Sasha's Story

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Interlude - Espeon
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

To understand shiny pokémon, you first have to understand the mechanics behind their birth. Breeders have determined that a pokémon has a one in one thousand six hundred and thirty eight chance to be born a shiny pokémon. It’s not a solid estimate, as there are several other factors in effect, and going over all of them would amount to at least a three-volume set.

Given the sheer number of pokémon in any given area at any given time, this may not seem like that much of an issue, but pokémon live in communities much like humans do, with pokémon acting under their own rules. They live in a harsh world, where pokémon kill each other just to survive. There are pokémon who prey on others just because they’re stronger; others who do so because they don’t know any other way, and still others who hate everything around them and want it all to go away. Being different makes you a target.

“Sasha! Where are you?” The voice echoed across the valley where the small community of pokémon lived. The speaker was an irate-looking Glaceon, who scanned the area for the missing Eevee. “Honestly…” she grumbled to herself, before turning and trotting back towards where she kept her den. She knew her daughter wouldn’t wander far; the forest was safe enough, for humans rarely lingered on their way to the next town, but they seemed to have a strange fascination with Sasha’s unique coloration.

Glaceon wasn’t Sasha’s real mother, and every pokémon in the small community knew it. Yet she was the only one who had taken in the small Eevee who had staggered into the area with an Espeon a little over two years ago.

Not far from where the Glaceon vanished, a few leaves drifted down from a disturbance in the branches. A white-furred head poked its head out of a leafy bough and pricked its ears. Shaking her head to dislodge a few leaf buds, she slowly began to climb down the tree.

For my species, usually classified as “Eevee”, I wasn’t anything spectacular in terms of stat allotment, nature or characteristic. Like every pokémon, I have my own abilities: Adaptability, which boosted moves that matched my typing, and Run Away, which came in very handy escaping trainers that try to battle and catch me. Over my thirteen years of existence, I have been caught only twice, but both of the trainers seemed to understand that I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, be controlled and had released me. The red-eyed one with the red and white jacket had caught me to keep me from dying on the mountaintop where he apparently lived; after nursing me back to health, he had released me at the base of the mountain near the Johto border. The gold-eyed trainer with the black and gold hat had caught me to protect me from a gang of pokémon thieves that had been terrorizing his region, and after he had dealt with them, he had released me.

While neither trainer had been able to understand me, both had been able to sense my discomfort around humans and had given me the space I needed and hadn’t bothered me again. Meanwhile, every Breeder who saw me seemed determined to use and abuse me. I still have nightmares about the one Breeder who had planned to have me mate with every one of his own Eeveelutions until he had a shiny version of each.

I shook my head to clear the memories, and as I did, my paw slipped and I plummeted from the tree with a shriek. Before I hit the ground, I was enveloped by a light blue aura. Panting, I blinked and looked around before I saw the familiar lavender face of Espeon, who was shaking his head.

“Little one, you are not a bird-type, so why are you nesting in the trees?” he asked, his voice a curious blend of accents that I found appealing. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say I had a crush on him, even if he was nearly five times my age. Pokémon aged gracefully; looking at one, you’d never be able to tell how old they were unless they told you. They were not immortal by any means, although some pokémon were spectacularly long-lived.

I had met him after a truly dark chapter in my life, where he and a strange green-haired trainer who could talk to pokémon had saved my life. The trainer had known of a small pokémon community nearby that he knew could shelter us and had guided us there, and Espeon and I had staggered in nearly dead on our paws.

I felt my cheeks redden and I averted my gaze, but he spun me telekinetically to make me look at him. I glared at him and he simply arched an eyebrow. “Well, little bird?” he asked, humor coloring his tone. I muttered something under my breath. His expression softened and his voice dropped slightly. “Are you worried the stones will reject you?” Espeon asked. I flinched and cursed myself for it.

Espeon let me down and I smoothed my ruffled fur. Taking a breath, I nodded curtly. “Yes, I am worried about the stones. From what I hear, there’s never been an Eevee like me at an Awakening.”

An Awakening was an ancient tradition among various pokémon, usually found within colonies made of up pokémon that evolved when exposed to energies from special stones. It was considered the highest point of a young pokémon’s life and afterword they generally found a mate and lived out the rest of their days within the colony.

“You do realize that not every Eevee is destined to evolve, correct? Look at me; I evolved during the day, no special rock required.” Espeon said with a slightly amused grin. I peered at him curiously. “How did that work, exactly?” Espeon smiled and made his way over to a patch of sun-lit grass. I followed him and blinked as he laid down and gestured for me to do the same. Hesitantly, I nestled next to him, trying not to dwell on the fact our coats were touching.

“It’s not really an interesting story,” Espeon said, shaking his head. “I simply lay down in a warm sunny spot to take a nap and when I woke up, I was an Espeon. No one was around to see it happen, they were all rather surprised to see me though, and a few thought I was a Ditto or a Mew,” he said, shaking his head. “My own theory as to why I evolved was that I was happy with what I had in life at that moment. I had a mate, I had a safe place to live…what else did I need?” He turned to look down at me. “This world is a cruel place,” he said simply, before gently nuzzling my forehead. “Are you feeling alright? You seem rather flushed.” I could hear the teasing tone in his voice.

Oh sweet Arceus; he knows…

I nodded and smiled awkwardly at him. “I’m fine…” I said softly. “What happened to your mate?”

I slapped my paws over my mouth in horror and Espeon looked surprised. “Oh, I still haven’t told you, even after all these years?”” Espeon mused. Beside him, I was doing my best Squirtle impression by trying to suck myself into my neck fluff and failing miserably.

“Not for many years; I laid my Leafeon to rest years ago; a few months before your birth, I think,” Espeon said softly. “No one understood my grief…”

Relationships between pokémon were rarely long-lived. Usually a couple stayed together to raise a few offspring, but more often than not, they separate after a few years and find new partners. Some pokémon trainers, usually breeders and a few scientists who are interested in the field of pokémon behaviour theorized this was why there were so many pokémon all over the world. Contrary to popular belief, even Legendary pokémon raised families of their own. There were stories of some Legendary pokémon taking regular pokémon as mates; even if they would never produce offspring. Love knew no limits, it couldn’t be contained, and if a Rayquaza wants to be your mate, saying no isn’t really an option.

“’Let her go’, they said…’find another’” Espeon snorted softly. “No, I couldn’t do that to her memory.” He looked at me with a strange expression. “And then you were born,” he murmured.

I tilted my head and looked up at him. “An outcast among your own kind, much like how I was; much like how she was,” he chuckled and ruffled my head with a paw. “But no matter what happens, you are still your own pokémon, nothing is going to change that.”

“The looks and whispers still hurt though,” I said with a tired sigh, resting my head on my paws as I leaned into Espeon’s warm coat. I felt a rumble course through him and I wondered if he was trying not to laugh.

“They’re jealous, little one,” he said. I frowned as I watched a group of Pidgey squabble with a few Fletchlings over food. Espeon seemed to understand my confusion and he went on. “Yes, they’re jealous that they don’t stand out. Look at any group of pokémon, most of the time they all share the same coloration; maybe one is slightly taller than another, maybe one has longer claws, but in the end, they still don’t stand out in a group,” Espeon said as his tail curled around me. I batted at the twin prongs and I heard him purr in amusement.

“As much as I’d love to continue this conversation, you have an Awakening to attend,” he said as he got to his paws. Sighing, I got to mine and stretched. I gazed up at the sky as it slowly turned a deep shade of orange as the sun started to go down.

I followed Espeon as we wound our way deeper into the forest. All around me, I could hear the sounds of other pokémon making their way to their homes for the evening. They didn’t care about an Awakening, it was mainly reserved for pokémon who evolved via stones. That, and most pokémon weren’t very bright.

Pokémon aren’t born able to battle, or even talk; that comes later, usually from their parents. Yet there were trainers who found an egg, cared for it until it hatched, then immediately start battling with it. This led to a very intense case where eventually there was a law passed that no pokémon under the age of two years could battle. Younger pokémon were usually given to schools so that the kids there could grow and learn alongside the pokémon.

Among pokémon, intelligence varied. Many water and bug types weren’t as aware of their surroundings as other pokémon. Popular examples were Magikarp and the Caterpie and Weedle families, although their evolutions were greatly desired by some. It was a strange concept to think about. Some Pokémon Researchers had put forth the theory that pokémon caught by humans were smarter than their wild counterparts, which was somewhat true.

All I knew was that while I wasn’t the smartest Eevee, I was unique in my own way. Pushing the thoughts away, I turned my attention forward as we entered the colony.

For years, researchers have been mystified over the concept of pokémon colonies. A group of pokémon living together in a single area without much conflict seemed to sit wrong with many people, who seemed to view pokémon as wild beasts with no other needs other than eating, sleeping and breeding. We laughed at them.

Pokémon could live peacefully with each other; an Arcanine would protect a Gogoat instead of ripping it to pieces. A Gyarados would offer rides across bodies of water if there wasn’t a Lapras in the area. We are not savages, even if there are pokémon among us who seem to exist solely for the purpose of making other pokémon’s lives miserable.

Espeon weaved through the makeshift paths as we made our way to an old hollow tree. I felt a pair of eyes on me and I paused to look back.

An Absol was sitting by the entrance to a shelter, looking at me. What really made me pause, however, was the fact that they looked nothing like I had ever seen before. The sclera was a solid black, whereas the eye itself was a simple white orb. I was somewhat reminded of Espeon, whose eyes didn’t have pupils. I saw it narrow them thoughtfully before it turned and disappeared into the grass. With a shiver, I hurried after Espeon, who was waiting by the entrance to the old tree.

He was staring after the Absol thoughtfully, but turned his eyes to me as I approached. “Well, it’s time to see what you’ll become; best of luck to you, little one.” He nuzzled my forehead lightly before brushing past me and going after the Absol. I put them out of my mind and turned my attention to the old tree.

It was by far the largest and oldest living thing in the forest, towering over everything around it. No pokémon made their homes in its branches; no pokémon ever went near it unless it was absolutely necessary. The tree just felt creepy. As if it was alive, silently guarding all of us.

I felt a ripple of unease wash over me and I entered the tree.

It was pitch black inside the tree, the only light coming from a series of stones set into the walls at regular intervals in the large room. They glowed with their own inner light. These were evolutionary stones, strange stones that emitted a curious strain of radiation that induced evolution in a pokémon. While the number of pokémon that could evolve via them was few, they were surprisingly common, found in caves and deserts.

It was said they came from space, although there still wasn’t a real explanation why they induced change in specific types of pokémon.

All I knew was that these stones would decide what I would be. I stopped in the center of the room and slowly looked over the stones. It was said that the stone that chose you would glow brighter than the rest, but I couldn’t see a difference in glow among them.

Do you understand what you’re here for?

The voice thundered in my mind, making me jump, yet I couldn’t make a sound. I felt a strange pressure around my throat and all I could do was mewl softly.

Espeon was right about you; you are special. You do not need these rocks to tell you what your future will be.

I looked around the room with my eyes; my entire body seemed to have frozen and wouldn’t obey my thoughts, which were screaming for me to move, to get away from this place as fast as I could.

What is it that you are looking for? Answers? Those will come in time. Right now, there is something you need to know.

The air around me seemed to get heavier and I staggered as I felt a weight fall on me, yet I couldn’t feel anything solid on me.

You woke something up; an ancient evil, something even I have not seen in billions of years, and that’s something, coming from me.

Who was this pokémon? What was this evil? How could I have awoken it? I blinked in confusion as I felt the weight disappear from me and I gasped as my paws gave out. I collapsed, my vision flickering.

It is not much, but I do have a gift for you; make what use of it you can.

I felt my body warm, then cool, and then warm again. Seven times, I felt the strange temperature fluctuation and finally I simply laid there in the dark.

Dark?

Something clicked in my mind.

The glow from the evolution stones was gone. Adrenaline shot me to my paws. Sure enough, the glow from the stones was gone. I looked around desperately for the exit. “Help!” I screamed.

The interior of the tree suddenly flared with light. I fell back with a startled yelp, shielding my eyes from the flare of light.

“Sasha?” asked a voice. I pricked my ears.

“Espeon?” I called warily. I felt someone beside me, helping me to my paws, guiding me as I stumbled forward. I lifted my head and looked around. What seemed like every pokémon in the colony was standing before me, eyes wide.

“Where are the stones?!” a voice behind me cried out. I turned my head to look over my shoulder to see a Flareon glaring at me. I shook my head. Before I could speak, Espeon spoke up.

“She doesn’t have them, I’ve already searched her, she’s not carrying them.” The Flareon looked confused. “But…how will we evolve our children?”

I heard Espeon sigh in exasperation. “Get new ones? They are a dime a dozen in any cave, and there’s plenty of caves in the surrounding mountains. Failing that, you could always ask Delibird or Pelipper to deliver some.”

The Flareon shrank back from Espeon’s words. “Ri-right…” he muttered.

Espeon sighed and shook his head. He draped his tail over my back and guided me through the crowd. “Come on, little bird, we need to talk.”

I followed him, my head and tail low, my thoughts whirling. Before I could pin down a thought and examine it, however, Espeon stopped. I looked up to see the same Absol from earlier standing before us, again, with its eyes looking at me thoughtfully.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive,” the Absol said, its voice definitely masculine. Espeon flicked his tail lightly and I stepped away from him.

