4 - Meanwhile, Back In Ponyville....
Twilight sighed, and drained her cup of tea, promptly pouring a replacement. She stared at the stack of completed paperwork with a slow blink and sagging eyelids, the bags underneath surfacing. The incomplete stack was two centimetres tops. Twilight took the next bit, four pages, and began reading. Spike hummed happily as he came into the royal office. Twilight did not look up, until a whump sounded next to her. There stood an extra half-metre of neatly-stacked papers. Spike’s humming had not slowed. Twilight blinked at the additional things to process, and quietly whimpered to herself, blank-faced.
“Twiliiiight!! Help!”
{This is about the best panicked track I could think of...this, or the one from Chrono Trigger}
Twilight jerked fully awake as Starlight Glimmer rushed into the office with tears streaming down her face. Twilight’s mouth parted slightly as she raised an eyebrow at her sobbing student. She said, “What happened? I thought you were working on a new show routine with Trixie.”
“We were,” Starlight moaned. “But some strange creature came and attacked us, and it took Trixie away!”
“What!?”
“It threw some ball at me, but Trixie jumped in the way, and she disappeared into the ball! It used some magic as the ball opened and drug her inside after turning her into a bunch of green specks of light!” Starlight cried.
Twilight stood up, and tapped on her chin for a moment as she grimaced. She pulled her student into a hug. Unhappily she asked, “What kind of creature was it?”
Starlight choked on another sob. “Bipedal,” Starlight began, her breathing still fragmented.
“Not many things walk on two legs,” said Twilight.
“I know,” Starlight said. “But it stood upright, wore clothing, had hands and fingers like Spike—”
“Little, if any, fur on its face, but did it have some in the top of its head, like an extra-wide mane?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah,” Starlight said in surprise, drying her tears. “What was that thing?”
“A human,” grumbled Twilight. She turned toward the other door and yelled, “Spike! Get a blank scroll and my traveling quill!”
They started for the door through which Starlight entered as she asked, “What’s a human?”
“Remember me talking about that world through the mirror?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah…?”
“Those are humans.”
Starlight pursed her lips as Spike came into the room. She said, “Huh. Wait, didn’t you say you transform through the portal?”
Twilight nodded and frowned. “Yes, exactly. That’s what makes this disconcerting.”
“Are we going back to Canterlot High!?” Spike asked excitedly.
Twilight shook her head. As Spike deflated, she said, “Sorry. Starlight, you said you two were practicing in the Everfree Forest, right?”
“Yeah.”
Spike grumbled, “Do I really have to go? I’m not in the mood for Trixie’s antics.”
“Rarity went out to see Zecora. She may also be in danger.”
Spike snatched up a scroll and the quill. He bolted for the door, shouting, “Come on, Twilight, Starlight! There isn’t a moment to lose!”
Twilight shook her head with a sighing snicker as Starlight cracked a sad grin.
{Everypony’s feeling a bit down}
In a meadow, a sunbeam faded and reappeared as cumulus clouds passed overhead. Starlight Glimmer emerged from a rough foot trail, followed by Spike and then Twilight Sparkle. Starlight ran out into the clearing a short distance and stopped, looking around. She said, “It was right around in here, in this meadow.”
Twilight’s horn lit up. She began walking slowly towards a bit of tall grass, saying, “There’s some staining of the local magical energy over here.”
“You can detect that?” Starlight asked, stopping in her tracks.
Twilight nodded. “I see we’ll work on divination spells for your next magic lesson. You’re set on evocation and abjuration already.”
Starlight resumed searching the ground. Spike followed his finger with his eyes as he slowly walked around. Twilight peered into the tall grass. There she found the spilled jar of honey. She lifted it up, turning over its lid and the stamp on the bottom. A twig snapped somewhere nearby. Two horns charged for heavy attack magic and a little dragon put up his dukes, all three ready to square up with whatever made the noise. An equine shape pushed past the brush.
“Zecora! Glad it’s just you,” sighed Twilight as she deenergized her readied spell.
