As the Fire Rages

by StarStrider

Chapter 2

It was a calm night in Ponyville, not a single noise could be heard, and almost everypony was asleep. Twilight Sparkle, however, being the diligent student she remaineda awake in her library, putting away some books she had left out, and pulling out some new ones. She walked over to a chair and sat down, using her magic to pull a blanket over herself as she opened up the book. For the past few days, Twilight had been helping her friends out with numerous tasks, everything from apple bucking to cupcake making. She had gotten behind in her studies, and decided tonight was a good night to catch up.

She sat by a lamp she had on a table, a cup of tea and a few treats beside her as she read her book, describing the different types of magic and spells and how to manipulate them. She already knew most of what it was saying, but she was hoping there would be something to learn within it. With a sip of her tea, she turned the page and kept reading. She finished the book quickly and sighed, placing it down on the table near her. She hadn't learned anything from that book at all, it was just basic magic teachings. She pulled out another book blindly and brought it over to her, reading the cover.

“The properties of Plasma.. Sounds interesting enough.” She smiled and opened the book, having not read anything prior on the subject. With another sip of her tea, and a bite of an apple fritter, she began reading. The book was very intriguing, she in fact did not know most of what knowledge it contained. As she studied, she began thinking off all the experiments she could do. These of course however, would have to wait for morning.

“Wait.. morning!” she thought and looked out the window. The moon was low on the horizon, it was in fact almost morning. She took another sip of her tea and kept staring out the window, waiting for the sun to rise. The moon slowly crept below the horizon, but she didn't see the sun peaking. Confused, she set down the book and walked over to the window. The sun was no where to be seen, all there was in the sky was stars and darkness. Quickly, she ran up to her room “Spike! Wake up!” She shook the baby dragon awake

“Mmm.. give me five more minutes, Twilight.” He rolled over and drifted back to sleep.

“No, Spike this is important!” She shook him more, “I need to write to Celestia, Luna lowered the moon, but the sun hasn't risen! Something must be wrong!”

“Oh Twilight, I'm sure you are just over reacting..” He yawned and tried to go back to sleep, when an echoing crack was rung though tho home

“Oh gosh! What was that!” Twilight quickly trotted downstairs and out the front door. Spike shrugged it off and rolled back over

There was another crack, followed by a louder one as the mare looked around everywhere trying to find the source “It's too dark.. I can't see anything..” She tried frantically to look around.

“Twilight!” she heard rarity call. She too must have heard the cracks and was walking up to meet her friend “Did you hear that noise, dear? I was up all night working on a project when all of the sudden I heard a loud noise! I figured you would be up so I came to ask you if you heard it too?”

The purple mare nodded “Yes, I heard it too. It's weird, it started right after I noticed that-” She started, but was cut off by another crack, followed by a boom. This time, when the two friends looked up, they stared in shock as they saw the mountain on which the princess' castle sat was erupting. Twilight felt a sinking sensation in her chest, as if all the blood inside of her was draining out. Quickly making a plan, she turned to her friend

“Rarity! Go gather the others and meet me back here. There are going to be ponies that need our help..” she ordered the white unicorn, who slowly nodded in agreement, having to forcefully take her gaze off the sight. “I'm going to write to the princess, hurry we might not have a lot of time!” She shouted, rushing back into her house, turning only for a second to catch a glimpse of Rarity running off.

“Spike! Spike! Wake up!” She shouted, waking the sleeping dragon up

“What now?” he rubbed his eyes and looked out the window “Its still night time.”

“No, Spike! The sun never rose this morning, and now the mountain on which Canterlot castle rests is erupting!!” She quickly explained and ran over to a desk with a piece of paper on it, which she quickly started writing a letter on

“Who did what now?” Spike finally got up, but didn't understand anything that was just said to him

“Ughhh, look outside!” She shouted and kept writing. Spike lazily walked over to a window and jumped in surprise “Twilight! The Castle is on fire!”

