A suffocating darkness shrouded everything, enveloping Twilight in an impenetrable cocoon. She concentrated her magic into her horn, but its light was swallowed up by the omnipresent darkness.
“Where am I?”
Even her words fell off into the nothingness. Her breaths came in heavy and quick as she spun round, scanning for any signs of existence outside of the abyss. Blinking, she looked up and down—or at least what she thought was up and down—only to find more darkness.
Her heart began to pound in her chest as the feeling of a nearby presence washed over her. An ear flicked as she spun around again. “Who’s there?” she shouted into the inky nothingness. An icy wind ran by her hide. She yelped as she recoiled from it. “Show yourself!”
The darkness finally gave way, penetrated by a dim, yellow light. It illuminated Twilight’s face, revealing her wide-open open eyes. She slowly backed up, scanning for the source of eerie light. Her flank hit something. It gave a bit, but was icy cold as a grave. She grit her teeth and swallowed before chancing a glance over her shoulder.
The only thing she saw were two glowing eyes, each larger than herself. A guttural growl shook everything, nearly causing Twilight to fall over. She whipped around to face the unseen threat, assuming a defensive pose as she lowered her horn at the unblinking eyes. From the blackness, a great pressure wrapped around her, pulling her deeper into the darkness.
Twilight struggled against the insurmountable force, but the glowing eyes just seemed to rise higher and higher as the thick blackness again enveloped her. This time, the ebony nothingness thickened, drowning the air into a thick soup, pressing on her from every angle and denying her lungs breath. As even the eyes were swallowed up, a sinister laugh echoed through the dark. That was the last thing she heard before her lungs forced her to breathe in the noxious blackness.
A piercing scream resounded as Twilight sat up. Her eyes focused onto the familiar sights of her room as her heart pounded in her chest.
“Twilight! Is everything okay?” Spike asked as the lights turned on.
Taking several deep breaths, Twilight nodded. “Y-yeah… Just a nightmare,” she said, rubbing her face. As her eyes closed, that laughter echoed through her ears as her vision filled with those glowing eyes. She drew a sharp breath as her wings flared out and her eyes opened wide. Twilight leapt from her bed, flying to her balcony. “I-I need some air.”
Twilight stopped, landing at the edge of her balcony as she placed her forehooves up on the railing. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Calm down. It was just a dream.
She opened her eyes to a brilliant array of stars in the sky. The moon proved illusive, hiding amongst trees and hills as it flirted with the horizon. A chill wind blew through her coat, causing her to shiver. Gulping, she licked her lips. “Just a dream,” she told herself again.
“Twilight? Are you sure you’re okay?”
Turning around she saw Spike, leaning out of the door. His emerald eyes shimmered, begging her for an affirmative response. She gave him her most reassuring smile. “I’m okay Spike, really.”
Spike breathed an audible sigh of relief. “You had me worried there for a minute,” he said as he plodded out onto the balcony. “I’m usually the one freaking out over bad dreams.”
Twilight nodded, scootching over just a bit as Spike joined her at the railing. “It must be all the stress. Yesterday was…” She closed her eyes, sighing again before looking back at Spike. “I just hope that I never have to see another day like that again. It was as if all of Ponyville were plunged into Tartarus.”
“Yeah,” Spike said, pointing a claw at the darkened husks littering the ground where houses once stood. “I could see a lot of it from here. I was really scared.”
Twilight got back on all four hooves, turning to look at Spike. “I’m sorry I made you wait so long without telling you I was okay—without telling you anything.”
Spike wrung his claws together. “I, uh… So, how is everypony doing? You said that Applejack and Fluttershy were okay.”
Averting her gaze, Twilight shook her head just a bit. “Physically, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are okay, but they’re both struggling emotionally. I think, if everypony is there for them, they’ll be able to get through this.”
“Wh-what about Rarity?”
“Rarity saved Sweetie Belle,” Twilight said. “Their parent’s house was on fire and Rarity ran in to save them. She got Sweetie out, but…”
Spike’s claws went to his mouth. “D-don’t tell me that Rarity’s—”
“She made it out,” Twilight said. “But… she got hurt. Her leg’s broken. Worse is that she couldn’t save her parents.” She sighed, looking in the general direction of the Ponyville hospital. “She blames herself.”
Spike held a claw to his chest as he gasped for air. “Don’t scare me like that, Twilight.”
Twilight placed a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go visit her once the sun’s up?” She blinked, stepping past Spike. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Spike asked as he turned around.
“A flash of light.” She stared out in the distance. Sure enough, a flash of blue light erupted, before fading into the predawn light. “That looks like… Fire!” Twilight’s wings flared out as she started flying. “Spike! Go find a pegasus and have them tell the weather teams to be on high alert. I’m going to go see what it is.”
