Yo-Kai Watch: The mystery of Springdale

by Tythen

Chapter 1: Into Springdale

Scootaloo and First woke up as if they felt the train was slowing down.

"Are we there yet?" Scootaloo asked,

"It was a very long trip," Flash answered "but we are here, welcome to Springdale." As the foals looked out of the window, the sight that they took in was beyond compare. Everywhere around them were many high-rise buildings. On the ground, they saw brilliantly paved pavements and roads. Many of the wagons seem to run faster than the ones in Ponyville. Everywhere around them, it was truly a modern and futuristic-like civilisation.

"Wow!" First exclaimed, "I never knew this place was beautiful!"

"Man, I wish everypony back home could see what happened to Springdale. Once a remote place with hardly any housing, now a large town! It feels like we're living in actual Neighpon." Scootaloo added,

"I see you're still homesick" Flash noticed,

"Just worried about our friends."

"Do not fear. As I send reports back to the Princess, you may also send letters back to Miss Belle, Miss Bloom and everypony else. Better yet, you can use the magic they have to do that nowadays."

"Sir" one of the guards approached, "we have now arrived at Springdale Central Station. Good luck on your mission, and may Celestia bless you."

"Thanks soldier" Flash saluted back "come on guys, we're heading to our new home."

---

"This is Downtown Springdale" Flash introduced "the Central Business District of the City. It's where most ponies work, be it office-work, retail or food and beverage. I'll be mostly hanging around here for investigation."

"It's super busy around here" Scootaloo looked around, "tons of ponies!"

"Are we living here by the way?" First continued the list of questions.

"Nope, this place is very noisy. There is a large residential area in this city, where it's much quieter and friendlier, that is Uptown Springdale."

"This place still looks cool and amazing. If everypony in Ponyville lived here, I would call this place home straight away!" Scootaloo replied,

"what about our house back in Ponyville?" Flash countered "is it possible to move it all the way over here?"

"Touché..."

---

The trip to Uptown Springdale wasn't long and tiring as no sooner did they cross the road found themselves at the border between the two districts. Uptown Springdale was in fact what Flash had said. There were no High-rise buildings, but a large residential area with mostly two story houses and a few shops around here. The number of Ponies milling around were far less than Downtown.

"Huh, you are right. There's not a lot of ponies here. There's enough space to play!" First looked around,

"There are three residential districts in Springdale: Uptown Springdale, Blossom Heights and Breezy Hills. Then there is the commercial districts of Shopper's Row and Downtown Springdale. You'll sometimes find a few stores around in the city that can sell numerous things."

"Like what?"

"In this area, there is a 24-hour convenience store which can sell numerous items as well as buying items that you don't need. There is also a few food-exclusive stores such as a Bakery for bread or a Wet market for seafood."

"Umm... Okay?"

"I just want you guys to know the place as much as I do." Flash explained, "here's our house right now!"

"Woah..." The young foals looked at the house before them. Unlike their family house, this one housed two different floors and was coated in a brilliant white. The roof was tiled with multiple colours and patterns of orange. It was as the house was designed and built just for them.

"This house is beautiful!!!" First gasped,

"Still won't beat our own home," Flash chuckled as he pulled out a key and opened the front door. "You guys want to come in?"

---

The interior of the house was just as beautiful as it was outside. The flooring was made with wood all glazed and polished. The walls look spotless and clean. The house was a big step up in what they had in Ponyville in every way, shape and form.

"Amazing!" Scootaloo squeaked with excitement as she looked around the first floor. The entrance hall which has two doors that led to a specific room and a flight of stairs going up to the second floor. Upon entering the house, the left door led to the bathroom which was separated into three further rooms. One was the toilet area while the other was where the bathtub resides as well as a mysterious tall cubicle to which the kids learned that it was called a 'shower'. The third room acts as the bridge for those two rooms and the entrance hall, though there is a sink located between the two doors for those to wash their hands. The right door is the living room and the kitchen combined. Apart from the usual kitchen sink, dining table and lounge, the room housed many more interesting items. The fridge was able to also dispense fresh water along with keeping certain foods cold and frozen, there was a small terrace area that also leads to a garden with a tall tree. The most interesting of all, is the black rectangular shaped item that was seated near the wall.

