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Chapter 4: Magic on Mobius (ReVamp!)
Location: GUN headquarters

Shadow was, overall, pleased with how the mission turned out. True, it didn’t go exactly as he had thought it would- not at all like he thought it would, actually-and he had technically failed it altogether. But still, Shadow doubted the Commander would mind all that much when he returned having not only foiled Robotnik’s latest plan, but with a Chaos Emerald in hand. After taking the still unconscious Portal Girl to the infirmary, he, Rouge, and the other dozen members of the recon mission headed over to the Commander’s office to deliver their report. The walk to his office was oddly silent, as the other members of the mission seemed to be deep in thought. Shadow was in a similar state, his mind still buzzing with questions about Portal Girl and how much of a potential threat she was. His ponderings were interrupted when they reached the Commander’s door.

With three quick knocks and a responding “Enter,” the group entered the Commander’s office. The Commander didn’t look up from the paper he was writing on for a while, leaving the group in a stiff, uncomfortable silence. Finally, he sighed and looked up from his paper, a slight grimace on his face. “Shadow, report.”

“Sir, we failed the reconnaissance mission,” Shadow said promptly. The Commander let out another sigh, as if expecting this failure, but perked up as Shadow continued, “However, we did manage to foil Robotnik’s most recent plan, destroy his base, and acquire a Chaos Emerald,” pulling it from his quills as he said so. The Commander’s eyes widened for a moment in disbelief before he regained his composure. “Soldiers, you are dismissed. Shadow and Rouge, you stay,” he commanded. The soldiers each saluted before filing silently out of the room, leaving the three to continue their business with a bit more privacy. The Commander leaned forward, fingers tented as he stared down at two of his top agents. “Tell me everything.”

-------------At the same(-ish) time, same(-ish) place-------------

“You must retrieve…“

“…destiny…“

“…forgive…”

“…destroy…”

“…true to yourself...”

“No! She cannot-“

“Princess!”

“TWILIGHT!”

“SPIKE!” Twilight yelled, flailing slightly as she accidentally flung herself off of whatever she was laying on. After landing face first on a hard surface, Twilight groaned. That was going to leave a mark. She lifted her head up to take a look at her surroundings, absentmindedly noting that the way her neck stretched felt quite odd compared to how it normally was. After a quick look around, she concluded that she was in some variety of hospital room, and had woken up from a rather odd nightmare and fallen off her cot.

Well, at least she vaguely knew where she was. The question now was how she had ended up there. That was still a little fuzzy. She remembered the letter from Celestia… trying to cast that spell… Ah, that must be it. The spell must’ve backfired and injured me somehow, landing me in a hospital, Twilight realized, disappointed in herself. She knew making mistakes was a natural, normal part of learning something new, but to screw up so badly that she landed herself in the hospital was pretty discouraging. Still, if anything, she was persistent. Once she received a clean bill of health, she would try it again as many times as she needed to get it right.

Nodding to herself, Twilight tried to get back on her hooves, only to fumble onto her face again, off-balance and disoriented. I must’ve been out for a while if I can’t even stand up properly, Twilight mentally groaned. That spell must’ve backfired worse than I thought, though I don’t feel like I’m in any real pain (except for my face, ouch). Maybe the damage was more mental than it was physical. That would explain that insane dream I had. Chaos Emeralds… anthropomorphic creatures… legendary quests… exploding buildings… Ancient Walkers… and hands, of all things… “Absolutely ridiculous,” she snorted, bringing a hoof to her head in an attempt to ease the mildly throbbing pain in her horn. As she did, however, something made her pause and reconsider her situation.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, I’m still dreaming!” she shouted in frustration, pulling on her mane with her hands. Yes, hands. Not hooves, hands. She couldn’t believe it! This was just like that stupid dream she’d had a while ago where she’d become an Alicorn princess and gone through a mirror portal to fight Sunset Shimmer and save her Element of Harmony. Her, become a princess? Absurd! Though, come to think of it, that dream happened after a different spell backfired… Maybe when large scale, complex spells backfire, they produce strange dreams? It’s something I’ll have to research when I wake up… she thought absently. The problem here being figuring out how to wake up. Let’s see… Twilight stood up and began pacing around her cot, slightly off balance at first due to her new center of gravity, but quickly adapting thanks to her previous dream.

“I researched different ways to awaken from a dream in Ponyville after that one weird one. The first one was…” She glanced around the room, quickly finding what she was looking for. “…To look in a mirror!” Twilight stood in front of the door and stared intently at her reflection. To her surprise, she looked nothing like she had in her previous dream. Whereas in her previous dream, she was tall, skinny, and had really long arms and legs, her current form was vastly different. True, she still had arms and legs, but she was much shorter in comparison to the objects around her. Right around three feet tall, she estimated, assuming the cots’ heights to be of Equestrian standards. Not too different from her normal height on four hooves, actually. She also had hooves and her horn this time around, to her immense relief. At least some things stayed the same between this form and her usual pony one.

