//------------------------------// // Coronation // Story: A blaze rekindled // by RedBlack //------------------------------// *Calming Blaze POV* I stand in one of the richer parts of town as I stare at the rather rundown building. A few knocks. After not getting an answer for 5 seconds, I push open the door. The house was, pretty clean. Not perfect, but there wasn't much dust around. Suffice to say, it looked like an actual home a normal pony lived in, just a bit fancy. As I walk through hallways of the house, I come to a stop as an axe digs itself into the wall right in front of me. "You know, that could've killed if it wasn't me" I state as the stallion comes out from a door behind me while holding another axe. He was an earth pony with an ash grey coat and a full black mane and tail with green eyes. A hammer and anvil for a cutie mark. A classic blacksmith. "I don't remember inviting anypony" he said while brandishing the axe. "Sorry sir, but I don't really have time to waste" with that, I turn to look at him whilst putting the disguise down. He seemed slightly surprised, but was more than ready to kill. I wonder what kind of life he led to be like this? "What's an alicorn doing here?" "Getting a weapon" "Tch, forget it kid, you ain't getting a weapon from me" he seemed more annoyed than angry now as he put away the axe and entered, presumably a kitchen. "Sir, you can't really argue with this one" "Oh yeah, why's that? I already told Celestia that she can't get one, why's it different with you?" "A war" He stayed silent at that as I could only hear silence from the kitchen. He suddenly came out while finishing a bottle of, something. "Alright kid, tell me your name first" "Calming Blaze" I say with a small smile. As I stand in the training grounds, overlooking the guards training, I feel the space expansion spell around me. It allowed the simple room to be as big as a city. In the end, I decide to finish it early as I glanced at the ponies all doing their own specialized training. The armies are currently stationed at their own countries. That way, we have protection at any place that the war would take place in. "Stand at attention!" I yell not too loudly as they all scramble to stand in line. After the last one, who was using the leg press, arrived to stand, I cleared my throat as I looked at them. About 1300 troops. Lower than I would've liked, but more than I've ever worked with. I've worked them out as best as I can while not forgetting about their proficiencies over their preferred weapons. They won't get better than this before tomorrow. "For today, I'll be ending practice early" I announce as they just look at me with concealed confusion. Good discipline. "At ease guards, today will be a day off, a hearty feast, that includes drinks, has been prepared in the cafeteria" they visibly get excited at the announcement, except for one. "After the feast, I want you all to rest, and I mean rest, no late night poker" a squad of 10 earth ponies slightly flinch at the mention. "If you have any families or friends, I suggest you write a letter to them before tomorrow starts, it may be your last chance. Dismissed!" with that, I leave the training grounds. "Sir!" a unicorn runs up to me. He had a black coat with blue eyes and a light blue mane. "Yes, Aeron?" I turn around. "I, want to ask, what did you mean by that last statement?" he asked with worry. I continue to walk while he matched my pace. "There will most likely be a war" he flinched at my declaration. "Wha-Are you sure?" "It's not guaranteed, but it's likely" "Oh, wow, that's, pretty big" "It is, that's why you changelings will be joining us" He freezes at the statement before quickly shouting at me. "You knew?!" "Of course I did, you even used your real name!" I shout back as he just stands there in disbelief. Heh, funny guy. As I walk away, a strange feeling starts to invade me. The feeling of unease, that something was wrong. Shit. I try to teleport into the throne room, but was blocked once again. Breaking into a sprint, I quickly approach the throne room as several manticores were placed in my way. They were quickly embedded into the walls before I could even touch them as I break open the gates, entering the throne room. I put up my left hoof as the shattered pieces of the gates form a gauntlet on my hoof, acting as armor against the blade that made a shrieking noise. "Hello" he greeted with a cheery voice and manic grin. "Where is Celestia?" I ask him after giving a quick glance towards the throne. "Oh her? She's just outside, blocking the laser cannon, but hey, I wanna ask, how are you alive?" I push him back as I start to gather ambient magic. "Oh?" he tilts his head slightly, that smile still on his face. "We can't have that can we?" he says with a wave of his horn as the room suddenly becomes much less concentrated. No, it's something else. "Didn't you learn your lesson from last time? You have to answer when somepony