Let There Be Chaos

by Blockheadgreen1189

Mobius and Equestria are continents separated by an ocean. After fifteen peaceful years since a terrible villain Dr. Eggman was defeated, the anxiety and fear return back to lives of our heroes, as the strange events occurring on the planet. Our heroes and heroines must again remember the good old fight days and to take the situation under control. REVIEW, PLEASE!

25. The Poet and The Muse

Chapter # 25 - The Poet and The Muse.

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Morning in Equestria.

Huge rain clouds covered the sky. The rain fell down in the Everfree forest followed by a strong wind floating through the leaves of the tree tops. The tall trees swayed in the wind, as the raindrops fell onto the green leaves. The sounds of rain are heard everywhere in the forest. Its inhabitants were hiding in their hollows and caves, and waiting till it stopped.

In one of these hollows, in a huge and wide old oak tree, Tails sat in front of the exit hole while drawing some kind of a blueprint in his wide notebook. He had a look of full concentration and determination in his eyes, as he had his walking cane laying next to him on his right hand's side, and a torch stood straight on his left. Tails then used his t-square and a simple pencil to draw the lines of the blue pring, and then he began writing some mathematical equations.

A certain pegasi girl slept peacefully a few meters away from the fox-guy, wrapped in a sleeping bag and her head is resting on the duffel bag which is used as a pillow. She had a sleepy look on her face, with her eyes closed tightly. She was breathing softly in her dream as a sign that she had no nightmares.

*KABOOOOOOOOM*

The sounds of thunder slammed through her ears, as the girl then wrinkled and lazilly opened her eyes. She yawned quietly, and looked up so she could see where she was. She saw herself sleeping in the hollow of the huge and wide oak she and Miles lived in for the last two days. Looking up she spotted the tongues of flame litting up the inner walls of the wooden hollow. That and the smell of the smoke helped her to learn that this is a certain handsome fluffy and toned fox-guy is doing something.

Fluttershy then smiled and looked towards the exit hole, and saw her now boyfriend is sitting on the floor and… doing something on the very sad floor. She then unzipped her sleeping bag, and sat up. She adjusted her long light pink hair and crawled up to him from behind, overfilled with curiosity.

Miles finished with equations he wrote in his notebook, and then he put the pencil on the floor next to the walking cane. He then picked the notebook up and flipped a few pages to make sure that he calculated everything right and his blueprints had no errors, otherwise it may end up tragically for him.

He suddenly felt someone's arms wrapped around his shoulders and how someone's body is tightly nuzzled against his back. This prompted a playful grin to curve across his lips. He then looked into Fluttershy's eyes, who currently rested her head on his right shoulder and gave him a look full of pure and sincere love.

"Good morning." He greeted her.

"Good morning." The Pegasi girl greeted him back, while using her fingernails to scratch his chest and shoulders; "Why did you wake up so early?" She asked him in a loving tone of her voice.

Miles took her by the hand and started caressing it; "I just wanted to do a couple of things while you were asleep." He said honestly.

"Like what?" Fluttershy asked as she widened her eyes. Instead of an answer, Miles showed her three notebooks, a drawing set, consisting of an eraser, simple pencil, pen, three reading books, and one old framed discolored photograph. Fluttershy looked at each item, brought out by the fox, but only to look into his eyes with a frown, totally discontent by the fact that he was outside without letting her know first, or taking her with him.

As a reply, Miles narrowed his eyes first and uttered a sigh of mild irritation. He then lifted up one of his eyebrows to show her what he got.

"Don't look at me like that." He said, as Fluttershy then gifted him with the expression of concern on her face.

"Miles, why did you go there alone?" She asked; "I mean… your leg… Yes, it sure looks better, but… you still can barely walk."

Miles then smiled at her; "Don't you forget that you're talking to a Freedom Fighter." He said with a rasp in his voice; "I've been trained on how to go undetected from a robot's radars since my earlier childhood."

His comment made Fluttershy smile sarcastically at him; "You could've warned me at least?" She said, being playful, to which Miles rubbed her cheek with his left hand.

"Why? I'm not a heartless grouch of a fox to wake such a beauty of a pony up at such an early hour." He spoke in a whisper, to which his girlfriend couldn't hold her giggles back. Then she moved closer and gave him a loving peck on the lips which he gladly accepted. After a small kiss, the two glanced into the eyes of each other.

"Where did you find these?" Fluttershy asked looking at the items brought by Miles.

The fox-guy then looked down at the notebook and flipped through the pages; "I found this notebook, and two others in the Alicorn Sisters' Castle." He confessed, as he then put the notebook down, and closed it. He then took three reading books, and showed them to Fluttershy.

"I found a huge library on the lowest level." He said as he then handed one book to the pony girl; "It has a pretty big library in the lower levels, and so… I decided to borrow a couple or three books for us to kill time."

The Pegasi girl took one of the books and gave it a closer inspection; "Crime and Punishment. Dostoyevsky." She read the front cover of the book before she again looked into Miles' eyes; "Have you ever read this?" She asked, referring to the book.

Miles shook his head silently, as he then showed her the pencil and an eraser; "Those were also in the library, so I decided that I can use it as a chance, and calculate the blueprint for my new item." He said as he then took his notebook, and showed it to Fluttershy; "Here, look at this." He said, as the pony girl curiously gazed on the papers of the notebook.

"Oh, I remember…" She spoke; "You told me that you'll try to give it some use?"

"Mhm-hm." Tails mhm-hm'd as he then put the notebook on the floor before he grabbed his walking cane and picked it up; "I thought that I can install here a hidden weapon." He then turned the cane round; "Some sort of a… paralyzing sound beam as the defensive, and plasma cannon as the offensive." He then put one of his hands to his chin; "But I still failed to make it exact equations so the size of self-charging battery to fit inside… not to mention that the smallest plasma cannon is at least twice as large as this medical cane, and the smallest sound beam device is four times as large as the smallest plasma cannon…" he then put the cane on the floor as he again began reading through his own equations.

"While it's raining outside, I can use this as a golden opportunity as I can… to try at least and make it more compact." He commented as he then looked into Fluttershy's eyes but only to see her scratching the back of her head with a guilty look on her face. She then shrugged her shoulders, thus making Tails sigh deeply.

"Whatever." He said, as he then looked through the tree hole and checked if the rain was stopping, or not. Seeing that the raindrops floating down as if it's a giant shower hangs over Everfree forest.

"I assume we are going to stay here for another day, huh?" He asked a sarcastic question, to which Fluttershy smiled warmly and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I don't mind that as long as I'm staying by your side." She said warmly, as she then crawled back to her sleeping bag, and rested on the top of it completely. She opened the "Crime and Punishment" book, and started reading it with a smile on her face.

Miles kept eyeing her while grinning snidely, as he eyed her entire body from lovely hair to lovely toe. Let alone, Fluttershy wore her overall suit, the fox guy knew exactly how she looks without it. He then looked down at his notebook, and began reading his equations. He then shook his head, as he then closed his notebook, and hid it in one of duffel bags. He did the same with pencils, t-square, yardstick, calipers, divider, blue pen, red pen, black pen, and… other measuring instruments. When he finished collecting things into his duffel bag, he struggled to crawl to Fluttershy, as he then rested next to her, and gifted her with his ocean blue eyes.

Fluttershy was excited upon reading the book. She flipped the pages and continued on reading with a smile on her face. Though, her eyes then accidentally caught a sight of Miles' ocean blue eyes. She saw him staring at her like candy, and that snide grin across his lips didn't help her hide her blush.

"Ummm… what is it?" She asked, to which Tails shook his head slowly.

"Nothing." He answered.

"I thought you wanted to finish with your equations?" The pony girl asked again.

"Yes, I did." Miles answered.

Cringing slightly, the pegasi girl blushed harder, as she then started rubbing the tips of her hair by left hand.

"And so…. You finished?" She asked, as Miles then nuzzled against her and took her by the hand. He then pushed it down very softly, and began rubbing the tips of her hair, to which the girl gasped slightly in excitement.

"No, I did not." He said simply as he again raised his eyebrow; "Though… The blueprint can wait." He then ceased to grin and rested on the top of her chest, as he then wrapped his left arm around her legs and waist, so he could hold onto her, while staring straight into her eyes. Fluttershy smiled again, as she then giggled and nudged him playfully on the nose by right hand index finger.

"Miles, you're so sweet." She said, to which Tails smiled back.

"Same." He said one word; "I just thought here… after what happened behind that waterfall in that lake… I can consider you as my girlfriend."

"Of course." Fluttershy sweetly replied, smiling.

"And girlfriend and boyfriend… must be honest with each other." He said as he then wrapped his right arm around her back and waist as if he picked her in his arms. Fluttershy took him by the cheeks, as she continued on smiling at him.

"Yes, yes, Miles." She said; "I will always be honest with you."

As a response the fox guy rested himself on the top of the girl's chest. Closing his eyes, he also curved a snide smile to flash across his lips.

"Then tell me, please… You think that I'm handsome, or… you're just with me because of my wealth?" He asked, a rasp in his voice.

Fluttershy's eyes widened at the context of a question he's asking. She thought that in the context of the environment they're in, it's kinda silly asking a question like this. After all, his money now makes too little sense and he cannot buy anything like he could in peaceful time. She then grinned evilly while looking at him, and then she put her left palm on the top of his head. Just a moment later, she hit him with a solid flick on the forehead.

