Universe 6. Equestria. Canterlot. Twilight's Home. Afternoon.
"Twilight! Twilight!" Rushing into the room of her daughter was none other than Twilight Velvet. She almost fell over, quickly using her cane to hold her up. "Oh, my. Guess what?"
"What happened?" Twilight sat up once her mother came in.
"Great news. At least, it sounds like it. All of your counterparts are currently visiting Universe One in a fun venture to see some Pokemon."
"Oh. Is that it?"
"Not excited? You can hang out with yourself multiple times over." Twilight Velvet chuckled. "It's also the best excuse to get out there."
"Ah, I'm not sure being around a counterpart of myself is what really want." Twilight shuddered as her mother scrunched her face, realizing what she meant by that. Empress Twilight already left a bad impression on any other counterpart.
"Oh, I see. Well...ignoring that...how about the Pokemon? You can go ahead and see those, can't you?"
"Well...The Pokemon do interest me." The alicorn shifted her eyes to the side, admitting that Pokemon interested her. Pokemon interests many individuals no matter what after all. It's how so many Twilight Sparkles from different universes went off to see them in the first place.
"Now's your chance to see them. Princess Celestia passed this message on me in the first place. What do you say?"
"I'd like to see them But um...could you come with me?" She pulled her bedsheets closer to her.
"You're old enough to explore without your parents, sweetie. But, your friends are another story. If they're available, that is. Princess Celestia has already prepared a gateway for you to use at any time."
"I'll be on my way then." Twilight got out of her bed. "Can we exit out of the back though?"
"Still nervous around everypony else, hm? Alright then. I can still protect you even at this age. Come along." Twilight Velvet waked along as she led Twilight to the back of the house to avoid the populated area of ponies. Either way, she was heading to another universe. Something that she was nervous about.
Universe One. Equestria. Ponyville. Twilight's Castle. Afternoon.
Meanwhile, back at Universe One, the various Twilights from other universes were currently being toured and caught up on these Strange and Wonderful Creatures known as Pokemon.
And over at Twilight's Castle, she and Zero had encountered another Twilight who snuck up on them. A Shadow Twilight who was silent and hard to spot. All the while, a device that had been made to detect gateways being opened up had been sensed.
"What's all this?" The Shadow Twilight moved just like the shadows, leaving a trail of darkness behind as she trotted. Her eyes were fixated on not just the castle but also the Pokemon information located on these bookshelves. "Oooh...You already have a way to know about Pokemon so quickly."
"Well, yeah. Living with them for 3 years now lets you get up to speed with them. Both primary and secondary research." Twilight shrugged, replying to her shadow counterpart. "SO, about you! You're one of my counterparts!"
"Hm?" Just then, Shadow Twilight was the one who had been snuck up on as Twilight zoomed over, getting right in her face, catching the Shadow Twilight by surprise. "Oh, yes. That's right"
"And you're a shadow too..." Twilight gawked. "Wonder what led to this?"
"Nothing led to it. I'm just a Twilight that's a Shadow Pony." She explained. "This is how I was born. I definitely look vastly different from everypony else, don't I?"
"From what I've seen so far, yes. But that can change. You have to tell me about your world though! What's it like?! Are there other Shadow Ponies?! Is it okay?!"
"My world's fine. Well, it's still recovering after the Empress attacked it. And it's a pleasant place to be at. At least, for a Shadow Pony. This world is a bit too vibrant for my taste."
"Hm-hm." Twilight nodded in response as Espeon used Psychic to bring over a piece of paper and a quill. Twilight then started writing it down with her magic soon controlling the quill.
"Go and have fun," Zero said. "I'll just be here finishing with this device. It may be able to sense when a gateway's just been opened up, but I need to make it so that it tells us where it's opened up."
"Right. Thanks, Zero." Twilight replied before facing back at her Shadow Counterpart. "So...a Shadow Pony, huh? Does that mean you're an Umbrum?"
"That's right. Nice deduction. But I want questions and answers about all of this Pokemon stuff." The Shadow Twilight replied.
"Oh, right, right. Um..." Twilight thought for a moment before hatching a perfect plan t both satisfy her curiosity about her counterparts and allow her Shadow counterpart to explore the knowledge of Pokemon. "Zero! I'll leave things with you! Come on, Eve!"
"Say what?" Zero just processed those words. But the moment he looked over at Twilight, the Princess of Friendship alongside the Sun Pokemon were gone via teleportation. Now it was just Zero and the Shadow Twilight.
