Chapters Mario and Luigi stood off to one side, chatting in Italian. Kirby was conversing with Pikachu, using his small arms to send messages. Bowser, Mewtwo, Falco, and Fox were all in one group. The rest of the game characters were off somewhere else: Roy and Marth were practicing their sword fighting with Link and Young Link, Pichu was teasing the Ice Climbers by shocking them. Ness and Doctor Mario were off sparring on the Rainbow Cruise. A group of girls; Zelda, Peach, Jigglypuff, and Samus were fighting against Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Ganandorf, and Mr. Game and Watch at Hyrule Temple.
It was just another regular day in the lives of these fighting game characters. Just another day in Super Smash Bros Melee.
Princess Celestia walked regally down the hallway, multicolored mane flowing infinitely around her. The click of her traditional gold slippers on the shiny marble floor stood out against the silence of the castle. It was a quiet day, no disasters or life threatening dangers to stop. It was days like these that made being an immortal actually worth it. But there was one thing on Celestia's mind that drove her through the large hallways.
The Sun Princess stuck her horn in the keyhole, it being the only thing that could open the large doors. The aqua doors rumbled before slowly parting, causing the ground to start shaking slightly. Celestia waited patiently until they had opened to their full extent. She then entered, the wide doors sliding close with a rumble. A light flicked on, flooding the square room with its luminescence. It was not a very large room, being only tall enough so Celestia could walk in. Being as dangerous as it was, the room was rigged so that anything not walking on four legs could not enter. Discord getting in would be absolute havoc.
Alas, it was not the room itself, but what was in the room that was dangerous. So, as the Sun Goddess carefully approached the small, shiny red box made of melted and re-hardened fire rubies, she made sure to walk as though she were stepping on legos. The small red box was humming slightly upon a white marble pedestal. Through the surface, one could barely make out a small round object, white in color and vibrating.
Celestia's horn glowed momentarily, a small ball of it about the size of a marble forming on the tip. It drifted off, landing on a minuscule plate of silver that was attached to the box. As it landed, it clicked. The box started coming apart, the top going up and then shifting back, while the sides pushed themselves out, and the front flipped itself over. Within a few moments, the glowing ball of white was fully exposed. It shone in the light from the room, hovering in middair elegantly. The alicorn's eyes sparkled with dread as she lay her lavender gaze upon it. It was supposed to be blue.
The small thing floating before her was a temporal shift. Not just any, but a dimensional one, able to bring who knows what from anywhere in the universe and beyond to Equestria. If anything would come out, their world could quite possibly be doomed. Celestia was not about to let that happen. But the changing of colors and the recent telepathic activity from the shift surely meant bad news. She would need to contact her student, Twilight Sparkle, to prepare for the worst, if anything appeared from the portal. But it was best to pretend like nothing was the matter. For now, anyway.
Celestia kept her eyes on the small ball, preparing to light her horn to seal the box again. Before she could, however, the shift brightened dramatically, causing her to squint her eyes. The blinding white light grew only increasingly brighter as moments passed. Celestia brought a hoof up to shield her eyes from it. The whole room was shrouded in the light; nothing visible though the haze. The Princess heard sounds and voices in her ears as the portal opened. It was getting louder. Telepathic messages shot though her mind crazily. After what seemed like hours of the light and sounds, it all died down again. This time, however, the shift was gone and the box lay shattered upon the floor.
A bright light appeared in the center of the character room, startling the gamers. At first the surrounding characters were curious, not moving, but then a sucking force made them raise eyebrows.
"Pik-a-chu!" the mouse type Pokémon cried out as he was sucked backwards. Pichu rushed forward, only to be stopped by Nana as she held onto him and her brother, Popo, who was latched onto a character picking station. Pikachu disappeared into the portal with a zap.
Kirby was the next to be caught in the suction. He let out a few cries of indignation, reaching out for someone to help. He tried to fly off, but the portal was stronger. Bowser, deciding to be the good guy for once, stomped forward and clamped his large claws onto Kirby. He pulled backward, but the suction suddenly got more powerful. Unprepared for the sudden movement, the Koopa fell onto his back, defenseless. The dimensional shift sucked them up faster then Pikachu, more electrifying noises coming from it.
Meanwhile, characters were rushing about, trying to save others. Mario had one of Luigi's overall straps clenched in his gloved hand. The station the red clad plumber was holding onto held tightly, but the portal was stronger. It pulled both of the brothers away, sucking them into it, a drawn out cry of:
"Mamma Mia!" being heard from both the Bros. Only several gamers were left in the danger zone; Mewtwo, Falco, and Fox. Marth reached out a hand to the Pokémon, but was too late as he got pulled away. Falco had Fox by the back of his neck, the lightweight vulpine desperately trying to scoot back.
"Hang on Fox!" Falco growled, yanking back on Fox's scruff as much as he could. Fox said something in reply, but it was lost as the wind stole it from the air. Just as Falco was about to get Fox out of danger, a sword came flashing out of Roy's hand, nearly slicing the bird's arm. He loosened his grip on Fox barely, but it was just enough for the force to pull him back.
"Falco!" Fox yelled, vanishing into the shift. As the final zapping sound rang through the air, the portal flickered. It shut down like a tv screen- a flash of light- and then it was gone.
Mario's eyes drooped heavily as he tried to open them, his head pounding. He groaned, pushing himself off the hard ground he was laying on. With a final grunt, he managed to stand. He wobbled slightly, but blinked open his eyes until they were fully open. Pikachu laying unconscious near him immediately caught his attention, but also the scenery.
Tall buildings surrounded him on all sides, towering hundreds of feet above him. Mario may not have been the tallest plumber of the bunch, but even someone like Captain Falcon or Ganandorf would've been slighted by the enormous buildings. The ground under his feet was concrete, and for a moment Mario thought maybe he had just gotten moved to Eagle City. But the buildings were not familiar at all. No, this was a completely different place.