"Yikes…" Miles cringed in slight pain, as he then sat up, and looked into her smile and laughing face, while rubbing on his forehead; "Hey… what was that for?" He asked, a bit offended.

The pegasi girl giggled at his reaction; "I thought it could reason you." She said, as she then put the book on the floor. When Tails finished rubbing his forehead, he looked into her eyes with a frown.

"Reason me?" He asked as he then crossed his arms in the chest area; "I was joking, Fluttershy." He then rested his back against the hole's void; "Plus, it kind makes sense when the rich guy wonders from his girlfriend if she loves him, and not his money, huh?" He asked, lifting up one of his eyebrows.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes to the ceiling in ponders; "Well… let's see… ummm… Equestria, and possibly the rest of the world are now in… crisis - that's one." She began as she then looked at him; "Your money now means less than they did in peaceful time, that's two… And you're very handsome to me… *blushing*... that's three." She said as she then smiled and turned away as if trying to hide her shyness.

Miles rubbed his head again, before stopping and checking on his hand if he has something there, or not. He then sighed and again leaned against the wall of the trunk. He then closed his eyes.

"Aaaaaaaahhhh… I don't want to make it all sound like I don't believe that your feelings are true, but…" He then looked at her while opening his eyes; "It's all kinda common. I had my face aired everywhere in the media and internet, and there are so many money huntresses wishing to take place next to me to get their hands on my money." Fluttershy turned to him to give him a curious look, as Tails continued; "Nobody likes to be someone's meal ticket is that right?" He asked, prompting a smile to flash across the girl's face.

"Well… if I wasn't… beautiful… would you still love me?" She asked, timid as always, as Miles then smiled at her back.

"You know… I was never interested in Rarity as a potential lover, when I met her as a twenty-one years old divine unicorn lady, because she wasn't just made for me." He suggested, as he bent his left leg in a knee and put his left hand onto his knee; "Your beauty is very obvious, Fluttershy, but that's… let's say isn't the main thing of why I like you." He said, a calm tone in his voice.

Fluttershy lifted down one of her eyebrows; "You said… "like" instead of "love"?" She asked jokingly, prompting a vicious smile to curve on Tails' lips.

"Well, your 'confession' was so spontaneous that… well I think it's pretty early to say "I love you…" and just wait for the right time to come, and… Gaaaahhh…" He couldn't finish his sentence because Fluttershy tackled him and pinned him to the ground. He looked up to meet with her gorgeous eyes, and see her laughing at him playfully.

"What did you say, fox boy?" She asked, playfully teasing with him. Tails grinned and rolled across the floor, until he rested on the top of her, as this action prompted a loud giggle to erupt from Fluttershy's lips. Once, on the top of his girlfriend, the fox guy nudged his eyebrows up and down, staring straight into her eyes.

"I said that saying I love you is a little bit early, but I don't mind hearing it." He joked quietly.

Fluttershy chuckled again, as she then kissed him on the lips. When they finished their kiss, they both sat up, and leaned against the wall they settled in. They then looked outside through the tree hole to see the heavy rain was still coming. Fluttershy then rested her head on Tails' shoulder as the smile on her face was replaced by the expression of weariness. She then sighed as she took him by the hand.

"How much are we left before we see Ponyville again?" The pony girl asked.

"I wish I knew the answer." Miles answered, also sounding exhausted; "The radar showed thirty seven miles last time I checked it, but… considering how unpredictable the weather is it could take a couple of more days. It changes way too often."

"Can your radar predict the weather?" Fluttershy asked, looking at him, to which Tails sighed deeply.

"It can, but it must have wireless connection with synoptic stations." He answered; "And I don't think they're working at the moment."

Fluttershy then sighed as she then closed her eyes and nuzzled against her boyfriend more tightly. She then uttered a weary moan, and started drifting into sleep.

Tails wrapped his right arm around his girlfriend and looked at her as he brushed her hair with his fingers. He then kissed her on the forehead and closed his eyes, too.

Meanwhile, in another part of Equestria.

Not far from the Hermit Houses, a former rebel team settled in the caves as their old camp was destroyed by the Walking Dead, and that weird but incredibly powerful explosion. One stood on guard at the entrance, armed with a semi automatic rifle, but with no thermal imager on his eyes to ease up his observing process. Just like in Everfree Forest, it was raining heavily here. And the guard pony was annoyed by the fact that the weather is changing so fast.

Suddenly he heard a flapping of wings and instantly took a battle position with aiming his rifle towards the possible intruder. Happily for him, it was one of theirs. He saw the grey colored female pegasus landing on her feet next to the entrance to the cave, and approached it, as she shivered heavily. The guard then lowered his rifle.

"Welcome back, Crystal." He greeted her; "Found anything?"

"Nope." Crystal answered as she entered the cave and shook herself hard to shake off the water drops; "Even if there were any traces, we are unlikely to find anything in such heavy rain."

"I see." The guard said a bit acidly, as he then nodded her to get inside; "Get in. Get some warmth."

Crystal nodded back as she proceeded inside quickly. A few meters in, and there was a big inner space at the end of the corridor, litten up by oil lamps here and there. Fifteen Equestrians were dispersed around the room, and did their regular things, like checking on the maps, weapons, supplies and other things. Crystal bypassed them all, and went to the farthest corner of the room, where a certain lavender Princess sat on the rock, and did some notes in her notebook.

Twilight did some more notes, until she heard someone stopped next to her; "Princess Twilight." She heard a female voice and looked at the newcomer up from her book.

"Yes, Crystal?" The Alicorn-girl asked, to which Crystal gave her a look of concern on her face.

"I found nothing." She said; "I guess the traces are washed off by the rain."

Twilight sighed deeply; "Of course…" She moaned in a mild irritation as she then closed the book and stood up; "Without the weather service… the weather changes unpredictably." She said sarcastically as she then looked at Crystal; "How far the Hermit Houses are from here?" She asked.

"I think it's somewhere around ten to fifteen miles, Your Highness." Crystal answered; "But… I don't think it's safe to go there without your partner…" She said as she then looked at the opposite corner of the cave to see a pretty well organized hospital bed, where a certain black and red hedgehog laid unconscious, while watched by an orange female earth pony.

Twilight shook her head again; "I know, I know…" She said as she then looked at Crystal; "Alright then. Take some rest and warm yourself up."

The pegasi girl nodded to Twilight, before she walked towards her sleeping bag, and sat on the top of it.

The Princess of Friendship then sighed again, and looked towards sleeping Shadow, and went there to see herself if he's going to wake up, or not. It delays their further mission, that's for sure.

Meanwhile, the medic pony was washing Shadow's chest with a wet tissue to keep the temperature of his body at the normal level, while he's asleep, as she wore a smile on her face. She was eyeing an unconscious Mobian up and down, at the same time, humming quietly something under her breath.

"How is he?" Twilight's voice suddenly asked from behind the medic's back, as the earth female pony looked over her left shoulder, as she was smiling at the Princess.

"I know that it may sound shocking, but he's perfect…" She said as she then looked at the sleeping Mobian, and bit her lower lip; "He looks like an ancient God. The physique is fantastic."

Twilight's eyes narrowed; "Myssa, that's not what I meant." She said monotonously, to which Messa giggled.

"I was joking, Your Highness." She said as she then again began washing Shadow's chest with her towel; "His vital signs are normal, and I can only say that he's just sleeping. It doesn't look like he survived the explosion just yesterday."

Twilight then leaned closer as she stared at her partner with a sad look on her face; "Then why isn't he waking up?" She asked, to which Myssa shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know." She replied as she and Twilight then exchanged looks on their faces; "Maybe it's some form of the exhaustion? It's very hard to tell why he's sleeping for so long."

Twilight sighed as she looked at Shadow again. She saw that he indeed looked like he was sleeping. Steady breathing, relaxed muscles of his body, and he wasn't moving at all. And no signs that he suffered from pain, or nightmares caused by pain. She then shook her head slowly, and left towards the others to give them new instructions.

Myssa, when she was left alone, grinned again and glanced at the unconscious GUN Agent. She again began rubbing his body with a wet towel, starting with his chest. But only to get her hand caught by Shadow's hand, which made her gasping in shock, as she then looked at his face to see him staring at her annoyingly. Yes, he was finally awake.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Shadow asked, a calm tone of his voice. Myssa smiled at the picture.

"Princess! He's awake!" She called out to Twilight; "He is finally awake."

Shadow looked on his left, and saw Twilight and a few other ponies running at him. Twilight's face showed a well seen sign of both concern and shock. Just as she was near his bed, she sat next to Myssa and took the Mobian by the hand.

"Shadow, you're up." She said, as the hedgehog then frowned.

"I guess I am." He replied sarcastically as he struggled to stand up, but only to be stopped by Myssa, who put her hands on his chest and pushed him softly back on the bed.

"No, no, no… you've been unconscious for almost twenty hours, Mr Shadow." She said; "You're still too weak to remain standing."

"Are you a doctor?" Shadow asked, lifting up one of his eyebrows.

"Yes." Messa replied. The Mobian frowned and again tried to stand up.

"Then let me assure you, doctor that I feel ready to continue on my mission, thank you very much." He announced, but his attempts of getting up from this bed were prevented by Twilight, who joined Myssa, she also pushed him softly back on the bed.

"Shadow, that's excluded." The young Princess said; "You cannot go now after what we've witnessed. We thought you're dead."

