Pokemon Trainer In Equestria

Chapter 16 (This chapter takes place during the episode "Lesson Zero".)

*POV – THIRD PERSON*

*Time – The night of Jordan’s release from the hospital*

As Jordan finished aiding Fluttershy and spending time with her, he took his leave, as it was getting late. Little did he know that two alicorn princesses were watching him from afar.

As both the sun princess and the moon princess sat in Celestia’s room, they had casted a one way viewing spell, in order to watch the human for a while. They had wanted to make sure that the young man was completely back to normal; that, and they were both pretty bored.

Celestia had already finished her duties for the day, and Luna had just recently woken up from her slumber. This was a good time for the two sisters to spend together, and they had chosen to see what Jordan was fairing since leaving the hospital.

“Well sister, it seems as though he is completely back to normal. You know, I think he really is a decent stal- person. I was uncertain at first, but judging by the way he made up with poor little Fluttershy, I can tell that his heart is in the right place.” Luna said with a smile, as she watched as Jordan was calmly walking back to his home, watching the sunset, seemingly in deep thought.

Without taking her eyes off of the man, Celestia just said, “Indeed…” She stared at his face and into his eyes. It was apparent that something about him had put her off. Luna was quick to catch this and looked to her quizzically, putting down a mug of hot chocolate that she had been sipping.

“Is there something wrong, Tia?” Luna asked her elder sister in curiosity with a raised brow. Celestia took her eyes off of Jordan and looked towards Luna briefly, before looking back into the portal, which the Pokémon Trainer had no idea about.

“I can’t put my hoof on it… But I believe there is more to him than what he is letting on.” Celestia responded as her brow furrowed, trying to pinpoint what she saw in him. It was something she had noticed about him since meeting him, but she hadn’t really put much thought into it until recently.

“What do you mean, Tia?” Luna asked as she inspected him for herself.

“Take a good look into his eyes.” Celestia said, and Luna did as she was instructed. “Doesn’t it seem like there is something off about them to you?” She asked her younger sibling, her moved her head slightly closer to the portal, trying to understand just what Celestia was talking about.

After a moment, Luna tapped a hoof to the floor. “Ah! I see what you mean now…” She put a hoof to her chin. “It seems like a look of… Despair? Or maybe loathing?” She inquired, keeping an eye on him.

Celestia nodded in agreement. “I do believe he may be hiding something from us… Something that I believe should be looked into.” She told her sister as her horn lit up and the portal closed without a trace. She then turned her full attention to her, waiting for a response.

After a moment, Luna asked, “Do you truly believe that it is necessary to delve into this? And how do you propose that we go about it?” She asked, looking up at Celestia with uncertainty.

“I have seen first hoof that Jordan is a power person; he was even capable of raising a creature with such power to defeat Discord, and even I. If there is any uncertainty in his disposition towards us, I would like to do everything in my power to get to the bottom of it. As for how I propose that we, I believe it can be as simple as viewing his dreams.” She said, looking to Luna with a hint of a smile.

Luna understood immediately what Celestia had meant, but only sighed in slight annoyance. “Sister, you know as well as I that my power has not fully healed yet. I am unable to delve into a being’s dreamscape yet.” She kicked the floor a bit with a pout, wishing for her power to return to her now.

Celestia giggled and looked down at Luna with care and amusement. “I know, Lulu; but when the time comes I’d like to ask you to do this once you are capable.” She said to her younger sister, who looked back up and shrugged.

“That will be my duty anyways, will it not? I see no problem with doing this.” She said as she finished her chocolaty drink off with one more gulp.

After a spending a bit more time with each other, and going into more detail about the plan with each other, Luna had decided to go out for her nightly fly, while Celestia had finished her evening up and went to sleep.

