> Burning Day Reckoning
>  by Cerulean Voice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Cerulean Voice / Chapter One: Vial, Arrival, and Revival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Atop the summit of Mt. Canterlot perched a phoenix. She stared hard at the eastern horizon, her golden eyes tracking the gradual appearance of the gentle prismatic light.

Every sunrise for over a thousand years, Philomena had witnessed her mistress’ pride and joy from her prime location. The shadow of Mt. Canterlot darkened a vast amount of Equestrian land at any given time. During the glorious morning, it could stretch from the quaint town of Ponyville, over the nearby Everfree, and even reach as far as the Whitetail Woods on the far western side. Come afternoon and evening, the shades would shift and blanket the nearby Foal Mountain Range.

Every sunrise, Philomena would think about her life and the many events she had witnessed. Or at least she would try to, only to sigh and think instead about all of her past friends and acquaintances. The ones with whom she made many cherished memories.

Memories she would ultimately be forced to leave behind with each rejuvenation.

She bowed her head and clasped her right wing to her breast. She fondled a small glass vial draped around her neck. Of all the memories I cherish most... Ho-Oh, Fawkes: we met on this day, one year past. We laughed together—we raged together. We learned of each other’s worlds and what we do to preserve them.

I wonder how you are both doing.

With the sun now peeking over the crest of the Celestial Sea, Philomena gave a nod to the orb and began her descent from atop the snowy peak. Were she any creature other than one of living fire, she might have shivered as wispy flecks of snow landed upon her down.

During her return flight to Canterlot Castle, Philomena thought more about her inter-dimensional brethren. How had Fawkes coped after the funeral of his master? Would he begin to live longer lives, freed of the responsibility of guiding the young pupil he’d spoken of? Or would he continue to watch over the boy?

And what of Ho-Oh? What sort of world had he returned to? Perhaps he had resumed his continuous, solitary flight around the world… or had he taken a chance to interact with his fellow Pokémon and actually enjoy himself for the first time in millennia?

The vial containing her pinch of Sacred Ash glowed against her breast.

Philomena halted in midair, halfway down the mountain summit. She landed upon a small outcrop and took the vial into her wing. Golden eyes examined it closely; it had blinked for but a moment—possibly a trick of the light? No, there was no mistaking the heat it generated, even though the warmth had already faded. She blinked and turned it over a few times.

Odd… it definitely burned for a few seconds. She continued to eye the glass container, with its cinders of otherworldly carbon. What does it mean?

The vial flared again, emanating enough heat for even Philomena to register the warmth.

Phi… na c... … ear me?

Her heart missed a beat. Was that…? She leaned down and held the vial closer to her left ear, silent, concentrating. She gave the vial a small shake. It couldn’t be, surely—

Philomena, listen to me! Something wicked comes your way. Warn your mistress, for Equestria is in grave danger!

It is! Philomena would have loosed a squawk of elation, had she not stopped to process the words. She chirped into her vial. How can I give her your message? I cannot speak in this world.

Worry not about communication—the Sacred Ash in your vial will allow my words to reach her.

That’s great to know.

Leaving her makeshift perch, Philomena  resumed her flight to Canterlot. With the city still hundreds of metres below, she clasped her wings to her sides and fell into a graceful dive. The chill winter air rushed past her as she accelerated, almost vertical, toward the Royal Castle’s north tower.

Obviously, we need to catch up. For now, elaborate on this “grave danger” you spoke of.

Tell me something first: is Fawkes there with you?

Philomena frowned. Fawkes? Why would he be here?

If you have not seen him, there may still be time. Fly to your mistress and inform me when she is within easy earshot. More than one world is at stake—yours is particularly vulnerable.

Ho-Oh… the danger, please.

The vial cooled, turning from red to clear once more. The ash inside dulled from a glowing cinder to a clump of black carbon.

Ho-Oh!

No response.

Oh, great. Just perfect. How do I even work this thing?

Philomena screeched to Elysium above and opened her beak, firing a streaming jet of flames into the sky.

Why did it have to cut out on me now?

Phil… ...p me. It’s… I’m…

For the second time, Philomena halted her descent, now only seconds from reaching the castle. She felt the telltale glow of her vial once more and held it to her beak.

Fawkes? Is that you?

Oh, thank the maker!

Fawkes’ thoughts came through far louder than Ho-oh’s had. Philomena winced at the unexpected volume and held the glowing vial away from her, before returning it only a short distance further away from her beak.

What’s going on? Have you spoken to Ho-Oh at all?

He tried to warn me… now it’s too late. Philomena, you must alert your civilisation. This malefic… thing must be stopped at all costs!

What thing? Just tell me, Fawkes!

I don’t know what it is—all I know is that it’s trying to eat me!

Philomena reached the top of the north tower. She soared inside and searched around for Celestia.

Not here… that’s strange. She’s always here after sunrise. Something’s amiss…

Philomena flew down the tower’s spiraling staircase. As she breezed through the ajar doorway, it struck her how clamorous the castle seemed. The hallways were filled with the sound of hundreds of hooves, clip-clopping across the floor with a frequency that suggested great urgency. After flying down a passageway and up to the great double doors of the throne room, Philomena gaped at the scene before her.

Royal guards and servants alike galloped back and forth across the carpets. Unicorn guards and servants were boarding up the chamber’s many stained-glass windows and barking orders. Pegasi were united in removing all valuables and chandeliers from the room. Across the hallway, at the other end of the carpet sat a gilded throne.

An empty gilded throne.

What in Equestria is going on?

Philomena flapped overhead above the preoccupied ponies and approached the throne. As she landed, she pressed herself into the velvet. Neither Celestia’s signature warmth or her scent were present. No creases lined the cushion. The platter on her short table remained untouched; tea still steamed from within the pot, while two Royal Gala apples and a slice of carrot cake bore zero bite marks.

Celestia hasn’t even touched her cake… this must be serious.

A short squeak piqued her attention. From behind the throne, a furry grey marsupial leaped up onto the cushion and clawed its way up to the top of the royal seat. It squeaked and chattered in a high-pitched language that Philomena could not comprehend. She watched as it waved its arms about and continued to blurt out critter language at a mile a minute.

I’ve never seen Tibbles so excited before. He must be worried about Luna.

Philomena swept the hyperactive opossum up into her claws, while ensuring she didn’t grip him too hard. He continued to squeak and wave while Philomena vacated the throne room and flew up the passageway in the opposite direction. She beat her wings faster and headed for the south tower. As she did, she wondered about the series of events that had unfolded in the previous five minutes.

Her vial had glowed. Ho-Oh had spoken and warned her of grave danger. Fawkes had also found a way to communicate, yet seemed to be in the most dire straits. A little apprehensive about Fawkes’ situation, she’d investigated the castle and found no trace of either resident alicorn.

Where is Celestia?

The vial warmed and flickered to life again. Philomena reached the south tower’s peak before perching next to Luna’s telescope. She released Tibbles from her grasp, the marsupial bounding over to the balcony edge, where he continued squeaking. Philomena ignored him and strained to hear the words emanating from within the glass.

—Tina… it will not be stopped. It has created some kind of wyrmhole, Philomena. It has found the Unbecoming. Have you located your princesses yet?

No, Ho-Oh. They are not in the castle. I don’t know where they might be.

Philomena glanced up when she heard the thunder. The sky darkened as black tendrils passed across the face of the morning sun. Lines of shadow crept over Canterlot and the surrounding countryside.

Actually, hold on. Something’s happening out here…

A swirling vortex of blackened clouds formed over the faraway Whitetail Woods. For her position, Philomena observed the swelling cumulus, her eyes wide as she beheld jagged flashes of light all around the mass. She covered her ears against Tibbles’ renewed squealing.

There’s some sort of erratic weather pattern happening over Equestria.

Then it is already too late. It will arrive shortly. I will do my best to delay it, though it is immensely strong… I fear my efforts will not be enough.

Argh! Help me, anyone!

Fawkes? Philomena shivered. He sounded frantic—

It’s right on my tail! I can’t—

A roar sounded through the vial, followed by the abruptly cut-off screech of an unfortunate phoenix.

Fawkes? Fawkes!

No response greeted Philomena. She fought to control her quivering feathers and took a deep breath.

Focus. Think. Then act.

She opened her eyes and thrust off from the balcony. She rose up above the tower’s spiral-tipped roof and beat her wings, throwing herself westward. Tibbles’ chirruping faded as Philomena soared toward the anomaly. Even from her distance, she could pick out a herd of Cloudsdale pegasi fighting against the clouds. Yet they seemed to have no effect; lightning periodically shot out from their depths, forcing any nearby pegasi to retreat before trying again.

The clouds rumbled and flashed. After releasing five final streaks of lightning, the hurricane spread itself into a wide ring. In the centre of the ring, the very sky seemed torn. Pinks and purples spun in a maelstrom around the rip, which slowly grew and crackled with electricity. A lilac spiral spread out from within, swallowing up the billowing clouds.

Two beams of light—one golden, one a clear white—shot at the tear from somewhere below.

Philomena set her sight on the beams’ origins, and gasped; Celestia and Luna hovered below the gash, their horns alight. Their magical beams pressed against the spiraling hues, mingling together. The air filled with the sound of further thunderclaps and lightning crashes. The ground far below was bathed in reddish-purple light. Both of the sisters’ beams strained against the torn fabric of space.

I am sorry, Philomena. I could not stop it. It will arrive in your world at any moment.

What will? Tell me!

The lord of my realm’s Reverse World—a ghostly dragon with ultimate power. Its name is Giratina.

Giratina? What is it doing here?

I’ll explain when I see you soon. Do your best to get close to your mistress in the meantime. Giratina is—

Philomena cawed as a bolt of wayward lightning passed by her and shot toward Canterlot. After regaining altitude from her erratic flapping, she turned and witnessed the residual electricity strike one of the castle walls. A small explosion rocked the mountainside citadel for a second as chunks of brick from the south tower showered the lower ramparts. Royal guards covered their heads and galloped back and forth. Unicorns among them activated their magic and began to repair the damage. The pegasi in the air around her all zoomed toward Canterlot to render assistance.

She turned back to the crackling maelstrom and felt her heart miss a beat.

The beams of energy emanating from the princesses’ horns shrank as a shadow emerged from the rip. It let out a ground-shaking roar and opened its mouth.

A single purple sphere swelled, and shot forth from the shadow’s gaping maw. It sailed down toward the princesses, who were forced to break off their attempts at suppression and split apart to avoid the blast. Upon impacting the ground, a cloud of dust rose up into the air; trees were splintered and flattened, replaced by a crater the size of an Ursa Minor.

Philomena shot forward as the shadow began to materialise into something more corporeal. She reached Celestia, who was massaging her horn with her eyes screwed up. A good ten metres away, Princess Luna seemed equally distressed, although her blazing white eyes had levelled upon the shadow.

“Philomena, what is it?”

Celestia looked up to her pet as she came rest upon white shoulders. The vial swung down from her neck.

Ho-Oh, speak now!

The vial glowed hot and bright again.

Philomena squawked and moved her head further down; Celestia stared at the vial, then lowered her horn to it.

Princess Celestia of Equestria. I wish the circumstances were not so dire, but I must implore you—do not engage Giratina in battle. It has a great many resistances to the elemental power of your Equestrian magic. It is nigh unstoppable, but there may still be a way to contain the damage it will no doubt cause. I will be there soon to aid you.

The vial’s glow and heat both dissipated.

Celestia glanced between Philomena and Luna, then directed her gaze to the shadow—rather, what had been shadow a moment earlier.

At least ten times Celestia’s size, a gargantuan platinum wyrm shimmered into existence. Six long black tendrils unfurled behind it, spiked red studs at the ends of each. Its wide and lengthy pale body featured red and black stripes along its underbelly and its tail, both of which also had numerous yellow spears protruding outward. At the base of its tendrils—almost like a golden hand grasping around its neck—it sported three more curled spikes. Atop its head and along its cheeks, a final gold frame adorned it.

The final detail made Philomena shudder: gleaming, beady scarlet eyes that seemed to stare into her core. She saw no curiosity there, no mercy… only malice.

Giratina met her gaze and opened its mouth; another dark ball began to form between its jaws.

“Sister, watch out!”

Luna dashed through the air toward Celestia and lit her horn. A barrier of midnight blue surrounded the three of them as the dark ball met it with explosive force. Although Luna’s barrier negated most of the attack, the shockwave after its detonation still sent the sisters and Philomena reeling through the air.

Giratina began to gather more dark energy, but stopped halfway through, its concentration vanishing as it suddenly hacked and coughed. Thrusting its head down, it belched a wave of pinkish-red flame.

Fawkes the phoenix unfurled his wings and spat a jet of fire into the wyrm’s face. He screeched a defiant cry and flew toward Philomena, who noted the absence of his Sacred Ash pendant. He pulled up short of the princesses and hovered in midair before them. Though he could not speak, Philomena inclined her head over her shoulder, drawing Fawkes to fly behind and slightly above her.

Giratina’s eyes blazed as it prepared another dark blast—

You shall not harm them!

A plume of radiant blue fire spiraled around Giratina’s body. As the blazing ring closed upon the wyrm’s scales, angry welts instantly sprung up all over it, eliciting a high hiss and another roar. It turned its tail and sped through the air at blistering speed to the south, though not without a parting shot at its assailant. Its golden spikes flicked back and forth as it beat a hasty retreat.

Philomena looked up above, and felt her heart soar into her beak.

After diving to the side to avoid the black sphere, which detonated a short way past it, the giant green-and-white phoenix descended upon the shaken smaller birds and ponies. Once level with Celestia, it bowed its head.

Greetings, Your Highnesses of Equestria. I pray that you may forgive the circumstances of our meeting in time. I am Ho-Oh, and you are all in danger.

