//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: A New World, a New Way // by zeusdemigod131 //------------------------------// After Celestia dismissed the meeting, the group broke apart rather quickly. Lucario had asked if there was anywhere he could go train, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack offered to show him the castle gym; having no better alternative, Korrina had tagged along as well. Twilight invited Professor Juniper to the library so the two of them could exchange more notes on their respective worlds – Juniper had been happy to oblige. Fluttershy had taken Cubone for a tour of the castle gardens, and Misty and Togepi had gone with. Rarity said she was going to look at some of the tapestries and decorations around the castle in hopes of getting inspiration for refurbishing Luna and Celestia’s old castle in the Everfree. Gene and Belle left with Fang to explain everything to the Houndoom, then planned to get Fang his own room so the two of them could be alone. And Spike and Princess Luna had snuck off to their rooms for a quick nap. This left one spirit of chaos and one Earth pony mare wandering the halls of Canterlot Castle. “-And then I said, oatmeal, are you crazy? And… Discord, are you even listening?” The spirit of chaos turned and looked down at Pinkie Pie. “Oh, um, of course… actually, not really, no. Sorry but something just feels… off.” “Is it that little doohickey?” Pinkie pointed at the inhibitor around his neck. “Maybe,” Discord tapped his chin. “But it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from there, more like… everywhere.” “What do ya mean?” Discord didn’t answer, but instead looked around the hall they were in and spotted one of the palace’s many windows. “One second.” Discord floated over to the window and began to unlatch it. “Tia has spells throughout the castle that prevent too much chaos magic from leaking in.” He explained. “Ok,” Pinkie Pie replied. “But why does that make you feel weird?” “Oh, normally it doesn’t,” He answered, finally unlatching the window. “But since the clearing of the Everfree drained me I suppose…” Discord stopped as the magical equivalent of getting hit with a bucket of ice water slammed into him, nearly knocking him over. “My, oh my,” He said with a devious smile. “Those spells work better than I thought.” The glint in the Draconequus’ eyes was similar to the one he often gained while torturing Twilight and the others after his escape. That is to say, mischievously evil. Pinkie Pie noticed this and shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, Discord?” She chuckled nervously. “You alright, buddy?” Pinkie wanted to trust the reformed lord of chaos, it was part of her nature. But she couldn’t just forget everything he had done, or how they no longer had a way to stop him. Discord ignored the Earth pony for a moment and took a deep breath in. “This,” Now that he was beyond Celestia’s protective spells he could feel the forces of Equus again. He liked what he felt. “Is,” The world was completely out of whack. And because he hadn’t even done anything to cause it, all the excess chaos was flowing into him. “Delicious.” Pinkie Pie gulped and took a few more steps back. She was considering running to find Twilight, or Princess Celestia, or her Party Cannon. Discord noticed her again and smiled, this doing very little to reassure the mare. “Now don’t you worry your pretty little pink, puffy, party pony head.” He patted Pinkie on her head. “I’m just absorbing the largest amount of natural chaos since before my rule is all.” Pinkie smiled. “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better!” She cried happily. “Oh, yes,” Discord nodded. “Much better,” He rose up to his full height. “Thanks to everything that’s been going on, the entire world has gone entirely, for lack of a better word, ‘wonky’ and thanks to this wonkiness I am absorbing a metric ton of chaos magic!” He smiled again. “And the best part, thanks to this nifty little device my dear friend Bio Chem made for me,” “I thought you didn’t like him.” “Almost none of it is draining.” Discord was, in a very basic way of thinking, a chaos magic generator. He naturally created chaos magic and it naturally left his body at a rate that was relatively normal for a magical being. But ever since the Pokémon’s arrival his bodily functions had, much like the planet itself, been thrown out of whack. Up until after Celestia and Luna had left the palace yesterday, Discord had felt as normal as a Draconequus could. Then, around the time he suspected the campaign to de-chaos the Everfree had begun, he felt a drain on his magic levels as the forest attempted to draw chaos directly from him. But as soon as Bio Chem had placed the inhibitor around Discord’s serpentine neck, he had been cut off from the drainage portion of Equus’ magical field. What had not been expected was for him to remain connected to the portion that fed energy into him. This meant, that while his magic was draining, it was draining at his normal levels, this made almost no dent in the amount of extra chaos that was pouring into him. “Pinkie Pie,” Discord said suddenly. “I need you to do me a