37 - Coming Face-to-Face
{About time they met, isn’t it?}
Keldeo gritted his teeth as he heard eight whooshes as before, except as they ended, a thud of something heavy against the ground followed nearby in the tall grass. Then came the footsteps. Several shadowy figures approached, indiscernible in the low light. Rapidash growled softly as they fanned into a wedge formation. A feminine voice cautiously, yet hopefully, called out, “Rarity?”
Keldeo sighed a big breath of relief. “It’s the princess. We’re in luck.”
“Good,” said Rapidash, following suit.
Keldeo stepped out of the underbrush, saying loudly, “Princess Twilight? Over here!”
A much raspier female voice demanded, “And just who are you!?”
“Name’s Keldeo,” he answered. “I’ve been helping Rarity in her escape to return to you, but she’s been hurt badly.”
“Where is she?!” shrieked the second voice, half in anger, half in panic.
A light shined from the first one to speak, originating around her horn. The glow revealed a lavender winged unicorn, and seven pegasi flanking her, three to the left and four to the right. All of them wore armour. The light spread enough to show where Rapidash had hidden himself among the trees, next to Rarity. He waved the group over, as he said, “Right here.”
While the pegasi all rushed forward, Princess Twilight disappeared and reappeared almost instantaneously, with a magenta burst at both her exit and reentry into reality, beside Rapidash. She gasped and blanched upon looking at the unconscious Rarity. The pegasus with the prismatic mane and tail arrived next, and shrieked, “NO!!! RARITYYYY!!!”
“Oh...ohhh...,” breathed another pale blue pegasus with a grey-white mane and tail while Rapidash edged closer to his marefriend, shooting guarded looks at the gathering ponies.
The princess charged her horn. As she did, her mane and tail both sparkled as they wafted gently like cloth underwater. A soft green light surrounded Rarity. She said, “There. That’ll start healing her, but it will take time.”
Among the pegasi was one, and only one, stallion. With a pronounced gap between his words, he bluntly demanded, “What happened?”
Keldeo recounted their struggles, starting with escaping Koga’s squad of high-power Crobats. When he finished, Twilight added to the green glow around Rarity as she asked with suppressed venom, “How did you break her free of that Aengus person?”
Rapidash sniffled and looked down, but said nothing. Keldeo closed his eyes, and lamented, “He...gave his life to protect her. Blocked Koga’s poisoned dart and throwing star with his own body, and died.”
Eight stunned faces stared at him, then at Rapidash as he slowly nodded, a few tears silently trickling down. The one orange pegasi sighed deeply, rubbing at the back of her head. She asked, “Where did he get the drop on her so well?”
“The Johto Daycare,” Rapidash said miserably, stroking Rarity’s mane. “Apparently Paddy got to Aengus, and got it into his head to breed her the way he had that other pony...whatever her name is, can’t remember.”
Several of them scoffed. Flames danced along the princess’s mane for a second, while Keldeo looked away in disgust. The prismatic one cussed loudly and profusely enough to make a sailor blush, with enough violent promises for a warlord to tell her to dial it back some. A long uncomfortable silence followed. Then the princess walked up to Keldeo and said, “I think you need to tell us the whole story, of when you left to find her and why.”
Keldeo said, “Of course, but can we have introductions first?”
“If you didn’t know, I’m a Rapidash,” said Rapidash.
“Rainbow Dash,” answered another with a skeptical eyebrow. Slowly she said, “You’re...awfully protective of Rarity.”
With a subdued glare, he answered, “She’s my love. Of course I’m protective!”
“Oh dear...,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head. Rainbow Dash facehoofed, and several others commented quietly among themselves. Twilight continued, “This will have to be addressed once she’s awake. I do not want to have to repeat the explanation.”
“That tone worries me,” Rapidash answered cautiously.
Twilight tersely replied, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Another tense silence hovered over the gathering. The stallion pony cleared his throat and said, “Well, since you wanted introductions, my name’s Soarin’.”
The other ponies followed suit. “Spitfire.”
“Fleetfoot.”
“Misty Fly.”
“Stormrider.”
“Merry Weather.”
