The Magical Creatures

by ShadowFall

Chapters

Fluttershy and #487
The Tree of Life
Daring Do and The Elemental Golems

Fluttershy and #487

"Wow, it's so beautiful out today."

Rainbow Dash flipped her mane.

"And I guess you have some awesome and cloud kicking pegasus to thank for that?"

Applejack rolled her eyes.

"I think ya' have enough credit sugar cube."

"H-Hey, wait for me! If...that's okay with everypony."

The group of best friends stopped to allow their shy companion to catch up.

"Oh, so sorry to get ahead of you like that Fluttershy. We just can't wait for our picnic!", Rarity gleamed.

Fluttershy brightened up.

"Oh, I hope somepony's going to like my spinach stew I spent so much time on."

The ponies suddenly looked at each other. They exchanged nervous glances before replying with quick and hasty 'Yeah, yeahs" and "Sure, of course's". They trotted up to a grassy and large hilltop. It was a little hike to reach there, unless you count Rainbow Dash flying and beating her friends there.

"Come on! Aren't you slowpokes gonna get up here today?"

Her friends giggled and groaned as their boastful friend ranted away at them. After another minute or two, the rest of the Elements of Harmony reached the hill top. They began to talk and laugh as they spread out their blankets (and Rarity's giant parasol) over their spot on the hilltop.

"Ah...", sighed Applejack as she spread herself on her blanket,"...feels so good to get away from bucking apples once in a while."

"Yeah. I know what you mean Applejack. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think I can get my mind off of studying."

A gurgling noise came from Rainbow dash's belly.

"Uh yeah. About the food."

Rarity waved her hoof.

"Rainbow Dash, darling, please. We just got up here."

"Oh, but she said she's hungry. Maybe I should get out my spinach stew. Would you like some Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash's face suddenly went blank.

"On second thought, maybe I should wait. After all, we did just get up here."

"Oh, okay.", Fluttershy smiled as a gentle breeze worked through her mane. The ponies enjoyed themselves for a bit longer. Then, Rarity's stomach growled angrily.

"Oh, goodness! I think it may be time to eat now!"

The girls to go their baskets and started unloading the various snacks, the many edibles, and the huge amount of treats. Fluttershy thanked Applejack for making her delicious apple fritters.

"Aw, thanks so much Fluttershy."

"Oh, now would anypony like to try my spinach stew?"

They all looked at each other. Fluttershy waited for a response, with each second leading to more self doubt.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I guess I just can't make it good enough."

"Oh don't be so down silly! I'll try it first!", Pinkie Pie hopped over to Fluttershy. The timid mare brightened up again as she shook a glop of the green mush on a plate. Pinkie took the plate and downed the stew in one gulp. She smiled and trotted behind her friends, who she used as concealment as she buried her face into Applejack's fritters in desperate to get rid of the taste. Then, one by one, Fluttershy's friends reluctantly ate her stew. She smiled as the ponies put on their best poker faces to hide their true opinion t her stew.

"Hey! How about *gag* we try Pinkie Pie's cookies!"

Her four other friends nodded as quickly as possible.

"Oh, okay! And at the end, I still cooked more stew. It's in the other basket over there."

Fluttershy pointed to another basket and the pony's faces turned green.

"Y-Yeah! Now, how about those cookies?", Twilight kept Fluttershy busy as she did something that she was not entirely proud of. Twilight quickly and silently teliported Fluttershy's stew basket down away from the hilltop and at the edge of the Everfree Forest, which the hill overlooked. Twilight rubbed her forehoof across her brow and sighed with relief.

"Whew! I'm stuffed.", Rainbow Dash burped.

"Yep! Those fritters really packed me!", Pinkie giggled.

The ponies recovered from their stuffing as they began to pack up their belongings and they continued to chat with each other as they did so. As they finished, Fluttershy realised something.

"Wait, was my stew just here a minute ago. I was sure it was here...", Fluttershy whispered as she searched around for the missing basket. The other ponies kept their mouth's shut, but Applejack was starting to sweat. She began to open her mouth, but Pinkie desperately shut it.

"Oh, I think I see it over by the forest's edge over there. It must have rolled down...I'll just get it and we can have it some other time."

Her friends breathed in relief as Fluttershy cheerfully trotted down below. She hummed to herself as she started to approach her basket. A few minutes later, she was standing over it. She gripped it in her teeth and turned back to head up the hill. But, something rustled in the brush behind her. Fluttershy turned around.

"H-Hello? Is anypony there?"

Her legs became stiff as she could not move from her spot. The brush continued to rustle, but this time, it seemed to be rustling more and more.

Then all to quickly, it stopped.

Fluttershy whimpered and drew closer.

"I-Is anypony-"

She was suddenly interrupted by a massive black hole ripping through the surface. Fluttershy screamed as the hole grew larger. She tried to flee, but fear kept her frozen in place. She could only stare in horror at the massive hulking black shadow stretched out of the hole. Two red eyes blinked in the shadow, and a huge pair of ragged wings outstretched from the figure's shape. Fluttershy screamed again as the monster started to draw closer.

Then, the monster roared.

"GIIIRAAAAH!"

Then, with a sweep of its wings, the creature pulled in Fluttershy, whose screams were muffled by the wings seemingly made out of shadows, and they disappeared into the hole.

Her friends stared wide-eyed at what had happened.

Fluttershy struggled, shouted, and cried as she was carried by the monster. But, as her eyes were closed, she couldn't see where she was being taken. She opened one eye, and she witnessed a completely distorted and literally twisted world of where platforms of solid dirt and grass floated around aimlessly. She looked down, and there was not a drop, but a seemingly repeating height of never ending air. Now, Fluttershy felt scared out of her mind, and nauseous.

"I-I wanna go home! Please don't hurt me!", she squeaked as she was flown deeper into the odd and mind bending world. Then, she mustered the courage to look at what was carrying her. The creature was of serpentine structure, with six spikes protruding from the mid section of its tail. Six long and tenticleish wings made of pure black flailed around. On each wing was a single red claw. Then, she looked at the head and body. The belly of the beast was striped in red and black and six golden rib-like bones protruded from the back. On the head was a golden crest that surrounded its piercing crimson eyes. Fluttershy now got a new fear.

"Ahhhh! Please don't eat me!"

The creature shook her a bit, as if wanting her to shut it.

"Okay. Okay. I'll be quiet."

The creature continued to fly her deeper and deeper, dodging flying rocks and upside-down growing trees.

"Ohhh...I'm think I'm going to be sick...", Fluttershy whispered to herself as she swallowed.

Then, her fears came back to her.

"Please...don't hurt me. I didn't do anything wrong...but...maybe that stew I made, I don't think my friends really liked it. I'm so sorry for the bad stew I made! I just wanted to make everypony proud that I could cook something! I'm so sor-"

Fluttershy was interrupted when her perpetrator shook her again.

"Okay. I'll stop talking."

She was carried for a few more minutes, with every one ticking away adding to new horrible ideas of what the monster might do to her. But, the beast started to slow down, as if it were about to land. Fluttershy looked down below at a large dirt platform that the creature was approaching. Fluttershy was let down rather gently as the creature hovered over her. It then pointed its head towards some trees in the platform and it motioned her to follow.

"Oh. Okay. If you say so."

Fluttershy began to trot after the creature as it flew away and into the small forest that rested on the platform. She struggled to keep up, but decided to rule out speaking against it as she didn't want to infuriate it. She started to slow down to a walk in the forest. No animals were seen in the forest. Not even a single insect. She continued to follow where she think the creature would have gone.

"Okay, just have to keep going. I hope that scary creature doesn't hurt me.", she silently spoke to herself. She continued down the forest, until she got to a large clearing. The creature from before was circling over it, and there was something else in the center. It was another one of those yellow, black, and red things. It was lying motionless in the center and suddenly, it growled, causing Fluttershy to yelp and step back. But, the roar didn't sound threatening. It more sounded as if it were in pain...

The airborne creature flew down.

"Is your friend hurt over there?"

The beast nodded.

"Oh goodness! I hope it's not too bad."

The beast continued to watch Fluttershy.

"Um...you brought me down here to help...um...it?", Fluttershy was unsure if it was a boy or a girl. (Sound familiar?)

Again, the beast nodded.

"How come you didn't just ask me? You would have been much nicer."

The beast lowered its head.

"Oh, I guess you do seem a little scary. Don't worry! I'll help your friend!"

