As Rainbow Dash attempts to break new barriers of speed, she finds herself transported to a mysterious world, inhabited by creatures with unbelievable powers. While her friends in Equestria search for a way to return her home, she is forced to search for her own way home with the aid of her new friends, a trio of humans named Ash, Cilan, and Iris.
In the skies above Ponyville, the silence of the morning was cut short by an explosion of sound and a rippling wave of all the colors of the rainbow. Ponies all rushed out of their homes to see what was going on, but it didn’t take them long to find the source of the sound. Flying across the sky at the head of a rainbow-colored contrail was Rainbow Dash. As she flew over the town, she doubled-back and flew upward again, getting ready for yet another Sonic Rainboom.
Below, woken from her slumber by the sudden noise, Twilight Sparkle walked groggily to her window. When she saw her friend in flight, she narrowed her eyes and sighed “Oh come on, it’s too early for this.” She opened her window, spread her wings, and took to the air in the direction of Rainbow Dash. She flapped her wings as fast as she could, but Rainbow was too fast for her to catch up with. She called out to Rainbow, but Rainbow was flying too fast to hear her.
As Rainbow Dash continued her routine, she began to hear a faint noise. She slowed down a bit so she could make out what it was, and soon she realized it was a voice calling out to her. Once she figured out that somepony was trying to get her attention, she slowed to a stop and turned to look for the source of the voice. Soon, an exhausted Twilight Sparkle flew out from behind a nearby cloud, gasping for breath. “Hey Twilight,” Rainbow called, “were you just calling me?”
Panting, Twilight flew up to Rainbow and responded “Yeah, that was me. What are you doing, Rainbow Dash?”
“What’s it look like? I’m practicing some new tricks” Rainbow responded.
Twilight raised her eyebrow and asked “What kind of tricks? Just looks like a bunch of Sonic Rainbooms to me.”
“Exactly,” Rainbow said with a grin, “I’m trying to push my speed even further. I’ve already broken the sound barrier, so now I’m going to see what the next speed barrier is!”
Twilight sighed “Rainbow Dash, the only barrier, for you to pass now, is the light barrier, which is physically impossible for anypony or anything to reach. No matter how fast you fly, you won’t be able to break the light barrier.”
Rainbow shrugged “Maybe that’s true for the average run of the mill pony, but I’m no average flier. With a bit of a boost, I should easily be able to break even the light barrier.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight replied, “I’m telling you it’s against the laws of physics.”
“So is magic, right Twilight?” Rainbow asked. Suddenly, her face lit up as she came up with an idea. “Say, maybe that’s it. Maybe your magic can give me the extra boost I need.”
“What are you talking about, Rainbow?” Twilight asked, “what kind of a boost?”
“Well,” Rainbow responded “maybe you could enchant my wings for extra endurance, or blast me with a magic pulse to push me forward.”
Twilight was taken aback by this idea. “But Rainbow, that would be extremely dangerous.”
Rainbow grinned confidently “Oh come on Twilight, when have I ever been worried about anything being too dangerous?”
“Well, you have a point” Twilight responded, but quickly shook her head “wait, no, I can’t believe I’m even considering this.”
“What’s the big deal Twilight?” Rainbow asked, “what’s the worst that can happen?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said, “nopony knows what happens if you try to break the speed of light, and theories range from inter-dimensional travel to time travel.”
Rainbow suddenly put on a sly grin “In that case,” she said, “ wouldn't you like to be the one to find out? It would be a great experiment, wouldn't it?”
Twilight’s eyes widened at this idea “Say, now that you mention it, that would be an interesting experiment.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Rainbow asked, getting into position to take off, “let’s get this show on the road.”
Twilight gulped, “Um, okay Rainbow, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.” As she said this, her horn began to glow.
Rainbow grinned “That's the spirit Twilight!” She took off flying straight upward. “WOOHOO! This is gonna be awesome!” She flew up above the highest layer of clouds before she arched downward, building her speed until another sonic cone began to form around her. “Just a little more” soon, the sky was lit up with another massive explosion as Rainbow rocketed downward from the Rainboom. As she flew past Twilight, Twilight aimed her horn at Rainbow and fired a pulse of magenta magic at her. Because of Rainbow’s speed, the magic pulse took a few seconds to catch up with her, but as soon as it hit her the change was undeniable. The rainbow contrail behind Rainbow took on a new magenta hue and Rainbow rapidly sped up. As she neared the ground, she grinned and did a perfect downward U-turn, heading back upward.
Twilight watched in awe at Rainbow’s new level of speed “Nice work Rainbow” she cheered, despite being fully aware that Rainbow couldn't hear her while flying at such high speed. Soon, Rainbow was almost all the way back up to where she had started, and she arched downward again for even more speed. Twilight clapped in excitement but suddenly jumped back as Rainbow was engulfed in a bright flash of light. As the light faded, Twilight slowly opened her eyes, squinting to see what had happened. When she stopped seeing spots, she looked to the spot where Rainbow had just been, and she was alarmed to see that the end of the rainbow contrail was suddenly cut off at the last spot Rainbow had been before the light. “Rainbow?!?” Twilight called in a panic, "where’d you go?!?”
As Rainbow continued to build speed from the magic pulse, everything around her began to look like it was standing still. She was astonished at how easily she was able to handle this speed as she flew back up to the point where she had first taken off. She did a downward turn for speed, getting increasingly excited at the idea of breaking the ultimate speed challenge. Suddenly, she felt as if she had been struck by lightning as she was surrounded by a blinding white light. She continued to fly with her eyes closed, and finally managed to pry her eyes open. When she could finally see again she looked around and was amazed at what she saw. She was flying in the middle of a large tunnel of light with bolts of lightning running along the walls. She looked around, astonished by the alien sights, until suddenly she saw a light at the end of the tunnel. “Finally,” she said, “a way out of here.” She sped up until she reached the light and flew out of the tunnel, only to see a large wall of orange directly in her path.
It was another beautiful day in the Unova region; the sun was shining, a calm breeze was blowing through the trees, and powerful attacks were shooting across the sky between two ferocious draconian Pokemon. "Now Charizard, use Flamethrower!" Ash called to his Charizard after it dodged yet another Ice Beam. Charizard quickly turned around to face its opponent, Iris' Dragonite, and fired a Flamethrower right at it.
"Dragonite, use Flamethrower too!" Iris called, prompting Dragonite to launch its own Flamethrower at Charizard. The two Flamethowers collided in mid-air, stopping each other. Both Charizard and Dragonite continued to breathe fire, trying to push each others' attacks back, until the force of the Flamethrowers clashing caused both attacks to burst, blasting both Pokemon back and creating a large cloud of smoke, which quickly surrounded both competitors.
Ash and Iris both watched the cloud intently, unable to see where their Pokemon were. Suddenly, Ash came up with an idea. "Charizard, use Overheat and spin!" Inside the cloud, Charizard began to spin in place and blasted an Overheat attack, which quickly began to swirl around it. Ash watched intently as the cloud began to glow yellow, and sure enough, moments later, he heard Dragonite yell as it was struck by the Overheat and hit out of the cloud. "Now Charizard, get out of there and use Flamethrower!" Charizard obediently emerged from the cloud and used a Flamethrower attack at its now visible opponent.
Iris quickly called to Dragonite "Quick, use Flamethrower!" Dragonite fired another Flamethrower, which again collided with Charizard's Flamethrower. This time, however, Dragonite's Flamethrower ended up pushing back Charizard's until it struck Charizard and blasted it backward, blowing away what was left of the smoke.
Ash gasped as he saw this "What happened? Why didn't the attacks cancel out again?"
Cilan, who was acting as the referee for the battle, turned to Ash and answered "Because Overheat lowers your Pokemon's special attack every time you use it. After that Overheat attack, Charizard's Flamethrower was weaker than it had been before the Overheat."
"Oh no, I totally forgot about that" Ash groaned. "Well, at least I still have physical attacks! Charizard, use Dragon Tail!" Charizard's tail began to glow in a white green color and it charged at Dragonite.
"Dragonite, use Thunderpunch!" Iris yelled. Dragonite pulled back its fist and charged it with electricity, getting ready for Charizard's attack. When Charizard was mere feet away, it turned and swung its tail at Dragonite, and Dragonite retaliated by striking Charizard's tail with its Thunderpunch. Both Pokemon were pushed back from the force of the collision.
Cilan watched intently and commented "Dragonite's a Dragon-type, so Dragon Tail is super effective. Meanwhile, Charizard is a Flying-type, so Thunderpunch is super effective as well. I'd say both of them took a lot of damage from that collision." Sure enough, both Dragonite and Charizard were starting to pant from exhaustion at this point, but neither one seemed any worse off than the other.
When Ash noticed how tired both Pokémon were, he decided he needed to wrap the battle up quickly. "Charizard, use Overheat!" he commanded. Charizard blasted another surge of yellow flame at Dragonite.
"Quick Dragonite, use Dragon Rush!" Iris yelled in response. Dragonite flew up and became cloaked in a body of blue flames in the shape of a dragon, and then charged straight into the Overheat. When Dragonite collided with the Overheat, the force of its Dragon Rush brushed off the flames and it continued to charge forward.
Ash suddenly grinned "Charizard, use Dragon Tail!" Just as Dragonite was about to hit, Charizard flipped around and struck it with Dragon Tail. There was a massive explosion from the impact, and as the smoke cleared Dragonite fell to the ground unconscious.
"Dragonite is unable to battle," Cilan declared, "and the winner is Charizard!"
"Way to go Charizard!" Ash cheered, looking up at Charizard. He then turned to Iris "That was an awesome battle, thanks. Dragonite worked really hard."
"Thanks," Iris said as she returned Dragonite to its Pokéball. She looked up at Charizard and smiled "congratulations, but Dragonite's going to be the one to win next time." Charizard just brushed off a bit of soot as it looked back down at them. Suddenly, there was a loud booming noise, causing Ash and his friends to jump and all the wild Pokémon in the area to run for cover. As the group looked back up, they saw what looked like some sort of wormhole appear in the air directly behind Charizard. Before anyone could ask what was going on, they saw some kind of blue projectile shoot out of the wormhole, hitting Charizard in the back and causing both itself and Charizard to plummet to the ground. They landed among the trees a few yards away from the group, so Ash and his friends quickly ran to the scene of the crash.
When the group found the spot where Charizard had crashed, Ash crouched down and calmly placed a hand on Charizard's shoulder. "Charizard?" he asked, "Are you okay?" There was no response, but Ash could easily hear Charizard's breathing, so he figured out that Charizard was just unconscious. "Thank goodness your safe, but we're gonna need to take you to a Pokémon center," he said as he held up Charizard's Pokéball. He returned Charizard to its Pokéball, but as soon as he did he heard a soft thud on the ground a few feet away. When he turned to see what had made the noise, he noticed a Pokémon lying unconscious where Charizard had just been. "Who's that Pokémon?" he asked, holding up his Pokedex.
The Pokédex scanned the strange Pokemon for a few seconds before answering "Unknown species, no data available."
"Unknown species?" Ash raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the Pokémon. It had the same basic body shape as a Ponyta, but without the flames. Its body was a sky blue, and its mane and tail had all the colors of the rainbow running down them, but the thing that most astonished Ash about this Pokémon was that it had wings.
"I've never seen anything like it," Cilan commented, "and based on what your Pokédex just said, neither has anyone else."
Iris ran up to the strange Pokémon and crouched down to get a closer look. She carefully reached out and felt the Pokémon's mane, then smiled and gave a delighted squeal. "It's so soft," she said, gently petting the Pokémon. "Aw, it's so pretty" she smiled. Suddenly, she was interrupted when the Pokémon began to cringe a little. She backed up a bit "Uh-oh, looks like it's really hurt. We'd better get to a Pokémon center quickly."
"I agree," Ash said as he ran up to the Pokémon and leaned down to pick it up. He carefully slid his hands under the Pokémon's neck and torso, and, with a bit of effort, lifted it up.
"Need any help?" Iris asked.
"Nah," he said, "I can handle it."
"Let's hope so," Cilan spoke up, "because the closest Pokémon center is three miles from here, at an uphill slope."
Ash groaned "me and my big mouth."
By the time they reached the Pokémon center, Ash was gasping for breath and struggling to hold up the Pokémon he was carrying. "Finally!" he exclaimed as they came through the door. The group walked up to the counter. "Nurse Joy," Ash started, "this Pokémon needs help right away!" He lifted the Pokémon up and set it on the counter.
Nurse Joy gasped "I've never seen a Pokémon like this before; we'd better start right away. Oh Audino," she called to the other room "we need a stretcher, stat."
"Audino" the Audino responded as it rolled out a stretcher. As it got the stretcher up to the counter, it helped Nurse Joy lift the blue Pokémon and lay it on the stretcher.
Nurse Joy began to roll the stretcher away but was stopped when Ash called after her "Wait, I almost forgot something. My Charizard got pretty beaten up in a battle earlier, so could you take care of it too?"
Iris held up Dragonite's Pokéball and added "The same goes for my Dragonite. It needs help too."
Nurse Joy nodded "Of course, I'll be happy to help." She returned to the counter and took the Pokéballs. "I'll tell you as soon as they're better."
"Thanks," Ash said, "we'll just hang around here and get some lunch while we wait." With that, Nurse joy placed the Pokéballs on the stretcher and rolled it out of the room. Ash and his friends walked to the cafe area of the Pokémon center and sat down to wait. Ash sighed "I sure hope that Pokémon is okay."
"Don't worry Ash," Cilan responded, "I'm sure if you just give Nurse Joy some time to take care of it, it'll be just fine in no time."
"Yeah, you worry too much," Iris said with a small laugh. "Before you know it, we'll be seeing that Pokémon back to full health." Little did she know just how right she was. Moments later, the door behind the counter burst open and the blue Pokémon rushed out into the lobby with a terrified expression on its face. It looked around in confusion at all the people and Pokémon staring at it, then it quickly flew out the door.
"Wait!" Nurse Joy called as she ran through the door, "You're still to hurt, we were just trying to make you better!" She saw Ash and ran over to him "When we were about to start figuring out what was wrong, the Pokémon woke up. When it saw me and Audino, it looked like it had seen a ghost and it panicked."
Ash stood up "But if it was able to fly like that, isn't that good? That means it's healthy, right?"
"No, Ash," Nurse Joy responded, shaking her head, "it was only able to do that because of the adrenaline it got from being startled like that. Once that wears off it'll be in even worse condition than before."
"What?!?" Ash demanded. He turned to his friends "Come on, we've gotta stop that Pokémon and bring it back before it's too late!" he pushed his chair in and ran for the door.
"Got it," Iris said as she jumped to her feet and started running for the door, "come on Cilan, we've got a Pokémon to find."
Cilan stood up and ran after his friends, stopping only for a moment to turn back to Nurse Joy and tell her "Don't worry, we'll get that Pokémon back in no time."
"Just be careful," Nurse Joy called after them, "the Pokémon is very scared, so when you find it it's likely to attack."
The group got outside and looked around, but couldn't see the blue Pokémon anywhere. Ash quickly turned to face the others "Okay, let's split up. We'll meet back here in thirty minutes, or after someone finds the Pokémon."
Iris nodded "Sounds good to me. I'll go to the left," she turned to Ash, "you take the right, and Cilan," she turned to face Cilan "you search the perimeter." Both Ash and Cilan nodded in agreement, and the trio split up to search.
Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could out of the strange building she had woken up in, still unable to believe what was going on. She flew into the forest nearby and sat on a high branch surrounded by leaves, just trying to get her head around what was going on. “Okay, so I was trying a new stunt, got Twilight’s help, was going faster than ever before, and suddenly I’m waking up on a table surrounded by monsters? How did that happen? What were those things staring at me? There were a few big pink ones with huge ears, and one that looked like some kind of a hairless monkey.” She looked down from the tree in the direction of the building “what were they planning to do with me?” suddenly, she cringed at an intense pain in her wings “Owowow, I feel like I got hit by a train.”
As Rainbow watched from a distance, the door to the building opened and three of the strange creatures she had seen earlier ran out. One of them had green hair and a vest like a waiter, one had very long hair and a jacket tied around its waist, and one had a hat and a large yellow rodent on its shoulder. Rainbow ducked down into the cover of the leaves so she could watch them without being seen. They just stood there talking, but she couldn’t make out the words. After a short conversation they split up; the green-haired one went around the back of the building, the one with the hat ran to one side, and the long haired one ran straight toward the tree Dash was hiding in.
As she entered the forest, Iris decided the best thing to do would be to get to the tallest tree she could find so she could get a bird’s eye view. Luckily, there was one tree that was noticeably taller than the surrounding ones, so Iris quickly ran to the base of it. Rainbow Dash was getting worried now because the strange creature had already found her hiding place and was starting to climb. She looked down and saw that the creature had already climbed up a number of branches and was over halfway to the top of the tree. Rainbow realized that her wings were in too much pain to fly away quickly, and she was so high up that if she tried to fly away slowly she’d be seen in no time, so she instead decided to just try and get higher into the tree. She saw a nearby branch that looked sturdy enough to hold her, so she jumped to it. When she landed, the branch shook a little, so she stood still to make sure the shaking wouldn’t give her away. She cautiously looked back but didn’t see the creature. After giving a quiet sigh of relief, she looked around for another branch.
All of a sudden, she was startled by a strange nasally voice behind her yelling “Axew! Axew!” She quickly turned around and saw the creature, with what looked like a tiny green dragon sticking out of its mane. The dragon was pointing at Rainbow, and it was clear that its call was an alarm telling the bigger creature that it had found her. The bigger creature turned to look at her, having heard the call. Dash quickly backed up to avoid the creature, but forgot she was on a high tree branch. She stepped backward off the branch and fell, just barely opening her wings in time to avoid crashing. As she came in for a shaky landing, she saw the creature coming down the tree after her and heard it calling its comrades. She started to run further into the forest with what little strength she had.
Just as Iris got down from the tree, Ash and Cilan ran up to her. “What’s up?” Ash asked, “Did you find the Pokémon?”
“Of course I did,” Iris responded, “why else would I have called you here?”
Ash rolled his eyes “Okay, well where is it?”
“Look” Clan commented, “there are fresh hoof-prints leading this way. If we follow them we should find the Pokémon.”
“Hoof-prints?” Ash asked, “But if it can fly why would it run away on its hooves?”
“Because it’s too weak to fly right now,” Cilan answered, “which means we need to find it fast.” The trio quickly started to follow the tracks through the forest.
Rainbow ran frantically, occasionally trying to spread her wings, but each time finding herself unable to. She heard rapid footsteps behind her, which made her realize the creatures were right on her trail. Panting, she ran as fast as she could until she tripped over a rock and went tumbling into a small clearing among the trees. She struggled to her hooves, but as she did she heard the creatures very close.
Ash and his friends followed the hoof-prints through the forest as fast as they could. After a few minutes, Pikachu’s ears perked up, and it pointed forward with a call “Pika!”
“What is it Pikachu?” Ash asked, “Do you hear something?”
Iris spoke up “Wait a minute, I hear something too.”
Cilan quickly pitched in “It sounds like footsteps! We must be gaining on the Pokémon!”
“Look!” Ash yelled, “There it is!” He pointed a little further into the forest, where the blue Pokemon was currently running. The Pokémon suddenly seemed to trip over something and fell forward. “Look, it tripped,” Ash said excitedly, “now’s our chance to catch up with it.”
Rainbow realized the creatures were gaining on her, so she decided to stop running and start fighting. She gritted her teeth in both pain and anger as she turned back to face the creatures as they exited the forest. She got into a pouncing position as she watched the trees and waited for the moment to strike. Soon, the creature with the hat emerged from between the trees, and Rainbow pounced right at it. It yelled in surprise and jumped out of the way. Rainbow landed in front of it and glared as the yellow rodent jumped down to the ground. She looked at the yellow rodent and was surprised to see what looked like sparks of electricity coming from its cheeks. She backed up a bit, not sure what was going on, but soon heard the other creatures emerging from the forest into the clearing. She gritted her teeth in anger and jumped at the closest target, the yellow rodent. The rodent jumped to the side to dodge her, but she managed to skid to a halt and turn back to face it.
Despite the pain in her wings, she managed to spread her wings and fly toward the rodent, but it dodged again while yelling “Pika!” Rainbow didn’t have a clue what that word meant, but she didn’t care; all that mattered was showing these creatures they couldn’t mess with her. She furiously charged at the rodent, but it jumped into the air and, suddenly, its body became cloaked in electricity. Rainbow gasped as the rodent suddenly shot a bolt of lightning at her. The lightning struck her right in the back, and she screamed in pain before collapsing onto her side. The creatures began to advance on her, even as she struggled to get to her hooves. “S-stay back,” she muttered, “I’m warning you.”
Ash and his friends stopped approaching and gasped in unison. They stood wide-eyed for a moment before Ash spoke up. “You can talk?!?”
Rainbow was startled by this question, but soon responded “Wait, YOU can talk?!?”
Ash, Iris, and Cilan shared a confused glance before Ash replied “Of course I can talk, I’m a human. You’re the Pokémon here, you’re the one who’s not supposed to know how to talk.”
Rainbow glared at him “What the hay is a Pokémon? It’s pronounced pony, and what do you mean I’m not supposed to know how to talk?”
Ash answered her “Well, it’s just that most Pokémon only say their own names, very few can actually talk.”
Dash cringed in pain as she responded “And as I just said I’m not a Pokémon. What’s a Pokémon anyway?”
Pikachu walked up to Rainbow’s face and tilted his head in confusion “Pika?”
“W-What's that supposed to mean?” Dash groaned.
“I don’t know,” Ash shrugged, “as I said, Pokémon usually can’t say anything but their own name, and since Pikachu is a Pokémon that means he can only say his own name too.”
“So, I guess that means this thing is Pikachu?” Rainbow grumbled. “How could you mistake me for one of these? I look nothing like it.”
“Not all Pokémon look like Pikachu,” Ash replied, “they come in every shape and size.”
“Well, that’s nice and all,” Rainbow muttered as she staggered to her hooves “but I’m not about to stick around and be called a Pokémon.” She struggled to take a step but fell over onto her front knee. Iris quickly ran up to her and held onto her to stop her from falling over. Rainbow cringed in pain but tried to shrug Iris off “Let go, I-I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” Iris argued, “you’re hurt, and you need medical attention. That’s why we were chasing you. We’re trying to take you to the Pokémon center, because that’s where people take injured Pokémon for medical help.”
Rainbow was still angry, but decided she was in too much pain to get away, so all she could do now was hope these ’human’ things were telling the truth and not trying to lure her into a trap. “Fine,” she sighed, “I’ll go to the Pokémon place, but only because I’m too injured to fly.”
Ash smiled “Good, so I guess we can head back now. Need any help, uh?…”
“My name is Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow groaned, “and I don’t need any help.” However, as soon as she tried to take another step, she collapsed from the pain in her leg. She muttered “Fine, some help would be nice.”
Iris gently picked Rainbow up “There you go. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re up and flying again by tomorrow morning.” The group turned back in the direction of the Pokémon center and started walking, Iris trailing behind the others a little due to having to carry Rainbow. After a little while, they emerged from the forest and walked up to the door to the Pokémon center. Rainbow scanned the building intently, taking in every detail just in case it turned out she was going to need to flee in a hurry.
Nurse Joy saw the group enter and was delighted to see Iris carrying the runaway Pokémon with her. She called into the other room “Audino, we need the stretcher again.” The door opened and a duo of Audinos rolled the stretcher out into the lobby.
Iris gently set Rainbow Dash on the stretcher and petted her mane “Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, these Pokémon are here to help you.”
Rainbow turned to face Iris and narrowed her eyes “Thanks, but do you have to treat me like a pet?”
Nurse Joy gasped “Oh my, it talks.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes “Oh boy, we get to have this discussion again.”
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Ash told her. He turned to Nurse Joy and explained “she claims she’s not a Pokémon, and that she doesn’t understand what humans and Pokémon are. I don’t get it, but she really seems like she doesn’t know what a Pokémon is.”
“Really?” Nurse Joy asked, “Well, she’s certainly not a human, so what is she?”
“I’m a pony” Rainbow mumbled weakly. She then closed her eyes and fell asleep, the excitement of the day having taken its toll.
Nurse Joy smiled down at Rainbow Dash, then turned to Ash and his friends. “Don’t worry, she’ll be all better in no time.” With that, she and the Audinos rolled the stretcher behind the counter and out of the lobby.
“Oh no oh no oh no, this can’t be happening!” Twilight flew all over the sky, desperately trying to find Rainbow Dash. “What happened to her? She was flying and then just vanished! That can’t be!” She scanned the area where Rainbow had disappeared, for about the twelfth time, when she suddenly got a horrible theory. “Uh oh,” she looked down “what if she went too fast and crashed?” She flew down to the ground and started looking around, hoping she wouldn’t find a crushed Rainbow Dash. About thirty minutes of searching later Twilight was convinced that Rainbow did not in fact crash, but she was still left wondering what happened. Looking back to town, she frowned “I hope Rainbow’s okay. Hopefully, my friends can come up with something.”
Twilight flew back to Ponyville and headed to Sugarcube Corner. She reached up a hoof to knock on the door, but before she could the door swung open and she was pulled inside by a pair of bubblegum-pink hooves. “Twilight, it’s terrible!” Pinkie cried as she hugged Twilight tightly.
Struggling to escape Pinkie’s vice grip, Twilight sputtered “H-how did you know about Rainbow Dash?”
Pinkie instantly released Twilight, causing the Alicorn to drop to the floor with a thud. “Know what about Rainbow Dash?”
Twilight took a moment to catch her breath “Wait, if you’re not upset about Rainbow Dash, what are you upset about?”
Pinkie frowned “I broke the Cakes’ new blender when I tried to make a jawbreaker smoothie.” She reached behind the counter and held up a blender that looked like it had been beaten with a hammer. She embraced the blender and cried “It was so young! It never even got the chance to make its first milk shake!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow “Um, Pinkie, I’m really sorry about your blender, but there’s an emergency. Rainbow Dash vanished into thin air this morning and I have no idea why! I used a spell to make her fly faster, but when she was using it she just vanished!”
Pinkie blinked, paused for a moment in contemplation, and suddenly gasped “I knew it!”
Twilight’s mouth dropped “Y-you did?!? But how?!?”
“It was my Pinkie sense, silly,” Pinkie giggled, “when my ears flop, my tail twitches, my left hind hoof skips and I hiccup, it means somepony just got sent to another dimension.”
Twilight stared at her for a moment “And, how exactly did you discover that particular combo?”
Pinkie put a hoof to her chin and thought. “Hmm, when did I learn it?”
“My turn!” Kaiba said as he drew his next card. “Now Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, finish off that annoying pony!” The three-headed dragon reared up, all three of its mouths gathering energy, aiming at Pinkie Pie.
As the energy blasts were fired at Pinkie, she pointed to a face-down card “Nice try, but I play Magic Cylinder! This cancels your attack and hits you with damage equal to your monster’s attack power.”
“What?!?” Kaiba gasped. A pair of golden cylinders appeared next to Pinkie. The beams flew into one of the cylinders, and moments later they shot out of the other one, aiming straight for Kaiba. “NOOO!” he yelled as the blasts struck him.
“Hmm,” Pinkie shrugged, “Sorry, I can‘t remember.”
Twilight sighed “Okay then, let’s just focus on the problem at hoof.”
“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie said, holding up the broken blender, “to the appliance store!”
“I mean the problem with Rainbow Dash” Twilight deadpanned.
“Oh,” Pinkie said, putting the blender back down, “to the library!”
“Not quite,” Twilight pointed out, “you head to the library, I’ll go get the others.”
“I’m on it” Pinkie saluted, before hopping out the door and bouncing towards the library.
“Well, I guess next up is Rarity” Twilight muttered to herself. She trotted out the door and headed for Carousel Boutique. “Rarity?” she knocked on the door, “are you home?”
“Coming,” Rarity responded from the other side of the door. A few moments later, the door opened and Rarity smiled at the sight of her friend. “Twilight,” she greeted, “come in darling, I was just about to make some tea.”
“Sorry Rarity” Twilight shook her head, “but there’s an emergency. Rainbow Dash vanished, so I need you and the others to go to the library so we can figure out what happened and how to get her back.”
Rarity gasped “Oh my, that’s terrible. Don’t worry, I’ll be at the library in no time.” With that, she started to trot to the library.
“Well,” Twilight said, “at least that didn’t take as long as Pinkie. Next up is Fluttershy.” About thirty minutes later, Twilight finished delivering the message to Fluttershy, and she and Applejack were now trotting to the library together.
“Now what exactly do ya’ mean Rainbow vanished?” Applejack asked, “Ya mean she skipped town or somethin’?”
Twilight shook her head “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it when we get to the library.” They arrived at the library and entered, where Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were waiting for them. “Okay girls,” Twilight started “take your seats and I’ll explain everything.”
“Okie dokie lokie” Pinkie giggled as she pulled a bean-bag chair out of her mane and set it on the ground next to herself. The others chose not to ask questions and opted instead to just sit down and listen to Twilight’s explanation.
Twilight stood in the middle of the room and began her summary of the morning’s events. The others listened intently, with expressions of confusion at times and fear at others. “…and when I was finally able to see again, she was gone.” Twilight finished, looking around at all her friends.
Applejack was the first to speak up “Wait, so what you’re saying is she just vanished into thin air. How did that happen? Did’ja mix up a teleporting spell in with the speed spell or somethin'?”
“I don’t know, Applejack” Twilight shook her head, “I don’t know how it happened. That’s why I gathered all of you here, so we can try to figure out what happened to Rainbow Dash and start working out a way to bring her home.”
Rarity was the next to speak up “So, if I’m understanding this, you want us to search through all of the books in the library so we can find a spell that can find Rainbow Dash?”
“Almost,” Twilight responded, “we can look for either that or a spell that has the same effect as what happened to her.”
