//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: A New World, a New Way // by zeusdemigod131 //------------------------------// Celestia blinked and surveyed her surroundings. She was confused for a second as she had just been standing with her sister, Twilight, and Discord, watching Arceus rebuild a portion of the Everfree only a moment ago, and now she was… she actually had no idea where she was. The room was made of marble, like Canterlot Palace, but instead of smooth and white, it was light brown and paneled. There was a small table with no more than five seats surrounding it. Each seat was large enough for an Alicorn… or something a bit larger. “Welcome to the official Pokémon-Equus meeting hall.” A now familiar voice spoke up from behind her. Celestia spun around quickly to see Arceus standing behind her, his normal white coat was tinted a very light green and his underbelly was a darker shade, the normally golden ring around his body was also green and the gems were now yellow. The god either didn’t notice or didn’t care at the moment. “What?” Celestia gawked, temporarily ignoring his new appearance. “I decided a more... neutral, meeting place was needed for when I meet with Equus officials.” Arceus answered. “You mean… besides me?” Celestia asked, both relieved and worried at the same time. “Yes, eventually.” Arceus answered. “While interesting, the Hall of Legends has always been a bit difficult for most to reach.” This confused Celestia. “Didn’t you bring it here?” “Yes, but it has a sort of... spirit of its very own.” Arceus had created the Hall of Legends as a physical focal point for the Hall of Origins, which was ethereal. He had even succeeded in connecting the two in such a way that they occupied the same space, but in different planes of existence. Celestia decided to ignore Arceus’ last statement and looked around the room. She noticed for the first time that there were two doors on adjacent sides of the room, one was a Canterlot palace door, white marble with golden hinges and locks. The other was a large stone door that was the same brown as the walls. It was intricately carved with complex designs, circles and branching lines which curved in every direction. In the center of each door was a red gem, ringed with gold and carved with designs just as intricate as the door. Arceus noticed the objects of Celestia’s interests and began to explain. “As I said, a more neutral area,” He walked over to the stone door and it swung open at his approach. Behind the door was a hallway with a large wall painting of Arceus himself, set on a field of gold, just beneath him were each of his sons, Dialga on the left set on a blue background, Giratina, in his Origin Form on a swirling field of red and black, Palkia, on the right was set in front of a field of pink. Each of their respective gems floated by their side, and in Arceus’ case, his seventeen plates swirled around him. “This one leads to the Hall of Legends,” He walked to the other side of the room, Celestia staring as the doors closed. As Arceus reached the other door it too swung open, this time revealing several pane glass windows that Celestia recognized, one showed six mares, each firing a purple ray at an pitch black Alicorn, another showed Celestia and Luna circling the petrified form of Discord. “And this, as you can tell, leads straight to Canterlot Palace.” Celestia gave into her curiosity. “And where is this room then? It can’t be in both places at once.” Celestia knew several ways to create a room like this, although the spells for them were taxing on even her. Arceus shrugged. “I suppose it’s in a space all its own, and I’m sorry about the random door in your hallway, I can move it later if you wish.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. Arceus had a different tone in his voice than he had when she had met him in the Everfree yesterday. “Is everything alright, Arceus?” Celestia asked, she decided to drop the “Lord” as Arceus’ actions had upset her, yet she was still worried, mainly that something had gone wrong with the Pokémon, or the fabric of reality. “Um, well I...” Arceus shifted awkwardly. ”I’m sorry.” “Excuse me?” Celestia hadn't heard what the god had said. “I’m sorry.” He said a bit louder. The edges of Celestia’s mouth threatened to turn her frown into a smirk. “One more time?” Arceus glared at her. “I’m… sorry.” Celestia finally lost control, she smirked wider than Discord had when he replaced Rarity’s shampoo with green mane dye. Arceus continued. “I realize that my actions have caused unnecessary complications for all parties involved, I am working on repairing the situation the best I can.” Arceus had seen enough futures to realize that his own actions could lead to many tragedies for one group or the other. Celestia’s smile became genuine and she walked up to Arceus. “I’m glad you realized this yourself, but I can’t let you return to Earth anymore.” Celestia didn’t care if she ruined her one shot to get rid of the Pokémon, her heart wouldn’t let her send them back to that world, for more than one reason. “Oh, really?” Arceus said. “And why is that?” Arceus knew exactly why, Mewtwo’s origin was the worst of any legendaries, even Genesect hadn’t been as mistreated as the Genetic Pokémon. Celestia just glared at him. “You know why. Your ambassador?” “Ah, I suppose Mewtwo showed you his origin, didn’t he?” Arceus said with a chuckle. “You