All the Smallest Things: Original Draft

The next morning, Pipp was awoken by the sound of her phone buzzing on the bedside table. Shaking her mane out of her eyes, she picked it up, hoping somepony had found another Deerling. Instead, she saw a text from Zipp: we need help. come to zephyr heights asap.

Pipp bolted upright, then flew to the middle of the room. "Wake up, everypony! It's urgent!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Izzy woke up first. "Ooh! Are we going on an adventure?"

Then, Misty. "Is this good news or bad news?"

Finally, Sunny. "What happened?"

Pipp landed and looked between all three of them. "I don't know! Zipp just told me we need to go to Zephyr Heights soon!"

"Can we at least have breakfast first?" asked Misty.

The ponies took the elevator to the ground floor. Misty's Spewpa was still right where she left it by the front door, and they had to pass the living room to get to the kitchen. Penny was awake, but Nemona was fast asleep.

"We need to go to Zephyr Heights, and I have a feeling they're having a Pokémon-related problem," said Izzy. "Wanna join us?"

"Uh, sure," said Penny.

Sunny only had enough time to make a smoothie for each of them, which they carried into the Marestream. Misty made sure to pick up her Spewpa on the way out.

Izzy landed the Marestream near the palace. Zephyr Heights was usually bustling, but today the streets were deserted. Indigo-coloured sparks crackled all over the ground and arched like lightning. Izzy, being Izzy, reached over and touched one; to her surprise, it didn't give her a shock. Then, Zipp flew towards them.

"Glad you're here," she said while panting. "We need to get inside. I'll explain more there."

The group rushed into the palace, where Queen Haven was waiting for them in the throne room. She stepped off her throne and trotted towards them, her hoofsteps echoing like raindrops in a cave.

"Oh, my dear ponies, I am so glad to see you!" she said. "Yesterday, Zephyrina" (Zipp rolled her eyes) "helped my guards chase away a wild dragon out of the city. We thought that was the end of our problems, but early this morning, a guard alerted me of the electric sparks covering the streets— have you seen them?"

Izzy nodded. "Yep!"

"As I was saying, I asked an advisor to contact the power grid and ask them if the undereground cables were damaged, but he said no. Though I heard the power plant had a spider infestation the other day... Regardless, I declared a state of emergency: all ponies must stay inside until the issue is resolved. Could you help us?"

Sunny stepped forwards. "Of course! We solved a lot of problems around Maretime Bay yesterday. It turns out that they're all caused by these creatures called Pokémon — in fact, we have a couple with us right now!" She gestured for Penny to step forwards.

"Hi," Penny said. Then, she bowed and added, "uh, Your Majesty." Pipp had told her who Queen Haven was in the Marestream.

Startled, both Zipp and Queen Haven jumped back. "She talks?" they asked in unison.

"Well, it's a long story," said Izzy. "Yesterday morning, we went to Bridlewood—"

Misty put her hoof in front of Izzy's face. "We found a translation spell."

Queen Haven pressed her lips together. "Really? That would have been useful for dealing with the dragon yesterday. We could have asked it why it was here. Perhaps I should employ some unicorns..."

"If you don't mind me asking, Your Majesty," said Penny, "what did the dragon look like?"

"Let's see..." Zipp hovered up and rubbed her forehead. "It was slightly smaller than the dragons from the Isle of Scaly, but much broader. It was light blue, with red wings shaped like axes."

"I think it was a Salamence," said Penny. "There's a few where I come from."

Queen Haven's eyes widened. "You know where all these... Pokémon things came from?"

"Yes. Um, sort of, Your Majesty. I think we're from another planet." Queen haven gasped when she heard this. "But I don't know how we got here." Penny shook her head.

Just then, the crackling sound outside grew even louder, as if lightning was about to strike. The group headed towards a window; Pipp hovered and recorded what she saw on her phone. Instead of storm clouds, a glowing, white gash had appeared in the sky, surrounded by a purple vortex. The Spewpa, who was currently on Misty's back, bristled his "cloak" on reflex. The wind started to howl, and the lights in the throne room flickered...

Everyone present shielded their eyes as the sparks grew even brighter. When they opened them again, they saw a brown figure laying on the ground outside.

"Do you know what this is?" asked Queen Haven.

Penny shook her head, accidentally whacking Sunny in the face with a ribbon. "Sorry," she said. "But I'll go take a look." She turned away from the window and towards the door.

"Wait— don't go— it's too dangerous!" exclaimed Sunny, but she was too late.

Outside, the sky was dim. The swirling vortex of darkness surrounded streets and palace like a dome, and sparks continued to arch over the ground. The atmosphere felt oppressive to Penny, as if the air was thick and hard to breathe, yet it also gave her a sense of déja vu. Her fur stood on end, and her heart pounded.

As she approached the brown figure, she saw that he had a thick tail and a skull over his head — a Marowak. She tapped him on the shoulder with a ribbon, and waited for a second for him to wake up.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The Marowak replied, "My name's Arven."