Fluttershy, the Pokémon Tamer

by Derping Doo

The Mass Portal Production Project (DRAFT, CANCELED)

"So lemme get this straight: you try to feed us this ridiculous story about some crazy science project Princess Celestia's had you working on, you go back on your promise of not putting anyone in danger ever again by “accidentally" sending Fluttershy to who knows where, and now you expect us to help you build some sort of dimensional portal to try and fix your mistake?!" Rainbow Dash said, anger clearly visible on her face. “Well lemme tell you something, Discord: none of us are buying it, so knock it off and tell us where Fluttershy is right now!”

“Sending friends to other dimensions is not what you do for each other,” said Pinkie Pie.

“I just knew ya couldn't be trusted, ya filthy, devious snake," Applejack spat, glaring at Discord.

"I may have held faith in Fluttershy’s judgment, but I simply cannot ignore your reckless actions," Rarity added. "We should've been more cautious about you!”

Discord took in the small crowd of bewildered, angry faces staring at him. It had been an hour since he had congregated the rest of Fluttershy’s friends and broken the news to them of her disappearance. He figured once he brought the rest of Fluttershy’s friends to the library, he could explain everything to them and they could launch into his plan right away. While he had not expected the best of receptions, he certainly didn’t think that he needed Twilight to calm the four mares down before he could even begin to explain himself. Hm, he thought. Perhaps I should've offered them some cookies before breaking the news that I sent Fluttershy to oblivi—he shook his head.
Focus, Discord. Fluttershy’s in danger! He looked to Twilight, who simply gave him a look that said What did you expect? Clearing his throat, he spoke, "Well, it's nice to see how you girls are healthily airing out your frustration. We should continue this later, though. We really must begin our rescue efforts. Now, I'm going to need some of you to get us supplies. I need some gems, powerful gems. Perhaps some sapphires. Wait, that'd never work… A sapphire's elemental compound would never be able to sustain—"

"Um, hellooo? Are you even listening?!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

Discord frowned. “I’ve been well-informed of your justified anger towards me, which is why I’m making it my utmost priority to find a way to bring Fluttershy back. But to do that, I need the cooperation of each and every one of you. We don’t exactly have the time to sit here and bicker.”

"So we’re just supposed to blindly follow you and help you with this crazy plan of yours?” Rainbow asked.

“That’s the idea, yes,” Discord said. “You’d think a pony would catch on after you’ve explained it to them the first few times.”

“Why you little…” Rainbow said through gritted teeth.

“Rainbow’s right,” Applejack said. “You’re not in the best light right now, Discord. What makes you think we should be able to trust that you’re not just pawnin’ us and makin’ us help you complete your next step in takin’ over Equestria?”

Discord frowned. “Not to be rude, but think here for a moment. If my intent was to take over Equestria, why would I bother wasting my time talking to you four when I could have well-been through with throwing Equestria into chaos? Maybe through some “friendship” gobbledygook you five could find some way to encase me in stone once more, but recall that the only times I've ever been defeated have been through the Elements of Harmony. You girls no longer have your elements, so realistically, there's nothing stopping me, especially considering the fact that you’re one mare short of a full set. Fluttershy’s presence has little to nothing to do with my ability to do such a thing.”

“I knew it! Alright that's it,” Rainbow said, flying upward.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Twilight yelled. “He never said anything abou—”

Ignoring her, Dash bolted straight for Discord. “I’ve had it with you!”

Discord rolled his eyes. His upper body split off, leaving a gap right where Rainbow would've collided, instead flying harmlessly in-between him. Snapping his fingers, Discord turned the wall where she would've landed into a mass of pillows. Rainbow crashed into them with an “Oof”.

