Fairy and Spike slowly walked down a road that crossed the plains between Mt. Canterlot and White Tail Woods, and after the forest was Ponyville; where they’d take a day to see the city and then go to Appleloosa. The plain was filled with beautiful flowers scattered here and there, and they could also see a few lone trees and some Pokémon playing around; however they felt they should get a bit nearer to Ponyville before trying to capture a Pokémon, so they’d be close to a Pokécenter to cure their Pokémon in case they did not have enough potions.
Prism and Shade were walking beside them while eagerly looking around. The trainers never felt they needed to recall their Pokémon, and the twins never complained about being outside the whole time; and they were enjoying each other’s company, so that was a plus. “Hey, how Ponyville looks like?” Prism asked suddenly.
Spike fell silent for a moment before answering. “Well, it’s smaller than Canterlot, but bigger than Appleloosa. And the residents are really close to each other; it’s one of those cities where everyone knows each other and can count on anyone to help them if they need.”
“That sounds nice.” Shade commented.
Spike and Fairy nodded. “It is. I used to live there when I was a kid, but I moved to Canterlot along with my family when I was eight. There I met Professor Moon Dancer, and a few months before I turned ten I asked if I could help her with her research. When I proved I was useful, she let me.” Fairy said. “Spike and I are childhood friends actually. And since Twilight visits Moon Dancer rather regularly, he always came with her to see me.”
“Why did you move?” Prism asked, smiling at a Jumpluff that waved to her. Fairy heard the Jumpluff shout “Hi!” and made a mental note to add it to the list of Pokémon she can understand with the help of her pendant.
“My brother replaced the Gym Leader there, and Lightning got a job on the Trainer School. When she’s not building pixel arts or defeating bosses at RPGs, she teaches abut berries and what you can do with them, and also about the challenges that happen in Equus, like the Regional Conference, the Grand Festival, the many races, etc.” Fairy explained.
“Ah.” Prism nodded in understanding.
As they walked, they failed to notice a small figure observing them for a distance. The figure tilted its head to the side and decided to follow the group, curious.
Spike looked up to the sky and frowned. “The sun is starting to set.” He observed.
Fairy tapped her Xtransceiver, and the hour was displayed on the screen. “It’s almost five o’clock. We can walk some more, but we can stop and prepare for the night if you want.”
“We should find a tree. Then we can prepare our things there and we’ll be protected from the morning sun under the shade if we rest on the right side.” Shade suggested. Unfortunately, both Fairy and Spike forgot to buy a tent, and promised to buy one when they reached Ponyville.
“Good idea.” Spike nodded in agreement.
The group quickly found a large tree near the road, and decided to stop there and wait for the morning to come. They put down their bags, prepared their sleeping bags beside each other, grabbed a few sticks and dry grass that were around to make a small campfire and started to chat, waiting for the night to fall.
The figure from before quietly found a place for itself on top of the tree, where it could see the strange group from above.
Fairy groaned and slowly opened her eyes as she woke up. She half expected her eyes to be assaulted by the glaring sun above, but was pleasantly surprised when she noticed that their little plan had worked; both she, Spike and the twins were under the shade of the tree instead of under the sun’s rays.
She stood up and stretched before looking around, finally noticing that Spike and Shade weren’t with her and Prism. The girl looked around and spotted the boys chatting near a portable stove where Spike was making scrambled eggs and bacon for both humans. Fairy smiled and gently shook Prism awake, the Eevee opening her eyes before releasing a cute yawn.
Blinking, she shifted her gaze to her twin and his trainer, and smiled before quickly making her wait to the foo- I mean, the duo, causing Fairy to chuckle in amusement.
“Good morning.” The two girls said to the boys, getting their attention.
“Morning to you too.” Spike said back with a smile and Shade simply nodded his head. “It’s almost ready, and there’s PokéChow in my backpack.”
“Great. Come on, Prism; let’s get yours and your brother’s food.” Fairy nodded to her Pokémon, who nodded back and both of them walked towards Spike’s backpack to grab the PokéChow and two bowls for them. The girl put a reasonable amount in both bowls and carried both to Spike, who was already putting the bacon and eggs in two plates.
