When we last saw our heroine, she was screaming her head off. Hopefully, by now she'll have recovered and gotten on to some delightful- ah, nope, she's still screaming. And running, too. Look at that.
As the above narration implied, Twilight was doing both of those things. It was understandable. Waking up as a pink cat in another dimension would be enough to send anyone into hysterics. Aside from Discord. That guy's nutty as a fruitcake.
Where were we?
"AAAUUUUGH!"
Oh. Right.
Twilight scrambled furiously, trying to get away from...well, herself, I guess. Panicking ponies aren't that smart. The former alicorn, now Espeon, tripped over her own feet in her haste, and rolled down a small hill in the forest, smacking into trees as she went.
Her screams of horror were replaced with yelps of pain. If you need an example of what it felt like, run headfirst into several trees. You can't really print the feeling aside from OW OW OW.
"OW! OW! OW!" Twilight yelled, covering her oddly sensitive head with her paws, noting the existence of furry ears.
Huh.
Proceeding with Twilight's typical bad luck, she stopped rolling down the hill...
By falling off a small cliff overlooking a beach. Jeez.
Meanwhile...
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A blue Pokémon paced back and forth in front of a tall, somewhat menacing tent with a massive smiling image of a pink, somewhat rabbit-like creature painted on it's fabric walls. No, scratch that, it wasn't painted on, the entire top half of the tent was shaped like the rabbit creature, known as a Wigglytuff.
The blue pokemon could best be described as blue and fishy. Not fishy as in, 'heheheh, I'll steal your wallet' fishy, but actually like a fish. It had two fins, one large blue one on top of it's head and a slightly less large light blue one as a tail fin. It was dark blue on top, and light blue on bottom. Four legs kept it supported firmly on the ground, and two orange spiky gill things on it's cheeks. Two small, black, beady eyes that looked less creepy and more adorable shone with worry as their owner, known as a Mudkip, debated over an agonizing internal decision.
After a moment, his eyes hardened.
"No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer. I have to steel my courage today, or I'll never do it again."
And with those words, he stepped out onto a grate.
"POKEMON DETECTED! POKEMON DETECTED! WHOSE FOOTPRINT? WHOSE FOOTPRINT?" Something bellowed from below.
A different, if still loud voice answered.
"The footprint is Mudkip's! The footprint is Mudkip's!"
The Mudkip cried out with shock and stumbled backward, off the grate. After a moment, he sighed dejectedly.
"I can't...I can't even work up the courage to go in, after all..." He mumbled sadly.
He took out a large rocklike object from...somewhere. Where did he keep that?
"I thought that by bringing along my personal treasure would inspire me...I guess not." He laughed bitterly. He then picked it up. Nope, didn't see where he put it. Sorry.
"Ugh, i'm such a coward...this is so discouraging..." He mumbled to himself, trudging off.
After a couple of minutes, another group of fishy Pokémon emerged, but these mons weren't aquatic. They were the 'Steal your wallet, heheheh' kind of mons. The first one, a purple floating ball thing that spewed foul gas constantly, addressed his companion, a purple eyeless bat with no feet that have the most irritating habit ever of showing up out of the fucking blue when you go exploring a cave. Seriously, you're all like 'Oh hey, the end of the cave! Let's go save and rest up and stuff' but NOPE! ZUBAT TIME.
...Okay, I'm good.
So the purple toxic floaty ball, known as a Koffing, and the STUPIDEST MOST IRRITATING BAT EVER emerged from cover.
"Woah-ho-ho. That little runt had somethin' good on him, didn't he?" The Koffing said, with a laugh that did a good job of making me hate him more than the Zubat.
"Heh-heh-heh. Yep, he did, didn' he?" The Zubat commented, doing a successful job of making me hate him even more now. No love and tolerance for this bat.
"Worth a ton, I bet. Wanna go take it from him?"
"Yep."
"Woah-ho-ho!" The Koffing laughed not so evilly as pathetically.
"Heh-heh-heh." The living personification of annoyance and frustration laughed. They both promptly flew off to confront the poor mudkip, further cementing their status in the story as being jerks.
Oh, but just you wait, Mr. Zubat. Just you wait. Making the author angry at you is not something you do lightly. You'll pay. Eventually...
Er, anyway, back to our falling Espeon friend.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Oddly enough, as Twilight plummeted thirty feet to the sandy ground, she did not scream. Perhaps she had just decided that she had screamed enough for one day. Or perhaps she had a leaf in her throat. In any case, her lack of screamery allowed her to think rationally for the two seconds she would have until imminent pain.
"This will hurt." Came the first thought, in the first second.
"I should teleport." Was the second thought, in the second...second? Bah.
As you may recall, it was two seconds, not three. So after she decided that she should, in fact, teleport, she had smacked into the ground. She rolled limply down the gentle slope and into the shoreline, stopped from rolling into the ocean to float by a simple rock. No, she wasn't dead. She took a piano to the head: A thirty foot fall hurt to her about as much as being whacked with a cricket club.
Note to readers: Do not get whacked with a cricket club. It hurts.
As Twilight drooled unconsciously and deliriously, the same Mudkip from before came dragging himself along the beach. A small smile graced his face as the crablike creatures on the rocks above, known creatively as Krabby, blew bubbles into the air. They did it as much as for everyone else's joy, to see the sun's light reflect off the bubbles and the waves, as for themselves. An artist can enjoy his art, after all.
"I like going here at sunset. The sun always makes the bubbles so pretty." He commented. "It always cheers me up when I'm in a mood."
He sat there for a good two minutes before noticing something nearby. That something being a crumpled pink shape. Curiosity overcame him, as it is apt to do for all living beings, and he walked over to it.
