Megan raised her fist to her mouth, trying to cover up the impending yawn. It was no surprise to her that drowsiness was setting in since the darkness of the alcove seemed like the perfect place to catch up on three days sleep deprivation, but she could wait a little longer. She glanced at her wristwatch and snorted when she saw the display read four twenty two in the morning. Those freaks over at Mt. Pyre would be the only ones awake now, since most sane people were asleep.
"Hurry up, Drilbur," she said to the mass of rock in front of her. "The boss said they want these fossils before noon."
A loud squeal answered her and she rolled her baby blue eyes.
"If it looks like a fossil, bring it here!" she called out, her voice ringing on the alcove walls.
Glancing around, she sighed as the pitch black darkness stretched out in all directions, hiding just how big this place was. All the stones she could see were that muddy brown color you'd see on a riverbank or under the ocean while an blue-tinged glow surrounded her. Sweeping her gaze around, she eyed the floating oil lantern drifting aimlessly to her left and raised an eyebrow as two yellow eyes opened on its glass bulb. Normally, this would be a terrifying moment for people, but Megan simply blew in its direction, causing the lamp to spin slowly while the eyes remained locked onto her.
"You'd be a lot more scary if you learned how to shoot a stream of fire than just those pitiful embers, Lampent," she said. A soft ringing noise came from it and she turned back to the wall. "Drilbur! You better have another fossil or I swear to Arceus I will keep you in the pokeball for the next week!"
As if on cue, the wall of solid stone before Megan began to crumble and twist as a set of silver claws thrashed their way out. Once the tips were free, they spun in circles, steadily getting wider until Drilbur's head popped out, grinning at her. Megan, however, tapped her foot on the wet stone below as she folded her arms.
"Well?" she asked as Lampent lowered itself closer to her shoulder. She swiped at it, causing the pokemon to drift away.
Drilbur pushed itself back into the hole it had just made for a brief second before a pile of rocks came tumbling out. Megan watched about ten of them fall before Drilbur came back, squealing happily.
"These better be real fossils or gold nuggets," she mumbled as she bent down.
She could already tell Drilbur wasn't really paying attention to her since the first rock was nothing special, just a piece of limestone with the impressions of several kinds of seashells. While it could be valuable to some rock nut, her boss wasn't paying her for mold of fossils. Absentmindedly, she chucked the rock behind her and focused on the next one as it clattered into the darkness. This one was a dud too, since it crumbled in her gloved hand. She rubbed her exposed fingers together, feeling the sandy texture melt in her grasp.
Thankfully, the next one proved to be a fine fossil. The outline of a feather was clearly visible on the face of it and she smirked to herself. Maybe the mole wasn't so useless after all. Bringing her bag around, she unzipped the largest compartment and glanced in, noting the folding tent and rations. She quickly stuffed it into the folding tent and went back to examining the rest of the rocks. Amazingly, the next one held two viable fossils, one of a plant root and one of some pokemon's claw, and her smirk became more of a smile. As she looked over the others, she noted one was a full on spiral shell while one was flat with two eye indents on the top.
"Alright!" she said to herself. "Now we're getting somewhere."
After placing those four into her bag, she glanced over the next one, but threw it into the darkness like the limestone piece. Glaring at Drilbur, who was wheezing out a stifled laugh, she rolled her eyes and picked up another.
"Very funny," she mumbled. "However, fossilized pokemon dung doesn't buy you food. Now get back to looking."
She spun the next rock in her hand for five seconds before looking up at Drilbur, who was still watching her.
"Now!" she shouted. "Today! Chop chop!"
Without any hesitation, Drilbur shoved himself back into the hole and Megan sighed as she looked over the rock, wondering how she ended up with such a dumb pokemon. It wasn't like he was any use outside of digging, much less battles, and it sure as heck wouldn't win any kind of contest. Still, she smiled again as she saw a rather short but toothy jawbone embedded in this one. She traced a finger around one of the remaining teeth, feeling how sharp they were. The serrated edges made her finger stick to the sides, but the tip felt like a honed needle point that even a Bisharp would pride himself on. Even after the millions of years this thing had been dead, it still hadn't lost its fighting power. She cringed as she imagined whatever had this tooth bit down on its unsuspecting prey before adding it to her bag.