“But, wouldn’t that be dangerous?” Fluttershy squeaked, “If the spell made Rainbow Dash vanish, shouldn’t we avoid it?”
“No Fluttershy,” Twilight shook her head, “if we can find a spell that has the same effect as the one I used, we can figure out a way to reverse it. Now, we’ve got a lot of reading ahead of us and I don’t know how much time we have. Let’s get to work, ladies. Let‘s do it for Rainbow Dash!”
The others all nodded and gave a mutual cheer of “For Rainbow Dash!” before they spread out to look at the different sections of the library.
“Spike,” Twilight called upstairs, “send a letter to Celestia and tell her what happened. Even if our library doesn’t have the information we need, the royal archives in Canterlot will.”
Spike saluted and responded “You can count on me Twilight,” before running to write the letter.
***
Hours of reading later, there were five large piles of books in the room, five exhausted ponies lying next to the books, and zero books left on the shelves. “Well girls,” Twilight sighed, “we checked everywhere, and still nothing.”
“Ah guess that means we need to head fer Canterlot and check those archives” Applejack replied.
“I guess so” Twilight responded, “but the last train for Canterlot for today already left. We’ll have to wait and go there tomorrow morning.”
“Well, look at the bright side,” Rarity spoke up “that means we’ll have plenty of time to get our beauty sleep and pack for the trip.”
“Rarity,” Twilight started “this isn’t vacation, it’s a rescue mission.”
Rarity stood up “Well, so was our mission to the Crystal Empire, but we were given plenty of time to pack for that mission.”
“I guess you have a point,” Twilight said as she rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Okay girls, let’s all head home for the night and meet back here in the morning. We’ll catch the first train to Canterlot.”
Applejack yawned “that works fer me. Ah’m beat after all that readin’. G’night y’all. See ya in the mornin’.” She trotted out the door, followed by Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
After she closed the door, Twilight frowned and slowly made her way to the stairs. Spike noticed her sad expression and spoke up “Aw, don’t worry Twilight. I’m sure Rainbow’s gonna be fine.”
Twilight sighed “It’s not just that I’m worried about. I’m also worried that this was all my fault. It might have been my spell that made her disappear. If it turns out it was my fault, and something really bad does happen to Rainbow Dash, I don’t know how I’ll live with myself.”
Spike placed a hand on her shoulder “Come on, Twilight, you need to cheer up if you want to find the spell in the archive tomorrow. You can’t search the archives if you’re too busy sulking.”
Twilight tried to smile, but couldn’t, “I’m sorry, Spike. I’ll try to keep my spirits up when we get to Canterlot, but I don’t know how.” She slowly climbed up into her bed and pulled the blanket over herself, sadly looking up at the same spot she had looked that morning, saddened by the fact that Rainbow Dash wasn’t there anymore because of her.
In the back of the Pokémon Center, Ash, Iris, and Cilan stood behind a large viewing window while Nurse Joy sat down at a computer next to them. On the other side of the viewing window, Rainbow Dash was calmly resting on an operating table. She had a few small wires attached to her connecting her to the monitoring equipment. “How’s she doing, Nurse Joy?” Iris asked.
Nurse Joy looked over from the computer screen, “Well if these scans are anything to go by she’s making an excellent recovery.”
“Thank goodness,” Ash said, looking through the viewing window, “I was afraid she might wake up and freak out again.”
Nurse Joy nodded “Yes, we were concerned about that too, so before we started our scans we gave her a sedative. It’s probably worn off by now, but she was already physically exhausted when you brought her in, so we’re not sure when she’ll wake up.”
A faint mumbling came from the other room “dragons… humans… electric rodents… donuts…”
“Looks like she’s waking up” Cilan commented quietly, not wanting to startle Rainbow.
Iris responded “It sounds like she’s still trying to wrap her head around what happened yesterday.”
“And making plans for lunch” Ash added.
As the group watched, Rainbow’s eyes slowly opened and she gave a big yawn “W-where am I?” She flinched when she saw the medical equipment, but then the memories of recent events came back to her. “Oh, I guess that means it wasn't a dream…” her stomach rumbled and she frowned “except the part about the donuts. Wait, but that means,” she slowly turned around to face the viewing window and saw the humans watching her, looks of relief on their faces, “I’m definitely not in Equestria anymore.” Seeing that Rainbow Dash was awake, Nurse Joy stood up and walked out the door, followed by Ash, Iris, and Cilan. Rainbow watched them leave, raising an eyebrow in confusion, but moments later the door in the back of the operating room opened and the group entered.
“Hi Rainbow Dash” Iris smiled, “feeling better?”
Rainbow slowly waved her arms to see if they were still sore and was astonished to find them feeling as good as new. She gave her wings a few experimental flaps and found that they weren't sore anymore either. She smiled “I feel great. How’s this possible? After all the pain I was in, I thought I’d have to stay here for weeks. Wait a minute,” suddenly, she turned to face Nurse Joy with a scared look on her face, “I haven’t been in a coma have I?”
Nurse Joy giggled and responded “No, you've only been in here since yesterday afternoon.”
Rainbow‘s mouth hung open “B-but how could you have healed me so much so quickly? I've never seen medical stuff that can work that fast.”
“Really?” Nurse Joy asked, “This medical technology is pretty standard in any Pokémon Center.”
“Well I've never been to a Pokémon center before,” Rainbow Dash responded, “where I come from I went to the hospital once in a while, but there aren't any Pokémon there.”
“Speaking of which,” Cilan spoke up, “where exactly did you come from?”
Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, but was silenced by a rumbling in her stomach, “Um, tell you what, if you can tell me where to get some food I’ll tell you everything.”
Iris giggled and looked at Ash, “She sounds a lot like you, Ash.”
Ash glared at her and said “Does not!” but was interrupted as his stomach began to rumble. He lowered his head and sighed “Well, I guess we should see about getting some lunch anyway.”
Rainbow smiled and stood up, “Great, let’s just hope you've got good food here.” She started reaching for the wires attached to her so she could pull them out, but she was stopped by Nurse Joy.
“Careful,” Nurse Joy informed her, “this is sensitive equipment. Let me take care of it for you.” Rainbow gave an unamused look, but decided not to argue with the person who had just fixed injuries that would take Equestrian doctors weeks in just one day. She sat patiently, wincing slightly as the wires were removed.
Once she was no longer hooked up to the medical equipment, Dash stretched her wings and smiled “Alright, let’s eat.” She hopped down from the table and trotted past the others and out the door.
“Sounds like a plan to me” Ash smiled as he and his friends followed Rainbow Dash out of the room.
As they left the Pokémon Center, Rainbow turned to the humans, “So, where exactly are we gonna get some food anyway?”
Ash replied “We were planning to have a picnic. We can have some food and introduce you to the rest of our Pokémon.”
“Speaking of which,” Rainbow responded, “I never caught your names.”
Cilan was the first to respond, “My name’s Cilan.”
Iris followed up “I’m Iris, and this is Axew” pointing to her hair.
Axew popped up out of her hair and smiled “Axew.”
Ash spoke up next “I’m Ash, and as we told you yesterday this is Pikachu” he petted Pikachu, who smiled happily.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Pikachu, “Wait a minute, I just remembered that Pikachu shot lightning at me yesterday. What was that for anyway?” She flew up to glare at Pikachu at eye level.
Ash quickly stepped back, “Well, you attacked me, so Pikachu was trying to protect me.”
Rainbow frowned all of a sudden “Oh, yeah. Well, could you blame me for attacking? I had just woken up in a building surrounded by weird creatures, I didn't know what was going on.”
Iris stepped between Ash and Rainbow, “Now now, let’s not get into the blame game. Let’s just go have that picnic we were talking about, alright?”
Rainbow sighed “Okay, that sounds good.”
“Great,” Cilan smiled, “as soon as we find a place for our picnic I’ll get to work on the food.”
“Wait,” Rainbow asked, “you mean you don’t have any food on you right now?”
“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash” Ash said with a smile.
“Yeah,” Iris responded, “Cilan’s a master chef. He’ll get a gourmet meal ready for all of us in no time, just as soon as we find a clearing for our picnic.”
Rainbow grinned confidently, “Oh, you can leave that to me.” She took off and flew straight up so she could get a bird’s eye view of the forest. Moments later, she flew back down “There’s a clearing by a river about 100 yards to the left of here.”
Ash and his friends all smiled, and Ash spoke up “great, thanks, Rainbow Dash.”
“Don’t mention it,” Rainbow said as they all started to head for the clearing. They made their way through the forest, and when they reached the clearing Rainbow flew over to the river. She leaned down and took a sip of the water, then wiped her mouth with a hoof and said “Wow, I didn't even realize how dry my mouth was. That hit the spot. So,” she started as she turned back to Ash and his friends, “what’s for lu-” she stopped and stared in confusion as each of the humans threw a bunch of strange-looking white and red balls into the air. Suddenly, the balls split open and surges of white energy flowed out of them. The energy fell to the ground and took strange varying shapes, before releasing bursts of sparkling light, revealing strange creatures that Rainbow Dash could only assume were Pokémon. She stammered “Wh-what just happened? Where did all of they come from?!?”
Ash walked up to her and asked “Wait, you don’t know about Pokéballs either?”
Iris ran up and tapped Ash on the shoulder “Of course she doesn't. Yesterday she didn't even know what Pokémon were, so of course she doesn't know about Pokéballs either.”
“Pokéballs?” Rainbow asked, “is that what you call those red and white balls you just had?”
“Yeah,” Cilan replied as he stepped up to the group, “Pokéballs are tools Pokémon trainers use to keep their Pokémon safe. When the Pokémon are in the Pokéballs, they stay well rested. Some Pokémon are even known to let themselves out of their Pokéballs.”
“Really?” Rainbow asked, “That’s pretty weird, but it sounds kinda cool too. So,” she flew up to the group of Pokémon, “how about some introductions?”
“Certainly,” Cilan responded, “I’ll introduce my Pokémon first,” he turned to Ash and Iris, “and while I work on lunch, you two can introduce your Pokémon.” First he walked up to a brown, flat fish with a face on the top of its body and a yellow tail, “this is Stunfisk,” next, he pointed out a Pokémon that looked like a crab with a massive slab of rock for a shell, “that’s Crustle, and this,” he leaned down and picked up a Pokémon that looked like a green monkey with a stalk of broccoli on its head, “is my main partner Pansage.”
Rainbow nodded as she listened, “Interesting. They kinda look like species we have in Equestria. Pansage looks like a monkey, Crustle looks like a crab, and Stunfisk looks like some kind of fish.”
Cilan smiled “That's not too surprising. Pokémon come in all shapes and sizes, so it makes sense that some of them will resemble creatures from far away places. Now, without further ado,” in the blink of an eye he reached into his backpack and pulled out an apron and chef hat, putting them on at a speed that would have impressed even Pinkie Pie, “it’s time to get started on lunch.” He walked over to a picnic table that was set up in the clearing for the use of travelers, took a bunch of ingredients and utensils out of his backpack, and started cooking.
“I guess I’m next” Iris smiled as she ran over to her Pokémon. Rainbow Dash flew over to them to get a better look. One of them looked like a flying squirrel with a black back, yellow cheeks, a white face and torso, and yellow along the underside of its flight membrane. The next one looked like a huge, gray mole with purple stripe patterns on its back; the most fascinating thing about it was that it had massive, barbed, metal claws, one of which was coming out of its forehead like a helmet. Lastly, there was a large orange dragon with small green wings and a round nose. First, Iris pointed to the squirrel, “This is Emolga,” then she pointed to the mole, “and this is Excadrill,” and then she pointed at the dragon, “and this is Dragonite.”
Axew jumped out of her hair and stood in front of her “Axew?”
She giggled and patted Axew on the head “Don’t worry, I didn't forget you. I only skipped you because Rainbow Dash has already met you.” Axew smiled contentedly at this response.
Rainbow couldn't help but smile at Axew “You know, you remind me of a friend of mine, a little dragon named Spike.”
“Dragon?” Iris stood up excitedly, “You have dragons in your world?”
Rainbow backed up a bit, startled by this reaction, “Um, yeah, of course we do. Although, I've gotta say the dragons I’ve seen here are a lot smaller than the ones we have.” She pointed to Dragonite, “See, that’s probably the biggest dragon I've seen here, and it’s about the size of a teenage dragon back in Equestria. An adult dragon in Equestria would be about 10 times that size.”
“10 times?!?” Iris exclaimed, “Wow, I’ve never heard of a dragon that big.”
Rainbow flew over to Ash and whispered “What’s going on? I’ve never met anyone so interested in dragons.”
Ash chuckled and explained “You see, she’s from the village of dragons, so she absolutely loves to raise Dragon-type Pokémon.”
“Wow,” Rainbow said, “sounds like the opposite of my friend Fluttershy; she’s terrified of dragons.”
Ash smirked “That’s nothing, Iris is terrified of Ice-type Pokémon.”
“Ice-types?” Rainbow asked, confused.
“Yeah,” Ash chuckled, “she’s afraid of them because Ice-types are super strong against dragons.”
“Weird,” Rainbow shrugged, “I’d think something that breathes fire would be strong against ice. This world keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
Ash just smiled “Aw, you’ll get used to it. In the meantime, how about I introduce you to my Pokémon?”
Rainbow nodded “Sure, you seem to have the most Pokémon here anyway.” She flew to the last group of Pokémon to get a look. The first one looked like a blue sea-otter with a white head and a yellow seashell on its chest; Rainbow wondered why the shell wasn't falling off. The next one looked like a large red crocodile with black stripes along its back and a pair of sunglasses on its face. Next to the crocodile was an orange pig that was standing on its hind legs and seemed to be wearing a wrestler’s outfit. Next, there was a very bizarre Pokémon that seemed to be made of pure rock, mostly black but with a few red gems coming out of it; it didn't seem to have a mouth, had three legs, 2 of which were in front and one of which was behind its back, and had one big eye that was bisected by a rock coming down from its forehead. Behind the rock Pokémon was a large orange dragon with blue wings, similar to Dragonite but darker.
Ash walked up next to Rainbow Dash, “These are my Pokemon. This is Oshawott,” he placed his hand on the otter’s forehead, “this is Pignite,” he pointed to the pig, “that’s Krookodile,” he pointed to the crocodile, “that’s Boldore,” he pointed to the rock, “and this is Charizard” he finished by standing up and pointing to the dragon. Charizard looked down at Rainbow and suddenly started to growl a little.
Rainbow Dash saw the look on Charizard’s face and backed away a bit, “Whoa, what’s with Charizard? It looks like it’s about to attack me or something.”
Ash looked at Charizard, and then down at Rainbow Dash, “Oh! I see,” he replied.
“See what?” Rainbow asked as she backed away a bit, “That this Pokémon wants to eat me or something?”
Ash quickly shook his head, “No, of course not. Charizard’s just mad at you because you drove him into the ground when you came out of that portal yesterday.”
“Oh,” Rainbow Dash said, laughing nervously. “Um, sorry about that, Charizard. It was an accident.” Charizard’s expression lightened up a bit, but it still looked a bit angry. Rainbow gulped and looked at Ash, “does he forgive me, or should I duck for cover?”
Ash looked up at Charizard for a moment before giving a knowing smile, “Yes Rainbow Dash, Charizard forgives you, but” he turned to look at Rainbow Dash, “he wants to have a battle with you.”
Rainbow backed up a bit, “A battle? Why? I thought we were cool now.”
Ash smiled “You are, but Charizard seems like it wants a chance to prove that the only reason you knocked it out yesterday is because you took it by surprise and it was worn out from its battle with Dragonite.” Charizard nodded.
“It had a battle with Dragonite?” Rainbow asked, “Why?”
“It was a sparring match,” Iris responded as she and Dragonite walked up to Dash, “We were training Dragonite and Charizard to be stronger by having them spar with each other.”
“So, Charizard wants to spar with me now?” Rainbow asked, “I suppose that would be fine, as long as it’s not a fight to the death or anything.”
“To the death?” Ash raised an eyebrow, “Nah, Pokémon battles are never to the death. Look at Dragonite,” he pointed to Dragonite, “it’s still alive, after all, so obviously its match with Charizard wasn't to the death, and both of them are fine now. That’s what most of the Pokémon treated at Pokémon Centers come in for, damage from Pokémon battles.”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with a hoof “Wow, something like that would be considered barbaric back in Equestria…” suddenly, she grinned, “that sounds AWESOME! Bring it on, Charizard!” She posed proudly, ready for battle.
“Hold on there,” Cilan interrupted as he walked over to the group, “I’m sure you’d rather have your match after lunch.”
Rainbow’s stomach rumbled and she blushed, “Oh yeah, I was so pumped up I guess I forgot how hungry I was.”
Cilan smiled “Well then, it’s a good thing I just happened to finish making lunch,” he turned to face the table, which now had a cloth and plates of food on top of it and several food bowls on the ground around it, which Rainbow Dash assumed were for the Pokémon. All the Pokémon, humans, and Rainbow Dash walked excitedly to the table, unaware of the fact that they were being watched.
“Did you hear that?” Jessie asked as she held her sound-amplifier pointed towards Ash and his group.
“Yes,” James responded, “it sounds like the twerps are preparing for a picnic.”
“Not that you dolt!” Jessie snapped but was quickly silenced by a paw placed over her mouth.
“Shh,” Meowth said quietly, “you don’t want to give away our position, do you?” Jessie shook her head, so Meowth removed his paw from her face.
“As I was saying,” Jessie started, quietly but still noticeably irritated, “that blue Pokémon they have with them can talk, and it says it’s not from this world.”
Meowth smirked “Yeah because you've never met a talking Pokémon before.”
Jessie scowled and hit Meowth on the top of the head, leaving a small lump where her fist struck, “That’s not the important part, you smart-aleck. The important part is that that Pokémon somehow came here from another world. If that Pokémon can really travel between different worlds like that, just think of what it could do for us.”
James grinned, “Agreed, with that power we could spread the power of Team Rocket far beyond the borders of this world.”
Meowth grinned, although he was still holding the spot on his head where he had been struck. “Yeah, and if other worlds have Pokémon that don’t exist in ours, we can catch them and bring them here. The twerps will never know what hit ‘em.”
“Then it’s settled,” Jessie grinned, “We'll capture the blue Pokémon and use its power for the glory of Team Rocket.”
“Wow, this is delicious” Rainbow Dash smiled as she took a bite of a sandwich.
“I’m glad you like it, Rainbow Dash,” Cilan replied, “feel free to have as many as you like.”
Rainbow finished her sandwich and reached for another, “Don’t mind if I do. After all the craziness that I’ve been through these last two days I’m starving.”
“So, was I right or was I right?” Iris asked, “Is Cilan a master chef or what?”
Rainbow nodded happily “He sure is. I can’t remember the last time I had food this good.” She continued to chow down until she was full. She rubbed her tummy “That was great! Now,” she grinned confidently, “how about that battle?”
Ash smiled at her, then looked over to Charizard, “How about it, buddy? Ready for a battle?” Charizard stood up, spread its wings, and roared.
Rainbow smirked, “It sure sounds to me like he’s ready.” She got into a takeoff position and dug at the ground with her hooves.
Just as Rainbow was about to charge, Ash stood up “Wait a minute, Rainbow Dash.” He walked over to the other side of the clearing, about twenty feet behind Charizard. Rainbow Dash watched in confusion, not familiar with the workings of Pokemon battles.
Cilan stood up and walked over to the middle of the clearing and took about twenty steps back before he began speaking, “The one on one battle between Charizard and Rainbow Dash is about to begin. Are both sides ready?” He looked to Charizard and Ash, who both nodded, then to Rainbow Dash, who was still in a pouncing position. “In that case, let the battle begin!”
Rainbow charged straight for Charizard and punched it in the gut, causing it to slide back a bit, so Charizard dug the claws on its feet into the ground to stop itself from sliding any further. Ash yelled “Charizard, use Flamethrower!”
“Flamethrower?” Rainbow asked, “What’s Flamethrower?” She looked up and saw Charizard looking down at her with its mouth wide open, a fiery light starting to well up in the back of its mouth. “AH!” she yelled as she flipped around and kicked Charizard in the stomach, using the force of the hit to propel herself out of the way just as Charizard shot a stream of flames right at the spot she had just been standing. She wiped some sweat from her brow “Whew, that was close, but that’s as close as you’re gonna get!” spreading her wings, she took off flying straight up into the air.
“After her, Charizard!” Ash commanded. Charizard spread its wings and flew after Rainbow.
Rainbow crossed her hooves in front of her and smirked “Good luck. I’m the best flier in Equestria; there’s no way I can lose a battle in the sky!”
Rainbow Dash rushed toward Charizard again, so Ash called “Charizard, use Metal Claw!” Charizard spread its arms and its claws began to glow in a silvery light. It charged toward Rainbow and held its arms out to the side, getting ready to strike.
Rainbow waited until she was just about to strike Charizard, but instead of actually striking it she swerved upward and dodged “Nice try, but you’ve gotta be a lot faster than that!” She quickly flew around in a backward arch and came back down directly above Charizard, striking it right between the wings with her hooves, pushing it downward until they were almost to the ground. She pulled up at the last second so only Charizard ended up hitting the ground. “Ha!” she cheered, “how’d you like that?”
“Not bad Rainbow Dash,” Ash commented, “but it’s not going to happen again. Charizard, get up and use Dragon Tail!” Charizard stood up, took flight, and charged at Rainbow Dash, its tail glowing a white green.
When Charizard swung its tail at Rainbow, she ducked under it and circled around Charizard, punching it in the cheek “Too slow.”
“Charizard, use Flamethrower!” Ash called. Charizard quickly turned to face Rainbow and shot another burst of flames at her. She flew up to avoid it, but this time the flames managed to singe her tail.
“OW!” Rainbow yelled, glaring down at Charizard. “Oh it’s on now!” She flew downward and swerved to the side so she could fly in a circle around Charizard. She quickly sped up and continued to circle Charizard, creating a small twister around the Pokemon. Charizard tried to follow Rainbow’s movements, but couldn’t keep track well enough to aim, and the more it tried to track Rainbow’s movement the dizzier it got.
Ash saw that Charizard was getting disoriented, so he yelled “Now, use Overheat!” Charizard opened its mouth wide and fired a beam of yellow flames right into the twister. The flames quickly got caught in the twister and started spreading through it, and moments later Rainbow Dash jumped out of it, her coat singed.
Rainbow gritted her teeth as she watched the now-flaming twister, “Come out of there and fight me already!” As soon as she said this, the flames scattered as Charizard swung its tail into the side of the twister. Rainbow grinned, “Ready for some more?” and then charged toward Charizard, pulling back her front hoof for a punch.
“Charizard, stop her with Flamethrower!” Charizard blasted another stream of fire at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash gave a determined smile and veered slightly to the left, just barely dodging the flames “Let’s see how you like getting a taste of your own medicine.” She quickly began to spin like a corkscrew around the stream of fire, causing the flames to wrap around her as she charged. By the time she reached Charizard, she was surrounded by a cloak of flames. She punched Charizard in the face, causing the flames that had wrapped around her to fly off of her and engulf Charizard. Charizard roared in anger and flew backward, covering its eyes with its claws. Rainbow wiped a bit of soot off her mane and smirked “Had enough yet, or do you want to keep trying?”
“Quick, use Metal Claw!” Ash yelled, but Charizard didn’t respond and instead kept holding its claws over its eyes. “Charizard, what’s wrong with you? You’re a Fire-type, fire shouldn’t do that much to you!”
“It hit him in the eye, Ash,” Iris pointed out, “not even a Fire-type can just brush it off after taking fire in the eyes.”
Cilan added “Charizard’s fighting blind up there.”
“So Ash,” Rainbow started, “give up yet, or do you still think Charizard can beat me when he can’t even see me?”
Ash looked up at Rainbow and smiled “No way, we’re not even close to done yet! Charizard, fly straight up!” Charizard moved its claws from its eyes, but was squinting as it flew upward.
Rainbow laughed, “Hey Ash, Charizard’s the one who’s blind. I’m over here, not up there.” She kept laughing and looked back up at Charizard, only to see it disappear into a large cloud.
Ash grinned, “Alright, use Metal Claw!” Charizard burst out of the cloud, its eyes wide open, and charged at Rainbow, claws glowing silver and bared for a strike.
Iris cheered “The cloud cleared its eyes!”
“Charizard is back in the game” Cilan replied.
Rainbow was still hovering in place, stunned by the sudden turn of events, so much so that she failed to register when it was time to dodge. Charizard swung at her and struck her with its Metal Claw. “AH” she yelled in pain as she fell back from the force of the hit. She spread her wings to stop her descent, and panted as she placed a hoof over the spot where the claws had grazed her. When she held her hoof up to her face, she was surprised to see there was no blood, so she looked down at the spot where she had been hit and discovered that aside from some fur that had been sheared off there was no serious damage. “Well, that’s pretty weird,” she mused, “but I’ve got bigger problems to deal with,” she glared up at Charizard as he flew down toward her for another Metal Claw. Just as Charizard swiped at her, she flew upward over the claws and jumped up over Charizard. She kicked hard on the back of its head and took off flying straight up into the air.
Ash watched Rainbow dodge the strike and called “Charizard, Overheat!” Charizard flipped around, aimed at Rainbow Dash, and blasted another Overheat attack at her. Rainbow kept flying upward as fast as she could, gaining altitude while keeping just ahead of the flames. As she flew up above the clouds, the thin air caused what was left of the Overheat to fizzle out.
Rainbow Dash turned around and looked back down at Charizard, who from this height was only a small orange dot, “This has been fun, but it’s time to end it.” She flew downward as fast as possible, holding her hooves in front of her.
“Here she comes,” Ash said, “use Metal Claw.” Charizard spread its claws and began flying to intercept Rainbow Dash. The two continued to rapidly come closer to one another, both determined to finish the battle. As Charizard’s claws began to glow for its attack, it was startled by a massive explosion. Wild Pokemon in the surrounding forest fled in terror as a massive wave of rainbow color blasted across the sky, and before Charizard knew what hit him Rainbow Dash slammed into him flying at supersonic speed, a rainbow contrail flowing behind her. Charizard roared as it crashed into the ground, causing a massive cloud of dust to fly up and fill the clearing.
Ash, his friends, and all their Pokemon stood watching intently, waiting for the smoke to clear. Hey started to see a shadowy form emerge from the cloud, and were surprised to see Rainbow Dash slowly trotting toward them. Ash looked back into the cloud and asked “But, what about Charizard?” The dust cleared away, revealing Charizard lying unconscious on its back.
Cilan raised his arms and announced “Charizard is unable to battle! The winner is Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow gave a victorious smile and said “hey, that-that wasn’t so hard,” just as she fell onto her side and started snoring softy.
“Aw” Iris giggled a bit, “looks like she tired herself out.”
Ash returned Charizard to its Pokeball and turned to Iris, “Hey, after a battle like that, she deserves a good nap.”
“Interdimensional travel, you say?” Giovanni questioned over the monitor. The monitor was set up in a hidden cave, and the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth were standing in front of it.
“Indeed sir,” James replied, “the Pokemon stated that it came to Unova from another world. It was completely unfamiliar with Pokeballs, and it even stated that just yesterday it didn’t know what a Pokemon was.”
“If this is truly the case, and that Pokemon can travel between dimensions, then we cannot allow such power to get away. You are to apprehend this new Pokemon and deliver it to me at once” Giovanni ordered.
“Of course, sir” Jessie responded, “we’ll begin work on capturing the Pokemon right away.”
“You had better not fail me” Giovanni glared at them.
“We won’t,” Meowth replied, “you can rest assured that the blue Pokemon will be yours in no time.”
“It had better be” Giovanni growled as he turned off the monitor.
James turned to Meowth “I assume you already have a plan.”
Meowth gave an evil grin in response, “When don’t I?”
Rainbow yawned and slowly opened her eyes, calmly looking around the room. She noticed that once again she was lying on a bed in the Pokemon center, hooked back up to the monitoring equipment. She gave a good-natured smile “Good to be back.” On the other side of the viewing window, Ash and his friends smiled as they saw Rainbow Dash wake up. They waved at her and she laughed “Hey, how long was I out this time?”
“Eight hours,” Ash responded, “you woke up just in time for dinner.”
“Dinner?” Rainbow Dash sat up excitedly. “I am so there! All that training made me hungry.” She started to get up, but Nurse Joy ran into the room and stopped her.
“Wait a moment,” Nurse Joy instructed her, “I need to disconnect you from the monitoring equipment again.”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow said as she sat back down, “I forgot about that.” She waited patiently as the wires were removed again, then hopped down onto the floor, “Thanks again, I feel as good as new.”
“You’re welcome” Nurse Joy replied as she waved bye to Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash stepped into the hallway and was met by Ash and his friends, “So, where we planning to get dinner?” She smiled.
“It’s getting dark out,” Ash told her, “we were just planning to eat at the café at the Pokemon center.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow “Wait, is this a hospital or a café?”
“It’s both,” Iris answered, “and it even has sleeping accommodations. When we dropped you off here last night we were given a room with bunk beds to sleep in while we waited.”
“Wow,” Rainbow nodded, impressed, “what doesn’t this place have?”
Ash thought for a moment and responded “I don’t know, it’s got pretty much everything but a gym.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow laughed, “let’s go hit the café.” The group headed to the café and sat down. A few of the other trainers in the room exchanged curious glances as they saw Rainbow Dash, some checking their Pokedexes. Rainbow looked around at the people gathering around, “Can I help you guys with something?”
A series of astonished gasps came from the crowd, accompanied by murmurs of “What is that Pokemon?” and “It can talk.” Ash and his friends stood up and got between Dash and the crowd.
Ash held out his arms, “Hey, give her some space.”
“Why?” Rainbow asked as she got up from her chair and flew over to the group, “Looks like I’ve already got fans in this world too.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Iris asked, “what are you doing?”
Rainbow put her front hooves on her hips and puffed out her chest, “Just being awesome for my adoring fans.” A series of “oos” and “ahs” came from the crowd as the people watched Rainbow Dash.
