This New World Feels More Like Home

by The Emerald Nightingale

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Sex, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Human, Other, Romance, Coco Pommel, Original Character, Cheese Sandwich
Length: 5000

A side-story to zuesdemigod131's 'A New World, A New Way'. Fletcher Caine must learn to control his new powers whilst simultaneously searching for his missing family.

A side-story to zuesdemigod131's 'A New World, A New Way'.

Fletcher Caine and his partner, Cynder the Typhlosion, have been travelling the world for years, hiding from the Pokemon Rangers the entire way. And finally, they got their wish. The perfect wedding.

But when a certain omnipotent being has had enough of the evil in the world and takes all those who are 'worthy' to Equestria, the dates just so happen to clash.

Now, not only does Fletcher have to find his missing family, but he must also learn to control and master the powers his new body contains. At least he has some help from some of the natives of this world.

EDIT - Some things have had to be changed in accordance to the Powers That Be (I done goofed and had to be set straight, sorry Nerd Bird!), so Maud's gone. That actually makes it easier for me, though, because I can't stand writing emotionless characters, so I don't know why I even chose Maud in the first place!

Anyway, I suggest you re-read from Chapter 2 (3 if you wanna be finicky, but the Prologue is Chapter 0 in my eyes, so nyeh.)

Published 2014-08-20 00:40:04 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-20 20:32:11 UTC

Prologue

Ah, the Hoenn region. Sparkling oceans, beautiful cities, expansive desert and luscious forests. Most people visit Hoenn purely for Lilycove City's department store and beeches. Most people, however, are not getting married. In the middle of the woods. In secret. To a Pokemon.

Fletcher stood at the end of a long red carpet in a large, open clearing. Before him sat his most trusted family, friends and acquaintances, a few of whom had quite the political standing in the world. His mother, Isabela Caine, sat at the front of the lined of plastic folding chairs.

To his left stood the Bridesmaids, Winona and Flannery, both in stunning dark blue and cream strapless dresses that matched his bride's fur perfectly. To the right stood the Best Men, Chili and Solace, both wearing simple black tuxedos with flame patterns stitched into the cuffs of the blazer's sleeves. Solace's, of course, was drastically different, but the suit did... suit him...

Anyway...

Fletcher himself wore a dark blue suit with a cream-coloured shirt and a tie that looked to be on fire in the right light. He wrung his hands together for what felt like the hundredth time. eyeing the tent in which his beloved was set to emerge from.

Noticing this, Chili stepped over and placed a hand on Fletcher's shoulder, making him jump. "Chill out, man!" the fiery triplet said, snickering slightly. "Everything's gonna be A-Okay, mark my words. And if it's not, you have my express permission to punch Cilan." A shout of "Hey!" was heard from the back of the seating area. Chili snickered again, and this time Fletcher chuckled slightly too, calming the groom down.

"Thanks, Chili. You're a good friend, and that girl of yours is lucky to have you." Fletcher replied, grinning as Chili's face turned a shade of red that matched his hair.

"Girl? What girl? I don't have a girlfriend!" he denied, causing bot Fletcher and Solace to laugh at him.

"Whatever you say, kid." Solace said, slapping his paw on Chili's leg while still laughing. "But I still say that Roxie girl is pretty lucky."

Chili shot Fletcher a questioning glance. Fletcher shrugged his shoulders in response. All that the two had heard was a series of grunts and repeats of the word "Absol".

It was at this point that the girl they were just talking about began playing her guitar rendition of 'Here Comes the Bride', and both the men and the Absol scrambled back into position. The tent at the end of the 'aisle' opened up, revealing Cynder, Fletcher's Typhlosion, in a beautiful white gown. Fletcher's father appeared from within and took Cynder's arm in his, walking her down the aisle and stopping just at the edge of the seats.

The minister, a large man with a kind, understanding smile, asked; "Who gives this woman away?". Fletcher was glad he had found this man. A devote follower or Arceus, he believed what all present company did - that Human/Pokemon love was a thing to be celebrated, not punished.

"I, Thomas Caine, give this woman away to be married." Fletcher's father replied, then released Cynder's arm and went to join his wife. Cynder took the last few steps to join them, clutching her bouquet of Gracidea flowers nervously.

The minister beamed at them, then looked up to address the guests. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in order to enact the will of our deity, Arceus."

At this, the guests all raised their right hands with the ring and pinkie fingers pointed skywards. "May the Creator smile upon us." they all called.

