Twilight Sparkle has a Pokemon Journey

by Darkmetroidz

Chapter 13- Taking a Break

The banquet also included as part of Rarity's prize had been something of a godsend for the group of travelers. Twilight couldn't remember the last time she had felt so full. This wasn't to say she hadn't been getting enough to eat since she left, but this had been the first time on her journey she felt like she would explode if she ate a single morsel more.

The dinner had consisted of a great deal of local cooking, all of which included apples. Apple tarts, pies, fritters, strudel, cobblers, applesauce, and countless other dishes were laid out, and barrels upon barrels of cider flowed like a river. Rarity enjoyed being treated like a princess, meanwhile Rainbow Dash enjoyed the all-you-can-drink free Appleoosa cider. They retired for the night to their rooms at the inn. Just a small fraction of the money the five had won would easily cover their lodgings for the rest of their trip. The prize pool had gotten slightly larger after a certain second-place contestant had been run out of town just before the award ceremony. Sheriff Silverstar reported back that she had escaped, but assured Rarity she would be arrested the instant she ever set hoof in town again. Last he'd seen of her she had vanished off into the wastes off to the west. There were no towns for over a hundred miles, so she would have to come back eventually.

The next morning the six mares woke up still feeling satisfied from their meal the night before. There was no urgency about them, as they woke up at ten o'clock and were in no hurry to get anywhere. The group met a few minutes later on the bottom floor of the inn for breakfast. Rainbow Dash looked to Twilight once everypony had arrived. "Hey, do you want to go challenge the gym today?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not really feeling it today Rainbow. I'm kind of battled out right now." The last few days had been nonstop battling, and Twilight needed a break. "Maybe today would be a good time to see what there is to do for fun around here."

Rarity was the first to chime in with an idea. "Braeburn did extend an invitation to show us around after we had our battle yesterday. Perhaps he could be of assistance."

"If anypony 'round these parts knows a good time, it's my cousin." Applejack beamed. "Sounds like a plan to me." The other mares agreed with her, and after a quick breakfast they meandered over to Braeburn's home. He lived in a small farmhouse near the southern sector of the town's orchards, and was sitting on his porch in a rocking chair, his numel asleep at his hooves, sipping a cup of coffee when the group arrived.

"Howdy cousin Applejack!" He waved with a smile. "And hello to the rest of y'all too!"

"Howdy Braeburn!" She shouted back. "Me an' the gals are takin' some time before they go on to fight the gym, and we were wonderin' if you could show us anything fun to do 'round here."

Braeburn pondered this for a moment, rocking vigorously and taking a swig of coffee. "Hmm… I don't reckon we have anything going on in town, no dances or nothin for the next week at least. An' I don't think y'all wanna spend a day applebucking… hmm… Sorry cuz, but I'm drawing a blank."

"So you're tellin' me y'all just sit around with yer hooves up yer butts like a bunch of sad sacks?" Applejack asked with an annoyed edge to her voice.

"We're still workin' hard to survive out here." Braeburn explained defensively. "We don't have as much free time as you city folks do." His eyes lit up as inspiration hit him. "I do know one thing though."

"What?" All six asked in unison.

A smile spread across Braeburn's face. "Any of y'all ever heard of sand fishing?"

Twilight glanced over to Rainbow Dash. The word 'fishing' make her eye start to twitch. "No, what is it?"

"Same idea as regular fishing, except you do it out in the desert to catch ground-type pokémon."

"So you throw a line in the sand, and if something bites, you try and catch it?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes ma'am!" He answered. "I got a couple poles I'd be more'n happy to lend ya if y'all wanna give it a shot."

Twilight glanced around, seeing if anypony had any objections. "Sure, thanks Braeburn.”

The farmer gave them the poles, some bait, and a few words of advice. "You're gonna want to walk 'bout half a mile out of town to the Southwest. That's where the scrubland turns to desert and you'll have much better luck gettin' bites." Finally, he gave them a large knife with a wickedly sharp blade. "If y'all get ahold of something ya can't reel in, don’t hesitate to cut the line. It's better ya lose your hook and some bait than gettin' dragged off." Twilight could see something in the back of Braeburn's usually happy eyes. Something told her he was speaking from personal experience. She looked at the pole again. It was similar to heavy-duty ocean fishing rods she had seen, where the rod was fastened to your body to give the user a better hold on the thing with heavy catches. She could certainly see somepony being in a lot of danger if they got pulled along by that.

