//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: A Brave New World // by Ausbrony //------------------------------// Chapter Three. ”I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm. You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace.” Needless to say, all the Pokémon and former humans present at the photo studio were experiencing various emotions. Dread, fear, respect, confusion and from the looks on the ponies faces, they could hear the voice too. “I have revealed myself to inform you that I am the one responsible for the Pokémon’s presence in this world, for the citizens of Equus, the Pokémon are the beings who have appeared over the past few days.” There was a pause and Seth mulled over what that statement truly meant. Arceus himself had brought them all to this place, Equus was it? Why? What possible goal could he achieve by doing this? “I have my reasons for bringing them here, and to the leaders I will reveal them in time, but for now a warning, the Pokémon, while some may not seem it, are just as intelligent as any race who calls Equus home, and, seeing as how they are my subjects, I will not tolerate them being treated any differently than you would treat your fellow Pony, Griffin, Minotaur, Diamond Dog, Changeling, Deer, Hippocampus, Zebra, Horse, Buffalo, Cow, Donkey, or Dragon depending on whichever race you belong to.” Seth looked at Apple Fritter, they were actually called ponies? And what the hell were those other species that Arceus mentioned? “To my Pokémon, I say this, I brought you, all of you, here so that you could live in peace, do not seek to harm the natives of this world, for I am the one responsible for your displacement. And to the Pokémon who went through changes when I brought you here I say this. You are the ones who proved themselves worthy, those who were fair, kind and good in the old world, consider this your reward. And to all of you, as sapients the laws of Equus, and the varying countries, now apply to you, and only the laws of Equus.” Wait? The laws of Equus? What the hell were the laws around here? His head began to ache slightly, trying to process all this information. Rika had an odd look on her face and then looked at Seth with a worried expression, what was she so concerned about? “That is all for now, but just to be clear, the Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite, if you have a problem with what I’ve done, feel free to contact me, I currently reside in an ancient temple deep in the Everfree Forest, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by.” Seth could almost feel the smirk Arceus probably had on his face. “Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.” Their minds fell silent, but only until they collected their thoughts and the thousands of possible questions flooded in. “Wait! So this is all Arceus’s fault!?” Rika was flipping out and begun to hyperventilate. Elesa simply sat there, completely dumbfounded by the revelation. “Well now ain’t that sumthin!” Apple Fritter was the first to speak, before realising that she was in the company of some Canterlot elites and slipped into her formal accent. “Well I suppose it answers where you all came from.” “Well zat was interestink!” Photo Finish exclaimed. “But we are done for now.” The mare nodded and one of her assistants pushed a hefty bag of bits in front of Rika and Elesa. “Zat is for bringing such wunderbar magicks! I look forward to vorking with you again!” The mare flicked her head and she and her entourage left quickly and abruptly, leaving the three Pokémon and the mare alone. With the revelation made by Arceus, or something claiming to be Arceus at least, Seth, Elesa and Rika weren’t really in the best way for thinking too heavily. “Well,” Apple Fritter broke the silence and smiled. “It looks like you found some of yer friends huh?” Seth blinked and then looked at Rika and Elesa, oh, yeah, there was that huh? Seth smiled and nodded softly. “I’m glad I was able to find you girls.” Rika wasted little time in hugging her former trainer. “What about the others? Ignis…  Selly?” “I don’t know, and we should look for Elesa’s Pokémon too.” He was surprised that he’d found at least one of his partners so quickly, and he never expected to find Elesa here. Given what Arceus had said, there were probably other humans here too. Just trying to think about it made his head hurt. “I don’t really know what y’all have planned,” Apple Fritter took the opportunity to speak up when the Pokémon fell quiet again. “But my door is always open. If y’all still need a place to stay that is?” Seth nodded and smiled, revealing his pointy teeth. And this reaction got Elesa and Rika thinking, just who was this mare!? “Seth? Who is this?” Rika asked all too sweetly. “And how does she know you?” “Ah?” with all the stuff that just happened in the last fifteen minutes, he’d totally forgotten. “This is Apple Fritter, she helped me out yesterday after I passed out. “You passed out!?” Rika