My Little Pokemon

by Alabenson


New Arrivals, Part 1

            “Oh dear Celestia, what in Equestria happened last night?” Twilight groaned as she lay in her bed, her eyes screwed shut in pain. “It feels like I’ve got Applejack’s entire family galloping around in my head.” As Twilight spoke, she placed a hand on her forehead. “Ugh, I think I can actually feel my forehead throbbing. Wait a minute…” With a feeling of mounting horror Twilight opened her eyes and stared at the all too human hand she was holding in front of her face. Stifling the urge to scream, Twilight frantically stumbled out of her bed and pulled herself to her feet before looking around the room she had woken up in, which wound up doing little to ease her mind. “Where in Equestria am I?” Twilight asked as she found herself standing in what looked to be a small, windowless hotel room of some kind. For the most part it was fairly unremarkable as far as hotel rooms went, the furniture largely consisting of a pair of beds separated by a dresser, with a desk and table opposite the bed’s feet. The door presumably leading out was flanked by a pair of closet doors on one side and a door Twilight guessed led to a bathroom on the other. “Alright, Twilight, calm down. You’ve woken up in a strange room after been turned into a human –“ Any further efforts on Twilight’s part to sort through her thoughts fell apart as Twilight noticed that there was a green-haired boy snoring on the bed next to hers.


            “Hey, Rarity…like my ice cream yacht?” The boy mumbled to himself as he tossed and turned in his sleep.


“Dear Celestia…Spike?” Twilight asked in shock as she stared at her number-one assistant, who apparently had taken human form in this world. Head still throbbing painfully, Twilight decided to ponder Spike’s transformation later and unsteadily made her way to the room’s bathroom. Staggering inside, Twilight made her way to the sink and looked into the mirror so she could take stock of her transformation. As Twilight expected, staring back at her in the mirror was a human girl sporting her distinctive manestyle (or hairstyle, to use the human term). Strangely, her skin was a dusky peach color instead of the lavender of her Canterlot High manifestation. “Okay, somehow not only have I turned into a human, but Spike’s been turned into a human too. Think, Twilight, how the hay could this have happened?” Screwing her eyes shut, Twilight tried to think back to the last thing she could remember clearly. The last thing Twilight could remember was working on an experiment on the Crystal Mirror. Twilight had suspected that the mirror could be used to travel to other worlds beyond that of Canterlot High, the trick had been figuring out how to manipulate the artifact’s magic. However, Twilight had managed to find a ritual in the Crystal Empire’s library that had seemed promising. “So, I performed the ritual last night, and at first everything went fine. I got the magic of the mirror to activate, but then…” Twilight could vaguely recall the magic of the mirror spiraling out of control, but after that all she could remember was a bright white light enveloping everything.


“I have to say, Twilight, I’m really quite impressed. Opening a rift to another dimension, especially one of that size? You’re more entertaining than I gave you credit for.” Twilight immediately looked up at the sound of the sickeningly familiar voice emanating from the mirror. As soon as Twilight’s gaze fell on her reflection a flash of light flared out from the mirror, momentarily blinding her. When the light subsided, Twilight saw that her reflection had been replaced by the grinning visage of Discord, who for some unfathomable reason had chosen to retain her manestyle in place of his own. “Quite frankly, you should be thanking me right now,” Discord continued, oblivious to, or more likely reveling in Twilight’s discomfort. “If I hadn’t intervened when I did Celestia only knows what might have happened to you and your friends. But, I’m actually not here to celebrate my own greatness, I’m here to congratulate you on the start of your very own Pokémon adventure!”


Twilight stared at the mirror in complete silence for a full minute as a half-dozen questions formed her mind simultaneously, fighting each other to exit her mouth until her mental logjam finally culminated in a single exclamation. “What?”


Still smirking, Discord snapped his claws causing the mirror to flash once again. When Discord reappeared he had shrunk down so that his entire form was visible and had exchanged Twilight’s mane for a lab coat. “You see, Twilight, when you lost control of your little experiment you managed to create a dimensional vortex capable of pulling everypony in Ponyville into another dimension. And probably quite a few ponies from beyond Ponyville now that I think of it,” Discord added, muttering to himself. “Anyway, I’d just hate to see you blame yourself for dragging all your friends to some horrible fate in another dimension, so I stepped in and ensured that you dragged them all to a delightful dimension instead!”


Twilight silently wondered why Discord didn’t simply keep everypony from getting dragged to another dimension period, but she suspected the answer would only irritate her further. “Alright, so my friends and I, plus Celestia knows how many other ponies have been pulled into this world. So, how the hay are we supposed to get back to Equestria?”


“Why, that’s where your Pokémon adventure comes in, of course!” Discord exclaimed happily, a massive grin spread across his features.


“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that word. What in Equestria is a ‘Pokémon’ exactly?” As much as Twilight hated to admit it she was honestly curious as to what Discord had in store for her. Even if Discord was only reformed in the loosest possible definition of the term Twilight at least trusted that he wouldn’t knowingly put her or her friends (especially Fluttershy) in any real danger.


