//------------------------------// // Enter Ponyville Part II // Story: Chaos Descending // by Atheron //------------------------------// “Well Ash,” asked Twilight. “What brings you to Ponyville today?” “First, I have to ask you a question. Why do you live-” “In a tree? You wouldn’t believe how many ponies ask that question to me. Well, it was here when I moved here from Canterlot. I just moved into the library, I don’t know why they built it in a tree.” “Huh.” “That’s most ponies’ response too. So, what brings you to Ponyville?” “To be honest, I’m not sure,” replied Ash. “All I remember is one moment being in the Professor’s laboratory-“ “Wait, a professor? Is he smart?” “Yes he’s smart! He’s Professor Oak, he’s the Pokémon spec-“ “Wait, Pokémon?” “Yes, Pokem-” “What’s a Pokem-” “HERE!” shouted Ash, handing a surprised Twilight an equally surprised Pikachu. “Pikachu, Twilight. Twilight, Pikachu. Now can I finish before there are any more quest-?” But it was to no avail. Twilight had succumbed already to the cuteness that is Pikachu, and she was petting and cuddling him, occasionally making noises such as squeaks and ‘daaws’. Ash sighed to himself, and sat down on the floor. Fluttershy walked over and sat down next to him, and whispered “She was like this with the parasprites too, you know.” “Parasprites?” asked Ash. “Cutest little bugs ever! Red, green, blue, all sorts of colors! But they did like eating our food and buildings a lot, but Pinkie got rid of them later. She did act very strange that day though…” “So, Twilight loved them huh? Just like that?” Ash asked, pointing to the aforementioned pony, now rubbing a contented Pikachu’s belly. “Oh yes, very similar behavior,” replied Fluttershy. “Was this how a lot of the ponies acted when they came?” “Yes, very much so! Well, except Pinkie. She wanted a tuba, or a harmonica, or a trombone…” “So….you weren’t the same way on both occasions?” smirked Ash. “……well…..er……” stammered Fluttershy. “Oh Fluttershy. You love animals, it’s only likely that cute ones would make you fall in love with them.” said Ash. “..you wouldn’t believe how right you are…” mumbled a pink-tinged Fluttershy. “Huh?” “N-Nothing!” “Well, just my luck. All of Ponyville seems to love cute animals, and my team is just one of the cutest teams I could possibly assemble without knowing it…” thought Ash to himself. The two sat in silence, not awkward, but a pleasant silence, disrupted only by an occasional ‘cha’ or ‘aww’. Eventually, Twilight had recovered from her temporary bout of what Ash dubbed ‘cuteness-itis’ which he defined (in his head) as ‘an irresistible and irrepressible female urge to adore and love a ‘cute’ animal, despite no prior knowledge or experience of said animal.’ Well, not in those exact terms, and maybe not only with females, but nonetheless, the same concept applied. Pikachu ran towards Ash and ran up his back onto his shoulder, settling there, while Twilight walked over to Ash, sat down, and faced him. “So Ash, ignoring my, ahem, previous distraction, what brings you and Fluttershy into Ponyville today?” asked Twilight. “Well, might as well get to the point, I’m a pony, right? A black-furred, male, earth pony, to be specific?” asked Ash. “Well you didn’t mention your jet-black mane, but yes, why wouldn’t you be?” responded a confused Twilight. “Because I’m not.” Twilight slowly re-hinged her jaw into place from the floor after a few moments, and stared at Ash, who began to grow uneasy at her look. “So, you mean to tell me, that despite the fact that you look like an earth pony, act like an earth pony, and-” she ran to sniff him “- smell like an earth pony, you’re not one?” “Well, yes…” replied Ash, slightly confused, and rightly so, due to the fact that she had just randomly come over and smelled him. “That doesn’t make any sense!” Ash then could’ve sworn he heard a voice from the distance yell “BELIEVE!” Twilight continued her interrogation. “Well, what are you then? A manticore in disguise? A pegasus pony without your