A lot of them, actually, now that she got a closer look. She still had her mane styled in the way it usually was. Same with her tail, though it wasn’t quite as long or gravity defying as before, coming to an end just a bit above her ankles. She still had her lavender fur. Her brow blended in with the rest of her fur, though protruded just slightly (having eyebrows that were a different color from her fur was so disorienting. She found herself focusing on them instead of others’ eyes when they were talking in the other dream.) And her muzzle, though much less protruding in this anthropomorphic form, was still definitely present. Her ears maintained their natural shape instead of going to the side of her head, and they looked much more natural in her current form than they had in her other bipedal one. Maybe she even had her cutie mark? A quick peek at her rump showed that she unfortunately did not have it. At least, not on her hindquarters. It did appear to be on the back of her hands, though. Or rather, the back of her gloves.

She sighed. It looked like some things hadn’t changed with her dream form. The annoying lumps of fat that she’d had on her chest seemed to have grown slightly, much to her ire. They were completely useless and unnecessary and uncomfortable and she despised them. And she still had clothes, though in Twilight’s opinions, these were better than what she had worn before. She didn’t have any shoes or stockings, but she did have gloves. The dress she wore was an odd, yet appealing blue and green swirl that originated around her stomach and spiraled out from there. It was also much shorter and looser than her previous set of clothes, ending just a few inches below her tail and having thin straps for sleeves. It felt nice to feel the air against her fur, rather than have it constantly covered up. It was one of the reasons she didn’t wear clothes too often. Besides that, regardless of what Rarity said, clothes were rather impractical and more often than not just got in the way of whatever she was doing. Still, she started out wearing clothes, so she would have to wear them until she figured out a way to get out of this dream.

Speaking of, the mirror trick hadn’t worked, to her dismay. Her reflection was supposed to be all blurry and make her physical body realize it was wrong and wake her up. It should have worked. On the other hand, it didn’t work in her previous dream either, considering she’d looked at her reflection in several panes of glass without waking up. Still she had other methods she could try. Killing herself was not a particularly appealing one, so she put that at the end of her mental list as a last ditch effort. Running into a wall was an option, though that didn’t work in her other dream, either. Come to think of it, none of the standard procedures for waking up from a dream worked in her first weird dream. Maybe because it was a backfired spell dream? Maybe she would just have to ride the dream out until it let her go back to her waking life?

Wait a second! Celestia gave me a mission in both my dreams! Maybe if I complete the mission, I’ll get to wake up! It worked in the other dream, after all. Though she wasn’t exactly happy that it came down to that, she wasn’t particularly eager to try killing her dream self, and she would eventually wake up, so might as well enjoy the ride. Besides, she knew that she was dreaming this time, so she was way ahead of the game.

Feeling confident, Twilight strode towards the door, ready to face the dream world laid out before her.

-------------Minutes in the past, but not many-------------

“…I see.” Shadow, with some help from Rouge, had just finished recounting every little detail of the mission, from his personal impression of the soldiers to taking the Portal Girl to the infirmary before going to his office. The Commander listened to his tale in silence, not saying a word or visibly reacting at anything said throughout. “Those men will definitely need to go through training again, or perhaps change squads. And I will take your other suggestions for future reconnaissance missions into consideration. I commend you for taking out Robotnik’s base and retrieving the Chaos Emerald, which GUN will now place under its immediate protection,” the Commander said, taking the gem from Shadow’s hand. “I am, however, curious about this Portal Girl you described. You two have seen her in action. Tell me, how much of a threat do you think she poses?”

“…In my honest opinion, sir, she could potentially pose a significant threat,” Shadow said, surprising both Rouge and the Commander. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, of course, but a threat nonetheless. Aside from the fact that Eggman summoned her as the supposedly ‘Ultimate Lifeform’, she appears to possess some form of magic that we do not yet know the limits of. She managed to prevent me from attacking and form a massive, impenetrable shield for a sustained period of time. Who knows what else she could be capable of? Her intentions seem to be good, but I’ve had less than a minute of interaction with her, so I’m a bit skeptical. She also knows about the Chaos Emeralds, which is worrisome, as she is apparently from another dimension,” Shadow explained. He may have felt some empathy for the girl when there was the possibility she could’ve been turned into a living weapon, but when that was eliminated, so was any pity he had for her. He did have a begrudging respect for her apparent power, but that only went so far.

The Commander nodded thoughtfully. “We will need to be careful, then. I’ll interrogate her, see what she knows and what her intentions are. Until then, we’ll be walking on egg shells with her. We don’t want to make any unnecessary enemies. That means you have to play nice,” the Commander said in a mock scolding fashion. Rouge chuckled while Shadow simply rolled his eyes and looked away. “You said you left her in the infirmary? Bring her here for interrogation when she wakes up.” The two nodded and turned, not bothering to salute as they left the room. “Remember, play nice!” the Commander called out just before the door closed behind them. Rouge nudged Shadow.

