April lay flat on the table with those wings spread out, planning her escape like in some sort of spy movie. While she couldn’t turn her head much besides the nodding and shaking she was forced to rely on, she didn’t need to; she could see a blur of almost the entire room from where she was. Twilight Sparkle was currently reading a mile-high stack of books, illuminated by a candle, while Spike was picking up something off the floor - water stone shards, perhaps? The important part was that neither of them seemed to be paying any attention to her - or the door. The door was a rather dull shade of red, but it looked so vivid compared to the rest of the pinkish-brown library! She estimated that she would be able to glide all the way to the door without making a sound.

So April crouched into position and jumped off the table. The blurry image of the door became sharper and sharper as she got closer to it, until it was right in front of her... and then she fell face-first onto the floor. Again. She stood up to discover that the door was still some ways away; those antennae definitely weren’t brushing against wood. So she stumbled towards the door instead, hoping that her footsteps wouldn’t make too loud of a sound. It was hard to have heavy footsteps without any bones, but she couldn’t tiptoe, either.

Just as she was about to reach the door, April saw Spike move in her curved peripheral vision.

“TWILIGHT!” he shouted. “The butterfly is trying to escape!”

April panicked as she heard Twilight Sparkle stand up. She desperately staggered towards the door and was about to push it open, then she remembered that it opened inwards. She tried to feel for a doorknob, but then April felt stupid when she realised that a race of telekinetics with hooves wouldn’t need doorknobs.

...So how was Spike supposed to get out?

April tried to push the door open again, but it was so heavy! She wondered if it was reinforced by metal. The sound of hoofsteps was getting closer and closer, drumming against the floor like miniature earthquakes...

April realised she was a prisoner when she was surrounded by a familiar magenta glow.

After Twilight Sparkle had placed her on the table again, April spent the next few hours trying to think of another escape plan. Maybe the windows were just holes? No, if they were, she would be able to feel at least a draught in the room. Which was a shame, really. A breeze could help her learn to fly. Occasionally, Twilight Sparkle would come, place a book on the table, and use some sort of glowy powers that were the same colour as her telekinesis - but not telekinesis, thankfully - then complain that it didn’t work.

Suddenly, the front door burst open.

“Twilight!” exclaimed Fluttershy. “The Budew has gone missing!” April heard a loud THUD as Twilight Sparkle dropped the book she was reading.

“OH NO!” exclaimed Twilight Sparkle. “Not again!” She stomped her hoof.

April almost wondered how she’d lost Pokémon before, but that wasn’t important right now. No, what was important was that the Budew was missing! April had promised herself that she’d help find this mysterious Crawford, but now she was once again reminded of how useless she was. She could’ve at least secretly followed Fluttershy, or done anything else to watch over the Budew! She could be dead by now, for all April knew.

Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, was hyperventilating.

“Where was the last place you saw it? Did you encounter anything dangerous along the way? Were you distracted at any point?”

“Um… I don’t know,” whispered Fluttershy nervously. “I was looking ahead the whole time. I didn’t realise she was gone until I arrived at the Whitetail Woods.”

“What if it ran off into the Everfree Forest like the chicken did?” asked Spike nonchalantly. Both ponies gasped in unison.

“Fluttershy, you check the Whitetail Woods while I check the Everfree Forest,” said Twilight. April could tell from the tone of her voice that she was desperately trying to hide the fact that she was panicking. “Spike, you stay here. Make sure the Beautifly doesn’t move!”

“But you can’t go to the Everfree Forest alone,” said Fluttershy. “It’s much too dangerous!”

“It’s okay. I’ve been there before. Besides, it would be better if we covered more ground.”

“I suppose you’re right…”

“Then let’s go!”

Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle hurried out of the library so quickly that it sounded like a stampede.

That night, April couldn’t get to sleep. She was worried sick about the Budew, which was odd, because she would’ve thought that she would’ve gotten a Beautifly’s instincts with this body. Beautifly didn’t live for very long; what would they have time to get worried sick about?

Wait… how had it only just occurred to her that she wasn’t going to live very long? That just made everything even worse!

The room was dead silent - Spike had gone upstairs - until April heard the door slowly creak open.

“So many leaves… so little time...” groaned Twilight Sparkle, slowly plodding into the room before she abruptly collapsed on the floor with a THUD. And then snored. Very loudly.

April must’ve fallen asleep for a few minutes, because the next thing she knew, there was a soft, pink glow directly in front of her face. A blue shape jumped onto the table next to her.

“I’ve come to rescue you,” shout-whispered a cheerful young boy’s voice. “Follow me!” The blue one jumped off the table and headed across the room - April could hear that he was trying to walk as quietly as possible - and the pink glow slowly floated after him.

April felt concerned. On one hand, who were they, and why had they come looking for her? On the other hand, she finally had a chance to get out of here! So she stumbled towards them, walking even slower than usual to reduce the risk of falling over.

