//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Presentations // Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers // by Lucar //------------------------------// It was quite the surprise for everypony who had been present at Sweetie Belle's departure to see a portal open just a few seconds after the one that Sweetie Belle had entered had closed. Some were just starting to move away! And out of this portal came Sweetie Belle, now wearing a belt with six small red and white balls and possessing saddlebags. "Already back?" asked Rarity. "Yup! The local God Creator was nice and asked the local God of Time to make it so only a few seconds passed here while two days passed for me. I don't know how much time here would have passed if that hadn't happened." Two fillies and one lavender alicorn mare then gathered in front of Sweetie Belle, said mare materializing some parchments and a feather, before the three of them shouted excitedly "TELL US EVERYTHING!" much to the amusement of the other ponies present. "Mmmmmh... Nah. Not yet," replied Sweetie Belle after a few seconds of pretending to think about her answer, making Twilight, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo groan. "I will wait for Pinkie and Fluttershy to be with us. Pinkie wouldn't want to miss this, and Fluttershy will absolutely love what I have to say." It was only then that Pinkie's presence was remarked, the pink mare sitting beside Twilight looking as excited. Twilight jumped in surprise at her sudden presence beside her. "Well, Pinkie is here. This leaves Fluttershy," said Sweetie Belle. "I'll get her," said Rainbow Dash before she took of and flew toward the yellow mare's cottage. A few minutes later, Rainbow came back with Fluttershy. "Alright, everypony is here," said Twilight as she prepared to take note again. "So, how was this world?" "Before I say anything, let me show you something," replied Sweetie Belle before she levitated the six Poké Balls out of her belt and opened them. The mares and fillies present were amazed by the red energy coming out of the balls, and even more when they saw six creatures materializing from the energy. Sweetie Belle made sure to release the Pokémon a little away so that everypony could have a good view of them (and so Smily wouldn't scare Fluttershy too much by being too close). The Pokémon remained silent like Sweetie Belle had instructed them to do before she passed through the portal, although Volta still climbed on the filly's head, looking excitedly at the ponies. "The world where I was is an amazing place full of creatures like these called Pokémon, and as you can see, they are very diversified. Let me present them to you." She then pointed at Volta who waved at the ponies, sparks showing on her cheeks. "This is Volta. She's what is called a Pichu. Be careful, she's very young and doesn't know yet how to properly keep electricity charged in her cheeks, so she tends to discharge when she has strong emotions, like when she's very excited, as you can see. So, no bear hugs!" she warned as she looked at Fluttershy who seemed ready to give the Pichu the mother of all hugs. "Thanks to this natural ability to use electricity, she's classified as an Electric-type." "Electric-type? So there are other... species of Pokémon using electricity like her?" asked Twilight. "Dozens," confirmed Sweetie Belle with a nod. "Of all shapes. I will come back to these types later. First, let me present the others." She then pointed at Tank. "This is Tank the Squirtle." "Seriously?" deadpanned Rainbow Dash. "I know, but I couldn't find a better name for him. Just wait to see him when he will reach maturity, and you will see that there was really nothing better. Anyway, Tank can spit strong streams of water from his mouth. As such, he's classified as a Water-type." To prove her point, Tank fired a small water jet from his mouth. She then pointed at Ratzo. "This is Ratzo the Rattata, a Normal-type. Normal-type means that, physically, he doesn't have a specific element or whatever that could classify him as any of the other types." She pointed at Smily. "Smily the Gastly, a Ghost and Poison-type Pokémon." "Ghost?" asked Fluttershy with fear. "Don't worry. He may look scary, but he's very nice. I think I don't need to specify why he's classified as a Ghost-type, but if it can help you being less scared by him, then just think of him as a floating ball of gas with a face. This is literally what he is, hence the name of his species. Living ball of gas are less scary than ghosts." "Geeze. Thanks," deadpanned Smily. Twilight raised a hoof, only to be interrupted by Sweetie Belle. "No, Twilight, I have no idea how his species works. Is he an actual ghost of a deceased Pokémon? Not that I know. Then how do they come to the world? No idea." "How about you just ask me?" proposed Smily with a deadpan look. "No, we aren't ghosts of deceased Pokémon, we simply appear wherever death has a huge place like in cemeteries