When everyone had their plate and were ready to eat, they were startled by a loud cracking sound followed by a yelp, making them turn to whatever made the sound; though they didn’t expect to see an orange and red multi-tailed fox swearing to herself.
“Freaking branch can’t even support my weight for a night.” The Vulpix muttered quietly, rubbing her head to alleviate the pain the fall had inflicted on her.
“Yeah, they don’t make branches like they used to.” Fairy joked before looking at the Fox Pokémon in concern. “You ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fi-” The Pokémon started only to yelp and jump in fright when she realized who was talking to her before darting behind the tree.
“Whoa, calm down! I’m not going to hurt you.” Fairy said with a chuckle. The Vulpix looked at Fairy from her hiding spot just to hide again a second later, making Fairy giggle at the shy Pokémon.
Instead of calling for Vulpix, Fairy walked to Spike’s bag and grabbed another bowl the boy brought with him in case of emergencies and put some Chow there before setting it on the ground a bit near the others. “There’s some food here for you, if you want.” She stated calmly before returning to her own breakfast.
Vulpix peered from the side of the tree and saw that the humans and their Pokémon were eating normally, like there was nothing out of place aside from the extra bowl on the ground. She slowly but surely started to walk out of her hiding place and towards the Chow the human girl prepared for her. She noticed the human with pink hair looked at her from the corner of her eye, but didn’t make any move to try and capture the Fox Pokémon.
Vulpix came to the conclusion that they weren’t bad people, and walked to the bowl a bit faster, stopping inches from it when she noticed the group was looking at her, but still kept forwards and reached the bowl. She eyed it suspiciously for a moment before taking a tentative nibble, making her go wide eyed and smile as she chew the food.
“Nice of you for joining us.” Spike chuckled, slightly surprising the Fire-type but thankfully not making her flee.
“I didn’t expect to see a Vulpix so early in our travels. They and Ninetales are both on my ‘Best Fire-types’ list.” Fairy mused as she finished her meal a few seconds before the others, smiling and giggling at the Vulpix who was stuffing her mouth full. “I’m Fairy, by the way.”
“I’m Spike.” The boy nodded, taking hold of both the plates and the Eevee’s bowls, putting them into a plastic sack and putting them near his backpack, along with the frying pans he used and the portable stove, waiting for Vulpix to finish her meal.
“I’m Prism, and this is Shade!” The female Eevee shouted in excitement, wrapping a forepaw around her brother’s neck.
“Hey.” Shade grunted, tapping Prism’s paw for her to release him.
The Vulpix looked at them and swallowed. “Um… Hi.” The Fire-type said quietly, gaining a few smiles and nods.
“A shy one, huh?” Prism giggled along with the others. “Well, it was a pleasure, Vulpix, but we have to get going. We want to reach Ponyville today.”
“Yeah, good idea.” Spike said with an agreeing nod and took Vulpix bowl just after she finished eating, putting it into the sack along with the others.
Vulpix blinked in surprise. She already knew the humans somehow could talk to their Pokémon, as she observed the previous night as they talked, but what really surprised her was another thing entirely. ‘They’re… not going to try and capture me?’
Fairy wrapped her sleeping bag and stuffed it in her purse before noticing the Fox Pokémon’s perplexed face, making her chuckle slightly, guessing what the Pokémon was thinking. “Since I can understand Pokémon because of the pendant I’m using, I decided that I’ll only capture Pokémon that are certain they want to come with me, and the only way for that is by gaining their trust first. I don’t want to take away a member of a family, after all. I may be an asshole, but not that much of an asshole.” She joked, winking at the Vulpix who giggled slightly. “That’s one of the reasons I chose Prism as my partner, actually. We know each for months.”
“I’m on the same boat as her, actually.” Spike said as her rummaged through his own bag, making sure he was leaving nothing behind. “So no, we’re not capturing you against your will. But, if you do want to come with us we won’t complain.” He pointed out with a shrug.
“Ok, I’m good to go.” Fairy said as she put her purse’s strap around her neck, and noticed that Spike also had his on his back. “Bye, Vulpix.” She said with a wave to the small Fire-type before walking away with Spike and the Eevee following her.