“What an excellent question. You see, the world you’re currently in is inhabited by creatures called Pokémon, like this little fellow here.” A bizarre creature popped into view next to Discord, completely unlike anything Twilight had ever seen before. It was vaguely bird-shaped and appeared to be composed of magenta and blue plastic. The creature’s head floated freely above its ovoid torso which had three blue paddle-shaped limbs protruding from it. As Twilight stared at the misshapen creature its head swiveled towards her and let out a drawn out keening screech that sent shudders down her spine. Truthfully the creature was exactly the sort of abomination that Twilight would expect Discord to keep as a pet. “This adorable little fellow is called a Porygon-Z, but Pokémon come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some people keep Pokémon as pets, while others train them to battle against each other.” Discord paused to leer wickedly at Twilight. “That’s what you’ll be doing, by the way.”


“What? I’m, not doing anything like that!” Twilight cried out indignantly. Whatever game Discord had planned, Twilight had no intention of playing any part in it. “Now tell me how to get back to Equestria!”


“Ah, but Twilight, training and battling Pokémon is exactly how you’ll be able to get back to Equestria. You see, as we speak you and all the other ponies who were pulled in along with you are on a luxury cruise ship headed to a part of the Pokémon world called the Javik region. There’s a dimensional gate there that a clever pony like you could use to send everypony back to Equestria. The only catch is that it happens to be kept in the headquarters of the Javik region’s Pokémon League. The only way to get inside there will be to complete the Javik League’s gym battle challenge.”


Twilight started blankly at Discord’s declaration. All his talk of Pokémon and leagues and battling sounded insane even by Discord’s standards. Still, at the moment Twilight didn’t have much choice in the matter. If there was to be any hope returning to Equestria Twilight was going to have to play whatever game Discord had planned for her. “Alright, Discord,” Twilight said in a defeated tone, “I’ll play along, at least for now anyway. So what exactly is this ‘gym battle challenge’?”


“Now, Twilight,” Discord chuckled, “I’m not going to just tell you everything, where would the fun be in doing that? You’ll just have to figure things out as you go along like everypony else.” The grin on Discord’s face continued to grow until it seemed to somehow extend out past the sides of his face. “Cheer up, Twilight, just think of all the friendship lessons you’ll be able to learn on your perilous but deeply rewarding adventure. Good luck!” With that, Discord snapped his claws one last time and vanished from the mirror. Twilight waited for a minute in silence, just in case Discord decided to suddenly reappear and provide some actually useful advice. Once it became clear that Discord had really left, at least for the time being, Twilight walked back into the room she had been sharing with Spike, who appeared to be stirring in his sleep.


“What’s that, Rarity, you want me to help clean up that chocolate syrup?” Spike said, apparently still in the middle of his dream. “Wow, you’ve really gotten it all over yourself. Don’t worry, I know exactly how to get this off of you.”


Spike may have been enjoying his dream, but Twilight couldn’t stand listening to any more, if for no other reason than for the sake of her sanity. Moreover, Twilight desperately needed to talk to somepony who wasn’t actively trying to annoy her. “Spike, wake up! We need to talk!”


“Huh, wha?” Spike mumbled as he pulled himself upright. “What’s the matter, Twili-AHH!” Spike screamed as he looked at Twilight. “Holy guacamole, Twilight, you’re a human!” Spike froze as he noticed his hands. “Holy guacamole, I’m a human! What the hay is going on?”


Letting out a sigh, Twilight sat down and explained everything she could about the bizarre situation they found themselves in courtesy of Discord. Doing so took several minutes as Spike frequently interrupted Twilight with questions, many of which she had no idea how to answer. “Anyway, that’s why we’ve been turned into humans, and if we ever want to get back to Equestria we’re going to need to somehow complete the gym challenge that Discord told me about.”


“Alright,” Spike said as he scratched his head, “just one question, though. What the hay is a ‘Pokémon’?”


Twilight brought her hand to her face as she prepared to explain for the umpteenth time that she still had no idea. Before she could, however, a female voice seemed to come out of thin air.


Attention passengers, we have arrived at our destination of Mercury City, gateway to the Javik region. Please begin making preparations to disembark, and good luck to all of you starting your Pokémon journeys.


“Come on, Spike, it sounds like we need to get going. Help me take a look around the room for anything useful; we’ll just have to figure things out as we go along. With any luck we can find our friends and with their help we should be able to handle anything this game of Discord’s can throw at us!” While Spike began rummaging through the room for whatever he could find Twilight did her best to maintain a confident front. The truth of the matter was, however, that Twilight felt incredibly unsure of the situation she and Spike found themselves in. All Twilight could do for the moment was put on a brave face and hope that a plan came to her eventually.


The disembarking process itself turned out to be mercifully straightforward process, for which Twilight was immensely grateful. Every half hour or so the intercom would announce that a different deck was now allowed to exit the ship. Eventually the announcement finally came that their deck was the next to disembark, by which point Spike had gathered together a pair of backpacks with enough camping supplies to both of them for an extended trip. Exiting their room, Twilight and Spike found themselves in what appeared to be a hotel hallway joining a throng of other apparent guests exiting as well. Taking firm hold of Spike’s hand, as much for her own comfort as to make certain they wouldn’t be separated, Twilight allowed herself and Spike to be pulled into the crowd. The pair then proceeded to be pulled and pushed down the length of the hallways and towards a set of elevators, which in turn took their occupants to even more hotel hallways. Throughout the process neither Twilight nor Spike could heads or tails of where they were being herded to, until they finally reached a massive lobby positively teeming with people. As Twilight looked around the room, she could occasionally catch glimpses of individuals who she thought looked familiar, but every time whoever she thought she thought she saw would vanish back into the crowd. Just as Twilight started to worry that she and Spike were going to be alone in a strange world, however, a familiar voice caught her attention.


