Chapter 23 - More Good News...
Firestorm slowly felt himself growing conscious. His entire body felt like it had fallen out of the sky. The fact that whatever he was lying on was cold and hard didn’t help either. As his eyes slowly drifted open he heard a gruff voice say, “he’s waking up, go inform the princess…”
After that, all Firestorm heard was hoof beats running away, down a tight corridor from the sound of the echo. As his eyes opened completely and his vision cleared, the first thing he saw was the stony ceiling. Rolling onto his belly he felt something was indeed wrong. His body felt like it weighed half a ton, and his limbs didn’t flow with his desired movements, he felt bulky and uncoordinated. Glancing down at himself he immediately determined the problem, this wasn’t his body, it couldn’t be.
Firestorm had three primary forms if he wasn’t impersonating somepony. There was his pony form; his most basic appearance which made him look like any other pony save for his bat like wings. His ghost form; which meant a mouth full of razor sharp back turned teeth, draconic eyes, hands, talons, and some bizarre mix of a black aura membrane which made up his wings and coated his body. Finally there was his draconic form; while the physical traits were still pony in majority, his hooves were replaced by draconic hands in front and talons in back, draconic eyes, teeth, and heightened senses.
This new form he was in was completely foreign. The first problem was that his body was easily three times the size of Celestia’s. The second was the way his wings were joined to his arms which gave him a more legitimate bat/dragon appearance. Thirdly was the feeling of newfound power surging through him. He had spent decades learning to control his abundant power when he was younger but now he felt his magic reaching out and exploring his surroundings against his will. As his magic reported back its findings, Firestorm came to the realization he was not in just a stony room, he was in a prison cell, and there was a pony on the other side of the bars watching him.
Firestorm turned his gaze to the guard. Despite the stoic appearance of the guard, Firestorm still heard him swallow hard. “Where am I, why was I brought here?” Firestorm’s voice sounded as alien to him as his body. The pitch of his voice was low at the same time scratchy with a significant increase in bass, assuming the walls weren’t somehow responsible for that…
“You’re in the Canterlot Castle Detention Facility, brought here under Princess Celestia’s orders. We had to knock down three walls just to fit you in here.”
Firestorm stood up in his cell, his back scraping the ceiling, “I appreciate your concern for my comfort. Where is the princess now?”
“Her highness is in the throne room, but she will be down shortly to interview you and release you should she deem it safe to do so.”
“Or, you could release me, I could see her myself, and you could get back to doing whatever it was you were doing before you were assigned to babysit me…”
“The princess will arrive when she sees fit.”
“Well, I tried asking nicely…” Firestorm said before pushing on the cell door only to have it forced back by a very powerful shield spell when he made contact.
“Princess Celestia will release you if she determines it is safe to do so,” the guard repeated.
Firestorm, not one to be denied freedom by a simple shield spell, drew back his right hand and slashed his claws across the shield spell and bars. The guard himself winced at the sight of Firestorm losing several inches of his claws to the shield spell. What he didn’t see was the gashes cut clean through the cell bars Firestorm’s claws had made. Firestorm however, did see the cuts in the metal, as well as the shield healing it's tears from his claws. Firestorm brought his hand to his face and examined what remained of his claws. Glancing back at the cell bars and the invisible shield protecting it, Firestorm focused and regrew his claws to their original length.
Taking both hands, with his fingers and claws interlocked, Firestorm thrust his hands between the bars and penetrated the shield. Focusing his magic, the bars began to melt as the shield was torn farther apart until he was able to, while not very gracefully, pass through it. Once he was free he looked at the guard who stood his ground but did not engage or give any reason to provoke Firestorm. Firestorm grinned, “I’ll tell Celestia you put up an honorable fight,” Firestorm said before spreading his wings and taking off, passing through the ceiling without causing any damage. The guard stood motionless for several minutes before turning and trotting out of the detention facility and returning to his post.
Celestia rubbed her head with her hoof, the pain having been caused by Firestorm forcing his way through her shield spell. As the pain subsided she looked to everypony in the room with her and simply mumbled, “Ow…”
No sooner had she said that, the dragon embodied Firestorm rose through the stone floor of the throne room, landed on all fours, and opened his jaws to release a powerful roar which shook the stain glass windows, some to the point of cracking. Having gotten that out of his system, Firestorm closed his mouth and glared at everypony in the room. Blueblood, Fluttershy, and Rarity, who had regained consciousness moments earlier, all fainted at Firestorm’s entrance. Everypony who was still conscious looked over Firestorm’s draconic body in pure terror.