or in old battlefields." Sweetie Belle translated what he said to the ponies, and Twilight nodded, letting the filly pass to the next Pokémon. "This is Drako the Dratini, a Dragon-type." "Dragon? He doesn't look like a dragon," said Applejack. "Like for all the other types, dragons come in many shapes and forms among the Pokémon. He may not look like a dragon as we are used to, but he IS a dragon. Just wait until he reaches maturity too." Finally, she pointed at Lulla. "Finally, this is Lulla the Jigglypuff. She has the particularity to be a dual-type, Normal and Fairy type to be exact. To put it simply, she's primarily... Well... Normal, like Ratzo, but she also has a look and some capacities that are related to Fairy in the Pokémon world. So, generally cute and girly stuff. Her speciality is to sing lullabies to make others fall asleep." "The Cakes would need one like her," said Pinkie with a giggle. "There is so much to say about the Pokémon," continued Sweetie Belle. "They don't grow the same way than us. They grow by evolving, which they can do primarily by battling each others, but some need special conditions to evolve, and there are some species that don't have any evolution at all but they still need to battle to reach maturity." "So... Instantaneous evolution?" asked Twilight. "Yup. I haven't seen yet how they evolve, but I know that this is really fast, not like the evolution as we know it which takes millions of years. The problem is that it is extremely complicated in the wild for Pokémon to evolve, especially for the ones who have special conditions. And this is where humans come." "Humans? So this world too has humans?" "Yes, they are the civilized species of this world. Anyway, the humans in this world have developed a... special relationship with the Pokémon. Since the Pokémon need to battle or to accomplish other stuff to reach maturity, then the humans have made them a big part of their society. Among humans, you can find Pokémon simply as pets, or helping in various tasks. Strong Pokémon, mainly Fighting-types, participate a lot in constructions for example. So the humans get help from the Pokémon, and in return, the Pokémon grow stronger and in maturity. But where things get interesting is that the humans developed what is called Pokémon battles, and a huge part of their society turns around it. We have hoofball, they have Pokémon battles. To put it simply, at least two humans possessing Pokémon can make them battle each others. The human whose team has been entirely defeated loses and gives some money to the winner. From this, the humans developed a whole system. Shops that sell only stuff to capture, heal, or boost the Pokémon. Centers specialised in healing them in just a few seconds. Rules such as no more than six Pokémon per trainers. And also competitions, including the Pokémon League. If you are in a region that has the Pokémon League, then it is very easy to participate in it. You must explore the region from city to city to defeat what are called the Gym Leaders, eight very powerful trainers who give you a badge if you manage to defeat them. Get all eight badges, and you can enter the League to defy the Elite 4 and the Pokémon Champion themselves. If you win against the five of them, then you become the new Champion of the region." "Woah... That sounds very nice! Now I want to participate in this League!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "Isn't it... wrong, to use the Pokémon like that?" asked Fluttershy. Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Thanks to the battles, the Pokémon grow, and the humans get some entertainment and a very great source of income. It's win-win for everyone. However, I said that it's easy to participate in the Pokémon League, but the battles themselves are very complex. First, there are the types. Each types have strengths and weaknesses. For example, a Water-type is strong against a Fire-type for obvious reason, but is also weak to Electric-type for also obvious reason. So this means that I wouldn't put Tank against Volta if I could avoid it. This asks for any good trainers to perfectly know the strengths and weaknesses of each types so they don't foolishly send a Dragon-type against an Ice-type." "Wait, you mean that Ice is effective against Dragon?" asked Twilight. "Uh... I guess that's obvious, if Dragon Pokémon are cold-blooded like our dragons." "Trust me, not everyone knows about this fact," said Sweetie Belle. "But types aren't all. There're also the moves. A good trainer must know all the moves that a Pokémon can learn, naturally, but also with other means. Not only it is to avoid a situation where you remain five minutes like an idiot trying to remember what moves your Pokémon know, but it is also to know stuff such as the fact that, hey! The Water-type Pokémon foe may possibly know a Ground-type move which would be very effective against my Electric-type Pokémon! Because, yes, Pokémon can learn moves of other