All the Smallest Things: Original Draft

Misty's recurring dream was clearer this time. The golden glow solidified into a white figure. This time, it said: Come to the Wishing Tree tonight.

When she woke up, she considered telling her friends, but they had bigger things to worry about today.

The founders of the Pokémon Emergency Taskforce arrived at CanterLove Studios early so they could set everything up. By the time they finished, it was nearly lunchtime and the leaders were due to arrive, so Sunny headed outside to greet them. Hitch strolled around the perimeter to make sure there weren't any paparazzi.

Alphabittle was the first to arrive.

"Great to see you!" exclaimed Sunny, shaking his hoof. "How's Bridlewood doing?"

"The rebuilding project is almost finished," he said. "We just need to make some minor repairs to homes that weren't badly damaged. The Crystal Tea Room still needs a new back window..."

Next came Queen Haven, who was flanked by Zoom Zephyrwing and Thunder Flap. "Am I fashionable late?"

"The conference hasn't started yet," said Sunny, "and we're still waiting for too more."

"Understood." Queen Haven looked around. "Also, where is Zephyrina? This is the perfect opportunity for her to learn how to be a queen."

"She's inside," said Sunny, "and she's helping Pipp set up the broadcast. They've already contacted Skye Silver and Dazzle Feather."

Queen Haven frowned for a moment. "Very well, then."

Next was Steven Stone. "I apologise for being late, Sunny. I had difficulty walking up the slopes." Queen Haven and Alphabittle exchanged glances.

"Don't worry," said Sunny. "We've still got plenty of time, and you're not even the last to arrive."

Eventually, a shadow loomed overhead. Everyone looked up to see Spike flying towards them. They all stood back to give him enough space to land. A small, slender, green and white figure stepped off his back — he must've been Bede.

"I didn't know you invited dragons!" exclaimed Queen Haven, but everyone else ignored her.

"Great to see you again, Princess Sunny Starscout," said Spike with a bow.

"Please, just Sunny is fine," she said.

Spike chuckled. "Anyway, have you friends told you about my assistant?" He flicked a wing in Bede's general direction.

"Yes they have," said Sunny. Then, she stepped in front of the group. "But you can introduce yourselves later. For now, follow me to the banquet hall!"

The "banquet hall" in question had once been a cafeteria. Sunny had tasked Izzy with sprucing it up, and she'd done a pretty good job. She'd pushed all the bench-tables into the middle of the room, presumably with help, and covered them with a purple, patchwork tablecloth. Sunny and Arven had prepared most of the food beforehand, including an apple pie, fresh crystals from Bridlewood, and heart-shaped peaches. As each guest sat by the table, Izzy levitated a plate in front of each of them.

"Help yourselves!" Izzy exclaimed, then bounded off into another room.

The guests introduced themselves to each-other before they ate, except Queen Haven and Alphabittle, who were sat next to each other.

"Zephyrina told me you're the champion of the Hoenn region," said Queen Haven after she'd finished a slice of apple pie. "What does that mean?"

"It means I was the strongest Pokémon trainer in my homeland. Or at least, I was," replied Steven. "Do you know what trainers are?" She nodded, so he continued. "Anyway, eventually a child defeated me in battle and took my place... though I couldn't tell you their name." He shook his head. "I also remember not being the champion at any point. How strange."

"Bede said he has memory problems too," said Spike.

"Spike!" hissed Bede.

"So do our friends, Penny, Nemona, and Arven," said Sunny. "Any guesses as to why?"

Everyone stared at each other in silence for a long, awkward moment.

"I've got nothing," Alphabittle said.

Once everyone had finished lunch, Sunny led them into the main studio, where Pipp was waiting. The room was mostly empty, save for the studio lightning and a table on the soundstage.

Sunny turned to face the others. "Right. This conference will be broadcast live on both Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights' local news channels, so please don't say anything incriminating. Pipp here is in charge of the cameras." Right on cue, Pipp waved. "My other friends — the founders of PET — will be watching this from upstairs. Understood?"

