Awaken the Volcano
Walking up the great mountainside, Twilight's hooves crunched against the hard ground with each step. Embers puffed out from her hooves with every step higher up the tall face. She looked up to see there was only several hundred feet until she made it to the top.
"So, what am I to expect to see up there?" Twilight asked out loud.
'I would rather not spoil the surprise until you get there yourself, Twilight...' Crimson responded, 'it's best you are the one to see it.'
Nodding to herself, Twilight walked onward towards her goal. Something that caught her attention was the closer she came to the peak, she felt like her power itself was actually growing stronger, swirling inside her body like a bubbling cauldron. While it did feel strange to her, she couldn't help but feel excited by the sensation flowing through her veins. A grin spread across her muzzle when she saw only a few more steps remained.
"Perhaps I can see why I was chosen now." She whispered to herself as she placed her hooves on the final ledge and pulled herself up.
Lying before her was what appeared to be a giant meteor crater instead of a volcano top. The mile wide opening of the crater dropped over five hundred feet down to the lowest point in the center, the outer edge shattered in multiple directions. The inner plain was covered in large waves of hardened lava and dried magma spires. It was like a page was pulled from the fantasy war books she used to read and brought to life.
'It's quite the sight, isn't it?' Crimson asked her.
"Yes, it's nothing like I had expected to see." Twilight responded. "But staring at scenery isn't why we are here, is it?"
Crimson chuckled at her statement. 'Quite eager, aren't you? Alright then, perhaps it's best to not keep history waiting any longer.'
Looking down into the large crater, Twilight took note of the single clear spot in the center, almost calling her to it. Charging her magic, she teleported down onto the spot, a small ring of flames bursting out as she landed on the ground. Her burning red eyes looked down, widening in shock to what she saw beneath her. "What... What's that?"
Her eyes pierced straight through the thick stone like it was glass, allowing her to see what appeared to be an ocean of magma flowing deep inside the heart of the volcano. The great center chamber was larger than the very mountain Canterlot sat on, dwarfing it in height and width. Massive rivers of molten rock pumped through the veins of the mountain and down through the base, constantly feeding the single chamber.
'That Twilight is the very reason you are here. You can sense the very presence of fire because of my powers gifted to you, and it allows you to use it to find energy for your use. While you can create any source you wish, why not use an unlimited pool of power to feed off?'
Twilight stared down at the lava beneath her, feeling the energy pulsing as it passed underneath. "So... This here is the very reason to why we came.'
'No volcano in Equestria is anywhere near this large. In fact no volcano anywhere else in the world is the close to in size. It's the perfect source of power for tapping into. Now it's time for you to do it.'
"To prove exactly what I am worth..." Twilight hissed through her teeth. "Prove how far I have come in strength."
'Yes. I tried doing it in my lifetime, but my powers became unstable and ended up losing to my own magic. Now you have it, and must prove their is no limit to magic. Raise this volcano from its slumber and enter a new age. An age where only the strongest will stand on top.'
Grinning in excitement, Twilight shut her eyes and focused her mind. She could physically feel the lava deep inside the mountain, almost feeling like it was begging to be set free from its prison. She took a deep breath and used her power to grab the lava and pulled.
To her surprise however the lava didn't move.
'You cannot simply pull it like you had done with your power before. The sheer size alone is not something to toss around. You must take control and force it to your will.' Crimson sneered. 'Make it your servant!'
Gritting her teeth, Twilight re gripped the lava and pulled once more. She grunted and ripped with all her might to raise the great pool, already feeling sweat dripping down her brow. "Make it mine..." She growled, "make it mine!"
Her mane began flaring out in all directions, the fire pulsating out every second. She ripped harder at the magma, slowly forcing it through the giant slabs of stone. The more she pulled however, the more it felt like it was going to stay inside mountain.
'Come on, Twilight! You are not going to fail at this are you? Are you going to let yourself not accomplish your goal and allow the princesses to kill you?' Crimson warned her. 'If you let that happen, then all of this is for none, and you will be dead!'
