"Emile...? Are you alright?"
The boy was unresponsive as if frozen stiff. In his head, a thousand different thoughts and questions raced through his mind. His Leafeon turning into an Eevee... his voice... his physical coordination... the scar on his back gone... Well, there really was only one good explanation for it all wasn't there? Their Time had been rewinded. Fifteen years in fact, since that had been the time he'd first met his Eevee. Was this Arceus' doing? Why had he kept his memories then? Eevee's battle senses were still intact, so then why not its memory? And... what had happened to his original world...?
Had he managed to save it?
"Emile!" Applejack shook him out of his trance.
"I-I'm..." He mumbled.
"You're what? C'mon, sugarcube, stop making us worry like that." Applejack placed her hoof onto his shoulder, calming him again.
"It's just... I'm a kid again."
Rainbow Dash cracked up at this. "Well, you could've fooled us. You know. Us knowing nothing about humans and all." She got quieted by Applejack digging a hoof into her side.
"Were you an adult before? How were you supposed to look? If you don't mind me asking." Twilight was equal measures of intrigued as she was worried for him.
"I'm supposed to be much taller, and my voice is supposed to be deeper. I was turning twenty-five today."
"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this doesn't usually happen to your kind, right?"
"No, not at all... I'm sorry. This is a lot to take in."
"Don't ya worry about a thing Emile. From what my gals recounted; you've had a hell of a day. It's okay if you need some time to process this." Applejack tried comforting him.
"You're amongst friends now. If there's anything we can help you with, just ask." Twilight followed up.
"Y-yeah... thank you, guys. Truly" He looked down at his Eevee who was resting on his lap. Before he had a chance to slip into some less-than-savory thoughts, Fluttershy started petting him on the head. It was quite an embarrassing way to get comforted, but he didn't mind it one bit.
"Um... excuse me. Emile?" The yellow Pegasus said as she got closer.
"Yes?"
"You said today was gonna be your 25th birthday right? Happy Birthday." Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash followed suit having just realized it too and cheered him on.
"A birthday is it?" Rarity's voice filled the room when she entered at that moment, magically levitating a bag towards Emile. "How fortuitous. Then consider this my gift, darling. This way, you don't have to think about repaying me." It was most likely the clothes she said she wanted to make for him earlier. He left the gift for later having felt embarrassed to change in front of everypony.
"Thank you, Rarity. I sincerely appreciate this gift, but I still want to repay you if you'll let me." She sighed and shrugged in hesitant agreement. "And thank you, guys, for the well-wishes... I'm not entirely sure how old I am now though so I can't say for sure that I'm having my birthday today."
"How old do you think you are?" Twilight took out a notebook as she readied to document her new findings on humans.
"I look as young as I was when I first began my journey. I was ten at the time."
Before he could even turn around to see who it was, a cake slid into his view having appeared from behind him. On it, it read "Happy Birthday, Emile!" with a crude frosting drawing of a stick figure human and ten candles lined up neatly around the edges.
"♪ Happy happy Birthday! From all of us to you! I baked you a yummy cake, so make sure you don't drool! We'd like a piece too, to celebrate all cool! ♪"
It was a little sappy, but quite the happy tune. First the revelation and now this, it had all happened so fast that he didn't know how to feel. If he had to choose, he was definitely feeling a warm and fuzzy feeling inside much to his surprise. In his life, as he'd kept most people at arm's length, hardly anyone save for his mother had celebrated his birthday. Among his many adventures, he'd only ever met rivals. There was the occasional friendly face that would remember him and send him postcards, but pleasantries were hardly a thing to celebrate. His only real friends were the Pokemon he trained, and although they would've been happy to celebrate it for him, he never made a show of it for himself as at this point in his life, it had just become a day as any other. But now...
"Is... something wrong? Don't you like it?" Pinkie Pie asked having noticed the drop in his expression.
"I love it." He smiled, in between a tear that he had let slip involuntarily.
Without a word, he looked over at the other ponies who were now looking at him with worry. Even if they were vastly different creatures on the outside, on the inside it seemed they were very much the same as any human, as they could instantly recognize the sadness and joy he was expressing on his face while he held back more tears. The emotions he was feeling now were undoubtedly caused by more than just the cake and the celebration of his birthday. It had been everything until now. Every effort, every hope, every sacrifice he'd made up until that point... He and his Pokemon had braved the most harrowing trials of their lives for the sake and future of the world. A world that he might never be able to see again. There would be no one to cheer for his accomplishments or even to call his name. He couldn't even have known if his world was safe or not. It was an incredibly sobering and sad thought, and it all had rushed to him when he looked upon the teetering flames on the candles dancing on their stems.
But here and now, so very, very far from home.... there were a couple of ponies wishing him a happy birthday. His heart was filled with melancholy and happiness, all in one.
The mood had definitely grown awkward while he rubbed away at his eyes.
"It's nothing. Really, it's nothing. I'm overjoyed in fact, so I don't know where to place all this feeling." He had tried to dissuade their concerns to no avail. "Hey, Pinkie Pie, how did you bake a cake so fast if you barely knew it was my birthday?" He asked, finally doing the trick to lighten up the mood as the excitable mare was only happy to follow along.