As both Starlight and Spike eased up, Zecora walked toward Twilight with a raised eyebrow. She asked, “Twilight, my dear friend, whatever do you mean? Is there a danger in the woods unseen?”
Twilight levitated the jar and its lid again. She continued looking over the inscription and embossed letters as she said, “There has been something here, and it left this jar.”
Spike asked, “How does a jar of honey tell you that?”
Twilight floated the lid over to her number one assistant, and said, “Have a look. Do you know of those places, or those other two alphabets? I do not.”
Spike took the lid and turned it a few times. “Let’s see...‘packaged in Floaroma Town, Sinnoh Region.’ Nope, never heard of either one. I guess these other symbols mean the same thing in some other language.”
“Let me see that,” Starlight interjected, snatching the lid in her aquamarine aura. She turned it over once, murmuring, “Yeah, there are two other languages on here. Much fewer symbols...one syllable per sound, you think?”
“And from a pictographic alphabet, both of them,” said Twilight.
“Thought so,” Starlight answered. “They don’t appear similar to any recognized alphabet.”
“Saw that too,” Twilight responded.
Zecora came up to them. “Let me see these letters so bizarre; many a moon I have traveled, so very far.”
Starlight floated the lid to Zecora. She scrutinized the unknown text for a moment, turning the lid within Starlight’s aura. She frowned, shaking her head and saying, “Sorry, Twilight, these words you show are from a language I do not know.”
Starlight resumed policing the ground, and said, “Visitor from far away is looking more and more likely. Why would anypony, or anything, intentionally spill honey on the ground?”
“Starlight,” Spike began, “what are you looking for? You’ve been staring at the ground since we got here.”
Starlight said, “That ball. I didn’t see which way the broken halves went.”
“There are other hoof prints here,” said Twilight. “I hope Rarity made it to your house okay, Zecora.”
Zecora cocked her head to one side. “Rarity, my guest? No. Last I saw her was moons ago.”
Spike stopped in his tracks, his hands falling to his side. His head slowly dropped to him staring at the ground. Zecora patted him on the shoulder, and gave him a side hug. Twilight began casting a spell, intently staring at something in the mud. She said, “Looks like we begin the magic lesson now, Starlight. Divination magic perceives what one ordinarily cannot, such as events too far to see or hear, the future, and what another is thinking and feeling. Right now, I am casting a clairvoyance and clairaudience spell, set to here, twenty minutes before you would have ran from this meadow.”
The others watched as a rectangle appeared before Twilight, one of the meadow. She said, “Okay, so you and Trixie are coming.”
“How do you know?” Starlight asked.
“Because you two are talking...why?” Twilight answered.
Starlight frowned. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Me neither,” added Spike.
“Oh,” said Twilight emptily. Her eyes widened for a moment, then her face went into her hoof. “Oh shoot, I know what I did wrong. Didn’t set both spells into the projection.”
“Don’t worry about it; Trixie wanted the trick to remain secret anyway,” Starlight sighed.
As the scene played out, Starlight narrated mostly in short, noncommittal sentences, pointedly leaving out any detail regarding the trick, despite it just being the two of them standing there talking and looking over a scroll while pointing at different sections on the parchment. Several minutes passed, including some laughing between the two, a small hug, then Trixie rolled up the scroll and tucked it under her hat. She and Starlight stood several paces apart, nodded at each other, then both horns started to glow. Suddenly a flash of light pierced the meadow, and an elliptical, shimming pane of a weird blue-white appeared. A figure stepped through, a young adult human male, wearing a white jacket with red accents, black trousers, red leather boots, and a white ball cap with a black circular symbol of sorts.
Spike gasped, “Just like those things at Canterlot High!”
Twilight tilted her head to one side as she said, “Different skin tone, though.”