wings? Maybe you have them hidden somewhere-” “A human.” “Oh that myth? Everypony knows humans don’t exist!” said Twilight. “But they do! I am- well was one!” “Oh yeah? Then tell me about them!” “Okay then! Well, I had two legs, and arms, and stood upright about five and a half feet-” “Feet?” “Well, it’s what we used for measurements. I assume you use hooves. Anyways, I had black hair and- I almost forgot, I had hands!” Twilight’s eyes shot open after hearing the word ‘hands’ and squeaked, motioning to Fluttershy to close the windows. Fluttershy sprang up and closed the windows and shut the blinds, plunging the room into darkness. Despite Fluttershy’s whimpers, Twilight maintained her worried yet serious demeanor. “Er, what’s with all the-” Ash asked, only to be interrupted. “Shhh!” hissed Twilight, peering out the window. Ash reasoned it was dangerous outside, but his curiosity eventually overcame his caution, and he peeked outside…into a Ponyville….filled with……absolutely normal ponies doing normal things. “Geez, I would’ve at least expected a giant robot to be attacking the place for that reaction,” muttered Ash. “Sorry, safety precautions. There’s a pony out there who’s obsessed with humans, and I don’t want her hearing you talk about being one,” said Twilight. “Oh. Wait, pre- what nows?” “Safety measures. I had a class about them in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns-” “Wait, where?” “Be quiet and let me finish please!” “Geez, I let you interrupt me….” muttered Ash. “Don’t worry Ash, Twilight’s very nice, it’s just that Twilight gets really into teaching and studying and that, and takes it really seriously, so she’d want to tell you everything without interruptions.” placated Fluttershy. “I suppose that makes sense. But still…” “Will you two lovebirds stop chit-chattering back there and pay attention!” barked Twilight. The two blushed and promptly looked away from each other. “Better,” said Teacher Twilight (As Ash was beginning to see her. Thank Arceus he didn’t have to take those boring classes in the Pokémon Trainer’s Academy, and deal with that Tauros sh-) “Now!” said Twilight, “How exactly did you get here Mr…?” “Ketchum.” “Okay then, Mr. Ketchum. How did you get to Ponyville?” “Oh, that’s easy! Me and Fluttershy walked here from the forest!” Twilight facehoofed, while Fluttershy just sighed. “Uh, Twilight?” “Yes, Fluttershy?” “Can…can I go to the little filly’s room?” “Can you?” “May I go to the little filly’s room?” “Yes, but take a buddy.” She looked around the room and saw no one but Ash. “Actually, nevermind. You may go.” As Fluttershy rushed to the bathroom, Twilight turned back to Ash, and asked, “No, how did you- Wait, let me rephrase the question. How did you get to the forest?” “The forest? Huh…let me think.. Oh yeah, it was from the Professor’s lab back in Kanto!” “Kanto?” “It’s one of the continents on Earth. Well, my Earth at least. Let’s think, there’s Kanto, where I’m from, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and a whole bunch of islands like Sevii and stuff.” “Interesting….but irrelevant. How did you get here from the ‘Professor’s’ lab?” asked Twilight. “Well, I had just woken up, eaten breakfast, and hung out with my Pokémon for a little training, when the Professor called me on my Pokedex. He wanted me to come over and check something out at the lab, and told me to bring all my Pokémon. So, naturally, I went, and he said he found a new kind of Pokémon, called….hmm, what was it called……Argh, I can’t remember! Anyways, he had a weird book, and there was a prophecy in it,” said Ash. “A prophecy?” asked Twilight. “Yeah, let’s think, it was like…..Thirteen heroes, two worlds apart…..uh…will save the world from eternal dark, and defeat the evil which roams the land, with power as imme….immen….immes….immeasurable as sand! Then…er…Two shall rise above the rest…in power and spirit they will unite. But with that power comes a test. As one they must overcome the fight…Argh, then…But the thirteen together must work