Chapter 3: Flight of the Rising Sun
It was times like this Flora was grateful she didn’t need to walk.
A soft wind blew through the village, carrying a chill from the frosty north. As the stars decorated the sky like a masterful painting, the young Floette hovered as quietly as she could past all of the sleeping families, heading for one of the southern shelters while trying to remain unseen. She barely cleared the canopy of tall flowers, daring not to dive under should she wake a Pokémon sleeping just below. But staying above meant she remained visible to the group of Noctowls that guarded the village at night.
Finally, she found it. There, sleeping soundly beside his Leafeon father Sage, lay Evin; an Eevee and one of her close friends. Moving as quietly as she could, Flora gently brushed Evin’s nose with her flower. She froze at one point, fearing she’d woken Sage when he was merely shifting slightly in his sleep. Cautiously resuming, Evin finally started opening his weary brown eyes. Upon seeing her, he woke up a little bit more, but Flora gestured for him to be quiet and follow her. Once Evin carefully extricated himself from near his father, he followed Flora to a shaded tree near the southwest village border.
“Flora,” he yawned. “Why’d you wake me up? Can’t this wait until morning?”
“No,” Flora hissed back at him. “And be quiet. We don’t want anyone else knowing we’re up this late.”
“Okay… but why?”
Flora sighed, her agitation fading. “Well, I… I wanted to apologise. For breaking my promise.” This caught Evin off guard, erasing all trace of sleep from his expression.
“It’s just… I went into the forest yesterday looking for moss, and I guess I got lost. And that’s when I got into trouble.”
“…Aaand why were you-” Evin started before it clicked. “…Flora? You mean…?”
“Yeah,” Flora looked away, rubbing her arm embarrassedly. “It’s just that… You look up to Sage so much, and you’ve always said how cool it would be for you to evolve into a Leafeon like him, so I thought I’d go and…” She trailed off, her cheeks reddening. Evin just processed this as another cool breeze tried to ease the awkward silence.
Finally, it broke when Evin started laughing.
“Shush,” Flora hissed, lightly bopping him on the head with her flower. “What’s so funny?”
“That I have a friend crazy enough to risk getting caught by the Empire to get me some dumb moss.”
“Oh, shut up,” she huffed, though Evin’s smile was infectious and soon she was quietly giggling as well.
“But seriously Flora,” Evin settled down. “I appreciate you’d do that, but the truth is I haven’t decided what I want to evolve into yet. I know you promised to help, but I’ll let you know when I need it, alright? Just… promise me you won’t hurt yourself trying to help me again, okay?” Flora sighed, but nodded.
“Right.” Evin said with a smile. “So… is that it, or was there something else?”
“Well…” Flora stalled, twirling her flower in her hands. Here came the part she was truly worried about. “I… I’ve decided I’m… leaving… With Celestia tomorrow.” Evin stood frozen for all of a second before shaking his head and opening his mouth. Anything he would’ve shouted was muffled by Flora covering his mouth.
“Please Evin, let me explain.”
“But why?” Evin struggled to keep his voice down. “You just got back, and didn’t you hear what your mum and Mewtwo said? Despite the fact this Celestia lady’s nice and cool-looking, why leave?”
“She needs my help, and I promised to look after Summer. A promise is a promise, after all.”
“But Flora-”
“And I also…” She stopped, reining in her volume. “I want to find Leon.”
That was all it took to morph Evin’s face from one of confusion to anger. “What? You want to go out looking for him? He left us behind Flora. If he wanted anything to do with us, he’d have never left.”
“I have to try Ev,” she meekly replied. Evin merely groaned and smack a paw to his forehead. “Until I know for sure, I have to believe I can convince him to come back. I promise I’ll bring Leon home.”
“Honestly, this is the first time I wish you broke your promises.” Evin snidely remarked, earning a glare from Flora. “There’s no way I can talk you out of this, is there?”
“I wouldn’t have woken you up otherwise. I know you’ve got your reasons, but I need to do this. Can I trust you to keep this secret for me? Please?” Despite not knowing the move, Evin could swear Flora was trying to use Baby-doll Eyes on him.
