A New World, An Old Promise

by Dilos1

III

The morning air was just beginning to warm up a little as the sun gradually rose higher into the sky when Mavis stepped outside. She paused for a few brief moments to take in the scent of the orchard, enjoying the surreal stillness before the day began.

And yet. . .

Mavis's gaze lowered to the dry ground beneath her feet, feeling her content expression fade into moroseness. Briefly she wondered if Jubilee had managed to catch wind of any of the emotions that Mavis purposefully neglected to tell her. She did not believe so, as none of Jubilee's actions seemed to indicate she was aware of them, but it was always a possibility whenever Mavis opened her mind to allow them to communicate.

As far as Mavis was concerned, there was no need to concern her friend with a matter such as this, but she did not fool herself into believing that she would be able to keep her thoughts private forever without cutting Jubilee off completely. Jubilee would find out eventually that there was something going on with her. Until that day however, Mavis would just act as though nothing were wrong, and just go about her day as she always had.

"Business as usual."

Floating above the ground to save herself the trouble of walking, Mavis silently moved away from the house with her hands clasped behind her back, her first objective for the day lying just ahead of her, appearing in the form of a large bluish-grey dorsal fin sticking out of the soil like a strange rock formation. Letting a heavy sigh escape her lips, Mavis approached the object and examined it with a critical gaze before giving it a firm kick.

"Hey! Wake up you overgrown salamander," she ordered loudly as she continued to kick it repeatedly. "Time to get up and get lost."

Within a few moments the soil beneath her began to stir, reminded her a little bit of churning water as a large creature rose up out of the ground. Mavis stood back a little bit to avoid any dirt getting on her, and watched with a bemused expression as a garchomp, standing roughly between eight and nine feet in height, stood, stretching his claw tipped arms and letting out a mighty yawn, exposing the rows of small pointed teeth in his mouth. The large pokemon then took a brief moment to shake the dust he had accumulated on himself. As the dirt fell off of his body multiple scars running across his rough hide were made visible, the most prominent one being a large diagonal line running down his torso, starting from his right shoulder down to his left hip, the result of having fought a great many battles. He was actually well known, once in the Lumiose Badlands and now Dodge Junction, as something of a bruiser, as it used to be that he would run off anything that tried to usurp his claim over an oasis in that arid part of the Kalos Region.

Yet, despite this reputation, the big fellow was actually something of a gentle giant, especially around those much smaller than him. Whenever young ones or injured were involved, he always made sure to keep himself in check. This was all well and good in Mavis's opinion, but to her it was offset by his lack of regard for the property of others, and the only thing on her mind right now was to get him to leave so she could be on her way.

Finally taking notice of her, the garchomp flashed her a toothy grin and said in a rough tone laced with the onset of age, "Oh, mornin' there Mavis. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

Crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow, Mavis wondered how much longer he would pretend to not know why she was here. It had become something of a ritual between them, where he would feign ignorance and innocence while her annoyance grew. She was pretty sure that he found some sort of amusement in it, judging from the look on his face, which only made it that much more aggravating. It probably would not have bothered her so much if it did not work.

"You're not fooling anyone here Grump," Mavis replied, using the nickname given to him by the residents of Dodge Junction. "You know exactly why I'm here, so pack your bags and get going."

Grump placed a claw on his red skinned chest across the scar, as though he were actually hurt by the remark. Mavis knew better though, having long since learned that the old pokemon had at some point in his life become a bit of a trickster, oftentimes manipulating the younger generations of both ponies and pokemon into getting his way.

"Why Mavis," he said in a rather convincing solemn tone that would have probably fooled anyone else, "how could you say such a thing, and to your elder no less? What have I ever done to deserve such treatment from the very same individual to whom I owe my own life to?"

"You mean other than the fact you annoy me on a daily basis just for kicks? Not to mention you digging around here damages the roots of the Jubilee's trees? Nope, can't think of anything."

At this Grump let out out a deep rumble in his throat and responded, "Well what am I supposed to do? This is the only good soil around for miles." After saying this Grump fixed her with a blank look that suggested that she had been a bit too callous with him, "Also, I did not know that I found pleasure in making you uncomfortable instead of repaying a debt. I thought it was just to stay close by should you have need of my assistance, but apparently that is not the case as you see it."

Mavis sighed, understanding that she may have been a little bit more abrasive with Grump than she intended to be. For all of his faults, he was a gentle that cared deeply for those he considered his friends.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I should not have said that." Mavis apologized sincerely. Crossing her arms she added, "I. . . don't know if you've noticed, but I've been rather on edge as of late."

