The Firestone: Part I
It was dark that night. The trees shielded the starlight from touching the mossy ground. Not a sound could be heard, not even the sound of the nocturnal creatures that usually strode over the forest floors. A lone, dark figure walked through the forest, eyes wide open, ears on sharp.
He was cloaked in grey, his hood cast a shadow over his bright-purple eyes. His trot was slow and careful, yet he stood upright with pride. He knew he had to be cautious, especially around these parts. The Princess’ guards were everywhere, even though he couldn’t hear or see them. He knew they were after him, they knew he had stolen the artifacts. But what they didn’t know was that he wasn’t quite done yet.
Still, he knew that there was no way he could get caught. He, the fright of all guards! The nightmare of all goody-two-shoes! He is the best bandit there is, even priming his brother, and nopony could stop him! But he couldn’t stop to brag about his accomplishes. He had to focus at the task at hoof. He had a very, very important job to do. This raid could earn him the status of legend! He would be famous all over Equestria!
There were ponies who thought him mad for chasing his prize. It was nothing but a legend, they said. But this object, the Firekey, would take him to his ultimate prize that would make him the mightiest stallion of Equestria! It would give him the control over fire, and with that element at hand, nopony could stop him! Not even the Princesses!
And if there were anypony who would stand in his way, he would simply vanquish them with a flick of his tail. Just like his big brother would…
No. He is better than him.
He is the Deadliest Stallion of Equestria.
His mention sends chills down ponies’ spines.
His name is Nightshade.
~
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
“Swift....”
The young changeling was lying on a couch in the Strikers HQ, the base of Equestria’s crime fighters.
Swift yawned and threw the ball again against the wall.
It has been weeks since their last adventure: their incredible battle against Mörk. They have all recovered from their wounds - but the scars they’ve gotten won’t go away so easily.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
“Swift, can you please stop…” the dragon started again. He stood up to his full length now. He was big, with dark blue scales. He had mystical runes written over his back. His big wings were hanging loose over his back, ready to be spread. His orange eyes stood really, really annoyed.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
“Swift, I’m not going to be nice forever…” he said, with his low, raspy voice.
The changeling only smirked.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-dump-pok.
Ba-tsssssssssss…..
“Hey!” Swift said. The dragon had caught the ball and squeezed it until there was no air left.
“Why did you do that?”
“It was either the ball, or your head.” Enerjack said.
Swift looked away, mumbling something about ‘dragons’ and ‘short tempers’. Luckily for him, Enerjack didn’t hear that.
The door to the rec-room opened. Warpath came in. He still had a limp in his front paw from their last fight; but it would go away soon. He had four claws instead of hooves and jet-black scales over his body, but his head was one of a unicorn.
“Message from the Princesses. We’ve got a new assignment.”
“Oh! cool!” Swift said. He sprung up. “What is it? When are we going to kick somepony’s…”
He got shoved aside by Enerjack. “Shut up, kid.” He turned to the old Unidragon. “Where are the others, anyway? I haven’t seen them in two weeks.”
“Gathering intelligence about our new assignment.” Warpath said.
Behind Enerjack, Swift was fuming quietly. He was making faces to the back of Enerjack. Warpath noticed this. He snorted and rolled his eyes.
“When are you two ever going to fight it out?” he said. “We can’t work together if there’s tension within our group.”
Enerjack huffed. “Fight? What fight? Oh, you mean Swift’s petting? I hardly would call that a fight.”
“Oh yeah?” Swift couldn’t contain it anymore. “Well, now you’re so going to get it, you big steaming pile of…”
With a bang, the door slammed open again.
“Warpath! Here you are.” The black unicorn stallion was panting. “We’ve got news.”
Warpath lifted his eyebrow. “What kind of news?”
“Bad news,” the stallion replied, lifting some stray strands of neon-blue mane out of his equally blue eyes.
Warpath sighed. “Where’s Snipit?”
“He’s still in the field. He’s... okay.” he said, unsure. “Other bad news.”
“Spill it.” Swift said. Carbon took a deep breath.
“It’s Nightshade. He’s after the Firestone.”
Warpath grunted. “That’s nothing more but a legend.”
Carbon looked at him and slowly shook his head. “No, it isn’t a legend.. Nightshade told us that the Firestone was real. He’s planning on taking over the world with it.” Carbon said.
Swift frowned. “Fire magic?”
“Ancient magic that has been used by fire mages, who could control fire and heat, as well as the lack of it. They could boil your blood or take all the warmth out of you.” he explained quickly.
“Okay, okay,” Swift said, “And who is this ‘Nightshade’?”
“Have you been sleeping during briefing or something?” Enerjack sneered. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”
This was awarded with a glare from Swift. Enerjack only smirked.
“You, you…” Swift was so angry, he couldn’t come out of his words. Enerjack grinned.
“Yeah? What were you saying?” he replied.
Swift was scowling. Enerjack finally laughed out loud, annoying the changeling even further.
