"Let Me Think"
It was exam season at Canterlot High and everyone was studying to their fullest. Since some of the human world's Mane 7 needed a bit of help tackling their subjects, they all decided to study at Twilight's place.
"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!", screamed Rainbow Dash as all the frustration she had accumulated over the past few days unleashed itself. She was certain that if she had to go over one more molecule and the way how it is named, she would smash everything in Sci-Twi's living room. She did almost smash a vase with her chemistry book. "Screw it. I think I'll manage a D. At least."
"Don't be like that Rainbow. Take a look at Pinkie here," Sunset said while pointing to the friend she was currently helping. "She got how to draw a molecule from the form... Have you been drawing snowmen with the molecules?", she asked, completely dumbfounded, to which Pinkie replied with a clear "Yup!". Sunset couldn't be angry though. Pinkie actually managed to draw the molecules correctly.
"I think a little break wouldn't hurt", Twilight then said. "Is anyone hungry we still got a whole pizza from yesterday."
Everyone agreed to having a break, but Rarity had to refuse the offer for pizza. She has had too much of it this week. While Applejack, Sunset, Twilight and Fluttershy waited for their respective slices to heat up, Rainbow decided to check her phone if there was anything interesting on YouTube. The first video that caught her attention instantly made her cheer up.
"Oh. My. GOSH!", she was so excited that she fell backwards onto Twilight's couch, her legs flailing and making noises that almost sounded like she was gonna lose it.
"What's gotten ya so worked up, Dash?", Applejack asked curiously.
"Yeah. Last time I've seen you so excited was when they accepted you into that military summer camp last year", Pinkie said, content with her slice of pizza being cold still.
"Check this out, guys," Rainbow said before showing her friends the trailer for the latest Pokémon game. "I can't believe I missed the trailer announcement." Pinkie Pie then took Rainbow's phone and got just as excited.
"You're still playing the games?" Sunset asked.
"Obviously", Rainbow answered. "I don't know why you act surprised."
"I can see why, darling. The other athletes from our school aren't big video game fans, except for some of those gun games that is."
"Don't shoe horn me into the same box as those idiots. Hey, Fluttershy, why aren't you excited? You love the games just as much as I do."
"I've seen the trailer already. I just love those little creatures. They're so cute. Especially the newer games where you can actually play with them."
The other girls of the group also gave their opinions on the series.
Sunset played Emerald, the 4th Gen and 5th Gen games. She stopped after GameFreak started using 3D models. It just didn't feel like Pokémon to her anymore. Though she does go back to them from time to time.
Applejack prefers the Anime over the games, since she works on the farm all day and the show was always on during her breaks. She kinda lost interest after the Advanced series though.
Rarity has never had any interest in anything Pokémon.
Pinkie Pie was the biggest Pokémon fan out of the seven girls and often even goes to events. 'til this day, she has yet to miss one episode of the Anime and capturing every single creature in the game was holy to her. The fact that she missed an announcement, because of something so trivial as an exam made her feel deeply ashamed.
Sci-Twi enjoys the games, because she can practice her math. Which starter and team would statistically be the best, which strategies would work best with and against which Pokémon and she can even calculate the damage her opponent takes faster than the computer.
Rainbow Dash actually introduced Fluttershy to the series and she loves them just as much as Rainbow, though she enjoys her excitement more internally.
Now that Rainbow Dash knew that almost everyone in the room was a fan, there was one question that lingered in the air until she had the guts to ask it.
"So, ... what's your favourite Pokémon?"
Everyone in the room tried to think of an answer. Fluttershy was the first.
"I think I like Whimsicott the most. Or Wigglytuff."
"Whimsi-what? Is that one of them newer ones?", Applejack asked.
"Kinda. It's from Gen 5. Wait a second." Pinkie pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I've got an app with all 802."
"There's 802 of them critters now? Yeesh, Ah must've missed a lot." After seeing a picture of the cotton ball-like Pokémon, Applejack understood the appeal to Fluttershy.
"Pinkie Pie, could I have your phone for a minute?" Rarity asked. "I wanna pick one too." Though she didn't have any interest in the franchise, she also didn't want to be the odd one out of the group.
"Well, for me it's clear." Sci-Twi barged in. "My favourite Pokémon is Alakazam", she proudly announced.
"I figured an egg-head like you would chose a Psychic-type."
"And why shouldn't I?", Twilight retorted, feeling mildly insulted. "Alakazam is fast, has a powerful move pool and has the highest Special-Attack in the game."
"OBJECTION!" Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash immeditely jumped up from their seats, both of them pointing a finger at their purple friend. While Rainbow Dash had a cocky grin on her face, Pinkie Pie's expression was much more grim.
"Alakazam, with 135 hasn't had the highest Special-Attack since Gen 5 when Chandelure was announced. Now, a number of Pokémon have a higher Special-Attack base than Alakazam."
"I meant Mega-Alakazam", Twilight retorted. Pinkie dicided to give her that point. "Anyways, what's your favourite Rainbow Dash. Let me guess ... uhm, Rapidash?" Her rainbow-haired friend gave a light chuckle.