Then it moved slightly.
"Oh my! There's someone over there!" The Mudkip helpfully stated the obvious in his own surprise. Running now, he stopped beneath the crumpled body and examined it.
It was an Espeon, which surprised him. You don't see many psychic pokémon around these parts, let alone an Eeveelution.
Two large ,catlike ears extended from the top of it's head, where ears are supposed to be. They were actually longer than it's head. Covered in pretty pink fur from head to paws, two of her four legs lay crossed under her, and she was covered in scratches and a bit of tree leaves. Her long, split tail twitched unconsciously. She was an exceptionally beautiful Espeon, he noticed.
What was of particular note to the observant Mudkip was that the gem embedded in her forehead. Rather than being the typical red circular shape, it was a deep lavender and, oddly enough, in an odd star shape.
'How did she get here?' Mudkip thought, mulling over the strange psychic pink cat.
After a moment, he decided to ask her, and that his time could be better served by making sure the mystery Espeon was okay.
"Hey, are you alright?" The Mud Fish Pokémon asked, shaking Twilight gently. "You okay? Speak to me. C'mon." He tried.
Seemingly in response to his question, the Espeon groaned and clutched at her head. "Aagh. My head. Spike, go away. My head hurts too much to wake up now."
"Spike?" The Mudkip asked to himself, musing over the strange name. "No, I'm not Spike. Are you okay? Do you need some ice?"
The Espeon stood on shaky legs, shook her head and opened her eyes.
And then the Mudkip was awed.
Eyes are wonderful things, you see. They are windows to the soul. You can't lie with eyes. They always speak the truth. Always tell stories. Stories about the people you meet and see and the places you go.
And her eyes were amazing.
Quickly recovering his composure, he asked: Are you okay? I found you lying on the beach next to a rock!" He said.
The Espeon didn't respond. It was just frozen there, staring at him with shock.
Inside Twilight's mind, she was racing. Several emotions coursed through her, but none got through her outer shell of shock. There was disgust, fear, curiosity, and a tad of the urge to squee at the creature. But most overwhelming of all was panic.
This was it. This was first contact. Literally anything could go wrong. The slightest move could say either: 'Please cut my head off and declare war on Equestria, or 'Please make me marry a cat.'
The odd creature in front of her frowned a bit. "Are you okay? Why are you just staring at me?"
"AGH I'M SORRY PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME MARRY A CAT I DON'T WANT TO!" Twilight yelled, jumping up and taking a few steps back.
The Mudkip raised an eyebrow, tried to comprehend what she had just said, and then decided to ignore it and pass it off as post-unconsciousness delirium. "You're okay. You're just on the beach. I found you unconscious and tried to wake you up."
Meanwhile Twilight began both to calm down, seeing as how cats were NOT being rolled down the isle, and mull over her memories of the last few hours.
So she was in another dimension that was collapsing somehow. That was new. Not the other dimension part, she already did that, with the whole mirrors and humans shtick. The collapsing part. That was new.
"Can you hear me?"
Oh. That was right. Extra-dimensional lifeform.
"Oh. Sorry, yes. I...I can hear you." Twilight said timidly. Couldn't risk offending...whatever this creature was.
"Oh! Good! I was worried you had hit your head a bit too hard." The Mudkip said cheerfully.
From what she could see, typical speech customs were similar to ponies and humans. It would be best to not speak much, lest she risk offending the blue fishy creature.
"No, I just fell a little bit. Believe me, I've had a lot worse." Twilight chuckled.
"Really? Wow." Said blue fishy creature said, smiling.
"So...Who are you?" Twilight asked, having difficulty reigning in her curiosity.
"Hi! I'm Skipper, the Mudkip!"
So his- well, it seemed male, anyway- name was Skipper the Mudkip, then.
"Nice to meet you, Skipper the Mudkip." She said, extending a paw before she could think better of it.
Before she could realize her mistake of accidentally offending the creature, Skipper the Mudkip took her paw and shook it. Somehow. Despite having rather stubby limbs.
He frowned a little bit. "No, no. My name isn't Skipper the Mudkip, it's just Skipper. My species name is Mudkip."
Twilight blushed, realizing her faux pas. "Oh! Sorry. I didn't know that, er, I mean I'm not quite from, uh-" Twilight stammered nervously. This wasn't like her at all. Why was she so tense and shy?
The Skipper smiled a friendly smile. His smile, she noted, stretched from both of his...orange spiky things on the side of his face. Gills, maybe? "It's fine! Mudkip aren't exactly common around here. We're kind of a rare species. Espeon, though...no one's seen an Espeon in quite some time. You guys, er, girls, are really rare nowadays."
That simple sentence was a treasure trove of information. There were more than one species on this world. In fact, the way Skipper said it, it seemed like there were many of them. Also, they were both rare species.
You might think it was odd of Twilight to adapt to being a pink cat so quickly. The answer is, she hadn't. But her scholarly side had taken over, which meant that anything but assimilating knowledge at a rate that would stun the Borg would be thrown out the window.
Skipper raised a stubby paw, and pointed to Twilight's head. "What's that? I've never seen an Espeon with a gem quite like that."
Twilight put a paw to her forehead, feeling around for what he was looking at. She quickly noted the source of the question: A gem shaped like her cutie mark, embedded in her forehead. You would think that would hurt, but it was a grown in part of the Espeon species, just like a unicorn horn.
Twilight's eyes widened. "Oh my Celestia, there's a gem in my head!" She said.
Skipper blinked. "You mean that's not normal?"
"No! No it isn't! First I'm a pink cat and now there's a stone in my head?" Twilight panicked.
