We rushed through the crater, over the lip, and into the forest. The whole time, that feeling was only getting worse.
“Luke, slow down!” Ember called behind me.
I couldn’t, though. I couldn’t explain why, but I just couldn’t slow down. I just knew if I did something terrible was going to happen.
Then, I heard a voice through the forest. “-but you just pissed me off. You take a single step towards my dragon, and you'll be in for a bad time.”
It was answered by another, more familiar voice. "Right, now I'm mad!"
I came through a line of trees saw Garble facing down a small group of animals.
Or, at least I thought they were animals, until one of them spoke. “You don't know how much you're gonna regret that.”
I staggered, slightly, shocked at what I was seeing. It looked like a an eevee standing in front of a vaporeon and a group of... Oh, hell no.
My thoughts were put on pause as the eevee began to glow and Fume growled, “Screw that!”
He took in a deep breath, fire building in his throat.
I focused my aura into my legs, giving me a burst of speed
The world seemed to slow down as I rushed toward the endangered pokemon. It was already too late to stop Fume from unleashing a torrent of flames. Already the blaze was leaving his maw, so instead, I aimed for the little eevee.
I could feel my fur singe as I scooped up the little animal just before it was roasted.
I skidded to a stop a dozen yards away.
<<Wh-what?>> The little eevee in my arms said, looking up at me in surprise.
“Are you alright, little guy?” I said, focusing on the eevee alone.
He shook his head. <<I’m fine, but, my friend->>
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this bully,” I assured. “See to your friends.”
I set the eevee down and turned to face Garble and his toadies. <<Yeah, they can take care of themselves just fine.>> He stated, stepping up beside me.
The Vaporeon stepped up to my other side. <<You’ll need all the help we can give.>>
I glanced back to see Twilight had raised a shield spell around Rarity and Spike. Rainbow seemed to be missing. ”Fair enough,” I nodded at the pokemon. I broadcasted to everyone present. “I knew you were a coward and a weakling, Garble, but are you really so pathetic that you have to pick fights with cute, fuzzy, little woodland critters?
“Well, I’m cute and fuzzy,” I said before injecting all my disgust at him in my ‘voice’ and adding, “Come pick on me.”
<<So you’ve got the red fuck?>> The grey Eevee confirmed. <<We’ll keep the others off you. Try to stick to psychic or fighting moves, I don’t think ground types will work on them.>>
Garble scoffed. “Are you stupid, or something? There’s a bunch of us and only one you.”
“Then why are you hesitating?”
Garble growled. “Alright, you want a piece of me?”
He charged at me, fist cocked back. I let out a chuckle. Even when I was human an attack like that would have been easy to counter.
I waited for him to get close and throw his criminally telegraphed punch before barely shifting to the side and letting the punch and the idiot it was attached to soar past me with a slight push to the back of his head to send him face first into a tree.
“Well, that was more embarrassing than I thought it would be.”
Garble snarled as he regained his bearings and turned to face me again.
“That’s it!” Garble took a deep breath.
In a flash, I drove my elbow into his gut, forcing all that air back out over my head in a cloud of noxious smoke.
“Hey, nobody messes with us and gets away with it!” one of the forgettable flunkies spouted, clearly well versed in the ‘cliche bad guy lines handbook’. Whatever he was going to say next was drowned by a torrent of water the Vaporeon sprayed at him.
I saw the grey one blur into the brown lackey’s gut, causing him to double over. “Not again.” He groaned out. I couldn’t focus too much on them as Garble had regained his wits.
He charged, swinging wildly in an attempt to hit me. I formed my bone shaped staff to better deflect his assault. Whenever I saw an opportunity, I would lash out with my staff, though it didn’t seem to do much through his scales. He managed to get a headbutt through my defense, both of us using the chance to gain some distance.
I quickly checked up on the rest of the fight. The Vaporeon had a band of water flowing around her, and water was constantly streaming from her mouth onto the purple dragon. It was all he could do to stay upright on the soaked and muddy ground.
The Eevee looked like he was dancing around the larger Clump, darting in and out of reach. It almost seemed like he knew what Clump would do before he’d do it. Clump, for his part, was slowing down, exhaustion starting to kick in.