The last rock Drilbur had delivered made Megan tilt her head in confusion. It seemed to be part of a skull, assuming that smooth hole at the bottom was an eye socket. Above that, though, was a mostly broken sail that shimmered in the blue light Lampent was giving off. It seemed to retain some kind of rainbow coloring and Megan scratched her chin at that, wondering if this had anything to do with the jawbone.
Before she could think any farther, the dull roar of something breaking rang out in the room. She spun around, her long blonde hair whipping about as she scanned the darkness while her shaking hand reached for a pokeball. Fumbling with it, she spun and hissed, "Lampent, return!"
The blue light faded and Megan ran off int the darkness as a newer, much more intense light washed through the alcove. Ahead of her, she saw a row of stalagmites and dove behind them before she remembered the stone floor was soaking wet. Cringing as she looked down, she saw her perfectly good outfit was ruined. The sleek black bodysuit underneath would still be wearable, but her short red biker jacket and blue jean shorts would have to be replaced along with her white running shoes. Spinning around, she crawled up to the biggest one and pressed her back to it as voices filled the room.
"Fan out! This place is huge, so she could be anywhere!" someone shouted in a deep, commanding voice overlaid with a pirate's accent.
Megan felt a shiver run up her spine as thoughts of Pokemon Rangers running though the alcove filled her mind. Illegal fossil mining wasn't really an offence for sending out a whole troop to find her, but she had run afoul of the Rangers before; enough that she was probably near the top ten on their Most Wanted list. Thoughts of the Rare Candy sting operation she had broken up and the poaching of baby Larvitars she was accused of sent more chills through her body. She glanced around at the wall in front of her, knowing that if she was found, there was little she could do to escape.
"Send out the dogs!" the voice roared.
Megan let out a small gasp as she clutched two pokeballs tightly, trying to slow her breathing and pounding heart. The sound of Mightyena's barking and snarling suddenly echoed all around the room and she squeezed her eyes shut. Why now? Why did they have to find her in this stupid underwater cave?
"Aye, cut them loose!" a younger voice shouted.
The howling was replaced by claws scraping against the stone and Megan risked a peek at her captors. Her panic slowly died down as she saw they were not dressed as Rangers, but had on black-and-white striped shirts and blue pants that matched the bandanas they wore. Thankfully, most of their backs were turned to her, allowing her to lean over a little more without being seen.
"Captain, do you think she's really here?" one of them said.
"Arr, there be no doubt about that, Scully," the booming voice answered. "We followed the map perfectly and the Red Orb went crazy as we approached. She's here, alright."
Megan narrowed her eyes as they all shifted their position, moving closer to one of the newly lit tunnels.
"Red Orb?" she mumbled. Was that some new kind of tracking device? Looking to her right, she scanned her bag and glanced over her clothing quickly, wondering what the Red Orb could be tracing.
"Captain! We got something!" a voice echoed down one of the tunnels.
A loud cheer erupted from all of the pirates as Megan spun and pressed herself against the stalagmite again, her heart pounding once more. Perhaps they were here for her after all.
"We got her now! Kyogre, the Creator of the Seas, be this way, mateys!" the commander shouted before she heard them run off, the bright light following them.
The alcove plunged into the pitch-black darkness again and Megan stood up, her eyes fixed on the last spot she saw them. The name the one said, Kyogre, rang a bell in her mind. She had heard it somewhere, but the logical side of her mind screamed at her to ignore it for now. She needed to get out of here and fast, preferably before they came back. Unfortunately, the only way she knew of to get out of the alcove was through a small pool that led to a tunnel out into the ocean, the way she, and most likely the pirates, got in. Taking a deep breath, she tossed out the pokeball in her right hand and a familiar blue light illuminated part of the room.
