The Flame That Keeps on Burning

Tartarus.

One of the darkest pits I’ve had the nightmare and pleasure of being a part of. I can’t tell you how awful it was to have that dreadful mongrel Cerberus guarding that gate to sweet utter freedom constantly. Twas awful if I do say so myself.

But then the devil’s mutt decided to leave his post one day. And twas the most brilliant day that ever shone upon me when I saw my chance. For freedom.

When I saw that old minotaur Tirek. The one who’s been in this hell hole longer than any of us, I was astounded by some of the things he would mutter. Taking magic as if it were nothing was simply an amazing gift, something I wished I could ‘ave. But sadly twasn’t meant to be for an old unicorn such as myself.

Although it seems destiny had different plans. On the day that stupid cur left his post and I saw that wonderful creature Tirek sneak out, I knew that the horrid beast was no longer guarding the gates to this rancid hell; so I took my leave as quickly and silently as I could. Twas easier than I thought. Who would’ve thought that an old powerful unicorn like myself would be allowed the taste of sweet sweet freedom once again.

You’re probably wondering “How the hell did you get sent to Tartarus? Just what in the blue blazes got you sent to the worst place in the underworld?” It’s quite simple really. I’m insane. I’ve done things that nopony back on Equestria would consider excusable. Though it wasn’t entirely my fault.

I have an issue. A split-personality you can say. And well this split-personality of mine...he- it represents my desire for power. My megalomaniac side, the lust for power that Princess Celestia and Luna had- no still have. I was around the time I saw Sombra’s reign and fall. I’d heard what he’d done. What happened to him, how he simply desired power and where it got him. He came to almost defeating the two most powerful beings, we Equestrians worship.

Then I thought to myself “They can’t be that strong?

“To be pushed to the brink of using the elements because of one unicorn?” And even then they still had a little trouble before completely sealing him in his icy prison forever. So I began my research. However I was smart. I didn’t prance around acting suspicious or anything of that form no no no. I knew Luna and Celestia would sense something was wrong if I started asking them questions about Sombra and how he acquired the power he had. As one of their personal advisors I had to make sure things were low key.

So every chance I’d get whenever I was free, I’d go into the Canterlot Library, and search things about how Sombra acquired his power, but everything related to the Crystal Empire incident was gone. Either destroyed or burnt. I became disheartened as days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Then one day I noticed something under the Starswirl wing. It was about amulets. How if done properly they could be used to enhance one’s magic and other purposes.

This interested me greatly.

And so I began studying under the topic. Asking multiple researchers if such a thing was possible. Hypothetically of course. My studies went on for months. I became so caught up in them in fact that I failed to notice that the Princesses were starting to catch on to my scent.

And I was beginning to run out of time.

Finally I found something that brought all those months of research and tireless hours of study to fruition.

The Alicorn Shards- Prototype
The Alicorn Shards will give the bearer incredible power. However if worn to long it will have a terrible price.

I read and re-read these words over and over unable to believe that this- this was what I had worked so hard for. I had nearly thrown away my reputation for something that barely had enough information to support a validation of its existence or even its own whereabouts.

Disgusted I tossed the book away with my magic causing it to slam into the bookshelf and topple down back on the ground where it lay there with a thud. However the spot it lay on over a particular tile made a clicking sound. Like a switch of some sorts had been activated.

And then the library rumbled. The Starswirl wing shook with such a force in the castle of two sisters that I thought I could feel my lunch moving around in my gut. Then it stopped. All was silent. I thought for a second we might’ve had some sort of earthquake. Though my thoughts were disturbed by the whirring and creaking sound coming from underneath me.

As I stared where the book I tossed lay, it suddenly became enveloped by darkness, as the floor began to shift and collapse forming stairs that lead down to some unknown chamber of sorts.

I was hesitant, the sweat trickled down my brown, my heartbeat had quickened whether with fear or excitement at this new development I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that my instinct was telling me to “Go. In. Now”

So that’s what I did. I went down the dark chamber, and with every step I took my hooves made a clopping sound, growing louder as I pushed further into the dark layer. My only source of light in there, were the torches that seemed to eerily illuminate these dark pits. And finally I reached a door.