Where are you, Ember? I thought, refocusing on Garble. He glared at me before breathing deep. Realizing what he was about to do, I dismissed my staff, and quickly created and threw an Aura Sphere at him. The attack threw his aim off, but I still felt searing pain in my shoulder, causing me to cry out.
Garble’s glare transformed into a cruel smirk as he gathered more flame. Just before he could breathe out, though, everyone paused as something yelled out from the bushes.
<<All friendlies, clear the area!>> I looked towards the sound of the voice, only to quickly jump straight up as a bright ball sailed underneath me. I saw the other pokemon rush under Twilight’s shield.
I watched the ball land in the midst of the dragons, and a large explosion blossomed from the impact point. What the hell was that?!
I landed in a crouch in the crater it left behind, I glanced back to the attack’s origin to see Rainbow Dash carrying over another Eevee. It tiredly waved at me. <<So yeah, hi. I don’t think I can do that again for a little bit. How’s everyone else?>>
<<Running dry, darling.>> The Vaporeon admitted.
The gray Eevee nodded. <<I’m down to my status moves.>>
I gingerly touched my shoulder. ”Yeah, Don’t want to do that again.” I hissed.
“Hah!” Garble’s shout caused us all to look back at him. Although he was bruised, and was the better looking of the trio, he was clearly walking with a limp. “I knew Ember’s pet was weak! We’re still going strong!”
“Really?” Ember said, having finally caught back up with me. “That’s funny, ‘cause-”
She reached out toward them, as if trying to grab them, and a giant spectral hand materialized and flew at them, grabbing them all as if they were a bouquet of daisies.
“-it looks like you were all leaving.”
And with a flick of her wrist, the lot of them were sent flying into the nearby trees.
“Well, that was kinda fun,” I said. “Now... Garble. You still want to push your luck?”
Garble struggled to his feet, glaring daggers at me and Ember. “Y-you... I’m gonna get you for this.” He coughed a bit and took to the air, flying away from the gathering as he called back. “Just you wait, Ember. I’ll get you! You and your little dog, too!”
I turned to look back at the group I saved. The eevee and vaporeon were helping The other Eevee that was knocked out before. The poor thing was staggering.
As for the others, one of the ponies approached us.
Ponies.
As in, ‘My Little Ponies’.
As in Twilight freaking Sparkle.
I recognized her from the moment I saw her, but only then did it really hit me. I was in the My Little Pony world. Was that why I recognized Ember? Was she in the show at some point? I had only seen up to the third episode of the second season, so I didn’t know.
“That was incredible,” Twilight said. “Thank you for your help. My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.”
“Pleasure.”
“S’up.”
She gestured to the little dragon behind her. “This is Spike, my number one assisstant.”
“Dude, that was awesome!” he exclaimed. “You showed that jerk who’s boss!”
Twilight giggled and gestured to the eevees and the vaporeon. “And those are Yomega, Leo, and Lulu.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What did you say their names are?”
Twilight flinched in surprise, glancing around in confusion before looking back at me.
“Uh... Yomega, the one you saved, Leo, the one that’s barely conscious, and Lulu, the bigger, blue one... why?”
I could only stare at the trio of pokemon for several seconds before I was moving. I wasn’t sure when I started to move, or even if it was voluntary. I just moved.
I approached the pokemon timidly, as if one wrong step could break the illusion.
I spoke out loud, “Y-yomega?”
<<Y-yeah?>> The grey- Yomega asked, glanced at the others.
<<You okay, man?>> Leo asked.
Why does he sound so off? Part of my mind thought. Maybe he’s just so tired? The hell did Garble do before I got here? Blinking away a tear, I reached out and grabbed the Eevees into a crushing hug.
<<And now we’re hugging?>> I heard Lulu awkwardly ask.
<<... Oh.>> Yomega leaned into the hug to get closer to my ear. <<Barely any time, hold the hug. Ponies don’t know we’re from earth, thinking we’re native to Equis, pokemon are summons, they don’t know we are pokemon, and some rules of pokemon don’t apply. I can try to get Spike to send messages to you if you need more.>>
“What?” I thought at him.
<<We’ll explain fully later.>> Yomega promised. <<Good to see you again, Skywalker.>>
<<Wait…>> Lulu paused.
<<... Oh, Arceus. You got dragged into this, too?>>
“Luke,” Ember tentatively approached, “You okay? You’re acting a little… weird.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I gently set my displaced friends down. “Just meeting some old friends I never thought I’d see again.”
