My name is Jack Daniels. Or, at least it used to be before I was transformed into the Ultimate Life Form, Shadow the Hedgehog, and shipped off to a more technologically advanced version of Equestria, where the ponies walk on two legs, wear clothes, and still have their wings and horns and whatnot. I know what you're probably thinking, "Whoa, you became Shadow? Awesome!"  And well you'd be right. Except, anthropomorphic hedgehogs aren't exactly the same as anthropomorphic Unicorns, Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and alicorns so I do get a few looks every now and again, especially when me and Gilda go out for date night. Also, learning to use those Chaos Powers is really, really hard. But, I digress.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering just how this all came to be. Well, I'll tell you. I was searching around eBay for some Sonic the Hedgehog and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic merchandise, when I came across a listing for replicas of the red Chaos Emerald, Shadow's guns, some throwing knives and even a full-sized duplicate of his motorcycle for only $1,995. Naturally, being the Sonic fanboy I was, I couldn't refuse such an offer. In retrospect, I probably should've taken a closer look at the username of the guy who posted the listing: TheDisplacer666.

Anyways, the delivery truck with what I assumed were the guns and the Chaos Emerald arrives the next day. Which struck me as very, very weird, as  A: it was Sunday, B: You'd think guns would take a LOT longer to get through processing, and C: The delivery guys weirded me out a bit, as I hadn't even heard of DSP Shipping before then, and the guy who asked me to sign the packaging thingy wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked when the bike would arrive. But, I was getting some of my stuff, so I couldn't really complain.

Alas, all that excitement was for nothing, as when I opened the box, all that was in there was the Chaos Emerald. Angry, I grabbed the Chaos Emerald, ready to throw it at something. But, as soon as I touched the gem, everything went black...

...

In the darkness of a Canterlot alleyway, a male figure stirred. Just barely discernible, he appeared to be an anthropomorphic hedgehog with black fur and short black quills with red highlights, and wore black combat pants with a black leather belt with two specially designed pistols in their holsters, four throwing knives in their sheaths, and several other pouch that presumably held various other items, such as ammunition, a black leather trench coat, black leather gloves, and red-and-white shoes with what appeared to be rocket boosters in the bottoms. On his wrists and ankles were two golden bracelets and anklets. a tuft of white fur could be seen on his exposed chest. When his eyes flew open, it was revealed that they were a deep shade of crimson.

"Oh, Christ... what the hell happened last night? Someone get the number of that taxi," the hedgehog grumbled, his voice deep and gruff. He reached for the back of his head to rub it, only to get poked by his quills. "Ow! Son of a bitch!" he yelled.

The hedgehog felt the back of his head more carefully this time, and of course, came to the conclusion that he had quills. "What in the...?" he grumbled. A chill of suspicion running through him, the hedgehog looked around for something to check his reflection with, and managed to find a gleaming silver trashcan nearby.

His jaw dropped when he saw who was looking back at him. "What the... I'm Shadow the Hedgehog? How'd this happen?" Shadow asked himself. He knew it wasn't a dream, because if it were, the poke from his quills would've woken him up. Shadow then looked down at himself. "Whoa... cool outfit," he muttered. "Well, no use standing around in this alley. I better get out of here and see where the heck I am."

And so, Shadow did just that... and made an already crazy day even crazier.

Everywhere he looked not only seemed to have a purplish tint to it, but this whole city seemed to be populated with ponies that looked very similar to the ones he'd seen on My Little Pony... except, these ones seemed to walk on two legs, wore clothes and, judging by the fact that there seemed to be cars of some type driving down the streets, were far more advanced than the quadrupeds from the cartoon. And yet they still seemed to have the same qualities, such as wings and horns.

"Where the hell am I?" Shadow asked himself as he looked around the city, in in turn, a few of what Shadow deduced were wealthy Unicorns, stopped and looked at him, curious and in a few cases, fearful, expressions on their faces. A look at the sky revealed the source of the purple tint was in fact a large purple dome that presumably encased the entire city of... wherever he was.

"Hey, you! Halt!"

Shadow whirled around to find that a band of bipedal Unicorns and Pegasi clad golden armor and helmets that reminded him gladiators. Except, this armor also looked a bit more on the modern side. These soldiers also carried swords of some type.

"What is that thing? Some kind of emo mutant porcupine?" one of the soldiers whispered to one of his fellows.

"I don't know... can you understand me?" the lead soldier said slowly and carefully to Shadow.

"Uh, yeah. I mean, you're speaking plain English, so why wouldn't I understand you?" asked Shadow, irritation in his voice.

"What's an english?" one of the soldiers whispered to another, only to get a shrug in response.

"Yes, well, then perhaps you understand the meaning of the words, 'you're under arrest,'" replied the lead soldier.

"And what the hell am I supposed to have done?"

"We have reason to believe that you're the one responsible for making an anonymous threat against Canterlot, and have therefore declared hostile intentions against Equestria and all ponies of our land. Now, will surrender peacefully, or do we have to use force?" the leader soldier said, his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword.

Shadow closed his eyes and gave a soft, barely audible chuckle. So, he really was in the magical land of ponies, albeit one that had some modern technology within it. Not only that, but he had a sneaking suspicion about WHEN he was in Equestria as well.

"Very well, then... I'll come with you. On one condition: you gotta catch me first!" said Shadow, and with a click of his heels, his Hover Shoes started up, and he began to skate away from the guards.

"After him!" yelled the lead soldier.