Shadow sighed deeply at this, but decided to stop resisting; "Princess Twilight." He spoke a bit annoyed; "We are running out of time for the mission."

"I know, Shadow, I know." Twilight said, almost beggingly; "But please… for… Princess Luna." When Twilight mentioned Luna's name, Shadow's eyes widened sharply in shock, but only to narrow a minute later. He then sighed and rested back on the bed.

"My bracelets." He reminded Twilight about one thing. The alicorn girl pulled out two golden bracelets, and showed them to Shadow. The Mobian nodded at the picture, and then he closed his eyes.

"Give them to me when I'm… I mean when you will decide if I'm ready or not." He said, still being sarcastic. Everybody else returned back to their duties after they exchanged the looks of oddity on their faces, though, they did not give it too much of their thoughts. Twilight, however, kept staring at him with a look of a worry on her face, when he went back to his nap. She then stared at the golden bracelets in her right hand.

One hour later.

Shadow sat on the rock outside of the window and stared at the landscape of Equestria. In the distance he saw a town, which, perhaps, was the town of Ponyville. It was very far away from the place where he was at the moment, probably fifty, or eighty kilometers away, he did not know for sure. Behind the town he saw a huge never ending forest, and then another mountains chain, which surrounds the valley.

"Hey." He heard Twilight's voice behind his back, as he looked towards the entrance to the caves to see the Princess of Friendship approaching him as she was having a worried look on her face.

"What is it?" Shadow asked, lifting up one of his eyebrows; "Something happened?"

Twilight shook her head, as she then handed him his bracelets. The dark Mobian took the bracelets by the right hand, as he stared at them for a few moments. When he looked up at Twilight again, he saw her still having this look of a worry on her face. The girl then spread her arms and sat down next to Shadow. She also aimed her gaze at the distance.

The Mobian never asked a question, as he kept eyeing Twilight, thinking if she has some kind of a burden in her heart, and if she wants to take it off her heart. He then tossed his bracelets one time, and then he put them back on his wrists.

"Thank you for saving them for me, Twilight." He said calmly, as he then rubbed his wrists again; "Truth be told, I'd give anything to never have to put them on again."

Twilight sighed in response; "Shadow that was not fair." She finally spoke with a calm tone in her voice, but had that note of grief in it. The hedgehog glanced at her questioningly.

"What was not fair?" He asked.

"That you chased me off." Twilight replied as she looked at him; "Shadow, I could've helped you with these walkers yesterday."

Shadow sighed; "Like you did in the forest where we found the Cakes family, and Miss Yearling?" He asked, being honest.

Twilight then stood up; "Shadow, what was that?" She asked, being a bit nervous.

"Truth." Shadow simply replied as he looked at her up; "You never faced these creatures before, and you don't know what to do and how to act around them, so…"

"I did not mean your previous statement, Shadow." Twilight interrupted him, as she then spread her arms to the sides; "I meant… The blast. After you chased us away, there was a huge explosion."

Shadow shook his head slowly and broke the eye contact, as he looked at the distant horizon again. Twilight, however, continued after she sat next to him, and brought herself closer to him.

"GUN invented a mobile micro nuclear device?" She asked.

"No." Shadow answered; "They tried, though, but they realized that it's impossible."

"Then why did you explode like a hydrogenium bomb, Shadow?" Twilight asked, being nervous as she raised the tone of her voice a bit, though, not loud enough for other ponies to hear that; "I… I have seen many things in my life, but that… *sighs*... that was something I never saw before. And it scared me a lot. And not only that..."

Shadow looked into her eyes as his face expressed nothing, but indifference. Outside at least. His companion, though, continued her speeches.

"First, you can jump off the high altitude and remain unharmed, then you demonstrate extraordinary senses which helps you feel the threat from a distance." Twilight spoke, still having a look of worry on her face; "Then this… weird aura which surrounds you and shields you from bullets… and… leaves you unharmed… then you are launching some sort of battle spell beams and in the end… this explosion, which destroyed a large part of the forest we're currently in. I have long since realized that you are not an ordinary Mobian, Shadow, and maybe…"

"Maybe I'm not completely a Mobian at all." Shadow finished for her, as he gave her a frown; "Or maybe not even from this planet."

"Who are you?" Twilight asked with a fearful look on her face; "Or rather… What are you?"

The dark hedgehog man looked over his shoulder to check on if there is someone who is watching them, or someone who is listening to them. When he saw that the coast is clear, he looked again at Twilight and began telling her a part of his story.

"Before I start, I want you to promise me that you will not tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you here." He said; "Those who already know are allowed to know, while others are not."

Twilight nodded as a sign that she will keep quiet. Shadow then sighed, before aiming his gaze towards the horizon as he began his story.

"A long time ago, there was a very famous and respected neuroscientist and a geneticist." He began; "He was working on the secret cloning programs financed by the Mobian government to recreate the organs. He wrote a huge mass of reports about immortality and longevity. He wanted to figure out if it's possible to create an immortal and ultimate organism which can generate a specific substance to defeat some deadly diseases."

"What kind of diseases?" Twilight asked.

Shadow shook his head, when she interrupted him; "I have no idea." He answered as he then continued; "The scientist's research did not make any big progress in the first few years until he finally found the correct formula. He showed it to the science congress and was allowed to move to the secret research centre on the planet's orbit."

"Planet's orbit?" Twilight interrupted him again; "You're not talking about Space Colony ARK, are you?"

Shadow looked at her; "You've heard of it?" He asked, to which Twilight nodded, giving him a look full of fear.

"Yes, but… I thought it was just a myth?" She asked; "I mean… there are numerous conspiracy theories about it, but I always thought of them as a symptom of paranoia?"

"ARK is real, Twilight." Shadow assured her as he looked up at the stars; "And while we are talking, it possibly crosses the orbit at this very moment."

Twilight looked up at the stars, too; "You've been there, Shadow?" She asked.

"Yes." The hedgehog replied; "Many times." He then lowered his head and continued his story; "When he was in ARK, he took his research to the next level. The cloning laboratory was built in a few in a record time. The first experiment was already a success. The clone gave all signs of life, but its brain did not work for some reason. Despite being in a capsule which imitates uttero, the creature never developed its mind and its own consciousness. They waited for months, but the ending result was disappointing. So the team of scientists needed some help. They needed the substance which would trigger the conscious development and make its brain work like a brain to the regular human being."

"Did they succeed?" Twilight asked.

"Yes." Shadow answered; "But not on our planet…"

"Not on our planet…" Twilight repeated Shadow's words, looking a bit skeptical now; "Now it sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, or sci-fi horror, if you ask me?" She said, cocking her eyebrows, but the hedgehog wasn't about to share her skepticism.

"Of everything that happened in my life, I really wish it was a bad sci-fi horror story, Twilight Sparkle." Shadow said, looking into her eyes; "Ever heard of Black Arms?" He asked.

Twilight shook her head; "I only heard the legends about them, but… I thought it was just a story to scare the children." She said; "Don't you tell me they are real."

"They were real. Back then, the scientist established a contact with Black Arms to borrow this kind of a substance, and to his surprise… the leader Black Doom volunteered to borrow a small portion of his blood to trigger the conscious development of the clone." Shadow again resumed telling his story; "He didn't do that with good intentions, or compassion… These words were strangers to him... He wanted to get a powerful soldier for his army when they get back and conquer our planet." Shadow then made a pause before he continued; "The ending result surprised everyone. On the next day when Black Doom's blood was injected into the clone, he instantly developed his consciousness. His mind starts to grow with an insane speed. He showed an insane level of intelligence, great level of strengths, agility, speed."

Twilight embraced her own legs in the knees silently, while Shadow spoke. For some reason, she realized what this story is about.

"In just two years a clone grew into a fully grown and developed male, and… its blood generated this substance the scientists needed so much." Shadow spoke as he then closed his eyes; "But… Some of them became scared of the head of the group having contact with Black Arms as well as the ever increasing level of controversial research that was being done on there as well, so they then informed GUN about it. The program was instantly closed and classified, the ARK colony was declared closed. GUN sent an order of troopers to liquidate everyone who was working on the program. They were all arrested or killed in the process of liquidation."

"And what happened to the clone?" Twilight asked, as she was now more sad than scared.

Shadow glanced at her; "He escaped." He answered; "With the help of the scientist's granddaughter. She was also shot dead when she pressed the launch button of the saving capsule."

"How can you be sure about that?" Twilight asked, as she unwrapped her legs and moved closer to the hedgehog; "I mean… how can you be sure that the clone is alive?"

"You're looking at him." Shadow simply replied, to which Twilight dropped her head and sighed deeply. She then turned away from him and closed her eyes in an attempt of sustaining some tears.

"I should've guessed where this was coming." She said, as Shadow then shook his head and again looked at the stars.

"You wanted to know what I am… now you know, Twilight." He said as he then looked at her; "And this is just between the two of us."

"This granddaughter of the scientist…" Twilight suddenly spoke, making Shadow looking at her again, surprised; "Was her name… Maria? Maria Robotnik?"

Shadow frowned; "How did you know?" He asked in a low and calm tone of his voice. Twilight turned at him, as she gave him a sad look.

"On the day of the attack, we… we discussed your arrival to Equestria." She said; "Silver… he mentioned the name of Maria Robotnik, and also mentioned that Eggman's real name was… Ivo Robotnik. Were they…"

"Yes, they were relatives, Twilight." Shadow answered an unasked question; "Cousins to be exact."

"And her grandfather…" Twilight spoke again.

