//------------------------------// // What are Pokémon? // Story: Pokemon: Ponies Catch 'Em All // by uniquecorn //------------------------------// A townlet located in a peaceful environment, not yet a human to be found. Somewhere on the intersection of the beige pathways, a group of 24 characters materialized, covered in white. The white immediately faded out while their visions faded in. The ponies and one dragon took a moment to surround their surroundings to realize the different topographies. “Uh, guys. Where are we?” Applejack impeached confoundedly. “I don’t know, but this doesn’t look like Ponyville or Equestria,” answered Rainbow. While Ponyville saw mountains far from each other, this village is surrounded by mountains. Additionally, these houses' rooftops look made of wood whereas those at home were canopied with hay. It was Derpy’s fatal pony error that brought a string of ponies into another strange new world. “It was all Derpy’s fault for bringing us here.” Bon Bon pointed out. “I know, I can’t do anything right. I shouldn’t have touched that button.” Derpy agreed “Hey, cheer up. We’ll find a way out of this place without a doubt,” assured Doctor Whooves. “But how exactly do we get out of a new dimension? Trixie sees no portal.” There seemed to be no answer to that question to be found…yet. How are they supposed to leave without an exit or clue? Are they doomed to live here forever? Who is going to lead Equestria now? Did Star Swirl the Bearded return to his reign like in the past? Is Cadence going to take over her sister-in-law’s position? But screw those questions. If one focuses on those questions, one would be unable to advance. Where they should start is quite simple: have a look around. Sunset Shimmer was familiar with these types of houses, their blueprints resembled those back when she stood on half her limbs. “Yeah, these homes look just like the homes of my world. Angled corners, smooth roofs, positioned methodically. I’m willing to bet that the residents of this world are humans.” “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I agree. If so, meeting one should be easy to make an impression.” Starlight Glimmer prophesied. “So what’s the plan? Knock on somepony’s door and hoping they might provide us some info?” quizzed Octavia obliviously. “That sounds great, but this looks too big of a crowd. I suppose we should separate, we don’t want to overwhelm the citizens of this world.” Celestia suggested. So the herd of equines was divided into four roughly equal strings. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Cheese, Maud and Spike went left of the intersection, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Coloratura headed south, Sunset, Starlight, Trixie, Celestia and Luna voyaged north, and Doctor Whooves, Derpy, Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia and DJ-P0N3 en route right. Each group of equines approached the nearest house they passed by. Every abode exhibited a wooden plate scrawled “Pallet Town” in text and its corresponding number which seemed to suggest the name of this place. Twilight’s group walked up to the porch and judiciously knocked on the door. The response sounded like a happy, youthful daughter's voice: well, that’s because they are. “I’ll get it!” Pinkie hearing the feminine-pitched vocals made her squee, the affectionate mood so joyful that she wanted to crank it up a tiny bit more. Within seconds, the lock clicked and the gates were open, exposing the abode’s interior and a pigtailed young’un. When she noticed the visitors being unicorns, other equines and a young dragon; stereotypical for girls, she gasped and was surprised to see them. “Mom! Dad! Quick, they’re ponies. Oh, and a dragon.” She was so overwhelmed. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike blushed because they made this daughter’s day by just showing up like they were considered appealing to children. They heard crescendoing running steps from inside the home. The adults appeared from the hall. “Ponies?” The woman echoed as the parents saw the six of them. “Wow, are we sure they aren’t just Pokemon ponies and a dragon?” The man entertainingly inquired as he too saw the unusual creatures. Now, what was that new word he just pronounced? “Poke-uhm-on? Um, sorry, we’ve never heard of them before.” Fluttershy explained. “Did you hear that, mommy? They talked.” The parents seemed to be open-mouthed after learning these ponies speak English and hearing that they acquired no knowledge of… whatever they were supposed to know beforehand. “I think we’re supposed to?” Cheese Sandwich observed. Meanwhile, Applejack’s load approached the closest abode on their road. Being under the