Celestia looked at Philomena with narrowed eyes.

“You have some explaining to do, Philly.”
> Comet Burst / Chapter Two: Dragon-speak
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	On what was supposed to be a normal and quiet morning in the mountains far to the south of Canterlot, things were not as they should be. In a place where the most common sounds were either leaves rustling in a gentle breeze or a cheerful greeting between ponies, an ear-splitting shriek rang out across the rolling hills, heralding the presence of quite possibly the most angry dragon in recorded Equestrian history.

Far above the ground, a black shape flew, its eyes sharing the angry red glow that adorned its wingtips. A hint of gold sparkled next to the harsh red, along with a most unusual red-and-black-striped pattern on the beast’s belly.

The monstrous dragon roared as the ground below its immense shadow exploded in various places. Irregular blobs of concentrated darkness slammed into the grassy expanse at incredible velocities, causing small eruptions from the dirt below to reach up ten metres into the air as it flew by. Enraged beyond the ability to form a cohesive thought, it approached a large forest stretching on to the east. On a whim, it opened its maw and let loose a stream of pink fire, setting the proud trees ablaze.

Quick as it began, the jet of fire was cut off by another shriek, this one of pain. Giratina faltered in her flight as she retracted her shadowy wings. Without any further support, she plummeted down, splitting the burning trees like they were twigs. As the ground approached, she spread six stumpy, gold-capped appendages and slammed down with enough force to cause tremors throughout the surrounding area.

A cloud of dirt and dust whipped up, cloaking her entirely within two seconds before settling. From inside the brown air, Giratina’s glowing red eyes and wings—along with the shadow silhouette of her body—slowly made themselves visible as she stomped out of the dirt. After a few strides, the regal golden crest upon her head emerged from the cloud. She threw her head back and shrieked again, louder than any prior roar.

Ho-Oh! I will tear you and your friend feather from feather when we meet again!

As the vibrating ground stilled in the echo’s wake, Giratina looked down at her chest and eyed the stripes that ran along it. At the fifth stripe, a large scorch mark had singed her scales, glowing slightly at the edges. Snorting, she lowered her head to try and lick the wound. When her tongue touched its mark, her scales seared even hotter than before. Another agonised roar escaped her as she reflexively moved her head away.

Once the pain had subsided, she cast her glowing eyes back to the angry welt. Burning me? Ho-Oh is indeed a fool to think this would work. Bah! Were it not for that other bird, I would have defeated him with ease.

Casting her eyes away from the burn, Giratina glanced out at the world around her as if only truly realizing it was there for the first time. It was definitely an alien world, something like the one she was banished from long ago. Instead of blue husks, brown trees with green leaves rose around her, almost of equal height. The ground beneath her was not the angry red clay color of home, but instead was awash with various shades of green, brown, and gray. Looking up, she saw a clear sky of palest blue—a perfect summer day.

I hate this place, she thought bitterly. This is unnatural. All these colors and sounds, the way the sun heats my scales, the gravity... everything is wrong. What kind of nightmarish place is this?

Giratina marched forward through the columns of trees, brushing them aside with little resistance. She scanned all directions around, noting where the treeline ended in the distance and where there appeared to be buildings beyond. Deciding it was best not to provoke retaliation in her weakened state, Giratina ignored the town and pressed on through the forest. This will do fine. For now, she grumbled as she approached a steep cliff leading up to a nearby mountain summit.

Turning around, she eyed the wake of destruction she had left. The once-proud forest had been shoved aside; a splintered pathway ran through it, riddled with pointy stumps and snapped trunks that made it resemble a spike trap. In the distance, clouds of black smoke rose into the air as the blaze continued to burn.

A fitting herald for the cataclysm to come, she thought. And soon, every Pokémon in this world, including Ho-Oh, will come to fear my name. They will speak it with fear to one another as they cower in their dens, wishing for me to overlook them.

Giratina relaxed, letting her huge bulk fall freely to the ground. Several stones shattered beneath her sheer bulk. An amused snort escaped her.

Once I heal myself of this accursed burn, Ho-Oh will learn the meaning of pain. He will come to rue the name Giratina, just as my dear egg-mates do.

Confidence swelling her ego, Giratina let loose another cry, this time one of triumph. Arceus had been wrong when he thought the Distortion World could contain his greatest creation forever. He had banished her there as punishment for the fire she had rained down upon those who should grovel at her and her “brothers” for protection. His seal was not permanent, though, as she had clearly demonstrated.

Laying her head down, thoughts of her greatest accomplishment—her escape from the Distortion World—flooded her mind and clouded out the unnatural world. It was not as hard to escape from there as she had initially thought, especially when she could glimpse into the world of Sinnoh anytime she wanted. Mostly, she had used it to spy on her “brothers”: the egg-mates and traitors known as Dialga and Palkia.

It had started in a rather mundane way with her spying on Dialga as she had uncountable times, trying to figure out a way to escape from the blasted prison she was confined to. As she had watched him, an odd quivering in the broken space of the Distortion World caused her to lose focus. She was wary, to be sure, but when nothing appeared to be there, she had felt the space quake again from another direction. Following the path of the vibration, she eventually stopped at a random point in the “sky” of the world with no answer as to what the quivering was. Deciding it was best to see what was going on in the “real” world, she had opened a glimpse into an unfamiliar forest, followed by the sight of a large phoenix flying overhead, a rainbow trailing it.

Curious, she had looked away from the scene, back down to where she felt the first shiver. Following the path in reverse, she had eventually stopped not too far from where the tremors started and reached out with her ghostly powers, feeling for anything that could have caused them. What she found almost made her cry out in sheer joy: there was a weak spot in the world that she could see through to with her mental powers. An expanse of swirling blue mist surrounded what looked to be a gigantic circular dish of ethereal water, surrounded by several perches, seemingly suited for birds.

With a yawn, Giratina succumbed to sleep, her thoughts melting away. As the ambient sound of dragon snores filled the air, her body began to shimmer. Her hulking form slowly faded away, revealing with crystal clarity the cliffside behind her.





“Dude, I swear something has to be there. I mean, look at the forest!”

Giratina twitched as a faint voice disturbed her sleep.

“Yeah, but do you see anything? All I see is the cliff.”

“The cliff is completely fine! That means whatever did this either thought, ‘Hey, I’ve caused enough destruction to the trees, so cliff, you get a break’ or is still here!”

“Why do you want to find what did this? What if it’s big enough to squash you or, judging from what it did, eat you?”

Giratina groaned as her mind began to wake up, still fatigued from earlier in the day. She was registering the words, and they were not making her happy.

“You honestly think something would try to eat a bona fide dragon? We live in a world where we are the biggest threat, and not even the ponies could stop us if we banded together!”

“Ponies have magic.”

“So do we!”

“They have allies.”

“We have our own kind as allies!”

“There is no reasoning with you, is there?”

“Dude, shut up. I know whatever did this is still here, and I want to find out what it is, even if you’re too scared. Like a pony.”

“I’m not scared! I’m older than you and mature enough to know this is a bad idea!”

“We hatched on the same day! Stop lying!”

“I hatched first, so I’m the eldest, and you should listen to me.”

“You hatched seven minutes earlier!”

Giratina let out a low growl as she forced an eye open against its will. A bright light immediately flooded her vision. She hissed and squeezed the eye shut, stinging from the unwelcome intensity.

“Okay, what was that?”

“Something… big.”

“I told you it was still here!”

“All the more reason for us to leave it alone!”

Exactly, Giratina thought.

“Go running back to the nest, then. I’m going to find out what did this.”

“Garble, don’t!”

Giratina had just finally forced herself to wake up when she felt a smaller dragon’s claws press up against the underside of her tail. Her eyes snapped open in response as the claws stopped and searched her tail, moving towards a very uncomfortable place.

“There’s something here! Something big and… warm?”

Giratina let out the loudest shriek she had ever cried and whipped her tail over the claws, hurting her own ears as she lifted her head. Although her vision remained blurred, she could see a blot of red flying towards the trees.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhh!” the red blot screamed, accompanied by the sound of several trees snapping.

Blinking away the blurriness, Giratina looked around for the other voice that had awoken her. Sure enough, the blueish blot ran toward the red one, its claws clutched over its ears.

“Garble!” it shouted as it entered the mess of broken trees.

Giratina forced herself up onto her legs and winced as the lingering burn stung her chest. She hadn’t fully healed yet, something that caused her temper to flare beyond her already-stretched patience. Those pesky little whelps not only woke her and violated her, but she was still injured from that blasted Ho-Oh. Someone was going to pay for all of this, and it wasn’t going to be a random forest this time. Just as the red and blue whelps emerged from the forest, Giratina decided it was time to reveal herself in the most terrifying way she could think of.

“Dude, what the heck was that?”

“I told you this was a bad idea! Some giant, invisible thing destroyed half of the forest, and you had to go and poke it!”

“It felt weird too. Like, it was all tough and solid when I first touched it, then it got all squishy and warm.”

Giratina had heard enough. The red one was going to die.

Wasting no time, she shimmered into view, and the tiny dragons froze in their tracks. As she stared down at them, her eyes felt like they were going to burst into flames; if she were a fire-type, she was fairly sure they would have. For a few moments, the smaller dragons did nothing while she heaved, restraining the urge to go berserk.

“Garble,” the blue one whispered. “I think it’s looking at you.”

“Don’t move,” Garble whispered back. “Maybe it can’t see us if we don’t move.”

“That is the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. We’re bright blue and red!”

“It’s not moving, is it?”

“That doesn’t mean it won’t!”

Giratina stifled a throaty growl. Did the whelp known as Garble just assume she was blind? She was sure now that when he died, she would grind whatever was left of him into the ground to make sure he died twice.

“Garble, back away from it slowly.”

And the blue one too. With rejuvenated energy beginning to course through her body, Giratina felt the wind pick up around her. She let loose another obnoxiously loud roar, lowering her head to their level for added effect. A blast of wind hit them and toppled them over, legs scrambling as they struggled to escape.

With all the force she could muster, Giratina stomped after them, roaring again. Filled with an unquenchable rage, she followed the two of them, destroying more of the forest as she went. They were agile little worms, but her sheer size made it easy for her to track both of them at once. It also helped that they stayed close to each other, but she was more focused on Garble than the blue one.

Garble looked behind at her only to shout in fear and redouble his efforts to flee; it seemed to Giratina that he was making the chase seem more like a game. Playing along with her new pawn, Giratina opened her maw and breathed out a mass of shadows. It coalesced into a blob-like orb in front of her and shot toward Garble; it smashed the ground in front of him and caused a small explosion.

“Garble!” the blue one shouted as it tried to make its way over to its friend while avoiding Giratina.

“It can shoot things!” Garble shouted back, leaping over the crater Giratina had left.

Roaring again, Giratina tried to launch another Shadow Ball at Garble, but it seemed that fate had other plans for him besides becoming a pulpy mess for Giratina’s amusement. As she followed, a single broken and splintered tree trunk she had formerly smashed protruded into her path, aimed directly at the lingering burn. Once she closed the distance, the shaft stuck itself into the burn. The Shadow Ball she had made fell straight down and snapped the tree trunk in half, embedding the pointed end even further into her burn.

A shriek that could wake the dead erupted from her as she toppled over, flailing about while she tried to deal with the extreme pain. More and more trees fell as her tail and legs swung about, but it seemed each involuntary movement only made the pain worse. Pain escalating, she kept on wailing and flailing, even as Garble and his buddy watched from a distance, still shaking in terror.

“What the heck is going on?”

“I don’t know, but there is only one sensible thing to do at this point.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Run away while we have the chance!”

Slowly, the blue dragon backed away into the mass of splintered wood, eyes fixed on the hulking terror the whole time. Garble began to edge back himself, but paused about halfway between the monstrous dragon and the safety of the still-standing forest. He watched her with a confused expression as her flailing slowed and more pained cries came from her, a small pit filling his stomach.

“Garble! Let’s go!”

“Hold on,” he shouted back. “It sounds like it’s hurt!”

“Good! It tried to kill us!”

“So?”

“So? You wouldn’t be saying so if it ate you!”

“But it didn’t!”

“Ack! You know what? Fine! Go help the monster! I’m going home!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

Shut up! screamed a voice that rattled their skulls. Shut up, both of you! I swear I will—Gah!

As if the scream in their minds wasn’t enough, the beast gave another ear-splitting shriek. Its massive golden head whipped down at the large tree trunk jammed into its chest, but the girth of its neck stopped the head short.

Watching it snap its jaws in frustration, Garble felt a twinge of pity for it. Deciding to ignore caution yet again, he began to approach the wounded monster. He moved slowly, taking careful steps and pausing when one of the glowing red eyes looked at him. Eventually, just as he came within possible devouring distance, he froze and stared up at the beast.

“If I help you, please don’t eat me!” he shouted.

Lunging forward, Garble darted to the tree trunk and dug in his claws, carving fresh marks into the splintered wood. He pulled down as hard as he could, causing the trunk to shift a bit and the beast to wail in pain again.

Ouch! Be more careful, whelp!

The voice rang in his skull again. Using what little courage he had left, Garble braced himself and gave another tug, making it shout even louder. The trunk slid more, slipping between the scaly hide of the beast and the soft flesh underneath. The wood seemed to be stuck, but after a sudden lurch by the beast, it slipped free. Garble let go, flaring his wings and hovering as the trunk crashed to the ground.

Smiling to himself, Garble’s confidence drained as he looked back at the beast, its red eyes lowered to his level. For a few seconds, neither one of them moved. Just as he was sure it was about to lunge, the beast blinked, and the intensity in its eyes lessened.

As thanks for your help, I have decided to not kill you just yet, the voice spoke again, this time less loud but more smooth, and still laced with venom. I will give you this one chance to escape. When I reawaken, I had better not see you again.