“Alright, fine.” He sighed, fixing her with a determined stare. “But I want you to promise me you’ll be safe.”
Flora flashed him a big smile and gave the Eevee a big hug. “I promise.” Evin returned the hug and the two remained that way for a moment before he pulled away.
“Well,” Evin said with a small smile. “We’d better get back before someone notices we’re missing.”
“Right, See ya Evin. And thanks.”
“Stay safe Flora.”
With that, both youngsters hurried back to their respective family shelters as quickly and quietly as possible. Despite all the secrecy, Flora’s hopes were at an all-time high. This was one promise she’d keep with all her might. Nothing can stop me now!
“Flora?”
The Floette froze as she arrived just before her family’s shelter, her mother angrily staring her down with arms crossed. Flora’s hopes decided now would be an excellent time to partake in skydiving. Without a parachute.
“Uh… Hi Mum.”
\ \_(-o-)_/ /
The soft rustling of leaves and the odd snore were the only sounds that greeted Celestia as she awoke. Lifting her head, she looked up at the sky, seeing the colours of the approaching dawn that decorated her mane slowly paint the sky. A light glow enveloped her horn, reaching out high above before being met with a brief sting.
Right, Celestia’s waking mind realised. It’s not mine.
It had been millennia since Celestia had not needed to raise the sun. It felt strange to her, like a part of her, however small, was missing. She then became aware of a weight against her side, and looked down to see Summer sleeping soundly, using Gloriosa’s bag as a pillow and her wing as a blanket. A small smile emerged on the princess’ muzzle as she bent down and nuzzled against Summer’s head.
“Time to wake up,” she said softly as the girl stirred, slowly moving with a large yawn for one so small. The two stood up, Celestia stretching before taking in one last look around the village. Most of the gathered creatures were sleeping in familial groups beneath wooden shelters, while others were content to sleep hidden amongst the tall flowers.
“You should hurry.” Celestia turned to the familiar voice, seeing Mewtwo and Gloriosa standing beside each other, the former wearing his near-constant stern expression while Gloriosa’s was tired but hopeful. “The Empire often does patrols, but given your presence here there’s no telling what they’ll try.” Celestia nodded, bending down to allow Summer to climb across her back. Standing up again, Gloriosa handed the young girl the bag after placing a few more berries into one of the pockets and a bundle of sheets into another.
Celestia looked around. “Where’s Flora?”
“Gloriosa caught her trying to stow away in the bag,” Mewtwo explained. “She’ll stay in my cave until you’re safely on your way.” This brought a sad smile to the princess, but she knew Mewtwo wasn’t doing this out of spite.
“Tell her I’m sorry she couldn’t come along, but that I’ll come back to visit someday.” Mewtwo nodded.
“May Arceus watch over you.” Gloriosa said with a respectful bow. Celestia tilted her head in confusion a fraction at the phrase, but soon shook it off and nodded in return.
“Thank you, both of you, for your assistance.” She bowed her head before turning back to Summer. “Hold on tight now.” Summer, looking a bit more alert, nodded grabbed hold of Celestia’s billowing mane. Celestia then faced away from the ever-brightening horizon.
With a flap of her wings, they were away.
Summer leaned close to Celestia and tightened her grip and they climbed higher and higher, effortlessly clearing the trees and flying towards the western edge of the valley while the sky brightened beautifully before them. As they levelled off, Celestia began to focus; her eyes scanning the leafy canopy below for any signs of danger. So far, nothing. She imagined it would be quite a while before they reached their destination, so she looked back to check on Summer. The young human was looking all around them as she flew, a smile a bright as the approaching sun clear to see behind them.
“I take it you’ve never flown before, Summer?” Celestia asked, breaking the silence. Summer, caught off guard by the question, shook her head.
“You know Summer,” she continued with a smile. “I haven’t really gotten to know you properly yet. So, do you mind if I ask a few questions?”
A shake of the head. “Very well. So, how old are you?” Making sure she had a firm grip on Celestia’s coat, Summer lifted a hand and held out all five fingers before flashing only two. “You’re seven then?” A nod.