“Should we stop her?” Ash whispered to Cilan.
“Nah, let’s just let her have her fun” Cilan responded. He, Ash, and Iris sat back down and ordered their dinner. By the time they finished, Rainbow Dash was just finishing up answering questions and writing down autographs.
Rainbow Dash sat down at the table “So, what’s to eat?”
“I’m afraid nothing is,” Cilan told her sadly, “they stopped serving food fifteen minutes ago. All we have left is a bowl of chips.”
Rainbow frowned, “Oh, I guess I got carried away with my fans again.” She grabbed the bowl of chips and started eating with a remorseful look on her face.
“Again?” Ash questioned, “What do you mean again?”
“I don’t want to talk about it” Rainbow answered between bites. Ash, Iris, and Cilan exchanged concerned looks, but decide it would be best not to pursue the subject. When Rainbow Dash finished her chips, she gave a big yawn. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like hitting the hay right now.”
“I agree,” Ash yawned, “today was exhausting.” He stood up “The sleeping area is this way.” He walked to a door at the end of the room and entered, followed by Iris, Cilan, and Rainbow Dash. After checking the numbers on a few doors, he found the one he was looking for. “This is the room e were in last night, might as well use it again.”
“Good idea” Iris said as she walked up and opened the door. She ran to the right side of the room and jumped onto the bottom bunk of the bunk bed. Ash and Cilan walked to the bunk bed at the left side of the room; Ash took the bottom bunk and Cilan took the top bunk.
Rainbow flew over to the top bunk of the bed on the right side of the room, “Not bad. It’s not as cozy as a cloud, but it’ll do.”
“A cloud?” Iris asked from the bunk beneath her.
“Yeah,” Rainbow answered, “Pegasus ponies like me can walk on clouds, and my whole house is made of clouds. It’s really cozy.”
“Wow,” Ash replied, “a house made of clouds? That sounds like it would be awesome.”
“Sure is,” Rainbow said proudly, “I built it myself.” She suddenly frowned and turned on her side, thinking about her home back in Ponyville. A single tear fell from her eye as she drifted off to sleep.
A few hours later, Rainbow Dash woke up. She looked around, and realized it was still the middle of the night. Sighing, she quietly flew out of bed and onto the floor, trotting to the sliding door in the back of the room, which lead to a small patio out back. She opened the door, stepped outside, and gazed sadly up at the sky.
“Can’t sleep?” a voice asked behind her. She jumped and turned around, but saw it was just Ash. “Sorry,” he quickly said, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She frowned and turned back to look at the sky “It’s okay, you didn’t mean it.”
Ash walked up and stood next to her, “You miss your home, don’t you?”
Rainbow actually had to hold in tears as she answered “More than anything. My friends must be worried sick about me. What I wouldn’t give to see them again.”
Ash leaned down and placed a comforting hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, we’ll help you get home.”
Ash frowned “That’s a good point.” He thought about it, then smiled “I’ve got it! We’ll take you to see Professor Juniper!”
“Professor who?” Rainbow asked.
“Professor Juniper, the leading professor of Pokemon studies in the Unova region. If anyone can figure out a way to get you home, she can”
“Well, I guess it’s worth a try.” Rainbow sighed, “After all, I’m already in a strange alternate universe. It’s not like things can get much worse for me.” Just as she finished speaking, however, a large net flew at her out of nowhere, wrapping around her. She jumped “What the hay?” but was soon silenced as a surge of electricity flowed through the net. “W-what’s going on?” she groaned.
A large platform rose above the trees, with three silhouetted figures standing on top of it, two of which were clearly humans, and one of which was much shorter. The one on the right spoke in a female voice “Just what’s going on is the question indeed!”
The one on the right replied in a male voice “The answer to come as we feel the need!”
The female one continued, “Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future!”
The male one followed up “Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!”
Next, the short one pitched in “And carving our names in rock of eternity!”
The female one stepped into the moonlight, so Rainbow Dash could see that she was indeed a human, with long pink hair and a white uniform with a large red R on it, “The fiery destroyer, Jessie!”
The male one stepped into the moonlight, so Dash could see that he had short blue hair and was also wearing a white uniform with the same big red R on it, “And with thunderous emotion, I am James!”
The short one jumped into the moonlight between them, revealing itself to be a cat-like Pokemon with a large coin on its forehead, “Wisest of the wise, Meowth!”
All three figures posed proudly and spoke in unison “Now gather, under the name of Team Rocket!”
“Team Rocket!” Ash yelled, pulling at the net.
Rainbow kept trying to wriggler free, “You know these guys?”
“Unfortunately,” Ash replied. He then turned to look at Team Rocket and yelled “Let Rainbow Dash go right now!”
“Sorry,” Jessie mocked, “but that would ruin the whole point of capturing her. She’s coming with us as a gift to the boss.” She held out a remote control and pressed a button, causing a rope coming from the front of the platform to retract, pulling the new and Rainbow Dash with it. The platform rose into the air, revealing itself to be a large aircraft, with Rainbow Dash struggling to get free of the net hanging below it.
Awakened by the commotion, Cilan and Iris ran out to join Ash. “What’s going on?” Cilan asked.
Ash quickly faced him and answered “Team Rocket’s taking Rainbow Dash!” He held up a Pokeball and threw it “Go, Charizard!” The ball flew up into the air and burst open, and Charizard materialized in front of it. Pikachu jumped up on Charizard’s back, and Ash instructed them “Go help Rainbow Dash.”
“Pika!” Pikachu nodded, and Charizard roared as it took off after Team Rocket.
Rainbow Dash kept struggling to get out of the net “Let me go you bunch of clowns.”
“Clowns?” James asked, “Do you see red noses and big shoes on us? You’re going to the boss and that’s final.”
Rainbow looked back toward the Pokemon center and grinned “Not if they have anything to say about it.” Team Rocket looked back and saw Charizard flying toward them with Pikachu on its back. Pikachu began charging electricity, and shot a Thunderbolt at Team Rocket. However, before the Thunderbolt could hit them, a lightning rod shot up in front of them and absorbed the attack. Rainbow watched intently, but suddenly found herself being shocked as the electricity flowed down into the net.
“Uh uh uh,” Jessie wagged her finger.
Meowth spoke up next “Any electric attacks you use will be sent straight down to your little friend there.” Pikachu looked worriedly down at Charizard, but Charizard didn’t seem at all phased by this revelation. He turned downward and flew toward the net, hovering in front of it,
“Charizard!” Rainbow joyfully exclaimed, “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
Charizard aimed at the net and prepared for Metal Claw, but was interrupted when Jessie yelled “Hey, get away from there! Go, Woobat!” She threw a Pokeball, and a Pokemon that looked like a blue fuzz ball with a heart for a nose and a pair of bat wings appeared.
James threw a Pokeball in the air as well and yelled “Go, Yamask!” The Pokeball opened, revealing a strange Pokemon with a shadowy body, thin arms held straight out to its sides, and a yellow mask.
Yamask and Woobat both charged at Charizard, but Pikachu turned to face then, “PikaCHU!” It blasted a Thunderbolt at them, blasting both of them back. Seeing that the opponents were preoccupied, Charizard returned to the task at hand, and with one quick Metal Claw, it shredded the net.
Rainbow flew out of the net and gave Charizard a hug, “Thanks buddy, I owe you one. Now let’s teach these clowns a lesson!” She flew up to the top of the machine and glared at Team Rocket. “So, you think you can just capture me, do ya? Well think again! Charizard!” She faced Charizard, “Follow me, and when I say now, hit me with Overheat, got it?” Charizard looked thoroughly confused, but nodded. “Good,” Rainbow said as she took off straight up. Obediently, Charizard followed her, although not quite able to keep up.
“What should we do now?” James asked.
Jessie simply replied “We fall back for now, and come back for that Pokemon later.”
“Um, guys” Meowth stuttered.
“What?” Both Jessie and James asked in unison.
“LOOK OUT” Meowth pointed to the sky, where Rainbow Dash was flying straight toward them.
“Now, Charizard!” Rainbow yelled. Charizard blasted her with an Overheat attack, but instead of damaging her, it propelled her forward, blasting through the sound barrier and causing Rainbow Dash to become engulfed in flames as she charged. “Aw yeah, this is the new move I’ve been looking for!” she shouted, “The Inferno Rainboom!” Team Rocket ran for the edge of the aircraft just as Rainbow Dash slammed into it, driving through it like a hot knife through butter. As she flew out the bottom of the aircraft, it exploded, sending Team Rocket flying.
Team Rocket screamed in unison “Team Rocket’s blasting off again!” as they vanished over the horizon. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew back to the Pokemon center, followed by Charizard and Pikachu. When she touched down, the flames surrounding her vanished, and she smiled triumphantly when she confirmed that she wasn’t even singed.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Iris ran up to her, “Are you alright?”
Rainbow flexed her wings, “I’m more than alright, I’ve got an awesome new move. I can’t wait until my friends see this!”
“But wait,” Cilan interrupted, “you were only able to do that because you had Charizard helping you. If there are no Pokemon in your world, you won’t be able to do it.”
Rainbow’s smile instantly faded, and she lowered her head in sadness, “Oh, right. I should have known it was too good to be true.”
“Hey, come on Rainbow Dash,” Ash walked up to Rainbow, “I know how you can fix this problem.”
Rainbow looked up with renewed hope in her eyes, “You do? How?”
“Easy,” Ash reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He reached down, held up Rainbow Dash’s front hoof, and placed the item in her hoof. When he moved his hand, Rainbow Dash could see that she was now holding a Pokeball. Ash stood up and proudly stated, “Rainbow Dash, tomorrow you’re going to catch your own Pokemon!”
“Pinkie!” Rarity interrupted, “I happen to know for a fact that you are only asking that question to annoy Applejack, and in the process you are also succeeding in annoying everypony else in the train car.” She gestured further into the car, revealing numerous ponies giving annoyed looks at Pinkie.
Pinkie just giggled “Wow, I’m even better at this game than I thought. Are we there yet?”
Applejack grabbed Pinkie’s shoulders and shook her in desperation “Pinkie, for the love of Equestria, stop! We are not there yet!”
“We’re here!” Twilight called from a nearby window. Applejack lowered her hat over her face and groaned loudly in both frustration and relief.
After the doors of the train opened, Applejack quickly stood up “Let’s just get out of here.”
Pinkie giggled and bounced past her, “Okie dokie lokie.” She bounced out the door and turned to face the train.
The others exited the train, with Twilight in the lead, “Okay, I’ll go talk to Celestia, you girls head for the archives. I’ll meet you there after I finish speaking with Celestia.”
“Very well Twilight,” Rarity nodded, “we’ll be sure to get a head start on the research by the time you get there.”
Twilight smiled “Thanks, Rarity, I knew I could count on you girls.”
“Well then,” Applejack added, “since we’ve got the plan figured out, let’s get going.” She started walking to the archives, with Rarity and Fluttershy by her side. Twilight spread her wings and flew toward the top of the castle.
Pinkie Pie bounced happily next to Applejack and asked “Are we there yet?”
“AHHHHHHHHH!” Applejack yelled, causing everypony within several blocks to jump.
The doors to Celestia’s throne room slowly opened as Twilight stepped up to them. She walked through the doors and made her way across the room to Celestia, who greeted her with a smile, “Hello Twilight, it’s so good to see you.”
Twilight gave a small smile, “It’s good to see you too, Celestia.” She lowered her head sadly, “I just wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Celestia stood up and walked toward Twilight, “From what Spike told me in the letter last night, you need information from the royal archives, correct?”
“Yes Celestia,” Twilight nodded, “my friends are on their way there right now.”
“Why aren’t you there with them, Twilight?” Celestia inquired.
Twilight looked up and explained “Because I needed to tell you why we need the information in the archive. You see, yesterday I was helping Rainbow Dash perform a stunt, using my magic to give her a boost, and she just… vanished.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow, a concerned look on her face, “Vanished? You mean she teleported?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight frowned, “I was only using a spell to make her fly faster; I wasn’t even thinking of a teleportation spell. I don’t know what happened, whether she teleported somewhere, got vaporized, was abducted by aliens, or WHAT!” with each speculation, her speech became more frantic, and by the time she finished speaking she was hyperventilating.
“Twilight!” Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder to calm her down, “You need to relax and think straight if you’re ever to find out what happened. I will be more than happy to help you search the archives and consult with you on your findings, but if we want to make any progress I need you not to worry so much. You and I both know Rainbow Dash, she’s strong, confident, and resilient; I’m sure whatever happened to her she’s okay.”
Twilight took a few moments to catch her breath, and smiled warmly at Celestia, “You’re right. If we’re going to save Rainbow Dash, we’re going to need to believe in ourselves. Funny,” she gave a small chuckle, “that’s exactly what Spike was telling me last night.”
Celestia smiled, “It sounds to me like Spike knows really knows what he’s talking about.” She placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, “Now, I believe we have some research to do, don’t we?”
Twilight looked up and nodded, “Yeah, time to go help the others search.”
“Very well then,” Celestia replied as she began to walk to the door. She walked out and waited for Twilight to leave after her, then used her magic to close the door.
By the time Twilight and Celestia arrived at the archive, the entire place looked like it had been hit by a twister. A fluffy pink twister, to be exact. “Nope, not here,” Pinkie threw another book over her shoulder and immediately reached for another.
“Ow,” Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head after getting hit by yet another flying book. “Um, Pinkie,” she turned around to face the pink pony, “do you think you could please be more careful? You’ve already hit me with three books, Applejack with four, and Rarity with three.”
“Ow!” Rarity whined from the next aisle over.
“Oh, make that four,” Fluttershy squeaked. Pinkie continued to grab books, skim them over, and throw them over her shoulder until she was raised in the air by an aura of magenta magic.
“Hi Twilight!” Pinkie giggled as she was levitated over to Twilight.
“Pinkie,” Twilight started, “we’re supposed to be looking for clues that can get Rainbow back, not destroying the library.”
“I know that, silly,” Pinkie smiled innocently, “that’s why I’m looking through the books so super duper quickly.”
“I appreciate your eagerness to help,” Twilight replied, “but you’re leaving books all over the place and possibly giving our friends brain damage.”
Pinkie blinked and turned her head slowly, only now taking in the full extent of the damage she had cause, “Oopsie,” she laughed. “Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll be more careful and put the books back on the shelves this time.”
Twilight gave a content smile and released Pinkie from her magical grip, “Good, now let’s both do our best to find something that can help.”
Pinkie saluted, “You’ve got it, Twilight.” She happily bounced off to another wing of the library, the librarian shivering in terror at the thought of having to completely reshelf another wing.
Celestia watched Pinkie in confusion, “My, she sure is enthusiastic about finding Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight nodded, “She and Dash have plans for April Foals Day, so she wants to get Dash home in time.”
Celestia laughed a bit, “An interesting motivation, but I suppose we shouldn’t complain as long as it works.”
“I guess so,” Twilight responded as she started trotting into one of the currently vacant wings of the library. She took a seat and grabbed a dozen books in her magic, stacking them next to her. As she opened the first book, she quietly mused “I still wish she had better self control, though.”
Celestia’s eyes widened when she heard this, and she promptly turned to face Twilight, “What did you just say, Twilight?”
“Huh?” Twilight looked up from the book. “Oh, nothing important. I was just saying I wish Pinkie had better self control.”
“Twilight,” Celestia slowly replied, “I think you just solved the mystery.”
“What?” Twilight dropped the book, stood up, and ran up to Celestia. “How is that the solution to the mystery?”
Celestia rubbed her chin in thought, then inquired “Twilight, when you used your spell on Rainbow Dash, what were you trying to do?”
“Well,” Twilight answered, “I was trying to make Rainbow fly faster.”
Celestia nodded, “And why exactly were you trying to make Rainbow fly faster?”
Twilight thought for a moment, before it hit her, “Because I wanted to help Dash reach her goal.”
Celestia smiled knowingly, “You didn’t cast a spell meant to make Rainbow Dash fly faster; you cast a spell meant to help Rainbow Dash accomplish the feat she was attempting.”
Twilight gasped, “Breaking a new barrier of speed.”
“That’s right, Twilight,” Celestia continued, “as you know, Rainbow Dash has already broken the sound barrier, and it is impossible to break the light barrier. What your spell did was give her a new barrier to break, one which was more difficult than sound, but not impossible like light. All we need now is to learn just what that barrier was, and what the result was of her breaking it.”
“I understand, Celestia,” Twilight nodded as she trotted out of the isle. “Girls,” she called, “we’ve found the answer.”
“Not exactly, Twilight,” Celestia interrupted, placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “You’ve only figured out the answer to the first part of the question. We know the cause now, but we still need to know the full extent of the effect.”
“Twilight,” Applejack trotted up to the princesses, followed by Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, “ya say ya found the answer?”
“Sort of,” Twilight answered, “we’ve figured out what happened. You see, when I cast my spell on Rainbow Dash, it caused her to break through a new barrier of speed, somewhere between sound and light.”
“The Space Barrier,” Pinkie added.
“Yes, Pinkie,” Twilight nodded, “the Space Barri- WHAT?!?” She turned to Pinkie with wide eyes, “You knew?!?”
Pinkie giggled, “Of course I did, silly? Don’t you remember?” She reached her hooves behind a bookshelf and pulled out a white screen, then held up a remote. She clicked the button on the remote and a projection appeared on the screen.
Twilight raised an eyebrow “Um, Pinkie, I’m really sorry about your blender, but there’s an emergency. Rainbow Dash vanished into thin air this morning and I have no idea why! I used a spell to make her fly faster, but when she was using it she just vanished!”
Pinkie blinked, paused for a moment in contemplation, and suddenly gasped “I knew it!”
Twilight’s mouth dropped “Y-you did?!? But how?!?”
“It was my Pinkie sense, silly,” Pinkie giggled, “when my ears flop, my tail twitches, my left hind hoof skips and I hiccup, it means somepony just got sent to another dimension.”
The projector stopped. Twilight turned to look at the back wall, then whispered to Celestia “I didn’t know there was a screen and projector in here.”
“See, Twilight?” Pinkie asked as she pushed the screen away, “My Pinkie sense was right again.”
Twilight facehooved, “Pinkie, if you knew what happened to Rainbow Dash, why were you digging through the archives like a madmare?”
“I was looking for a cook book,” Pinkie smiled, “but all I found were boring physics books like ‘Astrophysics for Morons’ and ‘Theory of the Space Barrier.’”
“The space barrier?” Twilight asked, her mouth agape. “That’s exactly what we need, why didn’t you tell me you found it?”
“You didn’t ask, silly” Pinkie giggled.
“I-but-I” Twilight started twitching uncontrollably, but then stopped abruptly and collapsed, completely out cold.
“Um, Pinkie,” Applejack started, “how about you go grab that book you mentioned while we carry Twilight back to the train station?”
“There won’t be any need for that,” Celestia spoke up, “you’re free to stay in the castle as long as it takes for Twilight to get Rainbow Dash back.”
“Really?” Rarity beamed, “We get to stay at the castle?” She began joyfully hopping in place.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s real excitin’, Rarity,” Applejack rolled her eyes, “how about some help with Twilight?” There was no response. Applejack looked over to Rarity, who had apparently fainted from excitement, “Oh for Pete’s sake!” She turned to Fluttershy, “’Shy, looks like you’ll need to carry her while ah carry Twilight.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy reached down and picked up Rarity, struggling a bit with her weight, “okay.”
Applejack leaned down and picked Twilight up, draping her over her back, “Let’s go, Pinkie.”
Pinkie hopped up to her, holding the physics book, along with about a dozen cook books, “Look what I found. They were under C.”
Applejack deadpanned, but decided to learn from Twilight’s mistake, “Nice job Pinkie, now let’s get on out of here.”
“Okie dokie lokie” Pinkie hopped in place, somehow not dropping the books.
About twenty minutes later, the group finally made it all the way up to the tower where they were going to be staying. Both Applejack and Fluttershy were gasping for breath as they set Twilight and Rarity on the floor. Celestia entered the room after them, followed by Pinkie Pie. As Pinkie set down the books and started jumping on one of the beds, Celestia walked over to Applejack and Fluttershy, “You know, you didn’t need to carry them all the way up here. If you wanted I could have used my magic.”
Applejack and Fluttershy’s jaws dropped, and Applejack stuttered, “Wh-why didn’t you tell us before?”
Celestia smiled and answered “You didn’t ask.”
Both Applejack and Fluttershy, stared at each other dumfounded, and then passed out. Celestia turned to Pinkie Pie, “I believe I’m starting to enjoy this humor of yours.”
Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway excitedly, holding a Pokéball in her hoof. “Come on, guys,” she called excitedly, “I want to go catch a Pokémon already.”
“Hold on,” Cilan urged her as he, Ash, and Iris walked up to Dash, “the Pokémon aren’t going anywhere.”
“Besides,” Ash added, “we’ve got two more stops we need to make first.”
“Aw,” Rainbow groaned, “why?”
Ash chuckled a little, “Trust me, you‘ve got plenty of time. First we need to stop by the Pokémart and get you a belt to hold your Pokéballs. If you want to catch Pokémon, you can‘t just carry the Pokéballs in your hooves all the time.”
Rainbow looked at the Pokéball in her hoof, “Oh, I guess that makes sense. Alright, we’ll stop at the store for a belt first.”
“Good,” Ash smiled, “and after that we’ve got a special surprise planned for you.”
Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow and looked at Ash, “What kind of surprise?”
“You’ll see,” Ash chuckled a bit, “you’ll see. Don’t worry, I promise it’ll be worth the wait.”
Rainbow shrugged, “Okay, if you insist I guess I’ll wait. So, where is the nearest Pokémart anyway?”
“Right over there,” Cilan answered, pointing to a nearby hill. “There’s a small town right on the other side of that hill.”
“Alright!” Rainbow cheered and started flying in the direction of the hill, “Lets go!”
“Rainbow Dash, wait for us!” Iris called as she, Ash, and Cilan started running after Dash.
Rainbow stopped and looked back, “Oops, hehe,” she rubbed the back of her head. “Guess I got excited and forgot you guys can’t fly.”
“It’s fine,” Ash smiled, “could have happened to anyone.”
“Anyone with wings, anyway” Iris corrected.
“Whatever,” Ash rolled his eyes, “all that matters is we’re on our way to the Pokémart now.” He resumed walking after Dash, followed by Iris and Cilan.
About an hour later, Rainbow Dash reached a curve in the road and smiled, “Hey guys, is that it?”
“Yeah, that’s it alright,” Ash replied as he walked up next to her. From where they were standing, they were looking down on a small village. The closest building to them had white walls and a blue roof. Ash pointed to the building with the blue roof “That’s the Pokémart right there.”
“It is?” Rainbow excitedly turned to face Ash, then looked back down at the Pokémart. “Race ya there!” she giggled as she took off down the hill, not even bothering to use her wings and opting instead to let the slope increase her speed.
“You’re on!” Ash took off after her.
“Wait!” Iris called as she and Cilan got to the top of the hill. She looked down to her two friends running down the hill, “Ash! Rainbow Dash! Wait for us!” When the two didn’t listen, she sighed, “What a couple of kids.”
“Let’s just take the foot path” Cilan suggested, pointing to a small dirt path down to the main street of town.
“Yeah,” Iris shrugged, “we’ll catch up to those two when we get to the Pokémart.”
Rainbow Dash reached the bottom of the hill about ten seconds before Ash, “Hey, what kept you?” she laughed.
“No fair,” Ash paused to catch his breath, “you had a head start.”
“Yeah yeah,” Rainbow smirked, “you’re lucky I didn’t use my wings. If I had, you’d really be left in the dust.”
Ash chuckled, “Yeah. Oh well, let’s just see about getting you that belt.” He walked past Rainbow and around the side of the Pokémart.
Rainbow Dash followed Ash around to the front of the Pokémart “Wow, this place is cool.” She followed Ash into the store and looked around attentively as the two approached the counter.
Ash stood in front of the counter, “Excuse me, I need a belt for my friend Rainbow Dash.” He moved to the side and pointed to Rainbow Dash.
The clerk raised an eyebrow, “But, isn’t your friend a Pokémon?”
“No,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, “for the umpteenth time I am not a Pokémon.”
The clerk was still confused, but decided not to press the subject, “Very well then, the belts are on the wall over there.” He pointed to the wall on the other side of the room, where a large number of belts was hanging on display.
“Thanks,” Ash smiled as he and Rainbow Dash walked up to the display. “Let’s see,” he examined the display, “what belt size are you?”
Rainbow looked at him in confusion, “I don’t know. I don’t normally wear clothes, so I’ve never needed a belt.”
“Oh, right,” Ash chuckled a bit, “I guess I forgot. In that case,” he turned back to look at the belts until he found a dark blue one. He grabbed the belt and held it up to Rainbow Dash, “How about this one?”
Rainbow Dash grabbed the belt, stood up on her hind hooves, using her wings for leverage, and fastened the belt around her midsection, “Not bad. Not quite what I’m used to, but it seems alright.”
“Great,” Ash nodded, “we’ll get that one. Wait here,” he walked up to the counter and paid for the belt, then came back to where Dash was waiting. “Okay, the belt is yours.”
“Awesome,” Rainbow cheered as she placed the Pokeball Ash had given her before on one of the slots on the belt. “I’m ready to catch a Pokémon!”
“Almost,” Ash smiled, “first there’s someone we need to see.”
“Who?” Rainbow asked.
“I believe that would be me,” came an unfamiliar female voice from the entrance of the store. Rainbow Dash turned her head quickly, seeing a Iris, Cilan, and a woman in a white lab coat and yellow shirt. The woman walked up to Rainbow Dash, “Hi there, I’m Professor Juniper, and you must be Rainbow Dash,” she gave a warm smile and offered a handshake.
Rainbow Dash accepted the shake with her hoof, “Um, yeah, I’m Rainbow Dash, but how do you know about me?”
Professor Juniper looked over to Ash and replied “Ash called me last night after your visit from Team Rocket. He told me you were from another universe and that he was hoping I could help you get home.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yeah, he told me you were like the best professor around, so he told me he wanted to take me to see you. He didn’t say he was gonna call you to come see me so soon.”
“Oh yeah,” Ash rubbed the back of his head, “guess I forgot to ask you about that.”
Professor Juniper smiled, “Rainbow Dash, there is one other piece of information Ash gave me about you.”
“There is?” Rainbow asked, confused.
“Yes,” Professor Juniper stood up, “I’ll tell you about it when we get outside.” When Professor Juniper turned and started walking to the door, Rainbow Dash noticed she was holding a suitcase. Rainbow turned to look at Ash, but noticed he was already following Professor juniper out of the store. She quickly trotted after them and out the door.
“So,” Rainbow turned to Professor Juniper, “what else DID Ash tell you about me?”
Professor Juniper set down the suitcase on its side, “He told me you wanted to catch a Pokemon. Well, you can’t do that without one of these.” She opened the suitcase, revealing three Pokéballs.
“Pokéballs,” Rainbow reached for her belt and grabbed her Pokéball, “already got it covered. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Actually,” Professor Juniper picked up the Pokéballs, “Ash told me he gave you a Pokéball to use to catch a Pokémon, but he didn’t give you one of these.” She threw the Pokéballs into the air and they opened, at which time three Pokémon appeared on the ground in front of Rainbow Dash. One was an Oshawott, the second one was a Snivy, and the third one as a small orange pig that looked like a small, quadruped version of Pignite.
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she saw the Pokémon, “What’s going on here?”
Professor Juniper walked around the Pokémon and stood next to Rainbow Dash, “I’m giving you your starter Pokémon. Don’t tell me Ash didn’t tell you about starter Pokémon?” She looked over to Ash.
Ash held his hands in front of himself defensively, “Sorry, I guess it just never came up.”
Rainbow looked over at Ash with a confused expression, but then looked back up at Professor Juniper when she heard her continue speaking “You see, every new trainer gets one of these three Pokémon as their partner. Even though you don’t plan to be here forever, you do plan to catch Pokémon while you’re here, so I’m here to give you your first Pokémon.”
Rainbow Dash beamed “Really? That’s so awesome!” She looked down at the three Pokémon. “Let’s see… which one looks best for me?” She looked over to Snivy first, but shook her head a little, “No, can’t go with that. Twilight’s terrified of snakes, and Ash said his Snivy’s a snake Pokémon.” She turned to look at Tepig, who smiled and released a few embers from its nostrils, “Oh, this must be a Fire-type. Well, for my Inferno Rainboom I’m going to need a Pokémon with Fire attacks, but it also needs to be able to fly…” She moved down to Oshawott and thought “Ash says Oshawott is a Water-type, so that could really come in handy catching a Fire-type. Besides,” she muttered under her breath, “it’s adorable.” She turned to look up at Professor Juniper and announced, “I’ve chosen Oshawott.”
Professor Juniper smiled, “Excellent choice.” She held up the three Pokéballs and returned Tepig and Snivy, then handed the remaining Pokéball to Rainbow Dash. “Here, this is Oshawott’s Pokéball. Be sure to take good care of it.”
“I will, thanks!” Rainbow Dash grinned as she accepted the Pokéball and put it on her belt. “Now, where should we go to catch something?”
Professor Juniper laughed, “My, you’re certainly eager aren’t you?”
“Sure am,” Rainbow beamed, “I can’t wait to catch a Pokémon.”
“Okay,” Professor Juniper nodded, “but first I need you to tell me everything you can about how you got to or world.”
Rainbow’s mouth dropped open, “Everything?”
“Of course, otherwise I won’t be able to start working on a way to send you home.”
Rainbow sighed and sat down, her Oshawott running up and sitting on her lap, “Let’s see…”
Over the next hour, Rainbow Dash told Professor Juniper all about her stunt-flying, Twilight’s magic, and the event that sent her to Unova. Professor Juniper had a notepad and pencil out, attentively writing down everything Rainbow Dash told her. When the story was over, she looked over her notes, “Well, I must say I’ve never seen or heard anything like this.”