"Come on, Lampent," she mumbled. "We're leaving."
Walking by the hole Drilbur had bored earlier, she stuck an empty pokeball in the socket and growled, "Drilbur, return."
The pokeball flared red and she pulled it back out, noting that Drilbur was back inside. It angrily scratched at the inside of the ball, but she clipped it to her belt and took off, careful to avoid any puddles while Lampent swayed as it followed her. Despite how disappointing her paycheck would be, she figured six fossils would fetch about fifty thousand or so, enough to get her out of Hoenn and away from the Rangers and pirates.
Upon reaching the pool, Megan froze as she saw a big metallic Wailmer bobbing about on the surface. Keeping herself perfectly still, she waited for it to move before her eyes caught the blowhole propped open. Blinking away all the strange questions popping up, she grabbed another pokeball from her waist and threw it at the water, not wanting to know why it was there. The ball splashed and popped open, letting out a blue fish with two yellow orbs dangling above its head. Before, when she wasn't in a hurry, Megan would have placed her clothes in the bag to not get them wet, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She jumped in, swinging behind to get Lampent back into his ball.
"Dive!" she hissed to the Lanturn she was clinging to as she clipped Lampent back to her belt.
Immediately, Lanturn pulled her under the water and the orbs began to glow, illuminating the eerie tunnel snaking its way back to the ocean. Megan held on to both her breath and Lanturn as it rocketed off through the water, whipping around tight corners and misshapen outcroppings. Megan squeezed her eyes shut and held on, hoping this would be over soon and she would be on the surface. It wasn't a very deep cavern she had entered, but the way in was clearly meant to keep guests out.
Two minutes passed before Megan's lungs began to burn. Squeezing Lanturn's fin harder, she felt the pokemon quicken and soon, the welcome heat of the sun warmed her as they broke the surface. Gasping for as much air as she could, Megan let go of Lanturn and splashed about, blinking away the water from her eyes. Once they were clear, she scanned the ocean, trying to find some rock or island to get her Skarmory out and fly on to Rustaboro Town where the Devon Corp was waiting for the fossils she had gathered. Unfortunately, it was still around four thirty in the morning, making any kind of land mass hard to see. Groaning, she turned to see Lanturn swim up next to her, smiling brightly.
"Guess you've got to get me back to shore by yourself, kid," she mumbled.
As she grabbed onto Lanturn's fin again, an earsplitting roar shook the air around them. Megan's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as Lanturn flailed around, trying to find the source of the noise.
"What was that?" Megan asked no one.
As if to answer, the roar echoed again and the water around them shook. Megan spun around wildly to try and find the source, but she froze when an eerie yellow glow began to show up underneath the water. As she stared, the light got brighter.... and bigger.
"Lanturn, go!" she shouted.
Before Lanturn could even react, the roar rang out once again and the yellow light shot to the surface before breaking it with a mighty crash. Water washed over Megan like a tsunami and she clung to Lanturn with all her strength. They tumbled through the water before breaking the surface again, Megan gasping for air and Lanturn trying to steady itself. Wiping the water away with her free hand, Megan coughed and tried to look up at the towering figure. Above her was a a titanic beast as blue as the ocean itself. Angry glowing lines weaved around its body while the eyes gleamed red. It opened its maw and let out another roar, causing Megan's left ear to pop and a warm fluid to start flowing through it.
She screamed as well, squeezing her eyes shut out of terror for the hulking creature. In her good ear, Megan could hear the wind begin to howl and felt a torrential amount of rain start to fall. Opening her eyes once again, she risked looking at the beast, only to see the angry red eye staring back, pulsing with the glowing lines.
"Lanturn!" Megan screamed at the top of her lungs.
Immediately, her pokemon took off, desperate to get away from the monster, but her fingers slipped and Megan splashed after the terrified Lanturn, but it kept going without her and disappeared in the mass of waves.
"Lanturn!" she screamed again before one wave pushed her under the water.