Once they reached the door, the blue one lightly tackled into it, causing it to swing open. Which meant two things. One, it swung both ways, and two, it wasn’t reinforced… April was just too weak to push it. As if things couldn’t get any worse…

For once, though, there was a bright side. Almost literally, in fact. It was such a relief to be outside after all this time! The cool, midnight air felt refreshing after being trapped in a stuffy tree all day, and April had never realised how bright moonlight was before.

“I found her!” shout-whispered the blue one.

“Were there any other Pokémon in there?” asked a voice from above. His voice was serious, but he rolled his “R”s.

“Nope!” exclaimed the blue one. April heard a fluttering of feathered wings as a dark figure descended from the tree’s branches. The blue one headed behind the tree, followed by the pink glow, and April tried to follow him. Unfortunately, she was even less used to walking on uneven ground, and she couldn’t see where she was going, so she fell forwards. Worse still, she didn’t have the energy to get back up this time. The pink glow returned and bobbed up and down impatiently, allowing April to see that she’d tripped over a root and was now laying on top of it.

“Hurry up!” exclaimed the blue one.

“She can’t walk,” said a quiet, gentle, child’s voice. Was she…?

“You could’ve told us that!” said the two male voices in unison.

April was determined to prove that she wasn’t completely helpless, thank you very much, and tried to drag herself across the root, but it didn’t work. Those feeble little hands couldn’t reach the ground. Learning to walk was a lost cause; he needed to focus on learning to fly instead.

April felt a set of talons clamp around a top wing. They weren’t sharp, thankfully, but it still hurt, like they would cause bruising if scales and chitin could be bruised.

“She’s surprisingly heavy…” said the feathered one, desperately flapping his wings. “I need help.” As soon as this was said, April felt the blue one abruptly charge into her from behind, sending her flying long enough to send her tumbling onto a bare patch of ground. Thankfully, she landed on her front, so it was easy for her to stand up.

April seemed to be in a clearing away from the view of any houses. She heard the feathered one land next to her, followed by the blue one. The pink glow illuminated the clearing, allowing her to see a tiny, green figure… yes! The Budew was okay! Crisis averted!

“I think she only recently evolved,” said the Budew to the other two. The Budew then addressed April. “I didn’t want Fluttershy to take me to the woods. When she wasn’t looking, I ran away and met these Pokémon, so I decided to stay with them.” It suddenly occurred to April that tomorrow, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle would be even more worried when they realised that she was missing, too.

...One thing at a time.

“I suppose we should introduce ourselves,” said the feathered one. “My name is Starly. I used to live in this forest surrounding a beautiful lake. It would take an hour to fly over it. There was an island in the middle, and some said you could see a spirit come out at night. One day, I woke up on the ground in a dark forest, and I was almost attacked by these growling… things. I couldn’t see what they were, it was so dark. So I flew as fast as I could, and eventually met this glowy… thing who guided me out of the forest. I think it’s a Pokémon?” The pink glow bobbed up and down. “It doesn’t talk. Problem is, when I arrived in this town, I was kidnapped by the purple one. Thankfully, she let me escape after a few hours. Seriously, if she lives in a tree, why does she have a friend who can breathe fire?”

“I’m Poliwag!” exclaimed the blue one. “I woke up in a fountain. It was so different to the pond I used to live in! There wasn’t any algae, and it felt too soft, and it wasn’t as transparent, and-”

“Get to the point!” chorused Starly and the Budew.

“I decided to leave the fountain! I thought fountains were made by humans - I used to live in this place with a tall purple building - but there weren’t any here. Instead, there were these weird things that were terrified of me, but I was only trying to make friends! So I decided to stay in the fountain in the day and only come out at night. I met Starly on my adventures one evening.”

“Together, we’re trying to learn about the inhabitants of this town,” said Starly. “Have you seen any other Starly around here? I miss my flock…”

“They’re called ponies,” said the Budew. “And I haven’t seen any Starly.”

“Neither have I!” exclaimed the Poliwag.

April shook her head.

“What does that mean?” Starly asked April.

“She means no,” said the Budew.

“Anyway, if you don’t mind me asking… how did you get here?” asked Starly.

The Budew described her life in Vientown first, but significantly less tearfully this time. “Then, few days ago, I woke up in a nice field with rainbow rivers. I was the only living thing there, so I thought it was a dream… until I touched one of the rainbows and it burned me. Then, I started to worry about where all my friends were, and then I was put in a cage by a big, grey pony. Over the next few days, he put other Pokémon in cages - like this orange, fiery one that looked like Starly, but with no wings. One day, he brought in Beautifly, and then a turquoise pony with wings called Sassaflash rescued us and took us here.”

“I see… so what’s this Sassaflash like?” asked Starly.

“She’s nice, but she’s too fast,” said the Budew. “She has a friend who doesn’t like Pokémon, though. Most ponies call us Moonkind and won’t listen to me.”

“Do you have any idea why?”

“Something about someone called... Princess Luna...” The Budew yawned.

“I think we should talk about this more tomorrow,” said Starly, also yawning. “Right now, we should get some… sleep…”

Something lingered on April’s mind just before she fell asleep. The Budew had mentioned “a few days”... which meant that the Pokémon didn’t all appear at the same time. How long had this been going on for?

Author's Note

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