Past Route 1 lay a forest not as terrifying as the Everfree Forest, simply known as Whitetail Woods. The wood served as a migrating point for many indigenous Pokemon species from all across the region, including several types of bird Pokemon, fish Pokemon, and even bug Pokemon. Since each species had different migrating times, the forest was always filled to the brim with life, which, in trainer language, of course meant a perfect place to catch everything that moved.

"Mah sister Applejack says there ain't too many places like this anymore" Apple Bloom recalled "Ah mean, sure, there are still places fer Pokemon ta live, but ah think she meant clean forests like this."

"What a perfect way to start out our adventure!" Sweetie Belle beamed right before she heard her stomach growl "Oh, well, I guess it's time to eat then. Did anyone bring any food?"

"Torchic, Tor..." Torchic whined, it too being very hungry after not eating in a while.

"Oh, I think Rainbow slipped a few sandwiches in my backpack" Scootaloo remembered, reaching for the backpack she took with her before beginning on her journey and opened it up "Just gimme a second and- WAAAHH!!"

She panicked and dropped her bag at the sight of what she saw. Soon enough, a little green spider, who had somehow gotten out of its Poke Ball, crawled out of her bag, still munching on a slice of bread it found. Spinarak looked up at its master and gleefully bounced. The trio of girls just quickly face-palmed themselves. However, Torchic was slightly more displeased by the situation.

"Tor...?" it looked at Spinarak in complete disbelief before bouncing off Scootaloo's head and going absolutely ballistic "TORCHIC!! CHIC!!!"

"Torchic, please, calm down!" Scootaloo urged her partner "Spinarak is just a baby. It didn't know any better, okay?"

"...chic" Torchic subsided and sat itself down on the ground "Torchic, Tor!"

"I know you're hungry; we are too" she rubbed its head "Just hold out for a little while longer, okay?"

"We forgive y'all, Spinarak" Apple Bloom nodded with a smile before clutching her belly "But... Gosh, ah sure am hungry... Now how're we supposed ta git food?"

"Didn't any of you guys pack anything to eat?" Scootaloo asked her friends.

"Nope, sorry..." Sweetie Belle sighed "I guess I was just so excited to go on this journey with you guys that I completely forgot to both eat and pack food. Some birthday this has been..."

"Some adventure we've started..." Apple Bloom double face-palmed.

As the three were trying to figure things out, Torchic took this opportunity to peck Spinarak on the head for screwing things up. The spider perked up at the feeling of something touching its head, but then happily went back to munching on its slice of bread, much to the annoyance of Torchic.

"Okay, guys, wait..." Sweetie Belle thought of something "What if we eat something from the forest?"

"Are you kidding?!" Scootaloo shouted "Any number of things could be poisonous, not to mention just about anything could be a Pokemon! I can't eat a Pokemon!"

"Some Pokemon eat other Pokemon" Apple Bloom unintentionally made the situation more grim than it already was.

"Really, Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo turned her attention to her country friend "Well, thanks for that uncomfortable sentence! Now, seriously, any ideas?"

"Well, I mean, we could always ask someone for help" Sweetie Belle suggested.

(Music Stop)

"Uh, no!" Scootaloo laughed "We're strong, independent young women! This generation is counting on us, the younger of age, to fulfill the legacies of our ancestors who strove for food so many moons ago. They never gave up the search for food, and neither will we! We will continue to search until our bodies ache and our minds become corrupt!"

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Torchic all stared at Scootaloo in complete shock of what just came out of her mouth. They stood there, mouths agape, until finally Apple Bloom broke the silence.

"W-Wow, Scoots..." she was still awestruck by her friend's sentence "Ah've never heard somethin' that philosophical come outta yer muzzle..."

"Nope, and you never will!" a bubbly woman with poofy pink hair, a white t-shirt, a pink skirt with white polka-dots, a dark pink belt, yellow stocking socks, pink shoes and bracelets all over her wrists popped out from out of a bush, causing all but, again, Spinarak to scream in terror "Wow, am I that scary? Huh, who knew?"

"Wait a minute..." Sweetie Belle and the others stopped screaming for a second to analyze the woman "Poofy hair, silly outfit and bracelets?" she gasped "Pinkie Pie!"

"Girls!" Pinkie Pie spread her arms out and gave them all one big group hug "Look at how much you've grown! Sorry I couldn't be there to give you parties and such for your birthdays, but I'm here now!"

