My Little Pokémon: Gotta Friend them all!

by TheOldRedHills

Chapter 5: The Creatures of the Night...

The Everfree Forest is a vast and dangerous place, and after a long day, consisting of Rainbow Dash battling the Ponyville Gym and Twilight Sparkle catching a Hoothoot, the girls decided to camp out in the dark Woods. They found a spot where there was an opening in the trees, and the Moonlight shone down onto the dark green grass. The girls pulled out sleeping bags from their Satchels and Backpacks, set up a little fire using some stray twigs and logs (and Fennekins convenient ignition powers) and they lay to rest for the night.

‘Yenno what, guys, I’m looking forward to exploring this Equestria Region more and more by the day!’ Applejack threw her hands behind her neck and rested upon them.

‘I’m kinda curious, AJ, what actually made you want to come with us in the first place?’ Rainbow Dash asked the girl, who looked with a squinted eye and chewing on a blade of grass.

‘Well,’ As Applejack started to explain, she took off her Stetson and began to comb through her hair with her fingers. ‘It’s an Apple Family tradition. Granny Smith started her journey back when she was my age, and she was the very first Ponyville Gym leader just after it was founded. And so did Big Mac a few years back. We have to head out into the far reaches of the region and find the greatest Pokémon to use back on the farm. No doubt Apple Bloom will do the same thing in a few years’ time.’

‘That’s it?’ Twilight questioned, with a slight tinge of confusion and disappointment to her voice.

‘Eeyup! Well, that and I’m so curious about exploring the darn place! You gotta live a little, you know.’

‘Awww,’ Twilight Sparkle cooed. ‘Well I suppose I want to observe all the many types of Pokémon there are out there. I’ve heard rumours that there are over seven hundred!’ This fact got a positive reaction from her two friends.

Rainbow Dash added on: ‘Well, I want to beat the eight gyms and-’

‘We know, Dash,’ Applejack cut her off. ‘It’s not like we haven’t heard you say it a million times.’ This made Rainbow laugh awkwardly.
‘Yeah, I guess I get kinda carried away.’

The three Pokémon Trainers lay on their backs, looking up at the gorgeous constellations in the night sky. The stars glittered like little sequins, dazzling the girls and making their faces glow.

‘The sky does look beautiful tonight.’ Twilight said in awe.

‘You could say that again.’ Rainbow Dash agreed, yawning in the process. Applejack had already fallen asleep and snoring so loud she could wake the entire forest. The other two girls noticed this and decided it would be best to follow what she was doing.

‘Goodnight, Rainbow Dash.’ Twilight said to her friend, but she got no reply, as she too had fallen asleep, making the girl chuckle.

Twilight tried her best to go to sleep as well, but she couldn’t. She kept on tossing and turning, but she could not get comfortable at all. Soon enough, the flames on the fire dwindled down to ashes and embers, leaving Twilight Sparkle in pitch blackness.

That is, except for very faint lavender tinted light that was only just noticeable in her viewing space, it camouflaged really well with the grim colours of the Everfree Forest. Even Twilight struggled to see it, considering she was not wearing her glasses. She scrambled all around her to find them, and slipped them over her eyes, clearing up her previously foggy vision.

As Twilight turned around to see what was the source of this light was, only to see it was far into the distance, almost blocked by the many trees that were scattered throughout the Forest. So she got up, rubbed her eyes, and started to walk towards the hypnotising purple beam.

---

Applejack woke up in a daze, she checked the time on her pocket watch:

3:21am.

The darkness that had cloaked the Everfree Forest was still in prominent force, and so Applejack could not even see what was in front of her. The warmth from the fire was pretty much extinguished, as the flames seemed to have gone out quite a while ago, with a few embers still a beautiful Sunset Orange. Not appreciating the darkness, Applejack blew on them and after about a minute a little fire had been kindled again.

When the girl looked up to find some stray sticks, she noticed Twilight was gone. On the sight of this shocking revelation, Applejack shook Rainbow Dash awake, who spoke like a cranky toddler:

‘Applejack, leave me alone!’

‘Rainbow Dash, seriously, Twilight ain’t here!’ Applejack replied with worry, pointing at the empty, cold sleeping bag.

‘Well, she could’ve gone to the bathroom or something. It doesn’t mean she’s been kidnapped or whatever by a wild Pokémon.’ Rainbow grumbled; face down into the pillow, swatting the air.