They walked the half mile southwest of town Braeburn had reccomended, until the settler town had vanished behind the hills and they had found themselves a decent place to set up at the desert's edge. Pinkie had a picnic prepared, and she and Fluttershy spread out their blanket while Twilight and Applejack strung the poles.

Twilight sat down and cast off the first pole, letting the lure land fifty feet in front of her, right in the sand. "Hey Rainbow, you want to take the other one?"

The twitching in Dash's eye came back with a vengeance. "No." She answered without hesitation.

"What's the matter with you?" Applejack asked. "You're lookin' like ya just saw a ghost."

"Never again…" She muttered under her breath. "Never again…"

Applejack and Twilight laughed uneasily. Applejack took the rod and cast off, her lure landing next to Twilight's.

Two hours passed, and their lures still sat in the same place they landed. Twilight was beginning to have suspicions that Braeburn had been playing a prank on them. The entire idea of sand fishing seemed a little too far-fetched to be plausible, now that she thought about it. At least in a river, you could see your lure moving, and you could tell that the lure could be seen by the passing water pokémon. In this case, it could very well be their lures were just sitting in the dirt.

Twilight began absentmindedly browsing through the pages of her pokédex, looking through the wide variety of ground type pokémon that lived in the area. It detailed several ways of finding them, and "fishing" was not one of them.

As she absentmindedly fiddled with her pokédex, Twilight felt something pull hard on her line. Sure enough, a pokémon had burrowed past and bitten onto her line. Whatever it was, it was strong, far stronger than Twilight. It began yanking on the line, dragging Twilight towards the edge of the sand, leaving two sets of ruts from her hooves. As she slid towards the desert sands, Twilight began realizing the inherent problems with this sport. First off, ground type pokémon were far stronger as a whole than water types, at least the ones found in rivers. Secondly, it was easier by far to pull a pokémon out of water than it was sand. Twilight's hoof shot out for the knife Braeburn gave her, but to her worry found it laying in the dirt, next to where she had been sitting.

The pokémon yanked hard, sending Twilight faceplanting into the sand. "Rainbow!" She cried out, "Cut me loose!" Her friend nodded and went to grab the blade, fumbling to pull it out of its sheathe.

Another jerk pulled Twilight further away from the solid earth and into the sand. Her heart rate accelerated as she saw where she was being dragged; directly into a sinkhole. Its presence meant there must be a cavern of some kind under the sand, and if Twilight wasn't able to cut herself free fast, she would be pulled down there. She swore under her breath, cursing the harness Braeburn had given her. It was a series of buckles and straps that went around the wearer's waist, usually used for oceangoing fisherponies to keep a better hold on their fishing rods. Now the harness was keeping her attached to the rod, and unless she was able to sever the line, the pokémon, the rod, and her were all going under.

Finally, Dash freed the knife from the sheathe and leapt towards Twilight. She lunged to get the blade to the heavy line. But the pokémon yanked on Twilight again, pulling her again closer to the sinkhole, and leaving Rainbow to land facefirst in the sand. Desperately, she grabbed hold of Twilight's hind leg, holding on for all she was worth.

With one final pull, the pokémon on the hook dragged Twilight and Rainbow Dash into the sinkhole. Stuck in the sand, they felt themselves slowly be pulled beneath the sand, screaming to their friends for help.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy stared at the sinkhole wordlessly. The entire process had taken only a matter of seconds, leaving the four mares dumbfounded. "Whatever should we do?" Rarity asked with a gasp.

With a determined tip of her hat, Applejack gave her answer. "The only thing we can do, darlin'. We're goin after 'em." Without another word, Applejack galloped to the sinkhole, jumping into the vortex to follow her friends.

Pinkie Pie followed immediately after, landing in the pit with a giggle. Fluttershy and Rarity watched as she too went under, and stared at each other aghast.

