Currently, there are seven ponies in Ponyville who can be considered individuals with a bizarre background.
Cold Colt who's a Rift Pony, Jade who is also a Rift Pony but Ponyville hasn't found out yet, the two siren sisters now turned into ponies which are Sonata and Aria and the newest trio of Cocoa, Rosestar and the alicorn Nyx.
Whether it's their origin or where they come from, they've certainly been through events that led them all to Ponyville.
Strangely enough, Starlight Glimmer wasn't actually put in the same group as them since her background wasn't as wild as theirs.
They all have their own stories to them. Two are created out of cosmic stardust and are just trying to discover friends and even family, two are a perfect example of sisters who mix well with each other despite the difference in their personalities as they also aim to reason with their older sister and three others have a plethora of stories to tell from their world's since they don't really have anywhere else to go with the looming threat of Empress Twilight Sparkle alongside Ghetsis.
All 7 of them will continue their lives here in this world. Right at home in Ponyville.
Ponyville, Night.
The two ponies who never sleep, Jade and Cold were currently having a bit of a small venture outside whilst everypony else rests up until tomorrow arrives.
"Alright...the coast is clear." Cold spoke, moving his head around Ponyville, making sure that nopony was awake or nearby.
"What are we doing here exactly?" Jade asked in her monotone voice.
"Okay, so the reason I dragged you out there is that..." Cold looked around once more for clarity. He then pranced over to Jade, whispering to her quietly. "Get this. There's some juicy photos located underneath Ponyville."
"Hm?" Jade tilted her head.
"Somepony told me there's a photo album chock full of embarrassing pictures of mostly everypony in Ponyville from the past! And apparently, Granny Smith and Mayor Mare's mother both hid it under this very spot, right near the outskirts of Ponyville."
"Oh. So that's why you were so giddy today."
"Mhm. I really wanna dig it up!" Cold Colt used his magic to hold up a shovel he brought along with him. "So help me out, Jade. I wanna see what everypony looked like before their pretty years."
"Is this something that friends do too?"
"What? Well uh...friends make fun of each other sometimes so...totally!" Cold grinned. "I think..."
"Alright." Jade rubbed her hooves together. "Let's see those photos."
The two got to work. With Cold's surprisingly impressive digging skills and Jade's unusually potent hooves, they had managed to dig a hole in the span of 3 minutes alone.
With the hole successfully dug, the treasure had revealed itself. A wooden box with locks ended up being the item that contained these juicy photos. All they had to do was unlock them.
"Ugh! Locks?!" Cold groaned. He just wanted to see the photos.
"Oh well. Guess we'll never see them." Jade shrugged.
"Don't say that. All we have to do is just you know...unlock it. And I know the best way!" Cold raised his shovel up with a deadly grin on his face. With aggression behind his magic, he smashed the digging item on the wooden box, breaking it apart with sheer force.
Jade watched with her usual blank expression as wood was just flying everywhere. A tiny piece of wood managed to hit Jade in the face, causing her to let out a single "Ow."
With the box now ruined, the photos can reveal themselves. And they did not disappoint. They were everything Cold was expecting and more.
"Ooh boy...this is is amazing!" He held up the first photo that really caught his attention. It was of a younger Mrs Cake when she was still known as Cup Cake, having a mane-style that could only be described as 'Spaghetti Hair'. What didn't help was the fact that her younger self had a sort of aggressive look to her, indicating that she might've been a hooligan back then.
"Hm." Jade picked up a photo that involved many ponies having a not-so-great Hearth's Warming. While it was hard to describe exactly what was going on in this photo since it looked like pure chaos, that one Hearth's Warming must've been something eventful. "I guess this is where I would laugh."
"It was worth digging this up!" Cold squeed as he couldn't get enough of everypony's embarrassing past. Especially Mayor Mare's younger self where she had headgear braces and an afro. What a sight to behold. "Wouldn't it be cool if we kept these?"
"Should we? They buried these for a reason."
"Well no obviously. But it was still worth digging them up. I'm definitely keeping them in my memory."
