Healing

by CalmHeart

Coated in Moonlight

As the days passed, Shadow's injuries got better and better. Pinkie and Shadow's relationship was at an all-time high as well. And now, as Shadow could finally walk again, questions he had asked himself wanted to be known to the pink horse.

Right now, the sun was starting to set as Shadow walked through what the ponies called the Whitetail Woods.

Nature was the thing that relaxed him the most.

Up ahead, he noticed a small break in the forest, possibly leading to a field.

Suddenly, a blue blur was heading towards Shadow.

In an instant, Shadow knew who it was.

The blur stopped in front of him.

Now, in front of Shadow, the blue hedgehog, Sonic, stood with an optimistic smile.

"Shadow! You're here too? I'd knew you'd be okay!"

Shadow crossed his arms.

"Yeah. Of course I'm here."

Sonic pointed behind himself.

"Sliver and I were out trying to find Tails and Knuckles, but looks like we found you first."

Shadow let his arms rest.

Sliver was okay.

A huge weight was lifted off of Shadow's shoulders.

"He was really worried about you, actually."

Shadow entered the field.

It was a field of blue and yellow orchids, the sun's rays filling the clearing.

Sliver's eyes widened.

Silver started to smile huge.

"Shadow!"

Tears of relief started to seep from Silver's eyes.

"You're alive!"

Shadow smirked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Silver slowly started to chuckle, wiping the tears from his face.

"I kinda thought you died."

Shadow and Sliver walked nearer to each other.

Shadow chuckled with his reply.

"Well, actually, I almost did."

Sonic came up to listen to their conversation.

"What? Then how?" Silver asked, noting his unharmed physique.

"I had the biggest gash."

He ran his finger across his chest indicating where the gash was.

"here to here. I was practically going to bleed out."

Sonic and Silver grimaced with displeasure.

"But a pink pony found me, and took me in. She sowed me up and saved my life."

"Oh, so you went down to that little village too?" Sonic asked.

"Well, actually, I'm staying there at the moment. I still need a little more time to rest."

"Really? We met a few ponies in particular down there." Sonic told Shadow.

"Come to think of it, we were greeted by a certain pink pony." Silver put a hand on his chin.

"Did she have balloons on her?"

"That's the one." Shadow confirmed.

Sonic chuckled.

"You can't be serious."

Shadow crossed his arms.

"I am. What's it to you?"

"Well, she's... Pinkie pie! She was just so hyper and happy. Me and Silver thought you'd hate her for being so energetic." Sonic told him bluntly.

Shadow turned away from the two hedgehogs.

"I don't hate her sonic. She saved my life, if you didn't get the memo."

Sonic was about to speak when a thought popped up in his mind.

He chuckled, then started to laugh.

"Wait, wait, wait, don't tell me-"

He walked up to Shadow, and smirked.

"You like her!"

Shadow turned away from sonic, to silver.

Shadow's gaze softened.

Sliver's eyes widened.

He did.

"You totally have a crush on a pony!" Sonic laughed again, looking at Shadow, then to Sliver, waiting for a response.

Shadow closed his eyes, crossing his arms again. "My feelings are of no concern to you Sonic."

Sonic smirked. "Yeah sure Shadow, sure."

Shadow frowned at him, and looked down to the flowers.

"Hm." He walked past them, and examined a specific bunch of flowers.

Blue and yellow.

He glanced back at sonic and silver, whom were still looking at him.

Silver was concerned, while Sonic had a snarky smile on his face.

He looked back down. He sat down on his knees, and reached out to pick a handful of flowers.

"I care for her deeply."

Sonic and silver were taken aback at his blunt response.

He gazed at a particular blue orchid he picked.

"I'd do anything..."

He closed his eyes, and stood, holding one bunch of orchids.

"...Respect my decisions... Just as you do to me."

Sonic's expression turned to one of understanding.

"Of course Shadow."

Shadow was about to run off, before silver interrupted.

"Shadow!"

Shadow turned, and gazed at Silver.

Silver was smiling."I'm glad you found someone to make you happy."

Shadow glanced down.

And, he smiled. A smirky smile, but a genuine smile nonetheless.

He zipped away, leaving Silver and Sonic with their thoughts.

...

It was late evening, and the sky that was once tinted orange was turning into a dark blue, violet black.

The main 6 were at Applejack's barn, finishing helping Applejack clean up after a long day of work.

Pinkie Pie was dusting the barn doors with her tail, when a streak of yellow flew past.

Her friends saw it too.

Pinkie walked out of the barn, curious.

It zipped past again.

Pinkie was confused for a second, before she realized who had that streak.

Shadow now stood to the left of pinkie.

She turned, surprised. His cheeks, tinted red.

"Um, I was wondering if..."

He gently placed one of blue orchids into Pinkie's hair, next to her ear.

Pinkie gasped softly, and blushed lightly.

"If you'd might join me in stargazing on your balcony this evening?"

