Smoke on the Horizon

by Tmega87

Chapter 1

Rainbow Dash was awoken by a loud knocking. She groaned as she sat up in her cloud bed, stretching her wings as she did so. The cyan-colored pegasus was brushing her rainbow mane out of her eyes when she heard the knocking again. She crawled out of bed and slowly made her way to her front door. Upon opening it she saw a gray pegasus with golden eyes and a mail bag standing outside. The gray pegasus dug around in her bag a minute and pulled out a few letters and a newspaper and handed them to Rainbow Dash.

“Here you go Dash!” she said with a smile.

Rainbow accepted the mail with a yawn. “Thanks Derpy,” she mumbled.

“No problem, Rainbow Dash, see ya tomorrow!” the pegasus called, as she flew off to make more deliveries. Rainbow sighed, Derpy was responsible for more of her early mornings than any other pony, and she wasn't sure if she should be grateful or annoyed at her for constantly interrupting her sleep. She quickly forgot about Derpy though, as she dug through her mail. Most of it turned out to be junk and Rainbow Dash simply tossed it aside before looking through her newspaper. It was her weekly issue of Ponyville Gazette and the headline was about some mysterious fires that had been sprouting up all over Equestria. Rainbow Dash sighed and set the paper on her kitchen table. That's all anypony has been talking about lately, she thought. The talk of the town for the last few weeks was nothing but how random fires had been sprouting up in Manehattan, Las Pegasus, and Fillydelphia. Some ponies believed it to be a serial arsonist; while others, like Rainbow, thought the fires were simply a coincidence. The pegasi weather teams had scheduled a hot summer and thus far they managed to deliver.

Rainbow Dash looked at the clock and decided she had enough time to take a shower before heading to Rarity's fashion boutique. Somehow, the week before, the fashonista pony had managed to convince her to be a form for one of her dresses. Rainbow sighed again; she did not like the thought of being stuck in a fancy dress for hours on end. Rainbow took a quick shower and scarfed down some breakfast before taking flight out her front door. This is what I live for, she thought to herself. She angled upwards and began to climb. She kept climbing until her wings felt like they would tear themselves off. Then she tucked them in to her sides and simply fell. She closed her eyes against the wind, and, acting on instinct, she plummeted towards the ground. At the last moment she flared her wings out to catch the air and level herself off, coming within inches of crashing into the ground. Using her momentum she lifted into several corkscrews and loops. Her speed finally spent, and her wings appropriately stretched, she looked around until she found the right size cloud and alighted upon it.

Looking out from her cloud she could see most of Ponyville. She quickly spotted the Cakes' bakery, where her friend Pinkie Pie lived and worked. She saw the tree her friend Twilight Sparkle lived in, which also doubled as the Ponyville public library. Far off in the distance she could barely make out Sweet Apple Acres, the apple farm where Applejack and her family lived. Looking out over the town she quickly spotted the building she was looking for: the Carousel Boutique. It was the fanciest building in town, with all the designer dresses and outfits in the windows. It also happened to be the same place Rarity lived and worked. For the third time that day, Rainbow Dash sighed. Well, she thought, Might as well go and get this over with. She launched herself off the cloud and took off like a rocket towards the boutique.

Once Rainbow landed she went into the boutique, careful to not knock over any of the fancily dressed mannequins all around the store. Not seeing Rarity in front, Rainbow wandered into the back where Rarity's “inspiration room” was. How anypony could work back there was a complete mystery. Bits of cloth and thread were scattered everywhere, as were, what appeared to be rejected and half-finished dress designs. It was such a stark contrast to the neat and proper pony Rarity appeared to be, and it always took Rainbow by surprise. Rainbow scanned the room and finally spotted the purple-maned unicorn working furiously at her cluttered desk. Rainbow tried to quietly walk in but she tripped over some cloth on the floor sending her crashing to the floor. The crashing sound caused Rarity stop and turn around, a look of surprise on her face.

“Rainbow, darling! I'm sorry I didn't hear you come in! I just had to put the finishing touches on several of my latest designs.”

“No problem. You know if this is a bad time I can come back later,” Rainbow replied casually.

“Oh no no no no no darling! This is the perfect time! With these designs finished I can focus entirely on fitting this dress.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Great.”

Rarity went and donned her red framed glasses and, using her magic to levitated some cloth and sewing equipment. “Now Rainbow my dear, would you kindly step into my office?”

Several hours later Rainbow Dash staggered out of Carousel Boutique, her legs stiff from having stood still for so long. As she wandered into the center of town she heard a familiar voice behind her.

“Well, howdy there sugarcube.”