With a roll of her eyes, she finished the letter. “There, no time to double check it. Spike, send this right away!”

He ran over and took the scroll, taking in a deep breath, but was cut off by another explosion, making him drop the letter. Twilight ran over to her window and looked in horror as she saw the castle get demolished by a wall of lava. She felt like her jaw was on the floor as she stared, the only thing breaking her trance was when all five of her friend came crashing through her door.

“Twilight! What the hay is goin' on with Canterlot?” Applejack spoke up first, having seen the scene from outside

“Yeah, this stuff is crazy! Do you know if the princesses are alright?” Rainbow Dash followed

Twilight shook her head and gave them a worried look, “No, I haven't heard a thing from them. I don't have any idea what is happening!” she was frantically trying to think of anything she might be able to do

“Oh gosh.. I hope everypony is okay..” Fluttershy said softly, looking at the castle as she saw a beam of light shoot out of the lava. With a scream, she ran and hid behind a bookcase, and the others looked in awe as they saw the obsidian structure raise from the lava. From Ponyville, it looked as if a bunch of pure black quartz spires rose from the lava.

Twilight suddenly knew that this was more serious than just a volcanic eruption, “Girls,” She turned to them all and paused, thinking over a plan, “We need to go to Canterlot right now and find out whats happening.

They all looked at her and nodded, and left the Library to get ready, Fluttershy was going home to get medical supplies, Rainbow dash went to get her flight gear, Applejack to get her rope, Rarity to get an outfit to protect her from the heat that the lava would be causing, and Pinkie who had been silent prior to everyone else leaving, bounced her way out talking about all the stuff she was going to bring to throw a get well soon party for the wounded. Meanwhile, Twilight grabbed her saddlebag and started filling it with some books on lava and magma, as well as a few bandages and some water.

“Alright, I'm ready Spike, now I just gotta wait for the others. Did the princess write back yet?” She asked while she paced around the room quickly

“Oh, the letter! I forgot all about it in the commotion!” He picked it up and quickly sent it away

“Spike! You know how important that was! You should have been more-” Twilight had begun to scold him, but was stopped as a bright light was seen emanating from the black structure, so bright that it looked as if the sun had been condensed into one small beam of light. Before she could even begin to ponder what this could have been, Rainbow Dash came crashing in her door

“Twilight come quick! I don't know how, but all the residents of Canterlot just appeared in the middle of town square!” She frantically pointed her arm out the door and flew off. Twilight looked over to Spike, who climbed on her back, and she took off galloping towards Rainbow.

She skidded to a halt, gasping as she saw hundreds of ponies clustered in the square, some wounded with broken limbs and cuts that were being tended to by the Ponyville medical staff, while the others were rushing around looking for loved ones, or trying to find out what happened. Off to the side, she noticed a group of royal guards standing in line together, watching as Fluttershy and the head doctor where working on a pony that looked like he had been burned pretty bad. She was about to head over when there was a bright flash, followed by the sound of lightning, and then finally a loud bang, causing her to spin around and see what it was. To her dismay, she saw that her library had been hit by something, knocking in almost an entire side of it. With a scream, she ran towards the building, not knowing what to expect. Dash seemed to not hear the noise, and flew into the crowd to help.

“Spike! Was it just me or was that a teleportation spell?” asked rhetorically, and before he could respond, she was already at the library, and had kicked in the door. Looking around, she was left in disbelief as she saw Celestia's body laying limp in the center of the room, her coat soaked with blood and her body bruised up. Twilight screeched and ran towards her, but was stopped by a long, dark blue glowing horn that was thrust into her face, making her scream and hop back

“Back! You will not harm my sister!” Luna yelled out, holding a chair up with her magic and preparing to attack the purple unicorn

“L-Luna? It's me! Twilight!” She waved her hooves in the air and turned to show off her cutie mark. With a sigh of relief, Luna dropped the chair and ran to her sisters side, and used her magic to surround Celestia in a blue aura. Twilight cautiously approached the two, and Luna instantly stopped her spell

“I'm sorry I attacked you, Twilight Sparkle, but I was unsure who you were at first. I will explain what happened shortly, but as you can see, my sister is in dire need of assistance. Do you have any bandages or towels I can use?” She asked quickly, looking down to Celestia again and casting the aura around her, not needing to wait for an answer.