The two had spent their time enjoying themselves with these embarrassing photos. There was a lot of variety behind these photos, each with their own story behind them. And thanks to both them being unable to get tired, they could be here for hours.
But currently, they weren't the only ones awake at night. Three ponies in particular were wide awake. The newcomers Cocoa, Rosestar and Nyx obviously couldn't since it's been about one day since they've gotten here. They couldn't really sleep for a few reasons. For one, they've been evading Ghetsis and Empress Twilight for weeks now that they can't bring themselves to sleep without being cautious.
Another reason is the fact that they'll have to get used to this version of Ponyville since it is vastly different from every other Ponyville they've been too. The Pokemon that live here with the ponies make that very clear their way of living is something to get used to. But for Nyx, it was the fact that she was in a universe where Twilight Sparkle was still safe.
All other Twilight's from every other universe had unfortunately had their magic taken away by Empress Twilight in her endless quest to conquer everything. As such, Nyx's own Twilight had been caught by the tyrannical alicorn, losing her magic in the process. Every version of Twilight that she had come across had failed miserably, completely powerless against the Empress. And at this very moment with every passing second, there could be another Twilight Sparkle losing her magic as well.
However, this universe's Twilight seemed to be different from the rest. She was very similar to the original timeline's Twilight in every single way. But the one thing that makes her stand out from the others is that Nyx has deduced that this version of Twilight Sparkle was not only fine, but she had even come out of intense situations that the other Twilights couldn't. Mainly involving Ghetsis. Thus, Nyx titled her as the strongest version of Twilight yet.
Because of this, Nyx felt like she found the one Twilight who can actually stop Empress Twilight's tyranny but also end up being exactly like the Twilight from her world, who she hoped was alright.
Nyx was currently staying inside of Twilight's Castle with a spare room since Twilight treated her like a princess due to her being a fellow alicorn. Looking outside of the window where the moonlight shined on her, Nyx took a moment to look upon this universe's Equestria and it was something to view.
The air of this Equestria was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Due to the existence of Pokemon, the winds themselves gain a smoother and more relaxing breeze that simply cannot be described any further without having to look into a dictionary with the most absurd words possible.
Nyx saw how the world itself was changing its structure just to fit the Pokemon and their habitats. After all, Pokemon are capable of changing the world around them. Just like how it happened many, many, many years ago when there were countless Mew's roaming the land before they evolved into other Pokemon.
She was also given the sight of many nocturnal Pokemon who only show themselves at night. Ranging from the appropriately named Noctowl, Snorunt, Ariados, Oddish and many other Pocket Monsters who just can't get enough of the moon.
Seeing them made Nyx remember one word that Twilight said to her before the night arrived. It was about how Nyx wasn't sure she could live in an Equestria like this, despite her being thrilled to be here.
"Well...I guess one way you could get comfortable in this world...is by catching a Pokemon of your own!"
"Catching a Pokemon of my own?" Nyx said to herself. Eventually, she managed to put herself to sleep, finally. All that evading had died down.
Come morning, and it's a fresh new day in Ponyville. The sun rays shot down on Nyx's face, forcing her to wake up. The sounds of a Dodrio and Pidgey could be heard across Ponyville, causing everypony else to shoot up from their beds. Everypony except Jade and Cold who had finished looking at old photos of everypony, digging them back in the ground.
Once Nyx shook her head, yawning, she was met with the sound of Twilight opening the doors to her room.
"Morning, Nyx!"
"Hm? G-Good morning." Nyx responded.
"So...are you ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"Remember? Your first Pokemon! Doesn't that sound exciting?!" Twilight squeed.
"Oh, right. That." Nyx turned her head to the side.
"Hm?" Twilight could easily tell from Nyx's body language, she wasn't exactly thrilled about this. "Not so excited, huh?"
"Not really. I just don't really see the point in having a Pokemon honestly. They just seem like slightly more impressive pets anyway."
