> Equestria, I Choose You! > by Autum Breeze > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 - Mysterious Find > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Equestria, I Choose You! Chapter 1 Mysterious Find _____________________________________________________________________ “Destroy EVERYTHING!” a voice, crazed and insane shouts. Roars of mighty titans reverberates through the air. Explosions from all around made the very ground tremble, as if the planet was quaking in fear. “We have to stop this! Dragonite— AHH!” “Iris! Pansage, stop them, before— GAH!” “Iris! Cilan! Pikachu, RUN—AAH!” Live, for we cannot. He was tumbling. Tumbling end over end. All sound died out, all colour was gone. There was just... nothing. _____________________________________________________________________ “Come on, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo shouted as the three Cutie Mark Crusaders neared the edge of the Everfree forest after an unsuccessful attempt to get Cutie Marks in Manticore wrangling. Actually, how they got out of that alive, they’d never understand. “Yeah, yeah,” Sweetie pouted as her earth pony and pegasi friends both exited the forest and headed off back towards Ponyville. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm exhausted after trying to wrangle that Manticore." At that moment a boom, like a thunderclap, rocketed the air, the whole forest seemed to shake. “Was that Rainbow Dash doing another Sonic Rainboom?” Scootaloo’s voice carried from down the path. “ Ah don’t see a rainbow nowhere,” Apple Bloom’s voice soon replied. “But I bet it was her. Let’s go find her!” With that the two ran off, not seeming to notice Sweetie Belle had yet to rejoin them. Sweetie Belle was staring a little into the forest. After the sonic boom sound, she’d noticed a flash of light from a little way back from where she and the others had come. Curious, as all fillies her age, Sweetie Belle slowly made her way back down the path they’d gone and pushed through some scrub, making sure to avoid a few Poison Joke flowers. She had to pause and hide for a while when a Manticore that looked very grumpy came into view. She hid in a small bush and watched as it slowly stomped by, growling. Was that the same Manticore she and her friends had tried to wrangle? It looked like it had a small bit of vine strapped around its neck, which it grabbed with one of its claws, after pausing just in front of Sweetie Belle’s bush, and tossed it aside, snarling. With the offending vine gone, it sauntered off back deeper into the Everfree, smashing its tail into a passing tree, causing the tree to fall, making a crashing sound that echoed throughout the forest. Yep. That was the same Manticore, alright. Good thing it hadn’t known she was there or Sweetie Belle might not have been around to ponder what she was risking her life to check out. Once certain the fuming Manticore was gone, Sweetie Belle came out from her hiding spot and walked further into the forest until she came to a clearing. Wait. There hadn’t been a clearing here before. Upon closer inspection, she realized it wasn’t a clearing. It was a crater. Slowly, Sweetie Belle made her way down the incline, reaching the bottom. There was something in the middle of it, steaming. Cautiously, Sweetie Belle trotted towards the steaming... whatever it was. When the steam moved away, what she saw puzzled her. It looked like a cross between yellow mouse, a dog and a cat all at once. It had pointy ears, with black tips on their ends. There were several brown horizontal stripes on its back. Its tail was the weirdest shape. It looked like a lightning bolt. And, its cheeks each had a large, round, red dimple on them. Sweetie Belle had never seen, nor heard of such a strange looking creature. Even for the Everfree Forest, this seemed too bizarre a creature to exist. At that moment the creature stirred, making the unicorn filly flinch. It slowly opened two black eyes, looking at her as if unfocused. Sweetie Belle gasped as she took in the creature’s full appearance. It was hurt, badly. It had bruises and cut all over its body and it looked like the tail was bent in a way it shouldn’t be. Not only that, she could tell from the way one of its legs was positioned that it had broken that leg. “Cha,” it seemed to say in a weak voice and passed out. Sweetie Belle forgot all feelings of fear, to have them replaced with a sense of pity and worry for the small creature’s safety. She lit up her horn, picking up the creature in her magical grip and levitated it onto her back, then, making sure it was still held there by her magic, climbed back out of the crater. It took a minute or two, but she managed to get the two of them out in the end. Taking a few moments