“First of all,” he said, his body popping back into place, “I'd like to know what made you think brute force would ever work on the being who can tear apart the very fabric of reality. Second, it's rude not to let me finish. I didn’t say I wanted to. My desire to wreak havoc is an entirely different thing than my ability to do so. I’m simply stating the fact that it makes no sense for me to be wasting my time here if I wanted to indulge in my old chaotic ways.” He flashed instantly to Twilight’s side. “And let’s also dispel the notion that Twilight is under my control or something just as incriminating. It’s far too confusing for me to keep track of the ponies I manipulate, so I apply a dark greyness to the coats of those I do. As we can see, Twilight’s coat is still her trademark purple. Isn’t that right, princess?”

“He’s right, girls,” Twilight said. “Rest assured that I’m in no way under Discord’s influence. I know it’s a lot to take in, but he really is trying to help. It’s like he said, if we want to get Fluttershy back, we’re all going to have to work together. All of us,” she repeated, looking at Rainbow Dash.

“You're actually defending him?” Rainbow asked, pointing at Discord, her face a mask of confused anger. “Guh, I can't believe this!”

“In the past, I'd see this as a golden opportunity to go out and have fun to my heart's content,” said Discord. “But as you can see, I'm right here, explaining my mistakes to you five. What would I have to gain by wasting my time alerting you ponies to all of this?”

“When you put it like that, I'm not sure what to believe,” said Applejack. “Fluttershy just up and vanishin’ like this has us all confused right now.” She pointed a hoof at Discord. “The fact that not even you know where she'd be doesn't exactly help your case.”

“ne of our closest friends is lost, and we don't even know where she could be!" Dash yelled, emotion clearly taking over.

"Rainbow Dash, calm down." Twilight said. "Yes, Discord made a terrible mistake, but—"

"A mistake?" Rainbow interrupted, scowling at Twilight. "Twilight, it's obvious that he got rid of Fluttershy so he could carry out some evil plan. He got her to trust him, and then he stabbed her in the back! We trusted her with him, and look what happened!"

"Yes, Rainbow. A mistake. Look, it makes sense to be mad at him. I know it's painful to not know whether or not Fluttershy is safe; I'm worried sick too! But Discord is trying to help us find her. If he had any intentions of causing mass chaos again, don't you think he'd have done something by now? I get that you want Discord to be punished, and believe me when I say I fully intend to do that, but right now, we can't afford to let our emotions control us. For now, we have to put them aside and focus on what's important: bringing Fluttershy back."

Discord stepped forward, locking eyes with Rainbow Dash. He sighed, turning his gaze to the floor. “Twilight’s right, you know,” he said. “Think what you want about me. It's all fair game. I don't expect you to just accept my plan with open arms. It makes sense that you'd be so hostile against me. I AM the reason Fluttershy’s missing, after all. You don't have to like me, or pretend to tolerate me. I know anyways that you girls only make the effort to be friendly with me for Fluttershy’s sake,” he said. The girls exchanged a look. “Normally it wouldn't even bother me; I always thought Fluttershy would be the only real friend I needed. But not having her here when I've messed up so badly feels awful. She would comfort me in this difficult time, but… she can't.” A tear rolled off of Discord’s cheek.

if we're to find Fluttershy in time before anything dangerous happens to her, we’ll all have to give our full efforts. I know I'm a playful, mischievous being at heart. It's in the very fibers of my being and, at the moment, I suppose you could say I'm using humor and sarcasm as a facade to mask my legitimate fear of having possibly doomed Fluttershy to some horrible fate. But grim times should be met with solemn actions.” He sighed. “I’ll quit the circus act. It's improper of me to keep laughing when Fluttershy could be in peril. I'll pitch in all of my effort to make sure we can find her in the fastest way possible. I only hope you can set aside your rage towards me to do the same.”

“Even so, I'm still rather skeptical about what you're telling us about employment under Celestia,” said Rarity. “I'd like some actual signs of validity from you.”

“I gotta side with em on that,” Applejack added. “I wanna take Twilight’s word for it, but if we're puttin’ our trust into ya, we’re gonna need ya to convince us 110%.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie chimed in. “I mean, I know magic and science can do some pretty awesome things, but this is a little hard to believe, even for me.”

