"Aw come onnnn, pretty pleeeease?"
The young Riolu looked up to his mother with the best puppy eyes he could muster. He walked over and started pawing at the bottom of the Mother Lucario's leg. She had been focusing on her aura, and keeping track of any hostile predators within the area. She had opened her eyes, sensing no enemies within the area. She looked down and saw the young Riolu's eyes and chuckeled.
"Well, alright." She gave a smile.
Almost instantly, the young Riolu's eyes grew wider, as he turned around and jumped with excitement.
"YAY! We're gonna go crusading through the forest, and I'm gonna find the biggest berries this time! Right, momma?" The young Riolu said with anticipation.
"Of course, honey. But just don't scamper off too far, you have to be wi-"
"Yeah yeah, within your aura's distance, I know momma. I'm a big riolu now. I ain't a scared of no big meany pokemon. I could probably take down a whole Entei with one arm." Riolu said confidently. He then thrusted his right paw out and pushed a small aura wave through his right paw, burning a small dandelion slightly. Riolu shot a look back at his mother, as he thrusts his arm back, as if he had just won a battle effortlessly. The mother couldn't help but hold back a small giggle.
"Well, honey, you should go off and play with your friends. Remember to come back before it gets too dark." She said, starting to return back to her focusing position again.
Riolu nodded, as he turned around and ran off to find his friends.
A cold breeze blew through the air.
Riolu's eyes shot open as he jumped to his feet, shaking all the snow off him. His aura had detected that hostile enemies were nearby. He had been in this new forest for what felt like months. He slowly ventured forward to find a new safe area, hoping to not make any noise to bring any hostilities near him. He knew these creatures. He had encountered them before and knew they were trouble.
Riolu encountered one of these wolves for the first time about a month ago. It had viciously jumped out of a bush and latched onto Riolu's small frail body. The wolf chomped onto the Riolu and threw it to a nearby tree, blood trickiling down as he slid down the branches. The world had spun around him as he got up to his feet and tried to run, only the feel the heavy weight of the wolf, slamming him to his back as it went in for the final bite. Just before it had the chance, Riolu had Force Palmed under the wolf's jaw, splitting the front of its head off, wooden shards flying in all directions, as the body fell to the side. Riolu never had fighting experience before, so the sight off seeing something he had just killed for the first time caused him to whimper. When he heard the many howls of the other wolves recognizing their comrade has fallen, he immediately ran, knowing they would take pursuit.
The cold breeze brushed against Riolu's face, making him shiver. He looked back through the dark snowy forest. He could hear them getting closer. Their wild barks and howls echoing through the trees. Lucario continued forward and saw something else moving through the trees. It was cart.
"H-help!" Riolu called out in desperation, tears in his eyes. "P-please, somebody!"
He got closer as the wolves heavy breaths and snarls grew closer and closer.
Riolu had reached the end of the tree line and had collapsed, his vision fading. The last thing he saw before he had passed out, was large red pony, running towards him.
-boop-
It had felt like something was pushing Riolu's nose.
"You awake there, little feller?"
...
-boop-
Riolu had put his paw up in an attempt to shoo away whatever was messing with his nose.
-boop-
Slowly Riolu opened his eyes to see whatever was disturbing his sleep, only to see a snout and two big eyes, with a hoof about to go in for another boop.
"What the!?", Riolu announced in confusion as he jumped to his feet, he held up his paws in self defense as he scanned the room around him.
A barn... But wasn't I just in the forest?
"Woah, you okay there, partner?" The voice from behind him said.
He jumped around and saw a small pony with a ribbon on her head. She jumped back, barely dodging a rotating upper kick. Riolu landed, his front right paw on the ground, prepared for another attack.
"Who, are you!?" He demanded, lowering his head, preparing to charge. "My momma Lucario told me to self defend against anyone who is mean!"
The pony that he had almost struck was hiding behind a wooden pillar. Her tail and ribbon can be seen poking out from both ends of the pillar.
"A-Applebloom. I'm not mean, I promise!", She said, her hooves over her head. A few seconds and nothing happened. She then poked her eyes out of her hooves and saw Riolu's eyes glowing yellow for a few seconds before returning to their normal colors. She closed her eyes again. Until she felt something boop her on the nose. She opened her eyes and looked up. The creature that had almost taken her head off, put his front paw out in a friendly manner.
"I'm sorry for earlier, I was just a little startled, that's all." He said, putting on a reassuring smile. Applebloom put her hoof out and allowed herself to be pulled up.