“He was definitely referring to you, hun.”

“Oh, and I suppose you’re just the sweetest, most innocent person ever,” Shadow responded sarcastically, making his way to the infirmary with Rouge beside him.

“I never said I was,” Rouge smirked, “but at least I know how to play nice.”

“Yeah, well… whatever,” Shadow grumbled, not able to think of a good retort. Rouge said nothing, knowing she’d won this round, before frowning slightly.

“Do you really think that one girl could be such a big threat?” Rouge asked. Shadow shrugged.

“It could go either way. She could either be the bane of humanity or no more dangerous than a butterfly. After that little display in the base, though, it’s better to play it safe and not go rushing head first into things,” Shadow stated coolly.

“So, not do what you did for the entirety of the mission, then?” Rouge snickered.

Shadow held his breath for a moment before exhaling in an attempt to calm himself. He had to play nice. Sometimes he hated the fact that Rouge was about as sassy as he was sarcastic, even if she was right.

He decided it wasn’t worth the effort to respond and instead let his mind wander back to his current objective: Portal Girl. His curiosity about her was positively overwhelming. There wasn’t a lot of things he didn’t know, or couldn’t quickly learn, being the Ultimate Lifeform and all. He made it his business to always be in the know to prevent being taken advantage of, which had unfortunately happened an inexcusable number of times in the past. Being in the know gave him a feeling of power.

This Portal Girl had made him feel like he was not in the know. She knew of the Chaos Emeralds. While this information wasn’t something he didn’t already know, the fact that she knew it in spite of being from a different dimension, was worrisome. She also seemed to have some sort of mission to protect the Chaos Emeralds from falling into the wrong hands. He wasn’t entirely sure on that point - he had exchanged barely two dozen words with her- but he was fairly certain that she was here for a reason. A reason he did not know.

Hence, when he and Rouge finally reached the door to the Infirmary room Portal Girl rested in, he had taken on a wary, yet confident air, hoping to glean whatever information he could from her before taking her to be interrogated by the Commander. The more he was in the know, the better off he was.

Nodding to himself in an act of self-assurance, he grasped the handle of the door and practically slammed it open, hoping to wake the potentially unconscious girl with the loud clang of the metal door against the wall. But instead of the obnoxious clang he had expected, all he got was a-

THUNK

“Ooph! Why is it always the horn?…”

Shadow blinked for a moment before stepping fully into the room and looking behind the door. From the way Portal Girl was sitting on the floor and rubbing at her forehead, Shadow assumed she must’ve been about to open the door herself when he’d slammed it into her face. He glanced away, having the decency to feel somewhat abashed by his actions and the somewhat… revealing position Portal Girl was sitting in. “…Sorry,” he coughed awkwardly, extending a hand in apology. The whole ‘play nice’ thing was not off to a great start.

Portal Girl looked up at him, somewhat surprised, before shaking her head and smiling sweetly. “It’s alright,” she said brightly, taking his hand and helping herself up. “It was as much my fault for standing right behind the door as it was yours for opening it in my face. Though you may want to consider not slamming it open next time,” she added with a chuckle. Shadow was slightly taken aback by her cheeriness. Anyone else in the base, especially him, would’ve snapped angrily at the offending party, maybe even providing several obscenities. Perhaps this would be easier than he’d originally thought.

“Anyways, how can I help you?” Twilight asked with an interested smile, unknowingly slipping back into her librarian routine. She had to act as if all of this was perfectly normal, like she was a part of this world, and just go with the flow if she ever wanted to wake up. As such, she managed to restrain herself from asking about their odd forms, names, cultures, knowledge, and other such things that she was naturally curious about. She just had to blend in. And, between the different sentient species she’d seen so far and her current form, she’d probably do just fine.

“We’ve got a few questions that need answers,” Shadow said, getting straight to the point.

Twilight nodded. “Well, I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have.”

“First off-“

“What’s your name, hun?” Rouge asked, interrupting Shadow. Shadow cut a sharp look at Rouge before letting her begrudgingly take over the ‘small talk’ portion of the introduction. He simply wasn’t cut out for playing nice. Taking over, Rouge linked her arm through Twilight’s and began pulling her down the hall, Shadow keeping pace next to Rouge.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. And you are?”

“I’m Rouge, and that guy right there is Mr. Emo,” Rouge said. Shadow crossed his arms and looked away with a derisive snort. “Shadow,” he corrected.

“I see. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you two, but… where exactly are we? And how did we get here? I remember that building exploding, then I used a shield spell and… I passed out?”

