Old Scars, New Chances

by Arcticbrony


Chapter 2

Ethan could not believe his luck. He had found another Pokémon, a former human no less. And she turns out to be an Officer Jenny, one of the ones that he had fought before coming here, it seemed.

“Don’t you think we have bigger problems on our hands… paws? I even saved you from those things that kidnapped you.” Ethan held his chest, getting hit with an Ember did not hurt as much as he thought it would, but it still stung.

“But I bet you would have just left me to rot if you knew who I really was wouldn’t you?” Well he couldn’t really deny that point, he would not have been so eager to rescue someone if he knew that said person would want to arrest him. “While I agree that the situation could have been… better, I still can’t let a criminal run free.”

He always had the option of trying to fight her, but he was not even sure if he could use any moves in this form. It was certainly not something he wanted to try since he had just felt her fire an Ember straight into his chest. “No, I guess you can’t. I must say I am impressed though, that was a nice Ember. How did you manage to get the hang of it so quickly?”

Jenny glared at him, to think that he was attempting to sweet talk her. She had no idea how she had managed to use Ember, she was just angry, really angry and it just happened. Not that she would ever let him know that of course. “I train daily with my Growlithe, of course I would know how to use Ember. It came naturally.”

“So you woke up alone too, huh?” He saw no need to be rude or act unfriendly towards her. Even though she wanted to put him in jail, they were in the same boat, metaphorically speaking.

A pained look crossed Jenny’s face. “… Yes, I hope he is alright.” Ethan felt the same; a lot of the Pokémon he had been currently taking care of would be fine on their own. But some wouldn’t, some of them he would have to find as fast as he could, Chii in particular.

“How about this then, we look for our Pokémon together?” he asked her. “You obviously don’t want to leave me alone, but you don’t have anywhere to take me either. We are stuck here together.” He did not like the idea any more than she obviously did. At least not by the grimace he saw her make, thinking about it.

“…Fine, but if you try anything, I will burn you.”

“Yea you already did. So don’t worry, ill behave.” They were about to leave when a powerful voice rang inside his head.

“Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new. I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm. You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace.”

Ethan looked over to Jenny who had also frozen in her step with a shocked look on her face. Was she hearing this 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.”

So they were in a place called Equus, so not just a place, a world. They were in a completely new world.

“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, Hippocampi, Zebra, Horse, Buffalo, Cow, Donkey, or Dragon depending on whichever race you belong to.”

That was a lot of races he had mentioned, Ethan wondered what race the creatures he had seen in the village were. Hopefully he could find out soon.

“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.”

Officer Jenny could not believe what she was hearing. That criminal was worthy? There had to be made some kind of mistake.

Ethan on the other hand had the biggest grin on his face as he looked at Officer Jenny.

“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.”

He had to admit, a chance to meet Arceus, the very idea seemed mind-blowing to him. Just the fact that the legendary god Pokémon was real was a big enough shock for the two of them.

“Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.”

And with that final statement, the voice faded away. Leaving the two former humans stunned as they needed a few moments to let what they had heard sink in.

“…No way.” Jenny was the first one to break the silence.

“… You heard it too?” He had to make sure.

“I… yeah, I heard it. Don’t know if I want to believe it though.” Jenny sat down, and looked over to Ethan. “Does this mean that we can’t go home?” She looked like someone had kicked her Eevee.

“Seems that way.” Ethan did not hate Jenny, or even dislike her in the slightest. She was just doing her job after all. But it was still weird for him to see the person that wanted him put in jail so sad. “We could always go see him. He said where he lives after all.”

“Go see Arceus. If someone had said that to me a few minutes ago, I would have called them crazy.” He had to agree with her on that one. “But finding our Pokémon comes first.” That and they had no clue where the Everfree Forest was either. Ethan did not feel the need to go visit a god, but he figured Jenny might, that’s why he had brought it up.

“How about we head back into town? I know neither of us had the best first meeting with the locals, but he said that he was speaking to all the inhabitants, right? That should mean that they heard it too, so it’s our best lead.” The only issue was how to communicate with them; on the other hand, that could also be considered a good thing. It would mean that Jenny couldn’t tell any of the inhabitants who he was. At least until he had explained everything to her.

“I agree. How far into the forest are we?”

“About thirty minutes or so.” He figured it had been far enough when he was escaping.

“Let’s go then.” She started walking ahead.