"Oh don't worry, I noticed," Grump responded, giving her a sympathetic look. "And to be honest I'm a little concerned. Are you well? Has that pony, Peachy or whatever absurd name it was, been treating you well?"

"Yes of course," Mavis answered, not wanting the garchomp to get the wrong idea. "Jubilee has been very kind to me. I know I've told before that since we met she's been nothing but kind and respectful to me, which is actually more than I can say for most of the humans I've met. As for me. . . I'm doing as well as I can I suppose. It's nothing you need to worry about."

Grump narrowed his eyes slightly as a deep rumble escaped his throat, sounding very much like boulders grinding against each other to Mavis' ears, and she could tell that he wanted to say something to her, wanted to pursue the matter. In the end however he chose not to however. "Well, if you say so," he said. Brushing away some dirt that was still stuck to him he added, "Well in any case, do you still wish for me to depart?"

Mavis was about to say that was indeed what she wanted, but then she thought about her earlier conversation with Jubilee just a short while ago. Deciding to at least humor him for the being, she said," You know what Grump, why don't you stick around? I was planning to get something down at the Salt Block. The tender there knows me, so I could get him to get something for you to. What do you say?"

Appearing to mull over her offer, the large dragon type pokemon put a claw to his chin and said," Well, I don't normally like to get involved with them ponies, but I suppose that as long as you're offering, then who am I to decline."

Nodding in appreciation, Mavis motioned for hi to follow her as she started to make her way to town, the sound of his feet thudding on the ground letting her know that he was close behind.

"Oh, just so you know, this isn't going to be a regular thing for us," she said over her shoulder.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say," Grump replied with a deep chuckle.

---

The commute into town was a short one, but Mavis nevertheless enjoyed the quiet as they approached the wooden buildings. She had once heard a pony on her way to Manehatten refer to the structures as oversized storage sheds, which she supposed was true to at least some extent. Mavis herself once shared that opinion, as she was more used to living on a neat and tidy estate one would associate with the rich and powerful. Over time however Mavis had come to appreciate what Dodge Junction had to offer, in spite of its lack luster appearance.

She only wished that it did not feel so empty half of the time. Dodge Junction had few residents in comparison to other small towns such as Ponyville or Hollow Shades. The last time she checked, the overall population came out at around eighty or so individuals, pokemon included. This oftentimes made the place seem more like a ghost town. So far the only other residents she had seen were a stallion sitting on his porch and a pair of fillies playing with a trapinch. Nobody seemed to be out at this time as the Salt Block finally came into view. The establishment itself looked like a saloon in an old western film, complete with swinging doors and tacky wooden buffalo statue.

Letting herself drift to the ground, Mavis strolled up the doors with Grump still following close behind. When she reached the doors she stopped, waiting expectantly with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Well?" Grump questioned as he came up beside her. "Are you going to go in or not?"

In response Mavis gave him a little smile and said, "It is only proper for one to open a door for a lady, is it not? It is good manners after all."

Grump sighed heavily, looking slightly annoyed as he reached went over and pulled the door open to allow her entry.

"Thank you," Mavis sang as she proceeded to step inside, choosing to ignore whatever the garchomp was muttering under his breath regarding her own manners. Inside she was greeted by a somewhat dark and mildly stuffy interior, helped slightly by a few open windows. Above her head was an ornate iron chandelier, unlit at this time of the day, surrounded by a quartet of ceiling fans that spun slowly. The current Block's current occupants consisted of about eight ponies. A few of them were in conversation with each other, others chose to sit alone, while the last pony, a thin unicorn stallion with light bluish grey fur, was busy arranging supplies behind the counter. There were only two other pokemon in there as well, a murkrow that was perched on the chandelier and a cacturne that was sitting at the front counter, nursing a drink.

When they entered they received only a few passing glances, most of them reserved for Grump as he was the more eye catching of the two, especially seeing as how he was having a minor amount of difficulty squeezing through the door. However Mavis was all but too aware of the cacturnes' gaze tracking her movement with his vivid yellow eyes. Even though she was unable to read his mind on account of type, Mavis knew all too well what was on his mind as he looked at her. She could not help but feel her skin crawl a little from it. This only it all the more satisfying when he spotted Grump, who was finally able to get inside while causing only minor damage to the door frame, although little chunks of wood and paint could still be seen on his rough skin. Almost immediately the cacturne turned away, now only occasionally glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

Letting a satisfied smile cross her face, Mavis casually strolled over to the counter, where she sat down with her hands neatly folded in her lap. Since he was likely to break the bar stool if he so much as leaned on it, Grump chose to shove the seat aside and sat cross legged on the floor next to her.Even sitting down, the mach pokemon still towered over almost everyone else by a good few inches. Within moments the bartender approached them, and Mavis almost had to struggle as his large sideburns quivered as he spoke.