to catch her breath, the filly looked to her back at her unconscious passenger. Its face was contorted. It must be in a lot of pain, Sweetie thought sadly. Then she noticed something. Its eyelids were fluttering. It’s dreaming, she realized, then her face saddened. More like having a nightmare. She looked around and saw the exit to the forest not too far off. Glancing back at her sleeping companion, she thought, I’ve got to help this little guy... er, girl? How do I know what gender it is? She shook her head. Never mind that now, Sweetie Belle, this creature needs serious help and you know the perfect pony to help a sick animal like this one. She started trotting off. She stopped when she felt movement from her back. She turned to look at the small creature. It still looked like it was uncomfortable about something, but had a small smile on it face as it snuggled a little deeper into Sweetie Belle’s fur. She smiled and gently nuzzled the creature. One, so she didn’t wake it up. And, two, so she didn’t accidentally make any of its injuries any worse than they clearly already were. “Don’t worry, little creature,” the white unicorn whispered, keeping her voice soft and low, so as not to wake it. “Everything’ll be okay. I’ve a friend who can get you all better.” With that, she trotted off towards the cottage of a certain pink-maned pegasus mare who loved animals. > Chapter 2 - The Strange Creature > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 The Strange Creature _____________________________________________________________________ Twilight trudge across the wooden bridge to Fluttershy’s house. Why does Fluttershy want to see me so urgently? the lavender alicorn asked herself as she reached the door. Strange creature? Like I haven’t seen every strange thing in this world already. What could Fluttershy have possibly found that would be enough to stop my reorganizing the library for the fourth time today? Ten Minutes Ago Twilight was levitating all the books in the library around, sorting through them to finish her fourth reorganizing for the day. Just as she was putting "Guide to All Equestria’s Creatures and Monsters" onto its shelf, a tapping came from the window above her. She looked up and saw one of Fluttershy’s blue jays tapping at the window. Curious, Twilight opened the window with her magic and the blue jay flew in, dropping a note at her hooves then flew back out. More curious now, Twilight levitated the note, opened it and started to read. Dear Twilight, Please come to my cottage quickly. This is urgent. I’ve got a stange creature in my care. It’s badly injured. The poor thing. I wish I knew what could have done this to it. Please, hurry and get here. Oh, that is, if it’s alright with you and you’re not too busy or anything. Yours, Fluttershy Now Twilight knocked on the door, frowning. What could this strange creature be, and why did Fluttershy think Twilight was the pony to ask for help? The door opened and Twilight blinked. Standing there wasn’t Fluttershy, but Sweetie Belle. “Oh, good. Twilight, you’re here,” she said, stepping aside so the alicorn could come in and called, “Fluttershy, she’s here!” Twilight turned to see the yellow pegasus turn her head back to look at her. She was standing in front of something, most likely the mysterious creature. “Oh, good. Twilight, I’m so glad you came,” she said, turning around completely. “Fluttershy, what’s going on?” the lavender mare asked, walking towards the pegasus. “I was in the middle of something. And, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen all the strange creatures in this world already. I doubt there's anything... that would...” She trailed off as she saw the strange creature laying on a cushion behind Fluttershy. She turned to her, frowning. “Fluttershy, what is this?” Fluttershy scratched her neck nervously. “Actually... I don’t know what it is. Sweetie Belle found it and brought it to me. The poor thing was hurt so badly it was wincing in its sleep.” _____________________________________________________________________ Fluttershy was standing a little away from her cottage, busy helping a few baby birds learn to fly. “Fluttershy!” The pegasus turned, eeping at the cry, but relaxed when she saw it was Sweetie Belle. “Why, hello there, Sweetie Belle,” she said in her gentle tone. “What can I do for you?” The unicorn stopped in front of her, panting. “I—” gasp, “I found this—” gasp, “strange creature in the—” gasp, “Everfree Forest.” the filly managed to get out through her need for more oxygen. Fluttershy got nervous. “Oh, it-it’s not... d-d-d-d-dangerous, isn’t it?” Sweetie Belle got her breathing under control and frowned. “I don’t think so. Besides, it’s hurt.” She turned so Fluttershy could see the