"That is a television." Flash explained, "it can produce animated screens for your display and perception. There are different images depending on what 'channel' you tune it to. Everything can be handled with that device on the coffee table." He pointed towards a black small sphere. Behind the lounge where the TV is facing is a sliding door that leads to a small bedroom. It was small, but it looked very comfy.

"This will be my room from now on." Flash continued "though I will be mostly out during the day, I'll mostly be hanging out around here. Just knock if you need me."

"So, where are we staying?" Scootaloo asked,

"You'll find out now, up the stairs!"

---

The second floor had a pathway to a sole door standing across the tiny hallway. As the group opened it, the room inside was vast and filled with everything the siblings needed. Separate study desks, separate wardrobes and separate beds. On the plus side, there was plenty of room for both of the children. On the minus side...

"We're sharing the room," Scootaloo's spoke in disappointment.

"Sorry about that," Flash shrugged, rubbing his head.

"I can't do it!" First complained "Big Sis always snores so much!"

"Excuse me?" Scootaloo glared,

"You do!"

"I do not!"

"Do!"

"Do not!"

"SILENCE!!!" Flash commanded with a loud roar. The two kids immediately closed their mouths out with fear and surprise.

"When I was out in the field, I always had to share tents with my other fellow guards, and you know how small they are."

"Okay big bro..." Scootaloo nodded,

"Sorry for fighting big bro!" First bowed in apology,

"Don't worry," Flash calmed down "now one last thing. I want you to promise me that whatever goes on in Springdale, both of you must stay together and be very careful when you're out and about or even at home. The last thing I want are these 'ghosts' from ever harming you."

"Yes Flash," The siblings nodded,

"Come here," Flash opened his arms wide again to embrace his siblings once more. "Although this all about work, I'm afraid we'll be staying here from now on." The moment of care is interrupted when the sound of a doorbell is heard.

"Oh, now who can that be?" Flash wondered as the group head for the door. Opening the door revealed three different and strange-looking ponies with the pupils and irises in their eyes being much smaller or bigger. Two were adults, one mare and stallion, and one was a pale young foal in a red shirt with a white star in the middle that almost looks as old as the kids.

"Hello there!" The stallion greeted "I believe you're the new family from Ponyville right? We're the Adams that live right next door. I'm Aaron, my wife here is Lily and this is our son Nathan."

"You can call me Nate," The foal replied "pleasure to meet you!"

"A pleasure to meet you as well." Flash replied "my name is Flash Sentry, and these are my younger siblings Scootaloo and First Base."

"Nice to meet you!" The siblings replied,

"Oh I see, so you're the new students that are coming to Springdale Elementary right?" The stallion named Aaron asked the siblings "I believe Nate mentioned something about two new foreign students joining the school."

"That's right!" Nate nodded "Scootaloo and First Base was it? Mind if I call you Scoots?"

"No! Not at all!" Scootaloo replied, "as I'll just call you Nate!"

"Fair enough!"

"So," Lily asked, "do you know where your parents are?"

"Actually, it's just us that's moved here" Flash replied "our parents... Well..."

"Oh..." Aaron's smile dwindled "I'm sorry about your loss..."

"It was a very long time ago, but that's why we're all the more staying together," Scootaloo replied

"You guys sure do love each other!" Nate complimented "say, why don't you guys join me? I'd love to become friends with you as well as introduce you to my friends!"

"Sure! Why not?" First nodded,

"Mum? Dad? Can I go, please?" Nate asked,

"Of course dear" Lily agreed "you enjoy your time with your new friends okay?"