"We are here to unite this man," he gestured to Fletcher. "And this woman," he gestured to Cynder. "Under His name, and to ask that He grant them eternal happiness."

The minister carried on the sermon as Fletcher and Cynder stared into each other's eyes. To Fletcher, Cynder's scarlet eyes were a gateway to the burning passion within that drove her to be the best that she could possibly be. To Cynder, Fletcher's viridian eyes were like a calm forest clearing, ready to be explored.

"And now, the vows. Fletcher?"

Fletcher jumped slightly, earning a small laugh out of the guests. He fumbled about in his blazer until he found a small slip of paper, then pulled it out and began reading.

"Cynder, I have known you since I was thirteen years old. I have seen you laugh, seen you cry, seen you angry and overjoyed. And not once have I thought anything other than 'I love that about you'. When you said 'yes' that day, I thought I was dreaming, I was that happy. I never want to lose you Cynder, and I promise that, no matter the odds, I will always fight for you."

Cynder wiped a tear from her eye before turning to their Trevennant friend, Link, and nodding. Link nodded back (though it was more of tilting his whole body forward), the wave his huge hand, a blue glow spreading over the guests. A translator.

"Fletcher," Cynder began, smiling. "Ever since I first met you, I knew I wanted to end up here one day. You took me in when no one else would. You've saved my life countless times, despite not having any Pokémon's powers. I know for a fact that you would never let anything happen to me or our son. And for this, I thank you. And I promise, I will never let anything come between our family."

"Aww"'s rang out.

The minister cleared his throat and wiped away a stray tear before continuing.

"Ahem. Now, do you, Fletcher Caine, take this Typhlosion as your wife, knowing full well the dangers of such a commitment?"

"I do."

"And do you, Cynder the Typhlosion, take this man as your husband, knowing full well the dangers of such a commitment?"

"I do."

"Then I now pronounce you Man and Wife. Fletcher, you may kiss your bride."

Fletcher and Cynder slowly moved their faces closer together, lips almost touching, feeling each other's brush over their skin, and...

*thud*

"AAAAA!!!!"

"Oh, come on!"

Everyone whipped their heads around to see that Roxie had collapsed and was lay, unconscious, on the ground. Before anyone could blink Chili was by her side, cradling her head in his arms.

"No, no no no." He said, brushing her silver hair from her face. "Come on Roxie baby, don't do this right no-"

Chili fell silent as he fell backwards, Roxie's head now resting on his lap. All around people were dropping the ground, flat out. Fletcher grabbed Cynder and held her close, pressing his lips to hers.

And then the world went black, and one sentence was heard, only to be forgotten again before those who heard it woke up.

"Rest now my children. For when you awaken, a whole new world shall be your home.”

Chapter 1

A gentle breeze. The feeling of grass beneath his body. The small filters of sunlight passing through the leaves of the trees. This was a perfect morning for Fletcher, one that he always loved.

Almost.

One thing was missing. One blue-and-peach-furred thing.

Fletcher's eyes flew open and his body sprung into a sitting position. Looking left and right, he noticed that he was indeed in a forest, though it wasn't one that he recognised.

The trees were dark and most looked dead. A deep, grey mist obscured vision after a short distance, but not enough to hide the large, sorrowful-looking bog towards what felt like the West and the edge of a field of small blue flowers in the opposite direction. A sign stood at the edge of the flower field, reading "Beware the petals of blue, foolish folk. Or suffer the afflictions of the Poison Joke!"

Fletcher stood, noticing that the trees seemed a little taller here than in other places, and decided to head in any direction that wouldn't take him to those two places. They felt... wrong, somehow. So he headed North, or what he though was North, hoping to find some kind of trail that would lead him out of this place.

"I sure hope Cynder's okay." he said to no one in particular, staring skywards. He saw what seemed to be a winged Ponyta flying up above, though it seemed to be a little more... grey... and had blonde hair for a mane instead of fire. "Oh, duh! I can get Anders to look for me!"

But as Fletcher looked down and reached for the pokeballs on his belt, he froze. Half in confusion, half in fear.

In the spot where there would normally be a simple black belt with six pokeballs hooked and hanging, there was no clothing at all. Just purple fur. And the hand that had reached for the pokeballs was now much stubbier, to the point where he seemed to have no fingers, but he could still feel himself wriggling them and seeing the same purple fur shift slightly.

