//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: My Little Pokemon: Unova is Magic // by Halloweddisease //------------------------------// As the door swung open, all we could see outside was a blazing inferno devouring houses and possessions right before our very eyes. It seemed like, every time I blinked, something new had been lit ablaze. This was no accidental fire. This was a full-blown arson, and it was sobering. We didn’t have such deeds in Equestria. Who would be so callous as to do this? “Nuvema Town will bow to King Bertram!” All at once, we swiveled our heads to discover the source of the voice. The source appeared to be a dragon of some kind, with deep blue scales. Crimson spikes jutted from its body—all across its limbs and down its tail—with a matching crimson color coating the scales of its head. It had no teeth, but it did have a nice substitute. Its maw had overhanging spikes where the scales were overlapping unevenly, and all over, you could see where that pattern was reflected across its body. There were some areas where the scales would pile on top of each other and mound to a point, and others were scales merely stuck out to create jagged edges. Down its belly, olive-shaded diamond scales protected its soft spot, leaving us without a lead on where to attack it to let it know what it was up against. Or so I thought, until I saw the cruel light in its amber eyes. This was not a dragon to be reckoned with. This was a dragon to run from. Which is exactly what I did. Until I heard Rarity’s scream, that is. I turned around in midair, looking behind me and searching through the smoke to find where my friend could be. Before long, just following the sound of her wailing, I found her entrapped by a ring of flame. I zoomed down as fast as I could to rescue her, grabbing her just before her mane would catch fire. Before long, I realized that this was the easy part. Finding where I could put her down was harder than imagined. By now, the fire had spread down from the houses and burned the grass surrounding them. Before long, the whole town would be one giant burning inferno of death. I had to stop it, I just had to. Finally, I caught sight of what I was looking for: a dirt road. Fire wouldn’t burn dirt. I began to set Rarity down gently, before she cringed. I didn’t want to put her down somewhere she didn’t want to be, but really, what choice did we have? “What is it now?” I asked, making no attempt to hide the annoyance in my voice. “Rainbow Dash, darling,” Rarity replied, “is there anywhere less dirty where you could place me? If there’s not, that’s okay, but—“ “There’s not,” I interrupted, and promptly set her down before taking flight once again to see if I could find any of my other friends. It was hard to really see anything past the smoke, save for little peeks of bright orange flame here and there. I flew for what seemed like forever, trying to beat the smoke that was stinging my eyes away with my wings. In some ways, it helped, but at other moments, it felt futile. I tried to fly higher to avoid the smoke altogether, but that didn’t help. The higher I went, the harder it was for me to see what was below. If I were to try and find my friends, I would have to fly lower—possibly into the smoke itself. I had been trying to avoid it, but the longer I stayed airborne without any sight of the rest of the gang, the more worried I became. I couldn’t stand it any longer. I dove in. Diving in the middle of a large cloud of billowing smoke was probably not the best idea I’ve ever had, in hindsight. The smoke now not only stung my eyes but burned my lungs. I struggled not to breathe, but I couldn’t stop the coughing fit that came. I tried my best to fly in these poor conditions, but each cough sent a spasm that wracked my body and made it harder to flap my wings for just a second—long enough to put me dangerously close to the fire. I knew that if I didn’t get some oxygen soon, I wouldn’t make it. But I was determined; I would find my friends—even if I suffocated in the process. Suddenly, something gripped me around my waist. I would have struggled, but I felt too feeble from lack of oxygen; I was helpless to do anything but let whatever this was carry me away. Soon enough, it had pulled me out of the smoke. I gasped, panting, breathing in fresh air for what felt like the first time in my life. For those of you who think air is overrated, try standing in smoke for as long as I did. If you don’t pass out, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Air is some of the greatest stuff on earth. Whatever it was that had caught me pulled me close to its face, allowing me to be able to tell you all first-hand that its breath was like rancid meat, and glared at me. I took in its appearance for a second time. This was the dragon that had been burning down the town, and that made me angry. Looking around, I saw my previous statement was wrong. This wasn’t the dragon that’d been setting things ablaze. This was one of dozens that had taken part in the work. I hadn’t noticed them before because they’d been hiding in the smoke, but how they were able to breathe in that while I couldn’t, I didn’t understand. “You,” I snarled, bearing my teeth to show how serious I was, “what have you done with my friends?” “Silence!” the dragon roared. “I will be the one to ask you questions! No one so puny could stand up to the power of a Druddigon!” “Druddigon, huh?” I scoffed. “What kind of a name is that?” It dawned on me after I said this that my captor was most likely no ordinary dragon, but a Pokemon. Instantly recalling the professor’s warning about not facing Pokemon head-on, I regretted my words and wished