"Will do! Come on Scoots and First! Let's go!" Nate called,

"Yeah!" The siblings laughed as they followed along.

---

"Say Nate, what's the big topic around here?" Scootaloo asked,

"Well," Nate wondered "there's quite of a mix of things. There's the topic of hot Neighponese idols, others are interested in food, clothes, comics, but for me and my friends, we're into bugs and fish!"

"What? Ew..." Scootaloo quivered, "worms and spiders?"

"Not worms and Spiders!" Nate laughed "but actual insects. Ever since Neighponese ponies like us moved here, so did most of the animals migrated! There are cicadas, ladybugs, butterflies and the most popular of all, beetles. Like this!" Nate pulled out a green insect container that contained a beetle happily milling around.

"Woah!" First watched the beetle move around with great interest. "That's quite a big insect!"

"It's a saw-tooth stag." Nate explained "due to the size and shape of its pincers." Sure enough, the beetle housed some sharp looking fangs that almost resemble a saw.

"Is there anything else to beetles rather than catching them?" Scootaloo asked,

"Sometimes beetles would fight each other. For food, mating, territory or even just plain exercise. Regardless, they don't kill each other." Nate added,

"Hey Nate!" A voice called from afar, the three turned to see two more foals galloping up towards them. A unicorn that currently has a set of headphones on his neck while the other was an Earth pony that was quite big for a foal and wore a blue jacket.

"Ah! Eddie! Bear!" Nate called back "good to see you! I'd like you to meet my new neighbours and soon to be new classmates!"

"Hello!" Scootaloo greeted "I'm Scootaloo and this is my younger brother First Base!"

"Pleasure!"

"I'm Barnaby Branston," the big foal spoke, "but you can call me Bear!"

"And I'm Eddie Archer," The foal with headphones replied, "nice to meet you!"

"Hey Nate, is that the Sawtooth Stag that you recently got?" Bear noticed,

"Yep!"

"Hah! That's weak compared to what I got!" Bear laughed as he pulled out his bug container and revealed a larger Sawtooth Stag beetle.

"Woah!" Scootaloo jumped in amazement "that thing's ten times larger!"

"Hey boys!" Another unfamiliar voice called out. This time, a light pink unicorn filly happily galloped up towards them. She had a long dark brunette mane tied with a small pink ribbon. She too, was wearing clothes that consisted of a white and blue-lined zip-up jacket.

"K-Katie!" Nate greeted "what are you doing here?"

"I'd have a feeling I'd be seeing you boys around here when talking about insects," the girl replied "I'm quite interested myself too!" Her eyes fell on the siblings "Oh! I didn't see you guys there, sorry about that! Wait a minute... You guys are Equestrian!"

"Mm-hmm" Scootaloo nodded "we just moved from Ponyville today."

"Ponyville? Wow! You came from where the Princess of Friendship and her friends reside? That's amazing! Have you met the Princess first-hand? What type of people live there? I want to know so much about Ponyville, Canterlot and the Crystal Empire!"

"Oookay..." First gulped,

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Katie Forester," the filly greeted,

"Scootaloo!"

"I'm First Base!"

"Well, I'm glad to have met you guys! It's great to see someone new and foreign to Springdale, it would certainly make things much more interesting than say... Somepony like Nate,"

"Huh? Me?" Nate picked up

"What's wrong with him?" First asked,

"Nothing wrong at all! With him and his Sawtooth stag, he's very... What's the word?... Average!" Katie smiled innocently.

"Average!?!?" Scootaloo and First Base repeated out loud,

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Nate clutched his chest in heartbroken shame and humiliation as the voice of Katie echoed through his mind repeating the word 'average'.

---

After a heartfelt chat with the kid locals, it was time for Scootaloo and First to go home.

"Wow" Scootaloo broke the silence during their walk back, "you should have seen the look on Nate's face. Who'd knew that he would be mocked for being average?"

