//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Fire // Story: Darkness of Ages - Book 1: Greyhield // by YoungQuillMaster //------------------------------// The halls were quiet, a darkness hanging over the corners of the palace like webs made of shadowy spiders. Guards marched around the corridors, the echoes of their hooves being the only sound in the dim passages. Two of the soldiers stood at the sides of two large oaken doors, their leaders talking inside. The large being paced from one side of the room to the inside, looking quiet preoccupied in her thoughts. “The little one is moving towards his destiny.” She stopped and looked at the stone. “Is it yet time my liege? Is your time coming soon?” The stars on the stone shifted into their silhouette form once again. “Do not worry, he moves at a rate that is in accordance with my plans. My appearance shall be soon, and when I arrive, the world will know the time has arrived for their rebirth.” The observer bowed her head, a smirk working its way onto her face. Blaze walked onto the train platform with Twilight right beside him. Canterlot’s white walls shimmered in Celestia’s sunlight. It seemed most ponies in the streets had some condition that made them always look with a slight upward instead of straight on, or maybe it was just simple snootiness that had grown and worked its full course in these ponies. As they walked off of the platform and into the street, two royal guards trotted up to them, both bowing towards Twilight. Blaze looked over to her, and noted that, though she kept a rather calm exterior appearance, she was quite obviously uncomfortable with the action. “Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia ordered us to escort you and the colt to the castle.” One of the soldiers stated, still bowing to her. Blaze looked to the two guards, and noticed something off about one of them, a strap that would hold his armor on was showing slightly, something that he could only find excuse for if he was a new recruit for the Equestrian Guard, but his armor was that of a Royal Guard. Blaze looked back to Twilight; she still seemed very uncomfortable with this, but nodded with a confident smile anyway. “Alright, please lead the way.” The stallions stood, gave a quick salute, and then began walking off into the street towards a carriage that was surrounded by an entire detachment of Royal Guards. Blaze followed closely, only to stop as he noticed a shadow pass from one of the rooftop into the alleyway between two houses. Blaze peered into the shadows and saw the form of a pony slowly walking into the light, quickly merging with the crowd. With a sigh of relief, he recognized the EUP insignia on the pony’s bag. Blaze continued to follow Twilight, but as they drew closer to the carriage, Twilight stopped, inspecting the ornate vehicle. “Why did Celestia decide to have us transported in a carriage?” She asked to one of the guards the surrounded it. “The two royal sisters have been sensing great powers moving across the land, and so have asked for you to arrive at the castle unharmed. We are here to ensure that, your highness.” The soldier finished with a bow. Twilight nodded tensely as she climbed into the interior of the carriages, followed quickly by Blaze. “I wonder what exactly they’ve been sensing.” Twilight said as she settled into the cushioned seat. Blaze shrugged as he assumed his position on the opposite side. “Well, all I can say is that they got you pretty much covered, I saw a EUP Guard.” Blaze commended nonchalantly. “Wait, you say a EUP pony? But… but how did you do that? They’re trained to be the constant unseen guards of the princesses.” Twilight said, looking around at the crowds that flowed around the carriage. “He slipped up a bit. A pony who isn’t a pegasus coming down from a rooftop isn’t exactly something usual.” But as he said that, he realized something interesting. How did he even know those insignias or the types of armor the different branches of the guard wore? Sure, Flint had had him read a lot of books on military history and tactics, but he had never assigned him to read over the branches of the guard and their distinguishing features and looks. Blaze shook it off, it didn’t matter too much at the moment; but even though he tried, it still nagged him in the back of his mind. The carriage eventually arrived at the castle after navigating through the cluttered streets. The fact that so many ponies were out and about really did slow down their progress, but they did arrive in one piece and without an incident, much to Twilight’s relief. The guards formed a semicircle around then, allowing them a plain view in front of them and protection behind them. Blaze still noticed the occasional sign of almost rookie level of failure in the guards escorting them; whether it was a strap plainly visible, tripping over an obvious rock, or being slightly out of formation. Blaze didn’t feel comfortable with the fact that these ponies were in the Royal Guard and acting as if they were fresh recruits in the Equestrian Guard. After a quick trot from the carriage, which had been left just inside the castle’s courtyard, the entourage arrived at the castle’s front gate, the portcullis raised and the draw bridge lowered. A group of the guards stopped at the draw bridge and turned, facing outward. The next group stopped inside the portcullis, leaving Twilight and Blaze with only four guards, two in front of them, two behind them. Blaze watched