"I work at a bakery. I can make a cake faster than Dashy can fly." She beamed.
"You want to bet on that?" Followed up the hothead.
They shared a jovial moment while eating the cake, talking more about humans and pony society, and momentarily forgetting about any issues at hand.
It hadn't taken long for the peace to be disturbed when a small waist-height purple lizard barged into Fluttershy's home out of breath and holding onto a scroll in one hand. Surely it had to be a Pokemon, no? But he guessed not as the little dragon-type did a double back as soon as he saw him.
Twilight did her best to fill in the purple dragon and told Spike all about him in a few short words, following up her explanation with the most obvious question.
"But what's wrong, Spike? You came running all the way here, I'm guessing it's an urgent request from the Princess?"
"Exactly right, Twilight." He said as he opened the scroll he had on hand and read it to every pony. "This is a state of emergency. To my dear Twlight and her friends, I request your assistance on a vital matter. Please depart to Canterlot with utmost haste."
The words written on it spared no expense for trifling pleasantries and it served well to heighten the urgency of the situation. Judging by Twilight's expressions, this was a serious matter indeed considering how much she contemplated what to do next.
"Emile, as this is an urgent summon, we'll have to depart soon. But I was thinking you should come with us." She had said after analyzing the circumstances.
"To meet a princess? Royalty? Are you sure?"
"If I think about it logically, or maybe just call it a hunch but... Your arrival here and this summons seem correlated. Besides, even if it isn't, we can directly ask Princess Celestia for help on matters concerning you. She's the wisest and most magically gifted of us all. If there's a pony that might have a clue as to the circumstances that led you here, it might be her. I say it's a win-win."
"Y-yeah. Seems like the smart thing to do." He said and looked down at his Eevee again who still slumbered in a deep sleep. He was feeling a pang of guilt welling up since he understood well why he was here to begin with, or at least, he knew a bit more than them in that regard. But he kept that topic to himself, still wishing not to burden them with the truth of his world. What he fixated on was the first thing Twilight had said. If there was something serious happening to this world that involved his coming here, then it was only right that he should lend a hand as well. "If there's something I can do... I want to help you guys."
"Please, darling, you just don't know when to graciously accept a gift, do you?" Rarity said in a pseudo-mock. "We wouldn't be good hosts if we involved you in our issues, dear."
"But I-"
"But nothing. You would sully my reputation if I allowed it." She was incredibly gracious and kind, despite her harsh words. But even she wasn't made of stone after she looked at Emile's expressive concerns. "Very well." She sighed. "If the situation calls for it, we'll call on your aid. But know that we've saved Equestria from dire straits many times, so we won't have much use for you."
"Besides, we're strong. You know it from firsthand experience." Rainbow Dash said as she flexed and made a playful grin.
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you." He smiled back at her.
"Since there's urgency in her message we have to depart as soon as possible. Are the rest of you set on heading out immediately?" Twilight asked the others.
"I'm good. Not like I have anything to attend to back at my house in Cloudsdale." Rainbow Dash was the first to be ready.
"No harvestin' today either, so I'm set too." Applejack came second.
"The tots are with Mr. And Mrs. Cake, and the shop is closed. I am set and ready commander." Pinkie Pie said while she bolted upright.
"Already closed the boutique when all this hullabaloo started, so no problems here." Rarity followed.
"And you, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her, seeing as she was the last left.
"Almost, I already asked Angel to look over the animals while I'm gone. I just need to get something." Fluttershy flew upstairs to her bedroom.
"Rarity, could you get us a carriage?"
"Of course." Rarity stepped out into the outside and whistled at a few stallions that happened by. "Well hello there. We're in a bit of an emergency and I just wanted to know if you could give us a lift to Canterlot." She said in a flirtatious way. They immediately dropped everything to go fetch a cart, Emile couldn't help but think that it was rather strange. Was she using charm? He sighed as he was still thinking like if they were Pokemon. He had seen that type of effect before both on humans and other Pokemon without the use of Charm, but he had never really understood it himself. His interactions with the fairer sex throughout his life had only ever been in the way of fierce Pokemon battles with one-track-minded people. There had never been much room for him to think about these things. If anything, he felt a little embarrassed having witnessed it in front of him so close, and couldn't help but feel a little empathetic to the poor little purple dragon when he crossed his arms and huffed smoke from his nostrils with indignation.
"I'll go hold down the fort, Twilight. Send for me if you need anything, I'll be there in a jiff." He saluted Twilight in some strange show of strength while he shot glances at the white unicorn from the side of his rigid stance. Even if Emile hadn't been too familiar with that kind of feeling, all he could think was... Pretty obvious little man, good luck.
In the meantime, Emile went to go change into the clothes Rarity had prepared for him. She was truly an expert craftsman, as all the clothes she'd given him were well-suited for his body's size and somewhat replicas of his tattered ones with a unique flare to them. She had even remade his trusty red and white hat and jacket. The only thing he was missing now was shoes, but that would've been a stretch to expect from a seamstress since running shoes from his world were special and a technological advancement of his kind. Still, he felt great in his new clothes. In thanking her, Emile could physically feel her pride emanating from her attitude at his praise.
