//------------------------------// // New threat II // Story: Strangely Resilient Ember // by DeliriousCrimson //------------------------------// I opened my eyes and gently lowered my arms, feelings of un-amusement also beginning to grip my mind. I just couldn't shake off this uneasy feeling for long enough to meditate. It made sure to not even allow me to close my eyes for long in fear of missing something, anything. I did not feel like the situation was resolved one bit, my uncertainty previously forcing me to pace back and forth in the space of my room for the last five to six hours. In that span I tried multiple things to pass the time, none of which required for me to sit still. My activities ranged from basic workouts to even swatting dust off the floor, all in an effort to calm myself down. After a critical combo of deep breaths, I attempted to settle down onto my bed and meditate, but the results have been increasingly unsatisfactory. Discord certainly left me with quite the questionable impression, and a strong gust of intuition begged me to somehow take matters into my own hand. However, Im afraid that this wasn't an option. If I went and acted on my own, It would have just caused trouble for the strategy that was already at hand. So no matter how much this feeling of unease haunted me, I would just have to believe in Discord. After all, he had the trust of a princess. If Celestia felt like she could trust him, then who was I to doubt her beliefs? I scratched my head and sighed as I stood to my feet. I then went over to the curtains and opened them, my action revealing the blackened piece of architecture that was my window. I opened that as well and gazed outside. Every building seemed to have been hammered shut and the streets were completely devoid of any activity. Was this "Tirek" really so dangerous that these extreme measures had to be taken? He was a single creature, yet his escape called for the need to shut in an entire city. My facial features stiffened as my imagination ran wild trying to picture his appearance. Could he have been a pony? A zebra? Or was he also a jumbled mess of body parts like Discord? No, to incite this much fear, he had to be some sort of hundred foot tall beast. And to make matters certainly not better, he was apparently worthy of Disem's praise.. A monster, he definitely had to be some type of ruthless monster. I sighed again and continued to gaze out of the window. I never took the chance to closely examine it until now, but Canterlot was truly different from the capitol over at home. Though I should probably stop referring to that place as such. My "home" was here in this luxurious castle, I didn't need to return to my life of poverty over at the fire nation. And I had no way of knowing if it was even possible to return. Besides, its not like I had much to lose by staying here.. not like I had anything left now to begin with that is. I scowled and spat a good amount of saliva out the window. It was so high up, that I lost sight of it long before it hit the ground. If I were to fall from here, my life would flash before my eyes around a hundred times. I shivered and slowly pulled away from the window, even falling had to have its limits. As I pulled away, my eyes locked onto a purple dot in the sky. I questioningly raised my right eyebrow as the dot approached at high speeds. It soon took form into that of a frantic Twilight as it flew further into my line of accurate vision. Before a multitude of awaiting assumptions could flood my consciousness, a loud knock echoed through my room. The amount of hints presented allowing for me to quickly put two and two together. Something went wrong. I ran over to my door and snapped it open. Outside stood a panting guard, Spark seemingly nowhere to be seen. He began to open his mouth, but was stopped by my hand. "Its ok, I know exactly where im needed. If you have any other orders, go tend to them immediately.", I said while stepping out of my chambers. I noticed his nod at the corner of my eyes as I stormed past him and towards the throne room. I rushed into the staircase, loud sounds of accelerated trotting originating from beneath me. Twilight was also on her way up. I was pulled between waiting for her to come up or simply going on ahead instead. But with no time to strongly latch onto one of these choices, I absent-mindedly continued to head up the stairs. It didn't take long to reach the peak of said stairs with my hard sprinting. I made sure to keep the flurry of motion which were my legs on overdrive as I headed towards the throne rooms double doors. With a small gust of wind, an airborne Twilight zoomed past me and over to the doors. I picked up the pace and quickly found myself at her side as she swung the doors open. We ran a good length down the red carpet before we halted, Twilight beginning to state her concerns on behalf of both of us. "I came as quickly as I could! Is something wrong!? Is it