“Interesting.” Almost as old as Sunset and Twilight when they became my students, she thought to herself. “Alright. Now, what’s-” She stopped as Summer pointed forwards, a silent scream on her lips. Celestia immediately swung her head forward to meet the threat.
Just in time to catch a blast of shadows with her face.
An explosion of smoke blinded her and pain seared across her muzzle as Celestia felt herself fall for a moment or two. Coming to, she swiftly righted herself with a few wingbeats. Instantly looking, she found Summer dangling from her neck, and with a small flare from her horn the girl was once again on her back. The whistle of something flying through the air gave Celestia enough of a warning, and this time the attack aimed at her impacted with her golden shield instead.
When the smoke cleared, Celestia finally got a clear looked at her assailants. There were five of them; small dark birds that had hooked beaks and feathers in the shape of hats. Each one of them wore a red scarf, the Y emblem of the Empire clear to see. As she analysed them, they began spreading out, surrounding the alicorn.
“I don’t want to fight you,” Celestia called out. “We have no quarrel with your empire.” This earned a mix of confused glances and snickers.
“Too bad!” Celestia edged backwards with a flap, barely dodging a dark shape as it flew right where she had been. The birds surrounding her chose this time to act, spewing forth a thick haze from their beaks that began to encircle her.
Just as she was readying a spell to counteract them, Celestia noticed Summer point down quickly. She followed the child’s direction and instantly teleported, reappearing a good fifty metres away. Looking back, she saw the tail end of an attack blast through her previous position; a beam of dark circles soaring skywards. At the origin of the beam, Celestia saw a slightly different bird; this one, like the others, had dark feathers that looked to form a hat, but also white plumage beneath its beak and a red sash running over its shoulder.
“Hold on,” Celestia said to Summer after a sigh and turned westwards, pouring on as much speed as her wings would allow. Summer leant in close, gripping tightly at the princess’ coat as their avian pursuers gave chase. With the wind roaring in her ears, Celestia considered it a miracle she heard the attack in time, as she suddenly banked right and barely dodged a flurry of azure fireballs. Looking down, Celestia caught glimpses of those tree creatures, Trevenants, Gloriosa had called them. A blast of what appeared to be dark lightning flew by, reminding her of the birds chasing them as well.
“Stand down!” Celestia called out, her order amplified by the royal Canterlot voice. “I merely seek passage to the west. I don’t want to fight you!”
Her command was met with a fireball connecting with her chest, though it may as well have been a spitball for all it did against her. This pause, however, gave the birds a chance to gain ground towards them, and they blasted out more attacks at her. Ducking one and blocking another with a shield spell, Celestia’s mind raced for a way out of this. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed the sun, cresting over the now distant eastern mountains.
Sure of her path forward, Celestia held Summer close within a golden aura as she soared, straight upwards. The birds were still in pursuit, releasing dark blasts at her as she bobbed and weaved while climbing higher and higher. All the while, she expanded her magical senses skyward.
I know you are not my charge, but please. Just this once, I ask for your aid. Please?
Finally coming to a stop, she poured her magic into a spherical shield and waited. The birds, meanwhile, soon caught up and began swarming around the stationary princess, needling the shield with various energy attacks and strikes from their wings and beaks. Minutes rolled by and yet the shield held, Celestia waiting for her solution to hopefully arrive.
“You can’t stay in there forever doll,” the leader said with a smug smile, the other birds halting their attacks for him. “Just come along quietly and we’ll forget this all happened. One little human’s not worth fighting a pointless battle over after all.” Tension and silence hung in the air for a few moments as Summer looked around them in fear.
But Celestia opened her eyes, and it took a great deal of self-control not to return the bird’s over-confident smile with one of her own.
“Summer,” she said softly. “When I tell you to, close your eyes and don’t open them until I say so. Understand?” A rapid glance behind her was all Celestia could afford, but she saw the brave girl nod.
“I’m terribly sorry,” she turned back to the leader. “But I could never turn her over to the likes of you. If you want her, come and claim her. Summer, now!”
As Summer followed her instructions, Celestia’s wings snapped shut and she drove straight down.