The beast carried Fluttershy down. She hovered off and inspected the wounded one. The wound consisted of large scrapes, three gaping cuts, and burn marks all over the area, each leaking a set amount of blood. Fluttershy began to feel nauseous.

"Oh my...how did this happen?"

The beast rose its head towards a few dark clouds scattered around the sky bolting off lightning.

"Oh. Okay, I'll need some of those really broad and big leaves from the tree over there. Can you go get them please?"

The creature flew off and came back with several leaves in its mouth.

"Good! Now we have to..."

"This place give me the creeps.", Rainbow Dash glared around at the multiple platforms that floated around.

"For me, it just makes me dizzy.", Twilight swallowed and shuddered as she hopped around on the closest platforms, of which her hops were enlarged by the low gravity .

Pinkie was just happily bouncing around on the platforms, while Rarity and Applejack hopped from each to each with care.

"I hope Fluttershy is okay. That big ruffian sure didn't look friendly to me!", Rarity fumed.

"Yeah! I bet that thing wants to eat her!", Rainbow Dash shouted in anger. The rest of her friends looked at each other.

"Oh come on Rainbow Dash, how could ya' make such a...", Applejack trailed off while she began to take in what Rainbow Dash just said. All the ponies did.

"Dear Celestia! That thing is going to eat her!", Twilight screamed as she picked up her pace and hopped from platform to platform faster.

"Oh! Oh! My Tail's a-twitchin!", Pinkie suddenly rose her tail into the air as it shook around violently.

It didn't really take the brightest pony to know what was to happen. Right on cue, a larger platform started to drift towards the platform that Rarity and Applejack were on. It was on a direct collision course with that very platform.

"Girls! Look out!", Twilight shouted and waved her hooves. Rarity and Applejack desperately hopped off the platform as the larger chunk of dirt smashed into the smaller one causing them to burst apart. The ponies screamed as they plummeted, but they realized that their rate of descent was a little...slow. Rainbow Dash just hovered down and plucked the two up.

"Weird stuff in this place. Huh girls?"

Then, a massive shadow zoomed overhead. it was unmistakably that beast that took their friend.

"Hey! Isn't that the thing that took Fluttershy?", Pinkie pointed at the disappearing monster.

"I think it is Pinkie! Let's follow it and see where it goes!", Twilight suggested.

"Right!", the girls said in unison.

The wounded creature still growled in pain as more blood seeped out of the cracks of the burns and scrapes.

"Shhh...It's okay. I'll make you feel all better.", Fluttershy cooed to the yellow, red, and black beast. The other creature came back with more leaves it had picked up.

"Oh thank you so much.", she said as she took the leaves in her mouth and slowly wrapped more around the wounded creature, who moaned some more.

"Hm...", Fluttershy looked up at the hovering beast.

"I never got your name. Do you have one?"

The creature looked at the ground and slowly scratched aside some dirt. It then wrote around it some more until it spelled out: "GIRATINA"

"Gih-Rah-Ti-Nah?", Fluttershy tried to sound out the name.

"Giratina?", she tried again. This time, the creature nodded.

"Oh, okay Giratina! Can you get some water from that pond over there?", Fluttershy asked. Immediately, Giratina levitated away and hovered towards the pond. It sucked in some water in its mouth and it looked back. It flew back, but was interrupted by something.

"Over there! There's that thing!"

"And there's another one! They both have Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy looked up and saw her friends. And they all had looks of anger. Apparently, they were getting the wrong idea of Giratina, just like she did earlier.

"No! Stop! It doesn't want to hurt me! Giratina's friend is injured!"

Her friends had not heard her, due to her silent tone.

"Fluttershy! Get away from that thing! It's going to eat you!", Twilight panicked.

"What? No! It's hurt!", Fluttershy desperately screamed.

"Let me at it!", Rainbow Dash suddenly dove for the injured one.

"Stop!", Fluttershy cried.

Suddenly, Giratina spat out the water in its mouth and roared upwards. It flexed its spikes and and bared its wings as it stood in the way of Fluttershy and her friends.

"Giratina is trying to protect his friend.", Fluttershy took to calling it a "him". Rainbow Dash glared at the dragon-like creature.

"Let me through or I'll do the Buccaneer Blaze right through you!", she shouted angrily. Giratina roared back and waved its wings around.

"Alright, that's it!"

Rainbow Dash shouted with might as she barreled towards Giratina. She outstretched her hoof to deliver one mean punch to the monster that kidnapped her best pegasus friend.

Giratina had other plans, however. It opened its mouth, and a bright blue orb started to form in its mouth. Rainbow Dash realized all too late that this was some sort of attack. The orb continued to build up in Giratina's mouth, until, it reached the size of a fully grown griffon. The creature launched the orb with tremendous velocity at the attacking pegasus, who now tried to back up and out fly the homing projectile.

"No! Don't hurt my friends!", Fluttershy started to fly off, but Giratina's friend moaned again with pain.

"Oh no. I have to help you.", she flew back down and continued to work with the identical beast to Giratina. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was trying desperately to out fly the incoming missile of energy that screeched through the air as it homed in on her. She then flew directly at a platform and pulled up in time to allow the orb to smash itself into the platform.

Twilight teliported herself and her friends into the forsest and ran for Fluttershy.

"Get away from that thing! It's going to eat you!"

"H-He's not going to-"

Fluttershy was once again interrupted by Giratina swooping down and blocking the way towards its injured friend. Giratina roared as a massive flame started to build up in its mouth. It released a massive jet of fire that set ablaze a wall of incineration that acted as a barricade.

"He isn't trying to hurt my friends...", Fluttershy stared at Giratina.

Giratina roared as the mares stopped at the edge of the fire.

"Ugh! This heat! Don't you know that it'll do horrors to my skin?!", Rarity scolded Giratina. Instead, Giratina's wings suddenly were coated in complete black energy and they crackled with the air as Giratina shot down below at her friends.

"Oh no you don't!"

Rainbow dash suddenly appeared out of nowhere and delivered a very powerful buck to Giratina's back. From the speed and force, Giratina's attack disappeared and it sent it crashed into the ground below.

"No! Stop! You're hurting him!", Fluttershy pleaded for her friends to stop. As Giratina was on the ground, Pinkie Pie hopped over the wall of fire and stood on top of Giratina.

"That's enough from you, mister! We're gonna leave with Fluttershy whether you like it or not!"

Suddenly, Giratina vanished instantly.

Pinkie Pie fell to the ground and everypony looked around to where Giratina might have gone off to. Fluttershy looked as well for her missing friend, and found him slowly forming behind her friends.

"Giratina! Don't hurt them!"

Giratina molded out of the air and sent another blue sphere at the ponies on the ground. It burst apart at their feet and it sent them sailing through the air. They all landed and struggled to get up. While Rainbow Dash was distracted, Giratina vanished again. The cyan pegasus looked around for the creature, only to find it materializing behind her.

"Hey-"

Giratina bashed Rainbow Dash down and she spiraled into the ground, throwing up dust and creating a large crater. In it, Rainbow Dash's pupils were swirling around as she grew dizzy. Giratina roared once again, hovering in the way to its injured friend. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie recovered from before and wiped out a massive piece of artillery from literally nowhere. She loaded her party cannon as Giratina took this as another threat to its friend.

"I won't let you eat Fluttershy you big meanie!"

"No! He isn't trying to-"

Pinkie Pie fired off a large cake from the cannon, which Giratina easily avoided by turning invisible again. The cake sailed onward and splattered on a large rock, covering it in white frosting and vanilla pieces. Pinkie looked around for Giratina, who was just materializing behind her. She whirled around and blasted Giratina's face full of chocolate cake. It recoiled backwards and shook its head to get the frosting out of its eyes, only to witness a bolt of magic fired by Twilight sailing towards Giratina. It impacted on its face and Giratina was blinded by an explosion of white light. It shook its head as everything it saw swirled around in circles. The only thing that actually got closer and became more clear was Applejack jumping upwards, making use of the low gravity, and giving Giratina a huge smash to the face with her hind legs. Fluttershy wanted her friends to stop, but they just wouldn't listen to her...and she was just too quiet.

"Please...stop...", tears started to stream in her eyes.

As Giratina sailed backwards from the force of Applejack's buck, it was sent forward again by a bash from Rainbow Dash. Rarity took a large sheet of thick fabric with her magic and wrapped it around Giratina as it spiraled downwards to keep it from recovering. It smashed right through the forest platform and impacted on another down below.

