//------------------------------//
// The Phoenix Rises 
// Story: Tides of the Past 
// by King-Mac-13 
//------------------------------//

Excerpt from the Dictionary of Equestrian Fauna (eighth edition);
The Phoenix: A bird of fire. The origin of this creature is, as of yet, unknown. However, there are a large number of phoenixes currently residing in the Equestrian area. The creature resides in higher temperature locations throughout the area. They are plentiful in the Dragonlands due to the volcanic hot spots in the area. That said, the phoenix and dragon-kind are often at odds with one another. The phoenix can be (and in some cases, have been) domesticated. The Phoenix’s feathers are believed to generate their own heat and can provide warmth when used as a lining in clothing. There were old beliefs that phoenix feathers were able to revive those recently deceased. This has since been proven false. (Something about an Aerith… the details are sketchy.) The phoenix can reanimate itself after combustion, reborn from its ashes.
-\/-
“Darling… please…”
While Rarity was attempting to coax Fluttershy out from the rocks, Spike and Dragon Lord Ember watched the scene play out.
“Spike’s friend Ember already said we can look around to find the Phoenix. There are no grown up dragons in the Dragonlands today. So, come out from that rock and we can get to work.”
“I-I-I-I-I-I’m n-n-not sure…”
“Darling, I can promise you, you will be fine.”
“O-okay. If you say so.” Fluttershy slowly left the rocks and trotted over to join the group.
Ember looked between the two ponies before commenting to Spike, “I get the marshmallow pony…”
“Rarity.” Spike corrected.
“Right… but why the one who’s scared of dragons?”
“Fluttershy knows the most about phoenixes.”
“But isn’t this supposed to be some ancient super phoenix or something? Wouldn’t there be differences between the old version and the modern phoenix?”
“Definitely. She’s the best shot we have. There’s also supposed to be a lot of other phoenixes is the area. I’m sure Twilight knew what she was doing when she made the teams.”
“Twilight… that was the purple one with the wings, right?”
“Twilight is an alicorn, so she has a horn as well as wings.”
“Ah… ponies are confusing.”
“It’s not as bad as you’d think.”
After nearly an hour of walking, the group found themselves on a shoreline. In the distance, the flame-cano. A cluster of dragons could be seen flying the distance. Ember held her hand out toward the island, “most of the phoenix population is across the sea. Any that stay behind in the Dragonlands refused to be driven off back in the day.”
The flock of dragons in the distance started to fly toward the shore. A group of three dragons (two flying and carrying the third) flew down, landing in a tired mess. When Ember flew over, the largest of the three stood up and faced her. “Sorry, Dragon Lord Ember… we couldn’t get any new info.”
“Darn it…” Ember looked over to the other two. “So the Flame-cano is still out of our reach…”
“What do you mean?” Rarity walked down upon hearing this.
“Every time we get close to the island, there’s a series of eruptions that push us back.”
“I thought dragons could swim in lava without an issue…”
“We’re not totally sure about it all, either. But, for some reason, this fire is… different. It actually burns dragons.”
“Hmm… perhaps that’s where we can find our Phoenix.”
“You think?”
“It’s the first possible clue so far. It’s worth a look. But before we go, I should really get an outfit that can withstand the fires.”
“Dragons get burned by this fire. Nothing you have can withstand something that powerful.”
“Well… that puts a damper on things… but we can’t let this stop us! How can we get near the island without alerting the… flame-cano…?”
“We dragons have tried to figure out what’s going on for a couple days and we found that flying low helps hide us from whatever is making the flame-cano erupt. So maybe sailing over will keep you all hidden until you reach land.”
“If it’s the best option, then that’s what we shall do!”
The group spent the next handful of hours gathering materials and building a raft to ferry the group across the sea to the island. Rarity dubbed tried to dub it, ‘the SS Fabulous.’ She was eventually talked down about the issue and the group set off for the island. Their journey was a long, but quiet one. It took nearly another hour to cross the water and land on the shores of the island. The moment they set hoof on the island, however, was not so kind. The moment they arrived, the ground started to shake.