“Get them!” The leader yelled, and with a few squawks the attacks and chase resumed. Celestia positioned her body, streamlining herself as much as possible as she felt a somewhat familiar energy flow into her while she fell.
Concentrating, she began charging the spell and hoping her assailants would continue their terrible aim. Faster and faster she dived, the energy within her mixing with her spell and building power as the forested terrain below was approaching rapidly. Glancing westwards, Celestia committed the side of the mountain to memory
Then, close to a hundred metres above the forest floor, she made her move.
“Procidens Stella!”
A flash of light as bright as the sun exploded from Celestia’s coat, and she diverted as much magic as she dared to dampen the effects on Summer. A few seconds later the light vanished, though a glance upwards showed the plan had worked. The birds were either falling towards the forest floor or flapping in place in a daze. Celestia caught those that fell in her magic, gently lowering them to the forest floor before turning towards the mountain and casting another teleportation spell.
When Celestia opened her eyes again, she was looking east from a rocky outcrop on the mountain, the still airborne agents of the Empire fluttering as tiny dots in the distance. The chase seemingly over, she lay down and released her hold on Summer.
“You… can open... your eyes now,” Celestia panted, a weary smile appearing with Summer looking unharmed. The girl did so, confusion running across her face at where they were. She gingerly hopped off Celestia’s back, though she fell to her knees as she took it all in.
“I’m sorry about all of that Summer,” Celestia continued. “I should’ve just sent you here, but I couldn’t take the risk of leaving you alone. Are you okay?” Summer eventually looked back at the alicorn with a smile, getting up and hugging Celestia’s neck; an embrace the princess returned with a wing around the young girl. What a strong individual you are.
“How touching.”
Within seconds, a golden dome ignited around Celestia and Summer, the alicorn’s eyes scanning the ledge they stood upon for the voice’s owner.
Said owner was a new, strange creature. It stood not ten metres away and appeared to be wearing a long black ball dress with white bows running down the front. Its hair, at least Celestia thought it similar to a mane, was held in four horizontal circles on either side of its head. But three things stood out the most to the princess; the piercing gaze from its blue eyes, the smile it bore on it lavender face, and the precious-looking necklace it wore. One with a familiar red Y emblem hanging from it.
“Who are you?” Celestia asked, her patience razor thin as she widened her stance, a wing acting as an additional barrier between Summer and this new threat.
“I do apologise,” she, at least from the voice Celestia assumed it was female, began. “Both for my sudden appearance, and for the lack of respect my subordinates have shown you.” She then bowed low. “I am Lady Tethyles, an esteemed member of the Yvalt Empire’s Triumvirate. May I ask your name?”
“…Princess Celestia,” she replied after a pause. “Diarch of Equestria and Princess of the Sun.”
“A princess?” Tethyles cocked her head with a small smile, standing up once more. “Well, again I must apologise for your treatment thus far. Murkrows aren’t exactly the brightest of Pokémon, and I’m afraid Honchkrows are only slightly better. But in times of conflict such as these, you cannot fault their devotion to protect us from possible threats. Wouldn’t you agree, Your Highness?” Celestia remained silent, her shield holding strong and Tethyles held firmly within her glare.
The newcomer sighed. “There’s no need to fear an attack from me, Princess.” At this, Tethyles winked out of sight in the blink of an eye, reappearing a moment later from a circular device resting on the ground. “You see? A hologram. I had it planted here, as well as many others along the mountain range, in the hope of speaking with you.”
“And if I had simply continued on?” Celestia asked, finally lowering her shield.
“Then we wouldn’t be able to have this enlightening conversation, now would we?” Tethyles smiled. “Now as a newcomer to this region, I’m certain you have many questions. As a start to repay you for the troubles my subordinates have caused, I will answer as many questions as I can.” While she still didn’t fully trust Tethyles yet, Celestia couldn’t deny this was a perfect opportunity to learn about the conflict gripping this land.
“Well,” she began, relaxing her stance but ensuring she stood between Summer and Tethyles. “I’d like to know more about the war in this land. For what reason did you go to war to begin with?”
