“Good lord that took way too long,” Chrys whined as they exited the forest. The group could see the city in the near distance

“I couldn’t agree more,” Riolu concurred, collapsing on the ground for dramatic effect.

“Quit whining you morons. It was a week, max,” Sunset deadpanned. Riolu got up at this and hopped onto Chrys’ back, using his backpack to rest her legs while her head was on his shoulder.

“One week too many. And I’m literally starving to death so we better catch that train really damn quick,” Chrys groaned, slumped over. Sunset shook her head.

“The train doesn’t get here for two more days. You’re gonna have to tough it out,” she explained.

This caused Chrys to smack his head with his hand and groan louder. “This is gonna suck enormous gorilla dick. Just like Assassin’s Creed.” He couldn’t help himself from a small chuckle at that.

“Ugh,” Sunset sighed, ignoring them for the rest of the walk to the city in the distance.

It took them about ten minutes to walk to the outskirts of the gambling capital of Equestria. Chrys, Riolu, and Vulpix gaped at the sight. The city was full of vibrant colors, ponies and the like walking down the streets either piss drunk or hungover in the middle of the day. The air reeked of alcohol and fluids of the bedroom variety. Chrys smiled.

It’s exactly how I always dreamed, Chrys thought sarcastically. He also realized something a little too late. All across the block they were walking down, he was getting glares. Some were angry, some were confused, but most were fearful. Sunset also noticed this and went into a panic. She grabbed Chrys by the arm and dragged him into the nearest alleyway. Her breathing was heavy and panicked.

“What are we going to do!?!” Sunset whisper-yelled. “If you get caught then you will no doubt be arrested,” she explained.

“Okay that makes sense. Why are you so afraid then?” he asked.

“Because I’ll be arrested for treason if I’m seen with you! I cannot believe we overlooked something so damn important.” She resumed her heavy breathing when she finished. This made Riolu hop off of Chrys’ shoulder and smack Sunset upside the head.

“Calm. Down. Losing your shit isn’t gonna help us.” She snapped her head to Chrys. “You got a horn on your head bud. Use it,” she commanded.

“I can’t. I just got this body,” he told her. Riolu’s mouth moved into an ‘o’ shape. “And even if I could I have no energy to do it with.”

“Well you need to try or were doomed,” Sunset said, checking the entrance to the alley to make sure nobody followed them. When she confirmed the coast was clear, she turned back to everyone. “Just feel deep inside you for any magic that’s there. Focus that feeling into your horn and picture something to transform into, preferably something small. That way you’ll use less energy to transform. Think of a small pokemon,” she explained.

Chrys stared at his companion stunned at her piss poor attempt at giving him a 30 second crash course on the highly complicated subject. He just shook his head and sighed, beginning his first attempt at magic. Just like he was told, he felt deep inside him to try and find an unfamiliar presence. After several minutes he let go of a breath he had no clue he was holding.

“Nothing,” he said. Sunset grabbed his shoulders and violently shook him.

“Try. Harder,” she demanded, her eyes manic. Chrys simply nodded and closed his eyes again.

He did what he thought the ‘feeling’ that Sunset mentioned was. He felt around his body until he reached his core. It was here where he felt a part of him that was significantly warmer than the rest of his essence. Without a word, he gripped at the feeling and shot it up towards his head. His horn began to lite up in a sickly green hue, making the rest of the group smile widely. He then pictured a plethora of small pokémon. He scrolled through his memory until he found a suitable pokémon to transform into. Once he decided, he forced his energy outwards from his horn, causing his body to burst into emerald flames. To his great surprise, he didn’t feel any significant increase in heat coming from them. Once he figured the spell was completed, he opened his eyes.

When he did this, he was greeted with the eyes of his Riolu staring straight at him. He noted that she wasn’t looking up so this told him he’d succeeded. Cutiefly’s pokéball also fell to the ground and was next to his bag; another sign he was successful. He also noticed he was on four legs, which was exactly what he wanted. Sunset was the first who spoke.

“Interesting choice. Poochyena wouldn’t be my first choice if I could be a pokémon,” she commented.

