//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: A Hearths Warming visit (Part 3) // Story: A Lampent's Lament in Equestria // by Iridescence T Wind //------------------------------// "No man goes before his time - unless the boss leaves early." -Groucho Marx ---∞∞∞---∞∞∞---∞∞∞--- Arceus was in the castle, having shrunk himself as needed with another move he had invented a long time ago called Minimize. He had proceeded throughout the halls the size of an average pony winding up throughout the castle towards the warmth of fire and the only real life in the castle. As he drew near he heard an unexpected sound, laughter... Laughter from two voices, as if they were sharing a joke. What a situation to walk in on. Instead he strayed near the door and listened in. The two were rambling like old friends about various celebrations of winter, an low gentlemanly tone, Soul of course, and the would be dead pony. What surprised Arceus however was the youth that the second sounded of. No wonder soul was reluctant to send her off. This puzzled Arceus, he hadn't seen a Lampent willingly not harvest a soul before when it was near death. Was he hoping to save her? Arceus sent a Cursory scan over the room scanning her vitals. The result he got back on the child of a mare was not pretty. Major genetic damage, frostbite on most of her internal organs, and the presence of a lump of a tumor starting made of the same strange substance a Windigos whooves were made out of building up in a mismatch around her hooves. As well as blind from yet another genetic error on whoever the father was.Yet here she was quiet about it and even laughing through her pain. No doubt grateful for whatever aide soul was giving her. Arceus was starting to pity the child, she was a wreck of two halves of different incompatible beings that were trying to destroy each other. A grim fate for a young foal. Arceus came to a decision. Calling upon the forces that were originally belonging to him he sped up time to a point where the filly was asleep and soul standing silent vigil over her before stopping it altogether. He made note to give an apology to Dialga later but now was a time of Christmas miracles. Gently he moved the filly from her bed without disturbing the covers. All the while focusing on the various spell work that this would take. Such a process would draw attention of the other divine creations of his but he didn't mind. He could always turn any interference with his work into Magikarp and hire a new one if needs be. Tonight was going to be a miracle, and it was going to require his full size to do so. Arceus levitated the filly into the hallway in the middle of the air, it was decidedly less cramped than trying to perform the same type of thing in a bedroom more befit of the small lamp than it was for the Creator to work in. Stretching Arceus pulled out something he hadn't used in a very long time, a small pedestal forming in the air under the filly with three circles around its edges and a fourth one in the center. A monument originally meant for him to create the eggs of Pokémon who couldn't breed. It would also serve as a focal point for his divine power. He set to work fixing the mess of genetic code that had not been set right. Was this really Faust's excuse for a creation? A being destined to die from so much error? He couldn't figure it out as he fought and changed the fillies genetic code to work in harmony with each other rather than try to form two beings in the same body. This code was sloppy even for her. Almost as If she had copied the same thing that allowed Humans and their animals to survive through genetic evolution had taken its pay on the foal in front of him. Something he knew shouldn't of happened since Faust had literally made sure each and every newborn was perfectly crafted for the growing stages of pregnancy. While it was a subtle magic it was one that should of worked before this kid was born. In essence he was now redesigning this filly from the womb to her current stage of growth. Though he had to stop himself repeatedly from fixing the eyes. He couldn't remove the blindness of the filly without changing how her brain had grown to accommodate the lack of nerves there. Her central nervous system was also the hub to the mind and Soul. So while he wished he could perform this miracle onto Glacier Song, he knew better than to change it in case he also changed who she was and effectively erased her soul and made a new one. Which would defeat the purpose if he did. The magical disturbance was not undetected. Though it wasn't a Pokémon that had detected the disturbance. ---∞∞∞---∞∞∞---∞∞∞--- Princess Luna turned her head towards the general direction of the Everfree Forest. All the dreams and energy it had seemed to have halted. Luna could still sense the slumbering creatures but none were progressing throughout their dreams or thoughts, as if frozen in time. Something that should be impossible. Yet amidst the frozen thoughts was one still