“… And then Spitfire looped around the two heads that I was distracting, with the third head right on her tail. I saw just what she was up to and bucked the fourth head so it would chase me. Then with one quick swoop through the last opening, we tied the hydra’s necks into one big knot. It stomped all around, trying to get its heads unstuck. By the time it was free, Soarin and Fleetfoot had already gotten everypony else a safe distance away, and it looked as though it would be a fight between the four of us and the hydra’s four heads. That’s when Princess Luna showed up, and with a few quick blasts from her horn, the hydra went running off with its tail between its legs.”
Pinkie chimed in after Rainbow had finished her story, “Boogie said that it was the most exciting birthday bash she’s ever had.”
“She would say that about the situation,” Rarity said, rolling her eyes. “I know that the Moondrop Glade is very special to her, and Celestia knows it’s a rather gorgeous location, but hosting her club in the forest near Hollow Shades is just asking for things like this to happen.”
“Maybe,” Applejack replied. “But in all the years that she’s done it, she ain’t never had any issues with the hydra. Something must've spooked it.”
“Apparently three kids were lost out in the forest and that’s what set it off. The Princess had the Wonderbolts search in formation above the trees while she and some batpony flew off to check around Foal Mountain,” Rainbow said, finally sitting down.
“Goodness,” Fluttershy said, raising a hoof to her mouth. “Were they able find the kids?”
“Of course they did,” Rainbow said, waving off Flutter’s concerns. “The Princess and the Wonderbolts were on it, so there’s no way that they didn’t find them. Naturally, I offered to help, but the Princess said it wasn’t necessary, so she clearly knew that they could handle it.”
“Oh, of course.” Fluttershy said, embarrassed, as though her concerns were completely unfounded.
“I’m about to make some Nachos, anypony want some?” Spike said, hopping out of his chair.
“OH! Meeeee!” Pinkie said, waving her hooves frantically. Everypony looked at her with raised eyebrows. “What? I haven’t eaten anything since we left Hallow Shades,” she shrugged.
“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow said.
“Please and thank ya, Spike,” Applejack added.
“None for me thank you,” Rarity said, then rubbed her chin. “Though, would you be a dear and get me a cup of tea while you’re up?”
“Anything for you, Rarity,” Spike cooed. He then looked to Fluttershy who politely declined, and then to Twilight who hadn’t looked up from her book the entire time and probably didn’t even hear Rainbow’s story. Spike shrugged and walked off to the kitchen.
“Sooooooo?” Pinkie Pie said, slinking over to Fluttershy’s seat and placing her arm around the back of Fluttershy’s neck. “What super, spectacular, mind blowing thing did you do last night, Fluttershy?”
At this, even Twilight looked up from her book. “What are you talking about Pinkie?” she inquired.
“Well,” Rainbow said, looking at Fluttershy and seeing how nervous Pinkie just made her. “Fluttershy apparently had some fun last night as well, and she wanted to tell us about it.”
Everypony looked at Fluttershy, who’s heart started pounding a mile a minute, until at last Rarity said, “Come now, don’t keep us in suspense.”
Fluttershy felt a lump in her throat, but fought through her nervousness. “Um, well, last night, Twilight and I were talking after the four of you left.”
Everypony’s gaze fell to Twilight now. “Fluttershy was upset because she didn’t feel like she deserved to be here, like the rest of us. I assured her otherwise, but that’s about all I know of what happened to her last night.”
Taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down, Fluttershy continued. “Well, what Twilight said really inspired me. I wanted to be strong and brave, like all of you, and go on an adventure of my own. So I asked Discord to send me to another world, another human world like where Twilight had gone to, so that I could go on an adventure on my own without anypony holding my hoof through it.
They all stopped and looked at Fluttershy with their mouths gaping open. This went on for a few minutes and every second of silence made Fluttershy that much more uneasy about it. Finally, after they had all processed what she had just said, they all said in unison, “What?!” except for Pinkie, who shouted, “I knew it!”
“You did?” Fluttershy looked at Pinkie, astounded.
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I had a hunch.” She said, cartwheeling back to her own seat.
“What all happened? What did you do? What was it like?” Rainbow said in rapid fire as she jumped out of her chair.
“Simmer down, sally,” Applejack said. “Just how is the poor filly supposed to answer ya if you don’t give her the time to do it?”
“Right.” Rainbow said, settling back down in her seat.
“Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity said. “You don’t need to throw yourself into danger and adventure to prove anything to anypony. Celestia knows we already do that enough as it is.”
“Oh, but I do Rarity,” Fluttershy said, a little more resonantly than she sounded before. “I need to prove to myself that I can be brave and that I can handle going on an adventure on my own. I’m still very shy and frightened all the time, but since I became friends with all of you, I think I’ve gotten better. And now I feel like I need to do this, for me.”
“Do this? You mean that you haven’t gone to that other world yet?” Twilight asked.
“I have.” Fluttershy replied, rubbing her foreleg nervously. “But I’m not done, and I won’t be for quite a while. Every night that I go to sleep, I’ll wake up in that world and continue my adventure. That’s how Discord set it up for me. I’ve got about eight months before the Pokémon League opening ceremonies, and I plan on competing.”
Ignoring that they don’t know what ‘Pokémon’ are, the thought of Fluttershy competing in anything of her own volition made them all drop their jaws a second time. After all, the only competition she’s ever been in was the Equestria Games, and Rainbow had to practically beg her to help out, since all other Ponyville Pegasi were already in different events. Everypony was taken back. The first to recover was Pinkie Pie, who pulled her tail up to her ear and listened intently.
