The Rings

One day after Lyra learned the translation spell...

After putting a hyperspace hole down in Lumiose Badlands and watching a few Gabite go through it, the Hoopa had teleported around the world, looking for other, more populated places to put xir other rings. Xe ended up placing xir other rings in various locations throughout the world, staying in each location long enough to see Pokémon cross into the other world before placing a ring somewhere else. Xe was now returning to every location where xe had put a ring to see what had happened.

The Hoopa was currently in Castelia City, the largest city in the Unova region. The countless skyscrapers were positioned around a semicircular port where human ships came and went. The Hoopa was near the fountain in the central plaza, being careful not to get noticed, where xe had placed a ring earlier. Xe looked around; at first glance, it was a perfectly normal day in Castelia City. Young trainers hurried towards Burgh's gym, Lillipup played with each other while their owners watched on benches,  Pidove pecked the ground for any scraps of food, and street performers danced. The Hoopa seemed to be the only one who noticed the other side of the ring, and inside xe could see a white and gold city with a blue sky much clearer than the city xe was currently in. The white city's multicoloured inhabitants didn't seem to notice the hyperspace hole, though a few of them glared at the ring suspiciously. The Hoopa activated xir telepathic translator to hear what the humans on the bench were talking about.

"Did you hear about the mystery creature from earlier?" one of them asked.

"The one that panicked and almost knocked someone over?" the other replied.

"Yes, that one. Good thing it left - it was scaring the Pokémon."

The Hoopa laughed, then deactivated xir translator. Xe grinned, then jumped through the hyperspace hole, hoping to cause more chaos.

The Hoopa looked around the white and gold city on the other side of the portal. The air was a lot cleaner than in Castelia City, and the sky was much clearer. At the highest point of the city was a grand castle. The inhabitants were quadrupeds of various colours, most of which had a single horn. They all seemed to avoid the ring, as if they were suspicious of it. The Hoopa found this city, quite frankly, boring. It needed something more lively... such as...

The Hoopa got out a hyperspace hole, the only one xe still had, and focuses all of xir power into it. The ring widened as the inside turned purple, and a long, green, flying serpentine Pokémon, a Rayquaza, flew out of it, before the inside of the ring showed nothing again. As its shadow loomed over the city, the citizens all turned to look at it, their eyes wide. Several of the inhabitant's horns glowed, and they levitated rocks towards the Rayquaza, but it was no use. The sky dragon, confused and angry about being suddenly teleported, fired up an orange-ish white laser which it aimed towards the street. While the creatures all managed to scatter to avoid it, the laser left a huge indentation in the cobblestone. The city was flooded with its inhabitants escaping from its many buildings, all desperately trying to avoid the rampaging Rayquaza.

The Hoopa, realizing that summoning a Rayquaza might have been more than just mischeif, picked up the hyperspace hole xe had left in this city. Its eyes glowed, and the inside of the ring turned black, with Castelia City only faintly visible. The Hoopa then closed its eyes, focusing as much power as it could into that ring, and smirked. Xe then teleported around this world, looking for xir other rings.

Twilight Sparkle had called all of her friends over to the castle to discuss the yellow creature she had found, but Fluttershy hadn't arrived.

"I heard that somepony got shocked by some yellow thing over in Cloudsdale, but it probably didn't look like that," said Rainbow Dash, after Twilight had described it.

"Whatever it was, it must've been super-duper zippy-dippy ADORABLE!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

"Well I think that sounds rather dangerous," said Applejack, in sharp contrast.

"So where is it now?" asked Rarity.

"It went through a ring that was propped up against the town hall," said Twilight. "I know this sounds crazy, but before it left, it said something about home."

"So the ring must've been some kind of portal? Like the mirror in the Crystal Empire?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"That's what I think," said Twilight. "Just imagine the possibilities! Imagine how many worlds there are out there!"