well, lest they be destroyed, casting worlds into hell…….and for the heroes are the last hope, or it may be too late to save Kanto and Equestria, sealing everyone’s fate.” recited Ash. “And that’s it I believe. Oh yeah, and I was sucked into the book and brought into the forest where Fluttershy found me and my Pokémon, and we went to her house, and-” “Wait, you went to her house?” interrupted Twilight. Apparently getting sucked into a book isn’t as serious as living quarters. “Yeah, I needed a place to bunk for the night, and she offered to let me stay.” “So all you did was go and sleep? Fluttershy seemed pretty normal?” asked Twilight. “Well, yeah, why wouldn’t sh-” He then had a flashback back to that night, when Fluttershy had given him a hug and whispered in his ear, and his face erupted in red. “Haha! I knew it! Fluttershy has a crush on somepony!” crowed Twilight triumphantly. “What- No! I didn’t even say anything about the hug or her whispering- Oh no…” said Ash. “You did now,” smirked Twilight. “I didn’t even need to hear that, I could tell by your face. It’s redder than the fur on Big Macintosh’s flank!” Ash moaned as this pony he had literally just met had managed to humiliate him already! She was like a female version of Gary! Well, when he was annoying. And if he talked about flanks. Wait, what? Ash sensed his opportunity. “So, this…. Macintosh fellow? He has a red flank huh? And you’d know…..‘cause you stare at it often?” “What- n-no! It’s obvious that his flank is red, like the rest of his body!” spluttered Twilight through her raging blush. “Yeah, sure Twi…sure. And you’d know, because I’m sure you stare at his body all day long,” smirked a victorious Ash. After all, he was a teenager. And teenagers were masters of manipulation. Most of the time at least. “Ha, now you know what teasing is like; it’s a nightmare. Wait….nightmare……WAIT! That was the Pokémon the Professor had found! It was in his book with the prophecy!” said Ash. “Wait, the book mentioned Nightmares? What was it called?” said a now slightly more composed, less red Twilight attempting seriousness, unlike a certain yellow Pokémon, who was enjoying laughing at their expressions. “I dunno, the book was faded, and the title was faded too. Well that was kinda obvious, but still! Professor Oak didn’t have anything on the Nightmare in any of his history or mythology books either…It was something he had never seen before,” said Ash. “……Well, that’s not good,” remarked Twilight. “What’s not good?” asked a returning Fluttershy. “Hopefully, nothing we need to worry about at the present moment Fluttershy. But we may need to soon enough…I think I’m going to need to talk to some people before deciding on the importance.” “Okay then Twilight. Oh wait, I may or may not regret this, but would you like to see my other Pokémon?” asked Ash. Pikachu had long since fallen asleep on the chair where Twilight had left him, so she had stopped paying attention to him. But her interest was piqued once again. “You mean there’s MORE?” asked Twilight excitedly. “How many are there?” “I have my main 6 on me right now, but there are about, from my guess, about 500. More or less at least, but with the legendaries like Arceus and Giratina and the rest, well…could be more.” “500?! That’s-That’s immense! How does Kanto hold them all?” asked Twilight. “Not all of the Pokémon are native to one continent. Remember? There are 4 others, besides the island. On my team for example, Starly-” he threw the ball containing Starly out, “-and Turtwig” throwing the other ball, “are both native to Sinnoh.” Throwing out another ball, he explained “Larvitar here however is native only to Johto, but Pikachu here is native mainly to Kanto but can be found in Safari Zones spread throughout the world. And-” holding up a hoof to stem Twilight’s impending questions “-a Safari Zone is basically a place where non-native Pokémon to a region or continent hang out. There are even different typed, and they all have different types as well. For