"Applebloom, don't be so scared, it's just a forest. We've been here plenty of times," Scootaloo teased.
"It's not that, it's because Applejack said that if Ah' were to enter this forest again, she said Ah' couldn't hang out with you gals for a month," Applebloom admitted.
"Gee your sister is so stubborn. Rarity needs to talk some sense into her, plus, maybe they can even make up for that bet Applejack lost to, you know, when she had to let Rarity practice her mane styling techniques on her," Sweetie bell suggested.
They wanted to visit Zecora again because they wanted to see what they could get their hooves on a potion that makes you smarter, just so they won't have to study for their math test. It was Scootaloo's idea to attempt to get one, but Sweetie bell had protested against the idea. Applebloom just did whatever her friends wanted to do that day, though she was reluctant on getting a potion for themselves.
"Are guys sure we wanna do this? Remember the Cockatrice incident?" Applebloom implied. "The one where Twi turned to stone?"
"Yeah! Remember how awesome Fluttershy was by putting that thing in its place. Heck, even calling Fluttershy awesome is probably going a bit too far, but who cares!" Scootaloo enthusiastically chanted.
"Can we just get this over with? Rarity is going to turn me into one of her dress up dolls if I don't get back before she wakes up," Sweetie bell complained.
As they entered the forest, they started to hear owls hooting and reptiles hissing. They were ready to run in case they were to get chased down by a potential timerberwolf, manticore, or any other monster the forest wanted to throw at them. However, it didn't happen immediately as a cold wind blew passed them, sending shivers down their spines.
"Are you guys sure we should be here?" Sweetie bell groaned.
"Of course, unless you want to be a good filly and study stupid mathematics," Scootaloo chuckled.
"Ah' really want to do good on this test, but Ah' don't wanta study. So Ah guess Ah'm with Scootaloo," Applebloom supported.
"Ugh, fine, the only reason I'm going with you is so you don't get yourselves killed," Sweetie vowed.
She only got a raspberry from Scootaloo in response. "We can protect our selves, thank you."
"Ah' would take Sweetie with us," Applebloom protested.
A sigh escaped from Scootaloo's lips. "Fine, just don't be like my parents. They worry about me every second. Unlike you guys, I'm not scared of anything." She got a few chuckles from her friends, but ignored it and proceeded to Zecora's hut.
It was still pretty quiet in the area; with the exception of a few hoots. As they walked closer to their destination, they looked at the tree near them to see it scorched.
"Um, girls? What do you think here?" Sweetie questioned, inspecting the mark.
"Who cares? It's just a burn mark, it's not like it's going to hurt you," Scootaloo replied.
Sweetie bell put her hoof against the burn mark, feeling it was still warm. She could see the ashes of the tree currently on the ground, along with other pieces of burnt leaves and timber. There were many burnt logs in the area, she knew what had happened.
"Something, or someone, must'ave burnt these timberwolves," Sweetie bell concluded.
"What? Ah've heard that it would take great amounts of fire to take down a timberwolf, do ya think it was a dragon?" Applebloom asked.
"If there was a dragon here, then there would be giant footsteps, or it would've burnt a larger area," Sweetie bell explained. The only subject Sweetie bell had ever been interested in was history on mythological creatures, where she learnt about dragons, timberwolves, and many more creatures that live in Equestria.
"Whatever, I'm pretty sure we ca-AHH," Scootaloo screamed, looking at her hoof in the process. She was so scared she jumped to a cloud above, hanging on to it for dear life.
"What's wrong Scootaloo?" Applebloom called.
"Th-th-there's Bl-bl-blood on the ground!" Scootaloo burst out, pointing to where she had stepped. Sweetie bell looked to see she was right, the blood on the ground was fresh. Sweetie was literally shaking now. Scootaloo fell back to the Earth, creating a hole in her wake. Her eyes were dazed as she looked at the blood to see it leading somewhere.
"Should we check it out?" Applebloom uttered nervously.
"What?! What if somepony is dead back there?!" Scootaloo complained.
"Then we'll get help of course," Applebloom dead panned.
"Al-alright then, lets check it out," Scootaloo cautioned, moving carefully towards the bush.
Before they even started moving, they heard something running toward them. They started to wish they didn't wake up for this time.
What ran toward them was a white creature with a dark blue skin and claws. A sickle-like horn petruding from the right side of its head with its claws being just as sharp as it. For a split second, its red-eyes glanced at the three as it jumped over the three, where they felt their hooves freeze. As it was in the air, a blade like tail moved past them, nearly decapitating them. Before landing, they looked to see its foreleg sticky with its own blood.