Rarity looked at Pinkie’s odd display and had to ask, “What is it you’re doing Pinkie?”
“Not even I saw this coming. My Pinkie sense must be off.” Pinkie replied matter-of-factly, poking her tail in random places.
Rainbow Dash facehoofed and shook her head. “Pinkie Pie, you are so random.” Then coming back to her questions unanswered, she turned to Fluttershy and asked, “So, what happened there?”
Fluttershy looked nervously around. “Well, Discord said that he would be here to hear what happened as well.”
Twilight closed her book and placed it on the table. “In other words, you want to wait until Discord shows up. Is there anything you can tell us about things he probably already knows about all of this?”
“I suppose he knows about how that world works, since he set everything up for me. So I could explain that if you want.” Fluttershy said, hopefully. Twilight was rather interested in this and so for the next few minutes, Fluttershy did her best to shorten the explanation into an abridged telling of how the world of Pokémon works and what she’s gotten herself involved in.
About the time that Fluttershy had finished her explanation, Spike had come back into the room with a serving platter with a dome lid, as well as Rarity’s tea, which of course he presented to her first and foremost before setting the platter on the table.
“Now I think I understand how you could go into a competition like that. It does sound like something that you would be good at doing. What with your connection to animals, I’m sure that this ‘Pokémon training’ is something you’d be pretty good at.” Twilight said, still intrigued by this unique world that Fluttershy had been telling them about. “I think Discord found the perfect world to suit you and your request.”
“Speaking of, where is he anyway?” Rarity complained, sipping her tea. “I’m sure he knows that we’re waiting. Any thought’s Fluttershy?”
“When I last saw him, he said that he was pulling a prank on Celestia. But that was this morning, so I don’t know what could be keeping him.” Fluttershy said, looking around for the draconequus again.
Spike licked his lips, “Well, wherever he is, he’s going to miss out on,” he pulled the lid up and then shouted in terror, “MY NACHOS!!!”
In place of a plate of nachos was one of those tacky Discord lamps. Pinkie Pie and Spike fell to the floor and screamed up at the ceiling, “NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!!!”
Twilight poked the lamp. “Very funny, Discord. Now, can you turn back to normal so we can get on with Fluttershy’s story?”
The lamp didn’t move.
“Come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the lamp. “And bring back those nachos!”
Still the lamp gave no response.
“Um, gals. You sure that’s even Discord?” Applejack said, looking at the lifeless lamp.
Suddenly, there was a loud crunch at the doorway. “Indeed. Though it’s a rather charming lamp, I dare say that the real Discord is far more handsome.” Everypony turned to the doorway to see Discord munching on the plate of nachos. “And I must say that these are quite exquisite. You simply must give me your cheese sauce recipe, Spike. It’s got just the perfect amount of zing to it.”
“So then, you weren’t the lamp.” Rarity said, masking her amused smile by sipping some tea.
Discord poofed the nachos back in place of the lamp, to which Pinkie and Spike started wolfing down the cheesy chips at great speed. “Of course not. Clearly, that was expected, so I just had to do something else. Through the door is such a simple entrance, but sometimes a little misdirection is the best trick.”
“And what was this about you pulling a prank on Celestia?” Twilight said, accusingly.
Discord slouched with a grimace on his face. “Don’t get your horn bent out of shape.” He turned towards Fluttershy. “Can you believe that she drank the whole thing as though nothing was wrong!?”
Just then, Spike burped a letter. He unfurled it and read, “To that cheeky draconequus. Is that all you’ve got?”
The look on Discords face was priceless, and Rainbow couldn’t help but snort and fall back laughing hysterically. Everypony started laughing and even Rarity had to set her tea down, not knowing if she could concentrate on levitating it while holding back her laughter.
Discord waged his finger at the letter in Spike’s claws as though it was Celestia herself. “Of course you know, this means war,” he joked and cracked his knuckles. “Let’s just see how much controlled chaos you can handle, Celestia.”
He turned to march out of the doorway dramatically, but was stopped by Twilight clearing her throat. “That can wait, Discord. We’ve been waiting for you to get here so that we can hear Fluttershy’s story. Or are you not interested anymore?”
Poofing next to Flutters in a big, comfy recliner, Discord chomped on a claw full of popcorn and said, “Of course I’m interested. I just got a little distracted is all.” Then he glared at the letter. “But as soon as we’re done here, I’ve got some business to attend to.”
Fluttershy turned to Discord. “Oh please don’t do anything too bad.”
To Fluttershy’s surprise, Twilight said, “Don’t worry Fluttershy, let him have his fun. He’s been invited to try anyway. The princess can handle it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t egg him on.” Then she gave a menacing smile to Discord. “Besides, he won’t do anything worth being turned to stone again. Would you?”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Discord said, almost in disbelief.
Twilight placed her hooves behind her head and leaned back. “You’re always giving me such a hard time. It’s nice to see somepony can do the same to you.”
“As riveting as this banter is,” Rarity interrupted. “I was hoping that we could hear Fluttershy’s story now.”
All eyes were now on Fluttershy, but she wasn’t nervous this time. The banter, the atmosphere, the general feeling of having laughed and smiled with her friends made all of those apprehensions go away. She wasn’t worried, and instead, smiled as she began to tell her friends about the start of her new adventure in the wondrous world of Pokémon.