I’d held my tongue like a smart pony would have. “The name of my species!” the Druddigon bellowed. “And you, you insolent creature, would not be as rude as to insult my heritage, would you?” It punctuated this question with a snarl, glaring at me with nothing but hatred and sheer anticipation of my answer. I could tell by its expression that, if I answered wrong, I would become lunch. “Oh, haha, nope, not me!” I chimed. “Y-you Druddigon are awesome! Rock on!” This was the first time I could remember being seriously afraid for my life. I wanted to save my friends, but I was no help to them if I was dead. I was pretty sure the answer I’d given was the right one, but a gnawing feeling told me that there was no right answer and I would be devoured anyway. “I thought, so pony,” the beast said with a crooked smile. “Now tell me, what are your kind doing in this world? My master would like to know.” He had mentioned a Bertram earlier, and named him as a king. I knew the real king wasn’t involved in the fighting, so I assumed this “Bertram” fellow to be one of his sons. Telling our mission to one of the instigators of the war could have some serious repercussions, so I was stuck on what to do. If I used my usual defiance, I could ruin everything by ending my life, but if I was honest, I could ruin everything by alerting the princes to our purpose. Maybe if I just— “In the name of King Sullivan, we fight!” Hearing this new voice, I spun my head in the direction of its source, finding for myself another oddity. This one appeared to be a three-headed dragon, the top half covered in jet-black feathers, the bottom half in rich blue scales. Each head was surrounded by a collar of feathers that were black on the outer side, and deep lavender underneath, the feathers around the middle head flaring up as it reached the forehead. Running down the sides of its stomach were parallel purple stripes that came together as one at the feathered tail-tip. From its back, it boasted six thin feathered wings, each one flapping in succession to keep it afloat—which was good, seeing as its legless feet seemed to drape uselessly from its body. Its eyes were pitch-black with fuchsia pupils—one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen in my life—but another thing that caught me off guard was that the side heads appeared more as arms, the heads merely taking the place of hands. And this creature was only one of dozens that flew in. “Hydreigon!” the Druddigon holding me shouted. “Abandon mission and return to the master!” “Yes, sir!” came the chorus of replies. One was later than the rest, and normally, I would have laughed at that, but being carried away into the sky and away from my friends was simply too sobering. Here it was, the mission Celestia had entrusted us with, and I had horribly and utterly failed just a few hours in. I let a small stream of tears streak down my face for a moment. “Be brave, Rainbow,” I told myself. “They’re strong enough to do it on their own…” At this last statement, I thought of my friends without me: Fluttershy with nopony to protect her, Pinkie Pie with nopony to help her prank the innocent citizens of Ponyville, Applejack with nopony outside her family to help her do the hard work around the farm, and— Suddenly, the grip around my waist was released. Suddenly, I was falling. I did as any Pegasus would do and spread my wings, trying to steady myself in the midst of falling. I caught a breeze that carried me a little ways, and that helped reduce the pressure around my wings and let me flap them with ease. I turned my head to see what caused the Druddigon to drop me, and found it locked in midair combat with a Hydreigon, as I’d heard them called. The Hydreigon must’ve attacked it and caused it to set me free. I gave a silent thank-you to Celestia and that Hydreigon that I was free, and continued soaring and looking for my friends. But instead of my friends, all I found was fighting. Hydreigon and Druddigon were tearing each other apart everywhere, and blood was staining the charred grass. The fires all around were dying down, given that there wasn’t much else left to burn and no one was trying to keep them alive anymore. As the smoke cleared, I saw my friends and Sera along the dirt path on which I’d set Rarity. Upon seeing this, I smacked a hoof to my face in frustration. Of course they would be smart enough to go where the fire wouldn’t burn! I had thought of that when I put Rarity down, didn’t I? Why didn’t it occur to me when I’d done that? Ignoring my frustration, I zipped down to see my friends immediately. Pinkie Pie saw me first and started waving, stopping only to nudge the others and point to me. I guessed that they’d been looking for me, and felt a wave of appreciation wash over me. It hadn’t crossed my mind that, while I was looking for them, they would be looking for me. It only seemed natural. “Rainbow Dash!” Rarity’s voice was the first I was able to hear above the noise of the fighting. “We’ve finally found you!” “More like she found us!” Pinkie Pie corrected her. “What happened to you?” Fluttershy asked. I looked down at my fur, which had been dyed a smoky blue from my venture through the ashy black clouds. “I was looking for you guys!” “Really?” Pinkie Pie inquired. “Because we were looking for you!” “Yeah, I kinda gathered that,” I told her. “While this reunion is quite touching,” Sera began, “I’m afraid that if we don’t get out of here soon, we’ll be destroyed along with the rest of the town.” “Right,” Twilight agreed. “Let’s move on!” And with Twilight’s command, we fled Nuvema Town as fast as possible, heading through the slightly wooded Route 1 to reach our next destination.