"Aw shoot, it's nothin' pal, what's your name?" Applebloom said as she gave back a smile. Riolu put one of his paws behind his head.
"Well... I don't really have a name. I'm a Riolu. I'm guessing you're of the Ponyta species right?" Riolu had guessed, putting a paw under his lip.
"A ponyta? You mean Earth Pony, right?" Applebloom said, cocking her head slightly. Riolu was about to respond until he heard more voices coming near outside the barn.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders unite!" Two high pitched voices squealed outside. Riolu immediately went back to self defense until Applebloom wrapped a hoof around him.
"Woah there partner, they're jus' mah friends. Easy..." Applebloom said calmly.
Riolu felt the aura retreating out of his paws as he calmed himself.
Two other small ponies popped out of the corner of the barn and both let out a loud gasp.
"Fellers, this is mah new friend, Riolu." Applebloom said, as she shoved Riolu to the other two small fillies.
"Wooooaaahh." Scootaloo said as she and Sweetie Belle saw the sight before them. All of them had stood there silent for a moment. Sweetie Belle was the first to react.
"I'm Sweetie Belle, and this is Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah, and together we're..." Scootaloo started before they all announced in unison, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
"The what crusaders?' Riolu asked in confusion.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders, everypony's got a Cutie Mark, it shows them what their special talent is." Sweetie Belle said said with overwhelming joy. She then paused and asked, "Wait... What exactly are you, Riolu?
-End of Chapter 1-
"Our voices will be heard! We will no longer be treated as wild Timberwolves in the Everfree. We WILL have equality!"
"What the-!?"
Rainbow Dash was on her way to Sugarcube Corner to help with Pinkie Pie set up decorations for a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party. What was strange, was the fact that no new pony has arrived yet. Although, she had heard from Applejack that they did have a new guest living at their home. Could it possibly be for them? What was even more strange, was the large crowd starting to disperse from the center of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash looked down and noticed Pinkie Pie hopping up and down in the back of the crowd. In the center, were three earth ponies, all of them wearing the mask of a Timberwolf. Rainbow Dash dove down and landed next to Pinkie.
"What in Equestria is going on here, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked, landing beside Pinkie.
'I'm not sure, but they sure do sound angry! Golly Dash, you should've heard some of the words they were using. One of my sisters had said one of those words before, then she said that mom put soap in her mouth. I thought that was just silly, soap was for the body, not for the mouth!" Pinkie Pie said with a giggle and a snort.
"Yeah... So what were they saying?" Rainbow Dash asked. Before Pinkie could respond, one of the Ponies with the Timberwolf mask came up to them and interrupted Pinkie, before she could speak.
"My, My... Two of the elements of harmony. I must say it is... interesting, to finally meet you. Your stories have spread far and wide across the land of Equestria. How you, as an Earth pony could possibly be friends with these unicorns and pegasi is beyond me." The pony behind the mask had said, with a bit of disgust in the words 'unicorns' and 'pegasi'. Rainbow Dash zipped up to the pony, making sure that she was face to face with the unknown pony.
"Hey! What the hay is wrong with you? Why are you spitting out such hateful words about pegasi and unicorns? What did we ever do to you?" Rainbow Dash demanded. The eyes in the empty sockets of the mask glared back. A deep hatred of which Rainbow Dash had never seen before. It felt like she was staring at a creature that wanted to tear her apart in front of the whole crowd. Rainbow Dash flinched back a bit.
"Why..? WHY!?" The voice growled, and started to calm down. "Do you know why we celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve? If you don't, it's no big deal. You don't seem to look like the element of intelligence anyways." Rainbow Dash just glared back. The pony continued. "How it was the Friendship of not the leaders of each race, but their assistants that drove away the storm of the Windigos?"
"Yeah yeah, I played out the part of the Pegasi leader in one of the Plays." Rainbow Dash responded.
"Of course you did." The masked pony responded sarcastically. "Did it ever perhaps cross your mind that perhaps that it was all a lie?... A conspiracy? We are here to show the truth. The truth of how your kind, both pegasi and unicorn, left our leaders to die! Those story tales in all of your foals books. All of it... lies. LIES!" The pony yelled, causing the crowd to hush and direct their attention to the two ponies. "And you, Elements of Harmony..." The masked pony turned to walk away, the crowd shifting to the side to make room for the pony to return back to the other two masked ponies. "Represent not Harmony, but the absolute hypocrisy and blindness of all of Equestria. if you just open both your ears and mind, soon your eyes will follow." The pony turned back to make sure Pinkie Pie was in view. The pony stared at her for a few seconds before walking away from the crowd.
