//------------------------------// // Blaze // Story: Wrath // by FishyCrackers431 //------------------------------// Chapter 10: Blaze blaze, noun: a sudden, intense outburst, as of fire, passion, or fury - "What in tarnation is that?" Maybe it was a few minutes later, maybe several hours, who knew?Applejack rubbed her eyes sleepily, slowly lifting herself off the floor and stretching to crack her spine back into place. The room was still coated in darkness, and if the starlight hadn't been pouring in through the window upstairs, it'd have been impossible to see. But something had woken her, someone moving, awake at this hour. Applejack's eyes flew to Pinkie Pie, still asleep and now hidden in the pile of sleeping bags she'd claimed as her own. With a sigh, Applejack hurried over to the ladder, quietly making her way up it, fearingshe'd wake the others. Rarity was still asleep in Twilight's bed, and Fluttershy naturally slept on the other side with the majority of the covers pulled over her. Rarity didn't seem to mind. Finally Applejack's eyes fell to Spike's basket, where Rainbow Dash slept. Or rather, where she should have been sleeping; it was empty. A figure stood by the window, slowly lowering itself out. Applejack rushed over, grabbing the escaping Rainbow by the tail with her teeth, just as the pegasus tried to drop herself outside, effectively hanging Rainbow by her tail. "Let go! Let go!" Rainbow's hushed voice came. Applejack gave only two grunts of disapproval -as her mouth was full- and started tugging, hauling herself and Rainbow back up and into the Library. "Why do you guys always have to grab my tail?" Rainbow hissed in a hushed voice, finally turning and snatching her rainbow tail from Applejack's mouth. "You know that hurts, right?" "Just what do you think you're doing?" "None of your business! Go back to sleep before you wake everypony else up!" "I'm makin' it my business!" Applejack gave Rainbow two quick pokes to the chest. "Tell me what you're doing now or I will wake everypony up!" Applejack needed only open her mouth as if to shout, and Rainbow shoved her hoof into it, to quiet her. The two shared an awkward glare for a moment, Rainbow with a fairly wet hoof and Applejack with a taste in her mouth oddly similar to one of Pinkie's cupcakes. Finally, Rainbow pulled her wet hoof away, wiping it on the floor. "Fine. My wing's better. A little tender, but I can fly again. You were right" Applejack raised an eyebrow at this, before Rainbow continued. "Tonight was supposed to be our last chance, I was going to go find Twilight. Have you heard what everypony's been calling her?" "Twilight Blaze, yeah I know. I caught Applebloom saying it yesterday" Applejack's gaze fell to the floor. Applebloom had, of course, been scolded, though the thought that even a filly like her was calling Twilight a name so vile, hurt. "I know how you feel, I want to go find her too, but do you really think-" "Think what?" Rainbow now stepped close, giving Applejack a quick shove. "I don't care what the Princess said, or how dangerous it is! You were wrong. Twilight would never abandon any of us, no matter what Celestia said! I'm going to go find her, whether you like it or not" The two stood in heated silence for a few moments, Applejack's face growing a sly smile. "I was going to say 'Do you really think you should be going all alone?'" Now it was Rainbow's turn to look surprise, and once again, they stood in brief silence, before Applejack reached over and gave her a few quick pats on the shoulder. "Tonight's our last chance, right? I guarantee none of us are gonna give it up. Come on, let's wake the others" Before either of the two could take a single step, there was a soft click, and the room around them was illuminated. Both AJ and Rainbow had to suppress a scream, seeing the other three ponies were all huddled around them, listening in with gentle smiles worn by all. Spike sat at the foot of Twilight's bed, holding a newly lit candle and, for the first time in week, actually smiling. "We're wasting time with all this talk" Rarity chuckled. "I'd like to go too, I mean" Fluttershy's voice fell, looking over to Spike. "If it's okay with Spike" Spike finally hopped down from the bed, giving a quick laugh. "You guys are the best" "I have a question!" Pinkie raised her hoof high, as though signaling a teacher. "How are we going to save her? Last time I tried, Twilight trapped me in a bubble" "A bubble, huh?" Spike fell into a moment of deep thought, before pulling out a bit of parchment and showing it off to the group. "I have an idea" He said confidently. They each gave one anothera few nods of understanding. Spike rolled the paper back up, held it high, and giving it a quick blow with his magic breath. The paper disintegrated before their eyes and rolled away in a puff of green smoke out to who knows where. Then, after pulling the group into a huddle, Spike took a deep breath. "Okay, so here's what we do..." - "Is everything ready?" Twilight gave a quiet snort as