"Well" First Base reasoned "he's just a simple-minded foal who's interested in what he does, involving himself in school and doing common hobbies that foals have in Neighpon. Sounds a lot like me when I go to school and play baseball, even though that is my Cutie Mark after all."

"Well that's something, unlike me..."

"You? Hardly! You've got a good bunch of friends who you always work together in order to gain your cutie marks. You being a part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders make you... Stand out from the rest, that's something!"

"Not really, I guess I'm just as average as you. I wake up everyday, go to school, hang out with Applebloom and Sweetie, try numerous activities to gain cutie marks, chase down Rainbow Dash, try to fly, have lunch, have dinner and go to sleep. To me, I'm starting to feel like everyday is the same average day."

"Wow..." First gulped "to think I'd never see my little sister be so ashamed of herself. But even so, there's no one more average than OUR Big Bro right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Even though he's a lieutenant, he's just like every other royal guard or even a big brother to say the least. Wake up, go to work, come back late and cook meals. But even so, that's our brother, and he cares for us. That's why we love him."

"There is nothing wrong with being 'average' or 'generic'." First philosophised "because NOT being average, generic and ordinary is pretty much hard to avoid as a pony. It happens to all of us in our lives."

"Good point." Scootaloo sighed as they approached the front door of their new home. Flash was also outside, waiting for their arrival.

"Flash?" Scootaloo noticed,

"I see you were away for quite a while, did you perhaps become friends with Nate?"

"Not quite yet..." First answered "but we did get to meet more of the Neighponese children!"

"Through Nate's parents did I learn about the hobbies of the young ones."

"Catching bugs?"

"Exactly. So..." Flash continued, pulling out two bug nets and bug containers "I thought this would be a good idea to understand their culture and way of life."

"Huh, now that you think about it, I remember Nate and Bear showing us those beetles, I'm quite interested myself now..." First remembered,

"Same here," Scootaloo shrugged "though Sweetie and Rarity would cry in horror if even a single harmless cicada was in their boutique. Thanks for the gift Big Bro."

"I've been told that Nate normally catches bugs around Springdale. On trees, in the grassy areas, below the wooden platforms on houses, these are places you may want to go to."

"Sure, sounds interesting!" First piped up

"Be careful, I've heard catching bugs are more harder than you think. You need to be silent and swift to catch even one."

"Challenge accepted!" Scootaloo grinned,

"If you want to be daring, the local mountain north of here also houses some interesting bugs. However, I want you both to stay together and do not go too deep."

"Understood," First mock saluted,

"The local guard force wanted me to be present immediately to discuss the paranormal matters that seem to trigger the problem for the Equestrian tourists. Make sure you're back for dinner, okay?"

"Got it." The siblings nodded,

"Then have a nice day." Flash waved goodbye as he flew off

"Hey sis, do you want to go catching bugs?" First asked,

"Why not?" Scootaloo replied "maybe I'll get a cutie mark out of it!"

---

Regardless of what Flash said, Scootaloo and First's immediate destination was the local mountain, Mount Wildwood. Determined to catch a good one, the foals experienced the pain and challenge of catching a single bug.

"..." Scootaloo kept silent as she saw a butterfly happily floating in the air.

"Ngh..." First Base held his breath as he spotted a ladybug skittering around the grass.

"Yaaa!!!" Scootaloo pounced down for her target,

"Argh!!!" First roared as he swung horizontally for the catch.

"Ow!" The siblings end up missing their targets and accidentally hurting or tripping each other.

"S-Sorry..." First apologised in pain,

"So this is the pain that Nate and the others had to deal with..." Scootaloo grumbled.

---

The sun began to set and the two siblings grouped together near the shrine to examine and evaluate their catch.

"What did you get?" Scootaloo asked,

"Just this..." First sighed, holding up his container to show a brown cicada.

