Roseluck already had pulled off the kettle off the stove when Daisy re-entered the kitchen, and she was pouring the boiling water into one of four cups filled with tea leaves. Lily and Roselia had walked into the living room and were sat across from one another at the table.
“Four?” Daisy questioned with her brow lifted.
Roseluck looked at her sister and sat the kettle back onto the stove. “Yeah, well, we do have a guest, so I thought it was only right.”
“Are you sure it can even drink tea?”
Roseluck, with its mouth scrunched to the side, walked over and poked her head into the living room as Roselia, standing upright in a seat too big for it to sit, turned to her.
“Roselia, can you drink tea?” she asked. Roselia beamed and gave a large nod. “Would you like some?” A double nod gave her an answer. Rose’s scrunched mouth shifted into a smirk, and she retracted her head into the kitchen. Daisy rolled her eyes as Roseluck walked back to finish pouring water. After a few seconds of steeping the leaves, Roseluck stirred in a teaspoon of sugar into one of the cups, and she and Daisy carried all four cups into the living room.
There was certainly an absence of conversation between Lily and Roselia. Roselia stood silently in the chair where Roseluck had sat earlier, looking around and marveling at the plethora of flora in vases and pots lining the room. Lily sat bored in her chair, flipping through a gossip magazine with her head propped up with her hoof. But when she saw the little cups of tea on saucers coming to the table, she quickly shut it and moved the vase in the middle of the table aside. The cups were passed out, the sweetened tea going to Lily, as Daisy and Rose took the two remaining chairs opposite to each other.
Roselia, after giving its petaled limbs a confused glanced, attempted to wrap its little buds around it, but they flinched away upon contact with the searing sides of the cup. Gently fanning its petals, it looked up to see three sets of furrowed brows gazing upon it curiously.
“'Selia?”
All three mares gave fake coughs and grunts. Lily reclined and returned to her magazine, and Roseluck blew on her tea and took a sip. Daisy gave a short glance to her sisters.
“So, Roselia, tell us a little bit about yourself, if you don’t mind,” she asked in her politest tone. Roselia started speaking in a series of cut syllables and whole versions of its name. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Daisy said hastily, cutting it off.
“Is your name the only thing you can say?” Lily blurted out with her head tilted back, just as Daisy opened her mouth. Roselia's shimmering eyes dulled and fell upon its untouched cup of tea. It nodded lamentingly, and Lily threw up her hooves, sending the magazine flying. “Well, that's real helpful to know. How in Tartarus are we supposed to communicate with a creature that can only say its own name?”
“Depends.” Daisy tucks her hoof beneath her chin and examines the little flower creature. “Do you think Unicorn magic will work on it?”
“Don't know,” Lily replied. “What're you thinking about?”
“Remember 'Mitter'?” asked Daisy.
“Your Germaney foreign-exchange-student roommate from college? What about her?” said Lily.
Daisy leaned back into her seat. “She didn't speak anything other than Germane, so one of the RAs cast a translation spell on her, so she was able to perfectly communicate with other ponies. It works on nearly every species―at least of the ones we know so far―and seems to be quite the common spell.”
“So what, we just look for someone to magically know this spell?” Lily said, rolling her eyes.
Rose gave her deadpan stare. “Lily, we have three unicorns that went to Celestia's school living in town.”
“Well, we can't ask Twilight for help,” Lily said, reaching back for her magazine. “She's probably princess’ing the explosion in the Everfree. So...”
“So we go ask Sparkler,” Daisy declared, and she looked over to a clearly confused rose creature.
“Ha! If she’ll let it in,” Lily remarked.
Daisy shook her head. “I don’t think she’ll mind. She was always a fairly brave pony. One of the few willing to go into the Everfree―”
“Of course, it’s easy when you can just fire pew-pew beams at everything.”
Daisy sighed. “Nevertheless, I’m going, and I’m sure Rose is going―”
“You bet!”
“―so if you want, you can stay here alone and see if any more plant creatures appear.” Daisy and Rose stood, the latter taking a final sip from her teacup. Daisy kneeled down beside Roselia’s seat, offering the little creature a ride. “It’s okay, you can grab ahold of my mane if it helps keep you sturdy.”
The Roselia tentatively grabbed a few of the lime-green curls as best she could and hopped onto Daisy’s back, her stubby legs dangling off the side. Roseluck joined them at the door, and the three went out with the door’s “ding!”