Mario guessed they were in an alley of some sorts. He wanted to find Luigi, knowing full well his brother would be having a panic attack. Saddened slightly by this, the plumber decided to go over and get Pikachu. The Pokémon was just laying limply, looking unhurt. Mario put a hand on his shoulder and shook him, waking the mouse type up.
Pikachu shook his vigorously from side to side like a dog. He bounced up upon seeing Mario, assaulting the plumber with questions.
"Pika-Pika! Pikachu!"
Mario shrugged. "Had-a something to do with that-a portal, I guess. I have-a no idea where we are-a," he explained. Pikachu's ears drooped a little before perking back up.
"Pika-Pika-Pika! Pika! Pik-a-chu!"
"I'm guessing, but there's-a no way to tell-a for sure."
Pikachu nodded firmly. "Pika-Pika-Pikachu! Pa-chu!"
"We'll have to be-a careful. We have no idea what-a lives here, so stay-a outta sight." Mario took the lead, going to the edge of the building. He leaned his head over, trying to see what was out there. What was out there surprised him, to say the least.
Colorful ponies of all shapes and sized roamed the streets; some wearing fancy clothing, others none at all. They were conversing with one another, and amazingly, Mario could understand what was being said.
". . . And then I said, "dearie, you better get with the times, or you'll be lost!"" a grey stallion in a top hat chuckled to two other stallions at his side.
"How rich, how rich," the blue one commented. Mario winced and turned to another conversation.
". . . Awesome! You should've seen it! That trick was sweet!" a red pegasus blared, fluttering her wings.
"You are awesome Whirl! Come on, show us that trick!" a white pegasus demanded, stomping her hooves.
A light blue one grinned, bouncing. "Totally! It sounds great!"
"Alright," Whirl said, "but don't say I didn't warn you!" She grinned and the three took off, leaving a few ponies to glare up at them as they spread dust everywhere.
Mario ducked his head back inside the alley, looking at Pikachu, who was waiting patiently. "Uh, you might wanna see for yourself-a." He pressed himself into the wall so the Pokémon could poke his head out. A few moments later, he looked up at Mario, a questioning look on his face. Mario shrugged.
"Pikachu! Pika-Pika!"
"I have no idea how to get outta here!"
"Pika!" came the response, more forceful this time.
"Fine. Lead the-a way!" Mario watched Pikachu use his electric jump to get onto a lower windowsill. The plumber hopped off the wall to get to the ledge. Once he was there, Pikachu leapt from window to window until they reached the top of the building.
"Good idea, actually. But we have-a to make sure we stay-a low, or else we might-a get caught." Pikachu nodded and the pair was off again, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until they were at what seemed to be the edge of the city.
"Pika-Pika."
"Couldn't have said it better myself-a. This place is huge. It'll take-a forever to find everyone."
"Pika."
"Yeah, come on."
Kirby sat upon Bowser's spiky shell, tapping his foot against it. The Koopa was still not awake, and it was really boring just sitting there.
They had spawned in a small forest. It was pretty happy for the most part. Several animals had hissed at them when they had appeared, but had all but since left when Kirby brought his giant hammer into view.
So Kirby was sitting, bored, upon Bowser's back. Getting agitated, Kirby decided to take action. He got out his hammer and stood in front of the reptile, then swung with all his might. Bowser was sent flying backwards, hitting a tree. He roared, glaring at the small pink ball in front of him. Kirby shrugged, putting his hammer back.
Annoyed, Bowser looked around at the trees. He snorted angrily, walking away from Kirby. The ball quickly followed, puffing up and landing right on Bowser's back again. The Koopa King glared but continued, thinking in his head that this was all that annoying pink ball's fault. If he hadn't gotten sucked in, then Bowser wouldn't have tried to save him.
Now he remembered why he liked being the bad guy.
Grumbling, he let loose an explosion of fire at a wall of bushes, burning through them when they blocked the path. Kirby cheered, hopping up and down. The small ball then jumped off the Koopa's back and towards a berry bush. He opened his mouth, sucking in the berries and bush in all. Bowser saw this and groaned, continuing his stomping through the lush green forest. Now he was stuck with a baby eating machine in some strange world he'd never seen before.
Fox was falling. He felt the wind rush around him, whistling in his large ears. But like all things that fell, he had to stop sometime. He plummeted through layers of trees, snapping branches as he descended. Hitting his head on one last large branch, Fox landed on the dirty forest floor. He sat up, groaning. The vulpine rubbed his head and glanced around. He was in some sort of dark forest. The ground was littered with dead leaves and wilting flowers, no sunlight reaching them through the thick canopy. It smelled dank, as if the whole place was rotting.
"Mamma Mia!"
Fox turned his head just in time to see a swirling white portal appear in the sky above his head. But instead of sucking, it spat something out. Knowing the scared voice immediately, Fox stood up to help the Mario brother.
Luigi was spinning head over heels, not slowing down as he was launched across the forest. Trees broke as he came in, and the loud signature cry was cut short. Fox took off, his feet moving so fast they were a blur. He leaned over to reduce drag and continued his journey. He jumped over fallen logs and swampy bits of land until he reached the devastated area Luigi had crashed in. Being so much heavier than Fox, he had done quite a bit of damage. Of course, he wasn't even the heaviest of the Bros.
The trees that were not knocked over were bent back. A long trail of churned up dirt led the vulpine right to the plumber. Fox slowed down, his tail twitching behind him. He walked up to Luigi, unconscious, of course, and grabbed ahold of the back of his shirt. The Bro was missing his hat, showing off his exageratingly curly brown hair. But no matter. Fox dragged him away from the crash site, towards what he hoped would be civilization.
Celestia looked on in horror, her worst fear becoming true. The temporal shift disappearing meant only one thing; it had brought something back to their world. She composed herself as best she could and hurried towards the exit, opening the door quickly and stepping out into the natural light of the sun that was flooding the small room. She bustled herself down the hallways, nearly reaching a run. Her hoof steps echoed dully through the hall.
