The sun was rising in the sky, reaching its peak for its high noon position, while the rest of the towns ponies were enjoying the great day. Up above the town, sitting on one of the clouds was a bored Rainbow Dash, watching all of the ponies go about their lives. She and the rest of the weather team were done maintaining the weather for the day and now she had nothing else to do. Most of her friends were either unavailable at this time to hang out or were somewhere Rainbow Dash couldn't find them. Her mind was running through all kinds of things she could do today, but without another pony to do them with her, she could only lie down on cloud and stare into the sky.
The mare sighed heavily while massaging the headache from her skull. "There's nothing to do. No pony has any time to hang out. Maybe Rarity would be up for something fun." Rainbow considered going over to her friend's home, only to stop herself after giving it some thought. "On second thought, maybe not. She'd probably having me in try on her outfits." She shuddered at the thought of wearing a frilly dress. With that option out of her mind, she was back to wallowing on her cloud.
As she pouted, her ears perked up to a familiar sound right under her. The first sound she heard was Applejack's voice, and figured she would be too busy with her chores. When she her another voice, she looked down and saw Tom walking alongside Applejack and her brother, Big McIntosh. Seeing him face brought a smile to her face as an idea sprang to mind, a really funny idea. The Pegasus mare quietly followed below her, keeping out of sight while preparing for her prank.
“Alright, Tom, it’s to get down to some real work.,” Applejack said. “It may be your first day, but you’re gonna wish you slept in.”
"I had a little trouble sleeping anyway, so it’s not much of a problem. No matter what task you need me to do, I’ll do my absolute best to complete it." Tom was feeling a bit tired after waking up early in the morning, but he didn’t wanna let that hinder his work. Despite his efforts, he couldn’t believe Applejack saw through his efforts to dissuade her. "So, what’s my first assignment? Give me something before I lose consciousness."
“Well, Ya’ll should start out buckin’ a few of them apple trees over there. It’s a lot of work, so if ya get exhausted, just ask and we can take it from there.” Tom nodded his head, the mare already knew what he was capable of.
He followed right behind the siblings and in the acres upon acres of apple trees. The siblings and him went into the barn and grabbed several wooden buckets and walked towards the trees with them on their backs. They placed them around a couple of trees under their branches, where some of the apples were most ripe.
Big Mac was the first to begin apple bucking, stepping up to a nearby tree, rearing back his hind legs and giving the tree are hard kick. The tree began to shake as several of the apples from the beaches fell down into the buckets. With one kick, the entire tree was free of all of its apples.
Tom was impressed by this show of strength in the stallion farmer. He said, “Not bat, Big Mac. That was really good.”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac said, finally changing his emotionless expression into a soft grin.
“Remember, Tom, ya have to put the right amount of strength in the right spot so all the apples will fall.” Applejack said, bucking her hind legs into the trunk of her second tree.
"Don’t worry. It’s not too hard. I did harder work back home," Tom said, walking up to one of the trees nearest to him, and bucked an apple tree.
This kick sent l all the apples on its branches down in the buckets in one go. The shapeshifter grinned at a job well done while Big Mac looked surprised that a skinny stallion like him could knock down a whole tree of apples in one go.
"That was kinda fun." Tom said before running up to a bunch more apple trees and kicking them against their trunks. He gathered up all the apples one after another and moved on to the next tree. Applejack looked at her brother’s face and saw how dumbfounded he looked after seeing Tom buck trees. She giggled at this and continued to watch Tom finish a couple hours of work in a few minutes.
After another 5 minutes of work, Tom finally finished bucking his last tree and grabbed his last basket. He walks up to the Apple siblings and drops the back right at their hooves. He said, “That’s all of them. What do I do now?”
”Take them to the barn and for storage while keep them preserved. They’ll be moved into the cart when we sell that at the stand in town.” Applejack said as Tom nodded his head and began picking up all of the apples from the ground and headed towards the barn.
Tom knew that these were a lot of buckets, even for him, so he transformed into Elekid and used Psychic to carry all of the buckets in one go. The Apple siblings‘ faces turned to shocked expressions after seeing this human/Pokémon lift up all of those apple buckets with a light blue aura as if it were magic. After dropping the empty buckets, he stored all of the apples and returned seeing the ponies faces with shock. This drew a laugh out of him before he snapped his fingers in their faces.
“What’s my next job?” Tom questioned, turning back into his Keldeo form, waiting for his next assignment from the pair.
