//------------------------------// // Introducing part 1 // Story: The Pokemon King of Griffinstone // by Cookie_Girl //------------------------------// Twilight finished reading the reports that Celestia had given her for the seventh time since they had got on the train. If she could say one thing about the reports it was that they were something alright. One said that the king had officially renamed Tuesday, Taco Tuesday. It sounded like something that Pinkie Pie would do, which explained why the perpetually peppy pink party pony had come along with them. Pinkie was bouncing back and forth along the train, occasionally popping up in a seat to stare out of a window. She had appeared just as they were getting on the train by climbing out of a suitcase. When asked what she was doing Pinkie had told Twilight that her Pinkie sense was telling her that there was going to be a super duper party where they were going. "And I can't miss a party like that!" Pinkie had shouted. Blueblood was being his normal self. Which means that he was bossing the train staff around like they were his personal servants. Though there did seem to be a very small improvement in his attitude towards pokemon if how he treated the one helping the ponies was any indication. He was still a royal pain as Rarity would put it, and he kept giving the Slurpuff any ridiculous order he could think of for his own amusement, but he was careful to not call it an animal. Twilight glanced across the train car at the other stallion that had come with them. She looked him up and down from his white mane and brown coat, to his DNA helix cutie mark. She kept looking at his cutie mark as she thought about him. They had been classmates and science partners in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns or PCSGU for short, which he was able to attend despite being an earth pony because of him being a legitimate genius like herself. Also like her he had a tendency to experiment and invent in his lab. Unlike Twilight however Bio Chem's experiments and inventions often resulted in explosions, which was bad for PCSGU as he was the professor of genetics. He was coming with them because of his most recent explosion, which happened when he attempted to put a Voltorb into his special x-ray machine. Twilight had been meaning to reestablish their friendship over the past month ever since they had met back up in Canterlot to help Celestia with the pokemon, but stuff kept happening to prevent her from doing that. Bio Chem was currently going through his notes on pokemon biology at a near ravenous pace as he had been banned from studying pokemon while in Canterlot until the repairs were finished, but they were not in Canterlot. Celestia had personally asked Twilight to get him out of her hair, and the city, for a while and to keep him out of trouble while in Griffinstone, or at least keep him from blowing it up. "What are you looking at Twilight?" asked Pinkie Pie who had popped up in the seat in front of Twilight and was watching her watch the stallion. Twilight was about to answer, but suddenly realized that she had basically been staring at a stallion's flank for at least a minute or two. "Nothing!" she said nervously. Pinkie looked her in the eye with a rather intense expression for a moment, before she bounced away saying "Okie dokie lokie." Twilight sighed in relief. When the train reached its destination the four ponies stepped off and walked towards the towering city as the day reached noon. They were stopped at the gate by a pokemon that was apparently acting as a city guard. It was a large quadruped with blue skin, a vaguely frog like appearance, and an enormous flower growing out of its back. It spoke to them with an accent similar to the ponies of the Coltic highlands. "Stop where ye stand ye wee ponyta." it ordered them in a gravelly voice. "Speak yer purpose here in Griffinstone." Twilight started to answer but was interrupted by Blueblood. The prince walked right by her and stomped a hoof down in front of the pokemon. "You are speaking to royalty, and shall address us as such you brute. Now step aside and let us through, that is a royal order." The pokemon blinked, and then he grinned in amusement. "Aye ye be royals do ye? Then I guess ye will be wanting the royal treatment?" "Well obviously." the unicorn stallion rolled his eyes. The Venusaur guard walked into the throne room with the four ponies held in his vines. Pinkie Pie and Twilight were in the left vine while Bio Chem and an upside down Blueblood were in the right vine. The Venusaur walked on in right up to the center of the room and dropped them. Twilight, Bio Chem, and Blueblood all rubbed the sore spots from where they landed, while Pinkie Pie bounced a few times. "And there ye have the royal treatment. Do let me know if ye need anything else." said the large Grass type. Bio Chem leaned over and whispered to Twilight and pointed at Blueblood. "Do I have permission to blow him up your highness? They are sure to have some combustible chemicals around here somewhere." "....hmm, maybe later." she told him. Twilight took a look around the throne room. Princess Celestia had told her that Griffinstone had been a...well a dump for quite some time ever since its great treasure was stolen from the last king. You couldn't tell by looking at the throne room, and right in the middle on a stump of wood was the treasure. "That explains it. The new king must have returned it, therefore returning the griffins of Griffinstone to their former glory, and then they named him king." "That is correct." The ponies looked to the new speaker as he entered. The Dragon was not very large compared to a fully grown dragon of Equus, but he strode in confidently with a calm and patient attitude, and he still stood well over the heads of the ponies. He was orange with a tan belly, wings with green insides that looked a little small for his size, and in his head was a small spike like horn with an antenna on either side. He spoke politely with a simple voice that was not deep but strong, giving the impression that he was a dependable and brave person. "You're the first ponies we've seen other than a single thestral. I hope I'm not the first to properly welcome you Griffinstone." "Unfortunately you are, though that is mostly because someone..." Twilight pointedly looked at Blueblood. "...was rude to the guard at the gate." "Oh him, sorry about that. He's used to being in charge so he can be a little testy now. So what can I do for all of you?" Twilight stepped forward and greeted him with a bow, fanning her wings out to the side as she did. "Your highness, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, and it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance and to congratulate you on your new position as the king of Griffinstone." "Oh, I'm not the king." he told her with a smile. "I'm just a farmer. My name is Christopher, and it is my pleasure to meet you Princess Twilight Sparkle." He then bowed to her. "Oh! My goodness that is embarrassing." Twilight said sheepishly. "Um, thank you. So is the king around here somewhere?" "He'll be here in a minute or so. In the meantime you can introduce me to your friends." Christopher waved at the other three ponies. "Of course." Twilight smiled and waved at each of her companions as she introduced them. "This is one of my best friends Pinkie Pie, my friend and old classmate Bio Chem, and Prince Blueblood." Christopher felt a dull thus as Pinkie Pie collided with his chest and hugged him, somehow making it feel like she had wrapped her hooves all the way around him even though she hadn't. "It's so great to meet a new friend who just so happens to also be a farmer! My friend/possible cousin Applejack is an apple farmer, and I even grew up on a farm, but we farmed rocks not food, except for the special rocks that my sister Maud discovered which we make into rock candy, here have some." Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out two pieces of rock candy, one red the other blue, and shoved them in his mouth. Christopher had to wait for everything she had said to process in his mind before he could respond. When he was caught up he chewed up the candy with a lot of loud crunching and swallowed before speaking. "Nice flavor. Reminds me of my Ma's homemade candy. It's nice to meet you Pinkie Pie." He then hugged her. "Wow...you're strong...too tight...too tight!" she said in gasping breaths, and when he let go her body had dents where his arms had been. Pinkie took a deep breath and blew it into her hoof to puff herself back up. "Sorry about that." the Dragon said. Bio Chem introduced himself next. "It is nice to meet you Christopher, but please don't hug me. I don't think I would fare as vell as Pinkie Pie." "No problem." Christopher scratched his head as he smiled down at the stallion. "Do you have any questions? You look like the inquisitive type." If Bio Chem had been a unicorn, or Pinkie Pie, he would have produced a notepad and a writing quill with no problem, but instead he fumbled as he tried to hold them in his front hooves while balancing on his hind legs. He decided after the third stumble to simply memorize the answers to his questions, and tossed the items away narrowly missing hitting Blueblood in the head. "Mein Freund, I have many questions indeed." the stallion said to the Dragon. "To start with, what kind of pokemon are you exactly?"