As the two stallions returned with a carriage in almost no time at all, he wondered how transportation worked for these ponies since the stallions looked like they would be the ones to pull it. He didn't let it bother him much after everyone began to board in with no hesitation. He was just about to get in himself when Fluttershy finally arrived with what she had gone to fetch.
"Wait for me!" The quiet voice shouted from behind, hardly audible.
He felt a chill crawl all through the length of his spine as he looked at her. In her saddlebag, she carried a familiar large pure white egg.
"Fluttershy... Where did you find that egg?" Emile stumbled through his words, making it almost visible that he was astonished by the mere sight of it.
"Oh, this? I found it in the Everfree Forest near my house this morning. Since all the animals had kicked up a fuzz, I went to go check it out and found this egg there. None of my hens want to go anywhere near it for some reason and they aren't big enough to incubate it anyways so I'm personally handling it myself. I figured I'd bring it along with me."
"Emile, what's wrong?" Twilight asked after she noticed how pale he'd become.
"That egg... it was with me when I awoke in this world..."
There was a foreboding feeling in the air itself with even the trees swaying in their direction, almost like if they were following the carriage. The tension in everyone was palpable even as they did their best to hide it. Perhaps because of his Time being rewinded, he was weaker at being able to hide his own feelings than before. His heart beat in rhythm like a clock and he envisioned that it clicked and clocked in his chest, further driving the growing pressure he was under. He did his best to calm his nerves by petting Eevee who had still been stuck in a deep sleep.
They had talked only a little bit about the egg after they had departed. Emile gave them all the information he himself knew, which was only that the egg had appeared with him in this world at the time of his arrival. Despite the conversation he had with everyone about the egg and all the time he spent theorizing about it, he was no closer to figuring out what that egg was. Emile could only think that it was a bad omen of things to come... he could feel it in his gut.
Emile flinched at a sudden high-pitched sound that rang out of his rucksack and whose vibration could be felt on his back. Reaching into it, he pulled out the Pokeriss he'd stowed away before, now having completed its task of transforming an apple. Inside, the familiar reds and whites of a Pokeball could be seen on a tiny sphere the size of a fingernail.
"Finally. It's done."
The six gathered around with the kind of eager excitement that comes from wanting to shake off the seriousness of those events, and likely just genuine curiosity as this all might as well have been magic to them having never seen the technology from his world.
"What's it supposed to be, sugarcube?"
"This? It's perhaps one of the most advanced pieces of technology and craftsmanship of humankind. A Pokeball. These little things go hand in hand with our ability to interact, train, care for, and maintain our Pokemon." If it hadn't been there before, now there was real excitement in the air as their eyes followed it with intense curiosity. "And if you can imagine, like I mentioned before, Pokemon were originally known as pocket monsters because of the invention of these tools since they are able to fit into it with ease."
"That's soooo small! It's smaller than my hoof." Pinkie chimed.
"How does it all work?" Twilight was practically trembling right about now.
"We haven't gotten so far as to know how or why Pokemon shrink, but I can tell you about the inner workings of the Pokeball itself." He cleared his throat, purposely delaying it for dramatic effect. "Well, you probably won't fully understand my whole spiel on the virtual and computational aspects of the ball, so I'll try to simplify it as best I can. Imagine if you will, that Pokemon can shrink to such an infinitesimally small size. A size so tiny, they become invisible to the naked eye. With this idea in mind, also understand that when they do, their weight becomes as close to zero as any material in existence can get. Lighter than a feather, a cloud, or even the air around you. At this stage, we're able to encapsulate them in a protective bubble via the Pokeball's functions. This bubble helps to do a number of things. From sending them to long distances like halfway across the world in an instant to even making pseudo-worlds for them inside the Pokeball, allowing them to graze, sleep, and recuperate in a simulated environment that they'd be most comfortable with."
"Whole worlds...? That's insane..." Twilight said what they were all thinking, as he spotted a few mouths agape.
"So inside of their Pokeball, they get to be in habitats created specifically for them?" Fluttershy followed up.
"Indeed, and it's all maintained by the Pokeballs. These little things are the culmination of human ingenuity, and centuries of work by the brightest minds in order to give our Pokemon companions the best of the best." He smiled mischievously since he had saved the best for last. Physical proof that what he was saying wasn't all nonsense. "But there's still one more thing left. Now witness!" He said in a grandstanding way after pressing the button that protruded from the center of the small marble. He sincerely wished he had, had a camera on hand to have been able to take a picture of that very special moment after every pony basically jumped at having his explanation be realized with it growing ten times its size, to fit the entirety of his palm like a large softball. While he shrunk it back to its original size and then back again for the entertainment and research of the ponies present, he had just about forgotten his worries altogether in this touching moment.
"Wowow! Amazing!" Squee'd the pink one.
"It's absolutely incredible, Emile! I would love to look at it in closer detail if you'd let me." Twilight remarked.
"Sure, I'd be delighted to make you some. It'll just take a while to make more. For now, though, I'll need to keep this one."
"You can make them, Emile? You must be quite the talented craftsman yourself." Rarity added.