It landed on the other side of them, where he took another glance at them, observing the three fillies with intense focus.
"What is that?" Applebloom whispered.
"I-I don't know," Sweetie bell murmured.
It took in a deep as there was a sudden temperature rise in the area, then it released a stream of fire towards them, not giving time for one of them to react.
Sapphire looked at the three small creatures in front of him, observing them. They were staring at him back, but their eyes were full of fear, something he didn't want.
He had thought the timberwolves he had killed, or so he thought, were gone, but he was being chased by another pack. His paw was still bloody from the last battle with Embrace, where she was sleeping in the area. Sapphire didn't want to force the burden upon Embrace to have to battle again, it wasn't in his schedule to, mostly being concerned that she had battled because she didn't want him to die. When the timberwolves had found him, he had to run from the opposite direction to keep them away from her.
Now he had these fillies to deal with, their age was obvious that they were pretty young. One was a peach yellow with a red mane with a big pink bow in its hair. Another was an alabaster white with both the color violet and pink in its hair and a horn protruding from its forehead. The last one had an orange coating and a small pair of wings with violet hair.
Sapphire was about to tell them to get out of the way, but he saw the eyes of a timberwolf behind the three with its green-glowing eyes.
"What is that?" the peach one questioned.
"I-I don't know," replied the alabaster one.
Sapphire didn't have time to talk back at them, because he knew the wolf was about to pounce at the three as its eyes were focused on its new pray. He had to save them.
He took in a deep breath, heat forming within his mouth, then it streamed towards the wolf pass them. Their reaction was even more fear as it flew right between them, going towards the wolf. However, this wolf seemed to be much smarter than the others as it jumped over the fire, and in front of the fillies, baring its wooden teeth.
Upon closer inspection, he notices a gold object hanging within its body. It had golden string where it sparkled from the fire, and the body of the pendant had a Pokeball design in the middle of it. Sapphire immediately knows what it is.
'Damn' Sapphire thought. 'I can't do too much damage to it, or else I will damage the pendant. I just want to see my son.'
"Get out of here you three," Sapphire commanded, receiving a strange look from them. "Or you may get hurt."
Sapphire wasn't sure if they understood what he said, or his body motions told them what to do, but they were happy to get behind a tree.
The timerwolf ran after them, but Sapphire got in between it and the little ones. It snarled at him in response and dashed toward him, mouth open, teeth covered in a green substance. Sapphire looked behind him to see the tree the fillies were hiding behind and decided to use it to his advantage. He waited for the last second before using quick attack to move out of the way, letting the wolf slam itself into the tree, where parts of it fell of its own body.
Sapphire was unsure of this, but he thought he heard a giggle from one of the three fillies.
"Come on! Just shoot your fire at it!" the orange one commanded.
It shook the dizziness of and charged again, the same exact way. Sapphire thought this would be very easy as he could just whittle it down with small attacks until it was reduced to nothing. He performed the same tactic another time, but the wolf changed to the direction he jumped in and tackled with its ferocious bite, putting the substance on its teeth in his body.
It stung, just like a Seviper biting into his foreleg, the one that was already wounded. Sapphire would usually be able to take hits like that, but he felt like prey as he felt its saliva get into his blood. His whole body was aching now, and the bite was getting deeper. He raised his free claw where his claws glowed purple and extended to twice the size and slashed at the base of its neck, decapitating it.
Its body fell on top of Sapphire where the weight seemed to lighten upon him, where the timberwolf disintegrate into small twigs and leaves.
Sapphire got up to look through the twigs and leaves to find the pendant he had saw earlier. All of a sudden, he was nauseas, tipping from side to side. His mind started to spin as he felt like throwing up.
"What's... happening?" Sapphire whispered.
He looked down to see the pendant, hidden under the debris of the timberwolf. He reached for it, but his legs no longer supported him. He whole foreleg was numb as it travelled up his body and then to his head. The world was spinning, yet he tried to fight it. After a long episode, Sapphire passed out.
"Oh my," Fluttershy whispered. Looking at the white creature on her couch unconscious.
"What is it?" Sweetie bell asked.
"This is bad, real bad," the timid pegasus responded.
"Well?" Applebloom added.
"Where did you find him?" Fluttershy murmured.
"Well, he found us. And he saved us from a timberwolf," Scootaloo admitted, scratching the back of her head.
Fluttershy sighed as she lifted the animal's left foreleg to inspect the damage. She noticed green substance on it as she touched it, getting a sticky feeling. "It's timberwolf saliva," Fluttershy concluded.
"Yeah? And?" Scootaloo moaned.
"Timberwolf saliva is like poison Scootaloo," Sweetie bell sighed.