example, Squirtle’s a Water-Type, Pikachu is an Electric-Type, Starly is a Flying-Type, and so on. They also have different attacks and moves, some according to type, and some not. Get it?” “Yes Ash, I do,” responded Twilight, which kind of creeped Ash out, because he barely remembered anything of what he just said, and he’d been with Pokémon for…his whole life basically! “And I’d say Fluttershy would get it too, if she wasn’t busy playing with your Pokémon friends.” giggled Twilight. Ash glanced over at his Pokémon, including Pikachu who was rubbing his eyes blearily, where they were all congregated around Fluttershy, and she was playing with them, and singing, and just generally having fun. Ash felt though, that everyone should join in on the fun, and sent out Squirtle and Charmander to play. Even Larvitar was somewhat playing, if only from a slight distance. “Wow, she’s good….” commented Ash under his breath. “I’d agree,” muttered back Twilight into his ear. “Mm-hmm….wait, what? Get away from me!” yelled Ash, jumping back. “Oh, priceless! I bet, just as my little pony friend over there likes you, I bet you feel the same way!” snickered Twilight. “No! We’re just friends! And we just met! And there’s no way she’d like me!” protested Ash. “I didn’t hear you say you didn’t like her…” said Twilight, a smile on her face. One Ash dearly wished would disappear. Then he remembered. “Hey, Twilight!” “Yeah Casanova?” “Who?” “Nevermind..what?” “Big Macintosh.” “…..be quiet.” All the while, Fluttershy played with the Pokémon, completely oblivious to their conversation. After their exchange of words, Twilight decided to join and play with Fluttershy and the Pokémon seeming to enjoy herself. Ash however laid back and decided to think about what had happened since he had gotten to the strange town in this strange new world. It was….astounding to say the least. He thought about how just the morning before, he had woken in his own bed, with two arms, legs, and opposable thumbs. “Oh, opposable thumbs, how I miss them so! I was able to hold anything back with those, from Pokéballs to food….Mmm…food,” thought Ash to himself. “Uh, Ash?” “Wha- Oh, hey Fluttershy, what’s up?” “Um…there’s something on your face,” said Fluttershy. “Not to be rude or anything! But it’s just….there…and…I’m gonna go now…” “Huh, thanks Fluttershy,” said Ash, wiping drool from his chin. Evidently, his thoughts on food had spread to his mouth. “Hey, wait!” Ash trotted back up to Fluttershy and asked her to wait for a second. She complied, and Ash walked over to Twilight. “Hey, Twi?” “Since when did you start calling me that?” “Since…..about an hour ago, I think. You didn’t hear me?” “Apparently not.” “Well, is it cool for me to call you that?” “Well, I usually only let my friends call me that…but I guess we’re friends now, so okay! That’s the magic of friendship for ya!” “K’ then, so I have a question. You wanna show me around town with Fluttershy? All I’ve seen of Ponyville is the library so far,” asked Ash. “Hmm, I don’t know, let me check my to-do-list. SPIKE!” yelled Twilight towards the stairs. “Coming, Twilight!” responded a boyish, slightly high-pitched voice. “Hey Twi, what’s up?” “Oh, I need you to get my to-do-list for today! Oh, and also, meet Ash,” said Twilight. “Actually, I’ll let you two get acquainted. I’ll go get my list.” “Huh, Ash, right? Nice to meet ya,” said Spike, extending out a clawed hand as Twilight disappeared upstairs. “Wow, I never thought I’d see a shiny Charmander before!” squealed Ash excitedly (like a little schoolfilly, thought Spike), accidentally knocking Twilight into a shelf of books.