The Princess skidded around a corner and ran into something. She fell backwards, her crown knocking off in the process. She shook her head, clearing it, and stood up. She picked up her crown from the floor and turned to face whoever she had run into. Her mouth fell open and she backed up, pupils dilating.
The greyish creature in front of her stared down at her contempt, its hands coming back behind its head. A glowing ball of purple energy started forming, crackling like lightning. Celestia heard a voice ring out in her head:
You are an enemy, and you will be killed!
The telepathic abilities of this thing surprised her, but the Princess acted fast. She replied with her own telepathy. I am not an enemy. You have no reason to be angry with me.
It stopped. I do not recognize you. You must be an enemy. He looked her up and down.
Celestia bowed her head. Trust me. I will not hurt you, if you do not hurt me. Just let me explain.
The thing brought its three fingered hands down at its sides again, the ball of purple energy dissipating.
Now that it was not trying to kill her, Celestia allowed herself to look at it more closely. The shape of its head and the small horn looking things on it gave it a vague feline appearance. Its tail was long, stretching around its body. A small tube on the back of its head connected to its back. Its eyes were a darker color than its body, like its tail, and showed no compassion. It also hovered an inch or two off the ground.
Celestia straightened up. The creature tensed, dark energy swirling in its hands for a moment. Can you only speak through telepathy?
Yes.
Okay. Why don't you follow me to a more secluded location? I don't want anypony seeing you and trying to attack you, alright? Celestia raised her eyebrows, starting to turn to the direction of her study.
If anything dared to attack me, I would defeat them first.
If it's okay with you, I would prefer you did not harm any of my subjects. She turned away. Would you please follow me? Without saying anything, the creature hovered after Celestia. She took the shortest path, traveling swiftly down the hallways. They eventually reached two large golden doors. The Sun Goddess pushed them open and led the thing inside. She closed the doors with a slight click, and then faced it. I'd like to introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. I am one of the conjoined rulers of this land.
It flexed its fingers. I am Mewtwo.
If you don't mind me asking, Mewtwo, what are you?
I am a Pokémon.
Well, it is my pleasure to be meeting one so unique. She gave a small bow.
Maybe it is I who should be honored. You are a Princess, after all.
No, it's all mine. You are not of this world. Celestia dipped her head and swallowed. And that is an issue.
Yes, I agree.
You are probably wondering why you are here.
I am, Mewtwo confirmed.
There was a thing- a temporal dimension shift. It had the ability to bring creatures such as yourself into this world. It had remained dormant in a special safe for hundreds of years, but had recently become more. . . active. For what reason, I'm not sure. But it activated, and you were brought here as a result.
That would explain the sudden portal appearing right in the middle of the character room.
Beg pardon? Character room? Celestia questioned.
Ah. Well, I was part of a game. I was in the character room when this happened, and I got pulled in. Several others were taken as well. They're here, I presume?
They are. Not in a known location, unfortunately.
I must find them. Although they are nothing to me, they belong in the game.
I assure you, we will be able to find them. I have a very effective team of ponies that can find them faster than anyone.
I hope so.
I shall call them immediately.
Twilight Sparkle sat in her library, contently reading a book. She hummed softly in satisfaction. Well, she was, until Spike came running in, scroll clutched in one claw.
"Twilight! Twilight! Emergency letter from Princess Celestia! It's red this time, not the color of regular paper!" Spike called, waving it around frantically. Twilight cringed as she was disturbed, but turned to the baby dragon from where she was sitting at her desk.
"Go ahead and read it Spike," the unicorn informed, motioning for him to continue.
Spike cleared his throat and opened the red scroll. "My dearest Twilight Sparkle and friends, it is on desperate terms I send this letter. A crisis has arisen in the kingdom. I shall explain when you get to Canterlot, as it is complicated. You must leave now. Gather the other Elements and come at once. Your teacher and mentor, Princess Celestia." The dragon rolled the message back up.
"Oh no, I hope Discord hasn't gone crazy again," Twilight moaned. She stood up. "You stay here Spike. I don't want you getting hurt if anything happens." The unicorn shot out the door as she opened it with her magic, letting it close as she left.
Mewtwo hovered next to Celestia, his arms crossed. The six ponies that had just entered stared at him in awe, mouths half opened as the Sun Princess explained what had happened.
"Mewtwo, if you would take over from here," Celestia finished. The Pokémon extended his telepathy to all seven ponies. As they heard his voice in their minds, there was visible shock on all their faces. Excluding Celestia, of course.
I believe there were six of us, including me, but I wasn't the last one through. First Pikachu went through, followed by Kirby and Bowser, then Mario and Luigi. After them was when I got pulled into the portal. As he said their names, he sent pictures of what they looked like.
"But if there were more characters that got pulled through, then what happens? We could accidentally miss one," Applejack pointed out.
I could do a psychic search, but it isn't one hundred percent effective.
"If we look hard, we could run into them," Rarity suggested.
"Yeah, it's not like something from a game is going to be that hard to find, right?" Rainbow Dash added.
"Right. It's up to you ponies to find them. Mewtwo will stay here, so nopony sees him. Good luck, my little ponies," Princess Celestia finished, dipping her head. Taking the cue to leave, the six ponies raced out the door.
Author's Note
I have to be honest: I don't know much about Mewtwo. I remember reading somewhere he could use telepathy. So. . . please, Pokémon lovers, don't kill me and this story that I haven't touched in millions of years since I started.
"Alright girls, where should we start looking?" Twilight Sparkle asked loudly as they emerged from the Canterlot Castle. The six ponies came to a halt outside the gates, catching their breath that they really didn't need to catch. Twilight turned to face the group, a look of determination set upon her features.
"Equestria is huge! How're we going to find five or possibly more random creatures that could be anywhere?" Rainbow Dash asked. She crossed her arms as she hovered in the air.
"Even I'm not even sure, but we have to find them. So, here's what we'll do," Twilight started, pacing in front of the group as they got in a line, "Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie will search in Manehatten. Rarity and Fluttershy will go to Ponyville and the Everfree Forest area. Then Applejack and I will search Canterlot. When you've searched the whole region, meet back in Ponyville at the library. Everypony got that?"