porch and in front of the group, guess she’s the one knocking. Quick triple taps by hitting her hoof on the ebony surface. With a little patience, they could hear faint stomping on planks. Perhaps, they were those humans walking on the floor inside. While the equines attempted to become confident, the primates came. The door ajar displayed a mother in high heels. Just her attire forced Rarity to force her amygdala to neutralize, it was hard to do as she expected. “Oh my stars, she looks outstanding in those heels. Heh heh, I just joked. Anyway, that untied monochromatic hairstyle, it’s just black but it’s the pear shape that’s standing out. Uh, I must control myself. Think nothing of her, think nothing of her!” “Excuse me, ma’am. We might seem odd to you and we’re sorry to barge in.” Applejack introduced. “We just wanted an explanation. And we’ll explain ourselves as a tradeoff.” Rainbow Dash explained. “Oh, don’t worry, you’re not the oddest in this world. Come inside and we’ll have a word. My twins might enjoy having your daughters I see.” The woman counseled. “Hey, ah know it doesn’t look like it, but we’re sisters, we ain’t daughters.” Apple Bloom corrected her. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Would you all like to come in anyway?” “Sure. we’d love to see your twins.” Sweetie Belle assured. Meanwhile, Doctor Whooves and his group of other semi-minors arrived at a more expansive residence; a two-story with a center door between two awnings. Either the residents residing were just lucky or just chose to rent this. “I’d fancy this place, it looks like whoever lived here lived decently, I won’t assume they’re wealthy.” commented the stallion scientist. Lyra raised her hoof. “Uh, question: Sunset and Starlight mentioned humans but what are humans?” “Look, I haven’t heard of them either, but whatever they are, they weren’t afraid of them. So we should be fine if we act friendly.” Bon Bon concluded. Doctor Whooves is not one to be rude, even to any species he has never met or is not familiar with. The polite thing to do in front of a door is to knock with a hoof. Three consecutive booms and seconds later, the door was opened by a boy whose age looks a little under double digits. It’s not often you’ll find males who don’t mind feminine stuff, but luckily, this child had another perspective. “Wow, are all of you Pokemon?” “Uh, what-emon?” Lyra confusedly questioned. “No, I don’t think we’re-” Octavia began to clarify before the boy interrupted her and called for her parent. “Look, ma, I found six talking Pokemon, the rare kinds.” Octavia wanted to specify his rudeness by cutting her strings, but he looked like a kid immature enough to learn manners, so she hid it inside her chest. Based on the boy’s info, it seemed that whatever Pokemon were either didn’t speak Ponish or at all and that those who do speak are hard to find. “So “Pokemon” could be some kind of animal or organism since a majority of our animals back home can’t talk. Wait, no, those who can’t talk are pets like those in Fluttershy’s cottage and a lot of hybrid creatures in the Everfree Forest such as the cockatrice and the bugbear. This makes me question how speech in Equestria works because…” As Doctor Whooves kept on pontificating in his thoughts, drifting into his own world, a woman appeared at the doorway. Surprised to see so many horses of different colors, but she knows what they aren’t. “Um, I don’t think they’re Pokemon, Tom. I’m so sorry if he offended you all.” He disgusted the cellist, that’s for sure. Everypony was waiting for Doctor’s response, but um, he’s still deep in philosophy. The second in line, the only pegasus of the group, Derpy Hooves filled in his role. “Don’t worry, miss. We get it.” Lyra followed up, “So, you’re a human?” “Um, yeah? You don’t have people where you came from?” “Oh, excuse me, we’re from another world. No, another universe.” Bon Bon answered. “Oh, that makes sense.” Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer’s string of unicorns advanced toward a dwelling on their west. A bit narrower than the other ones, but hopefully someone’s home. She stopped to think about who should bang on the entrance. “Does anypony want to do the honors?” “The honors?” Starlight Glimmer echoed. “You know, of knocking on the door.” “I think you should do it since you had the experience of being human,” Celestia suggested. “Oh, well then, my question was useless.” Sunset laughed. For one thing, she dodged the dangerous idiom of “punch first ask questions later”. In this case, she punched the door thrice with the tip of a hoof after realizing she wasted time and a question. While waiting, they could detect some voices from