‘If that’s the case, then how could she even see where she was going,’ Applejack looked at the small, yet bright flames in the middle of the two of them. ‘You can’t see a darn thing in this forest without the fire, and that fire wasn’t anything more than an ember when I had just woke up.’

‘Hmmm, you have a point,’ Rainbow Dash slowly creeped up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. ‘What do you suggest we do?’

‘We go lookin’ for her,’ Applejack grabbed a long stick off of the floor as she got up, and lit the end of it using the campfire. ‘C’mon!’ She beckoned her tired friend.

Letting out a grunt, Rainbow Dash got up and the two of them equipped themselves with their bags and Pokémon, setting off into the dark curtains of the Everfree Forest.

---

‘Ugh, it’s creepy out here. I wanna go back to bed…’ Rainbow said, shivering in terror.

‘Awww, quit it already,’ Applejack muttered. ‘It’s not like something is just gonna pop out of nowhere and-’

Suddenly, Applejack was met to a surprise by a tiny bug Pokémon jumping onto her face, making her wail in surprise and knocking her to the ground.

‘Cool! What Pokémon is that?’ Rainbow asked, pulling out her Pokédex, not helping Applejack who was squirming on the floor, trying to remove the bug from her face.

‘SPINARAK, the String Spit Pokémon
SPINARAK can climb any surface easily, and shoot a strong web from both the front and back of its body. Its prey is caught and held tight in its web.’

‘NAW, I AIN’T GETTING CAUGHT AND EATEN BY THIS THING!’ Applejack screamed, ripping the Spinarak off of her hair face and throwing it into a nearby bush. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Gosh, AJ, for such a brutish Farmer you don’t keep your cool when a little bug jumps on your face, do ya?’

‘I could say the same for you, little miss “I-wanna-go-back-to-bed!” She replied with a stern look.

Suddenly the two of them heard a rustling noise to the side of them, and from that they saw a beautiful purple light begin to glow, which mesmerised the two girls.

‘I’m starting to think that’s where Twilight’s gone to.’ Ranbow Dash said, with a slight whisper in her tone, as she was relishing in this glorious light beam.

The two girls wandered towards what almost looked like an old temple, where the Purple beacon heralded from the entrance.

‘Prepare your Pokémon, Dash,’ Applejack squinted her eyes and pulled one of the Pokéballs out of her bag, Rainbow mimicked what she did. ‘I think we’re gonna have to battle someone, or something in there.’

‘If you say so...’ Rainbow Dash said reluctantly.

As they walked up the many ancient stairs and through the entry of the dungeon, the light got brighter and brighter until they were almost blinded, and the heat radiating from the light wasn’t helping either. The weirdest part, however, was that it smelled of burning wax. Applejack and Rainbow Dash found this perplexing, since when was a candle this bright, large, and spread so much heat? More importantly, however, is why would anyone light a candle in a temple in the middle of the night?

When the two Trainers walked into the grand hall they lay inside the Temple, they were greeted with an onslaught of tiny Pokémon staring at them. It didn’t take a genius for the girls to realise that these were the source of the light, since they had little wicks upon their head, and all lit up a lavender hue. There appeared to be hundreds upon hundreds of them stood on the floor, and all intensely staring at the girls. They all looked like little Candles, however, proving the mental judgements that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had made before entering. Rainbow Dash pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the nearest Candle. The Dex explained the phenomenon:

‘LITWICK, the Candle Pokémon
LITWICK appear to be helping to guide the way of people by illuminating areas that are darkened, but in reality they are actually leading them to the Ghost World. They feed off the life energy of people and Pokémon, and use it as fuel for the flames on their heads.’

‘Golly… erm, Howdy,’ Applejack opened her mouth, and the Litwick’s eye were all automatically fixated onto her, she gulped in fear. ‘Have all y’all seen a girl about our age? Average height, messy purple hair, glasses?’

The Litwick then all turned and pointed at a hole in the wall. This hole shone a darker purple than the wicks on their heads, and looked like it was some sort of portal. The two girls manoeuvred their way around all the tiny Litwick before they reached the portal, which gave an ominous chill as they approached it.

‘That must be that Ghost World place the Pokédex was on about,’ Rainbow Dash said, ‘I’ll go in there and rescue Twilight. Hang tight, okay?’

‘Nuh-Uh, if you’re going in there, I’m coming with.’ Applejack pushed her out of the way and entered the Ghost World first, leaving Rainbow Dash startled.

She looked at the Litwick’s who all gave a cute, yet slightly disturbing smile. She gave an awkward smile back, waved goodbye and entered the Ghost World right behind Applejack.