know he did.” Celestia replied curtly. Arceus nodded. “Good.” Arceus was glad that he didn’t have to show her what Team Galactic had done, or Team Flare. Celestia sighed and hung her head. “When you told me you did this to protect the Pokémon… I didn’t think you meant something like that.” Arceus shook his head. “I hate Team Rocket with a burning passion... although in terms of goals, they weren’t even the worst.” Celestia immediately snapped to attention, eyes wide with disbelief. “But, that man… he wanted to conquer the world. What else–? Actually, I don’t believe I want to know.” Celestia didn’t need any more information. “But since you’ve reached the conclusion that staying here could be a problem-” “I can’t leave.” Arceus suddenly spoke up. “Come again?” Celestia couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “I no longer have enough power to travel to another dimension.” Arceus explained. “I used more energy yesterday to get here than I have since I made Earth a habitable planet.” Celestia’s ear twitched in annoyance. “Well... you’re kidding right?” She asked hopefully. “You said you’re all powerful, there has to be something you can do.” Arceus sighed again. “I said I was a god and proved it to you – I never said I was all powerful.” Arceus turned away from the princess and walked slowly around the room. “To become truly omnipotent and all powerful, I would have to become what I was when I first hatched, all those eons ago,” “Wait, eons?” “To do that, I would have to reabsorb all energy that came directly from me. I would not only have to completely absorb the Elemental Plates,” He paused for a moment realizing something, and willed the Meadow Plate from his body, it floated in the air for a moment before disappearing into Arceus’ pocket dimension as the now Normal-Type’s color scheme returned to normal. “I would have to absorb all my children, as well as my precious granddaughter. My children are my power.” The Alpha Pokémon turned to the Alicorn. “I could never do something so horrendous.” Arceus’ voice was tinged with horror from the very thought of destroying his children. Celestia could practically feel the sadness emanating from the Pokémon, then realized sadness was literally emanating from the Pokémon. She walked over to him. “Arceus, you claim to know of this world so you should realize, I would never ask anyone to do something like that, I would go out of my way to stop such a travesty.” Arceus shook his head. “I know, it’s just that for me my children are, and in quite a literal way, a part of who I am.” Arceus had to hold back tears. “They’re more precious to me than anything.” Celestia was silent for a moment. “It was for them, wasn’t it?” Arceus turned to her. “For your children, and the legendaries, they’re the reason for all of this.” She gestured around the room to indicate the situation. Arceus was silent for a moment. “They’re my family; every one of them. The legendaries, I mean,” Memories raced to Arceus. “And they tried to use them for their own purposes.” Thoughts of the different groups that had harmed his family danced in the god’s mind, but one man stood out amongst the rest. “Lysandre.” Arceus whispered. “What was that?” Celestia asked, Arceus ignored her. Arceus shook his head, clearing his mind of the possible futures he had seen during the Team Flare incident, those horrors were better left in the past, or possible past, as it may be. “Apologies, Princess,” Arceus said as he turned back to the Alicorn. “My mind wandered for a moment, now where were we?” “You were talking about your family.” Celestia reminded him. “Yes, I couldn’t leave them to deal with the humans any longer, nor could I leave the other Pokémon, they suffered and, to some, were nothing more than animals and the means to an end.” Celestia pursed her lips. She was finding it harder and harder to remain angry at him for what he did, she was still upset about how he had gone about achieving his goal but she understood why he had done it. The Princess sighed. “You said you had a plan?” Arceus suppressed a grin. “Soon I’m going to reveal my plan to the world, and explain everything all at once. Hopefully that will clear up a few things.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What are you going to do?” She asked, fearful of the answer. “I’ll make an announcement, perhaps call a meeting with the different leaders… although, I suppose you were already planning something like that, weren’t you?” Celestia’s expression morphed to one of annoyance. “Perhaps.” She answered nonchalantly. She had hoped to keep the plan for such a meeting away from Arceus until the last moment, in hopes of keeping the god himself from attending. Arceus decided not to unnerve the Princess any more than he sensed he had. “No matter, we shall cross that bridge when we come to it. In the mean time I know you have some questions that you would like to ask regarding the Pokémon.” Celestia nodded. “Well then,” Arceus walked over to the meeting table and sat in the chair directly in front of the door leading to the Hall of Legends. “Shall we begin?” Celestia smiled and took the seat opposite of Arceus, directly in front of the door leading to Canterlot Castle. The pair sat in silence for a moment before Celestia asked her first question. “How do you know so much of Equus?” Arceus developed a puzzled expression and the Princess elaborated. “You know of the