Arriving In The Mountains
To the far north, in the Northern Mountains is a nation. A secret nation of windigoes. A race that hasn't been seen or heard from for thousand years, save for the odd tall tale that could easily be dismissed as yarn spinning or something of the like. This, however, was to be changed because of the choice made by the god of a distant world.
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Laying in her bed in a grand palace was a dark blue and silver windigo unicorn mare with a silver and white mane. Celestia had yet to fully raise the sun, but already, the golden orb was peeking between mountain peaks and illuminating newly planted fields. Suddenly, the mare's silver eyes snapped open and she bolted up out of her bed. For a minute, she sat there processing what she'd dreamed. She needed to tell her mother.
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"Are you absolutely certain Star Sight?" A pink and yellow windigo alicorn asked her daughter.
"Mother, you know that my visions are never wrong." Star Sight said. "A change is coming. Not just to these mountains, but to the whole of the world. I know that this is a change that cannot be stopped since it was very clearly defined. How we receive this change, however, and how it affects us, is entirely within our hooves."
Adalia Rubaina Karasi Inessa Shamira or Ada, as she often went by for the sake of others tongues, leaned on her hoof in thought. Finally, after much thought, she spoke.
"If that is the way the winds are to blow, then who are we to resist them?" She asked. "We are children of the snow and wind. Change is a part of our nature. Whatever comes, we shall embrace it as well as we can and hope that it is for the best. Use the swiftest Message Runners and the winds to spread this to all corners of our nation."
Star Sight nodded her head and the other windigoes present, including the Hearth Guard, bowed their heads. Many left the room to spread the word. Soon enough, it was just Ada. The alicorn, who was known as the Keeper of the Hearth sat alone in her 'Throne Room' of sorts and contemplated the change that was to come.
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It didn't take long for the message to spread to all corners of the mountains. By evening, every male, female and child windigo had been told of the change that was to come and how they were advised to receive it. Truth be told, they only had a vague inkling of what was to come and nobody had any idea when it was coming. So they waited.
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By all accounts, it started out as any normal day. Farmers were out tending their fields. Shopkeepers and businesses were opening their doors. Children were playing in streets, woods and where ever else with their friends. There was a slight feeling of anticipation in the air, but not enough to interfere with daily activities. It was around noon when the strange creatures appeared.
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In an alleyway of the Capital, a blueish black bipedal creature that resembled a cat and a weasel lay down on the ground. For a tail, it had three bright red feathers and another one on its ear. On its forehead and chest were yellow oval markings and there were black eyelash markings on its closed eyes. It hands and feet each had two claws but when it opened its eyes, they were silver instead of the usual red that is seen in its kind.
The creature blinked then groaned in a masculine voice that indicated it was male as he covered his eyes. He then blinked again, this time in confusion when he noticed his hand didn't feel like it should. The boy took one look at his body then he started freaking out. To anyone aside from a Pokémon however, everything he said sounded like he was saying 'Sneazal' over and over again.
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Absol was confused. The last thing she remembered, she had been in her den in the mountains when suddenly she fell asleep. Next thing she knew, she was waking up at the top of a cliff overlooking a valley with a city made of crystal and bronze that definitely hadn't been there before. In fact, as she was looking around, she didn't recognize any of these peaks. Standing up, Absol decided that the only way to find any answers was to go into the city. She quickly located a path leading down and took it.
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Everything was sore. Her body hurt, her head pounded and when she cracked open her eyes, the bright, stabbing light aggravated her headache and made her slam her eyes shut. For a time, she just lay there and waited for it all to subside. As soon as it did, she started taking stock of herself. Her name, Sapphire, was the first to come. She was a Pokémon trainer in Hoenn and she'd earned all the gym badges in that region before her eleventh birthday.
As she went through her mental checklist, something felt very out of place. Her body felt odd and she felt grass beneath her. She reached back into her recent memories and recalled that she been training when she'd suddenly fell asleep. She had had her Pokémon with her and out of their balls at that time, so if something was wrong with her, they would've taken her to her father who would definitely take her to a doctor or hospital if he couldn't figure out what was wrong. By all accounts, she should be in a bed, not in the grass.