"Giratina...", Fluttershy gasped.

Then, her friends came for the injured one.

"There's the other one! It's going to eat her!"

"Let's get it!"

Her friends galloped and flew right on a collision course with the injured creature. Fluttershy looked back and stamped her hoof on the ground.

"Wait...stop...", she whispered.

"Fluttershy! Get away from that thing!", Twilight shouted as she galloped faster.

"No...its not going to..."

"Here I come Fluttershy!", Rainbow Dash outstretched her hoof for an attack.

"Nononono..."

"Stay there! We'll get that monster for you!", Applejack glared at the beast as she ran for it.

Fluttershy could take no more.

*Deep Breath*

"STOP!"

*Stop Music*

Her voice shook the very foundations of the world the ponies were in. Giratina looked up from its platform, and even the injured one turned its head.

"Giratina was not going to eat me! He just took me down here to help his injured friend! He's a really nice guy, but you all frightened him! He thought that you were going to hurt his friend, so he defended him...or her..."

Her friends slowly started to back up as Fluttershy's voice became louder and stronger. Her eyes emitted the strange and frightening energy that was only known as "The Stare". Her friends' hooves were suddenly glued to the ground, eyes widened.

"Honestly! How could any of you think that he was going to eat me without proof of that?! Who gave you that idea anyways?!"

The mares pointed to the other pegasus.

"Uh...sorry?"

Fluttershy sighed.

"Rainbow Dash, Giratina wasn't going to eat me. Don't scare your friends like that. Remember that Manticore? I took care of it and I knew what it really needed."

"Yeah...I'm sorry Flutters."

"I guess its okay-"

Giratina suddenly materialized out of thin air again, this time over the group. Another blue sphere appeared in its mouth as it charged up another attack.

"And you!", Fluttershy flew up to Giratina, who's attack disappeared,"You are no better! I know your friend is injured, but you could have let me speak with them. But you just attacked my friends! Would you think that would improve your chances of my friends thinking that you wouldn't 'eat me'?", Fluttershy scolded. Giratina looked down and nodded. It flew down to her friends and closely looked at each, who were staring at it, as if they were anticipating another attack.

Giratina lashed its tail out at Applejack, who braced for impact, but the tail stopped within a feet of her face. It waved up and down, as if asking for some sort of hoof shake. Applejack nervously took the hoof.

"Um...nice ta' meet ya'...Fluttershy, what was the name of this fellow again?"

"Giratina. He's really nice once you know him."

"Well, nice ta' meet ya' Giratina! I'm Applejack! Hardworken' pony and any friend of Fluttershy's!"

Twilight came forward.

"Hello. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Wow! I just wonder what kind of creature you are! And what a...nice place you live in...", Twilight stepped back to avoid further awkward conversation.

Immediately, the pink party pony bounded over Twilight and took a hold of Giratina's tail.

"Hiya! I'm Pinkie Pie! And I've been thinking...would you like a party? I always throw a party for anypony I meet! Well, I guess you aren't a pony...but anyways, nicetameetcha!"

Rarity trotted forward.

"Hello there! My name is Rarity and I absolutely loved how your world looks!"

The ponies looked at each other with confused and puzzled looks. Even Giratina seemed a little offset.

"I mean, it's brilliant! So much abstract and obtuse objects, it's just marvelous! I could probably design a garment to suit this place! Again, so nice to meet you Giratina."

Giratina closed its eyes and made a shape with its mouth that seemed to be a little smile. Then, it looked behind everypony else and found Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, um...", she nervously scratched her mane. Giratina flew over and outstretched its tail, which Rainbow Dash sheepishly took.

"Yeah. Sorry about making my friends think that you were going to eat Fluttershy. I'm really sorry, and you know what? You're pretty cool! I mean, shooting out that blue ball that explodes, fire breath, and turning invisible?! Do you know how awesome that sounds?!"

The other ponies cleared their throats.

"Oh. Yeah, well my name is Rainbow Dash! Any friend of Fluttershy's is mine!", she brohoofed Giratina's tail, which it looked at oddly.

Then, a roar came from behind everypony. Giratina's friend shouted again as it slowly rose up and flailed its wings. It came upwards and nuzzled Fluttershy, who blushed.

"Aw...you're welcome..."

The other creature came back to Giratina, who spoke in a mix of roars and hisses. It flew off and Giratina started to fly off with it. Then, it turned around and waved one of its wings back to Fluttershy and her friends.

"Wait! How do we get back to Ponyville?", Twilight waved her hooves.

Giratina flew back and hovered in front of them. It stretched its wings and another black hole opened up in the platform. Giratina motioned with its head to go through the portal.

"Oh. wait, before we go, Twilight, may I please have a piece of paper?"

"Oh yeah. What do you want to do Fluttershy?"

"I want to write a letter to Princess Celestia about our new friend and what I learned today."

"Oh, of course!"

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned that sometimes, you make a new friend, who may seem a little odd or unsettling in a way to your other friends. But, if your friends got to know him or her better, then they don't seem all that scary after all. Everypony would get along better of they knew everypony a little better. And you should never start rumors about that pony. Things will only turn out for the worse.

Your kind and caring friend,

Fluttershy

"That's great Fluttershy!", Twilight beamed.

"Everypony, I best we should get goin' now.", Applejack pointed at Giratina, who was still struggling to keep the portal open.

"Oh, I'm sorry Giratina. I guess this is goodbye. Can I come and see you and your friend again?"

Giratina made a faint nod.

"Wow! A new friend! Well...goodbye Giratina."

"Girraaaaahhh...", Giratina growled softly.

Fluttershy was the last to step through the portal.

"Now, how about I make some more spinach stew. Maybe this time I'll get it right."

Everypony burst out laughing as the portal closed.

Author's Note

Alright, that concludes the first story. But, I won't be writing ALL of these stories. You, yes YOU can come up with short colabs of legendary Poke'mon and the pony's adventures with them. If you have an idea for a story, please leave a comment in the story below. Credit shall be given to you! Here's the requirements.

The Poke'mon of the story must be a legendary Poke'mon. It must be significant in some way. Lesser legendary Poke'mon are not allowed (Rotom, Uxie, ect.).

There must be one main character pony from the show that has an adventure with this Poke'mon, or the Mane Six will fully have an adventure.

The story must not be completely random and pointless. Seriously. I mean it.

(Not actually required, but I would appreciate this.) A morale of friendship or other things of the genre at the end of the story.

A short plot must be given to the adventure.The plot must not be too long or too short. This will not take up the whole story at over 10,000 words. These are short stories.

If you have any questions, please message me. Post your ideas down below in the comments or message me. And to those few who think this, hey, just because I'm asking for ideas doesn't mean I'm lazy. I would like the FiMFiction Community to get in on this. All ideas that have the requirements above are welcome!

-ShadowFall (Proud Egg Breeder and EV Trainer)

Remember, I will decide to continue this story as more ideas come into my head and depending on how popular it gets.

The Tree of Life

Snow lightly fell on the ground and dotted the surface. It continued to fall ever so slowly as a tall and regal Alicorn trudged through the tiny sheet of snow. It's coat was as white as the snow and a long multicolored mane flowed from her head. She huffed once and a warm fog drifted out of her muzzle and evaporated gradually. At last, she spoke with a gentle voice that still had the hint of enforcement in it.

"Where are those Elements...? I've kept searching for the tree, but I've found nothing. Nothing. Nothing..."

She trailed on the words "Nothing" as she kept walking on. Then, a shadow passed overhead. The Alicorn pointed her head up and caught sight of another Alicorn. This one was a very dark blued coat and posed a mane that was as dark as the night and sparkled as if it contained the stars of the midnight sky.

"Sister, do not fly now. We must conserve energy."

The other Alicorn landed.

"But it would be much easier to spot from the air. At the distance we travel on hoof, we could cover five times as much if we fly."

"The weather is getting worse. I cannot afford you to collapse of exhaustion."

The other Alicorn looked away from her sister, then sighed.

"As you say, Celestia."

The one named "Celestia" nuzzled her sister's cold cheek.

"Thank you Luna."

The two trudged through the snow as they looked left and right for any signs of a so called "tree".

"Sister, why must we find the Elements of Harmony now? There is no danger to Equestria, nor to any of the other lands. It is unnecessary."

"Equestria is in no danger at the moment, but we must do so to protect our weakened kingdom if any grave situation arises."

Luna suddenly stepped in front of her.