strange creature on her back. At once Fluttershy went to work. “Oh, the poor dear. Come on, Sweetie Belle. Let’s get the poor thing inside and I’ll tend to his wounds.” Fluttershy led the filly into her home. Once inside, Fluttershy cleaned the creature’s wounds as best she could, then wrapped them up, while Sweetie Belle explained how she came across it in the first place. The poor thing was so badly injured, practically all its body was covered. Now, even the tops of its ears. When she was done, the creature stirred and looked up with weak eyes at the Pegasus. “Hello there, little one,” she said, her voice as soothing as always. “Everything’s okay. My friend here found you and brought you to my cottage and I tended to all your wounds as best I could.” The creature gave the tiniest frown of confusion. “Pika... chu?” It closed its eyes and went to sleep. Fluttershy looked to Sweetie Belle, who had an eyebrow raised. “Do you think that’s its name?” “Pikachu,” the older mare said, looking down at the tiny yellow mouse-like creature and smiled. “It’s a cute name. Pikachu it is.” She bent down and nuzzled Pikachu’s cheek that didn’t have a plaster on it. “Welcome to Ponyville, Pikachu.” _____________________________________________________________________ When Fluttershy finished telling her story, Twilight looked down at the creature in front of her, a frown on her face. “I’ve read every book, and I mean every book on all animals in Equestria and beyond, including several books from the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters and not one of them has ever mentioned a creature like this... Pikachu, did you call it?” Fluttershy nodded. “Anyway,” Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle, thinking. “Is it possible Discord fused several creatures together? That’s seems a likely theory to me.” “And you’d be wrong, Twilight Sparkle.” The three ponies jumped as Discord popped into existence in front of them all. He bent down, examining Pikachu. “Hmm,” he said, frowning as he stroked his goatee. “This is not my handy work. I’ve never even seen or even thought of a creature like this. Wherever it’s from, it isn’t this world.” Twilight frowned. “And, how would you know that?” she asked accusingly. Discord shook his head. “Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. I have lived even longer than Celestia and Luna and I can assure you, in all my millennia of living, I have never seen a creature such as this even once. Wherever it came from, it wasn’t here.” “So, it’s from another world,” Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Do you think it’s possible to return to that world?” Discord frowned, and waved his claw over Pikachu’s body, before shaking his head. “There’s some strange kind of magic around it. Whoever sent it here doesn’t want it going back.” “Somepony sent it here?” Fluttershy asked, then looked sadly down at the unconscious creature. “But, why would they do that? And why don’t they want it to go back?" Discord thought for a moment or two. “Well, judging from its injuries, whoever sent it here was either trying to punish it, or save it.” “Save it?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Save it from what?” Discord shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you if I wanted to. But, I think Fluttershy here is the best pony to look after it. My mind reading magic may have faltered on ponies since my last imprisonment, but I can sense this creature’s been through a horrible ordeal.” “Oh, you poor thing,” Fluttershy said, stroking Pikachu’s head with a hoof. “Don’t’] worry. I’ll take good care of you.” Twilight frowned. “Well, once it gets better—” “He,” Discord interrupted. “Huh?” “Pikachu’s a “he”, not an “it”,” Discord replied, folding his arms. “That was very rude of you, princess.” With that, he popped out of sight. “Oh, and that wasn’t rude at all,” Twilight rolled her eyes, then turned to Fluttershy. “As I was saying, when he gets better, maybe we can learn more about his past. It might give us a clue as to why he was sent here.” Fluttershy nodded, continuing to stroke Pikachu’s head. “Well, it’s getting late,” Sweetie Belle said, turning to the door. “Rarity’s probably going up the walls, wondering where I am.” Twilight nodded, then turned to Fluttershy. “I’ll take Sweetie Belle home. Sure you’ll be okay on your own?” Fluttershy nodded. “Pikachu’s a welcome guest in my house, as are all animals, regardless of whether they’re from our world or another one.” Twilight agreed and led Sweetie Belle out, closing the door behind her. Once the door was closed, Fluttershy let a few tears slide down her face as she looked at the unconscious creature at her hooves. “What could have happened to you? It must have been terrible.”