"Woah, woah woah. So you weren't an Espeon either?"
Twilight froze, just realizing what she had said. "Er, no, I mean, uh..." She stammered, trying to come up with an excuse "Uh, no, my...My fur was just a different color! Yes, that's a good one." She said, apparently unaware of the fact that she had said the last part out loud.
"Oh. Okay, I guess." Skipper said, a bit confused. He decided to move on. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Twilight Sparkle." She said, grateful for a change of subject.
"Really? That's an odd name." Skipper said, even more confused.
"It's my name, what can I say?" Twilight said, chuckling nervously.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Twilight!" The mud fish said, with great cheer.
Twilight smiled. "Nice to meet you too, Skipper!" She replied.
But before any actual questions could be asked besides "Who are you", There was a sudden purple blur.
That sudden purple blur smashed into Skipper, throwing him backward and hitting Twilight in the head. The two hopelessly entangled Pokemon rolled backward, both of them struggling to get away. Twilight finally succeeded, managing to focus her magic enough to teleport away from Skipper...
Just in time to see the not-that-dastardly duo of Zubat and Koffing, holding a rather large rocklike object.
"Woah-ho-ho! Thanks for the loot, sucker!" Koffing laughed.
"Wha-Hey! You give that back, you jerk!" The angered Mud Fish pokémon cried.
"Heh-heh-heh. Too cowardly to make a move to stop us, eh?" The ridiculously irritating purple bat chortled. Skipper flinched at the hurtful truth.
"Hey! Give him back his...rock!" Twilight cried angrily, unconsciously arching her back slightly.
"Woah-ho-ho. Sure thing...You just got to catch us, first." Koffing cackled, and with that the two idiotic poison types flew right on into a cave.
Twilight growled. "Why those dirty, rotten..." She snarled. "Why, I have half a mind to-" She was interrupted by crying.
Well, not so much crying as sniffling. "T-they're right..." Skipper mumbled sadly, trying in vain to stop himself from tearing up. "They t-took my personal treasure, a-and I didn't even do a thing..."
Twilight's eyes softened in sympathy. She walked over to the Mudkip, noting the absurdity of the situation, and put a comforting paw on his back. "It's okay. We can get it back." She said reassuringly.
"W-we can?" Skipper asked disbelievingly.
"Sure we can!" Twilight cried enthusiastically. "We just need to find the authorities, and then-"
Skipper's hope fell flat. "Officer Magnezone's all the way in Oran Forest, and Deputy Sparks is...well, an idiot." Skipper said, his face sagging.
Twilight frowned. "Oh. Well, we could also go in after them, I guess." Twilight said. It wasn't that great of an idea: There were no plans on what to do when she got there besides demand they give back his...rock.
"G-go after them? Are you insane?" Skipper asked incredulously. "That's a Mystery Dungeon over there!"
Twilight blinked. She didn't know why, but a chill ran down her spine. "Mystery Dungeon? What's a Mystery Dungeon? Why is it so mysterious?"
"A Mystery Dungeon isn't an actual dungeon. It's...well, no one's sure." Skipper said, taking nervous glances at the cave, as if it was going to eat them. "They're weird places. They change every time you go in them. Things pop up randomly from the blue, walls change around when you don't look at them, and insane Pokémon are everywhere!" He cried.
Twilight's eyes had widened in horror by the time he finished. "Insane? What do you mean, insane pon-er Pokémon?"
"I mean, there are Pokémon in those places, that aren't, well, Pokémon anymore. They've gone mad and start attacking anyone who goes down there randomly! No one even knows where they come from, they just...are!"
Twilight gulped. "Oh. Well, that doesn't sound safe at all..." She said, pawing her, well, paw nervously on the ground. After a moment, her eyes hardened, and the spark of determination glistened in them. "But that doesn't matter. They stole something from you, and we'll get it back!"
Skipper looked at Twilight with respect...and just a little bit of awe, that he was talking to something much more powerful that he was.
"You...you really mean it? You'd help me get my treasure back from those thieves?" He asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah! It's just the nice thing to do!" Twilight said confidently.
Suddenly, he hugged her. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou!"
Recovering from her shock, she smiled. "You're welcome. I'll be back in a moment." She said, turning away.
Skipper's face contorted first in confusion, and then realization. "Oh no. You're not going in there alone!"
She turned back, surprise written all over her face. "You want to come too? Isn't it too dangerous?"
"Yes. It is." Skipper admitted. "And I'm scared out of my mind. But the Distortion World will freeze over the day I let someone who's trying to help me get themselves killed." He declared.
A sense of respect blossomed in Twilight. She smiled. "Alright! Let's go, Skipper! We need to teach a couple someponies some manners!"
Ignoring or unaware of the odd word used, Skipper followed Twilight into the cave. The darkness quickly swallowed them.
All was silent.
Until something shifted in the forest, it's rest disturbed.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Beach cave
B1
Twilight and Skipper suddenly found themselves standing in a room about the size of Twilight's bedroom. Blue stone walls with an odd spiky texture enclosed an empty room with no discernible light source. An odd square-shaped tile sat in front of them, in the corner of the room. It had an emblem of a green arrow on it.
There was no sign of the entrance of which they came through.
"Wha-where are we?" Skipper asked in terror, stumbling back a bit. "What in Arceus's name is this place?!"
"Apparently, this is a Mystery Dungeon." Twilight observed dryly. She walked to the odd plate, and tapped a paw on it. Almost instantly, a wave of green energy emerged, covered the stunned Twilight, and vanished after a brief moment with a *click*.
Twilight stared at the plate.
Skipper stared at the plate.
