• Published 18th Oct 2019
  • 1,849 Views, 57 Comments

Amaura Borealis - Adenbadens



A man outside in a blizzard slips on the ice, only to wake up in the frozen north of Equestria as an unfamiliar Pokémon. An Equestrian Eeveelution sidestory.

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Chapter 3: Curtains of Fire

As I felt the fire wash over me I realized that in my caution I had accidentally stepped through the aurora again. I braced myself for the heat and closed my eyes against the blinding bright white but the second wave of fire never came. As I stood in what felt like an oven with the light on, my closed eyes and body began to adjust. The heat wasn’t as suffocating, the light was not so glaring. Don’t get me wrong it was still really hot, but less “inferno” and more “height of summer on the equator in the desert” hot. Tolerable, but barely. I’d have to get out of this heat once I figured out what was going on. I figured nothing else was going to happen, so I cracked my eyes open and took a look.

Greys and whites, nothing new there. That’s been the world since the snow came. Why was the sun up though? Where was I now? Opening my eyes more and looking up I couldn’t find the sun, but it was still so bright. Was it even this bright the day I woke up here? And hot! I could feel the cold air my gems were putting out but it never seemed to change how much heat I was feeling. Taking a step forward didn’t make the crunch of snow, but more of a crinkle. Looking down curiously I saw grass, grey and white grass, under my feet.

Okay, that’s weird. At least I’m still blue. I hesitated a moment at being glad I was still a cartoon dinosaur. Shrugging it off for now and leaning down I took a sniff before biting some of the grass. Smells right, tastes a little stale but not dried like how I’d imagine hay tastes.

Looking back up as I chewed I saw a bush nearby that definitely wasn’t there while I was fighting the wolves. It looked like the berries I had seen during my early weeks here, except also grey. Snagging one I decided to keep looking. It tasted like the grass did: the flavor was right but like it had sat out for a long time without spoiling. Old, but not quite stale. Dusty. I glanced around as I chewed.

Man, where the hell am I? The lay of the land looks the same but the snow is all gone. And why is everything here monochrome? I mean on the other side there were hints of color even with all the snow and ice. Is this some weird parallel world or...Oh.

“Oh” turned out to be a giant crystal spire that dominated the skyline, the landscape, and my view of a previously hidden city in the distance. Attention grabbing at the worst of times, it was unmistakable to anyone who had the slightest inkling of what it was.

“But then...how...why does…” My brain kept skipping, unable to pick one thought from the myriad of options the view of the Crystal Empire raised in my mind. As if on autopilot, I took my first slow step towards the city. Finally, like the slowest bubble to ever rise to the top, one thought came forward from the rest.

“That explains the bat-pony. It was a thestral.”


“What the fuuuuck…” I said quietly, walking down one of the main roads of the empire. It was still hot, but at this point I figured it was both because I had gotten used to the cold to the point that a shift to temperate was like jumping in a sauna, and my body was also still doing whatever it did to stay warm in the snow. Too sudden a shift with no time to adjust. I still felt hot and thirsty, but that was being pushed aside by what was around me.

Crystal Ponies. Quite a number of them actually, and all as monochromatic and frozen as the world around them. Some of them were actually in the air, having jumped or been thrown before time just sort of...stopped for them.

There were defenders for the city, which made a certain bit of sense. Sombra was outside the city when he was sealed and it was banished, so this must be the ponies who fought with Celestia and Luna in rebelling against him. Their armor had the cobbled-together and worn down look of an unofficial military who had to use what was available to them, even if they had to dig it out of a box in the attic. I gently pushed one of them to see what would happen. Nothing. He was as immovable as a statue. Turning back towards the spire I continued on, leaving them to hold whatever line they’d been holding.

The city was huge. Bigger than the show made it seem. There was also the feeling it gave me. A sense of familiarity but also of wrongness. I knew the city from the show, sure, but this went beyond that. It was like coming home and finding someone had shifted everything a few inches in different directions: nothing had really changed but at the same time it was all different and nothing felt right. And that feeling only got stronger the closer I got to the palace.

I found a fountain as I walked. Clean, but tasted old like everything else I’d had here. I also took the time to measure myself against a few ponies that were gathered there. My body was roughly the same proportion as the adults, but my longer neck put me a full head above them.