“I can say the same for you,” Espeon replied, his voice neutral. “What is your business here?” The Absol nodded at me.

“Probably the same as yours with that one.” I glanced between the two male pokémon curiously. Espeon seemed agitated while Absol remained calm, looking at me with interest.

“Fine; whatever’s happening, I sense you’re going to be part of it whether we want you or not,” Espeon said with a sigh. He resumed walking and Absol took a place on his left, opposite mine. I had a feeling that, while he was no threat to me or Espeon, he would be deadly in a confrontation should one arise.

The three of us finally arrived at Espeon’s small isolated grove and we entered the small clearing. Espeon made his way over to one pile of grass and flopped down onto it, lying on his back as he ran a paw over his face with a heavy sigh.

Absol took a seat off to the side and simply waited. I wasn’t sure what to do and looked down at my paws.

“Well, Sasha? What happened in there?” Espeon finally said. I raised my head to look at him, but he wasn’t looking at me.

“I entered the tree, but none of the stones reacted to me,” I said slowly as I replayed the events in my mind.

I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and I glanced over to see a flicker of surprise dart over Absol’s face before it regained its neutral composure.

“So none of the stones reacted…?” Espeon said thoughtfully. “Not even the Moon and Sun shards?”

The Sun and Moon shards were an interesting anomaly. They didn’t induce evolution directly, but holding them would allow an Eevee to be able to evolve into an Espeon or Umbreon with the Sun and Moon shards respectively.

Many pokémon wondered why the Sun and Moon stones didn’t have the same effect.

“Thunder, Fire, Water, Moss, Ice…none of them,” I said softly.

It isn’t much, but I do have a gift for you; make what use of it you can.

I shivered, then sneezed, and a gout of fire erupted from my mouth, little more than a flame. I stared at the small patch of burning grass in surprise before another shiver rolled over me. This time, water shot from my mouth, extinguishing the fire. Another shiver; I spat out a bolt of lightning.

Shiver-a patch of ice.

Shiver-a beam of weak sunlight.

I stared at Espeon and Absol in confusion, and the expressions on their faces mirrored my own.

“No, the stones didn’t react to you, but…” Espeon’s tone was thoughtful.

“She absorbed the power of the stones,” Absol murmured. “Dangerous for a single pokémon to have that kind of power,” His tone grew dark. “Ember, bubble, thunder shock, icy wind, solar beam…” he shook his head. “With time and practice, they’ll grow in power, but will she be able to control them?”

No, she will not.

I flinched as the voice sounded in my head, and judging by the way Espeon and Absol’s ears flicked, they also heard it.

Not as she is now. Eventually, the elements will kill her, but I’m sure she’ll find a way to adapt to them; it’s what Eevee are known for, after all.

“Thanks for making me feel better,” I growled. “Who are you?”

Who do you want me to be?

“I don’t suppose normal is out of the question?” I asked lightly.

“I can do normal,” the voice said, and suddenly there was an Eevee sitting beside me. Yet it looked nothing like any Eevee I had ever seen before.

This Eevee was white, like I was, but its neck fur, tail tip, and paws were a pure shining gold. Its eyes were red, with a green sclera and I heard Espeon draw in a sharp breath.

“Arceus…”

I stared at the strange Eevee who stared back. It then reached out with a paw and touched my nose.

“Boop!”

With a snort, I arched my head back and the Eevee sighed, dropping its paw.

“Come on now, can’t you lighten up? I swear, every pokémon I give a gift to is all dark and mopey,” the Eevee said grumpily. I flicked my eyes at Espeon, who looked bemused by the arrival of the Creator of the world and Absol was as inscrutable as always.

“We’re just wondering why you gave this…gift…to Sasha if it could kill her,” Espeon said carefully, resting his paws before him, one draped over the other in a rather feminine gesture.

Arceus glanced at Absol, who met the look evenly, yet I could see the faintest of tremors running over the Absol’s body. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or scared by the proximity of Arceus.

I dismissed it as unimportant and turned my eyes to what was essentially our God given form. “You mentioned an ancient evil?” I saw Arceus narrow its eyes and it let out a soft hiss.

“Yes…something I made to balance out the good in the world…”

“You made it!?” Absol shot to its paws, eyes wide with disbelief. “You made something so evil that every time it so much as stirs, it cripples every Absol?” Three pairs of eyes turned to face the outburst, two with raised eyebrows.

“You are its harbingers, yes,” Arceus replied calmly. “Yet I see even that has failed; while people heed your disaster-sense, they never take it seriously. You aren’t very popular, correct?”

I had heard many stories about Absols. They were not very common, usually found in areas where disasters, both natural and man-made, originated. The only area off the top of my head I knew Absols to live was the Giant Chasm in Unova, where Kyurem used to dwell.

They could sense danger with their horns, and it drove them wild with a need to spread the word that a disaster was approaching. Unfortunately, most of the human race couldn’t understand them and simply ignored them until they were wiped out by the earthquake, or volcano, or whatever had triggered the response.

Yet an evil existed that was so potent that its mere stirring was enough to nearly kill them? I shook my head and asked in a small voice:

“What does this have to do with me, though?” Once again, all the attention in the room settled on me and I shrank into my fur.

“I am not really sure,” Arceus replied after a moment of quiet. “Your birth…accelerated its cycle. It wasn’t supposed to awaken for…trillions of years.”

“What is it?” Espeon asked. “This evil, that is.” Arceus shook its head.

“It has no given name; it’s hard to describe…it has no shape, no form, nothing we can see, but it’s there regardless of what we do. Our everyday actions shape it, some make it grow, others make it shrink. Still others fuel it while others weaken it.”

“Then why can’t you just tell everyone to do the things that weaken it?” Espeon asked.

Arceus smiled sadly. “I could do that, but there are those that wouldn’t listen, others that would do the opposite just because they could, and still others that want everything to end.”

“But what is my role in all this?” I asked. Arceus gazed at me with its old eyes and I again felt the same pressure from earlier surround me.

“Simply put…you’re a trigger. When all’s said and done, you will decide the fate of the world.”

I stared at Arceus in disbelief. “And why would I want the world to suffer?”

“Because your darkness would convince you that it was for the best,” Espeon said quietly. I blinked in confusion.

“Two years ago,” Espeon said simply and I felt my blood run cold. I had very nearly been killed by a pack of Houndoom, but first they had played with me in many unspeakable ways. Only after they had broken me, had they nearly burned me alive. IIt had been by the extreme lucky intervention by a green-haired trainer, his dragon pokemon and Espeon that I hadn’t died.

Even as the memories swirled in my mind, I felt a darkness there. It whispered to me, telling me insidious lies that I knew to be lies, yet they were still so very tempting-

“Sasha!”

With a start, I wrenched myself out of the darkness and found myself shivering again.

I felt a wetness on my cheeks and I lifted a paw to brush away the tears that had formed.

“What can I do?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“Leave,” Arceus said. Espeon frowned. “And where would she go?” Arceus looked down at its paws.

“There is a land…far from here - another dimension entirely, actually - where she could go. The…” here, Arceus paused for a moment before frowning. “I really should have named it, because calling it “The Evil” sounds really boring.”

“The Bittercold, perhaps?” Absol said innocently.

“Emotion given form without form; that could work,” Arceus said absently. “If Sasha leaves, I think the Bittercold would follow her. It knows it needs her. She’d be safer there.”

“And where is 'there', exactly?” Espeon asked. Arceus smiled slightly. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“A land of magical, colorful, talking ponies,” Arceus replied with a straight face. I stared at him in disbelief.

“You want to send her to Equestria?” Espeon asked, his voice mirroring my thoughts in terms of amazement.

Arceus seemed impressed. “You’ve heard of it?”

“Studied it back in the day, but I thought all portals to it had been closed,” Espeon replied.

“You forget who my children are,” Arceus pointed out.

“Dialga, Palkia and Giratina; time, space and antimatter…ah,” Absol said, perking up. “They could open a portal easily enough.”

I blinked, my head reeling. Why was it always this way? I never had a choice in my life; everything was decided for me. Again, I felt the darkness stir in my mind.

Wouldn’t it be easier if they weren’t here? With a single thought, you’d be in charge of your own life again, never have to answer to anyone again…

I felt something strike my face and I let out a yelp of pain, and then nearly choked as a torrent of bubbles exploded out of my mouth. I gasped in large lungful’s of air and looked to see Espeon sporting a ridiculous bubble beard. Without meaning to, I burst into giggles.

“You spaced out again, and, might I add, you were glowing black,” Absol said, a grin on his own muzzle. I stopped giggling.

“Glowing?” I asked.

“Covered in shadow,” Absol said as his eyes ran over my body. “Your eyes were a really creepy yellow as well.”

I rubbed my face with a paw nervously. “So, if I leave, the Bittercold will follow me? But wouldn’t that put the residents of…Equat…Equis…that other place in trouble as well?”

“Yes and no,” Arceus replied. “They’re no stranger to weird dangers, and they’ve had a remarkable record of dealing with dangers relating to emotions. It’s a very peaceful place. Back in the day, many troubled pokémon have gone there and came back feeling a lot better.” It shook its head. “That was long ago and I doubt any there even remember what a pokémon is.”

I turned the idea over in my mind thoughtfully, examining it carefully. It seemed like the best course of action, but…

“Would I be going alone?” I asked, looking at Espeon. He looked away and Arceus spoke.

“Yes, you would.”

I bit my lip and started thinking. If I left, I could draw away the Bittercold and save this world…but I would be taken away from Espeon. I wished I had other friends, but I felt that that would’ve made it even harder to decide. Again the darkness stirred within me, but it was easier to ignore, which I found rather surprising.

I took a breath and nodded. “Very well, I will leave for Equestria,” I said softly. I heard Espeon hiss softly and I turned to look at him with a smile. “Thank you…for everything…” I didn’t know what else to say and I hugged him.

“Excellent, you will leave at once,” Arceus said, and without warning, I was suddenly sucked into a dimensional hole. I tried to scream in terror, yet before I could do so, a giant blue and silver colored pokémon caught me on its broad back.

“Ah, so here’s the little one who father has tasked me with babysitting for the journey,” it said in an oddly cheerful voice that seemed downright wrong coming from what I assumed was Dialga. “Come on, then; might as well get comfortable, it’ll be a while before we arrive, so you might as well get some rest.”

Back in Espeon’s clearing, Espeon was enraged. “What did you do?!” he growled at Arceus. “You could have prepared her or something!”

Arceus looked at him calmly. “I could have, but she’s going to have a lot of shocks coming up, might as well give her a big one to help make her immune to them. Besides, who’s going to tell her mother?”

“One, two, three, not it!” Absol said quickly before beating a hasty retreat. Espeon watched him go with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

“Espeon.”

The tone of Arceus’ voice caused Espeon to look at it curiously.

“You said you studied Equestria; may I ask how?”

Espeon smiled slightly. “You ever hear of Magnagates?” A flicker of surprise crossed over Arceus’ face. “I used them to view a lot of worlds…yet none of them were as beautiful as Equestria,” Espeon said softly. “I could have told her about it, but I never really had a chance to bring it up.”

Arceus nodded and got to its paws.

“Will she be able to return?” Espeon asked, making Arceus pause as it looked at the old pokémon.

“That decision rests with Sasha,” Arceus replied, its voice soft. “You really care for her, don’t you?”

Espeon didn’t say anything, but his silence was enough for Arceus to understand.

“She’ll be safer there. I give you my word.”

Espeon snorted. “Doesn’t matter where she goes; she’s different, and being different makes you a target,” he said. “But I know you wouldn’t send her to a place that you knew was dangerous; for that…thank you.”

Arceus nodded and vanished in a blaze of light.

Author's Note

Well, we'll see how this goes

Enjoy, don't, doesn't matter to me; I just write things

Chapter 2

What are legendary pokémon?

They are the pokémon who created the world, shaped the world, and keep it all in balance. Some watch over humans, others watch over pokémon and even more watch over the land, air and seas.

Over the years, many groups of people had tried to claim their power for their own. A group of scientists found some of Mew’s DNA in a far-off rainforest, and tried to make their own legendary pokémon that they could control.

Most of them were killed by their creation; only two known survivors of that experiment still lived; one was a gym leader, the other ran a home for abandoned pokémon.

A man once tried to harness the power of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, the wandering elemental legendary birds that primarily lived in Kanto, but had been seen in both Sinnoh and Kalos, with catastrophic results.

Team Plasma, based in Unova, had tried to harness the power of their legendary pokémon to bring order to their region. They had been thwarted. A few years later, they had tried again, this time using Kyurem to try and freeze the region, which would have killed millions. They had also resurrected a fossil and given it powerful augmentations to boost its lethalness, but their king, who could not stand to see any kind of pokémon abused in such a manner, had supposedly scrapped the project.

In the tropical region of Hoenn, two radical environmentalist groups had tried to expand the sea and landmass, which would have killed many people due to the wildly fluctuating weather patterns that would have emerged.

They kept deluding themselves with pretty words, selfish reasoning, and excuses.

"It's over... Fools with no vision will continue to befoul this beautiful world. They will go on until the only thing left to do is squabble over the remaining scraps of hope..."