types, and to not be taken off guard, it's important to know which ones. So even if your Pokémon has a type advantage, it doesn't mean victory if the Pokémon foe knows some moves that are effective." Rainbow Dash winced. "Ow... I'm already getting a headache just thinking about this." "And add the fact that not all moves are offensive. Some moves have for effect to boost your Pokémon or to weaken the Pokémon foe. Some moves can change the weather which is very important! If it rains, for example, Water-type moves are boosted, and fire-type moves are weakened! There are also healing moves. Moves that can cause a Pokémon to be paralysed, burned, poisoned, and so on. Physical moves. Special moves. Moves that take a moment to be ready. Moves that place traps. And this continues... So yeah, battles aren't just you shouting 'Use Tackle!' to knock out the foe. They are very strategic, especially against the most professional trainers such as the Gym Leaders, the Elite 4, and the Champions. And that's not all!" "There's more?" groaned Rainbow Dash. "The abilities. Each Pokémon can have one ability that has a passive effect. The effect in question depends of the ability however. For example, Volta has the ability named Static, meaning that if a Pokémon attacks her physically, then the Pokémon has a chance of being paralysed. Normally, it's only during battles, but like I said, Volta doesn't know yet how to avoid discharging electricity, so Static tends to take effect when she gets excited or scared. Anyway, trainers must learn about which abilities each Pokémon can have if they don't want to have a nasty surprise. And it's also another way to prepare strategies. Thanks to Static, for example, Pokémon foes will avoid physically attacking Volta and will rather use Special moves, so I may use moves that could either lower the special attack of the foe or boost the special defense of Volta." "No wonder the humans seem to like it. This seems very exciting," said Scootaloo. "So, does this means we could..." She pointed her hoof alternatively between herself and Apple Bloom. "I hope to! We could challenge the Pokémon League together!" said Sweetie Belle excitedly before she calmed down. "But this will probably have to wait until the next holidays period. Obtaining the eight badges doesn't happen in one day. And let's not forget about the whole finding and capturing Pokémon, and then training them to be ready to face the teams of the Gym Leaders, and then of the Elite 4." "Couldn't ya ask this God of Time to bring us back only a few seconds after we leave Equestria, like they did with ya?" asked Apple Bloom. "Well, the problem is that I don't know where is this God of Time, who is named Dialga by the way. Arceus, the God Creator of the Pokémon universe, is the one who went to ask him, but nothing says that Arceus will contact me again next time I return in the Pokémon world, and I don't know where to find them either. They could be anywhere." "Aww..." said both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom in disappointment before the pegasus added "Well, lucky us that the next holidays period is only a few weeks away." "Eeyup." Sweetie Belle then levitated out of her saddlebags the Pokédex as well as an empty Poké Ball. "This device is the Pokédex. It contains all the information on all known Pokémon in the world. Sizes, weight, gender ratios, habitats, types, moves, abilities, and so on. You can have it Twilight, for now." Twilight looked as if she just received the best Heart Warming gift of her life. "And as you probably guessed, this ball is what is used to capture and transport Pokémon. It's called a Poké Ball, and there exist many types with diverse capacities, like the Net Ball that makes capturing Water-type and Bug-type Pokémon easier. This one is empty, so you can take it to study its technology, Twilight. It's probably one of the most advanced pieces of technology that the humans of this world made. And don't worry, the Pokémon don't mind being kept in these balls. They are especially made to be homes for the Pokémon, with all the comfort, and the Pokémon can get out of them anytime they want. They aren't prisons." This reassured the ponies, especially Fluttershy. "While there are some jerks who abuse the Pokémon, most humans really respect them, so they don't treat them like slaves and do everything to help them." Sweetie Belle then took the translator and gave it to Twilight. "There. Thanks to it, you will be able to understand the Pokémon and talk to them. I will ask Magolor to make more for everyone. Speaking of, I should go visit him right now so they can be finished as early as possible." She turned to her Pokémon and put Volta on the ground. "I'm leaving you here to discover Ponyville. I should not be gone long. Be nice to everyone." The Pokémon all nodded. "And, Twilight, please, don't overwhelm them too much with your Twilighting." This made the ponies giggle, to Twilight's annoyance. "I'm not like