“And I’m Twilight Sparkle. So, Keldeo, what’s your story?”
Keldeo gave his account, starting with his sensing the other-worldly power from The Great Marsh and deciding to investigate, explaining up to him, Rarity, and Rapidash breaking out of the Daycare. Twilight extrapolated from his timetable that he felt the idol’s initial opening of the portal to Equestria. Satisfied that he had done his duty, Keldeo turned to leave, but Twilight stopped him. She said, “There’s one thing that does not make sense to me.”
“Yes?” Keldeo asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Why didn’t you talk to us before you set out to find Rarity? That would have saved us all a tremendous amount of trouble and hassle,” Twilight answered curtly.
Keldeo looked around to find eight disapproving pony faces looking back at him, and a disappointed scowl from Rapidash. He frowned, and said, “What’s with the look?”
“It doesn’t sound like you went to find her for the right reasons,” answered Rainbow Dash. “That wasn’t out of the goodness of your heart.”
Keldeo scoffed, “Preventing war isn’t out of the goodness of one’s heart!?”
“Not for those reasons,” Rapidash spat. “And also not with your attitude towards her! I don’t recall a single kind word! Always grouching about how she is, or what’s she’s been through and done about it, and so on! Saying you’d be content to abandon her to her fate, were there not such consequences hanging over your head!”
Snarling, Keldeo retorted, “Doing what’s right, even when you don’t want to, is part of justice! Part of my job! It’s what I must as one of the four Swords of Justice!”
“More like ‘Sword of Vigilantism,’” Fleetfoot grumbled, rolling her eyes.
“No kidding!” Rainbow Dash joined in.
“Yeah,” Soarin’ said.
Keldeo whirled around at Fleetfoot, barking, “Exactly what the hell is that supposed to mean!?”
Fleetfoot smirked, and haughtily answered, “Presuming your judgment and yours alone are what matter? You branded them all the same. I can understand why you have a problem with the humans, but not all of them are the terrible creatures you paint them to be. There have been many that happily offered us food, water, and a dry place to rest when we’ve been out on patrol.”
“Whatever,” Keldeo muttered as he turned to go.
A magenta rope materialised around Keldeo’s ankles, dropping him to the ground with a thud. He growled upon looking at it. With her horn twinkling, and her wings spread wide, Princess Twilight slowly walked toward him, saying, “You are not done here yet. One, you never answered my question.”
Keldeo looked expectantly at Twilight. After a pause, he demanded, “And two?”
“We’ll get there after you answer my question,” she said flatly. “Why didn’t you talk to me before you set out to find her?”
Keldeo grunted. With a frown he said, “I didn’t know if I could trust you ponies, and still am questioning it right now. Think about it from my perspective: unknown powerful creatures create a break into the world, and show a willingness to use said power for whatever reason. For the first time, there’s real magic happening in front of any of us. Never made any sense to me why you didn’t just magic them back to your side. I mean, that’s what magic does, right? It’s what you should have done from the start, right!?”
Twilight scowled. “Casting spells is not the same as granting wishes, Keldeo! I can do a great many things with my horn, but just ‘magicking’ somepony back to me isn’t feasible.”
“So what’s the point of it then!?” Keldeo spat angrily as the magenta rope fizzled away. “Why have magic if it doesn’t work like magic!?”
“Magic takes the knowledge of how energies work, the skill and control to weave it, and the power to push the desired effect into reality!” Twilight yelled. “What you’re saying is possible, but nopony has that much raw magical power at their beck and call!”
“So you’re saying you’re not good enough,” Keldeo smarted off with an eye-roll.
Twilight took a step toward him. “You need to stop. For somepony, or rather, something that claims to be a ‘Sword of Justice,’ you sure aren’t acting justly. Accusations and insults like that, assumptions about a power you don’t understand and poor conclusions that result from them, and your self-righteous reasoning. Every solution breeds new problems; the goal is to have the new problems smaller than the old. It’s for this reason that the means justify the means, not the ends. How you go about a problem is at least as important as the problem itself, since even a failed solution will bring about more issues. Can you now see what you’ve wrought in your unannounced assistance?”