"Why should I run and hide from the world and have to wait quietly? My aim is to rid our world of the vague and incomplete thing we call spirit. By freeing ourselves of that, our world can be made complete. That is my justice! No one can interfere!"

"We invite you to join us! We all want to create a new world where people and Pokémon are both free! Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you now... Please, release your Pokémon. And so I end my plea to you today. Thank you one and all for your attention."

Legendary pokémon could not; would not, be controlled. There was no one who could control the power they wielded.

Teams of Regigigas had pulled continents; Lugia watched over the seas; Groudon had expanded the land, which allowed humans to spread out; Kyogre had created the vast beautiful oceans while Rayquaza flew through the upper Ozone layer, keeping it intact. (It was also said that its arrival was heralded by scores of trumpets, but the reliability of such boasts are shady at best.)

All over the world, they kept the balance of nature. Regions were founded around them; some people worshipped them, others raged at them.

Were it not for Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit, the world as everyone knows it would never have existed. Could not have existed.

Seven pokémon were responsible for creating the world and giving us the ability to learn, grow and feel.

Many people and pokémon lived on without knowing that simple fact.

Riding on a legendary pokémon is a very strange experience. Maybe it was the fact we weren’t exactly traveling through conventional methods, or maybe some other reason I wasn’t smart enough to figure out, but I felt rather calm and at peace as I slept on Dialga’s back.

There were plenty of perks in being less than two feet tall, the one I enjoyed the most was that it allowed me to squeeze into small hiding spaces, away from prying eyes. But, being small had its own drawbacks.

Smaller pokémon were naturally weaker than larger pokémon, whether by evolution or by design, and as such, they were targets.

Being small and unique? Double the reason to target. All my life, no matter where I went, I was a target. Whether it be trainers seeking to add me to their collection – I remembered one such collector who collected the dead bodies of bug pokémon and kept them on display had wanted to branch out into other fields and had planned on making me his newest addition – or pokémon lashing out at anything they didn’t understand, I was singled out.

I wasn’t the only one by any stretch of the imagination; I knew that other pokémon like me existed all over the world and suffered as much as I did, if not more, but all the repeated attempts to control me left me with a hard shell around my heart.

I rarely opened up to pokémon; Espeon was the only one I could talk to normally, whereas with anyone else, I tried to go out of my way to avoid them. The only human I had ever opened my heart to was one who had grown up surrounded by pokémon similar to me. He had the ability to read a pokémon’s heart and understand them. He later told me that his adoptive father had planned it that way from the start, using him much as a trainer uses a pokémon to further his or her own ends.

I dreamed.

I dreamed of darkness. My darkness. I wondered if every pokémon had their own Bittercold inside themselves, which lent power to the thing that threatened countless worlds. Seemed rather fitting, but at the same time…what would destroying the main Bittercold do to them? Was every pokémon (and even possibly humans?) linked to it?

I wondered what it would be like to live with a heart free of hatred.

I walked through the darkness as it whispered to me, promising me everything I could ever want. It promised me control. I wanted control, yes, but not at the expense of others.

All I had to do was…nothing. Don’t interfere, just find a nice cave to sit in and live alone while the world burns.

I saw glimpses of that possible future.

Pokémon pitted against pokémon; humans against humans, billions dead. I had a feeling that even the power of the legendary pokémon wouldn’t be enough to save them.

“You are correct.”

I didn’t jump, didn’t shriek at the unexpected voice, like I knew I should have.

What a strange feeling, knowing that surprises would be coming.

I turned to stare at a strange sight. It was a large pokémon, easily ten times my size, with several yellow-tipped spikes running down its long red and gray striped serpentine body, while phantasmal wings swayed in a breeze I couldn’t feel. But what really stood out about the pokémon was the large golden mask that covered its face that was larger than I was.

“Giratina,” I said. “What brings you to my thoughts?”

“Your darkness,” replied the Antimatter Pokémon. “I haven’t seen anything this potent since Cyrus tried to create a new universe. With his darkness, he captured both Dialga and Palkia. Not even the Lake Spirits could stop him.” The eyes bored into me and I felt as if it was analyzing me, sizing up whether or not I was a threat to the balance of the world, and if I was, what the best way to eliminate me would be.

Part of me wondered why I wasn’t terrified of dying.

Giratina flew around me slowly. “With your darkness…with your power…you could do things he could only dream of.” The ghost/dragon stopped in front of me and for some reason, I had the strangest sensation of being upside down; yet surrounded by darkness, I couldn’t really tell and regarded me curiously.

“Why don’t you?”

I hesitated before saying slowly, “I’m not sure; mostly because I don’t know what I would do if I could…” I shook my head and growled in frustration. “I’m not talented, I’m not even average; I’ve had to have others hold my paw throughout my life just to survive, and now your father has given me a gift that is slowly killing me!”

I could see the shadows writhing as they felt my emotions surge. Giratina simply looked at me curiously.

“You’re not the first pokémon he’s ‘blessed’ with the ability to use Fire, Water, Electric, Grass or Ice type moves at the same time. I daresay that, with practice, you could even use them beneficially.” His wings seemed to contort and then relaxed. “Everyone seeks power, whether they do it willingly or not is irrelevant.”

The golden mask moved closer to me. “The real question is this: would you want to use your power to help others? Or would you rather use it to forward yourself; give yourself the kind of power so great that none could stand against you; none would dare to stand against you lest they risk your wrath?”

I could feel my emotions swirling in a confused jumble inside of me. I felt sick and shook my head slowly.

“All I want is to be able to live without fear of being hunted…”

Giratina looked disappointed. “With that kind of mindset, you’re going to have a rough time adapting. I know your kind. Slow to change, but when they do, the results are spectacular,” it paused before adding on, in a somewhat thoughtful tone, “Most of the time, it often ends up with something exploding though.”

Giratina shifted its head and seemed to smile. “You might wanna wake up, you’ve arrived at your destination.”

I woke with a start and blinked in surprise. I was no longer on Dialga’s back. Instead, I appeared to be…

Underwater?

A torrent of bubbles escaped from my mouth as I thrashed wildly, trying to find up; to get away from drowning.

Any pokémon could learn to swim, but not many ever took the time to learn. I could swim; not very well, or for extended periods of time, but toss me into a body of water and I could get back out easily enough if I knew where ‘out’ was.

However, suddenly appearing underwater with no explanation robbed me of any common sense and all I could do was thrash futilely as my lungs burned.

I felt my paw breach the surface and I focused on that feeling, drawing my head out and taking a loud influx of sweet, sweet oxygen.

Oh, sweet lovely oxygen, I’ll never take you for granted again…

Free of the immediate danger of drowning, I looked around curiously. I appeared to be in…some kind of large fancy bathroom, or something. The water was warm, and I could smell several strange scents rising off of the surface.

The only thing I could compare it to was the Lavaridge Hot Springs in Hoenn, where I had been lucky enough to travel to for a few months.

Granted, having a volcano towering over the place didn’t really make me feel safe, but the luxuries of Hoenn easily outweighed the dangers.

“~~Ohw era uoy?~~”

The strange female voice sounded behind me. I whirled, briefly forgetting to keep my paws moving, and I went under the warm scented water again. Now that I knew where the surface was, I didn’t panic and merely pushed myself up again.

A golden glow surrounded me, in a fashion similar to the way Espeon had caught me with his telekinesis, but unlike Espeon’s field, which conformed to the object he used it on, not wasting an ounce of excess energy, this was pulsing and shifting constantly. I could feel the amount of wasted energy in the technique and it made me frown as I was pulled from the water.

I shook myself, sending droplets everywhere and I heard what sounded like a soft laugh. I looked back into the water to see a very strange sight.

The first thing that popped into my mind was: Why does a Rapidash have wings and a tri-colored mane?

Which, I noticed, was moving in a fashion similar to Giratina’s wings; constantly in motion, yet again I felt no breeze.

“~~Woh did uoy teg ni ereh?~~”

I frowned at her, shaking my head. She (at least, I assumed it was a she, since she lacked a sheath that most male pokémon had) looked at me for a moment, her expression thoughtful.

I took that moment to look at her closely.

While overall she resembled a horse, there were several subtle differences that made it clear she was nothing of the kind. Her eyes were much more expressive - a very pretty lilac – and she clearly held some kind of authority.

It radiated from her like a flame. I had a feeling that most wouldn’t be able to see it, but she glowed with power. It wasn’t blinding, but I had a feeling that she held enormous amounts of energy, which explained why her field was so unstable.

“~~Ha…uoy nac’t dnatsrednu em, nac uoy?~~” she asked. I wondered how we would be able to get past the language barrier, but her horn suddenly glowed again.

I went very still as it enveloped my head. I could feel the texture of her telekinesis and as it moved over my fur, I felt an odd feeling wash over me. It wasn’t quite fear; I knew she meant me no harm, but if I made any move she considered threatening, I had no doubt that she could turn me into paste. The feeling was more resignation. Something in my mind suddenly clicked and I staggered as her hold on me vanished, nearly taking another dive into the scented bath.

A look of surprise flicked over her face and I saw her eyes narrow curiously. As I shook my head, trying to get the feel of her touch off me – I wasn’t really sure why, but her psychic technique felt far less refined than I was used to – unless she wasn’t a pure psychic-type? Did they even have types here? I mentally labeled her as a fairy/psychic type for now and I sighed in frustration.

“I’m not from here, but I came here to save my world from some kind of monster made from emotions,” I intoned. Even to me, my words sounded foreign. Again, a look of curiosity passed over the mare’s face as she slowly made her way to the edge of the bath and got out, levitating a towel over to her to dry herself off. Another towel was unceremoniously dropped on me and I dried myself as well.

Once we were both dry, the mare motioned to me to follow her. As she turned, I caught sight of a curious mark on her flank. (Which I noticed with some amusement was rather plump, but not overly so; clearly, she had a sweet tooth, but ate it sparingly enough to keep a rather pleasing figure…) I stomped that thought into dust before it could go any further and focused on the symbol. It was a large sun, with several tongues of flame curling off it. I had a feeling that held some significance, but I didn’t really have enough material or knowledge about this place to even begin to theorize.

In terms of height, she easily towered over me; I barely came up to her knees and I carefully avoided walking directly behind her. I had a feeling she wouldn’t casually drop a load, but I had a rather vivid memory of getting kicked into a pile of Ponyta manure by a rather irate example of that species and I wasn’t keen on repeating that experience.

I had a feeling that these ponies were as smart, or smarter, than humans. Seeing as how Arceus had described Equestria (I only now noticed the pun of the name) as a land of colorful ponies, it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine them as being one of the dominant species that lived here.

As we walked through some very elaborately constructed halls, I began to look around. Every now and again, I caught sight of a pony. Like the one I was following, they had a mark on their flank as well as a rather vivid coloration in terms of mane and tail styles.

Eventually, the décor started to change. Gold turned to silver, ivory to ebony, sun to moon – it felt like I was travelling into a realm of night – and we stopped outside a large set of ornate black doors inlaid with fanciful silver designs that I found rather hypnotic.

“~~Anul, thgim I elbuort uoy rof a tnemom?~~” the sun-flanked mare called out. Without a word, the doors opened smoothly and we entered into a set of rooms that I found rather comfy, despite the lack of light.

I loved the night. It was quiet, peaceful, and all-around beautiful, especially on a clear night. One of my favorite activities was star-gazing and I had a rather fond experience that involved a Lunatone and a Solrock who had given me one of the most interesting astronomy lessons I had ever received.

What irritated me to no end was that everyone who knew that story always assumed it had turned into some kind of threesome. Espeon had been no exception and it had taken him a good ten minutes to get every lewd rock-related sex joke out. As a result for scarring me for life, I hadn’t spoken to him when he asked what they had taught me about the night sky.

The rooms seemed to sparkle, and, looking closer, I saw that the walls were inlaid with thousands of tiny gemstones. I had a feeling they represented the night sky, but I couldn’t see any familiar patterns among them. Given that I was apparently in another dimension completely, that didn’t really surprise me.

Standing at the center of this was a dark blue mare. Like the mare I was following, she had horns and wings, and her mane and tail were reminiscent of a flowing field of stars. Her blue eyes were bright and alert as she looked at us. Apparently she had been reading, as several books surrounded her, each open to different pages, but from this angle, I couldn’t tell what they were, and I doubted I’d be able to understand them if I could.

“~~Tahw ni Rats-Lriws’s eman si taht gniht?~~” she asked the white mare. Her tone, while not overly hostile, was rather disdainful.

“~~I dehsif ti tuo fo ym htab, eveileb ti ro ton. I tlef a yrev lufrewop laiceps noitrotsid sa llew, os I’m gnisseug taht…gnihtemos…deppord ti ffo rof emos nosaer~~,” the white one replied, turning her head to look at me. “~~Dna…rof emos nosaer, ym cigam nseod’t tceffa ti. I nac dloh ti ylisae hguone, tub nehw I deirt ot esu ti os I dluoc ekam ti dnatsrednu su, gnihtemos tuhs ffo eht noitcennoc dna dekcik ti tuo fo ym dleif.~~”

A look of surprise flashed over the darker-colored pony’s face. “~~Woh si taht elbissop…ti’s ylraen elbissopmi ot reves a noitcennoc, dna yb gnihtemos taht nseod’t evah ssecca ot cigam?~~” That earned her an odd look from the white mare, but she didn’t say anything. “~~Yhw gnirb ti ot em hguoht? Yhw ton tsuj esaeler ti otni Liatetihw Sdoow, ro eht Eerfreve Tserof?~~”

I had a feeling I was missing out on a very important discussion, yet clearly they had some interest in me, even if the dark one wasn’t overly enthused about it.