Nearly an hour later, Tom resumed gathering apples from the apple trees. Eh bucked multiple trees in the orchard and finished in the southern area of the farm. Once he got into the rhythm of placing down buckets, bucking the trees, and gathering the apples, he finished all of his apple gathering and the Apple siblings’. The siblings had to tell him to stop after bringing back so many apples before he harvests the entire orchard. After he was finished, they put him to work on some other chores.
His next task was to water the trees with the buckets of water given to him. He had his own way of doing this. Tom used water type moves like Rain Dance and Hydro Pump to water all of the trees in the orchard. What would take hours to complete, he finished in a half hour. The Apple family were impressed that he was able to get done so quickly. Once he was finished with this chore, he moved on this his next one.
The third task of the day was tilling the fields with the rusted plow he was given. It was slow going in the beginning with less enthusiasm than earlier since he did no have a move that would me this easy. He pulled the rusted plow over the soil for what he guessed was apple seeds for the future or other plants like corn, carrots, or lettuce.
After finishing the last line of fields, Tom unbuckled himself from the plow and decided to take a break. Being a Pokémon hasn’t removed the limitations from his body. He sat down on some grass and wiped the sweat of his brow.
“What I wouldn’t do for a drink of water.” Tom said, wishing for some rain to poor down on him. Heh could just use Rain Dance but was too tired to summon a cloud.
Before he knew, large volumes of water were raining down on him. He looked up and could make out a large rain cloud floating above his head. The rain just kept pouring and pouring while he just sat there. He should have been careful for what he wished for.
After a few minutes went by, the rain finally stopped and Tom was left there soaked. He spat out a few spurts of water out of his mouth and looked up at the only rain cloud in the sky. Why was this the only rain cloud while the rest of the sky was clear. His question was answered when he heard a laugh coming from atop the cloud and caught sight of a familiar rainbow tail.
“Rainbow Dash.” Tom said with a firm tone to the laughing equine.
Rainbow Dash appeared from her spot on top of the cloud, still laughing at her drenched friend. “Sorry, Tom. You did say you were thirsty.” Rainbow flew down from her cloud perch and landed in front of him.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t that thirsty.” Tom said, shaking his body like a dog to dry himself off, while also drenching Rainbow Dash in the process.
“Hey!” Rainbow exclaimed, raising her wing to shield from the water.
“You started it. This just makes us even.” Tom said, finally dry with a few areas of his body a little wet. “Why are you here any way? Don’t you have work today?”
“No. My team and I finished clearing the skies early and I have nothing to do. Prancing you just something I could do with my day.” Rainbow said, shaking some water out of her mane.
Tom was intrigued by how the Pegasi in this world could manipulate the weather the same way most Pokémon could. Everything he learned about this world just made him become more in love with it. When he continued to watch his cyan friend dry herself off, he caught sight of her wings fluttering in the breeze. Suddenly, he came up with an idea.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash?” Tom said, getting the mare’s attention.
“Yeah?” She asked.
“You told me you were the fastest flyer in Equestria, right?” Tom asked.
“You know it. I can put fly any Pegasus.” Rainbow said, flying up into the sky, boasting about her flying capabilities.
“What about me?” Tom surprising the mare with his request.
“Huh?” Rainbow was confused.
“You and me, head to head in a race to see who’s faster: Pegasus or Pokémon. What do you say?” Tom asked with a determined look on his face.
Rainbow Dash was Ms surprised that she was actually being challenged by him. No pony had ever chosen to race her since she was a filly. And now this pony has decided to race without a hint of of backing. This brought a smile to her face as she was feeling something inside her that she has never felt before.
“You’re so on. Finally, a pony around here that has some guts.” Rainbow Dash said while cheering that she finally found something to do.
Tom smiled that the mare was happy at him challenging her. He saw that the mare was feeling a little down so he thought of something to cheer that would cheer her up. The two left the plowed field and began to discuss about the upcoming race.
When the two of them made it to the Apple home, Tom asked if it was okay for him to take off for the rest of the day. The family was more than happy to let off work today after finishing weeks amount of work. Pikachu left the Apple house after being awoken by Winona and decided to rest at Fluttershy’s. When they left the farm, the two walked into town and made it to the town square. Rainbow Dash was doing push ups with her wings while Tom was stretching in his new form.