Keldeo looked down, frowning and scowling as one does when one wants to argue a point but cannot. Twilight shook her head slowly, then continued, “With that, we come to Two: you have some serious soul-searching you need to do to be worthy of your title. You’re better than this; you know you’re better than this and have done better. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice: you know you’re trying to justify what you know you shouldn't have done or said. You lost your way, but you can still turn back.”
Still looking away, Keldeo bitterly and softly said, “And exactly where should I start, Your Highness?”
“Maybe go find your uncles again, the three you mentioned in your story,” said Twilight sadly. “Ultimately, I can’t tell you what to do. This is something you have to figure out for yourself.”
Keldeo bowed his head and nodded. He stood, and without another word nor look to anyone else, he walked off into the woods. All the others watched him go, continuing to look where he left for a good minute or so after he was out of sight.
Rapidash sighed, and said, “I can understand how he became so...so...crud, what’s the word?”
“I think you’re looking for ‘jaded,’” Twilight said.
“Good enough,” Rapidash said, stroking Rarity’s mane. “He’s much older than any of us, unless I’m badly mistaken. And during that long life he’s seen much too much trouble and strife, courtesy of humans.”
“Enmity with the worst of humans doesn’t matter; not talking to us first just made no sense whatsoever,” Twilight answered.
Rapidash nodded. “I wasn’t arguing that.”
“Hey, Twi,” Rainbow Dash butted in, earning a frown from Rapidash, “shouldn’t we be teleporting back to The Great Marsh right about now?”
“Not yet, for two reasons. First, that healing spell must be given time to complete. Arcane contusions easily leave permanent damage, which is why we tell foals not to cast with certain injuries. My magic is repairing that; teleporting before it finishes will assure any remaining injury is incurable. As it stands, her vision and hearing will be affected for a few days, maybe two weeks,” Twilight reported.
Rapidash raised an eyebrow, and rotated an ear. He looked across the ponies, and asked, “And the other?”
Twilight tried to not smirk. “The other is that Starlight has already depowered the return rod for the night. She’ll need to rest, same as we do.”
“So we’re sleeping here tonight?” Rainbow Dash asked, mostly but not completely masking fear and apprehension.
Soarin’ spread his wings and started toward the lake. “We left the tents over there. I’ll be back in a moment.”
“No need,” Twilight said as her horn charged. A magenta sphere burst nearby, followed by clattering wood. The General and Sky Commodore immediately began setting up one of the tents. Twilight continued, “Everypony pick of tent-mate. I got Dash.”
“Which one of us?” Rapidash asked flatly.
Twilight snorted, smiled, and shook her head almost in unison. “Her, of course. We brought an extra tent, in case we found her and could not get home overnight. Just...just don’t go and, uh...um, don’t....”
“What she saying,” Rainbow Dash began threateningly, “is don’t do anything that I’ll make you regret!!”
“Good gravy, you need to take it down a notch!” Rapidash retorted angrily.
“Clipper?” Spitfire asked with hint of a lilt, mischievous grin, and half-lidded eyes.
Soarin’ slowly walked over to his captain with a hungry stare and knowing smile, firmly saying with strong anticipatory overtones, “You know it.”
Fleetfoot just shook her head with a smile, rolling her eyes. While she and Misty Fly took the second-to-last tent, Twilight scoffed quietly. Looking Rainbow Dash in the eye, she warned, “You’d better not pick up those bad habits.”
“Don’t worry; I’m really not interested in having a coltfriend right now,” Rainbow Dash sighed, sounding like one who has grown tired of giving the same story all day.
Twilight whispered into Rainbow’s ear, eventually trailing off, “Uh, Dash, I don’t think they’re, uh, that they’re...how do I say this...Spitfire and Soarin’ aren’t dating. They’re just....”
“Casually humping?” Rainbow whispered back. “It’s no secret.”
“You absolutely don’t need to start doing that!!” Twilight whispered harshly.
“Geez, Twi, you need to loosen up,” Rainbow answered. She then snickered for a moment. “Ha! ‘Loosen.’ Should we call in Flash from the Crystal Empire? Ha ha!!”