Tirek??" The three alicorns before us gazed in our direction with doleful expressions. I bit my lip at the sight, I could assume that this wasn't going to be good news. "Im afraid I put too much trust in Discord, and the effect that friendship would have upon him.", began Celestia while slightly stepping forward. "Discord has betrayed the ponies of Equestria, and joined forces with Tirek.", continued Luna in a regretful tone. This proved my assumptions about Discord to be undoubtedly correct. I tsked at my reluctant manner of going about these strong beliefs, I lived in a world full of unpleasant people long enough to be able to sort the good from the trash. And Discord certainly didn't strike me as the former. Also, I sensed that he wasn't a pushover the second that his presence entwined with mine. So to think that he joined forces with another sort of strong enemy served to put a bad taste in my mouth. "How could he do this!?", questioned Twilight with evident sorrow to her voice. "I thought our friendship meant something to him!.. I thought he had changed!" The three alicorns exchanged sorrowful glances before Celestia solemnly continued. "Tirek has stolen enough magic that he now has the strength to steal flight as well.. without pegasi to control the weather, there will be no rain in Equestria." "There is word he has gone after earth ponies as well... without their strength, they will not be able to tend the land.", added Luna. "Ponies will no longer be in control of their world, that power will belong solely to Tirek!", she finished with urgency to her tone. I was listening intently, processing the information. Pegasi controlled the weather, while earth ponies tended to the land. I would have held shock by the fact that the weather here could be manipulated.. if Luna and Celestia didn't already raise the sun and the moon. But more importantly, these supernatural traits were being stolen and amassed into a single creature. If this "Tirek" continued his spree of magic theft, he was bound to become unstoppable. It seems Tirek has already regained enough power to maintain his basic form, brat. Whatever efforts you and your sickening pony allies put forth will now be meaningless. I tried to ignore his taunting, a drop of sweat running down my cheek. "There is no doubt Tirek is after alicorn magic.. with Discord by his side, we will not be able to stop him from taking it.", admitted Celestia. "Once it is in his possession, his powers will know no bounds, and all hope will be lost." regrettably stated Luna. "Hmm.. but that cant be all that there is to it, right? Cant you hide your magic from him in some way?" I asked. "I regret to say that you aren't far from the adequate solution, Kurama..", answered Celestia. She and her two other companions gently drifted into the air towards us. I nervously stepped aside as they landed before Twilight. ".. For it is only through this sacrifice that Equestria and the lands beyond it might be saved." The tall alicorn briefly closed her eyes in lament to what she was about to say. ".. We must rid ourselves of our magic, before Tirek has a chance to steal it from us!", she firmly finished. A loud auditory gasp escaped Twilight. It was enough to let me know that the loss of magic to these ponies was a huge price to pay. But the situation called for it, or else we were up against unparalleled defeat. I hardened my expression and nodded in agreement to her solution, Twilights still having an expression of shock equipped onto her muzzle. "Tirek is set on possessing alicorn magic. When he comes for us, we can not have what he is looking for.", reiterated Luna. This served to snap Twilight out of her daze, a new look of determination then surfacing itself onto her face. She heaved her chest up and raised a proud hoof. "Im more than willing to do my part and give up my magic.", she valiantly declared. "You misunderstand.", informed the dark blue alicorn. "Our magic cannot just disappear into thin air. Somepony must keep it safe!" ".. That somepony is you Twilight.", finished Cadence as she moved closer to her. "... Why me?", questioned Twilight with a staggered expression. "We do not believe that Tirek is aware that a fourth alicorn princess exists in Equestria. If we transfer our magic to you, Tirek will not know where it has gone.", clarified Celestia. It sounded reasonable enough, but I couldn't help but worry. However it was that they were planning to do it, these three were about to transfer their means of self defense to Twilight. Plus I was certain that this was so that she could go into hiding, which left the other alicorns defenseless against Tirek and Discord who may even be on their way as we speak. This was beginning to seem troublesome indeed. "Do you understand what we're asking of you?", softly asked Cadence. "Yes.. its just, im only now learning to control my own alicorn magic.. to take on even more-" "Twilight", gently interrupted the pink alicorn mare. "You