The others said "understood" back with varying levels of enthusiasm.

With that, Sunny sat down by a short end of the table, and the others took their positions. Then, she looked at Pipp, who titled the camera towards them. "We'll be live in 3... 2... 1..." Pipp winked to let Sunny know they were live. "Attention, everypony or otherwise! This broadcast is the first of its kind: a meeting between several world leaders. My name is Sunny Starscout, and I'm here to represent Maretime Bay." She introduced the others, then said, "Today, we'll come up with a plan for how to deal with Pokémon in the long-term. Shall we begin?"

Sunny looked away from the camera and at the others. "So, we need to think carefully about how to deal with this dilemma. On one hand, Pokémon can cause all sorts of destruction by accident— yes, Alphabittle?"

Alphabittle, who had raised his hoof, said, "For example, there was a huge wildfire in Bridlewood last week. Eventually, Misty and her butterfly friend found the culprit: a white, hairy caterpillar the size of a pony." Queen Haven gasped and reeled back.

Sunny nodded. "That's true. However, we can't simply get rid of all the Pokémon, either. Many of them are just as intelligent and emotional as ponies — or dragons —" (she gave Spike a quick glance) "so treating them like pests would be cruel. Not to mention, we don't know when and where new Pokémon are going to appear, so I believe that Pokémon are our best defence against them. Queen Haven, you remember when my friends fought the Roaring Moon in Zephyr Heights, right?"

Queen Haven nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"For now, my friends and I have set up a taskforce to deal with Pokémon-related problems in Equestria, but it's only a short-term solution," said Sunny. "We only have a few dozen members, which isn't nearly enough. If we're going to live alongside Pokémon, we need to come up with laws." She looked around at the others. "So, what do you think?"

"I have to admit, I'm no expert on lawmaking," said Alphabittle. "We mainly just follow tradition in Bridlewood."

"Neither am I," added Steven.

Sunny looked at Spike. "What about you?"

"The Isle of Scaly doesn't have much of a population, BUT, dragons will listen to anything the Dragon Lord says," said Spike. "If I tell them how to treat Pokémon, they're unlikely to disobey."

"Those are all good points!" exclaimed Sunny. "However, it's not just about how we should treat Pokémon. It's also about how they should treat us. If Pokémon want to live in our societies, they should follow our laws, but what about laws that don't apply to them?"

Queen Haven coughed. "If I remember Zephyr Heights' constitution correctly," she said, "One needed to be a pegasus to get a job or own property. As of late, we've loosened the laws to include all ponies, but that would still make Pokémon second-class citizens." Bede frowned when he heard this.

"Not to mention, according to my friend Hitch, Maretime Bay's latest anti-discrimination laws only cover ponies," said Sunny. "Fortunately, most of the incidents we've dealt with have been accidents or misunderstandings, but..." She shuddered at a mental image of business-owning ponies on Mane Street slamming their doors on Pokémon.

Bede raised one of his skinny arms, and Sunny motioned for him to talk. "I wish it were that easy, but you're acting like all Pokémon are the same. A lot of them just want to live in the wild. What's a Slowpoke gonna contribute to society?" Spike gave him a glare worthy of an eagle.

Sunny reigned in the urge to sigh. "Bede could've been more polite, but he raises a good point. We can't force wild Pokémon to live in society if they don't want to. How do we distinguish them from the ones who want to?"

"Perhaps Pokémon who want to live in civilisation could apply for citizenships?" Queen Haven suggested.

Sunny slammed her hooves on the table and raised herself up. "That's an excellent idea! We'd need to set up a lot of infrastructure first, not to mention..."

The group continued talking for several more hours. They had a lot to discuss: how to reunite Pokémon who were separated from their loved ones, warn the public about the purple sparks, and reduce Pokémon-caused damage to property.