But immediately, Shadow Twilight manipulated the shadows to grab herself some of the Pokemon Books, already opening and browsing through them. Zero merely shrugged as he continued his work on the device.
The Pokemon House.
Over at the Pokemon House, Ash and Fluttershy had led the various Twilight Sparkle counterparts here. This area had a plethora of Pokemon to see. It was easily the second most Pokemon-populated area in Ponyville. The first was PokePark, located at Twilight's Lab.
Immediately, the Twilights were all surrounded by these Pocket Monsters of all shapes and sizes. Whether it was inside or outside of the house.
"And you keep these fierce and powerful creatures as your pets?" The sock puppet Twilight who was on Ash's hand said to him and Fluttershy.
"They're not our pets. They're our friends." Ash shook his head. "Then again, I don't think we've ever had pets in our world before."
"Pika-Pika."
"It's strange. At any moment, these things could lay waste to this entire town. Possibly the world too. And you're just so calm and casual around them." A Twilight Sparkle asked them both. "How'd you master it so easily?"
"It wasn't easy the first time. Pikachu and I didn't get along at the start. But soon, we became the best of pals. Isn't' that right, buddy?"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu raised his arm before playfully patting Ash on the face.
"For me, the Pokemon were already easy for me to understand. They share a lot of similarities to the animals in this world after all." Fluttershy explained. "Though...it was hard to understand some of them at the start. I couldn't make out what some Pokemon were in the beginning. Like Audi here."
"Audino."
"About that thing...is it a rabbit, bear or what...?" Another Twilight asked. The others were genuinely curious as they had no idea what creature Audino was meant to resemble. It was practically impossible to figure it out.
"Oh. Audi here's an Angel."
"Audino!"
"That's an Angel...?" The other Twilights were finding it hard to see that.
"Oh my gosh! Aren't you adorable?!" But amidst the confusion of Audino, there was the admiration of Dragon-Types via the Twilight Sparkle that was a Dragon in her universe. In her claws, she held a Shelgon, a fairly rare Pokemon to some.
"Shelgon!" Shelgon immediately used Dragonbreath, blasting the Dragon Twilight's face. Twilight then playfully replied by doing the same, breathing out purple fire. By doing so, she immediately started bonding with the Endurance Pokemon. Shelgon actually ended up laughing instead of retaliating against Twilight. That was certainly a way for Dragons to bond and hang out with each other.
The other Twilights found enjoyment with certain Pokemon. There was indeed a Pokemon for everyone, just like how there was a Pokemon for everything.
"We needed this so much..." A Twilight Sparkle who was an Earth Pony that had a glowing horn and wings commented, lying on her back. She seemed to be a pseudo-alicorn with the glowing horn and those glowing wings whilst being surrounded by Pokemon.
"Right..." Another Twilight replied. "This is the kind of joy we missed."
"You're all here now, aren't you?" said Ash. "So chill out as much as you want and get those nerves out of you. It's all about having fun here!"
"Pika-Pika!"
"Ya know...there's one other counterpart missing in all of this," Ash said to himself, knowing exactly who was missing. The Twilight Sparkle from the Human World. "Sure wish she was here to see it."
"Oh. Since you're all so interested in Pokemon, would you like that some with you?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Take some?" The other Twilights repeated.
"Mhm. We already have Pokemon as partners in our world. It wouldn't hurt to have a new friend by your side?"
"If only we had them when the Empress attacked. We'd probably have a chance." A random Twilight sighed, wishing she had Pokemon earlier. But alas, that was not the case.
"It's gonna be like starting from scratch if they bring Pokemon over to their world..." Ash pondered. "But ah, I'm sure you're all gonna figure it out. You're all Twilight after all."
"Oh, thank you for the compliment. Now uh, could you take me to one of those Pokemon?" The Sock Puppet Twilight requested. "I'd like to make my choice."
"Sure. Are you all gonna want Poke Balls?" Ash asked all of them as he and Fluttershy continued to guide them all through the day. Some of these Twilights were definitely leaning on bringing some Pokemon with them.
Deerling Forest.
Meanwhile, the Twilight Sparkle from Universe 6 had already arrived a while ago. But she was far away from her counterparts at this point. While they were all over at Ponyville and Canterlot viewing all the Pokemon they wanted, this Twilight chose to stay away from them.
She was the tallest ut of all of them and resembled the Empress greatly. Twilight still felt a sense of fear after what the Empress had done to ruin her life. Twilight showed up at Deerling Forest, which was always a nice place to be at just for its relaxing nature.