*POV – JORDAN, 1st person, the next day*

I started my day out just like any other day before the whole Discord incident. Bathroom stuff, dressing, breakfast for my Pokémon and I, garden check, etc. I had decided to think hard on what I could do to make some cash, which I didn’t need to worry about before as I would either win it off of other trainers in my travels, or just dig into the rocket-thwarting funds ([see bonus chapter for more info on that]). But now that there are no more Pokémon Trainers to battle, and every bit of money I have is now completely worthless. I really didn’t have a whole lot of work experience, aside from breeding and gardening… ‘Wait a minute… Gardening… Farming! I think I’ll pay a visit to Applejack.’ I thought as I left my home and made

I jogged through the town at a medium pace, waving to various ponies passing by and making sure to avoid tripping. I soon found myself right outside of Sweet Apple Acres. Putting on a smile, I walked through the gate and made my way up the road. I looked around as I walked, throughout the huge amount of trees and to the barn and house. As I approached said farm house, I heard somepony call out to me.

“Hey Jordan!” A high pitched voice called out to me. I turned towards it and saw that it was Applebloom who spoke. She was at the side of the farm house, and was now running towards me. Once she came to a stop at my feet, I looked down at her.

“Oh, hey Applebloom, how are you doing?” I asked her with a friendly smile.

“I’m doin great! The other crusaders and ah are about ta meet up at the park to play and stuff!” she said with joy.

“Oh, that’s cool. Hey, have you seen your sister around? I need to talk to her about something.” I asked her.

She put a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment. “Ah think she’s buckin’ trees in the north east field right now... Yeah, I’d start lookin’ for her there. Anyway, ah gotta go. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo should be waiting for me right about now.” She said.

We both said our goodbyes, and as she went running into the orchard, I made my way through the trees in the direction I should be expecting to see Applejack in. After a few minutes of walking, I began hearing a repetitive thud-like noise. As I continued walking, it got continuously louder.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

I finally came upon the orange mare that I was searching for. She was clearly doing what she always does; bucking apple trees. I made sure to wait until she was finished bucking the tree before I called to her.

“Hey Applejack.” I said as I approached her. She seemed a little startled, but once she saw me she relaxed.

“Well howdy there, Sugarcube.” She said in a friendly tone. I came up to her and scratched the back of my head.

“Uh, hey Applejack. How are you today?” I asked the cowpony.

“Well ah’m doin’ just dandy, how about yourself, Jordan?” She asked as she sat down on the grass and wiped some sweat off of her head.

“I’m good. Listen, as you know, I’m in a bit of debt and I’m strapped for cash. I was wondering if you might have a job opening or something that I could do around here for some… Er, bits? Yeah, bits.” I said to her with a hopeful look.

She looked up in thought for a moment, before returning her gaze to me. “Ah suppose that I could use some help harvestin’ apples. How could are ya’ll at buckin?” She asked me.

I looked down for a moment, before looking back up and sticking a finger up to tell her to wait a moment. I approached a tree that had yet to be bucked. Eyeing it for a moment, I rubbed my hands together, reared back… And sent Espeon out of her Pokéball. “Espeon, use psychic on those apples, and make them go into the bucket, please.” I said. She obeyed, and all at once, the apples gently floated into the buckets.

Applejack approached from behind, chuckling. “Ah’m afraid ah don’t approve of ya’ll usin’ yer friends to do the work. You’re gonna have to do this without their aid.” She said with a somewhat knowing smirk, as if she expected me to use a Pokémon.

I returned the Pokémon to her ball, and looked at it with unease. “Aww, are you sure? I mean, I wouldn’t consider it to be ‘using’ them. I do ask to do it. They can refuse to if they want. Plus this could be great training for them if they choose to help out.”

Applejack thought for a moment. “Well… Alright; But only if you are working alongside em the entire time.” She said.

“That’s fair in my book; thanks, Applejack. Now let’s see if I can do this ‘bucking’ thing.” I said as I put my Pokéball away and took position near yet another tree. With a bit of determination, I glared as I kicked the tree as hard as I could. A total of three apples fell out. I looked back up to the tree and huffed in slight frustration, seeing as there were still dozens of them still up there. My foot wasn’t exactly feeling too great either.