"Oh no, it's not me. It's the work of this machine actually." He said as he gestured to the Pokeriss. "It's a one-of-a-kind created by a good friend of mine from a long time ago. He used to be a traditional craftsman until he decided to automate the process for fellas like me, but to little success, as he was only able to craft this one here. Took too much time and effort he said, and he preferred to have hands-on when making the balls himself. Specifics aside, it uses a special organic material to construct the casing of the ball and the internals, it then puts them together, and viola! I pretty much do nothing here." He noted, a bit ashamed for having been praised for doing nothing. "These are just basic pokeballs. Some of the ones he used to make were special and had varying effects for both catching and raising Pokemon. There really is no substitute for a true craftsman when it comes to quality."
In Rarity's eyes, there was a bright glint of interest as she eyed the ball curiously. He hadn't pegged her for the studious type like Twilight, but he guessed that she was interested in all manner of craftsmanship. "I'm beside myself. It's so beautiful like a jewel when it's small and doubles down on its usefulness when grown. Form AND function. Yet you say there are even better works of art out there? Makes a girl swoon at the idea."
The others had also taken quite an interest in the Pokeball after his theatrical display, and he just about guessed what they wanted to say. "Now now, I can make some for everyone. I didn't have the materials originally to make any since it used a particular nut from my world, but it seems I'm able to make more with apples from this world. I used some apples just outside of Applejack's farm to make them and they turned out pretty great."
"Only natural. Every pony knows our apples are special." The orange cowboy said with gleeful pride. "Feel free to take some from our ranch next time, sugarcube."
"Thank you Applejack, I will accept your gift." He said in a stiff manner as he eyed the white unicorn from the corner of his eye after she smiled at him with a smile that hid her scolding, unspoken words. "More importantly though." He tapped the end of the Pokeball gently to Eevee's body. "This should do it."
The fully grown Pokeball split into two to reveal its internals. Inside, a red light formed in the very center of it. The red light then shot forward at Eevee and engulfed it in a red light to everyone's surprise. Yet, after only a bit, the light dissipated, and Eevee remained having not gone into it. The ball had rejected Eevee.
"Should do what?" Pinkie asked, confused.
"Was it supposed to go inside, you reckon?" Applejack followed up.
Tried all he might, the ball continued to reject his Eevee. He could tell that the Pokeball the Pokeriss had made was fully functional since it was behaving as any normal one would. After each rejection, its button blinked in specific patterns to form an error code, and in slowly remembering what they meant, he felt his stomach drop when he carefully eyed what this one was saying. Its code meant one of two things and either of them spelled out the worst-case scenario. One possibility for the ball rejecting Eevee was because it had already been registered to a different Pokeball. One he'd likely left behind or had been destroyed in his old world.
This was a particularly difficult issue to solve since a PC registry would be needed to reissue the Pokemon a new Pokeball. This essentially meant that so long as he existed in this world, his Eevee would have to go without one. It wasn't unheard of for some Trainers and their Pokemon to choose not to use one, but overall, Pokemon were sensitive creatures whose stress piles up if not in their natural habitat. As for this Eevee? He didn't know. Leafeon certainly never minded being in one or not, so he couldn't safely make an assumption for his buddy that had been reverted to a pre-captured state.
The more troubling thing the Pokeball's error code spelled out was... There was the possibility the Eevee was already registered with someone else.
He couldn't help but think that it was impossible, but considering his situation, it was a possibility to say the least. Their Time having been rewinded might have messed with the Pokeballs authentication system. Or maybe even the shift to this world had. There was any number of reasons to think that there was a deeper issue at play here, and he would not be able to find out unless he could meet with the PC's regional admins, the geniuses behind these systems.
He sighed a deeply frustrated sigh, wishing he'd been smart enough to know how it all worked like they did. Looking over at his pony friends again after having tried and failed so miserably, he shrugged in defeat.
"What's wrong with it, Emile?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing is wrong with the ball itself, it seems. The problem is with Eevee and me. The ball has its unique ways of identifying who it belongs to and what it belongs to. That's what this blinking light is saying here." He said as he pointed to the button. "Somewhere, those wires are getting crossed. Maybe because we came to this world?"
"What does this mean for Eevee then?" Fluttershy asked in her worry for the little fox.
"Eevee never minded not being in the ball for long periods of time before, but because it's likely that its age has been reverted like mine had I'm... not too sure what this means for my buddy. Just gotta hope for the best, right?" He said with little confidence. There was a bit of a silence in the carriage at that point as the topics of conversation had died out. Not from disinterest, since they had all a million questions to ask, but because it was hard to follow up that less-than-ideal talk. Having eyed their destination, Emile found a good topic in order to break the serious atmosphere that lingered. "So uh, question for you guys." Everyone perked up at this.
"Go ahead." Twilight ushered him.
"We're going there, right? To that castle?" Twilight nodded in response to his question.
"It's both a city and the location of Princess Celestia's castle. Quite something huh?" Twilight took the helm on this one, probably because she'd had the most experience with it. "I spent the better part of my youth there studying, though admittedly I didn't make many friends until I was sent to Ponyville by the Princess herself. I'm glad she did because I got to meet my best friends there." She said, prompting everyone to smile at her. "A-Ahem. Right."