"Mornin' there Mavis. Nice to see ya around here again," he said in a friendly tone. "Anythin' that I can get for ya?"

Projecting her thoughts toward the stallion, Mavis replied in an equally friendly tone, "My usual if you would please Brass. And one more for my companion here."

Brass eyed Grump analytically before stating, "I'm not sure a glass would suit you there big fella."

"Whatever you can do will be fine," Mavis said as she slid him a pair of bits. Brass gave her a curt nod as he set to work.It was only a minute or two until he came back, levitating a glass over to her, while grump received a large tin cup. The garchomp had to use both of his clawed tips to try and pick it up before bringing it up to his fanged mouth.

Giving Mavis a sly grin, Brass said to her as she took a sip, "Ya know Mavis, that stuff ain't exactly cheap to have shipped all the way out here, and you're pretty much the only one in town that even drinks it."

Smiling sheepishly, Mavis said apologetically, "Sorry. I guess I'm just a bit too used to the fancy stuff."

Brass chuckled. "Eh, don't worry about it. Everyone and everypony here knows you've at least earned yourself that much."

Mavis thanked him, sincerely appreciative of his hospitality. He was certainly much nicer than some of the humans she had met in the past, including a former one that was currently sitting not too far away from her. Gesturing to the cacturne in question, she asked, "So what's with tall dark and spiky over there? I thought you banned him from coming here anymore."

"You mean Baxter?" questioned replied, keeping his voice low enough that he would not be overheard by the cacturne. Mavis nodded, at which Brass sighed heavily and said, "No, that's just a rumor that's been floating around since about a week ago. What happened is that he was getting a little too, how do I say. . . direct with some of the patrons, and I had to throw him out. Now though, I'm starting to wish I had banned him, if only so he'll stop bothering my customers."

Mavis nodded in understanding as she took another sip, casting a sidelong glance at Baxter. Mavis herself did not know that much about him, and she had no intention to learn more. What she did know was that he was once a human, like Brooke, along with the fact he was both a pervert and less tan sober most of the time, which was always a bad combination to have. Mavis had thankfully never been unfortunate enough to garner his brand of attention, at least not yet, but she still recalled in vivid detail the time when he started to make advances on Brooke, much to the maractus' chagrin. Nothing had happened thankfully. Mavis made sure of that.

"It's a real shame too," Brass added, interrupting Mavis' train of thought. "I want to believe that there's a good guy in there somewhere, otherwise how would he be here in the first place, right?"

Despite her misgivings regarding the cacturne, Mavis had to admit that Brass did have a point there. Only a handful of humans were selected to go to Equestria, each one having been deemed worthy for it, which brought to mind the question of how someone like Baxter made it through. Perhaps he was different back then, but as he was right now Mavis found it difficult to have much sympathy for him. Raising her glass a little she said, "Here's to hoping he wises up one of these days." She took a drink then, emptying her glass before signalling for a refill.

Suddenly the sound of the doors saloon doors opening drew her attention, and she turned in her seat to see a bedraggled pony mare four large, worn looking saddlebags slung across her back enter the establishment. Mavis instantly recognized the mare as Silver Spanner, a unicorn mare with a rusty brown coat of fur, white hair and a cutie mark of a wrench. While she was not personally acquainted with her, Mavis knew her well enough from brief encounters that she was a good pony with a generally good disposition. From what she heard however she liked to keep her side of the small town awake through the nights by working on whatever projects that happened to catch her fancy, most of them mechanical in nature.

Last night must have been witness to one of these occasions, if Mavis were to judge from her tired appearance. Her mane was mess, her fur was covered in oil stains, and the bags under her bloodshot eyes were so large they could have held water. No different than how she normally looked in all honesty.

With a half lidded gaze and barely any grace to speak of, Silver Spanner plodded and stumbled her way over to the front bar, where she hauled herself up onto a seat a few chairs down from where Mavis was sitting. Waving Brass down, she yelled, "Yo tap! Can I get a block an' a glass o' water?"

"Coming right up," Brass replied. In a few moments he procured a small block of salt and a glass of clear water, levitating them both over to her. Silver Spanner practically yanked them out of his grip with her own magic, levitating the block up to her mouth before noisily sucking on it. Every once in a while she would stop to take a quick swig of water before returning to the salt.

