Till The End

Till The End

Chapter 2: Peering Eyes

Despite the mountain’s craggy exterior, traversing the mountain was relatively easy.  To make things even better, there was a mountain path that led right to the gates of the city.  The gate was several hundred feet in front of the entrance to the city on the top of a natural ramp, and I was able to get a good look at the sign before I ventured into the heart of things.  The sign read Canterlot-City of Nobility, and by the looks of it the town itself it was indeed going to be very posh and that also meant that things were going to be very expensive.  It wouldn’t take long for people to pick up that I was an outsider but I had no idea how much of an outsider I truly was.  Based on this fact, I would have to make do with the cheapest supplies and or lodgings that this town had to offer and I would also have to avoid too much confrontation(s).  I could feel the gaping hole in my wallet forming.

I took my first steps into Canterlot and I quickly took notice of the size and scale of the place.  It was a city of nobles after all.  The streets were paved with fine-cut stone and they were decorated with the many colors that you expected to see in stone decor.  There were lamp posts at almost every corner and they were just beginning to light themselves.  The buildings were lush and lavish yet I couldn’t tell what any of them were just by looking, because many of them looked similar to me.  I couldn’t pick out which stores sold which items or which ones were actually homes.  Looking up at the horizon I spotted several towers and spires that touched the sunset line and I could only think of all the generic story plots involving the princess taped in the tallest of them.  “I see you looking at me.  You think that I’m girly for thinking such things.  I’ll have you know that I am well acquainted with several forms of media.  I’m manly I swear.”  I had that conversation in my head one too many times.  There seemed to be a lot of fancy stores and the lot around, but first and foremost I was looking for a Pokémon Center and then a Poke Mart.  I would have to restock on some supplies before I traveled more on my journey.

It took awhile but I was able to come across some of the locals…well the Pokémon of locals at least.  This town was overrun by Ponyta and Rapidash.  They just happened to be the strangest looking Ponyta and Rapidash that I have ever seen.  The colors were all off, and their characteristics didn’t match those that I found in my Pokedex.  They were all sorts of colors that ranged from red to purple and from black to white.  Some of them had wings and some of them had horns.  The main characteristics of Ponyta and Rapidash are the flaming manes and all of these creatures lacked them.  These creatures couldn’t have possibly been Ponyta or Rapidash without the fiery manes; however they could still be related to them.

I couldn’t believe it.  I was sitting on the greatest Pokémon discovery in the last several years.  These creature had to have been new sorts of evolutions that stemmed from Ponyta and that would explain their strange appearances and characteristics.  Some Pokémon evolve differently based on location, and I would stick to that explanation.  There must be something about either the mines I was in or the mountainous terrain that made them evolve separately.  Perhaps it was a certain elemental stone or a distinct landmark native to this region.  However the only way I could prove this would be to bring a Ponyta here and force it to evolve by training it.  Sadly I had no Ponyta.

I stopped walking in order to make further observations of these new creatures.  I first pulled out my Pokedex.  I had to check if these beasts were documented somewhere.  No point in going through all of the work if I couldn’t mark it as my own material.  I scanned one of the Unicorns from afar and waited for the device to load further screams of information.   PROCESSING……PROCESSING….INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE.  The device was unable to pick up anything on them.  This was perfect; these were never before seen Pokémon.  Through my observations I concluded many things.  First was that they came in three forms.  There were those with wings, there were those with horns, and there were those with neither.  Second is that these without either horns or wings will be dubbed “Earth Ponies” until further discoveries come across.  Until further notice these “Earth Ponies” will be referred to as either Normal or Fighting types.   Third was that these unicorns possessed some psychic abilities.  I have seen firsthand that some of them know the moves “Psychic, “Flash”, and “Teleport”.  These Unicorns will be dubbed as Normal, or Psychic type until more data is collected.  Pegasi will be Flying type.  Fourth I noticed that they have the ability to speak English.  This was later confirmed by the fact I overheard laughing and speak of some “Celebration of the Summer Sun” or something along those lines.  This wasn’t all that uncommon amongst certain Pokémon.  Some of which have great comprehension of Human speech with some even being able to replicate it themselves.  I would have to capture one of these in order to gather more information on them.  The final thing that I noticed was that each horse had its own branding on both sides of their flank.  Most likely these were to indicate to whom the creatures belonged.  Considering that Pokéballs do the exact same thing, this action was peculiar.

