> Rise from the Ashes: Book 1 - Canterlot
>  by Sparklecat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It all began, within the walls of Equestria. A land broken up into six kingdoms embodied with life and prosperity. The first kingdom, known as Canterlot was home to the rulers of Princess Celestia, and her sister Princess Luna. Life there was plentiful and sublime, everything there seem just right. The Elements of Harmony lived within the walls of this kingdom; Applejack; the element of honesty, Rarity; the element of generosity, Pinkie Pie; the element of laughter, Fluttershy; the element of kindness, Rainbow Dash; the element of loyalty, and finally Twilight Sparkle; the element of magic. They kept this land safe from all threats big or small, not threat was too tough or as dangerous for the bunch.

The second kingdom was not as lovely or fortunate. It was the kingdom of the Changelings, a wicked race that could change their appearance to disguise as a pony and feed off one’s love. Life there was unimaginably harsh. It had towering skyscrapers with holes around the top and fluids spewing out through the bottom that seemed straight out of a horror story, and the ruler; Queen Chrysalis, was among the cruelest of the cruel. She was very threatening, as she cared for her subjects and her subjects alone. She adopted a young changeling, a female named Quartz, and crowned her as princess of the changelings. Food was hard to find for the changelings due to their limited diet, which lead to a poor economy, which in turn led to kingdom-wide desperation. Such desperation, in fact, drove the queen to launch a full scale assault on Canterlot, though the efforts for prosperity were in vain. After that, a peace treaty was called by Celestia to give them a fair amount of food, provided they refrain from assaults on Equestria. Reluctantly, Chrysalis agreed, considering the condition the assault and poor economy left the changelings in.

The third kingdom was a mystical place, by the name of Kasaitatki. A kingdom covered in lanterns, surrounded by gorgeous scenery. Inhabited by deers with the ability to a similar magic of the unicorns through their antlers. Though since only the male deer had larger antlers and more powerful magic, they were usually the royal guard of the kingdom. Females typically only had small stubs, which meant their primary use was crafting tools for the guards and gathering food for their families. However, some females were born with incredibly strong magic, usually greater than that of the average male's, and would proudly join the royal guard. The leader was a large elk by the name of Golden Hoof, who was quite spoiled but fair to his kingdom. He had a light coat of brown and a white underbelly. He always appeared dignified, though citizens wondered if he was what he appeared to be. Golden Hoof had lost his wife to a terminal disease, which might have explained the reason for his odd behavior. Despite how he acted, he always gave the proper verdict when it came to a decision, and tried to maintain a calm public image. His palace was the largest structure in Kasaitatki; it was truly a sight for sore eyes, lighting up at night like a giant lantern.

The fourth was a land surrounded by snow, the name belonging to this kingdom was Chivagal. The cold outside might chase a few away, but the warmth of the buildings and community permeated through the frost. The kingdom had luxurious hotels and hot spots, and was by far the wealthiest kingdom in the world. The houses kept the ponies inside warm, and through the streets foals were playing. Theleader's attitude was the same as his kingdom's, and with the name of "Bearhug the Glorious"; one could easily determine that this was no typical kingdom! The stallion was very tall and his coat was a dark shade of brown, similar to his fabulous mustache. He have had little self-esteem, but he was very kind and welcoming to all. He ran the economy through a fair democracy in which all could agree in. He seemed childish and somewhat timid, but his wife helped him keep a good public image. She went by the name of Frostbite, and this pegasus was a beautiful sight. She was a tall light blue pegasus, with a mane as white as snow. Her eyes could be described as shining quartz. Frostbite was much more serious than her husband, but just as caring. She helped him make decisions to help the kingdom, and help keep the kingdom under control whenever there may be problems. These two together seemed to be as sweet as honey, as they loved each other very much and rarely argued. They were always together, always smiling, and there was no two ponies who were happier together.

The fifth kingdom was the most peaceful of all, Alla Ponaja. The kingdom consisted of a large valley with a few buildings in sight. The locals were polite and saw no reason for discrimination or grief. The sights were beautiful and flourishing with life, the lakes were large and perfect for both fishing and swimming. The ruler of this kingdom was a wise mare by the name of Heavenleaf. She had a slim figure with a light blue complexion, her mane was green, curled in such a way you’d swear her head was covered in leaves. Her tail looked similar, but was considered to be akin to a tree’s branch. She was a mare of few words, but is often reasonable and will help any of the locals in need. Despite her approachable attitude, she is not one to take orders and will not tolerate any locals picking on each other or starting fights. She does not go by the title of princess and referred to herself as chief. At all, she kept herself as calm as possible, her village maintaining the same coolness their leader did.

The sixth and final was one shrouded in machinery, the kingdom known as Valkor. Everything ran with gears and metal, there was barely a tree in sight. Tall factories sprouted giant smokestacks spewing black mist, filled with robots and hard working ponies. Very few civilians walked the streets since machinery seems to do everything for them. A giant metal ring surrounds the kingdom, with no cracks or holes within it. The only way in it is through a giant gate at the northeast entrance. They are masters at making weapons for the guard, from everything to swords to cannons. The one who rules this kingdom is remained a mystery, she never turns up for meetings and never steps outside the palace. Only those working for her or in the royal guard even knows her name, but nothing more is revealed about her. When she speaks to her subjects she talks through speakers throughout the entire kingdom.

Despite what has been said about each realm, every leader has a quarrel against each other. Nothing more than petty arguments, mind you, but they got rather defensive when it came to any sort of criticism; the tension was so thick, it seemed to create a fog between the kingdoms. Then it all changed...when it happened. Each kingdom awoke to find the senator of each kingdom murdered and crucial pieces of evidence left behind. The evidence was pony fur, more specifically, fur from a pony of a different kingdom. There were wild accusations that each kingdom intended to murder the senator of their kingdoms. These accusations led the civilians to cry for war. The results of these cries lead to the tragedy known as ‘the Equestrian War’.

An unbelievable amount of lives were lost in this war, and all the lands were ravaged either from need of supplies or constant bombardment from enemy armies. It didn’t matter to most of the rulers, as their treasuries were still quite full, until the war’s end about five years later. Nearly seventy-five percent of all the kingdom’s population had gone down in the war; among them, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, two of the Elements of Harmony, are simply lifeless husks, their memories preserved by crumbling statues. Princess Celestia disappeared during the war, and it didn’t take long for Twilight Sparkle to follow suit. The leaders all met up one last time, but instead of fighting they all signed a peace treaty to to never, ever start a war with each other again; the genocide was just too much for anypony to handle. With a very poor and limited economy, the kingdoms all tried to rebuild and heal. However, bonds were shattered during the war, some of which could not be restored; certain ponies were not allowed to immigrate to certain kingdoms. Valkor had turned in on itself to the point where civilians started fighting each other, and with the excessive violence, it had been renamed to "No Pony's Land." Everything had fallen into misery and despair, and all hope was lost...
> Mark of a Thief
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the pieces of the fallen Canterlot in the middle of the night, two large stallion guards in armor were dragging a pony through the halls. One guard was a normal pony and the other was a unicorn. The pony had red hair like a fire with orange fur, he also wore a green jacket two really big pockets on both sides. He opened one eye weakly as one of them spoke to him, “You just had to keep stealing didn’t you kid?” he said a rough tone.  The orange pony let off a weak grin, and only chuckled in response to the brute.

“Oh come on now, all of this over a loaf of bread?” he spoke weakly. The guard was unimpressed with him or how he was taking this arrest as a joke.

“You think this all about stealing food? Remember that cutlery set, the antiques, and all those other things you stole? You’ve had your chances, but you kept screwing up. We’ve warned you, but you’re out of luck now.” he said with a cold stare into his opened eye. The prisoner only let off a soft laugh as he was dragged further into the prison.

“Like you’re actually going to keep me in one spot. It’s like the time before that and the time before that, I’m sure you’ll keep me in a cell someday.” he said being cocky. This time the guard smirked and let off a chuckle, leaving the prisoner slightly confused.

“Funny, because won’t make it out of this one alive.” he said with a rasping voice. The orange pony raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but feel unnerved at this.

“Execution? All over stealing? I thought Luna wouldn’t have it in her.” he thought out loud. Undoubtedly a bit afraid of the thought of dying, however he was only biding his time until his friend would help him out. 

“She’s gotten tired of you and your careless stealing. She wants you to get a feel of being in way over your head.” the other guard said, finally speaking up. “Open the gate!” the large stallions shouted as a huge black stone wall lifted up in front of them. The guards continued to keep dragging half of his body against the floor with no concern for him.