moving. Curiously Luna sent her mind towards it, she was the princess of the night and as such one of her many abilities were to be able to read the minds of the sleeping and those of long age who were awake. The older they were the easier it was to interact with an mind for her at least. Though she heard it was the other way around for the few unicorns who were able to mimic the feat. She sent a gentle prod into the mind only to be blasted out by a wave of uncomprehend able knowledge in the form of strange runes and images of living strange shapes with eyes. Her probe for its worth a mere seagull to a angry ocean wave was tossed out mercifully only stung rather than seriously wounded. Withdrawing back into herself she shielded her own mind just in time as a returned probe crashed down in exchange for the intrusion. Luna's shield bulged inwards as the drill of a mental probe nearly shattered her defense within a few seconds. She barely had time to think before the probe withdrew to Lunas confusion. Never the less Luna kept her guard up, waiting for another blow that would never come. If she couldn't win mentally. Then she was going to go to this strange creature who was awake in her night herself. Luna called out to one of her many bat pony guards, "Awaketh our sister, there are strange things afoot and we may need her assistance with this." "Yes your highness." The guard curtly replied before leaving without another word. It couldn't be soon enough before her sister came in, her mane still frizzy from bed head, and her coat ruffled rather than the sleekness it usually was. She was carrying a pillow on her head where her crown would normally be located, and instead of her usual grace she was swaying as if a zombie like so many years ago. Luna withheld a giggle due to the situation, Celestia wasn't the best at waking up. Despite a thousand years to master the art she still needed time to master her consciousness again after sleep. Luckily Luna knew a faster easy way to wake her sister up completely. Her horn glowed and a nearby cloud outside, one full of water, was grabbed by Luna's magic and was tugged inside through an open balcony door above celestia. Luna removed her sisters pillow from her head and squeezed the cloud into the shape of a towel being twisted releasing its contents of water. Immediately Celestia let out an indignified yelp as cold water hit warm fur and jumped back as the rest of the contents splashed harmlessly onto the tile floors where she was standing not half a second ago, "Awake Tia?" Luna asked coyly, cleaning up the water with her magic and having the cloud reabsorb it before putting it back. "Why Lulu..." her dear sister asked expression wide awake and glaring. Though the princess of the day didn't look nearly so threatening with her mane covering her eyes due to it falling when completely drenched. "So thou are awake dear sister," Luna resisted the urge to smile despite the situation, "Tell me, what do you see in the minds of the Everfree?" Luna waited as Celestia read the situation, watching as she had similar look of confusion she herself had not a few moments ago, "There is no movement but one..." Celestia pondered, "What could be causing that?" "That's why I had thou awoken dear sister." Luna retorted switching out of her formal 'we' to the self describing 'I', "I wanted to know if thou had known which creature has this power since thou do have a thousand years more experience on this world than I. Seeing as how there is hardly anything alive on the moon." Celestia shook her head in a negative, "I have not seen this before. Shall we investigate?" Luna nodded, and together the royal sisters took off the balcony, flying towards the Everfree forest in the distance at speeds that would impress Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts at least. ---∞∞∞---∞∞∞---∞∞∞--- Arceus was finishing his work, the filly's genetic code less of a scattered mess and more uniform, organized and efficient. In other words he had turned a jumble of garbage into a closed Zipper of both halves perfectly interwoven. Allowing the filly to live well into adulthood and even to old age if she could keep herself sustained on either sides diets and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Of course there would be something he couldn't cure, like death by unnatural causes. But that was unpredictable at best. Arceus slipped the healed filly back into her bed in the exact position he had put her and checked the position of time outside of the bubble of frozen time, preparing to adjust it accordingly. He had done this times before whenever he had to stay for a while in a certain area of time and to those who were in the radius he would bet at least one would think of the famous saying, 'Time flies when your having fun'. He would start it again after he had left, no point starting it now, besides he was a bit tired from the ordeal, the art of genetics wasn't easy even for one who had created hundreds of species of