Taking a closer look at them, I saw that they were all filthy. A mare had lash marks on her back, and a filly next to her still had a broken chain wrapped around her hoof. She had haunted eyes, and though she was watching the water in the fountain she seemed to be looking right at me. Two among many, and they were all just trying to clean themselves or get a simple drink of water as the first step in their new freedom.

Looking back down at her, I spoke softly, suddenly intensely aware of all the eyes around me, of how I was trespassing into their world. “I’m sorry… I don’t think I can help you…I’m just me, and,” I looked up and away, stepping back, “I’m sorry.” I kept moving after that. I was pretty sure they weren’t aware as they were, but I hoped for my sake that they weren’t. I felt ashamed that I could do nothing for them, my sails shifting orange, even though I knew everything would work out for them.


At the plaza in the center of the city, I saw the weirdest thing by far: other Pokémon. A single elderly pony stood behind a bastiodon as weathered as he was, its shield-like face grimacing in pain, it’s legs bent like it was still exerting force against some enemy that was no longer there. Arrayed behind them were ponies aged from children to teens, none in their majority, and each with a small Pokémon of their own. Some ice types, some rock types, a few bugs and normal. Nothing above a low tier evolution, all with faces showing their determination to reach the palace. Fighting, but against what? A quick glance behind me showed nothing but the underside of the palace where the Crystal Heart would be once it was reclaimed from the top of the spire. Remembering the defenders that had been airborne like they were thrown and looking again at the bastiodon I realized that whatever these ponies had fought against did not wind up banished with them. “Good, one less problem when you come back.”

I stood for a while just looking at the group in front of me. Pony Pokémon trainers, and all the right age to be beginning their journey. The old one must be the “Professor Oak” of the group. Or whatever the equivalent of a gym leader would be. Or something. Maybe just some old dude with an old Pokémon, fighting against evil. Doing the hard thing because it was the right thing. And instead they were stuck here.

Ponies on the edge defending against the outside, ponies in the middle broken free from their chains, ponies at the center still fighting against something on the inside. “Sombra was outside with Celestia and Luna… didn’t he do this by himself? What were you fighting? And what is that feeling?”

I’d been able to mostly ignore it since the fountain, but it had started the moment I entered the city proper and had been growing the closer I went to the castle. If I closed my eyes I could hear my instincts screaming into my head.

Home. Emptiness. Belonging. Trespasser. Goodness. Danger. Rightness. Wrongness.

The dichotomy was making me sick, and through it all, above it all, I felt Purpose. I opened my eyes to realize that I had moved to the center of the plaza. At the spike of crystal where the Crystal Heart should be but wasn’t.

I felt that purpose seize me, a great welling up from within and knew that whatever was about to happen, for good or ill it would be because of me. Turning my head up to where I knew the Crystal Heart was hidden I braced myself. I opened my mouth, prepared to cry out...

And the sky cracked.


“Another few days my hoof, it’s been moons,” Sunburst grumbled over the wrapped case he levitated in front of him. The moon shone high through the windows, showing the lateness of the hour that Sunburst had requested.

“At least you have them now, Sunburst.” Runic consoled his friend. “They must’ve been backlogged at the archives for your request to fall so far behind.”

“That’s just it, Runic, they weren’t! Every time I went down to check on my order the mare down there seemed bored out of her mind until she noticed I was there. She was once building a house of cards for Celestia’s sake!” Sunburst waved his hooves in frustration at the bureaucracy. “And there were always ‘new submission requirements’ and' ‘triplicates’ and ‘lost forms’. I ended up having to fill out the paperwork in the room in front of her before she said it met their standards.”

The two stallions were trotting to the summon chamber for Sunburst’s latest (Runic didn’t want to say last) attempt at a bonding. Steel Circle herself was going to oversee the ritual and give her final verdict once the deed was done. Runic privately didn’t expect much from this one, but he was supportive for his friend’s sake. A successful casting of a long-defunct summon would do wonders for restoring Sunburst’s reputation at the school. More importantly, it would allow him to stay at the school at all.