“All valid points,” Discord said. “Lucky for you all, I think I know just how to do that,” he said, snapping his fingers. The six of them were instantly teleported to a strange, large room, various monitors and machines making a chorus of low buzzes and beeps.

The five mares looked around the place, taking in the vastness of the room, eclipsed by all of the technology crammed in there. As she flew off the ground to get a better look at the place, Rainbow Dash asked the question on everyone’s mind: “What is this place?”

“This is the main sector of the Canterlot Laboratories of Omnipotent Discoveries, or C.L.O.D., for short.” Discord answered.

“Um, wait... “ muttered Twilight, thinking of the implications of such an acronym. Ignoring her, Discord poofed closer to one of the smaller machines, where he fiddled with a few of the buttons, turning the machine's monitor on. The black screen came to life, displaying a sort of radar, with one single dot in the center.

“The dot you see here represents us; Equestria, i.e. our universe, or OU for short. What you see it displayed on represents the universal spectrum. Notice how there's only one dot on there?” Discord asked.

“That universe must be awfully lonely,” said Pinkie.

“Oh trust me, it's not as lonely as you think,” said Discord, before fiddling with the machine's settings some more. The screen blinked a few times, before it stabilized once more. Now, several dots appeared, scattered all over the screen, some in very close proximity to the center. “This certainly was a delightful discovery for me. You see, all of these new dots across the spectrum represent several different universes, new worlds we've never before seen. Some could contain different versions of our very selves, others could be entirely different worlds filled with different laws of nature, different types of beings!” he said excitedly.

“What exactly do ya mean by that?” Applejack asked. “Like, lava skies and shrimp creatures?”

“Well, that very well could be a possibility, but that's the beauty of it all: I don't know! The characteristics are so randomized, infinite possibilities can exist. So there certainly must be somewhere in the multiverse with shrimp creatures.”

Now it was Rarity’s turn for questions. “How, then, can you be sure that there exists other societies, other stable worlds out there that could sustain whatever random life they have?”

“That, Rarity, is something I do know. You see, while other factors like the environment and the inhabitants of such worlds vary drastically, there are fixed points in the characteristics of the multiverse that exist. And that is the structure of worlds. By that, I mean that even if a world like ours isn't inhabited by some shrimp society, a world just like ours does exist somewhere in the shrimp universe, let's call it SU. So many possibilities makes it so that a number of universes are out there where there are beings living on habitable planets like ours, even if they look nothing like us. Meaning that while our counterpart planet in the SU may not have any inhabitants, such a planet in another universe certainly would. And some of those universes could have us living on them, but with variations. Rainbow Dash could've been the Element of Generosity, Twilight could've been a stallion while the rest of you remained mares, Pinkie could be a white pegasus, anything is possible! It's so clumsily organized, I love it!” Discord cheered.

“Oooh, I could have wings?” a giddy Pinkie asked. “If I did, I'd sneak up on Dashie while she snoozed in the clouds and yell “Surprise!!”” she said, flapping her forelegs by her side and somehow matching Rainbow’s distance above ground.

Rainbow put her hoof on Pinkie’s head, slowly bringing them back to the ground. “Pinkie, you already do that,” she said. “Anyways, showing us some dots on a screen doesn't prove anything,” she told Discord.

Applejack nodded. “She's right, you know. Don't’cha got some stronger, concrete evidence? Somethin’ to show us what you're talkin’ about, clear as day.”

“Well, it isn't that far-fetched,” said Twilight. “I mean, I'm still trying to grasp the reality of how the students of Canterlot High shared the names, looks, and even behaviors of ponies here in Equestria. It's like, it was Equestria, but at the same time it wasn't. Who's to say there aren't other places like that?” she asked.

“Your little trip definitely was something to learn about.” Discord said, idly floating by. “Honestly, she assigns me to study the possibility of interdimensional travel, and doesn't even bother to tell me about a portal to another world! It's like she doesn't trust me to handle that mirror portal,” he grunted, crossing his arms.

“I wouldn't even trust Pinkie with something like that,” Applejack said, the slightest hint of a suppressed chuckle in her voice.