“Uh, thanks?” Garble said, his brow wrinkled in confusion. “You can, er, talk?”

The glowing gaze of the beast locked onto him again. I can speak, think, and feel, whelp. Remember that next time you go poking around my body.

Garble blinked at the statement, but suddenly began to blush as the tail of the beast moved; evidently, this thing was female. To compose himself, he cleared his throat and stood up straight. “Um. What are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before.”

A snort came from the beast as it settled onto the ground and smashed the remaining trunk beneath its leg. I am a dragon, fool. You should be able to recognize your own kind. Now get moving before I change my mind.

Garble gulped and considered flying off for a second, but his curiosity of this new dragon overruled his common sense yet again. “Do you have a name?”

The dragon remained silent for a few moments before it spoke again. Giratina is my name, whelp. Woe betide you if you ever forget it.

Garble grinned to himself. “If you want, I know of a place you can go where no-one will pester you out of fear. It’s where all the other dragons in Equestria stay.”

Giratina glanced back to Garble and narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like other dragons: in fact, she downright hated them. They were monsters and always wanted to pick a fight with her, most times under the commands of some puny Trainer. Still, despite the stupid, clearly Trainer-given name, Garble did seem to be a wild Pokémon. Perhaps he was released? In any event, she did need a safe place to rest up where Ho-Oh wouldn’t be able to track her, and these other dragons would make it hard for him to locate any trail she would leave.

Grunting, Giratina rose to her legs and winced as her burn flared up again. Very well. Take me there, and I may not kill you for a week.

“Sure, but what’s wrong with your scales? Were you burned by something?”

Giratina looked down at herself, eyeing the blackened spot on her otherwise pristine scales.

“Dragons are supposed to be heatproof,” Garble stated, staring with awe at the same spot.

A throaty growl escaped Giratina. You must be a dual fire-type dragon. The same cannot be said about myself. In any case, a phoenix gave me this. I will devour him and his entire wretched species for the insult.

“You hate phoenixes?”

Giratina snapped her head up to look at Garble, who was starting to smile stupidly again. I hate all things, but this phoenix especially will pay for what he did to me.

“Then I have some friends you’ll want to meet.” Garble pointed over the remaining forest toward another outcrop of mountains. “I think you’ll find we have more in common than we thought.”
> Cerulean Voice / Chapter Three: Welcome to the Pony Center
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“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.”
> Comet Burst / Chapter Four: Like a Dragon Scorned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Giratina snarled as the idiotic little dragon she followed rambled on. What was supposed to be a short walk to meet some other dragons that hated phoenixes had become nothing more than aimless wandering through a couple of fields, another forest, and up a mountainside, all the while being informed of the dragon “social norms” in this dystopian mess.

“Dragons here also like to have their egos stroked by being referred to by their titles,” Garble continued, oblivious to Giratina’s growing impatience. “They spend most of their lives trying to obtain fearsome and exceptional titles to replace their boring names, so the best way to get on their good side is to call them by their titles alone. Like, there’s The Terror of the Mines, The Sun’s Wrath, The Reclaimer of Mt. Dukaan Kendov and a few other really famous ones where we’re going. They’re probably not going to be too happy when we arrive because this is about the time of year they hibernate, but you should be able to handle them without a problem. Am I right?” Garble nudged Giratina’s leg with his elbow.

Touch me again, and I will rend your soul from its body, Giratina growled.

Garble blinked. “What’s a soul?”

Giratina’s eyes seemed to glow with excitement as she looked down at him. Do you want to find out?

“Uh, never mind,” he replied, turning away and looking at the mountainside. “So, as I was saying, they like to hibernate around this time, but a fight usually wakes them up. It also helps to fabricate something about riches and glory, since they love that kind of jazz. The hardest one to convince is the Alpha, though. I mean, I’ve only heard of the treasure hoard he’s gathered, and if it’s even remotely close to true, he’s got enough treasure to sate any dragon’s greed.”

Giratina rolled her eyes as she trudged along, wishing to be anywhere else but next to the miniature moron. Sure, it wasn’t like she had to keep him alive. He’d probably squeal out all the information she wanted if she only crushed one of his legs under her girth. She began to imagining crushing more of his body and a savage grin crept onto her mouth. It had been too long since she had a toy to break, especially since her “egg-mates” always rescued the dumb Trainers and Pokémon who somehow stumbled into her realm.

As they walked, she thought about her past, and the madness around her melted away. Thoughts were her only real friends, some of them going as far as to talk back to her. Sometimes they were friendly and comforted her in the emptiness of home, but others had ire that terrified even her. Warm summer days filled her mind one moment, and the yawning maw of the black hole beneath her home ate it up the next. She engrossed herself in so many thoughts at once, she failed to notice the soft grass become jagged granite or the air go from comfortable to unnaturally hot.

Below her, Garble stood at an enormous cave in the mountainside and gulped, looking up at the gigantic cavern. Glancing back to Giratina, who stomped by, he could tell she’d easily be able to walk inside without needing to duck. Scratches the size of his body carved out the solid rock above while the walls were lined with scrape marks from numerous scaly hides. From deep within, a warm breeze wafted past him and out onto the barren rocks surrounding the entrance, as if the cave itself was about to breathe fire.

“H-here it is,” he mumbled, twitching as he looked back at Giratina.

When all he saw was her backside stomping away from him, his fear vanished, and he tore off after her, yelling at the top of his lungs and waving his arms in the air.

“Hey! You’re going the wrong way!” he yelled, spreading his wings.

With a mighty jump, Garble forced himself into the air and flew up near her gold crest, wary of surprising her. He cupped his claws around his mouth and took a deep breath.

“Yoohoo! Equestria to Giratina! Can you hear me?” he bellowed.

As soon as he finished speaking, Giratina froze mid-step. Garble grinned as he lowered his claws, but his elation died as he saw her red eyes glow again.

Yes, I can hear you. Her voice took a terrifying edge in his mind. How can I not? You have yet to shut up for more than ten seconds since you offered to take me to this blasted place, and yet you still think it is a good idea to question if I can hear you?

Giratina’s head swung around so fast, Garble had little time to react as her crest slammed into the side of his body. Knocked off balance, he flailed his claws around and caught one of the mandible pieces. He shook his head, clearing the spots from his vision, and suddenly wished he still had them when he saw both of her red eyes glaring down at him.

Before he could react, her maw opened and she shrieked at the top of her lungs for the second time that day.

Can you hear me?

Garble nodded like a hatching, his pupils tiny.

“Y-you know,” he stammered. “Your c-crest is really pretty.”

Shut up, whelp. Giratina snorted, but the intense glow in her eyes seemed to dim a bit.

“No, really, it is,” Garble said, trying to lay on the flattery. “In fact, I think these dragons may like it too.”

If you try to flatter, suck up, or flirt with me one more time, Giratina said, her eyes burning again, I will eat your soul like a Heatmor eats Durants.

Garble opened his mouth to say something, but never got the chance as Giratina stomped her leg, causing the ground to shake. Amidst the rumbling, a loud roar came from deep inside the cavern, making both of them look into the darkness at the same time.

“I, uh, think they’re awake,” Garble said, fear edging his voice.

Good, Giratina grunted. They had better be. Nothing sleeps in my presence and lives.

As soon as she finished speaking, she strode into the abyss, head held high and girth ghosting through the boulders. With a terrified squeak, Garble took off after her.

“Wait! There was something I forgot to tell you!” he cried as the darkness swallowed them.





“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Garble said as he climbed over the various stalagmites, following the trail of footprints Giratina was leaving. “I mean, I don’t think they would very much appreciate a dragon of your… uh, grandeur striding in unannounced.”

Then they will have to deal with it, won’t they? Giratina snarled as her head passed through yet another stalactite. Besides, it was you who told me about meeting them, so it’s your head if anything goes wrong.

“You seem extremely intent on killing either me or something else,” Garble remarked. “Have you ever tried taking some time away from living beings to relax? I hear some alone time works wonders for stress relief.”

Garble had just finished clearing a small pit of stalagmites when he noticed the angry glowing eyes of Giratina looking back at him.

Since you know nothing about me, I will let that slide. However, never speak to me about being alone ever again. I have spent millennia alone, so do not attempt to advise me on ‘stress relief.’ Understood?

“Oh, well then, uh, do you have friends in your world?” Garble replied.

What did I just say about stress relief?

“Y-yes! I meant, uh, I was wondering if you had any, er, friends back in your world. You know, so we can get to know each other better.”

I also told you not to try to flirt with me!

Garble gulped, fear gripping him for a second before he regained his courage. “I just want to know more about you!” he shouted, starting to back away from her. “I mean, why are you so mean to somedragon who is trying to be your friend?”

Sure she was about to rend him apart with her mind, Garble threw his arms up as her voice thundered in the cavern.

Because the last two dragons I trusted locked me away for over three millennia! My own brothers did that to me, so what makes you think I will ever trust another dragon ever again?

A tense silence followed as Garble peeked between his claws. He wondered for a while if he would feel Giratina biting him in half, when he noticed she stood there, one glowing eye still on him.

Draaf. I’ve said too much. She stomped away.

Garble waited until he was sure he was behind her before following again, his mind running afoul. The fact a beast like Giratina had siblings was scary, but the idea they had both forced her into isolation for thousands of years was even more terrifying. Dragon feuds in Equestria were a dangerous thing, especially after the last one between Kratotoa and Zasagamesh that left half of the eastern mountain hatching grounds in ruins.

“I’m, uh, sorry they did that,” Garble said.

Spare me your pity.

“Well, you know you can trust me, right? I’m way too small to even stop you from walking, so I doubt I’ll ever be able to lock you up for any length of time.”

And if you tried, you’d be dead seven times over before you pulled your claw back.

Garble allowed himself a small smile. At least she only threatened his life on the basis he did something to her.

Even if you did try such a thing, you would be dead long before a plan even came to you, Giratina growled. And yes, I can read your thoughts.

Garble froze at that, but another rumble echoed through the cavern before either one could say more. Glancing around, he shivered as he noticed the spike in temperature.

“We must be close…” he mumbled.

They had better be here, Giratina responded before stomping off in a hurried pace, stone fragments falling from the walls as she shook the ground with each step.

Garble yelped and ran after her, ducking and weaving his way around the stalagmites in order to keep up. A few large ones pressed in on him, and he had to slide underneath an arch of sediment, but eventually, a massive wave of heat washed over him at the same time a bright orange light lit the place around him.

“Holy!” he shouted, looking around the cave they had entered.

If the entrance was huge enough for Giratina to walk in without any problem, the space they had entered made her look small. The cavern was large enough to house some of the mountains around where he was hatched. Gigantic glowing pools of lava lit the area, some with rivers seeping off them at a glacial pace and even a few cascading down the walls. They all flowed down into a hole that boggled Garble’s mind, as if the cavern stretched into the very center of the planet. Fearlessly, Giratina marched forward and peered into the hole before turning back to him.

Is this the way?

Garble shook his head and walked towards the hole, shivering the whole way. “I, uh, actually don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve never seen the den myself.”

What do you mean, you’ve ‘never seen the den’? Giratina’s telepathy shook the ground. You promised these dragons would help me and that you would lead me to them!

“I am!” Garble whined, rubbing his ears and temples.

Then explain how you cannot know if this hole leads to their dens!

Garble had no time to react as one of Giratina’s legs pressed down on him, crushing all the wind out of his lungs.

Fahral zey, hefhah!

A strange urge overtook Garble as she spoke and he mysteriously found the strength to answer. “I’ve only heard legends about this place!” he cried, hoping she wouldn’t squish him. “One of our elders told us how to get to the entrance. I told you all I know of this place. Honest!”

So I’m following directions from a fool hatchling remembering some old crone’s story.

Another loud roar echoed in the chamber, causing both Garble and Giratina to look back at the hole.

“T-that’s…”

Who? Giratina narrowed her eyes at the hole.

“The Terror of the Mines,” Garble whispered. “Terra.”

The roar echoed again as the cavern shook, loosening rocks from the ceiling. Giratina gave off a low growl as she removed her leg from the clutching Garble.

He sounds big.

“He’s the dragon that stole all the wealth from the northern kingdoms of old,” Garble said, slowly pulling himself up from the floor. “He raided all the diamond dog settlements and stole the Crystal Empire’s entire treasury all by himself.”

Is he who we are looking for? Giratina asked.

“He’s only one of the dragons that are rumored to live here,” Garble said, approaching the ledge. “There are others, like Sun’s Wrath—who aided the Pony Princess Celestia in stopping the Shadow Serpent’s invasion—and Zoniiz, the only existing ice dragon left.”

As soon as the words left Garble’s mouth, more roars came from within the hole, causing him to scramble back from the edge.

It appears they know we are here. Giratina snorted. And they apparently have stupid names. Who names themselves ‘Icicle’?

Garble looked up at her, confusion written on his face. “Who’s Icicle?”

The fool who uses the ancient language as a name, she hissed. The blasted idiot probably has no idea what it means.

“Ancient language?” Garble said with a tilt of his head.

Only dragons that were around when… never mind. The point is there was an ancient language all dragons spoke—even those like my brothers and Arceus knew it. Now, only old and foolish dragons use that language.

“And you know it?”

Giratina’s head twitched.

I am speaking to you in it right now, she said, her tone cryptic. You only hear it in your language because all dragons understand it in their own tongue.

“Whoa,” Garble said. “How old are you then?”

Giratina turned to him, her eyes blazing. I helped form my world, fool.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before another roar rang out, causing both of them to look back into the endless hole stretching down into the heart of Tartarus.

I am going to see them, Giratina said before spreading her massive shadowy wings, each of her crystals glowing dangerously.