Looking down at himself, Fletcher noticed that he had a pale yellow patch of fur where his gut was situated, surrounded by more of the purple coloured variant. His legs were now considerably shorter and ended in large, squashed-oval feet with two toes. To the left and right of his lower body were small tufts of the fur, and behind them were the beginnings of two long, thin tails, both ending in identically large, bulbous, three-fingered hands.

Now, the common thing for somebody to do when the found out they were now in the body of a Pokemon would be to scream, panic, pass out, wake up and repeat an unknown amount of times. Fletcher, on the other hand, shrugged and kept walking.

"Always thought I'd be a fighting or electric type, personally." was his only comment on the matter as he walked up to one of the dead looking trees. It seemed to snarl at him, trying to scare him away, but he just chuckled and started climbing. The tree's 'face' when his body had passed seemed confused.

Using the stubby arms to climb proved to be far too difficult, so Fletcher focused on bringing the large tail-hands up over his head and grabbing two sturdy-looking branches near the top of the tree, then heaved himself up the rest of the way.

"Note to self;" he said, looking around. "Ambipom tails are incredibly long and powerful."

Fletcher smirked. Travelling was going to be VERY fun now.

Chapter 2

Many wild Pokemon were confused. One minute they were grazing, or flying, or feeding their young, and the next, they were in an unfamiliar forest that seemed to want nothing more than them gone.

It did not help their anxiety when a manic laughter echoed through the trees, seeming to travel at great speeds. A young Cubone began crying and calling for it's mother as a purple blur shot past overhead.

The blur, which turned out to merely be the human-turned-Pokemon Fletcher, carried on racing through the canopies, searching reverently for his mate. A wave of immense heat from the right told him that his search would end soon, and he grabbed the trunk of a tree tow swing himself into the right direction.

"How exactly am I going to explain this?" he asked himself as the heat grew and grew, telling him that Cynder was growing distressed. "'Hey babe, guess what? I'm a Pokemon now!' doesn't exactly have a nice ring to it."

He came to a stop just on the edge of a clearing. A relatively new clearing, if the scorched earth and charred remains of trees said anything about it. And in the centre, Fletcher saw Cynder facing off with a triad of odd-looking opponents.

To the right of her was a Simipour, whom held itself much like a high school cheerleader who thought she was better than everyone else. Quite obviously a female.

To the left stood a rather gluttonous Simisear, stuffing it's face with small berries and fruits. It laughed deeply as Cynder took a shaky breath, confirming it's gender as male.

The final member stood directly in front of Cynder, a Simisage stood slightly hunched over with a broken branch being used as a cane. It stood slightly farther away than the others, understandable due to the type disadvantage it had. When it spoke, it had the voice of an angry grandpa, so it was male.

"What exactly are you doing in our territory, young lady!?" the Simisage boomed, surprisingly loud for his apparent age. "DO you not have a brain in that thick skull of yours?"

"Yeah, like, only a real idiot would cross OUR turf, loser!" the Simipour chimed in, not even looking in Cynder's direction and instead checking the back of her hand.

"Hehehe, stupid girly! Stupid girly!" the Simisear added, hopping from one foot to another and pointing at Cynder.

Fletcher's fists clenched, his anger building. How DARE they speak of his mate that way, much less to her face! Oh, how he wanted to just leap down there and take them all down...

Unbeknownst to the seething man, a ball of ethereal energy was forming in the subconsciously curled fingers of his left tail-hand, while it's right equivalent had electricity dancing between it's fingertips and his body glowed in a sky-blue aura.

"Aerial Ace!" he screamed, launching himself at the Simisage and knocking it down. Landing on his forepaws, he spun around and launched the sphere at the Simisear's face, yelling "Shadow Ball!" as he did so.

The two ape-like Pokemon lay, faces in the dirt, groaning in pain. Fletcher righted himself, using his new agile body to flip onto his feet. The Simipour stared at him in fear as he brought his two tail-hands together, the electrical energy that had been charging in the right hand now streaking between the two, flashing lights dancing across the glowering Ambipom's face. No one moved.

"Boo."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Simipour ran, screaming, from the clearing and Fletcher let the energy in his hands die down before laughing.

"I have absolutely no idea how I did that!" he yelled, staring at his tail-hands. They looked no different than they did before he found the clearing, leaving no clue as to how the powers had come. When he tried to repeat the actions, Fletcher found that, no matter what, he just couldn't.

A cough from his left gained Fletcher's attention, causing him to look over to the Typhlosion. In his eyes, she was as beautiful as the day he fell in love with her, with the flames behind her casting a heavenly glow upon her frame.