“Yeah!... Hey!”

“Well, no bother. She did let me study the portal afterwards. You know, now that it doesn't work?” he said, clearly annoyed. “Plus, it's fine for me to have possession of it--” he poofed, a miniature Discord reappearing on Twilight’s head”--seeing as how you're probably not gonna ever go back,” he said, leaning over Twilight’s head and looking into her eyes. Pinkie sneezed.

Twilight brushed him off. “And did you find anything?” she asked, a normal-sized Discord re-poofing onto a nearby chair.

Discord smirked. “That, we did.” He snapped his fingers, once again transporting the group. This time, they found themselves within a different area of the labs, more barren than the previous room. In it was a lone machine stationed at the back wall of the room, with several small devices scattered on the machine’s control board. In the center of the room stood an elevated platform. On it was a very familiar-looking mirror with several long wires attached to or otherwise scattered around it. Discord teleported to the machine while the others took in the room’s decor.

“Okay, so what's all of this?” Rainbow asked.

“This is sort of a work in progress, but think of it as a looking glass into the other world. Given Twilight's accounts of the universe within this mirror and the uncanny resemblance its inhabitants seem to have with Equestrians, we've decided to call it Equestria-B.
Our initial goal was to see if we could peer into this universe, what with the portal seemingly closed off afterwards. Of course, with my magic it wasn't that hard. Just watch,” he said, snapping his fingers. Some of the wires floated towards Discord while he fitted a sort of cybernetic glove onto his claw. The wires attached themselves to several ports on the glove, and Discord turned to the mirror, his claw shrouded in magic. The magic funneled itself through the tubes, making its way back to the dormant mirror portal. As the magic seeped into the mirror, the mirror began to glow, dull sparks at first, then a weak, flashing pattern, as if it was struggling to stay aglow. Finally, the glowing stabilized, bringing the mirror to life. The girls watched in wonder as a static-riddled image began to take form on the mirror’s glass. A massive plum-colored building appeared, its large white stairs and glass doors hosting the busy traffic of strange, bi-pedaled creatures. It didn't take long for Twilight to recognize this place.

“Canterlot High,” she said.

“Yes, yes, that's what I've come to know it as. And to think the bustling capital city of Equestria ends up being a well-fortified school in this other world. Though, I'm sure that's not what sticks out. I mean, just look at those creatures. Twilight’s seen them before--turned into one, even--but the rest of you must be awed by these strange things, aren't you?” Discord said

“So this is what the pony counterparts of this world looks like. Kind of a bit on the homely side,” Applejack said.

“I think they look fine. Although assuming that those are clothes on them, the wardrobe choice of a few of this world’s ponies could use some work,” said Rarity. “If they have the same standards as us, of course.”

“So like, what are they called?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, we don't exactly have an official name for this new species, but they do sort of remind me of some of the different kinds of apes we have here in Equestria. And given their vibrant palettes, I decided to call them “Rainbow Monkeys”. Although for some reason that name brings about the oddest sense of déjà vu,” said Discord, cupping his chin with his paw.

“Erm, “rainbow monkeys” is a little crass, don't you think?” Twilight asked.

“You mean on two legs?” said Twilight.

“But Discord, darling, you walk on two, um, “legs”,” Rarity said, pointing at his mismatched limbs.

“Oh please, how often do you see me walk with these things? It's much more convenient to teleport myself to where I need to be. I've hardly any need for them,” he said, grabbing his legs with his paw and popping them off. “See? Practically obsolete,” he said, now floating in the air. “Anyways, I'm referring to their apparent indifference towards their imprisonment in such a boring place like school. Look at them, walking all happily into that fun-trap.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “I don't think their ambition to learn is what's important. What matters is the rest of us actually seeing the world of Canterlot High for the first time. I mean, I had a pretty good image of what Twi was talkin’ about, but I gotta agree with you on the whole look of

(HEAVY REVISIONS REQUIRED)

sighed. "I suppose it would be in our best interest to… ‘trust’ Discord for the time being,” said Rarity. "If it means finding Fluttershy, I'll agree to provide all that I can.”

