There was nothing. Up, down, left, right, front, back, not a single thing she seemed to be able to see. All she could do was simply walk forward. Feeling a wind blowing, she raised an arm to block the gust going in her face. Soon, things became clearer. She still couldn’t really see, but at least gained an idea of what was around her. Firstly, it was dark. Almost pitch black. Secondly, a thick mist was layered onto that very night. She could barely see her own hand in front of her. Her arm was heavy, and with each step she seemed to slowly get more fatigued.
Her first instinct was to use her free hand to find her phone, a torch, basically anything on her person that could generate some sort of light. Six times, she thought she had found something that might help, but each was a disappointment. The first time had been a piece of metal in a specific shape, attached to a piece of fabric. Initially she thought she might be able to reflect it on something, but any light seemed determined not to show itself so she put it in her chest pocket. The second time was against her sleeve, after she bumped into something that felt like a tree. It was round and hard with something stemming at the top, likely a fruit. As she held onto the fruit she noticed an uncomfortable feeling in her feet like a pebble or something had made its way into her shoe. She knelt down to try and dig out whatever had slipped into her shoes. In her right shoe, was what she definitely knew to be some sort of glass or stone, while in the right shoe there was a leaf that seemed to have fell in when she bumped the tree. She also felt something brush through her hair and brought her hands up to feel something small, rubbery and stretchy to add to her handful of junk. She sighed, wishing she had something to actually help her.
Suddenly, a glimmer in the night. A smile came to her face.
She was happy when she finally found some direction, and walked forward to the small blue light. She got closer and closer, ignoring the increasing wind as well as the chills that began to run over her back. Ignoring these became increasingly difficult as she neared the striking blue light, while a beeping rang in her ears only becoming louder and louder until…
“Huh?!” She shot up out of bed, eyes wide. It took her a second to register her surroundings; a larger than average room with clean white walls, two beds AND a large amount of shelves that nearly covered the lower half of those walls. Then, her look of shock quickly turned to a smile on her face.
“It’s time!” A young girl burst out of bed, screaming. A smile on her face. She burst up, jumping and running around her bedroom before.
“Uugh…” In a separate bed, a younger boy groaned. “Twilight..;. You’re being really loud…”m He said. But the girl didn’t hear him. She was too busy running to the bathroom with a change of clothes in hand.
“Can’t help it Spike, it’s today after all~!” Twilight’s sing-song voice chimed from behind the door. Before even a full minute, the door burst open and from her pajamas, she had gone to a short -sleeved white T-shirt covered by a purple sweater vest and a skirt a deeper shade of purple.
“...Come one Twi, just go back to sleep.” Spike said, half his face bvisible from his pillow.
“How can I sleep on a day like this?” She said with a smile. “Because this is the day I…” She ran to the window, opening it. “...Go back to bed because it’s still not … Light out.” She turned back to her bed, or more to the nightstand behind it and looked to the alarm clock that showed the time of 04:00.
“Uh… Hehehe…” She blushed in embarrassment.
Her alarm bell rang out.
“It’s time for real now!” Twilight jumped up, running to the bathroom so she could change again.
“Come oooon…” Spike groaned. “Can’t you wait five more minutes?”
“I already waited until the alarm Spike, what more do you want?” She said, before picking up her bag making sure it was properly organised. She hadn’t spent an hour organising her back till 05:00 for nothing after all. “Now come oooon. You need to get ready too!” That goes for you too Hoothoot… Where is Hoothoot?” She stopped and looked around.
“Hoot.” A voice came from below her. She looked down, and something hopped out from under her bed. A brown bird with a large circular body, a tiny pair of wings that stood on one leg.
“There you are.” She smiled, leaning down. Hoothoot hopped onto her arm.
“Hoot.”
“That’s right, it is time to go.”
“Hoot.”
“I don’t know why he’s not dressed either.”
“Stop making comments through Hoothoot to me.” Spike sighed, standing up. “I’ll be down in a minute.” But she was already out of the room, and he heard a knocking in the hallway.
“Muuuum! Daaaad!” She yelled., banging on her parent’s door. “It’s time, we have to get up get up get up!”
“Five more minutes…” Her mother Velvet said, still groggy through the door.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?! My advancement won’t wait 5 minutes!” Twilight whined.
“Wait downstairs and get yourself some apple juice.” Night Light said.
“Okay…” Twilight huffed, before turning around.
“And don’t get your brother to take you either!”
“Aww!” The young girl groaned. Her brother was a busy guy, but he’d stayed the night so he could see Twilight off collecting her trainer’s licence. Her father chuckled.