"It's like a sap, since timberwolves are born after every tree sprouts. But I digress, please go to my room and look into my chest, you should see a bottle with a purple liquid," Fluttershy asked while checking his heart beat.
"I'll go get it," Sweetie bell offered.
"No, let me get it, heck, I'll get it in ten seconds flat," Scootaloo repeated Rainbow dash's famous words.
"After you get it, you girls should head to school," Fluttershy added.
The three froze, as they remembered their purpose of going into the forest in the first place. In the inside, Scootaloo was burning up.
"Come on! We could get it before school starts," Scootaloo announced.
"Scoots, lets just take these last few hours and study," Sweetie insisted.
"Yeah, Ah'd rather stay here and study," Applebloom agreed.
"Ugh, fine." Scootaloo crossed her forelegs, being reluctant to studying as they went back to their respective homes to get some studying in.
As the fillies left her home, Fluttershy pulled a small luggage bag towards her and put a couple of her belongs in it, getting ready for her trip to Manehatten.
"Hello Sapphire, it's a pleasure to meet you," a female voice greeted.
The Absol looked around to the surroundings before him. A pinkish mist litered the ground and the sky was pure blue. He looked in front of him to see a strange sight.
"Xerneas?" Sapphire asked, dumbfounded.
The legendary was about his size, but Sapphire was pretty sure that Xerneas was much larger than she currently was. "Your heart is in the right place my friend, its something you should treat with endless respect," Xerneas explained.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your devotion to your son," Xerneas replied with a smile. "You two are not genetically related, yet, you treat him like he's your own."
"I had to, if I hadn't he would've died."
"Have you ever thought about the previous victims that fell to when you were a carnivore? The thought of a carnivore turning into a herbivore is probably a feat that no other pokemon has ever gone through. Then why did you make an exception to Shade?" Xerneas proclaimed. "For you would've known, you could've been housing a Patrat."
Sapphire's mind was spitting out questions left and right. How did Xerneas know that a Patrat was the first Pokemon he had ever pounced on and eaten? "How do you know all this stuff?" Sapphire wondered.
"If you're aware already, when I have taken my first century-long slumber, I have gained this strange power to see future events. However, it hurts to do so, with the only exception was with Embrace and Shade."
"You know them?"
"Yes, guess you can call me an acquaintance, or a helper as you may wish."
"Where's Shade?" Sapphire worried.
"He's currently in the same world as you, but different location." Xerneas walked towards Sapphire as it touched its horns against his forehead, sending golden waves down his body. "However, he's imprisoned."
Sapphire couldn't talk as his vision was blurred with something else he tried to look straight at the legendary, However, instead of the pinkish mist, it was a dark fog with the setting much different. Xerneas appeared beside him as she stared at him.
"My best friend was a Xatu, his name was Gale, he taught me to look into both the future and past. Currently, this is the past."
Sapphire looked around to see Yveltal facing with a shady figure, levitating in front of the bird. The figure had what seemed like a red scarf and its shoulders flowed behind him. His one blue eye glowed as well as Yveltal's.
Sapphire looked past them to see his son, his blue rings glowing faintly, trying to take in the moon's power. Sapphire tried to run towards him, but was stopped with Xerneas.
"I know how you're feeling now, and I would do that too, however, you won't be able to condone with the scene, it's the past." Sapphire grit his teeth as he was just told that this has already happened. He heard their conversation soon after.
"Trust me Darkrai, you're always such a negative one," Yveltal chuckled.
"My doings have nothing to do with this, but I'm willing to tamper with the kid," Darkrai replied, glancing at the Umbreon. "Mind sharing your purposes, since you have ruined my fun?"
Yveltal chuckled. "Remember? I'm one of the only Pokemon that can send you across dimensions, so you might as well do me a favour in return, in addition I'm much older than you," Yveltal smirked. "To answer your question, I'm playing as well."
"How so?"
"This Twilight Sparkle, a princess of Equestria, is playing along quite cooperatively. Bet you've been stirring up a storm ever since you hatched."
"Many people believe that Darkrai have meant no harm, but I was an exception. Something strange, something that had never happened for years, me emerging from an egg was where the whole world fell upside down."
"It was my doings that formed the egg in the first place, and the 'Elements of Harmony' caused that reaction, by forming an egg within the crystal caves under their fair capital. You haven't hatched for about 2 years after I paid Luna a visit, yet she had given birth to you in a sense. Surprising she's unaware of it."
"Luna..." Darkrai trailed off.
"The bridge between our world and their world is very narrow. With the chance of both Pokemon and Ponies going to each other's worlds. I can widen that bridge so we can easily cross," Yveltal explained.