Megan clawed at the blue around her, trying desperately to come back to the surface when a massive pulse hit her from underneath, pulling her lower. She screamed into the water, air bubbles floating away as she reached for them, but she froze when the glowing lines reappeared in the inky depths. At the same time, her eyes flicked lower and she saw her bag, along with a single loose fossil, sink towards the seafloor. Panicking, she dove and swam after them. She stuck her left arm through the shoulder strap as she reached for the fossil, ignoring the glowing beast.
Just as her fingertips grasped it, another roar shook the water and Megan felt the lack of air begin to affect her. The darkness was getting larger as she tried to move her arms and legs, but they steadily got weaker. Looking up, she could see the surface and reached up, using all the strength she had left to swim. It became apparent, though, that all she was doing was slowing her sinking and her limbs gave in. She looked around and saw the maw of the monster glowing. As the pulse of light hit her, the world went dark.
Stranger in a strange place
Megan's head throbbed as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain gathering at the back of her eyes. It pulsed with her heartbeat, building pressure that made her head feel like it was going to burst. Her mind was foggy as bits and pieces of the outside world tried to form around her, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Wallowing in her sorrows was one of Megan's favorite pastimes and, as of right now, there was no better time to feel sorry for herself.
"Why me?" she moaned.
Life had never been fair for her. Every day was a struggle to keep herself out of prison and to just buy food for herself and her band of thieves. Sure her methods for living were not ideal, but she had to do what she did to survive. Then when life took pity on her, a stupid ancient monster woke up to blast her into oblivion. Fate had a cruel sense of humor if that was its idea of punishing her. It wasn't like those baby Larvitars went to a poor home, nor was it bad she pointed out the irregularities of certain buyers to her employer which revealed them to be Pokemon Rangers. All those people she had scammed and profited off of recovered their loses and even went on to do better things than she ever did. Still, life had portrayed her as a villain and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Oh my goodness!" a soft voice called out. "Are you all okay?"
Megan groaned and tried to roll over, but her body felt heavy. This was all she needed right now; someone finding her washed up on shore who would either rob her silly or turn her in to a hospital where she would be immediately identified and detained. Great, just flipping great.
"Go away," she whined.
"Oh dear, you look hurt! Hold on, I'll get help," the voice said. It had a very soft tone, one that made Megan want to fall asleep.
"No. Please don't," Megan said.
"J-Just hold on! I'll be right back, you poor little thing!"
Megan could swear she heard wings flapping and tried to curl up, but her body refused to move yet again.
"Twilight!" the voice shouted as it faded into the distance.
Megan sighed as she lay still, trying to go back to sleep. Whoever found her was evidently not too bright if they named their pokemon Twilight, but she would probably come back with at least five Rangers.
"Oh well," she mumbled. "Might as well get some sleep before they interrogate me."
"Hey, wake up!" came a scratchy voice.
Megan groaned again as she rolled over, wanting to be as far away from the voice as possible.
"Go away," she said. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Aw, come on! You gotta get up! You've been asleep for the last four hours!" the voice responded. It sounded more like a whiny child than a Ranger. "Besides, the others are super boring! All they want to do is swim in the pond."
"Big deal," Megan replied. "Why don't you go join them?"
"Because I hate the water!" the voice shouted. "It feels all wrong on my hide and hurts when it moves!"
"Not my problem. Now leave me alone."
"Why?" the voice whined before a stomp rang out.
Megan turned her head to the voice, barely opening her eyes. Bright blobs of color assaulted her vision, so she made sure to squint as much as she could.
"Because I said so!" Megan shouted.
Another stomp rang out just as she finished speaking.
"You're no fun," it whined.
Megan rolled her eyes under her eyelids.
"Oh, grow up," she mumbled.
"Once I bite through these bars, I'll find some better friends than all of you."
Megan blinked, opening her eyes a little more.
"Bars?" she asked.
"Yeah, the ones keeping us in these cages," the voice said.