Pausing at an intersection in the hall, Sunburst heaved a sigh. “If I were a more suspicious stallion I’d think Steel Circle has been trying to sabotage my efforts. You know what she’s been saying about my work, and if this one doesn’t work out for me, then…”

Placing a hoof on Sunburst’s withers, Runic tried to cheer him up. “...then it’s a good thing this one is going to work. You’ve gone over this one more than any of the others, triple checked every detail. Nothing will go wrong. You’re going to do wonderfully, Sunburst.”

When Sunburst perked up Runic considered that a success, and none too soon. They had arrived at the set of doors leading to the testing room. Wanting to raise Sunburst’s spirits as best he could, Runic gave him one more nudge with his shoulder and an encouraging smile before heading into the room to finish preparing it. “I’ll be back when we’re ready.” He called over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

Sunburst sat down to wait, knowing it would be a few minutes. It was a time meant for self-reflection, he knew; to give potential summoners the time to either steel themselves or back out. This wasn’t his first time attempting a bonding, after all. It was his second. The first was a failed attempt at summoning an Omnite that got him ridiculed by students and staff alike and set him on his current path. He was a perfectly capable summoner, he knew, but before that first attempt and especially after he had felt the need to prove himself. After what had happened at Celestia’s School he knew he would have to make his mark somewhere in the field of magic before he would be able to show his face at home. To show everypony that their expectations for him weren’t unfounded. To prove to his mother that he had what it took. To show himself that, if not a powerful wizard, he could still be a great summoner; a great something. To make it up to her that-

“Alright Sunburst, we’re ready for you.” Runic poked his head out of the door, unintentionally snapping Sunburst from the spiral his thoughts were taking.

“Y-yes.” He said, suddenly remembering where he was. “Yes. Alright, I’m ready.” He stood up, shaking himself off, and followed Runic into the summoning chamber.

The room was just as it had been when Sunburst attempted his first bonding. The summoning circle, a metal ring set into the floor, dominated the space. Then several feet of clear space for the summoner to set up without entering the ring itself, then a few seats and finally a set of stairs leading to the observing room set behind safety glass. Runic was already heading towards the stairs while Sunburst stood in the doorway. Steel Circle, while present as proctor, was not up in the observation room as he had expected. Instead, she was sitting in one of the seats.

“Ah, Sunburst,” she began. Sunburst noted that her eyes lingered longest on the archive box he held in his magic. “Still interested in continuing this folly, I see. No last-minute change of heart to something...reasonable?”

Wondering what she meant to say instead, he still quickly replied “No ma’am. I believe I have it this time.”

“Very well then. Considering your... unique circumstances,” she said while rolling one hoof, “it has been decided that you will dictate your process, your decisions in the reagents, and why. Leave nothing out. If you successfully perform such a summon as this, we will want to know how you managed it where a millennia of attempts have failed.”

Taking a moment to think of where he actually started this process, Sunburst cleared his throat, pulled a stack of papers, parchment, and a lone stone tablet from his saddlebags and began.

“I began my search through the records, looking for summons that had gone at least a decade without being either performed or attempted. When I found this,” here he levitated a single sheet off the top of the stack. “It was a failed attempt from just over a century ago. Reading over it, I found an addendum that it was a translation of an older document sent from the Griffon lands. Finding that one had a similar note, and so on until I got to this.” Separating the stack into smaller sections to illustrate the number of attempts over the years, Steel Circle estimated it to be over a hundred failures, followed by a stone tablet that she presumed to be the original.

“The tablet is in old ponish, as indicated by the gentle curves and white circle in the center of each individual character. When I found this, I first made my own copy, translated it to modern Equish as best as I was able, and then cast Gobbledegook’s Grammatical Gamut upon my copy of the original, and each separate iteration. I also had an old acquaintance from Celestia’s School who has studied history take a look as well.”

Steel Circle had been paying close attention, and here she interrupted. “Why on each separate attempt?”

“To see where each one may have been influenced by changes in language over time, or preference by the caster, or accidents made during the process. I can demonstrate if you want. Would you like me to run the Gamut, Professor?”

“That won’t be necessary, thank you.”