“Hmph!” Lily grunted as she saw her sisters pass by a window. She returned to her magazine, reading about the supposed break-up of Sapphire Shore and―
A sound emanated from one of the vases. Lily peeked over her magazine at the vases around her to see if any of the flowers were becoming animated, and when all was proven still, she attempted to read the article again. Lily hardly managed a word before tossing the magazine onto the table, muttering “Screw that,” and trotting out the door.
“Glad you decided to join us,” Daisy said after a glance behind her revealed Lily galloping to them in the middle of the Ponyville’s abandoned square.
“Well, you know, you might need some help talking to Sparkler. You do tend to get kind of aggressive,” Lily replied and pointed to Rose. “And she’s too shy to say anything. So you should probably need somepony who’s actually good with ponies.”
Daisy gave a look of incredulity, shouting “I’m not―!” before straightening and hushing herself. “I’m not aggressive.”
Lily only offered a shrug in response, and the mares hurried through the rest of town, soon appearing at a plain-looking house on the east side. Just like every other building the sisters had seen, the shutters were boarded and the doors locked tighter than the vault of the crown jewels.
Daisy gave a knock. “Sparkler! It’s Daisy and the girls! Can you please open up?”
Nothing happened. The words seemingly bounced off the door and into the vacant street.
Lily added enticingly, “Please, Sparkler? We need your help with something very important!”
There was the click as locks were slid out of place. The door opened slowly, and the first to peep from behind was a pink horn glowing blue, then eyes of agitation.
“My name is Amethyst Star,” the mare simply stated. “Not Sparkler, so stop calling me that.”
Perplexed glances were exchanged, and the sisters shared a shrug. “Anyway,” Daisy said, “we need you to cast a translation spell on somepony.”
Amethyst Star stepped out a bit. “Oh? Whom?” Her scanning eyes finally found a weird rose being on Daisy’s back, and she shouted, “WHAT THE HAY IS THAT THING?!”
“It’s, uh, Rose?”
Suddenly in the spotlight, Rose shrunk behind Lily. “It’s, um...”
“It’s a bizarre rose thing that we found in our garden,” said Lily, catching the baton that Rose was dropping. “Don’t know what it is, how it got there, but we do know all it can say is its own name. We, mostly I, came to the conclusion that perhaps a translation spell might fix the language barrier.”
Amethyst blinked a couple times, doing so much harder on the last blink, and shook her head. “This town has seen worst of the worst I suppose, ranging from Nightmare Moon to Discord. What’s another insanity-inducing incident?” She sighed heavily. “But yes, I can definitely do that. Just hold still...” Her horn charged up, and a crimson beam shot forth. It struck Roselia, and a shiver trailed through its body as it felt a tingling sensation. The beam dissipated, replaced by everypony staring in expectation.
Roselia glanced around timidly, before it muttered, “H-Hello.” It was a subdued feminine voice, barely more than a whisper. Everypony let out a breath of relief.
“Thank you, Sp―Amethyst,” said Daisy.
“You’re welcome. The spell only lasts a few days, so it will need to be cast again.”
“Is it okay if we come to you for that?”
Amethyst cracked a smile. “Sure. It’ll be like old times, when I was the town magi before Princess Twilght came.” The girls bid farewell, and Amethyst slid back behind the door, fastening all of the locks in the process. The sisters looked back to Roselia, who had been silent since her first real word.
“Sooo...please tell me your name isn’t really Roselia,” said Lily.
The Roselia shook her head. “N-No, that’s not my name.”
“Well, what is it then?”
“My...real name is Erika.”
* * *
It wasn’t a forest the Togekiss recognized―and she had seen a lot of them. It wasn’t crawling in Weedle and Caterpie as Viridian Forest would be, and unlike Ilex Forest, the sun shone clearly through the thin canopy. The fact that was she still out of her Poké Ball also struck an odd chord with the Togekiss.
Now, where is Annie? Or Lita and Nommie? she thought, wobbling underneath some low-hanging branches as she explored the forest to the best of her abilities.
In the distance, the distinct roar of large waterfalls rumbled―it sounded nice. The Togekiss always enjoyed the gentle spray of the cascades when her trainer and she found them while traveling. She had awoken in a pile of leaves lying in a halo of sunlight, with the last things she remembered was her trainer taking a walk through Petalburg alone, leaving Nommie, Lita, and herself at camp. Then a spooooky voice entered her head, and everything went black.