Because Firestorm had looked over himself while lying on his stomach, he had missed what everypony else was currently seeing. The skin, more so than scales, on his chest was completely transparent. The muscle tissue beneath that, which there was an abundance of, was semi-transparent. Through both shown his ribs and internal organs, more specifically, his lungs as they fluctuated size with each breath he took, and his heart beating with a steady rhythm. Firestorm’s head boasted no physical traits of a pony. His mouth was long and filled with sharp interlocking teeth, his ears were more canine in their shape, being triangular, and his mane was completely absent. The only thing about his facial features that remained somewhat similar were his eyes, yellow irises with vertically slit pupils, but they were different, they showed only aggression and hatred.
Luna approached Firestorm, whose glare immediately fell upon. Sensing his aggression and understanding it, Luna softly spoke, “Stand down.”
A low growl gradually grew in volume from Firestorm’s throat. “Stand down,” Luna repeated.
Firestorm opened and snapped his jaws shut, echoing something of a bark and the sound of his teeth clicking together. Luna summoned a book, ancient in appearance, and flipped through the pages. Eventually she settled on a page and briefly reading some text to herself. Firestorm looked on with mild curiosity. Finally Luna teleported the book away and said again, “Stand Down.”
Firestorm reared up, flared his wings, and roared in a fierce display of power. Luna stood her ground, “Firestorm, the night fall upon a crippled star. Stand. Down!”
Firestorm separated his wings from his arms which folded in at his sides while his arms supported his weight as he came back down onto all fours, and lowered his head in submission. Everypony gawked at what they saw, seconds earlier, Firestorm seemed like an unstoppable force. But now, after a few words and a stern order, he was completely under Luna’s control.
“Luna, how did you do that?” Twilight asked.
Luna summoned her book once more, “Owner’s manual. You didn’t think I’d make a biological super weapon and not have a way of controlling and disarming it, did you?”
“Him,” Rainbow Dash said flatly.
“Excuse me?” Luna asked.
“Him, Firestorm, you called him “it”,” Rainbow Dash clarified.
Firestorm raised his head and turned towards Rainbow who cautiously approached him. Firestorm watched her for every step she took until she was right in front of him. With a genuine smile she said, “Yeah, this sucks a little bit, but you look pretty awesome.”
Firestorm moved his head closer to Rainbow Dash and nuzzled her affectionately, his cheek rubbing against her entire face while his nose was dangerously close to getting tickled by the feathers on her wings. As he pulled back Rainbow Dash moved further beneath him, Firestorm rising higher so she wouldn’t have to crouch or even duck down. With his chest fully displayed, Rainbow reached up and placed a hoof over his visibly beating heart, “You can’t call something with a heart an “it”,” Rainbow said directly to Princess Luna whose jaw hung open.
Had Rainbow been paying explicit attention to Luna, she would have seen her jaw hit the floor the moment Firestorm nuzzled her.
Luna approached Firestorm, “I… I’m sorry.”
Rainbow Dash moved back over to her friends, all of whom were shocked by her actions. Luna approached Firestorm, “How do you feel?”
“Like I had a mountain dropped on me,” Firestorm said in his deep draconic tone.
“Your mother was a unicorn mare, Charm, she carried you for at least a full year. During her pregnancy, she wore the alicorn amulet constantly while it stripped off part of your full magical abilities as well as divided parts of your physiology so you both wouldn’t die when she gave birth. When Discord retrieved the alicorn amulet, you two were drawn to each other, it was desperate to return your power to you.”
“I remember when Trixie used the alicorn amulet in Ponyville, it practically turned her evil!” Twilight said.
“Understandable.” Luna said unfazed, “The amulet was part of and meant for Firestorm. It would certainly share its power with a unicorn but definitely corrupt them in the process. When the amulet was reunited with its true owner, it had fulfilled its purpose. Thus, it is no longer a threat.”
“So Firestorm won’t display the same response as Trixie from what Twilight reported to me in her letters?” Celestia asked.
“Nay. Furthermore, in this time of crisis, I believe Firestorm would be a powerful asset against the griffons, now that he is back to full strength, and was initially designed for this purpose…”
“No Luna, I will be discussing this matter with an ambassador shortly over lunch, I’m sure we can reach a mutual agreement, without the call for war.” Celestia said calmly.