"Well, that was odd and totally pointless." Skipper said flatly.
"No, there has to be a point to it. Do I need to do something, or poke it a certain way, or..."
"It's useless."
"Nothing is useless, Skipper."
"Twilight, it's useless."
"IT IS NOT USELESS SKIPPER!" Twilight yelled, irritated. Skipper withdrew, startled. Twilight sighed. "Sorry, I lost my temper for a moment there."
"Let's just move on, alright?" Skipper asked, shuffling nervously. "Let's go."
"Okay." Twilight said, still a bit upset over the incident.
They quickly formed a plan: Twilight would take the lead, and Skipper would watch for any threats. They quickly ran down a narrow hall wide enough for the two of them to stand in single file.
"What are we looking for exactly?" Twilight asked as she ran down.
"Stairs. There are stairs leading down to lower floors. We need to find them, and not encounter any insane pokémon along the way." Skipper said.
Twilight shuddered. "Yeah, that would be bad."
They turned a corner, ran a bit, turned another one, ran a bit, and turned another corner...
Right into another room. The good news was that the stairs were there.
The bad news was that there was a sleeping THING next to it.
It looked like a pink and white rock with eyes, and spiky coral sticks on top and four stubby white legs on bottom.
"A Corsola." Skipper whispered. "They're Rock/Water types, and not that tough. If worst comes to worst, we can knock it out long enough to make it past.
"Okay." Twilight said, not really paying much attention as she puzzled over the odd creature. This was certainly a strange day.
The two of them gently crept to the stairs. There were a couple close calls where Twilight would almost cough, but the crisis was averted by a well placed fin-to-the-mouth.
Sadly, it was all worthless as less than two steps away from the stairs, the Corsola woke up.
You would expect an insane pokémon to start wailing and yelling and start shouting pasta recipes at the top of his or her lungs. Instead, there was no announcement, no fanfare, nothing. The look it the Pokémon's eyes was dangerously empty, as if it was just a fake. A mannequin.
Fluttershy, Twilight noted as she froze in horror, would have fainted.
Without a word, the Corsola rushed the hapless Twilight. There was no room for Skipper to do anything. This would hurt...
Well, it would have if the Corsola didn't harmlessly bounce off Twilight like it had just tried to tackle a wall. The Espeon stared incredulously.
The Corsola tried several times more, but did about as much damage as a fly could to a sherman tank.
Finally recovering from his shock, Skipper used Mud Slap.
It sounds like a stupid move, but it hurts like hell, as the Corsola could attest if it wasn't utterly mad.
Hard-packed mud flew in the Corsola's face, slamming it backward and knocking it out.
Twilight looked between the two creatures. Skipper looked just as bewildered.
"What just happened?" Twilight asked.
"Apparently," Skipper said, "You're a higher level than it was."
"Level?" Twilight asked. "What do you mean level?"
The mudkip looked at her strangely. "Pokemon have levels. They're like measurements of how powerful we are. That Corsola was probably level two, and it did nothing to you."
"So what level am I?" Twilight asked.
"Look up." Skipper suggested. Twilight raised an eyebrow, and looked up.
And promptly had to stop her mouth from falling open. Above her head, a series of numbers and letters drifted about.
FLOOR B1, LV 20
"What the...what is that? How is it just floating there?" Twilight said, apparently forgetting the fact that magic let her do similar things.
"Mystery Dungeons are weird." Skipper kind-of-explained.
Twilight stammered incoherently for a moment. Then, deciding she didn't want another piano dropped on her head via trying to understand this casual violation of physics, she gave up and made a note to check it later.
"So what level are you?" Skipper asked.
"Can't you see?" Twilight asked in confusion. It is awfully hard to miss a giant mass of letters floating in the sky.
"Nope. It's invisible to anyone but the person who owns it." Skipper said.
"It says Lv. 20. Is that good?" Twilight asked. Skippers eyes widened.
"Good?" He asked incredulously. "You're asking if level twenty is good?"
Twilight winced. She shouldn't have asked.
"It's great!"
Oh. Never mind then.
"I'm only a level five! You must be really strong!"
"Oh! Well, no, not really." She said humbly, blushing.
Before anyone could speak next, the unconscious Corsola glew a bright white...and vanished. Just gone. Poof. Bye, Corsola.
Twilight stared dumbfounded for the millionth time. "What the-Okay, no. I'm not even asking anymore. We're getting your thing back, and I am never setting foot in this place again."
"Agreed." Said Skipper.
They walked down the stairs.
_______________________________________________________________________
Beach cave
B2
The two looked around. They were in a totally different room to the one above: To the point where it should have been impossible for them to end up there. In fact, the stairs had disappeared. There was just wall above them.
"What the-" Skipper started.
"No." Twilight interrupted.
"But-"
"No."
"But the stairs-"
"Not talking about it. We're walking. Okay? We're walking. Nothing physics breaking about walking." Twilight said, a few hairs standing on end in her coat and a faint unhinged tone started seeping into her voice.
"Okay..." Skipper said.
As expected, the area below made no geological sense and had random, winding passageways and large rooms.
Only one of the rooms was interesting.
"What's this?" Twilight said, holding up a small blue fruit.
"That's an Oran berry. They're very good for you. Just eat one, and you'll be good as new, no matter how much of a beating you've taken." Skipper said in a monotone, stretched voice.
"Huh?" Twilight asked, confused at how odd Skipper sounded.
"That's what it said here, on this paper." Skipper said, holding out a small sheet of paper.
Twilight read it.
'That's an Oran berry. Don't confuse it with an Oren berry. They're very good for you. Just eat one, and you'll be good as new, no matter how much of a beating you've taken.' The paper said.