“Ugh, how the hay does anypony stand not having wings?” As Twilight turned towards the source of the grumbling she was rewarded with the sight of a girl with a head of rainbow-colored hair.


“Rainbow Dash, is that you?” Twilight called out as she pushed her way through the crowd, pulling Spike along behind her.


“What the…Twilight? Oh man am I glad to see you!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she turned to fact Twilight and Spike. “Seriously, what the hay is going on? One minute I’m in bed rereading the latest Daring Do book and the next thing I know I’m waking up in this weird hotel-place and I’ve been turned into…this!” Rainbow Dash gestured towards herself. “I’m some sort of freaky hairless monkey-thing! Is this what you turned into when you went through the mirror portal, y’know the whatever-you-call’ems…”


“Humans,” Twilight said as she glanced around to see if their conversation had attracted any attention. Thankfully, nopony, or rather nobody, seemed to have noticed the somewhat unusual nature of their discussion. “Listen, Rainbow, I may have an idea on how we can get back to Equestria, but I’m going to need your help. Now, what happened when you woke up here? Did Discord try to contact you at all?”


“Discord? Is he the one behind all of this?” Rainbow asked angrily. “Why am I not surprised that that jerk would be involved in something like this? When I get my hooves on that – “


“Discord wasn’t the one responsible for bringing us here, at least not in the way you think.” Twilight quickly interrupted. “Discord contacted me when I woke up here; according to him he wasn’t the one who created the rift that pulled us out of Equestria but he was the one who fixed it so everything wound up in this particular world.”


“And you actually believed him?” Rainbow Dash snapped. “This is Discord we’re talking about, do you honestly think he’d tell you the truth if he were behind this?”


“Hey, I know Discord isn’t all that reformed, but dragging everypony into another dimension would be a bit much even for him.” Silently, Twilight prayed that Rainbow Dash dropped the subject before she was forced to admit that she may have been the one responsible for their predicament. Granted, Twilight only had Discord’s word regarding her culpability in the event, and Discord’s word had never been particularly trustworthy. Even so, the very notion that she might have been responsible for what was happening was more than Twilight could deal with at the moment.


Luckily for her, it didn’t seen that Rainbow Dash was all that interested in pursuing the subject further. “Whatever,” Rainbow Dash said testily, “anyway, so you said you thought you had some way to get us back to Equestria?”


“I think so,” Twilight replied. “Discord said that to get back we would need to access a dimensional gate, which is somewhere called the Javik league. And in order to get there we first need to go through something called a Pokémon gym challenge.”


“Ok,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head, “I like the sound of this gym challenge thing. Just one question, though; what the hay is a Pokémon?”


Before Twilight had a chance to respond the crowds started to move once again, pulling the three friends towards a set of double doors on the far end of the room leading to the outside. With no real alternatives available, the group simply followed along with the crowds, soon finding themselves being herded off the ship and down a gangplank large enough that it seemed like it would have been wide enough to pull several wagons down side by side. The gangplank led to the outside of a massive building whose exterior was a shining edifice of glass and steel. A large sign above the building’s entrance proclaimed it to be the entranceway to the Javik region. Following the crowds, Twilight and the others were ushered into the building, the interior of which was unlike anything Twilight had ever seen or even read about. The doors of the building led into a cavernous room that was so large it looked as though it could have accommodated most of the homes in Ponyville and still have room to spare. Large screens had been set up along the walls near the ceiling, all of which played a brief combination welcome message/history of the region. Under different circumstances Twilight would have found it all rather fascinating, but now wasn’t the time for academic curiosity. Perhaps fortunately for Twilight there wasn’t much time for her to dwell on this missed opportunity for learning before the movement of the crowds forced her to focus her attention elsewhere. Everypony seemed to be headed towards the semicircular far end of the room where six gateways stood leading deeper into the building. Each gateway had a name proudly displayed above it, though to Twilight the names were all complete gibberish.


“Kalos? Hoenn? What the hay are those supposed to be?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently.


“I…have no idea,” Twilight admitted, “but whatever they mean I definitely thing we should stick together.” As Rainbow Dash and Spike nodded in agreement the trip allowed themselves to be herded towards the far left gateway. The gateway’s sign proudly declared it to be the ‘Kalos’ gate, thought that name was as meaningless to Twilight as the others had been. Beyond the gateway the crowds seemed to slowly form into an orderly line which stretched ever deeper into the building. With no other real options available, Twilight and her friends fell into line with the rest of the crowd and waited. It seemed as though the line stretched on for hours and Rainbow Dash soon started squirming as her already limited patience was taxed to its absolute limit.


“Ugh, what the hay is taking so long?” Rainbow Dash asked as she tried leaning from side to side in an effort to see where they were headed. “Why do we have to wait on this stupid line anyway?”