<<Yeah. He’s from our old range!>> Leo squeaked out to the ponies. Only Rainbow seemed to understand him, though.
Rarity gave the little Eevee a small smile. “Very sorry, dear, but we can’t really understand you without Fluttershy here.”
“Not really?” Rainbow coughed into her hoof.
Twilight turned an arched eyebrow to the pegasis. “What do mean, Rainbow?”
“I~ may have created a Soul Bond with Leo a while back, and that lets me understand her…” She blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Didn’t really want to bring it up and step on Fluttershy’s hooves. She already knows about this and has been helping me understand her better.”
I directed my thoughts to Yomega. “Uh... Did Rainbow just say ‘her’?”
<<Long story.>> Yomega answered as Leo cringed. <<She’s a chick now.>>
I nodded, directing my thoughts to everyone. “Yeah, we used to share the same territory. What happened to the rest of your… Pack?” Thinking quickly, I fired a quick thought to Ember. “Play along with this, please. They don’t want the ponies to know we’re from another world.”
Ember gave me a confused look, but nodded.
Twilight smiled. “The rest of them that came here are back in Ponyville. I don’t know where the larger pack they came from went to, although they are most likely deep in the Everfree.” Twilight went into scholar mode and began musing.
“Okay, so they’re friends of yours.” Ember shrugged. “That explains how they could hold themselves against Garble. Do you want some time to catch up with them?”
Before I could answer, everyone’s attention was drawn to the bushes, the Eevee’s tenseing for a fight. From the rustling, Smolder emerged.
“Whew.” She panted, pointing at Ember and I. “Thanks for leaving me behind, jerks. Good thing I just ran towards the explosion, or I don’t think I would’ve found you.” She glanced at the ponies. “Oh, hey. What’re ponies doing here?”
<<We were following->> Yomega started.
“Oh, shut up, I don’t what to play.” Smolder snapped.
“Hey, I know what they look like,.” I glared at her. “But these are my friends. They aren’t just animals, they’re smarter than you think.”
“Okay, sorry.” She pointed at the ponies. “Doesn’t answer my question, though.”
Ember crossed her arms. “I’m kinda curious now, myself.”
“We were following Spike.” Rainbow stated.
The little drake whipped around to stare at the mares. “You followed me?!” I could hear the tears in his eyes. “Why?”
“<<We just wanted to make sure you were safe.>>” Twilight and Yomega said at the same time.
<<I- we were worried about you>> Yomega continued.
“We didn’t want to impose,” Twilight sighed, “and we didn’t want to influence your quest of self discovery.”
“And you’re here, because…?” Smolder insisted.
Spike seemed to deflate. “I just wanted to know more about my kind.” I saw Ember and Smolder share a confused look. Spike apparently caught it, too. “Twilight hatched me, and I grew up amongst ponies. I don’t know anything about my own kind.” He sniffed. “I was hoping to learn more about us... You... Our kind on this migration. And then Garble ruined that for me.”
Smolder drew in a deep breath as she rolled her eyes, closing them mid way. “Right, I gotta tell mom about this. Big Brother is in so much trouble…”
I blinked. “Garble’s your brother?” I quickly shook my head. “ Wait no, we can focus on that later. Spike!” I addressed the drake. “Trust me when I say that, while most dragons are aggressive, they aren’t as bad as that group. I think it might do you some good to stay for a bit. Unless you would rather just go home.”
“I...” He looked back at the ponies, then back to us. “I… Think I want to go home. I think I’ve learned enough…”
“Well, I might have another solution.” I glanced back at Ember. “Yomega mentioned that you can send messages? How do you do that?” Of course, I already knew, but I didn’t want them to know that.
“Magic infused fire breath.” Spike shrugged while Ember jolted. “I burn up the letter while thinking of its recipient and infuse my fire with mana.”
“I think I see where this is going. Can you teach it?” Ember asked, with that twinkle in her eye she gets when she gets excited about something.
“Yeah, I think so,” Spike said, scratching his chin in thought. “Though it’s mostly intuitive.”
“Great. Then you can teach me,” Ember said with a smile. “And I can show you what a real dragon is like.”
“Great! I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. “Why don’t we all come to our cave and I’ll make us some lunch?”