"Oh, believe me. Mostly everypony thought the same as you. When our world's first crossed over, nopony really thought that much about Pokemon. Including me. We just thought that they were creatures from the Everfree Forest. But they turned out to be something greater."
"Something greater, you say? Well from what I've seen, they are impressive little creatures. Being able to conduct various energies of all sorts from their bodies is something alright."
"That would be Infinity Energy. It's sort of the life force of every Pokemon. That and Aura. I was surprised that it wasn't even magic. Although, some Pokemon are more magical than others."
"Hah. So you don't consider them pets at all?" Nyx pointed her hoof at Twilight's Minccino, Espeon and Vulpix.
"Not at all. Pokemon seem to behave in a way that makes them similar to us. There are some Pokemon out there that can actually speak! Well only one of them can physically speak the rest use telepathy or possession."
"Ccino!" Minccy hopped off Twilight's back, walking over to Nyx. The others did the same, making themselves friendly towards the second alicorn.
"Vulpix!"
"Espeon."
"You already know about Eve and Minccy. How one is adamant whilst the other just loves keeping things tidy. Vulpix here is the most playful out of the three. Isn't that right, Vul?" Twilight gave Vulpix a belly rub. Something that many Pokemon enjoy. Well...the ones that have fur most of the time.
"Vul...Vulpix!" The Fox Pokemon panted, enjoying the feeling of Twilight giving him a belly rub.
"Go on. Give them a pat or rub. They like it."
"Minccino!" Minccy looked up at Nyx, insisting that she give the Chincilla Pokemon a head pat or belly rub. One of the two will work.
"Hm." Nyx raised her hoof up, placing it on the head of the Normal-Type. Once she did, she had been introduced to the soft fur that every Minccino was blessed with. The feeling had travelled through her body, causing her nerves to activate all of a sudden. "It's so...soft."
"Minccino..." Minccino let out a shake like an actual Chinchilla which is a sign of affection.
"So...So..." Nyx took a moment to really take in Minccy's appearance and fur. Once she did, she had come to a conclusion about this little Pokemon. "So cute!" Nyx picked up Minccy, giving her a mighty hug equal to that of a bear. Pokemon have that effect on everyone. Whether it's being cute cool or just plain bizarre and goofy.
"C-Ccino!" Minccy however was being crushed to death whilst struggling to breathe.
"Esp..." Espeon had grabbed Minccy out of Nyx's grasp with her mind, saving the life of her friend.
"Min...Ccino." Minccy breathed in and out, glad to be breathing once more.
"And there are even more Pokemon out there that are just as cute. Now, I found one pony in particular or rather human who can help you catch a Pokemon."
"Really?" Nyx picked up Vulpix. "Who?"
"Who else but Ash, of course. No other pony fit for the job."
"Ash..huh? Are you sure? From what I've seen at the small amount of time I was with you all during the last day of the festival he seems to be a bit..."
"Hyperactive? Stubborn? A walking time bomb?" Twilight chuckled.
"That." Nyx nodded. "I'm not sure that I would want my first experience with Pokemon to be with somepony such as that. Seems a bit overwhelming. Much more than Pinkie Pie."
"I was in the same boat as you, Nyx. When I first met Ash, he was...something. He felt like an unusual amalgamation of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all rolled into one with Fluttershy's love for animals. Everypony had just been introduced to Pokemon so there was a ton of confusion and anarchy with nopony having any idea on how to handle these little monsters. And Ash only added to the confusion. I thought he was a hairless monkey at first." Twilight chuckled.
"Ah. So he's a good mentor to have?"
"Mhm. A lot of us have become better trainers thanks to him. And we've even made some new little friends with his help." Twilight picked up her Espeon.
"Esp."
"I see...If you say he's the right pony to teach me, then it must be right."
"You won't meet anypony like him! He's a one of a kind. He certainly is to me." Twilight paused for a moment, realizing what she said at the very end. "N-N-Not that I treasure him more than anypony else! Not in a weird way! I-In a friendly way of course! That'd be weird! You're weird.!" She chuckled nervously, squeeing at Nyx.
