Burning Curse

by Dinos4Ever

The Beginning of the End

Ch. 1 The Beginning of the End:

A murmur of misunderstanding broke across the six friends.
Celestia took notice, and the room fell silent as she spoke, “Let me explain. This was a time, shortly before the time of the arrival of Discord, and Luna and I’s, ostracization from Equestria. You see, it was not long after the founding of Equestria by the three races, that our parents, Luna and mines, had arrived from a land far away. They were the last of their race, and so took shelter in Equestria, hoping to find peace here. But when they entered these lands, they were seen as the perfect combination of the three races, and so were unanimously elected as the ruling King and Queen.”
Seeing her subjects, and Luna herself, starting to drift back to sleep, Celestia quickened her story, “Ahem, but many years later, when I was still young, and Luna still a filly, and Cadence just a newborn, our parents died under mysterious circumstances. It was never proven if it was murder, but I was suspicious. After Luna and I were given the throne, being the two oldest alicorns of our family, I made a character by the name of Dante, my High Royal General. I wanted to keep an eye on him, as he had been one of the suspects when our parents died. You see, Dante was an ifrit, a jinn of fire, with an aggressive attitude, who had taken the form of a dark alicorn after the death of our parents. I was this as a plea for the throne, and so kept an eye on him. However, with the royal duties my sister and I possessed, I am afraid to say I did not watch Dante as much as I should have.
One evening, when I came home from lowering the sun, and waiting for Luna to take her duties among the stars, I found a horrific sight. The castle inside the Everfree Forest, which at the time was a beautiful oasis rather than the dark, decrepit site it is now, burning. Around the inflamed structure, the rest of the forest had caught fire, and was too now engulfed in an inferno. Upon the grass, I had found Luna, and asked her what had happened. She told me that she had gotten most everypony out, but she could not find Cadence. Praying that I had not been too late; I flew into the already collapsing structure, yelling for my sister. When I heard her cries, I dashed to her and pulled her from the ruins before the rest of the structure started caving in upon us. As I flew out to retrieve Luna before the forest fire found her, I was horrified to find a figure of flame standing above her body. It was Dante. I knew immediately, only he could have done this. It was then that a group of my closest guards appeared behind him. They turned their weapons upon me. I had no choice, I-I…” Celestia then did something nopony ever thought they would see her do, she began sobbing.
“Princess, it is alight, if you do not wish to continue the story” said Twilight, consoling the Princess.
“No, Twilight, it is quite alright” responded the Princess, as she then continued the tale, “After I had…disposed, of the guards, I turned to my sisters grabbed them, and flew off to the direction of what would one day be Ponyville, but then was only a grassy plain. Looking back, I found Dante landing behind me. Confronting him, I summoned the element from the ruins of the burning castle, and banished him to the farthest reaches of the astral realms. It seems, however, that he has found a way to escape, through the use of a celestial occurrence that hasn’t appeared in millennia.”
“So, we have to go after him?” asked Rainbow Dash, jumping up and standing posed to fight.
“No, my little ponies”
“WHAT?!” shouted the six, not believing what they were hearing. “But, yer majesty, we are the Elements of Harmony, it’s our job ta take care of fiends like these”
“I admire your honesty, little Applejack, but this foe is unlike any you have ever faced before. I am afraid that Luna, Cadence, and I shall have to face him ourselves. We’ll draw up battle plans, and confront him then. Dangers like these require subtly and long deliberation. Now, Luna and I must go meet with our advising council. Though we possess knowledge centuries beyond our years, we still like to keep the Royal military adviser in the know, just in case. Now Twilight, can you have Spike send a letter to your sister-in-law to meet us here?”
“What? Go home? Princess, I insist that we stay and help” responded Twilight.
“Oh no, my little pony, I could never ask you to stay up so long. Deliberations like these can take day”
“But Princess, we want to stay.”
“I don’t. Sorry Twi, but I’m tired. Princess Celestia is right, everything will work out fine” said Rainbow Dash, as she spoke through heavy lidded eyes.”
“Yes, Twilight dear, many of us have w-w-work in the morning” Rarity spoke through her hoof as she covered a yawn.
“And Ah’m sure our loved ones are wonderin’ where we went to in the middle of the night” suggested Applejack.
Everypony looked for something to come from Pinkie, but looking over, they all noticed she was fast asleep again.
“See? Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be sending you all back, seeing as Twilight might not have the strength to do so herself.”
“Thank you Princess” Twilight said gratefully, not feeling as if she could teleport six ponies back to Ponyville. With a blinding flash of white light, Twilight and her friends were gone from the spot and reappeared gracefully back in the Library, at which point a loud snore came from Pinkie Pie and she suddenly woke back up.
“Huh? I thought we were going to go see the Princess.”
“Pinkie, darling, did you sleep through the entirety of the Princess’ story?” asked Rarity.
“Uhhhh…” Pinkie said, rubbing the back or her head, “Yes?”
Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack spent of the rest of the morning, until the sun rose, retelling Celestia’s tale of Dante, and the order that they were to continue their life as normal, until they were called upon by one of the Princesses.
“So wait, you’re telling me, that the Princess told you guys to send a letter to Twilight’s sister-in-law, but haven’t done it yet?” giggled Pinkie as she realized their mistake, causing the other’s faces to droop in utter surprise.
“Uh, hehe, oops” said Twilight, “Hold on, I’ll get right on that.”
Twilight then tiptoed up the stairs, as so not to wake anypony else and gently tried awoke Spike. It was his time to get up, anyway. “Spike, Spiiiike” Twilight whispered, “Spiiiike, time to get up now.”
“Hmmm? Oh, morning Twilight.”
“Shhh, Spike come with me, I have something important to for you to do.”
“Uh, sure, okay Twilight.”
Coming back down the stairs, Twilight grabbed a quill and ink from a nearby table, and a sheet of parchment from another. Writing the letter explaining the situation, Twilight rolled up the scroll, and gave it to Spike.
“Now Spike, I need to you send this to Princess Cadence.”
“Now Twilight? She’s probably asleep.”
“Even more the reason to send it now. She doesn’t know what has happened yet.”
“Why, what’s happened? Has Equestria been invaded by zombies?”
“No Spike, nothing like that. Just send the letter and I’ll tell you everything.” Twilight reassured her assistant.
After Spike sent the letter, Twilight sat Spike down and told Spike what the Princess had told them.
“So, the Princess doesn’t want you help in this? But you guys are the Elements of Harmony; she’ll need you if she is to send Dante back into banishment.”
“Ohm, I think she just doesn’t need us for the planning stages right now, I’m sure she’ll call us back when she needs us. Now, I suggest we all get back to bed, at least for now. We’ve been up all night.” There was a sound of agreement behind Twilight.
At this, the six went their separate ways, Applejack to sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy, back to her cottage with Big Macintosh, Rarity back to her boutique, Pinkie Pie back to Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow Dash back to her Sky, and Twilight lumbered back to her bed with Dewey.