“W-w-w-what’s going on?!” Fluttershy was freaking out.
“I don’t know. I thought we were supposed to be hidden from whatever was doing this… stuff…” Spike looked around but stopped when he looked toward the summit.
“Spikey?” Rarity followed his gaze and was taken aback for a moment. After a moment, she responded with, “It’s… gorgeous.”
At the summit was a phoenix. Truthfully, though, it was more majestic than a normal phoenix. Its feathers were a radiant crimson mixed with a brilliant light blue at the tip of the feathers. It seemed like it truly was a living fire. It looked down toward them, its eyes burned with an intensity that the group could feel even at the bottom of the mountain. It stared for a minute before spreading its wings and unleashing a powerful shriek. It retreated inside the summit and the world was quiet again.
After a moment of silence, Spike gave a nervous chuckle. “Well… at least we found the Phoenix.”
They entered the labyrinth within the mountain and made their way toward the central cavern. Thanks to Spike and Rarity’s previous visit to the Flame-cano, they made their way to the area in record time. Waiting for them was the Phoenix, staring them down. Now that they could see the creature to scale, they saw what they could not before; the fact that this Phoenix was the size of a fully grown dragon.
“Okay darling…” Rarity whispered to Fluttershy. “See if you can communicate with it.”
The Pegasus was shaking. “I don’t know if I can…”
“It’s like the other animals you know. Just… bigger. You can do this.”
“O-okay. I’ll try.” Fluttershy flew closer to the creature and started to work. “H-hello there.”
The Phoenix just looked down to her in silence.
Fluttershy started shaking again. “I-I-I’m sorry if we’re disturbing you…”
“Silence!” The cavern erupted with the fiery voice of the Phoenix; she was pissed.
“You can talk?!”
“I can. But that’s not important right now. I demand a reason why you would ever dare to invade my territory!”
“You’re right! We’ll leave!” Fluttershy tried to make a run for it, but was stopped by Spike.
Rarity stepped forward to speak with the Phoenix. “Greetings. We apologize for stopping in unannounced, but we didn’t really know that you were here.”
The Phoenix scoffed. “The fireballs were not an indication to stay away?”
“To be fair, this is a volcano. Fire is part of the package.”
“Perhaps… but this does not excuse your action. Now, you have two options. Either you leave and never come back or explain yourselves and hope I accept your answer.”
“W-well… then I suppose we shall attempt to explain.”
“Fine.” The Phoenix sat in a perch and continued its burning gaze. “Get to it.”
“R-right…” Rarity cleared her throat before continuing, “You see, not too long ago…”
“I will not tolerate beating around the bush. Get to the point!”
Rarity was spooked but tried to regain her composure. “I apologize. I’ll get to the point. We came here to find you and make sure you’re not harming anypony…”
“You would dare to accuse me in my own home?!” The Phoenix let out a shattering screech, causing Rarity to fly backward and hit a rock.
Fluttershy cowered for a moment until Rarity was sent into the stone. At that moment, she forgot her fear and had to speak up. “Hey!”
The Phoenix turned toward the yellow Pegasus and stared in silence.
Fluttershy flew up to look the Elemental in the eyes. “Just because you’re big, doesn’t mean you get to be a bully! We came here to talk and you just sent my friend flying.”
After a minute of silence, the Phoenix replied calmly. “Are you done?”
Fluttershy was taken aback. “What?”
“Are you done with your little rant?”
“I… um… yes?”
“Good. Now, allow me to remind you… I LIVE HERE! You entered my home without being invited! You accuse me of harming another in my home!”
“Um… we never accused you. We just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t attack anypony.”
“And why would I do that if they leave me alone?”
“Um… the… Harmonia…”
“Harmonia? That magic cannon?”
“Yes. You know about it?”
“I do. It was created by the ponies. For what purpose, I don’t know and I don’t care. However, I know it’s the power that woke me from my slumber. And I am grateful to it. I now know that the dragons have been using my home.”
“Oh… um… that doesn’t mean you can just hurt my friend.”
