It was hot.
Granted, they were in a desert. They being a research team from Canterlot, examining any possible environmental effects of the recent arrival of the Pokemon to Equus.
It had been several months since the fateful day when Arceus had escaped a five thousand year imprisonment, and proceeded to dump a fairly large number of Pokemon and humans-turned-Pokemon on Equus.
In the months following this exodus, there had been world meetings, a large number of incidents, several emergencies, and a fairly large period of adjustment.
Now that things were finally settling into something that resembled normality, the nitty gritty work of adjusting to the Pokemon was beginning, including environmental surveys.
These were usually very routine and didn’t feature much excitement, except for the stallion leading this particular survey, that is.
“Come on then!” Bio Chem shouted back at his research team as he ran over the top of a hill. “We’re sure to find a spot to set up camp sooner or later!”
“Celestia,” one stallion, a Unicorn named Geode, mumbled under his breath. “If he doesn’t stop talking soon, I swear I’m gonna-”
“You’ll do nothing,” a young Pegasus mare by the name of Silver Leaf said, slapping the back of his head.
“He’s just excited,” another mare, a Unicorn named Moonbeam, said with a chuckle. “Let him have his fun.”
“Fine,” Geode said with a huff. “But I do hope we find somewhere to set up soon, I don’t wanna be wandering the desert after dark.”
“What? Afraid of the dark?” Moonbeam teased.
Geode shook his head. “No, Sandworms.”
“Sandworms?” Silver Leaf asked.
“Sandworms.” Geode said with a nod.
The three walked on in silence for a while, until Bio Chem came rushing back to them with the familiar form of his Metang, Hal, at his side. “Okay, there’s a town over there,” he said, pointing over one of the hills. “Which is weird, cause I don’t recall a town on the map.”
Geode rolled his eyes. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, why would there be a town out here?”
“Why would somepony plant an Apple Orchard in the middle of the desert?” Bio Chem retorted. “I don’t know why Ponies do what they do, I just try to figure it out afterwards.”
“Does that mean we’re going to that town?” Moonbeam asked hopefully.
“I wouldn’t if I were you!” A new voice shouted from below them, causing Silver Leaf to shriek in surprise and take to the air.
Bio Chem looked down between his hooves and smiled at the little yellow face looking up at him. “Oh calm down,” he said, looking at the rest of his team. “It’s a Sandshrew.”
“Momma and papa say not to go near that town,” the Sandshrew explained. “Mr. Xatu told everymon something wrong is going on there.”
“What kind of wrong?” Moonbeam inquired of the little rodent.
Pulling himself fully out of the ground, the Sandshrew shrugged. “No one’s told me, but they don’t like Pokemon going near there, so I don’t care.” He crossed his arms and pouted. “One of them threw a rock at me.”
“Aww,” Silver Leaf, having recovered from her fright, cooed and nuzzled the Pokemon. “Don’t worry, we’ll find out what the mean ponies are up to.”
The Sandshrew smiled and thanked them before scurrying off. Bio Chem, meanwhile, considered his next course of action.
“I’ll have to leave Hal behind...” he shook his head. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”
“I think you were right to be nervous,” Moonbeam whispered to Bio Chem as they went past the first few buildings of the town. Already they had seen several ponies, all of whom had ran back their houses as they approached. “Did you see the-”
“Smiles?” Bio Chem asked. “Or perhaps the fact that of the ponies we’ve spotted, they’ve all had the same Cutie Mark?”
“... yeah, that,” Moonbeam said with a frown. “I think the Pokemon were right about this place, maybe we should-”
Bio Chem held up a hoof as another Pony approached, a pink Unicorn mare, flanked by several other ponies. Unlike the others, her smile seemed less horrifyingly joyful, and more... sinister.
“Well,” the mare said as she reached the research team. “We certainly weren’t expecting guests anytime soon.”
“Not surprising,” Bio Chem replied. “Seeing as how this little town isn’t on any official maps.”
The mare’s smiled faltered a little. “Is that so?”
“Indeed,” Bio Chem said, smirking a bit. “I’m Bio Chem, from Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. This is Silver Leaf, Geode, and Moonbeam,” the rest of the research team waved nervously. “We’re conducting an environmental survey of the area to see what affects the Pokemon have had on the environment.”
“Oh I doubt they’ve done any damage around here,” the mare said with a smile. “We’ve done our best to... minimize, their presence... what are the Princesses doing about them anyway?”
Bio Chem smirked again. “The Princesses, along with world leaders from almost every other nation on Equus, met and discussed that a few months back.”
“And how is that going?” The mare asked.
“They made them all citizens,” Bio Chem watched as the mares outer calm faded, and was replaced by a look of anger, if only for a split second.
“Ah... wonderful,” the mare sighed. “No matter, I’m Starlight Glimmer, and I’d like to welcome you to our little town.”
“It’s... nice,” Silver Leaf said, looking over all the ponies who’d gathered around them, all of them looking on with giant, unsettling grins. “Why is everypony so... smiley?”