(Oh come on new guy, I just fixed those!, complained Spike soundlessly). “I mean, a shiny is rare enough, but a shiny Charmander? That’s like….” (attempts to do the math in his head) “impossible!” “Whoa, whoa, whoa dude….whoa. I am not a Charmander, whatever that is. I am a dragon. NOW BOW BEFORE MY MIGHT! FEAR ME!” bellowed Spike, belching fire and smoke. Ash watched and snorted. “Nice try, I’ve seen scarier.” “And felt worse,” he thought. “Eh, worth a try anyways. What’s a Charmander though?” asked Spike. “A Charmander? Here, let me show you. Fluttershy? Can you bring Charmander over here?” “Sure Ash!” said Fluttershy, picking up the little orange dragon and setting him down next to Ash. “Okay, so Spike, meet Charmander. Charmander, Spike.” “Wow, what is he? No offense or anything,” asked Spike. “He’s a Charmander….he’s like a dragon, sorta like you I suppose.” “Like me, huh? Can he do this?” challenged Spike, breathing a foot of green fire. Only to receive a blast of red fire in his face, and fall over onto the ground. “Touché,” mumbled Spike, muffled by the hardwood floor. Fluttershy shrieked and ran for a bucket of water, which she proceeded to empty onto Spike. “Thanks Fluttershy, and you,” said Spike, pointing to the Charmander. “You’re alright, kid. You’re alright.” Charmander smirked and extended a claw, which Spike accepted. Despite being older than Spike- or so he liked to think. “Good. You two get along now,” said Ash. “Spike, would you like to meet the rest of my Pokémon?” “Pokémon?” “Ugh, I’ll ask Twilight to explain this to you. Would you like to see them however?” “If they’re as cool as the one over here, then let’s do it!” “Okay, hey guys! Come in here!” Twilight herded Squirtle, Pikachu, Larvitar, Starly, and Turtwig from behind and they greeted Spike, then proceeded to dog-pile (Or Poké-pile) him because he called them cute. Except Pikachu, but he was doing his fair share of electrical sparks. “Ow, wait wha- OW! They can attack?!” yelled Spike. “Uh, yeah…” “And you didn’t mention this WHY?” “Well…hey guys! Off of him!” barked Ash. The Pokémon complied and got off him, but not before each sat on his head. Pikachu made extra care to make his tail extra heavy. Then they all walked over to Ash and stood next to him. “SPIKE!” screamed a voice upstairs. “TWILIGHT!!” bellowed Spike, leaping up, barreling upstairs, and bursting through the door. “What’s happened? DID YOU EXPLODE?” “No! It’s worse! I-I can’t find my list! I CAN’T FIND IT!!” Meanwhile, Ash and Pokémon stood in the doorway, slightly confused. Ash then thought of a way to reprimand his Pokémon. “Hey, Twi? Need any help?” “Yes! Please!” “Ok guys, you heard her. Since you thought it was so fun to jump on Spike here earlier, then you’ll find it even more fun to help her find her list!” “And no Pikachu, you will not use that face on me. I’ve been immune to it for two years, it won’t start working now. Charmander, put that fire out. Squirtle, swallow that water,” said Ash, without even looking at the Pokémon. They, needless to say, were very creeped out and began helping Twilight and Spike look for the list. “Well Twi, if you need me, I suppose me and Fluttershy are gonna go explore town.” A frustrated “Argh!” was his response. “Okay then….you guys be good.” Ash’s Pokémon grumbled as they worked, as they all plotted how to get back at Ash… “Hey Fluttershy, you wanna show me around town?” asked Ash as he came back downstairs. “Huh?” said Fluttershy. “Oh, sure! Though maybe you should leave your Pokémon here, the townspeople may get scared…or mob you. Neither one is very nice…” “Don’t worry, I’ve asked them to help Twilight find her list,” smirked Ash. “Now, shall we be off?” “Um, okay then.” Ash then opened the door for her out the library, and ushered her out. “Oh my, he’s such a gentlecolt,” thought Fluttershy. “So, where to first Flutte- IT’S YOU AGAIN!” yelled Ash suddenly. “GASP! ITS YOU TOO!!” “Pinkie? What are you doing here?” asked Fluttershy. “Well, I was going to ask Twilight if she wanted to have a party, but then I remembered she didn’t want me near the library because of last time, but the fire just erupted from my cannon! I don’t know how it got there!! HEY! Wanna have a party?” said the hyperactive pink pony. “Huh wha-..I don’t even know….” said Ash. “Do I know you? Because if I don’t, then I have to throw youuuu-u-u-u-u-Aaaah!!” said Pinkie, before violently beginning