A Flare of Light

by NightSky

Misadventures

Click. The noise echoed down the vast caverns of the former changeling hive.

Flare opened his eyes, looking around for it's source. At first he thought it might have been a changeling that had survived. That would have been useful, because even after several weeks of observing what he could from the hive, he hadn't learned much. But he quickly discarded this idea, because one of the things he did know, was that changelings did not click.

Click. There it was again. Flare uncoiled himself from where he lay to go investigate the noise.

Click. The noise echoed again as Flare exited the room he was in into the main corridor. He glanced around briefly before he found the source of the noise. But it still perplexed him when he saw it.

It was a tall, thin thing. It stood by one of the dead changelings, watching it. It looked almost like a pony, if it had been starved and stripped down to its skeleton. Even its head was flat, with two bulbous pieces which must have been its eyes. It looked too thin to be any sort of living being. The way the light shined off of its skin was different from how changelings shined. It looked almost to be metal.

Flare rose back up on his hind legs, trying to make himself as imposing as possible. "Hey! You!" He boomed down the cavern.

The thing snapped around to look at Flare with two glowing eyes. It tilted it's head slightly, watching him. They locked stares for about a minute, then Flare took a step towards the creature. It quickly retreated, stepping backwards, each hoof clicking as it hit the ground.

As it came closer to the cavern entrance, Flare noticed several other creatures outside. They moved into the cavern and stood beside of the first thing, forming a straight line in front of Flare. They all stared at him, emotionless.

He lowered himself to the ground. If they wanted to fight him, standing was not a good choice of position. But they did nothing. They simple stood there, staring at him.

Finally, Flare heard something else approaching the cavern.

Another new creature entered the cave. It was tall, with the front half of an eagle and the rear half of a lion. His parents had told him about these things once. Griffons.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He said in a gruff, deep voice. "A dragon. Now that's a rare find. But what are you doing out here, so far away from your homeland?"

"I am studying here." Flare said, for lack of better words. "What are you doing here?"

The griffon laughed. "Me? This is my land, so I have a right to be here. I also have the right to evict you from this little cave of yours and your little studies."

"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Flare said, immediatly regretting his words.

The griffon smiled darkly. "This army." He pulled out a small device from a bag he had and pushed a button on it. The strange things snapped upright. Small openings appeared in their sides, and strange tubed devices emerged from them.

"Now. I'll ask you nicely one last time. Leave." The griffon said. Flare responded by snarling at him.

"Very well." He said calmly as he pushed another button. Flare raised a leg in front of his face as a shield.

Bang. The noise came from the tubed things, smoke billowing from their tips. Flare felt a sudden stinging in his leg, like he had been stabbed. His body immediatly flowed with adrenalin, ebbing any pain he felt.

All diplomacy was gone now. The griffon looked puzzled, like Flare shouldn't have still been a problem. He reached to push the button on the device again. Flare opened up with torrents of flame, engulfing all of them in it. He held his flames for a full minute, and when they died there was nothing left, just a pile of ashes and four puddles of melted metal.

So that's what they were made of. Flare thought, but he had more important matters at hand. Flare knelt down looking at his leg. There were four holes in his leg, all of which were leaking blood. Now that his adrenalin was ebbing he could feel his leg hurting more and more. This isn't good.

He needed to get somewhere where he could get help. He needed to go back to Canterlot.

But can I get back before this kills me? He thought, hobbling on three legs to the cavern entrance. Only one way to find out.

He leaped into the air and began the long journey back to Canterlot.

____________________

It had been several weeks since the changelings had attacked Canterlot, and life had generally returned to normal. Ponies went about their daily activities again, with a generally happy outlook. The city had been repaired relatively quickly and was now thriving again. Autumn had settled in and the leaves were falling from the trees.

Flare finally began to do what he had been originally assigned to do, assisting Luna. He spent most of his days in the library with her, working on government procedures, protocols, and other confusing and complicated subjects.

In his free time, he also obsessed about immortality. He knew he was letting it get to his head too much, but at least it gave him something to occupy his time. He would look through old historical books about previous attempts at immortality, but there was not much to work with. Several ponies tried to put their souls into objects. A stone, a tree, a door(now what the buck was he thinking).