“And should the negotiations fail?” Luna asked sincerely.
Firestorm had been looking back and forth between the princesses, though more so up and down given his height and Celestia’s position on her thrown, throughout their discussion and at Luna’s question, all eyes fell on Celestia.
Celestia looked at Firestorm and then back down to Luna, “First let me ask you this, given all the magic and genetic samples you put into making Firestorm, is this how he is going to look now that his power and, I suppose, full anatomy have been restored?”
“Only as long as he wishes to remain in that form, he still possesses his shape shifting abilities,” Luna said before turning on her heels to face Firestorm, “Including this one, you have four primary forms. Shift from this one to the next one down and end by reverting to your pony form.”
By this time, anypony who had fainted had since recovered and watched on expectantly, especially Chrysalis and her guards. Firestorm hesitated, remembering how painful it was to get in this purely draconic form, but eventually obeyed the instruction. Unlike every other time he had shape shifted, no flames washed over his body, and he wasn’t subjected to excruciating pain. Instead, his skin seemed to fragment into a super fine black mist which compressed and reshaped itself into smaller limbs and body. As the mist settled into a definitive shape, the significantly smaller if Firestorm stood before Luna in his ghostly form boasting an expression of shock.
“Are you alright?” Luna asked.
“I… it… it didn’t hurt.” Firestorm stammered.
“What didn’t hurt?”
“Shape shifting. Normally it’s the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life but that time… it didn’t hurt!”
“Being whole, thing’s you were once unable to do, or found painful to do will no longer be a factor. Your shape shifting will also be far less limited. Next form please.”
Firestorm complied, shifting again into his draconic form and then again at Luna’s request into his most basic pony form. Everypony looked on with equal fascination including Discord and Chrysalis.
The double doors leading into the throne room suddenly swung open and a guard stood at the threshold having brought his hoof to his head in a salute. “Your highness, the ambassador to the griffin kingdom has arrived,” the guard announced.
Celestia let out a sigh, “Thank you, escort him to the dignitaries dining hall, I will be along shortly.”
The guard saluted again and then left. Celestia released another sigh, “This matter concerning Firestorm will have to wait. Luna, I do not wish to leave Twilight or her friends in the midst of their visit but I’m afraid this takes precedence over all else, please join them for lunch, anywhere you deem appropriate. Discord, take the queen and her guards for a walk through the royal gardens, I have no fear of any of you getting lost, much less trapped in there. Firestorm, I would like for you and Prince Blueblood to join me for lunch with the ambassador.”
“What!? I understand the importance of my being present for the ambassador’s visit, but why does HE have to be there?” Blueblood whined.
"Because I knew it would piss you off," Celestia thought. “Because I must keep a close eye on somepony as unique as Firestorm. Also, he may prove useful in this situation should things take a turn for the worse…”
“Sister, are you honestly considering using Firestorm as weapon against the griffons?”
Celestia shook her head, “Despite the fact you created him as Nightmare Moon to overthrow me, you still only see him as a weapon. You need to accept the fact that Firestorm is a pony. A very unique pony who greatly stretches the definition as one, but a pony none the less. And, should negotiations fail, I honestly think it would be best if Firestorm were on the battlefront, as my personal guard perhaps…”
“But sister, do you even reali-”
“This is not up for debate, Luna,” Celestia said rising from her throne, “my decision is final. Now please, do as I requested, and I will see you all later.”
Celestia left the throne room with Blueblood and Firestorm in tow.
Luna watched as her sister left before she felt a hoof touch her shoulder. She looked down to see Twilight giving her a soft smile, “She’s just under a lot of stress. She’ll come around when this is all over.”
“But how long will that be Twilight Sparkle?”
Celestia stopped halfway through the doorway to the dining hall, holding up a hoof to signal to Blueblood and Firestorm to stop. She glanced up towards the rafters then ducked down to look under the table, nothing, the room was completely empty. Guards would have been present had the ambassador not yet arrived, but their absence told Celestia he was here, somewhere…
She took a cautious step further into the dining hall and glanced towards the doors leading to the kitchen, too easy. She looked towards the grand fireplace at the opposite side of the hall which was parallel to the table, he never hides in the same place twice. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, the doors were open when she arrived. Celestia looked around the door to her right and then the door to her left. As she pulled away from looking behind the left door, she came face to face with a griffon pulling open his eyelids with his beak open and his tongue hanging out all while cross-eyed.