Twilight panted as she pulled harder and harder at the lava, barely creeping it any higher than it was before. Her hooves cracked the ground in all directions beneath her, splintered rock flying up in the air. Rings of fire rushed out in pulsating waves with every pull she gave, yelling out as loud as her lungs would allow.
'Prove right now what you can do. What your power can do. DO WHAT YOU WERE DESTINED TO DO!"
Screaming out one last time, Twilight pulled with everything she had and shattered the crater on all her sides as lava burst through the top. Thousands of gallons of burning earth spewed out through the opening and filled up the crater base, flowing out into large ponds across the area. Twilight panted in exhaustion to having finally broken through the hard surface, opening her eyes to see what she had done.
Melted red earth oozed along the ground beneath her hooves, the waves of heat rushing across her fur like flowing water. Thick smoke rose into the air and darkened the sky. It was just like her dreams that had been holding onto her mind for the past months, forewarning her of what she was going to do to the world she grew up in. Realizing all of this, she only did the one thing that came to her mind.
She smiled.
---
Deep within the dragon domain, the two scouts from the country border flew through the smoke filled sky. The air was always in this condition due to the great lava pits and fires that dotted the landscape below. While most other creatures wouldn't be able to see through such harsh conditions, a dragons sense of sight and smell easily allowed them to fly through pretty much any form of debris or weather patterns and still know where they were going.
Coming through a thick cloud of smoke, the two came into view of the stronghold Vangara, the the great capital of Montara. Built inside of a mountain range, the great stone city covered fifty square miles of land, far larger than any other city in the world. The mountain faces were carved out into a maze of tunnels made into homes for drakes of all shapes and sizes. And at the front was their destination, a smoldering volcano covered in jagged spikes across the surface. The home of the king.
The two scouts turned towards each other and nodded, dropping through the air towards their destination. At the base of the mountain was a giant cave almost two hundred feet tall faded into darkness, leading to the master of all dragons. The moment they landed down at the entrance, a large shadow passed overhead before a heavy object slammed down in front of them. They both turned up to see a blue, fifty foot dragon staring down at them, it's two heads swiveling on serpent like necks.
"So, what do we have here?" One of the heads asked with a smirk.
"It seems to be two perimeter guards abandoning their post and taking a stroll." The other chuckled. "You still have two days to go until relief."
Holding back his snarl, one of the guards stepped forward and bowed to his knee. "We have important news for the king. There's been an intruder on the western border by Mount Volvack."
"And... You just decided to fly on over here instead of taking care of the problem?" The large blue dragons left head spit on the ground before continuing. "The western border is Equestria, so for what reason do you have that you couldn't take care of a small pony waddling through?"
"Probably got frightened and pissed his scales." The other head chuckled.
The second guard bared his teeth and stepped forward. "I'd watch what you say you two headed douche! I don't care how tall you are, I'll still stick both your heads up-
"Oh now look what we got here! Quite spunky isn't he?" The blue dragon laughed out loud while cracking his knuckles, "been boring this morning and would be entertaining to see you try."
"Look, we just came to see the king, that's all." The first guard yelled trying to calm the situation. "There's no reason for this."
"Look here you little shit, you level one guards don't just waltz on in and talk to the king. Only level three and up like myself gain access to him, and that still only happens with level four approval."
"You wish to see me?"
All three dragons froze at the powerful voice that rumbled out from the cave behind them. They turned around to see the golden snout of Volvack, the great dragon king emerge from the shadows.
His giant head was over twenty feet long alone, connected to a thick and powerful neck. Even crawling on all fours, his back was a hundred feet off the ground, nearly double the size of all other dragons. At almost three thousand years old, he was the single oldest living creature in the world, the next oldest creature being his eldest daughter. His wings and body were covered in tears and scars from fights and battle over the last two millennium. Even with his age however, no creature dared challenge his power.
