//------------------------------// // Chapter 22 - The Problem With Amulets... // Story: Rain of Fire // by LessThanHuman //------------------------------// Everypony turned to look at Firestorm. He switched his gaze from one pony to another, his face expressed anger, but his eyes showed pain as he fought back tears. Soon enough, Firestorm’s gaze fell on Luna, “So… I’m just a weapon?” Luna opened her mouth to speak but was stopped as Firestorm continued, “I guess you never considered the psychological consequences, huh? How long was I supposed to last? I can’t imagine you’d want something as dangerous as me standing by your side after I did your bidding. What did you expect when you made me, was I even supposed to develop a personality? Does that make your weapon flawed, defective?” “I…” Luna started only to be cut off again by Firestorm shifting into his draconic form and forcing out a telekinetic shockwave in every direction, forcing everypony back or knocking them down. As everypony struggled to regain their footing, Firestorm teleported out of the castle. Luna looked around and assessed the damage. Several guards had been forced into the surrounding walls, some massaging fresh bruises and minor cuts, Twilight and her friends were getting back to their hooves, Celestia seemed to be doing the same as Luna, Chrysalis was waiving off her guards as they tried to help her back up, and Discord was nowhere to be seen. Luna turned again to see Celestia looking at her, the look in her eyes told Luna everything. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she ran out through the doors calling out, “I’m sorry!” Celestia took a calming breath as a guard approached her. “Princess, should we send scouts to locate the… um…” “No. If he, Firestorm, returns, do not engage him, keep a fair distance and allow him to move freely through the castle.” “I… as you wish,” the guard concluded with a salute and left to spread the message. Celestia took another calming breath, this time, Twilight approached her from the side, “Celestia?” “Are you and your friends alright?” “Y-yes, most of them are…” “I’m so sorry for putting you in danger like that, Twilight, I was so focused on my dealings with the griffon king that I overlooked signs of danger surrounding Firestorm and put you and your friends in harm’s way.” “It’s not your fault, you had to do what’s best for Equestria.” “What I had to do to ensure the safety of Equestira and my little ponies is the very thing I didn’t do. If Firestorm had known what he was, if his intentions were hostile, I put him right with you and the other elements of harmony,” Celestia explained, her voice breaking several times throughout her explination. “You can’t focus on what bad could have happened when nothing did…” Celestia released a heavy sigh, “Tend to your friends. I will assign rooms for each of you later, for now I must make arrangements for Chrysalis and her guards to stay here. Then I will speak with my sister.” As Celestia left, taking the changelings with her, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the way she addressed Luna simply as her sister, not by name. She brushed the thought off and approached her friends. With some help from additional guards, Twilight led her friends to the castle library, where she essentially lived before she moved to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash hesitated to enter, Twilight noticed immediately and approached her pegasus friend, “Rainbow, is everything alright?” “I… Y-yeah… No, everything is not alright, this has been like the weirdest day ever, even worse than when we faced Discord!” I… I need to think,” Rainbow Dash stammered before flying out an open window. Without anytime to respond, all Twilight could do was watch her friend fly off. By her nature, Rainbow Dash would fly as fast as she possibly could and then tried to go even faster. She hated traveling with others because it meant her needing to greatly reduce her speed to nothing more than a hover, assuming she chose to fly at all. Right now though, she was flying so slow that Fluttershy would have a fighting chance at winning had they been in a race. Rainbow Dash couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. Finding her mind too clouded to even fly straight, Rainbow flew to the peak of the mountain upon which Canterlot Castle was built, and settled down onto the grass. She looked out across Equestria, her mind and heart eventually calming down. As she released another heavy sigh, her ear twitched, not from a sound coming from behind her, but the silence which lingered there. Beyond her control, tears welled in