“Well gee, what do they expect from somepony who is poor and has nothing to lose?” he said with a firm glare. A female pegasi guard equipped with a spear, walked up to the three.

“You were born into a rich family and yet you ran away. If you didn’t want to resort to stealing, you shouldn’t have ran away.” she said in a stern voice. Her helmet had hidden her eyes and the armor hiding most of her body. The orange pony just let out a huff and faced away from her.    

“You mean the abusive as hell father and stone cold cousin? My mother was rumored to have any politeness in her, and she died giving birth to me. I don’t think I could survive in there.” he said with a harsh glare. However he was starting to get worried about his partner that was supposed to show up, “Scorchhop, hurry up….” he thought quietly. Suddenly the female guard sheathed her spear and whacked one guard with the blunt end of it; knocking him out instantly. The other guard jumped back in surprise and drew out his sword. 

“What do you think you’re doing!?” he shouted as he swung at her. The female ducked quickly and bashed the guard’s head on the wall swiftly, and his unconscious body hit the floor. The orange pony looked up at the female guard in complete utter confusion.

“What the hell was that about?” he said with a confused look. The female pegasi yanked him up and pulled him by the ear out of the gate and threw him in a nearby alley by the trash deposit. “Ow! Take it easy there…” the orange pony said, still surprised. The female cut his bindings with her spear and took off her helmet. “Oh...cousin Lightning...hehe...what a surprise.” he said with a sweat on his forehead, hoping she didn’t take the stone cold remark too personally. Lightning glared at her cousin unimpressed and helped him up.

“You know I’m getting really tired of saving you all time.” Lightning said with a huff and cut her cousin free of his bindings on his wrists. Firebelt just rolled his eyes as he rubbed his wrists. 

“Yeah, haha, I have a sliver of a chance of getting caught usually.” he said dusting himself off.

“Just head out from here.” Lightning huffed and handed him his blade. It seemed like a small dagger but yet had the blade of a sword. 

“Your ability to scale the wall should help you here. Scorchhop is getting chased by guards at the moment so I came in instead by the way.” she added on. The orange pony grabbed it with his teeth. “Thaamnk yomu.” he said muffling. Then examined the wall and stabbed his dagger into it, then jumped to a hole in the wall with the blade revealing a chain linked between the blade and handle with it quickly retracting back to him. He continued it all the way to the top of the building.

“Oh and Firebelt!” Lightning stopped him and revealed his name, “Don’t be a dumbass this time…” she said with her eyes giving a stern look. Firebelt nodded, before running off on the rooftops. Lightning just shook her head and darted off quickly. Firebelt jumped between alleys in buildings and landed on the other side.

“Now the bridge shouldn’t be too far from here.” he thought to himself and then looked down on the other side of the building. He noticed the bridge made from stone that went over a stream with a wooden overhang, this was the place he was supposed to meet up with Scorchhop. He slid down the side of the wall and landed with a roll, then proceeded to race across the street and sat beside it. “Okay she should be right-” he thought to himself out loud before a voice rang in his ear.

“Here.” a female voice spoke up right beside him. 

“Wah!” Firebelt jumped like a cat with his mane and tail fluffed up. He looked behind him and then let off a sigh, “God dammit Scorchhop don’t do that!” he whispered with an irritated growl. Scorchhop looked very similar to Firebelt, only with Quartz eyes and two pins in her hair in a chinese fashion. She had a darker shade of red in her hair and her eyes a quartz green. She also was just a regular pony, and not anything special. 

“There she is! Get her!” a loud voice shouted up from not too far; it was the guards that were chasing Scorchhop. She let off a very irritated sigh as her eyes lowered.

“Oh for the love of- could you please?” she growled and ran across the bridge with Firebelt not too far behind. Firebelt nodded and whipped out his blade, then swung it around which cut down the wooden overhang above. The large pieces of wood fell down and blocked the guard’s path. 

“Clear the bridge! Quickly! They’re getting away!” the male stallion guard shouted to the others. However the two had already raced far away, and quickly scaled an old building then leaped over an alley. Then they went down the next and hid inside the alley’s shadows, as more guards went by. 

“Okay...lost’em.” Firebelt calmly spoke now, sitting on the ground briefly and stared up at the night sky as Scorchhop leaned over him.

“Why do you never think these things through?” Scorchhop said sternly and shaking her head. Suddenly a cold night wind picked up, which left the two shivering. Firebelt looked around the streets from the alley to confirm no pony was in sight. He then looked across the street and saw an old rickety cabin across the street. Firebelt and Scorchhop raced across the street and opened up the door to the cabin and went right in. When Scorchhop flicked the lights on, the cabin on the inside did not look abandoned at all. Weird contraptions and artifacts were scattered across a large desk with a big bag on top, it appear somepony was using this place. Firebelt curiously examined the desk and opened the bag, only to find three gems inside it. 

“What are these beauties…?” Firebelt mumbled with a snarky grin. 

“The elements of loyalty, honesty and generosity!? Why of all the places here?” Scorchhop shouted quietly, completely caught off guard that these where the elements of legend. However both ponies heard hoofsteps approaching the door; the owner of this cabin had returned. Both of them leaped up to the ceiling and hid on boards on the ceiling as a hooded pony entered the cabin. Judging by the pony's size she was a mare and a dark blue horn poked out through the hood. The mare shook off her hood, she had a dark blue color, long braided ice blue hair and purple eyes.

“Strange...I didn’t unlock this door.” she thought out loud and closed it. Scorchhop instantly recognized the mare; this was Flicker Blitz, Princess Luna’s apprentice.

“But why of all the ponies is Flicker Blitz out here, and with three of the Elements of Harmony?” Firebelt calmly thought to himself. The unicorn in disguise used her magic to take the bag and hide it underneath her cloak. Obvious Firebelt and Scorchhop couldn’t stay here or else they would get caught, they needed to find an alternative way out. Firebelt looked up to Scorchhop for advice on escaping, but the female had already found a small crack that lead to the outside. The hole Scorchhop had used was across on the other side of the room, across some rickety boards. The thief looked across the boards to the hole and slowly made his way across the boards. The unicorn scrambled around with her belongings below. Unfortunately, the one board that was right in front of the hole snapped loudly and one of the pieces fell down. Flicker Blitz jolted in shock from the board landed right in front of her and looked up to see Firebelt jumping through the hole. 

“Hey!!” she shouted in anger and used levitation magic to fly after him through the hole. “Get back here!! Who are you?!” she scowled as she pursued Firebelt. The second she busted through after Firebelt, Scorchhop leaped on her back from behind with rope in hand. Flicker Blitz in a panicked fired a lightning bolt from her horn in the air as she was tackled to the ground, Scorchhop quickly tied up her four hooves. 

“Okay run!” she shouted as she ran off. Flicker Blitz growled angrily and struggled in her bindings, then used her magic to burn through the ropes with ease. She stood up and whipped her head around to look for the thieves, only to find out they were long gone. However she did notice guards running to her as she stood up firmly.

“Ms Flicker Blitz! We saw the lightning bolt in the sky! What happened?” one of them asked in worry.

“Had a break in with thieves, I’m not sure they were after the Elements of Harmony. However I’m going to make sure they didn’t steal anything.” she huffed and started to make her way back to the cabin. 

“Also Ms Flicker,” one of the guards said stopping her, “Princess Luna wanted to speak to you and her guard.” he said. Flicker Blitz raised an eyebrow but didn’t complain, and after a quick check in her cabin she went on her way. 
> A Fiend Returns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lightning trotted through the halls after losing the armor she had worn to disguise herself as a random guard. However she was still very nervous that if somepony knew about her betrayal that her life would be over. “Lightning where were you?!” Said a random guard running up to her, “The princess is fumed with this thief escaping again!” the guard added. The guard was quite nervous by the looks of it, and understanding Luna’s wrath she could understand.

“I’m sorry, I was with the prison guards. I was knocked out from behind and the prisoner escaped.” Lightning lied about helping her cousin escape. The guard stood firm, trying to hide his fear of the princess’ rage.

“Well Luna wants to see us soon. Also there was a robbery attempt with her apprentice, which makes the circumstances even worst.” he said with an uneasy tone.

“Lead the way.” she said let off a long sigh, knowing they were in for one hell of a scolding. The guard started walking off with Lightning down to the royal hall, where more guards were waiting for them.

“I’ve got Lightning! We’re ready for your announcement!” he said knocking on the door of Luna, “Be careful, she’s pissed.” the guard whispered to her as they both got in line. Lightning swallowed her fear for this, everypony would be frightened when Princess Luna was angry. The rest of the guards stood tall as the two large doors the door knocked upon kicked wide open by a large alicorn. It was Princess Luna with a frown upon her face, and stood beside her was Flicker Blitz. 