"It's okay, Pinkie" Apple Bloom smiled "We know ya need ta work in the Crystal Empire. Speakin' o' which, ya still a Gym Leader?"

"Nope!" Pinkie hopped in a oddly gleeful way "I gave that position to someone else so I could work on baking sweets with my Pokemon. It's a great way to bond with them, I'll say!"

"Oh... Speaking of sweets..." Sweetie Belle clutched her belly "Do you have any food on-hand? Our supply was kinda eaten by that rascal over there" she pointed at Spinarak, still munching on its slice of bread.

"Sure thing!" Pinkie Pie went back to the bush she was in and pulled out a backpack. Opening it, she stuck her arm inside, only to pull out four pink, heart-shaped berries about the size of a human hand. She gave one to each of the starving souls, person and Pokemon alike.

"Are these... Pecha berries?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

"Yeparoony!" Pinkie grinned "Those things may have a hollow inside, but they're practically a full-course meal with every bite, packing in nutrition and, my favourite part, sweetness! Never will you find a sweeter fruit on this planet!"

"Thanks, Pinkie!" Sweetie smiled before absolutely devouring her berry.

"Torchic..." Torchic sighed with a smile as it looked at the meal in front of it. Just before biting into it, it took a look at Spinarak and made sure it was still munching on its slice of bread. Once it confirmed the spider was still distracted, the chick wasted no time in munching on the extremely soft and extremely sweet berry.

"Making people smile, it's what I live for!" Pinkie gave a kind grin "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the Crystal Empire Sweet Shop and bake some sweets! Gummy, c'mon outta there and dig us back home!"

Much to the surprise of the three adventurers and the little orange chick, a red bipedal Pokemon with a long mouth, black stripes, sharp black eyes, black spikes on its back and a long tail came out of the same bush Pinkie did. Scootaloo, quickly pulled out her Pokedex and scanned it.

Krookodile, the Intimidation Pokemon
Very violent Pokémon, they try to clamp down on anything that moves in front of their eyes, never allowing prey to escape. Their jaws are so powerful, they can crush the body of an automobile.

"Nah, don't listen to what that dumb old thing has to say" Pinkie spoke to both the girls and her favourite Pokemon "I don't care if Krookodile can eat diamonds; Gummy here is just a big softy, aren't cha boy?" she rubbed its belly, making it growl with delight "Now, dig away, my baking buddy!"

With that being said, Pinkie hopped on Gummy's back and allowed it to dig itself and its master all the way to the other side of the world. Sweetie Belle in particular was worried that the trip would be too much for the poor Pokemon, but to her pleasant surprise, the dust cloud that followed their path went at a near supersonic speed. Before long, the cloud could no long be seen, and Pinkie was well on her way back home.

(Music Stop)

"Well, that was certainly a thing..." Scootaloo stated.

"Yeah, but she DID give us food ta snack on" Apple Bloom pointed out "Anyway, we should probably git goin'. According to mah map..." she pulled out a map of the Equestria Region from the side of her backpack "...Yeah, Route 2 should be right at the end o' this here forest. After that, Las Pegasus city! Let's git goin', girls!"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the three losers from down the lane..." spoke a voice the girls knew all too well, sending shivers of hatred down their spines. They turned around and saw two girls about their age, one with silver hair tied into a ponytail, and the other with more elegant violet hair.

The one with violet hair wore a light purple sundress underneath a dark blue jacket with purple rims. She also wore a purple belt around her waist, a pearl necklace and expensive-looking dark blue shoes with a small purple crystal on each. The one with silver hair wore a purple shirt underneath an unzipped midriff jacket with violet rims. She also had a white buckle belt around her waist, grey sweatpants, purple running shoes and light blue glasses positioned on her nose.

"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon" Apple Bloom crossed her arms and stared intently at the violet haired and silver haired girls respectively "Not surprising y'all would show up on our journey. Besides bullyin' us like ya have fer the last few years, whaddya want?"

"Hahaha! You losers actually started your lame journey?" Diamond Tiara laughed "How pathetic! I've already started my journey days ago, AND I have a stronger Pokemon than you!"

"Look, just get lost, okay?" Scootaloo shook her head in disapproval "C'mon girls. You too, Torchic and Spinarak" she motioned for her Pokemon to follow her, the latter gleefully scuttling along while the former reluctantly groaning and eventually following as well.

