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."
Is this chapter named for the TV show Burn Notice? If so, you have excellent taste.
good. very good. I like finding this in my inbox everytime I open my e-mail. It makes my day when ever i find this.
Odd, it's not like Twilight to be late.
3298832
Just fixed for clarity; the train was supposed to arrive five minutes ago carrying the mane six.
Nice to see Philomena again. I wonder what sort of crazy adventures she and James got into in their time...
From the sounds of it, they were quite crazy indeed.
More like a married couple!
you always update this fic at, like, 1 AM where I live. it's really obnoxious, because I don't want to wait to read it, but, you know, it's one AM.
3298960
Sorry!
I've been uploading them whenever I finish, which has strangely been around 11pm (my time) every day so far.
3298965
I'm not blaming you. I'm blaming the rotation of the earth, and my natural sleep schedule. stupid natural biology and physics....
3298960
Sleep is for the weak. If it bothers you that much, just move to the west coast. Problem solved.
3299067
I'd rather be weak, that means I have to be cunning to get my way, instead of using brute force, which is stupid. brains over brawn all the way.
3299074 I prefer the balanced approach - use my brains to find the weak points then brawn to shatter 'em.
Ha. Burn Notice. Because you know phoenix.......... and the fire..........fire burns................I'll shut up now.
I looked at the time stamps at all the comments below me...... They were up at 4:00 reading a my little pony fanfiction........
3298203True, true. That would be cool.
3299177 I agree my tactic is find the path of least resistance and rip it to shreds with massive amounts of dakka or a BFG hopefully both
3299419 Well, my personal way is aim for the general points (i.e. elbow, knee, throat, solar plexis, etc.) and deliver fast and hard strikes for maximum crippling. Any particular points will result in being targeted. Overall, I seek to stun, wind or K.O.
Granted, that's when I'm outnumbered. One on one, I like to relax a little.
*ahem* Queue angelic chorus. MOAR! PLEASE!
3298456 said seemingly, that means might be
but since the main character is a metagross, i think the first 2 gens would be the only ones in question. i know that much 'bout pokemon. i'ma guess houndor since he kinda looks like a ghost type, so the ponies might be mistaken
3298873 I hope this isn't uncalled for but... I wonder if they tried to get it on sense they act like an item. (I wonder how the hell it would work...)
3299275 So...?
3298960 3298965
PFFT i stay up to 3-4 am regularly and wake up at 7:30 :D
AND i still have school. beat that. its one way to get the body to work on less :P
~~Nightmare demon of the shadows
3299745
Considering the fact that Metagross is genderless, I highly doubt he even has the, um. . . *cough* Let's say "hardware."
3299745
Heh, well personally I just see them as being very good friends. Still, weirder pairings are possible in the realm of pokemon I suppose, despite Metagross being technically "genderless". You know, the whole Wailord/Skitty thing, etc.
So he's finally going to meet the mane 6. This should be interesting.
3300554 Awaiting Metagross fangirl moment.
Also,
This reminded me of the Metagross Pokedex entry for Sapphire where it says that it pins prey to the ground and devours them with the large mouth on it's stomach. I can only imagine how weird it must have been to watch him
drinkeat the cup of tea.3298960 Sleep is for the weak.
Tia thinks that the mane 6 can stand up to the likes of Entei? There doomed.
3301032
I'm more worried about Giratina and the really dark ones. The three legendary dogs are cool; however, Giratina, Darkrai and Kyurem? Ooh, they're the ones you should look out for.
3301032 If a Charizard can stand level with an Entei, then six colorful magic unicorns can kick its ass.
3301374 Wasn't the Entei that Ash's Charizard fought in that movie a fake?
Guise, arceus
3301722
I do hope he has a cup of tea with Celestia at some point.
3301797 Cresselia and/or Darkrai just chilling with Luna at some point.
Also I want to see Fluttershy adopt a Shaymin or twodl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Fluttershy.png
Good chapter. Glad to see Philomena enter the story. Will she join James and the Mane six on their adventure?
3299745
Aaaand this is exactly the reason that there is way too much awful shipping. The Internet will interpret giving the time of day as "blossoming romance", arguments as "sexual tension" and not having met as "two lonely souls". Graaah.
3302522 well considering the reason there are different genders is for the soul purpose of procreation (and how nature gets to do that is to make it either pleasurable/instinctual) why wouldn't there be? There will be bad sex/pairings on the internet as long as humanity has two genders. ( really I mean come on, EVERYTHING related to humans has its roots in sex). But in all seriousness I know that James and the fire bird are probably just good friends.
3301722 does arceus look somewhat like a dog!? i dont think so!
Wow, Celestia really likes to play things short notice. Looks like she's still the trickster we all know and love.
"I'm a telepathic, floating hunk of sentient metal that doesn't belong in this world. Your argument is invalid."
This quote, from the prequel, A Pokemon Problem, is genius. Our friend Metagross should use it more.
Celestia vs. Arceus?
Worlds will be destroyed.
3301485
Yes!
I hope Metagross, when meeting the Mane 6, does not have to go over introductions with them. He knows them, to an extent, and can use his "I'm a telepathic, floating hunk of sentient metal that doesn't belong in this world. Your argument is invalid" line to explain how he knows them. I sometimes don't like it when a human who knows about MLP and ends up in Equestria, has to hide his knowledge. I understand why they use it, but this time around, I hope Metagross can earn some startled looks and expressions with his knowledge of the Mane 6.
i hope there are a few legends that are quite civil
i actually hope Mew pops up and starts pranking Celestia, would be the Prank War of the century
3305205
Nay! The very fabric of the universe would collapse!