The human appeared far too pleased with himself. Starlight and Trixie regarded this man suspiciously with their eyes as they shifted their weight back and to one side, as if preparing to turn and run. His mouth moved, to which Twilight’s face instantly slacked in horror. The man pulled a ball out of a bag and threw it at Starlight. Trixie shoved her aside and leapt in the way. The ball hit Trixie in the neck, and it popped open, dragging Trixie’s form into it as she melted away into a cascade of green sparks. Starlight hyperventilated, both in the image and in the flesh. All eyes were on the ball, which shook once, twice, thrice, and then was still. A sniffle echoed. Spike turned to look and saw tears rolling down Starlight’s face. In the projection, the human picked up the ball, with moving lips again. Twilight’s own lips curled in disgust while her eyes narrowed with nostrils flaring. Then the human quickly withdrew a second ball from the bag and threw it at Starlight again. She intercepted this ball with a quick horn blast, shattering its hinge. The two halves tumbled into tufts of weeds as Starlight turn and fled as fast as her legs could carry her before she disappeared into a flash of phthalo green light. The human threw his fist down and spun around with a stomp, putting his hands on his hips with a countenance laden with disappointment. With head shaking and moving mouth, he stood there for a moment. He looked at the ball that hit Trixie, and smiled, waggling his tongue silently in the image. The human then stepped back through the glowing ellipse, which flashed once and was gone. Twilight’s ears flattened as she glowered at the projection, which she dispelled.
“Just let it out, Starlight,” Spike said soothingly, stroking her mane.
Starlight sniffled as the tears began anew. “Should have tried to do some more....”
“It is good that for Starlight your concern is shown,” said Zecora sadly as she dug through the weeds. “But Rarity’s fate to us is still unknown.”
“A slaver,” spat Twilight. “That human’s a slaver! He came to Equestria to snatch up anypony he could! That’s what he was saying after you left, that he didn’t get the one he wanted, but he’d put Trixie to ‘good use!’”
“But...how do you know for sure, Twilight?” Spike asked in disbelief. “Is it because of that weird ball?”
Twilight grouched, “His tone of voice left no doubt.”
“A weird ball, that much is clear. But both its halves are right here,” said Zecora, carrying the two parts of the broken ball.
Twilight’s horn charged up, and a wafting miasma enveloped the Pokéball halves. The pieces bobbed and floated around within the spell’s confines at a lazy pace. Spike, Starlight, and Zecora all watched and waited with bated breath. Twilight murmured, “Hmm...now that is fascinating….”
Spike asked, “What is?”
“This ball uses an energy I’ve never seen before, but what I can tell you is that magic can also power it. An active flow of energy through the ball creates a self-contained pocket dimension, complete with necessary living conditions, which induces amiable thoughts and feelings towards the ball’s holder. While a creature can easily be captured by the ball’s energy and pocket dimension, or ‘magic jar’ as I’ve heard it called in spellcraft, it doesn’t necessarily have the strength to contain what it captured unless it has given up, submitting its will to whatever threw the ball,” explained Twilight, trailing off and still in thought.
Starlight protested, “There’s no way Trixie would’ve thrown in the towel that easily!”
“I know,” said Twilight. “But it appears to me that other creatures imbued with that same kind of energy have an easier time escaping the magic jar than us ponies. Trixie didn’t give up; she was overwhelmed. She just couldn’t break out. I’ll need to get this back to the lab for a more thorough analysis.”
“I see what you mean, that I need to work on divination,” breathed Starlight in awe. “And we need to find a way to pry open that portal! We have to save Trixie! I can’t just leave her!”
“Of course,” said Twilight sadly. “But we need to know where he took Trixie and how to get there before any rescue can be attempted. Carefully dig up the soil and burnt mosses by where it was; those we’ll also need to get back to the lab. It’s the only way we can learn how to recreate the way to wherever they came.”
Zecora helped Starlight with the scorched flora and dirt. Twilight carefully set the two halves of the ball in her saddlebags. Spike looked around the meadow and sighed, his eyes resting on the glop of spilled honey. Ants had already formed a parade to and from the sticky sweet stuff. A well-rounded divot in the mud caught his gaze. Spike gave the mark a long, hard look. He said, “Uh, Twilight? I might have something.”
Twilight walked over to him. Spike pointed at the small indentation. A spell charged, and Twilight swept the area with a magenta ray. She said, “I have a bad feeling about what we’re about to see.”