asks you a question" he said before rushing at me with insane speed, sword in hoof. As the blade almost reaches my neck, I put up a small barrier at the neck area, blocking the strike before giving him a punch. He just tilted his head and dodged before spinning and running the sword through the floor while doing an upward slice, lightning shooting out of the blade. Stepping back at the last second, I put my right hoof on the floor before rotating, successfully giving him a buck. He's pushed back. I rush after him while getting a speed boost by shooting intense fire from behind my back. Assuming the position of a pegasus fighter, I put both my front hooves in front of me, fully pointed at him. He recovers mid air before swiping his sword sideways, aiming at my head. I unfurl my wings, giving a quick flap that elevated me enough to dodge the attack. My body flips forward from the inertia, which I used to grab him by the horn before slamming him on the ground with all my strength. The ground caves from the pressure, causing a small crater to appear. I raise my hoof before swiftly bringing it down. It goes through his body as he turns into a bluish mist that quickly hardened into a pillar that launched me back. I flap my wings, suspending me in the air as I stared at my opponent. With a grunt he gets up a scowl fully adorns his face. He looks at his sword for a few seconds before breaking it in half and tossing away the handle. As he stared at me, he regained his psychotic grin. "Hey, wanna know something?" he asked. I scowled in return. "We were never meant to exist" he said. What? I didn't get time to think as he was suddenly in my face, hoof coming towards me. I raise my left hoof to block as I prepared a counter attack. An impact, my left hoof had a burn as my hoof was fully connected with a barrier. I swing my head downwards as my horn launches a blast of magic, blasting him down. As he travels down, he unfurls his wings, fully gaining control, launches lightning at me while rushing. After several aerial movements, I enter a power struggle with him as I can feel my hooves burning. "I went through, EVERY, SINGLE, UNIVERSE!" he yelled as he looked at me eyes, electricity running through every corner of the room. "What the tartarus are you even talking about?" I calmly reply as I concentrate on conserving as much magic as possible. "There's a universe, at which every other universe originates from, and we simply don't exist there" "Alright, who the fuck cares, are you having an existential crisis?" I can't overpower him. How do I get out of this. And what did he use to lower the magic in the room. "I destroyed it" he whispered to me. Huh? "The multiverse, you know what that is right? I destroyed the very point where it was created, so this one should be gone too, but it's still alive isn't it?" What the fuck? "What are you talking about?" "Join me, then we can be the original as the STRONGEST being" he said in excitement as his grin grew bigger. "You've gotten crazier, and turned stupid" I answer as his grin suddenly drops, and turns into a blank face. "Ok then" He smirks at me as he slowly lifted his right hoof, a solid mass made of electricity remaining in its position, as he prepared for a punch. I direct magic into my wings, giving up on the power struggle before flying higher to dodge. He started shooting bolts of lightning at me as the previously scattered electricity all turn into attacks, blasting me from all sides. I dodge as much as I can, blocking the ones I couldn't with my fire. After about 10 seconds of dodging, I throw a punch at his direction as his hoof meets mine, creating a shockwave that cracked the windows. With the wind, the electricity gets blown away, giving me some time off. Electricity crackled where our hooves met, scorching my skin as it was healed up by my fire. He suddenly grimaced as he pulled his hoof back. I used the chance to give a quick punch coated in my flames, successfully scorching him. I followed it up with two more punches before he put his guard up to protect his face, which I responded by giving an uppercut to his torso. He heaved air as he was launched upwards. I knew it, he barely has any fighting experience, only domination. As he was knocked upwards, I spun as fire gathered around me. After a single second, I point my right hoof upward as I looked at him recovering. Right as he woke up, all he could've seen was a column made of flames quickly approaching. I heard lightning crackling as I fueled the column of fire with as much magic as I can, intensifying the heat of the flames to a ridiculous degree. After giving up most of my magic, I stop it as I stare upwards at the fully opened ceiling and the charred pony. With the spell gone, the fluctuations of magic burst into the room, drowning almost everything in its incredible pressure. With the familiar feeling practically breathing down my neck, I can feel another powerful pressure fighting against