//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The City of Magic 
// Story: A History of Fire 
// by JohnnyFireFlame 
//------------------------------//

”Our story begins” Zorian said as he looked at the fire. ”A long time ago, a time before The Nightmare Moon Rebellion, before the chaotic reign of Discord…even before the Royal Sisters came to power.” Glacia laid there on the grass with her eyes wide open and she looked more eager than ever to hear this tale of old. He smiled as he pointed his horn at the fire. Flames and ashes began to dance vividly in the moonlight; the sprouts of fire began to take shape: Ponies, buildings and landscapes. “It begins…during the War of the Three Tribes…a time where plans of peace between Unicorn, Pegasi and Earthponies were only distant dreams. And it begins…in the old stronghold of Fortis Magica(Latin for “Strong Magic”).”

Fortis Magica was an ancient stronghold build a long time ago by the Unicorns. Stone block by stone block it was forged and shaped out of the mountain. Its great wall reached over half of the mountainside, leaving few to none blind spots revealed. As the life-giving sun rose from behind the peaks of the mountain and showered its hot rays over the lands below, it was only met with one word: “CHARGE!” Horns were blown and banners rose as the sound of clinging steel greeted the dawn. A minor army of Earthponies marched upon the gates of the unicorn city, Fortis Magica. It was a time of desperation, paranoia and hunger. Many attacked and struck out at the other tribes, even within the tribes themselves chaos and suspicion ruled. The soldiers of the army carried various weapons: swords, spears and axes. Each pony was wearing different sets of armor, some more than others depended on the size and role of the pony itself. High upon the walls Unicorn sentries sounded the alarm as defenders rushed to their posts. Standing at the wall Unicorn defenders used Levitation to lift up bows and arrows and straitening them back. The sweat ran down their faces, both from the hostile army below, but also from the struggle of holding their weapons and making the arrows ready. Unicorn magic was not so developed back them you see, only the most basic magic was known, and even then it was hard to contain and control it. At the word of their commander, arrows flew down from the wall, bringing cries from the Earthponies below.

“Will there ever be an end to this war?” A pony sighed as he watched from a high spiral tower. The tower overlooked all of Fortis Magica, giving the stallion view over the entire city. The stallion himself had a coat of old blue with brilliant silver colored mane and tail, his cutiemark was a star with a thin mist swirling around it, he was also wearing a high blue robe, covering over most of his body. “Even before my birth it had been going on for ages…but...I sense a storm coming, a storm that will end this war…and the land as well.” He turned away from the window and looked into his room. The room was dusted and looked more ancient then the tower itself. Parchments, bottles filled with liquids and books beyond the count stood and laid around the room; tables, shelves and even chairs were occupied. “Clover!? Clover where are you?!” He called out, and quickly a young unicorn stood in the door way. She was mare with a clean white colored coat with medium length mane and a long tail, colors a mix of light and dark green. Her cutiemark was a four-leaf clover having small stars around it. She was wearing a ragged cloak with tiny pockets filled with small pieces of paper and a quill. “Yes Starswirl Sir?” He sighed as he looked at her. “I…I need the book of Ancient Pony History. Can you acquire it for me?” “O-Of course Sir Starswirl.” She said as she hurried out. The unicorn could feel that the young mare was nervous…who couldn’t be when death celebrated outside of their walls? He closed his eyes as he began to hear the clash of weapons and even more cries of pain and death. Despite being so high up, away from everything, it seemed he heard the most.

Clover panted a bit as she got down the end of the staircase. She looked up the stairs to her mentor’s room and felt worried for the unicorn. “I hope he doesn’t stress himself to death over this war…” “You and me both” A gravel voice spoke. She turned around to see a dark red Unicorn standing with an ash grey mane and a long dark tail, his main body was covered with a dark robe, the bottom of the rope has a red color spiraling upwards. “Oh, Sir Ashmane!” She said as she gave a quick bow. “Excuse me, but I have to get a book for Sir Starswir-““You mean this book?” Ashmane asked as he used his magic, of black color, to float a big old book with the title “Ancient Pony History” to her. “Ho-how did you...” “He always looks through our history when he is thinking about the war, both present and ancient history.” The gravel voiced Unicorn told her. “Always trying to see what triggered it all, and then try to find a way to fix it.” Clover looked down to the ground looking worried as Ashmane brushed the book against her nose. “Take it; your mentor needs his fix.” She nodded and grabbed the book with a green magical shell before rushing up the stairs. Ashmane stood there left by the foot to high tower and sighed. “Starswirl you fool…this war cannot be won by compromising and making agreements. It can only be won by will...by steel…by fire.” He said as he turned and trotted down the hallways. 

The halls were ancient, looked both restored, and like they were falling apart, at the same time. Several rooms he passed by, contained small classrooms with numerous young unicorns and elderly looking ones with books and blackboards where many ancient inscriptions and spells were written, to teach the youth. It had been a few hundred years since this school was built. The building, called Old Magia, was originally a place of mediation and enlightenment, but now it is a school for young Unicorns to practice, and study, the old arts of magic. Ashmane, along with Starswirl, are both teachers, each teacher are allowed to have a personal student under their wing if they so desired. Old Magia is also the place of the Unicornian High Council, a collection of the brightest, intelligent and most strategic of the lands unicorn. After proving himself throughout the years, Starswirl had become the head of the council, every kind of law they want to put into effect must go through him first. Ashmane was one of the head magicians and strategists in the council and was one of those who worked with the defenses and the amount of teachings given to students. Every unicorn, either with a high position in society, or a high status pony of the school, wore special robes to show their status. In addition to that each one of them was able to give themselves a title, sometimes they are given to one by others. Starswirl’s title, “The Wise”, was given to him because of his wisdom in times of need and could come with the best solutions, many times without any blood being spilled. Ashmane got dubbed “The Power” as his raw magical prowess was exceptionally strong, along with his strong sense in strategy.  Few have been able to outmatch him in both regard. Only his long time colleague Starswirl has been wise enough to see through his schemes and plans.