"But couldn't the guards handle the situation? Or us ourselves?"

"Luna I-"

Her sentence was cut off by a screech overhead. Immediately, the two galloped towards a nearby tree as a massive shadow loomed over the two. They looked up and a large avian-like creature snarled, apparently looking for the two. Luna whispered to Celestia.

"Why does that thing keep following us?!"

"I don't know...but the legends say that the Being of Death guards the being of life, to stop the greedy from receiving immortality..."

"But we are not those kinds of ponies! Why would it follow us...?"

"Because, even though we do not have greed in our hearts, we are not immortal. And that's a good enough reason for it to track us. Luna, I believe we maybe getting closer to the Being of Life."

Luna looked back and blinked. She nodded and pulled her sister from the snow mound, which had developed around her hooves as the snow fell. Celestia thanked her sister and they began to change their course for a nearby forest. This forest was notorious for its high mortality rate from ponies and guards entering in. Creatures were mutated from plants, minerals, and even from a mixture of surrounding creatures to create massive hulking abominations of nature.

"Everfree Forest.", the sign read.

The two entered through the main passage, only to find themselves feet inside and the avian swooping over the forest, in search of the two. They trudged through the forest and looked left and right to ensure creature's weren't stalking them, and looked up to see if the death bringer wasn't about to descend on them.

"Let's go Luna."

The two proceeded to head into the dark and sun-blotted woods. As they walked along, countless spiders were spinning their homes, which were nearly invisible due to lack to sunlight. Then, a snake slowly slid down a tree and snatched one in its mouth.

"Disgusting.", Celestia muttered to herself.

Luna turned around, "What is so horrid of it? It is just nature. The spider would have done the same to any insect."

"Why do you openly take death, Luna?"

Luna stared at her for a second and stopped walking.

"Sister? Are you afraid of death?"

Celestia paused her travel abruptly.

"Luna. I-"

"Art thou afraid of death, Sister?"

"Luna, you don't have to speak to me in the royal voice."

"Are you...?"

Celestia looked down on the ground, as a lizard skittered past her.

"Yes...but it is not my own death what I am afraid of...it is loosing you..."

Luna hung her mouth open, "Sister..."

A little drop of water pelted the ground, as a tear formed in her eye.

"I don't want to loose you..."

Luna came forward and wrapped her hooves and wings around Celestia. Luna sobbed once and hugged her tighter, as Celestia pulled her in. After nearly two minutes of embrace, Celestia let go.

"Come. We have to find the Tree."

Luna nodded and sniffled.

"Yes sist-"

Out of nowhere, a golden blast erupted in the clearing ahead of the two Princesses and knocked them down to their hooves. Luna stretched her head up and tried to get rid of the horrible ringing in her ears and the blinding white in her eyes. After her pupils adjusted, the fabled Bringer of Death was flapping its wings above and gave its horrible screech.

"YYYYEEEEAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!!"

"Sister! Teleport!", Celestia blurted.

The two's horns glowed and with a flash of light, the Princesses vanished.

Celestia had her hoof on her chest to feel it rising and sinking. It was just too close of a call. They could have died. She could have lost Luna, or her life.

"Luna...are you okay...?"

The night-blue alicorn stood up.

"I am fine."

She held her hoof to pull her sister from the ground. Celestia thanked her, but when she looked around, she grew worried.

"I do not know where we are...", as she spoke, the Being of Death flew overhead, circling the forest to kill the potential immortality greeders. After deciding in a direction, they headed off towards it, with every bit of hope as to find the Tree of Life to retrieve the Elements of Harmony. Celestia regained her composure, and trotted forward. They could not waste any more time to find the Elements. Then, out of the corner of Luna's eye, a large deer-like creature was staring at them. What confused Luna was that deer were not native to the Everfree. And this was certainly the oddest looking deer she had seen.

"Sister, look to your left. Now.", as soon as Luna whispered, the creature disappeared.

"What? Is something there?"

"I-I could have sworn that..."

Celestia looked at her.

"I know you must have saw something. Let's go and be extra careful where we tread."

The alicorns walked down the forest further. Then, Celestia and Luna's horn began to radiate with energy.

"Do you feel that sister?", Luna looked around.

"Yes. I do too.", Celestia looked straight ahead.

Then, they reached a small subduction zone in the forest. There was a cave with several shimmering points on the damp wall, which dripped water down in a steady rhythm. Only darkness lay ahead, as the two Princesses, both utilizing an illumination spell, head deeper in. The roars of the Being of Death, grew louder and seemingly much more furious as they evidently got closer to the Tree of Life. Luna shivered as the temperature dropped steadily.

"Don't worry Luna, I believe we are getting closer. We'll be out soon."

Then, their horns' glowing flickered out.

"Huh? Illumination never takes much energy. Why would it go off like that?", Luna questioned as they walked into a large open section of the cave, which made her questioning redundant.

"Wow...it's amazing...", Celestia gasped as thousands of little multicolored crystals adorned the walls and lit up the cavern with many different varieties of colored light.

"It certainly is...", Luna was just as impressed as her elder sister.

The two didn't have time to admire for long. The Being of Death's screeches grew louder and more constant. As if it were...echoing...

"It's in the cavern!", Celestia barely finished her sentence as the red avian shot towards them like a missile and bashed the two Alicorns down. They rolled on the hard and cold surface and gained their senses back as the avian perched itself a set of stalagmites. It bellowed and spoke in a deep and demonic voice.

"You shall know such death in time. Greed for life will not go unpunished."

Luna's horn lit up to teleport, but she realized it was futile. Celestia was still trying to get ahold of the situation, and teleporting would separate the two. Even if they did travel together, going out of the cave would have made the quest pointless, and teleporting deeper would bring them to possibly even more danger.

"Horsefeathers!", Luna shouted and fired a bolt of magic from her horn at the Being of Death. It anticipated it, and amazingly turned pitch black and molded into the wall, completely vanishing. Luna dashed to her sister, and much to Celestia's surprise, snatched her up. She trotted as fast as her hooves could carry her out of the cavern blasting a bolt of magic into the ceiling to send a large section of it down to barricade the exit to the large open cavern.

"Nngh...", Luna grunted as she had run a whole minute blindly into the darkness. She stopped and set Celestia down, who had told her for the past thirty seconds, that she was okay and she could be put down.

"I'm sorry sister...I just had to keep galloping."

"Wait. There's something up ahead."

The two Princesses walked forward to a giant set of stone doors. Carvings etched the door at every spot. In full detail and color, they showed two individuals. One was the Being of Death, obvious to tell from its large arm-like wings and its red color. The other, was resembling a blue deer, with magnificent antlers adorning jewels of all sorts of colors. The two princesses were a little puzzled at what the creature was, until they read the two names etched in the door.

"X E R N E A S"

"Y V E L T A L"

"Luna, the deer is supposed to be the Being of Life.", Celestia whispered.

"It's magnificent...", Luna admired the carvings.

Then, something else caught her eye. There were slash markings on the door. They seemed to be clawing out a green carving of some kind. This was read below the unrecognizable mess:

"Z _ _ A R _ E"

"Zare? What's or who's Zare?", Luna asked. Celestia must have caught the same carvings too, as she knew what she was talking about.

"I do not know."

Then, the doors suddenly collapsed down, ruining a piece of ancient art, at the same time as allowing them to stare at the hexagonal lights that adorned the floor. A single platform was in the middle, with a familiar shape on it. Celestia cleared the dust, and a magnificent blue creature set its beady eyes on the two.

"The Being of Life...", Luna gasped in awe.

The Being of Life gracefully stood still, staring down at the two. After a short pause, it spoke in a much softer voice than its destructive counterpart.

"Why have you come here...?", it's speech echoed in the cavern.

"We have come for the Elememts of Harmony. Specifically, the Tree of Harmony.", Celestia answered, though there was a tone of shakiness in her voice, as she was in front of the one who gave life to every living being in Equestria. Then, Xerneas tapped its foot.

"The Tree of Harmony is out of your grasp, Alicorns. I know immortality is on your minds. I am rather surprised that Yveltal has not killed both of you yet.", Xerneas replied.

"He need the Elements of Harmony to defend our kingdom should it fall into danger! If we receive the Elements, we will gain immortality, wether we like it or not! Being of Life! Please heed us!", Luna shouted.

Then, a rumbling echoed in the cave. Luna knew what that meant. Yveltal had broken through the barricade she made. In no time, Yevltal had entered the cavern and smashed both of the princesses to the wall with its gigantic wing. It landed next to Xerneas.