Swallowing down the lump that had been forming in my throat over time, I decided to take my shot, I’d come all this way and I shall not hesitate now!

Enveloping the circular handle in magic I pulled the door open and with a steady creak it swung without delay. Once fully open I saw it. “The Shards.”

I’d never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life and there they were all five of them. Gently lifting each one in my magic I thought to myself. “Is it possible to create something more with these small fragments?” however my thoughts were interrupted as I heard a voice from above. Quickly placing the shards in the saddle pouch I had brought the previous book in I headed upstairs hoping somehow the stairs would disappear as soon as I got up there.

No sooner had I emerged did the stairs suddenly slide in place and seal up, resuming the original surface it had been.

“Ignis?” Celestia said. “What are you doing down here so late?” she asked with a motherly smile.

“I-I’m sorry your highness” he bowed. “I must have lost track of time” although true he kept himself from looking at her and decided to take things seriously, his anxiety only increased when he heard the princess coming towards him.

“I promise thou Princess it shain’t happen again-” a gently pat on his golden mane relaxed him. She suspects nothing.

“Don’t worry Ignis tis alright just make sure you get your rest so you aren’t too tired to take care of your duties alright?” her sweet smile unfaltered.

Nodding Ignis used his magic to gather the rest of the books and stack them in the right places. “I will your Highness, Good night”

“Yes, Goodnight to you too Ig-” but he was already gone.

Now inside my room on the castle’s west wing I immediately locked the door and began taking out the shards as I did so. That night I carefully examined all the shards, and saw that they had extreme levels of magic embedded in them. So I thought to myself. “Can I make something out of this?”

And so it began. I spent every night trying to make the five shards into one crystal that I could wear around me or even embed in myself somehow. After a whole week of trying I decided to get help.

The preparations took a while and avoiding the Princesses became tougher, but I did it. The night after Summer Festival myself and five other unicorns formed the Alicorn Amulet. In the end I was able to convince the group that I was simply working on a project for the Princesses. One that would be sure to surprise them, if things went the way I wanted.

I’ll tell you now, back then I may have had my doubts about their power, but I never meant any harm. Although once again it seemed destiny had meant otherwise.

From then on I began wearing the amulet, everyday I’d take it for whenever I needed a little boost of sorts to help me in my activities with the other ponies. And soon I found that this was the greatest creation ever. Starswirl himself would’ve been jealous of the immense magic I had seemed to gain from a small stone.

Although I believe the saying goes “all that glitters is not gold.” It was wonderful, the feeling it gave me. That surge of power that seemed to course through my veins, my body, my entire being. It was like I was one with the amulet and it was one with me.

Soon I became addicted to it. I couldn’t take it off. It was like as if, if I didn’t wear it someone would take away this sweet power from me. And that’s when I noticed a change.

I had been wearing the amulet everyday even at through the night on some occassions never once taking it off. And I had started to become, more aggressive to my peers. I became so aggressive to the point where small mistakes would set me off in an instant. Lashing out at my own colleagues.

Of course Celestia and Luna would confront me on the issue and for some reason I’d lie and say it was because I hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately so I was feeling cranky is all. And oh could I have sworn their eyes narrowed with a tinge of suspicion whenever I pulled that excuse out.

But they never pushed the matter any further.

Until one day I went too far.

It was in the morning and I was feeling especially angry, tired, proud and confident. I had been intentionally finding someone who slipped up. And then I found my target. A stallion who had just moved in as the new guard from the academy.

I don’t know what came over me. I swear I never meant to push the stallion so far. I just- every time the stallion made a small mistake I would lash out at him viciously beating him and the make him swear that he wouldn’t tell a soul what had occurred. This went on for a few more days. And finally the stallion had had enough. He tried to attack me, stated I was a menace me!

So in my anger and possible insanity I grabbed his sword with my magic feeling no more threatened than a bear would against a pebble. And lunged his sword right into him, right into the heart. Poor fool died instantly.