He was an avian Pokémon that closely resembles a falcon. Red-orange plumage covers his head, wings, and most of his chest and back before tapering off into a flame pattern. His underside and hindquarters are gray and the tips of his long, pointed wings are black. Orange spots speckle his underside. Large yellow talons extend from the shaggy feathers on his legs. He had a pointed crest atop his head and black-and-yellow mask-like markings around its eyes. His black beak is hooked with a yellow cere. He also had long black tailfeathers marked with three yellow V-shapes. The tail ends in two points and has another feather sticking out of the base on each side.
“So, how far are we flying?” Tom asked still stretching her wings.
“We’ll by flying across Ponyville, all the way to Canterlot mountain.” She points her hoof towards the mountain with the large structure clinging to it. “After one loop around the mountain, we fly back to town and the first one to the fountain is the winner.”
“Which will be me.” Tom said with a grin on his beak.
“No way. It’s gonna be me.” Rainbow stated.
“We’ll see.” Tom said.
Both fliers were at the ready. Their wings were flared in the sky, preparing to take off.
“Ready.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Set.” Tom said, gripping the ground.
“Go!”
With a final word, the two lifted off the ground, kicking up a lot of dust. Once in the sky, the two fliers soared through the town, earning glances from a few of the towns ponies. The one ahead was Rainbow Dash with Tom following close behind. Her thinner body and smaller wingspan gave her the edge in speed while his larger wings gave him extra power. He was using the strength of his wings to gain more speed and slowly catching up to the Pegasus. The two flying around various houses while never decreasing in speed.
They finally made it out of the village and flew in the direction of the increasing mountain. Rainbow Dash looked back and saw Tom slowly catch up with her. She couldn’t have this, so she flapped her wings to increase her speed. As fast as Tom was going, he knew he was having trouble in this race. To fix that, he enveloped himself in flames and increased his speed. This increase in speed was all that he needed to close the gap. The two were neck and neck, neither one giving the other an inch.
Two minutes of flying later, and they finally made it to the mountain. Neither of the two were ahead of the other as they continued to try faster than the other. They encircled the mountain and flew around it, never slowing down. After they flew around the entire mountain, they began flying back towards the goal.
While flying, Tom caught sight of something across from them. He said, “Rainbow…”
“No way you’re distracting me. I’m winning this thing.” Rainbow Dash said, focused on finishing first.
“No, really, Rainbow. Something’s happening over there. Look!” Tom said, pointing his wing to the left of them. Rainbow Sash sighed and took her eyes off of the race to look at whatever he’s talking about. Her eyes widened after finally seeing what Tom was seeing. It was a large creature chasing two smaller creatures.
The large creature was a silver-gray, avian Pokémon with a long, metallic blue neck, legs, and tail. It has yellow eyes, a pointed beak with several pointed teeth, and a triangular crest on its head. There are red feathers under the sheaths that cover its sharp wings, and each feather can be moved independently. Its feet had three toes on them, two in front and one in back, and his tail had hooked ends. The thing that stood out was the giant X on its beak.
It was chasing a small avian Pokémon with a blue body. A large white plume of feathers covers its head and three tail feathers extend from its lower back. The feathery ruff extends down past its neck, covering the upper third of its body. Its face is blue with five pointed tips, resembling a mask and crown in contrast to the white feathers surrounding it. Extending from its forehead is a large feather, which is red on the lower half and white on the upper half. The split between the two colors on the feather resembles a zigzag pattern. Rufflet's beak is short and wide, with large eyes on either side. Each eye has a thick black iris with a small white pupil. Its yellow legs and feet are large in comparison to the body. Each foot has four digits: one backwards, and three forwards.
An avian Pokémon with a round, blue body. Since it has no discernible neck, its body appears to be all head. There are two long feathers on top of its head, and it has a short, rounded white beak and beady, black eyes. Its wings are fluffy and white, resembling cotton or clouds and are made of air. The wings have a light and fluffy feel. It has tiny, white feet and two pointed tail feathers.
“We have to help them.” Tom was the first to turn, soaring across the sky to save the two bird Pokémon.
“I’m right behind ya.” Rainbow said, also changing the direction while preparing for her first confrontation with the new species.
High in the sky, two flying objects raced through the air, followed by a larger object. A closer inspection of the three objects shows that they were Pokémon: a Rufflet, a Swablu, and a Skarmary. What could Skarmary want with these two small birds? Simple answer: To eat them. Animals eating other animals was the natural process in the animal kingdom, especially in the Pokémon world. Many Pokémon species prey on one another as a source of a particular food. In this case, this was just natural selection at work.