“Will do! And be careful!” Spike called after Twilight as she took off.
As Twilight soared towards the outskirts of town, another plume of light caught her eye. This time, she was close enough to make out the details. It wasn’t another building on fire. It was a pillar of blue flames seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It vanished again several seconds before Twilight finally got there.
Landing where she had seen the fire, she nearly fell over and collapsed. Once she had her balance, she looked down to see what had tripped her up. She was standing on railroad tracks. As she peered through the dim light, trying to get her bearings, her eyes fixated on red-hot steel. An entire section of tracks had been melted away, leaving molten metal and still-burning timbers.
A blue glow caught Twilight’s eye, and she looked down to see the ground beneath her hooves start to glow. Suddenly, a new geyser of blue flames burst forth from the circle of magic, shooting into the sky! A flash of purple appeared nearby, heralding a slightly dazed and singed Twilight Sparkle.
“Eheheh, you’re pretty quick, Princess,” a gruff voice sounded as the blaze gave way to blackness.
Twilight’s wings flared out as she spun around to face the source of the voice. “Who are you!” she shouted even before she laid eyes on the cloaked figure. Even though she couldn’t see his face, she could definitely sense his smug grin.
“That’s not really what’s important, is it?” His words were accented by the distant whine of a train whistle.
Twilight’s head snapped back towards the tracks. By now the steel had cooled, leaving only the flicker of orange flames lingering on the decimated timbers as evidence that anything was amiss. At this rate, the train would run full-speed right off of the tracks!
“Why—” Twilight started to question, but as she turned around, all she saw was a blue fireball heading right for her. Spreading her wings, she just managed to fly over the ball of fire. Setting her eyes back on the mystery unicorn, she shouted down at him. “Why are you doing this?”
“He will return!” the mystery stallion shouted back. “He will rule with fear! His subjects will know terror and anguish! And those who oppose him will only know death!”
He fired another wave of blue fire at Twilight, but this time she was ready. A purple sheen effortlessly bounced the fireball away. “Who?” she shouted back at him, ripping his coat away with a flick of her magic. It revealed stallion with a mane of blue just a few shades lighter than his cobalt coat. He was still smiling.
“Even the might of the false queens will not thwart him! The Elements of Harmony are gone! His power cannot be suppressed again!” Another whistle sounded, this time much closer. “He will erect his kingdom anew, and he will be greeted with the fear and respect he deserves!” His horn flared with an azure glow. Instead of another fireball, a burst of fire enveloped him. It flashed, and he was gone.
“A teleport?” Twilight muttered, scanning for where he had intended to reappear. She never saw it. She scanned everything again. She had to be able to see most everything for ten miles. Even she would have trouble teleporting that far. Did he have a secret hideaway nearby? Or was he just that powerful?
The not-too-distant wail of a train whistle broke Twilight away from her speculation. I have to stop that train! She took off as quickly as her wings would take her. It took her mere seconds to spy the approaching train. Firing up her horn, she vanished.
With a sphere of purple light, Twilight appeared in the engine, right next to the engineer. “Stop the train!”
An earth pony in a blue and white conductor’s outfit recoiled from the sudden appearance of a pony. “H-hey! Nopony is allowed in here!”
“The tracks are out ahead! You have to stop this train, now!”
The conductor’s look of confusion changed to one of resolution. “Hold on tight!” He grabbed a lever and pulled. The train lurched in response as the wheels screeched.
Twilight was thrown off her hooves. As soon as she recovered, she teleported again. Relying on her wings, she hovered above the train as she tried to see where the tracks were destroyed. Catching a flicker of orange, she found the ruined tracks to be just ahead of the train.
It’s not going to stop in time!
Flaring her horn to life, she wrapped the entire train in her aura. With all of her might, she pulled. The train lurched again with the deafening noise of straining, screeching metal. The train ground to a halt, just as the engine’s wheels slipped from the gnarled metal of the tracks.
Her horn faded as she shook her head. She lowered herself near to ground level as the curious ponies started sticking their heads out of the windows. “Is everypony okay? Are there any injured?”
Shortly after dawn, an entire hoard of ponies had appeared at the site of the train wreck. While the bulk of the ponies were helping unload passengers and luggage, dragging them by hoof and by wagon towards Ponyville.
“We’re just lucky Princess Twilight showed up when she did,” the conductor said, nodding at Twilight while he avoided the gazes of Celestia and Cadance. “She saved that whole train, and we were overbooked from relief crews going to Ponyville to help with the recovery.”