I turned back to AJ, who was stifling a laugh. Furrowing my brow, I turned back to the tree and thought for a moment. ‘Well, let’s see… Kicking is out of the question. I guess I’ll just have to try something different.’ I thought of a few methods for a moment before deciding on one.

Backing up a bit, I got into a charging position as Applejack stopped chuckling and began watching me curiously. After a moment of anticipation, I charged full force, slamming my shoulder into the tree as hard as I could. The tree rocked, and about half the apples inside of it came falling out and into the buckets underneath. I smiled in success as I clutched my now bruised shoulder. I turned to Applejack who grinned at me.

“Well shucks, partner. That was a mighty fine job, seeing as how it was only your second try… But can ya keep that up? I see ya holdin’ yer shoulder there.” She asked, unsure if my method was entirely safe for my body to handle.

“Yeah, I just need to get a sturdy shoulder guard and I should be good to go.” I said as I removed my hand from my aching shoulder.

“If you say so, Sugarcube. Now then, let’s see how well your friends perform.” She said. I then proceeded to ask who would be willing to help me out and who wouldn’t. It turns out that only some of them, except for Blastoise, Ditto, and Riolu were happy to work on the farm with me.

Dragonite, being the powerful dragon that he is, was capable of knocking every apple out of trees with a light smack with his tail. However, he didn’t have much room to fly around with all of the trees in the way, so he had to stay grounded, which caused him much slower movement speed. He would simply walk from tree to tree at a slow rate.

Espeon chose to just use her telekinetic powers, which seemed to displease AJ for some odd reason, but she didn’t voice any complaints. For any untrained Pokémon, it could be considered a difficult task to levitate so many apples at one time, but with the training that we’ve been through, she was able to pull it off with only a bit of effort and concentration.

Ursaring, who I decided to withdraw in exchange for Arcanine once more, was able to shake the apples out of the tree with his powerful arms. He did this with ease, and could get a tree cleared within seconds. I had to warn him to be careful not to accidentally rip the tree out of the ground. He’s much more powerful than he may appear.

After showing what my willing Pokémon could do with the trees, Applejack seemed pleased with the idea of us working here. She decided to start me out at 13 bits an hour, and with time, my wages would increase. I did the math in my head, and figured that if we were to work five to six hours a day, I would have more than enough money to pay off those medical bills in time. After we had taken care of that business, AJ and I remained standing in the orchard.

“So, I know the job consists of mainly getting apples out of trees and into buckets, but is there anything else to it?” I asked the farm pony.

“Well, other than loadin’ the apples into the barn usin’ the wagon, no. Unless ya’ll would like ta’ help with repairs and such when they’re needed. I’d be glad to pay ya a little extra if ya’ll would do that.” She said to me.

I thought for a moment, and then answered her with a hint of disappointment. “Well, I don’t know a whole lot about repairing stuff, or construction in general. One thing about dedicating yourself to Pokémon Training and/or breeding, is that you don’t have much reason, and usually no desire, to learn things like that. My expertise are in battling and the training of Pokémon. However, I’d be happy to be an assistant in that regard.” I told her with a shrug of my shoulders, which caused me to restrain myself from subconciously grabbing the still sore limb.

“That’d be mighty fine; maybe you can learn a thing or two about it from watching Big Macintosh and I.” She said.

I gave her a confused look. “Big Macintosh? Who’s that?” I asked.

“Ya’ll haven’t met Big Mac yet? Well, he’s mah older brother, o’ course!” She said with a bit of surprise. “I’m just about done here, so I wont have ya start today. Just let me get these apples to the barn and ah’ll introduce ya to Big Mac and Granny Smith.” I agreed with her. I really didn’t have much else to do, so I figured that I could just hang out with Applejack for a while.

I decided to help her with loading all of the apples. She seemed surprised at first, and even tried to talk me down on account that I don’t start work until tomorrow, but I told her, as a friendly gesture, that I would do it free of charge. She reluctantly accepted, and with much time to spare, we finished up in about fifteen minutes.