favor.” “Okie-dokie-loki!” Pinkie replied happily. “What is it?” “I need you to inform the princesses that I will likely not be in attendance at this next meeting.” Pinkie Pie gasped. “But, but what if they need you?” Discord waved a claw through the air. “Pish-posh,” He replied. “I’m sure those three are perfectly capable of coming up with a plan without little old me. And besides,” Discord looked out the window and towards the Everfree. “There’s a little something I need to take care of.” “But-” Pinkie tried to speak up, to tell Discord that he should stay and help but was interrupted when Discord turned back to her. “Pinkie Pie,” He said. His voice lacking its usual mischievous tone. “This is something I need to do.” Pinkie could tell Discord was being serious, and that fact alone let her know just how important this was to him. “Alright,” She finally answered. “But don’t do anything stupid.” Discord smiled. “Don’t you worry one bit,” He said as he floated out the window. “When have I ever done anything stupid?” Discord disappeared in his usual puff of smoke. Leaving Pinkie Pie alone with her thoughts. “I wonder what Gene and Belle are up to.” She asked herself before hopping off. Princess Celestia shook her head as she walked, trying to get Mewtwo’s mental images out of her head. “I cannot let this get the best of me,” She told herself. “Just have him move them to a different planet.” Celestia could no longer force Arceus to return to Earth and keep a clean conscious. That man… Giovanni, he was only comparable to Sombra really; Discord was more chaotic evil, and Chrysalis had her hive’s best intentions at heart, granted she also had an outright hatred for the other races of Equus there as well. Nightmare Moon hadn’t actually done anything as cruel as what Giovanni had, but this was mostly because she had only been on Equus for a few hours total, including her return. “Did he plan for this to happen?” She asked herself. It certainly seemed that way to her. Celestia was almost to her room, where she hoped to take a quick shower before her next meeting, when one of her guards came rushing down the hallway. “Princess Celestia!” He exclaimed as he saw her. “There’s a crowd gathering at the front gate. They’re demanding to be told what is going on.” Celestia sighed, she knew this would happen sooner or later. “I’ll get right on it.” She said, upset that yet another problem had presented itself. The guard shifted nervously. “There’s… something else, your majesty, that creature you ordered us not to attack?” Celestia groaned. “Aegislash.” “Yes, it’s, um, blocking the gates.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “That… actually doesn’t sound too bad; we can’t have a mob breaking into the castle.” The unicorn nodded. “Yes but, it’s scaring the citizens. Also… they have another one of those… creatures with them. Some kind of fox type thing. They have it in a cage and it seems to be upset.” Celestia shook her head and started towards the front hall. Why can’t Luna or Twilight ever deal with the citizens? She thought to herself. Once Celestia finally reached the front hall, she was surprised to find Rarity there, admiring several of the tapestries hanging on the walls. Once she spotted the Princess she smiled and trotted over to her. “Hello, Princess,” She said with a small bow. “I suppose you’re here to deal with those ruffians at the front gate?” Celestia smiled. Talking to any of the former Element bearers always cheered her up, especially Pinkie Pie, but Rarity was good too. “Yes, I have to explain the situation to the citizens of Canterlot… or at least as much as I can without causing panic.” Rarity nodded and kept pace with the Princess as she exited the castle. Once outside, they saw a crowd of ponies right outside the front gate. They were standing a few feet back though, because a very intimidating four foot sword was floating in their path. As Celestia neared the gate the crowd’s murmuring ceased and they waited for the Princess to speak. Celestia used her magic to open the gates, she stepped beyond them and Aegislash moved out of her way, Rarity opted to remain inside the gates. Celestia surveyed the crowd, she saw a few nobles, workers, even a few tourists. She also spotted a large cage, some kind of dog pen, at the center of the group. The Princess cleared her throat. “My little ponies,” she began. “I understand that you are all unsure of what is happening, and I wish to answer any questions you have to the fullest of my ability, but first, I would ask you to show me the Poké-… the creature, that you have found.” The crowd shifted and an elder Unicorn pushed the cage to the front of the congregation. “Caught it myself,” He said proudly. “Use ta catch critters for them fancy fur coats.” Celestia gritted her teeth. Fur coats and other such commodities had been introduced to Equestria after trade agreements were made with Griffinhiem and Canida. While many ponies found the idea appalling, others, nobles and the upper class mostly, had actually liked the outfits. “S’too bad I retired – could’ve made a lot a bits off of this one.” Once the cage finally reached the front of the crowd, most of the ponies were feeling uncomfortable. Fur