“Rainbow Dash, calm down, we don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves,” Twilight pleaded with her friend in an effort to rein her in. “I know it’s hard, but try to be patient for just a little while longer.” Despite further grumbling Rainbow Dah settled back into the line, and Twilight could hardly blame her friend for her impatience. Even Twilight’s own patience was rapidly being eroded in the face of the seemingly never-ending waiting for Celestia only knew what. Mercifully, as they rounded a corner it become apparent that they didn’t have much longer to wait after all as Twilight could see that the line was taking them towards what looked like some sort of government office. Those in line would each walk up to a reception desk and appear to answer several questions before heading to the right. As the approached the desk Twilight racked her brains trying to figure out what the purpose of any of this was, but she found herself utterly flummoxed. Twilight was so engrossed on pondering this question that she didn’t notice how quickly the line was shrinking until she heard the person manning the desk, a particularly grump looking woman, calling out to her.


“Hey, miss you’re next, could you please step up to the front?” The clerk impatiently drummed her fingers on the desk as she waited for Twilight to respond.


“What? Oh, right, of course.” More than slightly flustered, Twilight quickly moved over to the counter. “So, um…”


The clerk let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright miss, may I have your name please?”


“Twilight Sparkle.”


A brief moment of silence followed as the clerk stared at Twilight with a look of exasperation before responding with a sigh. “Your name is…Twilight…Sparkle…fine, whatever. Let me guess, you’re from the Equestria region, right?”


“You’ve heard of Equestria?” Twilight asked excitedly. The very idea that people in this world knew of Equestria opened up an incredible number of possibilities.


“I’ve been processing new trainers from that place all day and they all have the sort of names like yours. So, are you a first time trainer or do you already have a Pokédex?”


“A poke-what now?” Twilight asked, now thoroughly confused.


“New trainer it is then. Please stand in front of the blue square to your right and look straight ahead until you see a flash. Once your picture is taken follow the red line on the floor to the pickup station where you can pick up your Pokédex along with the rest of your welcome package.” Before Twilight could ask any further questions the clerk leaned to the side and addressed the line. “Would the next person please step forward? Miss, please move to the side so I can assist the other trainers?”


“But –“


“Miss, please stand in front of the blue square to the right,” the clerk snapped as she grumpily gestured to the right with her pen.


Defeated, Twilight hesitantly moved over to the spot the clerk had directed her to and looked straight ahead as instructed. Twilight found herself staring at a large black device with a blinking red light in its center. Unsure of what to do, Twilight stared at the device for a few seconds until the red light suddenly unleashed a blinding flash of light. As Twilight blinked in an effort to regain her vision she realized that the machine must have taken her picture and promptly glanced downward towards the floor where she saw the red line the clerk had told her about. Twilight quickly moved to follow the line, right as Rainbow Dash stepped over to take her spot in front of the camera. The line led Twilight to another large, strange machine, this one vaguely resembling a vending machine with a glowing screen on the front, which lit up as Twilight cautiously approached it.


“Welcome to Javik region, Twilight Sparkle! Please collect you new trainer package in the slot below.” An image of a messenger bag appeared on the screen, followed by images of several other objects that Twilight couldn’t even begin to try to identify. “Your new trainer welcome package contains almost every you’ll need to start your Pokémon journey. Inside your Javik region souvenir messenger bag you’ll find a state-of-the-art Pokédex, a Z-ring and a set of five Pokéballs.” As the machine spoke Twilight heard a soft thump from a slot on the front of the machine. “Of course, there’s still one very important thing you’ll need before you can start on your Pokémon journey, and that of course is your very own Pokémon! So, once you’ve collected your new trainer kit you’ll want to head on over to the Pokémon dispensary, where you’ll be able to choose from the three starter Pokémon native to the Kanto region. From all of us at the Javik region new trainer processing center, we wish you good luck on your Pokémon journey!”


As the machine finished its presentation Twilight checked the contents of its drawer. Sure enough, inside Twilight found a messenger bag matching the image that had appeared on the screen. Opening it, Twilight saw that it contained a rectangular red object which she presumed was her Pokédex, along with a thick white bracelet and a number of small red and white balls. Deciding to hold off on trying to determine what the purpose any of the items had, Twilight moved on to the next room, which the machine had referred to as the Pokémon dispensary. The Pokémon dispensary, as Twilight discovered, consisted of another large room, this one filled with machines similar to the one she had just used arranged like some sort of video arcade. Many of the machines had people standing in front of them, staring intently at the screens and occasionally reaching out and touch or swiping at the screens. Cautiously, Twilight made her way to an unoccupied machine and began trying to figure out what she was supposed to. Three creatures were displayed on the screen, not entirely dissimilar to the creature Discord had shown to her. Curiously, Twilight reached out and touched one of them, an orange dragon-like creature with a small flame on the tip of its tail. As soon as Twilight’s fingers touched the screen the creature moved to the center of the screen as a robotic, monotone voice came from the machine.


Charmander, the lizard Pokémon. The flame on the tip of its tail acts as an indicator of the state of its health as well as its emotional state. Normally the flame burns hot enough to remain lit underwater, but Charmander’s life could be in serious danger if it were to be extinguished.


As the machine read off its information regarding the creature Twilight began to understand what was going on. The machine must have been meant to provide information on the available Pokémon a new trainer could pick so they could make an informed decision. Feeling at least a little more certain as to what she was supposed to be doing, Twilight regarded the other two creatures she apparently had to choose from; a mottled green quadrupedal creature with some sort of plant bulb on its back and a blue turtle-like creature.