“For the twentieth time, that little ratty thief has escaped! Somepony on the inside helped him and I will not rest till I found out who it was and they are behind bars for the rest of their rotten lives!!” Luna shouted and slamming the floor in anger. All of the guards in front of her stepped back a bit with Lightning included.

“P-please princess settle yourself.” one of the guards spoke up, but Luna cut in. 

“NO! I refuse to sleep until all of this injustice is stopped for good. Even my student Flicker Blitz was victim to him!... She was lucky that he didn’t steal anything from her.” she said with a nasty snarl. Luna gazed on Flicker Blitz, “While she may not be as powerful as Twilight Sparkle, but she has her own talents. I sent her out to collect the Elements of Harmony and perfect my sister’s faults.” she said before looking back at the guard. 

One of the guards blinked, “That little rat tried to steal the elements of harmony?!” he said in dismay.

“He was in my cabin, I’m not sure why, but he ran off and I tried to follow him to get some answers. However his lackey Scorchhop roped me from behind and both of them escaped.” she said explaining what happened. Lightning seemed confused, she knew her cousin was an idiot but he wasn’t evil. 

“While he did attempt to rob you, I’m not sure why he would want the elements of harmony in the first place. He isn’t the type to seek for power.” Lightning said trying to get a point across. 

“They are the most powerful in all the land, imagine the price we would have to pay if he stole them.” Flicker Blitz countered with logic Lightning did not want to hear.

“It is still odd though. If he did know the elements of harmony are there, why didn’t he take them when he had the chance? I’m not defending him at all despite him being my cousin, but this is just way too inconclusive with no evidence and just theories.” she said in her cousin’s defense though, despite her saying otherwise. Flicker Blitz seemed to nod in agreement. 

“I know, which is why I am going to go look for him. I need to catch him before any plans are formed on his side.” she said calmly to Lightning.

“Do you wish for us to try to find him?” a guard spoke up to her. 

“Until further notice, we shall take another approach. Flicker Blitz shall looked for Firebelt while the rest of you search for this traitor! If you have any leads at all or clues, report them to me at once! All we know that the traitor is female, but that alone isn’t enough. Gain as much information as you can.” Luna responded this time. 

“Yes Princess Luna!” they all said in sync and stood tall, with Lightning having nothing but worry in her mind. When the guards were beginning to exit Luna’s hall with Lightning gone first, there was a suddenly cold breeze in the room. No windows were open, and the breeze did not come from the open door. Luna suddenly flinched in panic and examined the room closely, one of the guards caught the princess’ odd behavior. “Is something the matter princess?” they asked in worry.

“I feel somepony is watching us.” Luna spoke quietly and continued to examine the room. The guards all examined the room, but not a single pony was in sight. 

“No pony here but us.” a guard spoke up as they couldn’t see a single unwanted pony in the room. 

“You may not be able to see it, but I can certainly feel it.” Luna said while giving them a stern look with her horn lighting up. Suddenly a chuckle echoed throughout the entire room which sent shivers down everypony’s spines. 

“Well well well...looks like little Miss Luna isn’t so dumb after all.” a male voice spoke up. Luna only growled in response, while looking for the hidden pony.

“And you’re still too afraid to show yourself.” she said with her horn ready for a fight. The male voice only laughed a bit in response, amused with the princess’ attitude. 

“Actually, I would if I could.” it said as two eyes glowed red on the walls by Luna. “I am however restricted to this form.” he finished with a chuckle. 

“That would be your own fault.” Luna said with a glare. Flicker Blitz stuck close to her highness, feeling horrified with the living shadow. She was thinking it was King Sombra but his voice was much more different and his eyes had no purple smoke.

“Who are you?!” Flicker shouted in fear and confusion with the shadow letting off a smirk.

“I am the Essence of Hate. But you can call me Sol. An old friend of little Luna here and her sister plus her apprentice, however they aren’t exactly here at the moment now are they?” the fiend finally spoke his name, and his title. Luna gritted her teeth with a snarl in response. 

“You are no friend of mine!” she shouted at him and fired a blast of magic towards the wall, but the two eyes moved as the wall was destroyed beside him. 

“I’m just a little incarnate of Twilight fooling around with more of her magic. She gave birth to me by accident and I got fed off the hate of so many ponies without triggering a single crisis. However after I was FINALLY noticed by the Princesses, all three of them finally worked up to beat me and they killed me. On the flip side however, thanks to the ever so tragic Equestria War enough hate was spawned to bring me back.” the voice spoke as Sol appeared as Luna’s shadow by her side. Luna stumbled back in surprise with Flicker Blitz at her side.

“How come no pony else remembers him?” Flicker Blitz asked Luna, since she had read books that Twilight Sparkle had left but there was absolutely no mention of an Essence of Hate.

“Since no pony noticed when he was around and when he was defeated, it was better for us to keep quiet about the subject.” she replied. Then she turned angrily back at Sol, “What do you want?!” she shouted angrily at the shadow. The shadow chuckled and stared at them as he leaned back on the other wall.

“Oh poor Luna, you can’t even remember my simple motive?” he said with a grin forming on the shadow. Luna thought back to Sol’s first appearance and remembered what was his first plan of attack. 

“You wanted to destroy the Elements of Harmony to poison the land for all time and what is left of it.” she finally spoke up. Sol laughed and clapped his shadow hooves together with the hooves going through each other. 

“Well Luna still remembers the sweet old days where the word friendship actually meant something!” he said before bursting out with laughter. Suddenly the guards who got sick of watching Sol’s foul behaviour all fired beams of magic at the shadow, but he was too swift and easily evaded them. “Oh now boys and girls...that was just rude!” he shouted before a shadow whipped up from the floor and knocked all the guards aside with ease. 

“How dare you!” Luna shouted out in anger before blasting Sol from behind with a powerful lightning bolt from her horn. Sol screeched out in pain before vanishing back into the shadows.

“You’re lucky I lost my body… I only like to spice up the game a bit before I play my cards.” he said with another chuckle with a yellow tongue seemingly lick his lips from the shadow. Luna huffed only in disgust and anger from Sol’s words.

“A game? This is all it was to you?” she said unimpressed. Sol only seemed to be amused with Luna’s anger no matter how hard she tried to get him to taken her seriously, as a big red smile formed on the wall.

“Oh come on now, wasn’t it your dream to make the fun last forever?” he said sarcastically, messing with her and reminding her of her past. Luna felt discouraged but only stood up tall. 

“Not that sort of fun. I wish for the better of others while YOU only wish to amuse yourself and bring despair to others!” she shouted in return. Sol only laughed in return as he smirked again only looking like a psycho this time. 

“Better of others? You let a thief run free, and now a traitor on your hands and this kingdom is in shambles. I think your state of Princess is questionable, not to mention you couldn’t even took the title of queen! You just took Princess because it was cute!” he said with a teasing smile forming on the wall.  

Luna narrowed her eyes in annoyance, “It was not my decision I-”

“Your highness, he is only trying to aggravate you.” the guard said trying to keep Luna calm. She let off an irritated sigh and breathe a bit before realizing Sol was beginning to vanish.

“I suggest you might want to play this game a bit better Luna~ Besides something is cooking…” Sol said as he continued to disappear. “But I don’t it’s the stove! Ga ha ha ha ha ha!” he shouted and finished with laughing and vanished completely. Luna blinked and then her eyes went wide, realizing what he meant. 

“Guards, go make sure there are no fires!” she shouted at the guards before they all ran off. Luna looked down in dismay as Flicker Blitz came out from behind her. 

“Princess?” she asked quietly, as she was concerned for her teacher. Luna only looked at her with a tired as hell and frustrated look.

“I wish to be left alone.” she said before trotting off.

“Your highness-!” Flicker Blitz followed her shortly before Luna whipped around to face her. 

“I WISH TO BE LEFT ALONE!” Luna shouted at her in her royal voice right in her face. Flicker Blitz stammered back in fright and then raced off, “Celestia...Twilight Sparkle...why did you leave us like this…?” she thought quietly and angrily as she ran off with tears on her face.
> Fire in Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the kingdom of Canterlot, fires were springing up all over. The thief, Firebelt, was lying on his back, watching from a rooftop as multiple ponies scrambled to put the fires out over town. “These fires keep popping out all over the place, what sort of pony can start all this so fast?” he thought calmly to himself. However, Lightning was running up right behind him. 