“It was easy enough to do. Besides. I think it’s a cool pokémon,” he replied.

“Well you did a really good job. It looks exactly like a normal Poochyena, although you shouldn’t speak. That’ll give you right away,” she added.

“Agreed.”

Sunset picked up Chrys’ things and the gang walked out of the alley from the opposite side of where they entered it, Chrys frequently stumbling trying to get used to walking on four legs. After several more falls, Sunset lifted him onto her head.

“Hold on tight. We’ll head to the Pokémon Center and settle into a room,” she said. Everyone nodded in agreement at the plan and Sunset kept walking, Riolu and Vulpix following close behind.

Several minutes passed and Chrys started to stare stunned at the sites they were passing, devising that they had reached the strip. He looked around further and saw the massive Pokémon Center right where T-Mobile Arena would be in Vegas.

“Holy crap,” he said quietly, in awe of the huge center. “Why is that so big?”

“It doubles as an actual hotel. This is one of the top cities to tour in the country, and even though it’s free for trainers to go there overnight, a lot of regular ponies use it as a hotel ‘cause it’s cheaper in general. The company makes a ton of extra money doing that. It’s a pokémon hospital, but it’s also a business, and this is a very profitable location for them,” Sunset explained.

“Yeah. Nurse Joy told me that a while back,” Riolu chimed in. “They call them Pokémon SuperCenters. They have one in almost every tourist heavy.”

“Could they have been less creative,” Chrys sighed.

“Probably not. They have these in Manehatten and Baltimare as well,” Sunset added.

Are you kidding me? Manehatten? Baltimare? My head is gonna explode if I keep hearing dumb pony puns in city names, Chrys thought as Sunset walked up to the automatic doors of the building.

Once they entered, they were greeted with quite the site. Firstly, there were ponies scattered all over the place, most of which in the several different restaurants visible left of the entrance to the lobby and elevators near them, presumably leading to the upper floors with the hotel rooms. There was also the standard Pokémon Center setup in the middle with all the actual hospital rooms behind the front desk and café area. A pharmacy was also to the right of the entrance. Chrys leaned towards Sunset’s ear again.

“Is that a PokéMart?” he asked, pointing his Poochyena paw at the pharmacy.

“Yeah. They’re usually separate buildings but in SuperCenters they’re combined. Same company and all,” she explained, walking to the front desk, where they were greeted with the familiar smile of a Nurse Joy and a Chansey to her right.

“Welcome to the Las Pegasus Pokémon Center! How may I help you?” she asked. Sunset smiled back.

“We need a room for the next two days,” she said. Nurse Joy turned to a computer to check for openings. Once she had found one, she punch the keyboard a little and a keycard came out from a card printer next to the computer.

“Okay you’re all set. Your room number 1124 on the eleventh floor. Have a good day!” Joy said, handing Sunset the keycard.

“You too,” she replied, heading to the elevators.

“That was simple enough,” Riolu commented. Vulpix and Sunset simply nodded and the latter pressed the button to summon one of the the elevators. Chrys was too focused on holding the transformation as he had no clue how much longer he could keep it going.

“I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out,” he quietly vocalized. Sunset grabbed a hold of him and began to gently pet him to calm him down.

“Just a little longer buddy, relax. You’ve been great,” she said like she was talking to a baby, much to Chrys’ annoyance even though he was actually enjoying the petting, something he would furiously deny. He also had a tingly feeling running through his body that made the transformation a little easier to hold.

Once the elevator arrived, they waited for eveyone already on it to get off and then quickly slipped on it themselves along with a few other ponies, which worried them because they weren’t sure how much longer Chrys could hold the transformation for. Sunset pressed the button for the eleventh floor and stood in the back of the elevator.

“Mommy look!” Sunset and the rest of the gang looked at the source of the noise. It was a young girl, no older than six or seven years old. She was looking up to a mare, seemingly in her late twenties.

“What is it sweetie?” the mare asked. Upon that question, the kid went to the panel on the elevator and pressed every single button. The changeling turned Poochyena’s eyes lit up in horror along with the fiery manned mare holding him.

Fuck, they both thought.

