//------------------------------//
// (29) - (Not) My Immortal 
// Story: A Pokemon Problem 
// by Solecism 
//------------------------------//

A Pokemon Problem

(29) - (Not) My Immortal




I followed Guard Captain Overwatch down disproportionately wide hallways, turning often enough that I quickly lost track of which way was the way back. It was probably designed that way to discourage thieves and other less-than-savoury-minded individuals, but I'm sure it must've been a pain in the ass for the employees that worked in the castle.

Like the outside, the walls were still white-washed marble, but there was a lot more decoration inside: spaced out in even intervals were suits of armour made specifically for unicorns, and there were also beautifully coloured mosaics every so often as well. The floor was covered by a plush, red carpet.

When I was at the point of true and utter befuddlement as to where I actually was in the castle, Overwatch stopped in front of an inconspicuous-looking door with nothing to differentiate it between the hundreds of others we had passed. I was confused because just a little further, there was a door with two guards standing outside that I could've sworn was where we were heading.

"Shouldn't we...?"

The unicorn looked at me as if I had grown another head. Surreptitiously, I made sure that I had not indeed spontaneously grown another limb. In my defence, stranger thing had happened.

I made some vague hand motions towards the door further onward until I saw it click within Overwatch's head in regards to what I was actually asking.

"Extra security measures," he said. "When all the doors and corridors look the same, you'd think that the only one with armed guards in front of it would be the most important, right?"

I nodded, a whole body movement.

The Guard Captain gently touched his nose with a hoof. "Decoy. Only people with the need to know actually know where the princess is, or where special visitors and other delegates reside."

That actually made a lot of sense, and I was rather miffed at myself for not realizing that earlier, but I still found a hole in his logic.

"Why are you telling me this?"

He sighed, evidently unimpressed with all of my questions. "Princess Celestia doesn't believe you to be a liability, or at least, not a large one. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I have to check if the princess and the Pegasi delegates—"

"We've just finished, Guard Captain," spoke a voice that rang with power through the door. "Please, allow our guest to enter and escort the delegates back to their rooms."

"Yes, your majesty." Overwatch grabbed the door handle (it was a very long handle, almost definitely made for hooves) and opened the door. I shuffled to the side so that the Pegasi could squeeze by, and nearly jumped in surprise when I realized that the two were none other than Undertow and Riptide.

Why did everyone get here before us?

"Good morning, Riptide, Undertow," I thought politely.

"H-Hey there, Little Guy," said Riptide. "Funnily enough, we were just talking about you..." Undertow simply nodded at the recognition.

I would've chatted longer, but the Guard Captain tapped his hoof impatiently. After squashing what anxiety I could find, I cautiously stepped inside. Overwatch shut the door behind me with an ominous click that seemed say, 'You're not leaving anytime soon.'

I felt presences as soon as I tried to feel for them. Whether I wanted to or not, the first thing—pony, rather—that I saw was Celestia herself.

Her translucent teal and pink hair waved in an imaginary wind, and she was still somehow able to look as regal as always, even though she was sitting on what appeared to be Equestria's version of a beanbag chair. She motioned a golden cusped hoof towards a similar chair to her left, smiled, and said, "Please, sit."

"Certainly, your majesty." Call me a kiss-ass, but I wasn't taking any chances with the Sun Goddess herself.

I flew over to the chair and deactivated my hovering. I tried to think about proper procedure for being within such a close proximity to Princess-freakin'-Celestia, but my mind was blank. Strangely enough, or whether by intentional design, I couldn't hear a single thread of thought from Celestia's mind.

After waiting for perhaps the longest minute in the entire history of forever, I simply thought, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess Celestia." The alicorn in front of me, who during the entire minute was silently observing yours truly, smiled warmly.

"I could say the same for you, James." I inadvertently shivered (having an immortal say my name does that to me). "From stories of you fending off an entire Legion of hardened Pegasi warriors by yourself, to scared gryphon poachers too afraid to hunt in Equestrian forests, you've certainly had your fair share of exploits in a relatively short period of time."

"What can I say? Trouble seems to follow me like a shadow."

I saw a frown flicker across Celestia's features, and immediately thought that I had said something wrong. "Yes... like a shadow," she said. To my relief, Celestia went back on topic. "I can sense a burning question within you. If it is within my power to answer, I shall."

It was then that I realized this was it: either everything would go back to normal, or this would become my normal.

"Can we go home?"

As soon as Celestia sighed gently and broke eye-contact, I knew what the answer was.

"I have already discussed this matter—at length—with one of your colleagues, and I will tell you the same answer that I gave her: I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to return you back to your own world."

All of the implications that simple answer held—including the soon-to-be group of angry people that... that I wouldn't hesitate to call friends made me take a long while before answering.

"I suppose that deep down, I always knew that to be the answer."

"I'm sorry, James. I can't begin to fathom what it's like to wake up in an alien world."

"Don't be: I can't begin to fathom how hard it must be to banish my own sister." I felt rather than saw a great, churning wave of rage, grief, and sorrow emanate from Celestia. "And for the record? She gets out of her prison exactly one thousand years from the day you first banished her."

Celestia's turmoil deflated while her confusion grew. "What? How do you know this?"

"I'm a Metang: I don't need a reason. Oh, and I can read the future, so there's that."

While Celestia was almost vibrating with pent-up something, I called, "You can come out now, Cindy. I know you're there."

From behind a door cleverly disguised to blend into the background, the tall, lithe figure of a ballroom dancer dressed in white and green came striding forth, taking steps that never quite hit the ground.

I thought it was strangely appropriate that Cindy had been turned into a Gardevoir.

Nice to see you again, James, she thought-spoke.

"Hello to you too, Cindy."