“An old enemy has returned from the past you could say.” she said as she trotted up to him. Firebelt raised an eyebrow at this new bit of information, wondering what sort of villain this was.

“Hm, well that’s interesting. Also I take it Luna is still pissed at me?” he asked as he got back on his hooves. Lightning gave a stone cold glare and gritted her teeth. 

“Of course she is you nit wit! You’re always way in over your head with most heists you’ve pulled off, but stealing from Luna is suicide! Why do you keep doing this?!” she scolded him with a hateful look. Firebelt despite all that was happening around him and his cousin’s scornful attitude remained calm. 

“Because there is no other way for me to live around here. When I tried to act normal and try to fit in, ponies came running in for my head.” he said. Lightning hit him on the head out of frustration and anger. 

“Because you were too uncaring to clean up your name! You have no idea how much trouble you have put me in for saving your sorry ass!” she shouted at him. Firebelt rubbed his forehead which now had a bump on it, he was now a bit angry for his cousin’s abuse.

“And you think I haven’t tried that? I got several other bumps from other civilians too you know.” he said with a bit of rasp in his voice. Despite Firebelt’s words, Lightning’s attitude towards her cousin hasn’t changed. 

“I’m just one hair away from getting found out. They know somepony is helping you out and if they find it is me, I am getting imprisoned for life with you! Unfortunately for you, I can’t help you out anymore. If you get in trouble, you are officially on your own!” she let out one last shout at him. Firebelt did remain quiet a bit, but then suddenly Scorchhop came up from behind the two.

“Fire Imps are all over the place! They must’ve been what started the fires!” she said, gasping a bit from running all over the place to find them. Lightning gave a look at Scorchhop, not in doubt but more in confusion. 

“But Fire Imps never come this close to Canterlot…” she said a bit confused by this. She then gave one look at Firebelt again and put a hoof on his shoulder, “Maybe if you help put out the fires you can get a better name for yourself.” she said calmly. Firebelt looked up at her and nodded, recovered from his cousin’s scorn.

“Scorchhop, lets give them a hoof. I’ll handle the fire around Apple Acres and you handle around the streets here.” he ordered before beginning to gallop off. Lightning quickly halted him and gave him and Scorchhop hoods.

“Here, these will help you keep your identities concealed.” she said before going off to help put out the other fires. Firebelt and Scorchhop nodded and the three of them split apart. Down at Apple Acres, Firebelt was racing over to where multiple ponies were splashing water from buckets on the fire. Leading the ponies was an orange mare, he could easily recognize her as the Element of Honesty; Applejack.

“Okay ponies! Get that water on th’ barn! We need to save as much food as possible! Defeat as many Fire Imps as possible!” she shouted out to the mob to which they instantly obeyed. Applejack then noticed Firebelt standing there though was unable to recognize him. “You there! Stop yer daydreaming and help me keep these Fire Imps from spreading more fires!” she ordered him. Firebelt not wanting to give himself away just nodded in response and spotted Fire Imps on the streets. He raced towards them and gave a nasty kick in the face, but then saw that the Fire Imp vanished into dark smoke. He looked puzzled for a moment before attacking a few other Imps along with Applejack at his side. Applejack easily bashed two imps aside and swung around giving a nasty kick in the back to both of them. Firebelt then looked at the villagers starting to run with less and less buckets. 

“Applejack! I think they’re starting to run out of water!” he said adding a bit of a deep tone to his voice as he threw another Imp through a window. Applejack looked back at him to see the villagers were starting to run out of water.

“Sugarcube, could you hold off these Fire Imps for a’ while until I get more water?!” she asked before knocking another one aside.

“I’ve got it! Ju-” he quickly stopped himself before trying add a bit of deepness in his voice, “Just go!” he rashly said. Applejack raised an eyebrow at Firebelt’s voice; she knew she recognized it but couldn’t be bothered with it at the moment and raced off. Firebelt let off a sigh that Applejack couldn’t bother to tell if she recognized him as the thief that pissed off Luna, but he quickly went back to work. He whipped out his sword which extended on a chain and took out a few more Fire Imps with them fading into black smoke. He continue to hack away at the Fire Imps, which there seemed no end to how many there were. “How on earth did all of these Fire Imps get in here unnoticed?!” he thought to himself angrily as he cut them up more.

Inside the walls of the castle, two guards which were part of the handful that were assigned to finding out who was the one pony responsible for Firebelt’s escape. One of the guards searched around the armory which holstered spears and weapons of all sizes, and the armor of all the guards in Canterlot. Lightning was secretly spying on the two from around the corner and observed them searching the armory. Due to all the guards being out at the moment putting out the fires, most of the armor wasn’t there. Lightning could overhear the guards speaking to each other, “So we know without a doubt the traitor is a mare. The voice was definitely female as the guards said and she was quite skilled with a spear to act so quickly.” one of them said.

“And not to mention she only saved Firebelt when there were dozens of prisoners there. If the traitor wanted to break anypony out it was Firebelt.” the other said. Lightning couldn’t help but feel her heart beat faster, the more the two talked the more guilty she appeared. One of the guards raised an ear and looked around with Lightning quickly hiding again. The guard looked around and the other looked at him, “What’s wrong?”

“I just thought I heard somepony.” he said before facing back at him. “Say…Lightning’s party was knocked out too with her included. Maybe we might want to ask them some questions.” one of them said, and the other one nodded in agreement. To this, Lightning’s heart sank and she ran for it; she lied about being with the others that were knocked out and knew they would point it out. However one of the guards heard her hoofsteps as she ran. 

“Hey! Somepony’s been watching us!” he shouted and ran out the hall and used magic to grab a spear. Then when they looked down the hallway they saw Lightning running, “It’s Lightning! Notify the other guards immediately!” he shouted as the guard ran after her. The other guard ran down towards Luna’s hall to notify her immediately. Lightning couldn’t believe this was happening, her heart felt like it was in her mouth and choking her slowly. “Get back here and face your crimes like a proud mare you traitor!” the guard shouted angrily at her as she ran. Lightning saw the entrance in front of her, and she busted through it and ran off into the streets for her life amidst the chaos. 

“I have to get to Firebelt and Scorchhop then get out of here! We’re no longer safe here!” she thought to herself in panic. Meanwhile, Firebelt was still fighting off Imps while Applejack was getting water for the townsfolk. One of the Fire Imps burped a fire from behind, Firebelt swiftly back flipped over it but it wasn’t swift enough for the hood to avoid as it caught ablaze. “Shit shit shit!” he shouted as he slashed the back of the Imp’s neck and it vanished into a black smoke. Firebelt threw off the hood and tried to put it out as he batted it repeatedly with his hoof. After it was put out he threw it back on, only to realize the hood and cape was burnt off. “My only disguise has quite a big hole in it...not good.” he thought angrily only to his misfortune to see that Applejack was returning. Firebelt ran off as she approached, only for her to see him. Applejack as she ran in saw him flee.

“Where the hay is he goin’?” she thought to herself and quickly went after him, though still unaware of the stallion’s identity. Firebelt quickly ran into an alley and scaled the wall of a building before leaping over it, as Applejack turned the corner she saw his tail before he ran on the rooftops. “Son of a gun…” she thought to herself and quickly wall jumped on the sides of the buildings in the alley swiftly and quietly after Firebelt.

“Firebelt!” Somepony shouted out, Applejack paused and hide behind a chimney as somepony called Firebelt out. Firebelt whipped around and saw Lightning on the empty streets fly up to Firebelt. “We have to go, I’ve been found out!” she said in panic. Applejack blinked in surprise and observed Lightning approach her cousin. 

“So, she’s the one who helped him out. Cousin’s love ah suppose…” she thought to herself quietly however then noticed something odd. Firebelt was an earth pony while Lightning was a pegasus, “Well that’s strange…” she then looked at Firebelt’s jacket and it’s ridiculously big pockets on both sides. “Could he be hidin’...?” she thought as Lightning opened up her wings.

“Jump on!” Lightning ordered her cousin with him leaping on his back and flying off. Applejack snapped back to reality and grabbed her lasso. 

“Like it or not he’s a criminal…” she did feel sentimental about the family relation the two had, and what the war had taken from her. Back with Lightning and Firebelt, Lightning was flying as fast as she could toward the city walls. 

“Sheesh have you gained weight or something?!” she shouted at him, Firebelt huffed a bit but didn’t respond since now was not the time for a family argument. Just as the two were about to reach the walls, something wrapped around Lightning’s back leg. “Oh no…” she went and the two were yanked down with them both crashing into a rooftop and then hit the street with a thud. Lightning screeched in pain as they hit the ground, peering over her shoulder to see she had a broken wing. Firebelt looked up in anger as the object that wrapped around Lightning’s ankle was a rope to which somepony lasso’d them; it was Applejack who was standing on a rooftop. 