After doing this, she decided to take me out to where Big Mac was apparently plowing dirt. As we approached the fenced area, I took in what I saw before me. It was a very large patch of dirt in the process of being plowed, obviously. On the far end of the field, I saw a large stallion with a red coat and orange mane. He had a cutie mark similar to AJ’s, only this one was just a single green apple.

The large pony seemed to be pulling on a, big shocker, plow. Coincidentally, he seemed to be finishing up right as we arrived. “Hey, Big Macintosh!” AJ called, getting the dark red pony’s attention right as he unhooked the plow. He looked up at us as we approached. As he took my appearance in, I barely even saw his eye twitch. I was expecting him to have SOME kind of reaction to me, just like the others, but no such thing was granted. I opted to just look at him weirdly due to this fact.

“Big Mac, this is Jordan, the human I was tellin’ ya about. Jordan, meet Big Mac.” Applejack said, and with that, I approached the large stallion and held my hand out for a shake.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, uhh… Big Mac…” Something about this stallion put me off, but I couldn’t put a finger on just what. He looked into my eyes with little to no emotion before sticking his hoof in my hand. I firmly shook his hoof and gave him a friendly smile, but on the inside, I was just trying to figure out what this guy’s deal is. ‘What is he thinking? How am I supposed to know if he has taken a liking to me or not? Judging by his characteristics that I’ve seen so far, he looks to fit the bill of one of those quiet psycopath farmers who would be into incest and take no greater pleasure than to gut me for no reaso- No… Don’t think like that, Jordan… You’re a grown man now. Petty stereotypes like that don’t deserve any thought… But I’ll be damned if this guy doesn’t freak me out a bit’ I thought to myself as I kept up a genuine smile.

“Eeyup!” He spoke with a small smile on his face. With that simple, yet effective word, my worries, for the most part, washed away. He sounded friendly enough. ‘How stupid of me; I mean, he’s a damn pony for Arceus’ sake! I doubt they are even able to comprehend some of the darker things that humans do.’ I thought with a hidden chuckle.

After we exchanged pleasantries, we made our way back to the house where I was able to meet Granny Smith. Meeting her wasn’t too bad. Her eye sight was apparently not too great, so she wasn’t really able to tell right away that I wasn’t a pony. She said something about Applejack finding a new coltfriend, but AJ quickly shot that down in embarrassment, while I blinked in surprise. Big Mac, the silent stallion that he is, just smirked lightly in amusement.

After doing this, Applejack explained that she had to take care of something, so she and I made our way out of the farm house and onto the porch to wait for something.

“So who are we waiting for, exactly?” I asked her.

“Rainbow Dash; she’s supposed ta help me with demolishing our old barn soon.” Right as she said that, right out of the sky, appeared Rainbow at top speeds.

“Oh, there she is. Right on time, RD.” Applejack said with a smile.

“Hey AJ, hey Jordan. I’m here to help with that demolition thing now.” She said as she took to floating in the air as she normally does. After our greetings, Applejack gave Rainbow a pair of goggles. I thought it was odd that she wasn’t getting any other protective gear, like a helmet for instance. I was even more confused when Applejack gave me and herself a helmet to put on, but they seemed to know what they were doing so I disregarded it.

A few moments later, Applejack and I were both sitting in a very convenient trench as Rainbow Dash was smashing and tearing apart the old barn. I watched in interest as Rainbow went to work while Applejack took cover in the dirt.

Rainbow would slam as hard as she could into the barn, buck walls, and even went as far as to tear pieces of wood out with her mouth. I was astounded at this pony’s brute strength, and was curious as to how she wasn’t getting cut or splintered to hell by what she was doing.

As the show continued on, I noticed Twilight walking up the road, just narrowly missing being hit by a piece of wood that Rainbow had tossed her way accidentally. I took that she had gotten the wrong impression, as she said something about Rainbow most likely hating Applejack… And what bothered me even more, was that she seemed pleased by it.

