//------------------------------// // The Edge of the Woods // Story: Mystery Dungeon: Equestrial Plains // by TheDeku //------------------------------// "...and that about covers ponies. Rainbow flew to speak with Fluttershy about seeing Ponyta, as she might have seen your friend." Twilight finished. "So go talk with her. She might know a thing or two." Blitzle nodded. "So, where is... uhh... Fluttershy's house?" "See the forest?" Twilight asked, opening the window. "It's the hut by it. Make sure you go fast once you leave, we don't need any pony getting scared of you." "Why would anybody - anypony - be scared of me?" "Some don't make friends as quickly as others, and they didn't take to well initially to the first zebra we had in town..." "Well, I'm off. Anything else I need to know?" "Yeah, about Fluttershy. She's really shy, so just be nice, quiet, and make sure you don't surprise her." Blitzle ran off to Fluttershy's house. Twilight sighed. She hadn't expected anything to happen in Ponyville, at least not of this scale. She figured she's going to need to let the her friends know what's going on, first and foremost the princesses. "SPIIIIKE! Where are you?" Twilight called out for her assistant. "Right here!" Spike called back from the stairs. "What do you need?" "I need you to send a letter to the princesses." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "House by the forest, you can't miss it.... especially when Rainbow is circling it leaving behind rainbows. Gee, I wonder where Fluttershy lives," Blitzle laughed, slowing down to a visible speed as he arrived by the fence, and spots Rainbow flying randomly through the air. "I'm here, calm down." "Well it took you long enough. I was starting to worry that you weren't coming," Rainbow said, flying down to talk to him. "She's inside, but be careful. Twilight probably told you she was shy, but she is way shyer than you think. So... yeah. Watch what you do. I gotta move some clouds." "Well, see you around," Blitzle watched as she flew back to the main part of town. "Time to meet Fluttershy." Blitzle knocks on the door softly. "Come in. if you want to, that is." Blitzle took that as his cue to enter. He opened the door and walked inside. Spotting a cream colored, pink-maned pegasus among all the animals, he goes over. "Are you Fluttershy?" "Um, yes," Fluttershy tried to shrink away from him. "Are you the one Rainbow was talking about?" "Yeah. I'm Blitzle. Nice to meet you," he said, smiling at her. "Did she ask you about Ponyta?" "Um, yes. I haven't seen her. I'm really really sorry," she backed away from him, lowering her head to try and hide more. "I really didn't see any pony at all that I didn't recognize near the Everfree." "Oh well. I didn't think so, but I was hoping," Blitzle said. "If you see a pony with a flame-red mane - or a mane of flames, more likely - could you let me... the Everfree is that forest, right?" "Yes, why?" "Is there usually smoke coming out of it?" "No," Fluttershy walked to the window that Blitzle was staring out of. "Is that a forest fire? OH NO!" "Calm down! Go get Twilight and Rainbow. Grab a cloud, just in case I'm wrong. I'm going directly to the source." "In the Everfree? But there are Timberwolves and Cockatrices and Cragadiles in there!" Fluttershy said, sounding scared. "You won't survive without help!" "If I'm right, that flame is my partner and I am going to go find out for sure. Try to stop me, and I won't hesitate to leave you in the dust. Rainbow probably left out the part where I was as fast as her and had complete control over my direction. Get help." "If I can't stop you, alright. Be careful though, Rainbow seemed to think that you would be a good pal to have. Oh, don't touch the blue flowers, if you can help it." "Why?" "Just... don't do it." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "He did WHAT?" Twilight exclaimed after Fluttershy told her what had happened. "How could you let him go into the Everfree Forest alone?" "I didn't want him to, but he demanded that I go get you two," Fluttershy explained. "He threatened to leave me behind if I followed him, and I don't have a chance to keep up!" "Well, I'm going in after him!" Rainbow declared, and would have flown off if Twilight hadn't grabbed her tail with her magic. "Don't you dare, Rainbow Dash. He may not know enough to be careful in there, but we do. Spike, ask Applejack to meet us at Fluttershy's house. Ask her to see if Pinkie and Rarity are able to come. Got it?" Spike was scribbling it down, "...are able to come! Got it!" "Good. Send it and come with us," Twilight said as she headed to the door. "It should only be a quick in and out to find him, so don't try to get out of it." "Ugh. Fine," Spike sighed, sending off the letter and heading out after Twilight. "I hope we aren't the ones who are wrong about this..