different countries, you know of my sister and I, as well as the Elements, how exactly did you learn these things?” Arceus was silent for a moment before answering. “I can read the sands of time,” He began. “As a god, I am able to view the past and the future in an instant and at the same time, I saw your history before I came here; it was a bit of… research, I suppose. And since then have continued to look across the world.” This answer surprised Celestia. “Wait, doesn’t that mean you can see the future?” Celestia wasn’t a fan of the notion that the future was set in stone, that it could be read like a book and was unchangeable, although a friend of hers had assured her this was nowhere near true. Arceus chuckled. “In a way, I can view all possible futures but an exact reading will be accurate for, at most, an hour or so into the future, and even that is difficult, I need to take in all possible criteria to see how it will affect the outcome of certain events.” Celestia nodded and thought for a moment, she remembered something Juniper had said at the last meeting. “What happened to you? I’ve been told you were imprisoned but… how is that possible?” Arceus sighed and shook his head. “The same way you imprisoned Discord. Planning, the correct beings, these being angered humans, and powerful artifacts, other than that I will not say for my own safety.” Celestia hid her frown, she had hoped to gain insight into what could stop a being as powerful as Arceus in case she ever needed to. Celestia decided to get off the subject with another question that had been bugging her. “The humans,” She began. “I want you to explain what your plan was in bringing them here, and making the Pokémon.” Arceus thought for a moment, then sighed. “They deserved it.” Celestia looked at him quizzically as he continued. “Mew created the humans, just as she did the other Pokémon, everything is related back to her, even if some of the scientists won’t believe it. And I wasn’t going to leave those who had done nothing wrong on Earth, which, considering the type of humans left there, won’t be a pretty sight very soon.” Celestia shook her head. “Since I couldn’t check every human on the planet to see if they were worthy, I used the memories of the council, all of whom had experience with humans, to decide what type of humans I would bring.” Arceus smiled. “Ones who took care of Pokémon, even ones who weren’t their own, who treated them as their equals, ones like young Gene who found true love in their Pokémon companions. I knew some of them, probably most of them, would at first be upset, but given time I’m sure they’ll adapt,” He looked back up at the Princess. “They always do.” “If you have so much faith in the ones you brought why did you even bother changing their form?” Despite having been given an answer yesterday, being alone with Arceus meant his answer would likely be more in depth. “I didn’t want history to repeat itself,” He explained. “After enough time, the descendants of the ones I chose might again begin to see Pokémon as tools, and perhaps the ponies as well.” Celestia’s eyes went wide as the Alpha Pokémon continued. “But in making them Pokémon I ensured that humans will never again see Pokémon as subordinates, because their children will never even be human.” Arceus smiled. “Given enough time, humanity will fade into the mists of history… just as I nearly did.” “That seems a bit… extreme,” Celestia replied. “With you back in power, couldn’t you keep the humans in line? I mean, making their descendants forget about what they could have been? That’s almost cruel.” Arceus sighed. “You realize that, even here in Equestria, their stupid idea of racial purity would have condemned people and Pokémon like Gene and Belle, or even ones who fell in love with your ponies. At the very least they would be shunned, and at the worst, hunted as they were back on Earth.” Celestia’s ears drooped. That was actually depressing to hear. “I’ll need to have my niece talk with the former humans when next we meet.” She commented “Mind if I borrow her later on?” Arceus asked. “I have a few legendaries who could use some advice.” Celestia eyed him curiously for a moment, then shrugged and began to think. That’s the humans, his knowledge, and his imprisonment. What else? Celestia smiled as she developed an idea. “Arceus, since it is obvious that you are going to be here for the foreseeable future.” “I won’t be back to full power for at least a few decades at which point ponies and Pokémon will have accepted each other, one way or the other.” Or they’ll try to kill each other and I’ll have terraformed and moved the Pokémon to the moon. Either way. While Arceus truthfully was no longer able to jump through dimensions with millions of beings he did still have enough power to move them to another planet, so long as it was in a nearby solar system, but Arceus still believed the ponies and Pokémon could positively influence each other and since Celestia hadn’t asked he wasn’t telling. Celestia took a deep breath and continued. “I feel it would be... helpful if we got to know each other, so please.” She nodded towards him. Arceus was silent for a moment. “Where do I even begin,” He wondered aloud. “I’ve been around longer than the universe itself, when I was young I shaped planets and stars, galaxies bent to my will and even a black holes were my play things.” He closed his eyes as he tried to