“…So, you want to talk?” He suggested as he caught up. “I mean, we got thirty minutes to kill and we are stuck with each other.”

“Not really, but go ahead I guess.”

“How are you feeling about being turned into a Vulpix? Would you have preferred something different?” His dad was a psychologist, and Ethan had picked up on some of his tendencies. Specifically he liked to dig, to get into a person’s brain, metaphorically speaking of course.

“… It’s okay I think. It could certainly have been worse. I have good speed, decent firepower. I like it.” She turned her head to look at Ethan. “How about you? A Lopunny would not have been my first pick if I were you.”

Ethan scoffed and jabbed his hairbrush threateningly in her direction. “And what exactly do you mean with that? I happen to think I look quite fabulous,” he said just as he struck a pose. His hands held together in front of his chest as he leaned slightly forward.

Officer Jenny tried not to laugh, but Ethan still heard a small snicker force its way out of her.

“You’re not bad looking yourself, but your tails could definitely use a little brushing.” Jenny blushed at the suddenness at his words, and looked at him with a questioning expression. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it.” Ethan said, holding out his hairbrush. “It will just take a moment.”

“Oooh no, I think you’re going to stay away from me.” She said as she took a hesitant step back.

“It will be no trouble really, no Vulpix with any amount of self-respect would allow her tails to look like that. It hurts me to look at them in that state.” He was slowly inching closer.

“I told you earlier, to not touch me. I don’t know what you are planning but I will have no part in it.” She spread her legs and took an aggressive stance.

“…Fine, if you won’t let me do it, at least do it yourselves.” He said, tossing the brush at her feet.

Officer Jenny looked confused down at the brush. Had he actually been serious? While she did not like it, she agreed with him. Her tails were in a mess, and it would only take a moment to make them presentable. So she picked up the brush with her mouth and got started.

“…So you think I’m a criminal?” Ethan decided to ask her while she was brushing herself. He had to take a shot at it.

“I don’t think you’re a criminal. I know that you are a criminal.”

“And nothing I say can make you think differently, can it?” Jenny stopped brushing and turned around to look Ethan in the eyes.

“Did you kill him? Did you kill Tarjei Elsioth?” Ethan looked back into her eyes as she stared at him. He could explain almost everything he had done. He did not steal Pokémon, he saved them when they needed to be saved. In most cases, he did not have to; he always reported it to the officials when he found or suspected something. But not all cases are solved, some fall through the cracks and someone has to pick up the pieces. Most of the Pokémon he cared for he did not even retrieve himself, but through others who had come across them, knowing they needed serious help. He had several friends that helped him with getting the Pokémon that needed help to him and get them back out to into the world when he was done. But that… was the one thing he could not explain. So he averted his gaze from hers. “Thought so,” she tossed the brush back to him since she was done and they continued the rest of the walk in silence.


The sun was setting once they made it to the outskirts of the village. There appeared to be a town meeting, or hearing, in place when Ethan and Officer Jenny came to the outskirts. There were a lot of them gathered in front of a small makeshift stage. They seemed to have arrived in the end of whatever was going on though.

“-so until further notice, I want you all to treat these new… Pokémon with as much respect as you would a normal pony. Until we get receive word from our beloved Princess Celestia, I believe that it’s for the best that we act under the assumptions of what we all heard to be true. Remember, I know just as little as any of you do, but if you have any more questions for me, you can come to my office, goodbye.” And with that he left the stage in a hurry. Several ponies from the mass quickly followed after him.

“Seems like they are Ponies, good to know” Ethan commented.

“And it also seems like you alerted them to our presence.” Officer Jenny said, as most of the ponies had turned silent and was now looking at them.

“…Hi guys,” Ethan smiled and waved at the group, hoping that the meaning had carried over.

“Can they understand what we are saying?” Jenny asked, hearing comments like “they seem friendly” and “is that the one that was brought into the village earlier?”

“No they cannot.” Most of them seemed hesitant, but three ponies had enough courage to go over and greet their new guests.

“I… I just wanted to apologize.” One of the ponies that came over to them said suddenly. She had a horn and by her voice it seemed like she was female. She was looking at Jenny as she spoke.
“I just thought you were some kind of weird animal, so I’m sorry for knocking you out and tying you up. I thought you might have been a danger to other ponies nearby, I’m so sorry.” Ethan quickly moved the hairbrush he had apparently stolen from this mare, behind his back.