Suddenly, Spike burst into the room and breathed out a letter in a burst of green flame. Twilight levitated the letter in front of her, her eyes widening as she read it.

"Princess Celestia says that a giant dragon has appeared in Canterlot and has started destroying the city! I've got to go. You should all stay here," gasped Twilight. Before any of her friends could reply, she teleported away.

After Fluttershy had finished feeding her animal friends, she heard a knocking on her door. She opened the top compartment, and saw that the visitors were the Cutie Mark ex-Crusaders.

"Fluttershy, have you seen a leafasaurus anywhere?" asked Apple Bloom.

"A what?" asked Fluttershy.

"Y'know, a greenish reptile-thing, with a leaf on its head," said Scootaloo.

"You mean Sweet Pea? She's just outside." Fluttershy heard the crusaders walk towards where Sweet Pea usually was, but then she heard them walk back.

"It's... I mean, she's not there," said Sweetie Belle.

"Oh? Oh!" Flutershy opened the door and desperately searched for Sweet Pea. There was no sign of the Chikorita anywhere, no matter where she looked.

"Well, I came across that Sweet Pea in the Everfree Forest-" began Apple Bloom.

"The Everfree Forest?!" gasped Fluttershy. "I warned her that it was dangerous in there!"

"You warned her?" asked the three crusaders simultaneously, but Fluttershy didn't respond. The pegasus flew as fast as she could - which wasn't very - into the Everfree Forest, hoping that she wouldn't spend too much time in there. She saw several small, rounded footprints which she could tell belong to a Chikorita, and followed them. They eventually lead to a golden ring, which contained an image of another forest. Desperately, she dived through it.

The forest Fluttershy ended up in was as overrun as the Everfree Forest, but was a lot brighter. The forest was full of creatures which were unfamiliar to her, but resembled animals that lived on Equus. A brown bird with red wings, that resembled a sparrow but had an eagle's stare, looked around from the branch it stood on, then noticed Fluttershy and seemed confused. A giant purple butterfly with white wings landed by a patch of flowers. A few orange insects that looked a bit like crabs, with red and white mushrooms on their backs, were gathered on a tree trunk. Fluttershy could hear the sounds of these creatures, and many more besides. But there was no sign of Sweet Pea, or any other Chikorita.

"Eeeee... aaaawaar!"

Suddenly, one of the sparrow-eagles dived down and attacked her, followed by several others of its kind. Fluttershy ran and ran and ran, desperately trying to get away from the constant pecking. Eventually, she ended up being followed by an even larger sparrow-eagle with an even longer beak. Eventually, however, the sparrow-eagles scattered when they noticed a flurry of small, sharp leaves being hurled towards them. Fluttershy was shocked when she noticed where the leaves came from.

"Sweet Pea!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're okay! It's time to go home now."

"Sorry, Fluttershy, but..." replied Sweet Pea, looking downwards, "this forest is where I live. I'd rather stay here..."

"But this forest is so dangerous!"

"It is for you, from another world. The Pokémon who live in this forest are much better suited for this environment... or something..."

Fluttershy was about to ask what a "Pokémon" was, but she didn't. "I suppose if it's best for you..."

Sweet Pea waved her leaf, as if to say goodbye. Fluttershy waved back at her.

"Don't get upset, Fluttershy... it's just that... this forest is where I belong, that's all. And your world is where you belong."

Fluttershy slowly retraced her steps, being careful not to get attacked. Some of the other creatures of the forest, which weren't malicious, seemed rather curious about her. A rounded, blue and white creature ended up following her, but stopped following her when she got near the ring.

"Took you long enough," said Scootaloo. Fluttershy reunited with the Cutie Mark ex-Crusaders back in the Everfree Forest.

"Sorry..." said Fluttershy. "Sweet Pea said that the forest was her home, and that she wanted to stay there."

"Well, that's okay with her, then. At least she wasn't calling trouble," said Sweetie Belle.