After several painfully long minutes, and several apologies from the mother, everyone got off at the eleventh floor. Chrys’ face was contorted in pain trying to hold his Poochyena transformation.

“Is your Poochyena okay?” the mare asked.

“He has indigestion,” Sunset blurted out. “We just need to get to out room and I can give him his medicine.” With that, the mare and her daughter took off and Sunset looked to the signs on the wall to find their room. She saw a sign that read ‘1120-1155” to the left of them.

“This way,” she said to the pokémon standing next to her. They both followed while Chrys jumped out of Sunset’s grip and ran to find the room, which was one of the first few, so the fact that he stumbled a bit due to his quadrupedal form didn’t matter as much.

Sunset giggled a bit and stuck the keycard into the lock and opened the door. Chrys was the first in the room and upon his diving entry he let go of the transformation. Sunset, Vulpix, and Riolu followed him in and Riolu closed the door.

“Jeez man, relax,” Riolu said, patting her trainer on the back.

“Kids are fuckin’ stupid. It’s just an elevator. How has she not seen one,” Chrys groaned sarcastically.

“The train gets here in two days,” Sunset reminded them, ignoring his comments. “I’ll get the tickets in about an hour or so and we can get you all situated.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do that transformation for again so I’m not gonna go with you,” Chrys explained, Sunset nodding in understanding. “Besides, I wanna get to know Cutiefly better.”

Chrys took the ball back from Sunset and opened it up. The pokémon exited the ball and looked around to get her bearings. Once she did, she flew to the TV stand in front of the two beds and sat down. She looked to Sunset and Chrys with that happy look she had when they first met.

“She seems comfortable,” Riolu remarked as she made her way over to the chair in the corner. On e she sat down on it, she looked to the clock. “Hand me the remote. ‘The Price Is Right’ is almost on,” she said.

They have that here? Chrys thought. I wonder if they have ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ and ‘Jeopardy.’ Oh and fuckin ‘Family Feud.’ Mah boi Steeeeve.

Sunset found the remote next to Cutiefly on the stand and tossed it to Riolu, who turned on the TV. Surely enough, it was the same setup of ‘The Price Is Right’ with the same overly enthusiastic contestants and audience members. The host even looked like somebody stuck Drew Carey in a ponifier machine of sorts.

“You guys do this while I go downstairs and do some much needed shopping,” Sunset said. “I’ll be back in about an hour.” Everyone nodded. “C’mon Vulpix,” she commanded. The fox followed her trainer happily to the elevator that almost screwed them all.

Once she was gone, Chrys and Riolu got sucked into the show and Cutiefly eventually moved over to the changeling to rest on his head. They were guessing prices of the items shown and making worthless bets on each of them as well.

This is great, Chrys thought. This is the most normal time I’ve had since getting here. Hopefully I can make it to that Thorax guy in time before I starve to death and can keep doing things like this. He took his Cutiefly off of his head and began to pet it. She gave him the same happy look she usually had. They both then turned back to ‘The Price Is Right’ intent on having a relaxing afternoon.

After the plan was devised, Sunset left the room in order to do all the shopping that she needed to. She went to the elevator and headed down to the lobby, where she would be able to pick up all the necessary items for the pokémon the two trainers had.

When she arrived at the lobby, she went to the PokéMart to grab pokémon food, medicine, bandages, and a bunch of other medical supplies that they would potentially need in the future. Once she collected all of her items she went to the counter to purchase everything.

“Oh yeah! 30 pokéballs please,” Sunset remembered. Half for him, half for me. He’s right. I definitely do need more pokémon if I wanna beat down Chrysalis and her slave drivers, she thought as the cashier rung up her purchases. The two ponies exchanged pleasantries before Sunset re-entered the lobby to leave the SuperCenter.

Once she was outside, she began walking down the streets of Las Pegasus looking for a normal supermarket. She had already purchased pokémon food for everyone, but now she needed to buy food for herself and more water bottles for Chrys to gorge himself on. As she continued across the street, she noticed a large sign on the front of a building that read ‘King Kullen’ figuring out that she had found her destination.