Rainbow Dash frowned, “You mean you can’t send me home?”
Professor Juniper chuckled, “No no no, I just mean that it’s going to take a while to figure out a way to send you back. How does this sound? I’ll take this information back to my lab for further study, and meet you at the Pokémon center tomorrow with my conclusion?”
“Okay,” Rainbow nodded, “I guess another day won’t hurt. Besides,” she petted her Oshawott, “that’ll give me time to get to know Oshawott, and work on catching another Pokémon.”
“That’s the spirit,” Professor Juniper put her notebook in her suitcase and picked it up. “I’m impressed, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow tilted her head to the side, “About what?”
“Just two days ago you were sent to an alien universe where you didn’t know anyone, and already you’re able to look on the bright side and find a reason to like it here. Also, you’ve made friends with three humans and all their Pokémon.”
Rainbow Dash smiled and offered a hoof-shake, “Actually, I’d say I’ve made friends with four humans.”
Professor Juniper held Rainbow’s hoof and shook it, “See? With that attitude, you’re sure to succeed and find your way home. But when you do, do find some way to send me a postcard. I’d love to know more about your world.”
Rainbow giggled a bit, “It’s a deal.”
Professor Juniper smiled, “I look forward to it.” She turned and started walking away, “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Rainbow and the others waved goodbye. Rainbow smiled and looked down at her Oshawott, “Hey little guy, what do you say we go catch a friend for you?”
Oshawott jumped up happily, “Oshawott! Oshawott!”
Rainbow Dash giggled, “I’ll take that as a yes.” She picked up Oshawott and placed it on her back, “Come on Oshawott, you can ride up here. You’re not too heavy, forget the Pokéball.”
“Osha! Oshawott!”
“Yeah, let’s go catch a Pokémon.” Rainbow started trotting toward the forest, but stopped. She turned around and looked back at Ash and his friends, “Um, how exactly DO I catch a Pokémon anyway?”
Ash’s eyes widened “Of course, you haven’t seen anyone catch a Pokémon yet.” He walked up and stood by Rainbow’s side, “Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash, I’ll explain everything while we search.”
“Great,” Rainbow opened her wings and started hovering, her Oshawott holding onto her mane to avoid falling off, “this is gonna be great. Come on guys,” she started flying into the forest, “the Pokémon aren’t going to catch themselves.”
Iris giggled, “She’s so excited about catching her first Pokémon.”
“Of course she is,” Ash smiled, “she’s going to get a new friend to bring home with her.” He started running after Rainbow Dash, followed by Iris and Cilan.
Rainbow Dash came to a clearing in the forest and started looking around, “So, which lucky Pokémon is going to be my new partner?”
Ash and friends stepped out of the forest and into the clearing. Ash walked up to Rainbow Dash, “Okay, here’s how you catch a Pokémon. Once you find a Pokémon you want to catch, you need to battle it.”
“Battle it?” Rainbow Dash looked confused. “I thought the point of catching Pokémon was to make them your friends.”
“It is,” As replied, “but when you first catch them you need to make sure they stay in the Pokéball.”
“Stay in the Pokéball?” Rainbow asked, holding up her vacant Pokéball. “You mean they won’t just stay in the Pokéball anyway?”
Ash shook his head, “No, if you just throw a Pokéball at a Pokémon it might not work. You need to battle the Pokémon so you can weaken it and it won’t be able to get out of the Pokéball. Once it’s been caught, you won’t have to worry about it getting away.”
“I get it,” Rainbow grinned, “I get to have another battle.”
“Actually, Oshawott gets to have a battle,” Cilan corrected as he walked up next to Rainbow.
“Oshawott?” Rainbow looked up at Oshawott. “Why Oshawott?”
“That’s why Professor Juniper gave Oshawott to you,” Ash explained, “so it can help you on your journey, both by fighting battles and by helping catch other Pokémon.”
Rainbow Dash blinked and looked up at Oshawott, “Does that sound good to you? Do you really want to help me battle and make my first capture?”
“Osha, Osha, Oshawott” Oshawott smiled and hopped up and down excitedly.
“Sounds like a yes to me,” Iris smiled.
“Well then,” Rainbow started, “let’s work together to catch me a Pokémon!”
Oshawott jumped up and held its seashell up in the air, “Oshawott!”
“You failed again, I see” Giovanni growled over the monitor.
“A minor setback, I assure you,” Jessie responded, “I promise it won’t happen again.”
“IMBECILES!” Giovanni slammed his fists down on his desk, “Do you realize what it means if we don’t get that Pokémon soon?”
“Well,” James began, “I assume it means-”
“That was a rhetorical question!” Giovanni yelled. “If I don’t capture that Pokémon soon, it will use its dimension-jumping ability to move on to another world, and it will be impossible to capture it then!’
“Sir,” Meowth spoke up, “don’t you mean if we don’t capture that Pokémon in time?”
“NO!” Giovanni glared daggers at the trio, “You had your chance. Team Rocket can not afford to miss an opportunity like this, and you three have proven yourselves to be unworthy of this task!”
“Wh-what are you saying, boss?” James stuttered.
“I mean,” Giovanni stood up, “that I’m going to capture that mystery Pokémon myself!”
“Alright Rainbow Dash,” Ash instructed, “now push the button on the Pokéball to make it larger, and throw it!”
“Got it,” Rainbow pressed the button, causing the Pokéball to expand in her hoof. She swung her arm backward, then threw it forward, sending the ball flying. The ball struck the tree right behind the rock she was aiming at.
“Well,” Ash chuckled, “you’re getting better.”
“Come on, Ash,” Rainbow groaned, “I’m tired of just doing target practice. Can’t we go find something for me to actually catch already?”
Ash looked down at her, crossing his arms in contemplation, “Are you really sure? After all, you can’t catch a Pokémon if you can’t even hit it with the Pokéball.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow shrugged, “if the Pokéball misses I’ll just pick it back up and throw it again until it hits.”
Ash chuckled, “You remind me a lot of myself when I first started my journey. I was so excited to get my first Pokémon that I slept in until 10 AM the morning I was supposed to get it. By the time I got to the lab, all three starter Pokémon had been taken already.”
“All three?” Rainbow blinked, “Then why do you have two of them now, Snivy and Oshawott?”
“Actually,” Ash pointed out, “where I’m from, in the Kanto region, there are three different starter Pokémon. The Grass-type is Bulbasaur, the Water-type is Squirtle, and the Fire-type is Charmander.”
“Really?” Rainbow tilted her head, “There are other starter Pokemon?”
“Of course,” Ash smiled, “every region has its own set of starter Pokémon. Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott just happen to be the ones here in Unova.”
“Cool,” Rainbow Dash looked down at Oshawott, “so if we were in another region, you’d be something else” she giggled a bit.
“Osha?“ Oshawott tilted its head, not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.
Ash laughed a bit, “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the basic idea of a starter Pokémon.”
“Okay, I get it,” Rainbow Dash nodded, “when I find a Pokémon to catch, I’ll make sure to use Oshawott to catch it.”
“Osha, Oshawott!” Oshawott hopped up and down smiling.
“So Rainbow Dash,” Cilan looked down at Rainbow, “have you thought about what kind of Pokémon you want to try to catch?”
“You know it,” Rainbow grinned, “I need something awesome that can fly and use fire attacks. After all, how else can I do my Inferno Rainboom?”
“A flying Pokémon with Fire-type attacks, huh?” Cilan scratched his chin as he tried to think of a good choice. Suddenly, an idea hit him. He snapped his fingers, “I’ve got it, Heat Wave.”
“Heat Wave?” Rainbow asked, “That doesn’t sound like a Pokémon name, at least not based on the names I’ve seen other Pokémon have.”
Cilan shook his head, “No, it’s not a Pokémon, it’s an attack, one that many Flying-types can learn, even if they aren’t part Fire-type.”
“Really?” Rainbow asked him, “But why can’t I just find a Fire and Flying type like Ash’s Charizard? Ash has one after all, so they can’t be impossible to get.”
“It’s not that simple, Rainbow Dash,” Ash informed her. “Charizard is a Pokémon that normally appears in the Kanto region. That’s where I got mine; they almost never appear in the wild in Unova.”
Rainbow Dash frowned, “Oh, I see. Well, how about I look for a different Fire and Flying-type?”
“Sorry Rainbow Dash,” Ash replied, “but there are only two other Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, Ho-oh and Moltres, and both of them are legendary.”
“Legendary?” Rainbow looked up, confused, “You mean they don’t exist?”
“Oh no,” Ash shook his head quickly, “they definitely exist. I’ve seen them myself, but they’re extremely rare, and even if you did find one, they’re far too powerful for a Pokémon like Oshawott to defeat at its current level.”
“Oshawott! Oshawott!” Oshawott angrily threw its seashell at Ash’s face.
“OW!” Ash rubbed the red, seashell-shaped mark on his forehead, “What was that for?”
“Oshawott,” Oshawott stuck its nose up in the air and walked up to Ash, but instead of apologizing, just reached down to pick up its seashell. It placed the shell on its chest and walked over to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash instantly fell over laughing, “Looks like Oshawott took that as a challenge.” She smiled and patted Oshawott on the head, “With a fearless attitude like that, I definitely chose the right partner.” Oshawott smiled victoriously.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Ash smiled at Oshawott, “sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you.”
Oshawott nodded, “Osha.”
“Good,” Cilan added, “now that we’ve sorted that out, how about we try to find a good Pokémon for Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded enthusiastically, “I’m ready to catch something.” She picked up Oshawott and placed it on her back, then flew back into the forest. Ash and the others followed Rainbow Dash through the forest, keeping their eyes peeled for any wild Pokémon that might fit the bill for what Rainbow was looking for.
“Hey, look over there,” Iris pointed to a clearing, where a small group of Pokémon were walking around. They were short, gray bird Pokémon that resembled pigeons.
Rainbow Dash turned and flew over to the edge of the clearing, making sure not to go too fast and scare the Pokémon. She turned and whispered, “What are those Pokémon?”
Ash whispered back to her, “They’re called Pidove. That was the first species I caught in Unova.”
“They’re kinda small though, aren’t they?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
Ash replied, “Yeah, but you can’t judge a Pokémon’s strength by its size. Some of the world’s strongest legendary Pokémon, like Mew and Celebi, are no bigger than Pikachu, but have enough power to defeat even the biggest Pokemon. What matters isn’t how big or threatening a Pokémon looks, it’s how you train them and trust in them to succeed.”
Rainbow Dash gave a small smile, remembering how she had learned a similar lesson back in Equestria, “Yeah, sounds a lot like my pet tortoise, Tank.”
Ash turned to her, “What’s a tortoise”
“Well, it’s a four-legged reptile with a hard outer shell.”
“Really? Sounds like Squirtle, Torkoal, and Torterra.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened, “You mean there are Pokémon that look like tortoises?” She thought to herself “If Twilight could build another Turtle-copter big enough for those Pokémon, maybe they’d be nice Pokémon to have. They could help me too.”
“If tortoises are like what you just described, then sure there are. I actually have a Squirtle, Torkoal, and Torterra back at Professor Oak’s lab in the Kanto region.”
“Who’s Professor Oak?”
“He’s the Kanto region’s leading professor, like Professor Juniper is here.”
“Um, Ash? Rainbow Dash?” Iris tapped Ash on the shoulder.
“Yes?” Both Ash and Rainbow turned to look at her.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Iris pointed to the clearing.
Rainbow jumped a bit, “Oh gees, the Pokémon.” She turned to face the clearing, “Oshawott, go...” the clearing was completely empty. She facehooved and sighed, “Okay, looks like we’d better find another Pokémon.”
Iris laughed, “You two are such kids.”
“Hey!” Rainbow glared, “I am not a kid!”
“Calm down Rainbow Dash,” Ash stood between Rainbow and Iris, “she’s just joking around. She calls me a kid all the time.”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, “Okay, if you say so.” She turned and looked around, “So, where else can we find a good Pokémon to catch around here?”
Cilan looked at his map, “Let’s see. If you’re looking for Flying-type Pokémon, we should probably get out of the forest. The tree cover makes it hard for most flying Pokémon to get around, so only the small ones like Pidove are likely to be here.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” Rainbow Dash nodded, “I like having plenty of room to fly, at least when I’m not doing my stunt flying. If that’s the case, is there a field or something around here?”
“Hold on, hold on,” Cilan chuckled, “no need to rush.” He looked at the map again and smiled, “Bingo! There’s a large clearing not far from here, at the base of that cliff” he pointed up at a nearby cliff.
Rainbow Dash looked toward the cliff and grinned, “Then I guess we know where to go next. Onward!” she pointed toward the cliff and started flying, making sure to stay below the canopy so she wouldn’t lose the others or vice-versa.
“We’ll meet you there, Rainbow Dash” Ash called as he and the others started running after her.
“Do you think she’ll be able to catch anything?” Iris asked, “She’s never caught a Pokémon before or even seen someone else catch one.”
“You worry too much Iris,” Ash laughed. “You saw how tough Rainbow Dash is when she battled Charizard. She’ll definitely be able to catch something.”
“You’re right,” Iris smiled, “I can’t wait to see what she cat-” she was stopped by a blue hoof placed over her mouth. She looked surprised to see Rainbow Dash hovering in front of her.
“Shh,” Rainbow quietly instructed as she moved her hoof from Iris’ mouth. She then calmly touched down on the ground and slowly crept around a large tree. Ash and the others looked at each other in confusion, but followed quietly. They found Rainbow Dash and Oshawott carefully peeking over a large shrub.
The trio crouched down next to Rainbow, and Ash whispered “Why are we hiding?”
Rainbow whispered back “Because there’s already a battle going on here.”
“A battle?” Ash raised an eyebrow. He, Iris, and Cilan turned to look where Rainbow was staring, and they saw a pair of Pokémon battling in the clearing without a human in sight. One of them was a small black bird with a bald head, tiny wings, and what looked like the top half of a skull covering its lower body like a diaper. The other was a gray bird with a large plume of white feathers coming from the back of its head like a lion’s mane, and a red and white feather on its forehead. “Rufflett and Vullaby,” Ash spoke under his breath.
“They must be fighting over territory,” Cilan added.
“Which one should I go for?” Rainbow whispered.
“I don’t know,” Ash replied. “Here,” he reached into his pocket and took out his Pokédex, “check their data on this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a Pokédex, a tool for classifying and identifying different Pokémon. Here, just look at the screen.” Rainbow Dash looked down at the screen, and Ash pushed a button on the bottom.
The Pokédex screen flipped up and an image of Vullaby appeared, and a mechanical voice spoke “Vullaby, the Diapered Pokémon. Their wings are too tiny to allow them to fly. They guard their posteriors with bones that were gathered by Mandibuzz.” The screen turned black.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in distaste, “Diapered Pokémon? Can’t fly? Um, what’s it say about the other one?”
Ash pushed the button again, and an image of Rufflett appeared on the screen, “Rufflett, the Eaglet Pokémon. They will challenge anything, even strong opponents, without fear. Their frequent fights help them become stronger.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up, “Aw yeah, that’s definitely the Pokémon for me.”
“VULLABY!” The group was startled as they looked back into the clearing. Vullaby was lying on her back, unconscious, with Rufflett standing triumphantly beside her.”
Rainbow Dash grinned confidently, “Yeah, DEFINITELY the Pokémon for me. Oshawott? You ready?”
Oshawott saluted, “Oshawott.”
“Then let’s get out there and catch that Rufflett,” Rainbow Dash flew up from behind the shrub, and Oshawott jumped down from her back.
“Rufflett?” Rufflett turned and saw the new arrivals in the clearing. He puffed out his chest and yelled “Ruff! Rufflett!”
“Bring it on,” Rainbow grinned. “Go get him, Oshawott!” Oshawott ran up to Rufflett. “Now use… um, wait,” Rainbow suddenly rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, “what moves CAN you use anyway?”
Ash and his friends all collapsed upon hearing this. “Come on, Rainbow Dash,” Ash called to her, “tell it to use Water Gun, quick!”
“Water Gun? Okay!” Rainbow turned, only to see Rufflett pecking Oshawott rapidly, driving it backward. “Oh no! Oshawott, use Water Gun, quick!”
Oshawott opened its mouth and a blast of water shot out of it, pushing Rufflett back a few feet, “Oshawott!”
“Great shot!” Rainbow cheered. She turned to Ash, “What other moves can Oshawott use?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Ash told her, “different Oshawotts know different moves. I just guessed Water Gun because it’s very common for a young Water-type like Oshawott to learn it.”
“What?” Rainbow looked concerned. She turned to see Rufflett charging at Oshawott, his beak glowing brightly.
“Look out!” Ash yelled, “It’s using Peck!”
“Oshawott, dodge it!” Rainbow Dash yelled, but Rufflett was already too close and struck Oshawott. Oshawott staggered back a bit, so Rainbow called out “Now, use Water Gun again!”
Oshawott shot another burst of water at Rufflett, but Rufflett jumped into the air to dodge, “Rufflett!” His talons glowed brightly.
“That’s Crush Claw!” Cilan gasped.
“Rainbow Dash,” Ash called out, “have Oshawott block it with its seashell!”
Rainbow Dash quickly looked back toward Oshawott and ordered “Oshawott, hold up your shell to block it.” Oshawott held up its shell just as Rufflett was about to strike. Rufflett’s talons slammed into the shell and started pushing it back slowly, but Oshawott was just barely able to keep standing. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, but then realized this was the perfect chance to strike. “Now Oshawott, use Water Gun!”
“Oshawott!” Oshawott blasted Rufflett square in the chest with a Water Gun, sending him flying into the trunk of a tree.
“Now,” Ash pointed to Rufflett, “throw your Pokéball.”
“Got it!” Rainbow Dash grabbed the empty Pokéball from her belt and got ready to throw it, but stopped abruptly.
“What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash?” Ash inquired, “This is what you’ve been waiting for.” Rainbow Dash just stared and pointed at the tree Rufflett had crashed into, causing Ash and the others to turn and look.
Rufflett was staggering to his feet and glaring angrily, “RUFFLETT!” He spread his wings wide and started glowing a bright white and blue. His body began to grow and change shape.
“Wh-what’s happening?” Rainbow stammered.
Ash’s eyes widened and he answered, “Rufflett’s evolving.”
“E-evolving?” Rainbow asked.
The light around Rufflett faded, revealing a much larger Pokémon. His wings had grown much larger, the feather on his head had multiplied and formed a ring on red and white feathers around his face, and his legs had become longer and much more muscular. He spread his wings wide and cried “BRAVE!”
“What’s that?” Rainbow Dash backed up a bit.
“That’s Braviary,” Cilan replied, “the evolved form of Rufflett.”
“Evolved form?” Rainbow Dash stared in disbelief, “What do you mean evolved form?”
“When a Pokémon evolves, it turns into a different species of Pokemon altogether,” Ash replied, “and it usually gets much stronger in the process.”
“Stronger?” Rainbow Dash looked worried for a moment, but suddenly grinned. “That makes it even better! Oshawott! Use Water Gun!”
“Oshawott!” Oshawott blasted a Water Gun at Braviary, but Braviary didn’t even attempt to dodge. He stood in place with his wings folded as the Water Gun struck him square in the chest.
“Yes!” Rainbow cheered, “Direct hit! Nice job Osha-what?!?” Her jaw dropped as she saw that Braviary was still standing exactly the way he had been before the attack struck, a few drops of water falling from his feathers. “It-it didn’t do a thing!” Rainbow stuttered.
“Bravi!” Braviary spread his wings and charged at Oshawott, a few bright wisps of light flowing around him from the tip of his beak.
“That’s Aerial Ace!” Ash yelled.
“Block it with your shell,” Rainbow commanded.
“Oshawott!” Oshawott held up its shell to block the attack, but when Braviary struck it the shell was knocked out of its grasp and lodged in the trunk of a nearby tree.
Braviary flew up into the air and spread his wings, preparing for another attack, “Brave! Bravi, Brave!” He charged toward Oshawott, a series of pink and white rings encircling his body.
“Look out!” Ash called, “That’s Giga Impact!”
“No!” Rainbow Dash yelled, “Oshawott!”
Oshawott opened its mouth wide “OshaWOTT!” A beam of white energy shot out of its mouth and struck Braviary. The pink and white rings vanished and Braviary was shot back up into the air. He was panting, and there was a massive chunk of ice on his chest.
Rainbow Dash blinked, “What was that?”
Ash smiled widely, “That was Ice Beam!”
“It’s super effective against a Flying-type like Braviary” Iris added.
“Now’s your chance to catch it, Rainbow Dash,” Cilan cheered.
“Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash grabbed the Pokeball. “Go, Pokéball!” She threw the ball at Braviary. However, before the Pokéball could hit, Braviary began flapping his wings rapidly toward the ground, causing a powerful wind current that both blew himself higher into the air and made the Pokéball fall back down. Braviary turned and flew away, although slowly because of the chunk of ice covering his chest.
Rainbow stood, mouth agape, “What was that?!?”
“It was Whirlwind,” Ash sighed.
“Vulla?”
“What?” Rainbow looked down and saw Vullaby starting to wake up.
“Vullaby?” She rubbed the top of her head with her wing. Suddenly, the Pokéball Rainbow Dash had thrown at Braviary landed right on top of Vullaby’s head. “Vullaby!” The ball rose into the air and opened, and Vullaby’s body glowed red. Her body turned into energy and flowed into the open Pokéball. The ball fell and landed on the ground, and then began to shake back and forth slowly. Rainbow Dash and the others watched as the ball tilted from side to side repeatedly, until it stopped, making a small pinging noise and releasing a few sparks.
Ash smiled and walked up to Rainbow, who was still staring dumbfounded at the Pokéball. He gave her a congratulatory pat on the back, snapping her out of her daze, “Great job, Rainbow Dash, you caught it!”
Rainbow Dash lowered her head and sighed, “Yeah, I did…” She flew over to the Pokéball and picked it up, looking at it with a dissatisfied expression on her face.
Ash frowned, “What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash?”
Iris walked up to Rainbow Dash, “Yeah, you should be happy. This was the first Pokémon you ever caught.”
Rainbow Dash looked away, “Yeah, but it’s not the one I wanted. Oshawott worked so hard against that Braviary, but we didn’t battle Vullaby at all. It was only weak enough to get caught because Rufflett damaged it for us. It just doesn’t feel right. After all the work me and Oshawott put into trying to catch Braviary, we accidentally caught a Pokémon we didn’t try to catch at all. Isn’t that right Oshawott? Oshawott?” She turned to where Oshawott had just been standing, but it wasn’t there. She turned her head a bit to see if she could spot Oshawott, and found it holding on to its seashell, which was still lodged in the tree. Its feet were against the trunk as it pulled as hard as it could, trying desperately to dislodge the shell from the tree trunk. Rainbow flew over to the tree, “Here, let me help you.” She grabbed the shell and pulled, finally dislodging it from the tree.
“Oshawott,” Oshawott smiled and jumped up, giving its trainer a big hug.
Rainbow Dash smiled warmly and hugged Oshawott back, “Thanks Oshawott, I needed that.” She held up Vullaby’s Pokéball in her right hoof and sighed.
“There, see Rainbow Dash?” Iris placed a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Oshawott doesn’t care that you didn’t catch Braviary. If Oshawott’s willing to look past it and enjoy the fact that you caught Vullaby, can’t you too?”
Rainbow Dash turned to face Iris and nodded weakly, “Yeah, I guess I can work with Vullaby.”
“That’s the spirit, Rainbow Dash,” Cilan commented. “Now, I think Oshawott and Vullaby could use a trip to the Pokémon center, don’t you?
Rainbow Dash blinked and looked back down at Oshawott, only now realizing how scuffed up it was from the battle, “Yeah.” She nodded, “I think both of them could use some R and R.”
“Alright,” Ash nodded, “then let’s go. We can have lunch while we’re there too.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rainbow nodded as she placed Vullaby’s Pokéball in her belt. She set Oshawott down on the ground and touched down, then picked Oshawott back up and placed it on her back. “Well, I’m ready when you are.” She started trotting back into the forest in the direction they had come from earlier.
About an hour later, the group arrived back at the Pokémon center. Rainbow Dash trotted up to the door and giggled slightly, “It’s kind of funny, this is the first time I’m entering this place not as a patient.”
“Yeah,” Ash walked alongside her through the door, “from now on, when you come to the Pokémon center, your Pokemon will be the ones getting medical care.”
Rainbow Dash smiled and trotted up to the counter, “Nurse Joy, it’s me again.”
“Hello again Rainbow Dash,” the nurse greeted her, “back from another battle? We’ll be happy to help you again if need be.”
“It’s not for me this time,” Rainbow giggled. “It’s for my Pokémon.” She leaned down so Oshawott could hop off her back and onto the counter, then took Vullaby’s Pokéball out of her belt. “Make sure you take good care of them, okay?” She smiled.
“Of course, Rainbow Dash,” Nurse Joy replied, “it won’t be a problem at all.” She picked up Oshawott and the Pokéball and carried them both through the door to the operating area.
Rainbow Dash smiled, “I’m really proud of that little Oshawott. He really did a good job.”
“Yeah,” Ash patted Rainbow on the back, “he’s going to go far with skills like that. And with your leadership, I’m sure Vullaby will be following in his footsteps in no time.”
The group walked over to the Pokemon center café and sat down for lunch, this time managing to avoid having a crowd of spectators. Rainbow Dash looked around and commented “It’s nice to see the paparazzi decided to take the day off. I like the attention, but it’s nice to be able to relax for a change.” She happily ate several sandwiches, to compensate for missing dinner the night before. When she was finally finished, she smiled and rubbed her tummy, “Mm, those were good, but they weren’t as good as yours, Cilan.”
Cilan smiled, “Thank you very much, Rainbow Dash.”
The sign above the door behind the counter lit up and made a pinging noise, as the door opened and Nurse Joy walked out into the lobby. “Rainbow Dash,” she announced, “your Pokémon are all better.”
“Already?” Rainbow beamed and flew over to retrieve Oshawott and Vullaby. “Wow, I knew you guys worked fast, but this is awesome.”
Nurse Joy nodded, “Thank you very much. It’s always nice to know our work is appreciated, right Audino?” Audino smiled and nodded in agreement.
Rainbow Dash giggled “I know how that feels.” She placed Vullaby’s Pokéball in her belt and put Oshawott on her back, “Thanks again.” She trotted to the door, followed by Ash, Iris, and Cilan.
“You’re welcome” Nurse Joy waved to the group as they left.
“Where are we going now, Rainbow Dash?” Ash inquired as he walked up to Rainbow.
“To the field where I had my battle with Charizard. I want to see what Vullaby’s capable of.”
“Well, it sounds like you’re really warming up to Vullaby,” Cilan smiled happily.
“Yeah,” Rainbow shrugged, “I figure it’s my Pokémon, so I’d might as well make the best of it.” She trotted into the forest and headed for the clearing.
When the group arrived at the clearing, Rainbow Dash reached into the pocket of her belt and took out Vullaby’s Pokéball. “Go, Vullaby!” she threw the Pokéball, which promptly opened.
Vullaby appeared on the ground in front of Rainbow Dash, looking at her with a confused expression, “Vullaby?”
Rainbow Dash trotted over to Vullaby, “Hey Vullaby.” She tried to give a sincere smile, “I’m your new trainer.”
“Not for long, I’m afraid” came a sudden voice out of nowhere.
Rainbow Dash and the rest of the group all jumped and looked around, and Rainbow called out “Who’s there?!?” There came a rustling in a nearby tree, so Rainbow quickly turned and prepared to pounce at whoever it was. Instead of a person, however, a large metal ring flew out from amongst the leaves and flew straight toward Rainbow. “What the?” Rainbow jumped out of the way, spreading her wings. “What’s that thing?”
“Oh no,” Ash’s eyes widened, “I’ve seen those kind of rings before.”
“When?!?” Rainbow Dash demanded, but before she could get an answer another three of the rings flew at her from three other trees. “Ah!” She quickly dodged all three of them. “That was close,” she wiped some beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. The rings that had missed suddenly turned around in mid air and flew back down toward her.
“Rainbow Dash, look out!” Ash yelled.
“What?” Rainbow Dash turned around, just as the first ring circled around her. Seconds later, the second and third rings encircled her, all three rings at different angles to form a spherical cage around Rainbow Dash. “What’s the big idea?” Instead of getting an answer, she was given a surge of electricity from the rings. “AHHHH!” she yelled in agony.
“Rainbow Dash, no!” Iris yelled. She held up a Pokeball and threw it “Dragonite, go!”
“You too, Charizard,” Ash yelled as he sent Charizard out of its Pokeball. “Now, get Rainbow Dash out of there!” Charizard nodded as both it and Dragonite flew toward the cage Rainbow Dash was in.
“Don’t interfere!” the voice yelled. The trees trembled violently as a massive jet rose up from behind the cover of the trees, with Giovanni at the helm. “This Pokémon coming with us” he announced over the speaker.
“No she’s not!” Ash yelled. “Charizard, use Flamethrower to destroy the cage!”
“Wait, no!” Iris interrupted, “You’ll hit Rainbow Dash!”
“In that case,” Ash replied, “use Dragon Tail.” Charizard’s tail glowed as it flew toward the cage. It flipped around and slammed its tail against the bars, but was blasted by a surge of electricity as soon as it made contact. Rainbow Dash screamed in pain inside the cage, having also felt the electricity.
“Rainbow, no!” Ash yelled.
“Keep it up,” Giovanni smirked, “that cage will deliver electrical pulses to anything that touches it, and the bars have been fortified to withstand even the most powerful attacks. Every time you strike the bars, the electrical pulses will become more powerful. Even if you do manage to break the bars, your friend will have already received a lethal dose.”
“Lethal?!?” Ash and his friends yelled in unison.
“Precisely,” Giovanni grinned as he reached to the side of the cockpit and pressed a button. A small door opened on the side of the jet, and the cage Rainbow was in began to fly toward it. The cage flew through the door and it slammed shut.
