A phoenix. There was a blue and navy phoenix.
Twilight had been working on placing some new books Celestia had allowed her to get from the Everfree Castle in the library of her new castle. While working, a portal had suddenly opened for a few seconds, letting out the strange phoenix.
“Huh? What just happened? Spike!”
When Spike didn’t come, Twilight called again. By the time Spike finally did arrive, the bird had started to fly around looking for something.
“What do you need Twilight?” Spike said upon entering the room. “Woah! Cool bird! It kind of looks like a phoenix. Where’d you find it?”
“That’s why I called you.” Twilight told him. “It just kind of appeared while I was organising our new books. It came through some sort of portal that appeared and disappeared.”
“Did anything else show up?” Spike asked, looking around.
“Not that I know of. Unless there were other portals that appeared, this phoenix is the only thing that appeared.”
The blue phoenix seemed to be calming down and was no longer flying all over the room. It had perched itself nearby, but was still ruffling its wings and looking around.
“Can you help me look to see if there are any books that might tell us what this bird is exactly?”
“I’m on it Twilight!”
“I’ll stop you right after I’ve written this letter to Celestia to tell her what happened. The portal might have been caused by a dangerous spell, and if she knows about it, she might be able to help.”
The two of them didn’t have much time to work before the bird started to fly again, this time trying to leave the room. Both of them tried to ignore the animal at first, but soon, it became hard to.
Twilight gave a frustrated sigh. “Fine, I’ll take over looking for a book about this thing, you see if you can calm it down.” She told Spike.
At first, when Spike tried to get close to the blue phoenix, it tried attacking him with its talons, but after a while, the bird calmed down enough that it perched itself on Spike’s arm when he held it out.
“Good job Spike!”
“Well, it seems to be enough like a phoenix that I just did the same thing I would whenever Peewee needed to be calmed down.”
“That’s nice. Now can you help me find a book that could tell us about this thing?”
Spike sighed. “Fine. Don’t suppose you know where to look?” He asked the bird.
Surprisingly enough, the blue phoenix flew off of his arm and started to circle around looking at the various books. It eventually grasped one of the books from the Everfree Castle and brought it to him.
“Hey! Twilight! Maybe this book will tell us something.” Spike called to the magenta alicorn. “It’s called ‘Beyond Our Stars: a Guide to Rare Animals and Plants’”
Twilight immediately turned her attention to the dragon. She grabbed the book in her magic and pulled it over to her before she started ruffling through the pages. “Aha! Here we go!”
Twilight had turned to a page with a picture of the bird. “It says here that this is a nightshade phoenix. It’s ‘A rare breed of phoenix that is born when a phoenix egg hatches when there is a moonbow nearby.’”
“A moonbow?” Spike asked.
“It’s supposed to be this odd occurrence that can only happen in certain places and only under the full moon. It’s something pegasi can’t control which is why it’s so rare. In fact, it’s so rare that many ponies believe it’s just a myth, but if this really is a nightshade phoenix, then they maybe actually do exist! Now, I have to finish that letter to Celestia about this!”
That being said, Twilight finished her letter while reading a bit more about the nightshade phoenix. She gave it to Spike to send, which made the phoenix tense up for a second before calming back down.
“While we wait for her reply, I want to get a look at this phoenix.” Twilight told Spike. “Do you think you’ll be able to keep it calm while I do that?”
“I think so.” Spike replied.
But when Twilight tried to get near the bird, it got defensive and tried to attack her. “That’s odd. You would think that it’d be more nervous around dragons than ponies seeing as how phoenixes are mainly the prey of dragons. Though it could be that wherever it came from, ponies try to capture it due to its rarity.”
Before Twilight could try to examine the bird again, Spike let out a burp as Celestia’s reply appeared.
“Oh good! Let’s see what she has to say.” Twilight said, opening the scroll.
Dear Twilight,
While your message of this portal does concern me, I would first like to tell you what I can about nightshade phoenixes. Luna is able to tell when a moonbow forms, and she has told me that there has not been one in at least the past hundred years. Luna has told me that she shows an interest in seeing this phoenix since she has not seen one since before her banishment.
Now my thoughts on this portal you saw. From how you described it, it seems much like a normal dimensional portal if it were not for the fact that it was not tethered to an object. I would like if you might be able to find out how such a phenomenon could occur. I will try to find what I can from the research I have from when Star Swirl was studying portals himself. I will send another letter if I find anything that may help you, but for now, do not let that phoenix go unwatched.
~Celestia
“So, we better try and figure out where this guy’s going to live for now, aren’t we?” Spike asked.
“It seems that way. Since it seems to be fine staying around you, maybe you can take care of it. You’ll also have plenty of space in your new room.”
“Alright, but if he messes anything up, I’m not letting him stay.”
The phoenix screeched at Spike, making him flinch back. “Okay, okay! I was just joking.” It quieted down, but still looked offended.
As Spike started to leave to take the nightshade phoenix to his room, he was stopped as something else happened. In the center of the room appeared a second portal. It was open longer than the first was before out shot a figure who crashed into a wall before it closed back up. The phoenix flew over to the new pony and landed next to her.
“Wha- Oh good, you made it over Lila. I was worried you might end up somewhere else when we split up there.”
The pony got up and fluttered her gossamer wings, letting the phoenix perch on her back. As she brushed herself off, she didn’t notice either Twilight or Spike until the alicorn spoke.
“How did you find your way here?” Twilight asked as she powered up a spell.
The pony, or rather, changeling looked up to see Twilight and was shocked for a second before her look turned to anger and she powered a spell as well. “What are you doing here?! I thought that spell would take me away from you.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“I’m not telling you anything Empress!”
“Empress?!” Twilight and Spike said simultaneously. “Wha–”
Before either of them could say anything more, the changeling fired her spell at Twilight, cutting her off from what she was going to say, and ran out of the room.