"Alicorns. Such greed for life you all posses. I shall enjoy it when your species are destroyed.", Yveltal began to glow with golden energy.

"As will I.", Xerneas's horns lit up and a pink and white sphere of energy began to grow on them.

Celestia and Luna could only watch their horrible fate come to them...

"ENOUGH!"

Xerneas and Yveltal's attack stopped. The Princesses tilted their heads up. Entering the chamber, was some sort of multi-eyed green and black snake-like creature, sporting a frill on its neck.

"Alicorns. What are they doing here?", the creature demanded to Xerneas and Yveltal.

"They have come for immortality. They wish to live forever and watch everything else wither and die as they continue to stay young.", Xerneas replied.

"As I have seen thousands come in here, all wishing the same thing", the snake approached the two, "What makes you two so different?"

Celestia and Luna stared at the snake, until the elder sister broke the silence.

"We wish to acquire the Elements of Harmony, should our kingdom be put into jeopardy.", Celestia panted.

The snake looked at the two.

"I see. You two are the Princesses that currently rule Equestria. Celestia, and Luna, if I am not mistaken."

"No, thou are not.", Luna nodded.

"I see. I am Zygarde. The Being of Balance. I used to control both life and death, before Lord Arceus had given me a blessing.

Xerneas and Yveltal looked back.

"A blessing? I never knew of such a thing, Zygarde.", Yveltal answered back.

"You two are my blessings. Though you two were created by the Lord to ease much of the burden off of me, it was implied, that I were to raise you two. As my own kind."

The entire cavern was filled in silence.

"I...had no idea.", Xerneas said shakingly.

"Zygarde...now I know. You treated both of us like a father.", Yveltal muttered.

Celestia and Luna watched the scene, taking in the warm feeling of the situation.

"Me and my little sister know the same. We are both of the same blood.", Celestia smiled at Zygarde. Then, her smile was wiped off as Zygarde amazingly slithered from its spot, faster than any pegasus could fly, and stood before both of the Princesses.

"Celestia and Luna. If you truly desire the Elements of Harmony, and immortality, then I shall give both of you a challenge."

"Anything.", Luna answered swiftly.

"Best my children in battle. Fight Xerneas and Yevltal until they yield. Then, I shall judge your hearts and see if you are truly deserving of your prize.", Zygarde spoke firmly.

Celestia and Luna however, were just getting over their state of shock. They were to fight the very beings that granted life and reaped death. They looked at the two, who were stepping/hovering forward.

"I am up for the task.", they both said that the same time.

Before Celestia could speak, Luna's wings unfolded, flapped once to get her airborne, and smashed a high-powered bolt of energy into Yveltal, sending it crashing down.

"Good thinking sister.", Celestia thought. But her thought was short lived. Yveltal had recovered quickly and roared.

"BATTLE. BEGIN.", Zygarde barked.

Xerneas immediatly charged a sphere attack from its horns and launched the pink and white ball of energy at Luna. In response, she gained altitude and dodged the attack. The sphere smashed into the wall behind her sending bits of stone everywhere. Out of the dust, Yveltal barreled forward and bashed her down. Celestia got into the fight by flying up, and launching a huge beam of magic at Yveltal. The Being of Death responded by rolling to the left and falling back towards Xerneas.

Now, the crystals adorning the walls began to slide out of position and float towards Xerneas. It was beginning to absorb them. Magnificent beams of light shot out of Xerneas as it charged up for some sort of attack.

"Luna! Stop Xerneas!", Celestia called out. Luna fired a shot of magic from her horn, but before it struck its target, Yveltal flew in front and took the hit, blasting it into the wall. Celestia charged her own shot, but Yveltal took to the air, and spread its wings. A giant gale of wind blasted out of nowhere, sending the two Princesses in a cyclone that continuously bashed and grinded them against the walls. The two Princesses yelped in pain as they fell down after the wind had subsided. Yveltal looked back at Xerneas, who had finished charging. It's crystals now glowed with much more intensity than before, and Celestia and Luna felt the energy surging around it.

"Grrraaaahhh!", Xerneas bellowed as another sphere of energy, this time much larger and obviously more deadly assembled on its horns, and shot forward, exploding the ground as it traveled. The Princesses sensed the danger and teleported out of harms way as the sphere collided against the wall, blasting out even more chunks of rock. The two sisters appeared behind Xerneas, and fired a rapid succession of magic bolts. Surprisingly, Xerneas dashed out of the way, having increased speed from its charge.

"What the-", Celestia didn't even finish her sentence as Yveltal came above her, held its wings out, formed a sphere as black as the night, and fired out a giant pitch black beam that impacted in front of her and followed her, blasting apart the surface and creating a long and winding trench. Celestia barely dodged to the side and shot a powerful lightning spell at Yveltal. The spell impacted and sent voltage coursing throughout The Being of Death.

"Veeerrrraaahhhhh!!!", Yveltal screeched as it was sent down to the ground. Celestia now focused on Xerneas, who was firing more sphere of intense energy at Luna, who was trying frantically to dodge the onslaught. The elder Alicorn galloped towards the Being of Life, charging up a massive surge of energy in her horn as she drew near. Celestia sprang up, and brought her horn down on Xerneas, who now realized too late what was happening. The built up magic transfered out of the horn, and sent a directional explosion at Xerneas. The magnificent creature was sent flying into the wall. Luna looked back and smiled briefly at her sister.

"Thank you Celestia."

"Luna! Behind you!"

"What-", Luna was interrupted as Yveltal held its wings out again and fired the black beam at her. The attack connected and blasted Luna away from Celestia. As the beam struck, another beam shot out of Luna and hit Yveltal, which healed most of its wounds. Luna had her health drained.

Celestia looked back at Luna, who was struggling to get up after the massive attack. Celestia blasted Yveltal again, who couldn't dodge as it was still healing. It was knocked back, but not far. Then, a surge of energy collided with Celestia's back and blasted her forward. Xerneas was standing behind her with its horns glowing.

"Yveltal. You're hurt.", It said as a ring shot out of Xerneas's horns and hit Yveltal. It's wounds healed fully. Celestia got to her hooves and looked up. Xerneas and Yveltal were approaching her. Xerneas then began to charge itself again, more jewels sliding out from the walls and fixating themselves to hits horns.

Yveltal began to glow in a super harsh golden light, sending the energy to its wings. Celestia struggled to get up or teleport, but she was too damaged and exhausted. Her eyes grew wide at the approaching doom. Xerneas finished charging and fired another sphere of energy, this time tripling its size from the previous ones fired before and significantly increasing its power from the others. Yveltal let loose a golden barrage of energy in the shape of its wings that sped and clawed itself towards Celestia. The two attack converged and spiraled around each other, filling the entire cavern with harsh light.

"I've failed...", Celestia muttered to herself as she could not get away in time.

The explosion imploded, and then exploded sending every loose rock on the ground flying into the walls, jostling the cavern, and producing such a screeching noise that Celestia was deafened with ringing in her ears. The attack had finished, but Celestia hadn't felt any more pain then what she was feeling before. The horrible truth dawned on her, that Luna was in between her and her attackers, holding her hooves out, standing up, and unmoving. Then, she collapsed on the ground, and laid perfectly still, smoke coming off of her chest.

"Luna...", Celestia said her name to her sister, hoping with all of her heart that she would respond.

"Luna...?", her sister didn't respond. Her chest hadn't moved after she had fallen.

"Luna...", she collapsed to the floor, shutting her eyes tight and allowing a tear to fall to the floor. Xerneas and Yveltal watched the scene, unblinking.

...

Then, it happened.

Stop Music

The tear that Celestia had let go instantly burst into a little fire and disappeared. Her once gorgeous mane had burst into a roaring inferno. Her eyes became orange and had a spark in her pupils. A helmet to let her flaming mane loose appeared on her, her hooves were encased in fire, and her teeth bare into fangs. She stamped her hoof, spread her wings, and roared.

"I AM BLAZING SUN! YOU WILL PAY FOR KILLING MY SISTER!", she took to the air and fired a red beam from her horn. Xerneas and Yveltal dodged the bast and it impacted the wall. The now transformed Celestia steered the Beam towards any of the two, and as the beam seared across the wall of the cavern, flames erupted from the cracks. Zygarde watched the scene and thought to itself.

"Such desire for vengeance...", Zygarde said to itself.

"But her hatred is fueled from other's death. Not her own."