“We’ll be down soon!”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Okay!” Her face lit back up and she ran downstairs, going to the fridge and pouring herself some apple juice. She sat on the table with a huff, tapping her foot impatiently. She periodically looked between the kitchen door, the window where a Beautifly flew past on a lovely cloudless day. She leaned forward through the door to see if they were going to magically appear on the stairway. They did not. So she sighed, before walking upstairs back to her room. She entered, seeing it empty meant that Spike was probably getting changed somewhere else.
Twilight went straight to her bookshelf, knowing exactly what she was looking for. She got to the right shelf and moved out a few gemstones Spike kept, before getting the book she wanted: “Timeless Tales of Legends Among Us.” A book of rare and legendary Pokemon, along with the tales surrounding them. She definitely found them interesting, especially since some were even true. Though most of those she’d read hundreds of times already. She wanted to flick through for something she’d not often looked at.
The Renegade Pokemon Giratina banished and trapped in its own world? No she’d read that one 20 times already. Perhaps Yveltal, the Destruction Pokemon? Far too morbid for her mood. She kept coming through, and was skimming through Cresselia’s legends, before coming across a name in it: Darkrai. That wasn’t a tale she was very familiar with. She flicked through as quickly as she could to find the page, before smiling. There it was, the page on the Pitch Black Pokemon.
The counterpart to Cresselia, Darkrai. The book told stories of people who fell victim to Darkrai being sent into nightmares of which had no end. They would never wake up from these dreams without the help of Cresselia. It turned to shadows and resided on Newmoon Island. It even mentioned something about it being host to a great power that could plunge the world in darkness.
“Twilight, come on!” She heard her dad call out to her.
“Sorry!” She yelled, running back downstairs where her father waited.
“Honestly… He said. “You’ve got to be here if you’re gonna insist we all get up at your set time.”
“Sorry.” She giggled, blushing. “I was just reading an interesting book.”
“It’s fine.” He smiled, patting his daughter’s head. “We’ve come to expect that by now.”
And so, they each sat down. Twilight perched next to her older brother.
“Hey little trainer.” Shining chuckled.
“Hi.” She grinned, hugging him.
“You must be thinking about what you’re going to do with that licence now that you can start a journey.”
“Well that’s easy.” She smiled. “I’m going to help Celestia even more and study Pokemon to higher levels!”
“Well… With a licence you’ll be able to go to all corners of the region. You could utilise that more.”
“Well yeah, there’ll be more places to study and research.” She smiled. “But my home is here. And so is Miss Celestia. Oh!” She turned to the clock. “And we have to go see her soon!”
“We’ll get our things together soon.” Velvet smiled. “Then, we’ll all go with you.”
“She said she has something to tell me too!”
“What do you think it might be, Twily?”
“It could be so many things, like a special item to research or a new area of study.” She gasped. “Do you think it’s a new area of study?! I really hope it’s that.”
Shining chuckled. “Maybe it will.”
“And maybe then…” She gripped a Pokeball in her hand. “Maybe then I’ll be able to use you again.”
“Twilight, an invitation came through the letterbox.” Spike looked at it, holding an envelope. “Looks like Moondancer’s handwriting too. Maybe we could stop at hers first?”
“Maybe later. First let’s get that training licence.”
So, they each got ready, getting their coats and shoes on before heading out into the streets. The city was bright and beautiful, most people walking around having something that cost at least 200 bits on them. Even some of Twilight’s clothes weren’t cheap, but she never cared much about that unless it was someone of her lab coats that she grew too big for. Most of their expressions were either dismissive or smug, though some looked tired and she could hear a few yawns as she walked with her family.
Soon, they found themselves at one of the parks. But, they couldn’t see who they were waiting for.
“Well that’s weird.” Shining frowned. “They should be here by now.”
“Guess they’re running late.”
“Princess Celestia doesn’t get late!” Twilight protested.
“Come on Twily, I’m sure she’ll be here any second.”
“I’m sure we just got the wrong spot. Celestia is the most perfectly punctual person in the region.”
“I think you probably hold that spot, Twi.” Spike remarked.
“Of course not! As much as I would like to think that, Celestia is always on time. We must have the wrong spot is all. I’ll go look for her.” At that, Twilight ran off before anyone could stop hefr.
“Geez, she really is focused.” Her mother gave a slightly tired smile. “Spike, could you go with her? Make sure she doesn’t go too far. We’ll wait for the Champion here.”
“You got it!” Spike replied, before running off in Twilight’s direction.
The young girl in question walked into the park, looking around for any sign of her mentor. As she walked, she heard screaming.
“I’m sure she’s here somewhere.” Twilight frowned, eyeing every person she could find, but there was no sign of her. In her search, she saw a figure in the distance and ran towards her. Under a tree the woman stood, her back turned.
“Miss Celesti-” On closer inspection, she found that she was incredibly wrong. The stranger’s hair and clothes didn’t match in the slightest. This woman was wearing all black, and was a redhead. The shadows were darker than she realised, but still she had been reminded somehow of her mentor. “Oh… Uh, sorry.”
