What is this... "Pokémon Go"?
Stepping through the portal, Twilight prepared herself to walk on two feet. She and Spike could hardly wait to see her friends on the other side. It’s been a while since she visited them.
“The school will be ours!” a voice in the distance screamed.
“Team Valor forever!” another voice said.
Twilight and Spike jumped at the yelling.
“What was that?” Spike asked.
“Sounds like we came back at the wrong time,” Twilight said.
“Oh no,” Spike said. “Not again.”
Twilight sighed. “C’mon, Spike. Let’s go find the girls.”
As they roamed around campus, Twilight and Spike noticed something rather… peculiar. All the students would usually be walking around and talking to each other, but not this time. Everyone walked around seemingly aimlessly, and they appeared to be giving their undivided attention to their respective and identical devices.
“Is it the zombie apocalypse or something?” Spike asked.
Twilight stifled a chuckle. “No, I don’t think so. I think it has something to do with those devices everyone seems to have. Maybe we could ask—”
OOF!
Someone bumped into Twilight, sending her stumbling back. Not quite adapted to her alternate body just yet, Twilight fell back onto the ground, landing with a thud.
She regained focus, and was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face, complemented by cotton candy hair.
“Twilight! Spike!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, quickly giving the former a big hug.
“Hi, Pinkie!” Twilight said, relieved to see a familiar face.
“Ooh! Did I catch it?” Pinkie asked, releasing Twilight and checking her device, which was identical to everyone else’s.
“Oh no, you too?” Spike said.
“Me too about what?” Pinkie asked. “Did you catch the Pikachu as well?”
Twilight and Spike raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”
“The Pikachu!” Pinkie said. “I finally found one, and I was about to catch it but I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going because I bumped into you and knocked you over. Sorry about that, by the way, I’m just so excited to finally have a Pikachu of my own, and—”
“Wait wait wait,” Twilight interrupted. “What’s a Pikachu? What are you talking about?”
Pinkie gasped, and gave Twilight a shocked look.
“Have you not heard of Pokémon Go?” Pinkie asked.
This only served to confuse Twilight and Spike more.
“What in the world are you talking about?” Twilight asked.
Pinkie just stared for a moment before giggling to herself.
“Oopsie! I forgot! You’re from another world where you don’t have phones!” Pinkie said. She was about to say something else, before Twilight heard something that resembled a short buzz. Pinkie seemed to perk up. “Nearby Pokémon!” she said, looking back at her phone. She gasped again, her eyes going wide. “IT’S A BULBASAUR!”
“What?!” Twilight and Spike beckoned. They looked around, and there was no “Bulbasaur” anywhere. Nothing peculiar. Just the pavement around the destroyed Wondercolt statue. “What are you looking at, Pinkie?”
For once, Pinkie didn’t respond. Instead, her attention was fixated on her phone. “Pinkie?”
“A Bulbasaur!” another familiar voice said.
“What?!” another familiar voice said.
Twilight and Spike looked in the direction of the voices to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity walking towards them, their attention fixated on their phones as well.
Apparently they could see what Pinkie was seeing, but Twilight still couldn’t.
“The gym’s pokémon is a water type,” Rainbow Dash said. “This’ll be perfect!”
“Um… hi, girls,” Twilight said.
“Hey there,” Spike said.
Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked up.
“Oh, hey,” they both said before immediately returning to their phones.
Twilight and Spike rose an eyebrow.
“Um… what’s going on?” Twilight asked.
“Duh, we’re catching Pokémon,” Rainbow Dash said.
“A what?” Twilight asked.
“I caught it!” Rainbow Dash said.
“I did too!” Rarity said.
“567 CP!” Rainbow Dash said.
“208…” Rarity said dejectedly.
“Looks like I’m taking the gym from Team Mystic,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Not if me and my new Pikachu have anything to say about it!” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
“Girls!” Twilight snapped, making them go quiet. “What are you talking about? What are Pokémon? What’s a Pikachu? What’s a Bulbasaur? Why is everyone walking around on their… “phones”? What is any of this?”
“Please tell her,” Spike said. “She’ll go crazy if she doesn’t know.”
The three girls were silent for a moment before just giggling, making Twilight even more frustrated.
“Forgive us, darling,” Rarity said. “This game is just so much fun!”
“Everyone’s playing it,” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, except Sunset, Fluttershy, and AJ. Fluttershy thinks it's cruel to capture animals like this, and Sunset and AJ just don’t care. They’re missing out.”
“Here, darling,” Rarity said, showing her phone to Twilight. “It’s really simple. You just walk around, and every once and a while a creature called a Pokémon will appear.”
“You gotta catch them all!” Pinkie said. “Throw the pokéball at them and hope you catch it!”
“And depending on where you are, different kinds can appear,” Rainbow Dash.
“Oh! There’s a Pinsir right now!” Rarity said.
“Mine!” Pinkie said.
“Pinsir will be mine!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Here, I’ll show you how it works,” Rarity said, proceeding to “catch the Pokémon”.