“Vulpix, hang onto me,” she told her partner. Vulpix did just that and Sunset teleported to the front of the building the instant later.

“Ahh!” When Sunset reappeared, she did so right in front of an unfortunate mare who dropped to the ground. In a panic, Sunset turned to the mare in question, who wasn’t a mare at all. Who she’d bumped into was a deep red dragoness. This caused Sunset to panic even more as she scrambled to her feet.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention,” Sunset apologized, offering the mare a hand. The mare gladly took it and helped pull herself up.

“It’s not a prob- Sunset!?!” the dragoness shouted, taking Sunset by surprise by pulling her into a hug.

“Ruby!?!” Sunset returned the embrace once she realized who it was. “I barely recognize you. I haven’t seen you since I first moved to Vanhoover.”

“I know! It’s been way to long. How’ve ya been?” Ruby asked.

“Fine. How about you?”

“Never better,” Ruby replied with a bright smile. She was covered in red scales except for her the spikes on her head and the tip of her tail, which were black. Her eyes were as red as her scales, one eye having a scar running over it. She wore a charcoal gray T-Shirt that read ‘Have A Good Day’ on it and jean shorts with a hole in the back so her tail could move freely. A glaring feature of the dragon was that she only had one wing. The other wing was completely gone without a trace. “What are you doing here?” Ruby asked.

“Uh...” Sunset stammered, thinking of an excuse that had nothing to do with the changeling she was harboring. “I’m just passing through?” She asked more than said. Fortunately for her, Ruby didn’t pick up on it as she brushed herself off from the fall.

“Where are you headed?” she pressed. Sunset thought of another lie to get her out of the previous lie. “I’m going to... uh... Canterlot. Yeah. That one,” she replied with a nervous laugh. This technically wasn’t a lie as Chrys wanted to try out the crazy gym there at some point, but that wouldn’t be for months. This time Ruby noticed the verbal barf that Sunset spewed out of her mouth and gave her a concerned look.

“You okay Sunset? You look like you’re gonna faint,” she commented. Sunset furiously nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine! Why would you ever think I’m not fine? I’m gonna go into the store now! Bye!” With that, Sunset ran off and her Vulpix closely followed, leaving a very confused and suspicious Ruby outside of the King Kullen.

“She’s probably staying there so I’ll catch up with her when she gets back,” she said with a shrug ad she headed for the Pokémon Center a little farther down the block.

Holy crap that was close, Sunset thought for the hundredth time as she was wrapping up her grocery shopping. Vulpix noticed her mild distress and nuzzled Sunset’s leg. The mare smiled.

“Thanks Vulpix. I shouldn’t worry about it too much. Just need to focus on getting the train tickets and getting back to the others with this stuff,” Sunset said, starting to walk out of the store with the bags, avoiding teleportation to prevent the previous situation from occurring again.

As Sunset and Vulpix were walking down the street, they looked around to see all the sights Las Pegasus had to offer. They both stared at the various landmarks on there way back to the Pokémon Center. While this was happening, Sunset noticed that she was falling to the ground for some reason. She quickly put her hands out in front of her to prevent her from face planting on the concrete. Vulpix rushed over to her lick her face to attempt to heal any pontential injuries.

“Ow! Watch where you’re going lady,” said a young female voice. Sunset turned around to see who she bumped into. All she got was the back of a teenage mare wearing a black hoodie and skinny jeans picking up her backpack that had fallen off in the collision somehow. The mare had light pink wings protruding from her hoodie neatly folded against the mares back, making Sunset assume she was a pegasus. However, when she looked at her more closely, she saw a long horn protruding from her head suggested otherwise. Sunset’s jaw dropped.

“You’re Princess Flurry Heart,” Sunset said stunned.

“Oh shit,” the mare said, noticing that Sunset saw her wings since her bag was off. Before Sunset could say a word to her, the alicorn teleported away, leaving Sunset very confused.

“Did you see that Vulpix?” Sunset asked, still staring at where the highly likely princess used to be. Vulpix nodded dumbly.

