//------------------------------// // Cerulean Voice / Chapter Three: Welcome to the Pony Center // Story: Burning Day Reckoning // by Cerulean Voice //------------------------------// “This warning of yours is most disheartening, Ho-Oh.” Celestia sat upon her throne, Luna at her side and Philomena on her shoulder. “You are telling us that this… Giratina creature comes from the same world that you do, and it seeks your demise?” Before the royal sisters at the base of the steps leading up to the throne, Ho-Oh and Fawkes rested upon a giant perch, which had been hastily dragged in from the castle gardens by a pair of unicorn guards. Ho-Oh’s pendant blazed white hot, while Fawkes’ had vanished completely. I wish it were not so. The unspoken words echoed around the throne room and were heard by all. Ho-Oh bowed his head, the golden crest atop it wilting. It should have been a matter settled between us. We have a… history, I will say, dating back thousands of years. Celestia narrowed her eyes. “What reason would Giratina have to invade Equestria? I imagine you did not plan to come here, so why did it choose to?” Giratina must have been searching for a new dimension to traverse. It was contained in the Reverse World for millennia until recently, and has been abusing its dimension-hopping powers ever since. It appears to have taken quite a shine to being free. Luna leaned forward; Tibbles wound his way up her rear leg, onto her back and began batting at her ethereal mane. “So it can travel between dimensions at will… We shall return to that in a moment. For now, I notice you have not yet answered my sister’s questions.” Giratina being here is, unfortunately, completely my fault. I can only imagine how much it desires to wipe me from existence after Celebi, Lugia, and I assisted Lords Arceus, Palkia, and Dialga with its incarceration. Through my connection with Fawkes’ Sacred Ash—Ho-Oh turned his head to the side—I was alerted to yet another premature death that he suffered. This one was off-the-wall crazy, guys! I swallowed a killing curse aimed at my master by Voldemort himself. ‘Taking a bullet,’ as the muggles would say back home. As Fawkes’ thoughts entered everyone’s ears, he straightened and ruffled his feathers. I’ll have to wait until I return to Earth to see if it was worth it, though. Yes, yes, you performed quite the heroic deed. The important factor in this event is that I sensed you had returned to the Unbecoming, so I voluntarily burned myself in an attempt to join you and test the strength of our connection. However, I was unaware of Giratina spying on me through dimensions… It tore a hole in the fabric of space and followed me through to the Unbecoming. I knew I could not allow it to linger, so I confronted it. And I got caught in the crossfire—again. Fawkes placed a wing over his head and shook it. Even in death, I’m a target. Typical. “So, Giratina followed you into the ‘Unbecoming’ realm?” Celestia asked. “I believe I may be beginning to understand… but please, continue.” Giratina… it must have surmised the importance of the Unbecoming—seeing myself and Fawkes there, who it would surely have known was not a Pokémon... I will assume that it knows the realm is our meeting point between Burning Days and resurrections. It also knows that our kind will always revive. “If anything were to disrupt the Unbecoming… am I correct in guessing that you would no longer be able to revive?” Philomena let out a caw from Celestia’s shoulder. She spread her wings, flapped over to the perch, and landed on Ho-Oh’s other side. Upon entering his Extrasensory ability’s range, her vial shined with the same brilliance as Ho-Oh’s. The Unbecoming is where all phoenixes go, Mistress. No matter what dimension, what plane of existence, it is a central point of revival. If it is destroyed— “Then no phoenix anywhere, ever again, would be able to return from their Burning Day,” Luna interjected. “This situation is far worse than I expected. Giratina has already declared war not only on Equestria as we know it, but on all phoenix-kind. The ramifications across each of your universes… It must be stopped.” A feat easier said than done, I fear. Ho-Oh sat up straight, stretching his wings out wide. Giratina is resistant to the majority of my attacks. In the Pokémon world, dragon-types are naturally resilient to fire-based offenses, and many others besides. “You will find it is much the same here in Equestria, too,” Celestia said. “In fact, they are completely impervious to