"What's the matter, Scootaloo?" Silver Spoon called out at the trio of girls with a devilish smile "Chicken?"

Scootaloo stopped at the mention of this word. She had never in her entire life understood why it riled her up so much for someone to say it. Chicken. She clutched her fists as that taunt echoed through her mind, searching for its origin. Chicken. Did it really matter to her? They were just making fun of her, like they always had, and every time she had been able to shake them off, except when they called her a chicken. What was it about that word that made her so... sad? Suddenly, she turned around and stared at the two bullies intently.

"Fine then" she sighed "You want a Pokemon battle? You got one."

"Scootaloo, is she really worth the effort?" Sweetie Belle asked her friend in a concerned tone.

"Trust me, once I'm finished with her, she'll never rear her head towards us again" Scootaloo assured her friends "Besides; Torchic and Spinarak could use the experience."

"Well... Good luck ta ya" Apple Bloom smiled and patted Scootaloo on her shoulder before backing up with Sweetie Belle to give the battle some space. Diamond Tiara grinned a bit before grabbing the only Poke Ball on her waist.

"Snivy, go and win for me!" she shouted right before throwing the ball out. The ball opened up and a bright light shot out of it, eventually forming into a small green snake Pokemon with tiny legs and small, leafy arms. It had large eyes and a pointed nose, giving it an elegant yet uptight look to it. It also had a three-leafed tail. It landed on the ground and smirked at Torchic.

"Snivy?" Sweetie Belle questioned curiously before getting out her Pokedex and activating it "That's a new one..."

Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokemon
They photosynthesize by bathing their tails in sunlight. When they are not feeling well, their tails droop. It uses its vines more adeptly than its hands.

"T-Torchic?!" Torchic blushed at the sight of the new Pokemon before seemingly trying to hit on it "Torchic... Torchic, Tor?"

"...Sni?" Snivy replied curiously before giving a rude grin at the orange chick "Snivy, Sni..."

"TOR!!" Torchic was taken aback before it got absolutely enraged by the new Pokemon's attitude and stepped up to the plate with Scootaloo "Tor, Tor! Torchic, Tor!"

"You're right, Torchic" Scootaloo pretended to understand the Pokemon, but thought she had a pretty good idea what it said "These two are pretty rude. Why don't we show them a lesson?"

"Ha! That's a laugh!" Diamond Tiara giggled "Even though you have the type advantage, it's all in the strategy, loser. Snivy, use Vinewhip on the nearby trees!"

Snivy did just as instructed and sent two vines from its back out onto two of the surrounding trees, wrapping the former around the latter. Slowly, it began to pull itself back as if preparing to launch itself. Scootaloo took note of this immediately.

"Torchic, use Ember on those vines!" she shouted out, but it was too late. Snivy released itself from the trees and catapulted right into Torchic's face, knocking it over face-first on the ground. Snivy simply laughed at the poor chick's failure before running back to Diamond's side to continue the fight.

"Yeah, go Diamond!" Silver Spoon cheered from behind her friend's back.

"C'mon, Scoots an' Torchic! Ah believe in y'all!" Apple Bloom shouted at her own friend.

"Yeah, you can do this!" Sweetie Belle joined in "You can finally beat this bully for everything she's ever done to us!"

"You're right..." Scootaloo smiled "Torchic, get up and let's get going! We have a battle to win!"

"Chic..." Torchic whined as it left its face in the ground.

"Now's not the time for this, Torchic!" Scootaloo urged desperately "C'mon, get up!"

"Looks like that Pokemon of yours is really disobedient towards you, loser" Diamond giggled maliciously "In that case, this battle will be a breeze. Snivy, take that little chicken out!"

There that word was again. Chicken. It wasn't even directed at her, yet Scootaloo felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she clutched her fists again, wanting to utterly destroy that violet-haired coward for what seemed like an eternity. This was the moment when she was done turning her back to Diamond Tiara. Finally, she would stand and fight.

"Torchic, get your butt outta there and switch with Spinarak!" Scootaloo shouted at the chick Pokemon, frightening it out of its lazy state and making it run out of the battlefield "Spinarak, stop eating the slice of bread and get over here!"

Spinarak looked up at Scootaloo with a bit of confusion before dropping the bread out of its mouth and scuttling over to fight for its master. It looked at Snivy with curiosity.