magical creatures. As he left the castle he became aware of a dull sound of parting air, odd since the world around him was frozen in its position in time. He shrunk back to his pony sized form, no point in scaring any unfortunate being who had entered inside this pocket of stopped space and time. His plate type changed to normal and Arceus took the liberty of relaxing in the lingering chill of winter around him as the noise grew louder. He opened his eyes as two extraordinarily large (At least for their kinds species general size.) Ponies landing in front of him. A quick glance confirmed his suspicions, it was his friends children, Luna and Celestia. Either that or some other ponies had became Alicorns, which was highly unlikely to ever occur. Arceus stared at them while they stared back. A staring contest forming between the three. Neither said a word towards each other. The stares he was giving the two was motionless, his eyes unblinking compared to theirs, for all it was worth Celestia and Luna took turns in blinking one never losing sight of him at a time. It reminded Arceus of some creatures he had once seen, a statue which wouldn't move unless no one was looking at it and a angel of stone that was indestructible and locked in place in every dimension when looked at by even one source. Happily for him though he had no restriction but found this contest interesting. Gradually, however, he became bored with this after ten minutes before he finally asked the two, "Didn't Faust ever tell you it was rude to stare?" Celestia seemed a little shocked that he had spoken without a mouth, while Luna took a step back and looked off to the side with slight embarrassment prominent in her cheeks. Celestia was the first to recover, asking hurriedly, "How do you know that name?!" "Doesn't.... Everypony?" Luna asked her sister confusion obvious in her tone, "Why wouldn't everypony know our mother?" "I am Arceus," the creator of Pokémon replied before Celestia could respond, "To answer Lunas question, No, everypony doesn't know, in fact most don't know about your mother, my friend, it seems after a glance." "What are you?" Celestia asked while Lunas jaw was slightly dropped in disbelief. "The question is not What I am, but why I am here should it not?" Arceus retorted before continuing on giving neither sister a chance to respond, "I am the same as my name in species, the creator of a world of extraordinary species much different than Faust's here. What I am doing here is my own business, how is your mother doing anyway? Still working on those Elements of harmony and their bearers and what not?" "She is dead..." Luna stated slowly. Arceus rolled his eyes, "Like death would keep your mother down, last I saw little Avianna couldn't keep a bug down, let alone her parent in the realm of spirits." "Pardon?" Celestia asked confused, "Tartarus has been one way over the thousands of years. Ponies go in for death, not out." "That is what you would like to think." Arceus shot back, "If that was true, why is their a guardian for the gate to keep them in?" Neither sister had a response, so Arceus answered in response, "I guess I'll go seek her out after I start up time in this area again and allow it to continue on course. Sorry for any inconvenience but I had to perform a miracle of medical science for a filly to save her life in the long run. Anyway I bid you Adieu." With that Arceus vanished instantly leaving the princesses alone in the snow meadow. Celestia turned and looked at her sister, "We should never speak of this again unless we are alone in our chambers together." Luna looked at Celestia quizzically, "Speak of what again?" "Exactly." The two princesses turned around and flew back, as the clouds above began to snow again and the forest resumed its normal patterns, by morning there would be no traces that any of them had ever been there. Though some would say they heard the sounds of a deep laugh as the rest of the gifts were delivered as due for Hearths Warming Eve. ---∞∞∞---∞∞∞---∞∞∞--- It had taken Twilight most the night to figure this strange machine out, by now she had translated the strange runes into equestrian and figured out how to turn it on. Pressing a few buttons with the hard end of some of a dry Quill she reached a new screen. A mechanical voice began to emit from the machine that the strange giant had given her for Hearths warming, the number one appearing next to a set of strange runes and a picture of a strange plant like turtle as the device declared, "Bulbasaur. It bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal. Bulbasaur are extremely calm and very difficult to capture in the wild." Twilight began to scribe down the translation using the alphabet translation slowly scribing down all the information the Pokédex had on the strange creatures entry, including several notes and the various information on the species that was crammed into it. She had a lot of work to do, but she wouldn't begin until after Hearths Warming.