The four ponies walked out of the forest, when all of a sudden, they heard the sound of high-pressure air being sucked in. The all turned around, and noticed that the inside of the ring had turned black, and was pulling the contents of the forest into it. A few creatures from the other forest were flung out of the portal. Scootaloo tried to fly towards the ring, but unfortunately, she was barely able to fly. She was sucked towards the ring, and before she could try to escape, she was pulled into it.

"Scootaloo, NO!" shouted Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

Panicking, the remaining ponies ran out of the forest.

If only Fluttershy was here...

When Twilight appeared in Canterlot, she noticed that there was a huge indentation in a path, and the nearby buildings were mostly rubble. Worst of all, there were next to no ponies to be seen, and a long shadow loomed over the city. She looked up, and saw an angry, green serpent. She flew up to it. When the serpent noticed Twilight, it swiped one of its short, but sharp-clawed, arms towards her, but she managed to dodge it. She landed back on the ground, when she heard a familiar voice.

"I see you have arrived, Twilight Sparkle." It was Princess Celestia, accompanied by her sister Luna. Twilight Sparkle turned around. "A dragon, unlike anything Equestria has ever seen, suddenly appeared here and started attacking the residents. Thankfully, nopony was harmed, but the damage done to the buildings was major."

"I noticed," replied Twilight. "Why did you send that letter to me?"

"You and your friends have saved Equestria on countless occasions. We thought you would be able to help. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"They're back at the castle. Well, most of them are, anyway. I don't know where Fluttershy is."

Suddenly, the three alicorns ears swivelled towards the sound of the air pressure increasing. There was a ring at the end of the cobblestone path, which was sucking the surrounding rubble in like a black hole. Simultaneously, the green dragon dived towards them, ready to attack. The ring widened, and the ponies began to be sucked into it. Twilight, who was standing furthest away from it, managed to get away from the suck-in field, but Celestia and Luna were less fortunate, being pulled in, followed by the green dragon.

Twilight held back her tears, but a few still rolled down her cheeks. Bravely, her horn glowed magenta, and she fired a translation spell into the ring. Wherever the princesses ended up, Twilight wanted them to understand the inhabitants. The ring then stopped sucking things in altogether.

Twilight teleported back to Ponyville, as the sun sank below the horizon, not followed by the moon.

Twilight Sparkle teleported back into the castle, gasping and still slightly crying.

"What happened?" her four other friends all exclaimed.

Twilight took a deep breath. "There was a dragon attacking Canterlot... so Celestia called me over... and then she got sucked into one of the portals... followed by that dragon..."

The other ponies' reactions ranged from surprised to distraught. Suddenly, Fluttershy burst into the room, followed by Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

"So there you are!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "But where's Scootaloo?"

"We were in the Everfree Forest," said Apple Bloom. Applejack looked concerned. "Long story. Anyway, Scootaloo got sucked into this portal, and we don't know if she'll be okay or not!"

"Was that portal... anything like the one in Canterlot?" asked Twilight.

"We don't know. Anyway, you've gotta help her!" exclaimed Apple Bloom.

"Okay, fillies. Stay here," said Rarity.

"I'll go," said Rainbow.

"Umm... are you sure? It seems dangerous... like, really dangerous..." said Fluttershy.

"Really? I'm the greatest flyer in all of Equestria. Sure, I'll be able to save Scootaloo!"

The sun had set unusually early, and there was no sign of the moon. Rainbow Dash flew towards the Everfree Forest as fast as she could; she arrived in a few minutes. Zecora wasn't around. Many of the tree's leaves had been completely torn off by the portal, so it was easy to find.

"Scootaloo, I'm coming!" she shouted, as she flew straight into the high-pressure winds that made her mane blow all over the place.

Inside the portal, it was dark. Rainbow saw a brief image of a dark blue bird of some sort flash before her eyes, before ending up on the ground in a forest. But where was Scootaloo?

The mare was never seen again.