Rainbow stomped a hoof on the ground. "What the hay is their problem!? Hypocrisy? open ears and mind? What's that all about?" Rainbow Dash asked, turning to see Pinkie Pie still waving a hoof at the three mysterious ponies departing.
"Aw Dashie, I'm sure it's no biggie! Sometimes you gotta use big words and loud voices to make sure that you're heard." Pinkie pie then began to draw in a large, deep breath until her whole face was puffed up before yelling, "LIKE THIS, DASHIE!!"
The entire crowd immediately jumped for a brief second and covered their ears with their hooves, grumbling to themselves afterwards, and dispersing back to their normal every day routine. Rainbow Dash stood their wide eyed for a second, her mane stood straight up, before she fixed it back down to it's usual style.
"Anyways Dashie, You ready to help me get all the supplies for the 'Welcome to Ponyville Surprise Party'?" Pinkie Pie asked, hopping up and down.
"What? Oh, of course!" Rainbow Dash said, finally regaining back her confidence. "Let's get this party started!" She said.
With that, both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash rushed back to Sugar Cube Corner to set up the party for the soon to be new visitor of Ponyville.
"Hey, no fair Abra, stop cheating!"
Abra had found fifteen berries so far, while Riolu and his other friends had only found about three so far. It didn't help them that Abra had the ability to teleport around at will, making it much easier and faster to find berries.
"Oi, ye better start shapin' up there Abra. It's not fair for wee ol' me." The gible growled, stomping his foot in frustration.
"Yeah, come on Abra, let somebody else win for once." The rattata said.
"Yeah, let somebody else win for once." Bidoof copied.
Abra finished one last teleport and looked back at his other friends, with a gleeful smile, it slowly drifted back to the ground with all the berries in it's arms. It then opened it's arms for all the berries to roll across the ground. The other pokemon went up to count all the berries.
"18... 19... 20..." Riolu, Gible, Bidoof, and Rattata counted in unison.
"And once again, Abra is the winner. What a surprise." Riolu announced sarcastically. They all grumbled in annoyance that Abra had effortlessly won again.
The abra got up from it's sitting position and performed a small victory dance, which caused the other pokemon to laugh.
"Haha, alright, good hunt guys. We'll get you next time, buddy. We'll see you tomorrow." Riolu said. The abra then bowed and picked up all of his berries, teleporting away with his prize.
"Well'p lads, oi think it's about time tah get on home then. Me mum's been stressin' that I get home on a good hour. Gettin' cold anyways. I'll see you lads tomorrow." The Gible said, picking up his berries.
"Yeah, I think we should all head back home, don't worry guys, I got a way to beat Abra next time. Trust me, it's all in here." Riolu said, pointing to his own head. The Gible gave a look of confusion.
"Well lad, hopefully you'll have it out of your 'ead by tomorrow." The Gible said confused. Riolu gave a look back of the same confusion.
"What? Oh, no, I have a plan. I'll just tell you guys tomorrow." Riolu shook his head.
With that they had all gone their separate ways. Riolu raced back home with his berries. Thinking of the smile on his mother's face when he returns back with the berries. It gave him a warmth feeling inside.
That warmth feeling, soon disappeared as the weather around him grew cold. As he continued to run back home, Riolu noticed the sudden change in weather. The trees that he passed by earlier had now been covered in snow, icicles hanging off the branches. Riolu started to panic. He increased his speed, the weather becoming worse and worse. The snow becoming heavier as he continued. He just had to get to momma, and make sure that she was alright, she would know what to do next.
Riolu then noticed something was different. The tree patterns around him were different. The air and smell was not the same. Riolu, was lost.
Riolu woke up in a scream.
Riolu heard the sound of hooves galloping across the wooden floor to come up next to him.
"You okay there, Riolu?" Applebloom asked worried.
Riolu turned to see Applebloom next to him. A worried look on her face. Riolu looked back down.
"Y-yeah. Just another nightmare." Riolu said softly. still staring at the floor in front of him.
"Do you wanna talk about it? Mah big sister always said that letting out all your emotions is good for you. Even when they're scary, 'cause if you let someone else know of your fears, you won't be so lonely about them. You'll have another partner help you tackle those fears." Applebloom said in a kind tone. Riolu looked back at her. Applebloom returned with a soft smile. "Come on, you shouldn't be sleeping on the wooden floor anyways, you should sleep on mah bed. It's big enough for both of us."