through the door. “Who could that be? No one ever comes to our house for a visit.” exemplified in an acute voice. “I know. It’s probably some Pokemon wanting a place to stay.” thought the deeper voice. Like the previous times, the ponies heard the word ‘Pokemon’ without knowing its definition. Well, actually, Sunset has heard about them. They made a game titled that title back in her own homeworld. “No way! Are we seriously in a Pokemon world right now? Hmm, if so, then Pokemon is obviously the norm of this universe. I don’t think they know what they are yet.” Sunset thought. For some reason, Sunset kept silent about what she knew because she was curious. Obviously, going door to door was the first thing they did when they first arrived in this universe, so they couldn’t possibly learn all the norms yet. But that’s why they were going door to door, hopefully, the citizens of this village would give some informational insights starting with one question: “What was that three-syllable word?” As the human vocals protruded, Celestia and Luna anticipated insuppressibly as they anticipated nice and kind humans to meet and greet. Luna hasn’t, Celestia hasn’t, additionally, Trixie hasn’t. So while their excitement was kept bottled up, the door opened and revealed a man. “They sure look like Pokemon alright,” he said. “Um, sorry, what is this “Puck-ee-man” you speak of?” Trixie asked with a gesture of hoof quotes. “Yeah, they had never heard such a term before, sir,” Sunset confirmed for the human. “Honey, there are talking equines on our porch!” The man shouted at the interior of the house. The following sounds were a loud clap, probably via folding a book hurriedly, and allegro thumping, via the female character running in in her trainers. She noticed them and noticed what they were not. “I don’t think they’re Pokemon at all. Not that I’ve recognized from the encyclopedia,” she concluded. “That’s right, thank you for noticing.” Starlight Glimmer gratefully appreciated. Her own developed language amazed the lady. “So what brings you all here at our residence? We thought, well, whoever knocked wanted a place to stay.” “We would like some insight into how this world works. You see, we were teleported here from another universe.” Sunset gave insight herself. “Ah, you’re one of those beings I see. Come on in. Our house may not be wide, but you may just find a comfortable spot.” The husband invited and the visitors obliged. Everypony found their place in the street and met some kind people. The people kindly offered a place to linger, rooms to hang out and soon, an explanation of what this far-from-home world entails. Pokemon, Pokemon. Whatever Pokemon are, guarantee somepony or somebody will explain that too. Everypony and everybody found their place in the living rooms of the abode of their choice. Somewhere comfortable, they were feeling comfortable sitting around humans like they were their saviors, it was a weird feeling for them. Being around human adults is exciting enough, but being around human youths is indescribable, that’s saying much for Pinkie, Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. After introducing themselves, they had questions worth questioning. There were two main questions at their disposal; one about Pokemon and one about going back to where they came from. Any other question is acceptable so long as they’re not irrelevant. “Thanks for letting us stay in your home. We appreciate your kindness.” Twilight began. “Not a problem, Twilight. We don’t usually get many visitors, but since you all didn’t come from this world, why shouldn’t we let you in?” Laura, the mother in front of Twilight, explained. “Where did you all come from anyway?” queried the husband of the mother, Kelly. “We came from a kingdom called “Equestria”, it’s basically a world of life populated with ponies like us.” Rainbow Dash answered while the younger fillies were playing with Karen’s twins and Rarity was still intently observing the female adult. Does she even know it’s rude or unladylike? “Populated with all ponies?” Karen echoed in a question form. “Well, it ain’t all ponies, we have griffins, dragons and yaks.” Applejack clarified. “Oh, okay, so mostly equines plus some more animals and mythicals.” Hannah the child-free woman reiterated, talking to Sunset Shimmer’s group “That’s exactly our kingdom, but I don’t think we can just fly out of this world and find Equestria ourselves,” Celestia stated. “Yeah, we need some way to, I don’t know, teleport ourselves there or something.” Starlight Glimmer assumed. Doctor Whooves got into the vast house via a push by Derpy Hooves because he was absent-minded, in front of the line and blocking the way. Apparently, wide houses don’t mean wide doorways. Eventually, he woke up and quickly understood where he was. “So, you’re all humans?” Lyra began a question that no other group has asked or started with. “Of course, you can find humans all over the world, in town or overseas.” answered single parent Dana. “Hmm?”  