Garble yelped and grabbed onto her leg, causing her to snort before she bent and leaped off the rock, straight into the hole. He screamed as she dove, but Giratina let out a happy bellow, enjoying the sensation of flying and the tiny red fool’s cries.





The sound of crumbling rubble filled the room as Giratina’s six legs smashed the ground beneath her, leaving a series of craters in the igneous rock. Around her, lava poured down in one large flow, a perfect lavafall around a central platform. Glancing upwards, she saw the hole above extended far past what she could see. For the first time in this world, she felt uneasy; if she needed to escape, she would have to wind back up that long, dark path where other dragons could catch her along the way.

“Wow,” Garble said as he let go of her leg. “That was long.”

It will be longer getting back up. Giratina turned to the only other way out of their chamber.

An arch twice the size of the cave opening above loomed before them, tastefully decorated with numerous bleach-white bones. A tremor shot through Giratina’s spine.

“Whoa,” Garble said. “Diamond dogs, wyverns… what is that?”

He pointed at a horned skull hanging near the bottom of the arch, right above the lava waiting for it. It had a giant frill behind it with two large horns and a smaller one sticking out of its nose.

I do not know, and I would rather not find out, Giratina said as she started to walk forward.

The duo entered through the arch—wide enough for three dragons of Giratina’s size to walk through comfortably—and paused to take in what lay beyond.

If the cavern above was huge, this one dwarfed it. Jagged walls reached up into a ceiling of pitch black, the true ceiling nowhere to be seen. Around them, a lake of lava bubbled and frothed below large walkways leading further in. Some branched out into the walls where more archways revealed the vast extent of the lair’s contents: mountains of gold and jewels filled the alcoves behind the archways, some of them taller than Giratina herself.

Nestled between the many golden peaks, though, lay the leviathanic keepers of the hordes, basking in lavaglow. The ones closest to the entrance snored loudly, their black breath swirling above them like thunderclouds, two of them pouring brown rain down on them and their spoils. More alcoves similar to those stretched farther into the cavern, reminding Giratina of the great halls of ancient humans she had so enjoyed destroying long ago.

“Wow,” Garble said, his voice breathless. “That’s… and that’s…”

Giratina let loose a throaty growl as she took a step forward, the rock groaning beneath her legs. Immediately, she spied the ominous glint of their eyes opening and she froze, tensing as the set on her left met hers. A long and pointed head rose, the black scales glittering in the orange light.

“Who goes there?” he spoke, his voice rumbling like boulders down a mountainside.

“That’s Mountain Breaker, the one who gouged out the mountain the ponies made their capital on,” Garble said, his voice tiny and squeaky.

Giratina hissed at him as Mountain Breaker eyed her over, his fangs hanging out from beneath his scaly chops. She maintained eye contact with him, but saw him flex his claws, each digit as big as one of her legs.

“My, my,” he rumbled. “What an exquisite creature. Why don’t you come over here into my lair?”

If I did, your insides would soon be painting those walls, Giratina retorted.

He grinned, revealing his long teeth glittering with pieces of gemstones embedded in them.

“Temper, temper, young one,” he sneered. “You’d make a fine mother for my brood.”

I will rend you limb from limb if you speak to me like that again, fool, Giratina hissed.

As she finished speaking, the stone trembled beneath her legs. She glanced further down the pathway, wondering what else was listening.

Mountain Breaker’s grin fell from his snout, a puff of smoke escaping as he gave a loud snort. “Fine,” he said. “Be that way, but you won’t be able to deny Him.”

“‘Him’?” Garble asked, peeking around her legs.

Mountain Breaker narrowed his eyes at Garble before snarling. “You have the audacity to bring your hatchling here? Bah, he’ll be a snack once you are made into His broodmother.”

He is not my hatchling, Giratina said, her eyes and crystals glowing bright.

“Then is he your broodsire?” Mountain Breaker asked. “Either way, his death will be quick.”

Mountain Breaker began to rise from his hoard, shifting and dumping piles of gold and gemstones into the lava. Although he was much bigger than Giratina had initially thought, she still only put him at the size of a fully grown Arbok.

Only I get to kill him, she growled. Touch him, and I will put you through pain beyond mortal comprehension.

Mountain Breaker froze at her threat. He watched them for a few seconds before falling back down onto his piles of gold and gemstones. The mountains trembled, but only a small fortune dropped into the lava around him.

Satisfied, Giratina turned and trudged down the rock pathway, passing each alcove with her signature indifference. From within their depths of gold and scorched rock, intense glares followed her as she strode by, each one growing more menacing as she descended deeper into the lair. Garble ran between her legs, dodging each step long enough to cast awed stares at the dragons before darting away back into the safety of her shadow.

“Magnus, Spiral Edge, Thorntail,” he listed as they went, speaking barely loud enough for Giratina to hear him. “I thought… I thought they had all died…”

Runts, the lot of them. Giratina snarled. They are no bigger than a Steelix or Gyarados in my world. These are the legendary beasts that will help me bring down Ho-Oh? Pah! They would be naught but ashes after a single breath of his Sacred Fire.

She glanced down at Garble to see him shake his head emphatically, his eyes as big as dinner plates. Immediately, a chorus of roars rang out of each alcove, shaking the very air around her. Flailing her head around, Giratina roared back and flared her shadowy wings, each crystal glowing like a gemstone bathed in blood as she readied herself for a fight.

“G-Giratina,” Garble said, his voice shrill and terrified.

What, whelp? she snapped back.

Wordlessly, he pointed to a spot behind her, his arm shaking and the color draining from his face. She blinked at him, curious as to what was making him react like that and how she could elicit the same look in the future. As she began to turn, she noticed the roars were more organized than the random mad rabble of senile old wyrms she had taken it for. It sounded almost like….

“T-they’re chanting,” Garble squeaked, taking a step back.

Giratina looked up at the rows of alcoves behind them and noticed each resident had stuck their heads out of the openings, watching her.

“Kinbok,” they chanted, their voices rising in unison. “Kinbok, Kinbok, Kinbok, Kinbok!”

Leader? Giratina glanced back at Garble. The puny dragon had backed away quite a few paces since she had last looked at him. His gaze was still behind her, and his claw hadn’t moved an inch.

“Kinbok, Kinbok!” the dragons continued.

For the first time since she had arrived, a pang of fear struck Giratina as she slowly turned around. What could command such respect that an army of dragons would chant for it like a ritual? As she spun, she noticed other alcoves, some she had not even passed yet, had their residents watching her and chanting in the same chilling screams. Once she had fully turned around, she stared down the path of bedrock and magma and noticed what she had perceived to be the end of the walkway... was in fact not.

Glancing up, she noticed there were dozens of pillars holding spires of gold and other relics reaching for the ceiling from within an ocean of lava. A gigantic dome arched around the body of liquid rock, lifting up the blackened walls rife with claw marks as big as her legs. Jagged ledges littered the walls, each one barely holding the sheer amount of treasure piled upon them.

What in Arceus’ name?

Dreh ni hi seik dii for? came a voice from the dome.

“Kinbok! Kinbok! Kinbok! Kinbok!” the dragons behind her shouted.

Giratina felt the very air harden around her as she noticed a slight bulge growing from within the middle of the magma ocean, steadily growing as more of the molten rock bent to fill the arch. To her astonishment, a spire of pure obsidian pierced the surface, rising as if the planet itself was pushing it free of its clutches. As it rose, another spire broke the surface, followed by another and another until a row of them lined the ocean, leading straight to her. A low rumble shook the rock beneath her; she anchored her legs as firmly into the ground as she could.

The chanting subsided, the lair becoming silent. Inside the lava, an island of black obsidian rose up underneath the spires, forming a perfectly rounded shape that made Giratina gulp.

Arceus, she said, her voice shaking. It’s larger than a Wailord.

More of the island pushed itself to the surface, revealing more and more of its titanic body. More spires rose from the lava—marginally smaller than the ones on the monster's back—and continued tracing a path right to the outcropping she was standing on. Before the last spire rose, a pitch-black crest flanked by two smaller horn-like protrusions lifted from the lava, forming a W-shape as the rest of it hid the obsidian spikes behind its sheer girth. The crest kept rising as lava cascaded down the armored plate, leaving brightly glowing yellow lines tracing around the crest in a bizarre pattern, like some kind of mutant Tyranitar.

Rivers of lava snaked their way down. Two slits of pure white split the crest and widened.

Giratina took an involuntary step back as they opened into a set of blank white eyes that stared back at her.

Wo yin vodremt dii slumber? the voice asked again, the rocks quivering as it spoke.

Giratina felt a twinge of anger stab at her mind. Rearing her head back, she roared at the eyes and crest as loud as she could, shaking the air like he did.

Gein wo fund lost hin mir!

A rumbling laugh echoed around the room as the crest bobbed in the lava. The eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly.

You speak well, young one. Few are those left who speak the true dragon tongue.

The ground rumbled again as the crest rose further into the air, revealing a long, bladed snout that accentuated the crest perfectly. Teeth the size of Giratina's wing crystals hung down below the chops of the dragon, glittering in the orange light.

“Why did you come here?” he asked, his rumbling voice lowering. “That crown you wear, the stripes on your belly, and the exotic way you speak—you reek of a drakaina ripe for the taking.”

The dragon leaned in closer as more of his neck snaked from the magma pool. His tri-forked tongue flicked out from between his teeth.

“An unspoiled drakaina,” he cooed, his voice wrapping around her like velvet. “You will be the pride of my hoard. Our brood shall blanket this planet.”

You know not who you address, fool. This drakaina will remain unclaimed until the end of time. Giratina’s eyes glowed red.

“Vogahriin los vunek,” he said, his voice still smooth. “The Alpha is never denied.”

History will be made here today, then, she hissed.

The Alpha chuckled again as his head backed away, his neck looping in the air.

“Perhaps a deal, instead?” he asked. “You come to me with a mission, one you need my help to complete. I have not left this den in over seven hundred years, and do not plan to for many centuries to come...” His jagged tongue ran along his lips. “Ah, but should you become my broodmother, I might consider making an exception.”

Does the lure of glory and destruction not rouse you anymore? Giratina roared. Has your fat, lazy self lost the inner rage all self-respecting dragons nurse within their hearts?

A tense growl rang out around the room, causing the temperature to drop steeply.

“You would be wise to remember who you are speaking to,” the Alpha warned. “It was not I who entered your lair with nothing to offer.”

Giratina snorted, a burst of pink melting the rock at her feet. Your pride as a dragon means nothing if the fires of destruction in your belly no longer burn! Those on the surface cower at my very presence. What are you to those same insects? A legend? A mere myth? She spun and glared at the wall of dragons behind her. Whelp! Do I not speak the truth?

From behind a green dragon's leg, Garble poked his head out and nodded, quickly retreating after. Satisfied, Giratina spun back to the Alpha and and roared at him.

What say you now, wuth dovah?

A tense silence followed as she locked eyes with him.

A deep, throaty laugh made her spines stiffen. The dome began to shake, loosening streams of gold and gemstones into the lava. The Alpha's deep chuckle continued as the lines on his body brightened.

“You seem to think mere words will wound my pride and force me into actions of your design, drakaina,” he spoke in the same smooth tone as before. “But those mean little to me, for I know that if I should rise from this pit, I would lay waste to the world above, and nothing would stop me—not even my own kin.”

From behind him, the lava rippled again as two long lines made the surface bend. In perfect synchronization, two claws the same color as his teeth broke the lines, followed by walls of black as deep as his scales.

“My body throws the land into darkness when I fly overhead. My breath melts entire mountain ranges.” His voice rose. “I am the Alpha, the first, and the most powerful of all the dragons in this world. Before me, there was no light on this rock. I made the sun with my own breath, giving light to the world and all the snivelling creatures on it. To them, I am no mere dragon of legend.”

His eyes narrowed as he paused.

Wah niin, Zu'u los rah! His wings broke free of the lava, spraying the molten liquid around the dome.

“Kinbok! Kinbok! Kinbok! Kinbok!” the dragons behind Giratina began to chant again.

Giratina stared with a hard gaze at the Alpha in his majestic stance. Pure, unadulterated loathing seethed through her thoughts, demanding she put this pompous fool in his place. Creating the sun of this world was nothing compared to what she had done in her own; weaving the very fabric of reality with her wings and sheer force of will.

Then we are finished here, she spat back. Believe yourself to be whatever you want, but I will never bow to you or shout that you are my leader.

Turning around, she kicked a small trickle of rocks into his lava pit and took one step toward the crowd behind when he chuckled again.

“I told you,” he said, his voice still smooth. “The Alpha is never denied.”

The lava shifted violently as a claw the length of Giratina’s tail flew from the depths of the pit and reached out to her, raining lava onto her back. Giratina’s initial reaction was to scream, but she spun as the claw began to close around her and she lifted her foreleg. Immediately, the golden points widened into a trio of ferocious looking claws and she raked them across the Alpha’s palm.

An ear-splitting scream shook the air as the Alpha withdrew his claw, droplets of acid-green blood dripping from the wound and dissolving the stone below. His empty eyes looked at the center of his claw and Giratina stomped her legs before roaring her challenge at him.

You are no god! she screamed, her eyes glowing like small stars. I will rend you apart for touching me!

The Alpha’s gaze shifted from his claw to her as he dipped it into the lava. Slowly, he reared back and brought more of his body out of the lava. His neck went on for a few more meters until his hulking barrel sprouted from the magma, the glowing lines becoming thicker and brighter toward his chest. Two muscular legs flexed scythe-like claws on his digits, perfectly complimenting his wings. Their full span hid the dome’s walls from her vision. If he hadn’t treated her like a fool, she might have found him rather impressive.