Rainbow turned around as an orange earth pony with a blond mane walking towards her. She carried a set of plain saddlebags and was wearing a rather worn Stetson hat.

“Hey Applejack. What are you doing here?”

“Nothin' really,” Applejack replied casually. “Ah was just pickin' some stuff up for supper. Granny Smith ran out of her special spices, so Ah had to come pick some up. What have you been up to?”

“I was roped into helping Rarity all afternoon, so you obviously know how that went,” Rainbow sighed. “The annoying part is I don't even know how she managed to convince me to help.”

Applejack chuckled, “Yeah, Ah know what'chya mean. Ah've had to help out once or twice. Ah know exactly how fussy she
can be. Hey I was going to drop by Twilight's after Ah was done here. Do ya want to come with?”

“I guess. I haven't seen her around lately. Is she still working on that project for the Princess?”

“Yeah, she is.” Applejack said, with a touch of concern in her voice. “When Ah saw Spike last, he tol' me a little bit of- why speak of the critter, there he is.” Rainbow glanced over to where Applejack was looking and sure enough, there was the little purple and green dragon. He was carrying a large bag of groceries over his shoulder, and seemed rather pleased with himself. “Howdy there sugarcube,” Applejack yelled. Spike turned, spotting Rainbow and Applejack, and waved.

“Hey guys. What are you doing here?”

Rainbow shrugged, “Nothing really, we were planning on visiting Twilight's later.”

“That's a really good idea.” Spike sighed. “She's been so into her project lately, she hasn't hardly slept, let alone left the house. It's almost like we're back in Canterlot again.”

“Well shoot. Ah guess we'll have to head over there right now. Hop on.”

Spike climbed onto Applejack's back and they started walking to the library. “So Spike, could ya tell us what Twilight's been working on so hard lately?” asked Rainbow.

“I guess so. Most of the stuff is secret to the public, what with it being an open investigation and everything,” Spike looked around then leaned in close between the two walking ponies and spoke in a hushed tone. “But I can tell you this: it's about
the fire itself. There's something strange with it.” Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other in confusion.

“What do you mean there's something weird with the fire? I thought the fires were just random occurrences, thanks to, you know, this heat wave.”

Spike just shrugged, “I don't know the specifics, just that the samples we were sent are really hard to put out. Once one of the samples fell onto one of the books Twilight was reading. It took soaking the whole thing in the tub to put it out.”

“Ah still don't see why Twilight's involved. Don't most of that investigatin' stuff need to be done by professionals?” asked Applejack.

Spike nodded. “It usually does. But everypony on the investigation is stumped on what caused the fire. If they can't determine the cause then they can't go anywhere. So they asked Princess Celestia for help and she asked Twilight. Said it was good magic training or something like that.”

“Well, that would explain why she's shut herself up. She doesn't want to disappoint the Princess. That still doesn't explain anything about the fire though.”

Spike glanced over at Rainbow, “Like I said it’s not normal fire. I can't really tell you anything more. Twilight's the one who's been experimenting with the fire samples. If you want to know more you'll have to ask her.”

“We better hurry up then.” Rainbow stopped walking and stretched her wings. “Race you there!” Suddenly she took off like a rocket into the air towards the library.

“Hey!” shouted Applejack in surprise as she started running after her friend, Spike clinging for life as she did so. “Darn pegasus. Always in a hurry.”

Twilight was sitting alone in the middle of the library's basement surrounded by several towering stacks of books. While this in itself wasn't a strange occurrence, the weird part was that the lavender unicorn was also working at a table with strange equipment covered in dials and tubes with several jars of magically sealed fire sitting next to them. The entire room was filled with strange machinery and science equipment. It looked less like a basement and more like a mad science lab. Twilight was furiously scribbling notes on one of the books when she groaned. This was the fifth book she'd gone through today that said the same thing: nothing at all. She was growing rather frustrated on the lack of progress. Princess Celestia had given her the task of determining the origin of the fire a little over a week ago and she still was no closer to finding it. She'd read and re-read all of the books around her and none of them held any clue as to what she was looking for.

Right now the only thing she knew for sure was that the fire was magical, meaning whomever caused it was committing arson, but none of the books she had were any help in finding the source at all though. They all described ways of using magic to track the spell that caused it, or at least determine what kind of fire spell it was. Twilight was shocked when she started reading at how many different fire spells there were. Spells all the way from lighting candles to burning down whole forests, but none of them were the right one. Anytime she tried to use magic to influence the samples they seemed to just devour it. Not only did this make it impossible to do a reading, according to her books, this type of flame shouldn't exist at all! There wasn't a record of any such fire spell on record in any of the books, even the ones she sent for from the Royal Library.