"Why is there a berry in a cave?" Twilight asked. "How could the berry get here? Who would even write this for the berry?! WHY IS THERE A RANDOM LABYRINTH IN A BEACH CAVE WITH NUMBERS FLOATING OVER MY HEAD-" Twilight screamed. She sighed. "Okay. I quit. This is even worse than the Pinkie Sense." Twilight said, exasperated.
"Ready to go?" Skipper asked, once Twilight had finished frothing at the mouth. He had already pocketed the berry.
"Yeah. Let's just get out of here before I go insane." Twilight mumbled, walking away.
They quickly located the stairs and went down them.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Beach Cave
B3
Once again, the nonsensical room layout.
"How many floors do you think there are?" Twilight asked?
"Four or five, probably. This isn't that bad of a Dungeon." Skipper said. "Treasure Town hasn't been bothered by it yet, so it shouldn't be too tough."
"Treasure Town?" Twilight said as they walked down the corridor.
"It's where everyone I know lives. It's a pretty small town, but it's pretty diverse. We've got a shop, a bank, a training dojo, a guild..." He said, listing off the town.
"Is there anywhere else?" Twilight asked.
"Well, there's Pokemon Square, but that's really far away. Treasure Town is kind of on it's own." Skipper said. His face fell. "It wasn't always like that."
Twilight waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. Judging by the pain in his eyes, it should be left alone for now.
The two of them walked quickly into another room, where Twilight was quickly blindsided a purple clam shell with eyes.
Pokémon are weird.
"Ah!" Twilight yelled, startled. As you would expect, it hardly did anything. It stung a little bit, maybe. But it was still startling.
The Espeon stumbled backward. The Shellder scooted itself forward. Menacingly.
Skipper tackled it, and it went flying into a wall.
Which proceeded to warp, and spit out eight more Pokémon.
"Oh no, that isn't good." Skipper moaned.
"Urgh! How is there a wall full of identical shells? That isn't scientifically possible!" Twilight yelled.
"It's a Mystery Dungeon! It doesn't have to make sense!" Skipper cried, backing away from the approaching Shellder.
"It has to make sense somehow! There have to be rules! Even Discord had them!" Twilight said, backing away.
"Who? Never mind, this isn't the time! Do something!" Skipper panicked.
"Do what?! I don't know what to do!"
"Use a move! Kick them, yell at them, SOMETHING!"
You may be thinking: Why isn't she utterly destroying them? She's far from helpless.
But now she's not a unicorn. She has no magic. Twilight had already tried to incapacitate them, but without magic, she was pretty much helpless.
Well, that's what she thought, anyhow.
One of the approaching Shellder threw themselves at Twilight.
Her eyes widened. And then something, something that had been restraining her, broke.
In the space of a nanosecond, her mind was assaulted with information. Information, and power.
"Get AWAY!" Twilight screamed. Her gem flashed light purple. Her eyes glowed bright white.
The air rippled in front of her, and a wall of pure force flung all the approaching Shellder back. And then into the ceiling. And back down. Up. Down. Up. Down.
Within minutes, there were several Shellder shaped imprints on the walls, floors and ceiling. The poor Pokémon were beaten black and blue.
Eventually, the glow cut out, and the unconscious clams fell to the floor, beaten brainless. They vanished a moment later.
Skipper stared in shock. "Woah. Uh, remind me not to get on your bad side."
Twilight was frozen in horror at what she had done. "I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to-"
Skipper smiled and put a reassuring fin on her back, in an echo of what she had done to him earlier. "It's okay. All you did was try and help. It's nothing to be upset over."
Twilight blinked a few times. "I...okay. Okay, I'm good. Let's just get out of here."
They quickly ran out of the room. The rooms, along with the dungeon, were quickly becoming more complex.
A few turns, twists and dead ends later, they managed to get to the stairs.
____________________________________________________________________
Beach Cave
B5
Twilight and Skipper stared. Right in front of them, was the stairs. And that was it. A room big enough for four ponies to stand in if they squeezed together, and stairs.
"Is...Is that it?" Skipper asked, bewildered.
"I think so." Twilight said, looking around. "I can't see any ways out of here, so I guess we have to go down."
The two of them walked down the stairs.
_____________________________________________________________________
Beach Cave
Beach Cave Pit
The room was unlike the floors above. It was practically an underwater lake, with a large sandbar extending out from where they stood. Two large stone cliffs stood side by side next to the sandbar. A break in the cliffs revealed water flowing out to sea. There was, oddly enough, no ceiling, nor sign of stairs. It was empty sky. In front of them, the sandbar was open, revealing an exit out of the 'cave' leading to more water.
And directly in front of them, the two idiotic poison types floated.
"Uh...Hey!" Skipper yelled.
"Woah-ho-ho! So you two wimps did come after us!" Koffing cackled.
"That takes more guts than we thought you had, chicken."
Skipper flinched, hurt. He quickly recovered. "Give me...Give me back what you took! It's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"
"Heh-Heh-heh! Treasure, you say?"
"Woah-ho-ho! It's worth more than we hoped for. We ought to try selling it, it would probably get a good price! All the more reason not to give it back."
"You wouldn't!" Skipper cried, aghast.
Twilight's eyes narrowed in determination. "They won't. Give it back, or we'll take it back." She said. Inwardly, she was shocked at this change in herself. She would never act like this!
"Woah-ho-ho! You want it so bad? Come and take it!"
The two poison types rushed Twilight and Skipper before she grabbed them both with her new abilities and smacked them into a cliff, then the ground. They both collapsed. To make sure they stayed down, Skipper threw some mud at them.