But there was one that caught his attention. In a book he found an old newspaper article. "Stallion attempts to make wooden body for himself." The title said. He skimmed through the article. "Drillbit, a stallion from Phillydelphia unveiled his newest creation today, a pony made entirely of wood....He claims that he has figured out how to transplant his soul into this body and use it to live forever...Will attempt the move later this week..."

He moved on to the next article, but stopped at the title. "Tragedy strikes during soul transplant." Reluctantly, he looked down at the rest. "Drillbit's experiment went completely aria today as he tried to move his soul into his new wooden body...Lost control of his being...Body was unresponsive...Deemed a complete failure..."

He put the articles back where he found then, disappointed. At least it's a place to start from. He thought as he sat back down at his desk, pulling over another book. It stopped halfway to him, gripped by another force.

"You've been working too hard on this little project, Flare." Luna said, coming up behind him and resting her head on his shoulder. "You need to relax."

"Yeah, like you're one to be talking about relaxing." He said, turning his head and nuzzling Luna. She giggled, drawing some stray glances from around the library.

"Yes I am. But seriously, you needn't worry about this. You're wasting time you could be spending on other things, more important things."

"I know." He said, releasing the book and letting Luna levitate it back to its shelf. "Come on then, lets spend some time on 'more important things'." He said, imitating Luna's voice.

She laughed lightly, pushing Flare along. "Yes, but we have festivities to attend tonight."

"Festivities? You never attend parties." Flare said.

"Yes I know, but this party is for me, so I want to attend it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I am the Princess of the Night, after all." She said, mock scorn entering her voice.

"Well what is the event called?"

"Nightmare Night. It's a very entertaining holiday centered around dressing up and scaring other ponies."

"So we're gonna go scare some ponies?"

"Yes." She said, a mischievous smile spreading across her face. "Yes we are."

She led him up to the landing area for the chariots. Waiting for them there was a dark blue chariot. It looked like a thinner, more twisted version of the usual chariots. And the two pegasi waiting with it were equally as strange. They were grey, with gold snake eyes, and bat wings. Their armor was a dark blue color.

But Flare recognized them by the way they stood. "Dawn, Thorn? Nice makeover."

Dawn smiled at Flare. "Yep, Roarad always likes doing the spells for the Nightmare Guards."

Flare looked at Luna, but she had also changed. She was now a taller, jet black mare with fangs and blue snake eyes. She was clad in blue armor, and her cutie mark had turned a blue color.

"Boo." She said in a deeper voice than usually. Flare simply laughed.

"Now I feel left out since I don't have a scary getup."

"Hold still and you will." She said.

Flare felt his body tingle and suddenly he was blinded by a bright light. He felt himself get taller and larger. He felt wings spring out from his back.

"Whoa." Dawn and Thorn both said as the light faded. Flare was now at eye level again with Luna. She was smiling.

"Perfect." She said, creating a mirror with magic. Flare smiled as he looked at himself. He was an alicorn now. Sinister with dark grey plates. A single glowing blue stone was in the center of his chest piece. The dragon mark on his flank now flowed and coiled around itself. His mane flowed with blue and white flames.

"I like it." He said in a much deeper voice.

"Good." The mirror disappeared. "Let's get going then, we have a lot of ground to cover."

"Where are we heading, anyway?" Flare asked as he climbed in the chariot after Luna, or Nightmare Moon.

"Ponyville." She said, nodding to the guards. "Don't wait for a tip." They smiled and looked at each other, then straight ahead.

Flare suddenly found himself looking from the horizon to straight up at the moon. Oh buck. He thought as the chariot climbed like a rocket.

____________________

Flare had been flying for what seemed like ages, and he could tell he was slowly growing weaker.

He could tell his wounds had become infected, but with what he was unsure. The infects were different from others, the scales around the infected area had turned a pale color, and the wounds themselves were a silvery color.

He had an awful headache, and his stomach was cramping. whatever had hurt him wasn't done yet. He was unsure how much longer he could last.

He finally rounded a large mountain that had blocked his way for quite a while, and sighed as he saw a town he recognized.