"Heard you loud and clear!" Dash announced.
"Yupparoony!" Pinkie Pie giggled.
"Got it, darling," Rarity said.
"Do I really have to check the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy squeaked, crouching low to the ground, long pink mane swooping down to scrape across the path.
"Don't worry Fluttershy. It'll all be fine," Applejack told her, giving the scared pegasus an affectionate pat on the back with a hoof. All that succeeded in doing was making a shivering yellow ball on the ground.
Twilight gave a small smile, then returned her gaze to the group. "Alright everypony, let's move out!"
The groups got together and headed off, none looking back as they sprinted away.
Pinkie Pie stuck her head out the window of the train, her eyes closed. She lifted her nose to the sky and let out a long "Woo woooo!" imitating the sound of the train as it made its way across the lands. Rainbow Dash poked her head out the window behind Pinkie and grinned, her tail flicking in excitement inside the train car.
"I can't believe we're going to see actual aliens in Equestria! I mean, more aliens, anyway," the pegasus yipped. Pinkie nodded in excitement.
"Me neither! It'll be sooo fun! I wonder if they'll be nice," the party pony babbled. She continued her random talk as the train rode across the green land of Equestria.
"Oh, Fluttershy, come out. The characters won't harm you."
Rarity stood by the door to Fluttershy's room, one hoof raised as she knocked. The little pegasus had been hiding in her room as soon as they'd gotten to Fluttershy's cottage. She'd given no warning; just raced in there, slamming the door as quietly as she could.
"N-no! They're scary!" Fluttershy wailed, her voice muffled from behind the door.
Rarity rolled her eyes, giving a deep sigh. She set her white hoof back on the floor with a small knocking sound. "But Fluttershy, dear, Mew-whatever its name is said that they're ordinarily very docile."
"Ordinarily!" came the shriek.
"Honey, come on. There's some poor, lost souls out in the world, just wanting to get back to their world. Shouldn't we help them? I mean, what if it was you in their world? Don't you think that they would help you?" Rarity raised a tentative eyebrow as she heard a quiet response from the other side. She leaned in closer, putting one ear against the wood. "Come again?"
". . . I guess you're right. . ."
Giving a satisfied sigh, Rarity retracted her head from the door. She closed her eyes briefly. "I am ever so glad you decided to change your mind. Now, why don't you come out and we'll get ready?"
The door's lock clicked, and a moment later the soft squeaking of the door opening was heard. Fluttershy, one half of her face concealed by pink mane, was seen as she opened it.
"Okay. . ." the yellow pegasus agreed, rather reluctantly. She slowly emerged from her room, coming face-to-face with her friend.
"Simply splendid, if I do say so myself," Rarity commented, blinking a few times, eyelashes fluttering. "Now, where should we search first? We've got Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, so what do you suggest?"
"I don't know. . ." Fluttershy looked down at the floor, scraping one hoof against it.
Rarity frowned, mouth slightly open as she looked down at her shy friend. The white unicorn's eyes glittered as the sun shone in through the nearby window. Upon seeing the sun setting, Rarity glanced over.
"Oh, would you look at that," she said, somewhat downtrodden, "the sun's going down. We'll have to look more tomorrow."
Fluttershy sniffled and looked up as well. Her eyes closed, a grateful sigh escaping her lips.
"We'll just have to get up bright and early tomorrow morning so we have enough time to search!"
Fluttershy blanched.
Twilight and Applejack had split up, each going to different parts of Canterlot to search. Twilight had taken the areas around the castle and Applejack the far side of the city. So far, neither of them had had any luck locating a creature that could've been from another dimension. The two friends finished looking and met at their designated base, a local cafe by the name of Billie's Place.
The unicorn and earth pony saw each other as they entered from different sides of the restaurant. They cast glances around at the numerous ponies that roamed the cafe before they looked up and saw one another. The two increased the speed of their hoofsteps to take a seat at an empty table.
Applejack slid into the booth, the seat a bright red. She cast a suspicious glance around as she started speaking. "Find anythin'?" she asked.
Twilight sighed, "Nothing yet." She curled her indigo tail around her.
"That's what Ah was afraid ya were gonna say." Applejack blew a breath out her mouth, ruffling some of the blonde hair on her head. She placed both of her hooves on the sparkling mint green table. "Urg, we're never goin' to find anythin'. Equestria is a huge place; there's just too much ground to cover."
"Don't give up, AJ. We just need to keep looking." Twilight gave her friend a sympathetic glance before perking up. "Wait, I think I might know a spell that could help us."
"And ya couldn't have mentioned this earlier?" Applejack raised a hoof in a gesture of 'seriously'.
The purple unicorn put one of her hooves to her mouth, ears leaning back a bit. "Heh, right, sorry." She lit her horn, and in a flash of magenta, there was a book levitating in her magic. Setting the leather clad tome down on the table, she read through the table of contents. Once she found the page she needed, Twilight flipped through the book. She began scanning the words that adorned the slightly crinkled and worn paper; it was either a favorite or was just plain old.
"So? Is there somethin' that could help us?" Applejack asked, raising her muzzle to try and see what the unicorn was reading. The earth pony squinted her eyes.
A frown became present on Twilight's snout. She creased her lips into a fine line, her eyebrows furrowing. ". . . No, no. There's nothing here after all. It wouldn't help us." With a pronounced sigh, she closed the book with a firm hoof. A moment later, it vanished in a swirl of magenta magic.
Applejack lightly slammed her hoof on the smooth table. "Darnit. Ah really thought there would be some sort of spell to help track things."
"If there is, then I've never heard of it. And I've read every accessible book and tome in Canterlot and Ponyville."
"That's a bit unfortunate." The orange mare sighed. "But since we didn't find anythin' here in Canterlot, we should probably search somewhere else, right?"
Twilight pondered this for a moment. "I don't know. I said to meet back at the library in Ponyville. What if they wait for us for a long time?"
