• Published 4th Feb 2020
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A New Body, A New Voice - Nitro Indigo

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Chapter 1: Poison Point

Author's Note:

The original version of this chapter was called “Welcome to the Jungle”, published on the 4th February, followed by a revision called “Awakening in the Jungle” on the 8th.

Autumn Blaze couldn’t remember how long it had been since she had been sent into exile. She had once marked each passing day with a tally chart on a nearby rock, but she’d long since ran out of room. From her vantage point on the edge of the cliff, she had watched the rainy and dry seasons come and go in the savanna below, but the view served as her only companion in her lonely, repetitive existence. She knew there was a wider world out there, full of thriving kingdoms, advances in magic, and most importantly of all, theatre… but it seemed like she'd never be able to see any of it from where she was now, even in the long lifespan of a kirin.

So it was a pleasant surprise when she exited her shack one morning to see a funny-looking bird frantically hopping out of the jungle. She had spent far too much time watching the local birds out of boredom - to the point that she had stacks of parchments covered in poetry about them - and it looked far too dull and chubby to be any of them. It stared at her longingly with its oval-shaped eyes, which only added to its out-of-place look, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. The poor thing clearly wasn't able to fly, but it didn't look injured either. Maybe it was a fledgling that had fallen out of its nest - no, a fledgling wouldn't come all the way out here. So what did it want? She was perplexed for a moment, until a realisation hit her: it must be hungry!

She used her telekinesis to pluck a few red berries - her favourite food in the whole wide Peaks of Peril; they had a wonderful sweet and sour flavour - out of a tree at the edge of the jungle, hoping it was a herbivore. When she placed the berries down in front of the bird, it furiously pecked at them like it had never eaten before in its life, getting juice all over its short beak. Autumn Blaze couldn’t help but chuckle slightly.

The bird tweeted in a way that sounded almost like words - or more specifically, the same word repeated over and over again - but not quite there. It sounded grateful, but also confused, and there was still a nervous look in its eyes. It didn’t take her long to realise why. Having lived in silence for so long, Autumn Blaze had gained the ability to pick up on even the faintest of noises. Now, she could hear a buzzing sound coming closer and closer and closer…

She looked towards the jungle to see a giant hornet with spears for arms flying towards her. No, calling it “giant” was an understatement. Giant hornets were about as long as one of her toes - and didn’t make honey, as she knew all too well. This hornet was gigantic, about the same height as her. If the frowned look of its saucer-like red eyes was any indication, it was also very, very angry.

Autumn Blaze stood perfectly still, hoping it would go away. That was the best way to deal with hornets, right? Except, she quickly realised, the hornet wasn’t coming towards her; it was coming towards the bird. It leaped behind the rock in terror just as the gigantic hornet was right in front of them. There was a clink sound as the hornet’s spears, one after the other, struck the rock hard enough to chip off gravel. Were they as hard as steel?

A second later, the hornet furiously buzzed as it noticed the bird behind the rock. Without even thinking, Autumn Blaze lunged towards it as her entire body was engulfed in flames, tackling the hornet to the ground. At the same time, the hornet stabbed a spear into her side - hopefully, her nirik fire would be hot enough to cauterise the wound. The hornet quickly pulled the spear out - she noticed that the tip was singed - and then it collapsed, covered in scorch marks.

Had she… killed… it…? No… its wings were still twitching.

As Autumn Blaze returned to normal, the bird hopped out from behind the rock and frantically tweeted at her in a grateful tone, before its eyes widened in shock. She wondered what the problem was… until she noticed that there was a splash of purple liquid spreading across her cream fur, along with a small but sore stinging sensation. She hurried towards her shack and lifted up a tall, thin jug of water, desperately pouring it over the wound. While it did wash all the venom off her fur, it didn’t help with the pain one bit. What to do, what to do…

As she frantically looked around, the bird pulled a long, green piece of cloth off her washing line and dropped it over her back. She used her telekinesis to tie it together, creating a makeshift bandage.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” she exclaimed.


Later that morning, Autumn Blaze was laying down in her shack, the bird perched on her desk as she tried to write a poem about it.

“Let’s see… Brown bird, didn’t you see? / You were almost killed by a giant bee… Yes, I know it’s not a bee, but I can’t think of anything that rhymes with hornet! Also, of course you saw that you were almost killed by a giant hornet! What am I even writing…”

The bird tweeted impatiently. She finally realised what word it sounded like it was saying: star.

“Star! That’s it! Brown bird who came from afar / You light up my life like a star… wait, that sounds too ro-man-tic. That being said... I think I’ll call you Star!” She was so enthusiastic that she accidentally dropped her quill on the desk, and it snapped. She considered plucking one of Star’s feathers, but the poor bird had already been through enough. Not to mention, the feathers were probably too short.

Star hopped off the desk and looked around. It seemed very interested in a barely-noticeable, yellowed map of the world that hung on one of the walls; Autumn Blaze moved everything that was in front of it to get a closer look. As she did, she was hit with a pang of sadness. Not once in her life had she ever left the Peaks of Peril; the slopes were far too steep and sharp for any kirin to climb down. Everything she knew about the outside world came from books, written from as early as when the kirin had an entire kingdom. This map had been left behind by travelling ponies, so it was probably decades out of date. One day, Star would fly away and leave her alone again… if not literally, then metaphorically.

But for now, Star was here, and the closest thing to a friend she’d had in years.

“Of all the places in the world,” she said as she regained her enthusiasm, “I’d like to visit Can-ter-lot the most. Wait, did I say it right?” She pointed at a mountain in the middle of the map. “I’ve heard it’s Equestria’s heart of art and culture, and most importantly, theatre!


Kellyn had survived a sinking cargo ship and foiled a plot to mind-control every Pokémon in the world, but today had been the scariest day of his life.

It had all started as soon as he awoke in an unfamiliar jungle. He’d tripped over and fell into a bush, disturbing a seemingly giant Beedrill… only to discover that the Beedrill wasn’t big, he was small; he’d turned into a Starly. It was a blessing that he’d met… whatever her name was as soon as he did, and that she was willing to give him food and shelter. He almost felt guilty that she’d gotten poisoned, but it wasn’t really his fault. Come to think of it, they were lucky it was only one. Normally, Beedrill attacked in swarms.

After all the drama and excitement was over, he had been left with three questions: Where am I? Why am I a Starly? What is she?

The map answered his first question. In the centre was a large, tapering continent covered in railroads that he didn’t recognise in the slightest. He assumed he was on a tabletop mountain in the south, based on a pin poked into the map. The edges of the map showed other, cut-off continents, decorated with drawings of creatures such as dragons and Blitzle and Sawsbuck. That didn’t explain how he’d gotten here, but it was a start.

He didn’t have answers to his other two questions, though. There was a blank in his memory; he couldn’t remember going to sleep the night before, but something told him this wasn’t a dream. It reminded him of an incident in a place called Ryme City where a man had temporarily merged humans’ consciousnesses with their Pokémon’s bodies, which made international headlines. If that was the case, was that Beedrill originally a human, too? What about what’s-her-name?

Which brought him to his final question. “She” could best be described as the daughter of Entei and Suicune - the legend of Ho-Oh and the Beasts had been one of his favourite stories as a child - but neither of them had hooves. She displayed both Fire and Psychic properties, and perhaps strangest of all, didn’t seem to understand Pokémon speech. He’d always thought the universal Pokémon language was a myth, but he’d clearly understood the Beedrill yelling at him to “go away”.

There were also some… pressing issues. For example, how was he going to learn to fly?