as the guards stopped on either side of the two giant doors that led into the throne room. He looked forward and saw Celestia and Luna sitting on their thrones, both looking their absolute best. As he continued down the carpeted hall, the doors behind them closed with a mighty boom that echoed through the hall for several second as they closed the distance between them and princesses. When they were close enough to hold a conversation, Twilight and Blaze bowed. “Please, you don’t need to bow; this isn’t a formal affair in any regard.”Celestia chided. Twilight stood up quickly with a blush while Blaze stood up a bit slower, still feeling it necessary to give the proper amount of respect due to their authority. “Not to mention you don’t have to bow to us in any situation, you are a princess of Equestria after all.” Twilight blushed harder. “Eh… sorry, I’m still trying to get used to that.” Twilight replied sheepishly. Celestia nodded with a gentle smile. Blaze looked at the two regal princesses. “So, this is the Blaze Eternal you mentioned in your letter I presume?” Celestia said as she looked him over. Blaze felt all the eyes in the room turn to him. “Yes, this is him.” Twilight confirmed. “Sister, doesn’t he look surprisingly like…” Luna began, her gaze focused entirely on Blaze. Celestia replied with a nod. “Yes, he certainly does now that you mention it. Perhaps he is a descendent of that same line.” Celestia responded, looking over at her sister. “But that is a topic for discussion at a later point; currently there are other things to attend to.” Luna broke her gaze from Blaze and looked over to Celestia, giving her a nod of agreement. “Who do I look like now?” Blaze asked in confusion. He had gotten the comment of him looking like his grandfather quite often when he had lived in Cant… when he had traveled with his family. “Nopony you’d be entirely familiar with.” Celestia replied, looking at him with her gracious smile. Blaze looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Not to interrupt, but I had a question.” Twilight said, drawing the room’s attention to her. “The guards mention that you were sensing something. What were they talking about, what were you sensing?” “In recent days we’ve been feeling a great power in the heaven shifting.” Luna stated calmly. “We believe an ancient entity is coming back to haunt Equestria, though we are not completely certain of this.” “What do you mean by ‘not completely certain’ about a possible evil coming back? If there is a great power shifting in the heavens, as you say, shouldn’t it be easy to figure out if it was good or evil or not?” Blaze questioned. “All we have felt was the power this entity has, we cannot discern its intentions. We would need a personal encounter with it to find that out. For all we know it could be a great and wonderful good being that wishes to give us eternal peace, or a massively evil creature coming back to finish its work of destruction.” Luna replied solemnly. “Whatever it is, we are prepared for its arrival; its coming will not be a surprise.” Celestia added with confidence, her smile faded away. “But enough of that, you two must be tired from your trip.” And as if on cue, Twilight let out a yawn, which she quickly covered with a wing. Blaze looked out the gigantic windows; the sun was setting, its yellow light paralleling the alicorn’s horn as the other sister lit her horn and began lifting up the moon. “I guess you could say that, it was a long trip.” Twilight said after she finished yawning. “The train went slower than usual because of all the extra cars that had been attached. I was personally surprised that the engine could take that much strain.” “Well, we had prepared accommodations for both of you.” Celestia said with her smile returning to her lips. “The guards will take you when you are ready.” She finished. “Thank you, Celestia.” Twilight said with a grateful smile and a nod. “Blaze, I think I’ll hit the hay, what about you?” Blaze looked over at her. “I’ll head off to my room, though I probably won’t sleep for a bit.” Blaze said, as they turned and headed towards the doors of the throne room. A dark mass landed on the mountain, causing the land to shift and shake, rocks tumbling down the sides of the mountain. A small figure stood trembling before it. “Spike,” a low rumbling voice said from the darkness. “Do not be afraid, I am on your side.” Spike gulped nervously as the darkness shed off its uncertainty, now in a shape, the shape of a massive dragon. “You have been a better dragon than any other of your time, keeping to the dragon code with all your might.” With that, the darkness hot into the ground, only to reform sitting behind Spike, causing him to jump. “For that I grant you a wish. What do you wish f…?” “How can I be really sure that you are on my side! You can say whatever you want, but what proof do I have?” Spike said, taking several steps back. “I am a dragon of honor, I do not lie to you. I only wish you to receive a reward for your righteous deeds.” The deep voice replied. “I was the first noble dragon. I know the qualities that make a great and honorable dragon. Now, I will give you a choice.” Spike took another step back. “Will you have me show you the future or the ability to change one action you did in the past.” Spike considered it for a second then swallowed. “I… I want to see into the future.” Spike replied nervously. “Are you sure? Remember you only can choose one. Are you sure you only want to see