Fluttershy woke as the firelight danced and flickered on the walls around her. She felt it strange that Suzuki and Crae made their home in the Ice Zone, but the winter wonderland outside held a majesty that she couldn’t deny. This was her first visit in four months, and the two bug-types had been gracious enough to lend the ponies their large, comfortable guesthouse to stay in. It was a simple brick structure capable of easily accommodating the enormous Crustle, Crae. It had been furnished with all of the necessary amenities to make the ponies feel at home. Fluttershy smiled as she thought of the kindness they’d been shown. It felt good to see her Pokémon friends again.

The memories of their adventures had faded soon after their return home. They knew that there had been epic battles, and that many had fallen for the sake of defeating Dark Arceus. They knew that they had seen wonders and horrors; that they had suffered and survived. They knew these things, yet the details had gone. In the eight months since their return, no visions of lingering horrors haunted the dreams of the Equestrians or their friends from God’s Breath. The only reminders of their ordeal were the scars many carried, and the trophies some had acquired. Even with conscious effort, there was no memory to retrieve. No amount of hypnosis or magic had brought them forth, and Fluttershy was eternally thankful for that.

Professor Brian claimed it was a side effect of realities resetting and universes once again becoming whole. All outsiders had been removed from Battleworld, the Warp had returned to plague the universe that had spawned it, and Equestria was now and forever more linked with the Pokémon world. It had taken only a week for each side to figure out how to reconnect with the other. The resulting reunion party had lasted a month, and Pinkie Pie was still celebrating.

Fluttershy had joined her friends in remembering the fallen on Octaria, and rejoicing at the preparedness on Battleworld that had saved so many lives. Those two names seemed strange, but Professor Brian assured everyone that they were accurate. He and his fellow professors spent hours every day documenting and cataloging the events that had led to peace within God’s Breath. Though the Slowking and Alakazam were the only ones who seemed to remember the journey, Dorris spent her days working alongside them. When asked what she remembered, she gave the questioner a haunted look and changed the subject. Pinkie Pie had put in an extra effort to make her and the professorial staff smile, lately.
Fluttershy looked up at the head of the strange, insectoid creature mounted on the wall above the fireplace. It had four spiked mandibles, with rows of teeth and a crack near the top of the skull. Despite the damage that had claimed its life, the head was in excellent condition. Suzuki couldn’t remember when she had slain the creature, or what it was called. No one could. Yet, it was just one of many monstrous ornaments the Mega Scizor used to decorate her homestead. Fluttershy felt sorry for it, even though she imagined it would try and kill her if it were alive.

The door opened as those thoughts crossed her mind. An orange unicorn with red and yellow hair walked through the oversized doorway, her scarf and jacket covered in freshly fallen snow. A blizzard was blowing outside. The pony walked into the room and closed the door behind her.

“There’s hot coco ready,” Twilight Sparkle said from across the room.

“Thanks, Twilight,” Sunset Shimmer said as she hung her jacket up and lay down next to the fire. “I stopped along the way to make snowflakes with the Castform. It was fun!”

“They’re terribly sweet Pokémon,” Rarity said as she looked up from her book. “How did the discussion go?”

“Well, Charles isn’t budging from his position, and he’s been gaining followers within the city at a steady pace. He was still rather nice, though. He even baked cookies for us. I suggested that we initiate some kind natured trends at the peak of human society, and make the most popular ones into permanent cultural changes. They especially liked the idea of importing a version of the Friendship Games into the school system. It’ll likely involve Pokémon battles instead of sports, but I think it’s a good idea.”

“It’s a great idea, Sunset,” Applejack said. She took her pie out of the oven and set it down on the stove. “It’s definitely a start.”

“It’ll build empathy between Pokémon and humans,” Fluttershy said as she rose from the ground and moved cautiously past a scowling, green skinned trophy. She was so easily distracted by the vile monsters that she almost dropped the plate Applejack gave her. She stumbled, and blushed a bit as she regained her balance.

“Don’t mind the creepy stuff so much, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she cut another piece of pie. “Everythin’ is dead. It’s all been checked and double-checked. None of the trophies anypony took are a threat, unless you accidentally fall on one.”

“Yeah, and some of these things look pretty cool,” Rainbow Dash said. “I bet we had some amazing battles with these things.”

“I bet you did,” Sunset Shimmer said as she took a piece of pie and sat down in a chair. “I’m not upset that I missed it, though. I’d rather not deal with monsters that ugly, if I can help it.”

“How are the preparations for the Pokémon Ranger Recruitment Plan going?” Fluttershy asked, choosing to change the subject to something less scary.

“I think the children of the human world will really appreciate the increased recruitment. The Rangers have to keep their high standards, though. Not every child will qualify, but by reaching out to every school, the Rangers can raise a lot of awareness. We’ll release the truth about Infinite Energy once the Pokémon finish creating their viable, friendly alternative.”