“Ya’ll got guts for trying to fly like that…” she said with a glare. Firebelt growled and pulled out his dagger-like sword; prepared for a fight. Applejack leaped down and landed on a tree and then jumped on the ground. “If ya’ll surrender quietly we won’t have to this...ah admit I am touched of yer love for your cousin, but a crime is a crime.” she said with a fierce glare.

“Oh and let the varmint who hurt my cousin walk away unharmed? Ungrateful that I helped with the fires to protect this damn town? I think I’ll pass.” he said mocking her accent. Applejack then got reminded that he was the one who helped out in the fires, and how she heard about some of the good deeds he tried to do in the past she couldn’t bring herself to hurt him. 

“But, ah see that you tried to help with the fires. If you were as evil as Luna told me, ah wouldn’t be doin’ this.” she said and put her lasso away. Firebelt raised an eyebrow before she spoke up again, “Mah pride is highly against putting a stallion who did some good to his death. Ah hope you start getting yer act together.” she said with a fierce glare. Firebelt was surprised of this, she was letting him go despite the stuff he stole but then again he never really brutally hurt or killed anyone in the process. Despite his anger towards her how she hurt Lightning, now was the time to run. He was about to pick up his cousin and leave but then they all heard the sounds of hooves clapping. 

“Well well Applejack, letting a criminal go? Are you trying to get yourself thrown behind bars?”
> A New Threat Brewing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The voice rang around all three of them, “Well well well, looks like Ms. Cowgirl has pride.” the voice said in a teasing tone. The group looked around in surprise and in confusion, “Letting them go will only guarantee you getting your element taken away and a life in prison!” the voice continue to go on as finally they spotted a pony lurking in the shadows. The appearance wasn’t clear at all but the figure appeared as a stallion due to his size and he was wearing a cloak.

“And who the hay might you be!?” Applejack shouted at the figure that was lurking over them. The male only chuckled in return and stared at the three in confusion. 

“Aren’t I just a humble little thief like Firebelt over there? Whose only doing this so he doesn’t die, to which I’m sure he is dead afraid of it.” he said with a nasty smile. It was at this point they realized that the figure had an eerily similar voice to Firebelt, and yet he had info about him. Firebelt was a bit shaken but not much.

“Hey! How about you come down here and say, or else I’m gonna-!” he shouted irritated at him, but was cut off. 

“Going to? Going to what?” the figure said as he jumped down and a bit of red hair moving down to the right side of the figure’s head with a creepy grin forming on his face. Firebelt couldn’t help but feel he was staring in a mirror. Lightning was about sick and tired of this stallion’s attitude.

“He would say if you didn’t cut him off! Now explain yourself or you’re gonna feel like the idiotic thieves I’ve beaten in the streets!” she shouted angrily at the figure trying to put down her cousin. The figure actually only laughed in return, and gave her a sadistic look.

“Oh contraire Lightning…” the figure said pulling down his hood. Firebelt’s eyes went wide in surprise and fear.

“WHAT THE DEUCE?!?” he thought out loud in confusion. Applejack and Lightning stepped back a bit in confusion as well, “Y-y-y-you’re….” Firebelt stammered as he found himself shaking and his voice beginning to stammer more and more.

“...do you really want to beat up your own cousin?” the figure finished as they saw clearly the figure had the exact face and voice as Firebelt, only with a dark haze around his body that seemed similar to the Fire Imps that had attacked the town. 

“I knew….black magic….and this pony is crawling with it….” Lightning thought as she examined the haze around it.

“What in tarnation!? Are you a changeling?!” Applejack shouted out, wondering if he was and how did he get past the guards and wall around Canterlot. 

“No way you’re Firebelt...you don’t have any of his annoyance or of his odor.” Lightning said with a growl, Firebelt would retort this but now was not the time for an argument between the two. The figure pulled violently on his face before letting go. 

“Well there’s no mask so I can’t be an impersonator and if I was a changeling I’d be dead before I could get inside...” the fake said with a chuckle and smile before looking back at Firebelt, “...besides Firebelt you couldn’t leave me behind, that one little fear of being worthless? Trying to prove you're somebody rather than just another rat on the streets? It will follow you all the way to your grave.” the fake Firebelt with a big grin as he approached step by step. Firebelt couldn’t help but quiver and stepped back a bit.

“Okay really you’re not scary just freaking creepy as hell!” he shouted at the double with a bit of a stutter. The double just seem amused by Firebelt’s fright despite him trying to cover it up.

“Oh really? Going to try to hide behind somepony else when you can’t handle something? Typical, just typical.” the double said with just another smile, as Firebelt just kept shaking. Applejack finally had enough of this and let off a snarl.

“That does it! Yer goin down!” she shouted and attempted to tackle the double only to strange phase right through him and hit the dirt. She looked back in plain confusion as she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. The double smiled as he looked back at Applejack as the haze weaved around it. 

“Trying to defend a vermant? Come on, from the bottom of your heart you of all ponies should know this.” it said with a teasing grin. Applejack only snarled like a bull in retaliation and got up and dusted herself off. 

“The only vermant ah see here is you.” she said with a determined look. “Ah don’t get it...I could beat the Imps like a tree, but ah can’t even touch ‘im?” Then the double looked back at Firebelt, ignoring the irritated mare.

“You’re still not convinced I’m that one part of you that you left behind? Then how about I know for a fact that you just hide your wings in shame, because they’re nothing now but worthless weights on your sides! Just to hide your pitiful reminder than you’re just a worthless pegasus who can’t fly!” the other Firebelt shouted in the quivering one’s face. 

“No no no no no!!” he shouted as he finally cracked and attempted to run away from the group, only for multiples walls of black magic surrounding the group to trap them all in town square.

“Aww...can’t accept the truth Firebelt? Oh that’s right, you’ve always hated it…” the other Firebelt said teasingly, the real Firebelt only shouted and swung his blade at him that only kept going through him. 

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!” he shouted now trembling completely with small bits of tears coming from his eyes. “You’re not me! You’re not me!” he shouted as he kept swinging uselessly at his doppelganger. The clone only started laughing as it got a sadistic smile on it’s face.

“Come on Firebelt! I didn’t hear you!~ Or do you really want me to spill what would be one of the best things you could do the second you got his hands on a certain somepony!~” he said teasingly, with Lightning realizing the haze around the fake was steadily increasing. Lightning blinked and raced to her cousin. 

“No! Don’t say it! I have a very bad feeling if you do!”

“THERE’S NO WAY IN TARTARUS THAT YOU’RE ME!” he shouted loudly in the doppelganger's face. Instead of getting a sense of victory, the doppelganger gave a freakishly wide grin for the feeling of making a very big error. The fake only floated up in mid air without any sort of wings, as if the haze was lifting him off of the ground. 

“Hehehehehe….. ehehehehehehe…. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the fake Firebelt shouted out with a terrifying shriek of laughter as the haze seemed to form a cocoon around itself. The three backed up away from the cocoon, with Firebelt having nothing but fear on his face. Suddenly two giant copper weights attached to chains shot out of the cocoon and crash landed right next to the group, on the weights ‘0 tons’ were engraved on them and two giant rotted wings stuck out the back of the cocoon. 

“What in tarnation is this thing…?” Applejack thought as she prepared herself for a rough fight. Suddenly a large sword stabbed out through the back of the cocoon and the head of a pony with it’s face burnt off stuck out the front, the rest of the cocoon dispersed to reveal all the pieces were attached to the body of a massive serpent, with the chains wrapped around it’s throat and the wings out his back and a sword stabbed right through it. The beast also had two skeleton arms stick out of it’s sides with two claws at the end of them. Lightning got up though was slightly cringed from her broken wing, though she didn’t have the time to complain about it. Firebelt was only shaking in his hooves but slowly got out his blade. Applejack looked at him, realizing his condition from the doppelganger spilling all of his secrets. 

“Ye sure yer up for this sugarcube?” she asked seeing his breakdown beforehand.

“Yeah...yeah...I’m fine.” he replied, attempting to hide his fear. The beast charged at the group with a terrifying screech, the three of them barely got out of the way in time as he rammed the barrier which he set up and accidentally broke it.

“Come here you little shit…” the monster said with a grin, but as he turned around Applejack kicked him hard in the face and it crashed on the ground. 