I knew what I did was wrong yet...I enjoyed it. I don’t know what had come over me. Disgusted and horrified at my crime I immediately disposed of the body, and cleared all evidence. I had paperwork done that had stated he transferred. Whenever any pony would ask I’d perform a memory lapse spell on them immediately so they’d stop.

Luna caught on to this. For the past few months Luna had been paying attention to my strange behaviors and the night after I had done the horrid deed she came to my room. I immediately tossed the amulet away disgusted I had ever brought such a thing from whatever filthy depths it had come from and opened the door.

“Ignis Fortis, I won’t waste thou time” she stated solemnly her eyes glaring daggers into Ignis’s very core. And for a second it looked like she could see through him, what he had done, but after a few seconds of silence she said “I’ve come to discuss matters with thous behavior around hither.”

Ignis sighed with a breath of relief. “Yes yes” he said nodding his head. “I am so very sorry for my actions your Majesty, it-it’s just I-”

“Silence” Luna’s calm tone was gone and a stern one now replaced it. Ignis’s ears fell to the side of his head when she ordered him. “W-what is the matter your majesty? Surely it is-”

Luna stomped a hoof on the ground and it echoed off the castle’s corridor, down the stairwell. Once again Ignis was silent. “I do not know why you have been acting so strange” Luna said watching the dark stallion carefully.

“But please for our sake change, back to the way you were” Luna said her voice now showing some emotion in it. “We have lost many a friend, and we would not like to lose another. So please whatever thou dost may it be for a righteous cause.”

Ignis was touched but a part of him was strangely disgusted, “Yes your majesty...I promise” he smiled weakly at her.

Luna stared back at him for a few more seconds searching his face for any falter of a smile, when the two had watched each other for a few more seconds Luna broke eye contact and smiled at him. “Good we shall be off we must watch the night now, take care Ignis” the alicorn stated as she went down the spiral steps. The clopping of her hooves echoing long after her disappearance.

That night I couldn’t sleep all I could do was shake at fear what I was becoming. A part of me yearned to beg for forgiveness, yet another deeper part wanted to relish in the cries of all that opposed him. “Was this how Sombra felt?” was the only thought that seemed to swim in my mind as sleep soon took over.

Another week went by and I was now starting to notice that I was enjoying the suffering I seemed to be inflicting on my peers. And despite the warnings I’d been given neither the amulet nor I seemed to care much for them. Day after day I’d wreck havoc here and there, gave me so much joy to see my allies in misery, yet killed a part of me every time I saw them suffer.

A full year had now passed since I created the Alicorn Amulet, and the torturing I had been giving ponies was starting to go noticed.

And I still couldn’t give a horse’s ass about it.

The amulet’s power just seemed to make me stronger day in and out. With each day my confidence grew, and so did my rage and animosity. It got to the point where I’d just invite ponies in and beat them to death simply for my own pleasure.

It was terrifying yet exhilarating. Who knew a chunk of magic rock could make a once good person become so freakishly twisted is what you’re probably wondering. And some of you may be wondering “Do you regret your decision?”

And I’ll tell you one thing: “Has there ever been a time where you ever regretted something?” Ignis asked Celestia and Luna as they stood staring at him horrified by the several swords that he held in his magic and the corpses that lay in front of him.

Luna was terrified and furious. “What have you done?! Where did you acquire that!” she asked grinding her teeth together in a menacing manner.

Celestia’s eyes remained open and alarmed by the turn of events in front of her. A former friend has once again become an enemy. “It is with a heavy heart that we must punish you for your crimes against Equestria...banishment is what you shall face.”

“Sister it is the amulet that-”

“I know Luna, but as rulers of Equestria we cannot allow a pony who kills his own kind to stay and be free. Ignis must have read information on the Alicorn Amulet, so he must have known this would be the outcome” her voice trembling.

Luna remained silent, her sister was right. This was Ignis’s decision and if it was what he wanted “Then so be it!” she exclaimed stomping both hooves on the ground causing a fissure to open right beneath the dark unicorn, who used the bloodied swords as a bridge. Despite them cutting into his hooves.