"What say you Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. "Should we go find help? I'd rather not get my mane full of sand."

Fluttershy steeled herself, working up what courage she could muster. "No. We need to go after them. Twilight and Rainbow Dash wouldn't think twice about helping us if we got in trouble, we have to go help."

Rarity tried to object, but Fluttershy grabbed her forcefully and galloped towards the pit, eyes closed and screaming. She and Rarity slowly sunk, until they too fell under the sand.

* * *

Twilight woke with Rainbow Dash barely conscious on top of her. The fishing rod had snapped in two places, and lay in bits on the floor. "I owe Braeburn an apology." She murmured. She looked around, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. She was in an underground cave, that much was certain. Several large glowing crystals dotted the walls, and stalactites dotted roof of the room. Several tunnels extended every which way, crossed with burrow marks.

The nosie of shifting dirt got Twilight's attention. "Trio, trio," The pokémon grunted as it casually navigated its way around the cavern.

"A Dugtrio?" The pokémon still had a hook embedded in one of its noses, which seemed to be causing it no shortage of distress. Twilight carefully approached to remove it, but it immediately withdrew underground.

A pair of screams grabbed Twilight's attention. Rarity and Fluttershy fell through the ceiling and landed in a pile, on top of Applejack and Pinkie Pie. It seemed everypony had followed her down. While Twilight appreciated the gesture, now all of them were stuck underground with no way to send for help. They would have to find a way out themselves.

Twilight tried to cycle through her options in her head. The way they came was out. No way they would be able to get everypony out through the roof, and even if they did, they would still risk being sucked right back in. The tunnels were their best bet. They had seen some caves in the cliffs a ways away from town. Perhaps one of them connected to this tunnel system. At any rate, it was their best and currently only hope, so Twilight decided to take a chance.

She did her best to help the others up and get ready to move. Once everypony was ready, Twilight announced they would try the tunnels.

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked. "We have no idea where they go. We could get lost. And also… It's really dark." The last part of her statement came in a stuttering whisper.

Twilight nodded assuredly. "Anywhere is better than here." Having to lead a frightened Fluttershy through the caves would certainly be a challenge.

Fortunately, Applejack already had a solution. "C'mon out Flaafy!" She yelled. Flaafy emerged and immediately her tail began to glow. The light wasn't especially bright, but it cast an easy bluish glow in the area immediately around them. It would at least give them a small haven of light among the dark tunnels.

One thing Twilight had been adamant about was that under no circumstance should they split up the group. If they were going to escape from the tunnels and caves, they would do it together or not at all. They moved in pairs, with Flaafy in the lead. Twilight and Rainbow Dash took the lead, with Fluttershy and Rarity in the middle, and Applejack and Pinkie bringing up the rear.

With great focus, Rainbow was able to detect the slightest of breezes coming from one of the many tunnels that had been hollowed out by the pokémon that lived in the caverns. The group eagerly began following the air current, hoping it would lead them to the surface.

The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, and the walking soon became arduous on their hooves. However, nopony dared voice a complaint. They all understood the gravity of their situation, and decided to keep their grievances to themselves, for the sake of the group's morale. Twilight began experiencing doubts herself. Judging by the time they had been walking, it felt like they should have passed town by now. She knew better than to voice her uncertainties. The group was looking to her to be a leader, and Twilight knew better than to introduce any uncertainty.

So they kept going. Every now and again they would pass a tunnel that branched off to the side, but they kept ignoring them. They followed the air current, which seemed to be coming from further down the main tunnel.

Finally, Rainbow Dash stopped at one such tunnel. "Hey Twilight, come have a look." She called, pointing a hoof down the tunnel. A faint glow pulsed silently from the passage. "Wanna have a look?"

"No Rainbow, we need to keep moving." Twilight ordered. Secretly, she had begun to get severely worried. Awhile ago she had the idea to attempt to capture a pokémon if one appeared and use it to tunnel up to the surface. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen a single pokémon since they started down the path.

"C'mon Twi!" She begged. "I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like something's down there."

She raised a lilac eyebrow at that. "What do you mean?"