“I’m not so sure,” Twilight replied. “Those tracks were damaged close to Ponyville. The train was already slowing down, right?”
The conductor nodded. “That’s right, Princess.”
“I think he wanted to scare everypony, maybe hurt them,” Twilight said. “I don’t think his goal was to… to actually kill anypony.”
“We need to know more about him,” Celestia said as the conductor was led away. “Luna is already leading the search for any records related to this blue stallion. What exactly was it that he said to you?”
Twilight shook her head. “Most of it was just… fanatical nonsense. He definitely thinks that he is doing the bidding of somepony, but I’m not sure if it’s really a pony he’s working for or just a deity he believes he is working for.”
“It might help if we knew who this partner was. Even if it is just some fictional character, it might help us understand who this stallion is and what his goals are,” Cadance said. “Didn’t he say anything about him?”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “He said… uh, something about his subjects fearing him and those opposing him dying. Oh! The unicorn mentioned the Elements of Harmony and that he wouldn’t be suppressed again.”
“Twilight, the Elements of Harmony have only been used a few times,” Celestia said. “First to seal Discord, then Sombra. After that they were used against Nightmare Moon twice, and once more against Discord.”
Blinking, Twilight shook her head. “You really only used them three times, Princess?”
“They were not a tool to be used lightly,” she replied. “And I did not have the heart to wield them again after…”
“He kept saying him, but that only leaves Discord and King Sombra,” Twilight said, quickly filling the silence. “There’s no way Discord would condone this. Even before he was reformed he wouldn’t want something like this. He was all about chaos and disorder, not death and destruction.”
“The last remnants of King Sombra were swept away by the Crystal Heart,” Cadance said. “But if this stallion believes him to be a deity…”
Twilight nodded. “I’ll see if Fluttershy can’t get in touch with Discord. Even if this stallion is just doing this in his name without his knowledge, he can probably do something about it.”
“I-I’ll go back to the Crystal Empire, just to make sure there isn’t anything amiss,” Cadance said as she took wing.
“Be careful,” Celestia said. “Belief in and of itself is enough to be dangerous.”
Cadance nodded. “I will. I’ll write if I find anything at all.”
After watching her depart, Celestia turned back to Twilight. “There cannot be many ponies with the raw talent and power of this stallion. I will go help Luna try to track down who this really is. Are you sure you don’t remember anything else?”
Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry, Princess. It all happened so fast and he got me so flustered and…”
Twilight was silenced as a gilded hoof landed on her shoulder. “You and you alone prevented tragedy today. You saved not only your life, but the lives of all these ponies.”
Turning, Twilight looked on at all the ponies still fawning over luggage and retelling their harrowing tale to any who would listen. “I still can’t believe that somepony is doing this on purpose.”
“Ponyville needs you, Twilight. Now more than ever,” Celestia said. “Yesterday, Ponyville suffered a great tragedy. Today, it finds itself besieged. As word spreads, sorrow will turn to frenzy. They will need a calm voice to reassure and guide them.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, Princess. I know.”
Celestia stepped into her nearby chariot. “I will send you a letter if Luna and I are able to uncover anything.”
“I’ll have Spike send a letter just as soon as I learn anything here,” Twilight replied as the chariot began to take off.
It was midmorning by the time that Twilight got home. Of course, as soon as she got through the door, a baby dragon rushed to greet her. “Twilight! You’re back! I heard there was a train wreck. Are you okay?”
Twilight nodded. “No one got hurt, and that is the most important thing.” She sighed, hanging her head. “I did kind of… let the bad guy get away, though.”
Spike’s eyes widened as he mouth fell open. “What?”
“I didn’t mean to. He just… I underestimated him.”
“Someone tried to attack the train? I don’t…”
“He sabotaged the tracks,” Twilight said. “I’m pretty sure he’s responsible for the fires, too. He was a pyromancer. A strong one.”
“Y-you’re gonna get him though, right?” Spike asked, wringing his claws together. “I mean, he’s the one that hurt Rarity… all those ponies.”
Twilight nodded. “We’ll get him, Spike. We’ll get him.”
Spike grabbed his belly, his cheeks puffing up. With a mighty belch an entire dossier appeared with Princess Celestia’s seal adorning it. It also had a note attached at the front.
“Luna has uncovered a promising lead. Please let us know right away if this dossier belongs to the pony you encountered,” Twilight read the note aloud.
Flipping open the folder, the face from before met her. It was quite a bit younger, but it was definitely the same pony from before. Tearing herself away from the folder, she looked to Spike. “Spike, I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia saying that this is definitely the pony from before.”
She looked back to the file, her eyes tracing over the name at the top: Blue Blazes.