Twilight groaned again and set her head on the table. At this rate she'll have to send the Princess a letter telling her about her failure. She just hoped Spike would be home soon with some food. In her haste to get back to work she skipped breakfast and completely forgot about lunch. Once he got back she'd get something to eat and have him send Princess Celestia her report. She still didn't get how the fire he breathed didn't just destroy the letter instead of sending it to his desired recipient.

There must be some special magic involved, she thought, Wait a minute! She leaned up from the table. It can't be that obvious, can it?

She managed to push her way between two of the book towers without knocking either of them over as she made her way upstairs to one of the bookshelves. “Now where is it?” she murmured to herself. Suddenly she spotted what she was looking for. Channeling her magic through her horn she tried to pull the book of the shelf but it was stuck. With a grunt she managed to pull the book off the shelf and down to eye level. It was coated in a thin layer of dust and the pages kind of stuck together. She could barely read the faded title, Other Races Magic and You. Twilight quickly flipped through the book until she got to the section she was looking for. As she flipped through the book, she quickly grew both equally excited and confused at the same time. She'd found the source of the fire, but there's no way that it could have been the source, not in the middle of a crowded city. Suddenly, she was shaken out of her stupor by a loud knock on the door.

“Sorry!” she called out. “The library's closed today. You'll have to come back tomorrow.”

She was answered by more knocking, this time much louder and more insistent. Twilight started towards the door. “I'm sure whatever you need ca-” she was interrupted as the door was smashed open and three tall, cloaked ponies walked in.

Twilight immediately readied her magic, causing her horn to emit a purple aura. She looked at each figure quickly trying to figure out which one she could defeat first before the others got to her. Each of the ponies was wearing a black cloak that completely covered them from head to cutie mark. The biggest one, while being a unicorn, was wearing a black mask that looked like a dragon's face. When Twilight looked at the other two she saw they were also wearing dragon masks, only theirs were colored red and blue. The unicorn turned to the red masked pony who was trying to prop the door back up.

“Really? Was destroying the door necessary?” he said. Not even waiting for a reply he looked towards Twilight.

“You should put that magic away so we can have a nice chat.”

Twilight's horn grew brighter, “And what if I don't?”

The stallion looked at her in amusement, “Then I'm afraid we'd have to get a little... rough. I'm sure neither of us wants that. Besides, if all goes well, I'm just here to talk. Here, I'll even fix my foolish associate's mess.” His horn glowed a dark black as he focused his magic. The door slowly shifted and melded itself back together and was righted on its hinges. “There all better. Will you be civil now?”

Twilight slowly released the magic she'd been holding onto. “Alright fine,” she replied cautiously. “What do you want? And why did you break into my home and the public library.”

The masked unicorn chuckled, “My companion here got a little overzealous in his knocking. He does not really know the meaning of the word subtlety.”

“But boss, you said we had to speak with her immediately,” the red-masked pony whined.

“And you think destroying her door is the best way to introduce ourselves?” he asked angrily. “When we're through here, we are going to have a little conversation about thinking before acting.”

“You still haven't answered my question what do you want and why are you wearing masks?”

The unicorn stallion cleared his throat, “We want you to join us. We serve a master far superior to the current fools that call themselves nobility. You're a smart, powerful unicorn and you're exceptionally close to the princesses. Having you as a part of our group would make a lot of ponies really happy. Of course, joining our group does come with some benefits. He'd not expect something for nothing. You've been studying that fire for some time now, and I'd wager a guess that you've figured out what caused it. If you haven't, then look no further, for it was us.”

Twilight's eyes widened in shock, “How could you have caused those fires? That's impossible!”

He let out a blood chilling laugh that caused everypony to shift uncomfortably.

“Impossible you say? When you serve the true ruler of Equestria, nothing is impossible! His power dwarfs that of the false Princess Celestia and even surpasses that of the fool Discord. When he returns to power, he shall show the whole of Equestria his might and shall take all that is owed him.”

Twilight sat in a stunned silence. What this masked unicorn was suggesting was ludicrous. Nopony was more powerful than Celestia, let alone Discord. And when he rises again? From the sounds of it all of Equestria would suffer.

“You think I would betray the princess? Why would I or anypony for that matter want to overthrow Princess Celestia? She's been a good ruler and I would give my life to help her.”

“Are you sure?” asked the masked stallion. “This is a once in a lifetime offer- a chance to aid in the release of Equestria's true master. Turning us down will have dire consequences.”

“I am sure I will never join your group. That you would even think I would turn against my teacher is, quite frankly, insulting,” Twilight said adamantly.