“~~I saw gnipoh uoy’d eb elba ot etacinummoc ot ti ni a maerd, ro gnihtemos.~~”

I saw a dawning comprehension wash over the darker mare’s face and she turned to look at me with a very interesting look; one that promised some form of pain in the next few moments.

“~~Sey…taht thgim krow; revewoh, ti lliw deen ot eb peelsa rof taht ot krow…~~”

I had no time to react as something cracked against the back of my skull and I fell into darkness.

I woke up to find myself under a tree on a grassy hill. With a groan, I got to my paws, my head aching terribly.

“Forgive the rough treatment, I wasn’t sure how else to get you to sleep, since trying to do so with magic wouldn’t have worked.”

I turned my head to see the blue-coated mare beside me. She looked at me with an apologetic expression and I shook my head with a soft sigh.

“Don’t worry about it; this isn’t the first time I’ve been treated like this, and I doubt it’ll be the last.” I saw a look of worry cloud her features and when she spoke, her words were sympathetic.

“I can feel your thoughts; forgive me, but I also took a look at some of your memories…”

My eyes widened and I felt a searing anger stir in my breast. “How dare you…” I snarled. “You had no right to…”

And as quickly as it had come, the anger dissipated and I slumped, suddenly tired. “What’s the point…I’m sure you had your reasons for raping my mind. Already had it done to my body, so might as well finish it.”

A very ugly look crossed her face. “I’m sorry for your loss; what they did to you…nopony should have to go through that.”

I sighed softly and shook my head. “What’s done is done. I’ve come to terms with my lot in life. No matter where I go, I’ll always be a target.”

“Celestia said you appeared in her bath, care to elaborate?”

I was thankful for the change in topic and went over the reasons for my being in Equestria.

Luna listened carefully, her expression never changing as I explained about the Bittercold, although from her posture, I could tell she knew more about it than I did.

“Circles within circles within squares in triangles…” I murmured softly. Luna frowned at me. “What does that mean?”

I smiled slightly. “Words within words within lies in truth. You know something about the Bittercold, don’t you?”

Luna looked surprised and then she relaxed, much like how I had done. “I think you underestimate your own perceptiveness, little one.” I narrowed my eyes at the use of the same title Espeon called me and she tilted her head. “You are little to me, and I’m guessing you’re rather small for your kind as well?”

“I think we can continue this discussion at a later moment; I’m sure my sister would love to hear more about your world,” Luna said as she got to her hooves. “Sweet dreams, Sasha.”

Luna came to her senses and blinked as she re-oriented herself. Dream-diving wasn’t as easy as some ponies thought it was. Nightmares were very difficult to breach due to the ponies fear creating powerful barriers to keep it out, yet no barrier was ever perfect, and if a nightmare could penetrate it, so could Luna.

“How is she?”

Luna turned to see her sister lying comfortably on a pile of pillows, looking at the small bundle of white fur that was Sasha.

“Troubled…dangerous…unstable…with the sheer amount of elemental energy inside of her, she’s little more than a ticking time bomb,” Luna said grimly. “And with this ‘Bittercold’ on its way as well…” Luna sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sure this Arceus has its reasons for sending us Sasha, but whatever they are, I don’t see them.”

“This Bittercold sounds a lot like Nightmare Moon,” Celestia said thoughtfully. “Emotions given form? Nightmare was born out of your own emotions towards both me and my little ponies," Celestia paused before adding, "Discord was as well.”

Luna pricked her ears. “Discord? What does he have to do with anything?” Celestia arched an eyebrow. “You don’t remember how he was created?”

“I always thought it was because a Manticore got very frisky with a snake and a pony,” Luna deadpanned. Celestia snorted in amusement.

“No, he was born because ponies needed an excuse for everything wrong with the world. Once the name started to spread, imagination and magic created the rest,” Celestia said, ruffling her wings.

“So, what happens, then? We don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore, and we don’t know enough about this Rainbow Power that Twilight and her friends discovered to use it effectively…” Luna said, clearly disturbed by the notion. Celestia looked at Sasha thoughtfully.

“She’s a trigger. Whatever happens, the fate of the world rests in her paws, and there’s nothing we can really do about it. At the very least, we could send her to Ponyville. I think Twilight could help her harness her power, help her control it, which might be able to stop it from killing her,” Celestia said as she started penning a letter. “And I can think of nopony better to get her to open her heart and make some friends.”

Luna nodded. “You saw it too, then? Her heart is completely closed off…but…I don’t think it’s locked; not yet anyway, but if we’re not careful, we’ll lose her to the darkness in her heart and if that happens, we’re in trouble.”

Luna saw the expression on her sister’s face and spoke sharply. “And sending her to the moon isn’t going to help.”

With a blaze of golden fire, Celestia sent the letter and got to her hooves. “Let her sleep, tomorrow, we’ll send her to Twilight.”

I woke up feeling refreshed, which I found rather surprising. Usually I slept lightly, with an eye and ear open in case I needed to get away from whatever latest threat to my existence reared its ugly head.

Yet, for the first time in years, I woke up feeling safe and secure. The notion and possible repercussions disturbed me.

I was changing.

It wasn’t an evolution, but something about me had already changed. I could feel the gift that Arceus had given me eating its way through my body. It wasn’t painful, yet I knew I only had, at most, a few weeks before it consumed me.

Morbidly, I wondered how exactly it would kill me. Would I turn into a statue of ice? Burst into flames? Dissolve into water? Disperse into particles of light? I looked around, re-acclimating myself to my location before I got to my paws. Luna was nowhere to be found, and I didn’t trust my memory to be able to guide me back to Celestia’s bath. Given the sheer size of this place, I’d probably starve to death before making any real progress.

To distract myself from thoughts about dying, I wandered around the room, taking in all the strange sights. I saw a pair of doors leading out to a balcony and (after no small amount of pushing and swearing at the heavy doors) going outside, I took in the sight of a large opulent city nestled underneath the place. Even the railing towered over me, and I didn’t trust my balance enough to risk jumping up onto it. Instead, I peered between the rails supporting it. From my limited viewpoint, I could tell the structure I was in was hanging off the face of a mountain, overlooking the rather expensive-looking town below.

The laws of physics in this place was apparently as non-existent as they were in the Distortion World and while I had never been there, stories about it being a parallel to the pokémon world that kept everything in balance were common stories when one mentioned Giratina. I also found the concept of any mirrored surface being a portal that Giratina could look through rather interesting; if I ever had the opportunity, I’d have to test that theory.

I had a feeling the ponies that made it their home were about as prissy about their grandiose living as the citizens of some of the more grand cities in Kalos, Unova and Sinnoh. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be very happy if I took a stroll down among them.

“Quite a sight, isn’t it?” asked a voice behind me. I pulled my head back from the dizzying drop and turned to see Luna standing by the doors, eyeing them curiously, then she turned her gaze to me and smiled. “We’ve arranged a carriage to take you to Ponyville. A friend of ours there should be able to help with your elemental problem.”

That got my attention. Arceus had hinted that I could possibly be able to control and harness the energy in me, which would prevent it from killing me, and I was all too eager to jump at the chance of a continued life.

Luna stepped forward onto the balcony and knelt by me, raising her wings. “Hop onto my back; it’ll save us a good twenty minutes of walking if we fly.”

Hesitantly, I climbed onto her back. Once again thanking my small size, I was able to settle myself comfortably between her wings. She flapped them a few times then leaped into the air and flew.

It was a far cry from riding on Dialga. There was a lot more movement. Luna moved both her wings and her hooves as she spiraled downward, heading towards the base of what I now saw was a magnificent castle. She made minute adjustments to her flight with her wings, angling the feathers for best lift and drag, moving her hooves as if she was galloping on the air, which made for a rather comfortable flight, but it wasn’t something I’d want to do every day.

We landed gracefully next to a carriage pulled by two white-coated ponies with wings and golden armor. I fell with far less grace from Luna’s back as I tried to get my land-paws back and I could hear the guards snickering to themselves. Luna spoke with them for a few minutes while I staggered around. By the time I was able to walk normally, she had everything set out. She turned to me and easily lifted me into the carriage.

“You’ll know Twilight Sparkle when you see her. She’s a friend; she’ll be able to help you, I’m sure of it.” Luna hesitated, as if she wanted to add something else but didn’t say anything as she stepped back and closed the door.

The interior of the carriage was just what I would expect from a high-class society. Rich and plush, I sank into the cushions a good four inches, which, given my height, meant there was a very real danger of getting eaten by them. I instead curled on the floor, which wasn’t as plush as the seats, but still provided just as much comfort, to me at least.

I didn’t know how long the trip would take, so I simply rested on the soft floor as my thoughts wandered.

Here I was, stranded in a strange place. There was an indescribable evil slowly but surely following me. Inside of me, I was slowly being devoured by elemental energy.

Despite all that, however, I was somehow going to save a world or two.

Once a target, always a target.

Author's Note

I do intend to swap between Equestria and the pokemon world. Not often, but I'm not about to let Espeon's story go untold, plus, we still have that strange-eyed Absol out there somewhere.

If you want your ponysona or pokesona to make an appearance, don't be shy to comment with a description or picture of it

Chapter 3

Every pokémon has a type. Some are lucky enough to have two. A pokémon’s type usually determines the kinds of moves it can learn and use, as well as determining what kind of pokémon it can battle against without too much difficulty.

Almost every pokémon learned the basics of type matchups at a young age, usually from their parents or at a school run by, or made for by trainers, pokémon.

The most common example was the grass-water-fire triangle.

Grass was strong against water while water was weak against grass.

Water was strong against fire, but weak against grass.

Fire was strong against grass but weak against water.

Almost every type was strong against something and weak against another. A lot of types were strong against more than one, but at the same time were weak against many. Rock and ground were both weak to both grass and water. Some types were immune to the effects of another type. Normal and fighting type moves didn’t affect ghost types; steel was immune to poison, and the mighty dragon type couldn’t affect the fairy type (much to the embarrassment of dragon-types everywhere).

Some pokémon gained a new type when they evolved, or even lost a type; others didn’t change.

The most common types were either water or normal types; the numbers were close.

Dual-type pokémon were usually final-stage evolutions, or didn’t evolve at all (Many legendary pokémon were dual types) and some gained types that covered their weaknesses.

One of the most irritating type combos was Dark and Ghost, which had no weaknesses except for Fairy – thankfully, there were only two pokémon with that type and both were very hard to come by.

Some trainers relished the challenge of raising teams of a single type, whereas others covered several. One popular team setup was a water type, a fire type, a grass type, an electric type, a flying type and usually a psychic or fighting type to round out their roster. Mixing a team created new strategies and counters; which in turn made battling more interesting.

The Eevee family was highly prized due to the fact it had eight possible evolutions.

Flareon, the Fire type, Jolteon, the Electric type, Vaporeon, the Water type, Espeon, the Psychic type, Umbreon the Dark type, Glaceon the Ice type, Leafeon, the Grass type, and Sylveon, the Fairy type.

With the massive move and type pool available to them, it was possible to cover nearly every type if you picked your team accordingly.

In the wild, when pokémon meet, they usually automatically determine the pokémon’s type before either attacking, fleeing or initiating a conversation.

I had moved from the floor to the window, which had a ledge wide enough for me to sit comfortably on, while I looked down at the world flying by. It had been roughly five minutes since I had left the palace (and the town below it was called Canterlot) and while the floor had been comfortable, there hadn’t been anything to do.

Finally, the carriage started to descend and I saw a small town come into view. It consisted of many straw-roofed buildings as well as some rather unique designs among a few of the larger structures. The three that initially caught my eye were one that looked like a Carousel, a Gingerbread house and a massive building that appeared to be made of clouds complete with rainbow waterfalls cascading down from it, which dissipated well before they hit the ground. In the center of the town loomed a very strange looking building. The first thought that popped into my mind was tree, yet it was made up of what I hazarded to be crystal and gold. It looked like some kind of palace; and while it wasn’t as grand as the one in Canterlot where the Princesses dwelled, it had its own charm. I wondered if that meant Ponyville had its own resident Princess as well. I could see many colored dots I assumed were ponies moving around and through the streets.

The carriage landed with a gentle thump on the ground and after a few seconds of muffled voices, the door opened. I took a breath and stepped into the doorway. I noticed the carriage had landed in front of the strange palace. I looked down at the ground, which seemed a very long way away (although it was probably more so my imagination than actual distance) and I cursed my small size.

Suddenly a deep magenta field surrounded me and lifted me out of the carriage. My body locked up and my fur stood on end as I felt a feeling similar to the one I had felt when Celestia had touched me with her field run over me. I wasn’t sure if these feelings were my own, belonged to the one who manipulated it, or was a simple random event. This feeling was a gentle humor, as if it found my predicament funny, but it didn’t mean it in a demeaning way. From that, I theorized that some emotions transferred themselves into the field from the user who cast it, which I found interesting.