"Gerald… Professor Gerald Robotnik." Shadow answered again, as he then looked down; "Maria was suffering from a deadly disease, which was slowly killing her. When Gerald developed a formula, he took Maria with him on ARK to provide his genetic experiments and because up there in space the disease doesn't kill her as quick as it does on the planet."

Twilight sighed; "I never heard of him." She confessed; "What was he like?"

"He was a good man, but very, very scared." Shadow said; "Scared for his granddaughter's fate of dying at such a young age. She was just seventeen when the GUN agent shot her dead."

"Seventeen?" Twilight asked as she widened her eyes in shock; "But she did nothing to him, right?"

"The soldier had his order, Twilight." Shadow answered as he then closed his eyes; "And he thought that she was preventing his mission. We were close friends. Up there in ARK, there were mostly scientists and colonists, who did not really care for games, and good time spending. She was the only one who found the time to spend it with me so I won't feel lonely."

"How long did you spend together, and… what was she like?" Twilight asked again.

"Five years." The hedgehog said as he opened his eyes and looked at the lavender alicorn girl; "I met her as a twelve years old enthusiastic and optimistic child who was curious about everything that was happening around. She was pure kindness. Her final smile… was the last thing I remember before I woke up years later."

Twilight sniffed a bit; "She did not deserve such fate…" She said, some tremble in her voice; "Those people who did that… they must be punished."

Shadow then suddenly gave her a smirk as he shook his head and uttered a small chuckle; "They are all dead now, Twilight." He said calmly; "It's been too many years… There's no way they're still alive. I'll tell you honestly, I tried to find them, but… I never succeeded with that. Maria… she wanted me to give them a chance. Even to those who killed her. I never understood that, but later... I finally did get why she wanted me to protect these people from evil… at all costs."

"What happened to Professor Gerald?" Twilight asked as she looked at Shadow again; "Did you meet him after you woke up?"

Shadow shook his head slowly; "No, Twilight." He answered; "After he learned that Maria died, he… he went crazy. He suffered so much because his precious granddaughter died. He developed hate and wanted to avenge not just GUN, but an entire planet… that's what killed him."

"Wait…" Twilight stopped him, making him turn his attention to her and seeing her wiping her tears away; "You said that Maria was seventeen when she was… well, you know… And that she is a cousin to Eggman, right?" Shadow nodded, as Twilight continued; "And how old was Dr Eggman, when you… well… assassinated him?"

"Fifty six." Shadow replied; "Are you trying to count how much time has passed since there?"

Twilight nodded; "Yes… I mean… she was younger than him, right?" She asked.

"Older." Shadow corrected Twilight, to which the Princess widened her eyes in shock again.

"Older?" She exclaimed; "But that means… that means…"

"It's been seventy years since these events, Twilight." Shadow calmly said, to which the girl became sad again.

"Seventy years?" She asked in a whisper; "So that means that you…"

"I am seventy five years old. I was created as an Ultimate Lifeform." Shadow continued his story; "A perfect organism which can cope with any kind of disease. Black Doom's blood runs through my veins, and it increases my life powers and helps me to have a connection with the Chaos Energy." He sighed, before continuing; "Even back in ARK, I developed some powers that were beyond what the scientists expected. I learned how to create an energetic aura which increases my speed, movements, agility, strengths, and which shields me even from firearms. What you saw in the forest yesterday is a Chaos Blast. And I never expected it to be so strong myself." He then demonstrated his bracelets; "These bracelets are the inhibitors of my powers, they are limiting it so it won't overtake the limits that might kill me." He lowered his arms again, and placed his left hand on his knee.

"Chaos Blast you say?" Twilight spoke again; "So you are… immortal?"

Shadow shrugged; "I don't know. Maybe I am, or maybe I am a long-liver like Princess Luna and Princess Celestia." He confessed, still being calm; "Only the time will show how long I am going to live."

Twilight then lowered her head, and closed her eyes as if being depressed. Shadow noticed that obviously as he then hmm'd and moved closer. He then put a hand to her shoulder to get her attention.

"Twilight, what is it?" Shadow asked, to which the girl sobbed.

"You… what you said is… very sad… I'm… I'm sorry that… you had to go through all this." She said through her sobbs; "How is that even possible to… carry this burden in your heart."

Shadow then let go of her as he folded his hands on his right knee, and looked at the distance again; "You're saying it's heavy, but… it really is much more than heavy to say the least." He replied to her question as sad memories filled his mind.

"But you did… *sobs*... you did not get broken after that…" Twilight sobbed as she looked at him with teary eyes.

The dark Mobian glanced at the Princess with a heavy look on his face; "I did get broken, Twilight." He spoke sadly; "After fifty years of the cyber dream in which I was put in, I woke up… with an incredible feeling of rage for this planet and all of its creatures."

Twilight gulped deeply, as if knowing what he's about to tell next.

"Eggman… he actually woke me up when he tried to find the weapon his grandfather was working on, and he found me." Shadow continued on his story; "An enraged and broken creature who wanted nothing but revenge, who still had these memories like… they happened just yesterday."

"What did you do?" Twilight asked; "Don't tell me that you were working with him…"

"I did." Shadow answered an unasked question as he again looked at the distance, to which the Friendship Princess gasped in horror.

"W-What?" She asked, horrified; "No… No… I… I don't believe it…"

"You have to, I'm afraid." The hedgehog confirmed her guess; "We found the way to get back to ARK, where we launched the laser canon, which we first tested on the Moon… The Moon was shattered in many little pieces, which was scary enough for the world's governments to pay as much money to Eggman as he wanted, but… I then set the ARK to collide and shatter the planet into a million pieces as set up by Gerald when all the chaos emeralds were in place shortly after his incarceration."

Twilight then lowered her head and shed some more tears; "You nearly destroyed us all…" She commented with a strong hint of sadness in her voice; "I… I thought you are better than this…"

"I thought the same way about myself back then." Shadow agreed; "Even Eggman was horrified by how far I was ready to go with my desire for revenge. But… in the end, when ARK was on its way to collide with the planet, I heard the voice… this voice begged me to change my mind. The female voice which… I heard a long time ago, when I was just created and developed my consciousness. It begged me to save the world, and constantly told me that the path I chose is wrong. I have to change it."

Twilight looked at him up, while Shadow continued.

"It dropped a seed of doubt into my heart, and I thought that I must do what the voice told me to do." The hedgehog said; "I took all the powers I had to stop ARK's collision with the planet."

Twilight sobbed; "Good thing that… you realized how… wrong you are at least in the… *sobbs*... in the final moment." She cried softly; "How could you not realize that Eggman was an actual evil?"

"I did not know about him at the moment." Shadow replied as he looked into her eyes; "I was just awoken from a cyber dream. Fifty years I spent in cryogenic sleep in a capsule at some sort of underground base for GUN's secret material. I obviously had no idea of who Dr. Eggman was, and who he actually was at the time."

"I hope you never worked with him anymore?" Twilight asked, hoping to get a positive answer.

The hedgehog shook his head slowly; "Not of my free will at least, no." He assured the young Princess; "I worked with him only as a GUN's undercover agent to get information about his supporters from Mobian criminal elements and their exact locations. And to make sure Robotnik's plans will not work. I was regularly sabotaging his manufacturers to delay his conquering plans."

Shadow then sighed again, as he looked away; "But that all came after I realized how hard it is to keep living when everyone you love is now gone." He said; "I had no one to soothe my pain. No one to guide me into the right direction, and no one to tell me how to live again and where to start it all over." He made a pause before he continued; "It soon brought me to the only way I thought could extinguish the fire which burns inside of me. I started consuming alcohol. The more I drank the more I knew that I wanted more and more alcohol to drink, as I felt… it did not burn the fire off, but… made it burning harder."

Twilight hugged her own knees as she remained silent while Shadow told his story.

"It was a pretty basic unhealthy lifestyle." The Mobian spoke calmly and quietly; "Drinks every night, noisy drunk companies, bar fights, injuries gotten from these drunk fights… If it wasn't my healing abilities, I guess I would end up dead of cirrhosis, or… got stabbed in one of these fights participated by me." He then suddenly smiled; "But in the end, I saw the light." He then looked at Twilight; "The light that brought me back to the right path, and reminded me what I was living for. This light saved me from falling, and this light showed me the beauty worth living."

Twilight already knew who he meant; "How did you meet Princess Luna?" She asked in a whisper; "You mentioned her a lot of times, and… I guess she is your light?"

Shadow lifted up one of his eyebrows; "You're too smart for your own good, baby girl." He concluded, a tone of an absolute calmness in his voice. Twilight lost it there, as she then jumped into his arms and buried her face into his shoulder as she started crying softly.

"I… I… lo-ved… him…" She cried quietly; "How… *sobbs*... how could he?"

"He was very young and very dumb to realize that being in relationships also brings a lot of responsibility before your love, and not just joy." Shadow spoke in a tone of a grandfather, as he embraced Twilight and caressed her hair to comfort the Friendship Princess; "You both were not prepared for it, as it was your first experience for the both of you."

Twilight cried a bit harder; "B-but… I… *sobbs*... I loved him…" She spoke through her sobs.

"Shhhh…" Shadow tried to calm her down; "I know… but… he wasn't loving you sincerely, or at least… he thought he is, but in the end he realized he was not. First love always brings more pain than joy when the two split up. However, it does not mean that this is the end…" He then broke the hug and took Twilight by the cheeks, making her open her eyes and looking into his to see his soothing and confident half smile; "After all, you are still too young, and you have many more things to go." Shadow concluded as he then gave her a wink.