Applejack nodded. "As much as I sympathize with you, Dash, I have to side with Discord on this one. If anything he said about that space project is true, and it must be if Twilight’s trusting him enough to explain his crazy solution, and if Twilight thinks he'll be able to help us, then I'll trust him to do the right thing. Not like we have a lot of options available to us, anyway."

"The sooner we find her, the better!" Pinkie cheered.

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily, closing her eyes. She hated to admit it, but her friends were making a lot of valid points. Twilight was usually the one to come up with solutions in times of disaster, and she was letting Discord take the lead. The fact that she'd have to put her faith in Discord irked her, and she hated even more the fact that he was right: she couldn't afford to be uncooperative. Not if she wanted to find Fluttershy as soon as possible. "He wouldn't have to help us find her if he didn't send her away in the first place," she said to herself. She grunted, and flew to Discord, staring right into his uneven eyes. "I'll help you with this,” she said sternly. “You and Twilight tell us what to do, and we'll do it. But if we can't find Fluttershy after all of this, you should know that whatever punishment Twilight tries to give you will be nothing compared to what I'm gonna do."

"I second that," added Applejack, narrowing her gaze at Discord.

"Indeed," Rarity said, adding on to the collective glares.

Discord prepped a laugh out of habit, but caught himself. “I'm prepared to take whatever you can dish. But let's think on a more optimistic side. We should begin to compile supplies." He snapped his fingers, poofing out of the room, only to reappear just as fast, now carrying a massive, weathered tome. “You girls wouldn't happen to have any gems lying around, would you?". He flipped the pages frantically, stopping suddenly to a heavily marked page. "The research that I've been studying shows that gemstones can both amplify and alter magic, so we'll be needing some of them for our little 'project.'"

Rarity stepped forward. “If it's gems you need, then I can supply you with as many as possible. What type in particular would you need?"

Discord poofed behind her, bringing the book close for her to see. " I'm aware that you own a variety of gems, but mainly common expendables for your fashion designs. Simple gems like rubies and pearls wouldn't work. We're going to need gems of a much higher luster, and I know you have more, Rarity," he said.

Rarity studied the book, taking note of the vast uses for gems outside of fashion. "If it means contributing to Fluttershy’s rescue, then even my rarest of gems are expendable.”

"Indeed. But what exactly would fit the picture… amethyst? No, too unstable. Peridots? Too small…” he muttered, floating away from Rarity. Discord snapped his talons. A scroll and quill popped out of nowhere, Discord grabbing both with extra limbs. He scrutinized the tome, adding new gems and scratching out others to the scroll. “Ah, this should do it!”

Handing the scroll to Rarity, she read his list aloud, struggling from Discord’s jumbled handwriting. “Jadeites, topaz, black opals, emeralds, and sardonyx.”

“Some are extremely rare, but I know we can count on you to find them for us,” said Discord.

Rarity nodded. “Luckily for us, I happen to already have a few of the gems back at the boutique, though the rest will prove to be quite a challenge. I'll begin searching immediately.”

>>>

“I'll help!” Pinkie said, trotting to Rarity’s side. “The Pie family has a good sense of the land.”

“Good idea,” said Applejack. “Y’all should grab Spike on your way to the boutique. No one digs as fast as that dragon. ‘Sides, you're better off lookin’ for somethin’ with more eyes on deck.”

“True. Though I don't believe we should tell him why we're on a search beyond just excavating rare stones,” said Rarity. “I don't want him to be worried sick over Fluttershy.”

As Pinkie and Rarity began walking out of the royal library, Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “Aaare you sure about that? I think he deserves to know. Besides, I'm pretty sure he'll be extra motivated to help us if he knows what's at stake.”

“True… Still, we should be careful about…” Rarity’s voice trailed off, as now only four remained in the library.

(HEAVY REVISIONS REQUIRED)

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Nice chapter