where your path leads instead of change the one you are on already?” The dragon asked. “Y-yes, my past makes me who I am. I want to… I want to make sure I can avoid any evil that might come. Show me my future.” Spike said, growing a bit more confident with each word. The dragon lifted one of his massive forelegs and grabbed onto an invisible door, and opened it up to reveal a nearly blinding light. “Go; see what your path holds for you.” The dragon said. Spike looked at him, than at the doorway. Spike walked up to it, and stretched out his claws, finding that the light was just an entrance as it shimmered like a pool of silver. Spike stepped through slowly. Blaze scanned the bookshelves. He had gone to his room and unpacked his things, and after staring at the wall for several minutes, he got up and left the room and found his way to the castle library. A small mystery was the fact he hadn’t even looked at a map or asked anypony and he had been able to walk straight to it. Blaze had filed it away with the recognition of the different branches of the Equestrian military. He had been looking through his fifth shelf when Celestia walked in. Blaze bowed to her, she nodded to him. She walked to another section of the library, picking out a book and sat down at the reading table. Blaze stood up, watched as she began to read her book. Blaze then turned back to the shelf, and the first thing he noticed has a book in red cover, but what caught his attention was the thing that replaced the author’s name. It was a symbol, a fiery phoenix, its tail feathers forming an ‘E’, but the most interesting fact was that around the main symbol was a fire wheel, much like his cutie mark. Blaze lifted it off the shelf and opened it to the front page, but as soon as he had a golden wave went over the page. Blaze looked at the book in confusion, and then the pages began flipping quickly until it landed on one specific place. The page talked about some spell that the writer had come up with, but before Blaze could get the specifics about this spell, the spaces where the letters weren’t began to glow, forming a circle with arcane symbols dancing around it. Blaze stopped his magical flow, the silver glow disappearing, but the book still levitated. A violet aura began swirl from it, reaching out all around the room. As it did, books began floating away from their places; including the book Celestia had been reading. Celestia looked over in surprise, and became even more surprised when she noticed all of the objects in the violet glow while Blaze’s horn didn’t glow, much less in violet. The other books began floating in circles around Blaze, each ring circling the opposite direction of the last. As they floated they each opened to a specific page, each having the empty spaces between the type glowing with some arcane energy, revealing their circles and symbols. Each book gave off its own violet aura which began to stream into Blaze. Blaze looked around; attempting to find a way out, but none presented itself. Blaze lit his horn and attempted to teleport, but as he prepared the spell, he felt his inner magical energies leached from him and into the surrounding spell matrix. He looked around in fear, and then a shot of magic, that felt like a dagger of ice had pierced into his mind, took over him Blaze fell to his knees, trying to even think strain, as with each second knew thoughts and visions filtered into his mind. His father was there, but nopony else he knew. All of the surroundings for these visions were luxurious and splendid, nothing like what he had during his travels. Then a thought came to him, forcing itself to the forefront, ‘Did you actually travel? Is that the truth? Are you sure?’ Blaze’s eyes began to tear up as he struggled against the pain and confusion. Suddenly a flash of light overtook his vision, and then… nothing. Blaze felt as if he was floating, since senses completely gone, unable to feel, hear, or see, at least any except his body. As he continued in the white, he felt as if he began falling quickly. He opened his eyes and found he was on the ground in a circular chamber. Blaze stood up and looked around, but he recognized none of his surroundings, but then… he did. He felt he knew this place, yet he didn’t recognize it. “Hello, Blaze, I can guess you found the book we talked of.” A voice said from around him. Blaze whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. “I’m sorry for the confusion you must have gone through to get to this point, but believe me, it was necessary to keep you safe until the right time.” The voice said again, but this time, an outline of a pony came into view before Blaze. It slowly gained form defined shape and color, until finally it was his father. “D-dad… but… what is this?” Blaze asked, continuing to look around as he slowly approached his father. It took a few seconds, but Blaze realized his father hadn’t responded, in fact, he wasn’t even looking at him. Blaze waved a hoof in front of his father’s face, but there was no reaction, until finally, his father sighed. “I’m sorry, Blaze, but if you are asking me something I can’t hear it. This is just an illusion, a simple part of the spell.” His father stated, looking to the far side of the room. Blaze quickly walked in front of the stallion so as to be in direct eye contact. “This was a premade message for you when you activate this spell. Now, my time is short so I’ll some up what I trying to head at.” Blaze’s dad sighed as he began.