“Cool, that one looks kinda like Tank!” Twilight turned to her right to see Rainbow Dash standing at the machine next to hers. “Hey, Spike, you should totally pick that orange fire-lizard looking one.”


“Actually, I was thinking of picking the green one with the plant on its back.” Turning to her left Twilight say that Spike was standing next to her as well.


“Whatever, I’m going with the blue Tank guy,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. Before Twilight could interject, Rainbow Dash poked at the machine’s screen a few times until a voice emitted from it.


Congratulations, you have selected Squirtle, the tiny turtle Pokémon. Once again, we wish you luck on your Pokémon journey. As the machine finished, a bright crackling light appeared from a slot on the machine’s side and inside was a red and white ball, nearly identical to the ones that they had received in their welcome satchels, save for the fact that this one was the size of a fist.


“Huh, weird,” Rainbow Dash said as she picked up the ball. “So, is my guy in this thing, or – whoa!” As Rainbow Dash spoke the ball split open along its equator and a crimson light arced out from inside it, coalescing into the creature that had been displayed on the screen.


“Squirtle!” the creature exclaimed happily as it looked up at Rainbow Dash. “Squirtle, Squirtle Squirtle?”


“Aw man, look at this little guy,” Rainbow Dash practically squealed with delight before kneeling down to her Squirtle’s level. “So, you’re gonna be my Pokémon from now on, huh?”


“Squirtle!” Rainbow Dash’s Squirtle replied happily.


“That’s all you can say, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Ah well, doesn’t matter, you’re with me now and that means you’re gonna be one of the awesomest poke-thingies ever!” As Rainbow Dash cooed over her new Pokémon, Spike began eagerly poking at the screen on his machine as well. Moments later, Spike received a congratulatory message as well, complete with another red and white ball presumably containing the plant-like creature he had been eyeing.


Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Twilight turned back to the machine she herself had been using. Twilight hadn’t even had a chance to review the information on the two Pokémon Rainbow Dash and Spike had chosen, but Twilight’s inner scientist insisted that Twilight choose the remaining creature so that she could observe all three. As such, Twilight touched the Charmander on the screen followed by a prompt confirming her choice. Moments later, Twilight was rewarded with her own congratulatory message and freshly materialized Pokéball. As Twilight held the ball in her hand she glanced around the room at the other trainers. While a few had let their Pokémon out of their balls like Rainbow Dash had, most of them simply took the ball containing their Pokémon and left the room through an exit on the room’s far side.


“Hey, why don’t you let your guy’s out too?” Rainbow Dash asked as she momentarily stopped playing with her Squirtle.


“Actually,” Twilight said as she continued to look around the room, “I think maybe we should hold off on that, at least until we get out of this building. It looks like most of the other people are heading straight out that way and we still don’t really have a good grasp on how things work here.”


“Alright, whatever” Rainbow Dash sighed as she motioned for her Squirtle to follow her. Once again following the crowd, the trio found themselves led to yet another massive lobby, the far walls of which appeared to be almost entirely made of glass. Like the lobby they had entered when they first exited the boat, large screens lined the upper walls of the room, playing the same brief history message from the first room. Once again, however, Twilight found herself unable to focus on what the screens could possibly tell her about the strange land she found herself in. In several spots throughout the room sizeable groups had gathered, in each case apparently encircling some sort of commotion. More specifically, it sounded as though each group had surrounded a fight of some kind. “Hey. Twilight, you’ve gotta come check this out!” The sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice carried above the din of the room, causing Twilight to frantically look around for her until she saw that Rainbow Dash had squeezed herself into one of the groups.


“Rainbow Dash, what in Equestria do you think you’re doing? We need to stick together if we’re going to – what the?” Twilight was forced to stop mid-tirade as she finally saw what was drawing the crowds. The various trainers had formed a circle around a pair of Pokémon that Twilight could only describe as a small orange bird and a burning hedgehog. The two Pokémon seemed wholly intent on beating the stuffing out of each other, while a pair of trainers standing on opposite sides of the circle shouted commands at them.


“Torchic, you’ve got this! Scratch attack, now!”


“Cyndaquil, don’t let that little featherbrain show you up! Tackle it quickly!” The two Pokémon clashed together viciously at their trainer’s commands without an apparent thought to their own safety.


“What is all this?” Rainbow Dash asked with an odd mix of awe and trepidation.


“It’s a Pokémon battle, obviously. Are you really that clueless?” a somewhat nasally voice answered. Spinning around to confront the voice’s owner, Rainbow Dash found herself staring at a pair of boys roughly her age or possibly a little older. The one who had apparently spoken earlier, a short, portly individual with dirty straw colored hair, continued as though he didn’t notice Rainbow Dash glaring angrily at him. “I mean, I’ll admit what these amateurs are doing only barely qualifies as a battle, but you should still be able to figure that out for yourself.”


“To be fair, Robert, she may have been referring to the fact that it’s somewhat unusual to have this many battles going on in such a small area,” the other said, a gangly bespectacled young man with dark hair. “I’m Colin, buy the way,” the taller boy said as he extended a hand to Rainbow Dash, “and my somewhat grumpy friend here is Robert. We’ve come here from Unova to research the unique aspects of the Javik region.”


“Yeah, maybe you are,” Robert snorted as he glanced over towards the battle, still fiercely going on. “I only agreed to come with you because you convinced me that the Javik League had one of the most intense gym challenges out there. Personally, I’m really not seeing it.”