“Quick sugarcubes! Run for it!” Applejack shouted as she leaped off the monster’s face and the two other ponies shortly followed it. 

“Okay, one why are we running and two, why aren’t any other guards coming down here to help kill this thing?!” Firebelt shouted at Applejack as they ran. 

“One, we’re in no condition to bring down this freak! Second, this thing ain’t as tall as the buildings so I doubt they can see it!” she shouted back as they saw the monster chasing after the three.

“Maybe if we get it to make enough noise I’m sure they’ll have no problem seeing it!” Lightning shouted back and then looked at Firebelt. “Where is Scorchhop?” Lightning asked out of concern, wondering since the monster was after Firebelt it seems if it might go after Scorchhop as well.

“She was down town helping the other ponies put out the fire!” Firebelt shouted as he looked back at the beast as the burnt off face of it had purple and black aura glowing from it, and it shot out a laser at three. “Lasers?! It has lasers?!” Firebelt shouted as the group made a quick right in another street as the laser brought down the side of a building. “How come that darker version of me has lasers?!....wait that isn’t me right?” he added, on.

“Of course that ain’t you featherbrain! That’s gotta be a minion of that vermant the princess encountered!” Applejack reassured him out of annoyance as the monster got closer and closer. The three turned another corner, only for the road ahead to be blocked by a collapsed building that was destroyed in the fire. “You gotta be kiddin me!” Applejack shouted in aggravation.

“Um...ponies..?” Firebelt said in a nervous voice as the beast raced towards the three. The three braced themselves, when out of nowhere a blast of magic hit the side of the creature’s face causing it to crash into a building.

“And what disgusting freak of nature may this be?” A familiar voice spoke up, to which Applejack recognized.

“Rarity! What you so long?” she shouted as she saw her using magic to maneuver over to the three. Firebelt then saw Rarity had a long scratch over her right eye that was now blinded, which was her toll from the war that took place. 

“I was help putting out the fire around the stores, when I heard a loud bang noise which I bet came from this putrid creatur-” Rarity said as she looked back at where the beast laid. “Um….where did it go?” she asked shortly after. The three spun around to see that the creature that chased them had vanished into thin air from the rubble. 

“What in the hay?!” Applejack shouted as she ran over and looked about. “Somethin’ that big just can’t get away without makin’ a sound!” she complained. Then they heard the sound of guards coming in to investigate the disturbance, “Ya’ll better run now and I hope ye change yer ways!” Applejack shouted to Lightning and Firebelt as she ran off and dragged Rarity behind her.

“Wait darling what are you doing?!” Rarity shouted, still having no idea that Applejack was trying to let the two go free. Firebelt and Lightning quickly ran down another alley, when suddenly they bumped into another mare; Scorchhop.

“Heya guys!” she said taking a quick bit of air, “Gotta keep running! Guards are on me!” she added as she ran off, with the two quickly going right behind her.

“Scorcchop, you won’t believe what happened to us!” Firebelt said as he ran beside the two, when suddenly a group of guards cut off the route in front of them. 

“Quick! Other way!” Lightning shouted as they ran back only to be cut off by another pair of guards and a few more stallions covered the roof above them as spears were pointed at the group. 

“Well sorry pals, but I think we’re out of places to run.” Lightning growled as they backed up into each other.

“Yes...yes we are.” Firebelt responded with a sigh.
> One Last Chance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the Equestria jail on the inside, both Firebelt and Scorchhop were sitting inside one of the cells covered with chains on their wrists and ankles, Firebelt’s jacket had been confiscated which revealed both of his bandaged wings. Firebelt was taping his hooves anxiously, since Lightning was brought to the doctor’s because of her broken wing and if she had sustained more injuries. It was all his fault that he and Scorchhop are going to be executed and Lightning behind bars her entire life, though he wasn’t sure if Applejack was going to be punished for trying to let them escape or if Rarity will even let them know. “Why the hell did I even do this….oh right, because I didn’t wanna die from having nowhere else to go…” he thought to himself irritated. Finally they heard hoofsteps coming from the hall to see Lightning in chains walking towards the group with several soldiers by her side. The broken wing was covered in bandages, and a few other bandages made to cover some scrapes from the fall. Firebelt barely made any eye contact towards his cousin, but Lightning only looked at her cousin in sympathy since she knew what fate awaited them.

“Any plans to get out this time kid?” she asked looking at Firebelt and Scorchhop, but judging by his emotionless look he knew there was no way out this time. Reminded on upon saving him from the guards a day ago that he and Scorchhop were going to be executed by Luna. Scorchhop was shivering and looking down scared beyond belief. “These times have made the princess cruel…” she thought to herself.

“This is it...the day we die…” Scorchhop muttered as she shed tears slowly. The only thing Firebelt could do is put her hoof on her shoulder and try to comfort her. He then looked up to see multiple guards approach them.

“It’s time.” one of them said in a cold voice.

Around forty minutes later, Scorchhop and Firebelt were on an execution dock and multiple civilians had gathered to witness their demise. Firebelt could only stare at the civilians having an emotionless look on their face, they were only waiting for Luna to arrive and address the charges towards the two. Lightning was watching from her cell, she couldn’t help but have a few tears in her eyes. “Don’t worry you knucklehead...I’ll be joining you soon…” she murmured as she forced back as many tears as she could. As then they saw Luna and Flicker Blitz step out of the castle and step on the dock and faced the crowd.

“Are we ready?” Luna asked her guards who were standing by the docks, they all nodded. Flicker Blitz just remained quiet as Luna faced back at the crowd. “My dear ponies, today you will all bear witness to what happens when you choose the wrong path in life. When you’ve used up all the chances you had and pulled others in with you…” she spoke in her loud voice before giving a glare back at Firebelt. “Firebelt...what do you have to say to all of this?” she said coldly as she gave him an equally cold stare.

Firebelt had an emotionless look on him, and then looked at Luna. “You have certainly changed… I wonder how your sister would react to you?” he said with a small smirk.

Luna’s eyes filled with rage before smacking him across the face. “How dare you bring her up here!” she scowled at him with a fierce glare. Firebelt only let off a soft chuckle at Luna’s petty attempts to be threatening.

“When I only have a few seconds left to live, why shouldn’t I bring her up? She would be horrified if she saw your cold behaviour and executing a pony for being a petty thief and not a true monster.” he said with a determined look on his face. Luna only growled before Flicker Blitz whispered at Luna, she let off an irritated sigh.

“Excuse me a moment…” Luna said annoyed before facing back at her disciple. While Firebelt and Scorchhop couldn’t hear what the two were saying, but it seems they were talking small chat before it picked up and now they looked like they were arguing.

“Your highness, listen to me! This could be a big chance to find that monster Applejack and Rarity told me about!” Flicker Blitz silently shouted at her.

“We can’t risk it!-” Luna retorted but was immediately cut off.

“NO! Our kingdom could be in great danger and all you care about is hanging a petty thief who could be part of all this!!” Flicker Blitz shouted loud right in her face with a glare. Luna stepped back a bit in silence and shock. Flicker Blitz was about to go on before she heard Firebelt start laughing.

“A petty thief? Me and Scorchhop here have outran you and your troops for years! If I’m petty then was does that make you Ms Moonbutt? Or is that junk in the trunk affecting your head too?” Firebelt said with a cocky grin. Luna’s face couldn’t help but make her face a bit red with a scowl. Then she heard the civilians snickering and laughing in the background, getting her even more furious.

“SILENCE!” Luna shouted in her loudest royal voice at the audience. Making all the ponies go dead quiet, with Firebelt only smirking still. She then faced back at Firebelt, “How much of a featherbrain are you?! Are you trying to tempt me to kill you!” she shouted again as she went on and on at Firebelt. Scorchhop strangely motion over to Flicker Blitz, with Flicker Blitz raising an ear a bit.

“Think now while you have the chance if you really want to prove Firebelt is connected to that thing.” Scorchhop whispered, revealing Firebelt was only buying time to give Flicker Blitz to think up a way to get Luna to listen. She thought for a few moments, and then got an idea.

“That does it! Send in the hanger!” Luna ordered loudly as she faced her guards.

“Your highness please! He may know something about this!” Flicker Blitz continued to try to beg, but Luna continued to ignore her.

“I’m sorry Flicker Blitz, as princess I must take out all threats to the kingdom-” She said sternly before Flicker Blitz finally snapped.