---

The Ghost World was a purple void, with many different spirits floating in the air. The only floor that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had to walk on was a winding, moss-caked cobblestone path that seemed to go on for miles. So the two Trainers decided to walk at a moderate speed. As they walked further and further into the ghost world, the void turned from mid-purple to almost a jet black, and the air began to get even colder, almost freezing temperatures even.

‘A-a-applej-j-j-jack?’ Rainbow moaned through chattering teeth, she had put her denim jacket on yet still felt the need to embrace herself to conserve body heat.

‘Yeah, what is it?’ Applejack, even when she’s in her button down shirt with her sleeves rolled up and jean shorts she didn’t seem affected by this climate change. Considering she’s a country girl who has spent her time on the fields, through rain and snow, this doesn’t come off as a surprise.

‘Do-do-do-do you really think Tw-Twilight will be in h-h-h-here?’ You could tell that Rainbow was being a bit hyperbolic at this point.

‘Oh for Pete’s sake, Rainbow Dash, I have no idea where she will be but-’

‘Applejack! Look out!’

Applejack turned around to see a giant, haunting, ghost Pokémon. It loomed over the two terrified Trainers, who curled up onto the floor. Rainbow scanned the enormous Pokémon:

‘DUSKNOIR, the Gripper Pokémon
It receives electrical waves from the Ghost World with its antenna and is said to take people to the Ghost World as well.’

‘Erm, have you seen a Girl around our age?’ Applejack asked politely.

‘YOU HAVEN’T EATEN HER, HAVE YOU?!’ Rainbow Dash squealed in fright.

Dusknoir responded with a confused face, to which the girls replicated.

‘But if you don’t know where Twilight is, then where is she?’ Rainbow pondered.

‘Oh my Gosh,’ Applejack realised and said in a dumbfounded voice. ‘Those Litwick haven’t seen Twilight at all. They lied and manipulated us to-’

‘-Lure us into the Ghost World…’ Rainbow finished her sentence by para-phrasing the Pokédex entry, shocked at the realisation.

‘Dangnabbit,’ Applejack cursed. ‘We gotta get out of this darn place.’ She got up and walked back the way she came. Rainbow Dash did the same, yet she walked away quickly to avoid the sight of the Dusknoir.

‘NOOOOOOIIRRRRR!’ The mighty Ghost cried, and started to follow Applejack and Rainbow Dash in hot pursuit. Rainbow Dash sped off at lightning quick speeds, and Applejack ran closely behind, pulling out one of her Pokéballs.

‘Go Weedle!’ She yelled as she threw out her little Bug Pokémon a few feet ahead of her, and scooped it up as she ran past.

‘What is any of our Pokémon gonna do against that thing, let alone your little Weedle?!’ Rainbow panicked, looking like she was gonna pass out at any moment.

‘Weedle, use your string shot and try and slow down that Dusknoir!’ Applejack yelled.

Weedle, whilst intimidated by the Monster’s presence, still climbed up onto her shoulder and followed its Trainers orders. It sprayed a long string at the creature, which batted it aside as if it were nothing.

‘See, what did I tell you, AJ?’ Rainbow Dash screamed, panting for air.

‘Weedle, use it again!’ Applejack told her Pokémon, which sprayed it again.

‘You’re kidding, right?’ Dash said monotonously.

‘You’ll see young’un.’ Applejack winked.

As Weedle kept on spraying the Dusknoir, Applejack commanded it to use it again. After many attempts, the Dusknoir began to lag behind, slowing more and more until it was a reasonable distance from the two girls.

‘Awwww, nice work, AJ!’ Rainbow cheered.

‘Why thank you, good going there, Weedle!’ Applejack congratulated her tired Pokémon.

‘Weeee~’ It replied, exhausted of power.

Suddenly, the Dusknoir, in one final attempt, launched a Shadow Ball at the Weedle, which knocked it off of Applejack’s shoulder and sent it flying off into the distance. The Dusknoir then stopped chasing the two girls and floated off into the endless void of the Ghost World. Weedle landed with a bang towards the entry of the Ghost World, which was in sight, but was noticeably closing.

Rainbow Dash, with a flash of creativity springing to her head, grabbed the Pokéball containing Froakie and sent it out.

‘Right Froakie, use your frubbles to stop the entry from closing!’ Dash commanded. Froakie leaped out in front of the duo and threw a few of its frubbles from its neck towards the entrance, which froze in its position, leaving there just enough space for their two human bodies to get through.