“No!” Ash yelled, “Charizard, use Overheat on the jet!” Charizard immediately obliged and blasted the jet with its Overheat attack. Before the attack could land, however, a series of vents opened on the side of the jet and released a massive smoke screen. The Overheat scattered the smoke, but the jet was no longer there.
“Look!” Iris pointed to the side of the smoke screen, where the had just turned around to fly away. “Dragonite, hit it with Ice Beam!”
“Charizard, Flamethrower!” Ash yelled. Both Pokemon launched their attacks, but before they could strike, the jet’s thrusters released a surge of flames and it sped away, easily avoiding both attacks. Ash and the others ran in the direction it had flown, but stopped as they came to terms with the fact that it wasn’t going to work.
As the jet sped out of sight, Ash fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground. “N-no,” he cried, tears falling down his face, “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash.”
Iris put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Ash, we’ll get her back,” she stood up and looked to the sky in the direction the jet had flown, “somehow…”
“Twilight,” Applejack trotted up to her purple friend, “ya weren’t at breakfast, so I brought you a plate of pancakes.” She set the plate down next to Twilight.
Twilight didn’t seem to notice Applejack until she saw the plate. “What?” she looked up from the pages of “Theory of the Space Barrier” and turned to face her friend.
Applejack smiled warmly, knowing Twilight hadn’t had a bit to eat since she started studying, “I said you missed breakfast, so I brought you some pancakes.”
Twilight’s stomach rumbled, causing her to blush, “Oh, I guess I was so busy studying that I didn’t even realize how hungry I was.” She moved the book to the side and pulled the plate of pancakes over to herself. She picked up a fork and knife Applejack had placed next to the pancakes using her magic, and started eating.
Applejack smirked, “You’re welcome, Twilight.”
Twilight stopped and turned to Applejack, “Oops, thank you Applejack.” She gave an awkward giggle and returned to her pancakes.
Applejack nodded “Any time, Twilight.” She sat down next to Twilight and looked down at the book. “So, what’cha find out about this barrier thing anyway?”
Twilight swallowed another bite of her pancakes before responding, “Well, according to the book, the Space Barrier is a sort of wall between dimensions, and if somepony manages to create a breach in the barrier, the will be pulled through and appear through an identical breach in space in one of the other universes.”
“Wait a minute,” Applejack raised a hoof, “universes? You mean there’s more than just the two?”
Twilight took another bite of her pancakes, then continued, “In theory, there is an infinite number of universes. Some are very similar to others, but some are drastically different.”
Applejack tilted her head, “And you’re sayin’ when Rainbow broke that barrier thing, she got sent to one of these other dimensions?”
“Exactly.”
“Do you know which one?”
Twilight frowned at this question, “Well, about that, it’s pretty complicated.”
“Just how complicated are we talking here, Twilight?”
Twilight finished her pancakes, “I think it’ll be easier to explain when all of you are present.” She picked up the plate and the book in her magic grip. “Come with me, we’ll meet the others in the courtyard.”
Applejack trotted alongside Twilight. “How did you know the others were waiting in the courtyard? Been practicin’ that locator spell already?”
“No,” Twilight shook her head and pointed to the right, “I just looked out the window.” Applejack looked to the right and saw the courtyard through the window, where Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were waiting for them.
The pair walked to the kitchen first, where Twilight put her plate in the sink, and then they continued down the hall to the castle doors. As the doors opened, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all turned and watched anxiously as Twilight and Applejack stepped out. Twilight cleared her throat and began, “Girls, I have discovered a way to find Rainbow Dash.”
Everypony cheered and Pinkie gave Twilight a big hug, continuously repeating “Thank you thank you thank you!”
Twilight struggled to catch her breath until Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy managed to pry Pinkie off of her, and then continued, “As I was saying, I know how we can find which dimension Rainbow Dash has been sent to.”
“Which dimension?” Rarity asked.
“Yes, Rarity,” Twilight nodded. “You see, when Rainbow Dash’s speed was mixed with my magic, she broke through the Space Barrier, which transported her to another dimension. I don’t know yet which dimension she was sent to, but the book mentions a spell that can be used to find the spot where we need to break through.”
“Hold on a minute,” Applejack raised a hoof, “I thought ya said the spell was supposed to find what dimension Dash got sent to, not where to break through.”
“That’s just it, Applejack,” Twilight replied, “the key to discovering which dimension Rainbow Dash got sent to is to find the exact point in space where she broke through the barrier in the first place.”
Applejack scratched her chin, “And, why is that exactly?”
“Because,” Twilight continued, “every single point in space in a given dimension corresponds to a specific other dimension. For example, if I were to break the Space Barrier from the spot where I’m currently standing, there’s no telling what dimension it would send me to, but it certainly would not be the same dimension Rainbow Dash was sent to. The only way to find which dimension she was sent to is to find the exact point in space where she disappeared, because only that point in space will be able to lead us to the dimension she was sent to.”
“What are we going to do when we find out which dimension she was sent to?” Rarity inquired. “I assume there’s also a spell you can use to pull her back through the rift from our side?”
“I’m afraid not, Rarity,” Twilight shook her head. “There’s only one way to get her back, and that’s to go to that other dimension, retrieve her, and bring her back.”
Applejack raised a hoof, “An’ just which one of us do you suggest we send?”
Pinkie bounced up and down and flailed her hooves in the air, yelling “Oh, me! Pick me!”
Applejack thought about it for a moment, and nodded, “Yeah, pick her, pick her. Don’t worry about bringing her back at the same time as Dash, I’m sure I- I mean, she’d enjoy her vacation.”
Twilight frowned disapprovingly and shook her head. “Sorry, but Pinkie can’t go.”
“Aw,” Pinkie frowned and took off the “other dimension or bust” T-shirt she had inexplicably acquired.
“Sorry Pinkie,” Twilight patted her pink friend on the shoulder, “but if I sent one of you through the rift you’d be stuck there with Rainbow Dash. The only way to bring her back is to send somepony who can open the rift from the other side. In other words, I need to go to the other dimension myself.”
“Oh, oh!” Pinkie bounced up to her with renewed vigor. “Can I come with you? Please?”
“I’m sorry, Pinkie, but it’s just too dangerous” Twilight responded.
Pinkie gave her a sad look with her best puppy-dog eyes. “Pretty please with a cherry and whipped cream and chocolate syrup and crushed nuts and-”
“Okay!” Twilight shouted, “But only because every word you say is making me more hungry…”
“Alright!” Pinkie jumped in the air and put her ‘Other dimension or bust’ T-shirt back on. When she landed, she ran up to Twilight and put an identical ‘Other dimension or bust’ T-shirt on her as well.
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a bit at Pinkie Pie’s enthusiasm, “Well, at least I’ll have an interesting travel companion.”
“Yes Celestia,” Twilight nodded, “I need to return to Ponyville in order to perform the detection spell that will show us where Rainbow Dash is. She was over Ponyville when she broke the Space Barrier, so that’s where I need to search.”
“I understand, Twilight” Celestia smiled warmly. “I hope that you and Pinkie Pie are successful in bringing Rainbow Dash home.”
Twilight tilted her head, “How did you know Pinkie was coming with me?”
Celestia laughed softly and pointed at Twilight’s chest, “Your T-shirt gave me a hint.”
Twilight looked down and realized she was still wearing the ‘Other dimension or bust’ T-shirt Pinkie Pie had given her. She blushed, “Oh, I forgot about that. Don’t worry, Celestia, I won’t actually wear it to the other dimension.”
“Why not, Twilight?” Celestia smiled, “I think it makes you look festive.”
Twilight laughed a bit, “Yeah, I guess it kind of does.” She turned and walked to the door. “I’ll be sure to write to you as soon as I get back.”
“Good luck, Twilight,” Celestia called, “and please don’t hesitate to bring me a souvenir from the other dimension.”
“Will do,” Twilight responded as she closed the door behind her.
“Oshawott! Oshawott!” Rainbow Dash’s Oshawott jumped up and down, facing the direction its trainer had been taken.
“Oh Oshawott,” Iris said as she picked up Oshawott and gave him a comforting hug, “I promise we’ll get Rainbow Dash back.
“But how?” Cilan asked. “They took off too fast for us to follow, and we don’t even know if they kept a straight path when they did. For all we know he only flew that way to fool us and then changed direction when he got out of sight.”
“Well what else are we supposed to do?” Ash demanded. “We can’t just leave Rainbow Dash in the hands of Team Rocket; who knows what they’ll do with her?!?”
Cilan held up his hands defensively, “Easy, Ash, fighting with me isn’t going to bring Rainbow Dash back here any sooner. We need a plan to find her.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Ash asked him.
Iris stood up and replied, “Wait a minute, maybe Professor Juniper can help.”
“How?” Ash turned to Iris. “I know she’s smart, but if she could track Team Rocket that easily she would have helped the police find them and arrest them a long time ago.”
“Well that may be,” Iris frowned, “but she’s our best hope. Besides, we need help pronto, and Professor Juniper is staying not far from here.”
“She is?” Ash thought for a moment, then remembered “Oh yeah, she said she was going to meet us tomorrow at the Pokemon center.”
“Exactly,” Iris nodded, “if she’s planning to meet us tomorrow, she wouldn’t have gone all the way back to her lab in Nuvema Town.”
“That’s right,” Cilan smiled, “she must be staying in the village where she gave Rainbow Dash her Oshawott.”
Oshawott nodded his head quickly, “Osha, Osha, Oshawott!”
Ash walked over to the spot where Vullaby’s Pokeball was lying on the ground. He reached down, picked up the Pokeball, turned to Vullaby, and returned Vullaby to the Pokeball. “We’ll need to get there fast. Every minute we wait is another minute Rainbow Dash is in danger.” He held the Pokeball up to his face, and shed a tear when he remembered how just the night before he had given that same Pokeball to Rainbow Dash. “I promise, Rainbow Dash, wherever those monsters took you, we will save you.”
Rainbow Dash groaned as she slowly woke up. “Oh, my head,” she reached a hoof up to rub her head, but began to hear a metallic clanking noise coming from her hoof. She curiously looked to he r hoof and noticed that a metal cuff had been placed around it, which was connected to the floor by a chain. “What the hay?” She stood up, only to hear the clanking of even more chains. Looking down, she realized that there ware identical cuffs around all four of her hooves, along with one on her neck. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“You are at Team Rocket’s Unova base,” came a voice from behind her. Rainbow Dash quickly looked up, and finally got a glimpse of where exactly she was. There was a cylindrical wall of glass surrounding her, which was in the middle of a circular, metal room. All around the room, Team Rocket operatives in white lab coats were busily typing on computers, although Rainbow Dash could not see what was on the screens because they were facing away from her. At the end of the room was a small flight of stairs, and walking down the stairs was a sinister-looking man with gray hair, a shaggy mustache, a pair of glasses, and a white lab coat.
“W-who are you?” Rainbow asked nervously.
“Oh, where are my manners?” the man joked, “My name is Dr. Zager, the leading scientist responsible for the technology behind Team Rocket’s aspirations.”
“Ambitions?” Rainbow Dash glared at him, “And just what are Team Rocket’s ambitions?”
Dr. Zager chuckled, “You really haven’t been in this universe very long have you? Team Rocket’s ambitions are for nothing less than complete world domination, and with your power we will expand that domination to multiple worlds.”
“My power?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, “What power?”
“Why, the power you used to reach our universe of course. With a power like that, we shall conquer not only our own world, but all other worlds as well.”
“What?!?” Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves against the walls of the cylinder, only to receive a powerful electrical pulse, “AH!”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Dr. Zager taunted.
Rainbow Dash struggled to stand back up and growled “Well it’s a really good thing you’re not me.” She coughed, “And there’s no way I’m gonna help you invade any other universes. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”
Dr. Zager turned to her, “What are you talking about?”
Rainbow Dash gave a sly grin, “Sorry to disappoint you, but I was sent here by mistake. The only reason I’m still here is because I haven’t found a way to get home. Looks like you went to all this hard work for nothing.”
Dr. Zager smirked, “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
“Dr. Zager,” one of the scientists at the computers spoke up, “our scans are detecting latent traces of an unknown energy around the Pokemon.”
“And that’s another thing,” Rainbow spoke up, “I am NOT a Pokemon. There aren’t even Pokemon in my universe.”
“Silence,” Dr. Zager held up a remote and pressed a button, sending another surge of electricity to Rainbow Dash.
“AAAAHHHH!” Rainbow Dash collapsed in agony, struggling to stand up.
“Good, now maybe you‘ll stay quiet so we can continue without interruption.” Dr. Zager walked over to the computer where the scientist had told him about the strange energy. He looked at the screen in confusion, “My, this is very unusual. It looks as if this Pokemon has used the move Magic Coat on itself, but it does not appear to have any Psychic-type traits.” He looked over to Rainbow Dash, who had just struggled to her hooves. “It looks as if you were telling the truth. Nothing in this scan indicates any ability to travel between dimensions. Whatever force sent you here only left a faint trace of its power on you, not enough to harness properly.”
Rainbow Dash coughed, “So, does that mean you’re going to let me go?”
“No,” a familiar voice spoke from the top of the stairs. Rainbow Dash looked up and gasped when she saw Giovanni.
“You!” Rainbow Dash glared at him, “You were the one who captured me!”
“I know,” Giovanni replied as he walked down the stairs and stood in front of Rainbow Dash. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Giovanni, and I am the leader of Team Rocket.”
“Leader?” Rainbow Dash responded, “You mean you were the one who came up with that stupid plan to use me to go to other dimensions?”
Giovanni scowled at her, “Yes, but now that I see you cannot send us to other universes, I will have to resort to plan B.”
“Plan B?” Rainbow Dash asked, “What’s plan B?”
Giovanni grinned, “You proved last night that you are exceedingly powerful, destroying an entire airship in a single strike. With that power, you will be a perfect member of the Team Rocket forces.”
“You want me to join you?!?” Rainbow Dash yelled, “No way!”
“Don’t be so sure of that, my multi-colored friend,” Giovanni smirked, “we can be very persuasive.”
“Sorry, I haven’t seen Professor Juniper since you were in here this morning,” the clerk at the Pokemart shook his head.
Ash frowned, “Well, thanks anyway.”
The clerk nodded, “Sorry I couldn’t be of any help. If I see Professor Juniper later I’ll be sure to tell her you were looking for her.”
“Good, thanks for that,” Ash replied as he turned and walked out of the Pokemart.
“Any luck, Ash?” Iris asked as she saw him exit the Pokemart.
Ash shook his head sadly, “No, how about you Iris.”
Iris frowned, “Sorry, I couldn’t find her either, and nobody I talked to knew where she was either.” Rainbow Dash’s Oshawott, who was currently walking alongside Iris, shook his head to confirm this report.
“Maybe we were wrong,” Ash replied sadly, “maybe she isn’t still here. Maybe she did go back to her lab in Nuvema Town.”
“Don’t say things like that, Ash,” Iris gave a comforting smile. “We’ll never find her with that attitude. Remember who we’re doing this for. Rainbow Dash is tough and confident, and if we want to help her you’re going to have to stop blaming yourself and start being tough and confident yourself. You’ve never had a problem doing that before, why start now?”
“Osha, Oshawott,” Rainbow Dash’s Oshawott nodded.
“See?” Iris smiled, “Oshawott thinks so too.”
Ash perked up, “You’re right, we can’t give up hope.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“Hey guys,” Cilan called from around the corner, “I found where Professor Juniper’s staying.”
Ash and Iris beamed and asked “You did?” in unison.
“Yeah,” Cilan affirmed, “she’s staying in a cabins on the edge of town, right over there.” He pointed to the end of the street, where there was a number of small cabins.
“Perfect,” Ash smiled, “let’s go find her pronto.” He started running in the direction of the cabins, Iris and Cilan following close behind.
As they passed the first few cabins, Iris pointed to one of them and yelled “Look, there’s Professor Juniper’s car!”
Ash looked where Iris was pointing, “You’re right, that must be where she’s staying.” He and the others ran up to the door of the cabin and knocked on the door.
The door opened, and Professor Juniper stood in the doorway. She smiled when she saw the group “Hi there, I wasn’t expecting to see you back here so soon.” Suddenly, she looked confused and started looking around, before inquiring “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“That’s just it!” Ash frantically responded, “She was captured by Team Rocket!”
Professor Juniper gasped “Oh no! We have to find her fast!”
“Exactly,” Ash nodded quickly, “that’s why we’re here. We were hoping you could use your research equipment to track them down somehow.”
When she heard this, Professor Juniper snapped her fingers, “Wait a minute, did Rainbow Dash have Oshawott with her when she was taken?”
“Oshawott,” Oshawott walked up to her and shook its head.
“Well,” Professor Juniper frowned, “that answers one question, but it raises another.”
“What is it?” Iris asked.
“Why isn’t Oshawott in its Pokeball?”
“Because Rainbow Dash decided to let it stay out, just like I do with Pikachu and Iris does with Axew,” Ash replied. “She still has Oshawott’s Pokeball in her belt.”
“That’s it!” Professor Juniper beamed. She quickly turned and walked back into the cabin, only to emerge a few seconds later with a small device resembling a Pokedex.
“What’s that?” Ash inquired.
“You see, Ash,” Professor Juniper explained, “when you told me Team Rocket had tried to capture Rainbow Dash, I figured they weren’t going to give up after a single defeat, so I planted homing devices on the Pokeballs for the three starter Pokemon I offered her. When she chose Oshawott, I deactivated the homing devices on the Pokeballs for Snivy and Tepig. If Rainbow Dash still has Oshawott’s Pokeball, we can use this to track her.” She turned the device to show Ash and the others. On the screen was an overview map of the Unova region with two dots on it, one of which was green and the other of which was blinking red. “The green dot is our location, and the red one is the location of Oshawott’s Pokeball and, presumably, Rainbow Dash.”
“That’s amazing!” Ash beamed. He looked at the screen carefully, before he continued, “Looks like it’s about two hours away from here. Come on, let’s go.” He turned to start running, but Professor Juniper placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“Wait,” she instructed, “if you’re going to get Rainbow Dash back, you’re going to need reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements?” Ash raised an eyebrow, “What kind of reinforcements?”
“Follow me,” Professor Juniper walked back into the cabin. Ash and the others followed her, and found her standing next to a phone with a Pokeball transport machine. She pressed a button on the phone and the screen blinked to life.
On the screen was one of Professor Juniper’s research assistants. He smiled when he saw the professor on the screen, “Hello professor, is there something you need?”
“Yes,” Professor Juniper nodded, “I need you to send me the Palpitoad, Unfezant, Leavanny, Snivy, and Scraggy that are registered to Ash Ketchum.”
The assistant’s eyes widened, “But ma’am, that trainer currently has six Pokemon on his team. We aren’t allowed to send him any more unless he sends some back to us.”
“We need to make an exception this time,” Professor Juniper replied. “There may very well be a life at stake, so this is no time to worry about the rules. If the Pokemon League Association gets upset about this, I’ll accept full responsibility for it.”
“Okay,” the assistant said, still unsure, “I’ll send them right over.” He walked off to the side of the screen, and moments later returned and began to send the Pokeballs of the specified Pokemon through the transporter.
“Thank you very much,” Professor Juniper collected the Pokeballs from the machine.
“You’re welcome, and good luck,” the assistant responded before turning off the screen.
“Ash,” Professor Juniper walked over to Ash and handed him the Pokeballs she had received from the lab, “you’re going to need to be at your strongest if you’re going to save Rainbow Dash. Are you ready?”
“Of course I’m ready!” Ash clenched his fist in anticipation.
“Great,” Professor Juniper nodded confidently, “we’ll take my car. The scanner says the base is about a two hour walk from here, but there’s a road leading there as well. It’s longer than the foot path, but should still cut down our time by at least an hour and a half.
“Perfect,” Ash cheered as he and the others ran outside and got in the car.
“Hang on tight,” Professor Juniper warned them, “the road to that area is very bumpy.” She started the engine and started driving in the direction of the signal.
The group drove for about twenty five minutes until they began to approach the face of a tall cliff. Hidden in the shadow of the cliff, they could see a black tower with a large red R on the front. “Well,” Ash spoke, “this definitely looks like the place.” The group continued to drive, not noticing as they passed an infrared security beam between the trees.
A red light began to blink above the door to the room where Rainbow Dash was being kept. As soon as they saw the lights, all of the scientists stood up and ran to the exit to confront the intruders. Giovanni grinned, “Well, it seems the cavalry has arrived for you.”
Rainbow Dash stood up and smirked, “You shouldn’t be so cocky, Giovanni. That cavalry is going to wipe that ugly grin off your face.”
“Oh, I think not,” Giovanni mocked. He reached a hand down and pressed a button in front of Rainbow Dash’s containment cell. The walls of the cell retracted into the floor and the chains connecting Rainbow to the ground were unhooked from her cuffs. “I believe they’ll be wiping the grin off your face.”
“Not likely, chump!” Rainbow charged at Giovanni. Before she could make contact, Giovanni pressed a button on the control panel, and Rainbow stopped in mid-air. “What the hay?” Rainbow Dash tried to struggle, but her legs were stuck in place.
“The cuffs are being held firmly in place by magnetic fields,” Giovanni responded. “And now, it’s time for you to join us.”
“I’ll never join you!” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at Giovanni.
Giovanni simply reached down under the control panel, and came back up holding a strange helmet with antennae and a black light bulb on the top. “We’ll just see about that,” he placed the helmet on Rainbow Dash’s head.
“Wh-what are you doing?!?” Rainbow gulped.
Giovanni grinned, “Showing you the way of Team Rocket,” as he pressed a button on the helmet.
“We’re here!” Ash yelled as Professor Juniper’s car skidded to a halt in front of the Team Rocket tower. “Come on, guys,” he opened the door and jumped out, “let’s save Rainbow Dash.”
“Wait, Ash,” Iris protested, “we should try to sneak in without causing too much of a ruckus.”
“Sorry to disappoint you Iris,” Cilan pointed to the door to the tower, “but I think it’s already too late for that.”
“What?” Iris asked as she turned to look at the tower. “AH!” The door was now wide open, and several dozen Team Rocket members were running out.
“Stop right there!” One of the operatives commanded as he held up a Pokéball.
“Not a chance!” Ash yelled as he held up eleven Pokéballs and threw them into the air at once. Cilan and Iris both exited the car and threw their Pokéballs into the air too. All of the Pokeballs burst open, and Excadrill, Emolga, Dragonite, Stunfisk, Crustle, Pansage, Oshawott, Unfezant, Pignite, Snivy, Leavanny, Scraggy, Palpitoad, Boldore, Krookodile, and Vullaby appeared. Ash glared at the Team Rocket guards, “We’re not going anywhere without Rainbow Dash!”
“In that case,” the guard started, as he and the rest of the guards threw their Pokéballs as well, sending out a massive horde of various Pokémon, “attack!”
“Attack!” Ash yelled as well, pointing directly into the crowd of Team Rocket Pokémon. Both hordes of Pokémon charged at each other.
Emolga was the first to strike, flying right into the middle of the Team Rocket side and using Discharge and giving a cry of “Emolga!” Several Pokémon surrounding Emolga began to yell in pain from the electricity, but as Emolga opened its eyes it saw a Golem charging at it with Rollout, having been unaffected by the Discharge because of its Ground-typing. Emolga braced itself for impact, but just before Golem could strike, it was blasted by a surge of water, which caused it to slam into a tree and faint on impact. Emolga turned and saw Palpitoad smiling triumphantly at its direct hit, as well as a Shiftry charging Palpitoad from behind. Emolga glared at Shiftry and charged as quickly as it could. Palpitoad turned in confusion and saw Shiftry just as it was struck.
“Palpitoad” Palpitoad smiled at Emolga, then used Sludge Wave into the crowd, soaking several of Team Rocket’s Pokémon in poison.
“Leavanny!” Leavanny called as it swung its arm at a Bisharp. Bisharp blocked the strike with the blade on its wrist. “Leavanny,” Leavanny’s arms glowed green for leaf blade, and it swung at Bisharp again.
“Bisharp!” Bisharp’s arms glowed black for a Night Slash attack, and it blocked the Leaf Blade. Leavanny’s arms continued to glow, not giving up on Leaf Blade as it continued to swing at Bisharp. Bisharp continued to swing its Night Slash in retaliation. The two continued to slash at each other, neither side giving an inch, until Leavanny finally managed to strike Bisharp with an uppercut to the chin. Bisharp staggered to its feet and charged Leavanny again, but Leavanny was one step ahead. It crossed its arms and they glowed light blue for an X-Scissor attack, and it struck Bisharp square in the chest. Bisharp fell over unconscious, so Leavanny ran toward another group of Team Rocket Pokémon, arms glowing green for another Leaf Blade.
A small swarm of Beedrill pursued Unfezant, firing Twinneedle and Sludge Bomb attacks, but Unfezant managed to dodge every one of them. Unfezant banked upward and flipped around to face the Beedrill, then began to flap its wings rapidly to us Air Slash. A group of razor blades of wind flew from its wings and slashed the Beedrill, which dropped unconscious into the crowd.
Oshawott swung its Razor Shell at a Nidoking, striking it directly in the chest. Nidoking backed up a bit and lowered its head, its horn glowing a very light green color for Megahorn. Oshawott gasped in fear and backed up as Nidoking charged, but a pillar of fire erupted from the ground beneath it before it could strike. Nidoking staggered back a bit and glared at Oshawott. Oshawott looked to the side and saw Pignite smiling and giving a thumbs up. “Oshawott!” Oshawott grinned confidently and turned to face Nidoking. It’s body became cloaked in water and it charged with Aqua Jet, striking Nidoking square in the chest and knocking it unconscious.
After Nidoking was defeated, Pignite turned its attention to a group of Raticate. Its body became cloaked in flames and it charged, using its Flame Charge attack to knock the Raticates over like a bowling ball. It quickly turned around, its speed raised as an effect of the Flame Charge, and promptly used Flame charge again, this time against a group of Zangoose, which were knocked out of the way and knocked unconscious. A Crawdaunt charged Pignite from behind, its claw glowing blue for a Crabhammer attack.
“Vy!” a vine wrapped around Crawdaunt and it found itself being pulled to the side. “Snivy’s Vine Whip also wrapped around a Graveler, and Snivy spun in a circle, swinging both Pokemon around above its head. It saw a pair of Golbats flying toward it and threw Crawdaunt and Graveler at them. Crawdaunt and Graveler struck the Golbats, knocking out both Golbats, as well as Crawdaunt and Graveler themselves. Snivy smiled confidently, then turned to face a crowd of various other Team Rocket Pokémon charging at her. She jumped in the air and spun around, releasing a bunch of hearts in the direction of the crowd. The hearts each struck different Pokémon, and all the male ones stopped charging, too distracted by the Attract to continue their attacks.
Pansage stood in place and blasted various Pokémon with its Bullet Seed attack. Suddenly, it saw a dark shadow behind it and turned around to see a Dodrio charging at it. It yelled “Pansage!” and covered its face. Dodrio charged at Pansage, but just before it could strike it found itself being zapped by a powerful Discharge attack. Its body ended up covered in soot as it collapsed. Pansage uncovered its eyes and looked at the unconscious Dodrio. “Pansage?” It asked.
“Stunfisk,” came the response. Pansage looked down and saw that Stunfisk was lying right under Dodrio’s foot, having acted as a booby trap and electrocuted Dodrio when it stepped on it.
Excadrill burrowed rapidly through the ground just below the feet of the Team Rocket Pokémon, causing the ground to collapse beneath them. As each Pokémon fell into the tunnel, they became dazed and struggled to escape, but found themselves trapped. Boldore stood to the side and blasted all of the trapped Pokemon with a barrage of strikes from its Rock Blast attack, knocking all of them out.
Scraggy ran through the crowd using its Headbutt attack on every Team Rocket Pokémon in sight, but soon ended up finding itself surrounded by Ryhorn. It looked all around itself, but there was no opening to escape. The Ryhorns charged at Scraggy, but he leapt into the air using High Jump Kick to dodge at the last second, causing all of the Ryhorns to crash into each other. “Scra!” Scraggy yelled. Before he landed, he fired a Focus Blast into the middle of the group of Ryhorn, knocking all of them out in the process.
Axew used its Dragon Rage attack to clear several opponents out of the way at once, and then followed it up by using Outrage. “Axew!” It jumped from one Pokémon to the next, scratching, punching, and head butting them in its anger until the Outrage ended. When Outrage wore off, Axew became confused due to the fatigue, so it didn’t notice a Salamence looming over it and charging a Dragon Pulse attack.
Salamence fired its Dragon Pulse attack, but before it could strike Axew it was blasted out of the way by a Flamethrower. Salamence looked up and glared as it saw Dragonite smirking confidently at it in anticipation of battle. It fired another Dragon Pulse at Dragonite, but Dragonite dodged and used Dragon Rush. Salamence dodged and charged up its own Dragon Rush, turning around to charge at Dragonite. Dragonite turned around and charged at Salamence, using Dragon Rush again. The two attacks hit each other, dealing heavy damage to both battlers and knocking them back a bit, so they both charged up for Dragon Rush again and charged each other. This time they dodged each other, not wanting another head-on collision. They began having a dogfight in midair, neither side willing to give up their Dragon Rush as they charged each other again and again and again.
Ash watched the Pokémon battling, but then looked back down and realized Vullaby was still standing next to him. “Vullaby,” he started, “I know I’m not your trainer, but I need you to fight. Rainbow Dash depends on it.”
“Vullaby…” the Pokémon shivered in fear at the battle waging in front of her, then looked worriedly up at Ash.
“Don’t worry,” Ash patted Vullaby on the head, “you've got lots of Pokémon helping you.”
Vullaby seemed to consider it for a moment, but quickly turned and ran into a nearby bush, crying “Vullaby!”