fire, and highly resistant to magic. I suppose the question now is whether or not different universes’ fundamental laws carry over between dimensions. Either Giratina now has immunity to fire, based on our world’s workings, or the creature retains its original strengths and weaknesses from your world.” Ho-Oh's beak curled a little. I was fortunate enough to burn Giratina with my Sacred Fire, though the overall damage inflicted seemed insignificant. I would say that it is unaffected by this world’s rules. Despite the low damage, being burned should slow Giratina down immensely; it will need to rest and heal before it can regain its full strength, so that should buy us time to come up with an alternate plan of attack. Celestia and Luna shared a glance; Luna broke the look first. “What are its weaknesses? If the beast is resistant to fire and magic, then—” I am afraid not, Princess. Dragons resist water as much as fire. Yet they are weak to ice-based attacks. Luna raised an eyebrow. “As... nonsensical as that sounds,” she said while Tibbles took a seat behind her horn, “I will accept that you speak the truth. Do they have any other exploitable weakness?” Only two. Dragons are at a severe detriment when facing either a fairy… or one of their own. “The only fairies in Equestria are the breezies,” said Celestia. “Under no circumstances will I send such tiny, innocent creatures up against such a powerful interdimensional being. Giratina could breathe on them and they would be thrown over the horizon.” “Neither can I foresee any possible allegiance with Equestria’s own dragon population,” Luna said. "Dragons care for naught but themselves and their treasure hordes—with the lone exception of Princess Twilight’s assistant of course. Yet even he has struggled with greed in the past…” She shook her head, forcing Tibbles to clutch her horn as his back legs caught air. “No. If anything, as a dragon itself, Giratina would have a far greater chance at swaying the population to its side than we would as ponies. There is only one thing dragons in Equestria love as much as treasure and riches: destruction.” Hold on a tic. Everyone looked at Fawkes. Philomena, this ‘Princess Twilight’... is she the same Twilight Sparkle you told me about a year ago? Aye. And she happens to bear… what was it? Some kind of element? “You speak of the Elements of Harmony, Fawkes,” Celestia said. She closed her eyes and sighed. “Were they still viable, I would have already summoned my former student and her friends to Canterlot and begun making plans immediately. Alas, the Elements themselves have been returned to their roots, and there they must stay.” So, no Elements, then. Both princesses shook their heads in tandem. Giratina was always one to work alone in the past. However, I would not consider it above asking for help in this foreign dimension. Perhaps, however doomed the endeavour might be, trying to convince any dragon to join our cause would be the best course of action. Celestia looked at Ho-Oh, then the ground in front of him. “Even if we do succeed in swaying one dragon or many to our side, the ramifications upon your world if we… defeat Giratina—would they be significant? Is there a balance that must be maintained? If so, I would rather not do anything to disrupt your world’s workings.” As long as a Pokémon deals the final blow in combat, Pokémon cannot be killed, Princess, if that is what you fear. When we confront Giratina, I will be the one to finish it off. Then, when it is unconscious—or ‘knocked out’ as the humans in my world say—it will be a simple matter to return it to the Reverse World from whence it came. “Humans?” Luna said. “Are these creatures your rulers, or deities?” No. They are simply the dominant species on Earth. They live and interact with Pokémon in their everyday lives, though, be it working or playing together. Giratina has always despised them—it considers them beneath its power. In fact, it was Giratina’s attempt to wipe them from existence that necessitated its imprisonment so many eons ago. “It will be difficult convincing any dragon to aid us,” Celestia said solemnly. She stood from her throne and walked to the west end of the throne room. She stopped and looked outside, the early dawn lighting up the vast countryside far below. Small, dark patches littered the ground near where Giratina had appeared. Thin wisps of smoke still rose into the air from within the fresh craters. Mistress. Celestia looked to Philomena. “Yes, Philly?” There might be