"It's absolutely incredible. For a good second, I thought humans lived there since in my head I found it impossible that you guys could've made that. But, since seeing your magic and your town, I've come around to the idea." In the past, he'd only heard tales of such intricate castles from regions he still had yet to visit like in Kalos or even from the more hushed whispers coming from Unova about some moving fortress. Unova... that had been his next destination before everything went sideways. He sighed a bit at the sight of Canterlot castle and turned to the purple unicorn. "Are you sort of like the Princess' confidant? An officer of the peace kind of thing?"
"I'm just her apprentice for the magical arts, really. But when it comes to magic, all sorts of things happen around Equestria. She's entrusted us six with the great power of the elements of harmony, so we do our best to respond to these types of calls." She stated proudly. "It's a great honor to help out the Princess who has already done so much for every pony." Everypony nodded their agreement.
"She sounds like a great person, err, pony."
"Did you have anyone like that in your world, Emile?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Like what?"
"You know, like super duper awesome and always helping out the world and stuff. Like a hero! Someone everyone looks up to."
He tipped his hat down to hide his face at that. "Uhm. No, not really, not in my time at least. Maybe in the past." He said dismissively.
With the conversation became jovial again, they were now just a few short paces from Canterlot castle. Somehow, the talk had been spearheaded by Rainbow Dash as she began to explain to every pony what had happened when they first met.
"And then uhm... Yeah, he just knocked out. Totally not my fault. So I flew over to Twilight to ask her for advice and she told me to carry you to her house."
"You know, Dash, if you had been a Pokemon, you could've gone to my world and boasted to everyone about your victory over me and you'd be applauded by everyone."
"What, you were some sort of hotshot? I doubt that." She snickered.
"Aw, come on. Remember how I said Trainers compete in massive tournaments, yeah? Well, I've won a couple of those." Was he actually lauding himself? Or was this some childish pride speaking? It was like looking at himself from the outside because he found it amusing all the same.
"There's no way!"
Their talk eventually got floated around with all sorts of topics. Eventually, Emile had gotten distracted at one point and once again contemplated the egg. The ponies had agreed it was best to take it to the Princess just in case it offered any relevance to Emile's appearance in Equestria. But he had a sense of unease just staring at it. His intuition was usually correct and considering what Fluttershy had said about her animals and hens avoiding it, there was a real possibility that the egg, or whatever was inside it, was incredibly dangerous. Still, he'd decided to press on with their decision to show it to the Princess, as he wanted to believe that she was as powerful as everyone said she was, since they had told him about her powers and her ability to raise the very sun.
Surely, if even the worst-case scenario happened, she could do something about it, no?
And if this egg had something to do with the events that happened to him before, then it could spell his ticket back to his world. Or at the very least... he'd get to see what the results of his decisions had been. His greatest longing at that point was just to see if he had changed things for the better. If he'd managed to save everyone like he wanted.
While thinking about these things, suddenly, his Eevee who had still been in a deep sleep began to tremble in pain again and started to cry out. At first confused about what was happening to it, Emile himself began to feel something was terribly wrong too. His vision began to contract, churn, and tilt with increasing intensity as the world around him felt distorted. His body's coordination followed along with it this strange sensational bombardment and he felt sick to his stomach in the nauseating effect. A ringing in his ear had grown so loud at this point that it had become physically uncomfortable, and he could not hear the words of the ponies beside him. The moment they had called for the stallions to stop the carriage. Emile made a grab for the door and immediately stumbled to his knees after it flew open, now holding onto Eevee for dear life as it too struggled with whatever was happening them.
It seems the ponies had not been affected by whatever this was. Looking back at the mares, from the corner of his eyes he could see the egg pulsing with light within the shell itself as though the creature inside could feel what was happening too. The ponies hadn't noticed it since their attention was fully focused on them. It took all the strength he had on him to push himself weakly off the ground, and as he did, he spotted a peculiarity in front of him in the direction of the forest surrounding the road. It was a small blue and black figure hiding behind the tree line. An animal of some sort? Or perhaps... a Pokemon?
At this thought, it began to run from tree to tree further and further away from him. Somehow, it felt like the figure had attached strings to his heart. He felt an immense and heavy pull towards its direction. Physically, mentally, and emotionally... With his vision twisting everything around him, he couldn't make out what it was at all, and the logical part of his brain was yelling at him not to run towards it. But... he was less than rational right now, and so he ran after it with all he had with his Eevee in tow.
It vanished altogether before he could reach it. As his mind and vision cleared, he found himself in the middle of a small grotto of trees, with half of his pony friends panting for breath behind him. The other half being the more physically fit of the six
"*huff* Emile...? *huff* You back yet, buddy?" Twilight panted, struggling to form the questions.
Before he even had the chance to compose his thoughts and respond, an incredibly powerful and blinding white light filled the grotto in that instant. The light was coming from in-between his arms and he could feel a powerful rush of energy sweep all around his torso.
He knew what this was. He had seen it so many times before. That familiar mystical power that no amount of science had ever come close to comprehending. Eevee's very shape and form was changing in his arms, and they were all now witnessing the most miraculous thing about Pokemon.
"Emile! What's going on?! Why is Eevee..." Twilight tried calling out to him while fighting against the bright light overpowering her vision.
When the light finally died down, they were left with a very different creature than what Eevee had been. Emile looked at every pony present and fell to the ground, his legs giving out from the sheer wildness of what had just transpired.
"It's... an evolution."