she woke. The area around her was illuminated in a purple glow from her mane, a flame that refused to go out despite her best attempts. Hence,she was fairly easy to find. Raising her head from the dirt, Twilight listened. The forest hadn't been kind to her, though it had provided. She'd been able to practice her new abilities, and let her newfound anger seep in for the whole week. Being woken up so late was nothing new. The voice on the other hand... "What are you doing?" Rarity asked in her own hushed voice. "Quiet! Y'all are gonna wake her!" Applejack hissed. She and the rest of the group stood at the edge of the small clearing where Twilight lay sleeping. Pinkie happily had Spike riding atop her back. "If we can do this the easy way, we wont even need to risk-" AJ looked through the trees again, to where Twilight lay. Or at least, where she should have. "What are we looking at?" A unanimous scream came from the group as they all jumped back, away from Twilight who had materialized herself behind them. "Okay, forget the plan, run! Run!" Pinkie shouted. On cue, the whole lot of them scattered through the forest, into the trees just as Twilight let out her first stream of fire. "Okay, so much for that!" Rainbow shouted, flying just above AJ who sprinted on the ground. "Quiet you, just stick to the plan!" Applejack retorted, stopping in her stride and turning to rush back towards Twilight. Meanwhile, Twilight spun on the spot, firing her spell into the trees, almost all of which had ignited by now. "Come out and face me!" "Right here!" Twilight spun just in time to be rammed back andoff her feet by Applejack. As she fell, Twilight vanished into a wisp, backing away a few feet before returning to form upright. Twilight aimed her horn forward and, this time, only fired off a few stray sparks. With a quick "Wha..." She looked down to the gem around her neck. A small white rabbit was dangling from it, trying to pull it free. Twilight shook herself back and forth wildly, flinging Angel free. Fluttershy flew down into sight only just briefly to catch the airborne rabbit before flying up into the trees once more. "No you don't!" Twilight yelled, charging forward through the trees in the direction Fluttershy had gone. She didn't make it far until there was a sharp crack, and moments later, several trees came crashing down around her. Twilight stopped short just in time to avoid a tree coming down in front of her that most certainly would have crushed her. "I'll be taking that gift back!" Rarity popped up from the bushes behind Twilight, horn glowing brilliantly. The necklace around Twilight's neck spun around, being pulled back to its creator. Twilight let out only a growl, turned, and fired another stream of flames at the bushes just before Rarity ducked back into them, releasing her magical grip. Twilight had no time to rest, however, Pinkie came charging in next from the side, pushing a party cannon as she did. Twilight wisped herself up and out of reach again just in time to avoid the first blast, and she rose up high above the trees. She'd have been breathing heavily if it were possible in this state. Twilight, however, had no time to do this. She felt herself, even as a wisp, being sucked downwards. Her eyes materialized just in time to see a tornainbow beneath her, sucking her wisp-self back down to the ground. Twilight only just rematerialized again when she crashed into the dirt below, dazed and confused. She lifted herself shakily back to her feet, immediately spying Spike not far from her, waving her old tiara, the Element of Magic, in the air as though taunting her. Twilight gave a light growl, stamping herself back to sense. "Give that to me!""You want it, come and get it!" Spike yelled, running off through the trees once more. Twilight was more than happy to oblige, vanishing into a wisp again and charging forward into the forest once more. She blindly went forward, through and between trees before finally coming into a wide clearing. Trees all around her, and a river in front of her, which Spike stood in front of. Twilight came back to form, only briefly, to say "Last chance, 'World's Greatest Assistant'" "You're not getting this until I get Twilight back!" He yelled. Twilight smirked, before wisping forward again directly at him. Just as she neared, Spike turned and hopped back into the river. Twilight fell back into form again at the water's edge, looking over the tiny hillside into the water below. A streak of rainbow came flying into view, up from the river and past her head. Twilight spun, back to river, and blared her horn up. Now, she was cornered. She saw her six friends standing between her and the treeline, with only water at her back. "Keep away from me, all of you!" Twilight backed herself up until she was only just barely not falling back into the river behind her. "I'll fry you all! I swear it!" Rainbow Dash raised herself up above the group, yelling out "Now!" "Now? What do you mean now?" Twilight asked. Her question was answered a second