flipped out and pressed her forehead against his. “Are you alright? Do you still feel sick?” “I’m fine,” Seth smiled, pushing the concerned Pokémon away. “I was just really hungry and maybe being transformed like this made it worse, I dunno.” “Now that you mention it, I was really hungry after waking up,” Elesa patted her stomach. “Still kinda hungry actually.” The photographer had given them much in the way of food. But as a model, Elesa was used to not eating a great deal, but the energetic Sylveon on the other hand. A loud grumble from the fairy’s tummy pierced the empty room. “Well I guess that answers that!” Fritter laughed, “Let’s head back for some lunch.” Seth nodded once more and Elesa and Rika followed the two of them out, a million thought racing through their minds.   ***   When they stepped outside, the group soon realised that getting home might be a tad difficult. Ponies and Pokémon alike ran through the streets and all of them were in a panic. The Pokémon had just heard that not only their god exists, but he was the reason that they were here in Equestria. The ponies had just heard a voice in their head that wasn’t the Princess and the default setting was panic. “Ah hope nopony gets hurt in all this ruckus,” Fritter sighed, weaving through the crowd. “And ah believe that this situation probably coulda been handled better. That Arceus fella mustn’t have put a whole lotta thought into what would happen after his speech.” Seth silently nodded and tried to follow Fritter, only to be roughly shoved about by the hectic crowd. A pair of ribbons suddenly wrapped around his waist and lifted him up and out of the busy street. “Oof, you’re heavier than you look!” Rika grunted as she lifted him over to the side of the street where she was standing. “Until you can walk better on all fours, I’d avoid big crowds… and probably large flights of stairs.” “This is so embarrassing,” Seth muttered, “I feel like a baby, I can’t talk, can’t walk…” A small smiled crossed his muzzle, “At least I have no toilet troubles.” Rika scrunched up her face and groaned. “That. Was waaay too much information.” Seth laughed at her reaction and nodded, “I suppose, but at this point I’ll take what I can get.” He looked at Elesa and knew that he wasn’t the only one in this particular Pokémon predicament. “How about you Elle, are you hanging in there okay?” “Well it’s not like I have any say in the matter is it?” Elesa was a bit torn about the whole thing. On one hand, being able to talk to Pokémon and being her favourite type of Pokémon was pretty awesome. And though she missed her human form, it wasn’t her biggest concern. “I honestly have no idea what I should be doing,” she said. “I was a Gym Leader, a supermodel and I honestly thought I’d be doing those forever… well the Gym stuff anyway.” “And now we’re stuck here, permanently it seems…” Seth hadn’t thought about that until now. “And what about you Seth? Now that you no longer have your crusade to worry about?” Rika asked gently. The Luxray paused and looked back at his Pokémon. “What do you mean?” … … There was an awkward silence as Rika realised that Seth hadn’t completely understood what Arceus had said. “Oh no…” “Rika!” Seth narrowed his eyes. “Just what the heck are you talking about?” Rika sighed, it seems that there was no avoiding it now. Her and her big mouth. “Lord Arceus said, and I quote; “And to all of you, as sapients the laws of Equus, and the varying countries, now apply to you, and only the laws of Equus.” “And?” Seth clearly wasn’t getting the picture and Rika didn’t want to spell it out for him, but the dense former human wasn’t leaving her with much choice. “What do you suppose the laws regarding human and Pokémon relationships are here?” … … Seth’s legs gave out and he fell to the cobblestone ground. Apple Fritter turned out and saw her friend fall. “Landsakes!” She rushed back and caught his head before it could strike the hard stone. “What happened, are y’all hungry again?” Seth just lay there and suddenly reached for Fritter’s saddlebag, causing the mare to yelp in surprise. He fished out a small inkpot and some paper and hastily scrawled something for her to read. “What is the law on interspecies relationships?” Fritter read it aloud and gave him a funny look. “What, y’all mean like… if a pony and say, a gryphon wanted to get married or something?” Seth nodded and Fritter wondered why the heck he suddenly wanted to know something like that. “Well, it’s not all that common, but they’re no laws against it.” That wasn’t the answer Seth was hoping to hear. And the fact was that if every human in Equestria was now a Pokémon… “I… I think I need to go for a walk…” Seth got up and stumbled down the street, Rika went to stop him, but he raised a paw and just left silently. Fritter looked confused and Elesa glared at Rika. “Good job girl, good job.”   ***   Seth lay in a park that he’d come across and just stared at the grass. Several ponies had seen him there, but chose to leave the strange creature be. Other Pokémon came and went, giving up trying to talk to the Luxray when he didn’t respond. “Nothing,” he muttered softly. “Seven years and now it’s all for goddam nothing!” he didn’t realise it, but his body began to crackle with lightning, scaring several nearby critters. He got to his paws and continued his tirade as his anger and frustration grew. “Oh look at me, I’m a high and mighty god who can whatever the hell he wants and not give a damn about the mortals he toys with!” The lightning grew angrier as errant bolts lashed out around him. “Let’s not worry about whether or not they had lives, friends and family. Let’s just throw them into a world of colourful little ponies and turn them into Pokémon!!” A patch of flowers was suddenly fried to a crisp and he was nowhere near done. Some ponies had run off to fetch the guard and other Pokémon were just staying the hell away. “Cyrus wanted to re-write the universe, but he was a bad guy. Arceus just moves us to a friggen new one and we’re supposed to lay down and just FUCKING LIKE IT!?!?” The sky turned black as he dropped a Thunder attack on a nearby tree, splitting the tree in two and setting it alight. “Someone has a bit of a temper huh?” Seth spun around, still riding his anger high, but it utterly diffused at who stood there. “Selena…?” The Absol nodded and walked over to him. “You might want to turn off the light show though… a lot of Pokémon and ponies are getting spooked.” Seth looked around, no longer blinded by his rage and nodded. “I have no idea how I just did that.” Selena sighed and put a paw on his shoulder, “I figured as much. Don’t worry, we’ll get you trained up in no time.” “How did you find me?” and after Selena just gave him a deadpan stare and looked at the fried tree. “Oh, yeah.” Then he thought some more, “How did you know it was me?” “I recognised your voice, despite some Pokémon, I can understand human speech, just not speak it.” Seth blinked in surprise; no wonder Selena had better reaction time to his commands in battle compared to the rest of his team. “Have you found the others yet?” Selena asked. Seth snapped out of his surprised daze. His emotions were all over the place right now that it took a moment before he could respond. “Yeah, I found Rika and Elesa this morning, still don’t know where Ignis and Heath are though.” “We’ll find them, if the rest of us are here in this city, then the others are probably here too.” “ATTENTION CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT!” The booming voice though distant, could be heard pretty clearly. “Sounds like it’s coming from the castle,” Selena observed. “Maybe it’s about Arceus’s little speech.” Just hearing Arceus’s name caused Seth to growl. But what came next brought that fury back in full force. “I am Lord Arceus.” It wasn’t as clear as before, maybe he wasn’t projecting as far. Was he at the castle right now? Seth suddenly bolted for the massive palace, with Selena hot on his heels. “Now I realize that this has been somewhat of an inconvenience, and I would like to thank the princesses for putting up with me. And as such, I would like to present them with a gift, a show of goodwill if you would.” “A present?” Just what the hell was he planning now? “I present to you, the Eternal Sundial.” There was a flash of light and the massive pink crystal suddenly appeared over the city. Seth stopped and looked at the device. “He- He just ups and pulls this?” He thought that some stupid crystal would make up for this shit? “You have got to be kidding me!?” That was that, he was going to that castle, kicking down the doors and shoving a thunderbolt right up his godly- “Seth, that’s enough!” Selena suddenly pounced on him and pinned the Luxray to the ground. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s a really bad idea!” “You are welcome to return it if you wish but for now,” The sundial disappeared in a flash and reappeared in a field behind the hedge maze. “Thank you once again, princesses and if you have further need of me, you know where I can be found.” Seth gave one last glare at the castle before letting out a defeated sigh. “He transports who-knows-how many Pokémon and humans to this world, and now pulls a fifty ton crystal out of thin air like it’s nothing…” Seth wouldn’t stand a chance against a Pokémon like that and it sucked, seriously. “So I guess we really are supposed to just lie down and take it huh?” Selena stood next to him and shook her head. “Well storming the castle probably isn’t a good idea, you’ll probably get arrested or something then I’ll have to bail you out.” “So what then?” Seth wanted, no needed, to hit Arceus really, really hard. “Well he said that he was going to be in some place called the Everfree Forest right? So it’s simple, we go there and talk with him. If that fails we go on the plan B.” “Plan B huh?” Only several times in Seth’s life, had he and his team had to resort to Plan B. “I love Plan B,” Selena grinned wickedly.   ***   “Thish ish gud!” Rika said happily as she stuffed her face with apple pie, spraying crumbs across the table, Seth just shook his head as Elesa scolded the indulgent Pokémon. “Have some manners dear, a lady does not speak with her mouth full.” Rika swallowed and poked out her tongue. “Well excuse me! But this food is delicious, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything this good!” Elesa certainly wasn’t going to argue that fact. This Apple Fritter could certainly whip up some great food. The front door creaked open as Seth stepped carefully inside, Rika’s head turned to see who had entered. A small smile crossed her face to see her beloved trainer walk in, and then that smile threatened to slit her face when Selena waltzed in behind him. “SELLY❤~❤!!” the fairy Pokémon leapt across the room, glomping the Disaster Pokémon to the floor, giggling madly. “Gah!? What the hell?” Selena could swear that she could see the love hearts floating from the Sylveon. Rika paid no heed as she snuggled the flustered Absol. Seth just ignored the two of them and greeted Elesa and Fritter. “Well it looks like you’re feeling better then?” Fritter asked and Seth nodded. “Well okay then, but try not to do that too often.” Fritter gave him a stern stare and smiled. “Cause y’all had friends that were worried ‘bout ya!” Elesa agreed on that one. “Don’t think we’ll go easy on you!” When they were all seated, Apple Fritter cleared the table and put some more food out for Seth and Selena before leaving to put a pot of tea on. She was so used to living alone, and now she had a houseful of friends, the Earth Pony mare couldn’t help but smile. Once he had gotten home, Seth had written down an explanation on who the new Pokémon were, the pink and white ones one being members of his team, whatever that meant. And the sheep one was a friend of his he had known for a long time. Fritter flicked through calendar while she waited for the teapot to boil and saw that she had something coming up in Ponyville the day after tomorrow. “Now ah remember, Cousin Applejack needed help planting a new field…” That mare usually called Fritter when a new barn needed to be put up (which happened more often than you’d think), or for family reunions and gatherings. But this time, an entire field needed to be tilled and new trees planted, and Apple Fritter was the closest pony that could pull a plough as well as Big Macintosh. “Ah suppose it beats having to rely on Caramel…” Fritter gave a slight shudder at the accident prone stallion. He was a good pony and a hard worker, but wherever Caramel went, disaster followed. She went back out into the living room to serve the tea soon enough, all the Pokémon were having fun writing stuff down for their new friend to read. She was enthralled by tales of Pokémon battles, Elesa’s life as a supermodel and Seth’s quest to right what he considered a great injustice. As Rika listened in, idly sipping her tea, it reminded her that she needed to have a chat with her trainer.   ***   Apple Fritter had left to do some grocery shopping, for as good as apples were, they could not supply a balanced diet. Selena was taking a power nap and Elesa was fiddling with her headphones, seeing if she could pick up anything on them. Seth sat on the back porch of Fritter’s home, taking in the scent of apples and fresh mountain air. “All in all, I suppose things could be worse.” He said to himself. “I’m okay for the most part, my partners seem to be fine and we’ve made some new friends.” He still wanted to talk to Arceus, that much was certain. “I see you still talk to yourself when you’re thinking.” Seth jumped slightly as Rika snuck up behind him. “It helps get my thoughts in order,” Seth defended himself. “What about you, you hanging in there okay?” “Well this is a pretty unique situation…” Rika sat down next Seth and sighed contently. “But as you said, we’re all okay and that’s what’s important.” She really didn’t want to bring up the next topic on her mind, but she figured that it would be important to get it all out in the open. “And what about you? And the, well… you know.” “That my life’s work being a complete and total waste of time?” Seth said dryly. “Not really much I can do about it huh?” His fur bristled as it sparked a little, causing Rika to involuntarily move back a bit. It stopped as soon as it started though and Seth calmed down, looking at Rika apologetically. “Sorry, I still can’t control this stuff yet… well more like I have no idea how I’m doing it in the first place.” Rika moved closer and then wrapped a ribbon around him, wincing as the collected electricity in his fur shocked her slightly. “So what are we going to do now? There’s no Gyms, no Pokémon League, contests, Ranger Union… nothing.” “I honestly don’t know, I have a few goals for the immediate future, but nothing long term yet… if this little move is long term.” Rika made a good point, what would they do if this was permanent? “I