Looking up from the ground from within the shimmering field (which again was burning off massive amounts of energy that I found distasteful), I saw a lavender-coated pony, her horn glowing the same color as the field that surrounded me, standing at the head of a group of five other ponies. Just as sure as they were doing to me, I started analyzing them.

On the far left was a pale yellow winged pony, (pegasus, my mind supplied, though I wasn’t sure from where) with a soft pink mane that covered half her face. I saw her teal eyes widen as she met mine and she looked away. On her flank was a trio of pink and blue butterflies. She exuded a calm aura and I felt she was a very shy kind of pony that wasn’t fond of being the center of attention. I wondered what had happened to her to be so introverted. I briefly wondered if something like what had happened to me growing up had happened to her. Had she been teased her entire life as well? Fairy/Flying type, if I had to hazard as to what she would be catalogued in my world.

Next to her stood an orange-coated mare with straw-colored mane and tail. Her bright green eyes were alert and she met my gaze with one that felt slightly guarded, as if she didn’t judge someone until she had gotten to know them first. She wore an old Stetson hat, well worn, but sturdy and I wondered if she was some kind of farmer. On her flank was a trio of bright red apples. Ground/Fighting, since she looked like she was no stranger to her fair share of scrapes and bruises from…whatever she did for a living. Whatever it was, she clearly did it with pride, since she stood tall beside the other ponies around her.

Next in line was an eggshell-white colored unicorn with a carefully curled violet mane that I felt had to be a horror to do every morning. She clearly considered herself to be a mare of high class, since she held herself daintily. The way she was looking at me with her blue eyes was rather unnerving, as if she wanted to pin me down and style my coat until it gleamed. I had seen the same look on a barber who ran a place for Furfrou in Lumiose City. On her flank were three blue gems and I wondered what she did for a living, since I could see her doing anything that would require her to get her hooves dirty. I tentatively labeled her as Rock/Fairy; for while she seemed to have a rather soft exterior, there was a sharpness in her gaze that promised a lot of pain and misery for those that managed to raise her ire.

I passed over the lavender unicorn and settled on the hovering pegasus. Her coat was a bright blue and her mane and tail were a startling array of colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple; it suited her well. She had an air of confidence around her, as if she thought she was invincible. I knew arrogance when I saw it and this mare had it in spades. On her flank was a white cloud with a three-colored (red, yellow and blue) lightning bolt extending from it. She had the lean muscular body of an athlete and I figured she was also a bit of a daredevil and showoff. Easily a Flying/Fighting type; she looked like she was eager to be given an excuse to beat the snot out of me and she would enjoy every minute of it.

At the far right of the group stood a two-toned pink pony. Her body was an eye-watering shade of pink, her curly mane and tail slightly darker. I could tell she was energetic, since she was bouncing on all four of her hooves in a manner that produced an actual audible ‘boing’ sound. Around her, I could tell that all laws of physics, logic and reality had taken a permanent leave of absence. On her flank was a trio of balloons; two blue and a yellow one slightly higher between them. Her bright blue eyes never left mine as she kept bouncing. I could tell she wanted to rush over to me and start asking me questions, yet it seemed that she had been told off plenty of times before this and was trying to restrain herself. Yet despite all of her oddities, she seemed to be as harmless as the yellow pegasus. If she ever did fight, I felt she did so through unconventional means, which were usually more of an annoyance or distraction so her friends that could fight, like the rainbow-maned pegasus and the orange earth pony – the name again supplied by my memory – could use the moment to strike. A Normal type; capable of many things, hard to get a feeling for yet once you understood her, she was a delight to be around.

Finally, I let my eyes drift back to the last one remaining.

The lavender unicorn that held me in her field stood next to the white mare and I now saw she also sported a pair of wings, just like Celestia and Luna, yet she was nowhere near their height. Her mane was that irritating shade of color that was either blue or purple depending on how you looked at it and it had a streak of pink and purple running through it as well. Like I had seen with Celestia, she glowed with power, but unlike the more refined glow that had surrounded Celestia, hers was a wild inferno of energy. She was powerful, yet I had a feeling she either didn’t know it or had enough self-control to manage it. Seeing how the corona around her horn and the field that held me were both burning off so much energy led me to believe it was the former. If she refined her control, she’d be unstoppable. Probably a pure Psychic type – and a very powerful one at that.

On her flank was a reddish-pink six-pointed star. Between each of the points was a white point, giving the illusion that there was a smaller six-pointed white star underneath. Arrayed around it were five smaller stars, each six-pointed as well. It didn’t escape my notice that the five other mares flocked around her in a similar fashion; three on one side, two on another. I wondered what had transpired to draw the six of them together.

Friends are a weakness; they can never be trusted. They will turn on you, hurt you and drag you down from power.

Again, the darkness in my heart stirred.

Again, I ignored its lies.

I never had many friends growing up; the few I had were fleeting. It always left a hollow in my heart, which I guessed was where my own Bittercold had grown over the years. There were only two people - a pokémon and a human - that I ever truly considered friends. I had met both at the same time after they had rescued me from the pack of Houndoom. The human had healed my wounds while Espeon had tried to piece my sense of self back together. After what had happened, I felt worse than nothing. It had been a strange feeling, knowing that I had been reduced to nothing more than a toy to be used, abused and thrown away. Eventually, with the help of the strange human, they had helped me see past the horror that I had endured and led me to safety. The human had left while Espeon had stayed by my side for the next two years, until he too had been taken from me by fate’s choice. The desire to see him again might be part of what drove me now, to face these ponies and try to save them from the ever-nearing threat of the Bittercold.

It had taken me a few seconds to categorize the six mares and by the time my paws rested on the ground and the field around me blinked out, I was ready to meet them.

Behind me, I felt the carriage take off again and I fought the urge to watch it go, although the blue mare had no such restraints and watched it go with a calculating look, as if she was judging the technique the pegasi had used when taking off. There was a mixture of envy and admiration in her magenta eyes and I saw her chest move in a silent sigh.

Now on level ground, I saw that these ponies were all still almost three times my height. Already, I felt my neck start to ache from the mere thought of always having to look up all the time. I bit back a small growl of annoyance, yet something must have shown on my face because as she approached me, the lavender winged unicorn knelt in front of me. It didn’t bring her down to my height, but it did lessen the strain on my neck.

“Hello, you’re Sasha, correct? The Eevee that was sent here by Arceus to stop the Bittercold from destroying your world?” she looked a little embarrassed at my raised eyebrows. “Celestia sent me a letter,” she explained, drawing a scroll from under her wing.

I nodded and she smiled a little. “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said, then motioned to the ponies around her, “and these are my friends.” She stepped back and looked at the pale yellow pegasus. “Care to introduce yourself?”

The mare slowly came towards me, looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. She came to a stop about a foot from me and inclined her head slightly. “Hello…Sasha, it’s nice to meet you. My name is…Fluttershy,” she said the last word so softly I barely heard it, which confirmed my suspicions she was as shy as she looked. “I hope we get to spend some time together, I’d love to hear more about the creatures of your world…” The barest hint of a smile lit her face and I smiled back before I replied.

“That sounds wonderful, Fluttershy, I’d be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.” With her introduction out of the way, Fluttershy returned to her friends. Next in line was the orange-coated farm-pony. She approached me with a lot more vigor than Fluttershy.

“Howdy, missy; mah name’s Applejack and while ah have’nt heard much about you, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” she tilted her head. “I hope ya like apples, cuz that’s all I sell.”

I nodded and she smiled while she gently mussed my fur. I stiffened at the touch and she looked sheepish. “Oh, uh…sorry ‘bout that…we ponies tend to be very touchy-feely when it comes to contact.”

I bit back a grimace. “It’s fine, Applejack; I’ve never been around pokémon who would touch each other in a casual fashion.” Espeon sometimes touched me with his paws, but never for more than a moment, a brief reassurance that he was there for me when I needed him. Again, something I couldn’t control must have passed over my face because Applejack stepped closer to me and hugged me gently. It was a familiar embrace to me, one that said she understood and would help me if I ever required it, even if I never asked. I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and I simply nuzzled her leg gently. I heard her murmur quietly into my ear.

“I understand that feeling all too well, sugarcube. If you ever find yourself lost and needing answers, I’ll always be willing to lend an ear and advice, alright?” I nodded and she gave me a brief squeeze before letting me go.

She turned and trotted back to her friends, sharing a glance with Twilight, who looked at me with a small frown, but nodded slightly. The white mare was next and she trotted up to me, and then around me a few times. I heard her make a few noises, as if she liked what she saw. I stayed still as she inspected me. Finally, she stood before me and again slowly looked me over from ears to paws.

“Hello, sweetie, my name is Rarity. I run the local designer store,” her eyes gleamed in a way I found almost unnatural. “You must let me make something for you…a scarf or ribbon, perhaps? The color combos I could do with your fur…” - she was almost drooling – “You have the loveliest color scheme…forgive me, but are you an albino?”

I shook my head with a smile. “No, this coloration…well, it’s not exactly common, but it’s still natural. As for the scarf or ribbon…I’ll let you decide, but I don’t have any way to pay you…” I pawed at the thick fur around my neck and felt my cheeks warm slightly.

Rarity shook her head. “No payment needed dear, I get enough from selling designer outfits, A comfortable, fashionable, all-season scarf won’t be a bother to me.” She dipped her head with a smile and trotted back.

Twilight Sparkle looked at the cyan pegasus, who had taken to the ground and was looking at Twilight. The two mares seemed to be asking each who should go first and Twilight eventually motioned for the rainbow-maned mare to go.

She flew over to me slowly; eyes moving over my body, yet unlike Rarity, hers seemed to be a lot more probing, as if she was trying to puzzle out what I was. She landed and walked around me, sizing me up like some kind of prize mule and I fought the urge to smooth my fur. She stopped in front of me and looked me over. In that regard, she seemed an awful lot like Rarity, yet it was obvious she was trying to figure out something else about me instead of what would look good on me. “What are you good at?” she asked, her voice blunt.

I went silent as I turned her words over in my mind. I saw her rustle her wings and I felt she didn’t like being on the ground for any extended periods of time. I finally gave up trying to figure out what I was good at and shrugged.

“Nothing; I’m below-average for my kind.” I wasn’t sure if I could bring up the fact I could breathe ice, fire, water and even light now; this wasn’t the place to try, since I’d probably end up hurting someone.

Hurt them, make them fear you. As they should. Make them kneel to you, make them worship you like they rightfully should…

Again, I ignored the whispers as the mare put a hoof to her chest and posed proudly.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash, the best flier in all of Equestria. I’m sure you’ve heard of me?” she asked, her tone of voice making it sound like there was no way I possibly couldn’t have.

Bemused, I shook my head. “I’ve only just arrived in Equestria, although I’ve heard of someone like you back where I came from…” I didn’t continue that thought, since it wasn’t exactly a flattering comparison.

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow. “Copycats everywhere, but there’s none better than the genuine article,” she stated firmly.

I nodded politely and Rainbow Dash flew back to her friends. The last pony in line trotted over to me, which I found rather strange, but then I found myself hoisted into the air by a pair of hooves as I found myself looking into the sharpest blue eyes.

“Well now, let’s get a look at you, Sasha…” the pink mare declared.

“Eevee, the evolution pokémon. Due to its unstable genetic makeup, Eevee are well-known to be extremely adaptable to nearly every kind of environment.”

I felt my eyebrows rise as she then listed off several characteristics of the Eevee family. Behind her, I could see similar reaction on the other mares’ faces and Twilight shook her head as she used her magic to pry me away from Pinkie Pie.

“That’s Pinkie Pie for you…” Twilight muttered, before she turned back to me. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship,” the latter she said with some uncertainty, as if she was still trying to get used to the title. I wondered if she had come into it recently - which, judging from the strange structure behind her - she had. “Do you mind if we go inside?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the castle behind her. I shook my head and as one, the entire group of ponies turned and entered the castle.

As we did, I took note that during the exchange, no other pony in the small town had been in the area. Not even a random passerby, which felt a little off to me. We entered the castle and I took a moment to glance back outside.

I saw a few ponies emerge, peering warily out of their homes as they looked at the castle. I couldn’t make out their expressions at this distance, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if relief was the most common reaction. I idly wondered if this was their natural response to any stranger coming to their town.

I dismissed that train of thought as we entered into a vast foyer that branched off into several other corridors. This place seemed a lot larger on the inside than it was on the outside, an illusion I felt was common in Equestria. Twilight was heading towards a small door set next to a much larger pair of doors, her flanks swaying as she hummed a tune softly to herself. It opened and we filed into a cozy room filled with several chairs, pillows and even a few couches. A bar lined with bottles covered one side of the room.

The ponies settled on whatever seat they found most comfortable, with the pegasi favoring the pillows, which didn’t restrict their wings; Rarity claimed an entire couch and lay draped on it as if she had fainted. Pinkie Pie and Applejack sat on chairs while Twilight also laid claim to a pillow.

I didn’t know where to sit, and given my size, I was the smallest thing in the room. Looking around, I saw a rather ornate looking chair. What I found interesting about its design, however, was that it was made out of what appeared to be solid crystal. I went over to it and examined it closely. I couldn’t explain why I found it interesting, but I sat on it and it felt like it was made for me.

