"So, would you mind telling us what this whole trip to the Crystal Empire is about again, Twilight?" Applejack asked her alicorn friend.
"I told you already Applejack, there's another human in the Crystal Empire, from an Earth that definitely is different from where our precious angels of children are from," replied Twilight, from which all the human children just blushed at her statement, but then Toby kindly raised his hand.
"Uh, Auntie Twilight, how is this new human different from the rest of us?" he asked curiously, with the others nodding in agreement.
"According to the letter, this new human is accompanied by strange creatures called Pokemon," Twilight explained to her nephew.
"Oh! I know what pokemon are!" Joshua said realizing what his mother was talking about.
"Ok, so what are Pokemon?" Nyx asked her little brother.
"They're creatures that have amazing powers, some control fire, others live in water, and there are even those who can have the element of grass," Josh explained. Nyx nodded in understanding, "But, they only appeared as a T.V. show, a video game series, a card game, and some other stuff," Josh added on. Just then, they heard the train pulling into the station.
"ALL ABOARD THATS GOING ABOARD! NEXT STOP, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!" the conductor called.
"Well, that's us, lets go everyone," Twilight said leading them to the train. As soon as they were seated inside, the train began to move. "Ok, when we get the Empire, we need to make sure that this new human feels welcome, as well as these Pokemon creatures," Twilight explained. Everyone nodded at the plan, but then Fluttershy kindly spoke up.
"Uh but Twilight, what we can't make them feel welcome?" she asked with worry in her voice.
"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm 100% sure we can make them feel welcome," Twilight reassured her Pegasus friend.
"I hope you're right," Fluttershy said with unease.
Meanwhile, with Celestia and Luna,
"So, we just have to make sure this William and his creatures that he calls Pokemon feel welcome?" Luna asked her sister, as they were heading in a chariot with their children, Chris, Timmy, and Drake.
"Yes little sister, if we can extend our friendship to these new creatures, then maybe the magic of friendship can be extended to new lands," Celestia explained to her sister. Just then, they could see Gyarados, Steelix, and Rayquaza all hanging around the Empire. "Are those the Pokemon?! They're huge!" Celestia shouted with surprise.
"No, these are only three of the many species of Pokemon there is, and Rayquaza is known as a legendary Pokemon," Timmy explained, which made the others look at him curiously, "What? Just because my mommy and Daddy didn't want me doesn't mean I never watched TV," Timmy said deadpanning.
"Well, then could you maybe tell us what each of those large Pokemon are?" Celestia asked her nephew.
"Well, I can remember that that large green one is a Rayquaza, that gray one is Steelix, and," Timmy cut himself off in amazement to see that the Gyarados down there was red, "And that's a shiny Gyarados!" he said in surprise. This made the others curious.
"Timmy sweetie, can you tell us what you mean by shiny?" Luna asked her son.
"When the term shiny is applied to a Pokemon, it means that it's a different color. And before you ask, Gyarados are normally blue," Timmy explained as the chariots came to a land, in front of Cadence, Shining Armor, Nathan, and the Elements of Harmony, and their families.
"Hello Aunt Celestia, I take it you got my letter?" Cadence asked, looking at her aunt with a smile.
"We did, now if I may ask, where is this new human?" Celestia asked looking around.
"He's napping over by that tree," Shining Armor said, pointing a hoof towards the tree that Will was snoozing under. Will heard the commotion in his sleep, and slowly began to wake up. Stretching, he looked over to where the ponies were, and slowly standing up, he walked over to them.
As soon as he got to the group, he politely introduced himself, "It's nice to meet you all, as Cadence said, my name is William, but you can call me Will," Will said, bowing his head in respect for the two alicorn sisters.
"There is no reason to bow to us, you aren't an official Equestrian citizen like our children," Celestia said with a giggle, looking at her son and the other humans. The fact that there were human children in a land of magical talking ponies got Will curious.
"Well, if it's not too much trouble, can you tell me how they all got to Equestria in the first place?" Will asked. And so the children all told their respective stories. "Whoa, sorry about all you went through," Will said, feeling guilty.
"Don't worry about it," Toby reassured the young trainer. Just then, Toby felt something land on his head. "Uh, Will? What's on my head?" Toby asked, feeling nervous about what might be on his head.
"That would be one of my speedy Pokemon, Ninjask," Will explained. "Ninjask! I told you not to land on everyone's head!" Will scolded the ninja Pokemon.
