When I came to, I was lying on a patch of grass in the middle of the night in what looked like a statue garden. All around me were statues of people who's heads were half-horse, each one doing something different. One was holding a flag up, another had a spear raised in victory, and a third was... a pair of them fucking.

That's graphic for a statue.

I ignored the statues for now and started walking around, trying to figure out where I was. It clearly wasn't the asylum, they would've never allowed some of these statues, so where was I? The last thing I remember is getting eaten by a dragon, so unless it ate this place as an appetiser I'm pretty sure I'm not where logic would put me. I still seem to be wearing the Zinnia costume, though.

"You there, halt!"

I whipped around to face the voice, seeing one of those half-horse-faced people. Only this one was also covered in dark blue fur and had wings and a horn. Her hair - or is it mane? - was more of a gas, and seemed to hold the night sky inside of it. She wore a silver and light blue gown that flowed over her generous bosom, and a black crown that had a crescent moon on it that rested just behind her horn. She must have been royalty! Crap, bow you stupid bitch!

I dropped to one knee as the woman - mare? - glided over to me, seeming to inspect me as she neared. I caught her turquoise eyes as they roamed my form, seeming to linger in one or two places.

"Rise, fair maiden. What is thy name?" the mare - yes, fuck it, I'm going with mare! - asked. She held out her hand, which I gladly took as she pulled me to my feet with surprising strength.

"I'm Zinnia." I found myself saying without much thought. Why did I introduce myself as Zinnia, and not myself? Well, there's an easy way to fix this. "My friends call me Zoey."

"Greetings, Zinnia. As I am sure you know, I am Princess Luna, ruler of the night." She looked hopefully at me, as though hoping that I had indeed heard of her.

"I'm sorry, your highness," I began, thinking of how to put it lightly. "But I'm... not from the area, so I haven't heard of you before."

"Oh..."

Great. Now I feel bad.

"No matter. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Canterlot, as well as the rest of Equestria"

"Equestria?"

"Our country, Canterlot being the capitol. But enough of that. Please, walk with me."

I indulged the Princess, walking alongside her through the statues.

"So, Zinnia." the Princess began, facing forward. "If you do not hail from Equestria, then where is it you call home? How close is this land?"

"I'm..." I paused, looking at my boots. "I'm not exactly sure, Princess. I don't even remember how I got here. The last thing I do remember is being swallowed whole by a dragon."

"What?!" Luna's head whipped around so fast her mane flew right by my nose.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!" I insisted. I really didn't want to go to another crazy house.

"...We do not doubt you, Zinnia."

"Really?"

"No. 'Tis not the first story of dragons taking ponies just to place them in another location."

"Oh, thank God!"

"So would you be so kind as to fill Us in on your origins?"

"Uh... well..."

And so I told the Princess everything. How close I was to my brother, what happened to him, how that affected me, what happened to me, and everything that happened in the asylum up until today. When I had finished, I noticed that we had made our way to the doors leading into a large castle. From our current point I could just see over the walls, a thick canopy of trees greeting me.

"Come, Zinnia. I would have us continue this discussion inside over tea." Luna said, gesturing with her hand as her horn gained a blue glow. The door handles were surrounded by the same glow, and then the doors opened themselves. I shrugged it off. Horse people are weird enough that the fact they have magic just doesn't affect me right now.

"Of course, Princess. Please, lead the way." I replied, bowing slightly. Luna giggled a little, a magical sound that made me smile. She then led me into a large dining room, with four long tables lined vertically from the door, a fifth running horizontally along the far wall. Luna led us to the far table, taking a seat in a black and blue throne that held the same crescent moon as her crown.

"Please, seat yourself wherever you please. I shall have the night staff prepare us some tea." She said as she brought out a small bell and rang it. Almost immediately, a teapot with two tea cups and a plate of biscuits were placed upon the table by a horse man with a white coat and mane with bright red eyes. I thanked the... stallion? Yes, stallion. Grabbing the teapot, I poured myself and the Princess a drink. "Thank you." she said, taking hers.

"From what you have told Us, Zinnia," the mare began, taking a sip of her tea. I did the same, finding myself pleasantly surprised by the flavour. "We believe that you may have encountered a being of the Void."

I paused mid-sip. "A what?" I asked, placing the cup back on the tray.

"A being of the Void." Luna repeated. "Creatures with no physical form of their own, they are speculated to have a constant vision of the past, present and future at the same time. Some like to... nudge things in a different direction, often by moving a being."

"And of course by 'moving', you mean through dimensions."

"Indeed. The few times we have managed to prevent this, we witnessed the true form of these creatures - a ball of swirling energy. They seem to take a physical form that best suits their target." I blushed at that, remembering exactly what drew me to Patty. Wow, now I feel kinda shallow.

Out of nowhere, a deafening roar rang out, echoing around the vast room. Luna shot to her feet, myself not far behind as she raced back the way we had come. Eventually we had re-entered the statue garden, and I found myself stunned by what I saw.