“So, Sasha, the letter from Princess Celestia explained the rough basics of why you are here, but do you mind going over it again?” Twilight asked, as her horn glowed and several mugs of what smelled like apple cider and other fruit and vegetable juices were passed around. She offered me one, but I declined.

I explained what I could about the Bittercold; about what it was, how it worked (at least, the general theory). Rainbow Dash was the first to ask a question.

“What makes you so special though? Why is it drawn to you?”

Two questions I didn’t have complete answers for, but I could guess.

“Because I’m different,” I replied, to which Rainbow shook her head.

“You said it yourself, that your coloration, while uncommon, isn’t rare or one-of-a-kind.”

I nodded at that and frowned. “I don’t know why I was chosen out of trillions of pokémon to be the one to decide what happens to the world. If I do nothing, the world burns, or I could choose to let it burn and not interfere. I don’t think the Bittercold has an ‘off’ switch I can push if I decide to reject its…” I wasn’t sure how to phrase it. “Choice? Plan?” I shook my head.

Fluttershy asked, in her characteristically soft voice. “And what is it that you want, Sasha?” At that, I did have an answer, although I wasn’t sure if it would make sense to anyone but me and Espeon.

“I just want to be able to live my life without being hunted because I’m unique.”

Twilight frowned at that. “But…that’s part of what makes you yourself. In Equestria, every pony is unique. No two ponies have the same coloration, or cutie mark.”

“Cutie Mark?” I echoed curiously. Twilight smiled and lifted her flank to show her six-pointed star.

“A cutie mark shows what a pony’s special talent is; not always exact, and it can be interpreted in many ways, but it’s more-or-less a defining characteristic about a pony,” she smiled wistfully. “All six of us here can tie our cutie marks to the day Rainbow Dash first performed a Sonic Rainboom, actually.” Rainbow Dash’s cheeks turned pink as everyone looked at her.

I hesitated, then asked, “Princess Celestia said you could help me harness the elemental power within me to keep it from killing me, any idea how?” Twilight rested her chin in her hoof and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “I’m pretty sure there’s a book or two about it…but a few months ago, my library was obliterated by Lord Tirek,” Twilight said with a frown. “I should’ve asked the Princess to send the books with you…” She was cut off as there was a knock on the door.

Twilight opened it with her telekinesis to reveal a purple and green dragon who was looking at something off to the side. “Yo, Twilight, there’s a pony at the door; wants you to sign for something…” Twilight breezed past him, grumbling about salesponies. I stared at the dragon curiously. At least, I thought it was a dragon, it might’ve been an overgrown lizard. He turned and caught sight of me.

“You must be Sasha. Twilight wouldn’t shut up about you as soon as she got that letter from the Princess…you’re a lot shorter than I imagined.” I let out a short laugh.

“I get that a lot,” I said wryly with a shake of my head.

“Spike, while you’re here, would you mind getting me a new mug of cider?” Rarity asked, echoed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. At the sound of Rarity’s voice, Spike got all heart-eyed and ran off to do her bidding. I watched curiously.

Pokémon rarely dated outside their egg groups, even less likely outside their species. While some truly bizarre relationships existed, (Wailord and Diglett being the most absurd, yet still somehow compatible one that I could think of) they were still rare. The thought of a relationship had never really crossed my mind, although I had fantasized about settling down with Espeon, yet I could never really work up the courage to ask him. After my encounter with the Houndoom, coupled with the story about his Leafeon and past experiences with trying to get close to someone, any chance I’d ever ask him was squashed to dust. Some pokémon seemed to take interest in me as a potential mate, but nearly all of them turned tail when they learned about the emotional baggage I carried, as well as the big fat target I seemed to have painted on my back thanks to my white coat.

Looking at the mares around me, I wondered if any of them were in a relationship. I even wondered if they had relationships with each other that went beyond friendship. Same-sex relationships between pokémon were almost unheard of, since most relationships were based around producing an egg or two and then finding another partner and repeating the cycle until death.

Finally craving a drink, I went over to the bar where Spike seemed to have taken up shop as a bartender. He eyed me curiously before he gestured to the bottles around him. “What are you interested in?”

I let my eyes wander over the bottles curiously. The vast majority of them were Sweet Apple Cider, along with a few Carrot’s Finest and Radish Delight. There were a few bottles of Wild Pegasus, but the “xXx” logo made me balk. I could not handle alcohol. With my small size, even a single shot was enough to turn me into a wreck and I usually ended up with a wicked hangover the next morning, or whenever I woke up.

“Do you have any milk?” I asked, deciding to try for something safer than alcohol. I felt that the cider around here was akin to alcohol itself. Spike looked a little surprised by my request, but went over to what looked like an icebox and took out a bottle of white liquid. I stared at it curiously, not really sure how to even begin drinking it. Spike solved part of that problem by sticking a straw in it and I hopped up onto the top of the bar, sat next to my drink, and took a sip.

Twilight returned, and there was definitely a spring in her step as several books floated in behind her. “Hee! The Princess seemed to have thought ahead and sent these almost as soon as you had left, Sasha,” she said happily, speed-reading through one she held in front of her face as she easily made her way back to her pillow. As she lay on it, a thoughtful look passed over her face. “Can you read, Sasha?” I blinked in surprise and nodded. Twilight smiled. “Excellent, then we can start with the basics…”

Author's Note

The obligatory 'OC meets Mane Six" chapter
Grit your teeth and deal with it

Interlude - Espeon

Pokémon rarely give themselves unique names. Approach a group of them, call out the name of the species, and odds are, nine out of ten pokémon in that group would turn to answer you. Those that choose to name themselves something else usually do so with a good reason. Whether they do it to be set apart from their fellow pokémon, or for some other reason usually depends on the pokémon in question. Sometimes pokémon give each other nicknames, often based on a unique characteristic for that pokémon.

“Flame-tail” was usually reserved for the Charmander family; “Tree-back” was often used for the Turtwig family and many others existed for the hundreds of pokémon species. Some considered them derogative while others said it with humor.

Some researchers usually ignored the mountains of evidence that suggested otherwise and assumed that every pokémon was the same. A Charmander from Kanto wasn’t any better or worse than a Charmander from Kalos. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Every pokémon was unique, special. No two were ever alike. Pokémon Breeders knew this; they spread the word as much as they could, but they were rarely listened to and the few scientists that had put forth papers about it had been laughed out of the room.

Espeon stared at the quartet of cards before him with a critical eye. To the casual observer, the cards made no sense. Four seemingly randomly decorated cards were arranged in a square with no real rhyme or reason to them. Yet to Espeon, the cards meant so much more. They were called Entercards; keys to other worlds, and he had spent years of his life researching them. He used to have a brother, an Umbreon who had shared his passion for Magnagates, but after a rough adventure in a far-off land where they had stopped a floating palace from falling and destroying a pokémon settlement, Umbreon had bowed out of the research and settled down with a Mightyena he had encountered.

Espeon let a small smile pass over his muzzle at the memory and pricked his ears.

“Just because you’re immune to psychic types, doesn’t mean we can’t sense a large hole in our fields,” he said casually as he fiddled with the cards. After a moment, Absol stepped into view, his unnatural black and white eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

“I keep forgetting that; not surprising, given that you always were the smarter one,” he remarked as he stopped a safe distance from the Entercards. “What are you doing?”

Espeon glared at the cards for a moment before he sighed heavily. “Trying to remember what the combination was for Equestria,” he said. Absol arched an eyebrow as he looked at the cards, but the patterns swirled before his eyes and he shook his head.

“You’ve always had that strange interest in uncommon anomalies, strange occurrences and the inexplicably occult,” Absol remarked. Espeon stared at him, blinking his lavender eyes.

“Half of those words meant the same thing and together it came out as garbage; what are you trying to say?” he asked tiredly. Absol hesitated before he spoke, his voice quiet.

“Have you ever wondered why Sasha is the way she is?”

Espeon stopped manipulating the cards as he stared at one of his oldest friends. With a sigh, he collected the cards and got to his paws. He pulled an apple out from his supplies and offered it to Absol, who took it with a grateful nod. Espeon got one for himself and relaxed again.

“Yes, I do admit I’ve been curious about our little girl, but why are you bringing it up?” Espeon replied warily. The Disaster Pokémon sighed and shook his head.

“You mean to tell me you don’t see it?” he asked, sounding rather amused. Espeon growled softly. Absol raised a paw. “I’m sorry, I thought it was obvious,” he said, then dropped his voice.

“Sasha used to be a human.”

Espeon stared at Absol for a moment, then slowly shook his head. “Impossible, she told me she’s thirteen years old…”

“As a pokémon, yes,” Absol interrupted. “But she…” he paused, a frown crossing his face and he let out an annoyed sigh. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ll try,” he paused then spoke slowly. “Humans live and die much like pokémon do. Sometimes they’re reborn as something else. Remember the tale of Ninetails’ curse?” Espeon nodded.

Long ago, a human had dared to touch Ninetails’ tails, and when she had tried to curse him, the human’s pokémon partner had taken it for her trainer. The trainer then abandoned his partner and Ninetails had cursed him to be reborn as a pokémon who would try to destroy the world. Eventually it had happened; the human reborn had awakened Groudon, but had been stopped by another human-turned-pokémon and his partner. Absol had actually helped them get through an icy mountain peak and had protected them from an Articuno that lived there.

“So you’re telling me we’re facing something similar here? Some long-dead human was reborn as Sasha, or something?” Espeon asked, his voice rather dubious.

“Well, when you put it that way, it does sound rather ridiculous, doesn’t it?” Absol remarked dryly. Espeon turned the cards in his paws over idly, letting his eyes run over the curious things.

Four cards - each a perfect square – which, when placed in a specific sequence, could open gates to other places? Anyone uneducated in them would laugh at the idea. Espeon knew that manipulating the energy of the world to open gateways to new places was dangerous, and he had visited many such ‘mystery dungeons’ which was how he had met Absol in the first place. Like the brothers, he utilized Magnagates to travel across the land. They had compared cards, and with the three sets of four cards, they experimented with several new combinations.

“Do you still have your cards?” Espeon asked. When Umbreon had chosen to settle down, he had given his cards to Espeon, who valued them more than anything. Absol nodded and produced them.

Espeon gazed down at the twelve cards and smiled. “Bring back memories, doesn’t it?” he asked softly. Absol nodded. Espeon let out a frustrated sigh. “Yet I’m sure we’ve tried every possible configuration…is Equestria closed to us?”

“Have you ever been to Equestria?” Absol asked as Espeon started manipulating the cards again. Espeon shook his head as an image of a sprawling metropolis appeared; the wrong combination and tried again.

“Studied it, glimpsed it, yes,” he muttered. “Actually physically set paw there…no, I have not had that pleasure,” he said with a wistful sigh. “From what I’ve seen of the place, it’s paradise.”

A brief memory surfaced, that of a Pikachu and Oshawott building a Paradise together and Espeon smiled slightly. Absol was looking at the cards with a curious expression on his face.

“Espeon…is it possible for Ley Lines to change?” he asked slowly, brow furrowed in thought. Espeon paused between sets of cards and looked at them curiously. Dawning comprehension bloomed on his face and he grinned.

Ley Lines were invisible currents of energy that ran over, under, through and around the world. The more traveled a path, the thicker the Line and the easier it was tap into, which Magnagates used to link to other places. If the land changed, so did the lines.

Espeon studied the cards with a frown. “Equestria isn’t even part of this reality though. I’m sure Umbreon would remember the combination, but I don’t want to bother him.”

“Why not ask Arceus? Or try to contact Palkia or Giratina?” Absol asked, settling down across from Espeon and studied the cards. “They probably know more about parallel universes than any other pokémon.”

“I have a feeling Arceus wouldn’t be all that helpful, to be honest. He seemed to think Sasha had to do this alone,” Espeon said softly. He watched as Absol flipped an Entercard, showing the back of it. “What are you doing?”

“Well, if Entercards can be used to go to any location in our world while right-side up, what happens if you reverse them?” Absol asked, flipping over the rest and started rearranging them.

“That doesn’t…” Espeon started to say but was cut off as the cards suddenly flashed and he saw a glimpse of a completely unfamiliar place. “…it can’t be that easy,” he muttered.

Absol kept trying different combinations and Espeon still didn’t recognize any of the worlds shown. “Fascinating…” Absol murmured. “Wonder why we didn’t try this sooner.”

“Probably because we don’t know anything about these places shown; nor did we have any reason to travel to other realities,” Espeon remarked, and then leaned forward, his ears perked up in interest. “Wait, go back.” Absol looked at him strangely, but did as he asked.

What appeared to be a sea of multi-colored stars could be seen and Espeon wondered where that gate would take them. Suddenly a pair of red and green eyes peered out of the small window and Espeon leaped back with a yelp. The cards glowed and a bright flash filled the clearing.

When it faded, Espeon looked up from where he had curled into a ball to see Arceus standing over the Entercards.

“Haven’t travelled by Magnagate in a long time,” Arceus mused, looking down at the cards. “I was hoping that neither of you would figure out that reversing the cards was an option.”

“You know about Entercards?” Espeon asked, pulling himself up and trying to smooth his raised coat. Arceus smiled slightly and tilted its head.