“Name somethin’ a burglar would not want to see when he breaks into a house?” said the pony version of Steve Harvey hosting the pony version of Family Fued. The Price Is Right had been over for a while and the three occupants of the hotel room had begun watching other game shows. The stallion on the right of the screen smacked the buzzer.

“NEKKID GRAMMAW!” he shouted out, causing Riolu, and Cutiefly to burst out into hysterical laughter.

Wow. This really is a completely parallel universe. That one is now just cringey now because it’s a deaded meme, Chrys thought as he looked over to his two pokémon. Cutiefly had moved to sit on top of Riolu’s head and the both of them were laughing at the following quips pony Steve Harvey was shooting at the moron who made the comment, laughing even harder when the answer counted. When he turned away from his pokémon, Chrys looked took the clock to check the time.

“Where the hell is Sunset? It’s been three hours,” Chrys said, looking at the clock.

“Why does it matter?,” Riolu asked. The changeling shrugged.

“I don’t know. She’s jus-“ he was cut off by the door slamming open to reveal the mare in question with a panicked expression plain for all to see on her face. Her breathing why heavy and her face was caked in a nervous sweat.

“God damn, what happened to you?” Riolu asked, hopping off the chair she was in and walking up to Chrys, who got up off the edge of the bed.

“Yeah. You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he commented.

“No. It’s way worse,” she replied, lightly panting.

“What could be worse than something like a Gengar? That thing is basically the result if a pokémon where to breed with a child molester,” Chrys joked. This got the usual hysterical laughter from Vulpix and a glare from Sunset.

“How about a princess of Equestria?” Sunset angrily asked. This caused the few who didn’t see the hooded alicorn to blink a few times.

“I’m sorry, a what!?!” Chrys asked in shock. Why is this country’s government a fucking monarchy!?! What is this, 1650!?! His eyes widened in even further realization.

“Exactly,” Sunset chimed in. “Well technically it’s not Equestria, It’s The Crystal Empire, but that’s besides the point. If she finds you, we’re doomed. You need to hold that Poochyena transformation for the rest of the day and until the train comes here tomorrow or we’re boned!”

Upon that remark, Chrys closed his eyes and focused on the transformation yet again, this time getting it done far quicker. He opened his eyes and looked up to Sunset.

“Are you better now? Having no energy and doing this sucks ass so I need everyone to be calm so I can focus,” Sunset nodded. “Great. Let me practice walking and we can get shit to eat... or drink in my case.” The group all nodded in agreement and gave Chrys the time he needed to perfect the art of quadrupedal movement. It took him a good 25 minutes or so, but he managed to get it after muttering something to himself to stich the rhythm into his subconscious so he would just walk after a while .

Once he was moving fluidly, Chrys and the rest of his posse headed down to the lobby. Once they were there, they all headed to the cafe area in the middle of it, Sunset explaining that all those restaurants either sucked or were way too expensive for her. They got to a table near long concessions stand and settled in. Chrys sat on the floor next to Sunset, who sat in the booth so he could quietly speak to her so he wouldn’t be found out. She sent out Gallade who sat in the next to her, Riolu sat on the other side, Cutiefly rested on her head and Vulpix hopped over Chrys to sit in Sunset’s lap.

“Wait a sec. This is so dumb!” Chrys realized. “If I accidentally drop the transformation here we’re done for.” Sunset lightly elbowed him. This confused Chrys but he knew it meant he needed to be quiet. He looked up to Sunset, only to see a horrified look on her face. Looking in the direction she was, his faced contorted to the unicorn’s same expression. There was a dragon running towards them, with red scales and a charcoal gray T-Shirt with a man’s face in the middle that read ‘Have A Good Day’ over it, headed straigth towards them, waving at Sunset. Two glaring features were the lack of a wing and the scar over her eye, but that’s not what Chrys noticed.

Holy shit! That’s a pony LA Beast shirt! Chrys thought, laughing to himself.

“Hey, Sunset!” Ruby called, running right to the booth, sitting herself next to Riolu, the pokémon none to pleased by this. When she turned to face the dragoness though, her eyes lit up in surprise.