want to find Ignis and Heath and then talk to Arceus about a few things… but after that?” “Well how about Selly and I train you?” Rika suggested. “You really need to get those electrical powers under control before someone gets hurt by accident. And it’ll be fun for the Pokémon to train the trainer,” Rika giggled. Seth nodded and looked at Rika, who simply blinked and stared back until she gave a defeated sigh. “Fine, we’ll help Elesa as well.” The two Pokémon got up and headed back inside, Selena was still asleep on the couch while Elesa had given up on her headphones and was now playing with a bolt of lightning that arced between her paws. “Guess you don’t need help after all huh?” Seth mused as Elesa nodded. “Well I was an Electric-type trainer, and getting the hang of this was pretty easy.” She showed off by lighting the orb on the tip of her tail. “I’m now a walking nightlight apparently~” Seth just chuckled as Selena woke up with an annoyed groan. “Can’t a Pokémon get a little sleep around here?” She gave the others an annoyed glare before stretching, her forelegs giving a satisfied crack. Apple Fritter returned soon enough, her saddlebags bulging with groceries. “Ah’m back everypony!” she greeted her new houseguests cheerfully. “And ah bought a butt load o’ food!” Seth watched her put the overladen bags in the kitchen and frowned. Her scrawled something on some paper and showed her. “You should have told me and I would have helped carry it?” Fritter read aloud and laughed. “Ah wouldn’t worry about it, ah’m stronger than ah look after all.” After the shopping was put away, Fritter started on dinner with Rika helping. They prepared a nice feast, with Fritter having gone through the trouble of getting fish from a Gryphon market just for Seth and Selena. “What did you guys have planned for tomorrow?” Fritter asked them, but a few shrugs told her that they had nothing. “Well, I was invited to help some family in a nearby town. Did y’all want to come? Maybe you might even find some of yer friends?” Seth took a moment to think, perhaps Ignis and Heath could be found elsewhere. Writing again, he asked the mare where this town was. “Where? Well, it’s called Ponyville a little to the southeast of here. It sits right on the border of the Everfree Forest-“ The dishes on the table rattled as Seth slammed a paw on it. The Everfree!? That’s where Arceus said he would be. That settled it; tomorrow they would head for Ponyville!   ***   Later that night, Rika, Selena and Elesa all slept in the guest bedroom that they shared. Fritter had already retired to bed, staying up well past her usual bedtime already. Seth had opted to take the couch downstairs, leaving the spacious spare room for the girls. “So what do you think Seth will say to Arceus?” Rika wondered aloud. “And what do you suppose Arceus will do in response?” “I don’t know, I don’t think Seth will pick a fight with Arceus… but there will be yelling.” Selena replied. “The real problem is how Arceus will respond, I certainly don’t want my trainer blinked out of existence.” Elesa sat up and groaned, with these two it seemed that sleep would elude her. “Do you really think that after going through the trouble of bringing us all here, Arceus would do something like that?” Elesa’s argument did make a good point and it eased the disturbing mental images floating around Selena’s and Rika’s heads. “Regardless, I’ll protect Seth, just as I always have!” Selena said adamantly. Rika silent agreed and after a little bit of small talk, the three Pokémon eventually drifted off to sleep.   ***   The next morning, Apple Fritter and her Pokémon companions were up early and waiting at the train station. Seth looked around the platform, noticing several other groups of ponies and Pokémon together. It would seem that despite a terrible first impression, ponies and Pokémon were getting along. He sighed a little, hoping to see his Charizard or Sandshrew, but all he could see were some Lucario’s and a Vaporeon. Then, what was possibly the most ridiculous-looking train ever pulled into the station. The whole thing was bright pink with countless heart designs all over it. The carriages looked like they were made of gingerbread and Seth could feel his masculinity slipping away just looking at the thing. “Please tell me this is some kind of amusement park ride and not a legitimate form of transportation,” he muttered. Rika on the other hand, thought the Friendship Express was the greatest thing ever. “It’s sooo cute~” she squealed. “Nope, I’m with Seth on this one.” Selena nodded. “I’m a girl and even I’m embarrassed to set foot on this thing.” Apple Fritter was already getting on, “C’mon y’all, let’s get a move on!” “I am going to need to do something really stupid and excessively manly after this.” Seth closed his eyes as he got onboard, followed closely by his friends. Elesa was the only one not to comment, as she was too absorbed trying to get her headphones working. “I need my wubs…”