coats had fallen out of favor in the past few years, thanks in no small part to several animal rights groups. When Celestia finally laid eyes on the creature in the cage, she gasped. Having lived for as long as she had, Celestia had thought she’d seen it all, up until yesterday, but she was still getting used to just how different the Pokémon looked from each other. Aegislash was intimidating, but not that scary; Belle and Gene both had a more regal appearance, like a princess and her knight. Several of the legendaries were awe-inspiring, some were actually rather cute, at least one looked like a pony, some were downright strange, and still other Pokémon could even be considered horrifying. Of the ones she’d encountered, this meant Hydreigon. But the creature in the cage before her was beautiful, regal, awe-inspiring, and intimidating. Yet, it was also quite normal, considering the Pokémon she had seen, something that could nearly be mistaken for an Equestrian native, and almost… cute, in a way. The creature before her had a white coat, but unlike her own, this one’s appeared to be tinted light yellow or almost orange. It was fox-like in appearance, but bigger than any fox she had seen. Its entirely red eyes also struck her. But it’s most defining trait was, without a doubt, its tails. All nine of them. “Nine?” The Ninetales’ eyes were filled with fear and apprehension as the Fire-type looked up at the princess. “Could’ve made at least a few coats outta this one, I’d bet.” The stallion said aloud. The Ninetales whimpered and tried to move further from the stallion, but the cage stopped her. “Open it.” Celestia ordered. “Pardon, your highness?” The stallion asked, not believing what he had heard. “Open the cage,” She repeated, staring directly at the unicorn. “Now.” Celestia didn’t want to be harsh with her ponies, even the ones whose life choices she disagreed with. But seeing the Ninetales in the cage, she reacted the same way she would if someone caged a phoenix or another pony. The stallion realized the Princess wasn’t joking and walked to the front of the cage where he inserted a key into the lock pad and swung the door open. The Ninetales immediately leapt out of the cage, and hid underneath Princess Celestia. Celestia’s eyes went wide as the creatures nuzzled her legs affectionately. “Thank you.” she said to the Princess, although without the translation spell Celestia could only guess what she had said, she guessed thank you. “You’re… welcome, little one.” She said with a smile. She turned back to the assembled crowd. “Now I assume you’re here because you have questions about these creatures?” A murmur of agreement went up from the crowd. “Then I’ll explain,” The Princess took a moment to gather her thoughts, then explained. “These being are all members of a race collectively known as Pokémon. Due to recent events, an… acquaintance of mine felt it was imperative that the Pokémon be moved to Equestria; I have yet to work out all the details myself, but one thing is clear – the Pokémon are just as intelligent as you or I, and they all have their own special kind of magic. I suggest you treat them as equals and, if you find any that seem to need help, direct them to the city guard. The same goes if you encounter any that are hostile. Do not engage them, just contact the guard.” Celestia finished with a smile. She didn’t like lying to her ponies, but in certain cases she knew it was necessary. For example, telling the ordinary pony that a being more powerful than the princess had moved to Equestria and that there was very little she could do about it would cause mass hysteria. Just as Celestia was about to dismiss the crowd, a stallion near the front asked a question that, in retrospect, seemed rather obvious. “Princess, just what is that thing?” He pointed to Aegislash, Celestia turned to the Steel-type that floated silently beside her. She had ordered Aegislash earlier to patrol the castle, figuring he couldn’t get in too much trouble that way, with explicit directions not to harm anyone and to protect any ponies who needed help, she figured if this thing was going to be around for a while she might as well make use of it. “This is… one of the Pokémon, they come in many, many forms, and he is... serving as a temporary addition to the palace guard.” “Greetings, little ponies.” Aegislash greeted. Several of the ponies took a few steps back and most decided that they would wait for the next open court before asking questions, hoping that the Aegislash wouldn’t be present. The crowd dispersed and left Celestia at the gate with her loyal sword and the Ninetales she had freed. “Well, I think that went rather well, actually,” Rarity noted. “It certainly could have gone worse.” “Yes, I suppose so.” Celestia agreed with a nod. “But what about this?” She gestured to the Ninetales now sitting at her side. “Nine!” She cried happily looking up at the Princess, unlike most Pokémon, Ninetales were more in tune with magic, and at times, psychic abilities, which was where their curses came from, so this Ninetales could sense just how magical the princess was. Plus, she could tell that the Alicorn would likely live as long as she