to twitch and bounce around, just like last time. “Fluttershy, what’s going on?” asked Ash urgently. “She’s having a Pinkie twitch! They tell her something’s about to happen!” responded Fluttershy. Soon, a crowd began gathering around the increasingly twitchy Pinkie, who moved and twisted and twitched very strangely. And then it stopped. “Wowzies! That was one heck of a doozy!” said Pinkie. “Wait, a doozy? You said that last time I saw you!” said Ash. “Oh, that one? I figured that one out. That’s the one whenever someone new comes to town. Or if a 10-foot apple will magically appear and knock over all the stalls in the marketplace. I’m not sure. But this doozy was weird! All I know is that something bad is gonna happen, and that it’s going to happen to Fluttershy and you!” The crowd began muttering among themselves, some noticing the new pony in town and wondering if he was going to be the cause of whatever bad was going to happen. These sentiments quickly spread throughout the crowd like wildfire, and soon, the ponies began muttering dangerously and angrily. “New ponies are always trouble,” said one. “Them newponies are gonna drive all of us outta business!” said another. “Muffins!” said a third. Fluttershy, growing increasingly nervous, began edging away and attempting to pull Ash away before he could hear anything the ponies were saying and possibly get into trouble. Ash felt her tug on his tail and noticed the crowd’s temperament, began edging away with her as well. The two then trotted away, attempting to avoid contact and began to head towards Fluttershy’s house. “Well, thanks Fluttershy for helping me out there! I wouldn’t have noticed that, and I may have gotten into a bad situation,” thanked Ash. “It’s no problem at all. You’re a good pony, but the people in Ponyville are just scared of new people. It took them a long time before they got used to Zecora.” “Who?” “I’ll have Twilight tell you later, she’s better at storytelling.” responded Fluttershy. “Huh, what’s that?” “Fluttershy?” A rustling in the bush attracted Fluttershy’s attention, and she wandered over to it to inspect it, curious….. When a manticore leaped from the bush towards her, claws extended at her throat! Fluttershy prided herself on being good with animals, but this one she knew instinctively wasn’t going to leave with a nice talking to. “Aah!” she screamed as she tried to fly, only for her wings to lock up. She shut her eyes and knew that this was it, that she’d never again open her eyes and see her animal friends, both old and new, her best friends, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity…none of them again. She’d never get the chance to tell Ash…. “RARGH!” “Wha-!?” screamed Fluttershhy. For the manticore, which had leapt in with a deadly strike, had been kicked through the air away from her, leaving her unscathed. And standing above her, head high, fire burning in his eyes, stood Ash. “Ash…” “Fluttershy, stand still. I’ll handle this,” said Ash as he ran towards the beast. Leaping over its outstretched tail, he delivered a kick to its exposed muzzle, making it writhe in pain. The manticore then leaped at him in rage and fury, extending a paw for a decisive blow. Ash nimbly dodged… Only to get hit by one of the manticore’s legs. “Oof!” went Ash as he was flung into a tree by the sheer power. “That’s…gonna hurt in the morning.” “ASH!” shrieked Fluttershy, as the manticore rushed towards her. “I’ve got to protect her!” thought Ash. “Go, Pika….oh no!” Ash had left all his Pokémon with Twilight and Spike! “No…..NO! THIS IS NOT HOW IT WILL END! YOU WILL NOT HURT ANYONE HERE ANYMORE!” bellowed Ash with rage, feeling power rush through his body. He channeled his energy, his rage, his passion for fighting, all throughout his body towards that one moment, and he knew what he had to do. He leaped into the air, twisted towards the manticore, focused his two forelegs, and yelled- “AURA….SPHERE!” The manticore looked up at the yell, only to see a bright blue ball of energy fly