//------------------------------//
// Prologue-They Came 
// Story: I'm on a Master Quest 
// by Purple Pony 
//------------------------------//

	It was a week after Flurry Heart’s birth. All of Equestria was bathed in a beautiful aurora. Everything was right with the world. Then, one day, these mysterious creatures appeared. 
Naturally, pandemonium was the theme for the day. Ponies are scared of new things until it proves otherwise. The creatures didn’t do any harm, but were understandably very confused as to why the little equines were running around screaming. The Ponyta were extremely confused, as the ponies looked like them, but also didn’t look like them. 
When Celestia heard of the commotion, she calmly soothed the ponies and showed them how the creatures were doing no harm. The day after the creatures appeared, Ponies were starting to inspect the creatures, and vice versa. It was found that a select few could understand what they say, and those few ponies were head of Pony/Creature relations. They found out that the creatures were called Pokemon as a whole, and there were about 650 different kinds, each with different names. 
When Princess Twilight heard of the need for information, she proceeded to become the leader in figuring out exactly made each individual Pokemon so special. After a few years, Ponies and Pokemon were living together, helping each other, working together, and generally making ponies’ lives easier. The Pokemon, however, loved to fight, and the Ponies recognized that. It was the thestrals in the northern edge of Equestria that organized the first Pokemon tournament. 
After an absolutely incredible tournament as a whole, the tournament craze spread all through Equestria. Eventually, so many Ponies signed up for tournaments, they had to have a system of qualifications for them. The EPT (Equestrian Pokemon Tournament) formed as an open tournament for those who wanted to compare themselves against Ponies from all over Equestria. It was a week-long festival in Las Pegasus, held every year. This tournament, however, was only considered to be the second highest level of tournament. 
The LPT (League of Pokemon Trainers) decided there needed to be a tournament for the best of the best. They set up different Pokemon Gyms in towns all over the country, even a few in the lands of the Gryphons, the Zebras, and elsewhere. There started with five Gyms in different parts of Equestria, and you needed three of their badges to compete in the Pokemon League Championship, which is widely considered the pinnacle of Pokemon training. If you win, you become a legend to all of Equestria. Eventually, so many Ponies were able to get the badges in the 2 years between tournaments that they increased the necessary requirements to get in. 
Gyms were set up far and wide. From Ponyville to Canterlot to Apploosa to Las Pegasus to Vanhoover, Gyms were set up in all of them. There are now some 20 Gyms in the land of Equestria, with another 20 set up outside its borders, with Ponies needing 8 badges to qualify. There was only one badge that everypony needed to have to enter, and that was the Ponyville badge, headed up by Princess Twilight. Ponies were chosen to become Gym leaders and challenge Ponies to see if they were up to competing in the Pokemon League Championship.
Winning the Pokemon League Championship was very difficult in the first few years. Then Starlight Glimmer, protégé to Princess Twilight, won the tournament three times in a row behind a well-rounded team of Pokemon that had no similarities. She was declared the champion, the best in the world, and she almost overnight became a figure of importance, attending almost every big event involving Pokemon, and quite a few without. For a while, many thought she would be on top of competition for the next decade. But staying on top is very difficult.
Flurry Heart grew up with Pokemon. She was only ten years old when she set out and conquered the Pokemon Gyms in rapid order. Come time for the PLC, she was seen as the second best trainer in Equestria behind Starlight. The two of them met in the final match, and after a five year period at the top, Starlight was bested by Flurry Heart. She ushered in a new era of Pokemon competition, with the craze spreading to the rest of the world to try to beat Flurry, and for a while, she maintained her title. Eventually, she stepped down from Pokemon training after ten years at the top, instead choosing to be a mentor for young, up-and-coming Ponies. She started the most prestigious school in Equestria, the School of Pokemon Training. Ponies sent their children in hopes of them becoming the next Flurry Heart or Starlight Glimmer. 
But what about the thestrals? They created the first tournament, but after that, they fell behind. Other ponies still viewed thestrals with distrust and fear. As a whole, they were seen as barbaric, as vamponies, as monsters. Ponies were still very skittish, and the thestrals were never given the chances other races were to shine. They needed a pony that others could trust to dispel the rumors and myths surrounding their race. Several thestrals made it to the PLC, but none ever made a deep run to command respect. Sky Song went the deepest, but only made it to the round of 32. 
That leads us to today, where a ten year old colt named Cloud Song, son of Sky Song, applies for his license to compete in the PLC and the EPT. He is a very ambitious colt who wants to bring pride to the thestrals and destroy the rumors surrounding them. This is his story. This is his life. This is his quest.