She stood near a lake before then sitting down next to it. She previously found silence and peace within her room but now the Deerling Forest was equally as calm with the sounds of the forest giving a calming aura. Twilight needed this.
"Deerling?" Naturally, being at a forest aptly named Deerling Forest would house some Deerling. A Summer Form Deerling had appeared, immediately confirming that Summer had arrived as the Deerling went over to the lake where Twilight sat.
"Hm?" Twilight sat up as the Summer Form Deerling came her way. She was a bit startled, but she had nothing to fear in the face of Deerling. "Oh. Scared me there."
"Deerling." Deerling could make out Twilight's appearance. This world's Twilight Sparkle has been seen around her often after all. It felt some familiarity with her despite the alternate appearance. Deerling went up to the alicorn, prancing around her.
Twilight laughed as Deerling playfully ran around her. Soon, other Deerlings had gravitated towards her. Soon a herd of the m came to this spot after seeing Twilight. But some of them were just coming over for a drink. Twilight was soon surrounded by these Season Changing creatures as there was a calming and joyful bliss that they brought with them. It made all of her nerves vanish.
Soon, one of them made contact with the alicorn, but a rapid reaction from Twilight did not occur. Being around a herd of Deerling was a great feeling. Sawsbuck might be a different story depending on the circumstances.
Aside from that, Twilight took the time to be around these Normal-Grass-Types and take in nature as well. After living in a dungeon for so many years until she reached this height, this sight was a beautiful breath of fresh air.
However, Deerling Forest was close to both Canterlot and Frenzy Forest. Naturally, this meant that the various Twilight Sparkles from other universes and their Pokemon-searching would lead here. Twilight heard the sound of her own voice in multiple numbers.
Her eyes widened. Her face scrunched. She immediately stood up with the Deerlings' eyes following her. She heard more of them coming closer. The other Twilights were showing up here to see more Pokemon for themselves.
The alicorn shifted her head to the side, noticing that they were coming the same way she came. That meant that her passageway back to her universe was kaput. Twilight was still fearful of what they would do or how they react if they ever saw her. She was the only counterpart that was old enough to match the Empress' size. They were essentially the same individual just from parallel worlds.
"Oh, no-no-no..." Twilight backed away before she then started running. One of the Deerling then followed after her, wondering what was wrong with Twilight. This was the first Deerling that she saw that ended up following her. Twilight had become too familiar in this forest to ignore. To Deerling, she was a friend.
Twilight ran as fast as she could, looking for another way out of this forest to avoid her parallel universe variants from spotting her. But, during her gallop to escape, that was when Twilight made a new discovery that no one else in this world had made.
When running off, one of the lakes within this forest seemed off. A familiar cosmic glow flashed within with sparkles coming out. It was especially well hidden behind the leaves, much like how the Deerling are always well hidden when hiding from hostile threats. Once she ran through the bush of leaves, that's when she ended up stepping into the gateway. Or rather, slipping into it.
"Wah!" Twilight let out a cry right after she slipped. And the moment her hoof touched the gateway, she was pulled in. Twilight Sparkle entered the gateway accidentally with her entire body falling in.
"Deerling!" Deerling followed suit. He jumped right in without a second thought, going after Twilight. Now he was the second individual to discover this hidden gateway. But as a plus, Twilight ended up escaping her other counterparts.
But once they showed up, the Deerling were now just downright confused. They were seeing multiple Twilights right after seeing one of them seconds ago.
Ponyville. Twilight's Castle. Afternoon.
"Hm. Another one's been used." Zero sensed another gateway being passed through. This was the gateway that Twilight had just passed through. "Looks like a new one too."
The device was almost complete. Just some tweaking was also needed. Zero wanted to make sure that it wouldn't always go off when every single gateway was used. He only needed it to go off when a gateway from another universe has opened up. It was back to work while the Shadow Twilight had already surrounded herself with a pile of Pokemon Books.
Much like her counterpart of this universe, she was so invested in them that she'd end up making a novel mess out of it while using some shadow tendrils to hold up the books, multitasking perfectly.
Unova. Skyarrow Bridge. Afternoon.
Skyarrow Bridge. The biggest, longest bridge in Unova. Located between Pinwheel and Castelia City, this was a long suspension bridge that connected the southeastern part of Unova via those two locations in central Unova. The bridge served as a means of transportation into and out of Castelia City as the sheer size of it was amazing.