Twilight managed to smile at him, as she then hugged him in gratitude, very glad that he supported her at such a difficult moment. She stayed in his arms, still crying, though, her sobs were becoming less and less tense until they completely died down. When she finally stopped crying she opened her eyes and looked at him up.

"So…" She said softly.

The dark mobian looked down at the alicorn girl questioningly; "So?" He asked.

"You're going to tell me how did you meet with Luna?" She asked; "Did you hear her voice even when she was punished on the Moon?"

Shadow sighed; "I don't know where to start." He began; "It all began seventy five years ago, when I was… born if you will." He then rolled his eyes to the skies; "I heard these charming feminine voices in my head who wanted to constantly get acquainted by me. The same voice haunted me after I woke up. She begged me to stop after I blew up the moon… I swear if I knew she was there I'd never…"

The GUN agent sighed deeply and shook his head hard to get rid of bad memories before he continued.

"We first met seven years ago, when she came back to Equestria after her punishment was over." Shadow spoke; "I was obviously invited to greet the Princess of the Night, and when I spoke to her, she… she said that she knew me since the day of my creation. It was there when I realized that she is my light, that it was her who saved me from falling off ARK, it was her who returned me back to my right path… and it was her that voice I heard in my head since the first day of my existence." He then smiled and sighed wearily. That's when he heard girlish sleepy moans, which made him arching his eyebrows questioningly, and wiping off his smile.

When he looked down at the young Princess he saw her sleeping peacefully in his arms, her head on his shoulder, and her lips curved into a smile. That's enough for him to frown disapprovingly, as he then smirked and stood up to carry her into the caves.

"I really am a bad storyteller." He commented as he soon entered the caves.

Two days later in the everfree forest.

It was finally a sunny day, though, the forest paths are covered with puddles of mud here and there due to a heavy rainy weather which was covering the forest for at least two days. The day seemed very peaceful. A certain duo of the travellers was walking on one of the forest's paths, ignoring the puddles. Their walk was pretty slow and even, despite the fact that these two had met with a robot just recently.

Pink haired yellow pegasi girl was walking a little ahead, a happy smile on her face as she carried a bag on her shoulders. Despite the weight of the bag, she was even bouncing from happiness, and humming something under her breath. Her Mobian companion walked a little behind her, obviously limping and using the walking medical cane as a support. He had three bags hanging on his shoulders, and one of his tails still bondaged. The look on his face showed no positive emotions, and mostly expressed annoyance, as his eyes were aiming at the radar.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy stopped bouncing when she heard the birds chirp. Looking up curiously she instantly smiled in awe when she saw the birds family and their nest on the top of the tree.

"Awwww… they're so adorable." She said upon watching the parents birds feeding their babies. Meanwhile, Tails kept on limping with his eyes still aimed at the radar, and soon he bumped into Fluttershy slightly.

"Ouch…" They both winced in pain, and soon looked into the eyes of each other. Miles smiled apologetically to his girlfriend as he then scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, sorry…" He apologized, to which the pony girl smiled in response.

"Oh, don't be…" She said as the two then continued on their walk; "How much we still left to go?" Fluttershy asked, looking at the radar.

The fox guy uttered a sigh of frustration as he rolled his eyes to the skies; "The radar shows…" He began, looking at the radar again; "... The radar shows… 25 more kilometers… or… 17 miles according to your measuring system. But I see no signs of the town even as small as Ponyville." He added when he looked up and scanned the forest here and there.

Fluttershy nodded as she then took his arm in the elbow area; "I see… But… the everfree forest stands like the wall before Ponyville." She commented; "Maybe we should see some distant houses any time soon?"

Miles sighed again, as he then stopped and hid his radar into one of his bags; "I'll trust you on that." He finished as he then sighed and scanned the area around them. When he glanced at his girlfriend again, he cocked his eyebrows questioningly when he saw a dreamy look on Fluttershy's face aimed straight at him. This made him blush a bit as he then grinned awkwardly.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" He asked as they again resumed their walking.

"Nothing… I'm just enjoying the view." The girl said, smiling, and holding tightly onto his elbow.

The fox huffed sarcastically; "There's nothing much to look at, though." He commented as he then looked at her; "Look, I always wanted to ask… have you ever been on Mobius at least once?"

Fluttershy nodded; "Yes, Rarity and I visited Silver in his house a couple of years ago, I think." She said; "It was… not the best experience of my life. I lived in a small town for the most of my life, and when I saw Central City… well… it shocked me…"

"Heh." Miles chuckled; "I can understand this feeling when you see the gigantic metropolis for the first time. I felt in a similar way when I saw what the big city really is when I was… eight I think."

"Well… I was even more shocked when I saw where Silver lived before he moved to Rarity's boutique." Fluttershy added as she widened her eyes; "His apartment was so small. One bedroom, one living room, one kitchen, one bathroom, and… that's just it. Even my cottage looks giant compared to the place where he lives."

The fox shrugged, looking into her eyes; "That's Silver for you. He was always very modest." He explained; "He doesn't even have his own car, though, he can drive very well. He told me that he prefers to live this way so he feels more… free. I don't know how that makes him feel free, though."

"And where do you live?" Fluttershy asked, smiling again.

That's when Tails donned a proud grin on his face; "Well, I have a big house with numerous rooms inside, on the shore of the ocean." He said, an alpha male intonation in his voice. Fluttershy pfft's at this as she grinned at him back.

"No way." She said jokingly.

"And where do you think a playboy billionaire can live?" Miles asked as he wrapped his left arm around the girl's waist and tickled her, making her giggle again; "Though, most of these rooms are underground rooms. Many years ago, it was an observatory, but it was abandoned by its owners in the beginning of the war, so when Sally and I were hiding there before Sonic came and saved us, we built some things together, which helped me develop my tech talent. I decided to choose this place as my house." He sighed happily before he continued; "Every evening I am dining on the balcony, looking at the ocean, and enjoying the sounds of it. Ahhhhh…"

Fluttershy giggled again; "Will you show me your place one day?" She asked as she rested her chin on her boy's shoulder. Tails looked at her again, and winked.

"I'll even let you stay there, if you want." He commented, before the pony girl gifted him with a quick peck on the lips, as they continued on their way.

That's when they saw that the forest now ends, and saw something that looked like a dirt road. They both then stopped and looked at each other quickly.

"You think what I think?" Miles asked, as Fluttershy then bit her lower lip and blushed.

"Well, if you think about… hot baths, then… yes." She said timidly, to which Tails narrowed his eyes. He then shook his head slowly, and looked before him. He then slowly limped towards the road, and soon he walked on the said road, and looked left and right. It was a crooked road which looked like it led somewhere to the town. Glancing at Fluttershy he called her to follow with his hand. The pony girl quickly tiptoed at him. When she was on the road, she gasped as she quickly recognized this path.

"Oh my gosh… oh my gosh… Miles… it's… it's…" She spoke with a temporary stuttering, to which her boyfriend took her by the hands.

"Easy, easy…" Miles tried to calm her down, as he caressed her hands; "What is it? Do you know this road?"

Fluttershy shed a single tear; "It's… the road to my house…" She said as she sobbed once. Miles widened his eyes at this.

"So it means we're in Ponyville already?" He asked as he then smiled excitedly, and limped over to her; "That's wonderful. Our long trip is finally over…" He then silenced as he saw his girlfriend is still shedding some tears. He wiped the smile off of his face, and gave her a worried look.

"What?" He asked, to which Fluttershy turned to the left in the direction where her house was.

"It's… my animals…" She said as she wiped the tears off her eyes. Miles sighed as he remembered how hard she was crying on the first day of the crisis when she remembered what would've happened with her animals if they're found by the robots. He then wrapped an arm around her and kissed her on the forehead hoping it would help.

"Look, we're… Remember what I told you about your animals? That the robots usually are not interested in regular animals as they're not posing any threat to them, unlike… us?" He asked, making Fluttershy looking at him and giving a nod. He then brushed her long hair, looking into her eyes with concern.

"Then reduce your worries." He said; "They may have escaped into the forest once they heard the explosions. At least I think that's what animals are doing…"

"Miles, my animals are different." Fluttershy interrupted him as she then gazed at the road again; "They were living in my house for too long to easily get used to the wild… Even if not robots, they might get wounded by other wild animals… if not worse…"

"That's okay." Tails said, as he again attempted to comfort his girlfriend; "Let's check it out at least."

The pegasi girl looked into his eyes again, as if asking if he was saying that for real, but she saw the calmness in his gaze which she didn't know where it came from. She still decided that she had to trust him, just like she entrusted herself completely to him. She grabbed him by the arm in an elbow area, as they then slowly went down the read towards her house.

Thirteen minutes later.

The two stood in front of Fluttershy's house, and surprisingly for the Pegasi girl it looked completely untouched with the only difference that its windows were broken. The girl stared at her place with a worried look, while Tails looked more skeptical than concerned.

"It doesn't look like it was attacked, or something." He commented, as he then put the bags down on the ground and pulled the gun out of one of the said bags. When he struggled to stand up again and was standing on his feet he shrugged the shutter of his gun, and sent a nod to Fluttershy, thus mentally saying to her that they have to go and check it out. Fluttershy nodded back, still being worried. The two then slowly approached the cottage.