Applejack snorted. "Twi', you sent Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all the way to Manehatten." She patted a purple hoof that was sitting on the table with her own. "Ah think we'll be fine." She cracked the teensiest of smirks at the unicorn sitting across from her.
"Well. . . I guess you're right," Twilight agreed, perking up. She flicked an ear. "Where do you think we should look?"
"Ah don't know. That's what ya'll are here fer," Applejack drawled, shrugging. Twilight frowned.
"Hmm. . . Okay," the unicorn mare announced, pulling a map out of seemingly nowhere with her magic, as she didn't have a saddlebag on. She unrolled it across their table, making Applejack lean back a ways in shock of where in the hay did she get that map from . Blinking her emerald green eyes a few times to clear her head, she tuned into Twilight's babbling.
". . . Alright, I know where we should go," she said finally, after a bit of talking to herself.
Applejack rotated an ear forward. The purple mare remained silent, just grinning at her map.
"Okay! Are you gonna tell me anytime in the next month?" AJ snapped impatiently, sick of sitting there.
"Oh, right, sorry." Twilight cleared her throat and produced a laser pointer. The earth pony across from her ear's twitched, her eyes wide. "Anyways, here we are in Canterlot." She circled the area with the red light. "And over here is Las Pegasus. But, in between those two places is a great expanse of forest. I think, if they did end up anywhere here or there, or possibly any town nearby, they'd be a bit shocked, am I right?" She cast a reassuring smile at her friend, whose eyes were still locked firmly on the little red dot. Twilight frowned. "AJ?"
"Oh! Right, sorry, yes, Ah hear ya."
"Okay, and if they did get trapped in the city, they'd probably head right for a more private place." She flicked the red dot across the paper expanse of the printed on forest. "So, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, we might find something in the Moon Shrouds."
That snapped Applejack out of her trance. "Wait, Moon Shrouds? That's an odd name."
Twilight shrugged, tossing the laser pointer over her shoulder with her magic, her face going completely straight in a matter of moments. "Eh, it's old Equestrian stuff, what do you expect."
Princess Celestia sank into her plush bed. The moon was high in the sky, the sun already having been set. She was content to just drift into sleep. That was, until she heard screaming from outside her bedroom door. She sighed and got to her hooves, getting out of bed. Her steps were delicate as she walked over to her chamber doors and lit her horn, swinging them open.
Standing outside was a very flustered Princess Luna, with their guest right behind her. The Sun Goddess gave her a pointed look before ushering them both inside with a wing. She turned to her sister.
"Luna, what was that?" Celestia asked swiftly, her head pounding with what was surely anger.
"You said to make sure Mewtwo didn't get discovered by any ponies," Luna recapped from earlier.
The Night Princess floated gracefully down the middle of the swirling staircase. Her wings pumped gently at her sides, barely keeping her aloft as to get her down to her sister's chambers, where she had been told by a guard to report there immediately. Her slippered hooves hit the polished marble and she took off at a swift pace, mane continually swirling around her.
"Sister, it is I," Luna announced loudly as she hammered her hoof on the white wood.
"Enter," came the elegant and somewhat rushed reply.
Swinging the door open with her dark blue magic, Luna stepped inside. Only to be met with what she could only describe as something out of a nightmare of one of her subjects.
Before the Princess of the Night could get a word in, a feminine voice echoed in her head.
Sister, do not panic. This is our. . . . guest, Mewtwo, Celestia said to her telepathically.
Celestia, what is the meaning of this? Luna demanded, making herself taller, as the. . . thing, as which it could only be described as, floating in front of her was as tall her sister, all the way up to her horn.
Mewtwo has been transported, along with others, by the temporal shift. I know not for what purpose, but I've already sent out Twilight and her friends to search.
Greetings, Princess of the Night, Mewtwo said roughly, arms crossed.
You did not tell me first? Luna asked her sister, taken aback.
Dearest sister, you know I do not like to interrupt your sleeping cycle. It messes with your emotions, Celestia said.
Luna stamped her hoof on the floor harshly. Curse mine emotions! Things such as these are more important!
Celestia nodded. Of course. Next time I will go as such. But there are other things that must be done, and as the day is ending my time is over.
Luna studied her sister carefully. And?
My sleep cycle is upon me. Tonight, and until these creatures are returned to their world, you must look after Mewtwo during the hours of the night.
Does he not sleep?
No, came the response from the Pokémon, I do not. Not without force. He thought about the other Pokémon in his world. That stupid little Bellossom. Always spouting sleeping powder. And Jigglypuff was no better, always with the singing.
Celestia gave Mewtwo a small, weary smile and turned back to Luna. Now, he has, um, powers, is the best I can describe it as, and you must be cautious. She saw the angry look Mewtwo gave her. She swallowed weakly. Respectfully, the Princess of the Sun told him. She turned back to Luna. The only reason you are still well is because I told Mewtwo of your arrival. He nearly killed me himself when I bumped into him in the hall.
Luna dipped her head, I shall accept.
I entrust him to you. She smiled at her younger sister and the two beings exchanged greetings. But for the love of the sun, please, do not let anypony else see him. Her eyes sparkled with dread as Luna led Mewtwo out of her chambers.
"Yes," Celestia countered, narrowing her eyes, "I remember my instructions very clearly. What's happened?" The Princess knew they should be speaking telepathically, as not to cast out their guest, but she was quite angry at what might have transpired the short time she had been trying to rest.
"Well, we had a small problem. The guards, you see, are so very attentive. . ." Luna explained sheepishly.
"And?"
"One. . . or two. . . of them might have seen Mewtwo."
"But I heard a clearly feminine scream just before I found you outside my door."
"Oh, right, and a maid," Luna finished.
Celestia closed her eyes and blew air out her nose. She didn't want to get angry with her sister, as this mistake could have happened to her just as easily.
"Well, what did you do about it?" the Sun Goddess inquired.
"I erased their memories," Luna explained. "Just the last few minutes, taken. So they wouldn't remember any of what they saw."