it. Tia. She won't make it. With that thought, I tried to leave through the roof, but was suddenly grabbed from my back leg. I looked back, staring at the burnt pony, healing himself with magic as he stares at me with a crazed look. I materialized fire as lightning crackled around his body. We both launched it at each other as both our bodies got scorched. With a massive shockwave of fire and lightning, we were both launched back as the throne room was fully destroyed. As pieces were blown off, the intense light of the sun shines down on us. I quickly stood up as he rushed at me, covered in lightning. I raise both my hooves to block the attack as I was pushed back. The muscles in my hooves felt strained as I felt the skin being burned off. I couldn't see it, but I felt only a single hoof pushing against me. Then another one came, breaking my guard completely. With a bang, I was flung away, blacking out in the process. With a slightly groggy mind, I awoke as the picture of a mountain flew further and further away. A sudden projectile covered in lightning was flying at me at high speeds. Completely sobering up, I flap my wings and suspend in the air as I prepare a barrier. In a seconds, he reaches me with pointed hooves. After releasing a short breath, I mentally prepare myself for the impact. *BOOM* With the giant sound of the impact, I drop the barrier and instantly go for a heavy punch. He dodged to the right and gives a counter attack. I dodge his hoof, but still get hit by a hoof made from electricity. With flames healing my scorched face, I fly a bit further to catch my breath. With every punch, he sends another one made of lightning. He quickly catches up with a blank look as he keeps attacking. I dodge the hoof, I get punched by electricity. I dodge the electric hoof, I still get punched. I block the real hoof and dodge the lightning one, I get burned by the excess electricity. I block the lightning hoof and dodge the other one, my guard gets burned. Annoying. Blocking it all with a barrier only depletes my magic. Think. How can I go on the offensive? Then an idea strikes me. I drop my guard, but position my body to get punched in the chest area, which surprised him greatly. Bearing through both punches, I reach out with my left hoof, grabbing his hoof before he can react. Electricity dances through my left hoof as he keeps punching it, whilst flames both heal my hoof and burn his horn. Then, with a grunt, I pull my right hoof back, and send it forward for a haymaker. A wall of lightning appears in my way, but I punch through, connecting it with his jaw and sending him back. I look at my left hoof, now completely healed and holding a broken horn. With a grunt, I hold the horn between my hooves before crushing it to bits. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed as he teleported away. I almost relaxed, but the very magic itself told me to move. I moved to the left without hesitation as he suddenly appeared once again. Right where I was, stood a double edged blade. He's gotten desperate. He rotated his body, trying to hit me as lightning danced around his sword. He gives out grunts and keeps yelling at me as his sword danced erratically through the air, hitting nothing but the remnants of my flames. Soon enough, after his sporadic movements, he finally tires himself as his movements become slower. In the end, using the chance, I slam into his stomach, followed by a three alternating heavy swings and finally swing down with both hooves as fire coated them. He falls down as I decide to give chase. Tucking both wings in, I fall down sharply as he slowly wakes up. He slowly stares at me as chills started going down my back. Then, with a scowl, he suddenly releases a large burst of magic. Lightning fills the area as a giant cage made from electricity is made in the air. He turns to lightning and disappears into the cage itself. The cage then shrinks, with barely enough room to fit five ponies. With the walls of the cage practically touching me, I form a barrier, waiting for the bastard to attack. Then, tendrils of lightning rain down on the barrier as I can feel my reserves going down. I tried to teleport away, but his magic stopped anything from going out. Fuck. I'm like a trapped mouse right now. Screw it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. With that, I almost empty my reserves as I prepare an attack. A small ball of fire glowed intensely in my hooves as the barrier starts cracking. Feeding more of my magic into the ball of fire, I let it grow as he pounded on my barrier with all his strength. Just as I fed almost all of my magic into it, the barrier breaks, causing my insides to receive injury. With a trail of blood going down my chin, I release the ball of fire. The flames slowly burn away the lightning, creating a surreal image as he solidified back to his normal image. Except that he was burnt in several places. He's almost out of magic. It seems he didn't