“Now be fair, Robert, most of these trainers are just starting out for the very first time. Can you honestly say you were all that much different back then?”


While a somewhat chastened Robert grumbled unintelligibly in response, Twilight perked up at Robert’s mention of the Javik League’s gym challenge. “Pardon me, but if you don’t mind my asking, what exactly is the ‘gym challenge’ anyway?”


“What?” Robert sputtered, having suddenly found his voice once again. “Are you freaking kidding me? How the heck do you not even know what a gym challenge is?”


“Well, to be honest we don’t really have Pokémon at all where we’re from, so all of this is completely new to us.”


“Really? Collin exclaimed, eyes widening in excitement. “You really come from someplace completely devoid of Pokémon? I didn’t even realize a place like that existed. This all really must be quite overwhelming for you then. In any event, a league’s gym challenge is its way of testing the trainers within its region. Each trainer travels throughout the region to different gyms, each typically specializing in a particular type of Pokémon. There, the trainer challenges the leader of each gym to a Pokémon battle, with the terms dictated by the leader being challenged. If the challenger wins, they are awarded a badge commemorating their victory, and upon collecting eight badges they qualify to enter that regions championship.”


“Yo, Colin, as fascinating as it is to listen to you explain the absolute basics of Pokémon to a bunch of rubes who apparently are from the most backwater region on the planet –“


“Hey!” Rainbow Dash yelled in protest.


“But anyway we should really get going. Otherwise you’re gonna miss your meeting with Professor Juniper’s contact here.” Roger continued, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s outrage.


“I suppose you’re right,” Colin sighed. “I’m sorry, miss, I really would have liked to speak with you further, but I’m afraid my friend is right. I we have a chance to meet again I’d love to ask more about the region you’re from.” With that, Colin regretfully turned and left, Robert waddling close behind.


Colin’s description of what the gym challenge actually entailed had done little to improve Twilight’s confidence. Twilight had hoped that she would be able to resolve her business in this strange world in a few days at most, However, any hope of a quick resolution had been dashed by the news that the gym challenge would entail traveling to at least eight different towns. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, seemed exhilarated by what she had just seen and heard.


“This is gonna be awesome! Twilight did you see the way those little guys were going at it? And Tank Jr.’s gonna be able to do all that and then some, right? I mean, what’s his name said most Pokémon battles were way more intense than that.” Rainbow Dash said eagerly, her eyes practically sparkling with excitement.


“Tank junior?” Spike asked, having only been paying partial attention to the conversation in lieu of examining the Pokédex he had received in his welcome package.


“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said as she proudly lifted her Squirtle into the air. “That’s what I’m naming this little guy. I mean what else am I supposed to do, just call him ‘Squirtle’?”


“Squirtle Squirtle!” The newly named Tank Jr. said happily.


“In any case, I think the first thing should do is try and find out as much as we can about these gyms,” Twilight said in an effort to get the conversation back on track. “If the gym challenge really is a way to test new Pokémon trainers like Colin said then I’m certain that careful preparation will need to be a key part of our strategy.”


“Come on, Twilight, this isn’t some egghead exam, it’s a full-on fighting challenge,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “Trust me on this, all we need to do is find one of these gyms and leave everything to my awesomeness. So,” Rainbow Dash continued, ignoring the doubtful looks Twilight and Spike were giving her, “where do you think we could find one of these gyms anyway?”


“Maybe we should start by trying to figure out where exactly we are and work from there,” Twilight said as she began moving away from the crowds. “I think I remember the announcement on the boat mentioning the name of the city we’re in, but I can’t quite remember what it was called.”


“It’s called Mercury City,” Spike offered offhandedly as he looked up from his Pokédex. When Twilight and Rainbow Dash both gave him quizzical looks Spike continued. “While you were talking with those two guys I was figuring out how this red thing works,” Spike explained. “It turns out this thing is kinda like the computer we saw in Canterlot High, so it has all sorts of information, like this map of the Javik region,” Spike added with a grin.


“Well, that’s certainly a start,” Twilight admitted, “but that doesn’t necessarily help us find a gym. Do you know if that thing has any maps of individual towns?”


“Yeah, I think so, just give me one second,” Spike said as he opened up his Pokédex and began pressing buttons. The truth of the matter was Spike wasn’t certain how had brought up the Pokédex’s atlas in the first place. The first time he had done so just by pressing random buttons on the Pokédex until the atlas had just popped up on the screen. “Let’s see…if I press this and then go here…that takes me back to the atlas…what about if I try this…”


“Spike, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Twilight asked impatiently.


“Relax Twilight, I – HA! I got it!” Spike exclaimed triumphantly. As Spike proudly displayed his Pokédex, Twilight could see that its screen showed what appeared to be a partial map of a city, the name ‘Mercury City’ in the upper left corner. Twilight’s eyes were immediately drawn to a blinking red light centered in what she assumed was one of the buildings. Curious, Twilight tapped on the light, which caused the Pokédex to display ‘Javik League New Trainer Welcome Center’.


“I see, it looks like this shows us the area immediately surrounding where we are,” Twilight said as she examined the Pokédex’s display.


“Cool, so where’s the nearest gym?” Rainbow Dash asked eagerly.