Vulpix looked at them as they slowly became smaller and smaller in her vision, before looking at her surroundings; she lived on that flowery plain for most of her life, after she left her mom so she could grow stronger alone. Sighing out, she looked down to the ground, Fairy and Spike’s words echoing through her mind.
She stood there for a few moments before nodding with finality and running towards the group of nice trainers that where kind enough to give her food and that thought about the Pokémon first, preferring to have Pokémon that trusted and were certain they’d go with them.
And she’d be damned if she wasn’t one of those Pokémon.
The teenagers walked through the road once more, already feeling that they were near White Tail Woods and Ponyville, when they found another person walking the road in the other direction, going to Canterlot. She had icy blue hair and was using a shirt of the same color, with ‘Hail’ written at the front, and grey denim pants.
The girl looked at them and smiled. “Hey! You two coming from Canterlot?” She asked, stopping in front of the group.
“Yep. I’m Fairy, and this’ Prism.” Fairy replied, bending to hold Prism on her arms, who waved happily to the girl.
“I’m Spike, this is Shade.” The boy and the Eevee nodded.
The girl nodded. “I’m Icicle Star. My sister Lupine and I are taking on the Gym challenge, and I told her to go ahead while my Pokémon rested after our latest Gym battle in Ponyville.”
Spike snapped his fingers. “Oh! I remember you! You used a Delibird against Twilight’s Medicham and won.”
Icicle blinked. “Yeah, actually. How did you- wait, aren’t you the Gym Leader’s assistant?” She asked.
Spike grinned. “And her brother too. She and Professor Moon Dancer convinced me into taking the Gym Challenge myself while I helped the Professor into testing a device for her.”
“Cool!” Icicle said with a smile. “Wait, you’re coming down from Canterlot, which means you haven’t had your first battle yet, right? What about we have one before I go?”
Spike shook his head. “No thanks. If you managed to defeat Twilight that means you’re way too strong for us.”
“Aw…” Icicle slumped before turning to Fairy. “You?”
Fairy opened her mouth to reply when she heard a rustle from nearby. Automatically she turned to investigate, and had to stifle a laugh. “Your tails are showing.” She called out.
Vulpix yelped and quickly pulled her tails closer to her body. “Crap…” She muttered before sighing and walking out of her hiding spot. “Hey…”
“Oooh, what a cute little one!” Icicle gushed and jumped towards the Vulpix, who yelped in fright again and bolted to hide behind Fairy with her ears lowered. Icicle immediately cringed and stood up. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you…” She then blinked when she noticed the Vulpix hiding spot of choice. “She’s yours?”
Fairy giggled and kneeled down to pet Vulpix’s head. “No, I met her earlier today.” Vulpix purred under the girl’s touch. “So, why did you follow us? Do you want to come with us?”
Vulpix opened he mouth and eyes to respond, but hesitated and bit her lip. Was that what she really wanted? “I… don’t know…” She muttered.
Fairy continued to pet her with a calm smile. “It’s alright, just think about it ok?” She stood up after receiving a nod form the Fox Pokémon. She looked at Icicle and blinked, an idea forming in her mind. “Hey Icicle, do you have a Pokémon that isn’t so strong for Vulpix to battle?” She asked, gaining the attention of both the girl and the Pokémon. “I think it’ll help her make her mind about coming with us.” She explained before turning to Vulpix. “What do you say?”
Vulpix tilted her head to the right, thinking it over before nodding. “Sure.”
Fairy smiled brightly. “Great! Icicle?”
Icicle nodded. “Sure, I captured one recently and he doesn’t have much experience with battling.”
Spike nodded and walked out of the road while the girls distanced themselves from one another. “Alright, this will be a one on one battle; the first Pokémon to be knocked out loses.”
“Alright Snorunt, I choose you!” Icicle smiled, throwing a Pokéball high into the air. The ‘ball opened and released a wave of white energy, which turned into a little black Pokémon with a yellow cloak that covered his entire body, forming a pyramid of circular base with blue eyes, legs, arms and a big mouth.
“Let’s do this!” The Snow Hat Pokémon shouted.