"Uurgh...Y-your victory was a fluke! You hear me? A fluke!" Koffing cried, winded as he tried floating back up.
"Next time, it won't be that easy!" Zubat coughed as he flapped his wings, frantically trying to fly.
"Here, take it!" Koffing cried, pulling the rock from somewhere and dropping it on the ground. They both then proceeded to skedaddle. Ooh, I love that word.
Twilight knocked some sand off her coat. "That was surprisingly easy." She chuckled.
Skipper smiled. "Those two jerks didn't stand a chance. Oh! My Relic Fragment!
Skipper rushed forward and picked it up. "Am I ever glad...I actually managed to get it back!"
He turned to Twilight, grateful tears in his eyes. "It's all thanks to you, Twilight. If it wasn't for you, I never would have gotten it back!"
"Thank you, Twilight!"
Twilight smiled. "It's the right thing to do. Friends help other friends in need."
Skipper blinked, confused. "Friends?" Then he smiled. "Yeah...yeah! We're friends!"
And then the Dungeon exploded.
____________________________________________________________________
Twilight groaned. This was getting way too common.
As she staggered to her feet and blinked rapidly, she noticed Skipper was sitting by the waves, looking out into the setting sun. Twilight walked over to him, and sat down. Skipper turned to her.
"Oh, hi Twilight. You were passed out for a while, so I thought it would be best to let you rest." Skipper said.
"What happened?" Twilight asked.
"The dungeon exploded. Twice." Skipper said flatly.
"I-what?!" Twilight asked incredulously.
"It blew up, then blew up again. It knocked us out then dumped us out here." Skipper explained. "Mystery Dungeon's make no sense."
Twilight smiled in spite of her confusion. "You're telling me? I'm the one who went a bit crazy in there." The two of them chuckled, and sat there for a while, watching the waves.
"So..." Twilight said, breaking the silence. "What was that thing we got back, anyway?"
"That," Said Skipper, smiling, "Was my relic fragment."
"Relic Fragment? What is that?" Twilight asked, curious.
"It just looks like a normal stone, but if you look closer, there's an odd pattern on it." He said, setting down the stone.
Twilight leaned in to get a better examination, ears twitching in curiosity. "You're right!" She exclaimed, noting the swirly pattern on the top. "There is a pattern there! Where'd you find this? What is it?" Twilight asked.
The pattern in question was quite particular. An eight-pointed swirly sun, crossed over with a gear with six ends, an arrow line on each end, extending from the center.
"I found this here, on the beach one day. It just was sitting there, and it kind of...called to me. I've kept it ever since." Skipper explained. "I looked everywhere for where the pattern came from, but I found nothing."
"That's really interesting! I wonder where it came from..." Twilight, well, wondered.
Instead of responding, Skipper frowned. "Twilight, there's something I've been meaning to ask you..."
"What is it?" Twilight asked, worried by the change of mood.
"When we were down there...before that. When I found you on the beach, you didn't know the first thing about being a Pokemon. Like...like you weren't one. You didn't even know what Oran berries are. Or how to fight!"
Twilight was suddenly feeling very nervous. Her ears lay flat back upon her head, and her hair bristled.
"Wh-what's your point?" She asked, knowing very well what is point was.
"Twilight...what are you?" Skipper asked gently.
From Skipper's point of view, Twilight was regarding him with an unreadable expression. Panic was boiling up in him. Had he made a mistake? What if Twilight wasn't some sort of...not Pokémon? What if she was angry at him for thinking that?
Or worse, what if she was?
After a few more tense seconds, Twilight sighed. "I should have told you before."
Skipper tensed, and his eyes widened.
"Skipper, I'm not a Pokémon. Or at least, I wasn't before now."
Skipper's mouth opened in shock.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, Student of Princess Celestia and Princess of Equestria. And I have no bucking idea how I got here, what this place is, or what I am." Twilight said flatly. "Nice to meet you."
_________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, in Canterlot
"What...what was that?" Silver briefcase questioned, horrified and just now recovering from the blast.
"I...I do not know..." Celestia whispered, her royal mask gone to be replaced with shock and confusion. "How did...LUNA!" She cried, whirling around. "LUNA, WHERE ARE YOU?"
"We are right here, sister." Luna said, surprisingly quiet. She was standing by a window in the throne room, staring outside. Which is kind of the purpose of windows.
"Luna! Are you alright? Is everypony okay?" Celestia asked, looking around. It seemed that everyone was only stunned and in various states of shock. When she had assessed that no one was injured, she turned back to her sister. "Luna, what are you looking at?" She asked, confused.
"Ponyville." Luna was down to three syllable sentences.
"Why are you looking at Ponyvill-Twilight! Did the blast reach Twilight?" Celestia cried.
"Sister, we think," Luna said, stepping away from the window so that her sister could see. "That the blast came from Twilight."
Where Ponyville was, there was now a crack.
"Oh my Celestia..." One of the nobles breathed in horror. Celestia would have frowned and sternly reminded her little ponies that she was not, in fact, a goddess despite the fact that she was about as powerful as one were she not utterly stupefied at the sight.
Where Ponyville was, there was now a crack. It was utterly broken in every sense of the word. Space was warped in a way that would make Discord giggle and clap his hands with glee. Things floated when they shouldn't and fell when they should be trees. Hills bent on top of each other like cinnamon rolls. Light spun around in happy circles, never quite reaching it.
Heat spun around Ponyville in a vortex, burning everything. Arcs of fire and lightning arced around from cloud to cloud to ground to cloud. Things lurked in the rips in space, things everypony in the room felt that should never be seen by mortal eyes.
Ponyville stood, seemingly resistant to the changes around it.