---

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Screams were heard across Ponyville, but they originated from four key locations: an apple farm, a cloud home, a cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest, and a library. Suddenly, the doors to Ponyville Library burst open off its hinges, as eight frantic ponies galloped into the main room, Twilight and Dewey included.
They were in a state of panic, before Twilight teleported herself onto the table in the center, and spoke up, through muffled sobs. “Ev-everyp-pony! P-p-please! Ca-calm d-down, now!”
“Ah-Ah woke up, and she was g-gone!” sobbed Applejack, before shoving her face into her husband, Dewey’s, shoulder- bawling.
“What the hay-happened! I w-went to get him up for school, and and…” Rainbow started out before breaking down.
“Ah can’t believe this has happened! Whoever the hell took ‘im is a dead man” spoke Big Mac, his voice radiating with rage, while Fluttershy on the other hand, had not said a word, but muffled cries could be heard from behind the pink mane covering her face.
“N-now, ev-ev-” was all Twilight could get out, before she slumped herself onto the table top, crying. From here, Dewey took over. “Now, everypony, we need to let Princess Celestia know about this, right away!”
“Ferget th-th-that! We need to find the bastard who d-done did this and b-bring ‘im to justice!” sobbed Applejack, lifting her head from
“No! We need to t-tear him apart! I’ll-I’ll kill him!”
“Rainbow, you’ll do no such thing” interjected Sky, trying to stay calm, all the while the obvious marks of tears on his cheeks.
“Now people, this is exactly what we don’t need happening. We need to stay calm, and think logically. We need to plan” said Dewey, trying to calm everyone down.
“The time for planning is over! We need to act!” shouted Rainbow dash, her magenta eyes possessing the look of murder in them.
“Plan!” shouted back Dewey.
“Act!”
“Plan!”
“Act!”
“Everypony, calm down!” shouted Twilight, once again standing upright on the table top. “I’m going to send Princess Celestia a letter, explaining everything, but for now, I need quiet so I can think.”
“O-okay” whispered Fluttershy, the first word she had said all morning.
“My word, what ever has come over you ponies?” said Rarity, looking in from the busted in door way. This caused the already ecstatic parents to start rambling off to Rarity what had just happened.
“All right, all right. I do believe I understand” said Rarity as she was swarmed by the mob of distraught ponies.
“So everypony, I have written the letter, and had Spike send it” spoke up Twilight, behind the mob of ponies.
“Well now what?” asked Sunny.
“Now, I’m afraid we have no other option than…to wait” Twilight defeatedly said, hoping that the villain responsible for the mass kidnapping of the foals wasn’t who she suspected it to be.

---

“Now, if we attack the remains from this sector, and use the pegasi as an aerial team at the cliff fa-“ the speaking pony looked up to notice that Princess Celestia was no longer paying attention to the war deliberations, but was rather looking at a scroll, your face contorted with a frown of utmost intensity.
“If you may excuse me, Cadence, Luna, if you would so kindly accompany me for a private discussion” ordered Celestia, her voice carrying an unquestionable tone of concern.
Once they were alone, Cadence spoke up, “What is it, dear sister?”
“I-I am afraid there has been a terrible incidence. It has appeared, that the children of several Elements of Harmony have disappeared, kidnapped in the middle of the night. I have no doubt you know of my suspicions for who has committed such a heinous act.”
“Dante” Princess Luna finished.
“Yes, and I fear that with their children at stake, my order for the Elements to wait for further instruction will have become nullified. They will take rash action, I am sure of it.”
“Sister, Twilight Sparkle is my sister-in-law, I am sure-“
“There is no need; those ponies will protect their foals, even if I do make a decree for them not to. We must wait this out, stepping in at the right moment” Celestia interrupted.
“Are you sure that is the wisest course, Tia?” Luna offered.
“With Dante, I am not sure what the wisest course is. I fear he may kill the foals, should their parents attempt to interfere. This was my fight. I had the power to end it long ago. This is my mistake.”