Floating the smallest of the papers towards him he started up again. “The most recent is to summon a winged ground elemental with…” he squinted at the page “lightning bolts that blow water out its side.” He shook his head in bemusement. “It’s entirely possible that the reason this was never successfully performed in over a thousand years was because every being that tried adapted the previous attempt rather than go off the source material. Each translation is worse than the last, like a verbally dictated chain letter a millenium in the making.”

“Moving on to the actual spell, several conditions are described beyond the spell itself, namely the time of day as the “long night,” which would be any time between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes and the presence of the ‘nighttime rainbow’.”

“Which is impossible.” Steel Circle cut in.

“Then, yes. It must have been an extraordinary phenomenon to cause such a thing, but we can replicate it in a component that serves two purposes. Namely, white glow thistles as the weakening agent reflecting light through prisms to cast rainbows across the circle.” Suiting actions to words, Sunburst pulled out and positioned the items in question from his saddlebag. “Prisms were only invented about five hundred years ago, so I can’t begin to imagine how the original condition was met.”

Setting the stack of papers down on a table at the side of the room, he levitated everything previously in his saddlebags into the air, except for the box from the archive which he set on the floor immediately in front of him. “Some reagents listed have multiple meanings, both then and now, so I had to get in touch with some experts in the particular fields who would know what items best met all possible meanings so nothing would be missed.”

“We didn’t have those experts here at the summoner school?” Steel Circle pressed, raising an eyebrow. “I find that a little difficult to believe. Who would know reagents better than an entire staff of experienced summoners?”

“Two beings in particular. I wanted an outsider perspective that would be unbiased by usual methods. The stones were provided by the Nickerlite Rocktology Institute’s valedictorian who is currently doing an Equestria-wide practicum. ‘Ancient Living Stone’ meant two things to her: unworked stones from the “living rock” of Equis from a particular depth, and fossilized remains. The school here offered a collection of rocks to me, but she informed me that “ancient” to a geologist is different than what we would think, as the time scale for stone is different than ours. She was informative, but very to the point.” Setting both kinds of stone into piles around the circle, he levitated a single half-sheet with four bullet points over to the professor.

“She didn’t know about the ice portion, but referred me to her sister, who ‘knows everyone in Equestria’. Pinkie Pie got me in touch with a Yak she knows close to the northern edge of Equestria.”

Steel Circle tilted her head, puzzled. “Pinkie has a sister?”

“Several, apparently… wait, how do you know Pinkie?”

“Her I Have My Cutie Mark, Lookit! tour,” she answered, remembering a t-shirt with Pinkie’s cutie mark that she had in a drawer somewhere. “How do you know her?”

“Sire’s Hallow semi-annual Hide-And-Seek-athon, which she founded.”

Runic’s voice sounded over the speaker from behind the glass, “She threw me a surprise ‘Congratulations on making it into the Circle’ party when I bonded with my first summon. I didn’t even know her at the time!”

They all stared at one another for a long moment before Steel Circle shook her head and asked, “And the Yak?”

“Pinkie was a judge at the first figure-skating competition held at the winter resort the yak co-owns.”

“No I mean about the ice.”

“Oh. OH! Right, the Yak. Oona, that’s her name, Oona, was able to send me glacial runoff and untouched snow that was caught in the pot she sent it in. The “essences of cold” as the reagent is named. They were shipped in a giant block of ice, which was a little confusing, but it worked out in the end. She also suggested the glow thistles, as they originated in the Yaket range and provide the light for the prisms, as well as a weakening agent.” Pulling several thermoses out of his rapidly lightening saddlebag, Sunburst poured them into bowls and arranged them at complimentary points to the stones. There remained one point with no material at the North end of the circle, directly in front of Sunburst himself.

“The last components I obtained from the archives here at the school.” He began to carefully open the box he had carried in. “They are the hardest to obtain under normal circumstances, and their placement is, I believe, the largest key to a successful summon of this particular kind. It’s also the most confusing part of the directions, with the most possible meanings.”

Carefully reaching in with his hooves, he picked up a stone larger than any of the others, showing it to Steel Circle before placing it in front of him. “The ‘Stone Sail’ had to be the same approximate age as the rest of the stones, but be the fossilized sail or fin of a terrestrial creature.”