He presented the rest of the flowers to her.

She gasped again.

"Shadow..."

Shadow let her take the flowers to her chest. She looked down at them, then back up to Shadow.

"I'd love to."

Shadow smirked, pleased with her answer. "See you then."

He sped off, leaving Pinkie with a lovestruck smile.

She walked back into the barn.

"So?" Fluttershy asked.

Pinkie's smile grew enormously.

"Shadow asked me to go stargazing with him! "

Her friends grinned. Pinkie had told them all about her little rescue mission, and her close friendship with the hedgehog.

"On my, darling, He's... He's asked you on a date! " Rarity exclaimed, grinning.

Pinkie began bouncing up and down, still holding the flowers.

"I know! I know!"

Rainbow dash chuckled. "He's even got you flowers."

Pinkie stopped bouncing, and looked at the flowers.

"I know."

"Well, we y'all wish you the best of luck, Pinkie." Applejack said, tilting her hat.

"He's been nothing but nice to you, so it should go well for you." Twilight walked up to her and gave her a supportive hug. The rest of her friends joined in, but soon they had to let go.

"Thanks guys!" Pinkie thanked her friends for their support, and bounced out of the barn, heading to Sugarcube corner.

...

When Pinkie Pie entered her room, all was silent, except for a soft singing voice; quiet but powerful.

Pinkie smiled softly. Though she couldn't hear the lyrics exactly, his voice was the calm and collected one she'd dreamt about.

The closer she got to the balcony, the more hushed his singing voice became.

When she got to the balcony doors, Shadow had his hands on the balcony's edge, looking up to the stars. He wasn't singing anymore.

Shadow knew she was here.

"Hi Pinkie."

She smiled small.

"Hi Shadow."

She walked over to him and both stood close to one another, starring up at the dotted sky.

"Have you ever stargazed?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. Sometimes Twilight shows me the different constellations."

She pointed to different ones.

"That one is Starswirl's Belt. The one above that is Gusty the Great, near Gusty's bow."

Shadow blinked. These constellations felt... familiar.

Pinkie continued pointing out more.

"Over there, is Luna's Painting. To the north, is what ponies are now calling Twilight's Star."

Finally, she pointed to two constellations Shadow recognized instantly.

"And right there, of course, is the big dipper and the little dipper."

Shadow softly chuckled.

"You know,"

Pinkie turned her head to him.

"We have the dipper constellations on my world too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. In fact... I think we have all these in my world. Just different names."

It was Shadow's turn to point out the constellations, in the same order as Pinkie.

"That first one is Orion's Belt. Next to it, Orion with his bow. The cluster is the Milky Way. And that bright star... It's the North Star."

These names filled pinkie full of wonder.

They were silent for a second.

"Who taught you astronomy?"

Shadow was quiet, before responding.

"An old friend of mine did. That was one of the many things we did. Studying stars."

Pinkie nodded.

" I like the names. They're pretty."

Shadow put a hand on her neck, under her hair, making pinkie blush.

"...I think your names are more pretty."

Shadow turned to meet her eyes.

"Just like you."

They both blushed. Pinkie smiled softly, Shadow returning the same smile.

He turned to stare out into Ponyville.

"Pinkie?"

"Yeah?"

"If somepony told you that they loved you, romantically, what would you say to them?"

There was another moment of silence before her reply.

"That depends on the guy who's asking."

Shadow turned back to face Pinkie.

She was smiling sweetly.

"Is that guy you, Shadow?"

Shadow blushed a wine red. He looked down.

"...Yes."

Pinkie put a hoof under his chin, making his head shoot up in surprise.

"Then I do too."

Shadow was in shock. His mouth hanged agape.

She... Loved him too?

Pinkie smiled softly, and...

Kissed him.

Shadow's eyes widened.

They... Were... Kissing!

His eyes slowly drooped closed, and they kissed with a fiery passion.

This was happening.

They both gave a happy and relieved hum.

They knew how they felt about the other.

And both could never be more happy.

Finally, they departed, both smiling shyly.

Slowly, they both began to laugh softly, relief settling in.

Pinkie pie giggled softly. "That just happened."

"Yeah." Shadow simply replied.

Shadow led Pinkie Pie into an embrace, Pinkie obliging and pulling him down to sit together.

They both hugged for some time.

Pinkie let go of the embrace, stood up, and held a hoof out to Shadow.

"Come on. I need somebody as soft as me to snuggle right now."

Shadow had a meek smile as he took her hoof and stood, the duo walking into her room and over to her bed.

They got comfortable in bed, and held each other close.

"By the way, what was that song you where singing?"

"Would you like to hear me sing it?"

"Yes, please."

This was the first time that Shadow felt completely happy since his days on the ARK.

Author's Note:

If you're wondering, the song he sings is Strike Gently (acoustic ver.) By Dirty Heads or Love and Feeling live session by Chet Faker, couldn't decide which. I hope you enjoyed! Write you later!