“But there’s nothing here,” Twilight said, waving her hands where the so-called “Pinsir” was on the phone’s screen.
Rarity giggled. “Oh, darling, it’s not real. It’s all in the game.”
“But it’s clearly in the grass on the screen!” Twilight said. “Can I just not see it because I’m actually a pony?”
The three girls just continued to giggle.
“It uses the camera on the phone,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Wait,” Spike said. “There are cameras built into these things?!”
“Of course!” Rarity said.
“I think my head’s about to explode,” Twilight said, trying to comprehend all the information she was being bombarded with.
“If you don’t understand, just play the game!” Pinkie said. She reached on top of the Wondercolt statue pedestal and brought a random phone back with her.
“Where did you get that?” Rainbow asked.
“I have phones stashed all over Canterlot!” Pinkie said. “In case of phone emergency!”
“Goodness, that must be expensive,” Rarity said.
“Here you go, Twilight!” Pinkie said, giving the phone to Twilight.
“Um…” Twilight murmured, unsure of what to do.
“Use your finger, darling,” Rarity said.
Twilight did just that, and was amazed when the screen began moving with her finger. The screen said “Slide to Unlock” with an arrow pointing to the right. She followed the phone’s instructions, and magically the phone changed, opening up a menu of multi-colored squares.
“Tap the red-and-white ball icon,” Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight tapped said icon, and was greeted by a screen with a giant sea monster about to attack a person on a bridge. Before she could question it, the screen changed to one of a weird looking human.
Twilight followed the instructions on the screen, and was eventually brought to a screen with three creatures. One looked like a blue frog with a green bulb on its back. Another was an orange lizard whose tail was on fire, but it didn’t seem to care. The last one was a blue turtle with a swirly tail.
“Are these the Pokémon you were talking about?” Twilight asked.
The girls nodded.
“This is weird,” Spike said.
“Now you have to pick one of them!” Pinkie said.
“If you’re smart, you’ll pick Squirtle,” Rainbow Dash said.
“I went with Charmander,” Pinkie said.
“I chose Squirtle, just like Rainbow,” Rarity said.
Twilight was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what the criteria was for picking one. Was one of them stronger than the other? Was one of them rarer?
Twilight eventually opted for Charmander.
“Whoa, now what’s happening?” Twilight asked. “The lizard’s on the ground. Why’s the screen going all spazzy?”
“Stop moving your hand so much,” Rainbow said, trying to stabilize Twilight’s hand.
“Now, place your finger on the pokéball and flick it at the Charmander,” Rarity said. “Aim carefully.”
Twilight did just that, as weird as it sounded. Surprisingly, it worked, though her aim wasn’t the best. Apparently physics didn’t work properly in the game. Eventually after nine tries, Twilight finally captured the Charmander.
“I got it!” Twilight said, making everyone else cheer in response.
“Now we have to walk around so you can capture more!” Pinkie said.
“You know what, school just ended. Let’s go to the park!” Rarity said.
“There’s bound to be tons of Pokémon there!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Let’s go!” the three girls said.
SEVEN HOURS LATER
“I caught another Pidgey!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Twilight… I think that’s enough for one day…” Rainbow Dash said, completely tuckered out.
“My hair is all frizzy and gross,” Rarity said, wiping the sweat off her forehead from walking around so much.
“I’m party pooped,” Pinkie said.
Spike was out cold in Rarity’s arms, as has been for the past half-hour.
“But I have to get more Pidgey candy so I can evolve my Pigeotto!” Twilight said. “And my egg is almost ready to hatch!”
“Twilight, it’s ten o’clock,” Rainbow Dash said.
“I think I know what I need to do,” Twilight said, completely ignoring her friends. “If I catch three more Pidgeys, I’ll have enough candy, and I’ll have enough star dust after six more captures. I can level up my Pidgeot and capture the gym for Team Valor!”
“Darling, Team Valor captured the gym three hours ago,” Rarity said.
“Twilight, can we please go home now?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight gasped. “Pidgey! I must catch you!” she exclaimed, dashing off.
Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. They were clearly exhausted, and they needed to get Spike somewhere safe.
“You girls go,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.”
Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded, starting their trek home. Rainbow Dash sighed, slowly walking in the direction of the poké-crazed Twilight Sparkle.
“I think I hate this game now,” Rainbow mumbled to herself, trying to keep up.
Never introduce a viral trend to Twilight Sparkle. Ever.
Author's Note
I whipped this up in 90 minutes. Sorry if this was cringe-worthy and/or bad. This story was about as off-the-cuff as it gets, and I wrote whatever came immediately to mind.
It was bound to happen at some point. I had an idea, and decided to go with it.
I do play this game, but I'm not crazy about it, and I don't get political with the teams. I don't adamantly side with one team, so please don't ask me about which team is better. Please be safe and responsible if you play the game, and don't let disputes between Team Valor and Team Mystic get in the way of your life. Please. 
Thanks for reading, as always! 