even hesitate as a big amount of magic was gathered into his right hoof as it glowed with lightning. I replied in kind as I pulled the rest of my magic into my right hoof, coating it with fire. As we stared at each other for a few seconds, we both rushed at the same time. Him, leaving a trace of electricity in the air as it bounced on magic particles. I left a similar trace, as flames burned on those same particles. It left an illogical scene as lightning and fire danced in the air around two ponies. Half a second later, our hooves connected. With a shockwave, much bigger than last time, we were both pushed back as I was knocked out from the drainage of magic. Darkness enveloped me as my sense of time became disoriented. Then, with a grunt, I wake up as my body burned with fire. My reserves were empty, yet the flames burned on. The mystery didn't last longer as my veins were throbbing in pain as ambient magic was pulled in to keep the fire going. Calming myself down, I stood up. Looking up, I notice that both the sun and the moon appeared much closer. The sky was filled with changelings, pegasi, dragons and griffons, fighting familiar versions of themselves with the only distinctions being the armor they wore. Only the pegasi were on our side. Most importantly, the giant portal that had opened up from the sky, fully allowing the giant creation to shoot the laser beam at the ground. Standing right under the laser, was Tia as she released the very power of the sun against it. With the very ground she stood on turned magma, every building that might've been close to her disappearing into the ground. Any enemy that approached her turned to nothing but part of the ground for her. Her face contorted in pain as waves upon waves of magic was released from her, going into the giant beam that stood against the laser from the portal. Her mane, visibly losing the signature magical rainbow color to a more normal pink. I looked around, trying to spot him. All around me, all kinds of creatures fought against each other. Only half of the ponies were on our side. A dragon dropped from the air as they approached me. Staring elsewhere for a moment, I quickly turn around and give a downward swing that buried the dragon into the ground. A changeling suddenly charges at me after the dragon. As I prepare to put them down, a thunder strike from the sky turns him to a scorched corpse. "Blaze!" Lu lands right next to me whilst panting as she was covered in dust and blood. "Yeah, I'm alive, have you seen other me?" I ask before punching a pony into the ground. "No, but we need you here, the army is quickly falling from the difference in numbers" "Damn it" I curse silently as I block a changeling. Their fangs closed down onto my front leg as fire burst out from the wound. They suddenly cry out in pain as they start gripping their head before passing out. Lu and I just look at each other after staring for a few seconds. She nods at me, which I return with my own and start collecting magic. I sit on the ground, with both hooves on my sides as I gather as much as I could. Closing my eyes, my senses start to numb. I can hear constant lightning and the vibrations from the ground tell me that Lu is currently protecting me. Soon enough, that starts to drown out, giving way to nothing but silence as my body is almost bursting from magic. More. I need more. Right now, I am completely cut off from the outside world as I focus entirely on gathering as magic as I possibly could, much more than overloading has ever done. Even more. Enough to cover the entirety of Equestria. In the end, I open my eyes. My face was blank as I concentrated on not exploding. I was seemingly glowing, or was on fire as my surroundings lightened up to a considerable degree. The guards and creatures all stared at me as I was suspended in the air through magic. Crackles of magic, sounding much like electricity, danced through my body as I felt my being scorched from overconcentration. A few bursts of magic from the left told me that Lu was currently stopping the other me in the air. It's close. It's enough. With that last thought, I let my fire eat away at the insane amounts of magic inside my body as I look upwards to help me bear through the pain. My mane had been glowing a full white, now rapidly turned orange as it took the properties of my fire. Getting higher and higher, I was in view of every single being in Equestria. They could see and witness, a bright light in the sky. I slowly looked around. I could see every other town and country. They were all under attack as smoke rose from every battlefield. I felt inside my body, searching for any traces of magic. Once I could feel nothing but flames, I let it out before blacking out. *No One POV* Every creature in Equestria saw the rising star as it shone its' light, reaching high into the sky. As it rose further and further, those who fought stopped. Those who were dying lived. And those who had given