Celestia screamed and fell to the floor, the griffon burst out laughing. Celestia glared at him, “Cody you lousy, ooh!”
The griffon clutched his sides as his laughter finally died down enough to offer a talon to help Celestia up, “Oh come on Sunny, it only took me sixteen years to finally get the drop on you, I totally earned that!” The griffon retorted.
Celestia accepted his offer and was quickly back on her hooves, “Very well, but if you tell anypony I screamed like a filly, I’ll tell Luna you got drunk and spanked me…”
“Ha! I knew you sent the little scary one to do you dirty work! Not this arrogant little prick,” Cody said gesturing to Blueblood.
“Hey, I’m right here!” Blueblood whined.
“Don’t care!” Celestia and Cody said in perfect unison before bursting out laughing.
Cody looked back at Blueblood and then noticed the dark batpony standing beside him, “Cody Got-a-last-name-you’re-never-going-to-know, nice to meet you…?”
“Firestorm No-last-name, a pleasure to meet you as well Mr. Got-a-last-name-you’re-never-going-to-know, mind if I call you Cody?”
Cody burst out in another fit of laughter, “I love it!” turning to Celestia he asked, “Where did you find this stallion?”
“It’s a long story,” Celestia answered while shaking her head, “Perhaps I will tell you about it some other time, I’m sure you must be exhausted and hungry from you trip,” Celestia said as the group made their way to the table.
“Ah, trying to fatten me up so I can’t escape when you try to seduce me, princess. Your crafty ways will not work, I will die an honorable death before I let you have your way with me!” Cody said giggling.
“No, I just wanted to get some food in your beak so you’d shut up,” Celestia said with a wink before the chef appeared to take everypony and griffon’s order.
Everypony requested their meal and now it was down to Firestorm. Cody had ordered a wild caught salmon with lemon and spices the chef swore he would reveal only to Celestia on his deathbed. Firestorm truly preferred fish over the soups and salads Celestia and Blueblood had ordered, but wasn’t sure about ordering the fish for himself, or any other meat for that matter.
His hesitation went unnoticed by Celestia who touched her wingtip on Firestorm’s shoulder, immediately receiving his attention, “Have whatever tastes good to you,” she said with a kind smile.
Firestorm nodded and looked to the chef, “I’ll have the salmon as well,” a low rumble from his stomach echoed throughout the dining hall, “or two…”
“Very well, I shall have your meals prepared shortly!” the chef said before excusing himself.
Cody looked at Firestorm once the chef had departed, “Pardon me for asking, but I thought bat ponies being carnivorous was a misconception, I was told their diet is more similar to fruit bats.”
Firestorm turned to Celestia who nodded with approval for him to answer appropriately. Firestorm looked back at Cody and brought his hooves up and placed him on the table, “No, you’re right. Bat ponies do eat primarily fruit. However,” Firestorm said as his hooves shifted into claws, “that’s only a purebred bat pony, I’m a hybrid,” he concluded with a smile.
“Oh, WOW!” Cody exclaimed, “That is fantastic! A hybrid of what if you do not mind my asking?”
“Pony dragon mix primarily, there’s actually a little more to it than that, but you’d have to ask my creator for the full list,” Firestorm said nonchalantly.
“I-I’m sorry, your creator?” Cody asked.
Firestorm turned back to Celestia who nodded and took the lead, “Yes, Firestorm was engineered by my sister, Luna. But that was over one thousand years ago when she became Nightmare Moon.”
“Incredible, I assume then that you have a few surprises?”
Firestorm took hold of his glass of water and looked at it for a moment, “Indeed, even a few I didn’t know about,” he said before taking a sip. As he set down his glass, the chef and a few other staff ponies wheeled out carts at his announcing lunch was served. Conversation shifted constantly throughout lunch, Firestorm remaining quiet for the most part. Prince Blueblood putting in his two bits whenever he saw fit. Celestia needed to remind herself time and again he was only there because of his excellent abilities to negotiate and might prove beneficial.
As all the meals were finished and the plates removed, Celestia spoke up, “Cody, may I ask you in regards the peace treaty you came here to negotiate?”