Lyra hummed in a flat tone as she noticed both Dana’s and her own sitting position. For a long time, she had been sitting unconventionally, her back along a chair’s back while the others’ backs never touched the backs. Dana and her son, Nicky, both conveniently sat just like her. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence that I perched like you, Dana.” Back to the main questions at hoof… or hand. Sunset impeached, “You’ve mentioned Pokemon, right? What are Pokemon?” “We’ve only just arrived here, you see. Surely, you’d understand.” Starlight elucidated. “Oh ho, well. If you really want to know, prepare to be amazed, everyone.” human Jack informed. While Twilight floated a pen and notepad to note some notes, Kelly continued to explain the subject: Pokemon. “Pokemon, also called ‘pocket monsters’, are essentially creatures who you can keep and nurture if done correctly.” “Like animals? Pets?” Fluttershy brightly questioned. “Exactly, Fluttershy. Now, Pokemon trainers catch, care for and most importantly, train Pokemon for battle.” “Battle?” Fluttershy restated in shock. “What kind of battle?” Rainbow Dash asked. “And why would they battle?” Rarity continued after breaking out of her trance. “A Pokemon battle, where an opponent fights another opponent using Pokemon. It’s a tournament to see who can reach the top, be the champion and one day, achieve the dream of becoming a Pokemon master.” Karen spoke in a narrator-like voice. The first line Coloratura spoke in this chapter here…, “From the sound of it, Karen, it sounded like whoever loses the battle would be suffering.” “Oh, don’t worry, Rarity,” Hazel, a twin, assured. “By some miracle, they would always come back with only a scratch.” the other twin, Sana, continued. “Pokemon trainers make a huge community in this world. Some are friends, some are enemies, but their goal is to be the very best.” young boy Nicky revealed. “How could anypony find these Pokemon? I mean, do they just pop out every so often?” Octavia interrogated. “Well, sort of. Sometimes they can lurk in the grass or the bushes or whatever, and sometimes they just show up in your sights like a flying Pokemon in the sky for example.” Dana answered. “Pokemon can fly? What types of Pokemon are there?” Derpy inquired. “Haha. Well, that information is limited for us since we don’t really do Pokemon stuff, sorry.” adult father Kelly apologized. “Don’t worry, Kelly, we understand. I mean, looking at your family, it seemed like you’re just being… family.” Maud spoke for her herd in the living room. “What we do know about Pokemon though, is we do have dragons…” the male bipedal eyed at the only dragon in the room, Spike. “Dragons?” Spike echoed. “...oh, and the numbers, wait for it,” the human continued, “we have over a hundred unique Pokemon and over a thousand individual pokemon in the world.” “Over a thousand individuals?” Everypony in each home parrotted simultaneously. “If you want to know more about Pokemon, you need to see Professor Oak. His lab is southeast of this town, you can’t miss the windmill.” Jack suggested to Sunset’s string. “We shall thank thee for telling us all thou can. *Ahem*” alicorn Luna thanked in an unnecessary archaic language, she then switched to the modern language, “I think you both have told us all we should know.” “Oh, before you leave, you might want to have this book that contains a list of Pokemon you can meet. Don’t worry, I’ve bought like three of them and I don’t really know why.” Hannah presented a thick, heavy hardcover book to Sunset Shimmer, the only pony with a saddlebag, black with her emblem. “Thanks, Hannah. Hopefully, it will come in handy,” Sunset prophesied. “Oh, and since you came here unknowingly, I assume you probably didn’t bring any form of wealth, right?” Karen assumed. “Wait, are you gonna give us some of your money?” Rainbow Dash figured. “Oh no, we couldn’t possibly take any of your loans.” Coloratura declined for the seven of them. “Girls, just take some, you might need some anyways, our world runs on our own currency.” Hazel insisted. “We’re just gonna give a fraction of what we have, relax,” Sana assured. “You don’t have to do that, but thanks.” Sweetie Belle appreciated the family’s generosity as Applejack was hoofed a hatful of gold discs etched with a P with two lines through it. Each group in the four buildings has earned at least 5000 Pokedollars, one household was 10000 P more generous than the other three, those coming from the mother and son of the widest house.  