The only difference was that it was grey. Grey houses, grey trees. Movement could be seen through the magnified space, and the beings there were grey.
And the grey was spreading.
Time was broken. Celestia could feel it. She was more attuned to the world than anything here, and she could feel time slowing and stopping. Like a virus, she felt it creeping.
The world was screaming, and she could do nothing about it.
Almost nothing.
"Luna." Celestia said, her voice devoid of any emotion. "Get Discord. We're going to Ponyville. I'll meet you there." She said, and she vanished in a flash of yellow.
The Alicorn of the Night turned to one of her guards. "Where hath thou last seen the Draconequus?" She said to the trembling Solar Guard recruit.
"U-upstairs, Princess Luna."
Without fanfare, acknowledgement or even a response, Luna walked out the throne room, out the door and up the stairs.
Doors that had an emblem on them.
An emblem of a yellow, six-pointed sun, overlaid with a bluish-green gear.
____________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile in Ponyville
The same grey pegasus was held down by a crowd of angry ponies, thrashing and spitting at her captors.
"WHAT THE HAY IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" The charred, recently recovered Rainbow Dash yelled, keeping the squirming and biting Pegasus's hooves and wings restrained.
The Pegasus only redoubled her efforts to thrash.
"Now ya'll better listen here." Applejack growled, quieter than Rainbow but no less furious. "Y'all better explain, and have a dern good reason, why ya went and punched Bon-Bon there," She said, pointing to the cream earth pony who was nursing her cheek, "Or ah'll buck those teeth o' yer's right out of yer mouth."
The pegasus growled at Applejack- A deep, animalistic growl that had no business coming from this mare's throat. In spite of herself, Applejack took a few steps back.
"What in the- What in tarnation is wrong with ya'll?!" Applejack cried, mirroring Rainbow Dash.
The Pegasus, known as Salad Fork, was pressed to the ground by a crowd of Earth Ponies, Pegasi and several different glows of unicorn magic surrounded her, keeping her rooted.
"Mommy!"
The crowd reacted with shock, parting for the light grey pegasus to run up to her mother. "Mommy! Mommy, are you okay?" She cried.
"No, she's not! She went and knocked Twilight into...into...into some green, glowy thing!" Rainbow growled. The filly looked at her with shock.
"Rainbow!" Fluttershy reprimanded, actually at normal volume. "That's not a nice thing to say- all she was doing was checking up on her mommy!"
"Yeah, well her mommy's going to pay for that!" Came a cry from within the crowd. Similar statements flew up from the mob soon after.
"Don't hurt my mommy!" The filly cried, standing in front of her protectively.
Normally, this would have made the crowd of ponies feel bad, and blah blah blah friendship report.
Eenope.
Before anyone could do anything, Salad Fork let out an inpony screech and thrashed even harder, trying to bite her own daughter. Lyra and Derpy Hooves ran in front of her, dragging the shocked and crying filly back into the relative safety of the crowd.
"What kind of pony tries to bite their own foal?!" Came an angry cry from the crowd. The yells and jeers reached an untold volume, and it seemed that the crowd would soon beat her to a pulp.
"She isn't a pony." Came another, disturbingly monotone, flat voice from within the crowd. It somehow cut right through their anger, and they stepped aside, a sudden fear filling them.
And out walked Pinkamenia Diane Pie, hair flat as a waterfall.
"She's not a pony, anymore. Look at her. Look at her eyes. That isn't a pony." She stated. The crowd began backing away nervously, suddenly noting the details that they had missed. What they had mistaken for rage, they realized was just...nothing. Not even animal fury. Just a cold emptiness, an urge to destroy.
"What do you mean, not a pony?" Came the timid question from the terrified Fluttershy.
"She's gone. She's just gone. Mad. There's nothing there, anymore. And it'll only get worse from here." Pinkamena stated obviously. "Pinkie Sense."
And just those two words broke every ounce of courage the ponies had. Even Applejack and Rainbow shifted uneasily.
"G-get worse?" Lyra asked, fear in her eyes.
"This will spread." Pinkamena said. "Whatever happened when Twilight cast that spell, when it blew up, caused this."
"TWILIGHT DID THIS?!" Applejack rounded on Pinkamena. "WHAT'DJA MEAN TWAH DID THIS?!"
"That's an absolutely ridiculous accusation!" Said a disheveled Mayor Mare. "Twilight would never do something like this to another pony!"
"Well, that's because she didn't do it intentionally now, did she?" Came a trottingham accent from within the crowd. Once again, the crowd parted. Man, these ponies like reenacting the Red Sea, don't they?
Out walked The Doctor.
"Doctor?" Rainbow questioned. If anyone could give them an answer, it was the Doctor.
"That's what this little gadget says, anyway. Sonic screwdrivers, love 'em." The Doctor chuckled, holding out a long, silvery sticklike object, before accidentally fumbling and dropping it. "Blast! Confounded hooves, never could quite get the hang of them. Seriously, how do you ponies manage with these things? Really resourceful and flexible, you are..."
"Doctor." Rarity said, interrupting. "You're on a tangent again, dear."
"I am? Oh! I am. Well, how about that?" He laughed, with apparent good cheer. The smile then slipped from his muzzle. "Right. Like I was saying, this was going to happen anyway. She just overcharged whatever she was doing. The amount of PKE energy in one area made her magic," The Doctor held a hoof to his muzzle to stifle a chuckle at the word "Go haywire. Whatever Ms. Sparkle was doing, it broke open the skin of the universe."
"Pardon?" Applejack questioned, already lost.