Six black, ribbon-like wings beating powerfully. Three long necks covered in black, hood-like fur - one on the top of the main body, two on either side in place of arms - ending in two small, rounded heads and a third, more defined one. It's blue scaled body was split by the black fur composing it's hood on the upper half and two purple striped running vertically down it's lower body. A pair of stubby blue legs that ended in small claws dangled beneath the beast, a long, powerful blue tail with a purple underside thrashing around behind it.

There, hovering above a statue of a stallion wielding naught but a ball, was a fully-fucking-grown Hydreigon! As in, the Pokemon! How the actual fuck is there a Pokemon here!? Luna, apparently, wasn't as shocked as I was, as she was currently barking orders at a bunch of mares and stallions wearing dark blue, light-looking armour and wielding anything from a halberd to a dagger.

"Not a single pony breaks ranks!" I heard one of them shout, this one wearing a different design of armour which indicated higher rank. "I want this thing gone, you here me!?"

The Hydreigon reared it's main head back, a purple and black energy forming in it's gaping maw.

"Shit." I muttered, charging forward as it picked it's target and fired. I surprised myself with the speed at which I moved, tackling the stallion to the ground mere moments before the Dark Pulse attack hit, turning the grass into a grayscale version of itself with the epicentre a burnt patch. Looking up, I saw the Dark Dragon fire trio of beams - fiery red, lightning yellow and icy blue - at the statue of the stallion holding the ball. The stone structure shattered from the power of the attack, but the ball itself fell to the ground and rolled towards me. As it did, the stone seemed to flake off of it's surface, revealing a white sphere with a red band, a small button on the band.

"Is that..." I said, reaching out and grasping the ball. A flash of light came from my leg, and I saw that the anklet Patty had given me had found it's way onto my right leg.

A second roar rang out, this time not from the Hydreigon, and before we knew it the beast was tackled into the ground by a sky blue blur, kicking up a cloud of dust. I stuffed the ball into my bag as quickly as I could. The blur hopped backwards out of the cloud, revealing itself to be a bulky, quadruped dragon with sky-blue scales and red wings, it's segmented underbelly being a metallic grey. Red accents framed it's sharp eyes just behind it's six fins, three on each cheek.

"No fucking way!" I shouted, gaining the blue dragon's attention. "A motherfucking Salamence! That's just too cool!"

The Salamence seemed to grin at my words before being hit with a ball of orange energy, knocking it back a few feet. Luckily, it's Flying type halved the damage taken from the Focus Blast. And I just realised that I sound like a huge nerd. Oh well, fucking Salamence! Without thinking about it, I pointed at the slowly rising Hydreigon and shouted "Dragon Pulse!". A purple and blue beam flew from Salamence's mouth, smacking Hydreigon directly in the face. Without giving it any time to recover, I shouted "Flamethrower!", resulting in a stream of flame being spat at the Dark Dragon, engulfing it. I decided to end it then, giving one final command. "Roar!" I bellowed, and a second later a great, guttural roar reverberated around the area, instilling fear in all hostiles who heard it. The Hydreigon flew off towards a mountain range in the distance, scales still smoking.

Salamence landed with a thud, bellowing in victory before turning to face me. Luna had moved silently to my side, horn glowing and wings spread wide. Looking behind me, I noticed the guards in battle-ready stances and sighed. I then motioned for them to lower their weapons before turning and striding confidently towards the dragon, arm outstretched and palm splayed. Salamence ducked it's head, pressing it's snout against my hand with closed eyes.

"Thank you." I said, petting the powerful beast's snout. Salamence seemed to smile before using it's long neck to flip me onto it's back, crimson wings spreading wide as it prepared to take flight. Luna called out, but was too slow to stop us as Salamence carried me in the opposite direction to the one the Hydreigon had fled in.

The wind whipped through my hair as Salamence soared through the skies, and I couldn't help but laugh at the sensation. I was riding a Salamence! One of my childhood dreams has come true! Salamence seemed to pick up on my joy, because it started doing tricks! I held on to it's thick neck as it began doing barrel rolls, aileron rolls and even  loop-the-loops. It then began climbing higher and higher until we were miles above what I assume to be Canterlot Mountain, due to the castle built on it's side, before going into a corkscrew dive, aimed at the peak of the mountain. My laughter grew and grew as I clamped down with my legs, throwing my arms into the air as I screamed in pure joy. Salamence levelled out before gliding into a cave opening, plunging us into darkness as it landed. It opened it's mouth, a flame dancing on it's tongue as it moved to what appeared to be a small pile of wood. It spat the flames at the wood, filling the cavern with light as the kindling caught. It then plodded it's way further into the cavern, curling it's massive body around a small pile of straw holding... is that an egg! I crept forward, trying to get a better look but not wanting to push any boundaries.

The egg seemed to be a sky blue, matching it's mother's scales, with a pale yellow oval on the front and a silver-grey pattern running from the top to about halfway down the back. Salamence's beefy tail shifted slightly, curling lovingly around the egg as she lifted it up and moved it towards me.