“I hope the humans don’t overreact when they find out, regardless of how awful Infinite Energy is,” Twilight Sparkle said as she sat down in a comfortable chair next to the mantle. “It made me sick when I found out about it.”

“The humans in my adopted world are more kind. They don’t have anything comparable to Infinite Energy, though. I don’t think the humans in this world would use it if they knew where it came from, but their society will suffer greatly without a replacement.”

“Let’s talk about party streamers, or something more cheerful,” Pinkie Pie said as she walked in from the hallway that led to their bedrooms. “Did you get to see the young Pokémon training for the next Little Cup Tournament?”

The ponies changed topic, then. They talked about fun, friendship, and tournaments while enjoying fresh apple pie. Suzuki and Crae came several minutes into their conversation. It was a merry gathering that lasted long into the night. Fluttershy looked from trophy to trophy as they talked, asking herself questions about their adventures as she did so. She wasn’t interested in the monsters, so much. She was glad she couldn’t remember who, or what, they were. The evil-looking blades and axes were all dull and powerless. The heads and bodies of the beasts around them were dead. Still, they made her question her own ‘trophies’. Fluttershy had a note and a wooden spoon at home that were important to her. The note spoke of hope for a family reunion and a reconnection of lost bonds. The spoon was just a spoon, but it felt like it had been a precious gift.

“There are many things we don’t remember,” Suzuki said as she watched Fluttershy looking around the room. “I’m sure that, whatever gifts you received, they are important. What matters is that we now have each other. As you ponies say, ‘the fire of friendship burns in our hearts’. That fire will burn forever and ever, without end. Even the things we’ve forgotten are alive within that flame.”

“May our friendship never end!” Twilight said as she raised her glass for a toast. The others joined her, and the merriment continued. Above the house burned a pink and purple heart, the magic of their friendship manifested.

Author's Note

This is the final update for this story. There will be a sequel starting in February.

I'm copy-pasting this from my DA account. Not sure why it took me so long to put out the author's note on FiM.net, but here it is. I'm not big on advertising myself, and this felt like a bit of advertisement for some reason. Maybe that's why.

I'm a bit nervous about releasing this. I've put a lot of time and effort into this fan work, and things like that are hard to end. I know this has its flaws, but I'm happy with it.

As for why I wrote this. I've been daydreaming about crossovers between my favorite fictional universe since I was little. I consider this the result of over two decades of head canon and story building. I am a fan of all the franchises represented here. When I was really small I watched My Little Pony and loved the crap out of it. I'm talking three or four years old, so admittedly I don't remember much about my thoughts from that time. I'm pretty sure I was crossing it over with Clifford, though. I got into Marvel through the Spider-Man and X-Men TV shows. A friend introduced me to WH40K in college. This story is first and foremost a tribute to four of my favorite franchises. I tried to stay as close to canon as possible, and I think I did a fair job. Someone on FF.net pointed out that Rarity wouldn't forge steel, and they were right, so I explained that detail here. I don't think this explanation contradicts anything already in the story, but it's an important point so it's here.

If I could change one thing about this story, I would make it more character driven. I feel that I jump into the action too quickly when I write. I would have given the characters more time on Octaria to think and observe. That would have made the story much longer, and it's already really long as it is, so... I don't know lol

I also felt bad about the casualties suffered in the battle on Octaria. I felt it was necessary at the time because they're fighting such powerful opponents, it would have been insulting to WH40K to say they couldn't kill these creatures. In ending this story, I didn't want there to be mass casualties on the side of God's Breath and Equestria. I did my best to justify that in the story, but ultimately, I just didn't want to kill a bunch of Pokémon and ponies.

The Season 5 finale changed my mind a bit on Equestria and war in canon. It was pretty brutal for FiM, but the ponies handled it pretty well. So I added a few details to reflect this toughness.

I also couldn't think of any justification for Infinite Energy. Pokémon generally have intelligence ranging from small human child, to adult human. They aren't cattle, yet the humans of the Pokémon world seem to treat them like that. I really hope that's addressed in a future game. It needs to be.

My initial thought was to take this story into the DCU. I went with Battleworld because DC continuity seemed a bit confusing at the time I made that decision, and because Battleworld seemed like a really cool playground of ideas. I'm not sure it was utilized to its fullest in the comics, but I digress. It's still a cool idea, and it could use a Skyrim style video game.

Anyway, that's my fan fiction masterpiece. For all who have read it, I honestly hope you've enjoyed it. There were some ideas I couldn't quite fit in, such as the Sirens showing up and and a bunch of song references that I wanted to make. I did get the battle between Pestilence and Miasma vs. two Great Unclean Ones, though. That made me happy. At any rate...

Hasbro owns MLP, Nintendo owns Pokémon, Disney owns Marvel, and Games Workshop owns WH40K. I own a computer and a lot of free time and a deep, heartfelt nerdiness.