//------------------------------// // Smiles for Miles and the Perfect Apple // Story: Mystery Dungeon: Equestrial Plains // by TheDeku //------------------------------// Blitzle walked forward carefully. "Here goes nothing..." He said as he put a hoof on the grate. A small voice called out. "Blitzle! Wait, BLITZLE?" Ponyta put her hoof on the grate. "It's Diglett!" The voice responded to the hoof. "Ponyta too? Guys, it's the Trailblazers! They're here!" A multitude of voices called out, but there were far fewer than the whole guild. Diglett popped out. "Ponyta and Blitzle! ...And Team Skull? ...And lots of unknown individuals... EEP!" Diglett went right back underground. "Put foot on grate. One at a time, please, so I can learn who you are. Please? As in, now?" Blitzle looked at the ponies and dragon. "He means you guys. I would put an apendage down, if you don't he can get mad." Twilight shrugged. "I mean, if it makes him feel better." She goes and stands on the grate. "Okay! Now, uh... Who are you? I need a name to the feet. Or is it hooves? I don't know you." "Hooves, and my name is Twilight Sparkle." She looked down the grate, and couldn't see anything down there. "How can you see?" "My eyes are good in dark areas. Next please!" Diglett called up. ------------------------------------------------------------- Blitzle led the group, including Team Skull, down the ladder. "This is the guild. It's where most of our friends li-" He had been interrupted by a small brown beaver tackling him in a hug. "Blitzle! We've been so worried! Even Chatot was worried about you guys!" Blitzle laughed. "Calm down Bidoof. Chatot won't admit he was worried, he will say he was unsure of what to do with the knowledge that a team had disappeared or something like that." Chatot hopped forward. "Actually, I was worried about you guys. I don't worry about anything else, because I know our teams will come through. But when our teams start vanishing from everywhere we can look, I worry about the likelihood of them being okay or of them being found. Now I worry about seeing the rest of the guild. We've got us four, you two, that Sableye, those seven, and Team Skull. Why do we have Team Skull?" Ponyta stepped forward to him. "They're with us for now. After we return, maybe not as much, but they promised to help while we're here." Koffing spoke up from the back. "Honest, we won't do anything." Twilight had a confused expression on her face. "You said four for who come with you. Diglett, Bidoof, and you. What forth Pokemon?" Chatot sighed. "Team Charm was visiting, and they were about to head out to go look for you two in the harder dungeons. But then we just sorta disappeared and came here, but Team Charm was split, with Lopunny coming with us." Ponyta froze. "Lopunny of Team Charm is here? And she was looking for us? WHAT?" Blitzle sighed. "Look, I know you love Team Charm and idolize them, but she was dragged here without her team. She's probably either mad or sad and likely doesn't want to be disturbed." Chatot waved the thought away. "Luckily we got food brought alongside us, but there is a huge problem, and we need to find a way to fix it." Bidoof shuddered. "Are any of you good with apples and growing them? As in really really really good? We only have one Perfect Apple, and it's the core of the one Wigglytuff had finished right before we came here." Applejack laughed. "Y'all came to the right place for apples." Diglett's voice rang out. "Lopunny!" Everyone turned to the ladder as a brown rabbit came down the ladder. "I've got lots of twigs and dead grass in case any more of us come or we find those Trailblazers, I found a huge apple farm and figured we could ask them for some help with food and our Perfect Apple deficit. I was attacked by a couple of strange grass type hounds but they ran off after I used Fire Punch." Lopunny arrived at the bottom of the ladder. She looked at the large group in front of the way in. "Well, I was right that there would be others. Excuse me." She slipped past them with her bundle of stuff she was carrying. Bidoof called after her. "Wait! You... just went past the Trailblazers!" "I'll get excited over the coincidence when I'm not carrying bedding." She called back, hopping down the hall. Everyone was rather confused at what just happened, and when Lopunny came back Applejack was the first to speak. "When were you at my farm?" Lopunny thought. "Oh, about 20 minutes ago. I was there before I went into the forest. Oh hey, the Trailblazers are here. Who are you four Pokemon, and you seven... not Pokemon? "Sableye's with us." Blitzle said. "The three poison types are Team Skull, and these seven are denizens of this planet." ------------------------------------------------------------- There were many introductions and discussions, but eventually Twilight, her friends, and the Trailblazers left to grab their stuff for the train ride to Canterlot. "Hopefully nothing goes wrong at Canterlot. We're the diplomats, we can't cause a disaster." Ponyta worried. "Relax, everything will be fine." Blitzle said. "I just want to know what could have caused them to want us sooner than planned." For once, Sableye spoke. "Whatever it is, Darkrai can handle it, especially with us helping him out." She sounded like a little girl, but she spoke with the conviction of someone who knows everything. Twilight smiled. She was glad that every pony was in good spirits. They were on the train with Canterlot in sight. Nothing could go wrong here. At least, that's what she thought before the train car behind them exploded, taking half of their car with it.