"Uh...huh..."
"Come on. Cocoa and Rosestar are already planning on getting their own Pokemon too."
Speaking of Ash, along came that blue dressed trainer and his electrifying yellow friend. As always, they look refreshed and energized, taking in the air. Something was on Ash's mind recently. Being the adventurous spirit that he is, he wanted to explore Equestria even more. Ranging from locations that have already been here for many years to the newly created areas that are Pokemon themed. There's a lot to look forward to.
"Hm...Should we visit Saddle-Arabia? I wanna see if they're all recovering well." Ash said, pondering.
"Pikachu..."
"Ah, but that Las Pegasus place sounds like a blast! Man! There's just a lot to view and visit!"
"Ash!" A friendly voice raced through his ears. One belonging to Twilight who was beside Nyx, Cocoa and Rosestar.
"Oh, Twilight! You doing great today?"
"Pika!"
"Mhm. Always."
"Great. Say I-" Ash paused his words once he and Pikachu's eyes connected with three familiar faces. That being Nyx, Cocoa and Rosestar. They were sharp and quick to remember her. "Oh...You three again! Nyx, Cocoa and Rosestar, right?"
"Pika-Pika?!"
"That's right. Hello, Ash Ketchum. Or...Ash."
"So you really came back. You getting psyched for the second festival?"
"Yeah, we are!" Cocoa shot up.
"Actually, Ash. Nyx is here for a different reason..." Twilight flew over to the trainer, prepared to tell him why Nyx has arrived.
Once she gave him a breakdown of everything, from Ghetsis and Empress Twilight to Cocoa and Rosestar arriving with Nyx, Ash and Pikachu found it clear that her reason for being here was a dire one.
"Hm, hm." Ash nodded his head. "That's a super big deal..."
"Pikachu..."
"You're the one human who's had the most experience with Ghetsis, correct?" Nyx asked. "Then that means you're the one who has the highest chance to stop him."
"Actually, Ash stopped Ghetsis a few months back. All the way back at Saddle-Arabia alongside the Hollow and Swords of Justice."
"You did? And Swords of Justice?" Rosestar spoke.
"There's a lot that's happened in these past few months. I'll explain it all to you later. But, Ash. I was wondering if you could help Nyx catch her own Pokemon."
"Oh. Yeah, I can do that. No problem. What Pokemon catches your eye?"
"Well...I'm not exactly sure." Nyx looked up in the sky, scraping her hoof on the ground. "I suppose I do like the smaller ones due to how adorable they are. Their fur feels soft too."
"If I had to choose one, it'd be a soft and fluffy one too." Cocoa replied. "But uh...I'd want it to stay that way."
"You mean you'd never want it to evolve?" Rosestar turned to her.
"Maybe." Cocoa squeed.
"Then! I know the Pokemon just for you!"
Where they would find this Pokemon would be simple. The Pokemon House. Where a plethora of Pokemon of many types, minus dragon can be found. The most common type is Normal since most of the Pokemon resemble their animal counterparts so there's a lot to choose from.
Another pony who's also looking for a brand newPokemon today is none other than Sonata who dragged Aria out here. She's been yearning for a second Pokemon other than her Buneary, desperate to find that second partner. Today, she was going to change that.
"I want..." Sonata moved her hoof around, going through the list of Pokemon that Fluttershy recommended to her. "I don't know..."
"Just pick one already. I haven't got all day." Aria tapped her hoof on the ground, waiting for this to be over.
"Hold on. It's not that easy." Sonata picked up a Psyduck. "Do I want this silly looking duck?"
"Psy."
"Or maybe this little guy's for me." Sonata grabbed a Karrablast.
"Karra!"
"It's a tough decision isn't it?" said Fluttershy. "Don't worry. Finding a second Pokemon is just as difficult as finding your second one. I'm sure you'll be able to choose one eventually.
"It shouldn't even be this difficult..." Aria gave herself a face hoof.
"By the way. Have you two gotten better at singing?"