“No dragon has struck me like that and lived,” he said, his tone cold. “First, I will tear off those claws of yours; then, I will teach you to give me the respect I deserve. Only when you have learned your place will you then be honored with bearing my offspring until the day you die.”

Giratina glared back at him, her stance solid and her gaze murderous.

And I will hang your skull on the cavern entrance when I kill you.
> Cerulean Voice & Comet Burst / Chapter Five: The Weeping Heavens
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Screams bounced around the cavern as the stones shook. Tremors rippled through the magma pooled around the spires before another cry of a dragon rang out, shaking loose dust and ash from the ceilings. Above the pool, a torn and faded flag bearing a sun sigil fluttered in the still air, reaching down to the magma as if asking to be immolated. As if to answer its request, the walls shook violently, knocking the banner loose from the piles of gold.

Outside the alcove, acid green blood etched black lines into the brown rocks around the den. The Alpha roared, flashing his tusk-like teeth as he bit at the drakaina swooping down at his face, a blob of shadow forming at her open maw. The blob shot forward and painted itself across his burning white eyes, hiding their harsh light. Another roar escaped him as he swiped blindly at the air, slapping Giratina with the flat of his claw. She tumbled through the air before his claw passed through her body and her form slowly faded from vision.

Bringing his other claw up, the Alpha raked it across his eyes, ripping off the shadow as if it was nothing more than mud. Blinking, he sniffed the air before spinning in place, opening his maw and loosing a torrent of fire at Giratina as she materialized. She screamed in response, but darted away from the intense inferno, her scales glowing from the fire. The Alpha followed her, his breath a continuous jet of fire and pain as he melted the gold stores into solid lumps in his wake.

Giratina swooped between the mountains of gold as she circled the Alpha, looking for some way to hurt him. His hide was nearly impenetrable, even for her claws. Her Shadow Ball did little other than annoy him, and he could sense her even when she was in the distortion dimension. His hoard apparently meant little to him as he melted parts of it and his reflexes made getting close dangerous. Even though she despised him, she had to admit he was as immune as his legends said. There seemed to be no gap in his armor or weakness in his fighting ability.

As she ducked underneath another swipe of his, she managed a surprised scream when his tail rose from below and smacked into her, sending her tumbling backwards. She flapped her wings furiously and dug into the obsidian hide with all of her claws, but only chipped the dense armor.

Tol fen ni kroson, miil! the Alpha cried out.

Roaring defiantly, Giratina slashed at his tail with renewed vigor. Her efforts paid off as a few scales ripped away from him, spraying a fountain of green in their wake. The Alpha roared again and Giratina felt his tail whip through the air for a split second before her breath was crushed out of her. Her head snapped back violently as her crest dug into the wall behind her. The tail snaked away from her and her legs flopped limply as she gasped for air.

With her vision blurring, she barely saw the black tail whip back to her, slamming into her body once more. She felt her chest explode with a stabbing pain as a loud crack rang out into the room. The tail pulled away and Giratina glanced down to see a white bone protruding from her chest, violet gore dribbling down its fragmented edge. Her rage firing her limbs, she screamed as she looked back up to him and wrenched her body free of the wall, the pain fueling her energy. Her crystals began to glow…

Mahfil! Gunaar!

Above them, a dull rumble shook the air. Boulders the size of the Alpha’s spikes rained down upon the titanic dragon, shattering on impact and crushing more of his armor than her claws could. Bright patches of green began to pool in spots around him as he roared in anger and pain, diving back into the magma below. The liquid rock splashed about as his form disappeared beneath the surface, painting the walls an angry orange.

Gasping at the sudden lack of energy and surge of pain, Giratina stopped flapping her wings and collapsed onto an outcropping below her, wailing in agony as the bone scraped across the stone underneath. Steadily, a pool began to form of her own violet blood, soaking her side and forelegs. Her head began to spin as her left legs gave out, forcing her to kneel. She frantically tried to think of some way to heal the wound, but the silence made her uneasy.

Vah— she thought before an explosion came from below. Spinning to face the magma, she had only a few seconds to register the open maw of the Alpha flying up to her. Throwing herself to her right, she screamed in pain as the bone shifted and the teeth of the Alpha pierced the stone just inches from her. Forcing herself to stand, her legs went numb as cracks formed in the rock. Leaping into the air and flapping her wings furiously, she watched the rock crumbling in the Alpha’s mouth. The sound of bone crushing rock filled the room as the Alpha violently chewed.

Steadying herself in the air, Giratina shook her head as her vision spun. Below, she could still see the Alpha’s pale empty eyes and his tongue snaking between his teeth. Her violet blood coated his front fangs and dripped from the bone down to his tongue, which twitched with every drop.

“Duliig,” he rumbled. “Were you not a drakaina, I would love to devour you. Your blood alone is an exotic delicacy.”

Her head starting to clear, Giratina roared back as she dove at him. Her wings tucked in and her eyes glowed with a raging red light. The Alpha threw his head back and opened his mouth, his teeth wet with saliva. Just as they were about to collide, Giratina flared her wings and extended her claws as his mouth snapped shut. The claws found purchase in the soft pink flesh of his gums and green blood sprayed onto her. An immediate searing pain covered her weakened body as the acidic fluid drenched her, but even worse was the immeasurable scream of pain from the Alpha himself. Giratina felt her whole form vibrate as he screamed and thrashed his head about, a cascade of green pouring from between his teeth.

With all the strength she could muster, Giratina ran her claws through the soft flesh as more green gore poured out. The spiny tongue of the Alpha ran itself across her body, forcing her to scream in pain as well. Eventually, it found the bone and began to rub around the wound, tearing at the already weakened hide and flesh beneath. Pain overwhelmed Giratina’s senses, and she curled up, ripping out chunks of sopping greenish-pink flesh and her body flew from the Alpha’s maw, out into the cavern.

Her vision swam as she tried to register anything around her, but all she could sense was the neverending agony from her wound. Everything began to feel detached from her as she sensed her body striking the wall and falling limply to another outcropping. Unsure of why she miraculously landed on another rock, her thoughts began to slip as her vision grew black around the edges. She knew she had to heal herself, but the word required evaded her cloudy mind.

V-Va… she thought, trying to force the word out. Vvvv-vah… Vah…

Her eyes began to roll to the back of her head as she threw herself onto her back and stared at the black ceiling.

Vah… Vah… Raan, she moaned before her eyes glowed again. Vahraan.

Immediately, a soothing wave of cool air washed over Giratina as strength began to fill her limbs. Her head pounded in sync with her heartbeat, but her mind cleared and the black faded from her vision. Her chest clicked and shifted as bones began to realign and patch their fractures, but the relief that followed was most welcome.




*  *  *  *  *



“Thank you so much for coming, Fluttershy. Princess Celestia insisted that you were the only one for the job.”

Twilight hugged Fluttershy as her friend stepped out of the golden chariot. She looked over her shoulder and nodded at the Guardsponies, who saluted and flew back toward the royal garage. “Now, do you understand how important this is to keep quiet?”

“Oh, yes, Twilight.” Fluttershy beamed. “I’m the best at keeping quiet. I’m still the world champ, you know.”

Twilight chuckled and spread her wings. “Great! Okay, so we need to fly to the mountain summit.” She pointed over their heads. “That’s where Princess Celestia is keeping it. It’s a very special case that requires only the most soothing and gentle treatment. Did you bring the letter?”

Fluttershy nodded and lifted her left wing, revealing a small saddlebag slung over her back. “Yes, Twilight. I read it, and it’s in here. But what in Equestria needs my help? Surely there are other animal specialists in Canterlot? You didn’t say anything about what it is.”

“‘What in Equestria’ indeed.”

“Huh?”

“Er, never mind,” Twilight said. “Come on, let’s get up there. It might die without proper treatment.”

Fluttershy’s gaze hardened as she spread her wings to full width. “No little critter dies on my watch. You’ll see.”





“Let me go let me go let me go let me go—eeep!”

Fluttershy strained against the purple stasis field surrounding her tail, still beating her wings and galloping hard through midair. “P-please let me go, Twilight,” she begged. “I don’t w-want to be d-d-dragon dinner!”

“Fluttershy, it’s not going to eat you. Calm down, and let’s talk about this—”

“No!” Fluttershy shook her head, clenched her eyes, and flapped harder. “You know how I feel about d-dragons, Twilight. Spike-size is adorable, but anything larger is j-just terrifying!” She covered her eyes with her hooves even as she continued to beat her wings. She moved a few inches, but Twilight grabbed harder.

Next to Twilight, Spike rolled his eyes. “Come on, Fluttershy! This one’s asleep, and not moving, and all tied up by Princess Luna. It can’t hurt you!”

“B-but what if it wakes up? Or breaks free? Or wakes up and breaks free? Oooh, I don’t want to even think ab-bout it!”

Twilight and Spike exchanged bemused glances and sighed together. Twilight concentrated harder on her spell, fully enveloping Fluttershy in her aura. Fluttershy stopped resisting and simply whimpered as Twilight’s prison globe floated back to the assembly. She stared at the behemoth’s spines, quivering while eyeing its wrinkled body.

“Please, Fluttershy. We’re all counting on you. This is a very important task that only you can perform.”

As Fluttershy let out a “meep,” Philomena flew down off Celestia’s shoulder and perched on Fluttershy instead.

“Oh… um, h-hello there, Philomena. How are you?” Fluttershy asked. She lifted a hoof to stroke the phoenix’s scarlet plumage.

To be honest, things have been better.

Fluttershy gasped, staring wide-eyed. “You can talk?”

With my help, yes, she can communicate with ponies, Ho-Oh said, landing in front of Fluttershy. He looked at everypony and tucked away his vast pinions. I have covered much of Equestria’s south—alas, I detected no trace of Giratina. It is possible that it ripped through an alternate dimension yet again, however I think it more likely that it is currently resting in a deep dark cave somewhere, waiting for its chance to strike back at me.

“Wh-what’s a ‘G-Giratina’?” Fluttershy asked, shrinking back from the enormous phoenix.

Another dragon, fair pony. Not quite as large as this one, but far more dangerous.

Fluttershy looked to her other shoulder at another phoenix who had perched there. This one was different: crimson instead of scarlet, with longer tail-feathers—it looked like a different breed to Philomena, and its “voice” seemed deeper. A male, then.

“Dearest Fluttershy—” Fluttershy looked up into Celestia’s grave face “—this dragon is not from Equestria. It has come from an outside realm, as has the one called Giratina. But unlike our new adversary, it seems to have only attacked after provocation. Please… come with me? I promise you will be perfectly safe.”

Fluttershy gulped, nodded slowly, and took Celestia’s wing. They approached the snoring behemoth, still held in place by Luna’s blue tendrils. She watched its mountainous back rise and fall, her ears full of its blustery snoring. It flicked its ear, of which she noticed had a piece missing close to where it joined the head. Her eyes traced that injury to the others, seeing the chains and the inflamed red flesh beneath. Along the length of the chain, other thin red marks connected the cuts.

“Princess?”

“Yes?”

Fluttershy bit her lip and stopped. “Did you or Princess Luna… I mean, those marks—”

“No, we did not. This dragon appeared to us with every injury you see. We have simply subdued it.”

“We may have... aggravated it during our encounter, however,” Luna said. “I was forced to distract it from attacking Celestia, and its neck seemed a viable weak spot.”

“I… see.” Fluttershy looked away and released Celestia’s wing. She fluttered up over the dragon’s wing, eyed its ridged crown, and landed next to its mouth. Shaking, she extended a hoof to the side of its snout, and stroked—slowly. At her touch, it snorted, giving her pause, but then resumed snoring at a level pace. Its eyes fluttered rapidly, and she saw a thin line starting from its forehead, passing over the eyelid, and touching the base of its snout. Breath held, continuing to stroke, she leaned in closer toward its mouth; several teeth were chipped or missing, and all that remained were yellowed and rotting. She recoiled, lifted her comforting hoof from its snout, and stepped back.

From there, she moved around its head to its neck. The chunk missing from its ear looked nasty, but it seemed responsive enough; she made a mental note to test its hearing later. The gashes beneath its chains, however, made her bring a hoof to her mouth and retreat.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she whispered. With that, she rose into the air and landed next to Twilight, still shaking as she touched down.

“What do you think, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “He’s in really bad shape. His right ear is only just hanging on. His teeth are horrible. I think he might be blind, at least in the left eye. But those gashes under the chain are my main concern.” She pointed at the angry red welts. “They’re old wounds, and they look like they’ve been reopened many times, as recently as a few hours ago—I can smell the onset of infection. I think whoever kept this dragon in such horrible conditions did so for a very long time, and cared nothing for it.”

“You see now why I requested you, fair Fluttershy,” Luna said. “This one has come from another plane of existence. The other, Giratina, came from yet another plane. But this one attacked out of confusion and self-preservation rather than malice. If it could be swayed toward our side, we might have a valuable ally against Giratina when it inevitably strikes again.”

“‘Ally’?” Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, no no no, you can’t do that to this poor darling.”

Luna blanched. “I… I did not mean this moment, in his present condition.”

“Oh, of course, Princess. I was not implying…” Fluttershy shook her head. “No, even if he was well looked-after from now on, he probably has terrible mental scarring. He’s very old, and I can tell he’s had a very hard life. He deserves a nice, long rest after having his wounds dressed, his teeth checked, his scales shined—”

“Wow, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “A minute ago you were flying away, screaming.” She grinned, and Fluttershy blushed.

“Hey, Fluttershy—” Spike walked over and elbowed her side “—maybe we could both talk to him together. Uh, that is, if he talks at all, y’know…”

“Sure, Spike. He might appreciate having another dragon around. And I would love your help.” Fluttershy turned back to Celestia. “I’ll be needing some quinine, disinfectant, lots of towels, bandages…”

Celestia nodded; her horn flashed, and a scroll, quill, and inkpot appeared before Fluttershy. “Write down your list, and I’ll send one of my personal guard to fetch it all for you. Note that I insist the hospital staff give you everything you require—they’ll see the insignia on the back in any case.”