Before Twilight could insist that Rainbow Dash be patient a mechanical voice emanated from the Pokédex. “Location request; Mercury City Gym; Processing; Location found; Please review directions provided.” At the same time, the map displayed on the Pokédex appeared to zoom out while dashed line formed leading rom the blinking red dot to another building.


“Sweet, that thing must be voice activated or something,” Rainbow Dash said happily. “Let’s head right over there so I can kick some gym leader hindquarters!”


“Um, are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Twilight asked. “I still think we should try and gather some more information about these gyms before we rush in.”


“For the last time, Twilight I’ve got this. Come on, Spike, lead the way.” With that, Rainbow Dash grabbed Spike by the collar and pulled him in front of her. Realizing that arguing would be a futile endeavor, Spike obediently took his Pokédex and began leading Rainbow Dash to the city’s gym, Twilight following closely behind her two friends. As the group finally left the Welcome Center Twilight took in the view of Mercury City, not having much else to occupy her attention.


In many ways, Mercury City reminded Twilight of Manehatten. Massive skyscrapers lined the streets making it feel to Twilight that she was walking along the bottom of some artificial canyon. Unlike in Manehatten, however, these buildings appeared to be constructed almost entirely of chrome and glass which produced an almost blinding glare in the sun. Beyond that, however, the city to Twilight to be very similar to her previous experiences with human-inhabited worlds, at least until she began to notice the presence of the Pokémon. I seemed that everywhere Twilight looked she saw more of the strange creatures alongside their human partners. Remarkably, at least to Twilight, all of the Pokémon she saw looked quite happy despite it being their apparent lot in like to be forced to fight in seemingly pointless battles for their masters. Putting that bit of illogic aside for the moment, however, Twilight could only marvel at the seemingly infinite number of shapes Pokémon apparently came in, a number of which seemed to defy an understanding she had of physics or biology. It was no surprise that Discord found Pokémon so endearing.


The group spent the better part of ten minutes walking through the streets of Mercury City before Spike’s Pokédex informed them that they had reached their destination. The building was massive, apparently taking up almost an entire city block on its own and displayed over the front doors was a large circular sign, colored to resemble a Pokéball. “So, this is the place, huh” Rainbow Dash said as they approached the building. “Alright then, let’s do this!” With that, Rainbow Dash charged up to the gym’s front doors and tossed them open before confidently marching inside. “So, whose rump do I have to kick to get this place’s medal or whatever?” Rainbow Dash called out.


A few bored looking trainers seated a card table turned towards Rainbow Dash as they heard her yell out her challenge. “Hey, why don’t you go tell Ferris he challenger,” one of the trainers said to the other, “I doubt this one’s going to last too long.”


“Hey,” Rainbow Dash protested, “what’s that supposed to mean?”


“Heh, you’ll see,” the trainer said, “so, are you the only one planning to challenge Ferris, or do your friends plan on going up against him as well?”


“I think we’ll just watch Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said as she looked around at the building’s interior. The inside of the gym, or at least the portion just past the doorway was markedly less impressive than the exterior. Upon entering the gym one found oneself in a barren reception area, devoid of any real furnishings beyond the card table and chairs the trainers had been seated at, along with a few uncomfortable looking benches. Beyond that, the only other notable features of the room were a pair of metal double doors leading deeper into the gym.


“Ok then, you’ll want to head up of these stairways, it doesn’t really matter which. Those’ll take you up to walkways on either side of the field, you’ll be able to watch your friend’s battle from there.” The trainer then turned back to Rainbow Dash. “In your case you’ll want to head through those doors over there. The gym leader will be out to accept your challenge shortly.”


“Aw yeah, time to win me a gym badge!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she rushed to the doors.


Twilight, meanwhile, couldn’t share her friend’s enthusiasm. It was bad enough that Rainbow Dash was rushing into the gym battle with only a vague idea as to what battling even really entailed. But beyond that, there was something about the attitudes of the two trainers they had met in the gym that left Twilight doubly concerned. Neither trainer seemed even remotely concerned about Rainbow Dash’s challenge, almost to the point of being patronizing. Granted, it could have simply been that challenges to the gym’s leader were simply utterly routine to them, but Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling that Rainbow Dash was about to bite off much more than she could chew. Of course, Twilight knew her friend well enough to know that there was simply no talking to her when she was like this, so all Twilight could do was follow the directions given to her and hope that everything turned out all right.


As Twilight and Spike made their way up the stairs as instructed they found that they did indeed lead up to a viewing area overlooking a large arena. Calling them walkways, however, hardly did them justice, as the viewing area offered several rows of benches easily capable of seating dozens of spectators on either side of the arena. The arena itself was at least twice as large as a tennis court and looked to be constructed out of massive concrete slabs. Twilight could see that Rainbow Dash was already standing at one end of the arena, impatiently tapping her foot as she waited for the gym leader to appear. Luckily, Rainbow Dash didn’t have long to wait as mere moments after Twilight and Spike seated themselves the doors on the far end of the arena opened, revealing the Mercury City gym leader. Ferris, as the trainers had referred to him as, was apparently a young man, probably not much older than Shining Armor. His close-cropped hair was jet black and he was wearing a grease-stained jumpsuit of some kind, making him look like some kind of mechanic.