“Vulpix, show them what you got!” Fairy called with a grin and Vulpix jumped in front of her.
“Alright!” She shouted as well.
“By the way, what you got?” Fairy asked sheepishly, almost causing the Pokémon to faceplant.
“Ember, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Feint Attack and Confuse Ray.” The Pokémon listed.
“Ok.” The girl nodded before turning to her opponent. “Your move.”
“If you insist. Ice Shard!” Icicle commanded. Snorunt jumped high and spun when he reached his highest point, creating multiple shards of ice that he hurled at Vulpix.
“Dodge!” Fairy shouted when she saw the attack coming. Vulpix quickly jumped to the right and started to run as the Icicles embedded themselves in the road behind her. “Now use Quick Attack!” Vulpix nodded and bolted towards Snorunt, leaving white energy in her wake; the Fox Pokémon shoulder-slammed the Snow Hat Pokémon, sending him tumbling back a few feet.
Snorunt grunted in pain as he stood up and glared at Vulpix. “Icy Wind!” His trainer shouted and he blew a gust of frozen air, making Vulpix slide on the road and grit her teeth.
“Hold on tight!” Fairy shouted as she desperately tried to come up with a solution for Vulpix predicament. “Aha! Confuse Ray!” Vulpix widened her eyes before glaring at Snorunt, a sphere of light appearing between her eyes and darting forwards, spinning rapidly around the Ice-type and confusing him.
“Snorunt, no!” Icicle shouted in worry. “Quick, Double Team!” Snorunt tried to shake himself to clear his head, but only managed to trip and fall to the floor. “Try Bite!” Snorunt jumped to his feet and tried to attack Vulpix, but because of the confusion he stumbled more than he ran, and Vulpix easily jumped out of the way with a command from Fairy.
“Good! Use Ember!” The pink-haired girl commanded, and Vulpix smiled at her before releasing a barrage of embers at the Ice-type, making him cry out in pain and sending him high into the air. Snorunt impacted the floor with a thud and weakly stood up because of the Fire-typed attack that dealt super-effective damage on him. “Finish it with Feint Attack!” Vulpix ran towards Snorunt with a shadowy aura forming around her, decided in winning the battle.
“Snorunt, dodge!” Icicle cried out and Snorunt happily complied, jumping to his left to evade the attack. Vulpix smirked and disappeared into thin air, making Icicle and her Pokémon gasp. “What?! Where is she?!” The answer came a second later, with Vulpix dropping her invisibility, but maintaining her Dark-typed aura, and jump-kicking Snorunt with both her hind paws. Snorunt yelped a last time before falling to the floor with swirls replacing his eyes.
“Snorunt is unable to fight! The winner is Vulpix and Fairy!” Spike announced, causing the girl and Pokémon to cheer.
“You did a good job, Snorunt. Now rest.” Icicle said with a smile as she returned her knocked-out Pokémon. “I must say, Fairy, for a beginner you know how to fight.” She commented, walking to the other girl.
Fairy laughed sheepishly. “I always liked Pokémon, and I never miss any league when they’re transmitted on TV.” She shrugged. “Guess I learned a thing or another. But I’m sure you’d have defeated us if you had used a Pokémon you trained some more.”
Icicle nodded. “Yeah, Delibird would have had an easier time; he’s way faster than Snorunt.”
Fairy nodded and looked at Vulpix, who was blushing with all the praise Prism was throwing at her. “So, Vulpix?” She called out, gaining the Fire-type’s attention. “Did you like the battle?”
Vulpix looked at the girl and stopped to think. Yeah, she did like the battle; jumping out of the way of attacks, throwing her own, and Fairy’s commands that helped her a lot, she had completely forgotten about her Confuse Ray when she was being blown back by the Icy Wind, for example. She smiled and looked up. “Yeah, I did. A lot, actually.” She said.
Fairy nodded. “So… would you like to come with me? The first Gym I’m going to fight is a Grass-type; you’d help me a lot.” She asked again. Vulpix looked down again, but quickly looked back up and nodded with certainty, making Fairy smile. “Well, since I gave a name to Prism, I think I’m going to do that to all my Pokémon, if they want.”