remember anything specific from back then. “Time itself wasn’t even there before me, and it had no hold on me. I skated through time like a foal on an ice rink.” Arceus’ eyes opened suddenly, a light golden glow filling them. “I visited other dimensions and saw wonders upon wonders, I met beings as powerful as myself and yet,” He looked away. “I was restless, the other gods had families, worshippers, and worlds filled with life, none of them had time for a free roaming god whose homeworld was empty space.” Celestia listened intently as Arceus told her his tale. “I was always drawn back to the universe I created and, finding no companionship in the other worlds, I decided to create my own, but I had little knowledge in making life so, in my ignorance, I split a part of my power and the energy of time to create a being in my own image.” Arceus smiled. “As soon as I had split my power I suddenly felt more... I suppose the word would be ‘alive’. Having lessened my hold on the force of time I began to see things clearly, and I wanted more, I wanted to be able to see what the other gods saw, so I split my power over space, then antimatter.” A tear rolled down the god’s cheek. “It was then, having disconnected from the three forces that control the universe that I realized just how empty my former life had been, a wandering god with no one who truly cared for him, and no one to care for, then I saw the beings I had shaped, nay, birthed. And I wept with joy as I embraced the newborns, my sons, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.” More tears slid down the god’s face as he recalled the first thing that could truly count as a memory, anything before being a hazy remembrance that was more akin to a dream. “I taught them to control their powers, and taught them things I had formerly been ignorant of, compassion, kindness, love… hmm, odd how much that has in common with your students story, isn’t it?” Celestia smiled. “I suppose so.” She said quietly. Arceus returned to his story. “As time passed I decided to try my hoof at making life, I created Earth, the sun, and the moon, plants and water were easy enough but my attempts at complex life were lack luster. After much contemplation I decided to create another child and gift unto them an imagination unlike any other, as well as my command over genetic manipulation; that was the day I birthed Mew, my first daughter.” Arceus remembered that day fondly, he had been so worried about raising a daughter that he almost missed when she created a tiny purple blob, at first Arceus thought the creature was a fluke, until its shape became more solid and the face appeared. Arceus couldn’t have been prouder, not even a day old and Mew was already creating life. The ‘Ditto’ as Mew named them, weren’t the most creative creatures, the New Species Pokémon had literally just copied her transformative power and given it a form, but Arceus cared for them all the same. “Mew was so sweet and innocent when she was young... ok, she’s still sweet and innocent but she wasn’t as mischievous back then, actually she was but... heh, heh, she really hasn’t changed that much at all.” Arceus shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “She created her first Pokémon, Ditto, only a few hours after her birth, within a year, there were dozens of Pokémon species on the planet. I then created, but didn’t birth, Regigigas, Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre to shape the planet itself.” Arceus developed a small frown. “They did a good enough job, until Groudon and Kyogre caused a mass extinction event.” Celestia’s eyes went wide. “Who did what now?” She was now worried about an entirely different group of legendaries. “One represents land, one represents sea. They caused tidal waves and volcanic eruptions all over the planet, that got them stuck in the Distortion World for a few weeks.” Arceus sighed. “Everything worked out in the end, even the species that went extinct ended up being resurrected several thousand years later.” It was then Celestia realized something. “Arceus?” “Mew then created hundreds of new species of Pokémon, including humans, to fill the world.” “Arceus?” “I tried to improve humans by birthing Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, the Psychic guardians, to reshape their minds, this worked but eventually it lead to them segmenting away from the other Pokémon. And eventually to them imprisoning my sons, Regigigas, his sons, Jirachi, and myself.” “Arceus!” Celestia shouted. The god looked to the Princess in confusion. “Yes?” Celestia cleared her throat. “That is all extremely, extremely, interesting, and raises many questions, but I asked about you, not your children and the world you helped build, but you, Arceus, as a… Pokémon, as it may be.” Arceus blinked. “Well... what do you want to know?” No one had really ever asked about Arceus himself, his family knew him and even when they worshipped him, the humans were too scared to hold much of a conversation, and Arceus no longer went hopping through dimensions as he once had. “Well,” Celestia began. “Just tell me something about yourself that doesn’t relate to your children, a hobby, something you like; anything really.” Celestia had become an expert in dealing with international affairs through just talking to others like this, and she hoped it would hold against a god. Arceus thought on this for a moment Having