This New World Feels More Like Home

Fletcher and Cynder had sat and talked for the past five minutes, proposing and shooting down suggestions as to why they had been transported, and Fletcher transformed.

"Bad shrimp?" Fletcher said, watching the sky as a shrimp-shaped cloud floated by.

"You're not even trying anymore, are you?" Cynder sighed, following his gaze. "I swear, the only plausible thing you've said so far is that 'divine intervention' thing, and even then... wait." she took a big sniff and gagged, sticking her tongue out. "Something smells like cheese."

Fletcher looked down and frowned as a tall, skinny-looking Ponyta lookalike walked into the clearing, wearing a poncho. "I think it's that." he said, pointing at the strange creature. Cynder looked over her shoulder and frowned. They both stood, Cynder turning to face the new arrival.

"Uh... hi?" it said. "I, uh... well... I'm Cheese Sandwich. What're your names?"

Cynder and Fletcher shared a glance then burst out laughing. Cheese Sandwich looked on in mild irritation.

"Hehehe... wait, wait.... CHEESE SANDWICH!" Fletcher managed, clutching his sides with his stubby arms as his tails smacked the ground.

"So that's what the smell was!" Cynder cackled, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye.

Unfortunately for Cheese, all he heard was "Popopo... Ambi, Ambi... Ambipom!" and "Ty Typhlosion ty." He tilted his head in confusion, squinting at the two strange things in front of him. They realised this and slowly stopped laughing, glancing at each other worriedly.

"He can't understand us, can he?" Cynder asked, placing her first and third digits on the bridge of her snout.

"I, uh... I don't understand you." Cheese Sandwich stated. The Ambipom gestured to him with a tail. "Uh... sorry?"

Fletcher placed a stubby hand to his chin and tapped his foot, then slammed the same hand into the other stubby hand. His tails began frantically dragging across the dirt, leaving small lines that ended up looking like a young child's writing, to both parties. Cynder gave him a playful shove and he just shrugged.

Cheese tentatively walked over and began reading over the lines. "Fletcher?" He asked, receiving a nod from the Ambipom. "Okay, so you're an Ambipom... whatever that is... and you're a Typhlosion?" Cynder nodded, smiling slightly. "Well alrighty then. Fletcher and Cynder, I am Cheese Sandwich." Cynder snorted, throwing her paws over her mouth.

Fletcher smiled and held out a tail-hand, which Cheese shook enthusiastically. He then began to write out more questions into the dirt. "Where are we? What are you?" where the first two he thought of, then the rest sounded silly, even in his head. Cheese frowned and looked at them like they were stupid.

"How can you not know where you are?" he asked. "This is the Everfree Forest, the most dangerous place in Equestria!" He got blank, confused looks in return. "Uh... Equestria? Pony capitol of Planet Equus? Just south of the Crystal Empire?"

Fletcher shrugged, then began writing again. "Last we knew, we were just outside Fortree City in Hoenn. Planet Earth." Cheese stared at him aghast, then a mad grin spread across his face.

"So you two are ALIENS!" he squealed.

Cynder leaned down and wrote in neat, cursive letters "I guess we are.".

"Cheese!"

The three turned towards where Cheese had emerged to see a blue-grey and faded lavender blur burst from the foliage and rush Cheese, tackling him to the ground. A frantic looking Coco stood over a winded Cheese, her mane dishevelled mess and her eyes wild with fear.

"Coco! Hey! I made friends!" Cheese stated enthusiastically, pointing a hoof towards the two Pokemon who watched them, one with surprised eyes and the other with a knowing smirk.

Coco sweatdropped, then quickly ran a hoof over her mane, returning it to it's normal, form. "Oh... yes... e-hem..." She pulled herself off of Cheese and turned to the Pokemon. "My name is Coco." she tried, clearly nervouse. The panic caused her voice to shake slightly and Cynder's smirk to grow wider

Fletcher sighed and began scribbling again, staring at his dirt-covered tail-finger in disgust when he was done. "Hello, Coco. You wouldn't happen to have paper and a pencil, would you?" Coco read the words and shook her head. Fletcher sighed and wiped his tail off on a tree.

"Oh, good. You found him." a third voice said, it's pink owner dropping from a tree. Fletcher and Cynder stared at the bubblegum-pink and cyan unicorn with the red headband in shock. The mare looked at all the writing and frowned. "Huh. I guess they are sapient, then. Different language?" she asked, looking at Cheese Sandwich. Cheese just nodded. "Well, alright then."

She turned to the Pokemon and smiled a wide, toothy smile that made Fletcher slightly nervous. "Hello, I'm Match Maker, and this won't hurt a bit!" she said as a bright white light flashed from her horn. "Match making sometimes needs translations~!"