Zygarde looked over towards Luna.

"She sacrificed herself for her elder sister, instead of allowing herself to live.

Zygarde came to a verdict.

"The two show signs that immortality greedy ponies do not. They regard other's lives, before their own. They truly deserve the Elements of Harmony, as well as the ability to remain young forever."

At the same time, Xerneas tried to frantically dodge the jets of incineration and heal Yveltal whenever it was struck. Yveltal tried to blast Celestia with another black beam from its wings, but Celestia shot the beam with her own. The two collided, and Yveltal's was forced back. The beam struck it and blew it from the air.

"Yveltal!", Xerneas called out, but was unaware to Celestia diving for it from the air. When it turned around, Celestia's horn, glowing red and fire crackling off of it, was barely touching Xerneas's nose. Xerneas just stared at it for less than a second before a giant inferno blasted out and sent Xerneas against the stony and crystal filled wall. It slid down and looked up at Celestia, who was approaching it, horn flaming for another attack. Xerneas was out of options. Then, Yveltal flew up and blasted Celestia with its golden wing attack. The golden aura sent Celestia away from Xerneas, but it didn't phase her for long. Celestia was getting ready to grill both of them alive.

"This is for my sister!", she snarled as an enormous sphere of fire grew on her horn.

"Enough!", Zygarde suddenly slammed into Celestia, sending her attack into the ceiling, causing flaming rocks to rain down from the roof to the floor. Celestia snarled and fired a beam of incineration at Zygarde, who moved at incredible speeds and dodged the ray. Zygarde suddenly appeared behind her and fired a multicolored ray at her, which burst all over Celestia and caused her to back away. Zygarde's speed got it around the enraged Princess and it stuck its tail into the ground. Suddenly, the cavern began to shake and stone pillars began to burst out of the ground, traveling towards Celestia. She couldn't recover in time and was repeatedly punched and blasted by the pillars. Zygarde's last attack, it suddenly became encased in draconic fire, and it smashed itself into Celestia. Zygarde went around and bashed her again, sending her into the wall. At last, one more bash stopped Celestia in her tracks. She fell out of the wall, and reverted to her original form. Her teeth were put to normal, her mane fell to her rainbow colors, and her helmet disappeared.

Stop music

"Ugh...", Celestia groaned. She looked at Xerneas and Yveltal, who were barely able to stand up.

"I...did this...", Celestia collapsed to her knees. She had failed. Zygarde would never allow such a rage-filled individual to acquire the Elements, nor immortality.

"Celestia. I never knew you had such power stored inside of you.", Zygarde slithered over and stood over her.

"I'm so sorry...I've failed...myself and my sister...", she remembered of Luna's death and a tear slid down her cheek.

Zygarde wiped the tear with its tail.

"No. You have not failed. Seeing that your rage is formed around other's deaths, it is passion. Passion that no greed filled ponies possess. If you use your heated passion for the benefit of everything else, putting your desires last, then you are deserving of immortality. More than deserving.", Zygarde spoke. Xerneas and Yveltal had joined next to Zygarde.

"From all the ponies that have tried to reach immortality, we have seen so many. Maybe we believed that there were non different than before. You and your sister have proved us wrong."

"But...Luna is gone...", Celestia cried out.

"She's dead! She died trying to protect me!", Celestia finished her sentence, as Zygarde pointed its tail at Luna. Immediatly, Xerneas and Yveltal spoke.

"It has been a blessing to be by you.", Xerneas stepped towards Luna.

"As has it been for me.", Yveltal flew over Luna.

What they did next will shock Celestia for every year she will live through.

Xerneas's crystals on its horns unhitched and floated towards Luna. As every crystal was removed, Xerneas flinched in pain. More and more were removed, and Xerneas was on its knees as its last crystal was removed. The gems floated around Luna and filled her body with colored light.

Yveltal fired its beam, but instead, struck itself. The Being of Death screeched in pain as its own life was transferred to Luna's body. Yveltal's glow began to fall dimmer as its life was running out. Soon, the beam ended, and Yveltal was barely airborne.

The crystals circled around Luna, and the life energy entered her. Zygarde slid forward and touched the tip of its tail on Luna's chest. Light filled the caver as Luna's ear twitched. She opened her eyes slowly, and breathing just so.

"Nnngh...", Luna looked around the cavern, then collapsed again.

"She will wake up in time.', Zygarde spoke.

Celestia's eyes were still wide as she saw Xerneas and Yveltal struggling to stay alive.

"You...brought her back...", Celestia said.

Then, Yveltal hovered in the middle of the room, and folded its wings in. A white aura encased it, and where yveltal once stood, a white cocoon was floating in the air. Xerneas approached the cocoon, and closed its eyes. Again, a white aura enveloped the two, and a large tree formed over Yveltal's cocoon. One by one, the Elements of Harmony appeared on the tree. Laughter, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, and Loyalty. The middle of the tree opened, and revieled the cocoon. The shell gave way, and the final Element, Magic was resting inside.

"The Elements...", Celestia muttered.

"You may come for them any time.", Zygarde spoke.

Then, a white beam shot out of the tree and hit Celestia and Luna. They were suddenly filled with some sort of odd energy.

"What happened to us?!", Celestia exclaimed.

"Your immortality has bestowed on you. You will remain forever young and prosperous."

"But...what about Xerneas and Yveltal?"

"They're currently in their Resolute forms. It will take several thousand years for them to gain enough energy to appear again. In the meantime, I shall maintain the duties of death and life. A few thousand years is not a long time.

Celestia's mouth hung open.

"I don't know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything. Go now."

Celestia nodded.

"Goodbye Zygarde."

"Farewell, Princesses."

Celestia teleported Luna out of the cave.

Luna awoke to a small warm and wet towel on her forehead.

"Sister?", right as she said it, the very subject appeared before her.

"I see you're awake.", Celestia smiled and nuzzled her sister's cheek.

"The Elements of Harmony! Did you achieve them?", Luna asked.

"Yes. But that doesn't matter right now. You're alive, and that's what matters."

Celestia nuzzled her sister again, who smiled up at her. Then, a little drop of water hit Luna's forehead. Celestia looked at it for a second. It was a little bit of an odd color to be water. Celestia and Luna heard the sound of raining outside. The two got up and opened the door to their balcony. Instantly, they were showered in chocolate milk.

They both shouted at the same time: "DISCORD!"

Author's Note

Yet another quiz! What was the moveset Xerneas, Yvetal, and Zygarde used?

I was inspired to make this short since I watched season 4 episode 1-2. I found the Tree of Harmony looked too much like Xerneas in its tree form...

And yes. You just saw a Nightmare Moon counterpart for Celestia.

Please give credit to ZephyrSonic and Spyclone138 for their wonderfully convenient videos to quell our Poke-musical appetite.

Daring Do and The Elemental Golems

"Ugh, these mosquitoes won't leave me alone. They're literally everywhere.", North Polaris swatted yet another bloodsucking insect from his leg. Daring Do didn't seem to really notice as she trekked through the forest. She hacked away at all the overgrowth with a nifty Machete and huffed as the heat of the jungle increased.

"Daring Do? Are you listening to me?", North Polaris turned his head at the seemingly mind-lost mare.

"Oh, did you say something? Sorry, but I'm just really anxious to get my hooves on that Tri-Stone! It's practically a national treasure that everypony has to lay their eyes on!", Daring Do smiled as she hacked away another vine.

"That's it? You want to retrieve this stone to put it in a museum? That's all?"

Daring sighed.

"Okay...I'm just here for the adventure.", she admitted, "Anyways, how much closer till' we reach the Temple?"

North Polaris unrolled his map with his magic. His eyes stared down at the markings and landmarks that dotted the navigation paper.

"Um..."

He then found their position by tracing the landmarks to the order of which the two had saw them.

"Ah! It's not far now! It's just past this-"

His foot suddenly went much farther down than he had anticipated, due to the fact that he nearly walked right off a canyon, filled with rocky spines at the bowels of it. Daring reached down and grabbed his hoof so he wouldn't become another skeleton that was impaled on the rocks down below.

"-trench!", he finished his sentence as he nearly fell to his death. Daring pulled him up and threw him down behind her so he wouldn't pull her in too, as Daring was currently flightless due to her broken wings, a very unfortunate matter for a Pegasus.

"I still don't get why you can't teleport yourself out of danger...", she huffed as she sat down in the dirt.