Rufflet and Swablu were severely wounded from the looks of their injuries. Clearly, they were in fight with Skarmary and are trying to get away. This made little difference to the Amor Bird Pokémon. Whether they ran or not, it was going to get its dinner.
As it was closing in on its prey and reached out its claws, a blue blur snatches them out of its clutches. Skarmary was shocked at this and searched for its vanishing prey.
“Hey, metal beak!”
The Skarmary heard a voice coming from behind it, so it turned around and saw a Talonflame approaching it. Before it had time to reach, the Scorching Pokémon’s body was covered in flames before taking on a blue aura. He slammed into it as a large dust cloud appeared.
Tom exited the dust cloud after delivering the most powerful flying type move. He grunted after feeling the recoil damage from that attack. After he was at a safe distance from the dust cloud, he looked behind him and saw Rainbow Dash with the Rufflet and Swablu in her hooves. He was glad the two were safe, but wasn’t going to relax yet after hearing movement in the cloud.
“I was going to have a nice lunch, and you just have to ruin it. Now, I’m going have to eat all of you just to feel better.” Skarmory said with visible signs of damage after receiving the last attack.
Tom was worried. He couldn’t battle while also trying to protect the three behind him. He looked back and said, “Rainbow. Go to Fluttershy’s and stay take care of those two. I’ll take care of him.”
“What?! No way am I leaving you here!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“Look down at the two in your hooves. They’re what’s important right now, not me.” He said before turning his head to look her in the eyes. “Don’t worry. This should take too long.”
Rainbow saw the look in his eyes and could tell he wasn’t lying. She nodded her head and said, “Okay. You better be right behind me.”
“Count on it.” Tom said.
Rainbow Dash took to the skies and flew in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. Skarmory did not like this sight. He said, “You think I’m just going to let you get away?” He flew towards the mare but Tom flew in his path.
“Stay away from them!” Tom said, firing off a flurry of yellow stars at the bird, stopping him in tracks while also receiving little damage.
“Fine. You wanna stand in my way? That good. I wanted to work for my food.” Skarmory said, soaring towards the fire bird with him following suit.
When they were closing in on one another, Skarmory surround itself with a white aura while Tom surrounded himself in a flame outlined in red flames. The two opposing attacks collided with one another, creating a huge explosion. Both Pokémon exited the cloud with visible injuries, Skarmory more than Tom.
Once he turned around, Tom took a deep breath and released a powerful stream of red-yellow fire from his mouth. As the flame traveled across the skit, the front of the flame forms into a 大-shaped blast. The Skarmory did not have enough time to dodge the attack and ended up be swallowed by the blast.
Skarmory was forced by the super effective attack and used all of his strength to overcome it. After the flames dispersed, he got even angrier at the flaming bird. He saw him create a ring of pink, light blue, and dark blue fireballs around his body. Seeing what was coming, the steel bird soared through the sky with his wings glowing.
Tom hurled the fireballs, thinking that they would finish they battle. He was mistaken when his opponent dodged all the balls and was getting closer to him. Just when he got closer enough, Skarmory delivered his attack with his wings made of steel.
For a second, he actually thought he caused significant damage to the bird, until his body blew up in a puffy of smoke. This took the Skarmory completely by surprise. If that wasn’t the real Tom, then where was he.
Up above the Skarmory, there was a small object falling towards him. While he was distracted in his search of his prey, he felt something small land on his back. He looked back and saw a Sneasal clutching his body with a sly grin.
“Gotcha.” Tom said, letting go of the bird’s body and raising his clawed hands.
His claws glowed a silver and white color and then the glow grows to form a bigger claw shape of silver and white energy around both claws. He quickly brought them down on the Pokémon’s back in a quick slash.
The attack threw Skarmory for a loop as he felt damage from the same type move. Tom jumped off his back and was about to finish this, but was surprised by Skarmory recover in the air. The bird used this confused and delivered a Drill Peck to his opponent’s side. Feeling the brunt of the spinning beak attack caused Tom plenty of damage. He grabbed the bird’s beak, lifted himself up, and threw himself off of the attack, ripping his bandages in the process. Skarmory stoped his attack and watched the shapeshifter plummeting to his doom. With that thought in mind, he continued his pursuit of his previous prey.