However, that was not where Twilight ended up. Instead, the gateway from the lake fittingly led to the sea underneath the bridge. She floated up, lying flat on her face. Thankfully, Deerling was there to help. He was a surprisingly good swimmer as he pushed Twilight's body back up to shore. The closet spot here was Castelia City and its Ocean Piers.
"Gah!" Once Twilight was pushed up to the forest, she was turned on her back, letting out a powerful gasp. Deerling hopped over her as the alicorn breathed in and out. While Deerling could swim, Twilight could not. At least, this variation of her couldn't.
"Deerling?" The Season Pokemon asked if she was okay.
"Oh...Thank you so much." Twilight thanked Deerling for saving her life before then getting up. She ended up from Deerling Forest to Castelia City. Right now, she was at the Prime Pier, just across from a place known as Mode Street.
She got back up, just now realizing that the change of scenery was vastly different to what she had seen before. Twilight feasted her eyes on the wonderful Castelia City. The City of Grandeur.
Instead of processing the gateway that had sent her here, she was too busy fixated on this one. Twilight couldn't help but start wandering She immediately saw other Pokemon residing here. Mainly within the skies as a flock of Pidove and Tranquill flew by. Deerling followed right after her, staying by Twilight's side. This region was familiar to him so it wasn't too big of a deal for the Season Pokemon.
She also saw Humans. It wouldn't be the first time for her. Prior to her unfortunate time being stripped of her magic and locked up, she had been to the human world where Sunset Shimmer resided, so the sight of humans was not surprising in the slightest. Instead, Twilight saw how the people and Pokemon lived with these magical creatures of such destructive yet cute proportions.
"This must be the Pokemon World." Twilight deduced. The alicorn was perfectly fine walking around her. The only things she feared at the moment were other ponies and her counterpart after what the Empress had done. But for the humans living, not a trace of fear came about.
Now that she was in a world where there were more Pokemon to see, Twilight had to view it. The concept of Pokemon was enough to get her out of her home after all. After leaving the piers, she came across the populated areas. Mode Street was the closest area as it was a commuter-heavy street, but not as large or as busy as Castelia Street. any trees and plants line its sides, giving the street a feeling of nature.
Deerling certainly felt it as it was all too familiar to him. The Season Pokemon couldn't help but smile after being near this street. But a different feeling came to Twilight. She still felt the energy of this street, but something else came over. The smell of a Casteliacone.
Twilight and Deerling walked by a Casteliacone Stand which was open for the summer, the hottest season of them all. A shame she couldn't buy any. She was absent of Pokedollars but it was still something she could admire as she ended up passing by so many busy humans.
It was something bizarre to Twilight. The fact that she felt far more comfortable around strangers and Pokemon rather than her own counterpart and even the ponies back at her home city of Canterlot. But such was the diversity of parallel universes.
Twilight and Deerling's venture led them to a less populated area but still brimming with life. Castelia Park.
Castelia Park, to many people living here, was a special spot. Not because it was where rest and relaxation along with fun activities could be had, but because it is said to be where it all began for Castelia City.
Twilight stopped walking for a bit to gaze at the park. As to be expected, people had their Pokemon run around and mess about with other Pokemon, even with some roughhousing. Ironically, the only Pokemon not doing so was a Herdier, a Pokemon related to an animal that would thrive off of this within a park.
"Deer!" Deerling jumped up and down, feeling like getting in on the action. Being here didn't feel like an accident anymore for Twilight. She didn't even mind the fact that she willingly led herself to this city. If it meant finding some solace, then it was all wonderful for her. But soon, this moment of peace broke when Twilight came across someone else.
"Uh...excuse me?" A familiar voice had come through. That voice resonated with Twilight. Once she heard it, she shuddered. Mainly because it sounded just like her. That meant only one thing to the alicorn. There was another Twilight Sparkle here.
With a nervous and fast-beating heart, she slowly turned around with her hooves trembling. And once she turned around, that's when she saw her. And that's when they met.
The Twilight Sparkle from the Human World.
Alongside her partner Zorua and pet dog Spike. She immediately recognized pony Twilight just by appearance alone from just looking at her hair. Even though the peace had been shattered, there was still silence. An awkward silence. But it was only caused by the Pony Twilight who was just stunned to move. Not because this was another Twilight, but because this Twilight matched the appearance of the Empress when she first met her.
This was the Empress' counterpart from another Human World.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 808 End.