“Oh Vullaby,” Ash sighed. He felt a claw poking his shoulder, and turned around startled, “what?” He saw it was Charizard, with Pikachu standing on one shoulder and Rainbow Dash’s Oshawott on the other. He frowned, “Don’t tell me all of you are scared to fight to?”
“Pika!” Pikachu shook its head and pointed to the top of the tower, “Pika Pikachu!”
“What?” Ash asked, “I don’t get it.”
“I think I do,” Professor Juniper responded as she walked up to Ash, “it looks like they want to go with you to the top.”
“Of course they do,” Ash said, “but we need to take out these guards first.”
“Not necessarily,” Professor Juniper shook her head. “Watch,” she pointed to the battlefield, just as Krookodile shot down a small group of Ninjask with its Stone Edge. She turned to Ash and continued, “Team Rocket is perfectly distracted. We’ll keep them busy down here. You, Pikachu, Charizard, and Oshawott need to sneak around them and go on ahead.”
Ash looked back toward the battle, then at Professor Juniper, before nodding and responding, “Okay, we won’t let you down.”
“Don’t worry about letting me down,” Professor Juniper told him, “just don’t let Rainbow Dash down.”
“We won’t,” Ash nodded, “we’ll bring her back safely.’
Professor Juniper smiled, “I wouldn't expect anything less from you. No hurry, there’s not much time.”
“I’m on it,” Ash turned to Charizard, “let’s go. Follow me,” he ran behind one of the trees surrounding the clearing and started running around the perimeter. Charizard ran after him, not having enough room to spread its wings.
When they got around to the side of the tower, Ash peeked out from between the trees. The battle was still waging, and all Team Rocket members were focusing their attention on the battle. “Okay, now’s are chance,” he said, “let’s go.” He ran right up to the door, followed by Charizard. Pikachu and Oshawott held on to Charizard’s shoulders so they wouldn't fall off. Ash ran into the tower and ushered Charizard in after him. “Good, the coast is clear.”
“Oh I wouldn't say that.”
Ash looked to the side and saw Jessie, James, and Meowth standing at the foot of a flight of stairs. “Not you three,” he shook his head disapprovingly. “I don’t have time to deal with you.”
James smirked and replied, “Well too bad.”
Jessie added, “If you want to get to your little blue friend, you’re going to need to go through us first.”
Ash glared, “Works for me. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt.”
“Pikachu!” Pikachu blasted Jessie, James, and Meowth with Thunderbolt, leaving all three lying dazed on the stairs, soot all over their bodies.
“Good,” Ash gave Pikachu a thumbs up and started running up the stairs, only stumbling a moment when he stepped on James’ face. Charizard spread its wings and started flying after Ash up the winding staircase.
At the top of the staircase, Ash came to a large metal door; when he tried to open it but found it locked. He turned to the Pokemon behind him, “Charizard, use Flamethrower, then Oshawott use Ice Beam.” Charizard immediately hit the door with Flamethrower, making it glow bright red, then Oshawott used Ice Beam. A large amount of steam erupted from the door, and as it cleared the door was bent slightly. “Now, Pikachu, use Iron Tail,” Ash directed.
“Pikachu!” Pikachu’s tail glowed in a silvery light and it jumped toward the door. When it struck the door, it broke off its hinges and flew into the next room, smashing a computer screen.
Ash ran into the room and looked around, but nobody was there. The room was circular, with a white panel in the middle. There were chains attached to the ground on the panel, but what drew Ash’s attention the most was a blue feather lying between the chains. He gasped and ran to the center of the room, picking up the feather. “Rainbow Dash,” he frowned, “what have these monsters done to you?”
“Osha, Osha, Oshawott!” Oshawott called.
“What is it?” Ash looked in confusion.
Oshawott was pointing to a flight of stairs on the other end of the room, “Oshawott.”
“Got it,” Ash nodded. “Let’s go!” He ran to the stairs, the Pokemon close behind him. When he got to the top of the stairs, he opened the door and stepped out of the room, finding himself standing on the roof of the tower. “What’s going on?”
“About time you arrived.”
Ash immediately turned upon hearing the familiar voice from the other end of the roof. He scowled when he saw Giovanni and Dr. Zager standing and facing him, “What have you done with Rainbow Dash?!?”
Giovanni grinned evilly, “Rainbow Dash? Is this who you’re referring to?” A panel on the roof in front of him flipped over, and Rainbow Dash slowly came into vision as another panel rose up beneath her.
“Rainbow Dash!” Ash called as he ran toward Rainbow Dash, but instead of returning his happiness, she charged at him and head butted him in the chest. “AH!” Ash yelled as he fell onto his back and slid back to where the Pokémon were standing. Both Pikachu and Oshawott gasped, but Charizard just glared and stepped closer to Rainbow Dash. Ash yelled, “What did you monsters do to her?!?”
Dr. Zager laughed, “Have you ever heard of a Shadow Pokémon?”
Ash blinked, “Shadow Pokémon?”
“Allow me to enlighten you, then,” Dr. Zager continued, adjusting his glasses slightly. “You see, many years ago, in the far off Orre region, an organization known as Cipher came to power. They attempted to conquer the region by artificially sealing the doors to Pokémon’s hearts, turning them into ferocious and powerful beings known as Shadow Pokémon. Cipher fell when its leader, Grand Master Greevil, was defeated, but their files remained intact. I personally hacked the computers on the abandoned Cipher base at Citadark Isle, and I downloaded the files for the Shadow Pokémon project. Your friend here is my first test subject, and it seems to me as if it worked like a charm. She will be a fine start to our Shadow Pokémon army.”
“You heartless monster,” Ash started, a few tears falling from his eyes. He thought back to everything he had been through with Rainbow Dash over the last few days, but came up with an idea. He looked up at Charizard and told it “Charizard, see if you can snap Rainbow Dash out of it with a battle.” Charizard nodded at him, then glared at Rainbow Dash.
“Good luck with that,” Giovanni laughed. “Now Shadow Rainbow Dash, use Shadow Rush!” Rainbow Dash’s body became cloaked in a dark aura, and she charged at Charizard.
Charizard fell on its back, visibly in great pain. “What?!?” Ash gasped. “How could one attack do that much damage?”
Dr. Zager laughed, “Because Shadow-type attacks are especially oriented to be super effective against every type except other Shadow Pokémon.”
“Exactly,” Giovanni grinned. “Shadow Rainbow Dash, eliminate Charizard with Shadow Bolt!”
“Rainbow Dash, no!” Ash yelled. “Charizard, Overheat!” Charizard used Overheat, just as Rainbow fired a bolt of black lightning toward him. The attacks collided, but Overheat was immediately broken and the Shadow Bolt struck Charizard. Charizard roared in pain and fell down on one knee, unable to stand back up. “No, Charizard, you have to get up,” tears started falling down Ash’s face.
“Too late!” Giovanni yelled, “Shadow Rainbow Dash, use Shadow Sky!” Rainbow Dash was cloaked in a dark aura, and a black light shot up into the air. When the light was about twenty feet up, a dark cloud formed.
Ash looked up in fear and asked “What’s going on?” A shower of purple rain began to fall, and as soon as it hit Charizard it began to sizzle. Charizard roared in pain.
“Pika!” Pikachu shouted, also being burned by the dark rain.
“Pikachu, Charizard, no!” Ash yelled. “Wait, that means…” he looked over to Oshawott, and as he feared, it was clearly being burned by the rain, but it wasn‘t crying in pain.
Oshawott was staring at its trainer as she mercilessly attacked her own friends and even Oshawott himself. His eyes began to water as images of the day’s events came to its mind: being chosen by Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash letting him ride on her back instead of keeping him in a Pokéball, Rainbow Dash successfully directing him in his battle with Braviary, Rainbow Dash helping him get his shell out of the tree trunk, Rainbow Dash giving him a warm hug, Rainbow Dash… Oshawott burst into tears and ran toward its trainer, not scared of her at all.
“Oshawott, no!” Ash yelled, afraid of what Shadow Rainbow Dash would do to Oshawott.
Shadow Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up when she heard Oshawott crying. She looked down, and her eyes widened. Oshawott jumped up and hugged her leg tightly, tears staining her coat. As she watched Oshawott cry, she stuttered “O-Osha-wott?” She gasped as the memories flowed back to her. “Oh Oshawott,” she hugged Oshawott tightly, tears streaming down her face, “what have I done?”
“Rainbow Dash?” Ash’s eyes widened as the purple rain stopped. A sphere of green light appeared around Rainbow Dash, tiny beams of white light flying around it. The sphere burst, and the dark aura around Rainbow Dash shattered.
Giovanni stared in disbelief and growled “Sh-she’s been purified.” He gritted his teeth and continued, “Oh well, we still have an armada even without her!”
“What?!?” Ash stood up.
Giovanni laughed, “Did you really think she was going to be our whole fleet? No, we have a much bigger fleet right here!” He raised his hands into the air, giving the signal for a small fleet of helicopters to emerge from their hiding places among the trees and on the top of the hill overlooking the tower. The helicopters gathered into formation as the doors opened on their sides, each filled with Team Rocket operatives. The Team Rocket operatives threw their Pokéballs into the air and they burst, releasing a massive flock of flying Pokémon, from Beedrill to Crobat to Honchkrow, even a few Hydreigons and Salamence. “This,” Giovanni smiled, “is our armada!”
Ash gasped in fear at the sight of the armada. “Charizard! You need to get up and help us!” When Charizard didn’t respond, Ash turned to look down at it and found it unconscious, having been finished off by the Shadow Sky. “No, Charizard,” Ash frowned and returned Charizard to its Pokéball. “Thanks for the help buddy.” He looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was still embracing Oshawott sadly, “Rainbow Dash,” he started.
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked up, tears still staining her face. She turned to look over to Ash. “Ash?”
“Rainbow Dash, we need your help,” Ash walked over to Rainbow Dash. “Charizard’s been knocked out, so I need you to take out those Pokémon,” he pointed to the fleet of Team Rocket Pokémon.
Rainbow’s lips quivered, remembering how it had been her who made Charizard faint, “I-I can’t. I can’t stand to battle after all the pain I just caused.”
“Rainbow Dash,” Ash frowned, “it wasn’t your fault.”
“B-but I hurt you, Pikachu, Charizard, and even Oshawott,” Rainbow Dash sniffled.
“And I forgive you for that,” Ash reached his hand out to help Rainbow Dash up.
Rainbow looked at him in shock, “Y-you do? But how can you forgive me so easily?”
“Because that’s what friends do,” Ash smiled.
“Friends,” Rainbow Dash repeated to herself. She looked down at Oshawott, “D-do you forgive me too?”
Oshawott wiped the remaining tears from its eyes and smiled, “Osha, Oshawott.”
“In that case,” Rainbow Dash grabbed Ash’s hand and stood up. “Hop on, Oshawott, we’ve got work to do.”
“Oshawott!” Oshawott cheered as it hopped onto Rainbow’s back.
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and ran forward, yelling “Hang on, Oshawott, this is gonna be a bumpy ride!” She jumped off the edge of the tower and took to the sky, flying right into the fleet of Team Rocket Pokémon.
“Oshawott!” Oshawott held on tightly to Rainbow’s mane, but made sure not to pull her mane and risk hurting her. He squinted a bit at the wind blowing in his face as Rainbow charged into the fleet of Team Rocket Pokémon.
Rainbow Dash punched a Honchkrow in the chest, and immediately turned to kick it in the face. “Oshawott, use Ice Beam!” She commanded.
“Osha!” Oshawott fired Ice Beam into a small group of Pokémon that were charging at Rainbow Dash from behind. Rainbow Dash kicked off from the Honchkrow, spread her front hooves, and spun around, knocking all the Pokémon in her path out of the way. The whole time, Oshawott continued to fire Ice Beam in every direction, striking several Pokémon every time.
Ash watched intently, “Good work you two.” He gritted his teeth and continued, “But there’s too many of them.”
Rainbow Dash punched a Crobat in the face, knocking it back. She quickly flew around it and grabbed one of its wings. Crobat looked stunned as Rainbow Dash spun in place, swinging it around. She released it and sent it flying, spinning like a shuriken. It struck several Pokemon as it flew. Oshawott smiled as it watched, then turned its head and shot an Ice Beam at a group of Zubats right behind them.
“Good work, Oshawott,” Rainbow smiled and flew forward, giving a Gliscor an uppercut to the chin and kicking off from its chest just as a Skarmory charged her from below. The Skarmory promptly crashed into Gliscor. “Ha!” Rainbow laughed, turning around and punching a Swoobat in the nose. Suddenly she saw a dark shadow above her and turned to see a large, black, three-headed dragon with six small wings, a Hydreigon. “Whoa,” the Hydreigon snapped at her with the head on the left, but she jumped up to dodge it and landed on top of the neck. Hydreigon snapped with its right head, but she dodged, making it bite its own left neck. “Nice try,” she punched the face of the center head, “but you won’t beat me so easily.”
“Oshawott,” Oshawott nodded, before letting go of Rainbow’s mane.
“What are you doing, Oshawott?” Rainbow asked. “This is no time to be letting go.”
“OSHAWOTT!” Oshawott’s body became covered in a veil of water and it blasted off from Rainbow’s back, striking a Crobat and bouncing off of it. It then flew right into a Ninjask and then jumped away from it as well, using its Aqua Jet to ricochet from one Pokémon to another like a pinball in a machine.
“Woo-hoo!” Rainbow cheered, “Nice work, Oshawott!” As she said this, she was struck in the back by a ball of shadowy energy from a Murkrow’s Shadow Ball. “Ah!” she yelled in pain.
“Osha!” Oshawott gasped and struck Murkrow with Aqua Jet and flew back to Rainbow Dash, stopping the Aqua Jet just before it landed and grabbing onto her mane again.
Rainbow Dash was happy to see Oshawott back, but was still in pain from the Shadow Ball. She suddenly felt a pain in her side as she was hit by the silvery-white light of a Skarmory’s Flash Cannon. “Ah!” She yelled as she was blown to the side by the hit, and she didn’t notice an Air Slash coming from behind.
Ash ran out the door of the tower and saw that the battle in front was still waging, although it was much less intense now after so many Pokémon had been knocked out. He ran around the side and up to Professor Juniper. “Professor Juniper,” he panted, trying to catch his breath, “we freed Rainbow Dash, but she’s in trouble.”
“I know,” Professor Juniper pointed to the sky.
Ash looked up and saw that the Team Rocket Pokémon had now taken an upper hand, hitting Rainbow Dash back and forth like a rag doll. Oshawott continued to blast them with Ice Beam, but for every one it took down there were several more to deal with. “No, Rainbow Dash.”
Vullaby peered out from the bush she was hiding in when she heard this. “Vulla?” She looked up at the sky and her eyes widened as she saw Rainbow Dash being beaten mercilessly. Suddenly a brief memory flashed before Vullaby’s eyes.
She saw herself standing in a field, Rainbow Dash looking down at her. Rainbow Dash spoke to her an said, “Hey Vullaby, I’m your new trainer.”
Vullaby scowled at seeing her trainer hurt so badly. She charged out of the bush and ran forward. “Vullaby?” Ash asked in surprise as he saw Vullaby charge from the bush.
“VULLABY!” Vullaby yelled as she began to glow brightly.
“It’s evolving,” Professor Juniper beamed.
Vullaby grew much larger as she evolved, and when the light faded she spread her wings and yelled “MANDIBUZZ!” She took off and charged right into the crowd of Team Rocket Pokémon. A few Magnetons flew in front of her, charging electricity to attack. “Buzz,” Mandibuzz said as a large bone made of blue energy appeared in her beak. She promptly struck the Magnetons out of the way with Bone Rush.
“Ah!” Rainbow yelled as she was hit by another Shadow Ball. She turned around to face a group of Swoobats, who were all charging up for more Shadow Balls. “Bring it on,” she panted, “I can handle it.”
“Mandibuzz!” The Swoobats were blasted by a surge of dark energy from Mandibuzz’s Dark Pulse. Mandibuzz flew up in front of Rainbow Dash and smiled.
Not recognizing Mandibuzz, Rainbow Dash held up her front hooves for an attack, but Oshawott stopped her by placing a paw on her shoulder and saying “Osha, Oshawott.”
“What is it, Oshawott?” Rainbow Dash turned to look at Oshawott.
Oshawott pointed to Rainbow Dash’s belt, then to Mandibuzz, “Osh Osha wott Oshawott.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in realization, “Vullaby?”
“Buzz,” Mandibuzz nodded.
“Aw yeah!” Rainbow cheered, “This is awesome. Hey, I have an idea, can you do that dark attack again.”
“Mandibuzz,” Mandibuzz nodded as she blasted a group of Golbats with Dark Pulse.
“Perfect,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Oshawott, hop on Vullaby’s back. Vullaby, follow me and use that attack on me when I say now.”
“Osha!” Oshawott nodded and jumped on Mandibuzz’s back, holding on tightly to her feathers.
“Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash took off straight into the air. Mandibuzz used Double Team to distract the opponents so she could follow. Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could until she was above the clouds. Mandibuzz followed her as quickly as she could. As soon as Mandibuzz caught up to her, Rainbow Dash flew straight downward. The Team Rocket Pokémon, having figured out the Double Team was a distraction, were now charging upward in a huge wave toward Rainbow Dash. Ash and the others watched with baited breath from the ground far below. “Almost,” Rainbow gritted her teeth, “NOW!”
“BUZZ!” Mandibuzz fired a Dark Pulse and struck Rainbow directly in the back.
“COSMIC RAINBOOM!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she broke the sound barrier, a massive wave of rainbow colors surging in all directions, accompanied by a burst of dark energy that seemed to be filled with stars like the night sky. Rainbow Dash’s entire body turned pitch black, tiny white pinpricks of light all over her. The wave of energy blew away all of the Team Rocket Pokémon in the sky as well as the remaining Team Rocket helicopters. Rainbow Dash smirked as she flew straight into the roof of the tower, breaking through the roof. From the outside, Ash and the others could see the windows of the tower being blasted away by explosions one at a time until Rainbow Dash flew out the front door, at which time the entire tower crumbled. The Team Rocket members on the ground ran for their lives, not even taking time to return their Pokemon. The Pokémon scattered as well. Rainbow Dash touched down in front of Ash, the black color fading from her body as she landed.
“Rainbow Dash!” Ash and the others cheered in unison as they ran and gave Rainbow Dash a group hug. All of their Pokémon began to jump for joy and cheer as well.
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Rainbow Dash,” Iris smiled widely, “I was so worried about you.”
“That was an amazing move you just used,” Cilan added, “it had a truly magnificent flare to it. You showed that you, Oshawott, and Mandibuzz really are a perfect team.”
“Who’s Mandibuzz?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.
“Buzz,” Mandibuzz landed next to the group and Oshawott jumped down to the ground, kissing the ground a few timed in its relief to be out of the sky after that dogfight.
“This is Mandibuzz,” Ash responded, “the evolved form of Vullaby,”
“Oh,” Rainbow Dash looked over to Mandibuzz. “Well, I guess I won’t call you Vullaby anymore. You did a great job, Mandibuzz.” Rainbow Dash then turned to Professor Juniper and smiled, “Thank you so much for the Oshawott, I could never have done this without him. He was the one who snapped me out of Team Rocket’s control after all.”
“Osha,” Oshawott posed proudly.
“You‘re very welcome Rainbow Dash,” Professor Juniper smiled, “and I have good news for you.”
“So, what’s your plan to get me home?” Rainbow Dash inquired from the back seat of Professor Juniper’s car.
“I intend to reenact the event in which you originally broke the Dimensional Barrier.”
“Dimensional barrier?” Rainbow raised a eyebrow, “What do you mean?”
“You see,” Professor Juniper explained, “after you told me how you got here, I did a bit of research about theories of interdimensional travel. One particular theory that caught my attention was the theory of the Dimensional Barrier, a wall between our universe and all of the other universes. Based on your story, when your friend used her spell on you, the speed boost you received was just enough to break through the Dimensional Barrier, but that alone isn’t possible by any means I know.”
“What?” Rainbow scratched her head in confusion, “But you just said she made me break the Dimensional Barrier, and now you’re saying she didn’t.”
“She did,” Professor Juniper clarified, “but not only by making you fly faster. You told me you had told her you wanted to find a new barrier of speed to break, so if her spell was meant to help you, it must have created a temporary field around you which made you capable of penetrating the Dimensional Barrier without actually reaching the speed that would normally be required to do so.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened and she remembered something. “Now that you mention it, when I was in that lab being studied by Team Rocket, they said they found some kind of energy field around me. It must have been what was left of Twilight’s magic.”
“That seems like the case,” Professor Juniper replied. “In any case, I’ll explain everything when we get inside.”
“Huh?” Rainbow asked.
Professor Juniper smiled and asked “You don’t want to stay cramped in this car the whole time I explain do you?” She gave a small laugh at her own joke.
Rainbow Dash looked around and realized that the car was pulling up outside the Pokemon Center. She smiled as she saw the Pokemon center, “Just what I need.”
“It’s also what your Pokemon need,” Professor Juniper added. She parked by the side of the building and stepped out of the car.
Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Rainbow Dash all exited the car and walked (or flew, in Rainbow Dash’s case) up to the door. Ash reached into his pocket and took out the five extra Pokeballs, handing them to Professor Juniper and telling her “That reminds me, since we’ve saved Rainbow Dash I need to send these back to your lab.”
Professor Juniper smiled, “That’s true, Ash, but before we send them back I think it would be nice to let them rest up here with your other Pokemon. We’ll send them back to my lab after they’re all better.”
“Sounds good,” Ash replied.
As the group entered the building, Nurse Joy smiled, “Welcome back. How may I help you this time?”
“It’s a long story…” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “I’d rather not get into it. The short version is we had a really big battle and all our Pokemon, and me, participated, so we’re going to need some R and R.”
“Oh my,” Nurse Joy covered her mouth with her hand in surprise, “sounds like it must have been an intense battle. Well, we’ll be happy to help you.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “After today, I could use the rest.”
Nurse Joy turned and called into the other room “Audino, we need a pair of stretchers out here.” The door opened and a pair of Audinos rolled out a pair of stretchers. Rainbow Dash, Pikachu, Oshawott, and Axew sat down on one of them, Rainbow Dash petting Oshawott, while the group placed the Pokeballs of their other Pokemon on the second stretcher. “You’ll be all better first thing in the morning,” Nurse Joy assured Rainbow Dash as she and the Audinos rolled the stretchers out of the room.
Ash turned to face the rest of the group, “Looks like we’re going to be here another night.”
“That’s fine,” Iris replied, “we’re not in a big hurry after all.”
“That sounds good to me,” Cilan responded. “Professor, I assume you’re going to return to your cabin for the night.”
Professor Juniper nodded, “I need to get some equipment, as well as make a few calls to a pair of my colleagues.”
“Colleagues?” Ash asked, “Who?”
“It’s a surprise,” Professor Juniper smiled. She turned to leave and gave the group a wave goodbye. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Ash waved, “see you tomorrow.”
Early in the morning, the train from Canterlot rolled into the Ponyville station. “Thanks Pinkie,” Applejack smiled and yawned as she and her friends stepped off of the train.
“For what, Applejack?” Pinkie blinked innocently.
Applejack gave a small smirk and replied, “For not playing your little game of ‘are we there yet?’ this time.”
“Oh, that,” Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, I decided to give that joke a break. Don’t want to spoil the joke by doing it all the time right? That’s how jokes die, and if jokes die I’ll need to bury them in the joke cemetery and bring them flowers and have to make more jokes.”
“Joke cemetery?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Of course,” Pinkie nodded, “jokes are dying to get in.”
Applejack’s eye twitched a bit, but before she could respond Twilight spoke up. “Okay girls,” she started, “you all remember what you need to do for the spell?”
“Absolutely,” Pinkie saluted, “but first can I go home? I wanna get some bits and a big bag so I can get lots and lots of souvenirs for you guys. After all, when else are we going to be able to get souvenirs from another dimension?”
Twilight rolled her eyes, but nodded and replied “Well, Celestia did tell me to bring her a souvenir. I guess it won’t hurt, but when we get there don’t forget that finding Rainbow Dash comes first.”
“Okie dokie lokie” Pinkie smiled as she turned and hopped away to Sugarcube Corner.
“As for the rest of you,” Twilight started, “I’ll wait for you in the general area where Rainbow Dash disappeared. Applejack, Rarity, you two will need to take the balloon up there.”
“What about Pinkie, darling?” Rarity inquired.
Twilight shook her head, “Don’t worry about Pinkie, she’ll find some way to get up there. She always does.”
“Well alrighty then,” Applejack smiled, “Ah’ve already got what ah need, so ah guess ah’ll go with Rarity back to the boutique so we don’t have’ta worry about waitin’ by the balloon.”
“Sounds good to me,” Twilight nodded, “and Fluttershy, you know what you need to get, right?”
“Of course, Twilight” Fluttershy nodded.
“Then let’s get to work,” Twilight smiled. “If this all goes as planned, we’ll have Rainbow Dash back by the end of the day.”
Rainbow Dash woke up with a big yawn. Looking around the room, she realized she was once again in a bed of the Pokemon center, but this time there was one difference from the previous times. This time, Oshawott was lying next to Rainbow, resting his head on her and snoring quietly. Rainbow smiled warmly and petted Oshawott, saying “Good morning little buddy.”
“Oshawott,” Oshawott woke up and smiled up at Rainbow Dash.
“Well Oshawott,” Rainbow stood up, relieved to see that she wasn’t connected to a machine this time, “today’s the day I’m gonna go home, and you’re going to come with me.”
“Oshawott.” Oshawott stood up and hugged Rainbow Dash, who happily hugged back.
Rainbow Dash hopped down onto the floor, and Oshawott jumped down onto her back. “Come on, Oshawott,” Rainbow giggled a bit, “let’s get some breakfast.” She proceeded to trot out of the room and down the hallway to the lobby.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” Ash waved happily when he saw Rainbow enter the lobby.
“Pika!” Pikachu added, smiling.
“Hey guys,” Rainbow Dash trotted up to the group of Ash, Cilan, Iris, and Professor Juniper. “So professor, what were you saying last night about sending me home?”
Professor Juniper answered, “You’ll see. First we need to go back to the place where you first reached this universe. My colleagues will meet us there.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion, “Well, I was knocked out when I landed, so I don’t know where that was.”
“I do,” Ash interrupted. “I ought to remember which way it was, since I had to carry you all the way from there to here.” He laughed a bit “You’re heavier than you look, Rainbow Dash.”
Ash laughed a bit, “Yeah, I guess I can believe that after seeing how tough you are. Anyway, let’s head outside so I can show you where exactly we found you.”
“Sure,” Rainbow nodded, “lead the way.”
The group exited the Pokemon center and entered the forest. They walked for about 45 minutes until they found a clearing in the trees. “This is the spot,” Ash pointed out. “You were lying right here” he pointed to a spot on the ground.
Rainbow nodded, “I see. I’m guessing it’s pretty good that I don’t remember it, since that must have been rough.”
“Most likely,” Professor Juniper commented. She then turned to Ash and asked him “Is there a field near this spot?”
“Yeah,” Ash responded, “we were having a training battle there when Rainbow Dash showed up.”
“Great,” Professor Juniper replied, “can you show us?”
“Well, sure, it’s right over here.” Ash lead the way through the forest until they reached the field.
“Perfect,” Professor Juniper held up a GPS device and pressed a button. “My colleagues should arrive in a few moments.”
“Really?” Ash inquired.
Before Professor Juniper could respond, they heard the sound of propellers, and a small helicopter appeared over the tops of the trees. Professor Juniper smiled and pointes out “Ah, that’s them now.”
The helicopter touched down in front of the group. The door slid open and out stepped a pair of women. One had black clothes and long blonde hair, long enough that it covered one of her eyes; she was holding a large black box in her hand. The other was wearing a long white lab coat and a pair of glasses, and had long purple hair; she had a purple Pokemon that resembled a tapir floating next to you. “Professor Juniper,” the one in the lab coat smiled, “it’s so nice to see you again.”
Professor Juniper nodded and responded “It’s nice to see you again too, Dr. Fennel.”
The woman in black looked down at Rainbow Dash and spoke up, “So, this must be the Rainbow Dash you told us about.”
“She certainly is, Cynthia” Professor Juniper nodded. “Did you bring the things I requested?”
“Of course, Professor Juniper,” Fennel pointed to the purple Pokemon, “I brought Musharna with me.”
Cynthia held up the black box, “And I brought the item you needed.”
“Perfect,” Professor Juniper smiled. “Now, allow me to explain what the plan is.”
“Finally,” Rainbow Dash said, “I’ve been dying to find out what the plan is.”
Professor Juniper laughed a bit and replied, “Sorry to keep you waiting like that, Rainbow Dash.” She turned to face the rest of the group and continued, “Well, as I stated last night, it seems that when Rainbow Dash’s friend used her spell, it created a temporary aura around Rainbow Dash, which allowed her to break the Dimensional Barrier. The reason for this is because Rainbow Dash wished to be able to break a barrier beyond sound. That’s why I asked you two to come here.” She addressed Fennel, “Your field of study focuses on dreams and ways to make them a reality, so if Rainbow truly wants to return to her dimension, your Musharna’s dream smoke should be able to have the same effect on her as the spell her friend put on her before.”
“Shar, Shar,” the purple Pokemon nodded.
“And as for you, Cynthia,” Professor juniper pointed to the box Cynthia was holding and continued, “you brought the Lustrous Orb, an item which increases the power of the legendary Pokemon Palkia. Palkia is known as the Pokemon who controls space, so if this orb has the power to increase its power, it might just be able to increase the power of the Dream Smoke, because the purpose of the Dream Smoke in this instance is to transport Rainbow Dash between dimensions.”
“I see,” Cynthia set down the box and opened it. Inside the box was what looked like a colossal pink pearl. She picked it up and handed it to Professor Juniper, “Here, feel free to use it for the experiment, but remember that I need to return it to the Celestic Town museum in one piece.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” Professor Juniper laughed as she accepted the orb. She turned to Musharna, “Musharna? Could you please come here for a moment?”