"What the hell was that!" Cynder exclaimed, levelling an angry glare at the mare.

"Ah, good." Coco said. "At least now we can understand them."

"Yay! No more mud writing!" Cheese added. "Thanks, Match Maker!"

"No problem!" the mare known as Match Maker replied, grinning widely.

Cynder, however, was glaring intently at the pink mare. The air around the Typhlosion began to shimmer as the heat rose. It stopped, however, when Fletcher placed his tail-hand on her shoulder, shaking his head.

"Why don't you go kill trees." he said, smiling at her. "You know, to cool off."

"Fine."

Cynder turned and walked away, and seconds later the sounds of snapping bark reached the pony's ears. They all wheeled around, surprised to see that Cynder had left.

"Match Maker, was it?" Fletcher asked. Match Maker smiled and nodded, but the smile left when Fletcher levelled a scowl at her. "Next time, warn us before doing anything like... whatever that was."

"Okay, sorry."

"Uh, guys?" Coco said, gaining all present company's attention. She turned her gaze towards Fletcher. "We know that you are an Ambipom. But what exactly is an Ambipom?"

"Oh, well, it's a Pokemon." he received blank faces. "Pokemon are creatures that hold great power within themselves. There are eighteen different types and over seven hundred species."

"What're the types?" Match Maker asked.

"Uh... Water, Fire, Grass, Electric, Rock, Ground, Psychic, Ghost, Dark, Bug, Normal, Flying, Fighting, Steel, Ice, Dragon, Poison and Fairy... Coco, what are you doing?"

Coco was no less than three inches from Fletcher's face, her eyes wide and excited. "I wanna see a Fairy-type." she said in a voice not unlike a child at Christmas. Fletcher chuckled nervously.

"Well," he began, sweat beginning to form on his brow. "Fairy-types aren't usually found in forests, more so meadows and flower patches."

"Clefairy!"

The group turned to look at the short, plump creature at the edge of the clearing. It was completely pink except for the tips of it's ears, which were a dark brown. A swirl of fur sat atop it's head, with a second one acting as a tail. Two tiny fangs protruded from it's mouth and it's small black eyes had little wrinkles around them, like it was smiling too much.

"Clefairy!" the Clefairy said again, causing Coco to make an audible 'squee' and rush over to it. Clefairy seemed to relish in the mare's hug that left her on her back with the Fairy-type in her forelegs.

Cynder re-joined the group as Fletcher was going over type effectiveness. She sat down and leaned against a tree, smiling as she watched her mate gesture animatedly. Darkness fell quickly as time passed by, and Cheese Sandwich pulled his hat back onto his head.

"We should probably get going." he said, already on his way to the edge of the clearing. The two mares followed him and, after a quick glance to each other, so did the Pokemon.

"Why are we moving?" Fletcher asked. "That clearing would have been fine to set up a campsite in."

Match Maker wheeled on him, jabbing his chest with a hoof. "Never camp in the Everfree Forest." she said. "We were lucky to not be attacked. The monsters were probably scared off by the fire that made the clearing."

The group continued walking in silence until they reached a thick line of trees. Coco attempted to push through them, but was thrown back into Cheese Sandwich, who smiled reassuringly down at her.

"Could you guys help us out here?" the Match Maker asked. "We need something to cut through."

Cynder smirked and took a deep breath. Fletcher motioned for the others to move out of the way.

"Flamethrower!" the Typhlosion yelled, a stream of continuous flame erupting from her mouth as she did so. The shrubs blocking the path quickly caught the flame and burned away, and before the fire could spread, Cynder kicked at the ground, throwing dust and dirt over it. "Sand Attack."

The ponies stood, wide eyed, as the Pokemon strode through the new gap, then quickly followed them through as a howl echoed in the night.

On the other side of the wall of plantlife was a large, open field. Mareep grazed in the distance, watched over by a single Ampharos. Flacks of Tailow and Swellow flew overhead. A small campsite was currently being raided by a family of Zigzagoon.

"Hey!" Cheese shouted as one of the Zigzagoon pulled it's head out of a bag, a party hat on it's head.

Fletcher laughed as the group ran to the campsite, scaring the Zigzagoon away. "Nosy little things." he informed the ponies, who all just shrugged.

"Lucky for you guys we always carry a couple spare sleeping bags." Coco said, pulling two large, plump rolls of material from a wagon. "You have no idea how many we've lost."

"Ooh! Twenty four! We lost twenty four!" Cheese 'helpfully' informed.

"Oh." Coco said. "Anyway, they zip together~"

"Thanks!" Fletcher laughed, taking the rolls. "We appreciate it."

Fletcher lay there that night, Cynder wrapped around his smaller form, staring at the stars. 'Why are we here?' he thought to himself.