"Alright girls, where should we start looking?" Twilight Sparkle asked loudly as they emerged from the Canterlot Castle. The six ponies came to a halt outside the gates, catching their breath that they really didn't need to catch. Twilight turned to face the group, a look of determination set upon her features.
"Equestria is huge! How're we going to find five or possibly more random creatures that could be anywhere?" Rainbow Dash asked. She crossed her arms as she hovered in the air.
"Even I'm not even sure, but we have to find them. So, here's what we'll do," Twilight started, pacing in front of the group as they got in a line, "Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie will search in Manehatten. Rarity and Fluttershy will go to Ponyville and the Everfree Forest area. Then Applejack and I will search Canterlot. When you've searched the whole region, meet back in Ponyville at the library. Everypony got that?"
"Heard you loud and clear!" Dash announced.
"Yupparoony!" Pinkie Pie giggled.
"Got it, darling," Rarity said.
"Do I really have to check the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy squeaked, crouching low to the ground, long pink mane swooping down to scrape across the path.
"Don't worry Fluttershy. It'll all be fine," Applejack told her, giving the scared pegasus an affectionate pat on the back with a hoof. All that succeeded in doing was making a shivering yellow ball on the ground.
Twilight gave a small smile, then returned her gaze to the group. "Alright everypony, let's move out!"
The groups got together and headed off, none looking back as they sprinted away.
Pinkie Pie stuck her head out the window of the train, her eyes closed. She lifted her nose to the sky and let out a long "Woo woooo!" imitating the sound of the train as it made its way across the lands. Rainbow Dash poked her head out the window behind Pinkie and grinned, her tail flicking in excitement inside the train car.
"I can't believe we're going to see actual aliens in Equestria! I mean, more aliens, anyway," the pegasus yipped. Pinkie nodded in excitement.
"Me neither! It'll be sooo fun! I wonder if they'll be nice," the party pony babbled. She continued her random talk as the train rode across the green land of Equestria.
"Oh, Fluttershy, come out. The characters won't harm you."
Rarity stood by the door to Fluttershy's room, one hoof raised as she knocked. The little pegasus had been hiding in her room as soon as they'd gotten to Fluttershy's cottage. She'd given no warning; just raced in there, slamming the door as quietly as she could.
"N-no! They're scary!" Fluttershy wailed, her voice muffled from behind the door.
Rarity rolled her eyes, giving a deep sigh. She set her white hoof back on the floor with a small knocking sound. "But Fluttershy, dear, Mew-whatever its name is said that they're ordinarily very docile."
"Ordinarily!" came the shriek.
"Honey, come on. There's some poor, lost souls out in the world, just wanting to get back to their world. Shouldn't we help them? I mean, what if it was you in their world? Don't you think that they would help you?" Rarity raised a tentative eyebrow as she heard a quiet response from the other side. She leaned in closer, putting one ear against the wood. "Come again?"
". . . I guess you're right. . ."
Giving a satisfied sigh, Rarity retracted her head from the door. She closed her eyes briefly. "I am ever so glad you decided to change your mind. Now, why don't you come out and we'll get ready?"
The door's lock clicked, and a moment later the soft squeaking of the door opening was heard. Fluttershy, one half of her face concealed by pink mane, was seen as she opened it.
"Okay. . ." the yellow pegasus agreed, rather reluctantly. She slowly emerged from her room, coming face-to-face with her friend.
"Simply splendid, if I do say so myself," Rarity commented, blinking a few times, eyelashes fluttering. "Now, where should we search first? We've got Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, so what do you suggest?"
"I don't know. . ." Fluttershy looked down at the floor, scraping one hoof against it.
Rarity frowned, mouth slightly open as she looked down at her shy friend. The white unicorn's eyes glittered as the sun shone in through the nearby window. Upon seeing the sun setting, Rarity glanced over.
"Oh, would you look at that," she said, somewhat downtrodden, "the sun's going down. We'll have to look more tomorrow."
Fluttershy sniffled and looked up as well. Her eyes closed, a grateful sigh escaping her lips.
"We'll just have to get up bright and early tomorrow morning so we have enough time to search!"
Fluttershy blanched.
Twilight and Applejack had split up, each going to different parts of Canterlot to search. Twilight had taken the areas around the castle and Applejack the far side of the city. So far, neither of them had had any luck locating a creature that could've been from another dimension. The two friends finished looking and met at their designated base, a local cafe by the name of Billie's Place.
The unicorn and earth pony saw each other as they entered from different sides of the restaurant. They cast glances around at the numerous ponies that roamed the cafe before they looked up and saw one another. The two increased the speed of their hoofsteps to take a seat at an empty table.
Applejack slid into the booth, the seat a bright red. She cast a suspicious glance around as she started speaking. "Find anythin'?" she asked.
Twilight sighed, "Nothing yet." She curled her indigo tail around her.