that!" "You totally are," said Rainbow Dash, making the alicorn huff. "Don't worry! I will keep an eye on her!" said Pinkie. "Sorry to say this, darling, but you can be very overwhelming too," said Rarity. "Eeyup. Ah'll be the one keeping an eye on Twilight," said Applejack before she whispered to Pinkie "While ya prepare the Pokémon's surprise welcome party." Pinkie silently smiled and nodded at the orange mare. "Thanks! See you all quickly!" Sweetie Belle then said before she trotted away, toward her ship, the Lor Starcutter. The Lor Starcutter was at its place, on the platform built beside Twilight's castle. When Sweetie Belle approached it, the entrance opened and the ramp appeared, letting her climb in the ship. "WELCOME, SWEETIE BELLE," a feminine robotic voice said to her once she was inside. "Hello, Lory, I'm back. Let's prepare to take off for the Dream Universe, New Halcandra. I need to see Magolor." "VERY WELL." Hearing the Lor Starcutter speak was still a novelty for Sweetie Belle. It was only a couple of months ago that it was discovered that the reason why the ship didn't speak was because it was missing a way to. Until then, it could only communicate through the screen. After this discovery, the Lor spent several days on New Halcandra to be upgraded. Sweetie Belle first went to hug the Sweetie Bot Armor that was standing beside the wall, at the left of the entrance. She still couldn't believe that she was here. She really was forever in Galacta Knight's, Magolor's, and Susie's dept. "Can we look?" asked Sweetie Belle. "Not yet," answered Magolor. They waited a few more seconds the eyes closed. "Poyo?" asked Kirby. "Not yet," answered Susie. A few more seconds passed when, suddenly, they heard two things drop on the ground in front of them? "You can look!" said Magolor. And they looked. And Sweetie Belle squealed in pure joy before she went to hug the kinda-sister she thought she had lost forever. Kirby did the same to his Robobot Armor who was standing beside the Sweetie Bot. "Galacta found them floating in space as he was searching for friends to give the Friend Hearts, and he brought them back to New Halcandra. It took us several months to repair them, and now, here they are!" recounted Magolor. Both he and Susie were then hugged by a teary-eyed Sweetie Belle who repeated "Thank you!" over and over again. She will never forget that day, and Sweetie Belle remained in front of the armor a few more seconds before she moved away. As the filly sat on a chair that materialized in front of the screen, a strange headpiece device materialized out of the ceiling and went above the head of the filly. "SHALL I DO WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT?" "Yes, go on, download the information about the new universes." The headpiece then placed itself on Sweetie's head while a list of known universes appeared in the screen: Dream Universe Newborn Universe Equus Universe Human Equus Universe To this list, two new universes were added: Universe With Giant Mecha Spider-Things That Burn Scary Aliens Pokémon Universe Beside the name of each universe were the coordinates of said universe. "DOWNLOAD COMPLETED." The headpiece disappeared back in the ceiling. "Good. Now, let's go to New Halcandra." So the Lor starcutter took off from the platform. It then opened a star-shaped portal toward New Halcandra. The thing with the Lor was that it wasn't really sentient. The Ancients had great technology, but they didn't manage to give sentience to their machines, or didn't bother to. Star Dream, one of the greatest AI developed by the Ancients, wasn't sentient until it absorbed Haltmann's soul, and NOVA, the best of the best that the Ancients offered, wasn't sentient too because it just followed its program. The Lor Starcutter, while having some independence, still was very limited. Sweetie Belle actually hoped that, like the robots of Shiver Star, it will eventually develop a soul of its own. She still wasn't certain, however, how it happened for the robots. Was this her telling them to simply live their life now that they didn't have masters anymore? But then, wouldn't they have simply... emulated life to follow her instructions? Maybe it was all these centuries spent waiting and repeating the same things that gave them a little spark. But then, wouldn't the Lor have that spark too, with how old it was? But maybe it didn't get it because it spent most of that time shutdown. She really didn't know, and so, wasn't sure where to start with the Lor. So she simply told it her adventures, hoping that it would cause a reaction, a spark, something. That was why she was going to New Halcandra with the Lor instead of using one of her own portals or the one that had been built in Ponyville. Meanwhile, they approached New Halcandra. The inhabitants of the portal world still had a long way to go to fully repair it, but they advanced well. More and more groups of descendants of the Ancients and of other creatures