//------------------------------//
// In the Fires 
// Story: Resurgence 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//

Okay, now that Twilight and the rest of them didn't think that I'd go all "Dark Lord Kristen" on them, that left the matter of what to do with the Ring. Obviously I couldn't keep it. What if somebody not so benevolent got their hooves on it? That could be a real issue if... I don't know, some Diamond Dog warlord got ahold of it. 

Well, I certainly wasn't going to let that happen. 

So as to avoid suspicion, we all waited until after the Gala to get anything done. I was jittery the entire night, waiting for either some pretty boy colt to hit on me, or for something to go wrong with my chaos magic. We'd long since discovered that my magic was affected by my emotions, so if I was nervous, then it might not take more than one good startling to get me to turn a table into a canoe made of pineapple slices, or something like that.

Thankfully, though, the night went without incident. Phew.

The second we could, Luna, Celestia, TD and I were in my room. Well, Bob was floating in his pool too, but he wasn't really concerned with the Ring like the rest of us. Can't forget Bob, though. Anyway, the four of us were around the pedestal where  the Ring had appeared when I first... summoned it? Created it? I don't know. Either way, we had to get rid of it as soon as we could before more things went wrong. Based on how it acted so far, it matched up with the Ring having a mind of its own, and since I had made it, it probably wanted to just go around and cause whatever chaos it could. 

"Okay, so how do we destroy this?" Celestia asked, leaning in a little closer to examine the Ring. "You said that this was from a book on your world. How did they destroy it there?"

"Well, they took it to the volcano where it was made and tossed it into the lava," TD said. "Which might be a problem, as Equestria doesn't really have active volcanoes on that level." He glanced over at me. "How did you say that you made this again?"

"I just said the words on the Ring and pointed and... voila. Ring of Power." I tapped my jaw and poked the Ring. "Maybe if I said the words backwards?"

"I don't know if--"

"Okay. Here it goes." I cleared my throat and pointed at the Ring. "lutapmirk ihsi-muzrub hga kûlutakarht hsa lutabmig gzan hsa kûlutabrud gzan hsA!"

The four of us stared expectantly at the Ring, but nothing happened. It didn't vanish or do much of anything, really. It just sat there. 

"Well, worth a shot, I guess," I muttered.

"And you are sure that you cannot summon an active volcano long enough to destroy the Ring?" Luna asked. 

I gave her a flat look. "Oh yeah, I'm sure that won't cause any problems at all. Also, I'm just getting good at making small things, and a freaking volcano doesn't fit in that category."

"Well we can't just leave it here," TD said. "We gotta find something to do with it. I don't exactly fancy putting it in my weapons room. Who knows what it will do if it's unsupervised. I don't think we have any options that will make us feel good. The Ring must be destroyed."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Yeah, we really needed to figure this out, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't completely disappear if we locked it away somewhere. From what I'd seen so far, it reacted to the ponies around it. If we put it in a lockbox, I'm not totally sure of what it would do.

Granted, I had seen it turn a glass case into a Nascar car replica, so better safe than sorry here. 

"And there are no weapons that can destroy it?" Celestia asked. 

I shook my head. "No, that's why they needed to to toss the thing into a volcano." I grimaced and tapped my jaw. "Maybe if I made a pool of lava..."

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea right now," TD said uneasily. "Or at the very least, we'd really need to be very precise about it. Obviously if that went wrong it would be a disaster."

"Right." I frowned and tilted my head. "Maybe we could try a lightsaber?"

"I mean we..." TD paused as what I had said fully registered with him. He stared at the Ring for a few seconds, then slowly looked over to me. "Can... can you do that?"

I shrugged. "Worth a shot, at least."

I couldn't miss the slightly giddy look in his eyes. He'd gotten better at hiding what he was thinking, I'd seen that much since I'd been in Equestria, but not always. Truth be told, I really wanted this to work out, too, now that I'd thought of it. Celestia and Luna naturally were a bit in the dark.

"A lightsaber?" Celestia said. "What is a lightsaber?"

"It's just the best weapon ever," TD said, a small grin appearing on his face. "If she can actually make one, it would probably actually work. 

"Why? What does it do?" Luna asked.

TD stepped back and motioned for me to start. "Oh, you'll see... hopefully."

Right. No pressure for me, then. I cleared my throat and cracked my neck a little bit. Here goes nothing. I closed my eyes and extended my hoof, focusing on what a lightsaber looked like in my mind's eye. The hilt, the blade, the awesome hum as you swung it around. Then I visualized it slicing right through the Ring. Maybe if I did, it would actually work. Maybe not, though. Chaos magic, and all that. 

It wasn't a few seconds before I felt something metal hit my outstretched hoof. I opened my eyes and my heart leaped at the sight. In my hoof I held a perfect replica of Luke's lightsaber from Episode Four. TD squeaked in joy despite himself, and I couldn't stop the gigantic grin that crossed my face. Celestia and Luna were a little less impressed.

"Is that all?" Celestia asked. "I was expecting something a little more... impressive."

I glared at her and floated the lightsaber in the air with my magic. "It's not on yet. Sheesh, have patience, young one."

Celestia glared at me, but I wasn't going to let her mood stop me from fulfilling a childhood dream of mine that I'd had since I first saw this thing switch on in the movie. I flipped it so that the blade would go into the air when I turned it on and pressed the switch.

A bright blue lightsaber blade (beam?) shot out of the hilt, and my heart started doing cartwheels. A friggin' lightsaber!

"It's beautiful," TD whispered, staring at it in awe. I backed up from the rest of them and gave it a few practice swings. It hummed like a real lightsaber. I was pretty sure that I'd done it!