"I'm not really reliable with magic as strong as that. I don't know where I'll end up. And besides, I'll just knock myself out."

"Alright, I get it. Are you okay though?"

"Yes, just fine."

North Polaris climbed to his hooves and Daring did the same.

"Now, how are we to travel across this cliff? I don't see a way around, and we can't just walk on thin air."

Daring wasn't paying attention to him. She was looking around for something she could use to cross the massive gap in the surface. Then, she laid eyes on an outstretched branch, just reaching over the canyon. She drew her trusty whip from her side and uncoiled it.

"Polaris, I found a way.", she pointed to the branch with her hoof, then to her whip.

"Oh no, you can't be serious Miss Do."

She cracked the whip once and lashed it out towards the branch. The whip snaked through the air towards the tree limb and it satisfyingly wrapped around the branch. She tugged three times to positively confirm the branch's strength and started to walk backwards.

"Miss Do, that branch won't-"

"Hang on!", she shouted as she sprinted towards North Polaris.

"Daring?! What are you-AHHHHHHHGH!!!"

"WA-HOOO!"

Daring scooped up Polaris on her back and ran right for the canyon. Polaris frantically grabbed her neck and held on for dear life as the great adventurer Daring Do leaped from the cliff and the flightless Pegasus was sent airborne. North Polaris was screaming his head off as the two suddenly stopped falling and swung forward on the tree limb. Daring grasped the whip as tightly as possible and the weight and stress of Polaris really added to her discomfort.

"Almost there! Hold on Pol-"

SNAP!

The branch cracked into splinters and sent the most horrifying chill down Daring Do's spine as she realized what had just happened and what was about to happen. Instead of traveling across and upwards, they slowly began to change altitude and fell downwards towards the hundreds of skewering objects made right out of solid stone. North Polaris, out of panic, shut his eyes, forced all the magic stored up into his horn, and caused a brief flash of light around himself and Daring Do to swallow them both. The two smashed down onto the ground, except they weren't shish-kababbed. North Polaris actually managed to teleport himself and Daring Do to safety, and on the other side to add to that.

"Ah...I can't believe that happened now...", Polaris huffed from exhaustion. Daring stowed away her whip and was already up and rearing to go.

"Come on, that Tri-Stone isn't going to reveal itself! Let's get a move on!", Daring Do started trotting off.

"Miss Do! Wai-ugh. Nevermind.", he rose to his hooves and followed the brash mare, "The nerve of that Pegasus."

The two kept trekking though the forest. Daring Do kept hacking away at the vegetation and checking her surroundings and North Polaris checked off any notable landmarks and was bitten again by mosquitoes. It was a solid twenty grueling minutes of repeating the same process as before, until Daring hacked away at a wall of thick vines. Through the growth, the forest cleared to showcase an utterly massive temple, brazers still burning and a large stairwell leading underground into the deepest parts of Equestria.

"Polaris! I found it! The Temple of the Tri-Stone!"

Polaris trudged up.

"Ah, finally!"

The two walked down the hills surrounding the temple and approached the massive structure. Daring peered down the staircase and examined it.

"Seems safe enough."

She immediately hopped down the stairs.

"Be careful now, Miss Do!", Polaris took one step at a time. He levitated a torch off of its stand and lit the way with an ominous orange glow. He came to the end of the stairway and met Do, who was just standing in front of a massive chamber. Tiled wall and floors obviously meant-

"Let me guess Daring Do, booby trapped?"

"Of course. Tiled floors? this temple isn't even trying."

She sprinted out into the chamber.

"Daring?! What are you-"

Daring Do slid down on her back and avoided a volley of razor-tipped darts that ejected from the walls and flew overhead. She then came upright and squeezed her body together to dodge two pillars of fire that erupted from the floor. She leaped into the air, doing a somersault and the floor underneath exploded into a massive pit. She looked back at the smoking debris.

"Exploding floor? Nice touch.", she laughed as she touched down at the other side of the chamber. She pulled down a lever, and all the traps refused to function. North Polaris trotted out into the chamber carefully stepped over the darts that were scattered on the floor, galloped across the hot surface, and leaped over the explosive-made pit.

"Okay, now let's get that stone and get out of here.", Polaris chuckled.

The two headed deeper into the cave. They leapt over pits, avoided spike traps, and finally, they came to one last door. Daring stared at the massive wall of stone in the way. It just had dots. Dots. All over the wall.

"What the...is this some sort of language? They're just little circles."

"I don't recognize this. It isn't in my field book. Strange..."

At the bottom of the wall, there was an assortment of animals. There was a sheep, a fish, a goat, a cow, a whale, an iguana, and a bird. There was clear Equestrian language at the bottom. It read: Spot the odd ones out.

"Spot the odd ones out? Does it mean there are animals that don't belong here?"

"I suppose so Miss Do."

Polaris looked a little closer at the diagram.

"Hm..."

He picked up the fish.

"Well, the fish doesn't belong on land..."

He placed it to the side.

"And neither does the whale."

He brushed it aside. Suddenly, the door lurched and slid open very slowly, allowing little pebbles and dust to dislodge from it.

"Whale and a fish. Easiest puzzle I've had to solve in years..."

He looked at the language again.

"I don't get what it's telling me to do..."

Then, as he stared at it even closer, a tiny picture appeared in his mind. It wasn't a picture as it developed more, it was a word.

D-I-G.

Dig.

"Dig here."

"Huh? Why?"

Polaris grabbed a shovel from his pack.

"Just do so. I know what I'm doing.", he spoke as he scooped up the dirt that made the surface. Daring Do shrugged and took her own smaller shovel and copied North Polaris. They kept excavating and unearthing until the floor gave way and they fell down below. They both smashed into the solid rock ground with a rather painful "THUD".

"Agh! I knew it!", Polaris shouted in triumph as he rubbed his head. Daring on the other hand was still brushing dirt from her mouth.

"Wow...you *spit* really knew what you were doing.", Daring spat a little clump of mud from her mouth.

"Alright. Let's go find that...", Polaris's voice trailed off as he fixed his eyes on a pedestal standing on top of a flight of stairs. On the pedestal was a stone bearing a shiny coat of tempered metal, a glistening formation of ice, an inner shell of solid stone, and a single plant grew from the top. it was a marvel of nature to lay your eyes on it. Polaris gawked in amazement as he continued to-

"Polaris? What are those statues?"

North Polaris looked to the sides of the pedestal. As Daring Do had mentioned, there were statues. Three of them. They all had the similar shape of standing upright on two limbs on the bottom, but it was what they were made of that intrigued him. The one on the left was black and grey and had two long tentacle-like arms. A hexagon formation of barely visible dots was seen on the front of the body. The one in the center seemed to be some sort of rock formation, buried in the wall. But, the same dots were on the front, this time in an "H" formation. The last one on the right was certainly the most unique. It seemed to be conjured entirely of crystal-no...ice. And, it was defiantly the one that was making the room feel so chilly. Small clouds of frosty air draped around the statue, and its dots were arranged in a "plus".

"Daring...look at these statues..."

Daring Do turned her head and stared down the statues.

"Woah...cool!"

Her voice shook the caverns quite thoroughly.

"Miss Do! Not so loud-!"

Daring Do however started to slowly climb the steps towards the Legendary Tri-Stone. As she was climbing up, Polaris looked around a bit more. There were pictures etched into the walls. He trotted over to them and found an image of what appeared to be the statues, all lined up and staring down at a small pony shadow. He moved his eyes to the left and saw the statues bowing down to a much larger one. The dots of the largest statue were arranged in a very long "t" formation.

"Such interesting pictures...I must copy them!", North Polaris muttered as he began sketching the pictures down in his journal. He moved his eyes across and found the statues all holding up a stone of some sort. After closer examination, it was the Tri-Stone. But, the final image showed the empty pedestal of where the Tri-Stone lay, and rocks falling on the statues, which were holding their arms up in terror.

"Oh my...what does that last picture mean...?"

"I got it!"

North Polaris tipped his head up and found Daring Do, Tri-Stone in her hoof. She proudly stepped down and smiled.

"Well, that wasn't too hard."

North Polaris's eyes grew wide.

"Please, in the name that is all holy, PLEASE don't say that..."

"Why not?", Daring rose an eyebrow.

"Because, something is always bound too-...Daring! The statues!", Polaris pointed at the strands. The statues were...

...gone.