Twilight rushed over as Rainbow was about to fly into the barn once again. “Rainbow Dash, Stop!” She said as she grabbed the pegasus’ tail with her magic, effectively halting her progress.

“Listen Rainbow, I know you’re upset with Applejack, but don’t worry! Whatever it is that has come between you two, I’m sure that I, as a good friend, can help you resolve your problem!” She said as she released her magic and let Rainbow fall to the ground.

Applejack and I were just watching this go on with curiosity and amusement at this point. Twilight was acting kind of weird, and I’d have liked to get to the bottom of it, but I wanted to see what was going on.

“Uhh, what are you talking about?” Rainbow asked in confusion as she stood up.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! You don’t have to hide your feelings from me! I can tell you two must have had a terrible fight!” The delusional Twilight said as she looked Rainbow in the eyes. Without letting Rainbow say anything else, she somehow got a park bench and laid Rainbow down on it and set next to it, like a therapist would for a patient.

“Now; why don’t you tell me ALL about your issues with Applejack.” Twilight explained, ready to take some notes. Rainbow then explained that she had no issues with Applejack at all, which confused Twilight.

“Well then, why are you destroying her property?” Twilight asked.

“Because… She asked me to… Right Applejack?” Rainbow responded. It was at this point that Applejack decided to speak up.

AJ took her helmet off. “Yes ma’m” She then explained why she was doing this, saying that she wanted to put up a new barn and needed this one torn down. She then put her helmet on and told Rainbow to get back to work. Not paying attention, and curious about Twilight, I decided to climb out of the trench to talk to her.

“Hey Twilight” I said as I walked up to her. “Why did you seem so happy about Rainbow having conflict with Applejack?” I asked her as Applejack hopped into the trench for cover.

Twilight was about to answer me, but she seemed to notice something in the sky. Whatever she saw seemed to freak her out as she immediately proceeded to jump down into the trench, which prompted me to turn around and look at what she was looking at a moment ago.

What I saw was Rainbow slamming into the barn with more force than I would think possible. The impact caused a huge amount of dust to come flying up and have the barn explode into a bunch of mixed pieces of wood and dirt… And a good portion of it was coming right at me.

“Oh sweet mother of Arceus…” I said in shock as a large amount of the debris slammed into me, burying me whole in the process. I laid in the mess dazed for a few moments before the garbage was taken off of me by a purple aura. My vision was slightly blurred and I was pretty confused, but I managed to speak at least.

“…Thank Arceus for hard hats…” I said, rubbing my face with a hand as I stood up.

“Ya’ll okay, Jordan? That looked like it hurt!” Applejack said as she walked up to me. I checked myself over, amazed that I took little to no damage, aside from a scratch or two and a slightly dirtied pair of pants and shirt.

“I’ll be fine… Hey, where’d Twi go?” I asked, looking for the purple unicorn. Applejack looked around as well, before shrugging.

“Ah guess she decided to take off after helpin’ ya out of that mess” She said, kicking a piece of wood with a chuckle. I just shook my head and sighed as I stood up.

It was then that Rainbow came flying towards us. “Hey, I gotta go get ready for the picnic, so I’ll see you guys later.” She said. We both waved as I asked Applejack about it.

“What’s this about a picnic?” I asked Applejack.

“We’re all gettin’ together at the park in a little while to have a picnic. Did ya want to come?” She asked as we started walking back to the farm. I figured that my Pokémon would enjoy some time at the park, and I didn’t have anything better to do, so I didn’t have any objections to the idea.

“Sure, I’d be happy to come.” I responded. She then told me exactly where to meet at the park and that she was going to get ready to go in a bit. I figured I’d pack my own basket of berries, so I headed home to prepare.