up, regained hope. Princess Celestia stood proudly as she pushed against the world shaking power of the laser that came through the portal in the sky. Princess Luna struggled in her fight against the darker side of her friend, sustaining several injuries trying to hold him back. In the end, the star blew up. It glowed more brilliantly than any other stars. It shone with a light brighter than the very sun. With it, a wave of magic was released. Princess Luna, who had been knocked into the ground looked up as the rush of fire approached. She put up her hooves and wings in front of her as she felt the heat go over her. Closing her eyes to bear through the pain. She tried to hear her surrounding for a few seconds as she felt nothing but a warm embrace on her. Opening her eyes, she let down her guard as she noticed that her body was on fire. More specifically, her injuries. She observed her hooves as the fire slowly burned. As she stared in awe for a few seconds, the flames extinguished to reveal a perfectly healthy skin and coat. "Wow" was all she could utter as she looked around. She gave a small laugh as she stared at the now peaceful battlefield. Any enemies she had were on the ground, a misty blue essence flowing out of their unconscious bodies. The ponies on her side were all confused, but relieved at the situation. After enough amazement, she looked towards her sister. Princess Celestia, who had been struggling against the laser, finally got a break as the last of it finally came and shriveled away. She panted as Luna quickly approached to grab as she fell down, dirtying her now bright pink hair. Luna quickly teleported away with her sister as the ground still burned hot. "Sister, are you alright?" she asked Celestia. "I'm not injured, just out of magic right now" she chuckled a bit after that. "I haven't done this in ages" Luna also laughed in response. "I'd imagine so, there hasn't a war for nearly a thousand years" The sisters shared a small round of laughter as silence paraded the world. With that, they looked up, as every other creature that was awake had done. A swirling ball of bright orange flames as an alicorn floated in the middle of it. His mane shined like a starry sky, yet it was dyed orange as fire swirled through it as it swayed through the air. His body now glowed orange as his coat was entirely made out of flames. His eyes glowed a full orange as it looked as if it was filled with hope. He silently stood on nothing as he looked upwards at the giant portal. Releasing a long breath, he floated up to it before entering. The two Royal Sisters could only watch with bated breaths as their friend disappeared from sight, fully realizing that he has to do it. Through the portal, the alicorn walked on an invisible force as he looked at the mechanical contraption. It was about four times larger than the biggest mountain he knew of. Lined with infinite intricacies and mechanical engineering that he never even thought of. At the very heart of it, visible through a window as a familiar looking crystal tree was powering the whole thing. The tree itself looked drained as it shone a weak light. He looked a bit in front of the tree, noticing five chambers with empty mechanical claws in them. After observing the machine, he looked around the space he was in. A familiar, yet new sight. A full black void with nothing but the machine. "I don't get it, what makes you so different from me?" he hears as another alicorn appears behind him. "What made you think we were the same?" he replied with his own question. "What the-OF COURSE I THOUGHT WE WERE THE SAME, WE'RE LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME PONY" the alicorn yelled in anger as he held five gems in the air with magic. "Are we really?" he asks with a nonchalant attitude, even as the other launched magic at him. The pure blasts of magic, now powered by the five gems he carried, simply fizzled away before reaching its intended target. "How the fuck are we not then!" he shouted as he blasted more and more magic. "I can show you" he replied with an easy voice as the blasts all of them simply disappeared before reaching him. Calming Blaze, the alicorn coated in fire, simply raised his right hoof. The gems that powered the other all flew away. The gems traveled to the raised hoof, twirling around it as if expressing happiness. As the gems all danced around his hoof, he raised a bit more, making the motion of grabbing something as another gem was produced from the middle of the five gems. The other watched in awe as the gem produced magic, much stronger than the other five. The gem was star shaped as the other games spun around it. The alicorn let out a long breath, then he swung his right hoof sideways. The gems followed it before starting to quickly spin around him, creating a ridiculous concentration of magic. The star shaped gem however, stood right in the middle as it was pointed forwards. "Just this, is more than