Jenny seemed a little shocked at the suddenness of the mare, but gave her a comforting smile. “I forgive you. I could see myself doing the same, had I been in your situation.” While they did not understand her words, but it seemed like they understood the feelings behind Jenny’s smile.

“So you are called Pokémon right? And can you understand us?” Since talking was no good, Ethan nodded twice at the questions.

“Then let us be the first to welcome you to Neighagra Falls Sanctuary. A small village that’s quite popular with travelers that’s here to see the falls, which I’m sure you have already noticed.” The ocean blue pony that spoke waved a hoof over in the direction of the waterfall. “My name is Mignon, I own a restaurant on the other side of town, you already met Mary Care, she is the town’s veterinarian and she is really shy so don’t be too hard on her. Lastly we have Zephyr Lotus. Would you like a tour of the town?”

“Well he seems really nice, at least he is trying.” Ethan smiled as he looked down to Jenny.

“Indeed.” Both nodded in agreement, making the stallion grin.

“Great, come along now, we have a lot to cover.” He said as the group began to move further into town.

Neighagra Falls Sanctuary was a small nice village. As Mignon had explained, it was a popular place for tourists to stop and the town thrived on the attention. As the tour continued, they even began seeing other Pokémon as well. Ethan spotted a small gathering of Swablu flying over town, while Jenny pointed out a single Nuzleaf who was keeping to the edge of the forest. And they were sure that more would show up as time passed.

“I think this might be the most exciting thing that happened in this town since Princess Luna came visited after her return.” Zephyr said with a laugh, making Mignon vince.

“Please dont mention that. She almost wrecked my entire restaurant with her royal Canterlot voice. I still find broken glass hidden away places after that incident.”

"You know she did not mean too, she said so herself." Mary added in. "Everyone would have some difficulties if they were gone from civilization for a thousand years." Ethan raised an eyebrow at that. He had heard them mention both Princess Luna and Celestia, but no queens.

“It’s a shame we can’t understand you. I would love to know more about you and what you are.” Mary said as they passed her clinic. Ethan silently agreed, it would make everything a lot easier.

“… What about Cursed Vision?” Mignon suggested.

“That cooped up old fart? You really think he could do anything?”

“Well, he said he was a professor of some kind at the Canterlot university back in the day right? It’s worth a shot I think.”

“That would be great.” Ethan explained happily, making all the ponies look at him.

“Well it sounds like they agree.” Mignon said with his trademark grin. “I have to head back to my restaurant. It’s just around the corner from here. Tell you what, come by anytime you feel like it, and I’ll treat you to a meal. A small welcome gift, good luck, you all.” He said as he walked away, waving back to the group.

“And I’m afraid I need to take my leave as well, it’s getting late and I have a few things to take care of. Mary, can you take them to Cursed Vision? I think the old fart has something against me so it probably would not help if I came along either way.”

“He doesn’t like anypony, but I’ll take care of it. See you later, Zephyr.” They waved him off as Zephyr took to the skies. It really did not look like his wings would be able to carry him, but he seemed to be doing fine.

“This Cursed Vision sounds like a real character.” Ethan smiled as they started walking again.

“If he can help us solve our communication problem, then he can be whatever he likes.” Officer Jenny had a point, now he just had to fix one problem.

“...Do you plan to tell them about me?” He asked.

“Of course I do. You’re a criminal, and need to be put away.” She had been planning on doing that ever since Arceus had his speech.

“Are you sure that would be wise? After all, it would only be your word against mine.” He really needed to explain to her what really had happened that night. “Do you really want to take a chance on whenever they would believe you, or me?” Ethan smiled at his victory when Jenny sunk her head in defeat. He had bought himself a little time for now at least.

“Um… I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but we are here.” Mary said, catching their attention. They were standing in front of what looked to be a rather old house. The garden was in shambles, and the house itself looked like it could use with a new paintjob. “He lives by himself, refusing to live in the retirement home, even if it would be for the better with how old he is getting.” She sighed as she walked up and knocked on the door.

“So, how do you think this pony will be able to help us?” Ethan asked, looking down at Officer Jenny, who just scoffed and looked away. He could understand why she wouldn’t want to speak to him. He really wanted to explain what had happened to her but… it was complicated.

After several minutes, the door was covered in a red glow before it opened, revealing a really old horned pony behind it.

“Huh? Miss Care, got some new animals? They are mighty weird looking if you don’t mind me saying.” Both Ethan and Officer Jenny could feel a slight annoyance at how the old pony talked about them.