"Why did they never thoroughly check it?" Fluttershy asked in a whisper.

"The robots?" Miles asked, as he looked at her; "They're usually checking on the largest buildings and in the town itself, and not on the outskirts of town. I guess they found no reasons for checking out a cottage which stands somewhere outside of the town as they see it as the lesser threat than… the Hall for example."

Fluttershy nodded; "Yes, it makes sense." She agreed. That's when they reached the entrance door to the cottage, and Tails poked his gun barrel against the door. The door slowly opened inside. Miles then looked at the pony girl and pressed his right hand's index finger to his own lips. Fluttershy nodded as she hid behind his back, and put her hands onto his shoulders.

The two then slowly entered the house. When they were inside, they saw that unlike outside, inside the interior was pretty well damaged. The furniture was cracked, broken, the books were on the floor, the same with the bookshelves themselves. When they were in the center of the living room, they again scanned the interior of the house with their eyes. They saw that some walls had numerous cracks all around, and old photographs fell off the walls, and now laid on the floor.

Fluttershy sighed sadly, but not because of the whole mess in her house, but because she found no signs of her pets inside. She then approached one of her photos which laid on the floor and picked it up. She shed a single tear when viewing the photo, as she sat on the floor.

Meanwhile, Miles approached one of the bookshelves and dropped the walking cane, as he tried to pick the shelves to see if he could find anything useful. But just when he laid his hands on the wooden surface of the bookshelves he heard sobbing sounds from his girlfriend, and glanced there to see her sitting on the floor with her back turned to him, her head dropped. He became worried as he then picked his cane up and limped over at her.

When he sat next to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder to attract her attention; "Hey, girl…" He called out, a soft tone of his voice. The pegasi girl turned to face her boyfriend and saw him giving her a look of concern. She then shut her eyes and nuzzled against him to get some comfort. Tails gladly embraced her when she buried herself into his arms, and patted her on the back.

"It's okay, it's okay." He whispered, as he then began running his fingers through her hair. Fluttershy rested her head on his right shoulder and began rubbing his chest, while still shedding some tears.

"I hope they are now in a better place." She whispered.

Tails sighed, as he had nothing left to say to comfort his girlfriend. He felt absolutely hopeless here, even though he saw how big the bond was between her and her animals. Saw it in her tears and her sad eyes.

He kissed his girlfriend on the forehead, as he still held her closer hoping that his loving embrace will comfort her so she won't be so sad. That's when his eyes caught a sight of some kind of a movement in the furthest corner of the room. Some silhouette rushed through the corridor and disappeared behind the corner. Miles went fully on alert, as he then shook Fluttershy a bit. The girl raised her head and looked into his eyes, as she saw him shushing silently, and pointing towards the farthest corner of the room. She gasped and shivered a bit, as Tails then pulled the gun out and struggled to stand up.

"Wait here." He ordered Fluttershy in a whisper, and then he quietly stealthed towards the corridor where he saw a mysterious silhouette. The pegasi girl sobbed once, before she hugged the frame with her photograph. She froze like a statue, and as if lost her tongue.

Tails reached the corridor, and looked through it. He again saw a small silhouette strolling through the corridor, and entered the door on the right hand's side. He widened his eyes as he then put the walking cane next to him. He stretched the arms with his gun before him, and silently stealthed further. He tried his best to avoid stepping onto the falling objects, and he succeeded with this, though, he sometimes groaned quietly in pain when using his injured leg.

When he reached the door, he looked inside and saw that it was a bathroom. He widened his eyes, before entering the room and scanning it with his yes. It looked much cleaner than other parts of the house, and even had no fallen objects. The fox guy felt relaxed a bit, and hid his gun into the holster behind his back. He then limped further into the room, but only to stop when he heard some scratchy noise. Glancing at the left, he saw some white fluffy ball. He then frowned.

"What the…" He said, before limping there. He gazed behind the bathroom, and widened his eyes when figuring out that this was the tail of a little white rabbit. He saw the rabbit scratching something on the floor. The little animal then raised its eyes up and gazed curiously at the guy who was staring at him back. The two blinked their eyes.

"Who are you?" Tails asked, just a moment before the rabbit glared at him, and uttered a cry. Before Miles reacted the animal jumped at him, and tried to bite, to which the fox guy ugh'd in suddenness, but then he grabbed the rabbit with his left hand, and looked into its eyes.

"Careful there, little shit!" He swore with furrowed eyebrows. The rabbit then cried again, and that's when other animals ran out of the closets of the bathroom, and all of them attacked the stranger. The rabbit then bit Miles' finger, as the fox guy then shook the little beast off. That's when the birds began attacking him by pecking onto his head, ears, and nose.

"Ouch!" Miles yelled as he began waving his hands to shove them off, though, it worked badly. Chickens began pecking on his legs to make him fall. Miles began jumping on his not injured legs, still waving his hands to chase away the beast who probably wanted to eat his eyes.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy showed up in the bathroom's doorway, and developed a look of a massive confusion on her face, when she saw all of her animals alive and well, though, for some reason they attacked Tails as if he was an enemy.

Meanwhile, Tails felt a strong push of something heavy and powerful pinned him to the floor, and when he opened his eyes, he saw an angry and enraged eyes of a bear, who also showed its sharp teeth. He carefully led his hand behind his back to pull out the gun.

"Stop it!" Fluttershy's voice yelled, to which all the animals who surrounded Miles changed their attention to the doorway, and saw their shocked owner standing there. They all also changed their mood, and all rushed at her to greet her. Miles tried to use it as an opportunity as he then tried to stand up, but only to get pushed to the ground by the rabbit, who jumped off his head.

"Oooffff…" He groaned as he then growled in anger, and raised his head to see what was happening. He saw Fluttershy hugging with her animals.

"Mr Bear, Angel…" Fluttershy exclaimed, smiling happily; "You're alive. You're all alive." She then looked at her boyfriend; "Miles, they're alive." She said, a happy tone in her voice.

Miles huffed; "Yeah, I figured as much." He said sarcastically, as he began standing up from the floor, struggling of course. Fluttershy giggled at the view, as she then looked at her animals.

"Guys, this is Miles." She said; "My friend. Be nice to him, please."

When Tails strood up, he dusted off his clothes. The bear was ready to rush at the fox to lick his face like the dogs usually do, but was stopped by Miles' hand.

"NO!" He yelled with his voice full of anger; "No!" The bear lowered its head in a guilt manner, while Tails approached the exit; "Stay! Away! From! Me!" He grumbled as he limped towards the exit of the bathroom.

Fluttershy was confused; "Miles?" She called out.

"NO!" Miles yelled angrily, as he looked at her and her animals, making all of them gasping in fear. Angry fox guy gave them his angry look for a few more moments, mixed with heavy breath, and then he limped out of the bathroom.

Fluttershy was shocked by the reaction of her boyfriend. At first her mind was processing everything that just happened, as the rabbit then muttered something under its breath. Much for the pegasi girl's annoyance.

"Well, of course he's angry." She said sternly at the rabbit, as she gave him her stare; "You attacked him." She then stood up, and ran after him; "Miles!" She called out.

Meanwhile, outside, Miles is driven by anger and incredible pain, he limped out of the house, and stood before it. He groaned in pain, as he bent his back to ease it. He was breathing deeply as he grabbed his injured leg.

"Fuck!" He swore, as he kept his breathing steady to calm down the pain. It soon started working, though, the pain gave too much tension to his nerves.

Fluttershy walked out of the house and approached him; "Miles." She said soothingly.

"I'm fine." The fox guy answered as he kept up his steady breathing.

"Did they hurt you?" Fluttershy asked as she put a hand on his shoulder; "Show me where."

"I said I'm FINE!" He yelled the last word as he looked at Fluttershy with a glare. The pony girl gasped as she backed away a bit, raising both arms to the level of the face. Tails kept looking at her, still having a look of anger on his face, but then he quickly calmed down, when he realized that he no longer controlled his emotions. He sighed sadly, as he then lowered his head, turning away.

"I'm sorry." He said now, softly. Fluttershy blinked her eyes one time, before she walked over to him. She nuzzled against him from behind and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Tails reacted at this as he should. He took her by the arms with his hands and squeezed them tenderly.

"You're hurt." Fluttershy whispered.

"Yes." Miles replied; "It's the same leg…" He said, as he then unzipped his overall suit, and got his hand under his own clothes. When he pulled it out, he saw a small blood spot on his fingers as he sighed deeply in disappointment.

"The wound is opened again." He commented. The pegasi girl sighed deeply, as she then looked at his face. She puts a hand on his cheek and turns his head softly so their eyes have met.

"Let's check it in my house." She said, as she then helped now heavily limping Mobian walking back at the house. Just as Miles stepped at his injured leg, he grunted in pain and nearly fell on the ground.

"Aaarghhh…" He groaned, as Fluttershy helped him to prevent his falling.

"Easy, easy…" She said softly, and worryingly, while embracing him around the chest.

"Fluttershy?" The two suddenly heard the female voice on their left. They opened their eyes and looked towards the source of the voice, but only to see a dark pink pony with bright pink mane, dressed in green camouflage pants and singlet shirt. She was staring at the two with her eyes opened wide in shock and surprise.

Fluttershy gasped upon seeing this mare, as she then let go off of Miles, and approached a female; "Cherilee?" She spoke, as she then smiled in joy; "Cherilee."