“Holy crap! Those babushkas are bigger than my head, they’re incredible,” Riolu thought aloud, immediately regretting it and blushing furiously. This made Vulpix, Gallade, and Chrys to explode in laughter and for Sunset to slam her head on the table. Ruby looked around in shock.

“Who said that?” she asked nobody in particular, not seeming to be disturbed by the comment. Riolu tapped Ruby’s leg, and when she turned to face the pokémon, Riolu raised her paw.

“Hi,” she said sheepishly, causing Ruby to raise her eyes in shock.

“Isn’t that telepathy? That’s so awesome!” she commented. Riolu nodded to confirm her assumption, turning away in embarrassment. “Aww. It’s okay. Do you like my boobies?” Everyone’s eyes shot up in surprise at the question. They shot up even further when Riolu nodded. The dragoness gently picked Riolu up and placed her on her lap. The emanation pokémon was surprised by this, and blushed even more than before. Cutiefly moved to her trainers head now to give her friend some space, still looking happy as ever.

So Riolu’s into other women? Good for her, Chrys thought with a smile. He also flet a little tingle like the one he felt in the elevator this morning. What the hell is that? he thought. He looked to the dragoness named Ruby. She began to pet Riolu, who forgot all about the previous embarrassment and absolutely melted at the expert touch. There was a short silence that Sunset broke.

“I didn’t think you’d be the type to let pokémon... do that,” Sunset said, pointing at Riolu, who was getting grabby.

“I’m no stranger to things like this with pokémon,” she explained. Sunset went into mild shock after the comment, her face looking like she’d seen a ghost. The rest tried their best to ignore it. “What’s wrong with that? They’re sentient beings. Besides, some of them are better than ponies are at it.”

Please shut up, Chrys silently begged.

“It’s not illegal!” Ruby shouted, noticing the looks she was getting.

None of us care if it’s legal or not! We just don’t wanna hear about your sexual escapades lady! Chrys thought with a disgruntled look. Cutiefly saw this look, so she flew up in front of Ruby and spelled out ‘TMI’ with some pollen dust. This is the greatest pokémon that I have ever seen.

“Oh. Sorry,” she put a hand to the back of her head, laughing. “I can get a little too personal sometimes.”

A little? Chrys thought. Ruby quickly spoke again.

“I didn’t know you had this many pokémon Sunny. Why weren’t they with you at the King Kullen earlier?” she asked, effectively changing the subject, something everyone appreciated. This caused Sunset to break out of her stupor.

“The three of them we’re relaxing in our room, sans Gallade who was in his ball when we bumped into each other,” Sunset explained. She wasn’t technically lying. She just left out the important detail of the changeling on the floor next to her.

“Oh!” Ruby looked to the floor, seeing the Poochyena. “I just noticed him. Come here little buddy,” she said to him. Chrys didn’t move, worried his disguise would drop. Sunset helped him out.

“He just hatched recently. He isn’t used to other ponies yet,” she lied with a nervous laugh. Ruby’s eyes lit up.

“He’s just a baby!?! We should totally have a battle then! It would give him some good experience.” Everyone’s jaws fell at that except for Riolu, who was to busy nuzzling Ruby’s bosom.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Sunset responded, a nervous sweat running down her face.

“Oh don’t worry about it. We’ll go easy on him,” Ruby responded.

“He’s just so young. I don’t think he’s ready yet,” Sunset stammered.

“That’s how pokémon get better, Sunset! They battle,” Ruby exclaimed. “C’mon pleeeaasse.”

“Okay fine!” Sunset shouted. This caused Chrys to jump up from his location on the floor to about 15 feet in the air and land stalk still on the spot of the floor where he shot up from. Sunset saw this and attempted to calm him down. “It’ll be fine. Just do what I say.”

THAT DOESN’T HELP ME!!!, he thought in a panic, giving Sunset a manic expression.

“Alright! I’ll be out by the battlefield,” Ruby said as she ran off, Riolu still in her grasp.

“Are you out of your fucking mind!?!” Chrys quietly scolded. The unicorn looked down to him.

“Gallade!” said the Blade Pokémon in agreement.