"Well, I..." Riolu started before Applebloom interrupted.
"Come on now , it's no problem at all." Applebloom said, as she nudged Riolu up to his feet. Applebloom walked back to her small bed, and hopped up to it and pat the empty space beside her. Riolu looked down for a second, and jumped up and landed right beside her at the end of the bed. The open window allowed the moon to light the room up, allowing them to see each other easier than the rest of the room.
"Now, tell me, what's been causin' you to be so jumpy?"
"Well... I don't think I'm from here..." Riolu whispered, barely audible enough for Applebloom to hear.
"Not from here? What do you mean?" Applebloom asked confused. Riolu looked down at his in concentration paws, beginning to feel waves of aura pulse to his paws.
"Do you remember when I called asked if you were a Ponyta earlier?" Riolu said, concentration still on his face. Applebloom put a hoof up to her face to think for a moment.
"Now, that you mention it... Yeah, I do. What did you mean by it?"
"It means, I don't think I'm from here..." Riolu answered, closing his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm still trying to figure it out myself... This land, everything about it... It's different. For the past few months the aura on this land has felt different. It's completely alien to me." Riolu said opening up his eyes, fixing his eyes to the moon. Applebloom confusion grew more and more by the second.
"Aura?" Applebloom asked as she looked down to his paws. A blue aura was emanating from them. Applebloom jumped up in a squeak. "What's that on your hoof, Riolu?!"
Riolu looked down at his paw. "Oh, you mean my paw? It's called aura. Every Riolu is born with the ability to control aura." He lifted his paws to his view and looked at Applebloom with a grin. "Here feel them."
Applebloom let out a small squeak as she tried to push the covers to Riolu in an attempt to stop him. Her efforts slowed down to a stop, when she felt the comforting warmth of his paw touch her nose. She relaxed when she realized that she wasn't in any danger.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Riolu asked, bringing back his paw. Applebloom followed his paw until her nose bumped into his. She quickly retreated back, looking in the opposite direction for a second before turning back to him.
"Uhm, yeah. Heh. Pretty cool." She said, bringing in an awkward silence. "But... What does all this mean, Riolu? You never answered my question from earlier today either... What exactly are you?"
"A pokemon." Riolu felt the aura withdrawing from his paws, letting go of his concentration. The aura slowly dissipating. "I'm a pokemon." Applebloom remained silent as he continued. "I'm from Sinnoh, in a world widely inhabited by creatures known as, 'pokemon'. Most pokemon from my world come in all different shapes, sizes, and forms."
"So, you're a Riolu? What makes you different from the other pokemon?"
"A Riolu has the power to control Aura. Aura is a powerful element. Aura is all around us, you see." Riolu said, putting his paws up in the air. "It's in the air, the grass, the trees, and even within ourselves." Riolu put his paws back on the bed. "Now that may seem like a lot but we do of course have our weaknesses that predators can use to exploit us."
"Weaknesses?"
"Yes, every pokemon has certain strengths and weaknesses. Some most than others. My kind has only three major weaknesses. Fighting, fire, and earth. When we are experienced to these elements in harsh battle conditions it will weaken us greatly. My kind are made of tiny steel fiber within our bodies, this allows us to withstand and block blows pretty well. Fire will cause us immense pain since we are technically part steel. Fighting and earth will wear down steel, causing it to break at a point." Applebloom flinched at hearing that last part.
"Is that what's causin' you them troubled nightmares?"
Riolu shook his head. "No."
"Then what is?" Applebloom asked scooting closer to Riolu.
"I keep having this dreams that may be related as to why I arrived here. I keep trying to find my momma Lucario in these dreams. I end up getting lost, confused and alone in my dreams. I never find out where she is, and I never find out how I got here." Riolu turned to Applebloom. "I just don't know what it all means..."
In that instant, Applebloom wrapped her hooves around him and drew him in for a comforting hug. Riolu didn't expect it and was surprised when it happened so quickly. After a few silent seconds, Applebloom let go.
"Well don't you worry about it, me and mah big brother and sister are here to help you." Applebloom said reassuringly. Riolu gave a soft smile in return.
"Thanks." Riolu whispered. A few more seconds of silence.
"Well, we should probably get some rest, we've got school starting tomorrow." Applebloom said as she dove under covers. Her head popping out a few seconds later. Riolu remained in place.
"School?"
End of Chapter 2.