"Surprisingly close, but no. My favourite is Lucario. It's just so cool. It can sense aura, it's a fighting type, it's in Smash and it even got it's own movie. Lucario is basically Goku if he was a Pokémon." The others did see the similarities and Rainbow even imagined Kid Goku as a Riolu evolving into a Lucario. "But, Rapidash is a close second though."
"Hey, that's ma favourite. That one or Arkanine", Applejack announced.
"A Fire-type lover? I thought you'd be more of an, i don't know, Ground-type fan. Sturdy. Strong. And you live on a farm."
"As a matter of fact, I am. It's just a coincidence that both ma favourites are fire-types."
"You do know that there's a Ground-type horse now, right?" Pinkie asked before claiming her cell phone back from Rarity, who was not yet finished selecting a Pokémon.
"Hey."
"Here, Applejack. It's name is Mudsdale. It's actually pretty awesome. A powerful tank that just gets tankier every time it gets hit."
"Well, would'ya look at that", Applejack said after looking at one of the most recent additions to the universe. "I might have a new favourite now." After that, Applejack handed Rarity Pinkie's phone again.
"Wow Pinkie, you really know a lot about the games", Fluttershy complimented her. Sunset on the other hand could only think of what her grades would look like if she put this much effort into remembering her school stuff.
"Yeah, Pinks. How's about you tell us your favourite?"
A surprisingly intense energy filled the room. Pinkie Pie has demonstrated her knowledge of the subject for the last ten minutes. Surely her pick would be the one true best Pokémon in existence. Even Rarity was looking up for this one.
"Slurpuff."
The room went silent for a few seconds, but each of them felt like an eternity.
"What?"
"My favourite Pokémon is Slurpuff", Pinkie said while everyone else just stared at her confused as all hell. Twilight was the first to speak up.
"B- b- but Slurpuff is terrible. It's STATs are mediocre at best and a move pool that's more confused than Applejack at a fashion show", Twilight babbled.
"I know. But it looks like a cupcake. Or an ice cream cup. Or a piece of cake. I bet it tastes like one as well. Imagine going hunting for a walking cupcake." Her optimusm was met with deafening silence from her friends. "What? Did you expect something else?"
The group was dumbfounded. In retrospect, her choice did make sense, though.
"Ah don't know, Ah guess we thought you'd pick somethin' else."
"Yeah, like Absol, because of your Pinkie sense", Rainbow said.
"Or Totodile or Sandile, because you like alligators so much", Fluttershy continued.
"Something just ... better", Twilight completed. Even Pinkie didn't know how to respond to that. Silence once again hung in the air until Rarity, suddenly shouted.
"I got it." A bit embaressed at her sudden outburst, she sat down again. "I finally decided."
"Great Rares. What is it?"
"I'm not sure how to pronounce it. Gavara-. Guard-. Garede-.
"GARDEVOIR", her friends shouted in unison.
"Right, I love her dress. I hope that's okay." After witnessing what happened with Pinkie's pick, she wasn't sure how her friends would react.
"Sure, Gardevoir is awesome", Rainbow answered, taking the weight from Rarity's shoulder again. "I'm pretty sure that only leaves one. C'mon Sunset, spit it out."
"I wasn't much in a rush. My favourite is Moltres. Back when I was in Equestria, Princess Celestia had a pet phoenix. We got along pretty well and often pranked the guards."
"That's a sweet story and all, but that answer is invalid."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, Sunset", Pinkie bud in. When discussing favourites, Legendaries are off limits."
"Even Ah know that. They're just already in that special position, ya know?" Seeing that she was outnumbered on this one, she decided to roll with it and chose another one.
"Okay, second try. Uhm, uhm, uhm." It was more difficult than she thought. "Oh, I got it. Blaziken. Blaziken is my favourite Non-Legendary." The reaction from the others was probably the most mundane of them all, probably because Sunset had to chose again. Everyone basically rambled on how that one made sense and how the Pokémon fits Sunset.
"Well then. That was fun. Back to studying?" Twilight finally suggested, but Rainbow wasn't exactly done.
"Hold on a second. We all know our favourites now, but-"
"Whut are ya playin' at, Dash?"
"I'm just saying that we don't know who of us is the best player." Now, every single person present knew what she was up to.
"Rainbow, no." Fluttershy was surprisingly the one to speak it out first. "We've got exams coming up and we can't waist our time preparing for a tournament."
"Let it rest, Fluttershy", Sunset said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This will definitely consume much of our study time, but not as much as Rainbow Dash when she doesn't get what she wants." Her friends seemed to agree for the most part. "What are the rules?"
"Each of us gets one week to prepare their perfect teams of six on paper. You can chose from every Pokémon that's not banned. No Mega-Evolution, though. I think me and Pinkie will need about two weeks to prepare them on our games. When we're done, we'll let fate decide who of us is gonna face who. Sounds like fun, right?"
Despite their need to prepare for their tests, Rainbow hyping this up actually kinda worked. Twilight was confident her strategies would be too much for the others. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy thought it sounded like fun. Rarity was willing to give the games a try and Applejack and Sunset wanted to teach Rainbow a lesson about disturbing their prep time.
"Fine. I accept your challenge. IF you manage to get an A in Chemistry."
"DEAL!", Rainbow screamed. She immediately went to get her chemistry book and stuck her nose into it. Yeah, this was about to be fun.