Prologue
By Scale Burner
It is a quiet night in the city of Canterlot. The once crowded streets now lay empty of any forms of activity. The moon high above glows a brilliant hue of bright colors from blues to high resolute whites. Ponies of all three races rest without a hint of disturbance that would keep them from their needed sleep. Some of them are actually having pleasant dreams, or sadly, haunting nightmares. One pony in particular cannot sleep at all. Surprisingly, she is the very princess of the country that the city dwells in. She is Princess Celestia Solaris, goddess of the sun.
From the first sight of the Princess, one would think she is unbelievably beautiful beyond recognition. She bears golden jewelry covering her hooves and one adorning her neck. Beneath it, her coat is a majestic Ivory-white palette that is partially covered by her aurora-like mane flowing in a nonexistent wind. Her wings, though tucked, have an amazing span which is longer than her own body itself. The horn atop her head is long as well; being the one of the perks of an almighty Alicorn. Even if her horn shows attention, her tiara-like crown fits comfortably on her head.
She now lies restless in her bedchambers, silently listening to the cries of an outside source. As a goddess, she has the power to hear all forces beyond the range of mortal hearing, but this far off source is apparently beyond her enhanced abilities; making it barely audible to her ears. Princess Celestia tries in vain to better grasp this source’s calls, but fails when she continues to listen while lying in her large bed.
Giving an actual interest, the Princess lifts herself off her bed, and trots towards her closed windows before opening them with her magic. Settling at the edge of her balcony, Princess Celestia tries again to comprehend the far off cry.
"Why am I having such a difficult time listening to this voice," she questioned to herself. "How far off is this entity?"
Princess Celestia then decides to close her eyes to further focus on the aforementioned sound. Unfortunately, doing this only assisted her just barely, causing her to mutter silently, "I do not know why, but I need to know what this... disturbance is. Surely it has an importance that grabbed my attention."
"You are correct, your highness… What's reaching to you is indeed important."
The Princess whips her head in multitudes of directions from hearing a strong voice. The mere presence of this voice makes her nervous just ever so slightly. How did it get in here without alerting the guards, and how did it pass through her magically sealed walls? But more importantly, why is it here?
"Show yourself now!" She demanded. "You are trespassing on royal territory."
"My sincere apologies, my dear Princess… Give me a moment to ease your worries."
After those spoken words, a bright light show’s at the epicenter of Princess Celestia’s bedchambers. The light soon forms a figure that most likely resembles an equine, although it’s appearance somewhat disregards this assumption. The being’s coat is as pristine as the goddess of the sun’s, but abruptly stops at certain points of its body – mainly the chest and underside. Golden, pointed hooves are noticed along with the unique styling of the creature’s coat. However, the most distinguishing feature of this being is the large ring-like apparatus attached to the body.
Staring with a slight agape muzzle, Princess Celestia whisper’s to no one in particular, "What are you?"
The being before her takes a moment for the sun goddess to regain her composure before answering. "I am Arceus, creator of worlds… And you are the Princess of Equestria, Celestia Solaris."
Celestia quickly became distasteful as her name was heard by this unknown creature, she had never introduced herself to it.
She scornfully asked, "How do you know of me? You don’t seem to be a natural creature of Equis."
"That is because I’m from another realm entirely, Princess," the being answered, "My species are referred to as Pokemon. I know of you because I have been watching you for quite some time from the Celestial Plains."
Celestia’s retort was abruptly stopped before surfacing. The thought of sentient life forms beyond the stars were uncanny, but the ancient studies of Starswirl the Bearded supported the realization that the implications of such claims are possibly true. Also, there’s evidence shown just inside her bedchamber ten feet away from her.
She tries to stay perturbed from her home invasion, but she cannot. Arceus’ demeanor expresses nothing; only calm.
"I… see. Well then, I am deeply sorry for any disrespect to you earlier. I… wasn't expecting guests at this time."
Arceus accepted her apology. "There's no need to apologize. I understand completely. I too go through such annoyances from my children of space and time."
The Princess only nods from paying respectful attention to the creature, even if the subject it mentioned passes above her head. Although, she has one question that has the out most importance.