Fluttershy unravelled the scroll and nodded at the glowing sun glyph, identical to Celestia’s cutie mark with a signature underneath. “Thank you, Princess. Come on, Spike!”

As Spike scribbled down Fluttershy’s dictation, Twilight looked back to Celestia. “So, should we discuss a plan of action, or something?”

Celestia and Ho-Oh nodded at each other.

That would be wise. There is no telling when or where Giratina will strike. We must prepare.

“I agree. Everypony, let us head back to the palace. Meet in the throne room.”

“But…” Twilight frowned at the dragon. “What if Fluttershy and Spike run into trouble, or need help?”

Celestia nodded as Spike jogged over, scroll held high in his claws. Her horn flashed, and the scroll vanished. “Thank you, Spike. And, Twilight, you make a good point. I’ll leave some more rolls of parchment here. Spike can send me a note if they make any observations or—Luna!”

Everyone gasped as Luna collapsed; she groaned on the ground and rubbed her head.

“What is it, Princess?” Twilight was by her side in a flash as Celestia and every phoenix surrounded her.

“M-my stars…” Luna’s voice came as a whisper. “What has it… done to my p-precious stars?”

“Stars? Who? Done what?” Twilight shook Luna’s shoulders. “What, Princess?”

Tears streamed down Luna’s cheeks. “Arcturus… Pollux… Betelgeuse… oh, not Sirius too!”

Tell me, Celestia, Ho-Oh said. He pointed to the south. Are meteor showers a common occurrence in Equestria?

All followed Ho-Oh’s gesture. A dark cloud flashed in the distance as shining lights plummeted from the sky, all in one place.

“Elysium above…” Celestia swiveled back to face Ho-Oh. “Is this that foul dragon’s work?”

Ho-Oh bowed his head. I recognise that technique. Something must be pushing Giratina to its limits. That, my friends, is Falling Star, otherwise known as Draco Meteor: Giratina’s ultimate attack. We must accelerate our plans if we are to avert another cosmic catastrophe.

Celestia glared at the cloud. “Everyone, throne room. Now.




*  *  *  *  *



Giratina roared once again as vigor returned to her limbs. The uncomfortable shifting of bones and the itching of her hide repairing themselves left a soothing cool over her body, allowing her mind to refocus on the important task of taking down the foolish dragon.

For his part, the Alpha gurgled and screamed hoarsely as he whipped his head around, green blood pouring from his mouth in a disturbing torrent. Black smoke puffed from his nostrils, looking more like the chimneys of the pathetic human villages she used to crush back in Sinnoh. He flailed about wildly, knocking over towers of loot as his screams echoed around her.

Fool! she screamed. You call yourself master of this world, yet cannot best a single drakaina! What must your subjects think of you now?

The Alpha paused his flailing and locked his empty white eyes onto her, panting heavily as his fangs began to smoke. A tense silence filled the chamber as Giratina stared back defiantly. She could only recoil, though, when his voice filled her head at a volume she never imagined possible.

“Silence, insolent one!” he thundered. “Do not mock me! I am a god in this world while you are nothing but a snack! Using your claws to prolong your death makes it no less inevitable!”

Your words mean little to those you cannot defeat, oh great devourer! she replied with a defiant roar.

The Alpha’s eyes seemed to twinkle at her words. At once, he began to rise out of the magma below, spreading his gigantic wings and revealing the obsidian-clad body beneath; Giratina had to crane her neck to keep eye contact while he stood taller and taller.

She suddenly felt very small.

“My words mean little to you, young one?” he asked. “You, who speaks the ancient and forbidden language of our kind, who claims to have helped shape her world and dares to defy me with paltry magic think that my words mean...” Nid?

With his last word, the dome shook violently. Giratina dug her claws into the stones below to steady herself, but the very air seemed to vibrate with it.

“It is you whose words mean nothing here!” the Alpha roared. “You come to my home, challenge and slander my honor and then accuse me of being unable to defeat a single drakaina, yet you hide behind magic not of this world—Pokémon!”

Giratina’s head snapped up at that, a stab of dread filling her chest. A sadistic smile crawled across the Alpha’s snout as the green acid still dripped from between his fangs.

“I know what you are, fool. Your precious Arceus will not be coming to save you from me, either. You are alone in my den, in my cave, in my mountain, in my world!” Vahraan!

Giratina watched as the acid stopped flowing from his mouth, and his teeth realigned perfectly with his jawline. Several green patches on his hide instantly reverted to the glittering black of his scales, sparkling as if he has just cleaned them. She gulped as she looked back into his eyes, noticing the harsh light coming from them.

After throwing his head back, the Alpha snapped it forward and roared his unparalleled fury at Giratina.

Fus... Ro Dah!
> Comet Burst / Chapter Six: Yun Jud
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The screams of the two titanic dragons burned in the chamber, leaving resounding echoes in Garble’s ears as he hid behind the leg of another. Peeking out ever so slightly, he caught a glimpse of Giratina unleashing a torrent of fiery breath at the Alpha, who was roaring and spewing his own emerald fire in return. Numerous scorch marks painted the walls cinder black, and once-glorious piles of golden loot now stood as solid lumps, looking like twisted idols of melting greed. Huge chunks of the stone pillars had been gouged out; long claw marks marred their base while countless fortunes of gold and gemstones cascaded into the yawning lava below.

Giratina shrieked and Garble ducked behind the leg once more, covering his ears and shivering slightly as the dragon he hid behind roared with approval. The ground trembled underneath him as other dragons stomped their claws, cheering on their chosen warrior. Garble shook his head again and dared to look at the battle again; his eyes went wide and his pupils tiny as he saw Giratina struggling to free herself from the Alpha’s claws.





“Fool!” the Alpha roared. “Did you really think you could best me in my own lair? I will crush you like those pathetic ponies!”

Giratina screamed in response, her red eyes burning like small suns. The Alpha grinned for a split second before a howl of pain escaped him; he released his grip on Giratina as acid-green blood dripped down his claws. Giratina flapped her shadowy wings furiously as she kicked away from him. Her golden talons flashed, ripping more scales and skin from his own. She darted to her left as the Alpha’s jaws slammed shut on the space she had been in. She easily flew around him as his empty white eyes traced her path and a low rumbling formed in his chest.

Giratina slowed herself and angled towards the line of obsidian spikes tracing his spine  while he again murmured the spell of healing. The flesh began to repair itself, but Giratina extended her claws once more and dug into the hard scales on the Alpha’s back. The force of her slash chipped his proud armor, and she slipped her golden spikes into the gaps between them, anchoring herself to him as he roared again and flared his wings. Pulling one claw out, she planted it farther up as she attempted to climb the base of his neck while his claws flew at her. His errant flailing drew his talons – each the length of his fangs – across the scales right next to her.

She managed to take two more steps before the Alpha’s claw caught her tail and tightened its grip like a vice. He tugged with a force unlike any she had ever felt; he yanked her from his neck like she was a mere toy. He released his grip and Giratina tumbled through the air, flaring her wings to steady herself before she slammed into the solid stone wall. Stars flashed before her eyes and she fell through space, trying desperately to catch her breath once more. The Alpha’s claws flashed at her once more, but she managed to maneuver herself away from his crushing grip as her wings found their strength again.

She ducked and weaved between his swipes, her wings burning, mind cloudy with fatigue and pain. Glancing at him once more, she screamed curses at him as she reached out with her mind. A small dimensional hole appeared in the air before her. She dove through and into the pitch blackness as the Alpha roared once again.

“Hiding from me will not help you!” he said as he sniffed the air once more. His keen senses could trace her scent, even if she did not visually manifest herself. He knew she was circling him, once around to see if she could fool him and then again, edging closer to his back to strike him unawares. Spinning in place, the Alpha opened his maw and let loose his fiery breath once more as Giratina’s crest and striped belly materialized again.

Pinning her wings back, Giratina rolled in the air as the Alpha’s intense fire swept past her, leaving a long scorch mark on her left rear leg and tail. Forcing herself to ignore the pain, Giratina shot towards his face.

The Alpha’s eyes widened; Giratina raised her golden claws and shrieked her all.

The tips met the soft cornea of the Alpha’s right eye.

A piercing scream shook the very air in the chamber as Giratina dug her claws in deeper, feeling the soft tissue shredding at her touch. She roared in delight as the Alpha’s claw fell on top of her, gripping her with all the strength he could muster. She spread her claws further even as her leg bones snapped from his pull. Her roar of delight became one of pain as the front half of her body remained rooted in his eye while he tried to be pull her away by her rear. With gritted teeth, she kept her grip until a loud pop rang out and she was flung back, her claws still rooted in her prize.

The Alpha’s screams reached such a terrible pitch that Giratina felt she might go deaf. She was thrown from him and landed on a pile of rubble; it collapsed under her weight, and she skidded into one of the many golden pillars in the room. She screamed the words of healing to herself and winced as she rose to her claws, her front legs squishing through the shredded remains of the Alpha’s eye. Giratina reared back and roared once again as the eye slipped from her claws and fell to the lava below.

You are nothing to me! she taunted. I have taken your eye. Now you will submit like the whelp you truly are!

The Alpha bellowed long and loud as his claw covered the wound, green blood seeping between his digits. He flailed his other leg around, trying to grab something—anything. He found the craggy wall and gripped it tightly as he turned to Giratina, his remaining eye blazing with rage.

“You dare take my eye and think me defeated?” he shouted back as he removed the claw from the still bleeding hole in his head. “You will pay a thousandfold for crippling me!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Alpha lunged. His speed was impressive, but Giratina jumped straight up and, flapping her wings furiously, managed to dodge the toothy maw of the Alpha once again. The instant his jaws snapped shut, Giratina dropped herself onto his snout and took a deep breath before unleashing a torrent of pink flames at his gaping eye socket. Another howl of pure pain erupted from the Alpha; he jerked his head back, claws closing over the open wound.

With one more triumphant roar, Giratina gave a mighty flap of her wings, summoning a gale of purple wind. The wall of putrid air collided with the Alpha, toppling him onto his back and into the lava with a thunderous splash. As his scaly belly disappeared beneath the molten rock, Giratina looked up to the crowd of other dragons screaming her name and chanting.

“Yun Jud! Yun Jud! Yun Jud!” they repeated in perfect unison.

A sense of exhilaration washed over Giratina as she roared back at them, listening to the horde cheer her name. Turning back to the lava, she saw the surface arch again before the back and crested head of the vanquished rose from the molten stone, a claw still covering his empty socket.

Begone, whelp! You have no place here any longer!

The former Alpha rose higher from the lava, a hateful gleam in his remaining eye. He drew his chops back into a snarl, but he stayed his free claw.

“No, Drakaina, this is not over. I may have lost, but mark my words. I will return, and when I do…”

He threw his head back and roared one last time at Giratina. Zu’u fen DU hi! came his dragon-voice, causing the rocks to tremble beneath Giratina’s claws.

Turning away from her, he pulled himself upright to grip the remaining pillars for support. The mass of dragons gathered as he rose up to face the platform, each snarling curses at him and some blowing smoke at his face.

“Fallen!” one shouted.

“Disgraced!” another chimed in.

“Exile!”

The fallen, disgraced exile roared at all of them, silencing their words as he spread his gigantic wings. With a mighty flap, he rose from the depths of the lava, revealing his gargantuan body. As the air below his wings swirled, he rose higher and higher, finally disappearing into the darkness above.

A thunderous blast rang out in the chamber, followed by boulders tumbling through the air. Each one matched the surrounding pillars for size, and the lava waves they made washed the walls clean of scorch marks, leaving them glowing with a faint orange light.

Looking up, Giratina saw a small dot of white light at the very center of the darkness and roared at it, raking her claws into the stone below. The blasted fool can’t understand when he has lost, she mused.

“Yun Jud! Yun Jud! Yun Jud!” the crowd of dragons chanted again.

Throwing her head back, Giratina let loose another column of flames into the air as the last boulder splashed into the lava. I am Giratina, Queen of this den! If anydragon disagrees, speak now so that I may gut you!

The dragons roared in response, but not one of them dared to challenge her. Their approval caused Giratina to smile, something she had not done in a long time.

Then fetch some food and feed your new Queen, fools!

As the dragons scrambled back and stumbled over each other, Giratina looked back up at the spot in the darkness and blinked. What was once one shining light was now four, each slowly swirling in the air down to her. Giratina sniffed the air and watched warily as the lights descended, revealing themselves to be glowing chunks of rocks more luminescent than any gemstone.

A sudden urge overtook her as Giratina spread her wings and flew out to the glowing rocks, gathering them before the lava claimed them forever. When she returned to her perch, she set the rocks down and looked at them closer. Each one glowed with an otherworldly aura and seemed to want to float in the air, reminding her of the orange stones from her old prison. Her first instinct was to destroy them, but a nagging thought stuck to her.

Why should I not keep these as trophies?





Giratina sat on a cache of golden coins while each of her new subjects dropped a small pile of gleaming gemstones at her feet, each smiling stupidly as they complimented her new crown of glowing stones, or sang praises of her monumental victory. Giratina snorted at the last one when she bit into an emerald, noting the sweet and minty taste of the gem. Stuffing the rest into her mouth, she chewed and looked at each dragon, observing the dumb grins they wore.

Begone from here, she said, biting into a diamond. Leave your new Jud to enjoy her meal and rest. Should anydragon dare wake me, they too will know the pain of losing an eye.