Doctor Whooves approved his prediction, “I knew that you had money to burn!” “Not even 20 American dollars? You could’ve given us more than this, Laura and Kelly.” Pinkie complained. “Don’t! She’s just joking! Besides, the entire collection adds up to 117 and no cents.” Cheese Sandwich calculated. Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike were clueless about what those two just articulated, not even the humans know what “American” is. They shrugged it off because it’s not worth wasting time arguing about facts and fantasies. Sometimes they wished they’d understand, but they couldn’t. “Well, thank you both. We will cherish the offering until the moments we spend it.” Celestia acknowledged Hannah and Jack who replied… “Be careful out there.” and “It’s been nice knowing you, ponies.” respectively. Everypony waved their hooves to the human friends they had just met who waved their arms back, expecting the trek ahead of them and pondering whether they’ll see them again, they haven’t even got to know each other yet. But screw the past, they have their own investigation in this strange new world. Everypony emerged from each residence near the intersection to accumulate on the intersection. Once within talking distance, everypony explained to everypony what everypony already knew. Unbeknownst to each group, they were explaining different things at the same time, it was almost deafening. Sunset was addressing her excitement when learning about Pokemon, Fluttershy mentioned the number of unique creatures she was bewildered by, Applejack discussed the number of bones she had received, Lyra was comparing her sitting position to humans’. The only ponies who got the joke were Celestia and Luna, they were quite bothered. “Silence!” Luna shouted, halting everypony’s mouths. “I think we all had a good idea of what’s going on, hadn’t we?” All nodded, they agreed. They had no idea what everyone else just told them, but everyone understood what this universe entailed by the time they left the houses. Well, actually, only Sunset Shimmer was given a book, a dictionary of presumably all the Pokemon that exist. “Yeah, was I the only one who had received an encyclopedia?” she asked as she removed the book from her saddlebag. “Nope, I made my own written article. That looks too heavy for your saddlebag, mind if I carry it for you?” Twilight obliged as she used her levitation magic surrounding the treatise. Then suddenly, FLASH!, the book glowed in blinding lights and everyone couldn’t see what was happening, the rays were so bright they had to obfuscate their retinae. “MY EYES!!!” yelled Pinkie. “Too bright of phantasmagoria for Trixie!” she confessed. “No more ‘glitz and glam’ in this show!” Coloratura referenced. After the glow died down, the groggy string of ponies groaned and moaned as they lifted their eyelids. The book was left on the ground, Twilight must’ve released her magic and let it drop because of the shimmer. Left on the book was a glowing text in a fancy font. “Befriend Every Pokemon & Enter The League In This Region To Continue.” the title read. “Wait, the book didn’t have that title before.” Starlight confirmed. “It must’ve been the result of Equestrian magic interfering with this world.” Twilight hypothesized. “Well, whatever the cause, “every pokemon & league in this region”? Really?” Pinkie complained in disbelief. Who knows, if there are over a hundred Poke- Excuse me, Mr. Narrator. I’m technically the author, but go on, Pinkie. There are 151 Pokemon in this region alone and you need all eight badges to enter the league. Are you sure you want us to catch ‘em all? I mean, it’s gonna take a lot of epis… er, chapters. Don’t worry, at least I’m not aiming for 151+ total chapters clearing Gen I Pokemon alone. (Hopefully) Hmm, I hope you have a plan. Anyway, where were you, huh? “So I’m guessing if we want to get out of here, we need to become… what did they call them?” clarified Spike unable to think of the term “Pokemon trainers.” Twilight filled in the blanks while looking at the notepad she had written on. “Looks like we’re gonna be here for a long time.” Bon Bon concluded. “But look, I know what we’ve done after “a long time”. I didn’t earn the title “princess” when I was a filly.” Twilight mentioned. “I didn’t become a full-fledged Wonderbolt immediately when I met them.” Rainbow reminded. “We didn’t earn our cutie marks right after we became the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Apple Bloom recalled. “We will get home even if it takes half a year, more or less.” Applejack encouraged, her encouragement lifted everypony off their flanks. “I’m very proud that you six still had the spirit and confidence in you.” Celestia approved. “Now that we all have confidence, where should we go first?” Luna impeached. “Our human friends told us to go southeast to Mr. Oak’s lab with a windmill, should be a good lead,” Fluttershy suggested, although she named the guy’s honorifics.  