“And what’s up with the Cutie Marks?” Geode asked, pointing at Starlight’s own equal signs.
Starlight smiled. “I’m so glad you asked... everypony! All together now!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioDuLqK_LuY
Bio Chem shuddered as the song ended, while Silver Leaf was hiding behind Geode and Moonbeam.
Starlight, a smile on her face once more, trotted back over to the research team.
Bio Chem stared at her for a moment before speaking. “Are you a cult?” he asked bluntly.
Starlight looked startled. “W-what?” She asked nervously.
“I’m just asking, this seems rather cultish to me, conformity, isolationism... basically everything about this screams cult.”
Starlight glared at the stallion. “We are not a cult.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” he said under his breath.
Her glare hardened. “We are not a cult... and I can prove it to you... if you’ll just follow me.”
“Yeah, we’re not doing that,” Moonbeam interjected. “That’s like... the worst idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
“We’ll just be leaving now, thank you,” Geode said, before turning to see a wall of ponies blocking their path.
“I’m afraid that I can’t allow that,” Starlight said with a sigh.
Silver Leaf attempted to escape via the sky, but several Pegasi grabbed her and pinned her wings.
“Oi!” Bio Chem shouted. “You can’t keep us here!”
“And we won’t,” Starlight said, accepting a wooden staff from a white coated stallion. “In fact, pretty soon... I doubt you’ll ever want to leave!”
Bio Chem’s eyes widened as he saw the magic gathering on the staff. Fortunately, he had a plan B.
“Hal! Use Protect!”
There was a glint of light from above as a mass of blue metal sped downwards and stopped in front of Bio Chem, an orb of light formed in front of the Pony.
“Gah!” Starlight jumped backwards as the shot deflected from the barrier and glared at the Pokemon.
Bio Chem smiled and climbed onto the Metang’s back. “You’ve made a grave mistake today Starlight Glimmer... Confusion!”
Hal responded by sending out a Psychic pulse, knocking the ponies back and off of Silver Leaf and the others.
“Come on!” Geode shouted, already taking off back the way they had come.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Silver Leaf replied, spreading her wings again and taking off.
“Stop them!” Starlight shouted, grabbing her staff and aiming it at the fleeing ponies.
Bio Chem, riding on Hal, and Silver Leaf were both fairly safe, Geode and Moonbeam on the other hand, found themselves facing another wall of ponies.
“Hang on!” Bio Chem shouted, turning his metallic steed around. “Use- Gah!” Hal tumbled backwards as another beam of magic shot from Starlight’s staff.
“GO!” Moonbeam shouted, blasting one of the ponies with a magic beam. “Get help! We’ll be fine!”
“But I-” He was cut off as another magic beam nearly hit him.
“Get that pony!” Starlight shouted.
Reluctantly, Bio Chem turned Hal around and flew out of town, several Pegasi on his tail. “Use Bullet Punch.”
Hal’s claws glowed orange and the Steel-types arms rotated back towards the pursuing Pegasi, before he fired several punches in their direction, hitting the unprepared ponies head on and knocking them out.
Bio Chem glared back at the town. “What now?” Silver Leaf asked. “Do we go back to Canterlot?”
The stallion chuckled lightly. “Canterlot... no, not Canterlot,” he looked off into the distance and smiled. “Hal... set course for Ponyville.”
I can't hit the like button enough times...
good to see a chapter after [INSERT HOWEVER LONG IT HAS BEEN] (I didn't bother keeping track of time), look'n good though.
There is nothing to forgive, u needed time, u took it. Now, now the future begins...
Eh, the wait just makes the new chapters that much sweeter
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be playing Ode to Joy.
Well, that sounds like it's gonna make a few differences. Assuming the ponies aren't idiots and actually go to that town with the fact in mind that the last group that was there was pretty much assaulted for no reason.
Dude, the wait is one of my favorite parts of reading these things sometimes. When I saw this chapter posted, it was 3:00 in the morning. You know what I did? I barely managed to keep myself from screaming and I actually did a little dance. I'm so happy, and I'm glad that we're all back in business!
BRILLIANT!
as always!
well worth the wait.
Never stopped, but its nice to see that you are back again^^
Yash! It's back!
I'm pretty sure that people aren't waiting for you to make another chapter just to yell at you for taking your time. I for one, as well as others have already said before me, am just glad to see you back writing. I hope that with the reappearance of this story more writers will create more or continue adding into this combined universe you have crafted.
I do admit i was begining to get worried, but i'm happy to see it back. This was one of my favorite's when i was readng it.
HE BACK
Dude... Words are immortal. They aren't bound by time. You got them out, they WILL be read. You go at whatever pace Quality and Life tell you.
...
And calm down bro, it's all chill.
No need to apologize Zeus, and you never lost my trust either. And no need to worry about me abandoning this group or my story just yet. I can be stubborn when properly motivated. That said, I know what it's like to be in a rut, as I can suspect many of the authors have as well. So if you need anything, I'll lend whatever support I can.
