//------------------------------// // One Last Chance // Story: Rise from the Ashes: Book 1 - Canterlot // by Sparklecat //------------------------------// At the Equestria jail on the inside, both Firebelt and Scorchhop were sitting inside one of the cells covered with chains on their wrists and ankles, Firebelt’s jacket had been confiscated which revealed both of his bandaged wings. Firebelt was taping his hooves anxiously, since Lightning was brought to the doctor’s because of her broken wing and if she had sustained more injuries. It was all his fault that he and Scorchhop are going to be executed and Lightning behind bars her entire life, though he wasn’t sure if Applejack was going to be punished for trying to let them escape or if Rarity will even let them know. “Why the hell did I even do this….oh right, because I didn’t wanna die from having nowhere else to go…” he thought to himself irritated. Finally they heard hoofsteps coming from the hall to see Lightning in chains walking towards the group with several soldiers by her side. The broken wing was covered in bandages, and a few other bandages made to cover some scrapes from the fall. Firebelt barely made any eye contact towards his cousin, but Lightning only looked at her cousin in sympathy since she knew what fate awaited them. “Any plans to get out this time kid?” she asked looking at Firebelt and Scorchhop, but judging by his emotionless look he knew there was no way out this time. Reminded on upon saving him from the guards a day ago that he and Scorchhop were going to be executed by Luna. Scorchhop was shivering and looking down scared beyond belief. “These times have made the princess cruel…” she thought to herself. “This is it...the day we die…” Scorchhop muttered as she shed tears slowly. The only thing Firebelt could do is put her hoof on her shoulder and try to comfort her. He then looked up to see multiple guards approach them. “It’s time.” one of them said in a cold voice. Around forty minutes later, Scorchhop and Firebelt were on an execution dock and multiple civilians had gathered to witness their demise. Firebelt could only stare at the civilians having an emotionless look on their face, they were only waiting for Luna to arrive and address the charges towards the two. Lightning was watching from her cell, she couldn’t help but have a few tears in her eyes. “Don’t worry you knucklehead...I’ll be joining you soon…” she murmured as she forced back as many tears as she could. As then they saw Luna and Flicker Blitz step out of the castle and step on the dock and faced the crowd. “Are we ready?” Luna asked her guards who were standing by the docks, they all nodded. Flicker Blitz just remained quiet as Luna faced back at the crowd. “My dear ponies, today you will all bear witness to what happens when you choose the wrong path in life. When you’ve used up all the chances you had and pulled others in with you…” she spoke in her loud voice before giving a glare back at Firebelt. “Firebelt...what do you have to say to all of this?” she said coldly as she gave him an equally cold stare. Firebelt had an emotionless look on him, and then looked at Luna. “You have certainly changed… I wonder how your sister would react to you?” he said with a small smirk. Luna’s eyes filled with rage before smacking him across the face. “How dare you bring her up here!” she scowled at him with a fierce glare. Firebelt only let off a soft chuckle at Luna’s petty attempts to be threatening. “When I only have a few seconds left to live, why shouldn’t I bring her up? She would be horrified if she saw your cold behaviour and executing a pony for being a petty thief and not a true monster.” he said with a determined look on his face. Luna only growled before Flicker Blitz whispered at Luna, she let off an irritated sigh. “Excuse me a moment…” Luna said annoyed before facing back at her disciple. While Firebelt and Scorchhop couldn’t hear what the two were saying, but it seems they were talking small chat before it picked up and now they looked like they were arguing. “Your highness, listen to me! This could be a big chance to find that monster Applejack and Rarity told me about!” Flicker Blitz silently shouted at her. “We can’t risk it!-” Luna retorted but was immediately cut off. “NO! Our kingdom could be in great danger and all you care about is hanging a petty thief who could be part of all this!!” Flicker Blitz shouted loud right in her face with a glare. Luna stepped back a bit in silence and shock. Flicker Blitz was about to go on before she heard Firebelt start laughing. “A petty thief? Me and Scorchhop here have outran you and your troops for years! If I’m petty then was does that make you Ms Moonbutt? Or is that junk in the trunk affecting your head too?” Firebelt said with a cocky grin. Luna’s face couldn’t help but make her face a bit red with a scowl. Then she heard the civilians snickering and laughing in the background, getting her even more furious. “SILENCE!” Luna shouted in her loudest royal voice at the audience. Making all the ponies go dead quiet, with Firebelt only smirking still. She then faced back at Firebelt, “How much of a featherbrain are you?! Are you trying to tempt me to kill you!” she shouted again as she went on and on at Firebelt. Scorchhop strangely motion over to Flicker Blitz, with Flicker Blitz raising an ear a bit. “Think now while you have the chance if you really want to prove Firebelt is connected to that thing.” Scorchhop whispered, revealing Firebelt was only buying time to give Flicker Blitz to think up a way to get Luna to listen. She thought for a few moments, and then got an idea. “That does it! Send in the hanger!” Luna ordered loudly as she faced her guards. “Your highness please! He may know something about this!” Flicker Blitz continued to try to beg, but Luna continued to ignore her. “I’m sorry Flicker Blitz, as princess I must take out all threats to the kingdom-” She said sternly before Flicker Blitz finally snapped. “You will NEVER be a princess to this kingdom!” Flicker Blitz shouted to top of her lungs. Everypony stood still with Luna staring horrified at her. “I mean it Luna! You know from the bottom of your heart that something is going on, and yet you do nothing but yell at it and ignore it! He’s our only link to that monster and you only insist on