would, which was a plus. “Oh, how sweet,” Rarity cooed. “I think she likes you.” Celestia tilted her head and looked back at the Fox Pokémon smiling up at her. “Wait a moment.” The Princess cast the translation spell again, making it so Ninetales could speak. “That’s better,” Celestia bent down and looked right into the Pokémon’s eyes. “You realize that you don’t have to stay with me, don’t you? I would have done the same for anyone.” “But I can stay, can’t I?” Ninetales asked hopefully. “I sorta just evolved and I don’t have a den anymore.” Ninetales had no idea where she was, or what was going on. Celestia picked up on this and silently cursed Arceus again. Just one more thing to add to the list. she thought. Seeing the sad look in Ninetales eyes, Celestia sighed. “Of course you can stay here, miss....” “I’m Ninetales,” She answered happily. “Unless you wanna give me a nickname?” Ninetales had always wanted to meet a nice Trainer and travel the world. That was part of the reason she had sought out a Fire Stone. Celestia’s expression turned to confusion until she remembered what Gene and Juniper had told her, that singular Pokémon could be called by their species name or, after being caught, given a nickname by their Trainer. “Um, no, that’s alright.” This didn’t deter Ninetales in the least. “Ok,” She followed Celestia as the solar princess headed back to the castle, Aegislash and Rarity following behind them. “What’s your name?” Celestia smiled. “I’m Princess Celestia.” Pinkie Pie trotted down one of the many, many halls in Canterlot castle, she had spent the past half hour searching for any of her friends but had yet to find anyone. “I’ll go… this way.” She said happily as she came to an intersection, despite never having been in this part of the castle before Pinkie wasn’t the least bit worried about getting lost, she’d just have to wait for one of her friends to ask where she was. Pinkie Pie hummed to herself as she continued down the peaceful hallway, suddenly her left ear got itchy and her back right leg started twitching. “Oh, oh, somethings gonna-” She was cut off when an orange spark of light shot down the hallway, ricocheting off the walls. “Rotom, tom, tom, tom, tom, tom, tom!” Pinkie ducked as the little orange speck shot past her head and into a vase, knocking it over, but not breaking it. “-Fall over.” She finished redundantly. Pinkie was about to check out the vase to see what was inside when a familiar brown Earth pony ran into view. “Miss Pie!” Bio Chem called. “Thank goodness.” He came to a stop in front of Pinkie Pie, grinning wildly. “I need your help, you haven’t seen an electromagnetic, plasmic, non-corporeal, self-sustaining energy being around here by any chance have you?” “...Uuuuhhh... no?” Pinkie understood about one outta every three words in that sentence. Bio Chem sighed. “Alright, thanks anyway.” The stallion shook his head before rushing off. “Well, that was rude,” Pinkie said to herself. “He asks me something I have no way of understanding, then rushes off without explaining himself? Who does that?” “Tom?” Pinkie turned to see a tiny orange head sticking out of the vase. Once it saw her, it ducked back inside. “Hey,” Pinkie called after it, running over and somehow sticking her head in the mouth of the vase. “It’s alright. I’m not gonna hurt ‘cha.” After getting over the shock of Pinkie sticking her entire head in its hiding place, the Rotom looked up at the mare, and she smiled back at him. This was the first smile he had seen since winding up in the castle that didn’t scare him; it was a true smile, one that made him smile, which in turn made Pinkie’s smile even wider. That made Rotom laugh. Pinkie giggled and pulled her head out of the vase. “I’ma bet you’re a Pokémon, aren’t you?” Rotom zipped out of the vase and floated in front of Pinkie. “Rotom.” He nodded affirmatively. “Well, you’re a neat little Pokémon.” Pinkie replied causing the Plasma Pokémon to laugh. Suddenly Pinkie Pie gasped. “Idea~! You can come with me. I’ve been looking for my friends and a few of them are Pokémon, they can translate and then we can really get introduced.” Rotom snickered and zipped into Pinkie’s mane, causing it to stick up in random places and puff up even more than usual. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Pinkie looked around, then turned back down the way she had come. “They’re probably this way.” After a few more minutes Pinkie spoke again. “I’m Pinkie Pie by the way, but you can call me Pinkie, all my friends do.” “Rotom?” He asked. “... I’ll figure out what you’re saying later. Until then I’ll just call you Zap, ‘cause you’re all static-y and stuff. And cause meeting you was a real shock!” Pinkie laughed at her own joke. Zap smiled at his new name. As Pinkie continued to search for her friends, she told Zap all about herself, her friends, and Ponyville. “-And then Twilight became a Princess, so she has wings now. Not long after that there was this little incident with some of Discord’s plants, but he apologized afterwards, and – oh, look, we’re here.” Zap stuck his head out of Pinkie’s mane to see that they had stopped in front of a pair of doors pretty much indistinguishable from any