Rainbow’s eyes as they fell on Firestorm who was sitting on his haunches. He was simply sitting on the grass with his eyes closed and angled so his side was to Rainbow. “Firestorm?” Firestorm’s eyes slowly opened, looking straight ahead. His gaze shifted and his head slowly turned to Face Rainbow Dash who gasped when their eyes met. Despite having seen Firestorm’s draconic yellow eyes before, they were noticeably different. Despite the glare, they were bloodshot and puffy, obvious signs he had been crying. A silence between them lingered before Firestorm broke it. “Well this sucks!” Rainbow Dash snorted as she attempted to suppress laughing at his statement. Firestorm didn’t laugh, he merely continued staring off into the distance, “I-I’m really sorry about all of this…” “Why are you apologizing?” Rainbow asked, “It’s not like this is something you could control.” Firestorm turned his head to Rainbow Dash, his eyes a mixture of fear, confusion, and anger, “Why aren’t you afraid of me? You just heard what I am.” Rainbow Dash got up and made her way to Firestorm, “Yeah, I heard what Princess Luna said you are, but that has nothing to do with or change who you are.” “Who am I to you?” “Somepony with a heart. Somepony who adopted an orphan pegasus just because he wanted her to have a good life. Somepony who never left when he had almost no reason to stay…” “And now… now that I have the answer to the question I spent a thousand years asking?” “Well, what reason do you have for leaving?” Firestorm dwelt on Rainbow’s question for a moment, “Well, I guess I don’t really have any reason to leave. I have several reasons to stay though. Plus, what would be the point of running away from something you can’t change, especially when it’s yourself?” Rainbow Dash smiled, “Looks like you’re stuck with us then huh?” she asked with a playful nudge. “Hmm, yeah, the element bearers of harmony and the bat freak, sounds like a metal band.” “Don’t forget about Spike and Scootalight or whatever you’ve decided to call her.” Firestorm smiled softly, “Shadow Light,” he corrected, and I didn’t forget about them. Rainbow Dash gave a smirk, “So then, where is she now?” Firestorm closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on Canterlot Castle, his magic reaching out and searched for his adopted daughter throughout the halls until he sensed her. In the process however, he sensed he was not the only pony looking for her and that she was in trouble. His eyes shot open and his pony-like body shifted so it boasted his ghostly traits, “Climb on, I might need your help…” Fearing something might have happened to Scootaloo, Rainbow complied without question. Once her hooves were firmly wrapped around Firestorm’s neck she felt the rush of him taking off, doubling back towards the castle, and diving straight for it. She hadn’t ridden on another pony's back since she was a filly, but she had no time to savor the forgotten feeling, Firestorm was moving too quickly and the castle was only getting closer. Putting her complete trust in Firestorm, Rainbow Dash held on as the white stone wall seemed to rush towards them. Still, Firestorm did not slow down, turn, or even flinch. Instead, his body along with Rainbow’s passed through the outer wall as if it were a thin cirrostratus. Another wall, followed by another, then a floor/ceiling before Firestorm came to an abrupt stop, carefully dismounting Rainbow Dash, and then crouching behind a nearby wall, turning his head around the corner. By the time Rainbow’s mind caught up with her body she found herself standing behind a royal guard as he spied on somepony around the corner. Rainbow gulped and nervously spoke, “Um, excuse me…” The guard looked at Rainbow Dash out of the corner of his eye. When Rainbow say the yellow draconic eye looking at her she heard Firestorm think, “Shhh, Rainbow, they’ll hear you!” “Who will hear me?” Rainbow thought. Firestorm looked around the corner and down the hallway again, not answering Rainbow’s question. Firestorm, in the form of a white pegasus royal guard watched Scootaloo from behind as she trotted nervously down the hallway. She had lost count of how many hallways she had passed through after leaving the little fillies room and was worried that she had already been down this very hall at least once before if not twice. Without warning, a door opened and she collided with the pony who had come out through said door. The feeling of somepony softly impacting on his side caused Prince Blueblood to lose focus on his already weak magic and spill several drops of his imported tea onto his pristine fur and jacket. He glared down at