Cherilee smiled at her back, as she then breathed out her nervousness, and walked out of the bushes. She went on to meet Fluttershy, and just as the gap between them two disappeared the two girls hugged each other friendly, as they giggled. Miles grunted in pain, though, still managed to curve his lips into a smile. He was glad to see that there are still some civilizations still around. He then used his still functional tail to grab his walking cane, as he then leaned against it. He never took his eyes off of his girlfriend, and this newcomer just in case.

"We thought we lost you…" Cherilee said, a slight note of a worry in her voice as the two then broke their embrace and looked into the eyes of each other; "Where have you been?"

Fluttershy chuckled in reply; "I… ummm… we…" She said as she then looked at Miles; "We tried to get here as fast as we can."

Cherilee glanced towards the Mobian fox with two tails, whose face is way too easy to recognize. She gasped upon seeing him here.

"Oh… my…" She said as she smiled; "You must be Doctor Miles Prower?"

Tails limped towards the two; "Nice to meet you, Miss… Cherilee, is it right?" He said as he reached the hand towards her. The earth pony girl gladly shook his head.

"Nice to meet you, too, sir." She said, as she then looked back over her shoulder; "Hey, come out. Look who I found here."

The fact that she tried to call out someone else from the nearest bushes surprised both Fluttershy and Cherilee, as the two then looked at one another as if trying to find the answer inside each other's eyes. Finding no reply, they changed their glances and aimed them at the direction where Cherilee was staring, but only to see a few more Equestrians, all dressed in green camouflage, as they walked out of the bushes.

Fluttershy smiled happily upon seeing the familiar faces; "Big Mac, Thunderlane, Treehugger." She said as she then rushed towards her hippie friend; "Treehuger." She said as she hugged her; "I'm so glad you're fine."

Treehugger accepted Fluttershy's embrace; "Awww, Fluttershy…" She moaned in happiness.

While that was happening, Thunderlane glanced towards the twin-tailed fox, and gasped. He then grinned nervously as he rubbed his throat by left hand.

"Oh, boss… You're here, too?" He said as he chuckled a bit, while Miles sighed deeply at this; "I'm glad you're okay, BTW."

Tails approached him; "Thunderlane, I am no longer your boss. After the crisis such as recently, my company no longer exists..." He said, to which the grey pegasus guy sighed sadly; "You're now the survivalist just like me." He then reached his hand towards Thunderlane; "We are equal."

Thunderlane smiled as he gladly shook his former boss' hand. Miles then looked at the red stallion guy, who was a bit taller than the fox, and much bulkier. The two shook the hands of each other.

"Miles." Miles introduced himself, to which Big Mac nodded.

"Big Mac." He said, a low baritone voice of his. Miles nodded back.

"When we found this house, Fluttershy said that Ponyville isn't far away from here." The fox guy said, prompting everyone to look at him. Treehugger then smiled happily.

"Doctor." She said as she approached him with her arms opened wide, until the gap between them disappeared. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, thus giving him a tight welcoming embrace, at the same time, her body was nuzzling against his tightly. Miles blushed at such attention from that female, though, he still managed to return the embrace, and patted her on the back.

"Treehugger." He said as he chuckled; "Glad to see you again." He then shot one nervous glance at Fluttershy as saw her covering her mouth with both hands, and he swore he heard her giggling quietly. He then gulped at the view, and quickly broke the embrace as he looked at Treehugger nervously.

"Yeah, yeah, nice reunion we have." He commented, but then he winced in pain as he grabbed his injured leg. Treehugger gasped in worry.

"Doctor, you're wounded?" She asked, to which Miles nodded.

"Yeah… ugh… I myself need a doctor… an actual medicine doctor... and hurry…" He said as he spoke weakly, to which everyone else exchanged glances with one another. Thunderlane then approached Miles, and wrapped his right arm around his shoulders to help him lean against himself, so he won't fall while walking.

"Let's go… Girls, Big Mac." He commanded.

"Yeeeup." Big Mac said as he then went towards Ponyville; "Cherilee."

Cherilee nodded at him, as she then looked at Fluttershy and Treehugger; "Girls, let's go back to Ponyville." She offered. Fluttershy then gasped and looked towards her house. She saw her animals looking at her desperately as if begging her to stay. The butter yellow Pegasi girl's charming face curved into a sad expression upon the view before her eyes. She then sighed and looked at the other girls.

"I cannot leave them." She said, a sad tone in her voice; "They were here alone for so long, when I was with Miles…. They must be sure that I'll be back as soon as I can."

Cherilee shook her head; "Fluttershy, it's too dangerous to remain alone." She said; "Especially for you."

Treehugger then put her hand on Cherilee's shoulder; "She won't be left alone." She said calmly; "I'll stay with Fluttershy, and walk her back to Ponyville, don't worry Cherilee."

Cherilee reluctantly had to agree with Treehugger as she then glanced at Fluttershy's pets and saw their begging puppy eyes. She then sighed.

"Fine, but just get back to Ponyville before it gets dark." She said as she then prepared to rush after the rest of the crew

"Cherilee, tell Miles that I'll be there as soon as I can… Please." Fluttershy asked Cherilee to calm Miles down, to which the dark pink pony widened her eyes.

"Ummm… okay, I will." She said, though, she wondered why Mobian billionaire fox needs to know that she's okay if she'll be okay anyways. Though, she guessed that there is something between her and him. She then ran after the crew.

Treehugger then looked at Fluttershy with a smile; "You don't want him to be worried for you, are you?" She asked as she smiled, and then the two headed back to Fluttershy's cottage; "Can you, please, tell me what happened while you were with him? Are you… well… with him now?" She asked as she grinned, making Fluttershy blush and smiling softly.

"Ummm… Treehugger… I'll tell you that later, okay?" She asked as the two entered the house.

Meanwhile, Thunderlane was walking Miles back to Ponyville, as the Mobian fox was groaning in pain all the time while they were walking. Thunderlane, though, struggled a bit while supporting Miles.

"You're quite heavy, boss." The pegasus guy commented.

Miles sighed; "Yeah, I weighed up a bit in the last two weeks." He said sarcastically, as he then looked at Big Mac; "How far are we?"

"Not far." Big Mac replied with a smile. That's when the three heard the footsteps from behind and looked there, to see Cherilee running in a cute feminine fashion towards the men, while smiling. Just as she reached the three, she started walking in Miles' left hand's side.

"How's your leg, Doctor?" She asked, smiling.

Miles spotted that two more girls were missing; "Cherilee? Where's the other girls?" He asked as he looked around worryingly; "Where's Fluttershy? Where is she?"

Cherilee saw how worried he was and she guessed that he and Fluttershy had a thing, so she then put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Doctor Prower, she's fine." She said calmly; "She needs to stay in her house to calm her animals. She and Treehugger will join us in Ponyville later. Don't worry. She'll be fine."

Miles looked over his shoulder, still being worried. It was the first time in these two weeks when he's not with Fluttershy, and he preferred not to separate from her especially now.

Some time later, the crew found themselves at the edge of the town of Ponyville. The fox guy began watching it attentively to see how much of the damage they receive. He had a bad feeling of dejavu. Current state of Ponyville reminded him exactly of what they saw in that town where he and Fluttershy encountered the walking dead. It did not have a lot of ruins, though, some houses were now just a small pile of debris.

Unlike other towns and cities in Equestria, Ponyville looked very much archaic even for local standards. It only had one main road which led to the local main road to Canterlot, while within the borders of the town, there were no roads for vehicles. Only for the walkers. The local buildings looked very much abandoned. The windows were broken in most of these buildings, and the wind strolled through.

Miles sighed as he saw it; "Why do I have a feeling that I have seen it all before?" He asked a rhetorical question, not addressed to any other part of the crew. Thunderlane, though, decided to answer.

"Well… I guess that's because you have witnessed it all in other Equestrian places?" He suggested; "Or… you've seen it in your younger days? During the Eggman wars?"

Miles nodded; "I guess so…" He said simply, as he then looked at Cherilee; "Should we be more… stealthy? I mean, we can be easily spotted in the air…"

Cherilee smiled at him; "That was the case in the first week, but now the robots aren't as active as they used to be." She explained; "We saw one robot flying in the air three days ago, but it was the first one since like… days…"

Miles hmm'd at her explanation, and lowered his eyes as he pondered at her words; "That's weird…" He commented.

"Yes, that's weird indeed, Mr Prower." Cherilee continued, making the fox-guy continue to look at her; "When the robot showed up, we did not manage to hide, but it did not even attack us. Me and two Canterlot soldiers went on to explore the area to see if we can find any other survivors. When we went the respectful distance from the castle, we were confronted by it, but it just stared at us, and then just flew away…"

"Stood and stare?" The fox asked, as his eyes grew wide; "I guess it was scanning you… Now I see the bigger picture. They're looking for the highest priority target here, and just not wasting their resources on you… as you are not a high priority target for them."

"Then who is their high priority target?" Big Mac asked, surprised, to which Tails looked at him with a slight wrinkle on his face.

"I am one of these targets." He stated. Big Mac, Cherilee, and Thunderlane all exchanged the looks of bewilderment on their faces after the statement from the mobian fox guy, but then they continued on walking through the town.

"We're almost here." Cherilee said, before they turned behind the corner. When they made their turn, Miles widened his eyes when he saw a big castle, located on the opposite side of the town. The castle was pale blue in color, and had at least 5 stores with high ceilings. On the top floor, he saw an armed pony which was looking through the scope of it's rifle, and it was aimed straight at them.