“Alright then, so you’re here to challenge me for the Alloy Badge,” Ferris cheerfully greeted Rainbow Dash as he stepped out onto the arena. “Since I understand that this is your first gym battle, I’ll go over some of the basics. We’ll use two Pokémon each, the first to knock out both of their opponent’s Pokémon will be the winner.”


“Yeah, well I’m not even gonna need two Pokémon to whup your hindquarters! Tank Junior here is all I’ll need!” With that Rainbow Dash tossed her Pokéball into the arena bringing her Squirtle forth.


“Squirtle” Tank Junior yelled out, apparently sensing its trainer’s confidence.


Ferris, however, seemed less than impressed with Rainbow Dash’s display. “That Squirtle’s your only Pokémon, isn’t it? And I’m guessing you probably just got it today.” Ferris let out a long sigh as he appeared to consider the situation. “Look, I don’t do this very often, but I’m going to give you an opportunity to back out. You really don’t have a chance of winning right now, so why don’t you find someplace to train, maybe out east near Aurum Town, and then come back once you’re a little more ready.”


“Oh no, there’s no way I’m running away from this. But,” Rainbow Dash added with a sneer, “if you’re too chicken to battle me you could always just give me your badge.”


“Alright, fine, if that’s how you want to do this…Magnemite! Go!” Ferris threw a Pokéball into the arena, which burst open to reveal what looked to be a one-eyed floating ball with an assortment of screws and magnets attached to it. “Magnemite, Thunder Shock!” Ferris swiftly commanded before Rainbow Dash had a chance to react. In response, Ferris’ Magnemite let loose a pair of arcs of electricity from the magnets on its sides, unerringly striking Tank Junior. The unfortunate Squirtle spasmed for a second or two before collapsing onto the arena floor.


“Squirtle is unable to battle,” a trainer on the side of the arena called out. “As the challenger has no more Pokémon, the winner is Gym Leader Ferris!”


While Rainbow Dash stood on her side of the arena, still staring in shock over what had just happened, Ferris began slowly crossing the distance towards her. “Trainers like you make me sick,” Ferris snarled with barely contained rage. “Do you know why Pokémon are willing to battle for us? It’s because our Pokémon trust us to direct them, to lead them to the best of our ability and to bring out the best of theirs.” As Ferris continued he fixed his gaze on Rainbow Dash. “But you abused that trust when you sent your Squirtle into a battle it had no hope of winning and now it’s paid the price for your ego.” After glaring at Rainbow Dash for a few more moments Ferris abruptly tuned and stormed off back the way he came. “Take your Squirtle to a Pokémon Center and don’t show your face in here again until you actually appreciate what it means to be a trainer.”

*********

“So, if our Pokémon are injured we can just come here and you’ll take of them for us?” Twilight asked the pink-haired nurse at the Pokémon Center counter.


“That’s right, and we also offer trainers free room and board so you can rest during you journey.”


Twilight simply nodded in response as she filed this information away for later. “So, what about Rainbow Dash’s Pokémon, will it be alright?”


“Oh yes,” the nurse replied. “We treat injuries like those quite often. All your friend’s Squirtle needs is a little rest and he’ll be right back to his old self.


Twilight breathed a small sigh of relief. “That’s good, at least. Thank you again for helping us, Nurse…”


“Nurse Joy.”


“Sorry, thank you, Nurse Joy,” Twilight said as she backed away. Silently, Twilight wondered if all the humans in this world had names as strange as the ones she had met thus far. Satisfied at least that everything was going to be fine as far as Rainbow Dash’s Pokémon was concerned Twilight left Nurse Joy to be work and went in search of Rainbow Dash herself. Twilight didn’t have to look far, as it turned out, as Rainbow Dash was still seated in the lobby where Twilight had left her. Spike and his Bulbasaur were there as well, doing their best to cheer Rainbow Dash up or at least to engage her in conversation. Despite their efforts, however, Rainbow Dash simply sat on the bench in silence. “Hey, I’ve got some good news,” Twilight said quietly as she approached her friend. “I just spoke with the nurse here and she said Tank Junior’s going to be fine.”


Any hopes Twilight had of snapping her friend out of her funk were quickly dashed, however, as Rainbow Dash barely seemed to react to the news. “That was all my fault,” Rainbow Dash said softly, apparently not speaking to anypony in particular. “You warned me I wasn’t ready, he even gave me a chance to walk away, but I didn’t listen to any of you. If I had, Tank Junior wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.”


“She’s been like this ever since we got back from the gym,” Spike said sadly. “I was kinda hoping you’d be able to cheer her up since I’ve pretty much run out of ideas.”


Twilight regarded her friend sadly as she considered their situation. Under normal circumstances Twilight would have thought nothing was more important than helping one of her friends, but at the moment things were as far from normal as they could get. “I hate to say this, Spike, but we don’t have time to sit around while Rainbow Dash gets over what happened. Once Tank Junior has recovered we should head out of the city and find someplace we can strengthen our Pokémon so we’ll have a chance at completing this gym challenge.”


“But where would we go? And what about Rainbow Dash?” Spike asked plaintively.


“When the gym leader was trying to convince Rainbow Dash to back down he mentioned someplace called Aurum Town,” Twilight said. “Maybe if we head there we can figure out a way to get through this gym challenge and get back to Equestria. As for Rainbow Dash,” Twilight looked back towards her friend and sighed, “hopefully we’ll find a way to snap her out of this along the way.”