“You will NEVER be a princess to this kingdom!” Flicker Blitz shouted to top of her lungs. Everypony stood still with Luna staring horrified at her. “I mean it Luna! You know from the bottom of your heart that something is going on, and yet you do nothing but yell at it and ignore it! He’s our only link to that monster and you only insist on hanging him just because he stole stuff including your teddy bear!” she shouted again with a furious look at her. She then stood tall and calm once more, “Your highness, at least let me try to prove my theory. Please, for the sake of this kingdom which you want to protect.” she said one last time with a stern look. Luna looked down and away for a few moments, and then finally stared back at her.

“Very well then. But he only has one more day, and if you can’t prove your theory he dies.” She said sternly before walking off. “Guards, escort them to Flicker Blitz’s lab.” she said calmly before trotting back into her castle and slamming the doors behind her. The civilians started to head back to the town, as the guards took the ropes of Firebelt’s and Scorchhop’s necks.

“I wasn’t expecting you of all ponies to say that to Luna.” Scorchhop said, as she and Firebelt slowly started to follow Flicker Blitz.

“Me either...but I needed to get through Luna’s thick skull that their might be a chance you could lead us to that thing. But now I think I hurt her more than I intended to…” Flicker Blitz said ashamed a bit, but Firebelt gave her an assuring nudge.

“And if you prove your theory right, I’m sure she’ll understand now.” he said to her. Flicker Blitz didn’t really smile, but her hopes were lifted slightly. “Now...erm...what did you mean by testing?” he asked nervously.

A few minutes later, the three arrived in a lab of sorts in the midst of the castle. There were multiple brewing stands, chemical valves, books, tools and other stuff that Firebelt didn’t even know how to describe it. “Wait...was this…?” he pondered out loud before Flicker Blitz cut him off.

“Twilight Sparkle’s room. Yes it was…until she and Celestia vanished.” she said with a sigh.

Scorchhop looked around in amazement, “This is THE Twilight Sparkle’s room? Amazing!” she said still being positive. It did brighten the mood a little bit before Firebelt seemed nervous once more.

“Erm...there is a dissecting table over there...you sure you’re not gonna- OW!” Firebelt shouted suddenly as he realized Flicker Blitz put a needle in his shoulder and took out a small bit of blood. “The hell!” he shouted angrily at her.

“Relax, I need to compare a blood sample with the one the beast left.” Flicker Blitz said using magic to lift the needle and poured it in a chemical tube, right next to a chemical tube that had some sort of black and purple substance. “This blood sample was found in the rubble where Rarity blasted that creature into the building.” she said and brought out a scope of sorts and carefully examined both of them. “Hmm...the blood types are different and so is the DNA. By blood they aren’t related, but still some of this doesn’t make sense.” she said as she examined. Firebelt and Scorchhop sat down nearby, with their movements restricted by their chains still. 

“Like what?” Scorchhop asked, not understanding much but still wanted to attempt to understand it.

“For one, Applejack reported she couldn’t even touch it when it looked like you but after it’s transformation suddenly she could hit it.” Flicker Blitz analyzed from Applejack’s alibi. “Two, there was a haze around the creature when it was you, but then when it finished transforming there was no more haze.” she added on. “Third, it didn’t react violently until you denied its existence and transformed into that nasty thing.” she finished up.

Firebelt blinked at Flicker Blitz’s analogy. “You know... that actually does need some explaining.” he said folding his hooves together. 

“Maybe it was made to react that way? Considering it knew all about Firebelt and his secrets. Saying stuff like ‘you thought you could leave me behind’ and secrets.” Scorchhop theorized.

Flicker Blitz nodded, “By that knowledge alone it definitely seems plausible that these two have a connection somehow. From what I can gather this thing is an incarnate of black magic made to reflect a forgotten part of somepony’s self and then kill them when they deny their nature...fascinating.” she thought a bit.

Firebelt’s eyes narrowed, “Yeah, until it tries to kill you and spills your secrets out loud while doing so.” he said irritated as he tried to stretch in his chains.

Flicker Blitz faced the two again, “But now we know that this type of black magic exists that there could be more of these things out there! I have a strong suspicion Sol is behind it, but we can’t confirm anything for now. We must tell Luna that the kingdoms could be in danger if more of these things pop out!” she concluded.

Firebelt tilted his head a bit, “Yes, but can’t we use the elements of harmony to blast Sol and all of those other black magic things to bits?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

Flicker Blitz just shook her head, “The elements of harmony have lost power over the years...with the death of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle abandoning Canterlot the elements are not what they are used to be.” she said sadly. “This entire place is a complete mess because of it…”

Scorchhop raised an eyebrow. “Wait, so the elements also affect the ponies around it with it’s power?” she asked.

Flicker Blitz nodded, “It would make sense, since they are possibly the most powerful force in all of Equestria and represent all of harmony itself.”

Firebelt suddenly jolted up with an idea. “Hey...wasn’t there this story that there were bells that used to power the Elements? The Cryer Bells?” he said. “Maybe if we could use those to get the Elements of Harmony, and further that we can try to fix up the relationships with the kingdoms!” he said cheerfully, but Flicker Blitz shook her head sadly in response to this.

“The Cryer Bells have nothing to do with this, the Elements came from the Tree of Harmony which has been asleep for-” she suddenly stopped herself. “Wait…” Flicker Blitz then raced over to the books. “What if...just what if…” she panicked among searching the books. “What if the bells woke up the tree? Then we could use the tree to power up the elements once more!” she said now positive.

Firebelt and Scorchhop smiled. “It’s worth a shot!” Scorchhop said happily.

Flicker Blitz nodded in this and opened the door looking at the guards that were outside. “Take these two to with me to the castle! I need to speak to Luna at once! We might have a breakthrough!” she ordered as she raced between the guards.
> A Bargain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a room not in the Canterlot castle, both Applejack and Rarity were having a serious discussion that had been going on for a while. “I cannot believe you darling, this is so unlike you! You tried to set those criminals free!” she scolded a bit, but Applejack didn’t flinch. “I know about your family and how Lightning cared for her cousin, but this is just absurd!” she went on giving her a look with her scratched eye. “You’re the Element of Honesty for crying out loud! Yet you lied when they asked you what happened!” she went on before Applejack cut her off.

“Ya’ll listen here! Ah just didn’t say ah was lettin’ ‘em go, not lying.” Applejack said with a glare.

“It is still perjury either way dear! Give me a reason not to-!” Rarity went on before stopping and seeing Flicker Blitz running through the hall outside, and the guards taking both Firebelt and Scorchhop right behind them. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at this. “Dear, let us discuss this later.” she said to her friend. Applejack nodded in agreement before they both went on to following the group. As the two mares followed the group, they saw them before Princess Luna in her throne.

Flicker Blitz nervously cleared her throat before speaking up. “My princess, we have to a conclusion by blood Firebelt and the creature are not related in any case. However, we can theorize that the creature and Firebelt are related through a forgotten part of his personality.” she went on, Luna looked interested as she explained. “We cannot be sure, but we believe that there might be more of these creatures out there… considering how Sol is back and if he created these creatures.” she finished up.

“Hmmm...I see, but what I was interested in was this so called ‘breakthrough’ you had shouted down the halls.” Luna said with a stern look. Flicker Blitz blinked and slowly in embarrassment, not realizing she was that loud.

“Mmm... yes. Firebelt brought up the Cryer Bells in a flawed theory, but then I was thinking what if that could be possible to wake up the Tree of Harmony?” she said with a nervous smile. “So… there are about six Cryer Bells in total, with one in each kingdom... with your permission I believe we could make a band of soldiers to...ring each of the Cryer Bells?” she finished, while shaking a bit. But when she looked up Luna seemed interested.

“An interesting theory my apprentice… but do you think it will work?” Luna said with a look, testing if she had confidence in her own theory. 

“It’s our only shot at this, but I believe this will work.” Flicker Blitz said and nodded in response.

Luna stood up from her throne. “I see... and what party may you take in order to fulfill this task?” she asked as she stepped towards the party.

Flicker Blitz gave a look at Firebelt and Scorchhop, “Well... erm... you may not like to hear this, but I believe these two here, plus Firebelt’s cousin may be some of the best options we’ve got in this quest.” she said nervously, but Luna had a look that she would most definitely disagree with her. “Now listen Luna, these two are quite skilled and have outran your guards for years. Lightning also stood out among the guards and secretly helped Firebelt out more than you would think without anypony giving her a thought she could be behind it! They alone might not get it done, but if I and an element were to go with them we have a chance of succeeding!” she encouraged nervously as Luna approached them. Applejack and Rarity continued to watch from behind them, as perplexed about Luna’s decision as they were.