The entire room fell silent as Cody’s smile vanished almost instantly, “Yes, I’m afraid it’s quite simple, my king wants… he wants you to… he wants to be crowned supreme ruler of all Equestria.”
Celestia could barely speak, “I… he doesn’t… um…”
“He says if you don’t crown him willingly, he will take Equestria by force…”
Blueblood, outraged, lashed out at the ambassador, Celestia didn’t hear what he was saying but she was no longer in the mood to tolerate him. “Leave us,” she said flatly.
All eyes fell on Celestia. “What?” Blueblood asked.
“I said, leave us,” she said looking directly at Blueblood.
“I really think that I sho-”
“Did I stutter? I told you to leave, now.”
Blueblood remained seated, seemingly incapable of comprehending the simple instruction he had just been given. Celestia, trying to maintain her composure looked over to Firestorm, “I know you can hear me,” she thought, “I don't want him here anymore.”
Firestorm got up from his seat and thrust out his open palm towards Blueblood who flew back out the door, still clinging to his seat. Once he was through, Firestorm clapped his hands together, shutting the door with his telekinesis. Firestorm walked around so he was standing behind Celestia as one of her personal guards would, save for the fact he was standing upright on his hind legs. Celestia rose from her seat and made her way over to Cody, who looked equally distressed.
She sat down on the floor beside Cody, “How did this happen? We’ve lived in peace for centuries…”
“The king is convinced griffons are superior, that he should rule over all the species. He is determined and will not stop. I know you won’t give into his completely unreasonable demands, so I’m afraid that…”
“War…” Celestia concluded.
Cody merely nodded.
“It would seem that negotiations have failed…”
“My king is unreasonable and power hungry, but there are many of us, myself included, who are completely against him. One of his superior officers wanted me to tell you, when he invades, he will be moving in from the North heading South over Neighagra Falls to attack Canterlot head on. The information is good, I trust him.”
“I’ll move troops into position for a counter attack, away from civilization. Thank you.”
Cody looked to Firestorm, “I wish I could have gotten to know him a little better, but from what I’ve seen, you’ll want him on the frontline at your side.”
Celestia nodded, fighting back tears, “I’ll definitely consider it,” she said as she got to her hooves.
“Oh, one more thing,” Cody said as he rose from his seat.
“Yes?” Celestia asked.
Cody stood up on his hind legs, placed one talon on Celestia’s shoulder and the other on her cheek, leaned in, and gently kissed her lips. Celestia’s eyes slowly closed but the kiss ended all too soon for her. Before Cody backed away he pulled her into a hug and whispered, “I hope when this is all over, we can still remain friends…”
“You will always be welcome here.”
Cody kissed Celestia’s cheek and then departed, nodding farewell to Firestorm on his way out.
Celestia’s breathing became shaky and tears welled in her eyes. Only seconds later she collapsed, crying without any concern of who saw her.
Firestorm slowly approached her, shifting his form so he was an anoptryx when he reached her. Ever so carefully, he reached out with his magic and lifted Celestia’s weeping form onto his back. His wings covered over her and he made his way out of the dining hall. Two guards were standing outside the door and noticed Celestia’s tail and mane slipping beneath Firestorm’s wing. They nodded and escorted him through the castle to Celestia’s bed chamber. Once there, the guards took their post on either side of the doors to her room, allowing Firestorm to proceed inside and deposit Celestia onto her bed. As if she were his own foal, Firestorm pulled the covers up over her body, tucking her in as she continued to cry softly.”
As the anoptryx left her room, Celestia said in a hushed tone, “Firestorm? Thank you.”
Firestorm left in silence, the guards closing the doors behind him. He shifted into his draconic form and made his way to the library, his magic having already reached out and mapped the entire castle. There he would wait for his friends to return, and tell Luna the events which had taken place…
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To the currently 5 readers who disliked my story, PM me and I'll tell you how it ends...
Seriously though, wait to hate until the damn thing is actually done, Jeez!
Again, thank you to all my loyal readers for your interest and patience with me throughout the progress of my story.
4940827 Can I pm you to find out? Also Rain of Fire is great no need to change it.
4940948 Lol! You could but I mostly meant that for the haters and you've "been with this story since it's birth", I don't want to turn you off of it or ruin it for you...
But if you really want to know how it ends, go ahead and message me...
4940966 No I was joking about that. I didn't think you tell me.
4940988 Ha! Tricky...