“Go get the elements! I shall him back” Celestia said holding up a wing to stop her sister’s next attack. Luna would’ve protested but now was not the time or the place. So she took off spreading her wings and zooming towards the elements statue, she disappeared.

It was just Princess Celestia and I now. And I couldn’t help but like my lips, lifting a fresh sword up I asked “Shall we dance Princess?” and in an instant I was gone.

Teleporting right next to her Ignis slashed right at her wings trying to inflict as much damage as possible but the Princess had up a protection spell which flung away his sword. Enraged his horn began to glow a red glow and his irises began to turn a dark red as well. “I shall not be defeated by the likes of you!” he yelled and sending a beam of dark magic towards her it connected, in great surprise the spell started to crack.

Celestia was astounded, the only one she thought that could best her protective spells was her sister or Sombra, but this “This is dangerous.” her eyes narrowing now on no longer what she thought was her friend but an enemy. “You must pay for what you’ve done, Ignis” her voice carried no sign of compassion or motherly love as it did all those times before; just callousness.

Right now it was a queen who was delivering justice for a criminal’s crimes against society.

“And what will you do hm?” I said brandishing the sword around carelessly. “I’ve already cracked your shield and it’s already started to dissipate. Without the elements of harmony there’s nothing you can do to me.

And as an afterthought while licking his lips sensually “Oh but there’s plenty I can do to you and much-” he was cut off by a sudden hit in the gut that knocked the wind out of him. Luna had hit him with one of the pieces of armor that now lay carelessly on the ground. And with her were “The elements of harmony!” he exclaimed. I’m royally screwed was my first thought, but I wanted to drag these guys with me if I was going down. Kicking and bucking brains out along the way.

Slowly standing up Ignis stumbled a bit and a slow nerving chuckle that escalated into a dark laugh echoed around the castle walls. “What is so funny” Luna yelled taking up three elements of harmony in her own magic whilst Celestia took the others.

I didn’t reply at first I simply savored the looks they were giving, boy did that give me a pleasant jolt. “I’m simply thinking. Is this what it was like for Discord and Sombra when they were facing you two?” a smirk escaping as the two Princesses reactions became stunned. Luna flew right towards me and just as I was about to make sure I hit her square in the chest with a blast of magic I lost focus because something hit my head.

It was the hilt of Celestia’s sword. Falling to his knees Ignis buckled over as fighting for consciousness. The two alicorns got a little closer to me. Celestia speaking first “Why did you throw all of this away for power?” she asked her regal voice still giving off that cold form she used when protecting our kingdom. Their Kingdom.

“Isn’t it obvious. I wanted power...I wanted to be more than a unicorn destined to be some silly adviser for the rest of his life. I wanted to be different.” a part of me not fully understanding what I was actually saying.

“Well you got what you wanted” Celestia said.

“We hope it was worth it” Luna finished. Her magic glowed around the amulet and was about to pull it off. Though before she could I yanked it from her grasp and smashed a piece of it on the ground quickly swallowing the small fragment. I could feel it barring into my body and the pain it gave me as it went down my gullet was awful. The power for it made every bit worth it though.

With that done Luna wrenched it out of my weakened state.

“We’re sorry things couldn’t have turned out for the better” Luna said her ears drooping sadly to the sides of her head.

“We truly are” Celestia finished her tone softening a bit. The two closed their eyes and began the activations.

With their final words done they activated the elements of harmony and the last thing I saw was the pain written all over their faces.

They obviously must have burnt every single thing related to me including the fact that I was once a royal adviser and since the rest of the castle had evacuated by then no one will mark my actions down in history, so it seems I’m an unknown walking anomaly.

Now centuries after Cerberus’s blunder I’ve escaped climbed out of the very pits that I was sent to. And now I’ll lay in wait. Till the right time arrives.

So just remember my little ponies. A smirk slowly playing across my lips “Tirek’s not the only villain who escaped that hell hole. So you better watch out! Because I may not be the only freak who escaped!”

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