Luna didn’t like to admit it, but what Flicker Blitz said was true about the two thieves and Lightning. “While I do not fully trust the three, I can at least put faith in their skills and your credibility. These three may go with you to serve as helpers, but in return they must never steal any objects or commit any crime ever again. They break this code even once you have the right to send them to death’s row.” she spoke up with a stern look. “Rainbow Dash is busy with teaching the Canterlot Flying Squadron and has a wing that could break if hit too hard, while Rarity has lost one of her eyes. The best one in condition is Applejack, so she shall accompany you in this.” she spoke up in a steady gaze. Applejack blinked at this, as she wasn’t necessarily expecting to go on such an important task.

“How bothersome…” Rarity mumbled and sighed, knowing losing an eye guarantees a blind spot so she could see why Applejack would be the only fit one out of the three elements remaining.

“Your group shall leave in three days, prepare as much as you can.” Luna said as she trotted off down the halls. Flicker Blitz couldn’t help but feel joy in her body, knowing this could not only be the chance to resurrect the Elements of Harmony but even bring the kingdoms back together.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Flicker Blitz thought in her head with a big smile on her face. Firebelt and Scorchhop were happy too, knowing not only do they not have to die but they can also redeem themselves.

Rarity in the back shook her head, “Well Applejack darling, it seems you get your wish.” she said giving her a calm look. “But now it seems you are on an adventure of sorts. Shall I prepare some proper armor of the sorts for the lot of you?” she said now concerned. 

“Ah would suppose that would be necessary. But less fancy and more durable may help here.” Applejack said looking back at Firebelt before the two of them went off while the rest of the group went to get Lightning. 


-- THREE DAYS LATER--


Firebelt, Scorchhop, and Lightning were waiting for the others to arrive down near the front of Canterlot. Each one of them had their own armor which were hoofmade by Rarity; Lightning had her royal equestrian armor with a blue and gold color scheme, while Firebelt and Scorchhop had their own lightweight armor with a combined steel and leather for less movement restriction. Firebelt was given back his weapon, a blade-like dagger with a chain in between the blade and handle to whip around it like a flail. Lightning was given back her large spear, which was about 5 feet long with a blade tip about 1 foot long. Scorchhop was first without a weapon, so she was given two sais that slide into her armor’s sleeves for a concealed blade. “So Flicker Blitz and Applejack were supposed to meet us up here so we can ring the first bell here in Canterlot?” Firebelt asked with curiosity.

“Yes they were, but I cannot believe they actually said we could help out with such a grand quest!” Lightning said in both happiness and confusion. She then perked her ears up as they saw Applejack and Flicker Blitz approaching them. Applejack was wearing royal equestrian armor with an orange and red color scheme, while Flicker Blitz was wearing the same equestrian armor as Lightning only wearing her hood still and has a bag filled with maps along with the three elements. 

“Ya’ll remember, absolutely no funny business! If ya do something wrong you’ve lost yer chance.” Applejack said with a fierce glare towards the three. Firebelt couldn’t help but notice she was giving him a firm glare out of the three, though he did understand since he was the usual pain in the neck out of the three.

“Great I’m on the Element of Honesty’s bad side.” Firebelt thought irritated. “So anyways...where is the first Cryer Bell suppose to be here?” he asked Flicker Blitz as she pulled out a large map with her magic.

“It says the first Cryer Bell is supposed to be at the catacombs below Canterlot.” Flicker Blitz said as she carefully examined the map.

“Catacombs? Those exist here?” Scorchhop asked raising an eyebrow.

Applejack nodded, “Each kingdom has ‘em since each of der own had a great lost in the Equestria War. They had to make catacombs for a burial, and out of respect they made them around the Cryer Bells.” she said with a sigh. “But now ain’t the time for moaning, let’s ring that bell!” she said triumphantly as she and Flicker Blitz went off into the city. Firebelt shrugged and followed after the two with Lightning and Scorchhop behind them.

After about a fifteen minute walk they arrive at two large doors with a lock and chains on the front of it. Flicker Blitz used a key to insert it into a lock and the chains fell apart as it unlocked. “Each catacombs have chains and a key on it, usually protected by the leader of the kingdom. It is a highly sacred place, to which is why it is so heavily covered.” she explained as she moved them aside and opened the doors. They moved into the catacombs, and the entrance was already unnerving as it was covered in webs and old bricks. “Ngh…creepy.” Firebelt said as he observed the walls.

Upon entry the webbing and the bricks were still in the same pattern as the entrance, but in the walls there were openings about ten on each wall with a door sealed on them. Lightning couldn’t help but shiver upon the sight of this knowing each one of them contained a body of a soldier, or a medic, or any pony that died in the terrible war. “Poor fellas…gotta be hundreds of them.” she thought out loud.

“Try millions, there are about a hundred corridors here. The only way you can guide yourself through these is with a map each leader carries.” Flicker Blitz said using magic to look at a different map rather than the one she was carrying beforehand.

“Erm...where did you get all the-” Firebelt was about to ask before Flicker Bliz cut in.

“Maps? I’ve got some of these that Twilight Sparkle discarded, and others that I’ve made myself.” she answered as she took a few more corners and halls before looking up. “We’re here.”

The others look and saw a chamber that was about twenty feet in both length and width, the walls strangely look more strong than the ones before and were covered in the what appeared to be the doors they saw before which contained bodies. In the center was a giant bell in the center of the room, which was dangling from a gudgeon and a stay made from brass. The bell alone looked like it was made from stone and was cracked all around. “It may appear as stone but it’s made from the toughest diamonds...or obsidian...or other stuff…” Applejack said with a small sweat, forgetting what the bells were made of.

“Now isn’t the time to be studying the geology of the Cryer Bells Applejack.” Firebelt said with a smirk. “Let’s ring this puppy!” he spoke out. Before looking at the bell around it, “Erm...where is the lever that usually rings the bell?” he asked.

Flicker Blitz observed the room, “There is a secret switch that rings the bell, since it is a tune that few ever hear.” she said before seeing Firebelt forcibly trying to push the bell to get it to ring. She just shook her head as she walked over to a random part of the catacombs and pressed in a block. They watched the giant bell swing with one mighty push...with Firebelt still holding on to it.

“Waaaagh!” Firebelt shouted as it swung. Lightning just facehoof’d and just groaned in irritation. As the bell swung again it let off a large “DONG”...and that was it. Firebelt blinked and fell down from the bell. “Wait...that’s it?” he spoke up and fell off the bell, rolling back to the group.

“The bell only rings once mystically, when all of them have ringed the Tree of Harmony will wake up.” Flicker Blitz explained, while helping Firebelt up with her magic and standing him on his hooves. “Now let’s make our way back to Luna, and tell her we’re ready to move out to our next kingdom.” she said as she picked out her map again and started trotting back.

“Wait, to where?” Firebelt asked intently.

“Kasaitatki, land of the deer.” Flicker Blitz.

An hour later, the group was meeting up with both Princess Luna and Rarity in front of the gates of Canterlot. Rarity gave a bag to Applejack, “Here you go darlings. Food and healing potions to help you out in your little quest.” Rarity said politely and smiled. “Eat only when you’re hungry and those potions there are limited. Also those armor pieces I made look FABULOUS on you two.” she also said looking at Firebelt and Scorchhop. “Now I highly recommend you don’t go breaking them!” she said with a grin that did seem somewhat threatening since she held clothings that she made so dear.

“Eh...hehe…” Firebelt chuckled nervously, thinking what punishment Rarity would have in store if they even scratched the armor.

Luna stepped forward, “I hope you are all ready for this grand task.” she said boldly. The group knelled before Luna as she looked at them, “If what Flicker Blitz says is true, we may finally have peace with all the kingdoms once more. At nonetheless, you must stop Sol for his scheme to destroy the Elements of Harmony. So you must get to them before he does!” she shouted loudly. When she looked again, the group was against the floor. Luna let off a sigh, “I used the equestrian voice again didn’t I?”

“Yes, yes you did dear.” Rarity answered.

As the group got up a bit shaken, Luna got back in focus. “Now then…” she said and stopped as the large gates and the sun drew over the skies on the group. “...I give you the best of hope in your quest, and in hope you succeed.” she added on as she and Rarity gave a bow in return. 

Flicker Blitz beamed as they started walking out the gates, “I will not fail you Luna!” she shouted as they left.

“We’re gonna succeed no matter what!” Firebelt shouted out with a grin as he left too with Lightning and Scorchhop.

“Ah’ll be back faster than you can say apple!” Applejack grinned and raced off with the rest.

Luna smiled as the group went off, the gates slowly closed behind the leaving group. She knew that the kingdom’s fate depended on their success, and she had full confidence they could pull it off.