It was Ponyville, the town he had watched while he grew up. Certainly they would know how to help him.

He was so focused on the town he didn't notice the chariot flying through the clouds in front of him until it was too late.

____________________

"Uh, Thorn?"

"Yeah Dawn?"

"Do you hear something?"

All four of them paused, listening. All they could hear was the sound of the wind. But wait, there was another noise, Flare could hear it. It sounded like wings flapping and something panting, something close.

"Luna, down!" He said, pushing Luna down flat on the bottom of the chariot right as a giant black form flew overhead, clipping part of the chariot.

The chariot twisted and bucked, but by some raw display of strength, Thorn and Dawn kept control of it. Whatever hit them, however, was not so lucky. It spiraled down through the clouds.

"What the buck was that thing?" Thorn snapped, looking around.

"It was me." Flare said, spotting the crashing dragon. "Follow him!"

"No parties for us then." Dawn said as they brought the chariot down after the dragon.

He hit the ground hard, tearing through a field and disappearing into an apple orchard, knocking over several trees.

The chariot arrived at the scene a few moments later, and Flare hopped out before it had even stopped, sprinting to his brothers side. Luna and the others were close behind. The dragon was lying on his back, limp.

"Flare! Come on buddy, wake up."

The dragon opened his eyes slowly, looking them over. "Whoa." He said weakly, his eyes resting on the other Flare. "Who are you?" He asked.

Flare was terrified for a second. Did he really forget who we are? Then he realized that they were all still in their Nightmare Night disguises.

"Luna, change us all back." He said. She complied and the dragons face softened visibly.

"Are you hurt?" Luna asked. Flare reluctantly raised his foreleg, showing her the four holes in it. "Oh no..." She whispered, looking the wounds over.

"What kind of creature causes these wounds?" Flare asked.

"Not a creature. A machine. Projectile weaponry." Thorn said, looking at the wounds. "Lead rounds, by the looks of the infection. If you get the slugs out now and wash the wounds the infection can still be reversed. If not, well, you'll be a three legged dragon."

"How do you know that?" Flare asked, looking down at his bleeding leg. Thorn raised one of his in response, where there was a large white scar above his ankle.

"I've been you before." He said. "These came from a drone. Nasty little things. Griffons make 'em. If you took on four and lived, you are pretty lucky."

Luna had closed her eyes and her horn was now glowing. Flare gasped and his black scaled turned white as the four slugs emerged from the wounds. Luna discarded them, tossing them to the side.

Voices could be heard approaching. "Aw, that's eight good apple trees gone." the orange mare said as she rounded the corner. She was dressed as a serial killer, complete with a hockey mask. Flare almost found it funny, if his brother wasn't lying beside him bleeding. She saw the chariot and the operation in progress. "Oh buck."

"What is it, Applejack?" a small, timid voice said behind her. The yellow pegasus was close behind Applejack, dressed as a butterfly. She gasped when she saw Flare lying on the ground.

She rushed forward, gently pushing her way to him. "Excuse me, pardon me."

"What are you doing, Fluttershy?" Luna said as Fluttershy looked at the wounds.

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear." She repeated, rotating the leg slightly. Flare grunted and she looked up at him.

"Now you shush. You'll be all right." She looked back at Applejack. "Get me a bucket of water and some cloth, Applejack."

Luna and Flare were shocked. Fluttershy was notorious for being timid, especially with dragons. But she was also renown for taking care of hurt animals. So here she was, standing beside of a colossal dragon, treating it's injuries.

Applejack quickly returned with the requested items, and Fluttershy gently rubbed the damp cloth against the wounds, but the cloth came back grey with lead. She used fresh rags each time, and slowly the grey color was less and less. Finally she wrapped the leg in cloth, tying it tight.

"There, that should do for know, but he should really have that examined." She said, rising from his side. He, of course, was already fast asleep.

"I know, we just need to figure out how to get him out of here."

"He'll probably be able to fly himself in a day or so." Thorn said, turning to Applejack. "But of course, ma'am, until he is strong enough, he's going to be using your orchard as a bed."