"Are..." I began, too shocked to form a full sentence. "Are you giving me your egg?" Salamence just nodded before giving off a weak-sounding groan. I took the egg into my arms as she started coughing violently, small splatters of blood hitting the floor. I felt my eyes bug out at this.

"You're dying..." I stated, dumbfounded. This powerful creature had just saved Canterlot in a clearly horribly poor condition, and was now entrusting me with the care of her only child! I took a deep breath before walking over and sitting beside her neck, earning a confused grunt. "I'm not going to leave you here to die alone." I said simple, crossing my legs and placing the egg in the folds. Salamence nuzzled me thankfully before laying down completely. We sat in silence for a time, the crackling fire the only sound as I absently stroked Salamence's neck. I pulled out the ball from the statue, examining it in the fire's light. I wonder why the ponies try to fight off the Pokemon when they'd clearly found the way to capture them. Or maybe the pony in the statue kept it to himself? At any rate, this was clearly a Premier Ball, one of the most hated variants of the Pokeball - it was literally just a different colour. All it provided in the games was an extra ball for free. But maybe I could find someone that could reverse-engineer some copies for me, maybe even the upgraded versions!

Delicate wing beats caught my attention, if only because they disturbed the fire. I turned to see Princess Luna and another, taller pony with white fur and a tri-coloured pastel mane and tail, her horn longer and wings larger than Luna's. This one wore a white sundress with gold trims, as well as a golden crown situated just behind her horn.

"Princess." I said, turning back to the Salamence. Her breath had become ragged, but she seemed to calm slightly when I started stroking her again. I heard Luna and the other mare move closer, clearly wary of the dying dragoness. "You can calm down, you know." I said without looking at them. "She's dying, no threat. And she saved your home. I'd say that deserves a thank you." Luna crouched down beside me, placing her hand gently on Salamence's snout. Salamence grunted in response, but did nothing else.

"Thank you, great dragon." Luna whispered as her horn glowed. The same glow surrounded Salamence's chest, calming her ragged breathing even more. "We are truly grateful for your aide. Sleep now."

And with that, Salamence sighed blissfully, giving it's final breath. A small wisp of red smoke blew out of her mouth, floating up my nose. It burned slightly, but it wasn't unpleasant at all. I wiped the tears from my eyes and hugged the orphaned egg close to my chest. The white mare placed her hand on my shoulder, smiling gently.

"I'm aware that this isn't the greatest way to meet," she said, helping my up. "But I am Princess Celestia, Luna's older sister."

"Zinnia." I sniffed.

"I understand that you commanded this dragon when it defended our castle." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I did."

"Well our thanks are with you, too."

I nodded, not wanting to talk anymore. I then walked to the mouth of the cave and simply stared at the horizon. Why was I so sad about the death of something I barely knew? Was it because she saved my life, or because she entrusted her child to me? Or was it because of the sense of being complete that I got when I rode on her back. Either way, I had been given a great responsibility, and I would be sure to fulfil it as best I could. Luna moved to my left side, and Celestia mirrored her on my right.

"What will you do with the egg, Zinnia?" Celestia asked, eyeing the unborn dragon in my arms. My grip tightened slightly.

"I'll hatch it." I replied, eyes narrowing in determination. "And I'll raise the drake as though he were my own."

"How do you know it will be a boy?" Luna added.

"Huh?"

"You said you would raise the drake." the midnight mare stated. "As though he were your own child."

"Did I? I guess I just knew."

"And what about accommodation?" Celestia asked.

I looked behind me. The Salamence was still laying there.

"I'll stay here." I said. "I'll give Salamence a proper funeral, and then I'll move in here."

"Surely you jest!" Luna cried. "You cannot live in this cave!"

"Why not? It's big enough, all I'd need to do is put a door or something over the opening."

"I think my sister is worried about you getting up and down the mountain." Celestia chimed, unfurling her wings. "We flew up, and there was no visible trail."

"I think there was a tunnel back there, looked promising. It might lead to the base of the mountain - maybe even into Canterlot itself."

"Perhaps, yes." Celestia handed me a roll of parchments, a quill and a pot of ink before turning to leave. "We will leave you to rest, Zinnia. A team of guards will arrive tomorrow to assist in any way you need. With them will be a personnel assistant that will remain to help you adapt to Equestria, and will also act as a messenger between us should you need it."

"Thank you."

"Good night to you, Zinnia." Luna said, spreading her wings with her sister. "We hope to see you soon."

With that, the diarchs flew off, leaving me to my cave. I turned, walking back in and setting the egg next to the fire. I then moved over to Salamence's body, slowly moving it to the mouth of the cave. I know that it's disrespectful, but I wanted to make it things at least a little easier for tomorrow. I then grabbed the egg and lay down on the straw, surprised at how comfortable it was. Consciousness fading away, I drifted off to sleep. Next Chapter: Flames of Beginning Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 58 Minutes