"It is more interesting when it is actually on," Luna admitted. "Can this cut through anything, or something of that nature?"

"Pretty much," I said, my gaze turning to the Ring. "Some exceptions, and I hope the Ring isn't one of them, but right now we have a good shot." I pointed the lightsaber blade a the Ring and narrowed my eyes. "Alright, ladies and gentleman. Three immortal rulers and the chaos god are about to try to destroy the One Ring with Luke Skywalker's lightsaber. You ready?"

"Ready," TD said, motioning for the other two to step back. 

Alright. Here goes nothing. 

I raised the lightsaber high and focused all of my attention on the Ring. If this didn't work, I wasn't sure of what we were going to do, but this would be a good try. I swung the lightsaber down as hard as I could, but before it could connect, it was bathed in a bright blue glow.

"Wait, hang on a second, Kristen."

I frowned and looked over to TD, who was staring at the ring with his horn lit. That... might be bad. 

"What? What's the problem?"

"Well, I'm was just thinking... how are we sure that it's going to work? It could... end up bad somehow, right?"

"Antares is correct," Luna said, taking a step toward the Ring. "And would it really be such a bad thing to have a weapon like this?"

"Perhaps not," Celestia said. "Obviously it wouldn't be a first resort, but it could be useful if used correctly."

"Uh..." I blinked in confusion and looked between the three of them. "Oooorrrr we could not. You all saw what this did to Twilight and Starlight, right? You want that to happen to other ponies?"

"Of course not," TD said. "That's why we'd be really careful with it. You know: just keep it under maximum maximum security. Only the four of us could get close to the thing."

I scoffed. "Weren't you just saying that you didn't think you could keep the Ring safe under those circumstances? That's one of the big reasons we're even trying to destroy it right now in the--"

I was cut off when I heard quiet whispering in the back of my mind. Ah. That explained everything. I sighed and facehooved. 

"Guys, the Ring is trying to preserve itself. You're under its influence."

"Nonsense," Luna said with a wave of her hoof, triggering nods from the other two. "We are aware of the Ring's power. I think that we would use that knowledge to resist its influence."

"And hey, since we thought about this, now we have a lightsaber out of the deal, too!" TD pointed out. "Seems like a win-win to me."

I used some of my magic to nullify his, giving me control of the lightsaber back. 

"Well technically speaking it's my ring and my lightsaber, and since they're my things, I think I'm going to do this," I growled. 

Celestia sighed and shook her head. "Dear Kristen. I know that you are young yet and have not been in your position for long, but one of the things we've all learned is that it is best to put our subjects ahead of our own desires. We have just endured a horrible war, and if this could prevent another..."

"We'll take good care of it," TD insisted. He lit his horn and grabbed the lightsaber again. "Can't just destroy something this valuable, though."

I sighed. I never should have made this darned thing. Never again. However, I needed to be smart about this. If it came to blows, there was no way that I was winning against three powerful alicorns, lightsaber or no. Plus that's the first thing TD would go for. Also I didn't want to hurt them. Ugh. Chaos indeed.

"I guess so," I muttered, triggering smiles from the three of them. "I just have one question about how you're going to use it, though."

"Of course," TD said. "This is an important artifact that you've created, after all."

"Right." I walked over to TD until I was just in front of him. "I guess my one question about it is..."

Before he could do anything, I flew up to eye-level with him, used my chaos magic to turn my skeleton into adamantium, then headbutted him as hard as I could. He flew back with a cry, and his magic sputtered out, giving me full control of the lightsaber again. Celestia and Luna lit their horns, no doubt to attack me somehow, but with speed I didn't know I was capable of, I spun around and swung the lightsaber at the Ring as hard as I could. It appeared that I did a good job with its creation, as the blade sliced the pedestal in half vertically. A shockwave of power sent all four of us flying back. I hit the wall, which hurt, and slid down to the floor, which also hurt a bit.

It took us all a second before we all began to recover. That blast of power had knocked us all off of our hooves. I began to regain my bearings a bit, I felt a sort of pressure in my chest. I looked down and saw the lightsaber had impaled me all the way through. 

Huh. Interesting to know. 

I got to my hooves and turned the lightsaber off, flinching at the feeling of the blade receding. Not gonna lie: it was a unique feeling. Sort of like... I dunno, an ancient weapon made of energy being taken out of your chest. I grabbed the lightsaber out of the air with my wing and pressed it against my side for safekeeping. 

The alicorns were all starting to get to their hooves as I made it to the pedestal, and that's when I saw it: two halves of the One Ring were on the ground below what was left of the pedestal. Unless it could fix itself, and I doubted it, I think we succeeded.

"Ugh, that wasn't pleasant," TD said, rubbing his forehead as he walked up to me. "I'm going to have a splitting headache soon." He glared at me. "You didn't have to hit that hard, you know."

I rolled my eyes and picked up the two pieces of the Ring. "Yeah, the three of you being under the influence of a dark artifact while you were trying to get a lightsaber away from me definitely didn't call for drastic measures. Not at all."

"Point taken," TD muttered. 

"I admit that I did not expect the Ring to attempt to fight back," Celestia said. "It truly was an artifact of great evil."

"Yeah." I stared at the two halves of the Ring, still smoldering from the lightsaber. "Well, I guess all that matters is that it's destroyed and I am definitely, totally, one hundred percent not going to make anything like that ever again."

"Sounds like a plan to me," TD said. "But, uh..." He motioned to the lightsaber. "What are you going to do with that?"

I glared at him and hugged it closer.

"Mine."