“Look. You do ‘Tackle’ a few times, let an attack hit you, then lose,” she explained. “It’ll be over and done with and can go to bed.”

“Something tells me that won’t work out so well. What if I drop the transformation as I get hit!?!” he angrily asked. Gallade nodded in agreement.

“That won’t be a proble ‘cause you’re not gonna do that.” Chrys adopted the same look that Phoenix Wright gets when he is completely shocked. “Let’s get this over with, c’mon.”

Sunset picked up Chrys and followed Ruby out the front door. All of her other pokémon followed her. Gallade had a hand on his forehead, sighing at the disaster this was more than likely going to ensue. Chrys didn’t back down however, as he flailed all the way to the battlefield right outside of the SuperCenter.

“Quit squirming! You’re gonna tire yourself out!” Sunset said, tightening her grip. Chrys quit struggling and crossed his forelegs.

”Fuckin’ god damn bullshit.” He looked up to Sunset with a glare. “Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Good,” Sunset declared, dropping Chrys in front of her. He ran forward and readied himself for whatever nightmare he was about to experience. “We’re ready Ruby!”

“Okay cool!” Ruby shouted back, taking out a pokéball and throwing it up. “Come on out!”

What exited the pokéball made Chrys gulp in fear. Standing in front of him, looking down at him, was a Lurantis. It stared at him with a serious look.

“Uh Ruby. This is a baby pokémon we’re training here,” Sunset said, trying to save Chrys the pain he was about to receive.

“Don’t worry Sunny. We’ll go easy!” Ruby said, not convincing the faux Poochyena she was about to demolish. “You can go first.”

“Well okay uh,” Sunset stammered, confused on what to do. “Use Tackle?”

This is already a disaster and we haven’t even started, Chrys thought as he ran at Lurantis. When his body connected, as expected, he did no damage. He landed on the ground, backpedaling away from his opponent.

“Use Leaf Blade.” Lurantis did as Ruby commanded. It swung its long arm at Chrys who ducked under it. When Lurantis tried again, he jumped over it. When take three rolled around, Chrys got hit in the side. He flew into the wall of the Pokémon Center and comically slid down it into some bushes.

“Chry- uh Poochyena! You good!” Sunset yelled. Upon that question, she saw a green flash of light. “Oh shit.” There was another green flash and Poochyena jumped out of the bushes. “Oh thank Celestia. Use, fuggin, uh, Bite, I guess.”

Chrys charged at the Lurantis and bit down on its leg, causing a yelp of pain to come from the pokémon. Said pokémon kicked him off and readied another attack. “Petal Blizzard,” Ruby called. A barrage of petals slammed into the changeling turned Poochyena, and he hit the floor hard. A flash a green fire enveloped him again, revealing his true form.

“Oh shit,” Chrys said waiting for the shrieking of Ruby. None came, as she went rigid as her jaw dropped. “I guess that’s better than what I was expecting.”

“Get back in the bush!” Sunset yelled as she ran over to her friend, who gave her an incredulous look. Chrys did just that, crouching like a catcher in the bushes. He looked down at his knees so his horn wouldn’t stick out. He then saw something unsettling.

“Sunset! My legs are green now!” He said panicked.

“Yeah I know. It’s another ability newbloods have. Chameleon-like camouflage. Chrysalis shaped you all to be exactly like she wanted you to be,” she explained. This helped relax Chrys.

“What the hell is going on here!?!” Ruby asked her friend.

“I can explain!” Sunset said, putting her hands up defensively.

“Well you better or I’m gonna kick your ass straight up to the cloud section of this damn city.”

“Cloud section?” Chrys asked.

“Las Pegasus was originally a cloud city but they expanded it to the ground several years ago. Pegasi are able to manipulate the clouds and they control the weather here so that’s how that all works if you’re wondering,” Sunset explained.

“Why do you need to explain that to him? That’s common knowledge,” Ruby said.

“Well... that’s a long story.” Sunset then proceeded to explain everything. She told the dragoness who and what Chrys actually was, his whole predicament, and their plan to go to the Changeling Kingdom. As Sunset explained, Ruby began to understand and she regained control of her temper.

