moreover… new friends…"
"Friends?" Shadow asked as he put his hands on his waist; "Are you really ready to accept someone like me, as a friend? But, you don't know me close enough, and to be completely fair… you don't know me at all except my name and my past achievements?" He then did an eyebrow trick again; "No offense intended, but… that's an odd type of friendship." He finished, as he tried to sound as calm as he could.
Twilight bit her lower lip; "Yeah, I'm sorry about that…" She said, as she then smiled at him again; "I understand, that you need a bit of time, but for me the people to whom I can trust are my friends."
"Trust?" Shadow asked, as he smirked at her kindly; "I never thought that your trust is so easy to earn."
Twilight then gave him a smile of disapproval; "Oh, come on." She said a bit joyfully, before she headed back to her desk; "I know that you worked in an extremely dangerous job which meant that you should've always been on alert, but here in this world we have different rules." She then grabbed the scroll and walked back to Shadow, still smiling friendly; "And different jobs. I hope this one will help you to find a good use for your tallent." She commented as she handed him the scroll again; "Take it to Mayor Mare. I'll inform her about your arrival, so you won't wait for too long for her to get her to sign it for approval."
Shadow glanced at the scroll he held in his hand, as he pondered at her words silently. He then sighed somehow relaxed, and looked at Twilight as he gifted her with a thankful half smile of his own. He saw her smiling at him back, and her smile was so friendly and sincere that he couldn't not accept her hand. He then reached his hand out to shake her hand.
"Thank you, Princess Twilight." He thanked her.
"Just call me Twilight." Twilight said, before she hugged him friendly again, thus surprising him again, but not as much as previously; "And… welcome to our town, Shadow Kintobor." She welcomed him.
Shadow decided to accept her embrace by patting her back with his left hand, as he then broke the hug softly, and nodded at her. He then left the room, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. After he closed the door, the girl kept looking there and smiling after he left, thinking that she found a potentially great friend to her, and thought that it is a good way to get along with the race of aliens. And though, for an alien he looked very much anthropomorphic. His physique wasn't really different from males of Equestria, with the lack of a fluffy long tail, and having a simple sharp short tail instead. And he was taller. Much taller than the vast majority of males here.
Twilight blushed as she guessed that she stared at his butt a bit when he was walking back and forth. Luckily for her, she found a way to get away with it. She admitted that he looked very handsome for an alien. She then shook her head sharply to get rid of these thoughts, and then she walked back to her desk to get back to what she was doing just before Shadow visited her.
She then sat on the chair right before the desk, and opened her book to read it. On the page, there was written the name of a paragraph; "How to defeat your inner darkness?" She then turned serious and started reading it.
Just a second later, she suddenly heard the whispering noises and some hissing right behind her door. She then lifted up one of her eyebrows and looked at the entrance door of her study room. She saw no movements, and there were just sounds. These vicious hissings which made her heart cringe a bit in fear.
She then stood up and walked there. She opened the door and looked through the library to see if there was anyone there who was making those noises.
"Spike?" She called out; "Is that you?"
But there was no reply to her call, and just then the noises and hisses silenced and again, there was a silence in the library, and only the sounds outside of the castle tried to break the silence. Twilight then frowned and walked back into her office.
Suddenly a feminine hand grabbed Twilight's butt and squeezed it hard.
"GAHHH…" Twilight shrieked when someone grabbed her ass, and turned away again with a death glare on her face, but she again saw no one who could do that. She then began rubbing on her precious butt, and sighed in annoyance, thinking that she overworked a lot.
"I definitely need some rest." She said to herself as she then used her magic to close the door to her office.
Meanwhile, outside of the Castle.
Shadow waved his goodbye to Spike, before he headed towards the Ponyville town hall to meet with the mayor, and ask for her signing. He then unwrapped the scroll, and looked inside to see what was exactly written in there. He then stopped and widened his eyes at what kind of occupation the ponies gave to him.
"Shadow Kintobor… The Sheriff?" He asked out loud as he then narrowed his eyes in annoyance; "Aw… great!" He grumbled, as he now guessed, that life in Equestria won't be as easy as he previously thought it would.
To be continued...