"The universe, the skin of the universe! She went and cracked space, blew a big, honking hole in it, flew out one side to the other!" Everyone let out a gasp of horror. "Time, too! See this? See all the grey? Didn't notice the grey, of course you didn't. It's time, frozen time. Your memories are keeping it locked in a specific color until someone points it out. Defense mechanism, you see. Time's frozen. The rain won't fall, trees won't grow. Sun's stuck in the sky, but we won't fry. Ooh, that rhymed! I should go talk to that Zebra out in the forest, learn more rhymes." The doctor rambled.
Then his face grew serious, the smile vanishing from his muzzle. "But here's the thing: You can't go and blow a hole in the universe without meaning too. And Ms. Twilight would have no reason to do that on purpose, nor would even she have the power to. Which means..." He said, trailing off.
"Which means?" Mr. Cake asked, lost but still curious. "What does it mean?"
"Which means...which means...Ah ha! Which means that someone, somewhere, someTHING had already started it! Already made the cracks, had her finish the job! Someone wanted to blow a hole in the universe, and Twilight was in the perfect position to do so. The only question is, why...no. No, two questions. The first is why, the second is what. What, what, what. What what what what what what what." The doctor repeated. "What what whaaaat happened to you...?" He said, having trotted up to Salad Fork and leaned forward, examining her. "Ditzy, could you pass me my screwdriver?"
"Sure thing, Doctor!" Said the wall-eyed pegasus, picking up the screwdriver with her tail and tossing it to him.
"Woah!" He cried, and caught it in his mouth. The wrong way. "Ghhhk! Hhgg!" He choked, trying to cough out the screwdriver stuck in his mouth. He eventually spat it out, examined it, saw that it had no damage and then pointed it at the mare.
*whirrrrr*
"Ah ha!" He said, taking it back and examining it, smiling. "Sonic screwdriver, love it! Does anything and everything! Well, aside from wood..." He said, his expression falling. "Oh well, still good. Now, let's see what's wrong with yooouuu..." He said, reading it. His expression suddenly went stone cold, and his eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, that isn't good at all."
"Oh for-, give me that! I wanna see!" Rainbow cried, taking the screwdriver from the stunned Earth pony while leaving the restraint of Salad Fork to the unicorns. "What the- What is this? What language is this?" She said, mulling over apparently nothing but was actually information dumped in her head by the screwdriver. "Scratch that, how is it in my head?! What did you stupid stick do?!"
The Doctor scowled, taking it back. "Don't diss the sonic, the sonic is cool! It's in Gallifreyan, and it's psychic! Also, don't steal my screwdriver!"
"And as for what that is...well, it's spreading. That's what it is. Whatever happened to her, whatever sickness is in her head is spreading, and if it doesn't stop it'll cover everything!"
"Will it reach Canterlot?" Rarity gasped, realising that this could quickly become an insanity pandemic.
"Not just Canterlot, you silly, well dressed mare! Everything! Canterlot, Equestria, the planet, the whole UNIVERSE is at risk until Twilight stops it!"
"What do ya'll mean 'Until Twilight stops it? Twilight's gone!" Applejack asked.
"No, not gone. She's gone from this universe, but she's still here. Still alive." Pinkamena stated.
"Yes! Yes, exactly that! There's a hole in the universe, holes lead to places! Usually the end of the hole, but this time another universe! Another universe with the exact same problem, and she has to fix the problem! The entire universe rests in her han-hooves! Hooves! Her hooves. I'd do something, but time's stopped. Tardis'll have a lot of trouble getting through a universe falling apart, let alone with stopped time. Wibbly Wobbly, Timey-Wimey ball. Ooh, but I have to do something..." The Doctor mumbled. Then he froze. "Pinkie, how did you know she was in another universe?"
"Fourth Wall Awareness, silly billy!" Pinkie, not Pinkamena said, her hair quickly re inflating with no warning. "I read ahead in the script!"
I have a script? Wait, I don't remember typing that. Bah, curse my memory.
"...What?" The Doctor asked, baffled. "There's a script? What script?"
"It's just Pinkie bein' Pinkie, Doc." Applejack said.
"But the script..."
"Just ferget 'bout it."
The Doctor sighed, then perked up. "Okay, everybody!"
"Everypony." Everypony in hearing radius corrected.
"Everypony! Everypony? Never really understood the way that works. I mean, what do griffins say? Everygriffin? Everyzebra? It's so much easier to say everyone!"
"Doctor." Cheerilee said, patiently but loudly. "You were saying something."
"Yes, I was! About the everybody/everypony thingy. Thingy, thingy thingy OKAY! You're glaring at me. I'm guessing before that, then? Oh! Right! Okay, everypony, we need to do something! Just watch out for someone who's going to be affected by what's got her," He gestured to the thrashing Salad Fork, "Next! If someone goes insane, restrain them, lock 'em up so they can't hurt themselves until Ms. Sparkle fixes it! No, no, don't panic. This isn't some game of changeling in disguise: There's no worry of someone hiding it until they strike or whatever. Look for the person who's kicking and fighting, that's your guy! Stallion! Mare! Pony, whatever! Mayor Mare, please take it from here!" He said, galloping off to his house.
"What? Oh, yes!" She exclaimed, recovering from The Doctor's...Doctor-y-ness. "Alright, everypony! Let's start repairing things! Pegasi, clear the clouds please! Unicorns, please clear the debris from the streets and try to keep floating houses from hitting the Pegasi! Earth Ponies, please find anyone injured and/or lost and bring them to the hospital! Nurse Redheart, please get the medical team assembled! And can someone please keep the Doctor from blowing himself up?"
There was a large explosion from across the town, and a yell of "Bloody hell, my basement!"
Mayor Mare sighed. "Too late."