“Of course I do; who do you think made Ley Lines in the first place?”

Absol picked himself up from the ground with a groan. “Sweet Arceus, Espeon, what did you…” He looked up to see Arceus standing over him. “Oh…well…this is awkward,” he mumbled.

Arceus looked at the two curiously. “You’ve been up to something ever since Sasha left,” it said, folding its legs beneath itself and sat down. “Care to enlighten me?”

Espeon shrugged. “To put it simply, I’m trying to get to Equestria.”

Arceus tilted its head and regarded the psychic feline curiously. “And why is that?” it asked slowly.

Espeon snorted softly. “I’m pretty sure you can guess.”

“The reason I didn’t send both you and Sasha to Equestria was due to the fact I wanted Sasha to open her heart to more people. If you went with her, she’d rely on you to do all the talking and I’m pretty sure you don’t know the answers she’s looking for,” Arceus stated.

Espeon looked away, his mouth set in a thin line.

“Besides, you’ll never be able to get to Equestria.” Arceus’ voice dropped as it muttered, “Besides, there are easier ways to get there…”

Espeon’s head snapped around as Arceus picked up the Entercards. They circled the Creator and lined up, all 12 of them.

A ripple of unease rolled over Espeon and then he bit back a cry as the cards were shredded apart by Arceus’ telekinesis.

“I am only going to say this once,” Arceus said quietly - its voice colder than a Regice - as the cards disintegrated. “Sasha’s walking a different path then you are. You are not allowed to interfere. Not at the moment, anyway. Do I make myself clear?”

Espeon trembled and nodded once. Arceus seemed relieved. “Glad to hear it; well then, I’m sure I’ve given you plenty to think about and hate me for, so I think I’ll take my leave.”

Espeon slumped to the ground with a tired sigh. Absol blinked and shook his head.

“Um…so yeah…that happened,” he said, then paused as Espeon chuckled. Absol looked at him worriedly. “You’re laughing; I have never heard you laugh, you’re creeping me out here.”

Espeon sighed from his supine position and smiled. “Well, that’s that, Arceus said to leave Sasha alone, so that’s what I’ll do.” He rolled to his paws and got up, trotting briskly by a confused Absol, who watched him go with no small amount of concern.

“Espeon?”

Author's Note

I have several chapters ready for this story; I've just never gotten around to uploading them to FiMFiction...

Chapter 4

Pokémon do feel pain.

In trainer vs trainer battles, no matter how seemingly lethal the move used to inflict the fainting blow may be, it will never kill the pokémon that receives it. However, battles between wild pokémon can result in death to one or both participants. This has puzzled humans for centuries. Thousands of pokémon have been killed in pursuit of their secret, and humans have made no steps towards understanding how it works.

Damage inflicted by legendary pokémon, however, can be lethal to other pokémon. Legendary pokémon rarely battle each other, but if they ever do, the battles are often cataclysmic in the scope of their ferocity. One of the most well-known was the struggle between Groudon and Kyogre. Thousands of pokémon lost their lives as they raged back and forth across the land and sea, only ending their feud when Rayquaza descended from the sky. Both pokémon fell asleep and Rayquaza vanished without a trace.

I watched as Twilight Sparkle levitated a book over to me. We had adjourned to another room after Twilight’s friends had said their goodbyes and gone back to their homes. Spike had gone upstairs to – as he put it – get his full allotment of sleep, something he claimed Twilight deprived him of on a daily basis. I brought my mind back to the here and now as Twilight began speaking.

“This explains basic internal energy manipulation. I figure it’s as good a place to start as any,” Twilight said and I nodded as I opened the book carefully. The book itself wasn’t all that impressive, but it had clearly seen a lot of use. I felt Twilight’s eyes on me and I looked up at her curiously. I raised an eyebrow and she smiled awkwardly.

“How did you learn to read? Who taught you?” she asked, her voice alive with curiosity. I looked up from the words before me and blinked.

“I…always knew how to read,” I said quietly, thinking back. The first time I had ever seen words printed on the side of a building – I think I had been in Celadon City in Kanto at the time – I could understand that the shapes were words to be read. Twilight’s eyebrows rose and she tilted her head.

“That’s strange, I’ve never heard of anyone being born being able to read and write…well, read, anyway.”

I shrugged. The question of how I knew how to read without having been taught never really bothered me; it was a useful skill to have.

I closed my eyes and sighed. “So,” I asked, opening my eyes as I changed the topic, “How does magic work in Equestria?” Twilight took a moment before she answered.

“Well…Equestria’s a land full of ambient magic – it’s all around us – and all we’re doing is tapping into it and using it for our needs,” Twilight said. “That, and every pony also has their own internal reserves of magical energy, even pegasus and earth ponies.”

I pricked my ears thoughtfully, remembering the glow that had surrounded Celestia and Twilight Sparkle when I had first met them. Looking at Twilight, I saw that the glow was still there, but it was a lot more restrained.

“I’ve seen it; you’re practically glowing,” I remarked and watched as Twilight’s cheeks turned a soft pink. She looked away with a nervous laugh.

“Y-yeah, I haven’t really mastered controlling it though, it still flares wildly from time to time.” A grimace passed over her face. “Woke up one morning to find out I’d been sleep-casting; entire library was a mess and Spike made me clean it up,” she said with a huff.

“Your technique is…unrefined,” I said slowly. Twilight looked at me curiously. I ducked my head. “I…uhm…have a friend who uses telekinesis. When he uses it, his control over the item is a lot more controlled than what I’ve seen in Equestria.” Twilight looked interested and I went on.

“When you use your magic, you’re wasting a lot of energy. Your…field…doesn’t conform to the object, which results in a massive loss of energy.” Twilight’s horn lit up and she levitated a few books around her. The field expanded a good inch and a half – maybe even more, since her field was constantly in motion. It eerily reminded me of Luna and Celestia’s manes and I wondered if that meant they were made of raw magic.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and the field around the books shrank a little. As she did so, the books trembled, bending slightly and Twilight hastily cut off the magic.

“Strange, if I try to narrow the field, I threaten to destroy the books…,” she murmured, looking at the books. She sighed and shook her head. “Well, can’t help it, I guess.” She turned her eyes to me. “Now then, have you ever tried tapping into your reserves?”

I shook my head slowly. “No, I only got them a few hours ago, actually,” I said. Twilight looked around the room thoughtfully.

“Well, we’re not going to be able to practice here. Odds are you’re going to have some very unstable energy surges, so we’re going to have to find someplace else to practice.” She looked out the window thoughtfully. “I’m sure there’s a room or two in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters that has a room designed for magical training we can use.”

“Castle of the what?” I asked. Twilight only smiled and trotted towards the door.

“I’ll explain on the way.”

By the time we reached said castle, my head was filled with a very detailed and exhaustive lecture – there was no other way to describe it – about Equestria’s early history. Twilight had explained about how Equestria had been created by Empress Faust; how she had literally written the entire world into existence. Nopony knew what happened to her. One day she simply vanished and Discord had taken over Equestria and ruled the land for several thousand years. Two ponies – both Alicorns – had risen against him and sealed him in stone. The sisters – the elder, Celestia and the younger, Luna – had then ruled Equestria for a few decades. Over the years, however, Luna had grown jealous of the attention the ponies paid to Celestia while mostly ignoring the younger sister. Sure, there were some who enjoyed her nights, but they were a minority and some ponies even went out of their way to cast Luna in a negative light, claiming she planned to steal the throne from her sister and plunge the land into darkness.

I found it strange that these ponies could be so…fanatical in their single-mindedness. I reminded me of some people back in my world.

Pokémon Professors from all over the world claimed that pokémon were partners with their trainers. They grew and learned together, which formed a powerful bond between them. Trainers from all regions had faced down powerful foes with nothing more than the pokémon by their side, and triumphed.

I smiled as I thought about my brief tenure as a pokémon owned by trainers. My first experience had been shortly after navigating my way through Kanto. I had found myself at the base of a huge mountain. I don’t know what compelled me to scale it. The pokémon that lived there were extremely powerful and territorial. Had it not been for my small size, I probably would have ended up as a meal for a Ursaring.

I had wound up becoming completely lost in the caves and when I had finally found an exit, I had found myself trapped by a raging blizzard. I had very nearly frozen to death on the mountainside. Lucky for me, there had been a trainer on his way down the mountain who stumbled across me and managed to thaw me enough to carry me back down the mountain. The mountain (I had later learned it was called Mount Silver) was home to some special hot springs whose water seemed designed to treat ice-type injuries. The trainer, Red, had explained he had come here after he himself had been trapped in ice and showed me the strange ice burns on his wrists from ice cuffs. After a few days of relaxing, I had felt well enough to leave and Red had pointed me towards the region of Johto.

The second trainer I had met had been one named Gold, who had rescued me from members of Team Rocket who had wanted to exploit my many possible evolutions. He more or less adopted me onto his team. While he never called on me to assist him in battles, I had seen that he cared for pokémon deeply and seeing a red-haired trainer named Silver treat his pokémon harshly had disturbed him. After Gold and the regional Champion, a dragon-tamer named Lance, had taken out Team Rocket’s base of operations in Mahogany Town, Silver had changed. Gold had released me shortly before departing to Goldenrod to confront Archer and I heard nothing about what had happened next. A few weeks later I had found myself in a whole new region with its own conflicts and adventures.

I swapped my own stories with Twilight’s and she seemed intrigued by the concept of bonds between a trainer and pokémon.

“It’s friendship, and there’s nothing stronger than that,” she stated, then smiled a little. “Well, except for love, I think.” I arched an eyebrow from my position on her back. She had offered to carry me, since it was quite a hike to the castle. Her hooves were more suited to it than my paws, and I had gratefully accepted her offer.

We fell into a comfortable silence. I felt Twilight quicken her pace, and soon she was galloping down the road, heading towards a dark forest.

Seeing it sent shivers down my spine and I felt myself shrink down as we entered the trees. Twilight’s horn lit up, lighting the way as we slowly followed a path through the twisted trunks.

I could see the hungry eyes of predators peering out as we passed and I shivered.

“Easy, Sasha, they won’t hurt us,” Twilight said softly. I didn’t answer, and simply made myself as small a target as I could. The air grew cold around us and I peeked over Twilight’s wing to see we had arrived at a gorge.

“Hold on tight,” Twilight said, spreading her wings. I wrapped my paws around Twilight’s mane and even took a mouthful and didn’t let go until we had safely flown over to the other side.

I slid from Twilight’s back and walked around on slightly unsteady paws, both in an attempt to shake off the dread that seemed to cling to me and to work some life into my legs, which had fallen asleep from my ride on her back.

Twilight waited patiently and when I was ready, we made our way to what appeared to be ruins.

Twilight entered them without a second thought and I followed her, looking around at a place that felt strangely familiar to me. There were plenty of old ruins spread out over the regions of my world. Great towering structures dedicated to many things, ranging from resting places for pokémon, to castles for old and powerful kings who had ruled millennia ago.

Like them, this place filled me with a great sadness. It was clear this place had been a place of peace and learning, possibly even a school of some kind. I could easily imagine Celestia and Luna teaching here. About what, I could only guess.

“I think we’ll save practice for tomorrow; today, we’re just going to do some reading,” Twilight said. “We’ve begun cleaning this place up – I think we expected it to become…my castle before the whole Tirek thing happened.”

“Tirek?” I asked curiously.

As Twilight explained about Lord Tirek, we entered what appeared to be a library. It was large, but held very few books, which I didn’t find all that surprising. Twilight’s horn glowed as she lifted every book off the shelves. Her eyes were closed and I wondered if she was somehow reading the titles to pick the ones most relevant.

Finally, she picked out three books and levitated them over to a table.

“Alright, class is in session; open up your book and start reading,” Twilight said.

The concept for internal energy manipulation didn’t seem all that complicated. It all boiled down to thinking what you wanted and then having it happen. I wondered if it was similar to how a trainer would call out a move and a pokémon would then execute the move.

An image of me being used like a trainer’s pokémon in a pokémon battle by ponies popped into my mind and I frowned.

Wild pokémon’s attacks were not as powerful as attacks used by a trainer’s pokémon. In general, wild pokémon were almost always outclassed by trained pokémon and the only pokémon who were ever really a problem to experienced trainers were legendary pokémon, and they rarely interacted or battled with humans.

I sighed as I kept reading, my eyes a blur as I drank in the basics. Twilight was reading her own set of books. I wanted to ask what she was reading, but dismissed it as unimportant.

Hours passed and I was halfway through the second book when Twilight finally spoke. “I think that’s enough for today.”

I jumped, blinking as I pulled myself out of the book. I got to my paws and my body screamed at me as blood started flowing again. I grimaced and shook my paws to get some feeling back in them.

Twilight offered her back again and this time we flew straight up over the forest. Why we didn’t do this in the first place never entered my mind and I was asleep within minutes.

Princess Luna was not a very social pony. She had always been the one ponies overlooked, the shadow nopony paid attention to. That suited her fine; she liked to watch the ponies as they came before her sister with their problems, which Celestia then easily mended with a few words, usually pointing out something any smart pony could have figured out if they’d take the time to think before deciding it was too much for them and dumping it on the princess.