“Pardon my anger when I’m accused by intruders in my home without provocation.” One could feel the sarcasm in the air.
“I told you, we’re not accusing you. We were told that you might try to get the power from Harmonia.”
“I don’t care about the magic of ponies. My only priority is my home and my offspring.”
“So… if we just leave, you won’t hurt anyone?”
“That’s the point. And get those dragons to leave my island alone!”
\/
As the group returned to the main land, they were swarmed by a few dragons, including Ember. “Well?”
“Well… we found out what was causing your issue.” Rarity explained. “It was the Phoenix we were looking for.”
“And you talked to it and got it to leave, right?”
“Not exactly… She’s quite stubborn. She says she won’t leave her home.”
“This Phoenix thinks it can just take the Flame-cano?!” Another dragon spoke up. A familiar and annoying voice, Garble. “I thought you dumb ponies were supposed to be good at this mediation stuff.”
“Garble!” Ember shouted the teen dragon down and turned back to the ponies and Spike. “As annoyingly as he puts it… I see where he’s coming from. The Flame-cano has been a staple of Dragon culture for a very long time. We never saw this Phoenix.”
“According to what we know… The Phoenix has been sleeping in there for a very long time. Before Equestria… she refuses to leave since she sees it as her home.”
“That could be a problem… The Flame-cano is an integral part of our selection of Dragon Lord. It’s kind of important to us.”
“I understand that, but I don’t think the Phoenix is going to leave. It’s also very territorial.”
“Then, can’t we find it a new home?”
“I don’t know. According to our source, it doesn’t leave its nest.”
“That doesn’t help…”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry. We can take it from here.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s like I said, we need the Flame-cano. So… we just have to drive it off.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?”
“Maybe… but we need that island.”
“Do you?” Spike finally spoke up.
“What are you talking about? You ran that course.”
“I did. And so did you. We worked together, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember. So?”
“So… you entered that tournament even though your dad said you couldn’t. We worked together and completed something that other dragons thought we couldn’t. We beat that challenge. That challenge is over. We proved that we don’t need to follow old ideas.”
“That makes sense… but we can’t just give up the Flame-cano.”
“You can’t be serious!” Garble reentered the conversation. “You’re going to listen to the runt and his pony friends? It’s just a stupid phoenix! We’ve forced plenty of those birds out, we can get rid of this one.”
Spike thought a moment and an idea lodged itself in his head. He noticed his pony companions about to speak up but beat them to the punch. “I’d like to see you try.”
“What?” Garble was mad.
Rarity moved closer and whispered to Spike. “What are you doing?”
Spike whispered back, “we’ve met Grable. He won’t let this go.”
“I see your point, but…”
Spike stopped her and turned toward Ember. “But it’s the Dragon Lord’s call.”
Ember raised an eyebrow, but quickly came to a realization. “Okay… Garble. You can try to remove the Phoenix.”
Rarity tried to speak up. “Wait a moment!”
Garble interrupted her, “Consider that thing gone.” He was about to take off but was stopped by Ember.
“I’m not done.” Ember pointed toward the sun. “You have until sundown. That’s three hours. If you fail to remove the Phoenix, forfeit the island.”
“Fine.” Garble grumbled.
“And don’t think you can go against this if you fail. There are enough dragons here to act as witnesses for this deal.”
“Whatever. It’s just a stupid bird.” Garble flew off toward the island, keeping close to the water.
\/
After about an hour, Garble returned in a fiery crater. He grumbled and flew back to the island. Another half hour and he was thrown back again. One ore hour and he flew back, exhausted, collapsing into the sand.
Ember looked down toward him. “Well?”
Garble growled and stood up. “Okay… I can’t even get near that thing with all that weird fire.”
Spike couldn’t help but wear a smug smile. “Well, it’s not like you could have done anything anyway. That Phoenix is the size of an adult dragon.”
The dragons around the beach, especially Garble, couldn’t believe what they had heard. Ember shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ll show you if you want. But not too many, the Phoenix is very picky about who can show up.”