Warpath sighed and turned to Carbon.
“Will Snipit come back to HQ? Or will he stay on the field?”
“He stayed behind to gather some... crucial info about Nightshade,” Carbon answered. He looked at the ground. “I… I don’t know when he’ll be back.”
Warpath nodded. “All right. If he comes back today, we’ll discuss his findings. If not, we’ll follow his trail and find him.”
Carbon nodded. Warpath turned away and trotted out of the room with Carbon following behind. Swift noticed Carbon had a slight limp.
“Hey, Carbon! Watcha’ got on that leg?”
Carbon looked at Swift, and then to his hurt leg. He pulled it up and looked forward.
“Nothing.”
Quickly, he went out of the room. Swift frowned.
“Well, that was weird.” Enerjack said.
“Yeah… wait, hold it!” Swift said.
“You still owe me a fight.”
Enerjack snorted.
“Bring it. I can use the practice.”
~
It was quiet in the training room. It was just like they’ve left it so many weeks ago: the sandy middle, the spiked outer rings. The walls were fireproof, and behind the walls were smaller training cubicles specialized for each of the Strikers.
Enerjack stretched his wings. It had been so long since he had used them. The doctors said he had to rest, something he didn’t want to do at all. He hated doing nothing. But, at last, the waiting period was over and he could fly again. He was still a little rusty though.
Opposite of him, Swift was flexing his hooves. His one fore hoof still hurt a bit, but it had fully healed. His cuticle wings were good as well, but sometimes they would skip a beat and he would lose control.
Enerjack grunted and took off. His mighty dragon wings sent dust flying through the air, right in Swift’s face. The young changeling coughed, but he shook the dust off his chitin-like coat and jumped in the air as well, his wings buzzing.
In the air, they circled around each other for a moment, studying their opponents. Swift’s eyes narrowed, and Enerjack smirked. The changeling huffed and shot even further in the air. Enerjack followed suit.
Before Enerjack could reach Swift’s height however, the changeling rocketed himself towards the dragon, catching him off-guard. He lost control over his wings and they both fell towards the ground.
But before they could hit the ground, Enerjack regained control over his wings and gave a mighty beat, propelling him upwards. Swift grunted to keep himself from falling. He hissed and looked up at the laughing dragon above him.
“Ha! Is that all you can do?” he said. Swift scowled, and unsheathed Shinigami, his katana..
“Ooh, now we’re getting serious.” Enerjack taunted and drew his own two tanto´s, Hellraiser and Judgment. With a loud yell, the young changeling propelled himself upwards. The clash of their blades echoed throughout the room.
A wild sword fight in the air followed. Enerjack raised Judgment, in his left claw, while Hellraiser in his right plunged forward. Swift quickly dodged the blades and let Shinigami clash against Judgment, that was forced downwards. He quickly turned in the air to position himself correctly and plunged his own blade forward, but the blade met Enerjack’s two swords with a loud clang.
The two stayed like this for a moment, panting, their blades pressed together.
“Let’s dance.” Swift hissed through gritted teeth. He retracted Shinigami and ducked, letting the swords shoot out above him. To his dismay, Hellraiser slipped from Enerjack´s claw. It fell down and landed on the ground. Enerjack grunted. Swift took a short moment of victory, before attacking from below.
Enerjack recovered quickly and made a front-flip in the air, eyeing him from upside down, lowering his blades until they were at Swift’s eye level. But Swift swung himself backwards and saw the blades pass his nose only by a hair.
He did a backflip, his wings burning. He grunted to keep himself steady. Enerjack used the time to spin in the air. He used the movement to bring more power in his attack. He plunged forward to Swift, who could just raise Shinigami to block the attack.
Swift could hear Enerjack panting.
“So, the big guy is getting tired already? he sneered. Enerjack laughed shakily.
“Oh, no no no. It’s not over yet.”
With a loud roar, he beat his wings. He shot upwards, raising Judgment in the air with both his claws.
Swift’s eyes went wide and tried to par the attack, but the sheer force propelled him down to the ground. His wings were now really burning, but he could see in Enerjack’s eyes that his wings were hurting as well.
At the very last moment, inches before Swift hit the ground, he rolled sideways out of harm’s way. He landed on the ground with a thud, panting.
Enerjack could just catch himself and beat his wings before he hit the ground softening his fall, but one of his sore wings hit the sand. He gritted his teeth and fell on his side.
They both lay there, panting. Swift shook his head and tried to stand, but he found he was too tired for that. He picked Shinigami up and put it in its sheath. With a sigh, he looked over to his friend.
“Heh…” he panted. “I. I won.”
“Wha…” Enerjack grunted, dismayed. “No… what?”
Swift laughed. Enerjack let his face sink in the sand with a grunt.
“Stupid changeling…” he mumbled. “I’m gonna get you back.”
But Enerjack couldn’t hide the smile that was growing on his face.
~
One week ago, Warpath had Snipit and Carbon summoned to his office.