later by a large shadow suddenly rising up over her from behind. She turned just in time to see the Sea Serpent slap both of his hands together with her in between. A squeak of fear came from Fluttershy, who quickly covered her mouth with both hooves, staring horrified at the Serpent's closed hands. She was not the only one, most of the others, Rainbow Dash included, looked absolutely terrified. "Oops, bit too rough there. Ah well, she should be fine..." The Serpent quickly explained, slowly pulling his hands apart. As he did, a bubble seemed to form between them, about the size of Big Macintosh while perfectly round. Once big enough, it detached from his hands, falling to the ground and revealing a dazed and confused Twilight laying inside. "There we are, good as new" The Serpent said cheerfully, grabbing the bubble in one of his claws and lifting it forward for the others to see. The group let out a sigh of relief, seeing their friend laying inside unharmed. "Don't you worry Twilight" Rarity trotted up to the side of the bubble, giving it a soft tap. "We're here to help get you back to normal" "Help!" Twilight flared up inside the bubble, sprouting a few flames that only caused her to start coughing briefly from the smoke, before she continued. "I don't know what I ever saw in any of you, you selfish, fat, greedy-!" Twilight was turning herself around repeatedly in the bubble, occasionally giving a kick to it from the inside or otherwise trying to bash herself into it to break it from within. "-big-headed, lazy, fickle-!" Finally her horn lit itself, and she vanished for about half a second. She reappeared leaning heavily on the inside of the bubble, wincing as if she'd tried to teleport but ran into a brick wall instead. "-JERKS!" The Serpent brought his free hand up to stifle his laugh, casually tossing Twilight's bubble up and catching it repeatedly. "Sorry dear, that there's a Null Sphere, there's no getting out of that" "Hey! Careful with her!" Rainbow flew up beneath Twilight's bubble during one of these tosses, attempting to catch her but only serving in plummeting to the ground when it landed on her. She did, however, soften the landing some. The Serpent gave another soft chuckle, lifting taking the bubble in hand and lifting it up and off of Rainbow Dash. "No need to worry, dear, after all, no magic's getting in or out of this" "How about some heat!" Twilight shouted from within, blasting the side of the bubble a moment later with a flame from her horn. It took all of a second for the transparency of the bubble to disappear, and for it to begin to glow red instead. The Serpent panicked in just that moment, tossing the newly hot orb from hand to hand before letting it fall to the ground. The bubble popped on impact, revealing Twilight who lay there. She clearly had managed to burn herself from that act, and in was was still a bit off balance from the whole experience. "Now now, don't worry, I'll-" The Serpent reached his hands forward again, to trap Twilight a second time. He was not so lucky, Twilight spun, vanishing into a wisp briefly to escape from his grabbing hands. She flew over, through the group of ponies who hurriedly dodged to get out of her way, before rematerializing on the other side of them. The moment she was back to form, she fired another burst of flame forward, at the Serpent. The scaly beast only just managed to duck down in time, hands over his head to avoid the flame. Peeking out from between his hands, he slowly lifted himself up, until the smell of burnt hair filled his nostrils. The Serpent's eyes drifted down to his mustache, now a charred black bit on that which had only just been regrown. "Mustache down!" He yelled, recoiling back from the sight of it before collapsing down onto the shore, slowly sliding back into the water as though unconscious. Pinkie was first to react, jumping over to Twilight and wrapping her hooves around the unicorn's neck from behind, trying to pull back and keep her from aiming her horn at anyone. Twilight vanished into a wisp a second later, leaving the pink Earth pony to fall to the ground grabbing only at air. Twilight reappeared again in the center of the group, once again ready to attack. Rainbow rushed past her before she could make a single spark, grabbing the gem and tugging on it while about two feet away in the air, trying to free it from around Twilight's neck who pulled against the pegasus's grip. "Go ahead, try to smoke your way out of this so I can take the stupid gem!" Twilight's glare was the only response, and she struggled briefly to aim her head properly at the pegasus. Before she could manage it, Fluttershy appeared behind her, grabbing her by the head and pulling back against Rainbow. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She shouted. The fabric that made up the necklace it self began to strain against the two ponies pulling in opposite directions. Rarity appeared behind Fluttershy, grabbing the pegasus by the waist and pulling as well, while Applejack grabbed Rainbow by the tail, pulling her back onto the ground yet still trying to tug the gem from Twilight's necklace. "Pinkie! Do it now!" AJ yelled. "Oh! That's my cue!" Pinkie Pie quickly swooped her head down beneath Spike, raising him up on top of her and charging forth to the tug-of-war. Just as they were close enough, Spike reached for his former master and slammed the Element of Magic tiara down onto her head, before Pinkie circled around and hurried away from the fight. "Let go of me!" Twilight yelled, wildly shaking her head as though trying to knock the tiara loose. It upon her head and the gem strained around her neck both began to spark violently. "It's ain't working!" Applejack yelled. "Get that gemstone off of her neck!" Rarity replied. Both teams gave one final tug in opposite directions, straining the necklace for the last time. Finally, the Element of Magic upon her head grew to a blinding light, just as the Element of Sin around her neck did. A moment later, there was a pulse of magic, knocking all ponies away from Twilight onto the ground in separate piles, leaving her there to finally catch her breath with both element sparking on her. And moment after that, the Element of Magic upon her head gave a violent hiss, before being launched upwards a good hundred feet or so. Rainbow was only just raising her head from the ground when it came down fast, gem-first, right in front of the Pegasus and implanting itself into the ground. An inch closer, and it'd have taken off her head. As it was, Rainbow saw a small tuft of her mane beneath the Element that had been sliced clean off. Her heart sunk a moment later. The gem of the Element of Magic, normally a bright magenta, was now grey and empty. All eyes fell back on Twilight, still the only one left standing with the Element of Sin stuck hanging from her neck. It still sparked violently, even swinging wildly as though refusing her as its master. Twilight herself was visibly trying to pull it free, eyes shut tight and tears flowing freely. "Help... me..." A tortured voice made its way out of her mouth. A loud clapping of thunder sounded, and with it, the beating of wings. Twilight suddenly heard the sound of a sharp slice, and with it, suddenly, the pain from the Element was gone. Her mane and tail fell back into place within seconds, and she physically felt herself shrinking back to her normal size, along with her horn dulling up. But it was not only physical, her mind was suddenly flooded with so many emotions and memories, too many for her to count, too many for her to keep track of. Twilight only just peeked a single eye open. It was all too much. She fell down onto her side, staring gratefully at the pony who had saved her, removed the Sin. The name only just escaped her lips before she fell asleep. "Princess Luna?" - Dawn had arrived by the time Twilight next awoke. She still lay on the grass, feeling drained, hurt, and shamed. Anything of herself that hadn't changed back the night before had most certainly had gone now. With a groan, she lifted her head up and opened her eyes. There was a sudden silence, her six friends stood huddled not far, who all quickly ended their conversation and looked to her. Off in the distance, Princess Luna stood in the shade, leaning against a tree as though afraid of what would happen if she stepped into the sunlight. "You guys saved me" Twilight managed out, tears beginning to flow freely again. A moment later, she was swamped in a number of hooves that all grabbed and hugged at her with unbridled love. "I'm so sorry, so so sorry, I wasn't me, I never meant a word of it..." She managed out within the pile of friends. With a few stray chuckles, the group finally split free from her, stepping back. Applejack offered a hoof forward to help her up. "Hush now, sugarcube, we know..." "How... how did you all know how to stop me?" Twilight gratefully took the help, standing up for only just a moment before falling back to the ground. Her legs felt like jello. Applejack gave a light chuckle, laying herself down when it became apparent Twilight would do no walking for a while longer. "Spike here showed us the letter you left to Princess Luna that you never sent off. Little guy was smart enough to save it just in case. After what the Princess told us, we knew Luna would want to help" As she said this, Applejack gave Spike a quick nuzzle on the cheek. Luna herself gave a visible blush from where she stood, far off leaning against a tree. Rarity was next to compliment him, wrapping a hoof around the dragon and pulling him close. "Spike thought of everything, like how angry you'd get, how sorry you were-" "How afraid you were of us!" Rainbow gave a quick flex while floating above the group. After catching their looks, she clarified "On the inside at least" "How your big blue ball thingy worked and made you all crazy and super protected!" Pinkie Pie added in, waving a hoof around her head to animate it. "How Mr... uhh..." Fluttershy looked to the serpent who lay not far from the water's