As one, the dragons all nodded and lumbered back to their alcoves, leaving a timid Garble standing in front of her. Giratina snorted again and glared at her puny charge while she crushed a sapphire in her jaws.

Whelp! I have a job for you.

“Y-yes?”

Go speak to the others while I sleep. I want to know who they are and why they earned ranks here in case I need to make use of them later.

Garble snapped a salute and shouted, “At once, My Queen!”

When he scampered off, Giratina bit into the pile of gems and chewed as much as she could before flying off to one of the remaining outcroppings. Settling herself behind one of the deformed pillars of gold, she closed her eyes and allowed the comfort of rest to overtake her.

Soon, my fiery-feathered foe. Soon.
> Cerulean Voice / Chapter Seven: Myths and (Supposed) Birthrights
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia paced outside the bedroom, anxiously glancing out at the sky through a nearby window. The sun was well past its zenith by now, and the shadows grew longer by the minute. Soon enough, everypony would be expecting it to rest its sleepy, blazing head and give way for the moonrise.

The question was: could Luna perform her duty?

She shook her head and took a deep breath. Worrying about her sister’s health would benefit neither of them; besides, Canterlot’s best doctor was already in there with her, running various tests. If it came to it, she could once again substitute for her sister. Nopony needed to know what sudden illness had overcome the Princess of the Night, especially if it was not serious. It was no cause for alarm if Princess Luna did not appear atop her tower to raise the moon; she could have been playing host to an exclusive dinner party, or perhaps her royal biology cared more about her necessary bodily functions than the day/night cycle. Any excuse would suffice, and might not even be needed.

But if it was serious…

Celestia refused to entertain that particular thought. Luna would recover. This was only a minor setback in their plans. She would be back on her hooves in no time, ready to help defend Equestria from all its natural and unnatural nasties.

No, what truly had Celestia on edge was the vulgar display of power she had witnessed. Ho-Oh had made it sound like what Giratina did came effortlessly to it; Draco Meteor was just a simple technique that it had learned over time during its banishment inside the Distortion World. In fact, further chilling Celestia’s blood, Ho-Oh had said that all of the dragon-type Pokémon in his world could potentially learn it.

What if more of those portals opened? What if more Pokémon came through with the ability to learn Draco Meteor?

Under happier circumstances, she might have been fascinated to learn about the so-called “Weather Trio,” a group of legendary Pokémon with the ability to shape the lands, seas, and air currents as they saw fit. She might have been enamoured by the myths regarding Celebi, a Pokémon capable of traveling through time and restoring barren environments to their former lush glory. She might have even been excited to hear about one of Ho-Oh’s oldest friends, the legendary dragon Dialga, who had complete and total mastery over the river of time.

But if one single Pokémon—although not an ordinary Pokémon, she conceded—could bring her sister’s stars crashing to the ground at will, how long would it be before Giratina used the technique again? What if it brought down more than just four stars next time? What if it kept using the attack again and again, steadily depleting the night sky of its glory, and her sister of her strength and sanity?

Oh, but why would it stop there? If Giratina was as nihilistic as Ho-Oh described, could it not then turn its attention to Equestria’s most critical target? Each of Luna’s stars were miniature suns, after all—

“Celestia?”

She stopped. She would not be seen like this by anypony—especially her most faithful ex-student.

“Yes, Twilight?” she said, keeping her voice as level as possible.

“I just wanted to know if you were all right. I know this whole situation is a mess, and Luna… how is Luna?”

Luna. Celestia lifted her lips into what she hoped was a relaxed smile and turned to Twilight. “Doctor Booker has not yet emerged from my sister’s room. It is still too early to know for sure what exactly ails her, although—” she cast her eyes down the darkening hallway “—I suspect we both already know the true answer.”

“Are you and Luna that strongly connected to the celestial bodies?” When Celestia nodded, Twilight sidled up next to her and nudged her shoulder. “But, everypony knows that regular unicorns maintained the night and day cycles before you and Luna adopted them. Why would falling stars affect Luna so much?”

Celestia took a deep breath. Three seconds passed; and then she pivoted on the spot, meeting the eyes of the Royal Guard also standing outside Luna’s door. “Sam, I have matters of national security to discuss with Princess Twilight Sparkle and our other guests. Should Doctor Booker emerge in my absence, please direct him toward the throne room.”

The earth pony saluted. “Of course, Your Highness.”

Celestia closed her eyes and nodded once before taking Twilight under her wing. A flash of gold later, both appeared at the top of the red-carpeted steps.

“Hello, everyone. Please forgive me for keeping you all waiting,” she said as she planted her regal rear end onto her regal gilded throne.

You can hardly be blamed for wanting to ensure your sibling’s safety, Princess, Ho-Oh responded. I would, and have, done the same thing for any of my own.

Besides, Mistress, Philomena added, I had just finished telling Ho-Oh and Fawkes a story about two of your guards. You know, the bumbling pegasus and the psycho nightguard that you set to be my ‘playmates’ once?

It was… an amusing story. The ghost of a grin crossed Ho-Oh’s beak. But I am glad you had time to wrap it up, for now we are all here, and we must think as one in these uncertain times.

“Princess Celestia?”

Celestia looked to Twilight with a “Yes?”

“Should I… stand down there next to Philomena and the others?”

Celestia immediately shook her head. “You are my equal now, Princess Twilight, the same as Princess Luna. If there were two thrones in this room, I would ask you to take the other for this session.” While Twilight blushed, she added, “For the time being, you may stay at my side.”

“Uh, sure, if you insist.”

With Twilight sitting next to her, Celestia took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

“We need to stop Giratina as soon as possible. Equestria is in grave peril. I think we can all agree on that.”

All present nodded.

“I have seen a taste of its truly monstrous capabilities… and yet that is what it is—a taste. But I promise now, with all of you as my witnesses, that I will never allow Giratina to harm any of my subjects. I must know for certain that all of you are prepared to dedicate yourselves one-hundred percent in aiding me to stop the vile beast.”

Of course, Mistress.

Giratina’s going down!

My power is at your disposal, Your Highness.

Celestia shared a look with Twilight, both of them nodding together.

“Excellent. Now, first things first: we must try to anticipate its actions.” She eyed the rainbow giant. “Ho-Oh, is there any information you can share about Giratina that you did not before?”

Actually, yes. Given what has transpired with Her Royal Highness Princess Luna, I feel I can and must share some more specific information regarding Giratina’s capabilities… or in this case, its limits.

Celestia’s eyes gleamed. “Limits will be good to know. We’ve seen enough of its strengths for the time being.”

This will be of specific interest to you then, Your Highness. I sense that something troubles you beyond your sister’s health, so I will set your mind more at ease.

“Go on.”

Giratina’s Draco Meteor attack, although extremely devastating, is most often used by dragons as a last resort. A final trump card, if you will. It uses immense amounts of a dragon’s energy to call down meteorites orbiting Earth’s upper atmosphere—or in this most recent case, your sister’s stars. As such, any Pokémon that uses this attack slashes its special attack power in half. Only the most foolish Pokémon and trainers will use the technique more than once in a single battle, and most pay dearly for it, potentially becoming only one-sixth as powerful as when they began the fight.

Celestia breathed a sigh, held longer than she was consciously aware of. “Thank you, Ho-Oh. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. I admit, I worried for a good while about what-if scenarios involving that attack.”

Understandable. The thought needs not to be spoken.

Philomena and Fawkes shared a quick look.

“So, if Giratina was using Draco Meteor, that means one of two things,” Twilight said. “Either it was simply testing its power to see what happened… or it was engaged in battle with something. Something that threatened it. Like a rival, maybe—something of equal strength.”

Fawkes’ beak fell open. Are you kidding? What else is out there that could challenge it?

Twilight shrugged and shook her head. “Princess?” she asked, turning her head.

“I… do not know for certain. It’s true though that there are many great and terrible forces imprisoned in the realm of Tartarus. Something might have broken out—or she might have broken in.”

“I don’t think it’s something from Tartarus, Princess.” Twilight pointed toward the throne room doors. “Princess Luna’s stars fell far further to the south than the Everfree Forest, where Tartarus’ entrance lies.” She shifted her attention onto Ho-Oh. “Does Draco Meteor bring the stars down on top of the user’s opponent?”

It does. The user aims to bury their opponent under tonnes of space debris.

“So then, if Giratina was battling something and not just throwing its weight around, it has to have been exactly where the stars fell, which means—Princess?”

She looked up, for Celestia had gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth.

Mistress? Philomena left Fawkes’ side and fluttered onto Celestia’s shoulder. What is it?

Celestia said nothing, but closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. Memories began to surface, given sudden buoyancy from the depths of her mind. Oh, it had been thousands of years since she and Luna battled such a mighty foe; could he truly have survived all this time?

“Judging by how Luna and I failed to even slow Giratina down,” she finally said with all eyes upon her, “no creature in Equestria’s entire bestiary would stand a chance against it. There is nothing in the known modern world that could push it to using one of its most powerful attacks. And I personally doubt it would risk weakening itself simply to show off.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Princess, we’re close enough for me to know that you choose your words to the letter whenever you speak. You very clearly said ‘modern’ world.”

“I did,” Celestia said. “And yet, by all rights, he should have died a long time ago. If he has survived all this time…”

“‘He’?” came four voices.

“He who represents all that was evil in the world—a monster that Princess Luna and I fought and defeated millennia ago: Zaiako, the Emperor of Sin and former King of Dragons.”

“Zaiako? Emperor of Sin? King of Dragons? But…” Twilight’s ears fell flat. “But I’ve never seen any of those names or titles in any history book… dragons have never had a specific leader or monarchy—fully grown dragons are too greedy, lazy, vain—”

“—I regret to inform you, Princess Twilight—”

The throne room doors swung open, encased in a blue aura; Tibbles skittered through the gap first, followed by a pair of midnight-blue hooves and a dark ethereal mane.

“—that my sister speaks the truth.”

Princess Luna entered the room, a little unsteady, but no less determined. Doctor Booker walked behind her, an odd look upon his face. While everyone else proclaimed their relief at Luna’s well-being, he approached the throne and bowed quickly.

“Princess,” he said once the relief had died down, “my tests conclude that Princess Luna suffers from no lasting illness. Her crippling headache is all but gone, and all vital signs are normal. Whatever brought her low appears to have passed. That said, I recommend she takes it easy for the next few days, to minimise the risk of relapsing.”

Celestia stood and smiled down at him. “Sincerest thanks to you, Doctor. Trust me, I will ensure she does not strain herself. Now return to your home and family, for night approaches quickly.”

Doctor Booker glanced out through the stained-glass window depicting Nightmare Moon and the Elements; the horizon over the mountains glowed a deep red. “Thank you, Your Highness. As you wish.” He lowered and lifted his head once again and turned to leave. Before taking another step, his eyes lingered on Ho-Oh and Fawkes.

“Also, I would appreciate your silence regarding our ‘guests’,” Celestia added.

Doctor Booker closed his mouth and simply nodded. The doors swung closed, pushed by one of Luna’s Nightguards as he trotted through and out into the Canterlot streets.

“As we all knew, sister, there was nothing wrong with me that any doctor could possibly hope to remedy,” Luna said as she walked up to stand on Celestia’s left. “I still believe Doctor Booker examining me was pointless from the beginning.”

“Perhaps to you, Luna, but the ponies of Equestria might have asked questions if you did not recover in time to raise the moon. Even if the doctor had nothing conclusive, he could have simply announced to any who asked that your affliction was ‘fatigue’, and that I raised the moon in your stead.”

Celestia smiled and closed her eyes. With her horn aglow, the land was plunged into darkness. In the following moment, Luna’s blue aura was all that illuminated the room, until bright white moonlight streamed through the windows.

Awesome, Fawkes said as he stared at the spectacle.

“Now, sister, I believe you were telling everyone about the Emperor of Sin?” Luna reminded Celestia.

This so-called ‘King of Dragons’ intrigues me as well, came Ho-Oh’s thoughts. With such titles as his, and such an age if he is still alive today, he may very well have been a match for Giratina. If we are to assume that she ran afoul of such a monster—which she is more than capable of—the next question is: who was the victor?

“That is what worries me the most right now.” Celestia could not hide the shiver that ran down her spine.

“Celestia and I fought the beast long ago, many years before even Discord arrived,” Luna said. “Zaiako was merciless, greedy, but most of all, he was prideful. At the height of his prime, he challenged my sister and I for possession of the sun and moon.”

“What?” Twilight recoiled as if slapped. “But dragons can’t move the sun or the moon! Why would he possibly want such things?”

“Zaiako believed that the sun was his rightful possession, as a descendant of the ancient dragons who forged it in their flame.”

“Forged the… the…” Twilight shook her head. “You know what? Just continue.”

Celestia chuckled and stroked Twilight’s shoulder with her wing. “I know this must be a lot to take in, but I assure you, Luna and I have a very good reason for striking this myth from the story books.”

“I… if you say so, Celestia.”

“I will give you the essentials now,” Celestia said. “Perhaps later, during less pressing times, I will impart the full story to you. But for now, what I ask is for you all to gather around and listen to the short, quick version.”

With that, she rose from her throne and walked down the steps toward Ho-Oh’s perch. Beckoning Twilight and Luna over, she sat at its base; Philomena and Fawkes fluttered up onto the larger perch.

“This is a long-forgotten legend, passed down to me from an old friend…”





“Before the sun, there was barely any life besides primordial plants. Although the planet surface was perpetually cold, two moons in the sky shined enough light for plants to photosynthesise energy and grow. Due to the cold, every animal larger than a rat lived underground, closer to the warmer magma vents, only venturing beyond the surface in search of food before quickly retreating. There were lizards, salamanders, small marsupials, larger mammals, and gigantic wingless drakes. Everything then either ate the plants above the surface when braving the cold, or turned to eating each other.