The worry of seeing their friend run off in a panic again, the terror of not knowing what that light had been, the awe-inducing effects it had on the Eevee and now Emile's laughter as he somehow found the reactions on their face funny had confused the ever-living heck out of them. Though Emile himself had been just as confused as them for other reasons, he found it incredibly comical that they were a bundle of nerves and bewilderment.
"It's one surprise after another." Rainbow Dash said and plopped onto the ground defeatedly while everyone let out a stressed sigh of relief.
"What in the heck was that, Emile? Evolution you said?" Twilight asked as she touched the fluffy red, orange, and yellow coat of this new creature.
"Um, how about we walk and talk about this as we get back to the carriage?"
"Y-yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Turning back to where they came from, Twilight was quick to follow up with; "You have so much to explain to us right now. Start talking, buddy."
"Now hold on, Twi', I know he's got stuff that needs explainin' but give him a little room." Applejack told her.
"Yeah but..." She was still eager to pursue the subject.
"It's okay! It's okay. Haha. I'm sorry. I'm sure that must've been quite the experience for you guys. Look closely, everyone. Eevee has evolved into a pokemon known as Flareon." Emile pulled out the pokedex from his jacket's pouch. Everyone except Fluttershy cluttered around it to see its dex entry since the yellow pegasus nuzzled up against the firefox content with just listening rather than looking.
Flareon, known as the Flame Pokémon. Flareon has a flame sac in its body, and can also shoot powerful flames that have been known to reach a maximum of 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Flareon fluffs out its fur collar to cool down its body temperature, which can reach 1,650 degrees. Flareon's internal flame ignites its breath, which is exhaled as fire. When it finds berries to eat, it breathes fire on them until they're well done.
"If you recall Eevee's entry, you'll remember that it said Eevee's species has the unique ability to adapt to its environment via evolution. What you guys just witnessed was exactly that, an evolution. Gotta be honest though, even for us humans, Pokemon evolution might as well be an enigma. Each and every one of them is a little packet of mystery and wonder."
"Well now ain't that the truth." Applejack chimed in. "So then why did Eevee decide to evolve into a fire Pokemon in the middle of the forest? Seems a bit like a conflict of interest."
"Yeah... that's the thing. I don't know. Honestly, I was pretty confused when the evolution happened too. You already guessed right that it's not the kind of environment an Eevee evolves into a Flareon. In fact, Eevee's evolution conditions are incredibly specific, and can only evolve under the right circumstances and sometimes with the right items. With a Flareon, it needs to be in contact with something known as a firestone."
"So they have conditions to evolve? I'll have a pick at your knowledge later, Emile, mark my words." Twilight muttered.
"I'd be happy to give you all that I know." He was silent for a bit as his expression dropped.
"What's wrong Emile? You're making such a frown at Flareon, is it okay?" Fluttershy asked after noticing it when she looked up from having petted the still-sleeping fox in his arms.
"Um, yeah... I wasn't showing it at first but I'm actually beside myself with worry." He said sheepishly, swallowing his pride. "An evolution is a big deal for a Pokemon, since they can't revert to what they used to be. For Eevees, evolving once means they'll be permanently stuck in their new forms. Because both of our Times were rewinded, it made sense that my buddy had become an Eevee again, but originally, he had once evolved into a different evolution type known as Leafeon. We had adventured together for so long after that, seeing my buddy become something else is um..." He tried to bite back the words he wanted to say because it felt selfish to say them, as though he was saying them just for himself. "A bit sad, I guess..." He quietly muttered the words to himself.
Fluttershy petted his head again like she would an animal in trying to comfort him. "I can see it. It feels like you're growing apart, right? It's okay. I've had similar experiences with animals that I had let loose and seen after years when I visited the woods on my walks. The transition between cub and fully grown... it feels like you've missed so much."
"Yeah..." She was such a gentle pony, that was for sure. Her empathy helped the turmoil in his heart immensely. "I'd already felt this way once before when I arrived in this world and it had become an Eevee again. Worse still, it had forgotten all about me and our adventures. It took a bit of doing but I got its trust again and it was like our friendship never left, but..." It's never an easy thing to open up to others, was it? "It didn't feel the same. Even though I still remembered for some reason, Eevee didn't. It felt, um... well it felt lonely. I suppose."
"Well of course it would, darling. If I had been in your shoes and it had been my sister to forget me, I'd be a right mess right about now. I envy your strength." Rarity spoke up first.
"Yeah. For me, if it'd been with anyone in my family, I'd be heartbroken." Followed Applejack.
"Even if it happened with anyone in our friends, it would be such an awful feeling." Said a very uncharacteristic and serious Pinkie Pie. Emile could easily see that she too was quite prone to loneliness and had felt the sorrow of that feeling.
"Thank you..." He said meekly. "I'm not used to... you know, talking like this. With others, I mean. It feels like I'm making quite the habit of thanking you all. I'm sorry you have to deal with all the baggage I'm bringing with me."
"Perish the thought dear. You're our friend now. Besides, we got to experience all sorts of wonderous things, haven't we?" Rarity said, addressing everypony present which prompted them to agree.
At that moment, Emile made a vow in his heart to help these ponies with all his might, come what may.