The masked unicorn looked down dejectedly, “Alright. If you feel that strongly about it, then I guess I have no choice. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but you know too much.” His horn glowed black and he launched several bolts of magic at Twilight. She had expected this and quickly ducked off to the side barely dodging the missiles. She hastily launched a blast of magic towards the cloaked ponies but it was deflected by a black barrier.

Twilight threw up a barrier in front of herself to deflect any magic sent her way. The unicorn stallion obliged her by hurling a few bolts her way. The impact was impossibly strong, causing Twilight to wince with every impact. The red masked stallion was moving after the second spell barrage, covering the distance between them faster than Twilight thought possible. He ducked alongside the barrier and tackled Twilight, pinning her to the ground. She managed to get her back legs under the stallion and kick him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He fell to the side gasping for breath as Twilight rolled to her feet.

She was then blasted off her hooves and into the basement by a wave of force from the masked unicorn. As she crashed into the floor she felt one of her ribs crack. She struggled to get to her feet as the cloaked ponies calmly walked down the stairs to join her. The masked unicorn looked around a little taken aback by all the strange equipment.

“Well well, this is quite the lab we have going on here. It's a shame really, to have to demolish all this fancy looking equipment.”

The black-masked unicorn laughed, sending chills down Twilight's spine, his horn emitting a black aura. Twilight fired another bolt only to have it blocked by a black barrier. She jumped to the side to dodge the inevitable counterattack and smashed right into a barrier. She finally noticed the barrier wasn't surrounding the cloaked ponies, but was around her instead.

“What is this!” she cried in surprise.

“Why Twilight Sparkle my dear, it is but a simple barrier spell. The only difference is it keeps things out, things like air. I give you about another minute before you run out.”

Twilight fought the urge to panic, which would speed up her breathing, expending her dwindling air supply faster. She delved deep into her spell list and found just one spell that could help her. Unfortunately, it cost a lot of magic, and she would most likely be defenseless after casting it. Well, here goes everything, she thought to herself. She gritted her teeth and focused on her spell, drawing as much magic as she could muster, the thinning air causing her to feel light-headed. She kept focusing magic into her horn, drawing on reserves she didn't even know she had, until she thought it would burst. When she couldn't hold on any longer, she let the magic loose right into the barrier. The cloaked ponies' eyes widened in surprise as the beam kept flowing into the barrier, the stallion's horn growing brighter and brighter with each second. Twilight kept pushing magic into the barrier, her lungs feeling like they were going to collapse.

There was a huge flash and the barrier disappeared and Twilight greedily gulped air. The magic she spent suddenly took its toll on her body causing her to almost collapse. It was all she had just to keep standing. The masked unicorn looked at Twilight with something almost akin to respect.

“Well, that was impressive. You used a magic transference spell to overload my barrier. Well done. That was some pretty high level magic, why if I hadn't severed my connection with the barrier my horn might have been blown off.”

Twilight tiredly smiled, “You can't blame a mare for trying.”

“Yes well,” the stallion coughed. “That spell had to take a lot of energy. From the looks of you, it required more than you thought. Such a shame really, I was actually looking forward to a bit of a fight.”

His horn glowed as Twilight was lifted into the air. She tried to struggle, but the massive release of energy and the long nights without sleep left her too tired to do anything more than helplessly flail. When Twilight's eyes met the blue-masked pony's, she could see real pity in the gaze.

“If you ever see the princess again, tell her the true Lord of Flame shall rise again.” Then the stallion threw her into some machinery and all she saw was black.

The red masked pony walked over to Twilight's still form. “Hey boss, she's still breathing. You want me to finish her off?” he asked, pulling a wicked looking knife from his cloak.

The black masked unicorn sighed, “Put the knife away. If you kill her like that there will be another investigation. The last thing we want now is to attract even more attention to ourselves.” The red masked pony moaned as he returned the knife to its hiding place.

“We need it to look like an accident and here one is.” He levitated one of the flasks of fire off of the desk and carried it upstairs in front of himself while the two ponies followed. “Fire is such a dangerous thing,” The stallion said staring into the bottled flame. He watched the small flame dance and flicker, always burning despite not having a fuel source. “You know, inexperienced mares shouldn't play with things like this. They could get hurt.”

The stallion turned and hurled the flask into one of the several bookshelves, smashing it to pieces. The magic fire, finally having a fuel source quickly, spread to the bed and walls burning quickly across bookshelf after bookshelf.

“All right it’s time to leave.”

There was a bright flash as three ponies were magically teleported from the room, leaving the unconscious mare to her grisly fate.