towards him, and fling him high into the sky, towards the Everfree Forest, and disappear in a twinkle of light. As Ash tumbled towards the ground, he felt exhaustion come over him, and a slightly burning sensation on his flank. But he had only one thought: “Make sure Fluttershy is okay.” He crawled towards her scared and motionless body, and wrapped a foreleg around her, saying, “It’s okay now Fluttershy…It’s okay…” as he fell into unconsciousness. “..Now look what you’ve done to the poor boy!” “It’s how we do it in my world! At least it was fast and effective!” “That’s not the point Arcy! The point is that you could have done it to be a little less dangerous!” “The boy thrives on danger Celly! He lives for the thrills!” “That’s no excuse to send a blood-thirsty manticore after him!” Ash awoke to hear a quite loud (and frankly annoying) argument taking place in front of him. His head hurt, his body hurt, his…head hurt again. He forced his eyes open to tell the arguers to take it somewhere else, when he saw who they were- They were a quite majestic cross between a Pegasus and a Unicorn pony, with a shimmering and not exactly solid mane of colors, and the almighty God Arceus himself. And they were arguing like children. “How would you have done it then Celly?” “I don’t know! I would’ve probably-“ “Ha! So you don’t even know if your plan would work!” “Of course not, you put your stupid plan into place already!” “It worked, didn’t it!?” “That’s beside the point!” “You know what Celly? I’m done talking with you. You’re annoying. And mean. But I will deal with it to help acquaint our new arrival here. Ash?” “Bluh- Huh? Me?” Arceus looked around himself, into the vast emptiness of the land they were standing on, which was apparently clouds. The pony/pegasus whispered to Ash in a female voice, “Yes, he means you.” “Erm…I mean yes Arceus?” “Good. You know who I am. And this-” he said, motioning to the pony next to him- “Is Princess Celestia, an alicorn. You’ll probably meet her later while you’re in Equestria. She’s a rare and slightly weird cross between-” “I am not weird!” protested the newly named Celestia. “Chocolate pudding,” responded Arceus. “Tha- That was just once! I was curious!” “Suuuure. The guards probably loved getting your 'curiosity' out of their fur for the next few weeks. Now Ash, I bet you’re wondering where exactly you are.” Ash nodded. “Well then, let me tell you. You my friend are in the Dream Region, basically the only place where our two dimensions and universes can meet, since anything can happen in dreams. Me and Celestia met here in fact, about, what, 400 years ago?” “Maybe a little more.” “Whatever. The point is, we’ve never been able to cross dimensions, only meet here.” “Until me,” said Ash. “Until you Ash,” agreed Celestia. “You’ve managed to somehow cross dimensions, change form, and retain all knowledge of your other dimension self without completely unraveling the fabric of the time-space continuum, and even bring your comrades along. Even Arceus and I combining our powers couldn’t do that!” “No, we would not be able to. Nor would any of my legendary creations combined plus the two of us and your sister. Cross-dimension traveling may seem easy in theory, but one must take into factor all the potential problems, such as memory loss, existence issues, etc.” “Which means that someone more powerful than me and Arceus brought you here. They brought you for a reason,” said Celestia. “But who…?” Arceus looked at Ash kindly, and said “I know this is a lot to absorb Ash. I frankly can barely believe it myself. But it’s happened. And it seems you’re involved. I don’t know what you have to do now though, so just go on normally. Don’t alert the other ponies of your true presence here, for terror is not one of the things we want right now. We’ll contact you next time we need to speak with you.” Celestia nodded in agreement. “Huh, I’ve never read anything like this in any of my fanfictions….you?” asked Arceus. Celestia replied, “Nor have I. This would