Darkrai sighed. "So what you're telling me is that you want me to remove memories of this Umbreon?" Darkrai floated towards Shade then he raised his arms. "Formed by the arms of Arceus, clockwork of Dialga, and dimensional flow of Palkia. I wish to grant powers to me, Darkrai, form the memories of this Pokemon into solid mass."
The chant seemed to work as a dark orb came out of Shade's head, one that looked like one of Darkrai's moves. He held it in one hand as it seemed to shrink, until nothing.
He looked at the moon through the dark fog, wondering about his origins. "If I ever see Luna, what will I do?" Darkrai muttered.
"I'll give her the word when I get the chance, in the meantime have fun terrorizing the ponies back in Equestria," Yveltal reassured. "And I'll be sure to get mine." Darkrai didn't hear this, but he simply waited for Yveltal's cue.
Yveltal's eyes glowed blue, his chest glew with energy, then he fired a beam into the sky. The room it led into was dark, but was not the actual destination.
Darkrai did Yveltal a favour by lifting up Shade and putting him on Yveltal's back, ready to go. Yveltal flew with Darkrai near behind him into the portal.
The setting disappeared back to their previous world, leaving the two of them alone again. Xerneas looked at him to see his face, filled with anger.
"Would you kindly tell me where this Twilight Sparkle is?" Absol asked with anger.
"Please Sapphire, sheath your anger. The last thing we need is you murdering someone again," Xerneas mentioned.
"I have to get my son back!" Sapphire vowed, snapping at her.
"And what if you do?" Xerneas interjected. "He doesn't remember you, then what will you do? Try to put the memories back in yourself? If you are, let me help."
"I'll have to find Darkrai," Sapphire answered.
"And how will you do that?" Xerneas wondered.
Sapphire was at a stop now, he really didn't know where he could be, and he didn't know how big the world he was in now was. "I'll have to figure something out. And I must do this alone."
"At least let Embrace and me help. She is Shade's mate after all. I know you're a strong Pokemon, I get that, but you may find yourself in a situation your where you're hiding like a Deerling."
Sapphire almost took this as an insult, but she was right, and he didn't like it one bit.
"Fine, you can help," Sapphire said reluctantly.
"Just do me a favour Sapphire. I also need to ask you of something," Xerneas asked.
"And what may that be?" Sapphire grunted.
"In the world you're in, friendship is what comes first. Don't take it for granted. Leaving out all the rest is foreign to the world. Change your personality a bit, however, what I really want you to do is befriend the creatures of the world."
Sapphire's mouth hung slightly agape. "What?!" It was all he could say.
"I know you heard me, one of the natives is currently patching you up as we speak," Xerneas added.
"Huh?"
"You're not in the physical world now, your soul is just here," the legendary explained. "Please, be nice to her, and she may be your only chance to make the natives unafraid of you."
"Alright, and what was the question?" Sapphire pondered.
"Do you miss Abigail?" Xerneas asked. "You simply abandoned them, no goodbyes of any sort."
Sapphire clenched his teeth. "I... I... want to see her again, but at the same time, I know she'll hate me for murdering one of the pack's member, plus I left her without notice. I went in the opposite direction of the pack to get away from them as far away as possible so they wouldn't even be able to track my scent."
He only received a chuckle from Xerneas. "That seems like a rather large assumption," Xerneas replied.
"Huh?" Sapphire muttered.
"I'll tell you later, but right now, wake up, and find Embrace," Xerneas pleaded.
Sapphire gave the legendary an odd look. Sapphire was really good at reading faces. "You seem troubled, there is something more behind than saving her," Sapphire informed. "I feel there's more than what you're letting on."
Xerneas sighed. "You won't like this," she warned. "But she has already had her egg brought into this world. And your grandson is already brought into this ordeal, the worst being is he will be brought into this ordeal at such a young age. It's your job to be a guardian, to protect both Embrace and your unborn grandson."
"Guardian?" Sapphire croaked.
"Please, don't take Embrace as a liability. She's so very important for Shade, as she can piece together his lost memory back together. But to get it all back, you need to track down the thief of them."
"Darkrai," Sapphire answered.
"Yes, but you need to get Shade and Darkrai in close proximity for him to get them back as you won't be able to physically hold his memories. It's mandatory you do this. Guess the only hard part is getting Shade to cooperate, with his memories already tainted." Xerneas looked at the ruff around his neck, sensing the power of the stone he has in his possession. "Make the best out of your mega stone. You'll need it. Your mission begins now."
Sapphire nodded his head as the misted field disappeared as he felt his eyes twitch open.