“Musharna,” Musharna nodded and floated down to the ground in front of Professor Juniper.
“Rainbow Dash,” Professor Juniper looked down at Rainbow, “could you please step over here? Also, I know you don’t like to return Oshawott to its Pokeball, but you might want to for this experiment, just for Oshawott’s own safety.”
“Okay, professor,” Rainbow Dash nodded. She leaned forward so Oshawott could hop down off of her back. “Oshawott, return,” she spoke as she held up Oshawott’s Pokeball. After Oshawott was returned to its Pokeball, Rainbow Dash walked up to Professor Juniper.
Professor Juniper looked down at Musharna and asked “Musharna, would you please give Rainbow Dash a bit of your Dream Smoke?”
“Shaar,” Musharna nodded. It lowered its head toward Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, a plume of purple smoke emerged from a dot on Musharna’s forehead and circled around Rainbow Dash.
“Whoa, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s alright, Rainbow Dash,” Professor Juniper assured her as she picked up the Lustrous Orb and held it up to the cloud of Dream Smoke. The orb began to glow pink, and the cloud condensed around Rainbow Dash until it was no longer visible. Even though the cloud was gone, Rainbow Dash now had a faint purple aura around herself.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash looked at herself, “this is cool. It’s not permanent is it?”
“Of course not,” Professor Juniper smiled, “it should only last about fifteen minutes. Now,” she stood up, “we need to pinpoint the exact spot where you entered out dimension. Based on the location of the crash site and the angle of damage along the treetops, I can assume the trajectory.” She held up a pen, pointed up at the sky, and continued, “The spot where you need to break through in order to return to your universe is right there.”
“Got it,” Rainbow Dash saluted. She turned around to face Ash and his friends, smiling. “Bye guys, I’ll miss you. I may not have known you long, but I had a blast while I was here.”
“It was our pleasure,” Cilan smiled back at her.
“Yeah,” Iris added, “we had a great time hanging out with you.”
Ash gave Rainbow Dash a thumbs up and continued, “See ya later Rainbow Dash. I just know we’ll meet again some day.”
“I sure hope so,” Rainbow smiled, “but I hope it’ll be easier to get home next time.” She took to the sky and flew straight toward the spot Professor Juniper had told her to. She grinned and shouted, “Next stop, Equestri-AH!” She shouted as a portal appeared in front of her and a very startled purple Alicorn and pink Earth Pony appeared right in front of her.
Fluttershy flew in through the window of Rainbow Dash’s house, moving very quietly so that she wouldn’t disturb Tank. When she entered, however, she found Tank both fully awake and staring up at her, a confused look on his face. “Oh, so sorry to disturb you, Tank,” she patted his shell gently, “I just need to grab something so we can find Rainbow Dash.” Tank blinked slowly, and then turned around and walked to his bed. Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile, “Okay, Tank, have a good rest. By the time you get up we’ll be sure to get Rainbow Dash back for you.”
She proceeded to hover around the room, trying to find something, anything that could work for the location spell. Suddenly she looked up at the wall and saw something perfect, a poster featuring the Wonderbolts, with the autographs of the entire team in the bottom corner. “Okay, I need to be careful,” she gulped as she flew up and gently grabbed the corner of the poster, “Rainbow Dash will never forgive me if I don’t return this in one piece.” She gingerly lifted the corner of the poster until it reached the nail, then slowly pushed her hoof between the poster and the wall so that the nail would slide out without tearing the poster. She was sweating heavily, as if her very life depended on her ability to keep the poster safe, until she felt the nail pop out of the cloud wall. Shaking, she looked at the corner of the poster, and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that the poster was not ripped. Once the first corner was freed, she carefully freed the others from the wall, set the nails on the nightstand for Rainbow Dash to use to put the poster back up later, rolled up the poster, and flew out the window.
Meanwhile, Applejack was sleeping by the door to Carousel Boutique, snoring softly with her hat over her face. Rarity trotted up to her and gently nudged her, “Oh Applejack, it’s time to wake up.” She giggled a bit as Applejack stirred.
“Wha?” Applejack yawned and sat up, picking her hat up off the ground and placing it on her head. “Sorry Rarity, you were just takin’ so long I guess ah nodded off.”
“Terribly sorry darling,” Rarity gave a small frown, “I just couldn’t decide which kind of gems would be best for helping Twilight.”
“She said any gem would do,” Applejack said disapprovingly.
“Oh I know darling,” Rarity waved the response off with a hoof, “but I simply couldn’t stand to use just any old gem for something this important.”
“Whatever,” Applejack rolled her eyes, “but at least you found it, right?”
“Of course, darling,” Rarity nodded happily, “if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have bothered to wake you from your beauty sleep.” She giggled again.
“Ha ha ha,” Applejack smirked, “let’s just get goin’ and help Twilight.” She opened the door and held it open for Rarity.
“Why thank you darling” Rarity smiled as she exited the boutique.
“Whatever,” Applejack closed the door and followed her to the balloon, which was already inflated and ready for takeoff.
“Nope, nope, nope,” Pinkie continued to throw items over her shoulder as she searched her supply chest. “Nope,” she threw a whoopee cushion, “that won’t work either,” she threw some fake vomit, “nope,” she threw some real vomit, “aha!” She smiled and picked up a large bag, the same one she had worn when she played Santa Hooves for their last Hearth’s Warming Eve party. “This will be perfect,” she smiled, “I’ll be able to bring souvenirs for everypony.” She hopped across the room and grabbed a bunch of balloons, quickly tying them around her waist. “Onward!” She posed like a superhero preparing for takeoff as the balloons slowly lifted her into the air and out the window.
Twilight sat down on a cloud, waiting for her friends to arrive. She anxiously fidgeted with her hooves and muttered to herself “Oh, what if this doesn’t work? What if everypony thinks I let them down, or that I did this on purpose? I was the one who sent Rainbow to another dimension in the first place, so if I don’t get her back they’ll never forgive me.”
“Forgive you for what, Twilight?” Fluttershy hovered next to her.
“AH!” Twilight jumped back in surprise, but caught herself when she saw it was Fluttershy. “Sorry, Fluttershy, you startled me a bit.”
Fluttershy frowned, “Oh dear, I’m sorry Twilight. I didn’t mean it.”
“I know you didn’t,” Twilight gave a reassuring smile and nod, “it was an accident. So, did you find something we can use?”
Fluttershy nodded and unfurled the Wonderbolts poster, “Will this work?”
Twilight nodded, “That should work just fine.”
“We’re here!” Rarity called as the balloon she and Applejack were riding in rose up to the level of the cloud. “Sorry we’re late, darling, it took us forever to find which cloud you were on.”
“And which gem to use,” Applejack murmured under her breath.
“That’s alright, Rarity,” Twilight smiled, “what matters is you’re here now.”
“Hi Twilight!” Pinkie cheered as she popped out of the cloud and gave Twilight a big hug. “I’m ready to rescue Rainbow.”
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled as she tried to pry Pinkie off of her.
“Alright,” Applejack started, “now that we’re here, would ya care to tell us what your plan is?”
Twilight finally managed to escape the Pinkie hug before responding, “Certainly.” She turned to Fluttershy and asked “Fluttershy, could you hold that poster up for me?”
“Okay Twilight,” Fluttershy unfurled the poster and held it in the air in front of Twilight.
“Alright, here goes,” Twilight’s horn began to glow as she focused on the spell. The poster began to glow with the same magenta light as Twilight’s horn, and as it did it began to wave like a flag.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy tried to keep her grip on the poster, but it seemed almost as if it was trying to get away from her,
“Fluttershy, it’s okay,” Twilight insisted, “you can let go now.”
“O-okay,” Fluttershy let go of the poster, which promptly flew away. Everypony turned to watch as the poster flew forward and then up a small distance. It stopped and began slowly rotating in place, hovering in midair.
Twilight smiled and took flight. The others followed her as she approached the poster. She placed a hoof on the poster, “This is it. The book said that we can find which dimension Rainbow Dash was sent to by enchanting something very close to her. It said the object we enchant will be drawn to Rainbow’s last exact location in this dimension, which means this is the exact spot we need to focus on. Fluttershy, you can take the poster back now.”
“Okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy flew over to the poster and grabbed it. She was pleasantly surprised to find it put up no resistance as she rolled it back up.
“Now what, Twilight?” Applejack inquired.
“Now,” Twilight responded, “I need the gem Rarity brought.”
“Here you go darling,” Rarity smiled as she levitated a gem out of the basket and held it up to Twilight. “I do hope I chose the right type of gem.”
“Don’t worry, Rarity, I didn’t need a specific type, so it’s fine.”
“Told you so,” Applejack whispered to Rarity.
“Applejack,” Twilight spoke up, causing Applejack to abruptly turn to face her. “I need your hat.”
“Mah hat?!?” Applejack put a hoof over her hat defensively, “What for?”
“So we can get home,” Twilight explained. “You see, when we’re on the other side, we’ll need to open another portal, both because any single portal is only good for one-way trips and because it won’t stay open long enough to find Rainbow Dash. When we do that, I’ll need something from one of you, something very close to you, that I can use to find the spot where I need to open the portal. Your hat would work perfectly.”
Applejack looked at her apprehensively, “I dunno, Twilight, are you sure you can’t use somethin’ else?”
“Don’t worry, Applejack,” Twilight smiled reassuringly, “I promise no harm will come to it.”
“Well, alright Twilight,” Applejack agreed as she took off her hat and hooved it to Twilight.
“Thank you very much, Applejack,” Twilight placed the hat on her own head and giggled a bit. She turned to Pinkie, “Pinkie, are you ready to go?”
“Absolutely,” Pinkie grinned and floated over to Twilight, somehow controlling the movements of the balloons. She hovered next to Twilight and gave her a pat on the back for good luck, “Let’s do this.”
“Alright,” Twilight gulped, “here goes.” She held the gem in front of herself and focused a beam of magic at it. The magic began to refract off of the gem, increasing in intensity until the entire gem was glowing bright magenta. Twilight focused a little bit more magic on it, and a beam of highly concentrated magic shot out of the tip of the gem, extending to the spot where the poster had been. “Come on,” Twilight gritted her teeth a bit, “just a little more.” The air around the gem began to swirl around and glow in a bright light.
“Oo, pretty,” Pinkie commented as the portal grew larger.
“Almost… almost… got it!” Twilight gave a sigh of relief as the portal stopped growing and began to resonate a purple light. “Alright, Pinkie, let’s go.” She flew into the portal.
“Whee!” Pinkie cheered as she floated into the portal.
The portal closed, leaving Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity behind. Applejack was the first to speak, turning to Rarity and asking “Should we wait, or do you think they’ll take too long?”
“I think it would be best to return to the ground,” Rarity replied, “after all, the wind currents up here are absolutely ruining my mane.”
Applejack rolled her eyes, “Okay, Rarity, let’s go.”
Twilight and Pinkie flew through the tunnel between dimensions. Pinkie gave many “oos” and “ahs” as she looked around at the pretty lights all around them.
“Focus, Pinkie,” Twilight reminded her, “we’re almost to the exit.”
Pinkie looked forward and saw a light at the end of the tunnel. “Aw,” she frowned, “you mean the ride’s over?”
Twilight smiled, “Well, look on the bright side, you’ll be able to ride it again when we come back with Rainbow Dash.”
“Yay!” Pinkie squealed in delight.
The duo continued toward the light, and were momentarily blinded by a flash of light. “Alright, I think we’re he-AH!” Twilight yelled as she was struck by a very shocked looking blue Pegasus.
“Oh, my head…” Rainbow Dash sat up and rubbed her head. “What hit me? It looked like… Twilight?!?” She quickly darted her head back and forth, but was disappointed when she didn’t see Twilight anywhere. She sighed, “I must be losing it,” and turned around, only to find herself staring directly into a pair of big blue eyes. “AH!” She jumped.
“Hi Dashie!” Pinkie giggled. “Enjoying your vacation?”
“P-Pinkie?!?” Rainbow rubbed her eyes with her hooves. “Does this mean I made it back to Equestria?”
“Nopesy dopesy” Pinkie giggled. “Me and Twilight were just on our way here to look for you, but as soon as we got here there you were. You crashed into us and sent both of us flying way up into the air. You also popped my balloons. I lost Twilight but I found you.”
“But, how did you survive falling from that height?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“I found this balloon when I was falling, so I grabbed onto it and it stopped me.” She lowered a purple balloon in front of Rainbow Dash’s face.
“Loon?” The balloon looked confused, and Rainbow Dash quickly realized it wasn’t a normal balloon.
“Um, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash started, “I think that might be a Pokémon?”
“A what?” Pinkie asked. She turned the balloon around and saw that it had eyes and a tiny mouth. “EEK!” She hugged it tightly “It’s so cute!”
“Loon?” The Drifloon was very confused about the strange pink creature that was hugging it.
“Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, “I think you should be a bit more careful with that. It might get mad.”
“Aw, but it’s so cute Dashie” Pinkie argues as she hugged the Drifloon. “Can I keep you?”
“Floon,” the Drifloon blinked in confusion for a moment, then smiled and nodded, “Floon Drifloon.”
“And a hearty Drifloon to you too,” Pinkie giggled as she patted the Drifloon on the head. “I’m gonna call you Looney, because you like saying Loon and ponies always call me that anyway.”
“Loon Loon,” Looney nodded happily.
“I can’t wait to introduce you to Gummy,” Pinkie released Looney from the hug. Looney rose into the air, wrapping the end of one of its stringy arms around the end of Pinkie’s tail.
Rainbow Dash blinked and said “Wow, that was a lot easier than the first Pokémon I caught.”
“You got one too?!?” Pinkie beamed and ran up to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow grinned proudly and announced “Actually, I have two. Check it out.” She reached for her belt and took out the Pokéballs.
“Oh,” Pinkie stared intently at the Pokéballs, then back at Looney, before she commented “mine’s bigger.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow grinned and tossed the Pokéballs into the air. They both opened and Oshawott and Mandibuzz appeared.
“Cool!” Pinkie smiled and hopped up to Mandibuzz. “What a big birdie.” She lifted Mandibuzz’s wing and started looking at her feathers.
“Buzz?” Mandibuzz looked at Rainbow Dash, perplexed.
“Don’t worry, Mandibuzz,” Rainbow replied, “she’s my friend. She’s not going to hurt you.”
“Osha?” Oshawott looked confused at Pinkie.
When she heard Oshawott speak, Pinkie turned to look at the source of the voice. When she saw Oshawott, she squealed in delight. “Aw! It’s so adorable, Dashie!” She gave Oshawott a big bear hug.
“Oshawott!” Oshawott struggled to breathe, so it shot Pinkie in the side of the head with a Water Gun.
Pinkie let go of Oshawott and giggled “Cool! You’re like a living squirt gun!”
“Oshawott?” Oshawott looked at Pinkie, then Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash giggled a bit and trotted up to Pinkie. “Careful, Pinkie, Oshawott here can be really tough when he wants to be.”
“There you are!” an excited voice exclaimed from above them.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie both looked up and saw Twilight hovering above them. “Twilight!” Rainbow beamed, “I was wondering where you were.”
“Sorry to worry you, Rainbow,” Twilight touched down in front of the two, “but I got a bit held up.”
“By what?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“By this,” Twilight turned, revealing a small gray Pokémon with large ears curled up on her back.
The Pokémon looked up and yawned, “Minccino.”
“Cool, Twilight,” Rainbow grinned, “when did you find that?”
“Well,” Twilight began.
Twilight groggily awoke after her crash, rubbing her head in pain. “Did somepony get the number of that bus?” Suddenly, she started feeling a tickling on her wing. She looked down at her wing and found it covered in dirt from her crash. There was a small gray rodent using its tail to brush the dust off of her. “Eek!” She jumped up, not recognizing the strange creature.
“Ccino!” The rodent crouched down and wrapped its tail in front of itself, shivering in fear at this sudden outburst.
When Twilight saw the fear on the rodent’s face, she slowly walked up to it and frowned “There there, I’m sorry. You just startled me.”
“Minccino,” the rodent closed its eyes, not wanting to see the strange purple creature it was sure was about to attack. However, instead of an attack, it began to feel a wing gently petting it.
“It’s okay,” Twilight petted the rodent, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Ccino?” Minccino looked up at Twilight, smiling a bit.
Twilight smiled back, “Aw, you were just trying to clean my wing, weren’t you?”
“Ccino, Minccino,” Minccino nodded happily.
“Thanks, little guy,” Twilight smiled. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were trying to help.”
“Minccino,” Minccino stood up and brushed Twilight’s wing with its tail again.
Twilight giggled and said “That tickles.” She smiled warmly, “You really like to clean, don’t you?”
“Ccino, Ccino,” Minccino nodded.
“Well then, maybe you can come back to my library with me. I’m sure my assistant, Spike, would love having a friend to help him with the cleaning.”
“Minccino!” Minccino beamed and hugged Twilight.
Twilight smiled, “I’ll take that as a yes.” She picked up Minccino with her magic. “Hang on, we need to go find my friends.” She spread her wings and took off above the trees.
“Aw!” Pinkie grabbed the Minccino and hugged it tightly, declaring “It’s so soft and cuddly!”
“Ccino!” Minccino gasped.
“Careful, Pinkie,” Twilight insisted as she grabbed Minccino in her magical aura, “you’ll hurt it if you hug it too hard.”
“I doubt it,” Rainbow told her, “Pokemon are really tough, even the small ones.”
“Pokémon?” Twilight asked, “Is that what this is called?”
“Not exactly,” Rainbow shook her head. “You see, all of these are Pokémon,” she gave a quick sweep of her hoof, panning over the clearing. When Twilight followed Rainbow’s hoof, she finally noticed Mandibuzz, Oshawott, and Looney.
“Wow,” Twilight flew up to Mandibuzz and mentioned “I’ve never seen a bird this large before.”
“She?” Twilight asked, “How do you know it’s a she?”
“Oh that’s easy,” Rainbow shrugged, “Nurse Joy told me all Mandibuzz are female.”
“Wait, who’s Nurse Joy?” Twilight tilted her head in confusion.
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash answered, “I think it would be easier if I just tell you what’s happened since I got here.”
“Okay, Rainbow,” Twilight took a seat, Minccino sitting in her lap.
“Yay, story time!” Pinkie pulled a bucket of popcorn out of her mane and sat down. Looney floated next to her and used its stringy arms to grab a few pieces of popcorn.
Rainbow Dash sat down and cleared her throat, but just as she opened her mouth to speak she was interrupted by Twilight, who jumped up and pointed to the sky, yelling “Dragon!”
Rainbow Dash looked up and smiled as she saw Charizard flying straight toward them. “Hey Charizard,” she waved, “did Ash send you to find me?” Charizard nodded.
Twilight’s jaw dropped and she stammered “You-you know this dragon?”
“He’s not a dragon, Twilight,” Rainbow laughed as she gave Charizard a pat on the back, “he’s another Pokemon. We had a great sparring match the other day and became great buddies. He even saved me when these guys called Team Rocket tried to capture me.”
A voice came from the trees, announcing “I found her!” All eyes turned to the trees as Iris brushed a few branches aside. She beamed when she saw Rainbow Dash. “There you are Rainbow Dash,” she waved, “we were worried about you after we saw you crash.”
“Um, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, “Who is this?”
“This is my new friend Iris,” Rainbow replied as she flew down and landed next to Iris, “she’s one of my new friends I’ve made in this universe.” She turned to Iris and continued “Iris, these are my friends Twilight Sparkle and-”
Rainbow Dash was cut off as Pinkie jumped up, grabbed Iris’ hand, and started shaking it rapidly. “Hi I’m Pinkie Pie, the bestest party pony in Ponyville. I love making new friends and Rainbow Dash is one of my best friends and you’re her friend so that means we should be friends too!”
Iris giggled at Pinkie’s enthusiasm, “It’s nice to meet you Pinkie Pie. Sure, I’ll be your friend if you want. If you’re as nice as Rainbow Dash says then I think we’ll be great friends.”
“Alright!” Pinkie cheered as she gave Iris a big hug.
The trees began moving behind them as Ash, Cilan, Professor Juniper, Cynthia, and Fennel stepped into the clearing. Rainbow Dash waved at them and said “Hey guys.”She flew down to the group. “Ash, Cilan, everyone, I’d like you to meet my good friends Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle.”
“Hi,” Ash smiled and waved to Twilight and Pinkie, “I‘m Ash.”
“And I’m Cilan,” Cilan continued.
“Pikachu!” Pikachu smiled.
“Yay!” Pinkie smiled, quickly running from one person to the next, giving them handshakes and, in the case of Pikachu and Axew, hugs. “This is so exciting, so many new friends in one day!”
“Yeah,” Twilight smiled, “I was worried since this was another dimension the inhabitants might not be very friendly, so it’s good to see I was wrong.”
“I understand,” Ash nodded, “your friend was gone in a land where she didn’t know anyone. If that happened to one of my friends I’d be really worried about who she runs into too.”
Cilan looked up at Rainbow Dash and said “I’m glad to see you weren’t hurt in that crash.”
“Aw, you know a crash like that isn’t gonna hurt me,” Rainbow smirked.
“Yeah, that is something I was wondering about,” Twilight interjected, “how did you and me go through a crash like that and not get a single broken bone? Back in Equestria a crash like that would have been disastrous.”
“I believe I can answer that,” Professor Juniper responded. She stepped up to Twilight and offered a handshake, “First, allow me to introduce myself, I am Professor Juniper, the leading scientist here in the Unova region.”
Twilight beamed in excitement when she heard this, and she eagerly accepted the handshake. “It’s great to meet you,” she smiled, “I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Professor Juniper smiled, “It’s great to meet you too; Rainbow Dash told me so much about you. I must say it’s not every day you meet a princess, so it’s quite an honor to meet you.”
“It’s an honor to meet you too,” Twilight smiled, “it’s not every day you meet a famous professor.”
“That’s right,” Professor Juniper laughed, “Rainbow Dash told me you loved to study. I believe the word she used was…” she thought for a moment before she remembered “egghead.” Rainbow Dash covered her mouth and giggled, while Twilight shot her a good-natured smirk.
“Anyway,” Twilight continued, “you said you knew why we weren’t hurt in that crash?”
“Why yes,” Professor Juniper nodded, “it seems to me that the laws of physics in our two universes are slightly different. What would cause a serious injury in your universe would only cause a minor one here, and while you’re here you are subject to our universe’s laws of physics. Thus, while you’re here, your bodies are much more resilient than they are back in your own universe.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash grinned, “That means while we’re here, we’re like superheroes!”
“Unfortunately,” Professor Juniper added, “it might also mean that when you return home you will no longer be fireproof. You may in fact retain some of your new found resilience, but will likely lose some of it, so for a while you will need to be careful until you learn what you can do.”
“Wait,” Twilight interrupted, “Rainbow Dash is fireproof here?”
“Kinda,” Rainbow responded, “fire still hurts me if it hits me directly, but if I fly with it it doesn’t affect me. I can even combine it with my Sonic Rainboom to make an Inferno Rainboom.”
“Exactly,” Professor Juniper nodded, “in your own universe you would not be able to do that, the flames would cause severe damage. When you return, you might not be able to do that anymore.”
“Eh, I can live with that,” Rainbow shrugged, “as long as I can still use my Cosmic Rainboom with Mandibuzz. It’s not fire, so it shouldn’t hurt me anyway.”
“That might actually work,” Professor Juniper smiled, “I hope you can tell me how it turns out when you try it.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” Rainbow smiled. “I told you I’d find a way to send you a postcard from Equestria, and I intend to keep that promise.”
Twilight interrupted her, “But Rainbow Dash, when we get home how would you intend to send a message like that?”
“With this,” Cynthia spoke up, holding up the Lustrous Orb. “Twilight Sparkle, you were able to open a rift between dimensions using your magic, correct?”
“Yes,” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “why?”
“Because,” Cynthia replied, “if you have such a power, perhaps you will be able to replicate the power of the Lustrous Orb. This orb amplifies the power of the legendary Pokémon Palkia, which has the power to warp space. When you arrived we were using it to attempt to send Rainbow Dash home. It was working, but due to a bit of unfortunate timing you showed up just before it could finish. Because it was working on its own, and your power can open dimensional rifts, I believe that if you can connect your magic to the power of the Lustrous Orb, it will give you the ability to willingly travel between our dimensions.”
“Really?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Well, it’s worth a try,” she added as her horn began to glow. The Lustrous Orb began to glow as well, although the color of its glow was a bright pink instead of the magenta of Twilight’s horn. “I feel something,” Twilight said, “something odd…” There was a flash of light and Twilight was blasted across the clearing into a tree. The Lustrous Orb stopped glowing and fell to the ground.
“Twilight!” Everyone yelled in unison as they ran to Twilight’s aid.
“Are you okay, Twilight?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight rubbed her horn and responded “I’m not sure. I feel strange, like my magic changed.” She stood up, shaking as she felt energy pulsating in her horn. “AH!” Her horn lit up and shot a burst of pink energy into the air. Everyone looked up and gasped at what they saw. Floating in the air above them was a portal exactly like the one which had sent them to Unova in the first place. Twilight’s horn stopped glowing, and the portal disappeared. She rubbed her horn, relieved that the pain had stopped. She then turned to Cynthia and asked “What was that?”
Cynthia stood in shock and replied “Spacial Rend. It’s an attack that normally only Palkia can use. When the Lustrous Orb reacted with your magic, it must have given you the ability to use that move.”
“You mean it worked?” Rainbow asked excitedly. “Aw yeah!” She hugged Twilight. “Now we can come back here and visit whenever we want.”
“That may be, Rainbow,” Twilight calmly pushed Rainbow off of her, “but we’ll need a lot of study to make sure this is safe.”
“Okay,” Rainbow sighed, “I guess we can’t be too careful with this, since if it goes wrong you could get hurt. Still,” she perked up, “let’s stay here a day and go home at night, okay? Since you can do that Spacial Rending thing, you can send us back whenever you want.”
“Yeah, Twilight,” Pinkie smiled, “and this time you don’t need to look for the spot in the air to go home through, since you can aim the portal right home.”
“Fine,” Twilight giggled, “I guess one day here wouldn’t hurt. It’ll give me some time to study this dimension and learn about these Pokémon things.”
“Minccino,” Minccino ran up and hugged Twilight’s leg happily.
Professor Juniper saw Minccino and smiled, “I see you’ve already found a Pokémon to be your partner. It’s a Minccino.”
“Oh, oh!” Pinkie hopped over to Professor Juniper and held up Looney. “Look, I found a Pokémon too. I call him Looney.”
Professor Juniper smiled and petted Looney. “What a cute nickname for a Drifloon.” She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a pair of Pokéballs, handing one to Pinkie and one to Twilight. “Here you go, now you can actually catch Minccino and Drifloon and officially become their trainers.”
Twilight looked at the Pokéball, perplexed, before speaking up. “How am I supposed to catch this Pokémon in something so small?”
“Like this, Twilight,” Pinkie replied as she pressed the button on the Pokéball against Looney’s forehead. The ball opened and Looney began to glow red, before getting pulled into the Pokéball. The button on the front of the Pokeball blinked red a few times before it stopped.
“How did you know what to do with it?” Twilight asked as she did the same thing to Minccino and caught it.
“Easy,” Pinkie smiled, “I saw Rainbow Dash send her Pokémon out of balls just like these, and I saw the button on the front and thought it must be what turns them on.”
“That’s right,” Rainbow nodded, “they’re called Pokéballs. I have to admit it was a lot easier for you to catch your first Pokémon than it was for me to catch mine, unless you count Oshawott.”
“Wait a minute,” Twilight stood up, “how many of these Pokémon do you have?”
“Two,” Rainbow pointed to Mandibuzz and Oshawott.
“Oh, so that’s why those two were standing next to you this whole time,” Twilight responded as she sent out Minccino.
Pinkie threw her Pokéball in the air and sent out Looney. “It must be so cramped in there, so you can stay out here Looney.” She hugged Looney.
“I don‘t think so,” Twilight pointed out, “it looked like their bodies were converted to energy while they were inside the Pokéballs, so size probably doesn’t matter to them.”
“That’s correct, Twilight,” Professor Juniper smiled, “I’m impressed that you figured that out so quickly.”
“Thanks, Professor,” Twilight replied. She then turned to Rainbow Dash and asked “By the way, Rainbow Dash, what did you mean it was harder for you to catch your first Pokémon?”
“Well, the first Pokémon I got period was Oshawott here,” Rainbow pointed to Oshawott. “Professor Juniper gave him to me for free as a starter to help me catch other Pokémon. I actually caught Mandibuzz on accident when I was trying to catch a different Pokémon.”
“Okay,” Twilight nodded, “but I still don’t understand what’s so hard about that.”
Rainbow smirked and continued “It’s hard because, most of the time, when you catch a Pokémon you need to battle it.”
Twilight gasped “Battle it?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow grinned, “remember how Professor Juniper said creatures in this world are stronger than creatures in Equestria? Well, that’s a big part of it. The wild Pokémon don’t always want to be caught, and if you want to catch one that doesn’t you need to battle it so it won’t be able to fight its way out of the Pokéball. You and Pinkie got lucky because you found wild Pokémon that wanted you to catch them, so they didn’t even try to fight it, but when I caught Mandibuzz it was caught because it had been badly beaten by another wild Pokémon, the same one that I had been trying to catch.”
“You mean you caught that Pokémon against its will?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What would Fluttershy say if she found out about that?”
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Rainbow insisted, “me and Mandibuzz are pals now.” She proved her point by hugging Mandibuzz, who smiled happily and hugged her back. “See, it’s just like getting a new pet. They might not like it at first, but you bond with them and they become your friends.”