Feeling the ground shake from each of Volvacks steps, the dual headed guard lowered his heads to the ground and bowed. "My lord, it's an honor to have you-
"What was that damn yelling out here for?" Volvack growled in annoyance as he sat up, his head rising an additional fifty feet into the air. "I could hear it from inside."
All three of the smaller drakes trembled in fear of angering their king, unsure what was going to happen. Looking back up, the double headed guard spoke first. "My lord, these two came from the outer perimeter asking to speak to you. I tried telling them they had to have clearance before it could be passed on."
Volvack sighed and scratched his head. "That rule again... Hmm, I'll allow this one. I'm feeling in a good mood surprisingly." He turned back towards the cave and waved them his way. "Come on, I was preparing my breakfast so we can talk in there."
As the great king walked inside, the two smaller guards looked at each other before walking after him. The giant tunnel led deep into the mountain interior, opening up to a chamber over two thousand feet across lined in white crystal pillars. A large lava pool bubbled in the left corner of the room by another tunnel leading out to the crater top. Topping off the decoration inside was the carcass of a large hydra sprawled across the floor. While diamonds were the main part of a dragons diet, meat was an occasional treat to splurge on.
"Sorry about the trouble caused by my guard outside." Volvack grunted as he sat down next to the hydra and began scraping off the outer scales off the carcass. "Having so many requests back in the day I couldn't even take a bath without being disturbed. Had to use this new process to gather a bit of peace."
"I-it's no problem sir, I understand you would want you're own time." One of the guards said, his voice filled with a hint of nervousness. Even though they came to speak to him, any dragon felt a bit in the presence of their king.
"So you're a guard on the border correct?" Volvack asked. "So what made you come all the way to me?"
"Well my lord, we were on patrol by Mount Volvack when we spotted an intruder."
Volvack gave an annoyed sigh at hearing that volcano, never understanding why they wanted to name it after him. "So what's the problem then? I assume a few ponies coming into our land couldn't have been handled by you two? You know the rules; no pony is allowed in my home."
"I know, I understand sir. It's just that... This pony seemed different. It was a unicorn but it was like... Unlike any I've seen before."
"So what about this unicorn was so different that you couldn't force it out?" Volvack grunted in annoyance to the avoidance of the answer. "Jus get to the point."
The small guard winced to the deep voice echoing in the chamber. "W-well sir. The pony... It was on fire."
Volvack stopped moving his claws when he heard that. He turned his head down towards the guard, his eyes wide with interest now. "A pony that was on fire, you say?"
"Yes sir, I saw it as well." The other dragon answered.
Volvack tilted his head in curiosity to what was being said, a certain image popping up inside his head. "And this pony was a unicorn, correct? With a white coat and red eyes?"
Both guards jaws open slightly in disbelief. "We didn't see the eyes of it and... Wait, my lord do you... You know about this pony?"
Looking up to the black volcanic ceiling, Volvack sat in deep thought at the revelation being told to him. 'Can it be the same pony? No, that was over a thousand years ago when... No wait, That princess I confronted back then. Celestia, wasn't it? She was insistent on the Phoenix and...' He snapped out of his thoughts and looked back down to the two. "Have you told anyone else about this?"
"No sir, we thought it would be best to tell you."
After Contemplating for a few seconds, Volvack cast a large grin and went back to cleaning the carcass. "Don't worry about a thing, soldiers. Just go and enjoy the day off for now."
Both guards gave confused looks to each other. "Ugh, I'm sorry my lord?" One of them questioned. "But what about the intruder?"
"Just let it be. It won't be a threat to us. And just to be clear, this stays between us, you understand?" Volvack looked back to them to make sure they heard him, receiving a nod from both of them. "Good day, then. You're excused."
Watching them leave his den, Volvack leaned back and looked back towards the ceiling. "So after all these years that pony has returned. It still feels like it just happened recently."