--

I had made my way over to the spot about an hour later. It was in your typical flowery meadow, underneath a tree. The rest of the Elements were there, save Twilight, and I was helping set things up with AJ as Pinkie, for some reason, packed a basket full of balloons and let it fly away. Rainbow and Fluttershy were both chilling out, and Rarity was complaining and being overdramatic over plates or something. While that was going on, I decided to release my Pokémon from their spherical confines.

Once they all came out, they all went to do their own things, like sitting on the grass or messing with each other. I watched them all and smiled. Turning back to the ponies, I noticed Twilight approach and drop a box on the ground next to Rainbows head.

Getting a closer look at her… She didn’t  seem to look too good. She had a wide, toothy grin on her face and her mane was a complete mess. Everypony else seemed to be a bit disturbed by her behavior and appearance as well. She just stood there staring at us for a moment before Applejack decided to speak up.

“You alright, hun?” Applejack asked in concern.

“No! I am NOT alright!” Twilight said with a pitiful expression. She was beginning to even get the attention of my Pokémon, as some had stopped what they were doing and watched her in either annoyance or curiosity.

The ponies began muttering in concern. Twilight then explained, with dramatic pauses, that her letter to the princess was just about overdo and that she had yet to learn about anything to send her. The others seemed to take this with a grain of salt however, as they each sighed in relief. I raised an eyebrow at her, as I too was wondering what the big deal was.

“Oh thank goodness; for a second there I thought something awful had happened…” Fluttershy said, relieved.

Twilight then teleported in front of the dispersing ponies to emphasize her frustrations. “Something awful HAS happened! If I don’t turn in the letter on time, I’ll be tardy!!” She shouted in despair. Everypony then started giggling at the mess of a mare. Even I found it to be slightly amusing, but I was still a bit concerned for her.

“Twilight, is this really that big of a deal? I think you might be overreacting just a bit…” I said with a small smirk.

Twilight began fuming with anger, and her face was even starting to turn red. “Overreacting? OVERREACTING?!” She stomped her way over to me. “My reacting is perfectly reasonable! I need to find somepony with a problem before sundown! MY WHOLE LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!” She shouted at me.

She had gotten uncomfortably close to me as she said this, and I stuck a finger to her chest and firmly, yet gently, shoved her away from me. “Why don’t you just chill out, Twilight. I doubt it’s THAT severe. Princess Celestia seems to be a very kind pony to me; I’m sure she’d be fine with you being a bit late on your deadline.” I attempted to reassure her, but not without a slightly unamused look on my face.

“He’s right sugarcube, why don’t ya just have a seat and stop sweatin’ small stuff.” Applejack said with disregard for Twilight’s reactions. Twilight didn’t respond. Instead, she opted to just growl in anger as she trotted away a bit, then teleported to somewhere unknown.

“That was weird… I hope she comes to her senses soon.” I said, slightly worried.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen Twilight so upset before.” Fluttershy agreed.

“Ugh! What a drama queen!” Rarity said. We all just looked at her with deadpanned expressions. She noticed, then added, “relatively speaking…” After that, we all went back to having a good time as the tension that Twilight had caused quickly dissipated.

I soon decided to lay down on the picnic blanket, eyes closed, while munching on a sitrus berry. After relaxing for a good amount of time, tuning out the conversations and activities that the ponies were participating in, I started to feel the ground shake a bit.

Opening my eyes and sitting up from the disturbance, I looked around, trying to figure out just what the commotion was. Suddenly, a large crowd of ponies ran by us, chasing after a mare who was carrying something in her mouth. It happened so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to make out what it was. “What the hell…” I said, taking in the spectacle. All the ponies seemed to by fighting over something. As two pegasi fought for it, they accidentally knocked it nearby, right as Twilight came running over.

She began telling us something as we began looking at it, however, I wasn’t able to make out much as I, and my Pokémon, focused on what it was…

On the ground a few feet from me was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. A pony doll, with the most intricate design and noticeable softness I had ever witnessed. I especially liked the thing’s mane. Twilight said something to me and tried to get me to look away from the doll, but I shoved her out of the way and stood up.