"Sorry boss, but I just love to hug heads," Ninjask said, with a happy expression. Everyone, save for Will, Nathan, and Cadence, were shocked to hear the bug Pokemon talk.
"How can your Ninjask talk?!" Josh asked hysterically.
"Something about the magic in Equestria must be translating their normal speech patterns," Will theorized, which everyone just nodded in agreement. Just then, there was a huge explosion. Turning towards the castle, they all saw smoke rising. "What happened?!" Will said, taking off like a rocket to investigate. When he got there, he saw that a devil dog and a black and blue lion both glaring each other down with the other Pokemon trying to keep out of the crossfire. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Will yelled, which made all of his Pokemon jump.
"Houndoom used her flamethrower on me!" the lion said, glaring at Houndoom.
"Well, Luxray stepped on my tail!" Houndoom cried, looking at her tail.
"I don't care WHO started it, just make up! Remember, we're guests here," Will scolded the two Pokemon as if they were children bickering over who gets the TV at a certain time. The feuding lion and devil dog soon cowered under their masters glare.
"SORRY FOR STEPPING ON YOUR TAIL HOUNDOOM!" Luxray quickly apologized, extending his paw to the dark and fire Pokemon.
"I'M SORRY FOR TORCHING YOU, IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!" Houndoom said, extending her paw to shake with Luxray. They both looked up and saw their masters expression soften.
"Good, now I expect no more scuffles while we're here," Will said with a smile, turning to the ponies and humans, who were all shocked to see how he handled breaking up the fight. "What? This isn't the first fight I had to break up," Will said, looking at the large family with a deadpan expression.
"It's not that, it's just we're wondering how those two were able to cause such an explosion," Celestia clarified.
"Oh, well, Houndooms flamethrower might've mixed with one of Luxrays electric attacks," Will explained.
"W-what d-do you m-mean by 'attacks'?" Serenity asked, hiding behind her big brother.
"Well, one of the major sporting events we have in the world of Pokemon is the Pokemon battles," Will began, before being cut off when Fluttershy got in his face with her infamous "Stare".
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU FORCE THESE INNOCENT CREATURES TO FIGHT AGAINST EACH OTHER?! WHAT KIND OF AN OWNER ARE YOU?!" Fluttershy seethed with anger.
"Calm down, the battles are like exercise for them, and I don't force them," Will said, trying to clarify things. This seemed to calm Fluttershy down a little. "And you should be happy to know that I no longer participate in battle tournaments, me and my Pokemon are all retired," Will added on, which calmed Fluttershy down a little bit more.
"So, you don't battle anymore?" Trinity asked, looking up at Will.
"Correct, but it's difficult to avoid a battle nowadays, considering that trainers come from all around to have a battle with me, I had five challengers the other day, and my teams all mopped the floor with them," Will said, giving a bored sigh.
"Are you saying, you and your Pokemon don't want to battle anymore?" Toby asked the trainer.
"Yep, but the challengers are all too persistent, I tell them I don't battle anymore, but they won't take no for an answer," Will said with a bored expression on his face. "But let's forget about all that and move on to another set of questions," Will said, his expression perking up a bit. He then saw Rainbow Dashes hoof go up.
"You said that this 'Ninjask' Pokemon was a speedster, right? I want to see haow fast it can go," She said with a confident smile on his face, but then Nathan politely spoke up.
"But Rainbow, Ah asked him if we could see a 'Mega Evolution' when y'all got here," Nathan said, looking into Rainbows magenta eyes.
"Well, why don't we see a Mega Evolution and have a race at the same time?" Will suggested.
"What do ya mean?" Nathan asked, looking up at the trainer.
"I can have Ninjask and Mega Blaziken race Rainbow Dash, if that's ok with her," Will said looking at the rainbow maned Pegasus.
"Sure, why not? The more, the merrier I say," Rainbow said smugly.
"Then lets go to the track so we can start the race," Shining Armor said, leading the group of ponies, humans and Pokemon to the track.
As soon as they got to the track, Will then signaled both Ninjask and Blaziken to take their positions on the track, and as Rainbow Dash and the two Pokemon took their places on the track, Will raised his hand, and touched the blue stone in his bracelet, "Ok Blaziken, MEGA EVOLVE!" Will called as energy began to emit from the ring, which was reacting to the necklace around Blazikens neck. As soon as the energies touched, Blaziken was enveloped in a bright pink light, which began to mega evolve Blaziken. The yellow fur on Blazikens body turned black, and bands of flames began to grow from Blazikens wrists. To top it all off, the hair on Blazikens head, which was normally hanging off of his head began to stand straight up. After the Mega Evolution was complete, Blaziken let out a fierce battle cry, which echoed through the coliseum. The ponies, and humans were all flabbergasted at what they just witnessed.