It had been on the side of the mountain, he thought. It made sense, he thought. How else would they get up to the city? He thought very hard about all of this as he felt his legs buckle a bit halfway across the long, long winding stairs. He hid his embarrassment by giving a thumbs up to the ponies who had noticed this, signifying that he was okay. His childlike body and short legs were making the climb that much more difficult. To his dismay, they had yet even more stairs to climb upon reaching the castle gates.
He looked back at the city he had just walked through still perplexed at the thought that there were creatures capable of building all of this. What a world, he thought.
Emile held his stomach and climbed the stairs. He was getting that cold pit again, and he tried to focus his mind on something else. It felt as though there was an Ominous Wind blowing when the stairs to the castle reminded him of the ones he'd seen on Spear Pillar... At this point, he was trying incredibly hard not to let his trauma show by doing his best to control his breathing. Thankfully, the ponies in front of him had just seen this as him being out of breath.
Then it happened. Chaos, all at once.
That same nauseating feeling from before had forcibly rendered him to his knees afraid that he'd be knocked down the stairs and brutally hurt in the process. He held onto the side railing and the edges of the stairs when the feeling became more intense. Yet despite the intensity of the situation, all he could think was to help his buddy when the Flareon cried out in pain within his arms.
"Hold... on... buddy..." He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes now that the ringing in his ears had become so powerful, it made it hard to even think.
In Flareon's desperation, it began to Flail in his arms while it clawed away at his clothes and skin. Then the unthinkable happened. Flareon shot from its mouth a weak yet still incredibly hot stream of flames by using Ember. His clothes ignited, he could see the ponies recoil in fear. He saw as Twilight readied a water spell, only to be met by the familiar light of a Pokemon evolution.
No way. Emile thought in that instant. Slowly but surely, Flareon transformed into a Vaporeon in his arms.
The flames on his jacket were almost immediately put out as his entire upper body became engulfed in water from Vaporeon's attempt to heal itself using Water Veil in unconscious self-defense. Gasping for air, Emile refused to let go of his buddy and continued to take step after step up the stairs again. It seemed the ponies could understand to some extent what was going on as Twilight worded something out to Rainbow Dash. At this, she flew away towards the direction of the castle as fast as she could. He felt his consciousness slip from the lack of air, and before he could pass out altogether the bubble burst. Vaporeon began to change again.
"Emile! Are you alright?!" He finally heard Twilight's voice now that he was coughing up the water in his lungs.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I'm alright!" Emile said as he staggered a bit before regaining composure again.
"I thought you said Eevee could only evolve once?!" Twilight asked in a half shout, recalling back what Emile had mentioned.
"It shouldn't be possible! I don't know what's going on, but I can't let Eevee suffer alone."
"We can't continue to watch this. You're getting seriously hurt!"
"Please, don't worry about me. I'm alright. I'm okay. We need..." His teeth began clattering as a chilling cold began to freeze the moisture on his clothes. The light had faded to reveal a curled-up Glaceon emanating its Icy Wind with all its might. "We n-need to find the P-princess."
In reaching the end of the stairs to a circular courtyard, they were met with multiple armored stallions pointing spears at them. Twilight and her friends rushed over to them to explain the situation. He felt his fingers frostnip halfway through the courtyard before the Glaceon began to glow again. Now the Eevee's forms were beginning to change faster and faster.
The light gave way to a Jolteon this time. He felt his very muscle fibers rend at the electricity that the yellow-quilled creature outputted in its distress by using Thunder Shock, made stronger by the moisture that still clung to his body and clothes. He could not continue forward from the paralysis of the shock, falling onto his knees almost dab center of the palisade.
He fought for breath as Eevee switched forms quicker and quicker, thankfully not giving it much room to use moves before it switched in and out. From Umbreon, to Espeon, to a white and pink form he had never seen before, and finally into Leafeon whose form remained as Eevee's evolutions came to an end with it. In his emotional shock, he let down the now-calmed Leafeon onto the ground. It slumbered peacefully now that the nauseating feeling and sound from before had gone.
Just what was going on? What had this all been about?
Staring at his buddy in its Leafeon evolution, he felt his nose puff up and his eyes water as he remembered all of their adventures together. When he looked around, he looked at the chaos of what had transpired. His pony friends were desperately attempting to hold back the royal guards who had been spooked by the spectacle. It really felt like he was outside of himself as if in a daze. He wobbled from side to side, feeling the dizziness of exhaustion. Then he spotted Rainbow Dash alongside a very tall, very commanding figure twice the size of any of the ponies present. A white Alicorn with a pastel rainbow mane and tiara atop her head. The guards finally stood down when she raised one front foreleg to signal at them to stop their advance.
He could feel it. Sense it in the very air. The trembling of the earth. The stomping and rumbling and rushing of animal-like creatures. He didn't need to put an ear to the ground like he first did when arriving in this world to know it either. He could hear the very heartbeat of life from where he knelt. And in that sound, something was terribly amiss. That ominous feeling from before...
"Twilight, Rainbow Dash has informed me of what's been going on." Princess Celestia turned to glance at Emile. "It seems the situation reached you as well."
"What do you mean, Princess?"
"Problems all over Equestria have started surfacing. Both Luna and I have been noticing powerful distortions all across the land. But this isn't the place to talk about specifics. Please, come inside to our inner chamber. We have guests much like your friend here. They'll be able to tell us more."