She didn't seem to happy about that, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Well Ah hope he gets better, at least."

"So I guess this means the partying is over for the night." Dawn said, glum. Thorn slapped him on the back of his head.

"I'll buy you a beer when we get back if it means you'll shut up."

"Yeah, and it looks like Flare could use another Flaming Rainboom." Dawn said, slapping Flare on the back. But Flare wasn't paying attention to them, and they soon noticed why.

The dragons form had begun to ripple. Slowly, the dragon was becoming smaller.

"But I thought you two couldn't do that anymore." Luna said, watching as the dragon slowly became a pony again.

"I didn't think we could." Flare said.

The other Flare opened his eyes. "Well, have you ever tried?" He said, smiling weakly.

"No, but I assumed that-"

"You know what they say, 'when you assume you make an ass out of you and me'." He tried to rise, but quickly fell again. He looked at his foreleg. "Well that's interesting."

The four holes were still there, only smaller, to be of scale to the pony.

"Well this doesn't help our problem much. We still need to get you back to Canterlot." Luna said. "And we can only fit two of us in the chariot."

"Give me a minute." The unhurt Flare said, closing his eyes. He delved deep into his soul, looking.

He was shocked when he found the dragon. He realized that since there had been so soul in it, he hadn't been able to sense it, which was why he couldn't change before.

When he opened his eyes again, he was much larger than before.

"Problem solved." He said, clapping his hands together. "Wow, I grew a lot."

More and more ponies were appearing at the scene now.

"We should probably get moving again." Dawn said, eyeing the growing crowd.

Thorn was already strapping himself into the chariot. "Well we can't go anywhere until you get over here."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." He said, moving to his position as the wounded Flare clambered into the back. "Princess? Aren't you coming with us?"

"I am." She said, smiling. "But I can use some exercise. You go ahead, me and Flare will meet you back at the castle."

Thorn and Dawn both gave Flare a smirk then turned forward and took off, not quite as roughly as they had the first time, given the condition of their cargo.

"You do know Celestia's going to flip when she sees him in that condition, right?" Flare asked.

"Oh, I know." Luna said, snickering. "But it will be priceless."

Flare flinched. "Wow, that's mean."

"Oh come on." She said, punching him in the shoulder. "It's Nightmare Night. Everypony could use a good scare."

"Well, if you say so," Flare glanced at the crowd of ponies that had begun to dissipate, going back to the festivities. He grinned mischievously."I think we can give quite a few scares."

____________________

And so began their fun, terrifying every pony in Ponyville. Packs of spiders. Swarms of bats. Occasional appearances by Nightmare Moon herself. And they made a very nice trick of making Flare invisible, having him sneak into a crowd, then pop up. At first the ponies were a bit overwhelmed by all of it, but they got used to it fast.

Flare also took note of the pegasus flying around in a cloud, zapping ponies when they weren't looking.

"Now we can't let her have all the fun, can we?" He said, letting Luna turn him invisible. He, as quietly as possible, glided up behind the cloud. He put his head right beside of the pegasus, who was sneaking up on a group of fillies going down the road.

"Watcha doin'?" He asked, becoming visible again. The pegasus screamed and rolled off of the cloud, dissipating it. Flare chuckled as she flew back towards him, her face turning bright red.

"Not funny." She said, turning around and flying off again.

Flare, still chuckling, glided back over to where Luna was.

"Ah, this is fun." He said.

"Yes it is. But it looks like our fun is over." She said, indicating how much thinner the crowd was. Yes, it was late, so most ponies were turning in for the night.

"Aw. That stinks. We need to have holidays like this more often."

"Now that would take all the fun out of it." Luna said, beginning to walk towards the outskirts of the town. "Come on, we need to be getting back to Canterlot."

"Alright." He said, scooping up Luna and taking off.

"Flare, you don't need to carry me." She said, but she didn't try to free herself.

"I know, but I can make it back to Canterlot in less then three hours, can you?" Flare said, matter-of-factly.

"Point taken." Luna said, settling in for the trip.

Comments

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

Beyond The Doors Of The Dark - Savatage

[Deathpony]

good chapter again as usual

[M Specter]

nice chapter