a way to sway the dragon populace. Fawkes squawked and fluttered next to Philomena. And you said nothing before, because? Because I only just thought of it, she snapped with a glare at Fawkes. Anyway, Mistress, do you remember the pony that tried to help me on my last Burning Day? “Fluttershy, the bearer of Kindness? Of course I do. She does have an affinity with animals…” Celestia tapped her chin and turned to Luna. “Sister, I would have your thoughts. You, too, have a knack for dealing with dangerous creatures. Do you remember the tale I shared with you about Fluttershy staring down a dragon and convincing it to sleep elsewhere?” Luna nodded. “I also recall that it took the dragon hurting her friends for her to work up the courage to do so. I am not sure if she could, or would, do such a thing willingly again.” We have to do something! Philomena opened her beak and screeched. Every phoenixian life is under threat while we sit in here debating over a course of action. I refuse to bear witness to my species’ demise—let us at least ask Fluttershy if she will help. “Help with what?” All heads turned to the throne room entrance. Flanked by two royal guards, Twilight Sparkle approached the congregation, Spike riding atop her back. “Please excuse me, Your Highnesses,” she said as she stepped forward. “I would have sent—oh.” She froze in mid-speech, mouth open slightly as she stared at the abnormally large phoenix in the room. She met Ho-Oh’s fierce red gaze and took a single step backward. “Twilight, this is Lord Ho-Oh, a phoenix from another realm and a friend of Philomena’s,” Celestia said, gesturing to him. “Lord Ho-Oh, this is my former protégé, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” “Um, hello there…” Twilight took a deep breath after Ho-Oh nodded, and resumed addressing Celestia. “I would have sent a letter, but I had a feeling that this situation called for more direct action. Everypony felt the tremors from home, and we saw the commotion in the skies.” “Yeah, it was all ‘pssssh!’ and ‘blam!’ and ‘rawwwrrr!’ for a while,” Spike blurted as he waved his arms around in different directions. “And it got all dark and stuff too. Then this big black snake-looking thing shot through the air over Ponyville—” he flung his palm along a flat plane in the air in front of him “—then just disappeared. Poof!” He finished with a quick spread of his arms. Twilight coughed. “Thank you, Spike, for your graphic reenactment, but the princesses were right there. They know what happened.” Spike harrumphed and crossed his arms. “Doesn’t mean I can’t still tell my version,” he grumbled. “Thank you for taking the initiative to visit, Twilight,” Celestia said. She moved from the window and lowered her head, embracing Twilight for a second. “I admit it was on my mind to summon you and your friends here—however, without the Elements, I was unsure what real good any of you could do in the face of this threat.” “We would have come anyway, Princess,” Twilight said as they broke the hug. “It seems that Equestria is in danger once again. I will do my best to help. Speaking of help...” Twilight’s eyes roved over her company. “Er, who exactly was speaking just before about Fluttershy?” That was I, Princess Twilight. “Philomena? But… what… how?” Twilight’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “You’re a phoenix! How can you talk?” The same way that I can talk, Princess Sparkle. Twilight looked from Philomena to Ho-Oh. “H-how? None of your beaks are moving… oh, I see! It must be some kind of spell that Celestia cast on you. Wow! I was unaware such spells existed! I must—” No, Princess. This is my personal technique, Extrasensory, enabling you to experience my thoughts. It extends to Philomena and Fawkes here as well, provided they stay within my range. Fawkes waved a wing at Twilight and Spike. “Oh. Well, shoot. I thought I was on the precipice of discovering a new branch of exciting ma—” She lifted her head quickly with a gasp. “Oh, but there’s nothing stopping me from working with you to make the technique viable for unicorn usage! How does it work? Can you show me?” Twilight looked Ho-Oh and Fawkes up and down as she paced around them. Spike dismounted from her back and rolled his eyes before hugging Celestia’s leg. Luna cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Princess Twilight,” she said as she stood from her own throne and descended the steps. “As eager as you appear to turn our guests into experiments—” Twilight looked away, rosy-cheeked “—there are matters of far greater import at hoof.” “Of-of course, Princess.” Twilight hung her head. “Please, continue.” Luna nodded. “As it stands, we have yet to form a solid plan of either attack or defence,” she said. “Although the question has been posed whether or not your friend Fluttershy could use her affinity with animals and dangerous creatures to convince one, some, or all of them to help Us remove the threat of Giratina.” “Giratina,” Twilight repeated. “That’s the big... thing you were fighting earlier? The one that came through the hole in the sky?” “Indeed,” Luna said. “Now, do you believe that Miss Fluttershy would be up to the task? I have heard of her past accomplishments regarding a similar matter. While it would be too dangerous to approach Giratina directly, it is Sister’s hope that she might sway the dragons into helping us all. How she will achieve this, what incentives she may need to offer, we cannot say yet.” “Hmmm.” Twilight tapped her chin and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “Fluttershy has grown a lot and significantly developed her confidence levels over the past fourteen months that I’ve know her... but truthfully, she’s still afraid of dragons. I mean, of course I will ask, but I can’t make any promises.” “I could go with her?” Spike said. “Me and Rainbow could go to keep her confidence up, and me being with her might help too. If dragons see a dragon and a pony together, they might just listen.” “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Spike,” Twilight said. “I think just Rainbow and Fluttershy should go.” “But why?” “Spike, don’t you remember your last encounter with dragons? Those younger dragons wanted to kill you by the end. What if you run into them again?” “But I don’t—” “Rainbow and Fluttershy have no prior tangles with dragons to their name like we do. Besides, if negotiations turn south, they can always fly away. If you went, they would have to carry you out too, and that would hinder—” “All right! I get it! I won’t go.” Spike sat on the ground and pouted. Luna approached Spike and swept him up onto her back; Tibbles squeaked and slid down onto her shoulder, poking at Spike’s nose. “Spike, you must not see this as a personal attack. Everyone can see that Twilight cares for you, and that is why she insists you stay behind.” She smiled at him. “I am sure that I can find some other way for you to be helpful.” “You mean it?” “I will do my best to find a suitable task for you.” Luna nodded, then turned back to Celestia. “Sister, is there any other course of action you could first consider?” A gurgle sounded around the room. Everyone turned to the source: Twilight rubbed her stomach and gave a pink-cheeked gasp followed by a giggle. “Does breakfast count? It appears my former student skipped her morning meal in her haste to arrive.” Philomena sat upon the summit of Mt. Canterlot for the second time in four hours. Noon had arrived; directly over Philomena’s head, the sun cast its shortest possible shadows over all four corners of Equestria. She drank in the light and the warmth, feeling it energise her from the inside out. She turned her thoughts inward. How do three phoenixes and two princesses take down a monstrosity that just brushes off our attacks? And how can Princess Twilight help? Should we send for Princess Cadance, too? Although she had eaten a generous fill of mixed seeds and nuts—personally toasted to her taste—Philomena could not help but feel a pit where her stomach would have normally been. It churned like she’d consumed a kaleidoscope of live butterflies, despite her efforts to sit still and calm. What if we cannot stop it? What if it finds a way to… to… “Hey.” It took all of Philomena’s willpower to not leap into the sky. “You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.” Fawkes settled next to her and stared to the north. “Sorry,” he said. “You’re just the only being in this world that I know, and I wanted some company. I’ve been thinking a little bit about stuff.” “Such as?” “Well…” Fawkes placed a wing upon his breast. “For one, this disappeared,” he said, fondling the empty vial. “I noticed it was missing soon after I burst out of Giratina’s guts. Usually I would have been reborn as a chick, but here I am, the same as I was during my transition in the Unbecoming. That Ash must have some crazy resurrection powers to completely restore me to how I was before… but now it’s gone.” Philomena remained silent for a time, turning to stare to the south. “You