Figuring she wasn't going to get answers laying down, she cracked her eyes open. At first, the blazing sunlight temporarily blinded her, but once her eyes adjusted, she took in her surroundings. She was in a forest, but not a forest she recognized or at least, any familiar part of a forest she'd been in. In addition, the angle from which she was looking was different for some reason. Figuring she'd need to look at her map and call someone, Sapphire reached for her Pokegear. Instead of feeling her Pokegear however, her 'hand' brushed up against fur. Furthermore, she couldn't just feel her fingers not grabbing anything, she couldn't feel her fingers period.
Sapphire turned her head to look at her 'hand' and was shocked when she got a good look at herself. Her body was now small and covered in cream-colored fur with stubby legs and arms and blue markings on her paws. Reaching up to touch her head, she felt long ears at the top and when she pulled one down, she saw it was mostly blue. And when she stumbled to her feet, she discovered a short tail with a blue minus. That cinched it. She didn't even need to look for something to look into, she knew what she was.
"I'm a Minun?!?!?!?" She screamed in alarm as she began stumbling backward. She didn't get far as she tripped on something soft and fluffy and fell. Immediately she shot up to see what she'd hit. The cream-colored fur, long mostly red ears and short tail with a plus sign clued her in that this was a Plusle. And that Plusle that was stirring and starting to face her as it complained in a male voice.
"Stop screaming. It hurt my head." He grumbled as he rubbed his head. Sapphire knew that voice.
'No way.' She thought.
"Ugh, and why am I on the ground? I'm going to get dirty."
'Oh dear Arceus, it is him!' She only knew one boy who'd say stuff like that. Her conclusion was confirmed when he turned to give her a full view of the scars on the right side of his head. Her memories skipped back to that time when he saved her from a wild Salamence and had been hurt. That had been a turning point for the two of them. When Ruby opened his eyes, Sapphire was surprised to see that his eyes were still ruby red like when he had been human. Perhaps her eyes were still sapphire blue like they'd always been. But that could be dealt with later.
"Ruby, is that you?" She asked cautiously, still having a hard time believing this.
"Who else would I be...Sapphire?" Ruby started, still blinking and rubbing his eyes when he trailed off and froze as though he'd only just realized what he was rubbing his eyes with. The forest was quiet as Ruby began examining himself as well. He pulled his ear down to see, he ran his paws across his cream-colored fur and examined his tail. With his assessment complete, Ruby sat quietly for a minute.
"So, I'm a Plusle." He said, oddly calm then he turned to stare at Sapphire for a minute or two. "And you're a Minun." Silence descended once more. Suddenly his eyes began to shine and he held his paws in front of him like he was clasping his 'hands'.
"Oh my gosh, we're both so adorable!" He exclaimed and Sapphire fell over.
"We're a different species in the middle of a forest and that's what you fixate on?!" She yelled. Ruby paused his personal admiration and turned to Sapphire.
"Admittedly, this isn't an ideal situation, but look. I can definitely win a hyper rank cute ribbon." After saying that, Ruby struck an admittedly adorable pose and Sapphire had to hold in a squee. Instead, she cleared her throat and tried to look as serious as a Minun could.
"The issue still stands that we're in the middle of a forest and I don't see our Pokémon anywhere." Sapphire pointed out. Ruby stopped posing and looked around and saw that she was right. He and Sapphire were the only Pokémon in the whole area.
"You're right, I can't see anyone from our teams here," Ruby admitted then tapped a paw to his chin in thought. "Fifi and Mumu are both water types, so I'll find them in or near water. The rest of my team are who knows where. But they can all take care of themselves and we'll find each other soon enough."
"Same with my team." Sapphire piped up. "So I guess we go looking around for them and try to find some sort of civilization."
Ruby nodded his agreement. "Then let's get started." He said and they started walking. In order to go as fast as they could, they crouched down on all fours to run. They hadn't gone far when a loud *thud* froze Sapphire in place. Turning, she saw that Ruby had tripped on a root and currently had his face pressed into a tree that he'd slammed into.
"Uh Sapphire, there's something I need to confess to you." Ruby started, his voice muffled by the bark of the tree.
"Um okay, what is it?" She asked, still a little unsure how anyone could trip on all fours. Ruby didn't answer right away.
"..............I'm nearsighted." He finally blurted out. Sapphire took a moment to digest this.