been imprisoned for a thousand years meant Arceus had not had time to become interested in anything; he hadn’t had a hobby since he took up world crafting, and that was full time job – even trivial information escaped him. Since he had no mouth didn’t eat, and therefore had no favorite food. He did, however, have a favorite color. This is sad, Arceus decided. I’ll talk to some of the others and see about taking up a hobby. Perhaps I can learn to play some form of instrument. Arceus decided to just tell Celestia of his predicament, and maybe his favorite color. “Well, you see, I-” He was interrupted when the door leading to Canterlot Castle creaked open and a pink Earth Pony stuck her head in. Pinkie Pie was silent for a moment then said, in a very upset and urgent voice, “This isn’t a bathroom!” before rushing out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Arceus and Celestia looked at each other, and this time Arceus had a question to ask. It was really very simple, but at the same time, infinitely complicated. “What’s with her anyway?” Discord stood in his room, planning… and those are words that should never go together. After Discord, Twilight and Luna had returned to the castle, Luna had gone to take care of whatever royal business had come up in their absence and Twilight had gone to find her friends. This left Discord alone and without any sort of chastising for his actions in the Everfree, and this somehow meant, to the chaos lord, that he hadn't done anything wrong. “Hmmm,” Discord scratched his chin, looking over a blackboard. “Yes, yes, quite possible,” The door to Discord’s balcony was wide open, allowing the excess chaos to flow into the Draconequus. He had already surpassed his normal power levels and they were still rising. Discord snapped his fingers and a small red and white orb appeared in his talons, he rolled over the smooth surface as he considered it. “Nah!” He tossed the orb and it landed with a clatter as it hit the ground. “That would be way too obvious.” Discord was trying to figure out how to defeat Zygarde the next time he encountered the Order Pokémon, and he knew they would meet again. Discord figured that he didn’t have long before Celestia or Luna figured out what the inhibitor was doing to him and then his only hope would be to stuff Bio Chem in a closet... again, and hope the sisters wouldn’t try to remove it without him. Discord swiped away the blackboard, but the board itself, the lines and words on it remained in the air, and began pacing. “I’m not thinking big enough here.” He told himself. “Zygarde came from a whole other world, so maybe…” He paused as he considered his plan. “Maybe I can use my boosted powers and the multiverse thingy to my advantage!” Discord poked the fabric of reality, it felt like an odd blend of satin and peanut butter. And it was weak. “I could open a window into a new world, but that could rip apart the already unstable fabric of the universe. Hmm, hard to choose.” Discord quickly decided to take the risk, and used his powers to poke a tiny hole in the fabric of space time, just a peep hole really. Discord looked through the hole and saw a swarming mass of green tentacles surrounding one red eye in the vastness of spa- Discord shut the portal quickly. “Ew.” He said. “Let’s try another.” This time he made the hole a bit bigger, and this time was greeted with the sight of a colossal lizard rampaging through a city much like Manehattan. “Tempting, but we have enough dragons.” Discord hit the portal and it spun like a coin on its side coming to a stop on a new world. Discord peered into a silver room filled with beings wearing red and yellow shirts. A bald, ape-like creature sat in a chair in the center. “Captain’s log stardate-” Discord snapped the portal closed as someone knocked at his door. “Discord?” Fluttershy’s voice came from outside, there was worry in her voice. “Are you in there?” Discord smiled, then looked around his room and sighed. “I’ll get back to you later.” He snapped his fingers and his room returned to normal. His cotton candy cloud bed in one corner, his chocolate milk fountain in another, his thinking tree in the center... a picture of him and Fluttershy on his nightstand. He opened his door and smiled down at the little Pegasus. “Well, hello Fluttershy,” He said with a grin. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I just wanted to come by and make sure you were alright,” Fluttershy said softly. “I heard you got in a fight with one of the Pokémon and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” “Oh, I’m fine,” He replied. “All healed up now and just doing some… thinking.” “Oh, um, alright, if you wanna be alone I can always-” “Now, now my dear,” Discord scooped up the little mare and carried her into his room before putting her back down. “You know I always have time for my dearest friend Fluttershy.” Fluttershy smiled as Discord turned back to close the window, having absorbed enough power for a while, but as he did this, she noticed something next to his nightstand. She walked over to it as Discord shut the door. “So anything in particular you’d like to talk about?” He asked. “Pokémon, gods, what time we’re having tea next Sunday?” “D-Discord?” Fluttershy stammered, disbelief and fear in her voice. The chaos lord turned to see his friend holding a red and white orb with a small white button in the center. “What’s this doing here?”