Even though Snipit’s wings were still damaged from the last flight, he could hover with them for longer and longer without any pain. His magic had fully come back, luckily. Even though he was an Alicorn, he couldn’t really fly anyway. Neither did he have any ‘royal duties’: he had refused that long ago.
Carbon’s shapeshifting abilities had fully returned. He had practiced his illusion magic whenever he could. Now he was better than ever at changing forms.
“I have a special assignment for you two.” the Unidragon stated.
Snipit frowned.
“Why us, and not Swift or Enerjack?” .
“Their wounds are still healing. You’re the fittest of us.”
“Horseapples.” the blue Alicorn mumbled under his breath. Warpath didn’t hear him.
Carbon rolled his eyes and sighed upon Snipit’s remark.
“You see, there is a problem the Princesses have their eyes on.” Warpath continued. “And we need you two to see if there is actually something to worry about.”
With his magic, Warpath picked a file from one of the cabinets and put them on his desk. He gathered a few photos and held them up. All of them were starring one stallion. They were shot at different angles, but one thing always stood out: his dark-purple eyes.
“This is Nightshade.” he stated. “His crime history is not much, nor makes him a threat to Equestria. But that is when you look at the crimes apart.”
He took one of the pages from the file.
“This one dates a few weeks ago. It states that he has broken into a local museum. Even though it claims that all the artifacts are real, most of them are actually fake. The real ones would be in a high-security hidden vault, by the way,” he added.
“What did he take?” Snipit asked.
“Nothing of actual value - only one document, worthless because it’s written in a strange language. Nopony was able to translate it, and it didn’t pick the interest of any big-wig-scientists, so it was sold to a backwater museum who had too much space.”
The Alicorn blew some strands of his brown mane out of his face and cocked his eyebrow.
“And he thought he could read it?” he said, mocking.
Warpath shrugged.
“I don’t know. Anyway,” he grabbed another paper, “Second thievery: this one was failed, and still nopony knows what he was after exactly, but he did manage to leave an impression with the guards. Later reports told he was ‘wielding fire’, but I don’t know how much of that is true.”
Snipit snorted. “Wielding fire…”
“Then, third case.” His expression turned sour. “This one’s the most suspicious. One night, he had threatened an old artifact trader in his distant cabin in the forest. The trader later told us that he had asked for something that only appeared in myths.”
Warpath sighed deep and looked both stallions in the eye.
“The Firekey.”
Snipit frowned. “What is a Firekey?”
“A key, that is said to lead to an Elemental: the Firestone. With the stone, you’ll have control over fire and warmth. If this stone would fall in the wrong hooves…”.
Warpath frowned.
“Of course, the trader didn’t know where it was, or where it leads to, and I can assure you it’s a fake,” he said, emphasizing it by looking both of them in the eye. Snipit could swear he could see a flicker of distrust, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.
“However,” he continued, ”I have reasons to believe Nightshade had his own ideas.”
He leaned back with a grunt.
“Now, with me, Swift and Enerjack wounded, it only leaves you to determine if he’s a threat to Equestria. Report to me once you’ve gathered enough information.”
Snipit frowned. He thought about it for a minute, and then, he nodded.
“All right. Where is he now?”
“He was last sighted in Northern Hayseed Forest, near Dodge Junction.”
“Well then, Dodge Junction it is.” Snipit said.
“When are we going?”
“Now.”
Carbon had been silent the entire conversation, but Warpath’s answer took him by surprise. “Now?” Carbon said, “but what about - ”
“-Swift and Enerjack? They’ll be briefed about this. They’ll join you on this mission once they’re ready.” Warpath interrupted.
“Dismissed.”
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Hey, Story it great so far, a tiny bit of editing wouldn't hurt but the story it awesome!
5547937 ^^) Thank you!
Hopefully there weren't too many... were there?
I've still let some mistakes slip through my vision?
Nope it was good. Glad to find other people to talk to on the interwebs.
5547964
Eh, I think it's always fun to talk!
yea
shows that these are actual people writing these stories, and not robots.
Although they could also be ponies
5548004 Who says I'm not a pony?
yes all pony profiles are self portraits. Although mine is my Marefriend, Shiela.
Sterling Stonesong is currently participating in The Games, That's the story i'm working on right now. Also I'm currently looking for OC's to add to it. Got anything?
5548035 Well, I think I've got something here, Let me PM it to you.
k
thanks for your support. Not all of the OC's can be mine after all.
5548068 I know exactly what you mean.
My first story was a full-OC story, and most of the characters weren't even mine! But together with their help I've made it into a great story. This one is the semi-sequel.
That's one of the joys of social networking with MLP fans.
Friendship is magic and everyone respects it.
Dear Princess Celestia
Today my Fanfiction of me and Rainbow Dash got lost of likes!
5548092 A tip: join some groups! OC groups for example, or helping groups. Go to their forum and ask for OC's! Get it out there!
Thx, never thought of that...
Heh heh yeah I'm still really new here.