It was Rarity’s turn to raise an eyebrow at Spike’s actions.
\/
Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, Ember, and Garble floated/flew near the island. Spike shouted to the Phoenix in the mountain and they waited for a few minutes. After a moment, the Phoenix flew out from the mountain and landed on the nearby shore.
“It seems the intruders can learn manners.” The Phoenix looked over the group before her. “Why have you returned to my island?”
Garble was about to speak up, but Ember intervened and spoke instead. “We’re here to discuss the fate of the Flame-cano.”
“Flame-cano? Do you mean my island?”
“Yes. It seems, as you slept, we dragons had taken the Flame-cano as a site for our rituals to determine leadership. As per an agreement with one of my subjects, we shall forfeit the island.”
“And… you felt it necessary to come to my island to tell me this?”
“This is an official statement from the Dragon Lord and cannot be revoked.”
“And why should I believe that? What can you do to prove that those who come after will leave my island in peace? I can already tell one of you does not like this deal and I would prefer not to find my home invaded if I have to leave for a moment.”
Ember thought a moment, then an idea formed. “Okay. How about this…” she takes a deep breath and breaths fire onto the shore. A section of the sands became a crude glass.
“You would attack my home?”
“Take the glass and place it somewhere easily visible. That will tell all dragons to avoid this island.”
The Phoenix took one look at the glass and shook her head. “Though the gesture is welcome, I feel that it remains unsatisfying…”
“What do you mean?”
“For one thing, this glass is far from easily visible. Beyond that… it’s horridly unappealing.”
“You can’t be serious…”
“I’m sorry… who just melted the sand from my island to make this without asking?”
“Okay… I get it.”
Rarity looked at the glass. “If I may, I think I have an idea. But I’ll need to step onto the island.”
The Phoenix thought a moment. “Fine. Given that you at least had the decency to ask, you may.”
“Thank you.” Rarity stepped onto the shore and used her magic to move the glass. “Spikey, can you use your fire…” Rarity marked a few locations. “Here, here, and here.”
Spike used his fire where Rarity asked and melted some of the glass. Rarity then used her magic to reshape the glass into a shape. When it cooled again, it had taken the form of a large fire.
“It’s still missing something…” Rarity looked around and found a plant nearby that caught her eye. “Ooh! I can use that.”
As she walked over, a part of her shadow shot up and grabbed a feather from the Phoenix. It retreated and became normal again before anypony could notice.
Rarity used the plants to stain the glass, turning it a bright blue. “Now, you can set up some kind of light source nearby and it will glow a brilliant blue.”
The Phoenix looked the new form of the glass and nodded. “This is better. I thank you marshmallow pony.”
“Marshmallow?” Rarity was confused by this for a moment but decided not to 1) criticize a satisfied customer and 2) start an argument with a Phoenix that could crush her without trying.
\/
As the ponies left the Dragon Lands, they noticed the light from the beacon in the distance. They were content, knowing that the Phoenix had a home and the Dragons would remain peaceful toward the creature. They had to give up their island, but they didn’t really need it. This was the best solution they could find. Whether it held is still yet to seen. For now, they turned toward home.
/\
K-M-11 (392) Morning
The previous evening remained uneventful. I met the townsponies and found that many are… odd. Truthfully, I don’t know how some could handle this. That said, I feel it might be something that a pony could get used to. During this time, I reviewed the ponies that I might yet be able to call peers. In the end, I was disappointed. The most magically gifted pony, one Starlight Glimmer, proved to lack the mind of a researcher. She is gifted, but primarily through talent alone. The only researcher in this town is the time keeper of the town, an earth pony by the name of Doctor Time Turner. I have a meeting with the Doctor later today to test the validity of whether he could be a peer. Magic prowess is not the important part to a peer. It is the mind. Starlight showed magical potential, as discussed before, but hers is not the analytical mind. I only hope that the Doctor is willing to look at my research with an objective eye.
Magical Report: my spells remain intact. The Shadow Tags are holding and the deal with the Chaos Spirit remains binding.
-Grimoire Maleficarum