Blazing scarlet, Twi hid her face while Stormrider and Merry Weather finished their tent and began setting up the one for Rarity and Rapidash. Misty Fly nudged Rainbow in the side hard enough to get a wince, grouching, “Too far, Crash.”
“Sorry.”
Rapidash shook his head, then cut off everypony else who drew a breath to speak, “How long until the spell completes?”
“Likely morning,” Twilight said as her blushing faded away. “She should wake up once she’s healed.”
General Merry Weather bowed and asked, “Your Highness, I meant to ask earlier, what is the plan about this Padraíg fellow, and getting that last ‘Twixie’ from him?”
“When I use my magic to search for Rarity last night, I noticed where the last Twixie was, too,” Twilight said. “They weren’t far off the coast then. They had to have docked by now. With any luck, he should be in Pastoria when we get there, answering that call Blue put out for him. For now, we all should just get some sleep.”
Sunbeams reached into the tent through the slight gap in its entry flaps. Rapidash held Rarity close, having been awake, but not by much, for the last forty-five minutes. The green glow from Twilight’s spell seemed to sink into Rarity, leaving no trace. A sudden, sharp inhale drew Rapidash’s attention and exiled his remaining fatigue. Rarity groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She smacked her lips, then closed her eyes again as she stretched out her legs. Turning her head slightly, Rarity broke into a sleepy smile as she saw Rapidash. She snuggled closer to him as she softly but happily said, “Hey you.”
“Hey,” he answered, holding her close. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been asleep for a year,” answered Rarity with a yawn. “I...can’t remember how we got here, or where here is, but if I’m with you, everything is all right.”
Rarity sighed contentedly, rubbing his forelimbs. Rapidash asked, “What do you last remember?”
Rarity turned toward him, and planted one on his lips. Then she crawled up him a little. She gave his ear a little lick, then gently nibbled near the tip. He gasped in sudden arousal. She softly giggled, then huskily whispered, “Something amazing.”
“Um, babe,” Rapidash began shakily, “We’re not exactly alone right now.”
“Forget Keldeo,” Rarity cooed amid her ministrations.
Rapidash exhaled slowly, followed by a sharp inhale. He held his breath a moment, and through a slight whimper he uttered, “Twilight’s here....”
“Twilight!!?” Rarity shrieked in welcome shock, sitting bolt upright while releasing his ear and removing her left front hoof from somewhere below his navel, assuming Pokémon have navels. It was not until then that she had noticed the tent was of green canvas, and had a stencil print of the Equestrian Royal Army. She burst out of the tent door. Hers was the second to the right in a straight line of five, evenly-spaced identical tents. There around a campfire sat several pegasi in armour. Wonderbolts. Two soldiers. And two familiar faces. All of them turned at the sound of the tent door flapping.
“RARITYYYY!!!!” screamed Rainbow Dash, dropping her coffee and flying toward Rarity, forelimbs open wide. Rarity braced her hind legs as she had learned from her battles, soaking Dash’s momentum while only sliding ten centimetres, if even that. Rainbow clenched Rarity in a tight hug, bawling on her shoulder. Rarity sniffled once before crying her eyes out too, holding her long-time friend tightly. Then they were almost tackled from the side, as Twilight joined them in both hugging and wailing in relief.
Twenty-five minutes passed before eyes had dried enough to talk. Another fifteen had passed as Rarity recounted her adventures, with Rapidash filling in the missing day and a half. Rarity sobbed for Fearow’s passing, especially for the circumstance and her mental state. The other ponies, too, slouched at the shoulder some as their eyes glistened, corners of mouths lowering. Rarity pressed up close to Rapidash, who nuzzled her amidst her tears.
Twilight breathed out hard, then asked, “After suffering the concussion, and using strong magic, I have to ask how you’re feeling, or if anything looks or sounds off.”
Rarity looked around for a second and said, “Everything’s...a bit pastel, if you understand me. And what I’m hearing sounds dulled.”
Twilight nodded. “Minor hearing obstruction and your cones aren’t sending as much info as they should? All told, pretty darn small, compared to what many others have suffered. Glad that’s all. A few days in the hospital should be enough to undo that.”