Emile hadn't been processing the conversation too well. He felt pangs of fear well up in his chest as he eyed the egg in Fluttershy's saddlebag. Inside of it, a light was beginning to glow stronger and stronger. Stranger yet, he could almost see the light all around it grow dimmer. In that moment, he could clearly picture a clock now in his mind. It clicked, then clocked. Click, clock, click, clock. Then, silence.
Time had run out.
"Fluttershy, drop the egg!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, which startled just about everyone, not just the poor shy yellow pegasus. She complied with haste as she noticed the urgency and panic in his voice, and he felt time almost quite literally stop as everything around them grew silent and still. Everyone else could now feel what he had been so panicked about. The egg had become something like a gravity well as it pulled into it the energy, willpower, and even the life of everyone around it. He saw every pony drop to their knees. Even the commanding presence of Princess Celestia had vanished as the color in her mane began to fade.
"Princess..." Twilight called out to her weakly, trying to reach out to her with one hoof.
Finally, Emile's worst fears embodied themselves when the egg imploded with a sheer amount of energy. A tremendous pressure and anger replaced the very air they breathed.
All of their surroundings became engulfed in a white light that seemed to strip at their very existences, and as everyone yelled out in pain, the boy knew he had felt it once before.
It was Judgement.
The massive form of a horse-like creature with golden rims adorning Its side materialized slowly in the light when it finally died down, having weakened every living thing present. The red of Its eyes were filled with the unmatched fury of a red giant. The power and pull of Its presence like that of a black hole. It truly was a cosmic entity of unfathomable strength.
It eyed the crowd of creatures carefully as It looked around its surroundings, analyzing the situation of Its resurgence at a speed incomparable to mortal terms. Then, Its eyes landed onto Emile. The very ground tremored violently and the palace walkways cracked open towards the creature in Its anger. The world around them shook with the strength of a magnitude six earthquake, and in this, Emile was quick to take notice that Arceus had lost a considerable chunk of its power.
You would not understand what you have done, human!!! Its voice tore at his ears and head as It spoke directly into his mind and into the air, traveling far and wide in Its rage.
Despite everything he'd been through, Emile found the strength get to his feet to confront It.
"What I did..." His voice trailed off. He looked all around him at the now broken scenery. It had been pristine only moments before, but now it lay in ruin. The guilt in him was immeasurable. He felt entirely responsible for having caused all of this. For having brought ruin to a far more undeserving peoples. Arceus only stared at him with a fury as if waiting to hear the reason behind his actions. "What I did, I did with love for my kind and every Pokemon alive. I wanted to save them. In this, you and I should be thinking alike!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Arceus simply stared at him as though that answer alone was not enough. Like an unfeeling sentinel, it stood awaiting a better response.
Emile's blood boiled at this thought. His reason should've been everything. Every ounce of motivation, every drop of blood. It was the only answer Arceus should've accepted. But It refused it. Who cared if this creature was akin to a god? It did not concern Itself with the lives of him or his Pokemon. It judged as It pleased without a thought to spare for those that stood to suffer from Its actions or even inactions.
Emile's own anger reached a boiling point and he laid it all out for Arceus, sparing no amount of breath to make sure he was being heard.
"Now you're here with me in a reality not your own! It was me. Just one man. I brought you down to the ground. I stopped whatever eternal design you thought you had. O' Hath the Mighty Fallen! And I can bet my life that I had better reasons to doing so than you did for nearly destroying our world!" In his hysteric rage, Emile was taking quite a gamble, as he couldn't have known that Arceus' plan had truly been sidelined or not. He could only guess from what he remembered of the final moments in their confrontation at Mt. Coronet, and from seeing it hatch from the egg.
He didn't have the time to even think when Arceus sent a Hyper Beam his way, destroying a great deal of the courtyard in the process. Thankfully, Arceus had only used it as a show of intimidation and it hadn't so much as grazed him, but Emile hadn't flinched either way eve as the power of that attack had left an intense heat of crystalized marble behind him.
"Judge only me! Arceus, it is I who you want! This world... these ponies... they are underserving of your Judgement! This is not justice!"
What do you know about justice?! You, that demon, and the humans of the past. Do well to understand your place in insignificance. It said almost as if spitting the words at him.
"So long as I stand, I will fight you at every step to protect those important to me. In that, I find my significance!" Emile said with every bit of defiance in his voice.
As if to force him to kneel, Arceus casted a Judgement once again. Yet... something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The beams of light from Judgement hadn't filled the very space around them like they had done so before. This time, they hadn't even reached Emile let alone touch him. Arceus had been severely weakened. By this world? By the shift in their Time perhaps? He could not hazard a guess.
This is not my domain... I must... gather myself... Fortune finds you for now, human.
In a gleam of golden motes, Arceus' form vanished. Every bit of Its presence disappeared into the very winds. In the devastating silence of his surroundings, his heart beat heavier and heavier in his chest while he processed everything that had happened and everything he'd done now that his hysteria had ended, having acted outside of himself almost entirely.
Fortune indeed. He had been seconds away from eating his own words during that confrontation. His strength failed him and he passed out in that instant.