The Togekiss stopped in her path. Sprawled on its back across the ground was what she recognized as a Grovyle. It was the first thing she actually recognized in this unfamiliar forest, something that told her that she wasn’t alone or crazy. She gave a quick flap of her wings and glided over to the Grovyle, landed gracefully next to it. The Grovyle was clearly sleeping, evident by her snoring, which sounded like a tone-deaf trumpet.
Hmm.... The Togekiss closed her eyes and focused her energy to form a little golden ball of light just underneath her chin. The thing chimed like sleigh bells and let out a single pulse that rippled over the leaves and the slumbering Pokémon.
The Grovyle awoke with a start, its body starting to shiver and sweat. Its eyes began searching wildly.
“Hi!” the Togekiss greeted cheerily. “My name’s Krissy!” Her expression flipped from happy to concerned, and without missing a beat, she asked, “Are you okay?”
The Grovyle simply groaned in response, rolling onto its left elbow and bringing up a claw to its forehead. The second it made contact, its eyes snapped open as the green claw slowly pulled away. A frantic search of its body was next, starting from its red underbelly, to the blades of grass lining its forearms.
“WHAT THE HELL?!” it cried, huffing and puffing with the sweat on it becoming denser. “WHY AM I A GROVYLE?!”
“Oh! Did you evolve in your sleep? Annie had a Munchlax that did that once―”
“NO! I’M SUPPOSED TO BE A HUMAN!” The Grovyle brought both of its claws up its head, staring at the Togekiss. “AND WHY CAN I UNDERSTAND YOU?!”
“Because you’re a Grovyle...?” answered Krissy slowly.
“BUT I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A GROVYLE!” The hyperventilating worsened. “I’m supposed to be back in Eterna with my Gym―Oh Arceus, my Gym!” It held out an arm. “Quick, pinch me so maybe I can wake up!”
“Um, pinch with what?” Krissy said, wiggling the soft white feathers at the tip of her wings.
“Dammit!” The Grovyle collapsed back into the spot of dirt that was its bed.
I guess that’s a “no” on the “are you okay” question, Krissy thought. She gave a flap of her wings and flew around some branches.
“Now what are you doing?” was yelled from below. The Grovyle was still shaking from the experience but looked to have gained some traction in handling its new situation.
“Looking for Persim Berries! You’re obviously very confused!”
“I’m not confused―well, maybe a little. Or a lot. Or maybe I’m overwhelmingly
confused, and I don’t think a berry is going to help!”
“Well, we could go to the Poké Mart for a Full Heal, but we don’t have any money...”
“WHAT POKÉ MART?!” the Grovyle screeched. “WHAT POKÉ MART IN WHAT TOWN?!”
“There’s a town in the distance that way,” Krissy replied plainly, point to her right. “It’s small, though. I don’t even see a big, Pokémon-Center-like building.”
“Oh.” The Grovyle sighed and stood shakily; the new body is definitely going to take some getting used to, especially without hiking boots. “Better than being lost in the Distortion World, I guess.” As Krissy landed, the Grovyle held out a claw to the Togekiss. “I know it’s probably obvious, but I never properly introduced myself. I’m Gardenia.” She gripped one of Krissy’s wings by the tip, and shook it softly.
* * *
Lily scrunched her nose at the Roselia as the mares walked home. “Erika? That’s a weird name.”
Daisy piped up. “So what’s with the Roselia stuff then?”
“Oh, that’s what this body is.”
“’What this body is’?” Daisy looked at the creature on her back. “Kind of a weird thing to say.”
“I’m in a weird situation to begin with. I don’t know what this place is, but it’s definitely not home. And I’m definitely not this.”
“What were you before?”
“A human.”
“Human, huh?” Daisy’s jaw rolled like it was gnawing something invisible. “Sounds mystical.”
“We aren’t, but the things we’ve done are.” Erika yawned. It had been long day―a very long day―but they were close to the flower shop. “Where is everyone?”
“Probably hiding in fear of whatever caused the explosion in the Everfree,” Lily replied.
“The Everfree?”
Daisy stopped and pointed to the southeast. “It’s a large forest about three times the size of the town that lies in that direction. It’s imfamous for being disorderly―”
“Evil―”
“And just plain vile,” Lily finished after Rose. “Only things that have no business existing live there.”