“Good,” said Rarity. “I can’t design any fashion if I can’t see colours correctly.”
Twilight smiled, but nodded unhappily. “There’s...one other thing I need to address right now.”
“What is it?”
{But they cannot be together.}
“I’m sorry about this, but you’ll have to leave him behind, Rarity,” Twilight said sadly.
“What?! WHY!!?” Rarity sharply demanded as her tears returned, but in anger.
Twilight started toward Rarity with a solemn expression. “Because if our two words remain in constant contact, allowing our unique energies to run between each other, we’ll get the attention of something we want to never find us. Let me show you want Princess Celestia and Princess Luna scryed.”
With that, Twilight touched her fully charged horn to Rarity’s. The vision passed via magic. Rarity shook as the spell ended, looking just ghostly. Had she been any paler, she may have been partially transparent. Rapidash just scowled and snapped, “What!? Am I not allowed to know?!”
“I don’t know the ins and outs of Pokémon energy as I do Equestrian magic,” Twilight answered. “I’m not sure if I can pass the vision to you, let alone without causing injury.”
“Is there nothing you can do? No way to bring him over safely?” Rarity asked emptily, staring vacantly at nothing in particular.
“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure something out,” Twilight sighed.
“Um, Your Highness?” Spitfire began, pointing at the rod in her possession. Its glow had returned.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Break camp; we’re returning.”
“Your Highness?” General Merry Weather said, withholding a chuckle. Twilight turned to see that the tents had already been packed back in their bags, and had been distributed among the Wonderbolts to carry.
“Is there an echo out here?” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, getting a slight nod from Fleetfoot.
“Oh. Heh heh...right,” Twilight said sheepishly. She shook her head, then ordered, “Everypony by me!”
Rapidash stepped forward. In heartache he pleaded, “Can I at least see her off?”
Twilight paused for a moment, then nodded. He joined the others as Twilight’s horn powered up. Rarity cuddled beside, and mournfully said, “I would have kept you by my side, for a long as I could imagine.”
“I know,” Rapidash answered. He looked at the glowing rods, and Twilight’s horn, and asked, “Could somemon explain to—somepony, sorry—what’s going on?”
“Point-to-point teleportation,” Twilight answered. “I can teleport myself long distances, or several a reasonable distance, but to teleport this many that far, I need a bit of assistance. These rods you see are for departure; there’s a much bigger and stronger one for our return.”
With that, they all disappeared in a magenta burst.
{Somepony is about to kill a human....}
Upon rematerialising, Rarity found herself in the battered remains of a marshy wildlife preserve, standing on a stone block platform. A shimmering, blue-white oval was a few paces away, along with many armoured soldiers with spears drawn, all facing and pointing their weapons to her left. She turned leftward and saw Starlight Glimmer standing there, with a charged horn, glaring with her upper lip curled in disgust. Continuing to turn showed Rarity the green-eyed Trixie, captured in Starlight’s signature crystal prison, crying. Further over was the real Trixie, horn charged and parallel to the ground, pointed at Paddy, who was pressed against a tree. Through her tears, the green-eyed Trixie screamed and begged, “Mama, please don’t!!! Please!!”
Trixie’s eyes flicked to her daughter for a split second. At that moment Paddy turned to run, but Trixie fired a spell. Magic rope appeared, tying his feet. He splashed face-first into the mud. As he pushed himself up, Trixie stepped down on the back of his head with her right-front hoof, shoving his face back into the mud until his ears were just above the surface. His arms started flailing and he tried turning his head to no avail. Trixie snarled, “Every word of that was bullshit!! You put Trixie through hell, and foalnapped my daughter! Turned my sweet little girl into a killer!!”
Rarity looked around and saw two pony soldiers lying in the mud, dead. Green-eyed Trixie screeched, “MAMA, PLEASE!!!!”
“You’ve earned this!!” Trixie snapped while Paddy’s arms continued to flail.