"That's what Ah was afraid ya were gonna say." Applejack blew a breath out her mouth, ruffling some of the blonde hair on her head. She placed both of her hooves on the sparkling mint green table. "Urg, we're never goin' to find anythin'. Equestria is a huge place; there's just too much ground to cover."
"Don't give up, AJ. We just need to keep looking." Twilight gave her friend a sympathetic glance before perking up. "Wait, I think I might know a spell that could help us."
"And ya couldn't have mentioned this earlier?" Applejack raised a hoof in a gesture of 'seriously'.
The purple unicorn put one of her hooves to her mouth, ears leaning back a bit. "Heh, right, sorry." She lit her horn, and in a flash of magenta, there was a book levitating in her magic. Setting the leather clad tome down on the table, she read through the table of contents. Once she found the page she needed, Twilight flipped through the book. She began scanning the words that adorned the slightly crinkled and worn paper; it was either a favorite or was just plain old.
"So? Is there somethin' that could help us?" Applejack asked, raising her muzzle to try and see what the unicorn was reading. The earth pony squinted her eyes.
A frown became present on Twilight's snout. She creased her lips into a fine line, her eyebrows furrowing. ". . . No, no. There's nothing here after all. It wouldn't help us." With a pronounced sigh, she closed the book with a firm hoof. A moment later, it vanished in a swirl of magenta magic.
Applejack lightly slammed her hoof on the smooth table. "Darnit. Ah really thought there would be some sort of spell to help track things."
"If there is, then I've never heard of it. And I've read every accessible book and tome in Canterlot and Ponyville."
"That's a bit unfortunate." The orange mare sighed. "But since we didn't find anythin' here in Canterlot, we should probably search somewhere else, right?"
Twilight pondered this for a moment. "I don't know. I said to meet back at the library in Ponyville. What if they wait for us for a long time?"
Applejack snorted. "Twi', you sent Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all the way to Manehatten." She patted a purple hoof that was sitting on the table with her own. "Ah think we'll be fine." She cracked the teensiest of smirks at the unicorn sitting across from her.
"Well. . . I guess you're right," Twilight agreed, perking up. She flicked an ear. "Where do you think we should look?"
"Ah don't know. That's what ya'll are here fer," Applejack drawled, shrugging. Twilight frowned.
"Hmm. . . Okay," the unicorn mare announced, pulling a map out of seemingly nowhere with her magic, as she didn't have a saddlebag on. She unrolled it across their table, making Applejack lean back a ways in shock of where in the hay did she get that map from. Blinking her emerald green eyes a few times to clear her head, she tuned into Twilight's babbling.
". . . Alright, I know where we should go," she said finally, after a bit of talking to herself.
Applejack rotated an ear forward. The purple mare remained silent, just grinning at her map.
"Okay! Are you gonna tell me anytime in the next month?" AJ snapped impatiently, sick of sitting there.
"Oh, right, sorry." Twilight cleared her throat and produced a laser pointer. The earth pony across from her ear's twitched, her eyes wide. "Anyways, here we are in Canterlot." She circled the area with the red light. "And over here is Las Pegasus. But, in between those two places is a great expanse of forest. I think, if they did end up anywhere here or there, or possibly any town nearby, they'd be a bit shocked, am I right?" She cast a reassuring smile at her friend, whose eyes were still locked firmly on the little red dot. Twilight frowned. "AJ?"
"Oh! Right, sorry, yes, Ah hear ya."
"Okay, and if they did get trapped in the city, they'd probably head right for a more private place." She flicked the red dot across the paper expanse of the printed on forest. "So, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, we might find something in the Moon Shrouds."
That snapped Applejack out of her trance. "Wait, Moon Shrouds? That's an odd name."
Twilight shrugged, tossing the laser pointer over her shoulder with her magic, her face going completely straight in a matter of moments. "Eh, it's old Equestrian stuff, what do you expect."
Princess Celestia sank into her plush bed. The moon was high in the sky, the sun already having been set. She was content to just drift into sleep. That was, until she heard screaming from outside her bedroom door. She sighed and got to her hooves, getting out of bed. Her steps were delicate as she walked over to her chamber doors and lit her horn, swinging them open.
Standing outside was a very flustered Princess Luna, with their guest right behind her. The Sun Goddess gave her a pointed look before ushering them both inside with a wing. She turned to her sister.
"Luna, what was that?" Celestia asked swiftly, her head pounding with what was surely anger.
"You said to make sure Mewtwo didn't get discovered by any ponies," Luna recapped from earlier.
The Night Princess floated gracefully down the middle of the swirling staircase. Her wings pumped gently at her sides, barely keeping her aloft as to get her down to her sister's chambers, where she had been told by a guard to report there immediately. Her slippered hooves hit the polished marble and she took off at a swift pace, mane continually swirling around her.
"Sister, it is I," Luna announced loudly as she hammered her hoof on the white wood.
"Enter," came the elegant and somewhat rushed reply.