“Give me a break.” The girl was checking her phone. Her head tilted down not allowing for a good look at her.
“I-I was just looking for someone.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no one else here. They all ran away after they were attacked by a Pokemon. It’s still lurking somewhere here. You should leave while you can.”
“But I need to find her! Or else I’m keeping her waiting!” Twilight proclaimed. The redhead chuckled.
“You won’t be able to handle what’s in there. You’ll just fail.”
Twilight felt a little angry at this, but didn’t say anything. Before she could answer back if she wanted to, the redhead was already walking away. But she had to find her mentor, and if people were in trouble then she needed to act, too!
Soon, she found herself going off the path in her search, but found nothing. She sighed, ready to turn back before something caught her eye. One of the shadows appeared to be moving among the trees, a shadow unlike others, one that didn’t seem to be cast by anyone or anything.
“Hoothoot, Foresight!” Upon order, her Pokemon flew up into action, its eyes glowing like a pair of flashlights that shone straight at the shadow to reveal what she was sure to be some sort of ghost type. Hoothoot only got a partial view, but it was enough for Twilight to see a piercing sapphire eye staring straight at her.
Suddenly. Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. Goosebumps on her arms made themselves clear each second the eye stared at her.
“H-Hoothoot, use-” Suddenly, a blast of cold energy shot at Hoothoot before she could even finish her sentence. The flying-type’s instincts and keen sight allowed it to dart to the side despite its shock. However, once it got its barings and they looked back, the shadow was gone.
“Hoothoot!” She ran to her Pokemon, worried. On the side of its round body,ice was creeping up on it while it shivered. “Hold on!” She reached into her bag after removing it from her back. She pulled out an Ice Heal after rummaging through it for a moment and sprayed it on Hoothoot. Soon, the ice disappeared and the flying-type’s energy returned. It moved its tiny wing up and down before hopping up.
“Hoot!” It cried before flying on Twilight’s shoulder. When she looked back to the shadow, it was gone.
“Where did it go…” Twilight wondered, before hearing a voice call out behind her.
“Twilight!” Spike yelled, running up to her. “Come on! You don’t wanna keep the champion and the professor waiting, right?”
“Oh! Of course! I couldn’t find her! Uhh…” She looked around. The park had been empty save for a few others, no sign of anyone in danger, and her best bet would be to report this to Celestia anyway. “Let’s go back, Spike!” Immediately, she ran back to where her family was.
“Wh- Hey!” Spike yelled, running after her. “I’m supposed to be the one bringing you back!”
When the two kids returned, two extra people were waiting with their family. One was a dark-skinned woman wearing a labcoat, rings in her ears. Her red lips curled into a smile as she saw the family. Twilight found it odd for a professor to have a mohawk, but she decided not to mention it, the woman must have her job for a reason after all. And next to her, was a much taller woman who Twilight definitely recognised. That long multi-coloured hair to the almost regal way she seemed even when just standing still. Eyes that held knowledge the young girl could only dream of looked down at her with a smile.
“Hello, Twilight.” Celestia said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah I…” She stopped, before clearing her throat to compose herself. “I did, Miss Celestia.” The purple-haired girl nodded.
“You don’t need to be so stiff around me Twilight. It’s a big day for you. That being said… professor?”
“Yes.” The Mohawk woman said, getting something out of her pocket. After rummaging for a moment, she pulled something out and handed it to Twilight, who stared at the device with wonder.
“Is… Is this..?” Pressing a button on the side, the thin device opened up showing two screens turning on.
“Your very own Pokedex. It will serve you well in what comes next.” Zecora said as she reached in her pocket before pulling out a thin sheet of plastic. She handed it to Twilight, who stared at it with wonder.
“My trainer card.” She looked at the photo of herself, narrowing her eyes before nodding. “Looks still looks alright.” Celestia just smiled, remembering how demanding she’d been to the photographer to retake, trying to get the right picture that Twilight deemed ‘befitting of a student of Canterlot trainer’s school’. She had nearly run the photographer’s wits into the ground before thanking him when he finally got the ‘right picture.’
“Those two precious tools are sure to help you in your research; a catalogue for any and every Pokemon, and a symbol that you’re finally an official trainer.”
“Yes!” She jumped up, cheering before looking up at her mentor. “Oh! That reminds me! What IS the next step in my research? Looking into the mystical secrets of the megagestic Ninetales species? Researching the more dangerous-” Her eyes widened. “Hold on a second!” She slid her bag off and began to rummage in it before immediately pulling her book on legendaries.
“Hm?” Celestia looked to Twilight with curiosity as she flipped through the pages.
“Ah! Here it is!” Twilight showed the page to the champion with a look of concern.