Twilight noticed. “It’s ‘Prof.’, Fluttershy. It’s not ‘Mr.’” However, no route goes southeast, there’s only south and east. South walks past the house Applejack’s group’s been in and east walks past the house Derpy’s group’s been in. Maybe they should find the road that goes south and then east or vice versa, or perhaps the best option is to go off the road, into the grass and directly southeast and hope that for a lab. Or even better… “Fluttershy, let’s see if we can see the lab from above.” Rainbow Dash advocated, then her other pegasus friend approved. As the two pegasi took off straight eastsouth, the grounded ponies followed them via running. Shouldn’t be too hard to find a giant structure of a laboratory with a tall pinwheel tower nearby, right? Right. And there it existed, over the hills displayed a windmill and a pink-roofed yellow-walled building at the foot of it. Not one’s typical image of what a lab looks like; white, larger than a house. Twilight was expecting a Pokemon investigation facility to have exactly that description, albeit her experience of being in laboratories was not entirely white. The path that the pegasi flew in led to a bridge bridging a river and then a gate that led to some cobblestone stairs. Now the question of whether it’s impolite to infiltrate the gate without a ticket is worth asking. Maybe the lab opens for guests at certain time intervals. “This gate may not be here just for aesthetics. It may be a sign that we shouldn’t be trespassing over this guy’s property.” Twilight presumed. “Are you sure? Because I don’t see many homes with cobblestone flights wrapping around a hill.” Pinkie stated. Rainbow Dash got up to the front of the herd just to check the gate. Twilight was alerted because she thought her friend’s gonna do something illegal against this world. “Wait, Rainbow!” The purple pony precautioned as the pegasus promptly pushed the pylon with her padded pinion. She discovered the gate was not locked, so she thought that meant anypony or anybody could enter if they want to. “Ha, the gate’s not locked, it should be safe,” Rainbow determined. “No, just because the gate was unlocked doesn’t mean we’re not trespassing,” Twilight argued. “Look, whether it’s trespassing or not, we need to get to this Prof. Oak person.” Rainbow reasoned. “I have a better idea, what if we just waited for him to come out.” Twilight retaliated. “A much faster way is to bring us to him, not him to us,” Rainbow suggested. And they were just gonna keep going. Perhaps the rest should just leave the argument to the two of them and keep going, huh? …Cheese and Pinkie just winked at the narrator as if they agreed. “Do you think we should leave them to argue and just get to Mr. Oak?” inquired Fluttershy. “Yeah, I just want to see this Professor myself, not two ponies arguing for long minutes.”  Starlight Glimmer agreed as everypony left both Twilight and Rainbow at the foot of the hill to argue and climbed the mountain. Once at the top, they were face-to-face against a double door. And now they were conflicted with another query: Should they really be doing this? With a crowd of horses as large as 22, this scientist might be overwhelmed with so many equines. Furthermore, they don’t even know how big a Pokemon lab is, maybe even minus two from the total won’t fit even two rooms and a balcony. They need to arrange something. “You know, I’m observing this huge group of ponies and it’s intimidating in my humble opinion.” Doctor Whooves realized. “Yeah, while I can’t count this many, I’m pretty sure we outnumber him.” Lyra calculated. “We might scare whoever he is and he might refuse to help us.” Bon Bon added. Fluttershy agreed being the kind pony she is, “You’re right. We need to do something about it.” Well, what if there was a small string of ponies? Then Prof. Oak would be comfortable with a reasonable number of equines to look after, plus the bonus of having room to roam around. Maybe it’s best to drop some ponies out of the team first. “Hmm, would anypony volunteer to drop out of the group? Maybe stand somewhere on the grassy knoll?” Sunset asked. The truth is though, everypony wanted to explore the lab. Not only did they want to admire the interior decorations and positioned machines, but they had their own questions about Pokemon