Swinging the door open with her dark blue magic, Luna stepped inside. Only to be met with what she could only describe as something out of a nightmare of one of her subjects.
Before the Princess of the Night could get a word in, a feminine voice echoed in her head.
Sister, do not panic. This is our. . . . guest, Mewtwo, Celestia said to her telepathically.
Celestia, what is the meaning of this? Luna demanded, making herself taller, as the. . . thing, as which it could only be described as, floating in front of her was as tall her sister, all the way up to her horn.
Mewtwo has been transported, along with others, by the temporal shift. I know not for what purpose, but I've already sent out Twilight and her friends to search.
Greetings, Princess of the Night, Mewtwo said roughly, arms crossed.
You did not tell me first? Luna asked her sister, taken aback.
Dearest sister, you know I do not like to interrupt your sleeping cycle. It messes with your emotions, Celestia said.
Luna stamped her hoof on the floor harshly. Curse mine emotions! Things such as these are more important!
Celestia nodded. Of course. Next time I will go as such. But there are other things that must be done, and as the day is ending my time is over.
Luna studied her sister carefully. And?
My sleep cycle is upon me. Tonight, and until these creatures are returned to their world, you must look after Mewtwo during the hours of the night.
Does he not sleep?
No, came the response from the Pokémon, I do not. Not without force. He thought about the other Pokémon in his world. That stupid little Bellossom. Always spouting sleeping powder. And Jigglypuff was no better, always with the singing.
Celestia gave Mewtwo a small, weary smile and turned back to Luna. Now, he has, um, powers, is the best I can describe it as, and you must be cautious. She saw the angry look Mewtwo gave her. She swallowed weakly. Respectfully, the Princess of the Sun told him. She turned back to Luna. The only reason you are still well is because I told Mewtwo of your arrival. He nearly killed me himself when I bumped into him in the hall.
Luna dipped her head, I shall accept.
I entrust him to you. She smiled at her younger sister and the two beings exchanged greetings. But for the love of the sun, please, do not let anypony else see him. Her eyes sparkled with dread as Luna led Mewtwo out of her chambers.
"Yes," Celestia countered, narrowing her eyes, "I remember my instructions very clearly. What's happened?" The Princess knew they should be speaking telepathically, as not to cast out their guest, but she was quite angry at what might have transpired the short time she had been trying to rest.
"Well, we had a small problem. The guards, you see, are so very attentive. . ." Luna explained sheepishly.
"And?"
"One. . . or two. . . of them might have seen Mewtwo."
"But I heard a clearly feminine scream just before I found you outside my door."
"Oh, right, and a maid," Luna finished.
Celestia closed her eyes and blew air out her nose. She didn't want to get angry with her sister, as this mistake could have happened to her just as easily.
"Well, what did you do about it?" the Sun Goddess inquired.
"I erased their memories," Luna explained. "Just the last few minutes, taken. So they wouldn't remember any of what they saw."
Celestia nodded. "Though I doubt that they just screamed from seeing him." She twisted her neck to look at Mewtwo. She gave him a questioning glance. He noticed her glaring and seemed to look surprised for a moment before answering in her head:
Enemies.
My subjects are not enemies, unless they are attacking you, Celestia responded firmly.
Not to me.
The white alicorn sighed and turned back to Luna. The younger Princess seemed to have a contemplative look on her face, her eyes studying the Pokémon. Celestia looked back and forth between them for a moment before it clicked in her head what her sister was planning on doing.
"Luna, are you doing what I think you're doing," Celestia said, not taking it as a question, narrowing her violet eyes.
Mewtwo looked over at Luna and his hands glowed slightly.
"Uh oh," the Sun Princess said.
Luna's horn lit up with dark blue magic. She took a bit of a wider stance, stretching her long legs out over the carpet. Her head lowered and a blast of energy shot out of her horn, which Mewtwo fought back with his own ray of dark purple. The colors clashed in the middle, causing Celestia to take a step back so she wouldn't get caught in it. It was all together a pretty clash of colors, but Luna's surpassed the Pokémon's, aided by the power of her beautiful night. It was, after all, her domain.
The blinding flash of blue light faded slowly, and when Celestia blinked the remaining light out of her eyes, she looked over. Luna had a content smile on her face, admiring her handy work.
Mewtwo was simply floating as usual, but his arms were crossed and his head was down, eyes closed. His tail was hanging down, touching the floor.
"I am kind of surprised the spell worked. Though it was a lot larger than what you normally use," Celestia commented plainly.
"I figured he needed a bit larger dose than a pony would," Luna agreed, "and I was right. He fought back."
"Well, at least we needn't deal with him at nights."
"Indeed. That spell will last all night. As soon as your sun begins to rise, he'll awaken."
Celestia headed towards her bed. "Good. I'm missing my sleep cycle."
"Good night, dear sister." Luna trotted towards the large white doors. "As always, I will guard the night."