Tom plummeted towards the ground, feeling all of his bruises from this battle. His eyes caught sight of Skarmary flying in the same direction as Rainbow Dash. He can’t allow his friend and those Pokémon to be hurt. He focused his mind and transformed back into Talonflame. While flying towards his opponent, he gathered his strength and surrounded himself with a red-orange fire.
Skarmory could sense something coming up behind him and looked to see the same Pokémon he thought he defeated. He was flying so fast towards him, he didn’t have time to prepare for the being hit with such great force. When Tom made contact, there was a huge explosion.
When the attack is over, Tom exited the cloud of smoke with red sparks surrounding his body, taking recoil damage. The whole battle really exhausted him. From within the smoke, the Skarmory exited the smoke and landed in the Everfree forest.
Tom took a sigh of relief knowing that the battle was over. After using all of that energy, he could not keep fighting. With that though out of the way, he sped off into the air in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.
A few minutes of flying later and Tom finally made it toward the cottage. He landed on the ground, noticing some Pokémon looking through the window. They were probably about the two injured Pokémon. He turned into Keldeo and walked into the cottage. When he walked in, he saw Fluttershy tending to the bird Pokémon on the couch with Rainbow Dash and Pikachu right behind her.
When they heard the door open and saw him walk in, Pikachu was the first to react. She reached him and hugged him. She said, “You’re okay.”
He smiled and rubbed her head with his hoof. He said, “Of course I did. Was there any doubt?”
“Never.” Pikachu said, rubbing her head against the shapeshifter’s chest. She let go once Rainbow Dash walked up to him.
“You really had me worried there for a second.” Rainbow said.
“That battle was no problem. Trust me.” Tom said before Rainbow Dadh suddenly hugged him. “Dash?”
“Never do something like that again. If you do, I’ll buck you straight to the moon. Do you hear me?” She asked, clearly worried that her friend.
Tom smiled and hugged her back. He said, “I’ll try.”
After the two shared a moment, they separated from one another and turned their attention towards Fluttershy. Tom asked, “How are they Fluttershy?”
“Their injuries aren’t too bad. Just a couple of scratches and bruises, but nothing serious.” Fluttershy said.
“What I wanna know is, what were they doing out there? Why were they out their all alone?” Rainbow Dash asked, bring sad faces to the two birds’ faces. Tom noticed this.
“It’s not surprising. Most Pokémon aren’t born into families like other animals, and have to fend for themselves when they’re born.” Tom said.
“That happens for all of them?” Fluttershy asked.
“No. Some do wind up raised by other Pokémon once they’re hatched before their eggs, but others have to survive in the wild, while also joining other groups of their own species.” Tom explained.
“You poor things.” Fluttershy said, hugging the two birds.
“So, it’s common for these birds to not fly in flocks like other birds.” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Sometimes, yes, but not all the time.” Tom said.
Rufflet suddenly jumped from the couch and walked up to Rainbow Dash. It liked her in the eyes as it stood there. “Ruff Rufflet.”
“Huh? I don’t understand.” Rainbow Dash asked before feeling the Swablu land on her head. “What going on here?”
“They’re saying they want to go with you.” Fluttershy said, smiling at the three.
“What? Why?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Blu Blu Blu.” Swablu said.
“Rufflet Ruff.” Rufflet said.
“They’re saying that they appreciate the way you saved them from Skarmory. They want to stay with you.” Tom translated.
“But, I don’t know anything about them.” Rainbow said.
“Oh, I can help with that.” Tom said, reaching into his bag on the floor and grabbing his Arceus phone. He pointed his phone at Rufflet.
Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokémon. A Normal and Flying type. They will challenge anything, even strong opponents, without fear. Their frequent fights help them become stronger.
He then pointed it away from Rufflet and towards Swablu.
Swablu, the Cotton Bird Pokémon. A Normal and Flying type. Swablu has light and fluffy wings that are like cottony clouds. This Pokémon is not frightened of people. It lands on the heads of people and sits there like a cotton-fluff hat.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were surprised after seeing something like that. Rainbow asked, “What is that?”
“This is my Arceus phone. It has all kinds of information on the different species of Pokémon.” Tom said.
“Wow. Twilight would love to take a look at that.” Rainbow Dash said.
Tom chuckled at the thought of Twilight learning he had this. He said, “Yes, she would.”
“Well, it the two of you really wanna come with me, then how could I say no.” Rainbow Dash said, bring a smile to the Pokémons’ faces as the three embraced.
They all smiled at this display of affection. It was the beginning the first of step between Pokemon and Pokémon trainer.