“That doll is mine!” I shouted as I noticed many ponies rushing for it. I pointed at it with determination, and looked to the closest Pokémon to it.

“Riolu! Get that doll before anypony else can!” I yelled, wanting the magnificent piece of craftsmanship more and more by the second. Riolu rushed at it as fast as he could and snatched it just in the knick of time. A pony was about to collide with him, but he easily used his agility to dodge out of the way.

“Good job, now give me it!” I shouted to him, but he just shook his head and took off as every Pokémon, pony, and myself began running after it. I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t sad, and I wasn’t dissapointed… All I was feeling was a need to get that masterpiece of a doll into my possession, so I ran after the bipedal dog Pokémon.

A large brawl between pony and Pokémon ensued. Blastoise used his rapid spin to tackle Riolu and steal the doll, but he didn’t have it for long as Dragonite quickly swooped in and grabbed it… Only to have Espeon yank it away from him with her magic. Ditto decided to transform into a second Dragonite and tear it from her magical grasp in attempt to steal it. He was about to fly away with it, but not before I latched onto his tail and climb up his scales, in mid air, reaching for the doll. Ditto attempted to shake me off of him but I was not going to give up. As this was going on, several pegasi and an obsessed looking Dragonite was coming straight at us. Dragonite bowled over the pegasi and went to tackle Ditto, who held up and shoved Dragonite back. The two began shoving each other and I was, with a huge amount of difficulty, inching my way towards the object that I craved so much.

Suddenly, a jet of water came at us and narrowly missed us. Sparing a glance, I noticed Blastoise desperately trying to shoot us down with his Hydro Pump. This only motivated me to try harder. Digging my fingers between Ditto’s scales, I climbed onto his flailing arm in order to get a bit closer to my prize.

Determined, I inched my fingers to it ever so slowly. I narrowed my eyes and felt the world around me slip away. All that I could see now was my arm, the doll just inches away, and could only hear my heartbeat.

…Closer...

*Thump*

…Closer…

*Thump*

Yes! I finally got it! I felt my fingers rap around the doll… But right as I got it, I heard a yell pierce my ears.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!” Everything came into focus again, and I looked around and saw the princess there with her horn glowing brightly. I didn’t care though; I had finally done my greatest achievement by getting the thing I wanted, and needed, the most out of anything else… And then my senses got overwhelmed by magic rushing through me.

I felt dazed for a moment, and was able to realize that I had let go of Ditto and was falling to the ground. Luckily, I landed on top of Blastoise as we both collapsed to the ground.

I heard two thuds, and figured that it was both Dragonites hitting the ground. A moment passed, and I regained my full senses and sat up. I noticed the doll sitting on the ground in front of me… The ugly, ragged old thing that I just realized had consumed my whole desire and ambition. Embarrassed, I kicked the thing with my foot in disregard.

As I did this, I noticed all the ponies dispersing and my Pokémon looking at each other in bewilderment. I looked towards where I saw Princess Celestia from earlier only to find her flying off into the direction of the library. Shrugging, and deciding that she was just here to take care of whatever the hell was going on with the doll, I disregarded it and turned back to the doll, only to find it gone.

I looked to my Pokémon, who all shrugged, and noticed Big Mac, with a heartbroken look on his face, making his way out of the scene. I shrugged, and decided that it was time to leave as the sun had gone down already.

*POV Change – Third Person*

Jordan had decided to head back home, and allow his Pokémon to walk with him. Everyone had forgotten about the mysterious doll that had plagued them not too long ago… All but one certain Pokémon.

As the group of one human plus six Pokémon walked together, one decided to lag behind a bit in precaution. As he did this, he decided to take a certain doll out of his shell and give it a loving hug, before cautiously glancing around. Making sure no one saw the him do it, he stuck the doll back into his shell, out of sight, and continued his walk back home.

A water type Pokémon had gained a new held item that day, and he was going to cherish his new friend for as long as he drew breath.