others. “I think Belle and Gene are in there.” Pinkie Pie pushed open the door just as Belle threw herself into Gene’s arms, kissing him deeply. “-This is where the Princess said you could stay.” The Pegasus guard said as he led Gene and Belle into their room. “If you require anything, all you have to do is ask.” “Thanks.” Gene said, closing the door behind them. After the meeting Gene and Belle had explained everything that had happened to Fang, the Houndoom had actually taken the information in stride and hadn’t even freaked out all that much when they explained how Arceus was involved. The Dark Pokémon was currently resting comfortably in a room adjacent to the one Belle and Gene had been given. “So,” Belle whispered to her mate. “What do you wanna do?” The tone in her voice made her choice obvious, but Gene had other plans. “Can we talk about something, Belle? Something kinda serious?” Belle sensed Gene’s worry and immediately turned to him, placing one hand on his cheek in reassurance. “Anything.” Gene smiled. Belle was always willing to listen to him, no matter what. This was extremely important since, until recently, their relationship had been a bit… troublesome at times, although neither would have changed a thing. Except for a few laws. “What did you want to talk about?” Belle asked. “It’s more of a request really,” Gene answered. “I know it’s part of your nature to be protective and all but, could you stop threatening to tear people’s minds apart? I don’t think the ponies understand, and I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you because of it.” Back on Earth, people at least had a vague understanding of Belle’s protective nature, although very few knew the entire story behind it. Belle sighed. “I’ll try Gene, but like you said, it’s part of who I am, you’re my mate and Trainer… or, you were my Trainer, I guess.” Belle giggled. “Funny isn’t it? Even without a Pokéball, I’m still just as protective and Fang still treats you the same.” Gene smiled. “Yeah, you think the others are alright?” To Gene, his team was his family, in some ways more so than his actual family, and he worried for their well-being. “After all we’ve been through? I’m sure they can take care of themselves.” Gene knew she was right, but he still worried, especially for a couple of his Pokémon who weren’t exactly the most peaceful-looking creatures. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” Belle asked after a moment, sensing unease in her partner. Gene nodded. “Yeah, and this one is about… us.” Belle could tell he was having trouble putting exactly what he meant to words. “If you can’t say it I could always…” She put one hand on his temple to show what she meant. “No, I – let me do it.” For a second, Belle didn’t know what he meant, but soon his intentions were made clear. Using his new psychic abilities Gene transmitted his thoughts to Belle’s mind, expressing what words never could. The love he felt for her, memories of their most precious, and most difficult, moments together, and his hopes for their future together including… Belle’s breath caught in her throat and for a moment everything was silent. She looked up at her mate, tears of joy in her eyes and threw herself into his arms, kissing him deeply and whispering a single thought in his mind. “Yes.” The pair might have stayed like that forever, but as fate would have it, somepony was there to interrupt. Again. Gods everywhere must have had it out for them. “Awww.” Pinkie Pie cried, startling the Pokémon. As the pair turned to Pinkie, the pony noticed the tears streaking down Belle’s face. “What’s wrong?” She asked. Belle just smiled. “Nothing,” She grabbed Gene’s hand and looked to him, still smiling. “Nothing at all.” Pinkie looked between the pair for a moment before asking. “Is this a bad time? ‘Cause Mr. and Mrs. Cake said I’m supposed to knock before going coming into somepony’s bedroom but I keep forgetting.” Belle just laughed, nothing could upset her good mood. “No Pinkie, we were just talking.” “Oh, alright, in that case would you mind-” “Pinkie Pie!” Twilight interrupted her friend as she rushed into the room. “Glad I found you; where’s Discord? We’re supposed to meet Princess Celestia in her room to talk about royalty-level problems and I can’t find him.” Pinkie Pie visibly winced. “Uhh, Discord said he had to take care of something in the Everfree, he said he was sorry he had to miss the meeting but he said it was really important.” Twilight gaped in disbelief. “He. Just. Left?! And what’s he planning this time? Oh, I’ve got to find the princess!” Twilight galloped out of the room and Pinkie followed her calling. “Don’t worry Twilight! What’s the worst that could happen?” The Everfree Forest, about forty-five minutes ago. Discord appeared in a puff of green smoke on the outskirts of the Everfree, not far from Ponyville. He normally would’ve teleported further in but the fluctuating energies were a veritable mine field of unstable magic. The spirit of chaos didn’t care, his mind was set solely on finding the problem and solving it, by whatever means necessary. “Get ready, whoever you are,” Discord said as he walked into the Everfree. “For a storm of chaos!”