The speechless mare nodded and slide the equally speechless dragon off her flank before running to grab what the princess asked for from her bathroom. Rushing over, she placed them next to Luna, who seemed to be concentrating very hard, and had a few tears in her eyes. Twilight took this moment to look over Celesta as Luna worked. She was badly bruised on the side, and her chest looked as if the skin had been singed clean off. The sight sickened her, but she was to worried to hide her sight.

“W-will she be alright, Luna? What happened?” Twilight asked quietly, not taking her eyes of the felled alicorn.

“We were attacked..” Luna stopped the spell once more and shook the tears from her eyes, “Another alicorn rose from the lava, and told us that she was going to take over Equestria.. My sister and I tried to stop her, she reflected our spells back at us with ease.” she explained while getting one of the towels wet by carrying it over to the sink with her magic. After ringing it out, she began to clean Celestia's wound and wipe the blood away, “Celestia.. cast a very powerful spell at the Alicorn, who reflected it back at me. Fearing for my safety, she jumped in front of me and took the full force blast of the beam. It's my fault for being so weak..” She choked on her own tears and kept working on cleaning the would.

Before Twilight could respond, Luna spoke up once more “Twilight Sparkle, I have little to no knowledge on modern medicine.. Is the somepony you know that can help me?” she gave her a pleading look

“Yes princess, I know just the pony. I will be back as quickly as I can.” She rushed out the door as fast as she could, going to get Fluttershy. Luckily, she had just finished with the burn patient when Twilight arrived. With no other explanation than telling her she needed help urgently, and a shove to the flank, the two headed back to the library full sprint.

Fluttershy gasped loudly when she entered the building, and saw the two princesses. She was about to bow, when she noticed the pile of bloody towels. “T-Twilight, what happened?”

Before she could speak, Luna turned, having hear them enter, and walked over quickly, “Oh good! You found a doctor... Please, help my sister, I don't know what more to do..”

Fluttershy cautiously approached the two princesses, looking over Celestia. The burn on her chest looked bad, but she knew what to do. “Th-this will hurt a lot... but its necessary to clean the wound.. I'm sorry princess.”

She pulled out a bottle from her bag and opened it, carefully pouring the liquid on her chest. Even unconscious, Celestia's body reacted to the feeling with violent twitching “Oh dear, Luna.. Could you maybe... hold her.. still? Somehow, if that's okay...”

With a nod, Luna walked over to her sisters side and leaned against her, holding her legs steady as Fluttershy finished coating the wound, and took a towel to press against it, holding it firmly for a while before pulling it back, it now covered in blood and puss “There, now she should be safe from infection..” Fluttershy nodded to Luna, and pulled out a tube of ointment now, gently rubbing it into Celestia's wound, making her fidget a bit more. When she was done with that, she took out some gauze and wrapped it around her chest, neck and shoulders to make sure that the would was completely covered and secure. “There.. that should be good.. You can, um.. let go now, Princess.” she gave a shy smile to Luna, who nodded and stood aside. Fluttershy started applying her ointment to the burns on the white Alicorns side as Luna, finally starting to relax, set herself down on the floor and took a few deep breaths.

“Is she going to be alright?” Twilight asked, walking up next to Luna

“Oh, yes, most definitely.” Fluttershy gave a smile and started wrapping up Celestia's side, “Can I treat your burns now, Luna?” she asked cautiously

Luna blinked a few times and looked down at her own side, having felt it itch before, and was shocked to see that her entire side was burned almost as bad as her sister.

Twilight who also seemed to not have noticed gasped, “Princess! Are you alright?”