His mind flashed backed back to that time so many centuries ago, back when that one pony broke the ancient treaty set between the two clans of Equestria and Montara. Yet this unicorn wanted only one thing in mind when it entered the land. To set off the volcano and destroy its own home. He could still remember the princess coming to him, asking for his help when her own student turned into a walking flamethrower.
"Help her with a pony problem..." Volvack chuckled to himself, "...it's not like his goal was of any threat to us. A little fire here and there is no big deal to us. Besides... It's what has been coming there way since you turned your back on us."
Laughing out loud to himself, Volvack leaned back and smiled up. "You hear that, Starswirl? You had this coming your way the moment you betrayed us. Maybe if you didn't turn against every ally you had you're world wouldn't be so isolated now. If you hadn't stolen what was ours I would have probably helped! Now you can watch your kingdom fall apart with your failure of a student losing your corrupted empire. Everything comes around in the end Starswirl!"
---
Back at the Montara border, the blackened sky loomed over the top of the tall peak. Lava bubbled across the large lake that was now inside mount Volvack. The entire crater's base now was underneath the molten liquid spilling out of the large opening made earlier. And sitting on a higher ledge overlooking it all was Twilight.
Her bright red eyes stared down beneath her, watching with intent as the lava level continued to rise. Now that she had relaxed after her exhaustion from earlier, she simply rested as the mountain did the rest. "So now this volcano has woken up from its long dormancy, thanks to me." Twilight whispered to herself.
'You handled it a lot better than I anticipated, Twilight...' Crimson responded to her, '...it took most of my energy the first time when I did it in my life, but you have already recovered your strength. It's truly a sign that you are the perfect pony for this ability.'
Twilight chuckled at his statement. "You make it sound like I am the only pony meant for this power."
'Perhaps you are the only one. If you weren't born, then I would still be waiting in limbo for a stronger unicorn.'
"I should take that as a compliment then..." Twilight smirked and stood back up, "now I wonder what is the plan you had in mind now this volcano is awake and-
A blinding blue flash of light cut Twilight off mid sentence as she turned up toward the source. What appeared to be a shooting star barreled through the air and crashed landed in the lava pit a hundred yards away. The lava around the area exploded outward before suddenly hardening in the air, creating a stone like wave formation out from the epicenter. Confused to what just happened, Twilight jumped down onto the magma surface and slowly trotted towards the object. As the smoke cleared however, her heart rate jumped at the sight of a familiar face staring at her.
"Luna..." Twilight hissed between her teeth.
Luna stood there staring right at the burning unicorn, her eyes filled with pain and hatred through the opening of her helmet. Her cheeks were stained from the tears that had escaped her eyes earlier, giving her face a more hardened expression.
"Twilight... What have you done?" Luna whispered out, "I saw what happened to Hoofington."
Twilight furrowed her brow at the lunar princess, remembering the town she went through the night before.
"Over two hundred ponies lived in that town. Innocent ponies that had lost their lives in that inferno." Luna's breath came in quick pants the more she spoke, partial to the intense heat of the lava, but the true fire was burning inside her heart.
"You took away innocent souls and left them to die in that blaze you caused." Luna grinded her teeth in anger as her horn began glowing bright. "You're nothing more than a monster that has gone against everything sacred in this world. Any pony that would do something like that should be banished to the furthest reaches of Tartarus and never released."
Seeing the blue magic increase on the alicorns horn, Twilight braced her body and summoned three fireballs to her side. "So that is the only reason you came here for, isn't it? Just to kill me after everything you and your sister tried to do to me?" She snapped back.
"No Twilight, I didn't come here to banish you..." Luna responded back to her, shutting her eyes as her magic flowed towards her back. "A pony that would ever commit crimes like that doesn't even deserve a prison sentence. They deserve the same pain to themselves as what they did to others."
Twilight's body tensed as she noticed the magic dropping towards the strange sword strapped to Luna's back. Her horn became engulfed in fire as she prepared for the incoming attack. When the magic did pull however, a sword didn't follow.