Tethyles sighed. “Well, it began over a hundred and fifty years ago. There was a great and terrible weapon on the western coast of the Kalos region, and a group of vile humans,” the word looked as if it disgusted her to say it, “had seized it in the hopes of remaking the world in their image. The weapon drew its power from the sealed form of the legendary Pokémon Yveltal, our Emperor and liberator.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Liberator?”
“Yes. You see; before the war, humans treated Pokémon as nothing more than pets at best, and as tools to further their own success at worst. They forced us into brutal battles against one another for their own amusement and pursuit of glory. For centuries it was this way, all across the globe. And the worst part…” Tethyles’ expression darkened. “The worst part was we Pokémon blindly accepted this as the way the world was supposed to be.
“But when those humans tried to use Lord Yveltal’s power to fire the weapon, he broke free of the restraints that bound him. Seeing their ambitions clearly, He swept them aside and took control of the weapon himself. With a single, terrible blast, the weapon and the base surrounding it were destroyed. The energies released from the explosion were spread all across the region, and from these energies came our ability to communicate with humans far more easily than before.”
“But if the weapon was destroyed, then why continue this conflict?”
“Because the humans didn’t learn.” Aggression began filtering into Tethyles’ story. “They continued to use Pokémon like slaves, and even struck against us when we were recuperating. That… was inexcusable. So, Lord Yveltal began our crusade; to liberate Pokémon from humans that still suffer from oppression, and to unite the Kalos region once more.”
A frown crossed Celestia’s brow. “And so, rather than broker peace, you wage a near-genocidal war against your foes for over a century. Is that correct?”
“We give the humans every chance to surrender, I assure you. But humanity is a stubborn race. Surely you have borne witness to the lengths they will go to in order to get their way?”
“What I have seen,” Celestia said sternly, moving towards the image, “is your soldiers blatantly attacking those you deem a threat. I have seen the fear in others your empire has instilled, as well as the pain it has caused.” A quick glance back to Summer, looking on with nervous curiosity, to see if she was okay. “And, as you have demonstrated, a clear disrespect for me given I have been attacked and spoken to as if I’m a fool.”
Tethyles’ face morphed into one of annoyance before rapidly shifting to shock. “What? Princess, I have shown you nothing but courtesy and respect.”
“I have presided over my court for over a millennia Tethyles. I know when someone is trying to get on my good side. Unfortunately for you,” Celestia stepped back beside Summer, a wing wrapped around her shoulder. “You forfeited my co-operation with your pursuit of Summer. Now; why are you after her?” Tethyles remained frozen, her stare showing Celestia she was right; this Pokemon didn’t respect her. She only seemed interested in whatever reason her soldiers had been attacking Summer for.
“Alright then,” Tethyles sighed, her friendly visage falling for a more focussed one. “That girl has stolen a computer drive from my personal terminal. I demand it back. If you hand it over, I will… overlook this confrontation and let you keep your beloved new pet.”
“Silence!” Celestia shouted, dropping back to her wide stance. “I will not have you speak of Summer so dismissively.”
Tethyles merely levelled a flat stare back at the alicorn. “Well then… It would seem we’re done here.” She then reached for something unseen in the hologram. “Bring me the girl. Deal with her guardian as you wish.” With that, Tethyles blinked out of sight. Knowing danger was most likely nearby, Celestia took hold of Summer with her magic and lifted her onto her back.
And turned to see a claw shrouded in teal energy collide with her muzzle.
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I am going to stop tracking this story because there isn't enough context into the past for me to understand even half of what is going on
You should add more context. What's the use of mystery if NO ONE knows what's going on?
Just you wait Miss... you will soon face the wrath of the Sun Princess!
celestia learned a new move solar flare
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8548660
I'm willing to bet that it'll all come later in the story. Sort of like how we learned that the war has been going on for about fifty years.
Remember that the story if form Celestia's point of view, so she has to learn things by actually asking people.
8553755
That's not enough for me. I am the type of person who likes an explanatory prologue followed by chapters blooming off the prologue.
8553850
Fair enough, I guess.
What is thestyles
8820862
A Gothitelle