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, no more smoke. That means I lost the trail..." Blitzle glanced around. "But then again, the tree cover makes it so that I don't know whether or not there's smoke. Wait, what's that noise?" A loud crackling noise, followed by some howls. "Something tells me that some dumb wolf thing - maybe a Timberwolf Fluttershy mentioned - tried to attack my partner. Good on you, Ponyta. I'm on my way!" "Back away from me you grass-type wannabees!" A female voice shouted. "Flamethrower!" Blitzle flash stepped backwards to avoid getting hit by the flames. "That's my partner. FLAME CHARGE!" Blitzle blasted towards the fire and body-checked a Timberwolf. "Hey flame head, miss me?" "More than you think," Ponyta said, smiling at her partner. "I would have left the forest a while ago, but these guys keep coming and they gave my new friend a bad bite and slammed it into a tree. I got them off it but he's not moving. I think it's unconscious." Blitzle glanced by her feet and saw a small, purple, monkey-like figure with a small spot of blue on its back. "A Sableye?" He asked, electrocuting a Timberwolf. "Yup. Do you mind grabbing him so we can get out of here fast?" Ponyta asked, stepping back from the Dark-Ghost type. "I got him. Go!" Blitzle grabbed Sableye and flipped it onto his back, but Sableye caught itself and stood up on Blitzle. Sableye turned towards the wolves and the red gem on its chest began to glow. There was a huge flash of light behind Blitzle and Ponyta, who decided to take the opportunity to leave, Sableye in tow. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The trio arrived at the entrance at about the time that another group arrived there. Twilight rushed forward when she saw that Blitzle was there, and smacked him on the head with her hoof after he grinned. "Blitzle, what were you thinking? Fluttershy warned you about what lives in there!" "Relax, I'm fine, don't worry," Blitzle laughed, Sableye grinning on his back. "Look, I found Ponyta and another Pokemon, and the Timberwolves stood as much of a chance against our flames as I do of learning how to run on water." "Well, at least one of us found our bags," Ponyta said, tossing Blitzle's to him. "I found it by me when I arrived in the forest. I'm assuming that these are the ones who helped you while you didn't have me?" Rainbow flew over. "That would be us. At least, three of us. The others of us haven't met him yet. Or really know anything about him." Twilight looked at Rainbow and shook her head. "I don't think she was going for confirmation there. Although, she may have been. Regardless, my name is Twilight Sparkle. The loud one is Rainbow Dash," "Hey there!" "The yellow one is Fluttershy." "Hi." "And as for the one's Blitzle hasn't met either, the one with the hat is Applejack," "Howdy!" "The other unicorn is Rarity," "A pleasure to meet you both." "The dragon on my back is Spike," "Nice to meet you!" "And then there's Pinkie Pie." The aforementioned Pinkie Pie dashed right up to them shook their hooves. "HeyHow'sItGoing?" "Well, these are my friends, could you tell us more about yours?" Twilight asked. Blitzle nodded happily, and swayed side to side a bit. "This is Ponyta, my partner and the smart one. I'm the tactical one of the group and usually think better on the fly than she does, but she's definitely the smart one. To compare, she's like an Earth Pony who breathes fire and doesn't have a connection to the earth. And this little guy is a Sableye, a dark-ghost type. They're crafty Pokemon, and are often quite agile. They can detect gems to an extent-" Rarity got a small smile at that. "-which is good for them as that's their main food source." "WHAT?!?!?!" Rarity shouted. "I knew dragons did that - the eating of them, at least - but they are rare, and Spike doesn't eat all that many as they are like candy to him - but that's the main food source?" Ponyta looked strangely at her. "They don't HAVE to eat it. I know Team Shadow Eye's Sableye doesn't eat gems much, preferring more natural food like berries and vegetables and the like, but yeah. Is that a problem?" "Oh no, it really isn't," Rarity said quickly, seeing Sableye hang it's head in shame. "It just can't come into my Boutique, that's all." Sableye heard this and perked up a bit, relieved that it doesn't need to hold off from eating. Pulling a couple of small emerald shards out of nowhere, it popped one into it's mouth and grinned. "Wait, you carry around gems?" Spike asked, getting a nod as a response. "How many do you have?" Sableye merely grinned at Spike and stretched its arms out in the classic it-was-this-big pose. "Does that mean that much, or a really really large amount?" Twilight asked. Sableye held up two fingers, jumped off of Blitzle, and held out the 3 shards in its hand that were left to Spike, offering them to him. Spike took them, surprised that Sableye was so giving with its gems. "Thank you." Applejack looked at Sableye. "You don't talk much, do you?" Sableye shook it's head, walked over to Rarity, and offered her a perfectly cut navy blue sapphire. "You know I don't eat gems, right?" She asked, making sure she knew that it knew. When it nodded, she took it, also surprised, but at it's self control. "I guess I was a bit overeager with banning you from my Boutique. I'm sorry about that." Sableye shrugged. The conversations and fun likely would have continued, but Blitzle then collapsed. "BLITZLE!" Ponyta yelled, despite standing next to him. "Quick, we need to get him to the nearest house!" "Fluttershy, do you mind?" Twilight asked. "No, I don't. I think we need to make sure he's okay." She responded. "Excellent, thank you. Spike, take Sableye and hang out with Rarity, if that's okay with her." "I do not mind, and if they wouldn't mind lending a hand, that would be most appreciated." "Great. Ponyta, come on. I'll get him there," Levitating Blitzle up, she runs towards Fluttershy's house. "I hope nothing bad is happening to him." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blitzle looked around. "Where am I? What happened?" What are your ideals? "Who said that? What's going on?"