represent the element of magic, if there is anypony who can do this.. its you." Celestia, Luna, and I all nodded at her reasoning, even though I was completely lost as to what exactly they were talking about. At least.. it sounded like a valid enough reason for Twilight to be the one, this whole element of magic thing. "Taking on this task will be one of the most difficult things I will ever do, but with the help of my friends..!" "Im sorry princess Twilight.", interrupted Celestia before she could go any further. ".. But you must keep your new abilities a secret. I fear that your friends being aware of your new power, could put them at great risk.." "Do you still think you can take on this responsibility?", Twilight didn't need much time to think as another determined look was once again etched onto her face. "This is the role I am meant to play as a princess of Equestria! I will not fail to do my duty!", she stated while directing me a look that was full of cause and enlightenment. I answered her look with a shrug and smile, good for her to have finally found her purpose. "Then we must begin at once.", urged Celestia. "Stand back, Kurama." I complied and stepped a good distance back. Once I did so, they all assumed certain positions around Twilight, suspense thickly encompassing the air. "Wait!", said Twilight. "What about Kurama's magic?", she asked while looking over to me. Cadence eyed me with equal confusion while Celestia and Luna gave me a simple glance, practically ordering me to hurry and explain it to them. "Its not magic. It is a martial art that is fueled by the suns rays and my emotions. I will explain it to you all in detail once we've avoided this disaster, but for now lets proceed quickly.", I vaguely explained. Cadence's confused look was silently put to rest while Twilight looked on with raging interest. However, her gaze was soon interrupted by Celestia clearing her throat. "We must hurry.", she said. They took a moment to gather their nerves before taking readied stances. Their horns then began to glow as they exerted dangerous-looking amounts of power into them. Soon, their eyes snapped open into a radiance of white light and began to focus their powers into a single point. I gawked in astonishment while an orb began to swell on top of them. It didn't take long before said orb was now stretched widely across the throne room, the huge mass of energy making my hairs stand up upon contact to its electrifying radiance. I squinted my eyes and put a hand over my forehead as Twilights horn began to drain a fraction of the huge sphere's massive reserve of twisting energy. I looked on in worried anticipation as the grand orb of blinding white light slowly began to approach her. Is she going to be alright?? The orb plummeted onto her with a flash of blinding light which rendered my eyes null and useless. I yelped and rubbed my closed eyelids, the surrounding area suddenly going quiet. I attempted to open my aching eyes but could only see darkness. I continued to tend to them and eventually, color returned to my vision, allowing me to witness the scene splayed before me. Cadence, Luna, and Celestia were all spread across the ground as they lifted their heads to glance at the floating Twilight. A bright display of light encompassed her eyes and body, her hair also flowing solely due to the formidable pressure which her presence was now emitting. She convulsed and spasmed to huge abundances of rippling power that attempted to leave their tight confines with no success. I quickly rushed over to the alicorns and helped them up while Twilight slowly drifted towards the ground. I then paced over to her as well an ensured that the dizzy mare landed on her feet safely. She rubbed her head before exchanging heart-felt glances with the other three alicorns. The exchange was interrupted by conflicted Twilight rushing over to Celestia and gripping her with a saddening embrace, a lone tear flowing down her purple cheek. My eyes were drawn to the lack of cutie marks on their rumps, everybody else also beginning to notice it for themselves. "It is done.", sighed Celestia. The place was filled with a dreadful silence, the mood being thick in gloom. Twilight sat on her posterior and gazed at the ground with her ears lowered. "You must go Twilight, every second you spend here is a risk that we cannot take.", urged the white alicorn mare. Twilight lowered her head some more and frowned in acknowledgement. She stood up and gave the three a heart wrenching look before running out of the room. I saw her off with sympathetic waves, a look of concern occupying my face. However, it was cut short by a flash of lavender in front of the door, the light then dispersing to reveal the purple alicorn in question. She turned towards us and chuckled nervously. "Sorry!", she apologized while darting out of the room for a second time. I lowered my head to the side and scratched my sideburn in confusion. What the..