Celestia nodded. "Though I doubt that they just screamed from seeing him." She twisted her neck to look at Mewtwo. She gave him a questioning glance. He noticed her glaring and seemed to look surprised for a moment before answering in her head:
Enemies.
My subjects are not enemies, unless they are attacking you, Celestia responded firmly.
Not to me.
The white alicorn sighed and turned back to Luna. The younger Princess seemed to have a contemplative look on her face, her eyes studying the Pokémon. Celestia looked back and forth between them for a moment before it clicked in her head what her sister was planning on doing.
"Luna, are you doing what I think you're doing," Celestia said, not taking it as a question, narrowing her violet eyes.
Mewtwo looked over at Luna and his hands glowed slightly.
"Uh oh," the Sun Princess said.
Luna's horn lit up with dark blue magic. She took a bit of a wider stance, stretching her long legs out over the carpet. Her head lowered and a blast of energy shot out of her horn, which Mewtwo fought back with his own ray of dark purple. The colors clashed in the middle, causing Celestia to take a step back so she wouldn't get caught in it. It was all together a pretty clash of colors, but Luna's surpassed the Pokémon's, aided by the power of her beautiful night. It was, after all, her domain.
The blinding flash of blue light faded slowly, and when Celestia blinked the remaining light out of her eyes, she looked over. Luna had a content smile on her face, admiring her handy work.
Mewtwo was simply floating as usual, but his arms were crossed and his head was down, eyes closed. His tail was hanging down, touching the floor.
"I am kind of surprised the spell worked. Though it was a lot larger than what you normally use," Celestia commented plainly.
"I figured he needed a bit larger dose than a pony would," Luna agreed, "and I was right. He fought back."
"Well, at least we needn't deal with him at nights."
"Indeed. That spell will last all night. As soon as your sun begins to rise, he'll awaken."
Celestia headed towards her bed. "Good. I'm missing my sleep cycle."
"Good night, dear sister." Luna trotted towards the large white doors. "As always, I will guard the night."
Author's Note
I know it's been while, but it was hard to get this chapter right.
“Fluttershy. . .” came Rarity's voice in a low tone. She was standing beside a low-growing clump of wild flowers.
“D-do I have to?” Fluttershy squeaked from the flowers.
“You already said and agreed to this yesterday.”
“Yeah, I know . . .” Fluttershy emerged from the mass of flowers and stood up. Rarity smiled.
“Good, now let's head off. The Everfree Forest is waiting.” She shivered. “Unfortunately.”
Pikachu and Mario were laying on the top of a building. They'd pretty much given up every ounce of hope that they had trying to get out of the god forsaken city in which they were currently stranded. They'd travelled across rooftops all night, but it was still a while until the end.
Pikachu shifted, sitting up. "Pika-Pika."
Mario glanced over with blue eyes. "I don't much think that'll work out."
"Pika?"
Mario sat up. "I doubt that-a asking the ponies down there'll help us any."
The mouse Pokémon hopped up onto his feet. "Pa-chu!"
"Really?"
"Pik."
"They won't be able to-a understand you, ya know that-a right?"
"Pika-Pika."
Mario stopped. "Uh, no. I'm not-a going down there."
Pikachu growled. "Pika!"
"They'll probably just freak out!" Mario retorted.
"Pikachu!" The mouse Pokémon bounced on his feet, then sent out a small jolt of electricity at the plumber. Mario leaped to his feet, the faint smell of smoke wafting through the air.
"Fine! But it's your-a fault if anything goes wrong," Mario grumbled, walking over to the edge of the building's roof. Down below, he could faintly see the shapes of ponies trotting around. Taxis and various other carts traveled on the roads as well. Deciding instead to go over to the alley to get down, he switched paths.
"Pika-Pika," Pikachu yipped. He bounded forward, watching as Mario hopped up on the edge of the roof.
"Ten coins they freak out." Mario leaped off the edge. Gravity pulled him down quickly, and he appeared as a red-and-blue blur. He readied himself to land, but suddenly something plowed into him. A grunt of pain escaped whatever had smashed into Mario. They collapsed onto the ground.
"What in Tartarus-?" a groggy voice cursed. Mario glanced at what had hit him. The pegasus, as it had wings, sat up. It was a male, and had a grey mane and tail and a lighter grey coat. He was rubbing his head in what was most likely pain.
"Watch where you're going, you idiot, you can't perform a stunt like that in city limits--"
The pegasus stopped ranting as he looked up with yellow eyes. Mario was already standing, and even though he wasn't a tall person, he was a taller than the pegasus sitting down.
"Ahh! What the hay are you?!" he exclaimed, wings flying open and taking him into the air.
"Hi, so terribly sorry to-a have made you crash, but I'm in need-a of assistance," Mario started, hoping this pony would listen.
"What, to take over our country?! Get away from me! Somepony, there's an alien in our midst!" the pegasus yelled at the top of his lungs. It must've been fairly loud, as several ponies appeared at the end of the dirty alley. There were gasps and a few shouts of surprise.
"Call the royal guard!" a mare's voice screeched, and the whole group of ponies scattered, taking off in different directions. Mario fumbled for words, his mouth open in shock.
"Pikachu!"
Mario looked up as a yellow blur came at him. Pikachu landed on his feet, his face one of surprise.
"Pika-Pika! Pikachu!"
Mario looked up and saw three pegasi hovering above them. They held spears in their hooves and had on golden armor that glinted in the early morning light.
"Ah, I see the ponies do-a have a royal guard," the plumber said weakly.
"Pika!"
"Right, let's-a go!"
The duo took off, not bothering to get back on a rooftop, for that would take too long. They heard one of the guards shout something before they came after them. The three guards shot forward. Mario briefly glanced over his shoulder.
"Throw!" the leader yelled. The three pegasi aimed their spears and before he knew it, Mario was leaping over the projectiles.
"Pika-Pika!"