“But there was a single large species that lived above the surface, and had free reign over all the land: a pair of fiery avians known as phoenixes. The creatures below coveted the phoenixes, cloaked in their flaming hides; but they knew not to attack them, for gathering food was much easier whenever a phoenix was nearby, giving off its radiance.

“Eventually, this desire and respect turned to resentment. The largest among the drakes began to hate the freedom that the phoenixes appeared to laud over them. How dared they possess the land above for their own, able to stretch their wings and do as they pleased while everything else was forced to live underground?

“The drakes wished and wished for a way to illuminate the planet. And then, one day, the eldest had an idea.

“In secret, he and his mate crept up on the other drakes and, one by one, devoured them in their sleep. Consuming their brethren made them much tougher, much stronger. The pair then dove deep into the earth and washed down their meal with gallons and gallons of hot magma, their newly strengthened biology capable of withstanding the intense heat.

“When they rose above the surface, the emerged as engines of destruction. They set about spewing the magma every which way, creating pools of light and heat everywhere. But the endless dark began to cool the magma, hardening it into solid rock, and both the heat and glowing light soon disappeared.

“Now completely enraged, the drakes roared into the night, shaking the foundations of the planet so much that mountains rose up from the depths, carrying the great amounts of hot magma with them. The drakes continued to roar, the ground continued to quake, until the mountains erupted with magma of their own accord.

“But though the volcanoes continued spewing hot magma everywhere, the planet did not remain hot; the magma still cooled, and now it covered almost all of the plant life. The drakes had managed to destroy almost all organic life, and they were beginning to freeze themselves. Overcome with defeat, the drakes collapsed to the ground and shed rivers of tears, prepared to waste away and die.

“The phoenixes saw what the drakes were doing, and realised what their goal had been. And in a moment of pity, the male phoenix flew up to the male drake and grabbed its back in his mighty talons. The drake struggled at first, but caught in the phoenix’s strong grip, it could do nothing save allow the phoenix to carry it into the heart of the largest volcano.

“And then, the phoenix said to the drake, ‘Eat your fill.’ So he did; he gorged on as much magma as his belly could contain. Now, on flaming wings, the drake was taken high above the surface, up above the atmosphere, up to one of the moons.

“He belched up all of the magma onto its surface, creating a gigantic red spot. He waited for the inevitable, for the magma to cool and harden as it had on the surface… but it did not.

“The drake was overjoyed, and so continued to make the trip back and forth between volcanoes and the moon. Its surface quickly became covered in magma., and the drake could feel the heat rising from it.

“Alas, it was not to be; soon, the drake had exhausted the available supply of magma, and the moon still needed much, much more coverage.

“The phoenix realised what must come to pass, as it had seen the scurrying creatures darting back and forth in its domain, simply trying to eke out a meagre existence while he and his partner soared with majesty and bliss. So the phoenix lowered the despairing drake back to the surface one last time, and said again, ‘Eat your fill, friend.’

“This time, the phoenix itself flew into the drake’s jaws.

“Caught unaware, the drake slammed his mouth shut.

“In a blast of heat, red wings sprouted from the dragon’s back as a blazing fire—hotter than any he had consumed before—filled his belly. The dragon wept first from the pain, then from the phoenix’s sacrifice… and then he stretched his new wings, roared to the skies above, and took flight.

“And from his great maw, a seemingly inexhaustible plume of fire spewed forth, slowly heating up the moon. Hours and hours passed as the dragon breathed out the very essence of the phoenix onto the moon’s surface.

“Finally, the dragon could breathe no more fire, and plummeted back to the earth. The planet shook from his meteoric crash, a gigantic crater spreading from where he landed. Opening his bleary eyes, lifting his fatigued head, he beheld the majesty above—a flaming ball in the sky. Already he could feel the ground around him beginning to warm up, but the new sun’s intensity did not waver in the slightest.

“The dragon and his partner were overjoyed at his success. He leaped into the air, carrying her in celebratory loops.

“Feeling suddenly ill, the dragon lowered them both back to the ground. His stomach heaved until smoke began rising out of his nostrils. He sneezed hard… and out from his depths came a cloud of ash. The ash settled on the ground in front of him into a large pile, a single golden feather coming to rest on top.

“Saddened once again, the dragon wept, for he remembered that the phoenix had called him ‘friend.’ He wished with every fibre of his being that the phoenix could have lived, expressed his greatest regrets at ever having resented them for their fire and freedom.

“In that moment, a passing comet flew overhead.

“Suddenly, the ash blew apart, enveloping the dragon in its cloud. After rubbing his face and shaking his head, the dragon was astonished to see the phoenix floating before him, bearing a wide grin on its beak.

“‘You did well, friend,’ it said to the dragon. ‘May your offspring ever remember your great feat today.’

“With that, he and his partner flew away at the speed of light, vanishing in a burst of flame.”





“Wow…”

Twilight rubbed her head. “What an incredible story, Princess.”

It is an incredible story, Philomena agreed. It makes me wonder then, how the dragons came to hate us again if our ancestors worked together in such a close way.

“It is the oldest dragon myth—the story of their creation—which I was told by Zaiako’s father.” Celestia sighed then. “He was grand and wise, a friend of mine for many years… before his treacherous son slayed him in cold blood.”

“Zaiako k-k-killed his father?” Twilight gulped. “But… that’s horrible!”

“It was also unfortunately common in those days,” Luna said. “Equestrian society was not as harmonious as it today. The country was still young when my sister and I ascended the throne, and there were still those as-of-yet unadjusted to living with others not of their kind. I must say, my sister appears to have done a fine job ruling all these years—in fact, one of the first things I did when I returned was check crime records and updated laws. It seems that Equestria has had exactly zero murders in the past two-hundred and fifty years.”

“I actually knew that,” Twilight said. As all eyes turned to her, her cheeks turned pink. “Uh, heh heh. Sorry. I read the records too when I was a filly. I guess that’s what happens when you pass a law that states the punishment for murder is a one-way trip to—”

“—Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s mouth froze in an open position, but she closed it after catching Celestia’s eye. “Right. Off topic. Sorry.”

Returning to the original problem, came Ho-Oh’s telepathy. Princess Celestia, we have to consider every possibility. As I see it, with your assessment, we ought to assume that the King of Dragons could have still survived to this day. What we have yet to learn is who emerged victorious between he and Giratina.

“Sister,” Luna said, stepping forward. “Regardless of the battle’s outcome, Equestria is in danger. If Giratina defeated Zaiako, that means it is surely the new Alpha Dragon. We now have an example of its capabilities—if it was to mount an attack with an entire flight of Equestrian dragons under its command, who knows what level of destruction it could bring?”

“I… have an idea,” Celestia murmured, sharing a solemn look with Luna.

How about the flipside? Fawkes asked. If Zaiako beat Giratina, what then? Would he just go back into hiding… maybe pick his teeth with her bones and go back to sleep?

I don’t know how dragons act in your universe, Philomena said, but here in Equestria, when a dragon defeats another in battle, whether it was challenged or issued the challenge, it misses no opportunity to seek out others and boast of its victory far and wide.

She took wing and settled on Celestia’s shoulder. Mistress, what do you think? If Zaiako is alive, and he managed to defeat Giratina… would he come out of hiding?

“I… I…”

Celestia started to shake. Her pupils retracted. Memories flooded through her.

A dragon’s claw, larger and more jagged than any stalagmite, barely grazing her flank—

Her sister, flying backward into Mt. Macintosh, flung by a dragon’s tail—

Seemingly endless jets of flame, enveloping her body as she poured every ounce of concentration into maintaining her aural shield—

The blinding, concentrated light of the sun as she called upon it to pierce the dragon’s heart, watching as it continued through to scorch the innocent paradise—

Desolation. Craters. Lifeless. Ruined. Dead.

No. Never again. Never again. Never-nevernever—

“Celestia!”

Celestia gasped. All present were staring at her; it took a moment longer to realise that Luna had her by the shoulders.

“Sister, regain thy composure! Lose not thyself within ancient reverie!”

Celestia blinked and met Luna’s glimmering aquamarine eyes. After a short breathless pause, she inhaled deeply and nodded.

“You’re right. Thank you, dear Luna.” She took a second deep breath and stood tall while Luna stepped back onto the floor beside her.

“Guards!”

Two uniformed unicorns galloped into the throne room, brandishing halberds. “Your Highnesses!” they barked after a short bow.

Celestia summoned a scroll and quill to her side out of the aether. “Based on discussions with my guests and considerations of our shared intelligence,” Celestia stated officially, voice clear as a crystal bell while she scratched away at the parchment, “I, Princess Celestia Solaris—”

“And I, Princess Luna Selenia,” Luna interjected.

“—Have deemed that there is an imminent threat to the Royal City of Canterlot. We therefore decree that the capital be placed under martial law. Everypony is to remain inside their homes until further notice.”

Celestia strode down toward the stallion on her left and passed him the scroll, adorned with her sun seal. “Give this to Acting Captain Seb Striker. See that Captain Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire is also alerted. We may need the Crystal Empire’s aid.”

“Yes, Highness,” the guard said with a salute.

Celestia nodded. “Dismissed.” As he ran off, she turned to the guard on her right. “I want patrols around the perimeter and scouts at their posts along the ridges of Mount Canterlot, as well as upon the ramparts and towers of Canterlot Castle. Keep your fires and spotlights bright.”

“Yes, Highness,” came the identical reply. He made to turn, but hesitated before bowing. “Your Highnesses, what are we on the lookout for?”

Celestia met his eyes and set her face into a grim frown. “Tell the others: Code Luciferis Draconis.”

“C-code… Yes, Highness. As you wish.” With a brief shudder, the guard followed his fellow through the throne room doors.

Celestia sighed then, collapsing back into her throne.

Mistress… Philomena nudged Celestia’s cheek.

“Luciferis Draconis. Wow.” Twilight’s eyes resembled dinner plates. “Princess, that order… it’s been over seven hundred years since you issued that, when General Shrikefeather’s griffon armies and the great wyrm Merystallistryx laid siege to Canterlot.”

“I read about that battle too,” Luna said. “The records will say that Merys struck Celestia down, but I know the truth. It was not his might that bested hers, but—”

“Luna.” Celestia’s voice cracked like a whip. “Not the time.”

Luna fell silent.

With all due respect, Highnesses, we can postpone the history lesson. Ho-Oh’s telepathy filled everyone’s ears, and they faced him upon his perch. We operate under the presumption that Canterlot will be targeted—it is merely a question now of when, and by whom.

“Oh, gosh!” Twilight’s hoof shot to her mouth. “I have to warn Spike and Fluttershy!”

I’ll join you, Fawkes said. I can teleport us both there.

“I can teleport too, you know.”

Oh. Well, in that case.

Phoenix and princess vanished in a flash.




*  *  *  *  *



“Oh, my. Sundown already?”

Fluttershy looked up from the gauze she was applying to the dragon’s neck. The shadows had admittedly grown long, but she didn’t think it was that late. With a sigh, she pressed against the wound a final time. Much of it was still open, but she would need more time and light to properly see.

“Spike? How’s he doing?”

Spike stuck his hand up from atop the dragon’s head and flicked it out just once. “Still sleeping! That quinine must be some amazing stuff!”

“It should be. The hospital said this compound is the strongest tranquilizer ever created, and we gave him enough to sedate a herd of buffalo.”

The dragon snorted, emitting a puff of smoke and a few sparks.

“It’s too dark to work on him anymore, though. I’ll just have to hope the poor darling doesn’t awaken in the morning before I finish patching him up.”

Spike vaulted over the dragon’s head, landing just next to Fluttershy. “Eh, I wouldn’t worry about that too much. If anything, you’ll probably have a harder time waking him up than keeping him asleep. We dragons can sleep for aaaages!”

Fluttershy giggled. “Well, as long as he wakes up before I die of old age, we should be—ohmygoodness!”

A flash of magic and flame together made Fluttershy leap back, pressing into the newly patched neck. With an additional “eep” she turned around; fortunately, the dragon seemed deeply asleep as ever.

“Fluttershy! Spike! Urgent news!”

Fluttershy gasped. “What is it, Twilight?”

“Urgent? What’s the deal?” Spike asked as he jumped onto Twilight’s back.

“The princesses have declared Martial Law on Canterlot. I need to escort you and Fluttershy back to safety, right away!”

“‘Martial Law’?” Fluttershy tilted her head. “What’s going on?”

“No time to explain—just come with us, now!”

“B-but—” Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder “—but what about—”

“Fluttershy! How often does Princess Celestia ever give us explicit orders?”

“I… but… oh, okay.” Fluttershy nodded and touched her wing to Fawkes’. “I just hate to leave him alone out here in the open, overnight…”

“Trust me, he’ll be fine,” Twilight said. “Neither of them know he exists.”

“Um, neither of—”

A flash of flame and magic—

“—who, Twilight?” Fluttershy finished.

A mighty roar shook the Golden Oak Library.

Spike promptly dismounted from Twilight’s back. He leapt toward their bedroom window, just in time to point a claw at a gigantic silhouette blotting out the sky—a gigantic silhouette heading directly for a distant mountainside city, illuminated by bonfires and spotlights.

“Uh… I would guess that.”

All the blood drained from Twilight’s face. “Spike,” she said, slowly and deliberately, “I want you and Fluttershy to stay put. Right here. In this library. Don’t go outside for any reason.”

Fluttershy raised a hoof. “But—”

“Any. Reason. Trust me on this, please. I’m counting on you both.”

Fluttershy gulped and nodded as Fawkes and Twilight disappeared yet again. She shot a sidelong glance at Spike.

“So…” Spike coughed and twiddled his thumbs. “Wanna… read some of my comics?”

The depths beneath Twilight’s bed had never looked so inviting.