Another screen popped up, courtesy of Twilight’s spellcasting. For a moment, it was just an empty meadow. Then the portal opened. Another human, this one with orange hair on his head and chin, came through. He looked around several times, then took the messenger bag off his shoulder, rooting around in it on the ground. He withdrew a jar of honey. Putting the bag back on, he opened the jar and poured the honey on the ground.
“What a waste…,” muttered Spike.
Twilight shushed him. They all watched as Rarity approached, the mud thrown, the ball next, and his sudden teleportation out with the portal slamming shut after he disappeared. Zecora gasped, putting a hoof over her mouth. Starlight’s posture slumped as she murmured, “They got Rarity, too...we have two to save....”
Twilight’s lower lip quivered as her eyes went bloodshot. Flames flickered and danced along her mane. Starlight looked down, sighing long and low, and shaking her head. Zecora closed her eyes, softly and prayerfully speaking in another language. Spike expressed his sadness and frustration at this revelation in epic fashion.
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I'll admit, the angle from which this story is told is kind of usettling, as a lifelong Pokémon fan. The good kind of unsettling, though. Makes me interested to see where this is going.
Also, even if this never updates again (which I hope won't be the case)... dude, you got a baby. How you managed to be willing enough to write even this is beyond me. Know your priorities, and thank you for what's already here.
7647099 I agree
Hopefully there will be some good friendship lessons learnt from both Pokemon Trainer and the ponies.
I wonder if this story will end with a legendary pokemon battle?
Who else has watched tfs plays pokemon soulsilver nuzlocke? If you havent i fijd it kinda funny their starter a chicorita is naked Mr. Steak...or is it stake i cant remeber but i just thought of that unkillable monstrr when i saw the authers name.
Also great story trixie has got to be fairy fire
7647099
New coasters are on the list....
Thanks. The idea randomly popped into m' head (in June), and I've been slowly getting it down, very little on any given day. I'm gonna see if I can set aside some time, now that I've got this published. Even had to set aside typing this reply for a good hour and a half to attend to the little one, who decided to munch on a cork coaster, and then coughed up all her apple juice onto me.
I've played every generation of the game so far, and from time to time wondered what it was like inside the ball. I also watched m' suspension of disbelief fade away when considering how Rarity would take being in there, that everything sounds hunky-dory in-universe, but outside of it...looks not-so-innocent.
7647547 i love this fic
but one question with out spoilers: why the sex tag? just for sex jokes or is this going to get weird?
Have some data for Trixie:
Trixie
Psychic type
Ability: Magician
Nature: Quirky (or Modest, if you want to be cheeky)
Moves: Smokescreen, Bind, Swagger, Trick
7647630
Without spoilers...innuendo/jokes, and there are more to come.
7647570
Aengus is of questionable moral standing; he's gonna say and do things that might not jive well with ya'.
7647655
Not bad. Did somebody go and make a Pokémon dossier on all the major MLP characters already?
7647672
No, I just thought that up in like 5 minutes.
Anyway, I just had an idea pertaining to what I'd like to see happen. Assuming Twilight brings the rest of the Main Six, and they can't just rescue the two unicorns by force, It would be hilarious if they just traded Rainbow Dash for Rarity. It's a win-win: Aengus gets a better competitor for his league run, and Rarity doesn't have to get her hooves dirty. Plus, Dash would probably very much enjoy an excuse to punch monsters in the face until they faint.
7647547
Heh, who hasn't wondered about that at one point or another?
On a semi-related note: Have a random video on somebody else's idea of what it's like to be in the PC.
[youtube=eiUmCjNo-Gc]
You know at some point rarity will want to be in a different ball
:oh darling, you know that ball absolutely tacky and don't go with me at all,...
I don't know maybe the Premium Ball
7648154 Rarity would more likely want to be in a luxury ball
7648154
7649391
Already had a thought to this effect, and have something in mind. Be patient.
Will Keldeo make an appearance along the line?
7650342
You'll just have to keep reading to find out, ya know?
Havnt kept up with Pokémon enough to know any creatures or towns, but this is turning out to be a really good read! Can't wait till the next chapter is out.