edge, watching with mild amusement. His mustache had, for the second time, been repaired using a tuft of Rarity's tail, and judging from the absence of the Sin gem or its necklace, Twilight had to assume it was the original. The Serpent seemed to catch this pause and answered "Steven." "How Steven would be able to catch you and keep you safe" Fluttershy flew over to the relaxing serpent, landing beside him and hugging as much of his face she could fit in her small arms while he closed his eyes and let her. Twilight felt as though she was swelling up with thankfulness, almost unable to compose herself. "There is one teeny weensy thing though" Pinkie added, which immediately shot down Twilight's emotions. "We, um... had to let the Princess know what we did..." Fluttershy added in, smiling ashamedly and ducking her own head down. As though on cue, a mighty shout was heard seconds later. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're all in!?"The group turned their heads up, just in time to see Celestia land down in the middle of them all. Twilight didn't have the strength to back away even if she had the will to. "Princess Celestia, I'm... I can't say how sorry I-" Twilight started. Celestia marched right up the unicorn though, quieting her. "Twilight Sparkle! You blatantly went against every order I gave you! I told you to not spend time with Sin, and it hung from your neck! I told you to keep everyone safe, and you attacked them! I told you to tell no one of this, and now almost everypony, especially Luna, now knows of what you've done!" "Now wait just a minu-" Rarity began, stepping forward to Twilight's side as though to shield her shamed friend, before Celestia turned her cruel gaze over to the designer. "And don't get me started on the rest of you! I never thought I'd have to ban people fromthe Everfree Forest, well perhaps you'd all like to spend the rest of your days there if you like it so much? You could have all been hurt! You could've, you could've..." Celestia felt her anger dying off quickly, though there would still be hell to pay. She opened her mouth to continue only briefly, before Luna's voice stopped her. "That's enough, sister" Celestia turned her gaze back to her younger sister, who had now approached the group and stood proudly. "Twilight Sparkle has done better than we might have. We are very proud of her, and we believe you should be as well. Are you not?" "Luna, this doesn't concern-" "This concerned us more than anypony here, sister" Luna cut off the Princess, looking to her sternly. For once, it was Celestia's turn to look embarrassed. "We believe if not for Twilight Sparkle's actions, much ruin may have followed" Celestia looked from Luna back to the group. Then to Twilight, who still laid with her head down ashamedly. "Twilight, stand" With some difficulty, Twilight brought herself up onto her jelly legs. Celestia must have noticed this difficult, because she waved for the unicorn to lay back down a moment later. "Luna... is right. I never should have trusted you with something so dangerous. As much as I wish it, you're still just a little filly, and I was wrong to do so" "But... Princess..." Twilight managed out with a shaky voice. "Really Twilight, I'm in no position to punish you. Remember, my own sister made the same mistake, and she was wiser then than you will be in many years" Celestia tried reassuring the young unicorn. Despite her kind words, Twilight couldn't bring herself to accept that. Nor could she bring herself to stand up properly in this state of shame. "Please, Princess, you were right, I deserve something, I ruined things for everyone, I need to make it up somehow!" Celestia gave a sigh and a gentle smile, thinking over something for a few seconds. "Well... very well, Twilight" She waved her head at the others, who, at the Princess's orders, finally approached the two of them. "As you know, when me and Luna were no longer connected to the Elements, a certain someone was released..." At this, even Twilight raised her head slightly, having a vague idea of where it was going. Celestia smiled and continued on. "Well, for a short time at least, you severed your own connection to your Element." Even as she spoke, the clouds overhead began to gather and slowly fade into a bright shade of pink. A few stray drops of brown fell down onto the group. Pinkie Pie's tongue instinctively came free of her mouth, catching one of the drops on it. "Twilight Sparkle, would you be so kind as to demonstrate your Element, and prove yourself to us again?" As she finished these words, a laugh from far off sounded. One with a hint of charm, and a slip of evil. Twilight finally understood what she meant, and raised herself up from the ground. Celestia bowed her own head, using her horn to lift Twilight's discarded tiara over to them, returning it onto the head of its rightful owner. As soon as it touched her, the color seemed to fade back into the grey jewel, as it did into Twilight's face. "It would be my pleasure, your highness"