“It’s true,” Ash spoke up, “I’ve caught lots of Pokémon that didn’t want to be caught at first, but every one of them is now a good friend. You just have to treat the Pokémon well and show them that you want to be a team, and they’ll be your friends in time.”
“Interesting,” Twilight looked at Minccino. She looked up and turned to face Professor Juniper. “Professor Juniper,” she started, “before I leave I want to catch one more Pokémon, but this time I want to actually battle it.”
“Me too! Me too!” Pinkie cheered, “I want to get lots and lots of Pokémon friends for Looney.”
Professor Juniper smiled and replied “Very well, before you leave I’ll make sure each one of you catches at least one more Pokémon.”
“Wow, that was great,” Twilight wiped her mouth off and placed her napkin on the table.
“Yeah,” Pinkie placed another plate on top of her growing stack on the table, “this Pokemon center’s food is delicious! It could use more deserts though.” She turned to Twilight, “Hey Twilight, think I could bring a menu from Sugarcube Corner with me next time we come, just to give the cooks some ideas?”
“I guess that would be okay,” Twilight responded, “after all, Sugarcube Corner has some of the best sweets in all of Equestria.”
“Really?” Ash’s eyes widened and his mouth watered a bit. “Maybe I should pay you a visit in Equestria sometime.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie grinned, “You could all come and I could throw you a great big ‘Welcome to our Universe’ party!”
Cilan chuckled “Sounds like a strange theme for a party.”
“Trust me,” Twilight giggled, “with Pinkie Pie, there aren’t any strange party themes.”
“Yeah, if it’s a reason to party it works for me!” Pinkie threw a bunch of confetti into the air.
“Loon, Loon,” Looney floated down to Pinkie, curious about how she created confetti out of nowhere.
“Oh, do you want some too, Looney?” Pinkie giggled and placed a small pile of confetti on Looney’s head.
“Drifloon?” Looney was still confused, but decided to follow its trainer’s lead and threw the confetti into the air.
“That’s the spirit, Looney,” Pinkie hugged Looney, “when we get home I’m gonna teach you and all my other Pokémon all about the art of the party.”
“That reminds me,” Rainbow Dash stood up, “I think it’s time we teach you two how to catch a Pokémon.”
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered, “I can’t wait! I’m just so excited!”
“Then let’s go!” Rainbow grinned and flew to the door.
“Rainbow Dash,” Iris stood up as the others started running after Rainbow, “wait for us.”
“Yeah,” Twilight flew alongside Rainbow Dash, “Pinkie and I are the ones who are going to be catching Pokémon. You already caught Mandibuzz, isn’t that enough for one trip?”
“No way,” Rainbow and held up a Pokéball, “Ash gave me one more Pokéball so I can demonstrate for you.”
“Okay,” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “but do you know what Pokémon you want to catch?”
“Of course,” Rainbow grinned, “Mandibuzz and I have a score to settle.”
“How do you know it’s still going to be here?” Ash asked Rainbow Dash as they approached the clearing where she first caught Vullaby.
“You said Rufflett and Vullaby were fighting for territory,” Rainbow replied, “so with Vullaby gone Braviary had the area all to itself. It’s got to be here.”
“Wow,” Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash, “that actually made a lot of sense.”
“Hey, I can be smart on occasion,” Rainbow winked.
“Brave!”
“What was that?” Twilight looked around quickly and spotted Braviary flying in a circle over the clearing.
“That,” Rainbow grinned, holding up Mandibuzz’s Pokeball, “is my next Pokemon.”
“Oshawott,” Oshawott nudged her.
“Sorry, Oshawott,” Rainbow patted Oshawott on the head, “but you already fought Braviary before and won by scaring it off; Mandibuzz lost to it, so she deserves a second chance.”
“Besides,” Ash added, “if Rainbow Dash catches Braviary you can battle it all the time for training.”
“Osha,” Oshawott sighed and sat down.
“Aw, it’s okay, Oshawott,” Pinkie gave Oshawott a comforting and constricting hug, “you can cheer on Rainbow Dash with the rest of us.”
“Oshawott,” Oshawott gave a small nod.
“Alright,” Rainbow nodded, “now that that’s sorted out, go Mandibuzz!” She threw Mandibuzz’s Pokéball into the clearing. The ball opened and Mandibuzz appeared.
“Buzz!” Mandibuzz spread her wings.
“Bravi?” Braviary looked down and noticed Mandibuzz and Rainbow Dash. “Brave!” He glared at Rainbow Dash and began to charge toward her for an Aerial Ace attack.
“Mandibuzz!” Mandibuzz flew in front of Braviary and fired a Dark Pulse at him. Braviary dodged the attack, but in the process he stopped charging the Aerial Ace.
“This is fascinating,” Twilight commented as she held up a notebook, diligently writing down everything she saw.
“She’s certainly off to a better start than her first battle with Braviary,” Cilan added.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
Iris turned to Twilight, “During her first battle, when she was using Oshawott, she didn’t know what moves Oshawott could use at first, so she had a rough start.”
“If that’s the case,” Twilight looked down at Minccino, “I’d better figure out what moves you can use before we try to catch anything.’
“Minccino,” Minccino smiled.
“Glad that’s settled,” Rainbow interjected, “I wouldn’t want you to miss too much.”
“Oh, sorry Rainbow,” Twilight held the notepad back up.
“Good,” Rainbow turned back to the battle. Mandibuzz had used Double Team, and Braviary was currently destroying the fake ones one at a time using Aerial Ace.
“Brave!” Braviary destroyed the last fake Mandibuzz and began charging energy into his claws.
“Mandibuzz, use Bone Rush!” Rainbow called.
“Buzz,” Mandibuzz nodded as she began to focus energy into her beak. A blue bone appeared in her beak, and she charged toward Braviary.
“Bravi!” Braviary cried as he charged back at Mandibuzz. He reached his claws forward for a Crush Claw, which collided with the Bone Rush. Braviary and Mandibuzz leered at each other as they tried to push each other back.
“Mandibuzz,” Rainbow yelled, “spin in place to throw him off!”
“Mandibuzz!” Mandibuzz quickly flipped around as ordered.
“Brave?!?” Braviary’s talons were swept out from under him, throwing him off his balance. “Brave!” He slammed into the ground.
“Good work, Mandibuzz,” Rainbow cheered, “now use Dark Pulse!”
“Buzz!” Mandibuzz blasted a Dark Pulse attack down at Braviary, but Braviary stood up before it could hit. Instead of dodging, however, Braviary began flapping his wings straight forward, creating a powerful gust of wind. The Dark Pulse stopped advancing, and started to get pushed backward.
“Look out!” Ash called to Rainbow Dash, “He’s using Whirlwind again!”
Rainbow gritted her teeth and yelled “Keep going, Mandibuzz! Push back that Whirlwind!” Mandibuzz nodded slightly and began to channel more power into the Dark Pulse.
“Brave!” Braviary flapped his wings harder, making the Whirlwind even stronger. The Dark Pulse began to twist in the wind, and the tip of it turned around. Suddenly pushed along with the wind instead of against it, the Dark Pulse flew straight back at Mandibuzz, striking her square in the chest.
“Buzz!” Mandibuzz fell out of the air and landed in the clearing.
“Mandibuzz, no!” Twilight started to get up, but was stopped when Ash grabbed her shoulder.
“No, Twilight,” he insisted.
“But Mandibuzz-”
“Don’t worry, Twilight, Rainbow can handle it.”
Twilight looked unsure, but nodded, “Okay, I’ll let Rainbow handle it.”
“Bravi!” Braviary flew up into the air and began charging his energy for a Giga Impact.
“Get up, Mandibuzz!” Rainbow called.
“Mandi-buzz,” Mandibuzz stood up groggily.
“Good work, Mandibuzz,” Rainbow smiled. “Now, wait until he’s about to hit, and then dodge.”
“Buzz,” Mandibuzz nodded, spreading her wings to the side for easy takeoff. Braviary charged, the energy of the Giga Impact swirling around him. When Braviary was about ten feet away, Mandibuzz gave a powerful flap of her wings and quickly ascended.
“Brave?!?” Braviary crashed into the ground.
“Now Mandibuzz, finish him off with Dark Pulse!”
“Mandibuzz!” Mandibuzz turned around and blasted a Dark Pulse at Braviary, striking him square in the back.
“Brave!” Braviary cried as it was struck by the Dark Pulse. “Brave…” he collapsed, unconscious.
“Now, go Pokéball!” Rainbow threw her empty Pokéball at Braviary. The ball struck Braviary and rose into the air, pulling him in. The ball landed on the ground, and everyone watched intently as it rolled from side to side. Suddenly, it stopped moving, and the button on the front stopped blinking. “Aw yeah!” Rainbow cheered, flying up to the Pokéball and picking it up. “I got a Braviary!”
“Nice work, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight complimented as she flew up to Rainbow Dash.
“This calls for a party!” Pinkie cheered.
Rainbow grinned and replied “Yeah, a party sounds good, but only after we get back to Equestria. First, you two need to find Pokémon to catch as well.”
“That reminds me,” Twilight turned to Ash, “Ash, is there any way to see what moves Minccino knows other than just battling?”
“Sure,” Ash held up his Pokédex, “you just need to scan them with a Pokédex like this.” He held the Pokédex in front of Minccino and pressed a button. The Pokédex scanned Minccino, so Ash turned the screen toward Twilight.
“Hm, let’s see,” Twilight read the screen, writing the moves down in her notebook. “Okay,” she closed the notebook, “I got it.”
“Great,” Ash smiled, then turned to face Pinkie, “now let’s take a look at what moves Looney has.” He held the Pokédex up to Looney and scanned it.
Pinkie excitedly hopped up to Ash, “What’s it say? What’s it say?!?” Ash turned the Pokédex to show her and she read the moves. “Okie dokie lokie,” She smiled, “I got it.”
“Aren’t you going to write it down?” Twilight asked.
“Nopesy dopesy,” Pinkie giggled, “I’ve got it memorized.”
Rainbow laughed, “That’s just like you, Pinkie. Now we just need to find something for you to catch.”
“Um, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “how are we going to do that anyway?”
“We’ll search by air,” Rainbow responded. “I’ll fly Pinkie over to the hill over there,” she pointed to a nearby mountain range, “and you fly over the forest.”
“What about us?” Ash asked. “We can’t fly.”
“Oh,” Rainbow frowned, “right.” Suddenly she perked up and held up Braviary’s Pokeball. “I’ve got it, you can help by taking Mandibuzz and Braviary to the Pokemon center. Mandibuzz, return,” she returned Mandibuzz to her Pokéball and hooved both Pokéballs to Ash. “Think you’d be up to it?”
“Sure,” Ash nodded, “I’d like to see Pinkie and Twilight catch their Pokemon, but if it’s for the sake of your Pokémon’s help, we’ll do it.”
“Awesome,” Rainbow smiled, “we’ll meet you at the Pokémon center once we’re done. Once we’re done catching our Pokémon, we’ll have some dinner, let Nurse Joy take care of any of our Pokemon that are hurt, and then head home.” She turned to Twilight and asked “That sound good to you?”
Twilight nodded, “Sounds like a great idea to me, Rainbow.”
Pinkie hopped on Rainbow’s back, right behind Oshawott, and cheered “Woohoo! Let’s go!”
Rainbow Dash grunted a bit when Pinkie jumped on her back, “Do I look like a bus to you?”
“Of course not, silly,” Pinkie giggled, “but I didn’t want to make Looney carry me all by himself. Now onward!” She pointed toward the mountain.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Pinkie Pie, you are so random.” She flew up into the air and started flying toward the mountain. Meanwhile, Twilight took off and flew over the forest.
“Good luck!” Ash waved to them.
“I can’t wait to see what you catch,” Iris added, also waving to them.
“We’ll see you at dinner,” Cilan added.
Twilight flew over the forest, scanning the are below for any sign of a Pokémon to catch. “See anything, Minccino?”
“Minccino,” Minccino shook its head sadly as it looked down over the forest. “Ccino, Minccino,” it perked up and pointed its tail down to a stream.
“What is it?” Twilight looked down at the stream. She saw a small, pink Pokémon taking a drink from the stream. It stood on four legs, had tiny stubs of antlers on the top of its head, and had hooves. “Interesting,” Twilight noted, “it looks very similar to a deer faun from Equestria.” She turned her head to face Minccino and asked “Do you think you’re up for it?”
“Minccino,” Minccino nodded.
“Then let’s go catch it,” Twilight angled downward and flew to the stream, trying to be quiet so that she wouldn’t scare the Pokémon. She failed.
“Deer?!?” the Pokémon jumped back when it saw Twilight. Minccino jumped down off of Twilight’s back.
“Alright Minccino,” Twilight held up her notebook and looked up Minccino’s moves, “let’s see. Here’s one,” she lowered the notebook, “use Tail Slap.”
“Minccino!” Minccino’s tail glowed white and it jumped at the Deerling. It flipped around and swung its tail, but Deerling dodged it.
“Deer,” Deerling opened its mouth and a ball of green energy began to form in front of its mouth. “Deerling!” It yelled as it fired the Energy Ball at Minccino.
“Minccino?” Minccino’s eyes widened just as it was struck by the Energy Ball.
“Minccino!” Twilight gasped. “Now, use Swift!” Minccino flipped around, swinging its tail in a wide arch. A large number of small yellow stars flew out of the tip of its tail and right toward the Deerling.
“Ling!” Deerling jumped up above the Swift and its hooves began to glow.
“Ccino?” Minccino ran and just barely dodged the Jump Kick attack.
When its Jump Kick missed, Deerling struggled to its hooves, having taken damage from the crash. “Deerling!” It opened its mouth and fired another Energy Ball.
Twilight smirked, “Not this time! Minccino, use Tail Slap!”
“Minccino!” Minccino’s tail glowed white and it swatted the Energy Ball, parrying it back so that it struck Deerling.
“Ha!” Twilight cheered, “Nice shot!”
“Deerling,” Deerling’s body glowed green as the Energy Ball hit it.
Twilight gasped “What’s going on? It looks like it just absorbed the attack!”
Deerling glared at Minccino and jumped into the air, its hooves glowing for another Jump Kick. “Minccino!” Minccino cried as it was hit.
“Minccino, no!” Twilight yelled.
“Cc-Ccino,” Minccino staggered to its feet.
Twilight gritted her teeth and muttered “Minccino can’t take much more of this, and that other Pokemon has hardly taken any damage.”
“Deer!” Deerling jumped into the air and charged up for another Jump Kick.
Twilight gasped “No, not again! If it hits Minccino’s finished-” she stopped, coming to a sudden realization, “but if it misses the other Pokemon will take a lot of damage.” She grinned confidently and called “Minccino, quick! Use Flash!”
“Minccino!” Minccino’s eyes glowed white and it released a blinding flash of light.
“Deer!” Deerling squinted its eyes and looked away, blinded by the light. “Deerling!” unable to see where it was going, Deerling crashed into the ground, taking heavy damage from the Jump Kick.
“Alright, here goes,” Twilight held up her empty Pokéball, “go Pokéball!”
Deerling struggled to try to stand, but found itself being struck in the head with a Pokéball. “Deer…” The Pokéball opened and pulled in Deerling.
“Come on, come on” Twilight mumbled as she watched the ball move back and forth. After a few moments, the ball stopped moving. “Yes!” Twilight cheered, using her magic to pull Minccino toward her and wrapping it in a tight hug. “We did it, we did it!”
“Minccino!” Minccino hugged back happily.
Rainbow Dash touched down in a rocky canyon on the hill. “Okay, Pinkie, we’re here,” she announced.
“Thanks Dashie,” Pinkie hopped down off of Rainbow’s back.
“No problem Pinkie,” Rainbow smiled, “thank you for flying Air Awesome.”
“Where are the Pokémon?” Pinkie ran around, looking behind every rock and in every rocky crevice she could find.
“Pinkie,” Rainbow shook her head, “you’re going to scare them away if you keep that up.”
“Found one!” Pinkie announced.
Rainbow’s mouth hung open and she stuttered “Y-you did? Already?”
“Absolutely,” Pinkie trotted out from behind a large rock, “see?” She turned so Rainbow could see her tail. There was a basketball-sized Pokémon biting onto her tail. It had a large fin like a shark on its back, several sharp-looking teeth in its mouth, a red underbelly, and stubby arms and legs.
“Gib, Gib,” the Pokémon nibbled on Pinkie’s tail a bit, but spit it out when it confirmed that the tail was not in fact cotton candy.
“Come on, Looney,” Pinkie cheered, “let’s catch it.”
“Loon, Loon,” Looney floated over to Pinkie.
“Gible!” The Pokémon, whose name was apparently Gible, jumped at Looney, its mouth wide open and its teeth glowing white.
“Looney, duck!” Pinkie called.
“Loon,” Looney obeyed and ducked under the Gible.
“Now use Wrap!”
“Drifloon!” Looney flipped over and wrapped its stringy arms around Gible.
“Gible!” Gible tried to struggle and bite at the arms, but they were too thin for it to grab.
“Now Looney, throw it up into the air and use Shadow Ball!”
“Loon, Drifloon!” Looney flipped over several times and then let go, sending Gible flying up into the air.
“Gible!” Gible flailed its arms in the air.
“Loon!” Looney charged a ball of shadows in front of its face and blasted it at Gible, striking it square in the face.
“GIBLE!” Gible yelled.
“Way to go, Looney!” Pinkie cheered.
“Gib,” Gible landed on the ground, unconscious.
“Now, go Pokéball!” Pinkie threw her Pokéball at Gible. The ball pulled in Gible and fell onto the ground, rolling side to side for only a moment until it stopped. “Alright!” Pinkie cheered, hopping over to the Pokéball and picking it up.
Rainbow Dash’s jaw hit the ground and she stuttered “P-Pinkie? How did you do that so easily?”
“I didn’t do it, silly,” Pinkie giggled, “Looney did.”
“Loon, Loon,” Looney nodded.
“No, but, I mean, oh never mind,” Rainbow sighed and rubbed her head, “let’s just go before you give me a migraine.”
“Osha,” Oshawott patted Rainbow on the back for comfort.
“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie hopped over to Rainbow and hopped on her back. “Hi ho Dashie, away!”
“So, how’d it go, Twilight?” Ash asked when he saw Twilight walk into the Pokémon center.
“It went great, although you can see that Minccino got pretty beaten up.”
“Ccino.”
“Well, what did you catch?” Iris ran up to Twilight.
“This,” Twilight threw the Pokéball into the air and sent out Deerling.
“Deerling?” Deerling looked around, although it was still wobbly from its previous battle.
Ash smiled, “It’s a Deerling.”
“That’s nothing,” Rainbow Dash grinned as she trotted into the Pokémon center, “you should see the Pokémon Pinkie caught.”
“Yeah, it’s really cool,” Pinkie hopped down off of Rainbow’s back. “Looney did a great job, he didn’t even break a sweat.”
“Loon,” Looney smiled.
“What?” Twilight’s eyes widened, “Minccino and I barely managed to catch this Deerling, but you caught a Pokémon without breaking a sweat?”
“She sure did,” Rainbow Dash nodded, “she’s a natural.”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” Nurse Joy interjected, walking up to Rainbow and handing her a pair of Pokéballs, “your Mandibuzz and Braviary are all better.”
“Thanks, Nurse Joy,” Rainbow happily accepted the Pokéballs.
“Oshawott,” Oshawott smiled.
“Um, excuse me Nurse Joy,” Twilight spoke up, “would you be willing to take care of my Minccino and Deerling?”
“Oh, oh, and my Pokémon too,” Pinkie held up Gible’s Pokéball.
Nurse Joy nodded, “Of course, it will be my pleasure.” She accepted the Pokéball and turned around, calling “Audino, one stretcher please.”
“Audino,” Audino rolled a stretcher into the lobby. Together with Nurse Joy, Audino lifted Deerling and Minccino onto the stretcher.
“They’ll be all better in no time,” Nurse Joy assured the group as she turned and rolled the stretcher out of the room.
“In the meantime,” Pinkie smiled over at the café, “let’s eat!” She ran to the café at full speed, leaving a pink cloud in her wake.
Ash laughed, “She’s got an even bigger appetite than me.”
“And that’s saying something,” Iris responded, inciting a laugh from everyone and everypony there.
The whole group headed to the café and sat down at the same table as Pinkie, who had already amassed a pile of plates as tall as herself next to her. “Where’s she putting it all?” Cilan whispered to Twilight, “She eats like a black hole, but isn’t fat at all.”
Twilight giggled a bit at the analogy, “Yeah, she has a metabolism unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Honestly I wish I could do that; it’d be really nice to be able to eat cake for every meal and not gain any weight.”
“Yeah,” Ash responded, “that would be awesome.”
“Sure is,” Pinkie giggled, “especially when it’s the super extra delicious cake they have at Sugarcube Corner.”
“Don’t mention Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie,” Rainbow frowned, “you’re making me anxious to go back there and stuff my face.”
“Oops, sorry Dashie.”
“Don’t worry about it, Pinkie.”
“Okie dokie lokie.”
About thirty minutes later the group was finished with their meal. Even Pinkie Pie was finally full by now, although her chair was no longer a chair but a pile of plates. Rainbow Dash laughed a bit and commented “Aw man, I wouldn’t want to be the one in charge of washing the dishes here.”
“Me too,” Nurse Joy responded from right behind Rainbow.
“AH!” Rainbow jumped out of her seat, startled. “What was that for?”
“I’m very sorry for startling you, Rainbow Dash,” Nurse Joy apologized, “I was just here to return your friends’ Pokemon.” She moved to the side to reveal a stretcher, with Deerling, Minccino, and Gible lying on top of it.
“Hey,” Ash smiled, “so that’s Pinkie’s Pokemon. It’s a Gible, just like mine.”
“Oh,” Pinkie smiled as she hopped over to the stretcher and picked up Gible. “I can’t wait to introduce you to Gummy.”
“Gummy?” Ash tilted his head to the side, “Who’s Gummy?”
“Oh, he’s my pet alligator,” Pinkie smiled, but suddenly gasped. “Uh oh, I need to feed Gummy.”
“Don’t worry, Pinkie,” Twilight stepped up next to her. “Whenever you’re ready we can step outside and I’ll send us home.”
“I’m ready,” Pinkie nodded, “can’t let Gummy go hungry after all.”
“And I’ve really got to check on Tank,” Rainbow added, “he doesn’t eat much but it’s probably bad for him to be without me for this long.”
“Alright, Rainbow,” Twilight giggled a bit, “we’ll be on our way.” She turned to the stretcher and smiled at Deerling and Minccino. “Come on, guys, it’s time to go home.”
“Deer,” Deerling hopped down onto the ground, followed by Minccino.
“Wait,” Cilan stood up, “before you go, there’s something I want to give you.”
“What is it?” Rainbow asked.
“Well,” Cilan reached into his backpack and pulled out three lunchboxes, “I remember how much you enjoyed the food I made, so I decided to give each of you one for the road.”
“Oh boy!” Pinkie hopped over to Cilan and took the lunchboxes, then hopped back to Rainbow and Twilight, giving one lunchbox to each of them.
“I hope you like them,” Cilan smiled.
“Don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash replied, “we will.”
Twilight turned to face Ash, Iris, and Cilan. “Thank you for taking care of Rainbow Dash these last couple days,” she smiled warmly.
“Any time,” Iris nodded.
“It was a real pleasure getting to know you,” Cilan added.
“I hope we see you again someday” Ash gave Twilight a thumbs up.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to send you some postcards from Equestria now and then,” Twilight smiled, “and maybe even visit once in a while.”
“Well, I look forward to seeing you again when you do,” Ash replied.
“Thanks,” Twilight turned to face Rainbow and Pinkie. “Well girls, are you ready to go home now?”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” Rainbow nodded. She turned to face Ash and his friends and added “Bye guys, I’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Pinkie waved at the group and tossed them one last hoof-full of confetti.
“Bye Rainbow Dash, bye Pinkie Pie, bye Twilight,” Ash and his friends waved back at the ponies.
Twilight’s horn lit up as she began to focus her energy on Spacial Rend. Everyone in the Pokemon center watched in awe as a burst of energy shot out of the tip of Twilight’s horn, creating a rift hovering in the air in front of the door. “Come on, girls,” Twilight said as she began trotting to the rift. Minccino hopped on her back and Deerling walked next to her as she trotted through the rift.
“Yippee!” Pinkie cheered as she hopped through the portal, Looney wrapping his arms around her waist and Gible biting onto her tail.
“Next stop, Equestria,” Rainbow Dash smiled as she flew into the rift, Oshawott riding on her back.
As the rift closed, Iris turned to Ash and asked “Do you really think we’ll see them again?”
Ash smiled confidently and answered “I know we will.”
“And then, bam!” Rainbow threw a hoof up in the air to emphasize her point, “Twilight blasted one of those Spacial things from her horn and tore open a rip in space, which is what we used to get home!”
“Oh my,” Rarity’s eyes widened, “that sounds like a very impressive feat.” She turned to Twilight and asked “It didn’t wear you out too much, did it?”
“Not too much,” Twilight shook her head, “in fact, it only caused a minor headache the first time, and all three of the other times I’ve used it I felt fine.”
“Three?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “I know you used it to send us home, but when was the third time you used it?”
“Oh, right,” Twilight giggled a bit, “I guess I forgot to mention it to you, mainly because you were sound asleep five minutes after we got back.”
“Can you blame me?” Rainbow crossed her hooves, “I just couldn’t wait to get some sleep after the long day I’d had.”
“I understand, Rainbow,” Twilight nodded, “that’s why I didn’t wake you.”
“But you still haven’t answered my question; when did you go back?”
“Well, actually it was about an hour after we got back.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to pay one more visit to Professor Juniper so I could get a bit of information that could help us know how to raise these Pokémon we brought home. She was generous enough to give me this,” she lit up her horn with magic and picked something up off of a nearby table. When she floated it in front of her, Rainbow and Pinkie both recognized it as a Pokédex.
“A Pokédex,” Rainbow smiled widely, “awesome!”
“A Poké-what?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“A Pokédex,” Twilight replied, “it’s a device that contains detailed descriptions of every known species of Pokémon.”
“All of them?!?” Fluttershy beamed. She was sitting among a group consisting of nearly all of the Pokémon that had been brought home. The only ones not there were Looney, who was floating next to Pinkie, and Oshawott, who was sitting in Rainbow’s lap. “How many are there?” she asked excitedly.
“It says here that the exact number is unknown because more are being discovered all the time, but there are currently 648 included in the database.”
“648?!?” Fluttershy‘s smile widened, “Oh, I’d love to go there and make friends with each and every one of them.
“Well, that might be possible,” Twilight responded, “once I’ve done a bit more research on ways to get there.”
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked. “You’ve got that Spacial Rend thing; isn’t that enough?”
“Not exactly, Rainbow,” Twilight shook her head, “that only works if I’m available to come with the pony that wants to visit Unova. I’m a princess, and even though I haven’t been given many royal duties just yet, I do expect to have more in the near future. When that happens, I won’t be available to send you to Unova, nor to accompany you there so I can send you back. I plan to design a way for ponies to harness the power of my Spacial Rend without myself being present. It won’t be for commercial use, but for research.”
“But-”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Twilight giggled, “I will make exceptions for you girls.”
Fluttershy sighed in relief and wiped a few beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. “Thanks, Twilight, I don’t think I could stand knowing there’s a world full of wonderful creatures that I could never visit.”
“It’s okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight smiled warmly, “soon I’ll make sure all of you can have Pokémon of your own.”
“All of us?” Applejack interjected, “How are all of us gonna do that if none of us have any of those Pokéball things?”
Twilight smirked and replied, “Who said you don’t?” Her horn lit up again, this time lifting her saddlebag off the back of a chair in the corner of the library. The saddlebag floated over to the middle of the group, then opened, revealing that it was full of Pokéballs. “Ta da!” Twilight cheered.
“Where did you get all those?!?” Rainbow gasped.
“From Professor Juniper. When I told her I wanted to come back to study Pokémon again in the future, she was happy to provide me with enough Pokéballs for all six of us.”
“Really?” Rarity asked, “That was strangely accommodating.”
“She’s a professor,” Twilight replied, “of course she was eager to provide me with these when I explained that it was for the sake of future research.”
“Aw yeah,” Rainbow grinned, “first she gave me Oshawott, then tried to help me get home, and now she’s given you a Pokedex and Pokéballs? I’ve definitely gotta remember to bring her those postcards I promised, and maybe a few bits to thank her.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight responded, “I don’t think Equestrian currency has any value in Unova.”
“Oh, right,” Rainbow chuckled and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.
“Relax, Rainbow,” Twilight patted Rainbow on the back, “the postcards will be enough. That’s all she asked for, after all.”
“You’re right, Twilight,” Rainbow nodded, “I’ll just make sure to get a lot of postcards.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Twilight smiled. “That reminds me, I wonder how Princess Celestia liked the souvenir I brought her.”
The door to Princess Celestia’s throne room opened and a royal guard entered, a small box supported in his magic. “Your highness,” he began, “I bring you a package from Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Ah, this must be the souvenir she promised me,” Princess Celestia smiled, taking the box in her magical grip, “thank you for delivering it to me.”
“You’re welcome, Princess,” the guard nodded as he turned and left the throne room.
Princess Celestia opened the box, tilting her head in confusion when she saw what was inside, a note taped to the side of a red and white ball. She picked up both items, removed the note from the ball, and read it.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I have brought you a new pet to take care of. It is contained inside of the enclosed ball, which is known as a Pokéball. I hope you enjoy this new companion as much as I enjoyed the act of obtaining it for you. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle”
“Hm,” Princess Celestia held up the Pokéball, not quite sure how it worked. She turned it around and noticed that there was a large button in the middle of it. Carefully, she pressed the button with a hoof.
The Pokéball burst open, causing Celestia to jump back in surprise as a beam of white energy was released. The beam landed on the ground next to Celestia and materialized into the form of a massive purple blob. “Muk!” The blob smiled and wrapped Celestia in a big hug.