Megan turned to look around, but the colors were still mostly blobs, making it hard to distinguish anything, It was bright outside, which made it easy to see dark lines surrounding her. Groaning, she threw her head back and stared at the ceiling, watching as the mass of brown became more of a slab of wood than a mess.
"Perfect, just perfect," she moaned.
"What are you whining about?" came another, more sage-like voice. "They've been fawning over you more than anyone else."
"Shut up," Megan grunted. "I'm probably more of a high profile detainee than you."
"High profile? Sweetie, you may look pretty, but you ain't nowhere near better than me."
"Oh, can it, Helix," yet another voice said. "We're stuck here all the same. Getting snippy with her won't change that."
"Doesn't mean she deserves any more special treatment than you or me, Kubo," Helix answered with a venomous edge in his voice.
Megan groaned again and squeezed her eyes shut, wanting nothing more than the idiots to be quiet. She tried to cover her ears, but while she felt her arms move, they didn't touch her head. In fact, they felt fully outstretched, but she could feel them rubbing against her chest, which itself was devoid of one of her most definable features.
"I don't hear Shrimpy over there complaining about Lily getting more attention than him, so stop it already!" came the first voice.
"Rex, I said shut up!" Helix called.
Snapping her head forward, Megan looked down at herself. A mass of bright blue stung her eyes and she blinked, trying to brush away the games the light was playing on them. However, blinking only revealed more features, such as four stumpy appendages and a tail that swished against the wood below her. The body was round and plump, almost like a ball, and a long neck ran from the body, right up to where her head was. Megan screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to push herself away from the body.
"What is this?" she screeched.
"Ouch," Rex whined. "Too much noise."
Megan screamed louder as she tried to back herself away, but the body responded to her every move. The front legs wiggled about when she tried to move her arms and the rear ones kicked in the air when she meant to push with her legs. Her other appendage, the tail, swung wildly from side to side, as if it was trying to swim.
"What is this?" she shouted. "What happened to me?"
Without being able to get an answer, a loud crash shook the cage. Megan snapped her head up to see probably the most bizarre sight she had seen in the last ten seconds. A tall purple ponyta stood in a doorway with wings outstretched and horn glowing while the gigantic eyes looked around the room. Instead of fire, the mane on the back of its head and neck hung down like Megan's hair.
"What's wrong now?" the ponyta asked, causing Megan's jaw to drop. "You all were making so much noise..."
As soon as the ponyta finished speaking, its eyes locked onto Megan.
"Oh thank Celestia!" it shouted in a very feminine voice as it ran up to the bars. "You finally woke up!"
Megan screamed again as she tried to push herself back, managing to only roll over a couple times. She huddled against the back of the cell while the giant mutant ponyta stared in.
"Aww, it's okay," she said brightly. "I know you're scared and I'm not going to hurt you."
Megan shook with fear as she tried to force herself into a ball, wishing this nightmare would end soon.
"G-Go away!" she shrieked.
The ponyta tilted her head, revealing a small frown.
"You poor thing. I'll get Fluttershy. She found you, so maybe she can calm you down."
Thankfully the ponyta turned around and took off back through the door, leaving it wide open. Megan, however, remained in a ball as she stared at the door, still shaking from the shock.
"Well, she's taken a liking to you," Helix said.
"She's also the only female here besides Lily," Kubo snorted.
"I think it's because she's pretty," Rex said. "She does have those big eyes and colorful eyebrows, like the pony."
Megan risked glancing around at that point, wondering what other horrors this nightmare had. She got her answer when she saw a dinosaur with a huge, tooth-filled jaw smiling at her from behind a set of wooden bars.
"See?" it said with Rex's voice. "She almost looks just like them!"
Megan screamed again, causing the dinosaur to flinch and back away, trying to rub its head with tiny arms.
"Too loud! Too loud!" it shouted back.
Megan kept screaming as she spun around, seeing a rather large spiral seashell sitting behind the bars on the other side. At the bottom, tons of little blue tentacles wiggled around while it looked at her with eyes that seemed to peek out from under the shell.
