To Be A Master

Twilight and the others pondered over their situation. There they were, in a foreign world, transformed into foreign bodies. Not to mention that a human and a 'Pikachu' had discovered them, and from the looks of it, they weren't going to leave without a fight.

Rainbow Dash, despite all of this, gladly accepted the offer.

She stretched her tiny wings, then took off upwards as fast as she could. After rising about twenty feet into the air, she began a dive-bomb, aimed straight at Pikachu.

The human kid called out, "Dodge it, Pikachu, and retaliate with Thunderbolt!"

An instant before Rainbow's attack made contact, Pikachu jumped out of her path, and cried out, "Pika—CHU!" A large burst of electricity shot out of the rodent and hit Rainbow Dash, dealing double damage and paralyzing her. The sight made everyone witnessing it freeze in shock and fear.

"Alright, we got it right where we want it!" The kid cheered, grabbing a strange spherical device from his belt and winding up a throw. "Go, Pokéb—"

"WAIT!"

The kid froze. "Uh... Did you hear that, Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded frantically, "Pi Pika, Chu Pi!" He pointed to the rest of the group, most of whom were still frozen.

Except for Fluttershy.

Fluttershy had instinctively leapt between Rainbow Dash and the kid, spreading her wings in a defensive manner. "That's enough; you leave Rainbow Dash alone!"

The boy's jaw dropped. "Wha— you can talk!?"

Fluttershy stood her ground. "I don't know who you think you are, but I will not stand by and let my friends get hurt!"

The first one to break out of their stunned stupor was Rarity; she squirmed forward to join Fluttershy and added, "Neither shall I!"

Spike immediately joined his crush. "Yeah, what she said!"

Applejack waddled over and took up a defensive stance. "If ya wanna git Rainbow Dash, yer gonna hafta git past us!"

Twilight and Pinkie both quickly joined them, and together, they stood their ground against the boy.

Said boy, however, was staring as though he'd seen a ghost. "I-I-I'm sorry, I thought– how can you all– what's going– ughhh," he stuttered, before promptly fainting.

The seven Equestrians blinked in surprise. "I think we may have overdone it just a bit," Twilight remarked.

"Pika," Pikachu nodded in agreement.

About thirty minutes later, the kid was conscious again. "Ugh... Pikachu, I just had the strangest dream; there were a bunch of talking Pokémon, and–"

Then he froze as he caught sight of the eight figures looking down at him. Panicking, he scrambled backwards and blurted, "P-please forgive me! I didn't know you could talk; I—"

Fluttershy stepped forward and held up a wing in a shushing manner. "Shh, calm down. We didn't mean to scare you; we were just protecting our friend."

The kid relaxed a little bit. "If I'd've known you could talk, I wouldn't have attacked in the first place."

Rainbow, her paralysis having worn off while he was unconscious, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Yeah, why did you attack us?"

He rubbed the back of his head nervously and explained, "Because I thought you were just normal Pokémon, and I wanted to catch you."

The entire group asked simultaneously, "Pokémon?"

The boy blinked. "You don't know what Pokémon are?"

Twilight shook her head. "We aren't exactly from around here."

"Well, I'll say!" The kid chuckled. "I'm Ash, by the way. And this is Pikachu."

"Pika," the electric rodent nodded.

The seven introduced themselves in turn.

Ash scratched his head, shrugging off their peculiar names. "So, if you're not from around here, and you don't know what Pokémon are, then where did you even come from?"

Twilight grimaced, dreading this moment. "Well, you see, —"

Surprisingly, it wasn't Pinkie Pie that butted in this time, but rather Rainbow Dash. "We're from another dimension, where we live in a land called 'Equestria'. Twilight here modified a mirror she has, turning it into a portal that we used to get here. When we went through, we found ourselves turned into these 'Pokémon' things, and then you showed up."

The other Elements of Harmony stared at Dashie, surprised that she'd summarized it so eloquently.

Ash gaped for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, stranger things have certainly happened to me before..."

Twilight did a double-take. "Really? You believe us, just like that?"