By this time some of the Pokémon came to notice me watching them.  I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were either scared or upset by my appearance.  Either way, most of them took off in all different directions some of the females were screaming.  With that went my chances of catching any of them until later.  I continued my walk through town and I hadn’t seen anyone yet.  I would have to remain conspicuous if I was to avoid getting stopped by someone in charge.  The moon was high in the sky by this point and finding a rest house would be slim unless I got going now.  The night air was refreshing but put a certain chill down my spine.  It was the same feeling that I had felt coming down from the mountain, which was weird.  The trip down was easy and I came across nobody else.  So why was I feeling so off.  I once again tried to ignore it and eventually the feeling passed.

Now the town was pretty much empty.  All the stores were closed and there were no lights to be seen.  I had wasted too much time with my documentations.  Every store was closed and the lights were off.  Well…all except for one.  Several hundred feet and off to the side a bit was a neon sign that read “Nightly Neigh and Stay”.  I could see that his town was hell-bent on sticking to this Horse theme.  I ventured into the inn and I picked up a distinct smell.  I couldn’t quite make it out but it smelt like food.  I was hoping it was food.  I needed it to be food.  I was pretty famished by this point and I was too lethargic to cook myself.  I couldn’t remember eating today.  I walked up to the check in counter and called out for someone.  There was a wooden desk in the middle of the room.  “Reasonable lodging for travelers of Canterlot” was what a plaque read on the wall.  Directly behind the desk was a kitchen and dining area, and I could tell this by the smells.  Off to the right was as flight of stairs and to the left there was a window that was covered by white drapes.  I approached the desk and knocked on it to get someone’s attention.  There was no response so I called out again hoping to get anyone to acknowledge my presence.

“Hey anybody here?   I need to rent a room for the night.”  I waited for a few seconds.  “I’ve got cash.”  That would get an owner’s attention.  From my experience most places of business preferred the luxury of paper/coin money.  They wouldn’t have to wait for credit and all of that.  You know what I’m talking about.

“Hold on, somepony will be there momentarily.”  A feminine voice called from upstairs.

“This pony gimmick is going to get old very fast.”  I thought to myself.  I dumped my backpack off of my shoulders and I began digging through the contents.  While I was at it I could check to see if anyone knew how to appraise these crystals I found.  While I was rummaging through my contents another pony came down the stairs.  This one was a Unicorn with a coat that was light red and her mane was dark black.  Her eyes were black and her branding was that of a dream bubble and some Z’s.

“How can I hel…” was all she got out before she stopped talking.  I got up off of the floor and I wasn’t expecting a pony to be renting out rooms for people.  Maybe these Pokémon were more advanced than I had given them credit for.

“I was looking for a room to rent for the night, and I was looking…”

“AHHHHH!  MONSTER!” She quickly bolted up the stairs almost as fast as she came down from them.  “FROM THE EVERFREE!”  I tried to gather the energy to call out to her but the awkwardness of the whole thing left me speechless.  I waited a few more seconds thinking that some human would come down the stairs and apologize for the misunderstanding of sorts and offer me a room, but I would have no such luck tonight.  My concentration was broke by the sound of something smashing against one of the room’s walls.  It was the same mare from before, but with her this time was another pony that I couldn’t see that well hiding behind her.  There were several dishes that were held up by Telekinesis.  “GET OUT OF HERE!  LEAVE US ALONE!  YOU WILL NEVER TAKE EQUESTRIA!”  I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.  Clearly she wasn’t thinking too clearly. I took a step closer and began to speak again and I was once again interrupted by the sound of smashing china hitting the side of the wall near inches from my face.  “I WONT GIVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE…GO!”

I wouldn’t put up with crazy Pokémon trying to assault me with beautifully crated dinnerware.  I turned around and I took my leave from the inn.  I would find another place for me to stay one way or another.  I slammed the door behind me, and I pretended to walk away.  I waited for a moment to see if she would come outside to check on me, but she never did.  I heard all of the windows being closed from several rooms.  I cupped my hand to the door in order to get the drop on them.

“What was that thing?”

“I don’t know, but I just know that it most likely came from the Everfree Forest.  It had to have been.  Either that or the enemy armies are getting even more brash.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like ‘him’ before.  He kind of reminds me or a Diamond Dog, but more intelligent.”

“I don’t care what that was.  We need to get word of this to the Royal Guard.  If the enemy armies are hiding forces in the city, Canterlot and all of Equestria could be in very real danger.”

“I agree.  I will draft a letter and sent it to the Princess at once.”

“Pray that the beast doesn’t return.”