"Eww..." Silver Spoon shuddered "Of course YOU would pick a BUG Pokemon to be on your team. How gross!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Silvie" Diamond nodded in agreement "Now, Snivy; use Vinewhip on the trees again!"

"Not this time!" Scootaloo smiled "Spinarak, swing up into the treetops and use Poison Sting when you see an opening!"

Spinarak looked at Scootaloo in slight confusion before finally understanding what she was saying and obeyed without question. It shot some of its web from its mouth and went into the branches, blending in with the leaves.

"Snivy, uh... Do something!" Diamond Tiara panicked "Use Vinewhip on anything that moves up there!"

Snivy brought out its vines to prepare to strike the spider Pokemon should it see it. It looked closely at the tree leaves, studying them and checking them twice just to be sure. Finally, it saw a few black stripes on a "leaf" and smirked, readying its vines once again. However, just as it was about to strike Spinarak, the Pokemon in question swooped down and bit right into Snivy's nose, leaving a nasty purple bug bite mark. It wasn't just purple for no reason though; Snivy was now poisoned.

"Great job, Spinarak! Return!" Scootaloo brought out Spinarak's Poke Ball and called it back with a red beam traveling from the ball to the spider, grabbing it and placing it safely inside the comfort of its ball "Torchic, Snivy's weak! Use this chance to take revenge for it taunting you and/or turning you down by using Ember!

Torchic perked up at this and immediately went back to battling. It inhaled in a heavy breath right before exhaling out multiple small flames from its mouth. The poisoned and temporarily incapacitated Snivy could only watch as the embers drew closer and closer to it, finally touching its skin and leaving nasty burn marks. The wave of embers was surprisingly too much for the grass snake as it fainted a few more flames afterwards, it's eyes being replaced with swirls.

(Music Stop)

"No!" Diamond Tiara shouted as she stomped her foot down in anger "That can't be! My butler said this was the best Pokemon out of all of them!" she looked right at Snivy "Jeez... I pay more than 12,000 bits to get a good Pokemon and this is what people can give me. Worthless!"

"Ya did it, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom cheered as she and Sweetie Belle ran out to congratulate their friend for a victory well earned, smiles burgeoning on their faces "Ya showed that bully what for!"

"But... Is that really how you treat your Pokemon, Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie Belle looked at the bully in disbelief.

"What do you care, losers?" Diamond Tiara scoffed before returning her Snivy in the same way Scootaloo returned her Spinarak "I still can't believe I lost to you, loser. C'mon, Silvie; let's go and maybe get a better Pokemon this time."

"R-Right away, Diamond Tiara!" Silver Spoon joined her friend as they walked away from the trio back to Ponyville.

"Hopefully, we won't have to see them again" Sweetie Belle prayed.

"I'm not holding my breath" Scootaloo sighed before smiling at Torchic "You did a good job, Torchic. C'mon; hop on my head and let's get a move on."

"Torchic, Chic!" Torchic nodded before bouncing right on top of its partner's head and once again nuzzling into her hair. Scootaloo smiled and patted it on the head, much to its dismay. She then began walking towards Las Pegasus city, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gleefully following behind her.

In the woods, a small fairy-like Pokemon watched them leave. It hadn't been noticed by any of the humans, even the pink one. However, it managed to stay hidden and quiet. It let out a small giggle before flying off. Scootaloo quickly turned to a direction she thought she heard something move.

"Scoots?" Apple Bloom wondered "Y'all alright?"

"Y-Yeah... Sorry..." Scootaloo blinked before shaking her head and continuing forward "Thought I heard something moving in those bushes over there."

"Pinkie Pie again?" Sweetie Belle wondered.

"No, it was a Pokemon" Scootaloo assured with a small chuckle "The question is... What kind?"

Author's Notes:

That's the chapter! I hope you read closely, because anything I say in this story might affect the climax at the end, so pay attention!

I thought Silver's theme would fit perfectly into Diamond Tiara's personality: thinking of Pokemon as nothing more than a tool to buy and use to crush all opposition around you! What, you didn't hear the song? Well, there's another issue I'd like to address. Because some people are young and clueless on this site (don't worry, I don't blame you), they don't quite know how music works. Simple right click over any green lettering you see in the story, left click "Open in new tab", and Bob's your uncle! You have a great track to listen to!

Finally, I updated my prologue with a message in it, but I'll say it again for reminders. Our goal of the story is 60 Likes. Here's hoping we can reach that goal!

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, I'll see you guys later!