enough to prove we're different" he calmly said as he started levitating from the magic around him. The other tried to flee, but in the infinite void, running away is never an option. The alicorn gathered his magic in his horn as it was all pushed into the star shaped gem. In the end, the gathered magic flew upwards, turning into a rainbow colored beam as it crashed down to the only other pony, fully disintegrating him. The light fills the void, but only temporarily as the alicorn stands next to the machinery. With a swish of his head, he takes the tree out of it before putting it on the ground next to him. The tree, now free, shone a bright light as a pony shaped figure stepped out from inside of it. At first, it looked like Celestia. Then it switched to Luna. For the third time, the shape looked like Twilight. Then finally, it stopped on the shape of Calming Blaze as the light lowered in intensity. But it was different. "Hello" Calming Blaze greeted with a gentle smile. "Hi" the tree, now projecting the small colt version of him, greeted back with a small smile. Blaze turned to look at the machinery as the tree simply waved his hoof, making the cannon turn to air. "Thanks" Blaze said. "I should be saying that" he answered with a laugh. "So, you want these guys back?" Blaze asked as the six gems slowly swirled around him. The tree answered with a chuckle. "No, they're quite fond of you you know" "Are they now?" "Yes" With that short conversation, the two sat down, looking around an almost empty void. A single tree, two ponies, six gems and one portal. "So, what's your decision this time?" the colt asked. The alicorn remained silent, contemplating his words. "What could I do?" he finally asked. "What can't you do right now?" the cold asked back. The alicorn looked at the colt, receiving the meaningful look he was giving him. The alicorn let out a burst of laughter. "No fucking way, you're crazy" he said. "Hey, I got that part from you" "Fine, fine, I'll try it" the alicorn said as he stood up. "You've done something like this before haven't you?" the colt asked. "Yeah, I remember" the alicorn replied as the colt disappeared into the tree. "It's hard to forget" With that, Blaze spread his magic around, fully enveloping the portal. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on letting his influence grow as much as possible. His senses numbed. His reach grew bigger. And he opened his eyes. Right before him, was the truly familiar sight. Inside nothing but a full black void, he stared at the singular world in the sea of darkness. He gathered his magic, focusing it all on the world, hoping to see its very origins. To see exactly what makes it a world. Nothing philosophical. Nothing scientific Only magical. He tugged at the ends of it, not affecting the world itself, but enough to see how it's made. After what felt like an eon of constant prodding and research, he successfully created a string, coated with his signature fire. Holding the string connected to the world in his hooves, he searched the void, looking for even just a remnant of a world. He looked around, stretching his senses to the very limits before finding something. A single piece of rock, the size of a world in the infinite void. He held both the rock and string as he connected them. The edge of the string, suddenly became stiff as it approached the rock. Then, it entered without a problem, with no friction whatsoever. The rock now glowed as it was slowly transformed. The world changed, becoming its own thing. Then finally, it spread. Countless strings floated from it, forming a web of stars. Now, instead of resembling a starry void, it was different. Every single world glowed its own colors, but the void itself looked different. It was orange. As he looked around, he started to feel weaker. "I guess it's time to go back" he said before touching the world before him. *Calming Blaze POV* With a gasp, I opened my eyes as I stared at the portal. The Elements hovered around me, as if they're concerned for me. I wouldn't blame them. I felt weak. But, I didn't have time to worry about that. I tried to grab the tree with magic, but it wouldn't budge. What? Then I tried it with physical strength. It worked, somewhat. I can only carry it because of my muscles, but the magic enhancing my body feels gone. While staggering, I slowly approach the portal. The tree manifested as me again, cheering me on. He was the same height as me for some reason. The Elements rotated around me, trying to push in magic into my body. I gratefully took it, but my body still felt weak, like I was out of magic completely. I'll think about it later. Slowly, very slowly, I reached the portal. Finally, I stood at the edge. First, I threw the tree in, earning a scream from tree me as he and tree fell. Second, the Elements disappeared somewhere, but my body felt slightly stronger. Thirdly, I was way too drained to stay awake. With that last thought, I passed out.