"Will you please stop it!" the creature said with Helix's voice. "You're only going to make it worse!"
"Yes, please knock it off!" came Kubo's voice. Megan snapped her head up to see another cage on top of Helix's where two glowing red eyes looked down from underneath a brown dome-shaped shell. "You'll upset Archy and then he won't--"
A loud screech mixed in with Megan's screaming and she noticed Kubo back away from the edge of his cage.
"Noise! Noise! Make lots of noise!" a new voice shouted just as loud as her.
"Dang it, now look at what you've done!" Helix roared.
"What on Equestria is going on here?" demanded the voice of the purple ponyta.
Megan snapped back to the doorway to see the mutated ponyta standing there with a few new ones. A yellow one with an extremely long set of pink hair stood next to her while a much brighter pink one jumped around behind them.
"Oh dear, they're all upset!" the yellow one said in a very familiar soft voice.
"I know what can calm them down!" the pink one shouted. "A 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!"
"No, Pinkie!" the purple one shouted over the screeching. "That's the last thing they need right now!"
"Aw, come on, Twilight!" Pinkie whined. "At least let me do one for the birdie! Then he can shout himself silly and nopony would care!"
Twilight sighed and turned to the yellow one. "Fluttershy, can you calm them down?"
"Uh, I think so," Fluttershy answered before taking a step forward. She looked around at each cage before fixing her gaze on the spot above Megan's. "Easy there, Mr. Birdie," she cooed. "There's no need for all that."
"Noise! Noise! Need to make noise so the monsters don't come!" the screeching voice continued.
"Oh, no. There's nothing that will hurt you. We won't and all the other ones can't get to you up there," Fluttershy answered.
"No monsters? Okay!" the voice shouted before quieting down.
Everything breathed a collected sigh of relief at the welcome silence. Megan flopped her head back and stared back up at the top of the cage, wondering what could've induced this kind of dream. She knew days of psychic pokemon therapy would be needed just to rid herself of the memories of this when she woke up, much less the horror of having her body mutated.
"They seem fine to me," Fluttershy said, peeking into the cages one at a time. "I've never seen these kinds of animals before, but they all look healthy right now."
"Oh good," Twilight said, letting out the breath she was holding. "Then I can still study them and find out what they are and where they came from."
Megan glanced back up to see the two giant green eyes of Fluttershy staring into her cage before flopping her head back down. She had seen just about enough to be sure she was either dreaming or on one heck of a drug.
"Aww, she looks so sad in there," Fluttershy cooed as her hoof pressed against the cage. "Can you come here, cutie?"
Megan froze at that while she could hear Rex stifle a laugh. Did the hallucinogenic induced apparition just talk to her like she was a Poochyena?
"Pretty please?" Fluttershy asked. "I promise I won't hurt you."
Megan lifted her head and glared at the mutated Ponyta known as Fluttershy. If this was a nightmare, she would most definitely try to maim her in some way when she went up to her. Then again, pain or fear of pain always woke someone up from a dream. Deciding she was willing to take the punishment for now and have it removed later, she rolled over and tried to stand up, but found her legs and arms were too weak to support her, making her fall forward and slam her chin into the bottom of the cage.
"Ow!" she cried. "Ow, ow, ow, ouch!"
"Oh no! Did you hurt yourself?" Fluttershy asked, sounding like she was struggling not to gasp.
Megan closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to clear away the stinging in her chin.
"Twilight, we need to get them all some blankets and pillows right away! They all look like babies!" Fluttershy said, turning away from the cage. "Some of them don't even know how to walk yet!"
Megan stared after Fluttershy, wondering if she thought hard enough that Fluttershy would regress to an egg. Apparently her nightmarish apparitions were just as dumb as she thought they were.
"I'll see what I can find. Pinkie, come on!" Twilight said as she spun around and took off through the doorway. Pinkie followed, jumping each step of the way.
"Did she just call us all babies?" Helix asked.
"We all haven't evolved, Helix. Of course we look like infants to them," Kubo said.