"Oh, yeah. Totally!" Sonata nodded We've been practising every week now! I bet when we get back to our best we can start our own band!"
"That and we'll probably leave Ponyville too." Aria suddenly said.
"Leave Ponyville?" Fluttershy gasped.
"Well, once we get our perfect voices back, we're hitting the road. Right, Sonata?"
"I don't know...I kinda like it here. We've got a pretty comfortable house and every day's a fun day."
"Fun day? We both had our spirits stolen!" Aria stood up, yelling at Sonata.
"But it turned out fine in the end, right?" Sonata stuck her tongue out whilst closing her eyes.
Fluttershy saw the two sisters bicker in their own unique way. She also saw that Ash and Twilight were making their way here with Rosestar, Cocoa and Nyx beside them. "Oh! Twilight! Ash! You brought the others along?"
"Mhm. We're for one reason only." Ash raised his finger up.
"Pikachu!"
"This is where we'll be finding a Pokemon for us?" Nyx looked around, examining the Pokemon House for her own eyes. Indeed, there's a lot to choose from. "There are so many of them..."
"Oh. A Pokemon just for you three?" Fluttershy flew up. "Which one do you like the look of?"
"Actually, Ash here said he found the Pokemon that would be perfect for us."
"Yep." Ash crossed his arms, having a silly grin on his face. "Eevee. That's who."
"Eevee, huh? That is a good option." Fluttershy nodded.
"Wait. Who's Eevee again?" Sonata asked as Aria was grabbing her face.
"It's that fox thing that can evolve into other Pokemon, duh!" Aria stretched Sonata's face about as they were still arguing.
"Then I want that one!" Sonata winced. "Eevee's good!"
"Eevee it is! Both of you are gonna love them!" Fluttershy clapped her hooves together. "She called for a bunch of Eevee's which commonly hung around near the Normal-Type area. An area where they get along with Grass-Types.
"Eevee!" Six Eevees spoke. All with their own unique personalities and natures.
"Eevee's a pretty neat Pokemon. It's got 8 evolutions that you can choose from." Ash explained.
"It's how I got my Espeon here. Eve was once an Eevee. That's why I named her that." Twilight held up her Espeon.
"Espeon."
"Eight huh?" Sonata narrowed her eyes at the six Evolution Pokemon. "Wait, what do the others look like?"
"A little something like this. Twilight held out an evolution chart showing the eight Eeveelutions. "As you can see, they're all separate types. From Fire to Fairy."
"Oooh. I like the way that one looks!" Sonata pointed her hoof at Glaceon.
"Types you say?" Nya raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, right. Guess you're not fully aware of Pokemon Types. No need to worry. I can teach you the basics of Pokemon." Ash pointed at himself.
"Pikachu."
"So, Nyx. Which Eeveelution catches your interest?" Twilight asked.
"Hmm... I like the patterns on this one." Nyx's eyes were gazing right at Umbreon. It did have some neat patterns, honestly.
"Oh, Umbreon. That's a good pick." Twilight nodded.
"Very good. One of these Eevee's has been wanting to evolve into an Umbreon." Fluttershy picked all of the Eevee's up in her hooves. "Well, a lot of them wish to evolve into any of the eight Eeveelutions. But I think it's...this one!" Fluttershy held out an Eevee that had a Quiet Nature.
"Eev."
"M-May I hold it?" Nyx held her hooves out.
"Of course. Off you go, Eevee."
"Eevee." The Quiet Eevee hopped off Fluttershy's hooves and into Nyx's.
"So cute..." Nyx gawked at Eevee's adorable appearance as her eyes sparkled. "I love it!" She gave the Evolution a hug, nuzzling with it.
"E-Eevee!" Eevee's eyes felt like they were going pop out of his head as he yearned for fresh air.
"I'll take this one. I really want that blue looking Pokemon." Sonata went over to an Eevee with a Naughty Nature.
"Finally..." Aria groaned, glad that it was over. "Are you happy now?"
"100%!" Sonata squeed as the Eevee hopped on her head.