Luna tried to ignore the fact the ponies that came before her sister tried their best not to look at her and she understood their actions perfectly.

She had been a Nightmare who had plunged Equestria into a very short eternal night. Shortly before her thousand-year exile, she poisoned the minds of many ponies with special nightmares that left them mentally broken. During her exile, she had come to terms with it and had entered the dreams of those she had tormented and treated them. They did not fully recover, but it was her own little apology.

Now she tended to the dreams of her little ponies. A smile passed over her lips as memories floated to the surface of her mind. Before she fell into darkness, she had become a second mother to a group of homeless foals from Canterlot. Every night she would take them to what she affectionately called a summer home and played with the foals, reading them stories, helping them find their special talents and helping them deal with their own issues. When her sister found out, however, she did not approve of this and forbade Luna from taking the foals from the orphanages and streets of Canterlot.

Luna shook off the dark memories and flew through the dreamscape. All around her, she saw the dreams of ponies in slumber. Most were pleasant, some were erotic – that was the most interesting use of a bowling pin, a frying pan and a socket wrench that Luna had ever seen – and others boring.

Luna searched for a specific dreamscape; one she had been curious about ever since she had first heard about it.

“Where are you, Sasha…” Luna murmured to herself, reaching out with her mind to try to pick out Sasha’s unique feel. She almost missed it, due to the fact it was very heavily guarded.

Luna wasn’t very surprised; from her limited interaction with the Eevee, she knew Sasha carried a wide variety of emotional scars that prevented her from being open about herself - especially with others.

The Dream Mistress was tempted to force her way into Sasha’s dreams, but she knew that wouldn’t help in the long run. Ponies that feared Luna had closed their minds and dreams to her.

She stared at the dark swirl of emotion curiously and touched it with a hoof.

The sheer amount of pain that coursed through her body from the contact made Luna scream. She was knocked out of the dreamscape and was thrown from her bed by the knockback. She lay on the ground, panting hard as she heard hurried hoofsteps and then Celestia was beside her, pressing close and wrapping Luna in her wings.

“I heard you scream…what…?” Celestia said, then paused as Luna shook her head, steadying her breathing.

“Just…took a look at Sasha’s dreams…couldn’t even get close…she’s got a lot of pain…” Luna shook her head. “How does she deal with it day by day? It’s amazing.”

Celestia looked out of the window towards Ponyville, a look of worry on her face.

I was no stranger to nightmares. Every night, I relived parts of my life. Some were pleasant, times spent nestled against Espeon as he taught me about the world; the places I’ve traveled to, from the quiet region of Kanto, to Johto, to tropical Hoenn, to Myth-centric Sinnoh, modern Unova and Kalos. Every place had its own fair share of memories, both good and bad. Ten years of my life had been focused on wandering around the regions, seeing the sights and learning the history.

Each place had its own villains. Team Rocket had set up operations in Kanto and Johto - mostly pokémon smuggling and distribution. In Hoenn, radical environmentalists had planned on unleashing Groudon and Kyogre, heedless of the consequences of doing so. Sinnoh had nearly been torn apart when a group of creationists had planned on using the power of the regions legendary pokémon to create a new world. Team Plasma, in Unova, had planned to make everyone release their pokémon so that only Team Plasma would be able to use them. Three years after being thwarted, Team Plasma had tried again, this time using the power of an ice-dragon to freeze Unova solid.

For whatever reason, I had been dragged into that and held captive by a trio of Team Plasma members, called the Shadow Triad. My companion during my captivity had been a Purrloin they had taken from a girl years ago. Under the treatment of Team Plasma, it had evolved into a Liepard who hated humans. While the Shadow Triad had been interested in my Shiny coloration, they really didn’t find a use for me and more-or-less let me run wild on their frigate.

I had met Kyurem, the discarded husk of the dragon that had split itself to help two feuding brothers seek their truths and ideals and while we didn’t become friends, we had understood each other on a level pokémon being used and feared by humans shared. Kyurem scoffed at the rumors that it had used to eat humans. Freeze them solid for eternity, yes. Devour them, no.

Ghetsis - the mastermind behind Neo Team Plasma – truly terrified me. He was truly heartless, with no affection for pokémon of any kind. Whenever I saw him walking through the frigate, I usually found myself clawing at the walls to get away from the sheer amount of hate he gave off.

“Sasha?”

I snapped my head around to see Princess Luna standing above me. The Night Mare seemed disturbed as she watched the memories flow around me. I didn’t ask how she had entered my dreams, but I knew that it couldn’t have been easy.

I simply let them flow and Luna was quiet as she watched, her eyes flicking from one to the next.

“To think…you carry this with you…how do you stand it?” she asked. I followed the flow of memories and pulled some of them out to view.

“I focus on the few good memories I have,” I said quietly, “small islands of serenity in my ocean of darkness.”

I saw Luna’s brow furrow and she let out a hissing breath.

“I see…” her eyes followed one memory and she pulled it close.

I felt my eyes go wide.

“Is this Espeon?” Luna asked curiously as she watched the memory of the psychic feline.

I simply nodded. “The first time we met…I…” I closed my eyes as the memory floated to the front of my mind.

I opened my eyes to see Luna watching the memory. I saw her coat bristle and she bared her teeth as her eyes blazed, which confused me.

Why would she be so affected by what had happened to a stranger?

I was suddenly enveloped in a dark blue aura and Luna pulled me to her as she hugged me tightly.

“Luna…?” I asked, now very confused. I felt Luna take a breath.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know what it feels like to have everything taken from you. To be broken down into a shell of yourself.”

From what Twilight had told me, I think I knew what she was talking about.

Together, we watched as Espeon and N cared for me, treating both my physical and mental wounds in their own unique ways. Luna seemed to take interest in Espeon’s psychic abilities as he used them to treat me.

“So after meeting them, you more or less settled down?” Luna asked. I nodded.

“The community we joined accepted us and I settled down with Espeon…”

Luna must have noticed the change in my voice and she arched an eyebrow.

“Were you thinking of…ah…” she trailed off, making vague gestures with her hooves.

“Nothing more than fantasies,” I muttered, then felt my face go scarlet as those fantasies then surfaced. Luna giggled as I squashed them.

“So, do you know anything about the Bittercold?” Luna asked.

Thankful for the change in subject, I shook my head.

“Nothing more than what Arceus told me,” I said. “Apparently it’s raw emotions – hatred, mistrust, fear…all the negative emotions of pokémon concentrated together.”

Luna looked thoughtful. “But…why would it be attracted to you? What makes you special?”

“Rainbow Dash asked me the same thing – I don’t know why,” I said with a sigh.

“Right place at the wrong time, I think,” Luna said simply.

“What would the effects of it be here, though? From what I’ve seen and heard about Equestria, there’s not a lot of negative emotions here.”

Luna smiled slightly. “If you were here a couple thousand years ago, you’d probably think otherwise,” she said as her gaze grew distant. “Ponies weren’t always so kind. All three races were constantly at each other’s throats over one thing or another.

“Unicorns wanted to enslave the Earth ponies, Earth ponies wanted Unicorns to help make their lives easier with their magic and Pegasi just wanted to kill everypony without wings,” Luna said grimly. “It took the threat of extinction to unite them.”

“That sounds rather similar to some people from my world,” I said quietly. “People that wanted to truly enslave pokémon, make them their servants, control everything about them…” I shivered.

Luna gently rubbed my back. “You need to get some rest, Sasha. I can help ease your nightmares. You’re young, you don’t need this kind of burden on your mind every moment.”

I simply nodded and the rest of my night was free from any dreams.

Pain

I thought I knew pain; that I understood it and could ignore it. Turns out all that applied to was physical pain. Break my body, my bones; that, I could filter out easily enough.

The pain that came from getting attacked by elemental moves, or worse, the backlash from a failed attempt to use a move? That was a whole new kind of pain that I would never get used to.

I pulled myself out of what used to be a perfectly good wall with a groan. I fell to my paws and shook myself. Across the room, Twilight Sparkle was doing something similar. Smoke clouded the air and she coughed, fanning her wings to clear the room.

“Alright, Sasha, I think we can call that progress,” she said cheerfully as she extinguished her burning mane. I could only stare at her. She was covered in scrapes and bruises and even blood.

I hurried over to her and patted her leg gently. “I’m sorry, are you alright?” She nodded and smiled at me.

“I’m fine, Sasha, really. This is nothing like how it was back at the Academy. Plus, I’ve been thrown through mountains, have had numerous heavy things fall on me and been in quite a few explosions,” Twilight explained, with a fondness that made me question her sanity.

“How is this progress though?” I asked, looking around the room. I saw Twilight do the same and she had a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Well, you managed to keep the damage internal this time,” she said and I winced, remembering the disastrous first attempts at channeling my power.

I sighed in frustration. “It’s manageable in small amounts, but once it gets past that…” I said, kicking away a piece of debris. Twilight’s horn glowed as she picked up every piece of rubble and I watched as she repaired the room.

The corona around her horn was smaller, its edges softly pulsing as her field enveloped the pieces of stone that the blast had dislodged. With unerring accuracy, Twilight guided the rocks back to their rightful places, where they glowed briefly before the wall was once again smooth, as if it hadn’t just had an intimate meeting with the body of an airborne pokémon and pony.

Twilight looked at the walls for a moment before she turned her purple eyes towards me.

“So, Sasha, have you had any ideas about your powers?” I bit my lip as I searched my memory, careful to steer clear of the pool of energy that seemed to hover at the back of my mind, my reserve, as Twilight called it.

I examined it carefully. The energies within constantly shifted color, from red, to blue, to green, to yellow and white. Maybe if I could find a way to separate them from each other…?

“There’s more than one kind of energy…would be it possible to separate them?” I asked. Twilight looked up at the ceiling and frowned.

“Separate energy…in theory, yes, but you’d still have to store it…somewhere; you can’t just get rid of energy.”

That was true; all forms of energy had some form of release. Fire had light and heat, water evaporated, lightning and light dispersed, spreading out before they were eventually absorbed by the surrounding area. Ice had to melt first then went through the same process as water.

I hesitantly dipped into the pool of power within me and felt it cling to my mental probe. Problem was, I had picked up more than one kind of energy. If I had any hope of controlling it and keeping it from killing me, I had to find a way to be able to call on one power at a time.

The only reason I hadn’t razed Espeon’s home to the ground was due to the fact the power had only just recently manifested in me. Now that it had been given a few hours to settle, it had only grown more unstable.

Flamethrower

The gout of fire the erupted from my mouth and slammed against the magically reinforced wall. At the point of impact, it also released tendrils of lightning that sputtered and died when they couldn’t find anything to conduct themselves through.

Ice Beam

The orb hovered in front of my mouth while the actual beam shot out from it. Anyone looking at it might wonder why it was so thin, yet when it reached the wall, the orb then shot down the thin icy trail and hit the wall, exploding into a thick chunk of ice. At the point of impact, small orbs of light glowed briefly before fading away.

Thunderbolt

My body glowed yellow, sparks dancing wildly over my fur as it built to release. The bolt was the size of the one who cast it, which led many people to believe that small Electric pokémon didn’t pack that much of a punch. People who had seen a Joltik take out a Wailord with a Thunderbolt usually started to think otherwise. At the point of impact, shards of ice formed and melted.

At first, using a move sapped my energy rapidly, but with constant repeated uses, it gradually became easier, although I couldn’t get rid of the strange side effects. Flamethrower would paralyze the target instead of burning it and Thunderbolt would freeze the target instead of paralyzing it.

As I explained what the moves would normally do, Twilight had a thoughtful expression on her face. Finally, she spoke.

“If I had to hazard a guess…I’d say the energies are mixing because they’re not natural to your base species, right?” I thought about that and nodded slowly. I wasn’t fully aware what kind of moves the Eevee line could learn.

“Foreign energy in a unique body…Pinkie Pie did say your species was highly adaptable, didn’t she?” Twilight looked at me curiously.

“We are. There’s an evolution for fire, water, electricity, grass, ice, darkness, psychic and fairy.”

As I described the various Eeveelutions, Twilight was taking notes.

“There was an Espeon named Vui I knew before I met…well…Espeon…” - it felt really odd to refer to two separate Espeon – “She was able to change between Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon at will to deal with any problem, but eventually, she chose to evolve into an Espeon.”

“How does that work?” Twilight asked. “Espeon, Umbreon and Sylveon don’t evolve from exposure to evolutionary stones…”

“They evolve from happiness and – depending on the time of day for Espeon and Umbreon – the care their trainer gives them, or just life in general, I guess,” I said, remembering how Espeon had said he had felt content with his place in life and had evolved from that.

“Have you ever been happy?” Twilight asked.

I thought about that carefully.

Being cared for by Red, Gold and N - all three pokémon trainers - I had felt happy that they didn’t see me as something to be used. Living with Espeon, I had felt happy because he didn’t judge me for the color of my fur. He accepted me for what I was.

I am a Shiny Eevee.

I have a white-gray coat instead of a cream-brown one.

I am not something to be kept in a cage and admired.

I am not a tool to be exploited.

“I have been happy,” I replied. “I can only hope I can find that same kind of happiness here before my time runs out.”

The Bittercold was confused.

The Key had moved.

The Bittercold was angry.

The Key had moved.

The Bittercold was afraid.

The Key had moved.