"How is that possible?" Twilight asked looking at Will.
"It's all because of the mega stone, a special type of stone that can allow a certain species of Pokemon to Mega Evolve, which is triggered by this Key Stone." Will explained, seeing the looks of awe on everyone's faces, he then turned to Nathan who was standing there in shock, "Watch closely Nathan, because all of Blazikens stats just got a boost, and he gained a new ability," Will said to the young child.
"What would that be then?" Nathan asked, looking up at the trainer.
"Speed Boost. Mega Evolution not only boosts the power of a Pokemon, but also equips them with a new ability," Will explained. After the explanation, he then walked up next to the track to explain the rules, "Ok, this will be a ten lap race around the track. I want a clean race, no biting, kicking etc." And with that, he was about to tell them to begin, when Regice came up. "Regice, what's up?" Will asked the iceberg Pokemon.
"If it's ok with all of you, I wish to race as well," Regice explained.
"How can you race against us?" Rainbow Dash asked confusedly.
"Regice can freeze the track, and can move a lot faster on ice," Will explained, to which the ponies all nodded. "Ok, Regice, use ice beam!" Will commanded the icy pokemon. A light blue beam created by Regice was fired, and froze the track completely. Everyone there was surprised at how fast the ice pokemon was able to freeze the track. "Alright, now, BEGIN THE RACE!" Will called, and with that, the racers shot of like a rocket. Rainbow Dash was way out in front, but the Pokemon were able to catch up to her quickly.
"Heh, you're all pretty fast," Rainbow commented.
"You are too," Blaziken commented back. Just then, he and Ninjask both began to speed up.
'That must be the Speed Boost that Will was talking to Nathan about,' Rainbow thought to herself, before speeding up her self, with Regice following in close pursuit. After about five minutes the race had ended with all four racers crossing the finish line at the same time, "Who won?!" Rainbow Dash said, looking at the group.
"It was a tie! A four way tie!" Twilight explained, which made Rainbows jaw drop like a brick.
"That was amazing mom!" Vibrant said, flying over to her mother, who was out of breath.
"Regice, Ninjask, and Blaziken, that was exceptional work out there," Will said, praising his Pokemon.
"Thank You sir!" The three said in unison.
"So, what now?" Applejack asked.
"Why not show him and his Pokemon around Ponyville?" Pinkie Pie suggested.
"We could, but then how can we hide his Pokemon?" Twilight asked with worry.
"Not to worry, I got what we need," He said, holding up a couple Pokeballs.
"How can those balls help hide you Pokemon?" Charity asked the Pokemon trainer.
"Observe," Will said, pointing a Master ball at his Rayquaza, "Alright, RAYQUAZA, RETURN!" Will called, holding the Master Ball, which shot a red beam at the large green dragon, which then was recalled into the Master Ball. The ponies were shocked at how he did that.
"How did you do that?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
"It's how Pokeballs are created, able to call out, and recall Pokemon. There are quite a number of different types of Pokeball, each with a different capture function. I can show you what kinds there are, once we can get to this Ponyville place," Will explained with a smile on his face.
"What do you mean 'capture'?" Season Harvest asked, looking up at Will.
"As I said, all explanations will be made as soon as we get to Ponyville," Will simply replied.
"Well, the quickest way to Ponyville is by train, so can you make the explanations there?" Twilight asked.
"I don't see why not, sure," Will replied.
"Great! Now lets get to the train station right away," Twilight said leading the group to the station, leaving Will to recall all of his Pokemon before joining the ponies. "Bye Cadence, Shining, and Nathan! It's been nice seeing you again!" Twilight called to her brothers family, who waved back.
Before Will was able to leave, he felt a hoof on his shoulder, and turned to see Celestia, looking at him with a soft, and warm smile. "I guess I'll see you again," she said before walking with her son and sister and her sons back to the royal chariots. Will then saw Cadence and Shining Armor walking up to him.
"We shall visit you when we can," Cadence said with a smile. And with that, Will went to catch up with the ponies.
After some walking, they were finally at the train station, where Twilight got the tickets for everyone, Will included. "Ok, when we get to Ponyville, we are to show Will around," Twilight said with a smile, which everyone nodded. As soon as the train pulled in, they boarded and shoved off for Ponyville.