Reaching back into the box he pulled out a glowing blue stone with jagged edges. It looked like a crystal that was constantly giving off mist and was the size of his hoof. As it cleared the box, the room noticeably began to get colder. “Eternal Ice, the final component, taken from the depths of a glacier. If you believe the old legends about it then this is the heart of a windigo. Cleansed of its hate by the Fire of Friendship until only the ice remained, glaciers are said to have grown around them.” He cleared his throat. “Or, as we now know, it’s magic that coalesces into a solid state when ice sits over crossing ley lines. Either way, it is undeniably the “Coldest Core”.

“Both are placed together,” he said as the temperature continued to drop. “The trouble I ran into is that they must be placed “heartward”, or possibly “hearthward” or “homeward”, as all are adaptations of the same word and could equally apply. I selected “heartward” as it is the first derivation and thus the most likely meaning. But the heart of what? The summoner? The glacier? The creature the fossil came from? Or something else entirely? It clearly means that the placement can vary depending on where the caster is. To have as few unknowns as possible I have put myself to the North of the circle, where the record shows both the Eternal Ice and Fossil were obtained from.”

“Finally, both stone and ice are weak to steel, making a combination doubly so.” he said, indicating Runic Gears’ Giaru, Gemini. The interlocked twin gears of the summon gave a spin and Runic smiled down from behind the window, glad that, in one final way, he was able to show his support for a friend. Runic had the feeling that Steel Circle wouldn’t have bothered with a defender at all, and providing one for Sunburst showed that he believed the summon would work.

Glancing at the floating giaru, Steel Circle turned back to Sunburst. “If that is all, Sunburst, then you may begin when you are ready.”

“Nothing left but the incantation, but...um...ma’am? Shouldn’t you be…?” Sunburst trailed off, gently indicating the safety of the observation room with one hoof.

“You may proceed, I am quite fine where I am, thank you Sunburst.” She said with finality.

Not liking the implication of that statement, Sunburst nevertheless conceded. “Oh. R-right. Well, here I go then.” Turning back to the circle, Sunburst took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then began to chant.

Gcgqkt, cgtjkxkx ul znk lxufkt lokrjy.
Gcgqkt, magxjogt ul znk vaxkyz Nkgxz.
Gcgqkt lxus znk yzutk, ek gtioktz hkgyz ul oik.

He lruckx gtj znuxt O hotj ay ot vaxvuyk.
Ateokrjotm gy znk urjkyz kgxzn,
Yzkgjlgyz gy znk mrgiokx’y gjbgtik,
O zok uax corry gy utk.

Znxuamn znk loxky ul gaxuxg,
Ot kinuky ul lxufkt mgrk,
Gixuyy ktjrkyy vrgoty ul ytuc,
Nkkj se igrr.

Iusk zu sk, Yvoxoz ul znk Zatjxg!

All three ponies covered their eyes against the bright flash of light caused by a successful summon and, internally, Sunburst was already celebrating. Which was of course the moment things went wrong.

There was no clap of displaced air, but the temperature of the room plummeted. A great wind picked up in the room, swirling around the circle and scattering all of Sunburst’s careful notes, and in the circle…

Sunburst was still trying to blink away the afterimage, but he saw something in there. Larger than he was, he was able to see that it wasn’t quite solid. Tongues of blue and green flame swirled around the ring in the floor as shadows passed over the shape. The thing inside shrieked in pain and fear, and the flames rose higher, flared brighter. Its scream went on, and on, until Sunburst thought it would rip him in two if he had to hear it any longer. Runic’s giaru began to fly towards the circle to stop the summon before it could freeze them all but hadn’t crossed half the distance when there was another blinding flash of light, then silence.

Once his vision cleared again, Sunburst looked around the room. His breath was fogging in the air and there was frost on everything, including himself. His notes were spread across the room, some of them were still settling on the ground while others had been frozen to the walls. And his summon was...it was...

“No. No!” Sunburst didn’t want to believe what he was seeing: the circle was empty. “It can’t just be gone! How is it gone?!” He looked at Gemini as it easily spun itself free of the ice that had begun to form on it. It was still too far to have done anything. Panic in his voice, Sunburst turned to Steel Circle and asked, “Professor, what happened?”

Standing with the distinct crackle of thin ice breaking, Steel rose to her hooves. Glancing around the room with a calm eye, she said, “Allow me to first answer that question with one of my own: what do you think happened? Was that what you expected upon completing the summoning ritual?”