"Why are you here exactly," she asked.
"To brief you of the upcoming struggle that will take place soon. You do remember the banishment of your sister?"
Celestia gazed upon Arceus with surprise and suspicion from the mention of her sister. How did it know about her sister?
No matter the questioning, the Princess has to keep this matter from taking a different turn. "Yes, I do; I banished her myself. I had no other choice… The safety of my little ponies comes first."
Her answer causes the Pokemon to raise a nonexistent eyebrow. "Are you sure that was the case?"
Princess Celestia slightly cringed from Arceus’ changed tone, of which changed from being calm and collective to strict as if he is scolding a child for making a shameful decision.
"Was your final decision from the mind," It continued rhetorically, "or was it from the heart? Please excuse myself for being blunt, but there are no excuses for what you have done."
The mere comment from the Pokemon has hit the mark in the sun goddess' heart, she knew the cause of the banishment had no logical reason. It was her mentality of responsibility for her ponies that chose that path, and that path had lost her sister.
From this, a lone, stray tear trailed down the Alicorn’s face, the buried memories resurfaced inside the Princess. From the looks of it, she had and is still regretting her actions. She quickly, but with practiced grace, shook her head to avoid showing such sorrow in front the powerful being before her.
Feeling sympathetic for the Alicorn, Arceus proposed, "What if I told you that I could set everything you lost right, returning the long and forgotten happiness to you?"
This definitely caught Celestia’s attention. All of her raging suspicions and depressing thoughts were bucked out of existence from her mind as her interest was peaked.
She decided to push the subject forward. "I'm listening."
"The Elements you used to defeat your sister have another function. Instead of functioning for one’s goals as a neutral, they can purge the hate and jealousy out of the tainted body… Only when the Elements are in possession of their true symbolism in living form."
This seems... fortunately promising. The older sibling can actually have a solution that could restore her young sister from her corrupted mind. There’s one problem though… How can she perform such a task?
Without knowing what’s happening in the outside world, Celestia failed to notice that the Pokemon slowly trotted towards her. It bowed it’s head on hers until her horn is mere centimeters away from his forehead. The close proximity snapped the Alicorn’s thoughts from festering any longer.
"Allow me show you how you will accomplish such tasks ahead…"
Suddenly, a magical surge soared its way through the Princess’s body, causing her to gasp ever so gently. Images of next month’s events played in her mind, showing six unique ponies and their exploits all throughout the next couple of years.
However, two things stuck out the most. One was a particular pony that Celestia knows all too well of, but the other… is another creature she has never seen.
“He is the kindred spirit that will take part and assist your subject’s journey," Arceus spoke during the mental link. "Coincidentally, he is the voice that you heard not so long ago." The Pokemon lifted it’s head away from the Princess so she can regain her bearings. "Before I release the Nightmare from her lunar tomb, I will bring him here when the time is right…”
Arceus then passed Celestia, and continued to trot before stopping at the end of the balcony. Turning one last time at the Alicorn, the Pokemon appeared to… smile?
"Good luck to you, Princess Celestia Solaris. May we cross paths again."
The Princess is utterly speechless of what just occurred in front of her. A creature not from this world came to her with splendorous news that her sister can return to her, and gaining the knowledge of freeing her sister from the Nightmare. She is filled with a large abundance of joy that she almost completely destroyed her royal demeanor. She can't hardly wait.
Before turning away from her, he felt a gentle nuzzle a split second later from the same being he conversed with. Looking down, he witnesses a strong thankful expression on her face; tears running down on both sides of her face accompanied by a sweet smile.
"Thank you so much… You have no idea how much this means to me..."
Arceus did nothing more but returned her nuzzle with his own and jumped out into the air. When he reached a certain altitude in the beautiful night sky, a portal opened for Arceus, later engulfing him to parts unknown.
Now no longer in her sight, Princess Celestia returned to her bed and went back to sleep. However, unlike her first attempt in slumber, her features are a lot more calm and relaxed. Upon closer inspection, a thankful and happy smile is plastered on her muzzle.