"Is this one good?" Cocoa was referring to Flareon. It looks like it's got the softest fur out of all of them.
"Flareon, huh? Then this is the Eevee for you. Be careful, he's a bit on the Sassy side. Is that okay with you?"
"Sassy's no problem. I'm already friends with Rosestar so it won't be a problem." Cocoa held the Eevee that wished to be a Flareon. "Hey, there little fella!"
"Eevee!"
"Hey..." Rosestar narrowed her eyes at Cocoa. "Well, whatever. If I had to pick, it would probably be this one. The other blue one." By that she meant Vaporeon.
"Oh, Vaporeon. Um...Ah!" Fluttershy placed the Eevee aiming to become a Vaporeon down. "This Eevee's more Gentle than the others. So you won't see it moving around that much."
"That's fine with me. I could use something gentle for once." Rosestar was already glad that the personality of this Eevee was something she could live with. Being with a friend like Cocoa can really get the blood rushing at times. So something slow and calm was what she needed.
This certain scenario seemed to be resolved fairly quickly. But what of the scenario involving Jade and Colt?
Their digging had eventually been found out once morning came up. They weren't exactly that great at hiding evidence. As a result, everypony managed to find the plethora of photos as some of them were sticking out of the dirt that had tried to hide every last one of them.
Once they found them, they all had a field day with the photos. Some were even taken back to their past from looking at their old embarrassing photos.
"Hm!" Octavia held her laughter in, looking at an old photo of Vinyl. Before she rocked those signature headphones, she had on these wide-glasses that took up most of her face. Along with that, her mane had bows on the back with pigtails. Far different from the radical hairstyle she now owns.
But Octavia wasn't any better. Vinyl looked at an old photo where Octavia went through what some could call 'A phase'. Ear piercings, hair over one eye along with a fake Cutie Mark with a skull. The one thing that Vinyl was thinking of was what happened back then that led to the Octavia she knew.
Everypony was laughing at their embarrassing moments. Whether it was their old appearances or what they ended up doing in certain events. Whether it was a birthday, Hearts and Hooves day, Hearth's Warming, etc.
"Now who went ahead and dug these up?" Granny Smith wondered as she was standing next to Mayor Mare who hid her old embarrassing photo inside of Stoutland's fur.
"No idea. But when I find them..." Mayor Mare wasn't too happy about somepony digging up the wooden box and smashing it apart. That and the one photo she wished wouldn't see the light of the day had been freed.
Cold Colt gulped as he and Jade hid behind SugarCube Corner. The young colt was shaking, not wanting to feel the wrath of Mayor Mare and potentially her Stoutland.
"S-She won't find out, right? T-They can't trace magic like hoofprints. C-C-Can they?" Cold gulped, looking up at Jade who wasn't terrified in the slightest.
"If she does, she'll probably have her Stoutland burn us alive with Fire Fang while he sinks his blazing teeth into our skin, slowly tearing away at our flesh and devouring us while the mayor just stands there, watching as we cry out in agonizing pain until we finally wish for our unfortunate lives to come to a gruesome end," Jade replied.
Cold was terrified at Jade's words. The way she said it didn't help at all. Her blank expression and monotone voice really gave it an impact.
"Just kidding. Pinkie Pie taught me some humour tricks. Haha. Dark humour." Jade made an unconvincing laugh.
"Oh..." Cold fainted, falling flat on the ground. Jade let out a tiny little chuckle, showing that she was making some progress in emotions. "I guess that's what friends do too."
A growing town with some ever-growing ponies. Ponyville may not have the same flash and wonder that the Pokemon World has but it has its own unique and relaxing presence that makes anypony feel at home. Whether they be musicians, farmers, bakers or even a Mayor, there's a little something for everypony.
And there's even a Pokemon for them as well. Granted, Pokemon is for everyone but not every Pokemon is for everyone. They all have their preferences. Some like em cute, cool, smart or just plain weird. Either way, it's these varying personalities of these citizens that give this world its charm as the journey continues!
Chapter 217 End!