They just disappeared without a trace. No sound, no movement, they just disappeared when they weren't looking. Suddenly, the entire temple started to rumble. Rocks and boulders fell from the ceiling, and dust filled the room. Daring and Polaris didn't have to say anything. They just took the Tri-Stone and hightailed right out of the room. All around them, debris rained down like the cataclysm. Daring leaped over another crashing column and swung herself and Polaris over another spike filled trench.

"Yeah! Now this is an adventure!", Daring smiled joyfully as she slid under a closing door.

"Nonononono! I don't wanna die! Not like this!", Polaris barely managed to avoid getting skewered by flying spears gliding out of the walls. Daring suddenly took her whip and lashed it above Polaris's head and smashed a rock that was sailing for it to bits.

"A-Ah! Thank you Miss-..."

He didn't finish his sentence as the temple began to collapse slower and slower. Then, a familiar sight was standing in their path. It was one of the three statues, the stone one to be exact, motionless. Daring stopped galloping and halted at the sight of the statue made of solid rock. It still didn't move. Suddenly, a horrifying voice rang from the walls.

"INTRUDER! RELEASE THE TRI-STONE!"

"W-What?! Not in a million moons! This is a discovery of the century!"

"Miss Do, are you really conversing with-"

"SILENCE! IMMEDIATE DOOM IS UMONG YOU!"

Daring took a step back. Before she could make another remark at the booming voice, the stone statue ahead of them moved.

"Wha-what the...", Polaris stuttered as the statue's dots glowed to life. They lit up a faint and ominous orange and the statue rose its arms. Slowly, it walked towards them and grumbled some sort of gargled voice.

"Arg arg arg...Regirock...Regirock..."

"Regi-what?"

The statue suddenly flexed its arms outwards and several rocks formed out of thin air. They glowed a faint purple and they started to circle the statue. Then, they launched with tremendous velocity at the two explorers.

"Look out!", Daring leaped to the side and shoved Polaris out of the way as the rocks buried themselves in the ground and exploded.

"What is this thing?!", Polaris screamed as the golem rose its arms and multiple spears of rock began circling it with incredible speed. It threw its arms down and every stone spear head hurtled towards them. Daring, in response, picked up North Polaris and put him on her back as she galloped to avoid the stones impacting into the ground. Daring turned her head back and saw the disappearing attacker in the dust.

"Hah! Lost it-"

She and Polaris were instantly swatted into the air by long an slender arms, which were made from cold, hard, steel. The metal statue was looking over them, dots glowing a piercing red.

"Reeeegiiiisteeeeel..."

It rose its arms and a sphere of incredibly harsh light began to build up at its fingertips.

"Run!"

Polaris jumped up to avoid a pure silver beam blasting by. It exploded on contact with the ground and sent a large plume of smoke billowing around the two. As they coughed and gasped for clean air, a black orb crackling with yellow electricity spiraled through the smoke and headed right for Daring. She then took her whip, grabbed ahold of the sphere, amazingly, and hurled it back at the assailant. It detonated its charge on the statue, clearly causing some visible damage.

"ARRAAAGIIIISTEEL!", the statue sputtered as sparks and coilds of static sparked out of its body. Right as they turned around, the air suddenly got frigid and the scenery began to slowly frost over. The last statue made of pure ice floated down and emitted the most horrible screech ever heard by a living being.

"REEEEEGIIIICEEEEEE"

"ARGH! My ears!", Daring groaned as the statue released its terrible noise. But, the noise wasn't the very least of the troubles, as a blue and white sphere grew on its icicle fingers, and unleashed a hail of blue lightening, which turned the surface they were standing on to solid ice. Daring and Polaris squirmed to free their hooves from the icy trap. The frozen statue floated closer and it rose its arms up to "finish them off".

"No! Please don't hurt me-!"

The statue suddenly stopped. It fell down on its side and it seemingly screeched in pain. The other two statues did the same and growled with agony.

"What are they doing...?", Daring narrowed her eyes. Then, she noticed the Tri-Stone. It was starting to disappear and smoke.

"Oh no...Daring Do, these just aren't statues! Apparently, the Tri-Stone is the life force of the mythical Golems of The Elements! Regirock, Regice, and Registeel!", Polaris explained frantically.

"Wait, these are the Guardians of the Elements?! Then that means..."

The floor suddenly split open, reviling molten magma bubbling in the crevices.

"Equestria will tear itself apart!", Polaris struggled to get free of the ice. Daring did the same, and was starting to sweat from the heat.

"I can't believe I'm gonna be the one to destroy Equestria! I'm so sorry Polaris!"

"Don't say that Miss Do! We still have time left!"

Polaris yanked his hoof as hard as he could, and the ice shattered due to the force and heat. He bucked Daring Do's legs free and helped her up.

"Let's go! Now", Polaris turned and galloped, and Daring Do followed him in hot pursuit. But, a black formation of feathers and fire shot out from the magma cracks.

"It's a Black Phoenix...the bringers of our fiery doom...", Polaris gasped in awe and in terror. The Phoenix screeched and billowed forth a trail of green fire, that fore through the ground and incinerated the surrounding scenery. Daring Do gritted her teeth, Polaris ran faster, and they both galloped right through the fire. The Phoenix screeched in anger and more birds of the apocalypse sprouted out from their holes. They all flew around the two, circling, just waiting to burn them into slag.

"Daring Do...I've had the greatest honer to join your expedition. I have no regrets of this...", Polaris eyed the circling birds.

"Except for the fact everypony in Equestria will die?", Daring breathed heavily from the increasing heat.

"Daring, don't try and-"

Out of no where, a barrage of blue lightening impacted on one of the Black Phoenixes, causing it to steam and caw with torment as it plunged down below. The two looked back and found the statues, fighting their own pain to bring down the birds. Two of them broke off from the formation and sprayed the statues with a fiery breath. The rock golem, apparently named "Regirock", stood in front of the attack and took the hit. Surprisingly, it just shrugged off the battering and it stepped forward. Realizing the Phoenixes were coming too fast, Regirock glowed orange, and it hurled its bouldered fist at the two birds. The attack connected, and burst both into feathers and fire.

"Amazing...such power...", Polaris didn't have much time before Registeel stomped ahead and opened up with a duel beam attack at another two Phoenixes. They burst into bright light and their particles scattered everywhere. Regice sped head with its levitation and fired a black sphere of electricity, similar to the one Registeel used before. It struck one Phoenix and zapped it into dust. Daring and Polaris nodded to each other and galloped off towards the pedestal room. They avoided fire from the Phoenix's, which were being held off by the Regis, and dodged even more collapsing sections of the temple. Right when they got to the pedestal chamber, they rushed up the stairs, only to be knocked down by a massive Night-Black bird of fire.

"Ah-AH! No!"

"Horse Feathers!"

It screeched furiously and carpeted the area with flames. Daring and Polaris backed up from the gigantic bird and bumped into the Regis. They rolled out of the way as they all simultaneously fired a bright orange beam from their arms. The three beam met with a huge blast of fire sent from the Phoenix's mouth. Sparks, energy, and embers flew from the center of their force. The fire started to push back the three smaller beams, until the flames overtook the Regis and blasted them to the ground. Their dotted eyes slowly dimmed out as the giant Phoenix flapped its wings and glared at the two ponies. Before it could react, the same booming voice blared over their ears.

"DO NOT HARM MY SUBJECTS!"

Two giant white and black striped, and yellow ring wristed arms burst from the walls and grabbed ahold of the Phoenix. It cawed with defiance and shook its body as the arms wrestled it still.

"PONIES! RETURN THE STONE!"

Daring Do galloped up the stairs one last time and put the almost faded stone on the alter. Almost immediately, the Phoenix disintegrated, the magma trenches closed shut, and the temple began to rebuild itself. The arms slowly retracted and sunk back into the walls. The Regis walked up the steps and took their place at their stands, then deactivated. The voice boomed again.

"Thank you...Daring Do and North Polaris for realizing your wrong doing and preventing the cataclysm of Equestria..."

"Wait, me? Daring was the one who-", Polaris was about to finish when Daring Do put her hoof over his mouth.

"You're welcome! Um...who are you...?", Daring rose an eyebrow again.

"My name is Regigigas."

Suddenly, both the ponies looked at each other. They suddenly burst out laughing and pounding the floor. It was only a few seconds until Regigigas spoke again.

"Why does every living being think my name is funny?"

Author's Note

Hey, did anyone catch the Relicanth and Wailord reference? Also, if you can, try and tell me what moves the Pokemon used from the story.

Challenge accepted?