Only a blue star covered cape flowed out from the princess.
Luna's eyes opened back up, but no hatred was seen. Only a sense of sorrow. "You are not that pony who did those things Twilight."
Confused by the sudden change, Twilight lowered the fireballs into the lava beneath her and stood back up. She stared at the cape for several seconds before she realized what exactly it was. It was the same Starswirl costume she made for Nightmare Night and gave to Luna.
"You remember this, don't you?" Luna asked her, "you wore this the first time I came out to Ponyville after you saved me. The entire town was afraid of me, not wanting me to even come near them. You however saw through the fear and accepted me as a friend. In fact... You were my first friend, Twilight."
Luna levitated the cape towards Twilight, allowing her to use her own magic and carry it towards herself. "You taught me the true meanings of being a friend and helped me adjust to this new society. I felt the kindness in your heart and I can only think of one thing. It is that you could never do something as horrible as what happened."
Staring down at the cape, Twilight felt memories flow through her mind of all the different things that happened that night. "I do remember that night quite well, Princess..." She responded, a small smile creeping across her face. "The different things we tried to do to get the other ponies to have fun. We also had that prank for the fillies and colts in the forest which showed you what they wanted. Heh heh, yes, all those times back then."
The fire on Twilight's mane began to slowly settle down, the flames not as ecstatic as before. Luna's eyes widened as the fire almost came to a standstill. 'If I can get through to her, then perhaps I can stop this before it gets worse.'. Before she could say anything however, the cape caught fire and incinerated in seconds. Her mouth fell open as Twilight glared right at her.
"Back when I was a slave."
Luna watched in horror as the cape fell apart in scorched pierces before burning up completely. "Twilight, please. You don't want any of this, do you?" Luna pleaded, "I know you are the kind of pony that-
"That what? That sits around waiting to be told what task needs to be done today? To write a letter telling her what books of hers I finished? No, I am done with that..." Twilight snapped at her, "I can't believe I ever let myself think she actually cared for me. that my friends cared for me. That you actually care for me."
"Twilight, how could you even say anything like that? You know we care for you deeply." Luna stepped towards the edge of her hardened spot, her glistened eyes filled with hope.
"You mean by having all those so called friends spy on me to tell the princess what I'm doing? By keeping Spike around simply to get messages to her faster? She even tried to kill me when she found out the power I had!"
Luna turned her head to the side in shame knowing that was the truth. "Yes, my sister panicked when she found out who exactly was hiding inside your body. Her reaction came without thinking because she was afraid. But she was afraid of him... Not you, Twilight. Even now are you saying these things, or is he?"
Twilight rolled her eyes at the attempt. "You mean afraid that her throne would be pulled out from her? I am tired of having everything in my life be a lie. Even you trying to be so friendly to me. If you are here to save me, why do you have that sword with you?" She asked pointing a hoof at Luna's back.
Luna swallowed the lump in her throat at the remark as Twilight continued. "Now I see what my life has been and what I can do, and I am going to do that exactly."
"Twilight, please listen to me. You are better than this and you know it. You know what is right and wrong, and you can make the choice to choose who you are. You have to see the light and come back to it."
"Yes, I do see the light. I see a bright light ahead of me..." Twilight's grin curled up her muzzle, her eyes growing more cold as she laughed. "My light is the greatest fire Equestria has ever seen. I will show everypony my power as my flames spread across to every inch of this land. I will prove what true strength is."
A cold feeling fell into Luna's heart at the words coming out of Twilight's mouth. She couldn't believe this was the same pony that she came to call friend. Even when she was hoping to see a glimmer of hope in her, she just felt a cold hatred flowing from the young unicorn.
Clenching her teeth, Luna's horn glowed bright again. "Twilight, I know you are still in there somewhere. Even if it's far inside and locked away, I know it's still inside. Even with what has happened, if I can save you i will do everything I can to do that." She paused as she gripped the hilt of the sword, sliding it out several inches, "but mark my words if you continue down the path you are, I will do whatever I feel necessary to make sure it never happens again."