"Wait, you're nearsighted? How is that possible? I've only seen you wear glasses a few times before."
"That's because I usually wear contacts to correct my vision," Ruby explained, his face still pressed into the tree. "Only once in a while do I pull out my glasses. And unfortunately, I don't have either."
Sapphire once again was quiet for a moment as she took that in. "You're kidding, right?" She asked.
Ruby pulled his face out of the tree and directed his gaze at her. "Sapphire, do I look like I'm kidding?"
Sapphire studied his face and now that she was looking, she could see that he was squinting. She thought back to a few minutes ago when Ruby was examining himself and remembered that Ruby had pulled his ear a little closer than she had and had been squinting at himself and her the whole time.
"Of course I'm not completely blind." He continued speaking. "I can still sort of see, its just blurry and out of focus and little details go past me. Like that root, I tripped on-Whoa!" He exclaimed when Sapphire suddenly grabbed his paw and started pulling him forward as they ran through the forest.
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Lance was curious as he examined himself. Being familiar with Dragonair, he immediately recognized what he was when he laid eyes on his long blue and white body. What he didn't recognize however was the forest that he currently found himself in. What had him curious was how and why he was a Dragonair and where he was. Another question that was floated around his head was the Dragonair sleeping next to him. It wasn't one of his Dragonair, of that he was sure since neither of his Dragonair was Shiny. And if he guessed correctly, it was female.
Deciding that he'd let his fellow Pokémon rest, he instead started practicing moving around. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be and it did help that he had two Dragonair on his team and was familiar with how they moved. By the time he'd figured out how to move about without any trouble, the shiny Dragonair was stirring and moaning in a feminine voice. A familiar feminine voice. He moved closer to her and leaned in.
"Yellow." He whispered near where he knew Dragonair ears were. She stirred and turned towards him.
"Mmmm, Lance? Did I fall asleep again?" Yellow asked. She yawned and stretched herself then opened her eyes. When her gaze landed on Lance, she blinked and stared as she tried to figure out what she was seeing.
"Lance?" She asked. "You....you're a Dragonair?"
"As far as I can tell," Lance answered evenly. "And so are you."
"I what?!" She cried out in alarm. She then turned to examine herself and found that Lance wasn't lying. "How is this possible?" She asked then noticed their surroundings. "And where are we?"
"I have no idea how, but we aren't going to find our answers here." His expression suddenly became thoughtful then quickly morphed into a look of concentration. Then he lept up but didn't come down. The Dragonair looked satisfied and a little proud of himself as he looked himself over.
"Looks like I can fly as well." He said then turned to Yellow. "You try. We can see more and cover more ground if we fly."
Yellow nodded in determination and squeezed her eyes shut as she concentrated. Her first attempt yielded nothing, but on her second leap, she was in the air. Admittedly a little wobbly and uneasy, but she quickly got the hang of it. When they were ready, they picked a direction and flew towards it. It wasn't long before they spotted what looked like a village.
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Flower Dance was training in her usual place outside of the village when she saw the serpentine figures flying through the sky. Her first thoughts were that they were Ice Wraiths, but that didn't make any sense at all. During this time of year, the Ice Wraiths were hibernating in their dens and even if there were one or two still awake, they don't usually stray from their dens or territories and there weren't any dens near the village.
As the serpentine figures flew closer, it further confirmed that they weren't Wraiths. Instead of bodies made of ice, they had bodies of flesh and blood like her. The first she noted had sky blue scales with a white underside, two stylized wings on either side of its head, a small horn on top and three pearls. One on its throat and the other two on the tip of its tail. The other looked similar, but instead of blue scales, it had pink scales and its pearls were gold colored.
As Flower Dance was staring up at them, the two creatures spotted her and began to descend. The two landed right in front of her with a thud and looked at her with curiosity in their eyes. Then, one spoke.....sort of.
"Dragon dragonair? Drag Dragonair dragon."
Flower Dance blinked and said the first thing that came to mind. "What?"
Everywhere else in Equestria, ponies, griffins, zebras, crystal ponies, minotaurs, Saddle Arabians, changelings, diamond dogs, sea ponies, Pokémon, and windigoes all had the same thoughts in various degrees.