That was all of the conversation that I could make out, but I knew that there was more.  It would appear that my appearance was strange to these ponies.  I couldn’t understand why.  Could it be that these Pokémon have never come across a human Pokémon Trainer?  I couldn’t waste time worrying about that now.  According to those two mares, I was a soon-to-be wanted man.  I had to get out of the open like this, however I couldn’t go far on an empty stomach.  I spotted a fruit cart, but there was no one manning it.  I tried to fight off the temptation to take from the cart, but I couldn’t fight off the feelings in my gut (literally).  I made my way over there and took several of the fruits.  Before I left I reached into my wallet and I left around a generous sum of 5,000 Poke Dollars.  I figured this would be more than enough to compensate the owner for the goods.

There was an alley up the road a ways and I figured that would be a pretty decent place to lay low for awhile, and I hadn’t fed my Pokémon in several hours and I would have to do so now.  I released all of my friends into the open and I divided their portions of food accordingly.  Even will all seven of us occupying it, I was genuinely surprised at the size of the actual alley.  We had a plethora of room in order to lie down, and spread out some gear.  Also for a street gutter it was really clean.  I took off my backpack and I put it under my head in order to make a ‘pillow’.  I took out a blanket out of my pack so I wouldn’t get too cold.  We were all tired by this point and we all got into somewhat comfy positions to get some sleep.  Honestly though I don’t think it would have mattered.  Snorlax could sleep while in the middle of a tornado. I closed my eyes and I slowed my breathing.  Mind you that I was still hiding, but my judgment would be impaired if I was tired.  So it was just me and my Pokémon, camping out in a dark alley in the middle of a strange new city.  It wasn’t long before I fell asleep.

I quickly awoke to the sound of galloping hooves.  By this time all of my Pokémon were awake.  I take that statement back.  We were all awake except for Snorlax.  The stone streets clicked with the sound of galloping hooves, and this made me apprehensive about doing much of anything.  It would have seemed that the locals have mobilized to find us.  I put my blanket back in my pack making as little noise as possible and I got ready in the case that I would have to run.  I pulled all of my Pokémon back into their balls, because I would be quieter without them all following me in the open.  I got everything ready to go, and I was now hugging the wall, waiting for anyone to get too close.

“I want this creature found.  Tensions are high as it is, and we can afford to have our citizens paranoid of an outside threat.  NOW GO!”  This was a new voice it sounded regal and commanding.

“YES CAPTAIN” By sounds of the voices, there were many of them and they were closer than I would have liked them to be.  The fact that I could hear them made them too close for comfort for that matter.  I tiptoed towards the opening of the alleyway, but suddenly stopped and jumped back as soon as I saw a light shining in my direction.  Many of these ponies were illuminating the surrounding areas using their horns.  ‘Flash’ I whispered under my breath.  I no longer had the luxury of making mistakes.  I had to act now.  I couldn’t risk being caught by guards.  That would put a serious damper on trying to get further supplies and gear.

I felt just like a spy or secret agent.  I was weaving in and out around buildings and through market stalls.  I had been doing suprisingly well for myself and I felt like I was invincible.  I was currently hiding behind a market stall and I was about to make another break for it until I heard a deep voice from behind me.  “Hey You Halt!”

“This complicates things.  I would normally but I have to go…Shuck some corn.”  I knew it wasn’t a good excuse, but I heard it in a TV show once and I was at a loss of what to say.

“The creature is over here.  He matches the description given to us by the ladies from the inn.”  He had looked away for a moment to call out to his fellow ponies but when he turned around all he saw was me making a break for it.  “HEY!”  He soon began to chase me through the city and it came to me that I was at a huge disadvantage.  They knew all the shortcuts and how to maneuver through the buildings and landmarks, yet I didn’t.  I turned around in hopes that I had lost them, but to my dismay there were around a dozen or so "Pony Officers" chasing me.  I needed an obstruction in order to keep them off of my hide.  A light bulb went off in my head and I knew exactly just what to do.

“Nidoking I chose you!”  I tossed his ball up into the air and the beast appeared and gave a mighty roar typically associated with the species.  The ponies behind me took notice of the Poison/Ground Type and stopped dead in their tracks.  “Let’s give ‘em the slip!”  I punched in the air for emphasis.  “Use Rock Slide!”  Nidoking pumped his fists together and stomped his right foot upon the stone ground…

There was one pony that was different than the rest of them.  This one was larger than the others by a couple of inches.  It wasn’t much but it was a noticeable difference.  This one too had a horn where a majority of the others had nothing or wings.  His armor was purple and gold and her wore a Spartan like helmet that covered his blue mane.  He was about to take another step towards me until…

…and stomped his right foot upon the stone ground.  Rocks of all shapes and sizes started raining down from the sky leaving dents in the cobblestone streets.  A majority of the guards took several steps back in order to avoid being squashed and soon there was a decently sized wall that separated us from them.  At the sudden loud noises, many of the locals began to wake up.  By the time they came outside to find the source of the commotion, we were already gone.