Cherilee then waved her hand towards the sniper, to which the latest one nodded and removed the rifle from his eyes. The crew then approached the entrance of the building, which was guarded by two more ponies, also armed with two automatic rifles, and one pistol for each of them. The guards of the castle smiled at the crew and stood up.

"Well, well, well… it didn't take a lot of time before you found a new survivor…" One of them said, to which Cherilee nodded in response as she bounced at the two.

"Boys, we're not finished yet." She explained; "Just as we finish with this Mobian over there, and his girlfriend, we will continue on our searching."

One of the guards nodded; "I see." He said as he then looked at the Mobian, as he smirked widely; "I guess the big guy will finally have some company to speak with, huh?"

Miles caught himself in bewilderment when the guard said this; "Big guy?" He asked; "Was that a threat?"

The guards both laughed at his words, and so as Thunderlane, and Big Mac. Cherilee was the only one who did not laugh, as she then shot an apologetic look at Miles and shrugged, finding no words to say. Tails then narrowed his eyes as he then looked at Thunderlane. The pegasus guy saw that look on the face of his former boss, and instantly stopped his laughter as he grinned nervously at this. He then coughed a bit, and walked Tails closer to the entrance of the castle.

"Ummmm… guys, this is Mr Miles Prower." He introduced himself, as the guards then silenced, and widened their eyes; "He's my former boss, and… well… he's a good guy… for the most of the part."

Miles sighed at this as he then shook off Thunderlane's support, and grabbed his walking cane. He limped closer to the guards, and looked into the eyes of one of them.

"It means nothing anyways." He said; "Right now, it's absolutely not important who I was before the crisis."

One of the guards blinked his eyes; "Not important?" He asked; "This is very important, sir." He said, as he then opened the doors and entered inside; "Follow me." He advised him to follow.

The mobian stood there silent, his eyes widened, not knowing how to react to the statement from the guard. He then looked at the crew who walked him here with a questioning expression on his face, as if mentally asking them if they know what they're talking about. But they were confused, too. They then sighed and prepared to leave.

"We better go back to take Fluttershy and Treehugger." Cherilee said; "To make sure they'll get here safe."

"Yeeeeup." Big Mac agreed as he nodded, and then the three turned away and left back towards Fluttershy's house.

"We'll be back soon, boss." Thunderlane announced, as they left. Miles then shook his head and walked into the castle. When he walked in, he saw the picture that warmed his heart. The Ponyville survivors were all here, and in big numbers. Many of them stood in the main foyer of the castle, and held regular conversations. Some of them paid their curious attention to the newcomer, which happened to be Tails, and never took their eyes off of him.

"How many of them are sheltered in this castle?" Tails asked as he kept up with the guard.

"Almost the entire Ponyville is sheltered here." The guard answered; "The castle has a lot of underground shelter rooms just in case something like that will happen." He then looked at the fox; "Surprisingly for us, these rooms are enough for almost everyone who is living in Ponyville."

The two then reached the ladder, as the fox then groaned in annoyance and stopped. The guard looked at him questioningly, but only to see his annoyed look on his face.

"Does this castle have an elevator?" He asked, to which the guard shook his head negatively. Tails sighed annoyingly again, and started limping up the stairs, as he tried to ignore his injury as best as he could. The guard scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, but only to shrug his shoulders and follow the irritated and injured mobian.

Twenty minutes later.

Miles finally managed to climb up the final step of the stairs, as he was breathing heavily at the pain he went through, with the guard following his lead. The fox then stopped his way, and leaned against the wall, as he tried to recover his breath. The guard stood in front of him.

"Are you sure, you don't need any help, Mr Prower?" The guard asked, to which Tails then sighed and shook his head

"No, I'm… I'm fine, it's just this… this injury." He spoke breathlessly; "Aaaahhhhhh…" He breathed again, as he then reached his hand out; "Just give me a minute."

The guard shrugged his shoulders again; "Okay." He said, as he then crossed his arms in the chest in waiting. A few moments later, Miles stood up to his full height, and looked confidently at the guard.

"Lead the way." He said, to which the guard nodded and went down the corridor. Miles sighed in relaxation as he realized that he no longer had to climb the stairs, and then he limped after the guard.

"Cherilee told me that the robot's activity has decreased in the last few days?" He asked casually the guard, to which the stallion nodded.

"Yes." He said; "That was a surprise for us… after what me and my crew went through in the forest on our way here, their recent activity is quite surprising."

Miles cocked his eyebrows questioningly; "On your way here?" He asked; "So you're not local?"

"No." The guard answered; "We were sent here by Princess Celestia to figure out the state of the outskirts of Canterlot, and try to get to Ponyville."

"I see." Miles commented; "How much did she send?"

"Almost 400." The guard answered as he then looked at Tails; "Most of us couldn't make it here. Only 197 managed to get here."

The fox guy sighed deeply; "I'm sorry." He said as he lowered his head.

"Yeah, me too." The guard said; "Thankfully, this Mobian showed up just in time. He saved the most of us, and helped us to organize the resistance against the robots."

Miles' eyes flared up when he said this; "Mobain?" He asked; "What Mobian? How did he look?"

The guard said nothing in reply as he then stopped in front of the doors, and opened them. He then stood on the left of the doors, and let the fox go in.

Miles' heart is filled with doubt as he then slowly limps into the doors. He now found himself in a big hall, where he saw several ornaments which were made of a resemblance of a purple star, three cyan diamonds, one rainbow lightning, three balloons, three pink butterflies, and three apples. Those were the different ornaments, and Tails understood as these are the resemblance of ponies' tattoos. He gets that because he has seen three butterflies on Fluttershy's bottom, and this association made him blush, as all he could think now is him and Fluttershy behind that waterfall, things he did to her, her singing lovely moans, and other stuff.

He then shook his head hard to get rid of these thoughts, and frowned to concentrate more on the situation he was in. He then walked further into the room, and now found himself in front of the huge table, with six chairs standing in a circle, as well as several other persons investing something on the top of that table. One such person was Equestrian female earth pony, grey in color, and with silver colored hair, dressed in the woman's business suit, and high heel shoes. But there was one person which caught Tails' breath.

On the left of the mare, he saw a huge mobian cat, standing next to the woman, and nodding to her every word. Miles dropped his jaw when he saw Big, and he stood there silently, while Big was speaking to the said pony. He believed that Big was dead, but now he saw him standing there, alive, and pretty much in shape. He was unable to speak for several minutes, but then he collected his mind back, and managed to utter one loud word.

"Big?"

Big, and the earth pony both stopped their conversation, and looked at the owner of the voice. Big gasped when he saw his long time friend and a former boss standing there in front of him alive and well. The lips of the cat then curved into a wide and happy smile as he then quickly approached Tails with his arms wide open.

"Boss?" He spoke; "You're alive! You're ALIVE!" He then hugged Tails and picked him up due to the height difference. Tails gasped and cringed at the embrace as it was way too strong for his bones. He then grinned awkwardly.

"Yeah, the same I can say about you." He muttered through Big's strong grip, as he was unable to get out of it.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy showed up in the doorway, and gasped when she saw Big the Cat hugging Miles. She covered her mouth with her hands and started crying in happiness. She decided to stay on the distance to let the two greet each other. Tails then patted Big's shoulder.

"Big… Put me down, please." He growled through his teeth, as Big then put him down, and hid his hands behind his back.

"Oh, sorry, boss." He apologized, grinning innocently.

Miles started fixing on his clothes and hair, while the woman with whom Big was speaking with, chuckled at the picture, and approached the two.

"Hehehe… I guess you are the famous Doctor Miles Prower? The CEO and Founder of Miles Electronics company?" She asked as Miles then adjusted his clothes and looked at the woman.

"Well, that's… that's not really important, but… yes." He said, as he reached his hand out at her, which she gladly shook; "And you…"

"I am Ponyville's Mayor Mare." She introduced herself; "I was looking for an opportunity to thank you for your inventions which helped us to go through this crisis."

"Eh?" Miles moaned, confused, as he then looked at Big. The cat-guy smiled widely.

"I brought some of your equipment here." He said as he pointed out at the farther corner of the room, where Tails saw the whole server radar system, radio station, supercomputer. He blinked his eyes as he went there to see if it's real or not. Fluttershy followed him quietly, as she then said quietly "Hi" to Big, and Mayor Mare. The two then stopped in front of it. Miles saw the equipment working well enough, even though it was plugged in for a battery, which was used in his new planes.

He then looked at Big; "You built this yourself?" He asked, as Big shook his head and pointed towards the table.

"No." He confessed; "Doctor Turner here knows the IT technologies much better than me."

The brown colored stallion with black hair saluted at Tails with a smirk; "Hi there." He said. Miles waved him in reply as he then looked back at the computer. He then sighed as he smiled and looked at Big. He then approached him slowly.

"Good job." He said, and as a reply, he got a nod from Big.

Mayor then stepped into a conversation, and spoke; "Ummm, Fluttershy… Mr Prower…" He called out, as she made them turn their gazes at her; "Tell me, please, what happened to you? We all want to know what is happening outside of Ponyville."

---

And so, the LTBC is still on, and I will take everything I have, but I will finish the story, but yet, the story is still long way to go before it's finale. To tell you the truth, sometimes I think of dropping it, but that's not my nature. I must finish what I started, and I don't care if less people will read it. And so... please be ready to see my new update whenever it ready.

STAY IN POWER!