make a great story! Dibs! “Dang it…” Ash looked at them puzzled and asked “What are you talking about?” Arceus looked back and eagerly said, “Well you see, on the Internet there are these things called fanfictions, which are original stories of things like books and TV shows authors make. Then there’s shipping, which is-” “Alright, let’s stop there Arceus, huh? Don’t want to let him know about all the stories we’ve found about him on all those other dimensions-” Arceus walked over and knocked Celestia on the head. “Stupid! Why would you say that!” “Ow! You and I both knew you were gonna say it eventually!” “Nuh uh!” “Yeah huh!” “You know what, let’s send Ash back, I’m changing dimension rooms.” Arceus leapt to a door which appeared at his whim, and Ash assumed it helped change where dimensions met and with who or what they met with…or something like that. He wasn’t sure. “Fine, be that way. You were no fun anyways!” said Celestia, sticking her tongue out at the God Pokémon. “Argh! Can we send just him back to consciousness Celly?” “Let us do that then Arcy,” responded Celestia. The two gathered power, one from her horn, and the other from the spinning wheels. As Ash was enveloped in a bright white light, he also distinctly heard the two of them yell- “Wait! Good luck with Fluttershy!” Ash opened his eyes, and stared into the face of a scared Fluttershy. “It’s alright Fluttershy,…It’s alright now.” Fluttershy then buried her head in his mane, sobbing, “I’m sorry Ash! I thought I’d lost you! I’m sorry I didn’t help! I’m sor-” Ash put a hoof to her muzzle and smiled. “It’s okay Fluttershy. I’m fine, and you’re fine, and we’re all just as before.” “Well, not exactly,” said Pinkie. “How so, Pinkie? Wait, Pinkie? What are you doing here?” “Oh that’s easy-peasy, I just followed all the ponies here!” Ash looked behind her, and saw dozen of ponies standing there, mouths dropped in awe. “Why are they there?” asked a perplexed Ash. “They were scared of the doozy I had! But after you let that big boom of blue out, it stopped!” “Oh…my Aura Sphere…” mumbled Ash. “Wait though, how am I not the same as before?” “Look at your flank,” said another familiar voice. “Twilight? My flank?” said Ash confusedly before looking at it. To his surprise, he saw a bright picture of a blue sphere of pure energy, Aura, emblazoned on his flank. "What...what is it?" Ash asked. "It's your Cutie Mark. Here, it's a coming-of-age thing where you realize what your special talent is, and what you can really do. Looks like yours is...whatever that is." "It's an Aura Sphere. A concentrated mass of pure energy, derived from the good in a person's soul and harnessed into a tangible attack," Ash explained to the perplexed Twilight and crowd. And the crowd erupted in cheers, both for the new Cutie Mark on the stranger, and the heroic acts he had done. “Pika!” “Squirtle-Squirt!” “Charmander!” “Star!” “Larvitar!” “Tur-Turtwig!” His Pokémon rushed towards him, past the utterly shocked faces of the crowd and onto Ash and Fluttershy, who laughed as they cuddled with them. Ash then realized that he had to do something. He whispered to Pikachu, and the yellow Pokémon nodded. He jumped from the ground with Pikachu on his shoulder, and bucking his legs showing his Cutie Mark, yelled- “I just got….a Cutie Mark!” Fireworks and streamers erupted from behind him, and he turned to an abashed Pinkie, who sheepishly said, “Sorry, party cannon!” As Ash looked around the crowd, he realized there was going to be some explaining to do. A lot of explaining. But first.. He walked over to Twilight and whispered something in her ear. She nodded, and focused, conjuring up a very familiar hat. Ash almost ‘squee’d in delight, and rushed to put it on. His favorite hat, the very first one from the Pokémon League Expo! As he twisted his hat backwards, and with his trusty team and Fluttershy beside him, there was nothing that he couldn’t accomplish! He looked at the questioning looks on the crowd. “There may be a few slow-downs though..”