Mavis suppressed a chuckle at the sight as she returned her gaze to her own drink, until she noticed that Baxter's attention had shifted from her to look at Silver Spanner. She also noticed the odd gleam in his yellow eyes as he looked at the mare. Within Moments the cacturne stood up from his seat and began moving towards the mare, occasionally swaying from side to side.

Mavis already knew what was on his mind, and she could not help but feel her skin crawl from thinking about it. Instead of intervening right away however, Mavis chose to wait and watch for the time being. She knew that even in the mares depleted state, Silver Spanner was wise enough to see through his ploy. Silently observing, Mavis watched as Baxter helped himself to an empty seat next to Silver and began a quiet conversation with her. Not for the first time Mavis found herself wondering how and where Baxter learned to speak Equestrian, albeit a somewhat broken version of it. She could not for the life of her figure it out, and Baxter seemed content to keep that information to himself. For now, it was just another mystery regarding who he was.

Mavis was unable to suppress a grin when she saw Baxter frown when Silver said something to him. In response, Baxter tried at another attempt at smooth talk as he reached an arm around her withers. This action was met by Silver's hoof slapping it away as though he were no more than an annoying insect. Baxter still did not seem to take the hint however, as he spoke a little louder, enough for Mavis to hear him say, "Oh come on, don't be like that. You look like you could use a little fun to get you going."

Mavis felt the sudden urge to vomit, and it was then that she decided to intervene.

"I'll be right back," she said to Grump in her native tongue. The garchomp payed her little mind however, as he was still rather preoccupied with trying to grasp his beverage in his claws. Leaving him to deal with that, Mavis casually strolled over to the the two. When she reached them it looked to her as though Silver was about ready to do something violent to the cacturne, and as much as Mavis would have liked to see Baxter get what was coming to him, she felt it was only proper to interfere before the situation got too out of hand.

"Excuse me," Mavis spoke up after clearing her throat, using both her mind and her lips to speak so they would both understand her. "Pardon me for interrupting your little. . . discussion, but it seems to me that the lady does not wish to be bothered at this time."

Baxter's yellow eyes narrowed as he peered at her with an annoyed expression. Mavis found that at least from a distance he was tolerable to be around, but up close she had a hard time trying not be rude by gagging. He was dirty, unkempt, and his breath smelled of many foul things as he spoke.

"Get lost Mavis," he snapped at her in irritation. "Mind your own business."

Mavis frowned as she cocked an eyebrow at him. "I don't think so Baxter," she replied in a quiet tone, fixing him with a withering glare. She felt an immense amount of satisfaction when she saw him flinch, no doubt recalling the last time he had gotten on her bad side.

"Leave. Now."

Mavis hoped that Baxter would have had least retained enough of his dulled sense to comply. Unfortunately it seemed that his memory was failing him as his green face contorted into an expression of anger as leaped up from his seat and took a swing at her aiming for her face. Mavis saw it coming coming however, and easily leaned out of the way, avoiding his blow completely as Baxter, not expecting her to be able to dodge, was carried by his own momentum all the way down to the floor. This gained to attention the saloons other patron as they looked on with mild interest while Baxter scrambled to his feet.

Out of the corner of her eye Mavis noticed Grump beginning to stomp towards them, but Mavis quickly motioned for him stay put. She did not want to kill Baxter after all.

His face contorted with drunken rage, Baxter tried once more to hit her straight in her chest, his arm cloaked in faint aura of green light. Mavis sidestepped away from the blow almost no perceivable effort, causing him to become sprawled over the front counter when his stomach met the its edge. Silver snickered as she pointed a hoof at him. Rather than give up however, Baxter picked up one of the bar stools and raised it over his head to strike Mavis. Mavis looked on incredulously, then with amusement when Baxter swung his makeshift weapon, only to find said weapon missing from. He looked around frantically to see where it went, and soon found that the bar stool was now in the magical grip of Brass.

"These are expensive to replace I'll have you know. You ain't gonna be messing these up," the stallion scolded.

Baxter scowled at the pony, looking ready to try and hit him until a quick "Ahem" drew his attention back to his original opponent. The moment her turned around however he found his face becoming acquainted with a pink fist wrapped in an angry orange aura coming towards him at high speed. The force of the power-up-punch was enough to knock him out instantly, leaving the cacturne to fall to the floor like a sack of rocks.

"Oh Grump," Mavis said all too cheerfully, calling the garchomp over. "Would you be so kind as to take out this piece of rubbish? Its stench is fouling up the air in here."