He nodded, "Being friends involves giving the benefit of the doubt. Besides, the least I can do to make up for attacking is to trust you."

Twilight chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose you're right..."

Ash took the opportunity to stand up. "Well, if you're not familiar with those bodies, then what're you back in your world?"

AJ answered, "Most of us are Ponies."

Ash scratched his head. "Ponies? You mean, like Ponyta?"

Twilight blinked, then looked down at herself when he pointed. "Well, sorta."

Spike chimed in, "I'm the only one of us who isn't a pony; instead, I'm a fire-breathing dragon!"

Ash smirked, "You mean like Charizard?"

Spike blinked. "Who?"

In response, Ash pulled another one of those spherical devices from his belt and tossed it into the air. At the peak of its arc, it opened up and a white energy came out, coalescing until it parted to reveal a HUGE dragon (it was actually only 5' 7", but it seemed huge in comparison to Twilight and the others).

Spike gawked, "Holy guacamole!"

Charizard opened one of its eyes and smirked cockily, as if to say 'Yep, I know I'm awesome'. Rainbow Dash certainly knew that look.

Twilight, however, was more interested in the ball that Charizard came out of. "How'd you do that?"

Ash re-caught the spherical device, and held it up. "Oh, this is is a Pokéball. It allows trainers to catch and contain Pokémon."

The Princess stared at it, awestruck.

AJ pointed at Charizard and asked, "Who's the big guy?"

Ash reached into his pocket and procured another device, then pointed it at Charizard. After a moment, the device opened up and began to recite: <>

The entire group "Ooh"ed at this.

Twilight pointed at the device. "And that?"

Ash smiled. "My Pokédex. Professor Oak gave it to me a while ago; it contains all the known data on the known species of Pokémon."

Fluttershy oogled at it. "How many is that?"

He put a finger to his chin in thought. "Last I heard, it was somewhere around 890."

Everyone's jaws dropped. "How do you keep track of it all!?" Fluttershy gaped.

The boy held up the Pokédex with a knowing smirk.

Then Twilight asked, "Does it know anything about what we've become?"

Ash nodded, "Of course! Here, let me."

He pointed it at Twilight, and a moment later, it read: <>

Twilight blinked. "Really?" She studied Ash's face closely, then gasped. "Oh wow, it's true! And might I say, you're one of the noblest humans I've ever met!"

Ash flustered. "Gee, thanks!"

He next pointed his device to Fluttershy, and it returned: <>

Fluttershy looked at herself and remarked, "I suppose I do look rather cloud-like."

Next, Pinkie's turn. <>

Pinkie gasped, then spat out a string of sticky substance, just like the Pokédex had said. A mischievous grin spread across her face as she no doubt began to think about the possibilities this gave her.

Now, Rainbow Dash. <>

AJ snickered, "That's definitely Dash."

Rainbow Dash beamed, "Sure is!" AJ face-palmed.

Rarity came next. <>

Rarity gasped. "Oh, I see! That's actually rather fitting, now that I know that."

Ash raised an eyebrow, "You like fashion, huh?"

She smirked. "Darling, 'like' doesn't begin to describe it."

They all shared a small chuckle at that.

Spike's turn, now. <>

Everyone blinked. "Did I hear that correctly?" Rarity asked.

Spike self-consciously looked back at his tail, at the flame that was apparently his life force. "That's... Wow..."

AJ stepped forward. "Hopefully, mah description'll lighten the mood."

Ash visibly grimaced. "Well, uh, maybe we shouldn't..."

She raised an eyebrow from under the skull she wore. "How bad can it be?"

He sighed, relenting. <>

Everyone stared at Applejack, who was absolutely mortified at just the thought.

Then Twilight piped up, "But that wouldn't make sense; she didn't bring... Wait a second! AJ, you came through the portal wearing your hat, right?"

She nodded.

"Your hat must've become the skull instead!"

Everyone sighed in immense relief, their existential crisis having been narrowly averted.

Well, except for Spike; he was still staring at the flame at the end of his tail.