hanging him just because he stole stuff including your teddy bear!” she shouted again with a furious look at her. She then stood tall and calm once more, “Your highness, at least let me try to prove my theory. Please, for the sake of this kingdom which you want to protect.” she said one last time with a stern look. Luna looked down and away for a few moments, and then finally stared back at her. “Very well then. But he only has one more day, and if you can’t prove your theory he dies.” She said sternly before walking off. “Guards, escort them to Flicker Blitz’s lab.” she said calmly before trotting back into her castle and slamming the doors behind her. The civilians started to head back to the town, as the guards took the ropes of Firebelt’s and Scorchhop’s necks. “I wasn’t expecting you of all ponies to say that to Luna.” Scorchhop said, as she and Firebelt slowly started to follow Flicker Blitz. “Me either...but I needed to get through Luna’s thick skull that their might be a chance you could lead us to that thing. But now I think I hurt her more than I intended to…” Flicker Blitz said ashamed a bit, but Firebelt gave her an assuring nudge. “And if you prove your theory right, I’m sure she’ll understand now.” he said to her. Flicker Blitz didn’t really smile, but her hopes were lifted slightly. “Now...erm...what did you mean by testing?” he asked nervously. A few minutes later, the three arrived in a lab of sorts in the midst of the castle. There were multiple brewing stands, chemical valves, books, tools and other stuff that Firebelt didn’t even know how to describe it. “Wait...was this…?” he pondered out loud before Flicker Blitz cut him off. “Twilight Sparkle’s room. Yes it was…until she and Celestia vanished.” she said with a sigh. Scorchhop looked around in amazement, “This is THE Twilight Sparkle’s room? Amazing!” she said still being positive. It did brighten the mood a little bit before Firebelt seemed nervous once more. “Erm...there is a dissecting table over there...you sure you’re not gonna- OW!” Firebelt shouted suddenly as he realized Flicker Blitz put a needle in his shoulder and took out a small bit of blood. “The hell!” he shouted angrily at her. “Relax, I need to compare a blood sample with the one the beast left.” Flicker Blitz said using magic to lift the needle and poured it in a chemical tube, right next to a chemical tube that had some sort of black and purple substance. “This blood sample was found in the rubble where Rarity blasted that creature into the building.” she said and brought out a scope of sorts and carefully examined both of them. “Hmm...the blood types are different and so is the DNA. By blood they aren’t related, but still some of this doesn’t make sense.” she said as she examined. Firebelt and Scorchhop sat down nearby, with their movements restricted by their chains still. “Like what?” Scorchhop asked, not understanding much but still wanted to attempt to understand it. “For one, Applejack reported she couldn’t even touch it when it looked like you but after it’s transformation suddenly she could hit it.” Flicker Blitz analyzed from Applejack’s alibi. “Two, there was a haze around the creature when it was you, but then when it finished transforming there was no more haze.” she added on. “Third, it didn’t react violently until you denied its existence and transformed into that nasty thing.” she finished up. Firebelt blinked at Flicker Blitz’s analogy. “You know... that actually does need some explaining.” he said folding his hooves together. “Maybe it was made to react that way? Considering it knew all about Firebelt and his secrets. Saying stuff like ‘you thought you could leave me behind’ and secrets.” Scorchhop theorized. Flicker Blitz nodded, “By that knowledge alone it definitely seems plausible that these two have a connection somehow. From what I can gather this thing is an incarnate of black magic made to reflect a forgotten part of somepony’s self and then kill them when they deny their nature...fascinating.” she thought a bit. Firebelt’s eyes narrowed, “Yeah, until it tries to kill you and spills your secrets out loud while doing so.” he said irritated as he tried to stretch in his chains. Flicker Blitz faced the two again, “But now we know that this type of black magic exists that there could be more of these things out there! I have a strong suspicion Sol is behind it, but we can’t confirm anything for now. We must tell Luna that the kingdoms could be in danger if more of these things pop out!” she concluded. Firebelt tilted his head a bit, “Yes, but can’t we use the elements of harmony to blast Sol and all of those other black magic things to bits?” he asked raising an eyebrow. Flicker Blitz just shook her head, “The elements of harmony have lost power over the years...with the death of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle abandoning Canterlot the elements are not what they are used to be.” she said sadly. “This entire place is a complete mess because of it…” Scorchhop raised an eyebrow. “Wait, so the elements also affect the ponies around it with it’s power?” she asked. Flicker Blitz nodded, “It would make sense, since they are possibly the most powerful force in all of Equestria and represent all of harmony itself.” Firebelt suddenly jolted up with an idea. “Hey...wasn’t there this story that there were bells that used to power the Elements? The Cryer Bells?” he said. “Maybe if we could use those to get the Elements of Harmony, and further that we can try to fix up the relationships with the kingdoms!” he said cheerfully, but Flicker Blitz shook her head sadly in response to this. “The Cryer Bells have nothing to do with this, the Elements came from the Tree of Harmony which has been asleep for-” she suddenly stopped herself. “Wait…” Flicker Blitz then raced over to the books. “What if...just what if…” she panicked among searching the books. “What if the bells woke up the tree? Then we could use the tree to power up the elements once more!” she said now positive. Firebelt and Scorchhop smiled. “It’s worth a shot!” Scorchhop said happily. Flicker Blitz nodded in this and opened the door looking at the guards that were outside. “Take these two to with me to the castle! I need to speak to Luna at once! We might have a breakthrough!” she ordered as she raced between the guards.