that they want to ask. Granted, some were nearly similar and some were entirely different. “And miss out on the wonders of this world?” mentioned Spike. “Oh no. No way are we sitting this one out.” Trixie argued. “Come on, Sunset. You’re just gonna round up the six with you.” Apple Bloom whined. “Yeah, at least let some of us through that door.” Scootaloo advocated. Just because of that, Sunset has decided, “Okay, fine, everypony. Some of us are gonna ask permission to see if it’s alright to bring you guys in, alright? Just chill and stay on the grass.” As soon as everypony agreeably volunteered to stand back, Twilight Sparkle downstairs finally broke up her argument with Rainbow and rushed upstairs to meet up with Sunset, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in front of the door. “Took you long enough to end that.” Applejack recalled. “I’m sorry we argued, everypony.” Twilight apologized, “Now where did everypony go?” then realized. “On your right.” Pinkie answered as Sparkle and Dashie looked. They waved and then Pinkie explained, “They’re standing there so that our mob of ponies doesn’t scare the scientist.” “I see. Well, what are we waiting for? Can we see Prof. Oak now?” Rainbow inquired. “I think we can,” Sunset responded as she turned around and faced the door. Nervous but bearable to reveal whoever was behind it, she knocked thrice. What were they expecting? A man in a white suit? A mad person with an afro? A woman her gender was confused with? Gosh, perhaps nopony… er, nobody’s home? If he is, then where could he- oh, wait, never mind, there was a voice. “Now who could that be?” The voice behind the door thought to itself as perceiving it tensed some of the seven equines under the porch like when meeting a celebrity, but they held it, especially when he appeared. He is taller than all of them, does wear a lab coat and his body features looked like they fit a researcher's persona. He, upon noticing the specimens, was surprised like why wouldn’t anyone. He’s definitely never seen anything like them, not within the Pokemon glossaries or research files, nothing. There were equines within them, but not colorful-coated like these. Maybe they were Pokemon who hadn’t been discovered yet and wanted to be discovered, odd but convenient for his liking. “Oh wow, aren’t you all magnificent Pokemon who just so happened to come to my door?” “Why does everypony keep assuming we’re Pokemon?” Rainbow spoke which spiked the professor’s attention. “And you speak English, do you all speak English?” Oak continued. “Excuse me, sir, but we’re not Pokemon at all.” Twilight expressed to clear up the confusion. “Huh, you sure look like Pokemon. If you’re not Pokemon, then what are you?” “We’re ponies from another universe. Ponies who talk, play and enjoy friendship the most more than anything in our world, suitably named ‘Equestria’.” Pinkie explained. “Ponies from another universe?” Oak rehearsed. “I’ve heard of different dimensions before, but what are you doing here in our universe?” “Trying to get back home, to our universe,” Fluttershy answered. “And I guess to do that, we’ll have to become Pokemon trainers.” Rarity further explained. Finally, the professor understood what was going on. “Ah, so you came here to learn about Pokemon and how to become one,” Everypony responded confirmative on that line. Looks like the ponies and the human were about to get along after all, even with a pack of seven. But how about the pack of two dozen? “Question: could 24 of us fit in your lab?” Sunset ultimately asked. Oak became confused as he observed only a few mares in his peripheral vision. That is until they point their hooves to his left where he had to lean out to see the rest of the ponies past an obstruction, the door jamb. He was stunned to see so many colors right next to him. The question of whether it’s possible to squeeze some room so that everypony had room to learn how to Pokemon? Yes, it’s possible. Some may get a higher floor, but it’s possible. Oh, and he just noticed some had wings, so if they had endurance, they could make some room by, um, flying. “Sure, I have a huge clear floor that I wasn’t using for anything but walking.” “Really? Well, thank you so much, professor.” Sunset shimmer thanked. The professor closed his eyes and had his hand behind his head in bashfulness, “Well, what can I say? I’m actually excited to tell some speaking ponies who don’t know Pokemon Pokemon.” He broached as he 180’d while gesturing a beckoning palm, a ‘come in’ signal. The ponies queued up, Sunset and the Spirits of Harmony went in first and the rest followed up. Feeling anxious about what they’re going to learn? What are they going to learn?