‘Nice work Froakie!’ Rainbow said in admiration as her Starter Pokémon landed on her shoulder.

‘Froa! Froa!’ It replied.

Finally they approached the entry that was covered in sticky frubbles. Applejack scooped up the weak Weedle and hopped through, followed by Rainbow Dash and Froakie. Just as they had all gotten through, the frubbles gave way, and the vortex entry to the Ghost World closed with a whispery seal.

The two Trainers, along with their two Pokémon, sat in a state in the middle of the temple. The Litwick had all gone, and stood in their place was a tired, yet safe, Twilight Sparkle.

‘Guys, you’re safe!’ Twilight fell to her knees and hugged her two closest friends with tears in her eyes.

‘We’re safe?!’ Applejack said cynically. ‘We went to look for you because we thought those darn Litwick’s had taken you to the Ghost World!’

‘What do you mean? The Litwick’s were nicer to me than that!’

‘What?!’ Applejack and Rainbow Dash said in unison.

‘Well I was lured to this temple by the purple light, and when I got there, the Litwick’s showered me with praise, they had a strong affection for me, for some reason.’ Twilight started.

‘Probably because they were deceiving you, like they did with us.’ Rainbow said, sticking out her lower lip.

‘A few of them showed me all the different rooms in the temple, but then I began to hear your voices, so I ran back to the main room but not only were you not there, but neither were the Litwick’s.’

‘They were all gone?’ Applejack asked, to which Twilight nodded.

Twilight then went on to explain that she found the campsite and saw that her friends weren’t there either, so she gathered her bags and waited in the temple, hoping that Applejack and Rainbow Dash would return.

‘Wow,’ Dash spoke softly, which is unlike her. ‘This was an awful experience.’ The other girls agreed.

Applejack looked down and saw that her Weedle was suddenly glowing neon white. This surprised all three women, as they were unsure what was going on.

‘Something must have happened after that Dusknoir hit it with Shadow Ball.’ Rainbow Dash spoke up. This made Applejack worried.

After the glowing stopped, it was now noticeable that Weedle was a completely different shape.

‘No way,’ Applejack had a shocked expression on her face. ‘My Weedle evolved!’ She jumped all around the yellow, hard, shell-like creature, Twilight joined in with her at this revelation. Rainbow pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the immobile shell.

‘KAKUNA, the Cocoon Pokémon.
A transitional stage between WEEDLE and BEEDRILL, KAKUNA’s remain inactive until they evolve into deadly BEEDRILL’s and hatch.’

'The little guy must just be resting from that nasty blow.' Twilight tittered.

'And then it'll come back even stronger!' Applejack yelled, which made her two friends cheer.

As the girls were celebrating the evolution of Applejack’s Pokémon, the morning sun rose over the hills of the Everfree Forest, vanquishing the darkness and bringing a sense of relief among the trio. As they walked out of the derelict Temple, the heat hit them and the Trainers couldn’t help but smile.

‘I think we’re quite close to Cloudsdale now.’ Rainbow Dash pointed at the floating City, which had seemed to have gotten a lot closer since they last saw it yesterday.

So as the girls headed back into the Everfree Forest with a spring in their step, they reflected on how much had happened in that previous night, a haunting experience for all three of them that they will never forget. With the stakes getting higher, what will the amazing trio bump into next in the amazing world of Pokémon?!

Author's Note:

The Equestria Region Pokédex

Seen: 16
Caught: 2

---

This chapter is certainly a very different one in tone and structure, as I wanted to create a sense of World-Building and bringing forth the relationships of the leading ladies, specifically AJ and RD. See you all in the next chapter!
-TheOldRedHills

Comments

[badninja]

I hope that the girls start catching more Pokemon. I have tree quick suggestions for Pokemon for the girls. I think a Dratini should be a good fit for Rainbow Dash. Applejack should get an Aggron. While Twilight gets a Tyranitar. A near legendary would be sweet for all three girls. It would be sweet to see the girls try and raise such powerful Pokemon.

[DiamondDust6787]

I think the Spinerak should come back and follow AJ kind of like Aipom and Ash, and later on it saves her life and she catches i think another good pokemon for her would be Rhyhorn. Due to it being able to tackle the trees to knock the apples down. Also Rainbow Dash should catch a Scyther and riolu both are very fast and strong pokemon. Twilight i think should get an eevee and evolve it into Espeon, along with a pichu but she gets one as an egg.

[sakuralovelight]

Hope to read more soon

[raven618]

This is a nice little story that I hope will receive a rebirth some time.