Rose cocked an eye. “What about Zecora?”
“Oh yeah, everything but her. She’s okay.”
The group arrived back at the shop, to find their door wide open―Lily had left it open when she fled. A proper scolding was given from Daisy, which was met with a rolling of the eyes. Rose started cleaning up the cold tea, and Lily returned to her magazine.
Daisy turned to Erika as latter jumped off her back. “Well, uh, I guess until you find a way back home or something, you can stay here if you want. We have some extra blankets and pillows, so we could easily make you a spot on the floor.”
Erika gave as large of a bow as it’s tiny frame could bare. “Thank you for the hospitality, umm...”
“Oh! We never introduced ourselves, did we?” Daisy gave an embarrassed chuckle. “I’m Daisy. That’s Lily Valley over there.” Lily gave an absent-minded wave. “Roseluck is the one in the kitchen. This is our flower and herbal shop, and home.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Erika said with a matching smile. It was all bizarre, teetering somewhere between a dream and a nightmare, and Erika wasn’t sure on what side things will land. But just because she wasn’t at home in body didn’t mean she had to be rude.
Erika rustled the little petals at the end of each of her arms. Something about her new form made her crave the sunlight’s rays some more. It felt differently, too, and Erika wasn’t sure if it’s because it was another sun or her new biology.
“If it’s fine, I’d like to sit in your garden for a while. The sun felt nice, and I need a moment.”
Daisy nodded slowly and directed her to the backdoor. Erika thanked her, hobbled through the kitchen and out the door.
“So she’s going to be living with us, huh?”
Daisy’s head swiveled to Lily at the table, who had seemingly finished with her magazine with her head resting against her right hoof. She wore a serious expression, something that was rare for the mare.
“Yes, until she finds a way to her own home. Problem?”
Lily waved a hoof. “No, unless she decides to murder me in my sleep.”
Walking to the table and seating herself next to Lily, Daisy sighed. “Why does this always happen to us? To our town?”
“Well, at least we can’t say that life is boring.”
“Maybe I wanted it boring. At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about what next calamity is going to come baring down on us.”
Lily could only reply with a shrug. “Although, maybe this won’t be so bad.”
“Ha! You being optimistic? The world really is going to end!”
“I mean, maybe Erika staying here won’t be so bad. She is a flower-fairy-thing, so she may be able to help with the garden and stuff. We’ve also run into quite a bit of problems coming up with something for the florists’ contest in Canterlot next month.” Lily donned her patented mischievious smile, where her eyes go wild and her teeth look serated. “Maybe our new little friend can help with that as well, and rub it into a certain smug face?”
Daisy’s jaw dropped. “You’re going to exploit a lost pony just so you can beat Sunny?!”
“I like to think of it as ‘earning one’s keep.’”
Daisy huffed. “I’ll ask her tomorrow about it. I’d hedge your bets, though, since we don’t know how long she’ll be staying.”
“Fair enough. But, mare’s intuition is telling me that she’s going to be here for a while.”
“That’s a funny thing to call your plot.”
Lily laughed indignantly. “Oh, come on. I know you can sense it too.” She changed her voice to become playfully frightful, “Change is in the air...”
“Yeah, yeah.” Daisy frowned. “Change is always polluting the air nowadays.”
* * *
“You’ve been quiet since we left,” Krissy commented as she and Gardenia walked through the forest. The Grovyle indeed hadn’t uttered a single word since they departed in the direction of the town, and Krissy grew worried as she hovered just above her.
Gardenia crossed her arms and scratched her biceps. “Yeah, sorry, I’m still kind of freaking out about this.” She looked up a Krissy. “What would you do if you woke up one day as a human?”
Krissy puffed out her lip as she thought and replied, “I would do that weird hand thing where you put them together and twist them, and one finger comes out from the bottom and top.” Gardenia stared at her bemusedly. “What? It’s so mysterious how people do that!”
“So you wouldn’t miss being a Togekiss? Being able to fly and do cool moves?”
“Of course I would, but...” Krissy bit the inside of her cheek. “But I would have to adapt, especially if it wasn’t my own choice.”
Gardenia grumbled something inaudible to herself as she turned to the sky, noting how perfect it was and how warm the sun felt, like the arms of a loved one. Her frown deepened, suddenly awashed with the feeling of missing the arms that should have been wrapped around her this morning.