Sunburst shook his head, calming down when he saw how calm she was. “No ma’am. It was supposed to be relatively docile, defensive at worst. From what I could see and the sound it was making… whatever went wrong started before it materialized. If I could take some creative license with it, I would say that the magic it formed from was trapped.

“I thought something similar. It isn’t, but if it were possible to seal particular summons away, that is perhaps what it would look like. Regardless, congratulations are in order, Sunburst. Bonding aside, you are the first pony to have a summon not end in either immediate success or obvious failure. A noteworthy achievement to be sure. To nearly succeed where others had only failed is not to be disregarded either.”

Unsure if he was being complimented or not, Sunburst felt his ears going flat. “I’d rather not be known as the pony who almost made history,” he said quietly.

In the otherwise silent room, Steel Circle heard clearly anyway. “What will you do now, then? Are you finally ready to put this aside as has been suggested to you? To bond with something we know to be possible? You needn’t start low. Your efforts here show your skill at summoning, and your theoretical work has always been exemplary, if fanciful in regards to the defunct ones.”

Was that a compliment? From Steel Circle? Towards him? But no, he knew her well enough that the other horseshoe would drop. That was one of her preferred methods of instruction: build you up and she’d pull the rug out from under you to see if you stood or crumbled. He knew he could walk away from this, say he had given it his best attempt, but at the same time… What went wrong? He wondered. What happened when it was pulled through? It sounded so in pain but it wouldn’t have existed a moment before. And what do I want?

Knowing his answer would make or break his time here, Sunburst swallowed, cleared his throat and stated, “I would like to try this again, Professor. Being better prepared and knowing what to expect we could maybe do something about it. On the other hoof success or failure would be telling in their own way.”

Her small smile told Sunburst that he had answered well. “Then by all means, go over your notes and we will try again tomorrow night, and be better prepared.”

With a loud crash, Runic finally forced open the door to the observation room, which had frozen shut. Panting, he managed to get out, “He can’t… try again… tomorrow.”

Her expression returning to neutral, Steel asked “Whyever not, Instructor Gears? And why did you not simply have your Casey teleport you out?”

“Didn’t think...to grab Porter for this…” Taking a deep breath to settle himself, he continued. “Sunburst used the last of the Eternal Ice. It’s normally only used as the weakening reagent and not a primary ingredient. Only a few slivers are usually needed but he wanted to be sure he had enough.”

“And why have we not been getting more?”

“Besides that that block would have lasted another few decades under its normal use,” both ponies saw Sunburst wince, “Equestria hasn’t been in contact with the yaks in any sort of official capacity in a little over a century and they gave us the last block.”

“Well then, the path ahead seems clear to me. Sunburst,” she said, turning back to him, “in light of your determination to continue your chosen way, and your recent blunder in using the last of a critical supply to the Circle, you will be the one to go retrieve more.”

And there it is. “M-me, Professor?”

“Yes, Sunburst, you. Instructor Gears shall accompany you.” She added.

What?!”

Ignoring Runic’s outburst she continued, “He has been acting unofficially as a mentor to you, I am merely making it official. I shall clear things with Headmaster Brain Pan in the morning and you two will depart for the north at your earliest convenience. Fully outfitted and supplied, of course.” She stood and walked towards the door. “You've surprised me, Sunburst, something that few enough of my students manage to do. Those that do usually go on to become some of our best summoners. So Sunburst? Don't disappoint me.” And with that she closed the door behind her, leaving the two stallions alone in the room gaping at each other.


Author's Note:

This chapter brought to you by, among other things, the game of Telephone.
A few minor references sprinkled throughout. If anyone figures one out they’ll get a cookie!
Here’s a hint for one: like the last chapter, it’s another Zelda franchise reference.

Now I have a question for you: do you want shorter chapters that come out more frequently or longer ones that come out slower? I could have cut this one into separate parts for Joey and for Sunburst but did not want to because it’s not what I wanted for this particular chapter. If I had done that part of it would have been released in January and part of it today. What would you like? It may change how this gets released and how I break up chapters, but won’t change the overall story.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Cries of outrage? Leave them in the comments below.