Mario spared another glance as the duo were chased through the streets of the busy town. Ponies screamed and ran away at every turn. The guards chasing them swiped their spears from the ground where they'd stuck, not slowing down in the slightest upon doing so.
"Okay!" Mario replied to his partner's yipping. He turned and flipped his hand down, a small ball of fire forming in his palm. Mario threw it, hoping to hit one of the pegasi. The guards looked shocked, but merely dodged the attack and sped up.
"Pika!" the Pokémon growled in irritation.
"We shouldn't-a hurt them!" Mario argued. He was the good guy, after all.
Pikachu rolled his eyes and leaped in the air, turning midway. His cheeks crackled with electricity. The energy shot from his face, covering his entire body and zooming towards the guards. They were hit with the bolt of electricity, giving pained exclamations and falling from the sky. Pikachu landed on all fours once again, a look of victory on his face. Mario, however, looked slightly concerned. He eventually shrugged and caught up to Pikachu.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie walked away from the train station. They glanced in both directions.
"Where should we start looking?" Pinkie asked.
"I have no clue," Dash replied. "Maybe I should get a better view—”
"Run! Monsters!" a pony screamed, sprinting past them.
The two mares glanced at each other before taking off.
"Oh, gross! Fluttershy, do I have mud on my hoof?" Rarity asked, lifting up her hind leg. The pegasus behind her pulled back at the sudden appearance of the appendage, but regained her sense of grace.
"Um, a bit," Fluttershy replied after a moment.
"Ew! Ick, get it off!" Rarity furiously shook her leg and the mud splattered all over Fluttershy's muzzle and face. "Oh, dear, I'm sorry."
Fluttershy wiped her face and then shook off her foreleg more gently than her friend had. "It's fine. Let's just keep going so we can get out of here." She shuddered, the wings folded on her back rustling.
"That's a fine idea." Rarity started off again on the narrow path that curved around the side of a mountain. There were assorted tracks and other prints along the worn path, so it seemed safe. Eventually, it leveled out and branched off to head back to the more dense parts of the Everfree Forest.
Rarity glanced back and forth between the two options. "Shall we go left or right?"
Fluttershy opened her wings and hovered over the fashionista's head. "I'd say left. The forest part is larger than this rather rocky area."
"Alright then! Let's be off."
Applejack and Twilight were sitting aboard a quickly moving train. Twilight was reading and AJ was sleeping, her hat over her eyes. Twilight had her eyes scanning the journal she'd made just hours earlier when they'd gotten on their train. It contained a quick sketch of each of the characters and a few details the mares had received when speaking to Mewtwo—mainly, their names. Once the characters were all rounded up, the unicorn planned to do some research.
The nib of the pen scratched across the paper, each mark with its own meaning. Twilight was busy sketching this 'Bowser,' who she had to say, looked rather terrifying. The drawings probably weren't the most accurate, as small details were surely missing, but they looked rather well for Twilight.
"Hmm, let's see . . . shell, spiky hair, choker . . ." Twilight murmured to herself as she gave the sketch a final look-over. "Yes, I think that's rather well done." As she finished speaking, her stomach gave a loud grumble. She sighed and decided the two of them had better eat.
"Hey, AJ," Twilight said, placing a hoof on the orange mare's shoulder and giving her a small shake. Applejack snorted, snout pointing to the air suddenly. Her Stetson tipped off her head and onto her chest.
"Huh? Oh, hey Twi," AJ muttered, sitting up groggily. She took ahold of her hat and placed it back upon her mane.
"Sorry to wake you. I just thought we should eat before we do any searching. We didn't actually eat at the café—which is weird now that I think about it—and our train is over halfway to our destination," Twilight explained.
Applejack blinked wearily and then nodded. "Ya know, Ah could go fer a meal. Definitely."
"Alright." Twilight smiled. "Here's the menu." She levitated the item across the table. Applejack took it and began browsing. While she was waiting (as she already knew what she wanted—she got it every time she was on a train), Twilight picked up her journal again and started adding some finishing touches on Mario.
Applejack glanced up. "So what's that you're workin' on?"
Twilight broke away from her journal. "Oh, it's a little book of details on the characters and somewhat on our mission. I've tracked everything in here." She held it up to Applejack, who briefly examined it.
"Seems kinda unnecessary," AJ commented plainly.
"How so?" Twilight asked.
"Well, Ah don't mean to be rude, but what's the point? We know what they look like."
"I was just . . . planning to do some research on them if they didn't have to leave right away. You know, first time being in our world, that's kind of a big deal, right? Besides, nopony else'll have this information!"
Applejack shrugged. "Ah guess."
Rainbow Dash swooped over the heads of citizens. Ponies were screaming and shouting and running every which way. Pinkie Pie galloped below, and each of the mares' faces were set in one of determination. They weaved their ways through the crowds.
"Monsters! Run!" a mare shrieked.
"Call the princesses!" a stallion wailed.
"Geez, you'd think they've never seen a monster before," Rainbow commented in a sarcastic manner.
"If it was that big mean turtle-thing, I don't blame them," Pinkie responded.
"Yeah, I guess not." She smirked. "But I wouldn't run away! I'd stay and fight!"
"I'd make friends!"
"Of course you would."
Rainbow narrowed her eyes and picked up her pace. She pulled ahead of her pink friend.
"I'm going to see if I can find them!" Dash called back, voice pulled by the wind. She turned her head back around and shot off in a burst of speed. Her wings beat a steady rhythm as she zoomed through the streets that were becoming increasingly emptier.
Finally, Rainbow skirted a building and nearly stopped in shock as two things ran down the opposite way. She blinked and performed a sharp turn, giving chase. As her speed easily outmatched theirs, she was upon them in a matter of seconds.
"Hey, you two! Stop!" the pegasus demanded, flying next to them. "Wah!" Rainbow curved to the side as a bolt of lightning nearly struck her. "Hey!" She shot forward and flew backwards in front of them. "I'm here to help you!"
As soon as she said that, the two skidded to a stop. Dash sighed in relief and floated down to the ground.