“Darkrai…” She read the title.
“It’s an incredibly powerful legendary Pokemon. It travels through the shadows and brings nightmares. I have reason to believe I saw one today in this very city and even, this very park. Hoothoot and I saw it but it got away.”
Celestia didn’t say anything, her eyes drifting from Twilight to the picture in the book.
“Twilight…” She said, before giggling. “You truly must stop spending all your time around these silly old books.” She turned the book to see its cover. “I think I’ve read this one a long time ago. It really is old, I’m surprised you were even able to find a copy.”
“Wh… I really did see it!” Twilight protested. “Just before you got here, it was a shadow that attacked Hoothoot and I!”
“I’m sure it was just a regular ghost-type wandering under the trees, it might’ve been agitated or more likely it was probably just trying to scare you, you know how much ghosts love their tricks. You probably read about it the night before and the excitement of today just got to you. Besides, if you really did see a Darkrai, you’d be in an eternal sleep with perpetual nightmares.”
“It’s not my imagination I really-”
“Twilight, the Champion is a very busy woman and it’s probably making her busier going to the trouble of seeing you off personally.” Night Light frowned.
“Yeah at least you get to go off…” Spike muttered.
Despite Twilight’s frustration, she still looked back to Celestia.
“Still, I’d like to know what the next step in the research I partake for you? I’ve studied every Pokemon the school has to offer as well as those native to the city.”
The champion shook her head. “Twilight, you misunderstand. Life is more than simply research and study. That trainer licence means you can go out into the world, battle and mould memories for yourself. Therefore, I do indeed have a task for you, and the next phase of your life. By all means research, but I want you to grow with your Pokemon and take on the Pokemon League challenge. At the very least you must defeat all eight gyms.”
“W-What?!” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Battling??”
“You heard me. This is the task given to you. It’s the most effective way to bond with your Pokemon, after all.” Celestia smiled.
“But to take the League Challenge would mean that… I might have to fight you.” She muttered the last few words, as if saying them was tantamount to treason.
“Perhaps… Perhaps you might even become strong enough to defeat me.” She smiled, before seeing her student looking as though she was about to faint. Before Twilight could even begin to plead with Celestia to not joke about such things, the champion placed a hand on the young girl’s shoulder, calming the young girl’s senses. “But more than that, I’d like you to go out and make friends of your own. That, my student, is your most important mission.”
“Ye… Yeah.” Twilight said, but her tone sounded neither enthusiastic nor genuine. This didn’t make any sense. She was smart, she should be researching the mysteries of this world, not wasting her time battling.
“I’d suggest starting in Ponyville.”
“Huh? But… wouldn’t it make more sense to start in the Los Pegasus gym?” She looked up to Celestia, confused.
“Ponyville has more Pokemon night and day, and Los Pegasus is still just a walk away.” Zecora explained. “You can travel back there with me, even visit my lab in the Everfree.”
“It always helps to record information from a Pokedex, from learning about the largest Steelix’s Hyper Beam to the smallest Gastly’s Hex.”
“I see.”
“We can head out now, in fact… You seem to be already packed.” The professor glanced into Twilight’s bag, organised with every possible essential. “If not… Well, Ponyville is a good place to gather supplies.”
“Well… Why not.” She still sounded frustrated.
“This is quite the milestone, Twilight. Do you really want to spend it sulking?” Celestia asked.
“No…”
“Then why don’t you give your family a smile as they see you off? You three wouldn’t like to leave on a bad note, would you?”
Twilight frowned, looking to Zecora then back to Celestia. “Three?”
“I mean, unless you have some issue with Spike accompanying you.”
At that, the young boy stared up in surprise. “Wait… What?”
“Your parents spoke with me and they’re okay with going off with Twilight. You’re nearly at the minimum age to become a trainer yourself. So long as she doesn’t mind being responsible for you.” Celestia said. Spike’s eyes widened at the prospect, before a smile formed on his face and his eyes shone.
“Oh, I don’t mind at all.” Twilight’s tone seemed to brighten. “And I can even take the time to teach him if he misses out!”
“Aww…” Spike sighed, hunching forward.
“By the way, Twilight, might I borrow this book for a bit? I can’t remember the last time I read this.” Celestia asked.
“I… I guess.”
“Thank you very much.” The champion smiled.
“Shall we, then?” Zecora smiled. “If you have something else you wish to attend to, I am happy to wait. Just not tomorrow or another later date.” She giggled.
“Oh, right.” Twilight blinked, before walking back to her family and hugging her whole family. After a moment, the two kids went over to Professor Zecora. “We’re ready to go now.”
“Very well.” The professor began to walk off with Spike and Twilight behind her, waving their family off.
“Bye!” They all shouted while Celestia smiled.
“I hope you’re ready, Twilight. This is where your journey begins.”