“I think I get it,” Ruby said. The gang had worked their way back to the hotel room. Chrys managed to transform into Poochyena again, albiet painfully, and they made it back without incident.

“So we need to go to this Thorax guy in order to help me figure this shit out so I dont keel over,” Chrys said.

“Okay then. I’ll help in any way I can!” Ruby exclaimed with a wide smile.

“Huh,” said Sunset and Chrys in unison.

“I’ll help you,” she repeated. “I’ll go with you to the Changeling Kindom.”

“That was a hell of a turnaround,” Riolu commented. Ruby picked up the pokémon and brought her to her chest, making Riolu melt in a mixture of embarrassment and pure happiness. “Can we keep her Chrys?”

“I don’t care either way. I just wanna get better. Sunset?” the changeling asked.

“Why not. We could use all the help we can get.”

“Sounds good. We’re gonna want to rest up, especially you,” she said, gesturing towards the changeling. “You need to hold that for a whole train ride.”

“Fuck me, I do have to do that,” Chrys groaned. “How long is this train ride again?”

“It gets here in two days and the whole trip takes about 13 hours, give or take. It stops in Ponyville and the we have to transfer to another train that goes to the Kingdom,” Sunset said.

“I am going to die.”

“You’re not gonna die,” Sunset groaned.

“I can’t last two days then another 13 hours! I’m running on pure adrenaline at this point, and that’s also just about run dry!”

”It’ll be fine. We’ll get you through this,” Riolu reassured him, walking up to him and hugging his leg. Chrys couldn’t help but smile as that tingly feeling ran up his back again.

“I wonder what that is,” he thought aloud.

“What what is?” Ruby asked.

“I’ve gotten this tingle up my back at random times and it just happened again.”

“Oh!” Ruby exclaimed. “That’s you feeding.”

“Huh.”

“Newblood changelings can passively feed on positive emotions directed towards them through physical contact. You’re feeding off of the positive emotions that Riolu is emitting towards you. It’s the best case scenario since you don’t hurt her,” the red dragoness explained. “She’s comforting you and your able to absorb the emotional energy into your body, providing you with some sustainable food source. It’s not great but it’s something.”

“I’d question how you got your knowledge of that, but that just makes sense. In fact those previous times are probably what allowed you to transform into Poochyena again!” Sunset said. “You’ll be fine for a couple more days if you feed off of the positive emotions directed towards you. Can you recall other times that that’s happened?”

“When you hugged me before the elevator ride earlier,” he said matter of factly, causing Sunset to blush. “Also when Cutiefly nuzzled up against me while we were watching stupid game shows,” Chrys said.

“They are not stupid,” Riolu interjected. “They are life.”

“Since it happens when physical contact is made,” Ruby said, completely ignoring Riolu’s remark. She didn’t continue much past that, since she proceeded to pull Chrys into a bone crushing hug that left him short of breath. He did, however, get the same sensation along his back. He tapped her to the best of his ability to get her to let go. Once she did, his eyes lit up.

“Yeah that works! Holy shit it works! It’s perverted as all hell but I can feel the hunger slowly going away,” Chrys exclaimed.

“Great! So we just show you physical affection until we reach Thorax so he can teach you the magic,” Ruby said excitedly.

“I hope we get there without incident,” Sunset commented. “With Flurry Heart here, there lies a serious problem of running into her.”

“I have a pretty easy solution to that problem,” Ruby said, smirking. Taking the silence as the inevitable ‘please explain’ comment that would’ve come along, she threw a pokéball towards the window of the room. Out of the ball came a Garchomp. Chrys’ went numb when he heard this.

“Imma fly on a fuckin’ Garchomp,” he said giddily. “And people said I wouldn’t do great things.”

“Okay then. That’s great. Let’s rest up then. We got a long couple of days ahead of us and a long train ride after that.”

Author's Note

There may have been continuity errors throughout this since I’m just putting it out cuz it’s been long enough and I’ve written on and off for the whole time so let me know if there are glaring errors.

Edit: Went back myself and noticed a couple so I fixed them.

https://youtu.be/OiTAH9TNSv8