A magenta sphere burst next to Trixie, revealing Twilight hovering. She put a hoof on Trixie’s shoulder and quietly said, “No, Trixie. Don’t stoop to his level.”
Trixie looked over at Twilight, still scowling. Then looked down at Paddy, back to Twilight, then back to Paddy. With a snarl, she shoved his head completely under and let him go. Paddy immediately pushed himself out, scraping the mud from his mouth and nose, deeply gasping and rushing air into his lungs. Starlight let the green-eyed Trixie go, who immediately rushed over to Paddy and pulled him into an embrace, still crying. As Paddy caught his breath, he said, “Come on...let’s go.”
“No. You two need to come with me,” Twilight said.
“Piss off,” Paddy said as he turned to leave.
Both he and the green-eyed Trixie found themselves in a magenta aura, off the ground, and floating in the direction of the portal. Twilight curtly retorted, “I wasn’t asking you to; I was telling you to. I’m in the midst of preventing any further disaster to both worlds, and I need her cooperation. You, however, aren’t necessary, but I thought I should extend you the courtesy of seeing what’s going on. If you don’t want to come, you can stay put while I take her. Either way, she’s coming with me.”
“And if I refuse?!” spat the green-eyed Trixie.
“You won’t,” said Twilight as she pulled the green-eyed Trixie closer with the spell, “because I’m gonna show you what we’re stopping.”
Rapidash grouched, “So she gets to see, but I don’t!?”
Twilight sighed, nodding. She looked over at Rapidash a moment, and sadly said, “She’s part pony. I can pass the vision safely.”
With that, she touched her powered horn to the green-eyed Trixie’s. A moment later, Twilight removed her horn, watching closely. The green-eyed Trixie stared expressionless, and perfectly still, but lost control of her excretory system. With a dead voice she quietly said, “Okay...I’ll come willingly.”
As all the others started toward the portal, Rapidash and Rarity looked each other in the eye, tears starting on both sides. The portal flashed once as Rapidash lamented, “So this is goodbye, isn’t it?”
Rarity buried her face into his chest and sobbed, “I don’t want to go. I want you to stay with me!”
He cried, “I know, my love. I know. But you must, if the danger is as real as you’re all convinced.”
Barely intelligible, she blubbered, “I...I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Rapidash barely got out, nuzzling her.
The green-eyed Trixie watched them, now freed from Twilight’s magic. She looked down with a sigh, and started, “Princess Twilight?”
“Yes?”
{There is still hope for her.}
“Is it possible to pass my pony aspect to him?” asked the green-eyed Trixie, looking over at Rarity and Rapidash, who both turned toward her.
Twilight bobbed her head in thought. “I...don’t know. We can try, if you’re sure you don’t want to live in Equestria, with your mother and siblings.”
Snorting, the green-eyed Trixie huffed, “Sorry, but I would never give up being a Pokémon. I love this life. Moreover, I’m not leaving Paddy.”
Trixie gave her daughter a long, hard look. She pressingly asked, “Are you absolutely certain about that?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I can take his Pokémon aspect, so that the two sides are preserved.”
“You think you’re gonna get a power boost from this, don’t you?” Twilight said disapprovingly. The green-eyed Trixie shrugged with faux-innocence. Twilight shook her head and said, “Yeah, you’re Trixie’s kid, all right.”
Trixie snapped, “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean!?”
“Forget about it; let’s just go home,” Twilight said. As a group, they all flashed and disappeared with the portal flashing with them.
All the ballistae and springalds were still pointed at the portal, earning a squawk from all those present who had not seen them before. Rarity yelped, “Twilight Sparkle! What kind of ‘friendship’ do you call these!?”
Twilight sighed, “That was on Luna’s order, not mine....”
Paddy whistled a long note, looking across the siege weapons pointed at them. He looked over at Twilight, then back at all the oversized crossbows. He said, “You ponies were just as scared of us overpowering your world as we were of you, am I right?”
“We didn’t know what to expect, as Rarity and Trixie were so effortlessly captured,” Twilight answered.
“I see,” said Paddy with a frown. “So that’s a yes.”
Twilight nodded slowly. Rapidash sighed, “If you ponies and humans had just friggin’ talked to each other...!!”