A nearby twig snapped loudly from the left, and both Pokémon took noticed. Krissy simply turned, while Gardenia reflexively spun around and took a throwing stance. A claw reached to the side of her waist and, when nothing was found, curled into a fist.
Uselessly hiding behind a tree was...something. Gardenia scrunched her face as she inspected it. Four legs, a broad body, a long face, and a horn like a Rapidash―but it was missing the fiery mane and tail. In fact, it's mane and tail were of a fluffy shape, white like clouds against the ocean-blue coat of rugged fur. It also stood roughly half the size of a Rapidash with a greying beard, and its horn was just a little stub.
It poked its head out from behind the tree, knowing its attempt to hide had been twarted, and spoke in a gravelly, masculine voice: “Hi there! Don’t mind me, just, uh, gathering some sticks for a fire to cook lunch!” A stick magically popped off a nearby branch and floated over to a pensive grin. “Are you lost?”
Gardenia slowly turned to Krissy, keeping her eyes aimed in the (clearly mutant) Rapidash’s direction as long as possible, and discovered her pecking at the ground, collecting sticks in her mouth. She then glided over and dropped them in front of the Rapidash.
“Here you go!” Krissy said, giving the Rapidash a big grin.
“Er, thank...you...?”
“Hey!” Gardenia shouted, causing the Rapidash to visibly jump. “Who are you?”
“...Excuse me?”
“WHO ARE YOU?!”
The Rapidash backpedalled from Gardenia’s shouting, nearly tripping over a large, rotting branch. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.” He regarded them cautiously. “I can probably help with that.”
Gardenia let out a growl. “Don’t even―” She stopped when the feeling of a wing patted her head. She looked up to see Krissy softly smiling at her.
“It’s okay, I don’t feel any hostility coming from him,” Krissy stated, and the blue-tipped feather on her head shivered. She turned and waddled up to the Rapidash.
“You want me to―” A nod interrupted him, and he closed his eyes. His horn started shining, casting tiny dull shadows along his ears. A light shot from it, striking Krissy in the chest. After a couple of seconds the beam retracted, and a shudder traveled through the Togekiss from her head to her tail-feathers.
“Oof, that felt like being inflicted with Imprison...” Krissy said queezily.
“Oh, it actually worked! What do you know, that old coot was good for something!” The Rapidash laughed heartedly, which echoed through the rest of the forest. He held up a hoof to Krissy. “Name’s Blue Sky. I sure haven’t seen ponies, or anything, like you two before―oh!” Blue Sky’s sentence was interrupted by a velvety cheek rubbing against his face. “My, you’re an affectionate one.”
Krissy pulled away. “I’m Krissy and that’s Gardenia.” She then brought up a wing to her mouth and whispered, “She’s a Gym Leader.”
“Right...uh, so how about you?” Blue asked, looking at the Grovyle.
Gardenia crossed her arms and huffed a curt “Fine.”
“She said, ‘Absolutely’,” Krissy replied. Gardenia started to glare at her before a red beam connected to her torso. When the light disappeared, a strong chill flooded her body, as if a Glalie was breathing down her neck, and only lasted a few seconds.
“Ugh, that’s a bizarre feeling...”
“Great! Now that we can all understand one another, how about we head back to my camp?” Blue Sky suggested, turning in place.
“We were actually headed for the town that way.” Gardenia pointed farther down the path they were walking. “I have a lot of questions, especially now.”
“You probably shouldn’t. Lotta fuss going on about somepony finding a weird red fox near the town, and seeing you might make matters worse.” Blue spun in place, beckoning with a hoof. “Besides, I’m sure you’re hungry, and I can cook better than anyone in that town.”
Gardenia looked to Krissy, who nodded in affirmation. “Alright, fine, as long as you answer some of my questions.” They began following him into a thicker part of the forest. The sound of the roaring falls started fading away behind them.
“At your service, my dear! Where do you want to start?”
“How ‘bout where the hell we are?’”
“This,” Blue gestured to the trees surrounding them, “is the forest near the world-famous Neighagra Falls. The town you were talking about is Neighagra Falls Sanctuary.”
“Well, I’ve never heard of it. What region are we in, anyway?”
“’Region’? I mean, we’re in the northeast region of Equestria, if that’s what you’re asking.”
All Gardenia did was return the answer with an unblinking gaze.