“Oh, no these are Pokémon. Umm… did you not hear it? It was a voice that explained to everypony what was going on.” She explained to him.

“Oh so that was real, was it? Sorry, thought it might have been my mind playing tricks on me again, hahaha.” He said as he started laughing. Sadly, the laughing quickly turned into a coughing fit. “Well, what do ya want?” He asked sharply as he recovered.

“W-well we have a slight problem, you see. These Pokémon can understand us, but we can’t understand them. We were hoping that you might know any sort of spell to help us with that.” She asked hopefully.

Ethan’s long fluffy brows furrowed in thought. They had magic here: the glow that opened the door earlier reminded him about a lot of psychic types, but they called it magic.

“… Well I’m afraid I don’t know any spells like that.” He said to everyone’s disappointment. “… Memory is not what it used to be. But I might have something in one of my spell books. Come on in.” He said as he turned around and slowly walked back inside. With their hopes relit, the group followed him in. “But clean your damn HOOVES OFF,” he hollered with a voice that did not seem like it could be coming from such an old pony. Ethan was sure that the old pony had to be related to a Whismur, or maybe even a Loudred from the ringing in his fabulously fluffy ears.

“Let’s see here… no…no… definitely not… here we are.”Cursed Vision had a dusty old tome, floating in front of him. “Ya might as well sit down while I see if I have a spell in here that can help… I can’t see anything, LIGHT.” Ethan had to admit, the old pony seemed like he were missing a few marbles in his brain jar. At least that’s what he thought until one of the lights from the other table seemed to hop down and walk over at his command.

“What the… it’s a Litwick,” Ethan poked both Jenny and Mary as he pointed to the small ghost Pokémon.

“… Is that another Pokémon?” Mary asked with curiosity.

“Yes it is,” Ethan nodded to the mare.

“Coming, master, I’m coming. Are we having guests?” It had the cutest little voice a ghost Pokémon could have. It hopped up onto the table and positioned itself next to the old pony’s book, providing light for him to read in.

“… We should do something. Litwicks steal the life energy of people.” Officer Jenny whispered to Ethan. “Or in this case, ponies.”

“That’s what we think they do. Ask him what he is doing here.” Ethan nudged her forward.

“Litwick!” She addressed him harshly as she moved towards him. “What are you doing here?”

“… Why, I’m serving master of course,” Ethan couldn’t help but laugh at the little guy.

“Stealing his life energy is more like it. Is that not what your kind do?” not a whole lot was known about ghost Pokémon, a lot of the known facts were nothing more than speculation.

“…No… and yes. I need energy to stay alive, but it’s enough of it in the air around master. I could take it from him directly, but that would hurt him. He seemed so grumpy but he was just all alone, I just thought he could use a little company.” He was just the cutest little ghost one could imagine.

“It’s alright, little guy, she did not know any better. Say, what’s your name?” Ethan asked as Jenny came back and sat down beside him.

“Master calls me Light, so I think that’s my name.”

“Here we go. Now, it’s been a while since I cast any spells of this kind, so don’t blame me if anything happens.” He gave no heads up or warnings. After those words had left his mouth his horn charged up and Ethan was hit in the chest with a red beam. It did not hurt anything; it simply made him feel slightly tingly.

“That… took more out of me than I thought.” Mary rushed over to the old stallion as he seemed to be exhausted.

“D-did it work?” She asked as she looked intently at Ethan.

“I don’t know. Can you guys understand me now?”

“Yes, yes it worked.” She sounded positively ecstatic.

“You’re a unicorn, make yourself useful.” The old coot said, as he shoved the book over to her. “I’m too old to be casting spells like these, you learn it. Light, show me to the bedroom.” He said as the Litwick took lead, guiding him out of the room. “See yourselves out.” And that was it for goodbyes, it seemed.

“I guess we should go now then. But I’m so glad it worked. So, what are your names?”

“My name is Ethan, and this is Jenny.”

Officer Jenny.” She corrected him.

“She says hello. Can I ask you a few questions?” Ethan asked her. There was a few things he wanted to set straight.

“I’ll answer to my best ability” She answered with a smile.

“Well… I overheard that you are ponies. But there seems to be different kinds of you.” They walked out of Cursed Visions house and into the street outside.