The tall stallion walked down the halls as he passed by many ponies. Some of them, like Ashmane and Starswirl, had special cloaks and robes. Giving small nods to those who was wearing them, and simply ignoring those with ragged cloaks, or nothing at all. After trotting through the cold stone halls he came up to a large wide metal door. The metal looked rusty and the handle, if you could even call it that, looked like it was about to fall off. All in all, the door looked ancient, and have not been used or polished in a long time. Grinning he lights up his horn and his black magic soon covers the entire door. Not making a sound the door vanished letting a tunnel behind it come into view. As he walked inside he turned around and activated his horn again as the door reappeared. He made a small grunt as sweat came down his forehead, even with his born gift as a great magician; it was still hard to cast this advanced spell. As he walked through the stone tunnel he could feel the cold radiate from the rock, he would be chilling if it wasn’t for his furry coat and warm robe. A long the walls of the tunnel torches were lit and burned passionately radiating heat for the stallion. 

Soon enough he comes into a cave, made out of both the stone and earth of the inner mountain. Even now after having come here a few times the cave was still huge and even ominous for the magician, the dark void of the cave almost seemed endless if you couldn’t slightly see the stone walls behind it.  A heavy breathing and loud clang of chains could be heard from the thick darkness. “How is he, Shadow?” He asked into nothingness. Quick as a bolt a dark Pegasus landed before the tall unicorn and bowed before him. “He is still sleeping Sir.” The young Pegasus said with a husky voice. As he looks up at Ashmane his body was all revealed in the nearby torchlight: It was a small Pegasus, in a black coat with a night dark colored mane and tail with dark almost empty looking eyes. His cutiemark was a straight but blurry dark line. “I have been feeding him and tending to him sir; he should wake up soon. And hopefully be more grateful then angry with us.” As he said that a low roar called out as a massive thick dark red scaly tail struck down against the ground behind them, before it quickly got pulled back into the darkness again. “Humph, he owes us his life. If we had left him where we found him, he would’ve been dead months ago.” He looks into the dark as he glances down at the Pegasus. “Keep up the work Shadow, and tell the others to come as soon as they can. I will see to his wakening myself.” The dark colored Pegasus nodded and gave another bow before flapping his wings once, and he was gone into the darkness. Ashmane looked at the colossal figure in the dark, bound by massive chains, and couldn’t help but grin. “You will teach us everything that you know…in good time”. 

“No...No…No…NO!” Starswirl shouted as he shut “Ancient Pony History” together violently and threw it behind him.  Clover gave a small squeal as she had to jump to the side as the old book flew past her. The blue unicorn slammed his hooves onto the table and shouted. “AGAIN THERE IS NOTHING!! NOTHING AT ALL! WHAT AM I MISSING?!” Outside the siege on their walls seemed to shout a long with his rage. His horn began to light up; his usual blue magic had gotten a red nuance to it. He growled loudly with gritted teeth. In a few moments bottles and books began to fly everywhere in the room, thanks to his uncontrollable magic. His assistant ran around in the room trying to catch and rescues as much as she could with both hooves and magic. “Sir Starswi-!“ She tried to call out to him but he was too angry as his magic ran amok throwing items all over. “Sir pleas-!” A few bottles splattered against the wall letting the liquids spill out, at the same time pages were ripped out from the books and flew around. ”I AM STARSWIRL THE WISE! I AM THE HEAD OF THE UNICORNIAN HIGH COUNCIL! WHY CAN’T I FIND THE ANSWER I SEEK?! HOW CAN IT STILL BE HIDDEN FROM ME?!” She had seen him like this, too many times already. The more she saw him so angry and torture himself like this every day, the more she could feel something boiling up inside of her. She couldn’t take it anymore as she heard this coming from her mouth “STARSWIRL I BEG OF YOU! PLEASE STOP!” Starswirl looked up, turning his horn off. He looked behind him and saw it: In the middle of his tower room stood a young bleach white unicorn, with her green magic holding books and bottles. Her legs were shaking from the pressure of using so much magic, but her eyes only showed sadness and worry beyond belief as they filled up with her worries and spilled onto the floor. “Please….” Her voice was shaking as she sobbed. Tears running down her cheeks like a fast stream. “Stop…it’s not your fault…” Galloping across the floor the mentor hugged his assistant and held her close while he activated his horn again and used his magi to slowly levitate the items back to their places. “Stop….stop it…please…” She said as she hugged him tighter and tighter. “Clover…oh Clover I am so sorry…” He said as he patted her back and stroked her green mane. “It’s ok Clover…It’s over now…it’s ok…” He quickly looked to his horn and saw his magic was normal blue once again, his anger had passed. Outside the sound of clinging blades and painful cries had died down. The walls of the city still stood. The unicorns had won another fight.