Scootaloo, “Look what you did peasant! Do you have any idea how much this jacket costs? How did you even get in here? Did you wander away from your parents? They are going to be so upset with you when they find out what it’s going to cost them to clean the stains from this jacket,” Blueblood looked around before calling out, “Guards! Guards!” Firestorm bared his razor teeth in a sinister smile before he trotted across the hall as if he were a guard passing by on patrol. Blueblood caught sight of him and called out again, “Guard!” Firestorm stopped and, turning towards Blueblood, saluted him with, “Sir!” “Guard, this whelp wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and spilled tea all over me!” Scootaloo turned around, tears in her eyes, and tried to plead her case, “No, it was an accident, I didn’t-” “Quiet! Guard, I want you to take her and find her family and then bring them to me in my study.” Firestorm approached the two, looking down at Scootaloo, he graced her with a smile, “Are you alright little one?” Scootaloo’s ears perked up at the question, recognition apparent in her eyes at Firestorm’s tone. “Guard! Don’t ask her stupid questions when I gave you orders on how to deal with her!” Firestorm looked up to Blueblood, “All due respect sir, she is terrified, and you calling her names, yelling at her, and talking down to her isn’t helping the situation.” “Excuse me! You don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. You are sworn to Celestia and must obey orders given to you by any royalty living in the castle or are of noble descent!” “Geez, who did your mother have to screw to get into the royal bed and end up giving birth to you? She must have had quite a few assets working for her if you didn’t get your charming personality from your father…” Scootaloo fell over laughing but stopped when Blueblood hit her with the back of his hoof, “Shut up you miserable mistake of a foal!” Firestorm knocked Blueblood back and stood over Scootaloo with his pegasus wings flared as Scootaloo massaged her stinging cheek beneath him. “Apologize!” Firestorm demanded. “How dare you! Laying a hoof on me, insulting me, and now telling me what to do! I should-” “You should do as I say and apologize to the girl!” “I’ll see to it that you are stripped of your rank and-” Firestorm began a predatory stalk forward, his pegasus guard disguise fading into his draconic form, “Go ahead, I’m not even a guard, but I am her father, and if you ever lay another hoof on her, I’ll shatter every bone in your legs!” Blueblood turned tail and ran but Firestorm teleported in front of him, gripped his throat in his claws, and spun him around to face Scootaloo, “Apologize to her!” Celestia, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and four royal guard unicorns burst through the doorway at the far end of the hallway. “Firestorm, release him!” Celestia ordered. “Apologize,” Firestorm whispered into Blueblood's ear. Luna appeared Firestorm and the others, “Firestorm, stand down!” Firestorm tightened his grip on Blueblood's throat and growled. The doorway at the opposite end of the hallway burst open and Discord moon-walked through the doors, “Not to worry everypony! I have what Princess Luna needs to control her monster right here,” he said holding up the alicorn amulet. “Discord, no! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Luna pleaded. “Quite the contrary my dear, the magic in the alicorn amulet and the magic in Firestorm are on and the same. The amulet allows you to control him to do your will. You can thank me later, just get a leash on your dog, here!” Discord said throwing the alicorn amulet frisbee style to Luna. The amulet flew through the air but instead of landing on Luna’s neck as Discord had intended, the amulet took a detour and latched itself to Firestorm’s neck. Firestorm dropped Blueblood as the amulet poured its magic into Firestorm, his magic, the missing half of his being and power. Firestorm screamed out as his body was quickly overwhelmed and began behaving erratically. Different parts of his body shape shifted at random, lacerations appeared all over his body as it grew, and after less than a minute of agony, a dragon, three times the size of Celestia lay passed out and covered in its own blood as its wounds slowly healed. Blueblood had run off at the opportunity while everypony else cautiously approached the dragon which had previously been Firestorm. The alicorn amulet lay beside him cracked and devoid of its power. Discord looked at the useless amulet, then Firestorm, then the amulet again, and then Luna, “Well… I guess it didn’t do what I thought it did…”