Twilight nodded in concession. “Yes, you’re right. We should have talked to them first. So much went wrong because of that.”
“Well,” Rarity said, “at least now, we can finally—yeouch!!”
{Yet one refuses to let it go right.}
Rarity craned her head back. There she saw a blowgun dart in her flank. Then her breathing began to turn rough, and her legs shook. A sinister laugh echoed as Rarity began to foam at the mouth. Rapidash yelled, “Honey...!?”
Twilight turned toward the laughter’s source. There, beside one of the springalds, seemingly out of nowhere, Koga stood up straight, blowgun in hand and a wide sneer on his face. Paddy snarled, “Koga, what the hell!?”
Koga continued his savage laugh. Rarity could not keep her balance. As she fell into Rapidash’s awaiting embrace, Koga triumphantly yelled, “Fukushuu wa watashi no monodesu!!”
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To not spoil anything, I'll just post my reaction.
Well, fuck.
god dammit Koga
Koga. You. Dense. Mother. Fucker.
At this point he's no longer holding the Idiot Ball, he IS the Idiot Ball.
Please tell me Starlight is gonna peel his skin off like a banana.
And... things were going so well! We were just making progress! I wanted to see what came from that trade idea! Why dammit! Do these people have any sense! It's like every time someone talks sense into someone else, a third party shows exactly how idiotic they can be!
Koga is still alive? How did he manage to penetrate so many layers of paranoid Equestrian defenses? At least Twilight and Starlight can power up some world breakers, if not get this years request off Discord?
Rarity is one of the critical parts of Equestrias most powerful defence. Koga just did the equivalent of successfully nuking the white house.
So is that it for Keldeo then? Or will he come back in the conclusion?
Though to be honest again I was hoping for more of a reaction to Keldeo's appearance like before. And I gotta say I wasn't a fan of this kind of Keldeo persona wise honestly and coming from one who is a fan of him it actually hurts that there was barely anything likable about him (which seems to be an ongoing problem with this fic in general but I'll go into more details once this is finished). Not to say it is bad, but there are some distinct flaws that I like to address.
If best pony dies I swear I'm gonna Mary Sue my way into the narrative and freakin' kill him.
dear koga NOW YOU DONE BUCKED UP...... nuff said
WTF Koga I mean really.
Calling bullshit.
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Dude’s never been one to let logic and sense get in the way.
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Kinda like life, isn’t it?
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He managed to get past everypony unseen, in his seemingly invisible state. We saw the portal flash when he went through it...right before Rapidash said “So this is goodbye, isn’t it?”
And...it’s gonna get heavy, one more time.
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Okay...keep in mind, the only canon info I had on Keldeo came from Bulbapedia; they say effectively squat about his personality there, and not very darn much about his backstory. Since he’s usually young, or very young, I thought to m’self how about an old Keldeo? One whose seen it all go wrong too many times? Just as (yet another) break from the usual Ponymon fic.
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On...?? There’s many things here.
8271720
I'll buy that Koga can disguise himself, hide in plain sight, or go unnoticed around other humans where posture, body language, and positioning can completely fool casual observance. I cannot believe under any circumstances he passed through an incredibly well guarded constantly observed choke-point into an alien environment where any human, humanoid, or otherwise shape would not blend in whatsoever. Especially in that ruddy red cape he's so proud of.
That is, for me, the dividing line between suspension of disbelief, and naruto levels of bullshit -- which at least tries to make sense in its own context.
8272013
I actually have a fairly logical explanation for that: Pokéballs work on the ponies, since Equestrian magic is close enough to a Pokémon’s energy that the device can target it to. So...why not a Repel? Of course, as soon as he makes an attack, his presence is known, thus...no longer any good. It’s how he was unnoticed at the Daycare; it’s how he seemed to appear out of nothing at the Cerulean Bridge, because that’s when its effects were cast aside...and it’s what happened here.
Sorry if the explanation doesn’t suit you, but it’s what I’m rolling with.
8272013
Don't forget about that flashing portal.
That bastard gave away even cutie mark crusaders doped with invisible potion.