"Hey, Cynder." he drawled, a goofy smile upon his lips. It was dropped when Cynder grabbed him by the throat, pinning him to a tree with a Brick Break at the ready.

"I don't know who you are or how you know my name," she growled, pressing further into his neck. "Buy let's get one thing straight, pal. I have a Mate already, one whom I am trying to find, as well as my son. So unless you can help me, I suggest you leave while you're still in one piece."

"Cynder, it... it's me..." Fletcher tried to explain as his face began to turn blue. "F.. Fletch..."

Just as he was about to pass out, Fletcher felt Cynder's grip loosen, allowing that sweet, sweet oxygen to access his lungs once more.

"Fletcher?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Alright then, prove you're Fletcher. Tell me something only he knows."

Fletcher took a deep breath and sighed, steeling himself for what he was about to say. He had never liked to talk about this.

"We met in Fortree City when I was thirteen years old." he began, and already he could see the doubt leave her eyes. "You were just a Cyndaquil then, abused and abandoned by your old trainer to the extent that..."

Cynder frowned, placing her other paw on his shoulder. He looked up at her and saw tears forming in her eyes. "Go on."

"To the extent that you could no longer breed. We grew up together, fell in love on my seventeenth birthday and left for our journey exactly a year and a day after. We were just getting married before whatever brought us here happened."

"Oh, Fletcher!" she cried, wrapping her arms around the Ambipom's shoulders and sobbing into his shoulder. This was a side only he could see of her, the truly vulnerable, loving side that was hidden in public. He hugged her back, wrapping his tails around her form. "I was s-so scared th-that something had h-happened t-to you!"

Meanwhile, a lanky orange stallion wearing a grey and white woolen poncho watched the display from the shadows and a large boulder. Atop his head sat a flat-topped cowboy hat, pulled forward so that it cast a shadow over his emerald green eyes, his curly brown mane poking out of the back and sides. With him was an off-white mare of average height with a neatly brushed, two-tone blue mane. In her mane was a small red floral hair grip, and a white-bordered lavender sailor collar with a scarlet tie sat on her shoulders. Her cyan eyes stared at the sky from her place atop and to the rear of the boulder that Cheese was using for cover.

"So, what'cha think, Coco?" the taller pony asked in a deep, gruff voice, still staring at the embracing couple.

"I think that cloud looks like a shrimp." Coco said, pointing at the sky. "Oh, and stop with the voice, please."

"Awww, but I thought you said you enjoyed my 'Flint Weststone' impressions!" Cheese whined, the gruff voice disappearing and being replaced by a more childish one.

"Only when we're alone. You know that."

"But we are alone!"

"Oh, thanks for that." a third voice said.

Cheese and Coco jumped as a bubble-gum pink unicorn mare trotted into view, Her cyan mane was held back by a simple red headband and her soft pink eyes narrowed at the only stallion in their little group, causing the magenta freckles on her cheeks to squish together and her dark green glasses to shift slightly.

"Sorry, Match Maker."

Match Maker walked over to stand beside Cheese and looked at the two Pokemon in the clearing. "It's fine." she said. A few silent seconds passed between the three before she added "They're clearly together." Coco's cloud watching suddenly lost it's interesting quality, despite all the odd new birds adding to the view, and she hopped of the boulder to join the other two.

"What, like, together together?" Cheese asked.

"Yes, Cheese." Match Maker sighed. "Together together."

"What makes you say that?" Coco inquired, a single eyebrow raised the only indication of her curiosity.

"You see how the blue bear thing is holding the purple monkey thing?" Match Maker asked, receiving two nods to the affirmative. "That's the female."

"How can you tell that?" Cheese asked.

"Glad you asked! Look at the monkey's eyes, the care, the passion, the need to protect his mate from anything that threatens them? That is the sign of a strong male."

Cheese stole a glance at Coco and saw a smile tug at her lips. It was small, and it was gone as quickly as it came, but it was there.

Coco shook her head and sighed. "We should get out of here," she said, already in the process of walking into the treeline. "BEFORE those two realise we're here."

"Right behind you, Coco." Match Maker replied, turning to follow. "Coming Cheese?"

"yeah, sure, be right there."

Match Maker shrugged and followed after Coco, pushing through the foliage.

Cheese stood, still watching the Pokemon, and sighed. "If those two can be together, despite their obvious differences..." he mumbled, before a determined look settled in his eyes.

And with that, he began to walk out and into the clearing.

Chapter 3

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.