“Well yes, there are three kinds of ponies… well four if you count the princesses.” She corrected herself. “Both me and Cursed Vision are Unicorns, we have magic, that’s how he was able to use that translation spell on you. You already met Zephyr, he is a Pegasus.”

“Yes, I wanted to ask you about that. How is he able to fly with wings that small, it does not look like they should be able to carry his weight.” Ethan asked.

“Well… I don't know too much about the specifics only that its magic that helps them fly. Just like we Unicorns have our own magic, the pegasi has their own. It allows them to fly and even walk on clouds.” Ethan remembered seeing some of them pushing clouds around, so that explained that. “Then there is the Earth ponies, like Mignon.” she explained.

“And what about the Princesses? I overheard you talking about a Princess Luna.” Ethan asked.

“Yes, she is one of our princesses. She and Princess Celestia raises and lowers both the sun and moon respectively.” Mary used her magic to draw a small glowing Alicorn in the air. “They have the abilities of all the three pony races.” she said as the drawing poofed out.

“Wait… did you say that they raise and lower the sun and moon?” Ethan asked, confirming if what he had heard was right.

“Um.. yes, Princess Celestia controls the sun and Princess Luna the moon.” Ethan was a little flabbergasted at that. He knew that there were powerful legendary pokemons, but it was something else to be able to move celestial bodies.

“You also mentioned that she had been gone for one thousand years, is that really true?” he asked. There was some Pokémon that could reach that age but it was still rare.

“...I don’t know too much about it, but yes. I would ask Cursed Vision if I were you. He is much more well-read then I am so he should be able to explain it better. I would really love to stay and talk, but I have to go back home as well soon, I got some clients. And I got this spell to learn too, so we can get you to talk too, Jenny. Why don’t we do it like this: come to my clinic tomorrow and I think I should have the spell ready by then. I would love to talk more now, but I have a lot to do today, sorry.” She seemed genuinely sorry, but she had done more than enough for them already.

“Don’t worry about it. It was nice to meet you, Mary Care. We will come and visit tomorrow and I’ll be happy to answer any and all questions you might have.” Ethan gave her a big smile.

“See you tomorrow then, Ethan and Jenny. Goodbye.” She waved back to them as she trotted away from them.

Ethan and Officer Jenny waved back to the mare as she rounded a corner and disappeared.

“That certainly went well. Though you could have been a little nicer to the Litwick, you know.”

“He did not seem to mind, so no harm done…” a small rumble could be heard from her stomach.

“…Hungry?” Ethan asked with a grin.

Jenny looked away with a small blush on her face. “…yes.”

“So am I, let’s take Mignon up on his offer then.” Truth was that Ethan was starving, it had been over a day since he had last ate. But he had just had so much on his mind that he had forgotten about it; it’s not every day you get plucked from your world and dumped into another with a new body after all. So they took off, walking back to where Mignon had said his restaurant was located.

“…Do you hear that?” Ethan asked after they had walked for a little while.

“Not anything besides the ordinary.” Truth was, she was getting a little impatient and wanted to get to the restaurant as soon as possible.

Ethan was sure that he had heard something. There was the normal background noise: the waterfall, the ponies going about their day, and something else… he could hear a voice, a familiar voice. And it was… crying?

“I’ll be right back.” Ethan said taking off as fast as he could down the street, ignoring Officer Jenny’s calls. He had to find the owner of that voice; it was getting louder so that meant he was in the right direction.

It was a small alleyway between two houses that he spotted her. It was a small pink and white ball of fur, but said ball of fur was shaking and crying. It was no doubt; he had heard the very same crying a lot of times before.

Silently walking over so he wouldn’t scare her, Ethan kneeled down next to the Skitty before picking her up and holding her tight to his chest.

“It’s alright, Chii, everything is alright. I’m here.” She struggled at first, but quickly calmed down. She was still crying, but not so heavily, a mere sniffling at that point.

“M-Mary?” Chii looked hopefully up to Ethan with her teary eyes. But he met her look with a sad one as he shook his head.

“No, it’s me, Ethan. I’m sorry Chii…” Chii started shaking again, as she held back her tears. “It’s alright, you're safe. Just let it out.” She tried not to, but it was only a few seconds before she was crying heavily again. She pressed her face into his fur as he held her. He could hear Officer Jenny call out for him as she closed in on them. It had been a stressful couple of days, to say the least, but Ethan could not help but let out a small smile at he looked down at her.

Perhaps things would work out for the best after all.