"I feel it too." Fluttershy peeped. "It's almost like something's calling out."

Twilight rolled her eyes. After a few hours down in the caves, their minds were playing tricks on them. Still, as Twilight thought about it, she could feel something tugging at the edge of her consciousness, beckoning her down the tunnel. With a sigh, Twilight conceded. "Fine. Let's have a look."

The side tunnel was smaller than the main one. Likely the large tunnel had been dug by the likes of something huge, like an Onix, this one was smaller, probably the work of a pokemons the size of a Rhydon or Rhyhorn. It was just wide enough for them to move single-file through the passage. The tunnel made Twilight incredibly nervous. It was descending deeper underground, taking them away from where they wanted to go. Should anything happen, like if the tunnel were to collapse, they would be worse off than before and likely completely trapped.

The glow seemed to grow gradually brighter as they descended. Finally, they began to see its source: Glowing crystals jutting out of the walls. At first they were the size of pebbles. But as they went further they grew larger and larger, many being longer than the mares were tall. The tunnel also began to widen, but the size of the crystals left them little extra space.

Finally, the tunnel opened into another huge chasm. The mares emerged into the huge room, and their jaws fell. The landscape before them was one of exquisite beauty. The room was dominated by a large spring with crystal clear waters, at the bottom of which emerged several more of the glowing crystals. The same gemstones dotted the walls, basking the room in a soft blue glow. At the center of the spring, a small tree grew from between the rocks. The sight of such a thing drew their eyes immediately upward. Sure enough, a small crack existed in the roof, allowing sunlight to pour down from above, providing a small window of light to the tree. Immediately, Twilight began trying to figure out how to get themselves toward that sunlight. They were so close, but yet they would have to figure out how to get up nearly a hundred feet in order to reach it.

"Hey Twi, have a gander at this." Applejack's hoof came out of the water, holding a peculiar stone, no bigger than a large marble. Twilight took it, closely studying the rock. It was perfectly circular, and shone a brilliant multitude of colors. Twilight felt strange holding it. Certainly this stone had been what had drawn them down to the cave. But that was crazy. Right?

She returned the stone to Applejack, who had found it and rightfully deserved to keep it. But a quick glance showed the spring contained several of the suspicious stones, and Twilight helped herself to one. Holding it felt strange to her, like she was meant to carry it. She shrugged and put it in her bag. Next time she returned to Canterlot, she would have to show it to Cadence.

"My word, these would make spectacular jewelry." Rarity observed. "I can't remember why, but that pattern on the inside is somehow familiar."

"Hey, you're right Rarity." Rainbow said back. "Hey AJ, didn't Granny Smith say something about a weird pattern a long time ago?"

Applejack shook her head."I can’t right remember. I doubt it was Granny though. Cherilee maybe?"

"We have to figure out what this pattern means." Rarity insisted. "Otherwise I won't be able to rest with a mystery to solve."

As they talked about the pattern, the ground began to shake beneath their hooves. "W-what's going on?" Fluttershy wailed.

Twilight grit her teeth. "I don't know! It feels like the cave is coming down around us!" Everypony grabbed onto Twilight fearfully, praying that they would be spared by whatever was about to happen.

Bubbles began to form in the water below their feet. The shaking felt strongest in the floor, and seemed to be creating a disturbance in the water. Twilight could see the water begin to thrust upwards just beneath the fissure in the ceiling, and without thinking, galloped under the patch of sunlight, urging her friends to follow suit. Mere seconds passed before the water beneath them surged upwards, carrying them skyward on a tide of scalding hot water.

"Owowowowow…" Twilight groaned. Everything hurt. With what little strength she had, she felt at the ground beneath her hoof. Her brain couldn't process much through the sheer pain she felt, but she was barely able to perceive the feeling of dirt. It was warm. She could feel sunlight beating down on her. Weakly, she grinned. Somehow, she had made it out. She groaned as the last of her strength left her body, and she collapsed, smiling in the dirt.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Someone got a little enthusiastic after watching Dune/Tremors?

Would those be Mega/Element stones?

[SonicStreak5344]

7404267
Mega stone or a Key Stone.