know… you must be the most death-prone phoenix I have ever known,” she finally said. “And that’s saying something, considering I have about nine hundred years on you.” Fawkes shrugged. “Comes with the territory of being a powerful wizard’s companion, I s’pose.” “Yeah, well, try to not get killed in Equestria anyway,” Philomena said. “We have no idea what will happen to you, whether you’ll return here, or to your own world.” Fawkes blinked, his beak half-open. “That… actually frightens me now. What if I can never get home?” Philomena opened her mouth to respond, but was silenced by a thunderous crash of lightning not far above their heads. Both birds leaped into the air and took wing immediately. “What the—” Fawkes soared down the mountain. Spinning in flight, he flapped his wings to slow down, then steadied himself. He flapped in place before rising slightly, completely focused on the swirling clouds growing above him. “Philomena! Get away from there!” She appeared at his side seconds later, attention also fixed on the growing cumulus. “Another one?” Before either could do more than exchange glances, Celestia and Luna shot up from behind them, both taking a position on separate sides of the cloud. Thunder continued to rumble as a purple tear appeared in the middle. A loud roar split the air as a silver-grey dragon burst forth, spewing flames. Spines the size of the princesses themselves traced a path along the back of its neck, all the way down to its tail. A thick chain was wrapped around its throat multiple times, and seemed to have a knot in it that implied the dragon had broken some kind of restraint. Bulging pink scars and newer, fresher wounds could be seen between the wrappings. The dragon’s crimson eyes roved around as though it were trying to see everything at the same time. Upon spying Princess Luna, it roared again and shot toward her with its mouth open wide, revealing rows of jagged fangs the length of her horn. A beam of light hit the dragon on one of the red welts on its neck. The dragon howled and lost altitude as it twisted to face Celestia instead. With yet another roar, it shot a plume of fire at her and flapped in her direction instead, only to find a thread of blue light wrapping itself around its wings. It struggled against its bonds, thrashing its head and tail every which way until it landed atop the mountain summit with a crash that shook the city below. Fawkes and Philomena cautiously ascended to the mountaintop, where the dragon had ceased its erratic movements and lay still, grunting heavily. A low moan escaped its maw as Celestia and Luna conjured up more ethereal restraints around its legs, mouth, and claws. This is no Pokémon. Ho-Oh joined the group, appearing from below, followed by Twilight, who flapped up to the dragon’s head and examined its eyes and neck with a frown. “Not like Giratina, you mean?” Celestia asked, her horn glowing still. “Then where did it come from?” I… I think I know. All eyes turned to Fawkes. This is… I mean, it’s been in better shape of course, but… “What is it, Fawkes?” Twilight asked. This dragon… it used to guard a high-security vault in Gringott’s Bank, back in my world. It’s a Ukrainian Ironbelly: the largest known dragon species. “Another dragon from another world…” Twilight flapped up around the dragon’s sides and examined its spines. “It doesn’t look like any dragon from Equestria, that’s for sure,” she said as she squinted and flitted from end to end of the dragon’s tail. “It looks much more… vicious, and... well, I wouldn’t want to face it by myself. I’d sooner take on both Ursas than this.” It appears that Giratina’s dimension hopping has had some rather… far-reaching consequences. Ho-Oh frowned upon the dragon, which had finally succumbed to Celestia’s sleep spell and begun to snore. Puffs of smoke escaped its nostrils while its eyelids fluttered rapidly. Twilight settled in front of the dragon’s maw and examined its teeth. As she noted the fangs’ curvature, the dragon snorted, shooting forth a splash of cinders. A few caught her mane, causing it to instantly flare up. With a yelp, Twilight jumped back and quickly blew upward. Although she snuffed out the offending flame, the pink streak in her mane was left with a short, uneven patch. After a groan and shake of the head, her eyes roved over the chains around the dragon’s neck, where the fresh marks continued to bleed, albeit slowly. “You know,” she grumbled, “now might be a good time to get Fluttershy involved after all.”