And we’re off! Shadow thought to himself with a smirk as the soldiers were rushing after him. Smirking he then turned around and shouted “CHAOS CONTROL!” and it worked... only a little too well as he soon ran into a car that stopped in middle of the street due to him stopping time itself. “Ow… okay I need to practice that stuff,” said Shadow as he slowly got up. However, as he got up, Chaos Control wore off and he was smacked into a building by a nearby pegasus.

“SORRY! I DIDN’T MEAN IT!” yelled the pegasus and Shadow looked at her... and saw that she was gray, had a blonde mane and tail, wore a mailman's outfit, and her eyes were crossed.

“Wait… my little brother mentioned... are you... are you Derpy?”

Derpy nodded her head. "Why, yes it is. Derpy Hooves," said Derpy with a smile, before she frowned. "How did you know my name? Are you from the Pony Express? I swear I just don't know what went wrong!"

"No! I'm not from the Pony Express!" said Shadow, before noticing that there were a few soldiers outside, most likely looking for him. "But, I am in a bit of a hurry, so if you could move over so I can get out of here, that'd be great."

"Huh? Oh, yes," said Derpy, as she moved out of the way. Shadow then got up, click his heels, but before he could go anywhere, Derpy called out. "Hey, Mister! Er, you ARE a mister, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"Is that red rock yours?"

Shadow seemed puzzled for a moment, before he saw where Derpy was pointing. Was that...?

"The Chaos Emerald?" whispered Shadow, picking up the red jewel. Much to his disappointment, nothing happened, save for the feeling of becoming stronger.

Derpy looked even more bemused than usual. "Uh... I'm pretty sure that's a ruby, not an emerald. Then again, I've been hit in the head a lot, so that could be a sapphire for all I know," she said.

"All right, I've dawdled long enough. I need to get outta here before-"

"Don't move, freak!"

Shadow turned around to find that two of the soldiers, who he now suspected were actually Royal Guardsponies, were standing there, swords drawn, and in the case of the Unicorn, horn glowing.

"You're coming with us," said the Unicorn.

Shadow smirked. "Come and get me," he said, his hand clasped tight on the Chaos Emerald behind his back.

With a glance at each other, the two Royal Guardsponies charged at Shadow, who simply smirked and said, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The red emerald in his hand cast a bright light at these words. Only this time, instead of freezing time, Shadow felt an inexplicable pull onwards to who-knew-where, before coming to an abrupt halt on an intersection a good five or six block away. With his enhanced hearing and eyesight, Shadow could see the Guards back at the building, and from the sound of it, they were confused as to what had just happened, almost as much as Shadow himself was.

I don't get it... before, Chaos Control froze time, now it teleported me? I thought it'd be easy to be the Ultimate Life Form- thought Shadow before another voice in his mind spoke up.

What part of "easy" applies to me exactly, Jack?

Shadow gave an audible gasp, before he looked around and found no one.

Don't bother, Jack. I'm not there... now, we should probably get moving. We wouldn't want to get ourselves arrested on suspicion of war crimes, now would we?

Who are you? Answer me! demanded Shadow.

Now is not the time. We've got company.

Shadow turned and looked behind him. Sure enough, there was another group of Royal Guardsponies heading for him. But, the one leading them seemed different from the rest. He wore purple armor with golden highlights, complete with matching gauntlets, helmet with blue horsehairs,and boots. The upper parts of the arms of his armor were black, but were gold and purple from the elbows down. On this stallion's belt was an elegant ceremonial sword, and on the chest of his armor was an emblem of a purple shield with a magenta starburst in the center.

Shadow immediately recognized who this stallion was. Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard. And if he was right about when he was in Equestria, then he was also the unwitting fiancè of "Princess Mi Amorè Cadenza."

"So, you must be the giant porcupine who's been giving my ponies the slip all morning," said Shining, his hand wandering towards his sword.

"Hedgehog, actually. But, everyone makes that mistake," said Shadow casually.

"Is that so? Well, then, hedgehog. I'm going to have to either take you in or take you down. The choice of which one is entirely up to you," said Shining Armor, drawing his sword as he spoke.

"Because of that threat I've apparently made against Canterlot, right?" asked Shadow.

“How do you know about the threat?” asked Shining as he slowly circled Shadow.

“Look, I don’t have time for this, okay? Your wedding is going to be a sham. Bad things are a knockin’ Shining Armor...”

“What do you mean, my wedding’s going to be a sham? You better start talking before I have to take you down,” said Shining Armor, pointing his sword directly at Shadow’s chest.

“Well, sorry, Shiny, but I’m not squealin’. Besides, would you REALLY believe what I have to say? I don’t think you would,” said Shadow.

“Then, you leave me no choice.”

And with that, Shining Armor charged at Shadow, who got out of the way of the Captain’s first swing. At this Shadow tried to counter but soon found the Captain was much faster than him with a knee aiming right for his gut followed by his other fist decking him in the face. Shadow tried to stand up but he still got his ass kicked. He only got lucky once when he kicked the sword out of Shining’s hand…. looking back he REALLY should’ve let Shining keep it since it was giving him a slight edge in the fight. Finally Shining ended with bringing Shadow’s head directly towards his knee causing his nose to bleed since it was slightly busted.

“What a waste,” said Shining said as Shadow laid upon the ground. “Take him to the dungeons. I’ll stop by a little later to interrogate him and see what he knows about the threat. Something tells me he knows who’s behind it. Oh, and be sure to patch him up.”

As Royal Guards gathered around Shadow and picked him up by his arms, the black hedgehog passed out.

Next Chapter: Interrogations and Introductions Estimated time remaining: 21 Minutes