Welcome back Zeus
No matter. You are BACK! YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!YouareBACK!
You always have my trust
So, timeline wise, at which point would we be in the canon show?
I mean, the Pokémon kind of messed with the timeline of the show - the Plunder Vines never happened, and now they get to the events of The Cutie Map before Tirek breaks loose.
Heck, the events of TCM only happened *because* the whole mess with the Plunder Vines took away the Elements and replaced it with the Box Of Going Super Saiyan, which gave Twilight the castle in the first place - the castle had the map to point out where that village was.
I'm kinda assuming Arceus "dealt with" Tirek all offscreen-like. I mean, fairly sure he'd see Tartarus, go "Nope." and just erase anything in it from existence.
With how long my own break was, I can't say anything about taking your time. Glad to see this continue anyway.
We forgive you Zeus. We realize that life hits harder than a crash-collision against a brick wall, so you can take all the time you need before you feel ready to post another chapter. And post another chapter you did!
So many old favorites have been updating lately... I LOVE IT!
It only takes one escapee to set things in motion.
Of course, with Changelings, that escapee is also a plant.
Just look at Fluttershy. She was a tree.
YAY MORE CHAPTERS!!!!
I think this has hit too many chapters. Clean it up and segment it into separate stories.
I'm still here. Let me know whenever you need a hand
To be honest, I thought that between how you ended the last chapter, and with how there weren't any more updates for so long, that you would've ended this story there and made a sequel. Glad to see that I was wrong and that you're starting to get back into it. As for how quickly or slowly these new chapters come out, I don't think that any of us will mind. We've waited this long for a new one, so I'm sure we can be patient enough for the next.
When you wake up and see that a new world a new way has updated
Your story, do as you NEED! We will be here when you can get back to writing.
Also, UPDATE!
Praise be, it has returned. Also, can't wait to see how it turns out with Starlight this time.*evil chuckle*
That was a great new chapter!
I have other stories to bide my time in the meanwhile. Take your time, hate to see you rush a chapter out.
I literally started rereading this yesterday, thanks for the update!
dude. this story was never bad. yes, it got slow for a time, but that is just what happens. i hope you continue this story because it is one hell of a read.
Sandworms.
f3.thejournal.ie/media/2013/05/worm.gif
I'm just happy you're back. I've been with this story since the first chapters were uploaded, not gonna abandon it now. I only wish you would have made a blog post or something.
It's good to have you back in action my friend
Wooo it's back. Don't worry for the delay, everyone need time to order they minds
Nice to hear that you're back. And for those of us who write for fun as well we understand the feeling of that hole and not being able to get out for some time.
Haha, welcome back to the grind. Thanks for the timing too, i am sick, and every little thing counts. And as for forgiveness, you hardly had a long hiatus, and know i have forgiven for far longer ones.
But yes, i am happy. Aaaand i need to get back to editing NWNG. But yeah, Zues, you good.
Nice to see you back, hopefully this will kick the group back to doing things, it's kinda slowed to a crawl
Popcorn, gets your popcorn here!
This show is gonna be good
7592921 The Pluder Vines happened before the Pokemon arrived, Arceus' arrival disrupted Tirek's plans, and this is a few weeks before or after that Starlight showed up in the show
7593374 I hope so too my friend
Don't beat yourself up. As I say to everybody who apologizes like this: we do this for free, because it's fun. If you weren't having fun writing, then not doing so was the best decision you could have made. People have no right to complain.
And I in particular was content with the current arc being finished.
7593469 Oh? I distinctly remember reading something to the effect of some legendary Pokémon or another going through the Everfree, finding the Plunder Vines buried, and deciding to do something about it and all the other chaos going on.
Maybe I'm blending multiple fanfics together in my head, though. Happens all the time.
EDIT: Yeah, I'm definitely crossing this fanfic with another one in my head. Zygarde and Shaymin did encounter a Timberwolf, but no vines.
EDIT2: On another note, are you excited for Pokémon Sun/Moon? I know I am.
7593469 ZEUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS OMG ZEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS NOTICE ME !!!! :P IM so glad you finally got your mojo back (if not 100%), despite what you may think this writing IS EPIC!!
Im so glad you are finally feeling better friend, also remember what i said about a little you know what for this story? Yea well its still like a 80 -20 chance i can do it but im pretty hyped to give it a shot (its not a moving thingy, unfortunately i cant do that (no time, and too hard))
Edit: oh also no need to clog the comments with a chat, you have my email (hopefully) just email me whenever.
I don't think you should be the one apologizing, in fact I think we should be apologizing because I think we forgot this isn't a job (or at least I think it isn't) this is a hobby for you and we enjoy reading your hobby that we shouldn't pester you to update. If you need to take your time take it, I won't push you to do any updates at a rapid pace go at your own and hopefully all of us can be patient.
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the Boss is back
Oh good. You're back. Things have nearly died completely with the spinoffs.