“I’d say that sums it up. After you passed out, we took you with us back to GUN headquarters. Right now, we’re headed to the Commander’s office,” Rouge explained.

“Right. Sorry about that,” Twilight apologized, feeling somewhat awkward. “Maintaining that shield was a bit strenuous.”

“It’s no big deal, honey,” Rouge said with a wave. “You did help us find that Chaos Emerald, after all. Do you know how annoying it would’ve been to search through all that rubble for that one little gem? Sure saved us a lot of trouble.”

“How did you do that, by the way?” Shadow asked, seeing an opportunity to get some information from Portal Girl.

Twilight suddenly looked a little nervous. “I… er… used my gem finding spell…?” she said hesitantly.

Rouge’s eyes seemed to turn into dollar signs at hearing that. Before she could say anything though, Shadow covered her mouth with his hand. They turned back to normal as she glared at the offending hedgehog. Shadow, predictably, ignored her. “Why so hesitant?” he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. Maybe this wouldn’t be as easy as he thought.

“I’m… uh… not from around here! Everybody’s a bit- er- different where I’m from. I just thought I would seem a little… odd,” she explained haltingly.

“No odder than the rest of us, sugar,” Rouge said, removing Shadow’s hand from her mouth. “And of course you’re not from around here. You came through the Doctor’s Dimension Portal.”

“Oh.” Twilight blinked, surprised. “So you already know I’m not from… here?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, it’s not exactly normal for people to just appear in front of you at random,” Rouge said. Shadow coughed. “Not normal at all,” she emphasized, smirking at the slight frown on Shadow’s face.

“Okay…” Twilight trailed off awkwardly. She had so many questions she wanted to ask them about this place since they knew she wasn’t a resident, but then again, it wasn’t as if it was real. Why bother learning about a world and culture that doesn’t actually exist? “So…”

Seeing a chance to gather more information from Portal Girl (yes he knew her name was Twilight, no he didn’t really care), Shadow took it. “So, what can you do with your magic?” Shadow asked.

Twilight perked up. “I’m glad you asked! I know all sorts of magic!” Though I’m not sure what carried over to this dream… “I know basic and advanced levitation spells, teleportation spells, time travel spells, you name it, I either know it or can find a book on it,” she claimed proudly. “Though I still have a lot left to learn,” she added. “Does anybody here know magic?”

“Not ‘magic’ per se… more like energy manipulation,” Shadow replied. “There are several Mobians, myself included, with the ability to channel the positive atmospheric Chaos energy and use it in a manner similar to your magic, though with much less variety.” Shadow noticed Portal Girl visibly stiffen at the mention of ‘Chaos energy’.

“Chaos energy? As in energy that comes from disharmony and pandemonium?” Twilight said slowly, hoping that she hadn’t made a grave mistake in trusting Shadow with the Chaos Emerald.

“That would be negative Chaos Energy you’re referring to. It corrupts the mind and body of whoever channels it, not to mention its instability makes it just as likely to hurt your enemies as it is yourself,” he explained.

Twilight sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. I was worried for a second there that I trusted the wrong person with a Chaos Emerald.”

“Yes, that would be a cause for worry,” Shadow agreed. “But that reminds me. If you’re from another dimension… how do you know about the-”

“We’re here!” Rouge announced, knocking on the Commander’s door. Shadow, though having a cool façade, threw a bit of a tantrum internally. I was this close to getting some answers! This close! Shadow raged.

“What’s here?” Twilight asked.

“The Commander’s office,” Rouge answered, knocking on the door. “He wanted to meet you after hearing about how you saved all of those men,” she added, flattering Twilight outrageously. (Why is everybody so much better at playing nice? Shadow wondered absently.)

A tinny, “Come in,” came from the room. Calm down, Shadow thought, taking a deep breath before opening the door. He would still have plenty of opportunity to learn about the Portal Girl from the interrogation with the Commander. He needed to keep his cool.

“Well, if it isn’t Shadow, Rouge, and our guest!” the Commander proclaimed happily. (Even the Commander can play nice when he wants to. How does that even work?) Standing from his desk and walking over to the trio, he extended his hand towards Twilight. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?”

“Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle. And the pleasure is mine, sir,” Twilight said, shaking his hand firmly.
“Nonsense!” the Commander barked. “Why, without you, that mission would’ve been a complete disaster. I owe you my gratitude, Ms. Sparkle. You saved me a lot of time and men,” the Commander said, smiling gratefully. (He’s really getting way too into this whole play nice thing.)

“Oh, it was nothing, just a little shield spell and gem finding spell,” Twilight said, flustered. “Anybody would’ve done the same if they could’ve.”

“Yes…” the Commander said slowly. “But then again… not very many people could have done what you did, hmm? Shadow, Rouge, would you two mind waiting outside? I think Ms. Sparkle and I need to have a chat.”