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Luna, quick! Pull out a Super Soaker!
5107766
Twilight... Turn back... Before it's too late...
5107766 Lol!
There isn't going to be a happy ending, is there?
Perhaps you should fix that
Damn, really enjoying this!
Nice to see that Luna is actually thinking for a change and admiting her her and hers sister faults in all this mess, though it may have come a bit to late considering that Twilight is already at her world destruction path. If Luna acted like this before, back when she had advantage, Twilight would have listen, but when Luna try to ask Twilight to stop destroying the world before it is to late when Twilight is already on pik of her power, Twilight can just assume she is lying out of desperation.
It is always best to convince others that you are telling the true is by your actions and words when you have advantage. When you hold your sword on enemy's neck but show mercy, when you are winning the war but ask for peaceful solution. But when you are lossing and ask for peace or try to convince the one who is having sword on your neck, it just come out as desperation.
The only way I see for Luna to convince Twilight that she is doing the wrong thing is to win the fight against the corrupted unicorn and hold sword on Twilight's neck. However, Luna cannot just retreat the sword and hope that Twilight will take it as sight of mercy, she need to tell Twilight that she could kill her here and now, but she don't want because she care for her, and next she need to point out that she and Luna had many opportunities to kill her before, but they didn't. It is the best solution to convince Twilight to turn from her path of destruction and recognize the true lies.
However, knowing this fanfict, this is what is going to happen: Luna fight against Twilight and have her flank kicked to her. The sword of shadow become Twilight's possesion, and not only it will increase her already outstanding power, but also deeper the corruption, making her even more insane. Celestia arrive and beg Twilight for forgiveness, but for Twilight will just see it as desperation and more lies of defensless opponent and kill Luna, making Celestia go into rage mode, but gets defeated anyway, and than it will come to Spike and Twilight's friends to save her, or get burned to ashes and we get bad ending.
Long story short: Unless Luna or Celesita will defeat Twilight but show her mercy and explain that they care for her, all their words seems to be just lies of desperation. They already had this opportunity when Twilight was unconcious and in cage, but they wasted it.
5107915 perhaps, but the story isn't over yet
5108009 I sure hope so, hahaha
5108544 enjoying the fic or the grammar corrections?
5109394 alright, by the way you're comments have been it seems like you haven't enjoyed the story for the last several chapters.
By that statement you have pretty much set in your mind this fic is, "Twilight became a monster since her friends didn't simply ask her nicely"
Just because characters freaked out in the moment due to horribly traumatic events in the past doesn't mean it's bad character design. Any character will act out of reason in times of extreme emotional distress.
Sorry if I'm ranting, it's just people have to learn that just because a character acts slightly different than their perfect show counterpart, that does not mean it's full OOC. There is a reason to all actions in this story, many which still are to be shown
This. Is. Awesome!
5111872
Thank you!
Too many people in this website have unrealistic expectations of characters. They want them perfect, to make perfect decisions and perfect logic. There's no fun in a perfect Mary sue, nothing interesting. It's a cliche that has driven me away from a lot of stories.
I have enjoyed reading this fic over the past couple days and seeing you evolve as a writer. You still have a ways to go before you can be listed as a great author, and I definitely recommend auto-reviewer as a first round edit for your chapters, it will catch most of the major errors in spelling and grammar. Also a good idea is to use the microsoft word/libreoffice spell and grammar check. these two steps can catch 90% of all errors, leaving the editors to worry about the flow of the words through the chapter.
As far as the story itself goes, you do a very good job of capturing the characters reactions, without putting in an unnecessary amount of details. You pose many questions but always answer them, and even when the characters are acting outside their normal personalities you manage to apply reason to it. I love that you took Celestia off her pedestal, and your depiction of Luna is spot on. I can only hope that the following chapters continue getting better and better just as the previous chapters have, and it is unfortunate that such a good story must also have an end.