//------------------------------// // 12 - The Star Burns // Story: Displaced: Human In Equestria but the Human becomes Twilight Sparkle only more, also Pokemon are there // by SilverStarApple //------------------------------// In Sugarcube Corner, right in front of Mr and Mrs Cake, as they were about to say something to Pinkie, who was selling some cupcakes to an unidentified elderly crimson Stallion, Dawn Skystar appeared in the air and on top of Pinkie Pie. “Oof!” Pinkie said. “Pinkie!” Dawn yelled in her face, terrified. “Dawn!” Pinkie cheerfully shouted back, as if this was some sort of game. “I need an Air Balloon, now!” Dawn yelled. “OK!” Pinkie yelled back, rushing off and almost instantly returning with one. “THANK YOU!” Dawn yelled, magically shoving it into the paws of her Lucario. The balloon glowed and turned to light, and was absorbed by the yellow Pokemon. “...Why?” “Your Pokemon's holding the item now!” Pinkie chirped gleefully. “Huh?” “You know, inside itself! It'd be pretty silly if we could all see what item a Pokemon was holding just by looking at it! Could you imagine that?” “Uh... Yeah, that makes perfect sense!” Dawn decided. Now, her Lucario held an Air Balloon within herself, so when Raiden used Roost, she'd go from Flying-Electric to plain old Electric. Her weakness would normally be Ground attacks in this state, but with an Air Balloon held, she could avoid Ground attacks completely. Now, she just had to guess when her opponent was about to use a Rock or Ice attack that could hurt her Raiden, and tell her to use Roost first, becoming invincible for that turn, while also healing herself for a pretty big chunk of health, in the event that she actually was hit once or twice. Pretty broken, sure, but... She paused. Broken? No, with something this strong, she could never be broken. What a strange mental echo. What part of her could ever think the term broken could mean powerful? In any case, despite her new even-stronger Riolu, who she needed to bond with harder and evolve into a Lucario so she could mega-evolve it ASAP, something in her heart told her that she needed more. Dawn teleported away, accidentally taking Pinkie with her. A flash of white magic brought Pinkie back to Sugarcube corner, cutely sitting on her butt. “Well, she seems nice.” Mr Cake said sarcastically. “She certainly looked nice!” The old pony laughed, whatever his name was. “Why, if only I was fifty years younger...” Even though she'd barely been with Pinkie at all today, and even though she wasn't even onscreen, Dawn and the viewer saw the usual stuff. Blank pages flew in from all sides, and time stopped. From the middle, white pages burned black, inky tendrils of flame spreading out before filling with rainbow colour, as a black and ash-white Arcana card formed in the fire’s center. The monochromatic card bore its name, “The Star”, the number XVII, seventeen, and an unsubtly wrong image. It was a monochromatic image of a faceless Earth Pony with a wide and sharklike grin of black-outlined white teeth, tied to a black stake with red string. Though unharmed, she was engulfed in red flames that coiled and curled outwards, primarily in five points, her flames burning the simply-drawn town around her, consuming everything. It was as though the town had tried to burn this pony at the stake, only for the pony to burn them back without any effort. Terrified and tiny stuffed animals, one lion and one eagle, fled in fear as they burned. A white page with blue lines and black text that slowly wrote itself filled Dawn’s vision. Social Link: Pinkie Pie Arcana: Star Rank 1 Progress: You’ve unlocked the Star confidant! New Ability: Party Starter – Your Pokemon are 20% more accurate when they make the first move of the match. The boxes, the pages, and all the information vanished, leaving Pinkie Pie alone, ready for her to hilariously end the chapter with a fourth-wall-breaking statement. Looking directly at the camera, she opened her mouth, and