Giving her a quick salute, Grump replied, "Right away milady." Gathering up Baxter, Grump proceeded to carry him over to the exit, where he was unceremoniously tossed out onto the street.

"Nice swing," Mavis heard someone say behind her, and she turned to find that it was Silver Spanner that ha spoken to her. "Saved me the trouble of havin' to buck his teeth down his throat myself."

"Your welcome," Mavis answered with a nod. "To be fair though, I've been wanting to d that for a while now."

"Can't say that I don't believe you," Silver Spanner replied as she took another sip of her water. "Sorry for asking, but what's your name again? I mean, I known I've met you before, but I can't for the life o' me remember what your name was."

"Really?" Mavis said in surprise. She would admit that she and Silver may not have been that well acquainted with each other, but she would have thought that the mare would at least remember a name that was not an adjective followed by a noun. Still, Mavis chose not to be offended in favor of saying politely, "Well in that case, please just call me Mavis."

"I knew it started with an m," the mare said with a nod. She then offered Mavis a hoof and added, "Well in any case, I Silver Spanner if you didn't already know."

"Don't worry, I did," Mavis answered as she somewhat hesitantly grasped the mares hoof her hand. She did not mean to seem uppity, but she oftentimes felt compelled to wash her hands after shaking a pony's hoof, on account of the fact that she never knew where they had been walking all day. Retracting her hoof, Silver gestured to the chair next to her that Baxter was just sitting in.

"Why don't you take a seat so we can chat a little more?" she asked. "I mean, it pretty much yous seeing as how you punched that guys lights out."

Shrugging, Mavis did as the mare requested and sat down. "Well, I won't say he didn't deserve it, but still I think there could have a better way for me to handle it," Mavis admitted as she retrieved her own drink with mental nudge.

"Maybe," but at least you were willin' to do something about it," Silver Spanner said. "Honestly most of the folks I meet would be happy to just stand by and watch and wait for someone else to do something. You know what I mean?"

Mavis nodded, conceding the point. She recalled a few instances from her previous home where it seemed that whenever people like Baxter started to cause trouble, most would just happily ignore the problem and continue on their merry way.

"For what it's worth though," Silver added, "At least it led to me meeting you for a second time. Hopefully the next will be under better conditions, eh?"

"This sounds like a farewell," Mavis said with a raised eyebrow. "You're not leaving already are you?"

"Afraid so," Silver replied as she stood and began t move away from the counter. "I just remembered I got a whole load of work to do for a couple of clients o' mine. Two stallions in barber uniforms or somethin'. Want my help to fix their weird contraption or whatever. Plus I need to make sure Blitz is doing okay at the workshop. I always get nervous when he's on his own around heavy objects."

With that, Silver Spanner made her way towards the exit, tossing a quick "Be seein' you" to Mavis over her shoulder, leaving Mavis sitting alone at the counter.

After a few moments, Mavis noticed that Brass was giving her an odd look, as though he were expecting something from her. It was at that moment that Mavis realized that Silver had left her to pick up the tab.

Author's Note:

Well this took a lot longer to get out than I expected. I hope the fact it's about twice as long as the others help make up for it.
Now, I realize that not a lot seems to be happening in this story at the moment, and that was actually my intention for this story as a whole. If I just start throwing out eldritch evils and political conspiracies wherever until book two comes out. Plus I would prefer this story to not be as action oriented as others. My main focus right now is how the people from the pokemon world are adapting to their new environment. On the topic of Baxter. . . well, just as people can change for the better, so to can people change for the worse.
Be sure to leave a comment below on what you thought of this chapter and the overall story so far.

Comments

[Eonflare]

Really? Just thirty residents? Even for a small place, that feels like an unrealistically tiny population.

[Dilos1]

7461807 Do you think sixty or so would be a better number?

[Eonflare]

7461880 I think at least a few hundred. Double digits is way too small.

[Dilos1]

7462817 You sure? To me the general pony population for most towns, even Ponyville, always seemed kind of low. You hardly ever see more than a few dozen individuals at any given time in the show. The Crystal Empire is one of the only places I've seen in the show where there is a very large concentration of them.

[Eonflare]

7464033 How many ponies did you estimate were in that Queue for Cider season? I estimate there would've been a couple hundred at least.
How many you can see in most scenes doesn't seem like a good way to estimate the population to me.

[Dilos1]

7465589 Fair enough. Will keep that in mind. Aside from that what did you think ofthis chapter?

[Eonflare]

7465592 Meh, fairly normal chapter. Introduced a Garchomp. Threw out a troublemaker. Normal stuff.