joined them, and now, they had rebuilt the equivalent of at least ten Manehattan. That wasn't much compared to the whole planet, but that was still something. The arrival of the many members of Hyness' cult boosted the rebuilding a lot. The Lor landed on a platform in the spatioport. Sweetie exited the ship and flew to the nearest New Halcandrain to ask them where Magolor was (he participated a lot in the rebuilding, so it was very rare to find him in his home). After finding out where he was, the filly then flew to his position where he helped transporting objects to high places (since he floated, it was no problem for him). Sweetie Belle flew to the egg-shaped mage and waved at him to gain his attention. "Hello, Magolor! I need your help!" "Hello, Sweetie Belle!" Magolor finished with his current task and faced Sweetie Belle. "Already back from your first adventure? So, how was it?" "Great! I already made many new friends and even fought someone that could give Kirby some troubles. However, I may need more of these translators you made." "So it worked?" "Perfectly. But it would be nice if these translators could also translate texts. I had to get the knowledge out of someone's mind." Magolor facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of this? I will try to create one, but I don't know how long it will take me." "I was also thinking of transplanting a translator in me to avoid getting it in the way or losing it." Magolor thought about this. "That's a nice idea, but it is more Susie's domain. How about you come back when I'm done with the translator, and we will discuss together, you, me, and Susie, about this?" "Alright." "Also, if you will need a lot of translators for others, then I may need to open a production line of them, which will take even more time, a few months at least." "Of course. Just a warning, the translators will need to fit anything. And I really mean anything. One of the friends I brought back with me in Equestria is literally a living ball of gas that can pass through walls, and who knows what other crazy species I will encounter in my adventures." "I'm... sure this can be done." He rubbed his 'chin', having an idea. "And I may know how. We will simply use your transplant idea." he then took a notepad and began to write on it. "Yes... A chip... Or something even smaller if possible. Something simple, small, and easy to transplant into anything without leaving any mark. Oh! I know! A nanobot! It will just need to be swallowed, and it will go plant itself in the brain or whatever equivalent! Mmh... But what if the being doesn't have a mouth? Well, I suppose that any orifice could work. At worst, it could be injected. Yes, yes. That's perfect. Then-" Sweetie Belle mimed clearing her throat to regain Magolor's attention. "It's very great that you already have an idea of what you will do, but I also need your help for something else." She then levitated a dozen Poké Balls as well as some Great Balls out of the saddlebags. "Those are Poké Balls. They are used to turn things, including living beings, into energy to keep them in them. The balls then can be turned into data with their content to be stocked inside a computer. It automatically happens when a certain condition is reached. Could you find whatever causes this to happen and get rid of it, please? It's really annoying." Magolor took the balls, staring at them in awe. "Wow... That's very high tech! You were in a technologically advanced world?" "That's... complicated. They didn't have spaceships or that kind of stuff. I didn't see a single robot. Cars didn't fly. And yet, they have these balls, cloning technology (limited, but existing), and even machines to bring fossils back to life. Let's just say that they technologically prioritized some stuff to the point of neglecting almost all the rest." "I see. I will see what I can do. But I feel that I and Susie will love studying these little jewels. I don't think that even the Ancients managed to do something like that, turning living beings into data." Sweetie Belle returned in Ponyville with the Lor Starcutter, and went to search the Pokémon. Without surprise, she found them in Sugarcube Corner, in the middle of a party with her friends and many other ponies. Spike, now wearing the translator, was talking with Drako. The foals and Volta were running around laughing as they tried to avoid Tank's water jets. Ratzo was with Fluttershy. And Smily and Lulla were playing Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Pony. "Hey! Finally back!" shouted Pinkie as she was spinning a blindfolded Lulla holding a fake ponytail. "Great! You're next!" "Not before I eat something!" shouted back the filly before she walked toward the table filled with food, joining the party. Rarity would rapidly complain about Sweetie Belle being able to eat a whole cake without gaining a single gram. It was not her fault if Sweetie could now get herself rid of the extra weight and took advantage of it.