Vulpix nodded. “Sure!”
Fairy took a Pokéball and held it in front of the Fox Pokémon. “Then welcome to the team, Flare.” Vulpix’s smile grew and she practically used the ‘ball to learn Headbutt, turning into red energy and being sucked inside the capsule, the Pokéball didn’t even shake before stopping with a ‘ding’. Fairy stared at the Pokéball that now held Flare and a smile slowly came to her face.
She quickly stood up and threw the ball a few inches in the air before catching it with her left hand and twirled, coming to a stop by thrusting her hand holding the ‘ball forwards and holding the other in front of her face in a ‘V’ and winking. All that while saying “Alright! I caught a Vulpix!” To complete the scene, Prism jumped on her shoulder and thrust her right paw upwards with a “Yeah!”
Spike and Shade facepalmed while Icicle stifled a laugh. “You two are going to keep doing that, aren’t you?” Shade mumbled with his paw still on his face.
“Yes. Yes we are.” Fairy and Prism said together, high-fiving.
Icicle shook her head, unable to contain her giggles anymore. “I hope we see each other again. Now I have to challenge Canterlot’s gym and get my third badge!” She shouted confidently.
Fairy nodded. “Good luck against my brother; Delibird is going to be at a disadvantage against him and his Electric-type Pokémon, but maybe you can use him against Emolga.” She warned.
Icicle nodded in thanks. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Vulpix, come on out!” Fairy shouted and released her newest Pokémon. The Fox Pokémon looked at her with a smile.
“Well, see you all someday! I need to get going.” Icicle said with a wave while walking towards Mt. Canterlot. She suddenly stopped and turned to shout at the group. “And White Tail Woods has a lot of Flying-types!”
The group nodded in thanks and waved to her. “See ya!” “See you someday!” They shouted their goodbyes and Fairy turned to Flare. “So, you’re walking or you rather stay in the Pokéball?” Flare tilted her head to the side. “Some Pokémon would rather walk than stay in the ‘balls. I’m giving you the choice, but I’ll need to return you when we reach the city so we won’t crowd the walkway.”
Flare released an ‘ah’. “I think I’ll stay in the Pokéball. The battle tired me out.”
Fairy nodded in understanding. She moved to grab Flare’s Pokéball, she thought twice and pulled out her Pokédex and a potion instead so she could scan the Vulpix; pointing the ‘Dex at the Fire-type, the device beeped before telling the Pokémon’s info. Fairy listened to the machine-like voice as she sprayed the potion on her Pokémon.
“Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon. Inside Vulpix's body burns a flame that never goes out. During the daytime, when the temperatures rise, this Pokémon releases flames from its mouth to prevent its body from growing too hot.
Gender: Female
Ability: Flash Fire
Moves: Quick Attack, Ember, Confuse Ray, Feint Attack, Tail Whip, Flare Blitz.”
Flare’s eyes bulged. “Wait, Flare Blitz?! I honestly didn’t know I had this one.”
Fairy shook off her own shock and looked at the Pokémon. “It’s probably your Egg Move. From what I heard from a few Pokémon on the Lab when we were first testing the translating devices, a lot of Pokémon didn’t know their Egg Moves until they either activated on accident or someone told them they knew.” Shade nodded in confirmation, remembering that he only discovered he could use Detect many months after hatching. “Heh, now your name is kind of ironic.” The girl commented, causing Vulpix to giggle and nod in understanding. “We’ll call you for lunch later, for now return.” Fairy held Flare’s Pokéball and a beam shot from the ‘ball, returning the Fox Pokémon.
Spike tapped Fairy in the shoulder while Shade sat on his backpack with his head forepaws on the boy’s shoulder. “Let’s go, it’ll be better if we reach White Tail Woods before lunchtime; that way we’ll reach Ponyville before sundown and we can sleep at the Pokécenter.” He suggested.
“Good idea.” Fairy nodded in agreement before holding Prism on her arms, who was trying – and failing – to keep on the girl’s shoulders.
With that, the group walked towards the forest and the city beyond it, trying to guess what is going to happen with them as their journey continues.
“Dibs on the next Pokémon.” Spike said quickly.
“Dammit!”