//------------------------------//
// (4) - Burn Notice 
// Story: A Legendary Issue 
// by Solecism 
//------------------------------//

A Legendary Issue

(4) - Burn Notice




I floated there in stunned silence for what felt like hours while I picked my jaw up and reattached it to my torso. "Your—?!"

"My student, yes," Celestia said. She smiled. "Protégé is more accurate, however. Her name is Twilight Sparkle, and she has proven herself capable in all kinds of situations; their combined ingenuity is truly a sight to behold."

I reeled inwardly, with emotions overriding each other for the dominant position on a quarter-second basis. I was simultaneously ecstatic for having finally found the right time period, worried about Twilight and Co.'s safety (Legendaries were no joke), and depressed that, if we all survived this borderline invasion, I would be forced to watch as they slowly withered and faded to dust around me. Maybe, with a little help from someone more persuasive than me, I could convince them to go into stasis like—

With an effort of willpower, I channelled my inner ability of Clear Body and wiped away thoughts of the future, leaving only the ones of the past and present to worry about. There was more than enough to keep my mind working overtime; I didn't need to add any unnecessary weight to it right now.

Alright. Let's start with the most important matter, first.

I motioned towards an empty tea cup. "Mind if I have a cup?" I asked.

Celestia and Luna shared a look. "Can thou consume the tea without any adverse effects?" questioned Luna.

I did my best impersonation of a shrug, which made my body tilt like I was doing a full-body wave. "I can't say that I've had tea in the last three-hundred years, but there's very little that I can't digest. If I'm capable of eating a small mountain and everything on it with no ill effects, then I'm pretty sure I can stomach a little flavoured water."

I neglected to mention that I meant everything on it—including animals. What the princesses didn't know didn't hurt them.

Princess Luna wordlessly filled up the cup with her telekinesis. She began to float the mug towards me, but I took over before it was half way. I felt her magical aura resist my Psychic presence briefly before realizing that it came from me. It dissipated into nothing.

"That was... not magic," Luna stated in an almost worried tone.

"Nope," I replied as I tossed the tea, cup and all, into my mouth. I swished the tea around. While everything else seemed to taste different as a Metagross (iron tasting like chocolate-covered steak was probably the strangest), tea still tasted like tea. Earl Grey, to be exact. Weird.

"I'm Psychic, which is like having very specific, very situational magic abilities," I explained, my sharp fangs and powerful molars crushing the porcelain teacup into a fine powder. It tasted like marshmallows. "Except for the Telekinesis," I added. "That's useful all the time."

Luna shook her head slowly. "Thou art a very strange individual," she said. Celestia cracked a smile, and hid behind her raised mug.

I swallowed the remains of the cup. "So I've been told." I turned to Celestia. "Anyway, about this student of yours and her friends: You're not confident in sending them out on their own, are you?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "If you were, you wouldn't have needed me, yet here I am..."

Celestia was silent for a few seconds while she poured herself another cup. "I like to think of it as taking extra precautions," she finally answered. "I believe that together, if push comes to shove, they would be powerful enough to combat the invaders. With your help, however... I would know, rather than believe. Even if you are unable to make contact with your old friends, your presence alone would give me peace of mind."

And here I was thinking that Celestia saw me as nothing more than an occasional acquaintance.

"That's... quite the compliment, princess. I didn't know you had that much faith in me."

Something twinkled in Celestia's eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but right before could, a series of loud taps came from the window behind her head. Celestia closed her mouth and frowned, opening the curtain with a touch of magic.

A bright red and orange phoenix was perched on the windowsill, somehow looking indignant. The phoenix tapped on the window again, as if to make a point that we were in here, and she was out there.

Celestia stood up and lowered her head so she was eye-to-eye with the firebird. "Philomena, I already told you to use the door like everypony else!" she chastised without opening the window. "And stop that infernal tapping!"

Philomena narrowed her eyes, but she didn't move otherwise. Celestia rolled hers, and opened the window. With a disgruntled caw, Philomena pecked the glass once more and swooped into the room before Celestia could do anything about it. Philomena landed on my torso. Suddenly, half of my vision was occupied entirely by the pesky phoenix.

"I don't know why Celestia has any faith in you," she teased. "After all, you nearly had us both killed when you stepped on that hydra's baby."

"Are you seriously still bringing that up? That happened over a hundred years ago! And besides: How was I supposed to know that baby hydras look almost identical to seaweed when they're lying on the ground? You certainly never told me!"

Philomena let out a sequence of high-pitched chirps, which was her version of a cackle. "It's good to see you again, James."

"Likewise, Philomena."

Celestia sat back down at her spot at the table, tongue-in-cheek. "You two are like foals on a first date."

"I resent that." Philomena scratched my torso with a claw and squawked. "Yes, dear," I said sarcastically. I got clawed again for my effort.

Turning to Celestia, I asked, "When will Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrive, exactly? I'd like to know how much time I've got before going off on this quest..."

Princess Celestia looked up at the clock. "The train should be arriving... five minutes ago."