"I most certainly am not a child!" Helix shouted, causing Fluttershy to turn around and look at him.
"Don't worry," she cooed. "Twilight's getting some things to make you all comfortable."
"I'd be more comfortable out of this cage and in the pond again," Helix answered.
Megan closed her eyes and pressed her head to her chest, wishing this stupid dream would end already. There was no way all of this was real. She was not a pokemon, there were no mutant ponytas keeping her in a cage and there was no talking pokemon. This was either a very surreal nightmare or a hallucination brought on by oxygen deprivation, some extreme drug she took or a psychic type pokemon trying to get her to admit something.
"You do that a lot. Is it because your head feels nice?" Rex asked.
"Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" Megan screamed. "You're all not real!"
"Really? I sure feel like I'm real," Rex replied.
"Stop it! I give! I'll tell you anything you want, just make it stop!"
"Sweetie, I know waking up here is a shock, but you screaming is not changing anything," Helix quipped.
"Oh no," Fluttershy said. "Did you hurt yourself again?"
It was at that point Megan decided there was no other alternative. Opening her eyes, she stared at one of the stumpy legs and lunged forward, clamping her teeth down on it. Pain rocketed through her body as every instinct screamed at her to let go, but she but harder, hoping that either she would wake up or the illusion would break.
"TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy screamed. "TWILIGHT, HELP ME! ONE OF THEM IS BITING ITSELF!"
Megan felt her cage rattle violently and looked up to see a mass of yellow approaching her. She closed her eyes and forced her jaw to try and close more, cringing as tears started to stream down her face. In an instant, she felt something wrap around her and she was pulled out of the cage. Glancing up, she saw Fluttershy looking down at her, her giant eyes now tiny and a terrified from on her face.
"Stop it!" she shouted as Megan felt something grab her neck and begin to pull. "Stop hurting yourself!"
Megan renewed her effort in attempting to wake up when all the other voices began shouting.
"Good Arceus, knock it off!" Kubo roared.
"Quit biting yourself! You're making it more upset!" Helix shouted.
"Bite with your back teeth!" Rex called out. "You bite harder with the back ones!"
"Noise! Noise! Make lots of noise!" Archy began shouting again.
"We're here! What's going--" Twilight said as she came through the door, locking onto Megan. "Dear Celestia! Fluttershy, make it stop!"
"I'm trying!" Fluttershy shouted, her voice cracking. "She only bites harder when I pull!"
Megan squeezed her eyes shut yet again as the pain became too much. Surprisingly, she hadn't felt her skin break, but there was sure to be some nasty marks on it when she was finished. Giving in, she let go as Fluttershy tugged her head away, stretching it out to the full.
"Quick, get something so she doesn't bite herself again!" Fluttershy yelled.
Megan blearily looked around as she saw Twilight approach her, the horn on her head glowing.
"We'll use rubber bands for now," she said as Megan saw black shapes wrapped around her head before snapping her jaw shut. "That should keep her from biting herself until I can find a muzzle small enough for her..."
Twilight broke eye contact and looked around.
"Is it colder in here?" she asked.
Fluttershy looked up from Megan and glanced around before she saw a snowflake drift to the ground where it instantly melted.
"Twilight, did you see that?" she asked with a hint of nervousness.
"See what?"
"There was a snowflake in here," Fluttershy answered before turning to Twilight. She gasped when she saw another snowflake land on her mane.
"Feels like winter in here," Twilight mumbled as she rubbed a hoof against the opposite leg.
"Twilight, I think it's snowing in here," Fluttershy whispered before glancing at the ceiling.
Above them, a mass of roiling gray clouds formed a perfect circle around them. It took a bit, but sure enough another snowflake fell from them, spiraling down before landing on Flutterhsy's nose.
"What in Equestria?" Twilight gasped, staring up at the clouds. "Where did that come from?"
Fluttershy looked back at the strange creature in her hooves, but it looked like it had fallen back asleep.
"Twilight, what are these things?" Fluttershy asked, dreading to know the answer.