The red one, Mario or something, looked at her cautiously. "You're going to-a . . . help us?"
“Pika?” the little yellow mouse-thing squeaked.
Dash nodded. "I'm Rainbow Dash. My friends and I have been sent by Princess Celestia to scour Equestria for you and your pals. Uh, Mewtwo or whatever ended up at Canterlot Castle, so that's how we know."
"There you are, Dashie! I've been looking for you!" came Pinkie Pie's ecstatic voice. "And you found them!"
"This is my friend Pinkie Pie." Rainbow waved her hoof at the party pony.
"Nice to meet you," Mario said with a nod in her direction.
Pinkie Pie bounced on her hooves, declaring, “Yeah, we’re searching all of Equestria for your friends!”
Mario and Pikachu exchanged glances, unsure. They turned around, Mario sticking up one finger in a gesture of ‘give us a moment’, and their whispering voices were all that was heard. The two ponies waited while they talked. Eventually, the game characters faced the ponies again.
“Alright, but you're not-a going to throw us in dungeon, are ya?” Mario questioned curiously.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and prepared to respond, but Pinkie beat her to it;
“Of course not, sillies! Why would we do that? We might as well burn you at the stake before sending you back to your game!”
The three other beings stared at Pinkie Pie with trepidation for a brief moment. She stood as oblivious as always, a happy smile plastered across her face.
“Oookay,” Dash began once again, eyes narrowed at her pink friend, “let's get out of here as quick as can be, huh? Follow us, you two.” Rainbow lifted herself off the ground, wings flapping. She swiveled around and took off at a reasonable pace. The streets were empty—everypony was too frightened to come out, for fear of the ‘monsters’.
“Wait, Dashie, I just thought of something,” Pinkie said.
“What?” Rainbow asked as they went along.
“How are we going to get Mario and Pikachu out of here? I doubt we can get them on the train without causing a panic.” Dash screeched to a halt, hovering several feet in the air.
“Shoot!”
Twilight and Applejack stepped out of the train onto the platform below. The usual main building sat in front of them, but that was all. Trees surrounded them on all sides; the only thing leading out in a clear path were the train tracks. No other ponies got off at this spot.
“Alrighty,” Twilight began, taking the map out of her saddle bags and holding it to her face. Behind them, the train blew its whistle and, after several moments, revved up and went off on its way. “Here we are.”
“Yep, figured that much,” Applejack replied, rolling her eyes. She walked forward several paces, scanning the trees. “The real question is where do we start?”
Twilight hummed briefly in response, then lowered the map from her face. “I say we try and find some sort of animal or hiking trail, and follow that. Maybe we’ll come across something that tells us where one of them went.”
“That could take ages.”
“Yeah, but it’s all we have.” Twilight rolled up the map and stuck it back in her saddle bags—it had no purpose right then. “Shall we be off?” She looked to her orange friend.
“Ah guess.”
And the two mares began their trek.
Kirby laughed in joy—this was fun! He almost never had this much fun! Of course, the big dragon thingy didn’t seem to like it, but he wasn’t talking to Kirby. Right now, he was riding on dragon’s shell while they trekked through the forest. It was cool here. The only downfall was Kirby didn’t know where he was. How would he get back to the pick-me place?
Dragon growled under him, and Kirby swung around from where he’d been sitting backwards, watching the world go by. Dragon seemed aggravated. Kirby babbled something—dragon growled and pointed one large claw forward. Just ahead was a huge creature—what was it? Kirby wondered, gazing up at it. Suddenly, it surged forward. Dragon just narrowly avoided being attacked, and he jumped into the bushes. Kirby tumbled after him; the attack was unexpected. Once safe, he looked to dragon. He was peeking out of the underbrush. Was bigger up there? Kirby began to talk to dragon. Dragon seemed uninterested, but turned around and grunted at him.
A loud snarl burst rumbled from above them. Kirby watched in surprise as a clawed hand reached in and grabbed dragon in its fist. Dragon fought back, writhing and slashing, but his attacks couldn’t do much since he didn’t exactly have the longest range. Kirby yelled and puffed up, attaching himself to the hand wrapped around his buddy.
Dragon roared and bent down, sinking his razor sharp fangs into his attacker. Bigger barked in pain and tightened his hold on dragon. Kirby inhaled more and flew up to bigger’s arm. He ran up the length, hammer out and prepared to strike. Bigger barely felt him when Kirby delivered a incredibly hard whack from his hammer. Roaring, bigger flinched back and released dragon. Kirby jumped away from the flailing limbs of bigger. He hoped dragon was okay—he hadn’t exactly fallen a short ways. Bigger crashed into the ground and rolled back onto his feet after a minute. Sulking, bigger turned tail and waddled away. Kirby giggled—he’d saved them! He landed back down on the ground and found dragon stuck in it.
Dragon groaned and pushed himself up. Kirby clapped and bounced around. Wow, suddenly, he was hungry! Well, maybe not suddenly. You couldn't exactly ‘get’ hungry when you were Kirby. He glanced around and decided to eat some of whatever was around him. A moment later, a small swath of trees was cleared out, eaten by Kirby and his insatiable appetite. Dragon glanced up and sighed. He turned around, then stopped as Kirby appeared in front of him. The glowing blue eyes gazed up at him. Dragon hesitated, then patted Kirby on the head. Kirby gasped, grinning. He bounced around, doing a happy dance all around dragon—who already seemed annoyed again. Kirby hopped back onto dragon’s spiky shell—though he avoided the spikes. They continued on their way, dragon stomping through undergrowth and Kirby devouring pretty much whatever looked tasty. Of course, they didn't seem to be getting anywhere in their endeavors, but at least dragon didn't totally hate Kirby anymore. It seemed saving dragon was his ticket to salvation. Kirby laughed, taking hold of dragon’s horns. Dragon grunted as Kirby pulled himself onto his head right between them. Kirby waited for dragon to growl, but he didn't get one. Kirby smiled.
Author's Note
Birthday update! My birthday, anyways.
I like Kirby's point of view.