Luna raised a hoof and nodded to the yellow pegasus, “Yes, I'm alright. I hadn't even noticed really, but I was down on the burning hot rocks for about a minute before I gained enough energy to get up. This must have happened then, but I was too worried about my dear sister to notice..”

Flutershy walked over and started cleaning her wounds, the pain from her antibiotic was truly painful, and Twilight went to go make some tea, hoping it would help calm the princess.

'Oh Tia, what are we to do.. I hope you awake soon, I'm not sure what to do otherwise..' Luna thought to herself and sighed, resting her head down in her hooves. Her eyelids felt like they were made out of lead, and every muscle in her body ached. She wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep, but she knew she had to come up with a plan first. She didn't know what this Edana would do, but she knew she would have to act fast. Still, the thought of just resting her eyes, seemed nice. 'We might all have to leave Equestria if she keeps doing as she is... All this lava, its like she can control it as if it were a part of her. Tia seemed to know something about her.. If only she were awake..' She sighed and shook her head, standing up so suddenly that it shocked Fluttershy

“D-did I do something wrong princess?”

“No, not at all. I just need to stay up, laying down makes me remember how tired I am after that fight, and my long night prior...” She thought to herself about her time alone with Celestia before the castle was destroyed, and looked over to her with a sorrowful look 'I hope we can still have time for each other..' She sighed and looked down

“Princess Luna, I brought you some tea.” Twilight chirped as she reentered the room, holding a cup of tea with her magic.

Luna nodded and took it from her, “Thank you Twilight Sparkle.” She took a few sips and sat the cup down on a nearby table.

The room grew quiet as Luna thought, and the others didn't know what to say or do. Fluttershy was about to ask if she could go back and help with anyone who might be hurt, when Luna looked up and took a deep breath

“I'm afraid.. We may have to leave our land until we can deal with this alicorn properly.” her statement sounding more like a question.

Twilight tapped her hoof a bit and looked up at the ceiling in thought “I don't think we're at that point yet, Princess. If you don't mind my saying. We should at least wait until tomorrow, maybe Celestia will be awake by then and you two can come up with a plan.”

Luna mulled it over and nodded, “Yes, we will wait a night. However, don't let anyone except those you absolutely trust know that we are here. I need time to think, and no pony needs to see my sister like this..”

The other two nodded in agreement, and Fluttershy spoke up, “If its okay with you, princess, I would like to go help the wounded ponies, and help set up a shelter.”

With a nod from the princess, the pegasus left he library, leaving Twilight and Luna alone.

“Well princess, what do we do now?”

“Its time I give a warning... one that has not be given since many years before I was banished.. I only hope some remember what it means.”

Before Twilight could ask, Luna tilted her head back, her horn shimmering a light blue and sending a few sparks off. Her wings spread out wide and she kicked up in the air, her whole body emitting waves of powerful magic. Twilight stared in awe at the sight that was over in only a few seconds. “There... It's done.” Luna sighed and sat back down on the floor

“Whats done?” Twilight asked, honestly not knowing what happened.

Luna gestured towards a window, and Twilight walked over, looking through it. There, high in the sky, was the moon. Full and and bright. Except instead of its normal soft white, it was shined a deep red, a sign Twilight was taught was back in kindergarten. It was the sign of war

Comments

[Professor Donger]

Except instead of its normal soft white, it was shined a deep red, a sign Twilight was taught was back in kindergarten. It was the sign of war

THIS ISH JUST GOT FUCKING REAL!!

[StarStrider]

33427

lmao :)

[Professor Donger]

33475 when i was reading chapter one was i was like "This chapter is cool and i don't understand why its called as the...-Alicorn comes out of the lava- HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THAT!" and then i waited and then you made chapter 2 and i'm like "OH SHIT!" this story is just amazing thats all i can say about it it may need some grammar and stuff but that dosn't end the fact that this story is fucking BAWS!

[StarStrider]

33480

XD This comment seriously had me laughing, thanks for all the kind words :) I will hopefully have part 3 out soon!

[Professor Donger]

33616 HUZAH!