"Guess we're not that much different" Scootaloo disappointingly unveiled a green cicada.

"Did you even find any beetles?"

"Nope, not at all..."

"Alright then!" First stood up straight and fired up "we're going to try one last time! We're going to each catch one bug, then we're done for the day!"

"But Flash won't be happy if he comes home first before we do..."

"Then let's go over there." He pointed towards a path clearing where there was a mysterious archway at the entrance of the path. "It won't be that deep into the forest."

"Doesn't look like it. Okay then, one more time." Scootaloo nodded and the siblings trekked beyond the gate and off to where the path leads.

"Hmm... You think there would be any rare bugs in there?" Scootaloo asked,

"I don't know. This is our first time doing this so I can't say it's my instincts." First replied,

"Hey..." Scootaloo noticed a glowing insect fly past them from behind and continued flying forward "over there!"

"Let's get it!" First Base encouraged and they sneaked behind the flying insect until they realised that they stepped into a wide and round clearing surrounded by trees and bamboo rods.

"This is interesting, who knew the path led to here?" First looked around,

"Check it out!" Scootaloo gasped, "look at the size of that tree!" The siblings looked towards a colossal tree that was wider than an elephant and taller than a giraffe. Wrapped around the tree was a thick rope that had zig-zag papers hanging from the bottom in a delicate pattern.

"Wow..." First marvelled at the sight. Looking from top to bottom, something else caught his eye.

"What about that?" First pointed towards a lone mechanism resting underneath the large shade of the tree. As the two inspected it, an idea appeared in their minds.

"Isn't that what we saw when we were at Downtown Springdale? We asked Nate about it too."

"He said it was a capsule machine..." First continued, "you put in a bit, turn the crank, and you get something from one of these capsules. Though..." As he looked at the machine, it was clearly made out of stone, and the capsule prizes inside looked solid as rock with a bland colour of pale grey and rugged black. "It looks as old as the stone age!"

"You wanna try putting one bit in?" Scootaloo dared,

"As if! Not only does it look spooky, it looks so old and plain as hell boring! I wouldn't want to waste my money on getting a piece of rock!"

"Feed me... Feed me..." An ghostly voice wailed.

"Huh?" First picked it up "did you just say feed me?"

"I-I didn't say anything!" Scootaloo replied,

"Feed me... Feed me..."

"There it is again!" First perceived "I swear, that wasn't me saying it either"

"I heard it too alright..." Scootaloo nodded "but if it wasn't you, and if it wasn't me... Then don't tell me..." The siblings fearfully looked towards the stone capsule machine

"Feed me... Feed me... I'm so hungry! Feed me right now!" The spooky voice sang, scaring the wits out of the two.

"Uh... I think it really wants us to feed it a bit..." First replied,

"No, I had enough. This is too crazy!"

"But I don't want to know if we don't!"

"O-Okay then, I'll use my bit." As Scootaloo approached the machine with a bit, she quickly inserted it into the slot and waited for something to go wrong. After a few seconds, nothing ever happened.

"I-I'll turn the crank then" First volunteered as he held the dial and cranked it clockwise. After three spins, the two heard no coin dropping to the bottom of the machine. Instead, they saw the stone capsules quiver and move until one of the capsules popped out of the exit slot.

"This is really bad..." Scootaloo picked the capsule up with trembling hooves.

"Then let's open it together!" First suggested to which Scootaloo reluctantly agreed. Each holding a side, the siblings grunted and pulled until an intense blue light started pouring out of the capsule and a loud pop was heard as the capsule split in two, leaving a blue pulsating orb behind.

"Wah..." The group turned to see the orb floating around in the air. Multiple cyan lines of energy with mysterious language surrounded and rotated around the orb as it started to grow in size and change in shape. A small looking puff was happily dancing around as the seals and lines around it started to vanish and leave him be. Once that happened, the puff opened it's eyes and gave a very large grin at the two young siblings cowering in fear.

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